Warmth

Caliban slept in his little lean-to, blissfully unaware of the blizzard surrounding them. His scales shivered a bit, but any time it seemed he would wake, the dragon would adjust his scarf with a claw and warm up again. Somewhere else, Prospero was probably doing the same. Firefall stood outside the hatchery, letting his flames dance around his feet and melt the snow. Cat Sith curled herself close to the fire but kept her ears twisted to the outside world. Marshasp perched on the sill, looking into the wall of white. While Caliban was content to snore, the other three had their own worries about the blizzard.

“Caliban doesn’t sleep without his Rider nearby, so Prospero is still in the blizzard.” Cat Sith flicked her tail with irritation. “Along with Kolkhis.”

“So, Kolkhis is protecting him, and Caliban is comfortable enough to sleep,” Firefall replied. He could feel the anxiety of their Rider just as keenly as she did, but he looked forward to hunting more than having Marshasp play the game of roulette that was Prospero’s cooking.

“Kolkhis is not a dragon to rely on. For all we know, that’s even more reason to worry about him.”

Marshasp listened to their back-and-forth, his feathers raising and falling with each argument. It was nearly sunup, and with no sign of the Rider among the snows, he feared the worst.

“Or maybe Iapetus got to them in the storm,” Firefall went on. “He’s stuck in a lecture about the fundamentals of dragon magic or the history of the island or some other boring topic. He’s cooped up with the worst fellow on the island. I almost feel bad for him. Running into a snow woman would be better than that.”

“That sounds like a very good reason to go save him,” Cat Sith said, standing and clutching her lantern between her teeth. She strode over to the door and looked at Marshasp expectantly. Her corporeal lantern kept her from walking through outright, so she waited patiently for the Rider to prepare.

Not that he needed more encouragement. He suited up in the heavier coats he could find—he might be warm-blooded, but he doubted his feathers would protect him against the winds or melting snow. He was made for a humid and tropical area, not for this island that forgot Winter was over every other week. He grabbed Prospero’s overcoat while he was at it—the man was probably dressed in his ratty poaching outfit, hardly fit for a blizzard.

They stepped outside into the howling winds. Firefall was perfectly at home, letting his fiery magic melt the snow before it even touched his scales. He saw Marshasp covered in furs and groaned. “I could have kept you warm with my magic.”

“Could you wake up Caliban instead?” Marshasp pat Cat’s cold scales as Firefall set about his work poking and prodding at the giant oaf. The dark dragon’s scales were freezing, though the snow had little to do with it. Only her lantern emitted heat.

“He won’t wake,” Firefall snapped out after rolling the beast over a few times. Caliban’s snoring went uninterrupted, and the earth dragon clutched at his scarf and curled back up.

Cat Sith flicked her tail impatiently. “Do you mean to be as lazy as him? Try again.”

The fire dragon huffed and spat a few sparks of flame at Caliban. They danced on his hide but went unnoticed. Finally, he bit down hard on the saurian’s arm and drew blood. Caliban yelped softly, yet still he slumbered. Firefall looked at Cat and snorted. “See?”

Marshasp held up a hand to stop the bleeding and tie up the loose ends. The blood was flowing slowly, and the dragon’s heart was barely beating. A thought of both hope and hate flickered over his mind—was this just Caliban dying? Would Prospero be safe?

“Caliban himself looks healthy,” Cat Sith reported, her third eye glowing as she inspected matters of the soul. “He’s being affected by Prospero. Let’s hurry and find him.”

Firefall lowered his shoulders so that Marshasp could hop on. Both the Rider and his dragon could peer through the blizzards using their vision, but the heat signatures on valley around them resembled little more than rabbits or quails. Firefall launched into the winds, wings fighting against the currents, body blazing warm to keep his Rider safe. Even from the skies, they saw nothing that stuck out. “He could still be there, even if we don’t see him,” mused the Rider. “We’ll check in with Iapetus and see what to do from there.”

“Wait,” hissed Cat Sith from below. “If we cannot find him, we will find that conceited guardian of his.” She gazed through the snow with her own vision, her lantern dimming as she drew energy from it. While she was rubbish at finding the living, any dragon with true sight could find the dead—and find one she did. She shared the image of her compass with her Rider and Firefall. “A dark wyrm in an icy clearing, overlooking the valley, with fallen pines scattered throughout.” Her true sight offered little more, but they already had what they needed. A general direction, a place to land, and the location of a dark dragon that bore a resemblance to Kolkhis.

Firefall dived once more into the winds, pulling on all his strength to fight against the blizzard. While he focused on flying, Marshasp used his eyes to scour the lands around them. There was a few trails Prospero preferred to use—narrow that down to ones with pines, ones that hung over the valley, less-traveled paths...and there it was: a patch of ice that could barely be called a clearing, surrounded by old and rotting trees. Through their heat vision, it looked like a void had been cut from the hollow—but this infinite black was coiled, with a crown reaching to the stars and a tail slowly drifting from one side to another.

“That’s him,” Cat said what they all knew. “Fly on ahead, and I will be along.”

Firefall powered forward, leaving the cat-like dragon to fight the blizzard at a slower pace. He swept low as they approached, tongue flicking out to try and taste their odd quarry. He hissed as they reached earshot, causing Kolkhis to lift his head to chuff back playfully. The fire dragon made a heavy landing, sending the snow around him up in a flurry. He flicked his tongue out again and tasted the scent of Prospero this time. “You seem in high spirits; what of your Rider?”

The mouth on Kolkhis’s neck chortled. Kolkhis himself unraveled to reveal Prospero, his heat barely visible against the cold dragon. “He’s resting for a spell.” The dragon placed his snout delicately on his Rider’s forehead. For a brief moment, light flickered across Kolkhis, revealing a skeleton of stars and golden nebulae. “I am showing him the same realm he showed me—where the stars and spirits linger. When he returns, he will be like me. Immortal, in a way. He will be mine to keep. Perhaps he will return in a few hours?”

Firefall roared and lunged for the wyrm, but he simply phased through. The flicker released Prospero from the coils and Marshasp snatched him away. The man was too heavy to lift on his own, but he managed to drag him out of reach. With a growl, Firefall shot flames into the forest around them. The trees were heavy with moisture and merely smoldered under the heat. “You intended to kill your own Rider?”

Kolkhis nimbly dodged every slash and ember shot his way. “Death is only temporary. My magic would make sure of that.”

Marshasp placed his hand on Prospero’s chest and tried to sense his heartbeat. It was slow, arrhythmic, and the blood flowing through was chill. Cat’s lantern lit the scene and she took mere moments to move to her Rider’s side. “He’s close, but not full gone. You’ve saved people closer to death.”

“Not ones that were freezing.” His body was stiff and difficult to move. Cat moved so that his body could lean on hers, off the ground. “If I used my red magic now, I think we’d both freeze to death out here.”

“Then we’ll return to the hatchery before his heart skips another beat.” The dragon roared with everything in her, the lantern blazing until it lit the snowy scene like day. “Firefall, we leave now! Your magic is needed. We have no time to entertain that snake.”

The fire dragon stopped his pursuit and Kolkhis patiently sat down out of reach. He growled, irritated that the dragon would order him so, but knew this was no place to voice his qualms. He flapped to the Riders and lowered his shoulders again. Both dragons helped assist the unconscious Rider onto his back, since Marshasp certainly couldn’t do it on his own.

Kolkhis chuckled at them from the shadows. “I shan’t be far. If you fail, I will call him back. Isn’t that what you’ve wanted to do for so long, Ezra?”

Firefall paid no heed to the worm, glowing with warmth as he alit and flapped back to the hatchery. Cat Sith remained behind; If she was needed, it would not be for some time. It was just her and Kolkhis now, and unlike Firefall, she was more than capable of harming a fellow dark dragon. She lowered her head, lantern darkening as her eyes lit up with a different sort of fire. A rumble exited her throat and she stalked closer to the dragon. He hesitated now, inched back as she inched forward. “You would have killed Caliban, too. Do you think any person—any dragon—can come back from the dead, just because you were lucky?”

The wyrm sidestepped as she continued forward. Their eyes were locked, an intangible chain that channeled their ferocity. “My magic would be sure Prospero would return. Perhaps Caliban, too. Whether a normal person could do it is irrelevant when magic like ours is involved.”

“Your magic is pitiful, snake.”

Kolkhis lowered his head, puffed out his neck, and bared his fangs. “I have all the time in the world to sharpen it. Is this not a just trade? Let him feel what I felt.”

She narrowed her eyes. Was it worth it to wring out a light dragon that would only become more unpredictable as its pride was harmed? No. It wasn’t. She turned back towards the den and started her own race. Kolkhis tagged along behind. When she shot him a look of fury, he hissed back at her. “I care for him more than you would understand. I will not release my Rider so easily, and I will not let him die unattended.”

She would have his neck between his teeth, that much was certain.