The Land of the Dragons-Book 1-Chapter 1
Posted March 14th, 2023 by Cheezmra
in California
Chapter 1
The Icy Peak
The moon shone over the fairyland of ice, sculpted by the wind. The sweeping landscape had no flat place anywhere, but curved and swooped as if it was waves frozen in time. A light dusting of snow sifted over the top. It was a clear night, with the moon reflecting on the ice, scattering beams of a ghostly blue-white light.
An ice dragon lifted its smooth head, shaking its little ear-flaps. The snow slipped off both sides of its crest and scattered in a light shower. A large wing rose, shaking off the fine, powdery snow. A second muffled wing rose, and the dragon jumped, waving its large, parachute-like wings. It tucked its front legs and shook its short tail. Its vibrant blue eyes, set in the smooth, almost invisible scales around its head turned towards a large peak made of ice. It flew through the air silently, soaring on muffled wings in the stark moonlight.
As if by signal, a second dragon, and then a third, lifted their wings and rose in the crisp air. As they rose, even more ice dragons turned their blue eyes on the mountain peak and lifted their large wings. The air was filled with the muffled flap and the surprisingly soft ice dragon cries. They landed near the point of the small peak and hooked their back claws into the ice. They reached their large wings out and dug the little claws at the end in as well.
The hundreds of dragons alighted like white bats on the ice, still giving their soft, light cries. Their short tails with the heavy spiked ball at the end, like a mace, swung and crashed into the ice. Small dents appeared. The night was no longer silent, but filled with the crash of tails hitting the ice. Chunks of ice crystals dropped off the mountain peaks.
The dragons continued digging until a shallow cave appeared. The white females dug near the top, and the males, scales now visibly blue in the moonlight, dug themselves their own caves lower down and settled in to wait.
A white female landed just above the highest he-dragon’s cave. She wielded her tail clumsily and it took longer for her to dig a shallow cave. With every hit, her claws slipped. Her whole body shuddered as her tail hit the ice.
On a closer look, anyone could see that the shuddering was not entirely caused by the impact. She shook between hits and, as she took a break, allowing her heavy tail to hang down, her body twitched uncontrollably. She lay her head on the smooth ice, pressing her cheek on it and closing her eyes. Her scales shuddered as if she were a horse, driving away flies. She lifted her head again and swung her tail around, almost knocking herself off the ice.
If one stared at her long enough, he would notice a difference in her trembling scales. She would begin to look red. A tiny sheen on her scales would look like a light pastel red, or a light orange. It would hardly be noticeable, like the blue sheen on a he-dragon’s scales, but it was there, unmistakably. It was hard to see in the blue wash, but it was there. The longer one stared, the clearer it would be. It was a smudge of color in the blue-white.
She dug her front claws into the ice and braced against the weight of the tail. It seemed too heavy for her own good, or she was not the strongest. A faint bead of sweat appeared on her back, and quickly froze in the frigid air.
The moon had gone to rest in her palace and the air became even colder. The first rays of a cold dawn touched the icy spires but The dragon could just hear a slight murmur, as if Hlimya, huddled under the ice was breathing, gently snoring, taking a nap before heading back the way she had come. The dragons knew that the sky would not turn blue. Hlimya was the one who would turn it blue on her return journey. Before she did, the sky would remain a golden orange, a color that should be warm, but was turned a sickly gray by the waves of blue that emanated from Hlimya, sleeping under the ice.
The ice dragon had finished her cave. Her scales glowed a dull grayish-yellow as she curled her long body in the cave, tucking her scarred wings under her and wiggling her body to melt the last bit of roughness out.
She laid an egg and gently placed it in a small hollow on the floor. She cupped her wings around it, caressing it, protecting it. She pressed her body into the walls of the cave and rubbed her cold front paws together. Her large blue eyes watched the egg intently. Her scales twitched, even in the warmth of the cave. She curved her tail around her egg but didn't quite touch it, as if it would break at a tap.
She was a new mother. This would be her first hatchling. She pressed a hand to the wall as if to draw comfort from Hlimya, whom Sliisha knew was sleeping underneath her. She seemed to feel the pulsing answer. That was what Sliisha loved about Hlimya. No matter how fiercely Hlimya fought Areior, she could still be counted on to give an answer to her followers. And there was no follower more fervent than Sliisha.
Sliisha had a good reason too. Her worries were with her unhatched youngling. Sliisha was already an outcast, one that the rest of the dragons refused to talk to or even acknowledge she existed. It was probably her shaded scales and the fact that she shivered. The ice dragons tended to regard anything slightly different with a deep distrust. The pastel red shimmer on her scales was enough to make her the outcast of all ice dragons.
Sliisha could only hope that the child would be normal.
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now you see whare Hlimya came from
Dragon lover? (sorry its going a little slow) plz cc https://www.kidpub.com/book-page-or-chapter/land-dragons-introduction-33...
"Forgive me. I forgot you existed"~Clare