12 CHAPTER TWELVE
The wind howled like a vengeful spirit, biting into their flesh with icy fingers while sheets of rain and snow obscured their path. Yara clung to the dragon's back, her teeth chattering from the cold as they pressed onward through the storm. Ice clung to her head, weighing down her hair and chilling her to the bone.
Each gust of wind and rain felt like sharp slaps against her skin, leaving her cheeks raw and stinging. Her shoulders were hunched against the biting cold, and her lashes were coated in a frosty layer, obscuring her vision.
Despite her efforts to shield herself from the elements and the dragon's body heat, the cold seeped through her clothing, gnawing at her flesh relentlessly. Her fingers grew numb and stiff, making it difficult to hold onto the dragon's scales, which glistened with a thin layer of ice.
The dragon's breath formed clouds of mist in the freezing air, and its wings beat against the raging winds with pure strength as it tried to force its way through the blizzard.
Only the eggs were slightly better off, hidden in their enchanted covering. However, even the satchel was starting to get soaked. Yara had half a mind to think elementals, not the weather itself, were attacking them. She could feel the chill seeping into her bones, draining her warmth with each passing moment.
Her face grew pale, drained of colour by the relentless cold. Her lips slowly turned blue, and every breath she took felt like daggers of ice piercing her lungs, leaving her gasping for air.
"Hey, hey, b-big guy," her teeth clattered as she tried to get the dragon's attention.
"C-can we f-find somewhere to wait out the s-storm? I'm about t-to f-freeze my butt off," she said as she patted its icy scales. Her fingers were starting to look frostbitten.
The dragon grunted; it felt the shivers that wracked her body and violent tremors that threatened to shake her off as they flew by.
"B-big guy? C-can you h-hear me?" she stuttered, breath coming out in puffs of icy vapour.
The dragon adjusted its course, scanning the landscape below for any sign of refuge from the storm. It was a risk to descend amidst the storm, but It needed the woman for the eggs.
It scanned through the blizzard for a place to stay, and they flew past high-rise mountains with jagged cliff faces.
Finally, it spotted a sheltered nook nestled within the rocky cliffs, shielded from the worst of the weather.
As they landed, the dragon lowered its head to allow Yara to dismount, its warm breath forming clouds of steam in the frigid air. It watched as she stumbled off its back, her movements sluggish and unsteady, her body trembling with cold.
Yara collapsed onto the ground with a sigh of relief, her body aching and exhausted. She set the eggs aside gently and wrapped her arms around herself as she tried to preserve the little warmth in her frozen limbs.
They were almost halfway done with the Frostweave season, so the storm caught them by surprise. The ice was supposed to melt in time for Blossomshroud, not building up like no tomorrow. Yara was from the South of the kingdom, where it rarely snowed, so this experience was a little too much for her.
The dragon settled beside her, its massive form radiating a comforting heat that chased away the chill from her bones. Yara scooted closer, curling around the dragon's flank for warmth.
"D-don't be mean, and l-let me stay close. S-share some heat with me," she whined when she felt it shifting away.
'You're wet; take off the clothes, or the heat won't matter,' it thought, pulling at her tunic with its claw.
"H-hey! K-keep your claws to yourself!" she huffed, squinting at it as she slapped its claw away.
The dragon rolled its eyes. Given how often she got injured or sick, there wasn't much of her body it hadn't seen.
'At this point, the woman owed her life to me,' the dragon thought as it pulled the eggs closer.
Plus, dragons were technically naked all the time. 'There was no shame in showing your glory, humans and their wrappings, ' it grumbled.
It looked down and saw that she had started drifting off to sleep. It tapped her cold face with its claw, tiny flakes of ice dusted off her lashes. 'wake up, human.'
"Let me sleep for a bit. We can leave once the storm stops in the morning," she mumbled, turning towards the eggs for warmth.
The dragon let out a plume of smoke in frustration. 'Humans were more trouble than they were worth, always needing help and protection,'
It made a gathering of small balls of flame hang over them. The wind from the blizzard outside finally reached its body in this form, making it shudder slightly. It hated human bodies; they were too susceptible to damage. Its body lost most of its natural protection this way. It shifted the woman gently, eased her out of her wet clothing, and covered her with fur from the satchel.
Due to the enchantment, the satchel's content had avoided being too wet. It flinched as she leaned against its chest, not liking the unexpected contact. 'Humans are too soft and plump. Not even hatching was this mushy. Shame they tasted like shit.' its finger poked at her cheek.
Yara grumbled, swatting the offending hand away with a frown as she pulled the eggs closer. The heat from the fireballs had finally worked, as the colour returned to her face, and she stopped trembling.
The dragon shifted back and lay curled around the woman and the eggs, eyes facing the cave opening.
'It would be a long journey north.'
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Snow crunched beneath heavy boots as Kellan and his men made their way back to the dragon's lair.
His eyes narrowed as he took in the entrance of the den. "Halt!" he raised his hand, stopping the men behind him. They all grabbed their weapons, eyes searching the darkness of the entrance and surroundings for any signs of movement.
They had walked past the bodies of their fallen comrades, thrown out and exposed to the elements and ravaged by scavengers. The cold weather froze their last moments on their faces, unable to let nature take its course. Naturally, this made them tense and jumpy, expecting the dragon to jump out at them.
Kellan moved closer to the opening and knelt, sniffing around. "What is he doing?" one of the men whispered as they watched Kellan move around the space quietly, eyes narrowed in concentration.
"You're new here, huh? He gets like that when the hunt is intense; he's like an animal with that nose of his," one of the older men whispered back.
Another hunter said, "Some say he is not fully human, and some shifter blood might be mixed in."
"I think it's elf blood, his dedication to the hunt second only to theirs," a fourth chimed in.
They stopped talking as Kellan stood up, his lips curled into a sickening smile. "They haven't been here for a while."
The men looked at each other, confused. "What do you mean, sir?" one of the younger ones asked.
"Come here, boy," Kellan said, motioning for him to come closer.
The man walked over cautiously, standing in front of Kellan. "Tell me, what do you see?" Kellan asked as he pointed to the cave opening.
"Undisturbed snow? Cobwebs, and there has been no movement from here in a while now?" the man asked, unsure.
"Exactly! These paths haven't been disturbed in a while," Kellan said, slapping the man's shoulder. The dragon and the woman's absence only fueled his excitement. They had caught him off guard before, but now, they were well within his grasp.
"Spread out," he ordered his men, "Search the cavern. Take everything of value you can carry. We've hit the mother lode today."
His men nodded eagerly, their greed shining in their eyes as they fanned out into the cavern, their torches casting eerie shadows on the walls. Kellan watched with satisfaction as they greedily snatched up gold coins, jewels, and ancient artefacts.
The dragon had made a fatal mistake by leaving its only defensible position. It seemed as though they had abandoned the cavern for a while now, but Kellan's instincts told him they couldn't have vanished completely, not with the recent storms. Even a dragon would have to find shelter to evade forced hibernation.
Now, it was vulnerable and exposed to unfamiliar territory, and Kellan intended to capitalise on that weakness.
"I never expected this of you, beastie; you seemed smart. So much for being sentient," Kellan leaned against the wall in the cavern as he watched his men work. The cavern walls were filled with scorch marks and dried blood stains from their previous battle.
"We'll head north," he announced to his men. "That's where the dragon will go next," he licked his lips, scar pulsing from excitement. "but we'll be ready for it."
Kellan was no stranger to such terrain. He had hunted beasts far smarter and more elusive than a mere dragon and knew exactly how to flush them out of hiding.
"This is perfect," he muttered, a crazed smile forming on his scarred face. "They'll have nowhere to hide now. They'll be easy pickings."
Kellan was a predator, a master of his craft. And he would not let his prey slip through his fingers so easily. His thoughts wandered to the fiery woman with the dragon, and he couldn't wait to get his hand on her. A fire had been lit under him that only she could quench; he would have her, he must.
A smirk twisted Kellan's lips as he turned to his men. "Tonight, we feast and make merry with the loot! By the moon's peak, we hunt!"
His men cheered, weapons and treasures glinting in the torches.
This was what they lived for—the thrill of the hunt, the promise of riches, the taste of victory.
Kellan watched as his men loaded the spoils onto their backs, their muscles straining under the weight. While it was not what he wanted, they would return to camp victorious, their pockets lined with treasure and their heads held high.
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Yara frowned as sunlight pierced through her lids, waking her up. She opened her eyes, blinking at the clear sky outside the nook.
As she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, memories of the previous evening flooded back to her—a blur of swirling snow, icy winds, and the comforting warmth of the dragon's heat beneath her fingers. She vaguely remembered leaning against someone's chest and getting poked in her face. "That was just a hallucination, right?" she muttered. Her frown deepened as she rubbed her cheek.
'So the storm finally stopped,' she thought, stretching as she sat up. Her eye twitched as the furs fell off her shoulders to reveal her bare form. 'That dragon!' she turned around, mouth opened to scold, then realised she was alone in the space.
"That pervert and always taking my clothes off," she grumbled under her breath as she pulled the furs up.
She looked around the space and found her clothes already dried on the side. With a sigh, Yara pushed herself to her feet, her muscles protesting the movement after hours of huddling in the cold.
"Where did it go?" she wondered aloud as she wrapped the furs around her body and walked over to the clothes. The eggs were still in the satchel, and small floating balls of flames were on the roof. She flexed her fingers, making sure everything was working as it should. She had been in bad shape when they landed.
She sighed, pulling her hair in a messy bun on top of her head. The storm had come out of nowhere three weeks into their trip. They had nowhere to land without being out in the open, so they decided to keep flying.
As she fastened the laces of her tunic, a glimmer of light caught her eye from within her satchel. Digging through its contents, her fingers closed around the smooth surface of her communication stone.
Dread filled her. Because of all the events that had happened so far, she hadn't been able to contact home.
"Hello?" she said cautiously, glad this was only an audio communication stone.
"Yara, where have you been?" a voice crackled through the stone, "You haven't checked in for weeks," the person seemed impatient.
"I...we've been on the move," Yara replied hesitantly, her mind racing to come up with an explanation. "The dragon...we had to leave the cavern. It wasn't safe anymore."
"Wasn't safe? What happened?" the person demanded, their tone sharp. Yara flinched at his voice; she could feel the person raise an eyebrow.
"Yeah, for some reason, Kellan, the bounty hunter from the east, attacked us. It seems there are smugglers after the dragon," she replied carefully as she shifted uncomfortably where she sat.
"You decided not to make this known till we reached out?" came the terse question.
"I-I apologise. It was my mistake," Yara said quietly. She felt the knot in her stomach twist as her unease grew. The eggs glowed in the satchel, leaning towards her as though sensing her mood. She rubbed them gently, slightly happy with their distraction.
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line, filled only with the crackle of static from the communication stone. The tension mounted.
"Perhaps Arai should have been sent on the trip instead?" someone mumbled in the background. Yara's grip tightened on the communication stone, her knuckles turning white.
'Of course, they would consider Arai over me.' She thought bitterly, her jaw clenched in frustration.
She waited with bated breath for the verdict; what would she do if asked to return home? She hadn't told them about bonding with the dragon's eggs and knew she couldn't leave the babies alone yet.
"Where are you headed now?" the initial person asked instead. Yara could feel the resignation heavy in their tone. She swallowed hard, her stomach churning with unease.
"North, we haven't passed the Scraglers Peaks yet," Yara said through gritted teeth.
"North huh, there might be hope yet." the voice seemed thoughtful.
"Let's send Arai to complete the job, I knew it was a mistake to send this girl," someone said, the contempt in their voice made Yara know who it was immediately.
'That fucking sly bitch,' she thought, eyes narrowed.
"But Arai just returned, to be sent out so soon again?" Another asked.
"The journey remains the same, though slowed. They await us at Sweltswart."
There was a soft sigh from the other end of the line, "Can I trust you with this, Yarina?" the leader of the group asked.
She knew what was expected of her, what she had agreed to do when she embarked on this journey.
"Yes, uncle," she replied, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Good, the family is counting on you, child; save me some face, alright?"
Just as she was about to respond, the sound of wings beating against the air caught her attention. She turned to see the dragon descending gracefully from the sky; fresh kill hung off its jaws.
Yara ended the call quickly and stowed the communication stone back into her satchel, her mind buzzing. The dragon paused at the entrance, staring at her satchel and then her.
"What did you bring?" she asked, dusting her hands as she walked to the entrance.
She was still slightly unsettled by the call, and her voice was shaky. The dragon pushed its snout towards her, showing her the bloody rabbits. "Urgh, couldn't you have bled it out before bringing it here?" she scrunched up her nose as the blood pooled under the rabbits.
Her mind went back to the call, 'so Arai was back from the east huh?' she thought, reaching for the rabbits. She knew she couldn't afford to fail, couldn't afford to let down the family.
Lost in her thoughts, Yara mechanically went into autopilot, her movements slowed and distracted.
The dragon stared at her intensely for a minute before throwing the rabbits at her, "Hey! What the fuck is wrong with you?!" she shrieked in surprise as the wet creatures slapped against her chest.
The dragon scoffed, walking past her towards the eggs. "How do you expect me to wash this?!" she asked, trying to clean the blood off her tunic. Thank heavens she hadn't worn her corset yet.
It ignored her as it flopped beside the satchel and rubbed against the eggs. Yara sighed, looking down at the tunic. There was no water here to clean it, she would have to reduce the tunic to rags.
'There goes another one of my clothes,' she thought, turning to the rabbits on the floor. The dragon no doubt ate its prey before bringing these to her.
She'd have to skin and cook them here by the entrance to avoid smoking them out. Then, there was the fact that they were high up. Someone would see the smoke from here.
She looked out the sprawling mountainside and noticed a small town on the side, just across the mountain pass. A thought came to mind.
"Hey, big guy," she turned to see its snout in her satchel. "What the?! Get out of there!" she shooed it away, there were things in the bag she didn't want it seeing. The dragon stared at her, unimpressed. "Give me my bag; I know what you want. I'll get it for you," she said, holding out her hand.
The dragon remained beside the bag, staring at her hand. "You're impossible sometimes," she huffed, walking to the satchel. She crouched and fished inside it for a while, making sure to be careful with the eggs.
She could feel the dragon's heat behind her as it looked over her shoulder.
"So impatient, here you go," she said, pulling out some rubies that had been shrunk to fit into her satchel. She had noticed the dragon sometimes tended to eat the precious stones and asked it to shrink some for her occasionally. She had decided to carry as many treats as possible, and maybe she could train the dragon with them as they did with dogs at home.
She snorted at the mental image of the dragon rolling over like a dog, tongue out, tail wagging. She laid the rubies on the ground and watched as they increased in size.
"Don't you know you're not supposed to search through a woman's bag?" she asked, mock glaring at the dragon as it ignored her. The rubies had grown back to their normal size and were now being munched on by the dragon.
"Fine, be a baby and ignore me," she jumped over the tail swipe, used to its antics, but missed the wing and fell on her face with an oomph.
She looked up and just knew it was laughing at her. "OK, OK, I need you to listen to me; I saw a village down the mountain pass," the dragon blinked at her with slitted eyes.
"I want to go there. I need to stock up on some supplies," she explained, pointing outwards. The dragon turned away, focusing on its gems, "Is that a yes?" she asked, leaning closer.
All she got was a face full of smoke. She coughed, cursing out the dragon in her mind before getting her knife to work on the rabbits.
She would have to somehow get the dragon to smoke them so they would last longer. She crouched by the entrance and got to work, her mind fully off the conversation she had just moments ago.
She missed the look the dragon gave her back, its eyes going to the satchel with a thoughtful look in its eye.
