Winter’s Knight Austin Jones The wind howled past him and chilled his bones. Maybe the knight would
freeze before getting eaten. Down below his feet, a snow dragon lay sleeping. The cave was deep, easy for someone to fall in. He had almost done that himself. There was already ice forming around the incline slope by the cave. He knew if he fell in, he would never get back up. Snow had covered up dragons’ caves before, and those who fell were never heard from again. He was lucky, some dragons’ caves weren’t on steep hills, they were fully immersed in the ground, like snake holes. Even now, Victress could see bones and remnants of animal carcasses lying near the dragon. He hoped there weren’t any knights or maidens in there. I better be careful, thought Victress. The dragon was curled up, it’s tail almost touching its own face. Its breathing, heavy. The dragon’s white scales easily blend into the snow, they were shiny. Not overwhelming, like a crystal potion, but just shiny enough to notice if you’re paying attention. The majestic beauty of a dragon was enough to sweep anyone off their feet. But underneath the beauty lies power. A dragon’s breath could easily annihilate half a village if it was provoked. Dragons have always inspired powerful tales and songs. Everyone in the kingdom, even the farmers and peasants, knew that waking a dragon meant certain death. Evil kings and even executioners had earned the name of “Dragon” to inspire fear in the hearts of peasants. There were no mages around for thousands of kilometers. Victress had been given his mission from the king: find the dragon, report back, a mage would be summoned by raven, the people would wait a few weeks, and then the mage would arrive and destroy the dragon. Or, more likely, take control of the dragon. That was their specialty. A dragon mage could, well, control a dragon. There was a part of him that always thought it was wrong. Dragons were creatures too. They had dragon cubs, or hatchlings or whatever people decided to call them. Victress liked the term “cubs.” They also had homes, like the cave. Victress was torn. He knew that they had the power to destroy homes and people, and sometimes they did. But then again, so did the knights and the mages. War wasn’t a new thing. How could they enslave a dragon like that? They make my blood boil. I want to rid the world of them, all of them. He could always report back that he couldn’t find the dragon, that the intel he received was wrong. But then the king would just send more knights to confirm the story. What could he do? He had always thought, even before he was a knight, that he could help dragons. He dreamed of having a dragon 93
