Frozen Echoes: The Last HallowFrost

Chapter 4: Remedies

She slowly stalked towards the back of the Throne room, towards the throne with the oddly dragon-like figure sitting upon it. CryoFangs was silent, her steps careful and light.

The throne was beautifully carved, with the armrests having hanging icicles carved into the undersides, the back of the throne was adorned with plush navy padding, sapphires and diamonds embedded in the silver metal of the throne.

As she neared the body, she saw that it was sitting in a slumped position on the throne, and, shockingly, she swore she heard light snoring coming from their body.

Are they... alive? She wondered silently, very cautiously coming up the stairs and reaching a talon out, her middle and index claw stretched forth as she settled them gently on the dragon's crystal-white neck.

CryoFangs fought down the gasp of pure joy she felt when a strong pulse throbbed under her claws, her heart flew higher than ever as she realized that the HallowFrost before her was very much alive.

As she retreated slowly away from the body, it lurched and snorted. She stood statue-still, watching as a pair of oddly familiar, pale violet eyes opened up, gazing at her blearily.

"Hmmm..." mumbled the dragon, "how odd... am I still dreaming, or are you truly a HallowFrost Dragon standing in front of me?"

"Nope, I'm really here," she said softly, "what about you?"

He coughed wetly, and Cryo heard a sickening rumbling in his chest as he wheezed, "I'm very much here, not an illusion... hey, you look familiar!"

He got to his feet, his crystal-white scales reflecting the light from the windows and causing various shades of blue to dance across them, his eyes were glittering with that strange wonder, yet they looked tired, as if he'd stayed awake for days on end.

He yawned, but abruptly stopped as another harsh cough rattled him, he turned away from her as he caught his breath, his breaths unusually deep.

Worry creased in her brow as she started towards him, "you're sick, sit back down." She said softly, he gave her an odd look before she guided him back to the throne, he sat down, his talons clutched the armrests tightly as if he'd fall off.

"So? I've been-" he hacked again and massaged his chest, spitting up a dark yellow glob of something foul. "I've been sick before."

CryoFangs shook her head, "this is something a little worse than you think. Now- let me feel your forehead." She stepped closer to him and he frowned, giving her outstretched talon a tired glare.

"Come on, please? If I can help you, then maybe we'd both feel better." She sighed, he rolled his eyes slightly and pointed his gaze at his feet, accepting what she was going to do.

Cryo gently pressed her talon to his forehead, nearly lurching back from just how hot he was. Damn, he's burning up! "How long have you been sick?"

He chuckled lightly, "uh... almost half a month? I've been drinking what tea I can find from the kitchens, I've been trying to learn Healing magic, but that hasn't fully helped me..."

Cryo gave him a look of slight sympathy, "have you tried mixing Shivermint into your tea? Or Lungroot?"

He was looking puzzled, "no... but, if you're looking for those herbs, I think you can find them in the Alchemy room. Why do you ask?"

She sighed, "I'll explain later, where's the Alchemy room?"

He wordlessly pointed to her left, at one of the two halls that split off from here. She rushed off, hoping to find what she needed to help him. CryoFangs couldn't help but feel her thoughts circle back to her dreams, that HallowFrost wrapped in light, she saw his lustrous white scales and animated violet eyes...