Friends to Foes, Foes to Friends

Chapter 5

This is miserable!

Winter was flying through a storm that caught him off guard. He had kept watching the scavengers do whatever they were doing after they all almost died. They had cleverly kept a constant fire going and had a dragonflame cactus nearby at all times - it was clearly so that they could threaten him away again.

Thankfully the scavengers didn't injure themselves like he worried they would - their experiments - Were they experiments? - were only with smaller portions of the cactus. He had no idea why they were doing it - it seems like scavenger behavior is just as undecipherable as before.

Szzrack!

A streak of lightning pulled him out of his thoughts as he swerved in a panic. His scales tingled with the charged air as he flew on. The wind fought his every wingbeat. The rain tried its hardest to pound him down onto the ground. Water pooled between his shoulder blades and slid down his scales to finish their falling journey.

Winter was absolutely exhausted. He left the scavengers a few hours ago to hunt - now he had no idea where they were. The heavy rain had removed all scents - he couldn't track them like before. Every noise was overpowered by the downpour and wind. His sharp Icewing eyes weren't as useful because of how much he squinted to keep the rain out of his eyes. With the storm leaving his senses useless, he had to use his wits.

A particularly strong gust of wind whipped by and threw him off course. He narrowly avoided colliding with the cliff face and righted himself.

If I don't find someplace to wait out the storm... I'll either get struck by lightning or crash into a mountain.

Winter scanned what little he could see of the area. No caves as of yet - the trees wouldn't offer any comfort from the wind or rain, so he couldn't find a grove either.

The storm threw another strong gust of wind directly at Winter, making him nearly crash into the mountain next to him. He barely caught himself in time before he collided with the rock.

I need to hurry and find somewhere to stay.

Winter took another scan of the valley he was flying through. He spotted an opening in a mountain ahead.

Thank the moons!

Hopefully the cave would be large enough for him. He beelined his way towards the promise of escaping the raging storm. Each wingbeat was stronger now that he had a clear goal in mind. He could use his frostbreath to blockade the entrance, which would protect him from the angry elements.

It was right there - right there in front of him, only a few wingbeats away - when everything went wrong. The storm made a last ditch effort to stop Winter - another strong gust of wind blew Winter off course. He was moving too fast towards the mountain to stop - and there's no way he'd be able to right his trajectory in time.

Oh no!

Winter panicked and twirled in the air to avoid hitting the mountain head first. He hurtled like a meteor into the rocky slope. His right side slammed into the hard landscape with an audible snap, despite the deafening rain. Sharp pain exploded in his wing with the harsh collision, but he couldn't focus on that now. He started sliding down the slope that was slick with water. Winter dug his serrated claws into whatever he could, barely managing to stop himself from tumbling down into the valley. There he crouched - he pulled himself back up and to the left towards the cave entrance, which thankfully was large enough for him.

He dragged his exhausted body inside the rocky hole. He turned around and sealed the entrance with his frostbreath. He slumped to the ground, grateful to finally not be constantly pelted by rain and wind. The pain in his right wing came back to his attention, prompting him to glance at his side and assess the damage.