Dawn's Light

Chapter 32

After the scare with the ice dragon, Celia was glad the next few days afterward remained uneventful. As they flew farther, the mountains receded into the land as if the land devoured the proud masses of stone.

Irin shifted his trajectory westward until he flew northeast, and Verbena followed his lead. 'Hael is on a peninsula, so we need to fly a bit westward for now, but we will arrive soon enough.' He promised.

After a few more hours of flying in the moonlight, both dragons finally moved to decent and land in the seemingly barren landscape. 'Here is close enough to the settlement for us to safely land, and the walk is not too far for Xan and Celia. I can construct a snow cave for us to rest in while they are in town.'

Verbena snorted, then set her vision on the fog-obscured horizon and tried to pinpoint the location of the town, but failed. 'I do not see any mountains for a town to reside in, so how can human live here without the warmth or protection from caves? It seems impossible.'

'The humans of the north live in constructions of snow and ice rather since there are fewer caverns here.' Irin calmly replied as he flapped his wings a few times to slow his descent, then softly landed in the snow.

As Verbena gently landed beside Irin, Xan smirked a bit, "You will be extremely surprised by the interior of this place. If you have only seen underground places your entire life, this place will leave you dumbfounded and speechless." He slid jumped off of Irin's back, but in an attempt to achieve a flashy landing, accidentally slipped on Irin's slick ice armor and landed face first in the snow.

Though Verbena could not prevent her chortles, Celia managed to suppress audible laughter, but her shoulders trembled a bit as a snicker escaped. Instead of attempting to show off, she stepped off of Verbena's harness as Master Peteah showed her in her first and only training session.

Once she successfully halted her giggling, she looked down to Xan, who was still face down in the snow. Her boots sank several hand lengths into the snow as she walked, but she trudged over to her male counterpart and offered a hand.

Irin did not contain his laughter as efficiently as Celia and released a hearty draconic chuckle. Small clumps of loose snow fell from his icy exterior as his body shook in his inability to remain composed.

Xan lifted up his head and looked to Celia, then stood to his feet without her aid. He shifted his focus away from Celia and rubbed his arm, "Can we pretended that did not happen?" He spoke in a low voice, then grimaced and released a strained, weak laugh as if Celia already wordlessly accepted.

Celia frowned a bit as she nodded, then adjusted her field of vision to the seemingly empty expanse of snow and ice. "So, um, where is the town? Um... Hael, was it?" Celia managed to spread a weak smile across her countenance.

Xan briefly rubbed the back of his head, then turned to what seemed to be a wasteland vacant of any signs of life. "You'll see when we get there. If you have anything to trade, you should bring that as well."

Celia nodded, then prepared her travel sack with the required items. Once she finished, she tied the pack closed and slipped the straps over her shoulders. "Lead the way," She showed him an encouraging grin.

With his confidence and ego partially recovered to their former glory, Xan flashed a grin, then began to walk in a westward direction through the snow.

Celia followed his lead, and they trudged several lengths through the snow. Soon, she spotted two strange black objects protruding from the snow. Originally, she could not see it in contrast to the dark sky, but now she was close enough to pick it our "What is that?" Celia glanced to Xan, then back to the object.