Hearts of Fire and Ice

Chapter Ten~ Icecap

Jasper hissed, "Crimson. Show yourself immediately. You don't belong here." 

The strange voice from the shadows replied again, " I could say the same for you, little brother. Since when have I ever listened to you?" 

Jasper whirled around, looking through the walls of white drifting snowflakes. It was impossible to see you talons in front of you. 

Snowdrift sat beside me, her blue eyes wide with worry. She was watching Jasper intently. 

A blood-red SkyWing slithered out from the shadows. She had a look of hatred in her eyes, and she was glaring at Jasper. 

"So, this is what you were up to? Converging with IceWings?" The SkyWing smirked, looking at me and Snowdrift as she spoke. She spat out the word "IceWings" as if it were rotten polar bear meat. 

Jasper narrowed his eyes, "That's not what I would say, Crimson. I'm not conversing with them," 

"Oh, yes you are!" Crimson said haughtily, "I was here the whole time... you we're talking with these two as if they were your best friends!" 

The look on Jasper's face told me that he was thinking, they are my best friends.

Jasper spoke again, "They're better friends than you, Crimson. They don't go around telling how great they are to their little brother's face, and always threaten to tell Mother about their sibling's actions!" he spat. 

"Look at you, being all snappy and rude!" Crimson smirked again. 

"See? This is exactly my point!" Jasper roared. 

"Not like I care," Crimson shook her head, "We need to dispose of these two, and fast. Also, we need to get you back to the palace so Mother can hear about this and properly punish you." 

"Dispose? These are dragons, Crimson! Treat them with a little more respect!" Jasper demanded.

"Only SkyWings deserve to be respected. IceWings? Hmph!" Crimson gave a small laugh. 

I turned to Snowdrift and whispered, "Jasper has a sister?" 

Snow nodded. "He told me he has several. I never thought they were this... mean!" she whispered back to me. 

Jasper and Crimson continued to bicker back and forth. 

"You shouldn't do this, Crimson. Imagine how mad Queen Glacier will be if you kill two of her innocent subjects!" Jasper hissed. 

Crimson laughed again, "Innocent? You must be crazy, Jasper! We just finished fighting a whole war against these dragons! I thought you knew how many crimes IceWings have committed against us!" 

"Not these exact IceWings!" 

"But still! Kill them now, or Mother will hear about this."

"She'll hear about this anyway!" 

The two dragons continued to face off. Snowdrift and I looked at each other with worry as Crimson slowly came closer towards us, occasionally snapping back at Jasper. 

Snowdrift stood up and let a few snowflakes stream out of her mouth. "Don't come any closer, SlyWing. We're not afraid," she commanded in her usual I'm-not-afraid-of-anything tone of voice. 

"I'm not afraid of your frostbreath, IceWing. I can breathe fire and just as easily destroy you. I'm not afraid, either. Not afraid to kill!" Crimson cackled. 

With that, Snowdrift sprung onto Crimson's back and pinned her agains the cold, snow-covered ground. Crimson groaned and rolled out of the way, then breathed a spurt of fire towards Snowdrift. Snow leaped away just in time, then tried something I knew would fail. She opened her mouth, but only a few snowflakes drifted out. Snow was iceless. 

Crimson laughed. "You can't even use frostbreath in the first place! Useless, useless, poor IceWing!" 

Snow was becoming even more enraged. She smacked Crimson hard across the snout with her whip-thin tail. Crimson took the blow head-on and hissed in pain. Then with a mighty leap and incredible SkyWing skill, Crimson pinned Snowdrift. There was no escaping. 

"Now..." Crimson huffed, making the fire-is-coming hissing noise as Snowdrift squirmed underneath her talons. "You die!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" I screamed and leaped towards Crimson.

The SkyWing was knocked to the ground by the force of my body. My icy talons met Crimson's blood-red scales, and they left marks of frost all over her body. 

"Agh! C...cold!" Crimson stammered. 

"Not my sister!" I screamed and raked my talons across Crimson's flank. The SkyWing screamed in terror and pain as blood began to pour out of the wounds. The blood quickly froze, and ice began to spread all over Crimson. It started at the spot where I wounded her, then slowly spread across her back, legs, chest, and it came closer and closer to her face. 

Crimson screamed again as the ice continued to encase her body. "IceWing! IceWing! You foul, hideous creature..." 

And that was it. The ice spread all the way to her face, and Crimson was a lifeless dragon popsicle. I had killed a dragon. 

I looked around. Jasper and Snow both had astonished expressions on their faces. 

"My... My sister... You killed... You murdered my sister, Icecap!" Jasper exclaimed. 

"I'm so sorry, Jasper..." I wanted to die right now. I wanted Jasper to kill me, I felt so bad. But Jasper's reaction was different then what I expected. 

"Icecap, you need to run. My Mother is going to know about this, and she's going to look for you. She'll lock you up. She'll make you fight in the arena... or even worse, she'll kill you on the spot." 

Snowdrift gasped. "Icecap! No!" 

"It's fine, Snow. I'll be perfectly fine. I hope..." I sighed and looked at my talons. 

"No, this isn't fine!" Snow protested. "You... You could die, Icecap!"  

"I know. But I'm afraid I have to leave you. I'm sorry our reunion was short lived, Snowdrift." I started to cry, and the teardrops froze on my cheeks. 

I turned to Jasper. "I'm so sorry for Crimson... Will you ever forgive me?" 

"I forgive you, Icecap. I never liked her that much, anyway." Jasper said quietly. 

"You'll look after my sister, right?" 

"I promise, Ice. Snow will be perfectly safe with me. She is after all, the love of my life." Jasper responded. "Stay safe out there." 

"I will. Goodbye, Snowdrift. Goodbye, Jasper!" I spread my wings and took off into the distance. Below me, I could see Jasper and Snow holding each others talons and watching me leave. Would I ever see them again?