The Iron Badger

Chapter 3

Much To Discuss (Part 1)

1

"I noticed the clouds by the dulling of the moon's glow. Through the thin veil of the clouds, I noticed a horrible thing. The gray clouds took form and shape. As I stared, I noticed what the clouds were forming. The clouds were forming scales of that of a serpent. Then the clouds slowly moved, making the image clearer, causing my skin to crawl as the clouds became that of a coiled serpent, looking as if it could strike. It was when I saw its face that my heart nearly stopped beating. The serpent had a face of an old man."

Rye—

The winds shifted slightly, allowing the snow to slow. Up ahead, my father found a dark spot above the horizon that caused his heart to swell with hope. Equinox gave a loud neigh. My father lovingly stroked Equinox's long red mane. "Not yet," said my father to his horse. Something within the clouds puzzled my father to the point of pulling up on the horse's rein, forcing Equinox to a stop. Looking up, my father saw something within the clouds themselves. The gray storm clouds formed scales like that of a snake. But Rye, my father, heed not the signs of the clouds, for his heart was hardened. "Ah! A mere trick of the clouds and nothing more." Scoffed my father as the clouds broke away, giving Rye a sense of relief. But the lull vanished, sending high gale winds and blinding snow quickly wiping any feeling of relief that my father once had.

With a quick snap of Equinox's bridle, Rye's horse sped to a quick trot--the only speed that the snow would allow. Father raised himself from the horse's saddle, then whispered into Equinox's ear. "It is now time."

Without delay to my father's words, Equinox's skin crackled and a blue aura appeared around Rye. Equinox's skin became like red hot fiery embers glowing through the gloom of the storm!

Oils from Equinox's skin caused flames to burst forth from the horse's skin. The aura around my father kept him safe from the swirling flames around him. But Father told me that the heat from Equinox caused his brow to sweat, but he cared not, for their destination was in plain sight.

Equinox galloped with frantic fervor with dancing flames swirling behind him, melting the snow in front, creating a path for safe travel. It was Dragon's Root in Equinox's blood that made him burn like a thousand suns!

The dark patch took form, no longer a dark mass of nothingness that Rye saw on the horizon. No! slowly it became something of importance. It became a cluster of trees dense enough to keep the snow and its galling winds at bay. But my father knew there was much work at hand.

There was only one Dragon's Root in my father's riding pouch. It's enough to create a small campfire and perhaps enough to melt through the snow if the weather got worse, but not enough to get them home. So Rye had to ration out the root to keep them through the night.

When father unmounted his horse then stepped into the freezing snow, there were mixed emotions of victory and loss. Father told me it was between laughs of gratitude and tears of loss. But there was nothing he could do about it but to survive.

"I must confess that I was at a loss. Si, now dead and gone. I found myself alive and well. A bit of guilt filled my heart... I did not know to shout for joy or cry over the loss of my now fallen friend. So, I ended up doing a little of both. This is the part of the story that saddens me. It is not of Si, but when I fell asleep."

Rye—

2

I had no foolish notions of Father bursting through the door as the wind yelled behind him, allowing snow to drift inside the house as he handed gifts to everyone, telling Mother and I how sorry he was on his late arrival. Instead, Mother looked out through the frosted window, in hopes to see her love coming out from the dark distance... But all she saw in the distance was the blackness and snow.