Rescue

Dhire’s wings were aching. After three hours of incessant flapping, the Nacertas was ready to look for a comfortable rookery for the next few hours. The flight from Azhel wasn’t difficult, but as the land curved up towards the horizon, the temperature began to drop to a threatening level. The bulging sack hanging from a cord tied around his torso wasn’t helping, either. Dhire was forced to fly below the clouds and forsake the warm rays of the sun above them or else risk missing the cave entrance. The higher the land went, the darker the clouds got and the colder the air became. Another league of flight found Dhire struggling with the dying visibility of a snowstorm. His sharp eyes blinked rapidly to keep the snow from them as he flew lower yet and scanned the rough, white lined boulders below.

Maybe he waited, Dhire thought. Lorn’s not entirely devoid of sense. He stopped searching the ground for a moment and shook his head. Of course he’s devoid of sense! I asked him to wait while I checked out a lead on the Ice Tear, but of course he’d go into the temple before I get back. Dhire’s wings picked up their pace in a final boost of energy. He had to find Lorn.

Minutes later, Dhire found what he was looking for – a long scar in the side of an ice-crusted cliff a league or so south of the temple’s main entrance. Navigating the increasing winds, Dhire slipped through the crevasse and landed, beginning a mad half hopping, half flapping gait across the slick rocks to right and left. The passage curved straight down into the cliff side and eventually came out somewhere inside the temple. At least it won’t be hard finding Lorn once I’m in, he thought, with a wry twist to his lips. Just follow the trail of broken ice or bodies… possibly both in this place.

The deeper Dhire went, the more he appreciated the downy fur running down his neck and across his back. He had to slow down every so often to make sure the Tear he carried wasn’t dashed against any of the protrusions of rock lining the crevasse walls. The longer his trip took, the more Dhire began hoping this shaft did eventually come out inside the temple. If it didn’t, he would be forced to make his way back outside and go around the long way. “Hah, right, “ he laughed to himself, “the long way. Make sure I don’t take the long way.”

A sudden, dull grinding sound brought the little flyer to a halt to listen. The silence stretched interminably as he tilted his head from side to side trying to catch a repeat of the grinding noise. While his head was tilted to the right, convinced he heard the faint sound of thudding somewhere below, a blast of hot air threw Dhire back the way he came as the cave trembled and shook, small stones and dust trickling down the rocky walls. A moment of tense silence passed, and then an ear-shattering cry rolled through the Nacertas as quickly as the sickening crunch that came after cut it off. The shaking only lasted a moment more and the chilly air was already wafting back in to replace that sudden gout of heat. Shaking his head to get the dust off, Dhire peered through the gloom, his enhanced vision limning everything with a blue haze. The passage seemed lighter up ahead. Dhire clambered to his feet and hurried down the tunnel, his tiny claws leaving minute scratches in the rock.

When he rounded the next switch-back, the ever-increasing light flooded the cave. Dhire stood at the edge of a tails-wide crater in the ceiling of an immense chamber. Dozens of tails below him a mass of shattered stalactites had impaled some sort of giant creature on a field on glimmering ice. From his vantage point, it looked as if a rock was thrown through the ice of a frozen lake. All around the lake were thousands of ice stalagmites stretching in every direction. Dhire was suddenly glad he had wings. Char on the edges of the ceiling crater caught Dhire’s attention next, the crisp scent of the cave trying to hide the tang of burnt rock. Lorn! Where….?

Dhire scanned the lake again and this time saw the trail of broken ice that pointed the way to a figure, limbs, neck, and tail tip flickering weakly with flame, pinned to a wall comprised of the ice stalagmites. “Lorn!” Dhire cried out as he leapt into the air and frantically flapped down to his pinned friend. The closer he flew, the worse the situation became. His friend had spears of ice impaling him at the base of the tail and left shoulder and his head was hanging limping on his chest. When he got close enough to notice the pale blue hue of Lorn’s scales, the flames signaling Lorn’s fire essence blinked out and Dhire knew fear.

Landing on the spear through Lorn’s shoulder, Dhire started yelling. “Wake up, Lorn! Move!” He slid along the ice spear until he was close enough to Lorn’s body to reach his face. “Change back to fire, you fool! We need the heat!” Dhire pushed Lorn’s head and watched as it simply slide back to rest an inch or two from it started. “Move an arm, Lorn! Blink! Gods!” Trembling, Dhire hopped onto Lorn’s shoulder and dug his claws under the scales of Lorn’s neck and pulled, trying to get him to lift his head. “Open your eyes, stubborn fool!”

He managed to pull Lorn’s neck up far enough to wrap his little arms around it and grab for another scale-hold when the Ice Tear pulsed against its sack, thoroughly startling the already tense flyer. Dhire held on to Lorn’s neck for dear life while he watched the sack’s tan color fade as vibrant blue bled through the fabric. The Tear pulsed again, then again moments later, and Dhire felt his arms lock position as his eyes closed involuntarily due to an overwhelming feel of comfort and ease that washed through his body. The brilliant blue light grew in intensity until Dhire and his unconscious companion could not be seen through the pulsing color of the Tear.

As quickly as the halo expanded, it now began to contract as finger-thin wisps of light struck Lorn’s body and disappeared inside. The ice spears in Lorn’s shoulder and tail looked as if they were being drawn into his body as well and the blue tint to his scales was receding towards the puckered wounds the ice spears left. At the same time, icicles were sprouting from Lorn’s head, back and tail. They seemed to flow up from Lorn’s scales; water running up to then solidify at the tip of the point. When the ice spears holding Lorn to the wall lost their grip, Lorn’s transforming body, Dhire attached at the neck, dropped to the slick floor in a heap, the growing ice on his back nearly propping him up on his side.

The transformation complete and the blue halo gone, Dhire’s claws slipped from their hold and he opened his eyes, the world swirling before them. He went to hop down to the floor but tripped over his own feet and tumbled down instead, smacking his head off of the cold ice. Dazed yet again, Dhire stayed on all fours and stared at his reflection in the floor until the world stopped spinning. His world stable again, Dhire went to push back onto his feet but was again knocked forward. He scrabbled on the ice for a moment before catching himself and turning his head, a glare firmly fixed on his face. There was Lorn, puncture wounds now tender scars, eyes closed, finishing the tilt onto his belly and curling his head and tail towards his stomach on his left side. Lorn’s eyes were flashing back and forth beneath his eyelids and Dhire could see the forest of ice on his back expand and clatter together with every breath Lorn took.

Smiling to himself, Dhire pulled the Tear’s sack against him and walked towards Lorn. He managed to avoid sticking himself with Lorn’s new attire and found a comfortable nook between Lorn’s neck and body where he, too, curled up and closed his eyes, the Tear’s sack shielding him from the frigid air. No harm in letting him get a little strength back before we leave.