Snow blanketed the rock beneath my feet and made the climb ever more dangerous. It fell mercilessly from the sky, not thinking twice about the risk we now all faced. Slip on the frozen rock and you were gone, tumbling down the mountain and only stopping to meet death. The cold made it worse as well. It ate through our thick furs and made our metal sword sheaths burn against our sides like blades just shaped by a blacksmith.
We continued to ascend, however, until the snow melted and a miasma of brimstone hung around us. I saw the light being drained from the sky and looked to our leader. Yorren held up his hand as a signal that we should tread quietly and pulled the bear pelt he used as a coat closer to his body. I saw snowflakes sticking to his unkempt beard and thought that at any other time I would laugh. That was when we saw the thick gray smoke slowly coiling from the mountain’s open peak and felt a sudden hotness.
Yorren led our group closer to the enormous crater and the heat of a fire below intensified. I looked at our groups and saw not leaders, warriors, and knights as we had been, but miserable beings whose hope was fading as fast as the daylight. Kean started walking up to the edge of the massive crater and peered down, mystified and frightened at the same time. I winced as if my face was the one getting burned by the scorching fumes emitted from the inside of the mountain.
“ Kean,” Yorren hissed angrily. “ Get away from there!” Kean’s eyes remained glazed to whatever bewitching sight there was below and he stepped closer. Stones were kicked up by his feet and they rolled to the edge of the opening and plummeted down. Kean slowly leaned over the smoking vent. We cried out desperately, willing him to step away, but he didn’t. Instead, he fell with misted over eyes and arms spread out, insanely yearning for his own death.
We heard a faint crack and then a roar like a thousand thunder claps echoed through the opening and the air around the mountain. The ground began to shake and boulders fell from their previous resting places. They tumbled down the mount around us and the group ran down, led by Yorren once more. Fire exploded out of the crater as I looked back and I saw charred bones fly into the air. The deafening roar came again and I followed Yorren down the mountain for all my life was worth. Rocks tumbled past me and I heard my leader yell a single word. One that brought ice to my bones.
“ Dragon!”
YOU ARE READING
Shadow Cat and Other Stories
Mystery / Thriller"The cat leapt soundlessly from one shingled rooftop to the next," this is the first sentence of the first story of this thrilling collection of short stories. Mysteries and cliffhangers cling to every one of these tales, ones that will leave you c...
