Chapter 3
Ready, Get Set, Snow!
I stared up at Clyte, unable to move. He stood much taller than I, glaring down at me. I shook with fear, thinking about the things I'd just said to him. What was I going to do?! Clyte reached down to pick me up. I quickly changed to wolf, afraid that he would scratch my already hurting human arms. He picked me up by the scruff of my neck and shook me, as I dangled in front of his face.
"How could you have tricked me?! I should have known it was you, back when I first captured the so called ‘mother' wolf with her ‘baby'."
I could tell he was mad, and I didn't appreciate being the reason for it. He dug his claws into my skin; I winced. Slowly, he lowered me to the ground. I heard Razor whimpering behind me. Clyte put me on the ground and kicked me in the side. I got the wind knocked out of me. Clyte pulled his foot back and prepared to kick Razor too. Razor scrambled away from Clyte and ran off through the dust. I knew he would probably be safer if he were far away from Clyte. I was picked up again, only this time Clyte picked me up by my middle and held me like a child who didn't know how to correctly hold a cat. He grabbed the key from around the dead unicorn's neck and opened the box. He grabbed the glowing stick from within and opened it into a doorway. He quickly stuck his head in, then brought it back out. Clyte seemed satisfied. He put the key around his neck and walked into the dimension. The door slithered shut behind us. All that was left was the glowing stick. Clyte picked it up and studied it. Slowly, he squeezed it in his hand and shaped it into the form of the key around his neck. Then, he put the glowing copy into the real key. It faded into the key around Clyte's neck and made the original glow. Clyte smiled down at me. I was looking up at him, wondering why we were where we were. He had brought us into a very cold, snowy dimension. Everything was icy and snowy. I felt the snow fall and soak into my fur. Luckily, I had a very long coat that would keep me warm. What was once a curse turned out to be a blessing. Clyte didn't shiver at all. In fact, he seemed to enjoy the cold weather. How could he, he was cold blooded, wasn't he? I began to question myself about Clyte. He seemed different from any other dragon. What was so special about him? Clyte rose up from the snow, violently flapping his large leathery wings. I was very cold with the icy wind swirling around us and his flapping stirring up the snow. Clyte flew into the air and looked around. In one smooth movement, Clyte swooped down and picked me up in his clawed hands, making sure not to dig them into my fur. He seemed to be searching for something. Slowly, fearlessly he began to survey the land. Farther and farther into the snowy desert he flew. He had a key around his neck, so I figured that was the reason he wasn't worrying about anything. I watched the snow fall and land on the great snow banks. I began to shiver violently. What was I supposed to do? I was cold and soaked, thanks to the falling snow. The land was white, everywhere we turned. The sky would have blended into the land except for it was a light gray. I closed my eyes and felt them freeze shut. My paws were frozen, and my tail was too. The snow clogged my nose and made it hard to breathe. I tried to keep my mouth open, but it was too hard. Finally, I gave in and closed my mouth. I felt my lips begin to freeze, so I opened it again. Clyte helped a little, whether it was intentional or not. I felt myself falling and began to scream. This helped me to keep my mouth open, thus preventing it from freezing shut, and I was able to breathe. I landed with a thud in Clyte's arms. He turned around and flew toward a cave. I could barely make out the dark opening of the cave with the snow swirling around us. Clyte swooped into the cave with me limp in his scaly arms. He set me down and flew farther back into the cave. I lay in the cave, panting, trying to catch my breath. It was much warmer in the cave, and it even felt a little like home. I don't know how, it just did. Clyte came back and picked me up. He carried me farther back into the cave, about a hundred feet or so, until I saw shadows dancing on the wall from a flickering fire. I was dropped in a heap near the fire. Clyte walked around the fire and stood there studying me.
I looked up at him and mumbled,"Thank you."
His expression didn't change any. After about an hour, I began to get sleepy. I wondered if he would ever go to bed. He didn't budge, so I guessed that maybe he wasn't tired. I wasn't about to go to sleep when my worst enemy was standing five feet across from me. No way, I thought to myself.
Clyte startled me, for he hadn't said a word, when he said,"I want to know your true identity."
It came as a surprise to me, but I quickly covered it up.
"I don't have to tell you anything," I said icily.
He stared at me with an awful glare. I could almost see the rage building inside of him.
"I always get what I want. Tell me now."
His voice was very calm, I thought, for someone who seemed about to burst.
"You'll never know," I said, clenching my teeth and bracing myself.
He almost always got his way and it wasn't by sweet talking creatures into giving him what he wanted. Slowly, Clyte stood to his feet.
"We'd best get something to eat. We'll need breakfast in the morning and who knows what time the creatures in this dimension come out."
I began to wonder why he'd taken us here, but I forgot all about it when we flew into the freezing wind. I had changed to unicorn, thinking that would be warmer than my dragon. I was probably right, but Clyte didn't seem to be cold at all. Slowly, we made our way over ice burgs. I had to work fast. Quickly, I dove under Clyte's belly and tangled my wings with his. He screamed at me, but I didn't move away. I set him off balance and flew out from under him. Flying around so that I was positioned above his back, I reached my neck down and grabbed the chain that held the key around his neck. He tried to reach me with his hands, for he didn't know that I had his necklace. As fast as I could, I slid it over his head and flew off with it. Clyte grabbed at his neck and turned to follow me, yelling the whole way. I laughed as I flew with my ticket out of the icy dimension. Unfortunately, the wind picked up. An icy gust arose so that my wings collapsed, and I tumbled toward the snow below. I landed in a big snow bank. Clyte landed beside me. He stood right up. Because I'd had the wind knocked out of me, I couldn't get up right away. Clyte jumped toward me. I rolled away, but he was on his feet and much faster. He dove for me and grabbed the key I was holding in my mouth. I wrestled him for it. He bit my neck so that I let go. He turned around to run, but I stood up and bashed into his side, sending him to the ground. Clyte screamed at me and turned to attack, still holding the key in his hand. I jumped into the air and began to fly. I had him very angry, but I needed that key. I flew away from him and doubled back. I dove down a little, since he was just below me. He flew after me. I did a back flip with a half twist. I bit into Clyte's hand, making him lose his grip on the key. I grabbed for the key, but it fell beyond my grasp. Clyte hit me in the head and dove for the key. I fell from the sky. Clyte had hit me so hard I could barely focus on the key. Clyte swooped down and grabbed for the key, but it fell just to the left of his hand and was lost in the snow. I gasped and continued falling toward the snow. Falling, falling, falling. Everything grew dark. All I could think about was the key, lost in the snow, and having no way to get home.
I coughed and squinted my eyes open. Clyte was nowhere in sight. I moaned and felt warm tears fall down my cheeks. Lifting my head, I saw a fire. So that's why I was so warm. Slowly, I got to my hooves and looked around the cave. I couldn't see Clyte anywhere. I shivered violently. I couldn't feel my ears, and I guess my mane was frozen too. When I shook my head, I felt icy pricks on my skin. Yep, my mane was frozen. I changed to human, not wanting my ears to turn black from frostbite. I huddled close to the fire and began to cry. Partly because of the cold, and partly because of my situation. I stood up and walked to the other side of the fire and leaned against the wall. This wall was closer to the fire than the other wall. I had been lying down as a unicorn, so I had needed more room. Now, I sat down and stared at the flames. My tears seemed to be the warmest part of me. At least, they were right now. I slowly began to warm up, and even had to pull my legs up under my chin to keep from being too hot. I heard a noise in the dark to my right. I pulled myself into a smaller ball and tried to keep from being noticeable. I heard the thump, thump, thump of something big. I saw a tail swish into the lighted part of the cave. I sighed and relaxed a little bit. It was only Clyte. He walked closer to me and stared down at me. He had obviously been outside the cave just recently, for he had snow and ice all over him. He looked cold, but he didn't show it. Slowly he walked toward me and sat down on the opposite side of the fire. I looked over at him and pressed myself against the wall. He seemed huge compared to my human body. Clyte stared into the fire and seemed to be thinking of many things. I looked toward my right and wondered what was back there.
Clyte looked over at me and said,"That's the opening we came through. There's a twist in the cave, that's why you don't see light over that way. Farther to the left is much more to this cave. I walked the length of it. It's about a five minute walk to the end of the cave. It's just a dead end so don't worry about it. Nothing dangerous, really."
I nodded and hugged my knees closer to my body. I didn't know what to think. This was the only form I had that wasn't injured. I thought over most of my choices, but none seemed good for the conditions I was currently in. Slowly, I let my head lean against the rock wall and fell asleep.
When I awoke, I heard the fire crackling. I felt warm breath on my face and opened my eyes. Tilting my head up slightly, I looked into the beautiful green eyes of Clyte. He looked very worried. I saw him change his expression a minute later to one of annoyance.
"Nothing's wrong, go back to sleep," he told me.
I kept my face expressionless, though I was smiling inwardly, and nodded my head. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep once more.
I heard hooves scrabbling on the dirt and opened my eyes. A few feet from the fire lay a reindeer. Blood flowed from the reindeer's neck as Clyte opened his jaws and let it fall to the ground. He licked his lips and smiled at me.
"Dinner time," he said.
I looked at the reindeer and wondered how I'd eat it. I could either roast it over the fire or try to eat it as a dragon. I finally faced my fear and turned dragon. The moment I turned dragon, I was too weary to change back or eat. My back stung from the arrow that had once been there. My jaw ached and burned from being jarred and broken so many times. I flopped to the ground and drew in many ragged breaths. Clyte came to my side and looked down at me. He tilted my head up so I could look at him.
"What in the world have you been through?!"
I opened my mouth to speak, but all I got was blood. My vision became blurry, and I found myself drifting off into a deep sleep.
"Aaaaaaaaaaahhh!" I yelped.
Clyte was standing above me and pulled his hand away from my bloody jaw. It was the only way he could have awakened me from my sleep.
"Had to do it. Now listen. You're not leaving me here alone. No way are you gonna die on me! I have to live and I can't do it without you!"
He was desperate and didn't care whether he showed it or not. I felt blood gathering in my throat. I would have to change back to a person if I were to survive. I slowly but surely changed back to the old, old me. Clyte smiled slightly, as if he were glad I had enough energy to change. I sighed and looked down at my arms. They stung and itched where the scars were forming. I sat up and leaned once more against the rock wall. I pondered my choices for a moment and turned wolf. I yawned and looked around. Finally, I stood and walked toward the reindeer. At least, that's what it had looked like from five feet away. As I got closer, I saw that it was quite different from a reindeer. Where a reindeer would have had antlers, this creature had four inch horns. Instead of a short tail, this creature had a long horse-like tail. The last strange thing about it was the fur. It had fur at least three feet in length. It looked to be about the size of a normal deer in the dimension I originally came from. After studying it, I gorged myself on its wonderful meat.
Clyte paced the floor on one side of the fire, while I paced the other. We were both hungry, but we had to ration our food portions. The light reflected off our faces as we paced. It was a way to keep warm, and it helped our circulation. I stopped and licked my long canine teeth. They stretched down to my chin and were usually a nuisance. I'd never had such long teeth before, so it was quite an experience. As I got up again and continued pacing the floor, I caught movement to my left. I jerked my head to look across the fire. Clyte was still there and it was too far over to have been his tail. I swung around and growled. I heard the patter of little feet on stone. Clyte looked over at me and showed that he was confused. I shook my head and ignored him. I needed to find out what the thing was. Slowly, cautiously, I approached the dark corner. If it was fast enough, it would run back outside, and I would never discover what it was. I crouched down and looked behind me. Clyte was standing there, not moving at all. I guess he didn't want to scare it either. I turned my attention back to the corner and jumped. I hit something small and fluffy. It wriggled under my chest. I guess I had over-jumped. I slid off it and firmly held it down with my paws. My nose to the creature, I began to sniff it's back to see if I could identify it. The creature had a wonderful smell! It smelled like roses and felt like a lizard. I pressed my paw firmly on the creature's back and slid it toward the light of the fire. When I had finally finished sliding it, I looked down to see what I had captured. I took my paws off it but blocked the side of the fire that would lead to the doorway. There on the ground was a small lizard. It may have seemed large to humans, but to over grown talking wolves and dragons, it seemed small. About a foot long and very skinny, I wondered how the little creature had survived out in the snow. It had it's little scaly hands covering its face, and it was shaking. I gazed down at it, looking for unique features. It didn't seem to have any. I looked up at Clyte and shrugged my shaggy shoulders. He tilted his head to one side and licked his lips as he looked at the lizard. I glared at him and growled. Clyte shrugged and rubbed his hungry stomach. I rolled my eyes and sat down.
"There's no need to be scared, little fella," I told him.
The creature kept on shaking.
"We're not going to eat you."
I glared at Clyte as I said this. Clyte glared and turned his back to me but kept sneaking glances at the lizard.
"Why don't you tell us your name?" I asked the creature.
It lowered it's shaky hands and said,"Kudo is my name."
I smiled, which may have been a bad idea, for when I smiled, all my teeth showed. The lizard fell to the ground and covered its head with its hands. I frowned and tried to coax it to look at me.
"I'm sorry. I forgot about my teeth. Don't worry, we won't eat you. We're very nice and want to know why you're here."
The lizard stopped shaking and lifted his head to peek between his fingers. "I live here," he said.
"Yes, but how do you live here? You're cold blooded and there's snow outside," I told him.
The lizard yawned slightly and answered,"I have to make do. Since this is where we're born, most of us die from freezing. I come here most of the time and try to stay warm. I felt your fire and wanted to warm up before going back out in the cold. Unfortunately, I saw the both of you pacing when I scampered to that corner." He nodded to the corner I had found him in. "I really didn't mean to interrupt whatever you were doing. I just always come here. I didn't know anyone else lived here. I guess I should be going."
He crawled toward me on all fours. I stepped forward and crossed my legs so he couldn't get through. The lizard frowned and scampered back to its spot by the fire.
"You're not going anywhere. If it is as you say, stay with us. We'd be delighted to have the company. Plus, I've got some questions for you. If you really must leave, then go ahead, but I'd like you to stay if you can."
The lizard put his hand up to his mouth and leaned against the wall. "Yeah, I guess I don't have to be anywhere." He walked up to the fire and lay in front of it.
I lay down near a wall and rested my head on the rock.
Kudo looked up at me sleepily and asked,"You said you had questions?"
I smiled and said,"Yeah. First of all, what are you?"
Kudo yawned, as if he'd told this story a thousand times before, and said,"Yeah, I look like a normal lizard. Well, since you think that, you're wrong. We have wings. Yup, we do have them, we just tuck them into our bodies. See?" He got up and walked around to the other side of the fire where there was more room. There, he spread his three foot long wings.
I gaped at them. They were truly amazing. The beautiful red lizard sat down by the fire again and let his orange eyes rest on my face.
He shrugged and said,"We're called Dragonflys."
I laughed and said,"We have a creature in our dimension called ‘Dragonflies'. They're small sort of bug creatures. They have four thin wings and like water and plants. They're beautiful. You sort of look like them. With your scales shining like that, I mean."
Kudo puffed up his chest with pride and said,"I'm glad to hear we look like something so wonderful." He smiled and yawned again.
I smiled back and said,"You'd better get some sleep. You're probably exhausted from flying here. Have a good sleep."
`Kudo shook his head, but he closed his eyes. The last thing he said to me was,"I've got questions when my nap is over."
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