General Winter

Hello! I have recently finished reading the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik, which can be basically summarized as "the Napoleonian wars, but with dragons". It might seem a silly premise, but it works brilliantly!

The beginning scene from the 9th book, "Blood of Tyrants", stood out to me. It deals with the devastating effects the Russian winter had on Napoleon's troops. The main characters (captain Laurence and his dragon, Temeraire), find a dying French dragon, wit her captain already frozen besides her. Without much possibility to help her, they put her to sleep as well.

I wondered what the French captain and his dragon could have felt, in the last moments of their lives, as they were stranded alone, cold, and hungry, in a foreign land. So, I wrote a little story based on them. It's a pretty tragic one, however. Thanks for reading! Any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.

The title refers to the Russian winter, which helped the country withstand several invasions across its history. It's called "General Winter" / "General Frost" (or "Le Général Hiver" in French).

The cover image is one of my drawings, "Peaks". I didn't have any other relevant artwork, but since the novel starts in the harsh Russian landscape, I thought some mountain peaks were at least partly fit for the cold mood of the story.

Link: https://www.deviantart.com/smb00/art/Peaks-1110568319