Dragons Rising ✔️

Ch 57: Icy Thoughts

We flew for a good twenty minutes before crossing over the boundary into the cold desert. It instantly dropped in temperature from frigid to almost unbearable, even with all the furs I was wearing. Through chattering teeth, Tawny explained that this happened when all the magic was sucked out of area. I didn't care how it happened. I just curled up in as tight a ball as I could manage and pulled my tail into my coat.

The first half of the day was the most miserable I'd ever experienced. When we stopped on the ground for lunch, I was practically frozen to the saddle. It was more than a relief to get down and use Leera as a wind block. She didn't stay still, though; she was flapping her wings frantically. I jumped out of the way and realized that chunks of ice were falling off her wings. Her wing membranes were such a pale green that they almost matched the color of the ice falling off them.

When I looked around, I saw that Moonhawk and Farot's katalni were having the same problem. BlueIsle and Flametongue also had ice covering their wings, but their collars obviously kept them from caring.

[I'm not going up back up there.] Leera spit little jets of fire to melt the ice. [I can't feel my wings.] She suddenly got a curious look in her eye and scowled at me. [It's your fault for agreeing to go on this mission. We're all going to freeze to death.]

[We're doing it to save Lykela.] Why was she bringing this up now? She knew I had to do this, that we all had to do this to keep our country safe.

[Then why did you put the mission in danger at the mine? Now you don't have a wand, and we'll have to fight seven other riders to get to the weapons.]

[How is having to fight seven other riders my fault?] I clenched my fists to keep them from sparking as heat flushed in my palms.

Leera put her wing on top of me. [It isn't, but you make a good heater when you're angry.]

[Thanks.] I crossed my arms. [I've always wanted to be a wing heater.]

She pulled her wing back, shook the slush off of it, then turned to put her other wing on top of me.

I only put up with it because being angry had warmed me up, too.

"I think we will not fly again from here," Farot said.

I pushed the edge of Leera's wing up so I could see. "That's a good idea. I don't think their wings are cut out for this weather."

"Cut out?"

"They don't work well in this weather," I clarified.

"I see. Well, we will continue on the ground from here."

We did just that as soon as we'd all finished eating. It was better than riding a thousand feet above the ground and being constantly pounded by the wind, but it was still pretty cold. The hills we passed through seem to make tunnels that focused the wind right in our faces.

An hour or so before nightfall, we stopped and set up our tents. Farot forbid the lighting of any fires because the light and smoke could alert frazin riders to our position. I was so cold that nothing short of a bonfire would've warmed me up. Even so, I ate my dinner of cold, dried meat and tried to go to sleep in my tent. Leera crawled up outside the entrance, lending me some heat. It wasn't enough, though. While the others had seemed merely uncomfortable in the cold, I felt like I was slowly turning into an ice cube, even in the winter clothes and sleeping bag. Leera had said she felt the same way, but she told me to stop complaining when I mentioned it.

After at least half an hour of tossing and turning without coming any closer to falling asleep, I gave up, grabbed a couple of fire rocks from my pack, and left the tent. Leera was fast asleep and didn't wake up when I snuck around her. I headed away from camp, avoiding the sentry on duty.