The Dragons' Lair Chapter 8

Chapter Eight.

 

The Ice Cave.

 

Sarriette was very glad of the warm cloak. The further north they flew, the colder the air became.

Eventually Jak landed on a snow‑covered hillside.

“How very odd,” he said. “I can smell the Mountain Dragons, but they seem to be inside the hill.”

“Dig,” suggested Finn.

Jak sniffed. “If I could breathe fire, I could melt the snow easily.”

The three of them began shovelling away the snow. Soon they uncovered a large boulder.

Jak pushed it aside. Behind it was an opening in the hillside. They stepped inside, and immediately shivered. It was even colder in the cave than out on the snowfield.

“Look here,” called Jak.

At the far end of the cave was a wall of ice. Inside the ice they could see an entire flock of Dragons.

“Are they dead?” asked Finn.

Jak sniffed the ice and shook his head. “No, just asleep.” He scratched at the surface. “This is most odd. I’ve never heard of Dragons sleeping encased in ice.”

“Can we break it?” asked Sarriette.

Jak tapped the ice with a claw and shook his head. “This is the hardest ice I’ve ever seen.” He sniffed around the cave. “I smell magic. These Dragons have been imprisoned by someone.”

“But I thought magic had no effect on Dragons,” said Finn. “That’s what the book said.”

“It doesn’t,” said Jak. “The magic is on the ice, not on the Dragons.”

He began pacing up and down the cave. “No one has the right to do this to Dragons,” he muttered. As he walked, his skin grew redder and redder with rage.

Sarriette and Finn backed away. He was getting hotter, dangerously so. They ran out of the cave just in time.

Jak gave an almighty roar and breathed an incredibly hot jet of flame at the ice wall. The ice melted instantly, and a torrent of boiling water gushed out of the cave, melting the snow as it flowed down the hill.

When it stopped, they rushed back inside. Jak stood there looking puzzled, and much less red.

“Was that me?” he asked.

“It most certainly was,” said Sarriette. “You breathed fire!”

“I did! I did!” shouted Jak. “I’m a real Dragon now!”

“What about them?” asked Finn.

“They’re still asleep,” said Jak. “Give them a few minutes.”

He was right. Before long, the hillside was covered in yawning, stretching Mountain Dragons.

One of them approached Finn, Sarriette, and Jak.

“Thank you,” it said.

“What happened? Who did this to you?” asked Jak.

“I did,” said a voice behind them.

They whirled round. At the bottom of the hill stood a tall, white‑haired woman.

“And you are?” snapped Jak, rather rudely.

“Most people know me as the Ice Queen,” said the woman. “You are in my country. And it pays to be polite when you visit me.”

“I’m sure Jak didn’t mean to be rude,” said Finn quickly. “Allow me to introduce us. This is Princess Sarriette of Sealand. I am Prince Finn, and this is Jak, a Royal Dragon and our friend.”

“You are all a long way from home,” said the Ice Queen. She walked over to the still‑sleepy Mountain Dragons. “I remember these. They stole and ate some of my reindeer. Then they went to sleep in that cave, so I froze them in. I forgot all about them.”

“We are sorry,” said the most awake Mountain Dragon. “We didn’t know the reindeer were yours.”

“Well, you do now,” said the Ice Queen. “But I think you’ve been punished enough. You’re free to go, and the sooner the better. I don’t like Dragons. They make me itch.”

“Thank you,” said Finn.

The Ice Queen turned, and in a swirl of snow vanished.

“She forgot!” said a Mountain Dragon. “We were stuck there for three hundred years because she forgot.”

“She must be the oldest human ever,” said Sarriette.

“She isn’t actually human,” said Finn. “She only appears that way to us.” He turned to Jak. “What did you see?”

“I saw a blue‑green Dragon,” said Jak.

The Mountain Dragons nodded. “That’s what I saw,” said one.

“Please may we go now?” asked one of the smaller Dragons. “It’s a long time since I’ve eaten, and I’m very hungry.”

“And cold,” added Sarriette.

She and Finn climbed onto Jak once more, and followed by a flock of Mountain Dragons, they flew back towards Dragon’s Lair.