Among the Birches *NaNoWriMo 2013*

Fear for the Fire-Breather

As it had before, the coin took on the form of a raven all at once, with feathers and spreading wings which matched the sky in their blackness. But, unlike the first bird, it was not ordinary sized but massive, and its wingspan dwarfed the four, who stood in front of it with both awe and terror. It's large, dark beak came towards Jasper's outstretched hands, and when he stroked it from tip towards its sleek head, the coin-creature let out a mighty, resounding caw. 

"Let's go!" Fjorn said, missing no time at all, for the sound would have awoken the dead, and had sent several small rocks falling from the mountain's side. 

Jasper was first to approach the bird, slowly out of reverence for its great power and quickly to escape from where the loud raven caw had betrayed their presence. He reached his hand again towards the bird, and it lowered its head. It made no protest when Jasper climbed behind its wings to mount the bird. Kya, following after him, climbed atop him easily; and then Fjorn, who caused the bird to shift uncomfortably when he sat down. Nicholai, still in a kind of daze, was last to walk towards the bird, who was then ruffling his feathers in agitation. When Nicholai reached with his good arm for Fjorn's hand to assist him with climbing up, the bird rose and began a quick flap of its wings. It hopped twice on its feet and Fjorn's hand was lurched away from Nicholai and the bird took flight. By chance, Nicholai was able to jump and grab onto the bird's hanging feet, which elicited angry calls and kicks from the raven but allowed for his transport, too. The bird flew quickly upwards, with Nicholai clinging desperately below, and soon they were high above the sooty earth and nearing-- though in wide circles-- an opening in the stone face of the mountain. The bird, however, would not land nor stay steady while Nicholai clung to him, and he knew it; he swung from the leg and jumped wildly and landed, with not a sound, on flat ground. Then, with an air of disdain for the hitchhiker, the raven let out one more mighty call, waited until its passengers departed, and then morphed out of the raven form and back into a coin. 

"He didn't want you upon his back," Jasper said to Nicholai. "He wished to leave you down below..." He was meditating and, with his words, enumerating what each of them was thinking.  

"What's a damned coin know?" said Nicholai as he picked himself up from the mouth of the cave. "It isn't a true raven, it isn't anything. It might have led us all to our deaths!" Nicholai, while he said this, knew that he was lying. The coin had meant to save them, but not he. A light on the horizon-- one which went from red to yellow to a kind of blue and then back again-- showed clearly how timely their escape had been. But Nicholai could not be grateful. The others, looking back into the cave instead of out, did not see the approaching flames or its bearer, and Nicholai said not a word but walked past them all and into the dark.

"Nicholai!" Kya called in a harsh whisper. "Nicholai!" She tried to pursue him but Jasper's grasp upon her kept her in place.

A hot wind-- hotter, that is, than what was usual-- blew in from the Fratyran plain. As Jasper kept a close hold on Kya, Fjorn turned to look and saw the rapidly approaching sheen of a blazing-hot metallic dragon.

"Run," he whispered, softer than Kya had when calling out for Nicholai. "Run!"

The word which Fjorn said, coupled with the intense inflection, told them all they needed to know. They did not look to see Gerzin flying towards the small mountain cavern: they ran into the dark, just as Nicholai had, and entered the core of the mountain.

"Nicholai?" Kya called again to him again. There was no answer nor stirring. She and Fjorn created a faint glow to see by and they walked carefully along the path, which was covered in pits and holes-- very dark holes whose depth could not be estimated and which could lead to long, terrifying falls-- and coated with a slippery, viscous slime which made their travelling very slow. The air grew cooler but staler among the rocks, and soon they came to a portion of the cavern trail which showed signs of having been worked by hand, and in the distance, faint groaning could be heard.