In Silence May We Burn

Prologue

Cold. That was all the old dragon could feel. Soft snow covered the dead ground around him as he carried his burden through the deep drifts. A bone-chilling wind sliced between the blackened trees and made him shudder. On he trudged, on into the cold blackness. As the last light of day faded, the darkness enfolded around him like tar, a blackness so thick and cold it grew hard to breathe, hard to move. Soon his old legs grew weary and he grew weak. The cold began to affect his mind, his breathing grew difficult. Ice was beginning to form on his dark green scales. His burden grew too heavy to go on, so he began to drag it towards a hill. Finding a hole in the stone big enough to be sheltered from the cold, he lay down the burden to one side and raked together some old branches. Using his breathe he started a fire and laid across from the burden. His mind filled with swirling thoughts, he watched the thing he was burdened with. His own wife. Her life had faded from her body only yesterday. He had been burdened with carrying his wife's cold corpse deep in the Blackwood to bury her with their fallen clan mates were buried. Soon he became too tired to stay awake and lay his head down on his front legs to rest awhile. But sadly, the fire died out in his slumber. The blizzard blew on, growing colder as night progressed. As the land around his sleeping body froze solid, it began to crawl up his limbs and tail. It encased his legs and his heartbeat began to slow. The thick ice encased him and his organs stilled. His blood no longer raced through his body and his mind ceased to whirl. The storm continued, burying him and his wife beneath feet of snow and ice. Lost. Never to be buried with their family.