Flame trilogy; book one: Blue Flame

Chapter 2

The picture above is what Blue's cave looks like from outside. Anyway enjoy the story to the best of your imagination.

Chapter 2

*Tabitha's POV*

I grunted as I slipped on a wet rock. It had rained last night, and I was stuck wearing a wet cloak and trudging through the mud. I had been walking for almost a day and a night now, never having gone so far into the mountains as I had now. I was walking through a valley at the moment, large mountains looming ominously over me. It was slightly scary. I wasn't used to being surrounded by rock. Why did the dragon have to pick a mountain to live on?

Mayor Reginald, or Reggie, had asked me to go and kill the dragon. It was the last thing I expected him to say. As far as I knew no one knew where the dragon was. He had provided me the location and a map on how to get there. How he got them I don't know nor do I care. All I cared about was avenging my brother's wrongful demise.

That map was now tucked safely into my cloak, dry and secure. Apparently the dragon had chosen a cave somewhere at the top of one of the most dangerous climbs in the Iron Highlands. And one of the tallest. I had brought a bunch of climbing gear that should help me when I start, though that was all in a pack now slugged over my back.

I was honestly a bit nervous about facing down the dragon. In fairy tales they were told as fearsome beasts that breathed fire and were as large as mountains. The 'as large as mountains' part I was a bit skeptical about, but everyone knew dragons breathed fire. I had debated on whether or not to bring a shield before I went but through against it. What good would a shield do against fire hot enough to melt rock?

I stopped for a moment along the river I was following and fished the map from my pocket. I unrolled it and looked at it. I had gone a bit off course during the storm, but as long as I followed this river it should lead me right to where the dragon's lair was. The mountain was called Crag mountain because of the dangerous amount of rocks and ledges as well as the steepness of it. I had always been a good climber, I just hoped I was good enough to climb this thing.

I rolled the map up again and continued my way. It would take another hour of monotone walking to finally reach the mountain. As long as I didn't run into any of the bandits that roamed these hills or something just as ghastly I should be fine. I didn't want to test my swordsmanship skills against a company of those brigands. I laughed slightly at the thought. Here I was, wanting to fight a dragon and I was scared of a couple of bandits.

Thankfully the hour went by without to much trouble, and I found myself quite enjoying the walk. I had always been quite adventurous and to walk through these new surroundings made my heart jump for joy. I saw many different animals and other things as I walked. At one point I nearly stepped on a multi coloured snake that hissed and fled. It didn't bite me, and for that I was thankful.

When the sun reached its pinnacle in the sky was when I reached Crag Mountain. I looked up the steep slope that I was to climb and couldn't help but gulp. It was worse than I thought. Shear cliffs were struck straight upwards. Any paths that could have lead to the summit were none existent, and it was massive, far taller than any of the other mountains around it. The peak touched the clouds as one of the greatest mountains in the Iron Hills. Snow sparkled at the top where it was undoubtedly cold enough to freeze any normal human being. This was where the dragon supposebly lived. I just hoped it didn't decide to come out while I was climbing.

Seeing the size of the mountain made me hesitate. But instead of stopping my journey I took a big breath of confidence and ascended towards the mountain. I brought out a climbing pickaxe that Mayor Reginald had given me and began to climb. At first it was surprisingly easy, especially with the pickaxe helping. It bit into the rock with every swing and I used it to pull myself upwards.