The Calm Before The Storm

2

Inside the hollowed glacier, dragons huddled. All were gray or white to fit in with the snow and ice. Except one. Ever since she had hatched as an Ice dragon, she was different. She looked more like a night dragon, with dark blue scales and high crests.

"Crystal! Time for your test!" Tests told the nearly extinct ice dragons who would be able to live. Survival of the fittest.

Crystal nervously clawed her way forward, elongated talons digging into the ice. She got ready and took off into the swirling snow. She blinked once and her second eyelid slid forward. She could see now.

The wind was stronger than usual tonight. Crystal had to push her wings harder and harder to stay in the air. She might be an Ice dragon, but a fall onto the packed snow beneath would mean fatality. Even if she survived, she would be banished for the good of the pack. The tundra would become too dangerous for her. She'd have to go into warm climates.

Crystal spotted what she was looking for and circled. Below was one of the few animals that could survive in the below freezing temperatures. A polar bear crouched by one of its fishing holes. Crystal flapped once and dove, reaching out her back talons.

Blood spattered across the white and Crystal took the polar bear back to the iceberg where the others were waiting. Then she was out again. Fishing.

She took a deep breath and folded her wings in. Because she was an Ice dragon, she had the swimming capabilities of a Sea dragon. Her body twisted and turned in the water, chasing after a sturgeon that was foolish enough to wander into cold waters.

Deliver and fly. Deliver and fly. Crystal was tired after she landed for the last time.

"Crystal!" She looked up at the Queen. Well what was left of her. She was old, bedraggled. Pieces had been torn off after the invasion. One beady blue eye was staring down. The Queen sighed. "Congratulations. You've successfully passed the test."

Crystal's head nodded down again. She was awoken by a blast of cold air.

"What?" Crystal snapped.

"The Queen wants to see you." Crystal started to walk to the Ice Queen's ledge but was stopped.

"Not ours. The High Queen."