The Dragon and the Fox

Kira watched the moon rise, wondering if somewhere out there a tribe of Dragons was making it happen. What would they think of her, a lowly fox? Would they cast er out of their presence, or would they welcome her with open arms, as the stories said they would?

Kira’s heart ached for her mother’s voice, telling the stories with gestures of her paws and sometimes imitating the voices of the Dragons. She longed for the embrace of her mother’s fur, for the feeling of her tail wrapped around Kira.

But when Kira reached out, she was met with cold emptiness. There was nothing there. There never would be. She was gone. They were all gone, and Kira could do nothing about it.

These thoughts kept her awake tonight, two nights after she had met Deya. They were in the Cliffs of Caution, the mountain range that bordered the Wolf Lands and the Bird Lands. Deya insisted that they were getting close, but Kira had her doubts. Especially since Deya wouldn’t tell her what to look for as their destination.

The more north they went, the colder it got. Kira was used to some level of low temperatures, but up in the mountains it felt like her own fur was freezing on her body. Her breath showed clearly in the air, and when she inhaled, sharp cold punctuated her throat, taking her oxygen away.

Deya breathed deeply beside Kira, her large body rising and falling, her body providing some warmth for the little fox. Kira tried to match her breathing with the Dragon’s, and eventually her eyes started to droop. Maybe if she closed them for a second....

The sun touched Kira’s eyelids, and they fluttered open. The summit of the mountain they were resting was covered in snow, which sparkled with the sun, revealing the individual flakes resting in them. In the distance, glaciers glistened in between several mountains.

Deya dropped from out of the sky onto the summit, startling Kira into standing up. The Dragon carried a few fish and some squirrel.

“Morning, Kira!” Deya sang. “I got some breakfast!”

“Morning,” Kira grunted. She took the fish in her paws and started chowing down. She had learned that flying took a lot of energy, so she ate as much as she could when she could.

“We’re close,” Deya started, looking as eager as Kira had ever seen her.

“You still haven’t told me what I’m supposed to be looking for,” Kira complained, swallowing another bite of fish.

“You’ll see.” Deya’s eyes shone in the early morning sunlight.

Kira sighed through her nostrils. “Let’s just get going.”

Deya nodded, smiling, and then leapt off the mountain. Kira followed, relishing the rush of adrenaline filling her veins as her paws left the ground.

It was around midday when Kira saw it.

At first, all she saw was the glacier. It was huge, stretching about two miles from one mountain top to the other. Kira watched it pass below her paws, marveling at the white and blue pattern engraved in the ice.

Then she saw the lake.

Her first impression was of a glass desert. It filled the valley, perfectly reflecting the mountains and sky. Not a ripple disturbed the surface of the water; even the river that flowed to it from the glacier slowed down as it entered the lake.

Deya landed on the brim, making the first tracks in the snow as far as Kira could see. Kira followed suit, marveling how tiny her prints were compared to Deya’s.

“So where now?” Kira asked, never one to delay for long.

Deya walked over to the edge of the lake, staring into her reflection. “We go into the lake, I think.”

“You think?” Kira repeated.

“I’ve...never actually been to the Moon Dragon kingdom,” Deya confessed. “They usually visited us.”

Kira snorted. “You mean you led us here without any plan on how we’ll get in?”

“Well, it should be obvious,” Deya said hesitantly.

“Yes?” Kira raised an eyebrow.

“We, um, walk right in.”

Kira rolled her eyes. “Like that ever works. We just walk right into a Dragon Palace, no invitation, no announcement, and demand that they help us?”

Deya sighed. “You’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Surely not,” another voice said sarcastically from behind them. “A Dragon admitting its mistakes? I don’t believe my ears.”

Kira whipped around, wings raised and teeth bared. Deya merely turned her head to the side to eye their new visitor. Or visitors, it appeared.

Twelve wolves were approaching them through the snow. Their coats glowed silvery blue, with white speckles and streaks that looked like snowflakes. Each of them had a slightly different pattern, some with a blue grey instead of silver, but it was clear who their leader was—his eyes glowed silver, constantly changing shades and sparkling even without light.

“Hello, visitors,” the lead wolf said. He reminded Kira of Aramon, though much more authoritative, and he was much bigger and more muscular. “What brings you to our humble home?”

His tone suggested that they had no option about answering.

“We want to get to the Moon Dragon Palace,” Kira announced.

“I like her,” one of the wolves said, her voice betraying that she was female. “Straightforward. No dawdling. Cute, too.”

“Can you please help us?” Deya pleaded.

“What makes you think we should help you?”

“We have some information that—” Deya began.

“Ta ta ta!” another wolf interrupted, wagging his claw at them. “None of that nonsense. We’ve heard it a million times.”

“Remember that other guy?” a wolf said, addressing the other wolves. “A lion, I believe. ‘But, lowly wolves, I have a mission of the utmost importance, surely greater than you, I believe. I must have an audience with the Dragons of Greatness below this lake.’ Dragons’ horns, he was so annoying.”

“We’re not like that,” Kira protested. “We actually have useful information that the entire continent of Cyalia has to know. A Dragon has gone rogue!”

That made the wolves pause. “A Dragon, you say?”

Kira nodded. “Big. Black. Red eyes, bloodstained claws and teeth. Destroying everything in its path, including my own village.”

“Black?” one wolf said in disbelief. “Dragons aren’t black.”

“This one was,” Kira argued. “And we don’t know where he’ll go next. So let us through.”

All the wolves turned to the alpha.

“Miguel?” one of them asked. “What say you?”

“If this is true,” Miguel mused, “then we must let them get an audience with the Queen. My apologies, Dragon, and you, fox. It is our job to guard the Moon Dragon Palace, see, and we have to be skeptical.”

“Apology accepted,” Deya said formally.

“Now how do we get in?” Kira asked, impatient.

Miguel grinned, his snow white teeth flashing in the sunlight. “Let us show you.”

The wolves gathered in a semicircle on the brim of the lake, and Miguel breathed on the water. Immediately, a portion of it froze, growing longer and longer until it reached the middle of the lake. Once there, a chunk of ice rose from the lake, and if Kira squinted, she could see a swirling vortex on the ice chunk, black with sparkles like the night sky. Somehow, all of this happened without causing a single ripple across the lake.

“Go on,” Miguel said. He gestured at the vortex.

“That’s how we get there?” Kira said incredulously. “A vortex?”

“A portal, actually,” Deya corrected.

Kira frowned at her. “Fine. A portal. We just walk into it?”

“Yes,” Miguel confirmed.

Deya went first, slowly stepping onto the ice as if afraid it wouldn’t hold her weight. When it did, she walked across towards the vortex, Kira bounding after her.

Kira looked over her shoulder and saw the wolves barking their goodbyes. Then they each turned and walked back across the snow, Miguel being the last. Kira swore she could have seen him wink all the way across the lake, but then he turned and disappeared into a flurry of snowflakes.