Curse of the Phoenix

Ch.16 -A Glass Forest

Iara~

The morning after I saw my first snow, I was again amazed. I woke up and the light coming through the window was blurry. Grimm's breathing was the only sound in the room. I slipped out of bed and went to the window. I didn't even realize what I was seeing. Grimm woke up and slid over to where I was. He snorted.

What? I asked.

That is a lot of ice.

On the window?

What else could it be? All of the light is blurry. Look at the shapes on the glass.

They look like frozen snowflakes. Or starbursts on the window. I noted.

They're very pretty.

Pretty?

What?

That doesn't sound like something a dragon would say.

Well I said it so there. He snorted again and the puff of air made my hair wave a bit. I smiled. I was excited. The ice was a bump in the normally flat schedule. I ran all the way to the dining room, where I knew he would be. He was! He was smiling and eating. Not even a salad! I didn't like salad.

"Eragon Eragon!"

"What what?"

"Did you see the window? It's covered in ice!"

"I saw. That happens every year around winter time. Go look outside." Was there something else outside? I ran to the door and cracked it open. A rush of cold air made me shiver. As I gazed around in wonder, of course. I gasped. Everything outside was covered in ice, from the trees to the stones. It looked as if overnight the outside had been turned to glass or crystal. The sun shone down, and I was blinded.

"Eragon what happened? It's beautiful!"

"It rained and then the rain froze. Not cold enough for snow, but cold enough to freeze." Grimm pushed the door open farther. He sniffed at the snow. He had never seen it either.

It's pretty...but too cold. I think I'd prefer to stay inside.

Aww please! He knew what I intended to do.

You at least can't wear your night clothes out there. You'll freeze.

Well then come out there with me and if I get cold you can warm me up!

Fine.....if you at least get better clothes on I'll go outside with you.

Yes! I smiled and ran back inside.

"Eragon?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you have anything I can wear outside so I don't freeze to death?"

"Probably. I might go outside too."

"Cause Grimm said he won't come outside unless I have warm things to wear so I won't freeze!"

"Whoa....things are getting serious!" He teased. He sat up from his spot and went upstairs. I ran after him smiling. For some reason I was extremely happy. I didn't know why. But I liked it. I caught up to him in the middle of the hallway. He had an armload of stuff. Behind him was a trail of dropped items.

"Iara-" He grunted and shifted the pile so he could carry it easier. "-Can you go and grab everything I dropped?"

"Sure!" I scooped up everything that had fallen. Not much, a hat and a pair of gloves that didn't match. Eragon went back into the dining room and dropped the pile on the table. Then he sorted everything into two piles. He grabbed one pile, handed me the other. Then we started the job of putting everything on. When we were done, the boots were a bit big and the hat flopped in my face. But I was smiling. It had been a long time since I was this happy.

"Ready?"

"Of course!" I turned and ran out the door, Eragon trailing behind me. The ground shook a bit as the weight of the two walking dragons was added to the soft steps of our feet. I spent the first five minutes looking at all the ice. The grass snapped as we walked on it. Eragon was far behind me. I turned around, and he was crouching and looking at a frozen pond. We had wandered deep into the woods. Saphira was sniffing around some animal tracks. Grimm hunkered down, and then pounced into a snow drift. The resounding snowfall made it seem as if a blizzard was occurring.

And there was further effect as the sound of hundreds of thousands of the ice-covered branches snapped, as a huge creature began to move towards us.

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P.S. This chapter is actually based on my Christmas experience this year. We got loads of freezing rain and everything was coated in ice. You could hear the branches falling, and everything crackled and the grass snapped when you stepped on it. How many of you got the same? :)