Misfits of Aquila (Aquila's Originals 1)

Chapter 27: Snow, Part 1

THE THUNDER OF Storm Month gave way to the sleet of Gale Month, leaving everyone wet, miserable and frustrated. They spent as much time inside the eyries, learning about caring for their miryhls and tack as they did outside on the wing. When sleet turned to snow the month after, the students soon wished they were back in the eyries. But no matter how cold it got on the ground, if the air was clear they would fly.

"It's t-t-torture," Caelo complained after one morning spent fluttering around over knee-deep snow. "They're t-t-trying to k-k-kill us."

"Or turn us into Riders," Taryn said, taking the smaller girl's hands in her own and rubbing some warmth back into them.

Winter thickened around Aquila like a feather-quilt. The lake surface froze and the falls turned into a glittering curtain of dripping icicles, while the water underneath continued to tumble to the frothing clouds below. Rhiddyl grew grumpy and distant, spending less and less time with her friends.

"Everything's warmer in the Cleansed Lands," Lieutenant Dhori explained, when a worried Vhen had asked him about it. "She just needs to spend some time in dragon shape, that's all. She'll feel better once she gets used to it."

Except it was so cold at Aquila that even Orla, who was used to northern winters, wasn't certain she would adjust to it. She'd been away from home for a whole year now and never did she miss the cosy warmth of her parents' cabin more than on the nights she and her friends huddled together for warmth inside their room. The wide window that had been such a delight in the summer and autumn was now a horrible frost magnet.

The fire in their tiny grate seemed incapable of coping and it wasn't long before they abandoned their beds in favour of cramming into the tiny washroom, crowded around the brazier Caelo had purloined from somewhere. No one asked where she'd found it in case they felt conscience-bound to return it. Instead they welcomed the heat and wore one less layer when they went to bed at night.

Lieutenant Cayn still prowled for victims, but found less resistance than usual to his jogging jaunts.

"It's the only time I feel warm each day," Vhen puffed after a long jaunt around the eastern citadel right before bedtime.

A wave of blizzards restricted everyone to the ground, forcing them to remain inside whether they wanted to or not. The falls froze completely, the lake turned solid and the world beyond the windows became an endless white. It was as if the Cloud Sea had risen up and swallowed them.

"I never thought I'd miss flying in the cold," Taryn murmured one night, as they huddled with their blankets and their brazier, staring out of their window at the whirling storm.

"I miss the sky," Zett said softly.

"I miss the sun," Vhen sighed.

"I m-miss being w-w-warm," Caelo chattered.

"It feels like forever since we went outside," Orla said, wrapping an arm around Caelo.

"I hope Rhiddyl's all right." Vhen folded his arms on the windowsill and rested his chin on top, huffing out a breath that wasn't even warm enough to melt the ice on the glass.

"We'll see her again soon," Taryn assured him, while Zett squeezed his shoulder.

"And then we'll all fly," Orla promised. Feeling somewhat dejected, they dragged their brazier into the washroom and settled down for another cold night's sleep.

* * *

SUNLIGHT WOKE RHIDDYL. Warmth tickled the end of her nose and she startled awake with a sneeze. For a long moment she couldn't remember where she was or why. A haze of white covered her vision and she thought she was back at the Storm Wash, watching the great cloud barrier that separated the Cleansed Lands of the dragons from the Cloud Cursed human Overworld. Then she sneezed again and banged her chin on a rock. Not even when she was watching the Barrier Veils had she been reduced to sleeping in a cave.