Alika’s claws dug into soft snow. Cold winds raked her backside, trying to tear her from the mountain’s steep slopes. The Coldfire Pass was dizzyingly far below her, and every time Alika stared down, she thought she would slip, shattering herself on a sharp rock or sliding into a sinkhole.

“Just a little further!” Gust shouted, swimming against the winds. His mane whipped back and forth, his tail swinging wildly. Snow had hidden herself at the base of his neck, clinging precariously to his slippery scales.

The loose snow suddenly shook beneath Alika’s claws, rumbling and scattering. The top layer slipped, and Alika let out a screech as she slid down with it.

Alika reached out, grabbing the end of Gust’s tail. Gust grunted as he tried to pull Alika upward. The snow under her came to a stop, and Alika stuck her paws back into it. She hadn’t fallen far, fortunately, and began climbing up the slope again.

A nearby mountain erupted, spraying out freezing water. As it settled, ice crystals drifted down, covering Alika’s fur with a white sheen.

Up above, Tshishi screeched.

“Look, there!” Alika shouted, pointing to an indent in the mountainside above her, where Tshishi’s call had come from. The mountain caved inward, revealing a huge tunnel in its side, large enough for Tshishi to come in and out of. “She must have taken Tarka inside!”

With a roar, Alika began climbing faster, the end now in sight. Paw by paw, she made her way up the slope.

“Alika, wait!” Snow said. “You can’t just charge in there — Tshishi will rip you apart! We need to lure her out.”

“Then what do you suggest?” Alika panted. “Magic? Tshishi isn’t like Tshav. She won’t fall for the same trick twice.”

“I’m airborne, like her,” Gust brought up. “I can lead her away while you rescue Tarka.”

“Are you sure?” Alika asked. “She’s fast, and she knows this land.”

“I have magic, too. I can out-maneuver her for sure.”

“I’ll stay with Gust,” Snow suggested. “Just in case he needs a distraction of his own.”

“Alright,” Alika winced. She felt responsible for this. “Thank you. You don’t have to do this, you know.”

“I already owe you my life, many times over,” Gust replied. “Besides, it’s Tarka. We can’t just leave him to be bird-feed.”

Gust rose upward, with Snow on his back. Alika watched as he looped around the cavern entrance. She buried herself in the soft snow, trying to make herself unseen.

“Oh, um, hey!” Gust shouted. “Wow, what a nice cave for a worm dragon like me to come across. I wonder what’s inside, it looks so warm and comforta—”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Gust twisted, diving as Tshishi came flapping out, her gaze laser-focused on Gust. With a screech, she dove after him, the snow around Alika blown away at the force of her wings.

Alika watched as in the distance, Tshishi swooped, trying to grab the nimble Gust. Alika would just have to trust Gust and Snow on this.

Alone, Alika climbed upwards.

Finally, Alika pulled herself up to the cavern entrance. A dark tunnel led into the mountain, its sheer walls covered in ice. Huge talon marks scarred the surface, and a cold wind blew from inside.

Alika walked in to Tshishi’s lair.

The tunnel turned dark, and soon, even Alika could see only outlines within, shadows of her reflections in the frozen walls. She lifted up a paw, and green light lit it up.

Bones of animals small and large lay strewn around the tunnels. Alika shivered as she saw a dragon skull, partially embedded in the ice. If things went wrong, that could be her or Tarka.

The ground rumbled beneath her. She yelped as she heard something crack from above, diving to the side. An icicle as large as her tail shattered on the ground where she’d been standing, splitting into a thousand pieces.

Up ahead, the tunnel split into two. Fortunately, Alika knew which way to go — her magic led her left. She followed it through the winding tunnels.

Finally, the tunnels opened up, dim light at the end. She came out into a huge, vertical tube of ice and rock many times the width of Tshishi’s wingspan, the top open to the misty-filled sky. She’d reached the center of the ice mountain.

The sound of grinding ice and sloshing water came up from far below. Though Alika could barely see, the bottom of the mountain’s vent was filled with a slurry of rumbling ice, frozen over, trapping the high-pressure water beneath. The ground rumbled. Alika wasn’t sure how much longer she had before the ice mountain erupted.

The green light led upward, over the sheer edges of the vent. In the center of the tube, a thin pillar of stone rose from below. A small platform of soft snow rested at the top of it. It was a perfect place to hold prisoners who couldn’t fly, at least until the mountain erupted. Alika was sure: that was where Tshishi was holding Tarka.

Alika inched toward the edge of the tunnel. There didn’t seem to be any way to get up to the pillar, a huge gap between it and the sides of the vent. It was certainly too far to jump. There was only one way to get on or off it: flying.

Alika gulped, shutting her eyes and stepping back. When she opened them again, she saw the green light extended from her claws, over the edge… but showed her nothing beyond that. She had no other options.

The ice far beneath her rumbled and creaked, reminding her that it would eventually shatter, and the water would explode upward. She had to do this, now. She didn’t have time to be scared.

In the distance, Tshishi’s screech echoed through the tunnels. Alika thought of Gust and Snow, out there, fleeing from the monster eagle. Right now, they had to be as terrified as Alika, but they were doing it anyways.

Alika spread her wings. They were wide and strong, and in her heart, she knew they were capable. They had been, for a long time now.

She had to be brave. She had to do this. For Snow, for Gust, and for Tarka.

Shutting her eyes tight, Alika leaped from the sheer edge and into the heart of the rumbling mountain.

The wind clutched her in its embrace, air sliding beneath her wings. She screamed as she plummeted, falling forward as she did. The sheet of ice beneath her grew closer, the sting of wind on her furred wing membranes stronger.

Down and down she went, faster and faster. She felt the sudden urge to pull in her wings, in hope that when she crashed, they might be mangled in lieu of the rest of her body. But she resisted, keeping them held outwards, the only thing slowing her down.

And then, she stopped falling. Alika found herself flung horizontally through the vent, lifted up by the air beneath her wings. Her heart raced, her breath rapid and unsteady. But she wasn’t falling anymore — she was flying.