Eternal Fire

Chapter 25

   At least one night had passed since she fell when Ember woke up, the sun was shining brightly in the sky, it's rays of light catching the stones around her. Ember struggled under the pile of stones, she hurt, everywhere. She roared, hoping that another dragon was close enough to hear her, she could last a while, only needing food every ten days or so, but the rain was what she was worried about. There were stories of fire dragons being killed in open landscapes, rain getting through their scales and into their skin, giving them a slow and painful death. If she flew again, then she would be happy. The birds had gone silent when she had roared, but had continued to sing only moments later, deciding that a lone dragon was not a threat.

   Ember's fire rolled inside, pushing at the boundaries that Ember had set up, keeping it contained whilst she was in a situation. She continued to struggle, winding her tail through the rocks, trying to find a way to get these stupid heavy rocks off her, pushing against each rock until she couldn't reach any further, which didn't take too long. She tried again, but twisted her tail through the rocks, going up, instead of across, and when the tip of her tail was free, she started to push at the rocks, she kept her gaze up, looking at the light sky, not wanting to bury her head any more than it already was. She flicked her tail, pushing stones to each side, but not many before her tail hit a boulder that was too heavy to move. She struggled, moving other stones around the boulder, trying to move it, she moved more and more stones, her tail getting sore and tired as she struggled to dislodge the boulder. She whacked the boulder after moving some more smaller stones, and felt it starting to move, she pushed it a bit more with her tail, and it started to fall. She felt tiredness start to take her, and she gave a long roar, calling for help before she lost consciousness again.

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   A rumble made its way through the rocks to Ember's once asleep ears. She lay there, her wings cramped against her body, her tail wound around a stone, away from the tops, frozen as another rumble echoed through the stones. Thunder or stone? Usually dragons could feel or smell a storm coming, but all she could feel and smell was stone. Another rumble made its way to Ember, the sky was cloudy, a downed fire dragon in a storm was a wet dead dragon. She roared, calling out for help, panic settled in as the thunder became louder, so loud that she could now hear it. She struggled, her tail sweeping rocks off the top as she wriggled and squirmed under the stones, she either got out alive and battered, or she died. The rain would seep through the cracks in the stones, making its way to the ground, landing on Ember, which she wanted to avoid. Her fire started to respond to her panic, and she felt like she was burning, which made her go into more of a panic. A fire dragon should not burn. She wriggled her wings, flaring up healing injuries and bruising them. She needed to get out. She roared, hoping that a dragon was nearby, her claws scratched at the rocks, her blood was starting to boil, the thunder was moving closer, the energy rippling off it filled her nose as she heard the splatter of water on rocks.

   She felt like she was going to end up as a gooey mess on the ground. The stones seemed softer than they used to be, and more orange. Water splattered the rocks above her. She cried out as water dripped on the scales on her head and slid onto the skin below. Then something caught her eye. The water was no longer dripping on her and, more weirdly, the stone was melting. She clawed at the stones above, growling when they dripped onto her skin. She cried out, she was stuck, she was scared, she was alone, she was burning, she was going to die. She struggled, her tail stinging from the rain. She roared.

   She snarled as rain landed on her scales. The rocks, they were gone, flung to the sides as an earth dragon stood there, looking at her, the dragon's dark green scales lit up with every strike of lightning.

   "Come on, get moving, or stay here and die." The dragon  said, straight to the point.

   "I'm trying." Ember said, struggling to her feet before falling over.