“Look out!” Alika roared, leaping on Gust and slamming him into the snow. A moment later, and giant talons scooped down from the sky, raking across Alika’s back and ripping long red gashes in it. They grasped, but only pulled out a chunk of blue fur.

An ear-splitting screech sounded from above, and the talons raised. Two huge wings covered in blue and white feathers flapped upward, and a sharp yellow beak as large as Tarka disappeared back into the mists.

“Run!” Alika commanded, though no one needed her to tell them. She got off of Gust, and the four were suddenly sprinting north, dodging rocks and trees in the dark. The monster’s shadow circled above, tracking their every movement. They needed cover.

“Into the trees!” Alika said, turning and diving beneath the pines. She paused for a moment, heart pounding in her chest. Gust flew past her, then Tarka bounded through. She waited a couple more seconds, sighing in relief as Snow leaped up in Tarka’s pawsteps.

Alika lowered her head, and Snow jumped on, sinking her claws into Alika’s neck.

Though the four might have had some cover, they weren’t out of the woods yet. The monster swooped down again, grasping as it tried to reach beneath the pines. It’s talons wrapped around trees instead, ripping them from the ground. Alika dove as huge treetrunks slammed into the snow, one almost crushing her tail. Branches and pine needles scraped beneath her fur as she broke through them, trying to find Tarka and Gust in the mist.

She didn’t have to wait long. There was a furious crack as one of the torn-up trees slammed into another, spraying wood and splinters. Tarka and Gust’s screams filled the air, and Alika thought she saw a burst of flame in the distance.

Alika caught up as the monster returned to its hiding place in the mists, ready to attack at any notice. Both Tarka and Gust had been flung into the snow, but were otherwise uninjured. She helped them back to their paws, scanning the skies for the next attack.

“The forest is too thin here,” Alika said. “We have to get out of the open.” She scanned around for the walls of the pass, unable to see them in the dark. Were there any caves nearby? Somewhere they could hide?

“I saw a small crevasse in the distance when I was scouting earlier,” Gust suggested. “Perhaps we could hide there?”

Alika flicked her snout, and ran after the sky-swimming Gust. Snow bounced on her neck, while Tarka ran behind her. She continuously checked the sky, hoping for any sort of warning for when the monster would attack next. Pillar-like trees jutted out snow-covered branches, clawing away pieces of the view above her. Mountains rumbled in the distance. Maybe it had lost them?

A shadow swept across the sky.

“Get down!” Alika roared, diving into crunchy snow. Gust swam down, and gargantuan talons raked through the air.

A pine tree toppled in front of their path with a resounding thud, spraying snow from its impact. The monster perched on the trunk, mist curling around its spread-out wings, each as tall as a tree. Its form was that of a humongous eagle: every inch of its body was covered in ice-blue feathers, except for its eyes, its razor-sharp beak and talons, and a pink burn scar on the underside of its neck.

“She has got you now, she has, she has!” the monster screeched, its voice a harsh, high-pitched scream, nothing like the deep rumble of a dragon. “It has been so long since she has had a scrumptious, delicious dragon treat! So long, so long.”

“Please take back everything good I’ve ever said about Tasien,” Gust gulped.

The monster’s head suddenly twisted around as another screech sounded from above it. A second monster eagle swooped downward from the sky, swiping its claws at the head of the first, just barely missing.

“Not your treats!” the first monster eagle screeched, taking off after the newcomer. “Not your treats!”

Alika stood there for a moment, silent and confused until Snow nipped her neck.

“Go!” Snow yapped. “She’ll figure it out soon enough!”

Alika and Tarka climbed over the felled tree as Gust floated over. The monster eagle in the sky chased after Snow’s illusion, circling round and round. As Alika leapt off, and they sprinted out from the forest into open snow, the monster finally sunk her talons into the illusion. It evaporated.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“A trick! A trick!” the monster cried. “The treats have tricked her!”

Alika and Tarka’s paws padded through the snow, their legs taking them as fast as they could across its crusty surface. Gust flew ahead, disappearing from view quite suddenly.

“In here!” Gust called out, waving a paw.

The monster swooped down, her wings stretched out wide as she soared across the snow.

Alika dove into the crevasse, sliding into Gust. Snow tumbled from her neck, landing deep in the crack. Alika twisted around, stretching out her paws to grab Tarka, who was still on the snow.

The eagle’s talons reached down to grab him. He wasn’t going to make it.

Gust let out a shrill cry, three discordant tones emanating from his throat. Winds streamed out from behind Alika, blasting into the monster’s wings, pushing her back. Though it only delayed her by a few moments, a few moments were all that Tarka needed.

Tarka slid into the crevasse after Alika, barrelling into her and knocking her into Gust. Alika grabbed Tarka and pulled him down, just as the eagle’s talons raked over where his head had been.

The eagle swooped around to strike again, only managing to knock snow away. The four buried themselves deeper when the eagle landed. It stabbed its huge beak into the crack, trying to get at the four. It was too large to get far down, but was so close that if Alika stuck out a paw, the eagle could have snapped it off.

“Scrumptious little dragon treats should come on out where she can get them!” the monster screeched, its voice reverberating through the crevasse. “Come on out, come on out!”

Alika let a small blast of flame loose from her jaws, scorching the eagle’s beak. It cried in pain, dislodging more snow as it pulled its beak away. The ground shook as it hopped around the crevasse.

“Little dragon treats can flame all they want, but they will have to come on out eventually!” she whined. “And she will get them then, she will, she will!”

“It might, um, it might be a while,” Gust spoke up. “We have plenty of snacks, and can melt snow for water. So maybe you should just leave? Waiting would be awfully boring for all of us.”

The monster screeched, stomping the snow. It peered back over the crevasse, watching the four with a huge eye.

“She is a very patient bird, she is, she is!” the eagle said. “She is also very excited to taste a strange looking dragon! Like a big worm, all curvy and twisty! And it has been so long since she’s eaten a yummy, juicy worm!”

Gust hid his head beneath Alika, trying to hide from the monster’s prying eye.

“If the big worm will not come out, I will just have to make it!” the eagle screeched. She stomped again, using her talons to throw more snow into the crevasse.

Alika held her breath as snow piled down on top of them, covering her wings. She and Tarka were used to denning in snow, and could hold their breaths, but what about Gust and Snow? She saw Snow disappear under a white blanket, more and more snow coming down to fill up the crevasse.

Alika despaired as it coated her, up to her legs. She tried to grab onto her friends, digging through snow and attempting to find them. The eagle screeched overhead, laughing at this deadly game they were playing. Soon, it would have them — though perhaps frozen.

Roars sounded on the horizon, deep and guttural. Alika’s ears perked up as they came closer, their sounds familiar and bellowing.

The eagle screeched. Alika smelled smoke and saw wisps of flame through the snow. There was an enormous blast of wind as the eagle took off.

“Big dragons are no good!” the eagle cried. “Full of sharp talons and awful flames! No good, no good!”

Dragons, adult dragons. Alika could smell them now — the first dragons she’d smelled since they’d gone into the mountains. She froze, though she was sure they could smell her back. Would they be friendly, or were they dangerous?

“Are you alright?” A dragon’s bulky snout poked out over the crevasse, reaching down a huge paw into it. His face was covered in light blue fur, his scruff a dark blue, and a crown of horns stuck out from his head.

Alika took a risk, and brushed the snow off her, letting him get a full view of her. Tarka did the same, his tail waggling under the snow.

“Oh!” The dragon cocked his head. “Oh. I don’t know you.”

“I told you so!” A second, older dragon looked down from the surface. Her fur was light blue, with white-colored speckles and small scrapes and scars dotting it. “They’re not ours! We shouldn’t have anything to do with them!”

“But they smell like ours,” the first, younger dragon said. “Don’t they? And they’re just cubs.”

“Hmph,” the older dragon snorted. She lowered her snout down into the crevasse, flaring her nostrils. “This one doesn’t smell like ours.” With a paw, she brushed the snow away, revealing Gust’s green-scaled head. Her eyes opened in surprise. “And he certainly doesn’t look like ours!”

The younger dragon brushed a bit more snow off Alika, and gestured out his paw again, signaling for her to grab it.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “We won’t hurt you. Let’s get you out of there, shall we?”

Still wary, Alika grabbed his leg with both of her forepaws, using her hindpaws to free herself from the snow. She clambered up the side of the crevasse. The snow above had been covered in giant talon-prints.

“I’m Urka, and this is Omerka,” the younger dragon said, reaching down again to help Tarka out.

Tarka let out a loud gasp, shaking off snow, his tail thumping even faster. “We did it! We did it!”

Alika lit up, looking at the two bewildered adults in succession. She hadn’t realized it until they’d said their names, but their scents were familiar, far more so than the other dragons they’d come across.

“We found you!” Tarka exclaimed, clapping his forepaws in joy. “We found our pack!”