The Ice Dragon's Egg, Part 2

When Drago and Stiletta finally arrived in Neve Valley, the sun was at its highest point in the sky. However, the hazy golden disc offered little warmth in the frozen wastes of Winteria, and could do nothing to melt the thick snow from the rocky landscape that surrounded the two travellers.

  "Gosh, Drago, I'm glad you made me dress up like a Highland cow," Stiletta remarked. "This place is freezing!"

  "That's Winteria for you," Drago smiled wryly, shivering slightly. "I really don't care for this kind of environment at all, I have to say. The sooner we can filch that egg and get out of here, the better!"

  "You make the whole thing sound so easy," Stiletta laughed. "Surely you haven't forgotten about a certain unsociable reptile that breathes blue fire?"

  "How could I forget?" Drago chuckled. "Well, I suppose we'd better make a start. Let's have a look at this map."

Drago withdrew the map from his knapsack and spread it out on a nearby rock. Stiletta came to study it with him.

  "Now, Leytan reckons the creature's lair must be somewhere amongst these mountains here," Drago mused, "and we've just walked through Tharn Pass, which puts us right here."

Drago jabbed his forefinger onto the map, whereupon a most unexpected thing happened. The rock beneath the paper jolted as though it had been startled, and a familiar voice emerged from the stones at Drago's feet.

  "Ouch!" the aggrieved tones complained. "Really, Drago, did you have to poke me like that? We are most sensitive around the wing joints, as well you know."

Drago and Stiletta leapt backwards in alarm as their impromptu table shifted its position with a tremendous crashing noise, as though a powerful earthquake was taking place. As they watched, this particular area of rock become far less rock-like, and transformed before their very eyes into a series of interlocking reptilian scales.

  "Lokie!" Drago exclaimed in surprise. "What are you doing?"

  "Camouflaging," Lokie explained, speaking slowly and clearly as though he were addressing a simpleton. "At least I was, until you so thoughtlessly jabbed me like that."

  "Why were you pretending to be a rock, Lokie?" Stiletta asked curiously.

  "Well, you didn't expect me to lie around in plain sight, did you?" Lokie frowned. "I have no desire to attract unwanted attention."

  "Very sensible of you, old friend," Drago nodded. "So you were here all the time, and there was I thinking we'd beaten you to it!"

  "I don't think that was ever a very likely scenario, do you?" Lokie teased.

  "How long have you been waiting for us?" asked Stiletta.

  "Two, maybe three hours," Lokie shrugged. "But no matter, you're here now, and we can get on with the task in hand."

  "We need to conduct a thorough search of this mountain range," Drago explained, indicating the area that Leytan had marked out on the map. "There must be some clue to the Ice Dragon's whereabouts… but first we should rest for half an hour; we've travelled a long way since we left Wolfenden."

  "An excellent idea, my love," Stiletta approved. "My feet are rather sore."

  "I'll give them a rub for you," Drago offered, giving her a wink.

  "Once you are both ready, perhaps we should all head into the heart of the Ice Mountains of Tharn," Lokie suggested. "This is remote country – I don't think we're likely to be spotted, once we're on the far side of Neve Valley. When we reach this pass – the one that's dominated by this mountain with two peaks – I suggest that you two head to the west, while I head to the east. We'll circumnavigate this line of mountains and rendezvous on the other side of the double peak, looking out for any signs of a hidden lair as we go."

  "Well, you've got it all worked out, haven't you?" Stiletta grinned.

  "I've had plenty of time to think," Lokie explained. "I carried out an aerial survey of the surrounding territory when I first arrived, and having taken a look at your map and matched up the two experiences in my vastly superior brain, I deduce that this would be our best plan of action, all things considered."

  "Very well, Lokie, we'll do as you say," Drago sighed, as he leant against a nearby rock and sank into a sitting position. "I certainly don't have any better suggestions myself – this place does not suit me, and I must admit to having serious doubts about our chances of getting out of here alive."

  "Of course we will!" Stiletta exclaimed encouragingly, as she scrunched down beside him. "We're together again, Drago, and that means we can accomplish anything, if we put our minds to it!"

  "Yeah," Drago smiled back at her, as a new feeling of optimism washed over him. "Yeah, you're right, we can!"


Rounding yet another rocky promontory, Drago peered down at the area beneath and around his feet, while Stiletta watched him with a puzzled expression on her face.

  "I'm not sure exactly what we're supposed to be looking for," Stiletta confessed.

  "Neither am I, really," Drago replied, keeping his eyes on his work. "Some sort of passage or cave that might lead into the dragon's lair… blue scales that've moulted off the creature…"

  "Do you know for a fact that it's blue?" Stiletta asked.

  "Hmm… no, I don't," Drago realised. "I've been assuming it is, what with the blue fire and the whole icy angle, but I suppose it could be any colour, really…"

  "Dash it all, we really are searching for a needle in a haystack here, aren't we?" Stiletta sighed.

  "A particularly large and sharp needle," Drago smiled wryly, "but yes, we… hang on! I think I can hear voices again!"

Stiletta could hear them too, and it was not long before their owners honed into view. Two figures emerged from the snowy mist before them, apparently circumnavigating the line of peaks in the opposite direction. A meeting between the two parties was inevitable, for there was nowhere to hide. But would the meeting evolve into a confrontation? This was the question foremost in the minds of all four.

  "Well, isn't this a small world?" Zyssa Silverdale remarked, a sly smile playing on her lips. "Of all the places to run into you two, I'd have expected this to be the last."

Drago and Stiletta could not help but gawp at their companions for a few seconds. As usual, Zyssa was accompanied by Rio Bolt, and they were both dressed in a strikingly similar fashion to Drago and Stiletta. Rio fixed Drago with a suspicious stare, although Zyssa seemed only to be amused by the situation.

  "You two!" Stiletta exclaimed at last. "So that's what you were doing in Giles's barn – changing into your snow gear, just like…"

  "Just like the two of you?" Rio suggested. "From the way the straw was flattened, we knew someone had been there only a few minutes before we arrived. Was that you scurrying about in the hayloft? We thought the rats were suspiciously noisy!"

  "I climbed the ladder to check, but there was no one there," Zyssa added. "I suppose you must have jumped out of the window."

  "Maybe we did and maybe we didn't," Drago replied evasively.

  "And if we did, you should be grateful we were good enough to give you a bit of privacy," Stiletta opined, "considering what you were about to do when we left!"

Zyssa blushed, and Rio frowned.

  "What are you doing in Winteria?" he demanded.

  "We could ask you the same question," Drago shot back.

  "We are here on official Powers That Be business, at the behest of Treguard himself," Rio replied sharply. "However, Stiletta, the same cannot be said of you. I wonder what Treguard would say if he were to find out that you were here in the company of a known associate of the Fire & Ice gang. I don't think he'd be best pleased…"

  "Well, I should think the explanation for that would be obvious to someone with even half a brain," Drago said nonchalantly. "I know the Opposition took half your body, Rio, but I didn't realise they'd also chopped up your…"

Rio snarled and made a move towards Drago, but Zyssa placed a restraining hand on his shoulder.

  "This isn't a suitable time or place for that, my love," she said quietly. "Don't rise to it. My dear Drago, seeing as we're such simpletons, why don't you give us your explanation for Stiletta's presence here with you?"

  "I've kidnapped her!" Drago declared triumphantly. "I've come here to get my hands on the Ice Dr… on something very powerful, and I'm forcing Stiletta to help me!"

  "Yes, that's what he's doing!" Stiletta declared at once. "Dash it, Drago Lestrade, you are a complete bounder! I will yet escape from your evil clutches, and I'll see you pay for your crimes against the Powers That Be."

  "Why don't you escape now, then?" Zyssa asked wryly. "You're not tied up or anything."

  "Yes, well, I…" Stiletta faltered, well aware that she was fooling no one.

At that moment, a tremendous beating of leathery wings filled the air, and a colossal dark shape swooped down and grasped Stiletta – ever so gently – in its claws before whisking her off into the sky.

  "You'd better scream a bit, my dear," Lokie said under his breath, "make it look convincing."

Stiletta screamed her lungs out as Lokie carried her over the mountaintop and out of sight. Rio and Zyssa stared after them, nonplussed.

  "Was that the Ice Dragon?" Zyssa fretted.

  "Ah, then you are here to find the Ice Dragon's lair, and take its egg back to Treguard!" Drago deduced. "I knew it!"

  "And now we know that you're here for the same purpose, to take the egg back to your disreputable associates," Rio pointed out, "otherwise you wouldn't have mentioned it! But that wasn't the Ice Dragon, Zyssa. It looked like a Fire-Drake to me."

  "Yes! That's my Fire-Drake and Stiletta is my prisoner!" Drago declared, playing up to Lokie's trick. "I'm using her to help me get the egg, then I'm going to do… ooh, horrible things to her!"

  "Well, if that's really the case, we'll just have to arrest you and take you back to Treguard in chains," said Rio. "We can't leave a fellow Powers That Be agent in your tainted mercenary hands, can we?"

  "I'm sure Treguard would be thrilled to see you," Zyssa added. "He's still very annoyed about the way you escaped from his prison before he'd had a chance to interrogate you, and I know he's just dying to meet you again…"

Drago could not stop himself from shuddering visibly. Again Rio took a step towards him, but Drago dashed out of the way and ran off in the opposite direction.

  "You'll have to catch me first!" he called over his shoulder. "And you never will!"

Rio watched him disappear into the haze of white, and frowned deeply.

  "Do you think we should follow him?" he asked Zyssa.

  "No, I don't," Zyssa replied. "I think we should concentrate all our efforts on finding the egg before they do!"


Drago met up with Stiletta and Lokie on the other side of the line of mountains. Lokie was teaching Stiletta an ancient dragon song about the complexities of life and death.

  "This is no time for singing!" Drago exclaimed, as he skidded up to his two companions. "We have to find the egg before Rio and Zyssa do!"

  "I'm sorry, Drago," Lokie replied, sounding anything but. "We dragons love to sing when we're happy."

  "And what have you got to be so happy about?" Drago frowned.

  "There's another line of mountains about half a mile to the east of this one," Lokie replied. "There's a very steep mountain path that leads up to a huge cave. It can't be seen from the ground, but I've seen it from the air. I was flying back here to tell you about it when I saw you engaged in conversation with your two friends, and I decided to find out what you were discussing."

  "I'm jolly glad you did, Lokie," Stiletta grinned. "They're sure to believe I've been kidnapped now!"

  "I wouldn't count on it," Drago frowned. "But this enormous cave, Lokie… it has to be the Ice Dragon's lair, doesn't it?"

  "I should say so," Lokie nodded. "It's the only way inside the mountains that's big enough for a dragon to use, yet it's completely hidden from any traveller on the ground. Even if the Ice Dragon's lair has more than one entrance – which I think is likely – I'd be very surprised if this cave isn't one of them."

  "Excellent!" Drago declared. "Can you show us the way?"

With Lokie hovering overhead like a guiding star, Drago and Stiletta dashed towards the one particular mountain that was almost certain to contain the lair of the Ice Dragon. They quickly located the steep path and began to make their way up it, although they could see no sign of a cave entrance above them, just as Lokie had said.

  "Lokie!" Drago called up into the sky. "Are we heading in the right direction?"

There was no answer forthcoming. Drago squinted up into the snowy sky, but there was no longer any sign of his reptilian friend. He frowned slightly.

  "Don't worry about Lokie," Stiletta advised, placing a reassuring hand on Drago's arm. "I'd imagine that the flying conditions today aren't exactly what you'd call favourable, but he can look after himself. In the meantime, we'll just have to keep following the path and see where it takes us."

  "Yes, I suppose we have no choice," Drago agreed, "particularly as… oh God, there they are!"

Drago pointed back down to the foot of the mountain, where Rio and Zyssa had just taken their first steps upon the precarious rocky path.

  "Perhaps they followed Lokie here as well," Stiletta suggested. "Dash!"

  "They're still a long way behind us," Drago said grimly. "Come on, we can beat them to the top!"

As Drago and Stiletta increased their rate of climb, Rio and Zyssa did so also.

  "Come on, Zyssa!" Rio's tones wafted up the mountain. "We're gaining on them!"

At that moment, there came a tremendous crashing sound from within the mountain itself. Clumps of snow began to fall from higher up, forcing Drago and Stiletta to press themselves up against the rocky wall.

  "It's almost as if some colossal creature was stirring inside the mountain…" Stiletta mused.

  "Yes," Drago breathed in awe. "We must be on the right track!"

The grinding, crashing noises increased to deafening levels, almost as though some colossal mechanical engine had sparked into life within the mountain. Suddenly there came a tremendous rending, sliding noise from further up the path. Stiletta stared in its direction, and clutched Drago's arm in fear.

  "Look at that!" she squeaked in horror.

A titanic deluge of snow and rocks was rushing down the mountain towards them. Five times the height of a man, it was an ominous and chilling sight indeed.

  "What the hell is going on?" Rio's voice suddenly met their ears, and they turned to see that Rio and Zyssa were standing only a few feet away from them.

  "Yet another obvious deduction you seem unable to make, Rio!" Drago shrilled. "We're about to be buried alive by an avalanche!"

  "Oh no, we're not!" Zyssa declared determinedly. "Quick, let's get in here!"

To everyone's immediate relief, Zyssa had discovered a fissure in the rock, wide enough to admit an average sized human with centimetres to spare. Rio wasted no time in putting his arm around Zyssa and gently pushing her through the fissure, before following her through himself. Less than a second later, Stiletta darted lithely through the gap, with Drago hot on her heels. Moments afterwards, the enormous avalanche thundered past the fissure, obscuring it from sight, and blocking the entrance completely.


There was a spark of light, and a small wooden torch flickered into life. With great presence of mind, Zyssa had reached into her knapsack and retrieved a tinderbox, and now – as their eyes adjusted to the semi-darkness – the incarcerated quartet were able to drink in the details of their surroundings.

  "Oh my," Stiletta could not help but remark, "this doesn't look too good."

They were in a small cave, which could not have comfortably accommodated more than about eight people. The fissure in the side of the mountain was now about two feet above their heads – they must have taken a slight tumble after passing through the gap, but no one had really noticed in the mad dash towards salvation – and it was completely blocked with rocks and hard-packed snow. A sliver of daylight was just discernable at the top of the fissure, indicating that the blockage may be less severe at this point.

  "Well, I hope you'll all forgive me for stating the obvious," Zyssa sighed, "but we seem to be trapped."

  "Don't worry, Zyssa," Rio said at once, "I'll get us out of here."

He approached the blocked fissure and reached up to attempt to dislodge a rock, but Drago leapt at him and knocked his hand aside.

  "What do you think you're doing?" Rio snapped.

  "I'm stopping you from burying us all alive!" Drago exclaimed. "Think of all the snow and rocks we dashed in here to avoid – a good proportion of that avalanche is piled up on the other side of that fissure, and if you pull out one of those rocks, the whole thing could come pouring down on top of us!"

  "He's right, Rio," Zyssa said quietly. "We'll have to try something else."

  "We'll look for another way out," Rio decided. "We'll use your torch, Zyssa, and search every inch of…"

  "There isn't another way out!" Drago cut in. "You can see the entire confines of this cave from where you're standing right now, and there's obviously no sign of…"

  "We have to try!" Rio snarled. "What's the alternative, just stand here and do nothing?"

  "Or we could try to calm down and think about the problem logically," Stiletta pointed out. "It seems to me that if there's only one way out of this place, we'll have to work out a way to make it accessible without running the risk of killing ourselves in the process."

  "Exactly!" Drago declared, fixing Rio with a triumphant look. "There's certainly no point wasting our time looking for an exit that isn't there!"

  "We can't know that for sure until we've taken a proper look!" Rio maintained. "There might be a passageway leading out of the mountain hidden behind one of these rocks, for all we know!"

  "Yes, and there might be a magic gateway to Fairyland," Drago sneered sarcastically, "but I doubt it!"

With an angry growl, Rio launched himself at Drago and wrestled him to the ground. Drago felt a tremendous stab of pain in his ribs as Rio slammed his metal fist into them.

  "You've been asking for this, you smug little…" Rio began, but he stopped short as he found himself rolling over onto his side, as Drago fought to gain the upper hand.

  "This really isn't going to solve anything, you know," Stiletta interjected. "We should try to think of a way to…"

Rio's cry of pain filled the cave as Drago slammed a knee into his abdomen, before attempting to pin his shoulders to the ground. To Drago's delight, he found that he was strong enough to prevent Rio from wriggling free of his grasp. Acting as quickly as he could, he drew back one fist for a punch to the jaw, but this afforded Rio just enough time to slam his metal fist into Drago's nose. Drago roared in pain and surprise and fell backwards, blood gushing and spraying in all directions.

  "Stop it, both of you!" Zyssa snapped angrily, glaring down at the two panting combatants on the cave floor. "The only way we're going to get out of this is by working together, and if you two can't stop locking horns like a couple of randy stags… well, I don't rate our chances very highly!"

Embarrassed, Rio pulled himself to his feet and fixed Zyssa with an apologetic look.

  "You're right, Zyssa," he said humbly. "I'm sorry."

  "I'm sorry too," Drago added, as he nursed his bleeding nose. "You're right, we need to work together."

  "I'd tilt your head forward and pinch the bridge of your nose if I were you," Zyssa told Drago. "Now, Stiletta's right – if that fissure really is the only way out of here, we'll need to find a way to unblock it safely. But you're right too, Rio – we should search every inch of these walls just to make absolutely certain that there's no other way out."

As Rio and Zyssa busied themselves with this task, Stiletta came to sit beside Drago. She mopped his nose with the furry sleeve of her coat.

  "It's nearly stopped bleeding now," she reported. "Really, Drago, given the situation I do think you might have refrained from…"

  "I know, Stiletta, and I feel suitably ashamed," Drago assured her dryly. "Obviously we're all going to have to co-operate if we're going to get out of here, Zyssa's right about that… but I'm not too optimistic about our chances, to be honest with you."

  "Oh come on, we'll be all right," Stiletta smiled at him. "Remember, if we put our minds to it, we can accomplish anything, even the seemingly impossible!"

  "Well, I hope you're right," Drago sighed, "because it seems to me that getting out of here without being buried under hundreds of tons of snow and rocks is as near to impossible as makes no difference!"


As Drago had predicted, there was no sign of an alternative exit from the cave. The sliver of daylight had all but disappeared, and they were all exhausted from their exertions, so they decided to get some sleep and then look at the problem with a fresh eye in the morning. They huddled together on the floor to conserve as much body heat as possible, for though the inaccessible cave was a good deal warmer than the frozen wastes outside, it was still uncomfortably cold.

  "Drago…"

Feeling that he had only just dropped off, Drago was awoken by the sound of someone whispering his name. Despite the softness of the voice, he could hear it starkly and clearly, almost as though it was inside his own head… Drago snapped his eyes open and peered up at the rocky ceiling above. He could not help but feel surprised when he noticed that the roof of the cave had seemingly disappeared, and he was looking out at a starlit night sky.

  "Drago," the voice came again, and one of the stars seemed to twinkle along with the individual syllables. "You must escape from this cave, or you will surely die."

  "I… I know that voice," Drago muttered sleepily. "Night-star… but how can this be? Am I dreaming this?"

  "You humans make far too great a distinction between dreams and the experiences of the waking world," Night-star's voice informed him, as the star flashed along as before. "I am here with you, Drago – I will always be with you, in some way – and I am going to offer you some very useful advice."

  "But I thought you said I didn't need your advice anymore," Drago frowned. "You said I should…"

  "I said you should trust yourself sufficiently not to come looking for advice all the time, yet when I judge that you are in need of my help and I graciously decide to give it, I should hope that you would be grateful!"

  "Oh, I am, really! Tell me, Night-star, what do we have to do to get out of this cave?"

  "Even when things are in plain sight, they are not always clear," Night-star said enigmatically. "There is no way you could discern this from your current position, but there is one tiny rock at the top of that blocked fissure that is acting as a lynchpin for the debris outside. Loose a crossbow bolt at this one particular rock, and if your aim is true then the fissure will be cleared, and all the rubble will tumble down the mountain, leaving your exit clear."

  "Really?" Drago reacted excitedly. "That's fantastic news! Which rock is it?"

As he watched, starlight glinted off a tiny pebble at the very top of the blocked fissure. Drago stared at it intently, memorising its position.

  "I have helped you all I can," Night-star announced. "The rest is up to you, Drago… I just hope you've sense enough to make the right choice."

Drago sat bolt upright, as if awaking from a nightmare. There was no longer any sign of the stars through the solid roof of the cave, while the sliver of daylight had returned at the top of the fissure. Wasting no time, Drago lit a torch and retrieved his Airwan-issue crossbow from his bag. He quickly located the one stone that apparently held the key to their salvation, and took aim at it.

  "What are you doing?" Rio's suspicious voice wafted up from the floor.

  "There's a tiny little stone up there that's holding all the others in place," Drago explained, carefully aiming his crossbow. "I'm going to dislodge it, thus unblocking the entrance and setting us free."

  "But won't all the debris pour in and bury us?" asked Zyssa, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

  "No, it'll fall away down the mountain," Drago replied confidently.

  "How do you know all this, my love?" asked Stiletta.

  "It came to me in a dream," Drago replied.

  "That doesn't instil me with a great deal of confidence," Rio frowned.

  "On the other hand, we might as well give it a try," Zyssa sighed, "unless anyone's got any better ideas…"

Apparently nobody had. Drago wiped the sweat from his forehead and tried once again to aim the crossbow. He experienced a sudden realisation, and quickly forced himself to swallow his pride.

  "Rio, you need to take the shot," he announced coolly. "I can't aim properly in this light, and if I hit the wrong stone then we probably will be buried. But you don't need light to take this shot – you can do it purely on instinct, I know you can! You have to do it."

  "But I don't know which stone I'm aiming for," Rio pointed out.

  "Come here and look through the crossbow sight," Drago proposed. "You should be able to see which one I'm trying to aim for."

  "Go on, Rio, I know you can do this," Zyssa smiled at him encouragingly. "I have faith in you."

  "How remarkably sensible and gracious of you to know your own limitations, Drago," Stiletta added, feeling that she should encourage her other half in the same way.

Rio slid in next to Drago and carefully placed his eye to the crossbow sight. Ever so gently, Drago placed the crossbow into Rio's outstretched hand, and Rio began to line up the shot. He did not adjust the weapon significantly from the position in which Drago had been holding it, which caused Drago's pride to shrink a little less than it had been threatening to, although he knew all too well that those few millimetres could make all the difference between escape and eternal incarceration.

  "You'd better be right about this, Drago," Rio remarked, sweat running down his face, "otherwise we're all dead."

He took the shot. The small pebble fell into the cave, and the sliver of daylight became a definite crack. With a tremendous crashing noise, the debris began to fall away from the fissure and tumble down the mountain, widening the potential exit by the second.

  "Drago, you were right!" Stiletta celebrated, kissing him on the cheek. "We're saved!"

  "Thanks to you, Rio," Zyssa gushed, giving him a kiss of his own. "That was a brilliant shot!"

  "We're not safe yet," Rio said grimly. "Come on, we'd better see if we can get out of here."