The Dream of Shadows

Chapter 5

     Draek's body shot over the last peak of the TheeAgren mountains. The tip of his tale colliding with the tip of the peak causing an explosion of snow. Hayden felt Draek begin to level out and the torrent of wind died away, allowing him to finally relax and look around.

     What is this? Hayden asked as he surveyed the land around him. Hayden was expecting the land to be very similar to what they had come across while climbing the TheeAgren range. He knew that they had to be at least a league up in the air, but there was snow not far beneath him.

     It appears to be solid. Draek said as he slowly lowered his body down and allowed his tail to make contact with the snow beneath him. As Draek's back legs touched the white ground, he sunk slightly in the snow but not enough to cause him to take back to the sky.

     The mountain tops they had flown over seemed to be ridged hills that at their highest were only slightly taller than Draek. They only had to wait a few moments before the other dragons flew over the ridges as well.

     They watched as the other dragons lumbered through the thin, frigid air and landed around Draek. Each of the dragons inspected the snow-covered ground they were landing on before they folded up their wings.

     "What is going on?" Rimney asked as she slid off of Farius, pulling her fur coat closer to her body. The other riders dismounted as well and together they all stood in a circle looking around at the strange world around them.

     "Correct me if I am wrong but didn't we just fly up a giant mountain?" Shane asked, pointing back to the ridges of TheeAgren. "Why is it flat up here?"

     Cass turned and walked to where Raena stood, looking out over the vast, white wasteland.

     "The Frozen Tundra, it's on top of the mountain?" Raena asked to no one in particular.

     "How are we supposed to navigate this place?" Hayden asked. Everyone turned to face him, fear written on their faces.

     They had all been hoping that when they got to the Frozen Tundra, they would find some clue or tracks to follow that would eventually lead them to the Frost Fangs. They hadn't expected to find anything but snow on the ground and more snow falling from the sky.

     "I still don't understand how this place came to be?" Shane said, shaking his head.

     "We can ask the Frost Fangs once we find them, right now we need to focus," Cass said, bringing the group back to the main problem. She took off one of her gloves and dug her bare hand into one of her saddlebags. She pulled out a folded map and as soon as she had it unfolded she quickly put her glove back on.

     "We are here." Cass pointed to a spot on the map in the middle of TheeAgren. "And we know that the Ice Keep is here. It's at the lowest point in the mountain range, and we know that Frost Fangs come here to trade for food," Cass said, steam flowing from her mouth as she spoke.

     "I thought Queen Kirin said we should avoid going there?" Raena asked.

     "She did but if we need to get close to it just to follow the Frost Fangs it might be our best hope of finding them," Hayden spoke while looking at the emptiness around him.

     "You're right Hayden, but we don't want to be seen by the Metallic Riders there. We don't know if they have been reinforced or if the Frost Fangs won't help them fight us." Cass said cautiously.

     "Why don't we just fly towards the Ice Keep and try to see if we can't find any signs of the Frost Fangs while on our way there?" Rimney asked. "We know it might be the best chance we have at finding them quickly and we do need to finish this and get back to Kirin."