We were walking through the woods when a shadow passed over us. Ivan was the first to look up and we all soon followed his gaze. We immediately saw what was the cause. A white dragon was circling above us, high up in the sky, its wings fully extended to catch the wind while it looked for prey.

"Do you think we can take it down?" Andrei asked, his voice barely more than a whisper.

Tasha was the first to answer, "If we're careful about it and manage to surprise it. I suggest we keep an eye on it and see how it behaves, maybe we can find its lair or catch it while it's eating."

"I agree. We have enough to stay out for a few more days, and we're not going to find anything better than a dragon," I added.

Ivan nodded in approval and we went back to observing the large beast while hiding beneath the canopy of the trees. After circling a few times above us, it started moving north, and we followed, keeping to the shadows of the woods.

After a few hours we saw it dive to the ground not too far from us and we rushed to see what he was doing. Only a few seconds later, though, we saw it soaring the skies again, now with a giant sloth in its talons. Confident that it was going to bring its prey to its lair, we kept our pace to keep with its flight that now followed more of a straight line, compared to the erratic flying it had exhibited before.

We came in sight of its lair after twenty minutes of running, when we saw it enter a cave on the side of a peak. Tasha, who was leading the group, raised her hand, and we all came to a stop at the edge of the forest.

"I suggest we rest for a bit," she said.

"Agreed," Andrei said, removing his pack from his shoulders before sitting on the snow.

"We might lose our occasion," Ivan said.

Tasha shrugged. "We know where its lair is, if it flies away, we'll just wait for it to come back."

I dropped my pack and sat next to Andrei. "Sounds good enough to me."

Since we had decided to take a break, we all took out our rations, which consisted of a mixture of shredded meat, fat, and berries pressed together that was practically the tribe's version of pemmican, and had a quick lunch.

When we had finished eating, the dragon had not yet come out of its lair, so we decided to leave our packs there to travel more lightly and made our way towards the cave, bringing with us only our weapons and a few first aid supplies, which consisted only of a few strips of leather, a few sticks in case someone broke a limb, and some herbs that numbed the pain, contained in a small pack that Ivan had volunteered to carry.

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As we made our way up the slope of the mountain, we slowed our pace, being careful not to make too much noise and using the power of the tiger to mask our presence. When we reached the mouth of the cave, Andrei went first to peek inside to assess the situation. When he turned back to us, he motioned to our javelins and we all readied one in each hand.

When he saw we were all ready, he nodded and we all went to stand in front of the cave, where we saw that the dragon was sleeping in front of the skeleton of the giant sloth it had just eaten, bits of flesh still hanging from both the bones of its prey and its mouth. Seeing it from up close, it truly appeared as the terrifying beast it was, over fifty feet long, with snow white scales and radiating the cold of winter itself with every breath.

We all prepared to throw our first javelin and, after Tasha counted to three, we all threw at the dragon that was about a dozen yards away from us.

Being woken by four javelins was definitely not a welcome experience for the dragon, as it shot up on its limbs with a roar of rage. We didn't let the roar intimidate us and the second volley soon struck true inside its body.

Now out of javelins and with our prey fully awake, we rushed inside the cave, Andrei going first with his shield held in front of him. The simple tactic proved effective, as the shield covered us from the brunt of the icy breath that the dragon spewed against us. It still managed to hit us here and there, especially Andrei on its uncovered parts, but our resistance to cold meant we could take a few hits like that without too much of an issue.

With the end of its breath, the real fight started. Andrei positioned himself right in front of the dragon, trying to keep it busy with its shield and stun it with its mace. Tasha and Ivan went for its sides, trying to smash its ribcage into puncturing a lung. As for me, I went charging with my axe against one of its front limbs.

My move proved effective as the dragon soon tried to rotate to disengage Andrei, while going for a bite on Tasha and a tail swipe against Ivan, but instead collapsed over its front limb halfway through its maneuver. Sadly, I had not managed to dislodge my axe completely in time, and was forced to leave it hanging from the half-severed dragon leg and roll away before it could fall on me.

While I recollected myself, Tasha and Ivan capitalized on the opportunity and managed to place two solid hits each on its vertebrae, while Andrei went back to keeping its head occupied, meeting the dragon with a powerful hit from his mace to the jaw, dislodging it.

In desperation, it tried to bash Ivan, who was now positioned between the dragon and the entrance, away and escape. While the first part was successful, it could no longer run as fast as it was used to, and I had all the time to jump on its neck and stick my dagger into it. Out of a pure stroke of luck, I managed to sever a large blood vessel, which sprayed blood all over me.

The hit made the dragon stagger and fall to the ground. Because of the fact that it was already trying to run away, though, it didn't stop immediately, instead sliding out of the cave and down the slope of the mountain with me still hanging from its neck.

It rolled a few times in the fresh snow, bring me along for a ride, until it stopped about two hundred yards away from the cave, with me buried under one of its shoulders as it gargled blood in its death throes.

The others quickly reached me and immediately started laughing when they saw me trying to push the body of the dying dragon away from me.

"Stop laughing!" I snapped at them, "go get something to collect all this blood and get me out of here."

Ivan quickly went to retrieve the stuff while Tasha and Andrei dragged the dragon off of me, although none of them even tried to stop laughing at me.