A Dragon Named Wynter

Chapter 01: Bedtime Story

The metal lantern creaked as it swung back and forth from its handle in the wind. The trees still held a few leaves with bright colors, but most of the foliage had let go of the branches and drifted down to carpet the ground.

"Time to come in," Gerald called to his grandchildren as they tromped through the brittle leaves.

Like Gerald, the kids were dressed in attire made from tanned hides and fur. Durable and warm, the clothes also let them blend in with the colors of the forest where they lived.

"Can't we stay outside a little longer?" pleaded Marisa. At seven years of age, Marisa was a year younger than her brother Peter, but due to a growth spurt, she easily matched him in height.

"It's time for bed," Gerald denied. "You can come back out tomorrow."

"Awwww," the children whined in unison.

"That's enough," Gerald gently halted their protests. "If you don't come in, I can't tell you a good night story about the great dragons."

"Dragons!" Peter repeated eagerly.

"Come on," Gerald encouraged, ushering the children back to the house and directing his lantern in front of them to avoid tripping on any branches possibly in their path.

While the children got ready for bed, Gerald bolted the door and put an extra log on the fire. He sat down in a sturdy chair and watched the flickering movements of the flames.

"We're ready!" shouted Marisa. Her blonde curls bounced beside her round face as the seven year old hurried into the room and hopped into Gerald's lap.

"Where's your brother?" Gerald asked.

"I'm here," Peter said quickly, not wanting to be left out.

Gerald pulled Peter up onto his unoccupied knee before wrapping his arms around both of his grandchildren.

"This is an old story, passed down through many generations of our family," Gerald began. "Long ago, there weren't seasons like there are now, and the weather could be different every day or switch in an instant. Life was hard is such unpredictable times. Everything changed, however, with the arrival of a glorious white dragon named Wynter. She could breathe out clouds of ice, freezing burning coals into chunks of ice. The beating of her great wings summoned blizzards that would last for days on end. She merely had to fly over the countryside to blanket it in snow."

"Why would Wynter want things cold all the time?" Marisa inquired. "Doesn't the dragon get cold too?"

"Not at all," Gerald chuckled. "Wynter actually needed the cold to survive, so she changed to world to suit her, covering the lands in snow and ice."

"How come everyone didn't freeze?" Peter asked.

"They almost did," Gerald admitted. "The first winter was longer than any we've ever had, before or since. In fact, some believed if Wynter wasn't stopped, the world would be forever covered in ice and all humanity lost. The two men who thought to challenge Wynter were Kaj and Daxen. Together, these two warriors raised an army and set out to slay the dragon."

***

The wind whipped the snow past the face of Kaj, stinging any exposed skin with icy razors. Wrapped in hides, Kaj tightened the leather straps on his fur edged hood, constructing the hood down around his face to allow fewer places for the wind to slip through.

His eyes squinted because of the blinding reflections. Snow covered everything in view with an ever increasing layer of glistening white. The grass was buried under knee high drifts, and the thick coating of snow upon the trees blended them together in a single mass.