Prose and Short Stories

The Last Snow Dragon

It wasn't long after sunrise that I had to go to the mountain forest to hunt. It's the middle of the winter, and our supplies have started to run thin. My little brother and sister are too young to go hunting by themselves, and my father is probably off at the local tavern getting drunk and fooling around with the courtesans. Ever since my mother abandoned us for a more wealthy noble, father has done nothing but run our family's wealth into the ground. We used to be one of the most well-known moneyers in the kingdom. Fathers shop was inside the town gates where he would work when the kingdom required more money. When the guilds found out that my father was stealing from them, he lost his job and was required to pay back all he stole with interest. Seeing that there was no way out of his choices, he sold off most of our family land to pay the guild back quickly. But when he saw how much he had gotten, he decided to spend it on himself and the courtesans. It's gone on like this for five months now, and every day brings more hardship than the last.

The snow crunched under my boots, and the cold seeped through my clothes, clinging to my body. I could feel all the warmth I had fade away, leaving my body to do nothing but shiver, trying to get its heat back. I couldn't afford the best clothes for hunting, just some old rags that I put together to make something warm. I pushed it to the back of my mind, trying to block out the cold entirely. Snow fell from the dead trees all around me. The weight of it was too heavy for some of the branches causing them to snap under pressure. I made a mental note not to sit under any of the trees; the last thing I needed was to die by suffocation because a big pile of snow fell on me. I had walked down a hill and out of eyesight of my family's house, as I usually would when trying to hunt. I had the most luck when going down the small mountain and into the trees since most of the deer or elk would be there scratching the bark off and eating it. I was still new at using a bow, and I wasn't very good at it either. It's been a complex learning process the past few months, and I've put in countless hours each morning and evening. But I had to learn. For the sake of my younger siblings, to keep them alive and well. I wasn't doing this for my father; I was doing this for them, they needed me, and I wasn't about to let them down.

After I walked a couple of miles away from any form of civilization, I started to see tracks in the snow. But these tracks were not from any animal I knew around these parts, and they were big. They weren't in the shape of any deer or elk, and they weren't in any form of a dog or wolf. Instead, it rounded at the back and had three toes toward the front, each with a tiny amount of space separating each toe, and coming out of them were massive claws. Maybe it was a cat or bear, but they seemed more prominent than that. I looked in the direction that they went and decided to follow them. I could find something worth catching at the end of them. I followed the tracks about half a mile from where I saw them start and climbed into a tree as I reached the end of them, which led into a cave just a little further down. The entrance of the cave was massive, and snow had piled at the top. I didn't want to wander into some animal's den and risk being attacked or mauled to death. So I waited. Just outside the entrance to the cave, I was waiting for something to emerge out of the darkness.

I waited on one of the lower branches till what seemed to be noon, the sun was at its peak, and it started to warm up. Not enough for the snow to melt, but enough that the cold was just a little more bearable. I never saw anything enter or leave, so I decided that it was time to go inside to see what was in there. Leaping down from the branch I was sitting on, I turned and broke off one of the branches. I needed something to tie at the top, something that would catch on fire easily. I took my undershirt, which I crafted from a cheap and flammable material that would be perfect for making a torch. Taking my worn coat off, I took one of my arrows and cut at my left sleeve, ripping some of the cotton fabric off and tying it at the top. I put my coat back on and walked towards the entrance of the cave.

I grabbed two rocks on the ground and hit them together, which created a spark. I had to do this a couple of times before it was enough to ignite the fabric, but eventually, it caught and stayed lit. Then, having some source of light, I walked into the cave. I didn't know what creature I was expecting to find, nor did I know if it was dangerous, but my curiosity got the better of me, and I either needed or just wanted to know. I walked forward, heading towards the end of the cave; the further I got, the more the darkness closed in around me. Thankfully my makeshift torch was doing an okay job. I could see in front of me at the very least. When I reached what seemed to be the back of the cave, my body seemed to heat up. The cold wasn't much of a problem anymore, but the back of the cave wasn't the end. It curved and turned into a long hall; nature couldn't have made this. It almost seemed to be perfect. Like someone came here and crafted the hallway. It was smooth to the touch and had grooves from what seemed like a masonry tool. I left my hand against the wall; as I followed it down and rounded the turn, I saw a light flickering in the distance. It was a very faint yellow and orange. A campfire, gently flickering whatever light it managed to make.

I walked closer and what came into view was something that looked to be a soft grey-white. It looked like the back of some kind of creature. I needed to step with caution as if I wanted to get any closer. From farther away, the back of the thing seemed small but grew in size as I got closer, and whatever this was, it was much bigger than I thought. A couple of rocks must have come loose from the ceiling cause my foot bumped into them, making a noise that echoed through the cave. It was just enough noise that the creature stood on all fours circling the campfire to stand next to something and stare at me, teeth showing and mouth agape. Only then did I see what looked like that of a silhouette of a man on the ground, clearly injured and probably in desperate need of help. He had turned his head a mere inch and saw me standing at the entrance, then looked at the creature beside him and said, "Lux, cessabit." I didn't know the language, but the beast was calm and laid beside the man after speaking. "Come forth," he said once again. I moved faster than I had anticipated; I rushed at the sight of someone injured and sat next to him once I reached him. I never took my eyes off the grey-white beast. It was massive and had spikes running down the center of its spin. Scales were covering every inch of its body, and at the top of its head were two horns that spiraled up. There was a saddle attached to its back, and I couldn't help but think about how weird the sight of it was. I moved away from the fire after sitting too close to it and burning my side a bit. "Who are you?" he managed to croak out.

"Maya Chanel," I answered, looking the man up and down. He was clearly in pain, his right side has a huge gash in it, and it seems like it had been there for quite some time. His hair clung to his face, which seemed drenched with sweat; whether it was from the heat or the pain, I didn't know. "Who are you? What is that creature?" I motioned toward the white beast next to him. "And what are you doing here? You need help." I quickly replied.

"My name is Damien Draco," he had barely managed to get the words out, but he kept going. "This creature next to me is the last snow dragon, and I am one of the last dragon riders."