The Diamond Winglet: Frostbite's Power

Chapter 2

I cried out in pain as I dropped into the ice. It slightly cracked below me, and I yelped. Wrong time to mention we lived at the edge of the continent, near the ocean where the thin ice resided. I guess that meant we were quite literally always on thin ice.

My father screamed as he watched his talons turn completely black. The dark color seeped down his arms at a rapid pace, although it was slowing. He looked at my mother with a fury and anger I had never seen on any dragon face, not even Icestorm's. My father collapsed, and I was still, not knowing what to do.

He wailed, writhing in the snow, and one of his wings accidentally smacked me, as I had not gotten out of reach yet. The force of his struggle sent me into the ice, the crystalline substance disappearing under me with a sudden bang!

I plunged into the water, panicking. Blizzard had always warned me what would happen if I fell through the ice; my scales would freeze the water around me. And if my mother couldn't fish me out of the water fast enough, or if I went too deep, then the water around me would freeze, and I would suffocate or drown, whatever happened first.

The luckiest I would get in that situation was if I could manage to shoot to the surface fast enough that the water around me couldn't freeze me in place. If I was too slow... I could simply say goodbye to my future.

I remained above the surface, flailing my wings, just long enough to see that my father had recoiled his wings, his pained yells renewed as pain shot through his right wing. Then, I was trapped under the surface in an icy cage. Flashes of panic shot through me as I noticed that crystals of frozen water were already forming.

I began to sink, and I felt something reach for my tail. I saw the retreating talons of my mother, who had reached through the hole to try and grab me.

I could see light coming from where I'd last seen my father thrashing in pain and rage. No! I thought. Mother had told me that when light came from under the ice, it meant the ice was gong to give way in a matter of seconds. Shards of the freezing barrier between me and life began to drop from the light, which was my only hope.

I clawed my way towards the surface, barely escaping the freeze that encased me. I moved my body as much as possible so as to throw off my scales; moving my tail, wings, and talons. I even bobbed my head so as to keep me alive. My lungs burned with lack of oxygen.

I was so close! I began to slow, ice forming on my hind legs and talons. Just a few more feet, and I would be able to breath. I wiggled everything, giving me a last burst of energy.

Just in time, I broke the surface of the water. The water around the lower half of my body turned to ice, but I hardly cared, as I was trying not to choke on the fresh air.

I turned to see my father still struggling, and to my horror, his flailing gestures were growing weaker every second. Now I was chilled to the bone. Here was my father, about to die, because I let him pick me up. I shouldn't have let him touch me! 

I didn't know what to do. The ice under Chill was about to crack, and he would fall, but I couldn't touch him without making it worse. The breach in the thin ice made a loud snapping noise, and my father stopped moving, realizing what was happening. He was now on his side, frozen with fear.

The cracking noises subsided, but I could see the ice silently getting it's freezing, watery guillotine ready. My mother looked scared. "Chill? Don't move. If you stay still, I can reach you. Don't try and fly. Freeze." She commanded, and Chill gave her a wry smile, nodding at his talons. "Done that." He whispered, and I noted the dark color had stopped spreading his scales. 

Chill seemed unable to move his front talons anyway. I could somehow see his eyes shifting to his wings. His right wing lay at his side, seemingly useless, and then my father looked at the ice. I gasped, realizing what I could do to help. It might delay the angry waters just long enough for mother to save Chill.

"Mom! Don't let him go under! I'll keep the ice frozen!" I yelled at my mother, who realized my plan just in time to watch me sink under the waves once again.

I swam awkwardly towards the ice under my father. It was almost like angry spirits were trying to drag him under, like the legends said. 

In the old stories, IceWings could swim almost as good as SeaWings. They only stopped because of a tragic accident about two thousand years ago. A dragonet named Floe had been playing on the ice, when her brother, Freeze, had sent her under the ice, supposedly by accident. The poor dragonet drowned. The strange thing was, she was rumored to have had my kind of scales.

Ever since that incident, dragonets and adult dragons alike drowned in the ice. At first, it hadn't seemed so odd. It happened slowly, but IceWings still went down to the ocean and swam. It was just natural. The only strange thing at the time was that the first dragonet to drown after that day was Freeze, who had kicked the metaphorical bucket the very next day.

Then every IceWing who swam had died, or been injured in someway by some sort of predator. IceWings never went down to the ocean again, except for emergencies, and lost their swimming capabilities. 

Back to the danger at hand. I pressed my freezing scales against the ice, and the surface became slightly more reinforced. I saw my mother's talons come closer, nothing more than a shadow hiding the light from the cracked ice. I continued to press around the ice, moving around the cracks so I wouldn't freeze.

I looked for the smaller patterns of my siblings' claws, and couldn't find them. Seeing as there were no holes in the ice, I knew they must be on the safe haven of snow-covered rock. My father's shadow over the water became less, as though he were being lifted off the ice. His wings were useless, so I figured mother was lifting him away.

I could swear I saw a dragon under the ice with me. I thought I saw mist rising from it's scales as well, and I shivered. My oxygen was running out once more. . It looked at me, jaw opening, then closing. No. Way.

There is absolutely no way that I am looking at the ghost of Floe. I told myself, but it seemed the dragonet looking at me was nodding. Her scales were gray, although ghostly-bright, like... oh no. Like a NightWing. A NightWing and IceWing hybrid? Could she mind-read?

The dragonet confirmed my suspicions. She swam closer, looking sympathetic. She was so small, barely my age. "Look closer into my history, my descendant. Expose the truth that has corrupted our tribe. You have a hard future ahead of you, but I shall spare you. Leave your father. He will crush you beneath him if you stay in the water. You will die." She whispered, fading away.

I blinked, and then looked at the hulking shape of my father, who's shadow had gone away. With a feeling of foreboding, I swam to the hole I had dove into, and climbed out. Danger passed, I took a deep breath, then turned to see my mother up in the air.

She was struggling to keep my father flying, and I saw she was trying to fly him towards the snow, where my siblings were waiting. I climbed out of the water and shook the slightly snowy droplets from my wings.

I flapped my wings to get in the air, and I soared towards my siblings, who looked relieved. "You're okay!" Icestorm said, and then he composed himself. "I mean, don't take such stupid risks!" he growled, and smirked. "Of course, you know you love me." I joked. 

"You walrus-stuffed idiot! I wish I could touch you, so I could strangle you! Or hug you, I don't care, you stupid snow-brained dragonet!" Frost said, and then her eyes fixed on an unknown object apparently falling from the sky.

I heard my mother cry out in alarm, and I looked up to see my father falling from the sky, crash into the frozen surface of the ocean, and the ice finally broke. I watched in terror as Chill fell through the ice, and sank like a dead weight into the depths of the sea, leaving nothing but a dark, gaping crater of churning water and the blood of my father behind.

(Ugh! Updating next chapter soon. It's freakin midnight, and thanksgiving break is over! Hmm. Three weeks till christmas break. Slower updates now, sorry! Suggest dragon OC's if you want. Ship em, if you want. Love y'all!)