All posts by Kristy

The Ice Dragon of the North Shore–the conclusion

Five Hours Later

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We climbed across the snow covered rocks, slipping on ice, and occasionally tripping over fallen branches making this trip through the forest seem to take forever. All at once huge blast knocked us 10 feet away from our trail without warning. Looking back we could see a column of smoke from the blast.

“Dad!” I hissed as I saw what it was. He jerked his head in my direction with a look as if to say ‘what NOW?’!

“No. Sudden. Moves. Or we will be dead faster than we can blink”. I never took my eyes off of it… It was called the Crystal Snow Specter according to the Dreka although a more accurate name would be… the Ice Dragon!

Before I knew it Dad grabbed a camera to photograph it making sound which awoken the beast. As Dad snapped another picture the beast rose it’s head and… Dad was gone in an instant! The trail of the Ice Dragon as it walks through the snow

“Dad!” I screamed. I couldn’t believe it. The dragon from the Dreka had just eaten my dad. All of a sudden I heard the shutter from the camera click. And again I was in disbelief, Dad was taking pictures inside the dragon’s mouth. The dragon raised it’s head spewing him back out unscathed. A moment later the Ice Dragon came my direction only to nose me as gently as a new puppy. I giggle at how soft it was. In that moment I knew that this creature was kind and caring. In the Dreka book it had said whoever owned the book was the rider and life-long friend of this dragon. I believe it 100% and nothing could change that!

Eating the stone covered shoreline

A great scraping sound drove me from my thoughts as the dragon was eating the rocky shore! Could this day get any weirder? The dragon saw us staring at it with fascination. It’s tail came sweeping up under us to gently set my dad and me on it’s back. It was armored in ice harder than diamond but somehow covered with the softest and warmest snow you have ever felt. Granted the air around us was still freezing cold and I couldn’t help but to shiver. The dragon noticed as I wrapped my arms around myself for warmth and twisted his head around to look at me. His breath was like a warm furnace and I found I was no longer cold. I looked at Dad and saw from his expression that the same thing happened to him. The Ice Dragon climbing up a stone pillar preparing to leave

Hoping to be lifted into the air soaring among the clouds we were instead offered a way off as the specter lifted a leg motioning us to climb down back to the safety of the snowy ground we came from. Than the dragon stretched its wings and took off toward the sun that should have been setting but was instead rising into a new dawn.

The sun rising over this vast lake

The Ice Dragon of the North Shore–part two

Two Months Later

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“Any ideas on where to go for spring break?” My dad inquired.

“Let’s go to the North Shore” I replied, exchanging a significant look with him. He knew what that meant.

“Actually, I think that would be a good idea”. He gave me a look that said ‘I’ll prove that old book is fantasy’. I had already told him I don’t believe that book either but it would just be cool to see the setting of the it. Why would I believe that book anyway?

“Daaaaaaad!”

“What?”

“You know I don’t believe that book!”

“I know that”.

***

Another Two Weeks Pass

*** Hiking through the snow covered north

The North Shore was cold and covered in snow. We went to our favorite spots. Hiking along the trail when something moved just out of our line of sight. Suddenly a snow bank seemed to hit us off the trail. The snow blinded me as I was covered from head to toe with the cold, white powder. Shivering I sat up and most of the snow fell off allowing me to see once again. Dad was already standing and looking around like he was hallucinating. I was about to find out why

“What is it, Dad?”

“I just thought a snow bank came up and knocked us off the path” He slowly murmured in disbelief.

“Me too” Agreeing with his uncertain answer.

We looked around for any evidence to explain what just happened.

“We’re too far away from the path, I’m not exactly sure where we are”. He said with a puzzled look.

“I think I may know where we are!” I exclaimed.

“Where?”

The northern most shore of Lake Superior

“The Northernmost Shore of lake Superior”. He looked to where my finger was pointing and through the trees we could see the snow glittering on a large, frozen lake which appeared to be more like an ocean than a lake.

Dad whistled and said: “How did we end up here, we were miles from here!”

“The only thing that would make sense is if we were knocked out and kidnapped. Why would they just leave us here though? Thankfully we woke up before we froze”.

“I don’t know, but let’s start going back because it’s going to be a long hike and it will be dark before too long”. I groaned and stood up once again.

“Dad, what if they come after us again?” I asked, afraid that there would be nothing we could do.

“We’ll stay away from paths and try to stay where we have cover or stay where they can’t sneak up on us again”.

“If we have cover, so do they. If we stay where they will be in the open, we’ll be in the open too”. Dad shrugged and we started our journey of what felt like a million steps.

Trying to stay hidden on our journey back

***

The Ice Dragon of the North Shore

Lately I’ve noticed the librarian at the public library watching me whenever I’ve been there. She looked at me curiously at first, then she started giving me a calculating look. This time was an exception. She was obviously trying to avoid eye contact. I was looking at some fantasy books and when I looked up the librarian was standing over me. I quickly shot a  glance toward my Dad to see if he noticed but he seemed a little distracted.

“Kid, I need you to come with me.” she said, startling me. I desperately tried to get my dad’s attention without the her noticing. A difficult task which I failed miserably at.

“Kid, Stop that. I’m not going to hurt you it won’t take long.” she looked at me before adding “It’s about a book you reserved ”. She failed as badly as I did trying to give me a bored look.

“My name isn’t kid. If it’s about a book I reserved and you know what I look like, you know my name also!”.

“I… You… My colleague pointed you out to me and told me to get you”. I looked around her at the desk. A red-haired elderly lady with too much bright red lipstick on was sitting behind the desk.

“Sorry for being so defensive,” I said reluctantly. She looked conflicted and I could only imagine the internal battle that was going on. This must be awkward for her after staring at me for so long. She led me to the back where I noticed on one was around as we descended a nearby set of stairs leading to a door which appeared to be heavily locked.

Going down the stairs to the locked door

“I don’t think my book is in there,” I said with a look of uncertainly.

“It’s not,” the librarian replied seriously. She took out a strange, metal key, unlocked the door and motioned me inside. Once inside this librarian, if she truly is a librarian,  pointed me to a table covered in ancient drapes with an ancient and enormous leather book bearing a metal symbol depicting a dragon along with crystal like projectiles coming from the fanged mouth of this dragon resting next to these intricate drapes.

“What’s going on? More importantly What is this?” as I rested my hand on the large and obviously ancient book.

“That’s yours. It’s called the Dreka. and this cloth is called a Dreki Handhafa,” she told me as she eyed my (clean) hand resting on it. I noticed and quickly removed my hand from the Dreka as I scanned around and saw the books surrounding this Dreki Handhafa.

The Dekra and Dreki Handhafa

“This isn’t mine. I don’t understand. Why would you bring me down here?” I questioned, Confusion clouding my face.

“It was left to you by my Grandfather” She replied.

“I don’t think I knew your Grandfather” I quickly snapped back.

“You didn’t know him” this librarian confirmed.

“Why would he leave something for me if I never knew him?” I continued to question.

“He knew you, even though you never met” she said cryptically.

“This is mine then. Can I read the Deka book?”

The librarian laughed and said “It’s called the Dreka and you can read it if you want. It is yours after all”.

I sat and read until the librarian came back into the room, never realizing she had left to begin with. As she entered she said “Your dad’s looking for you and I can’t think of any other way to stall him”.

“OK. I can tell him about this right?” I asked.

“Yes but do it in an isolated location after you finish the book” she said, this time with a slight smirk creeping into her face.

“Why do I have to finish the book?” I asked quizzically.

“Trust me, you need to finish the book and it’ll all make sense” She said, as the smirk now became a full grin.

“OK” I replied leaving back up the stairway.

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To be continued…

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