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Sons of Winter chapter 10: The Endless Night (novel commission written for Teufel: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/dragonteufel/ )

Chapter description: While braving the frozen landscape on the way to the fabled human kingdom to the west, Aleks and Nyrisa settle for the night, and the blue wolf shares a mystical tale with the little hatchling that inspires her to further boast her magical prowess.

Aleks belongs to Teufel: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/dragonteufel/

The other characters featured in this novel are my creation

*

By late noon, the blizzard had frozen everything. Boulders cracked and crumbled on the sides of the canyon, shrubs bent and stuck to the icy ground due to the harsh winds battering it. All around, everything was white, slippery and dead.

Aleks wrapped the furred hides tighter around himself when the wind picked up, then released a curt yelp when his foot skidded across the too smooth pebbles. He sidestepped to the right, on the narrow path Nyrisa formed for him.

The black dragoness walked ahead of him, frills and crest tucked tight against her body as she swept away the pebbles with her tail to increase Aleks' purchase on the tricky soil. Frozen mud marred its lower parts, along with narrow scratches.

Aleks pursed his lips at the painful sight, narrowed his gaze against a gust filled with battering ice, and pressed onwards. What else could he do, but accept Nyrisa's choice? His heart turned to the size of a pebble at letting a wee hatchling endure through a blizzard, yet she gave him no choice in the matter. Despite her youth and tiny size, she had the better eyes, and they both knew it.

Besides, Aleks wouldn't have known how to stop her. Once Nyrisa set her mind to something, she wouldn't budge.

Even when her life was at stake.

Aleks shivered, and not because of the chill crawling up his brittle bones. She shouldn't have been standing, let alone lead the way for him. According to her ominous message, she should have collapsed by now. And yet, her tracks were real, her squeaks still made their way to Aleks' ears, and her tightly packed, trembling wings unmistakably registered the cold. She wasn't an apparition, or a figment of his imagination, but the same hatchling he had clutched to his bosom the day before.

What had happened, then? The fight certainly did, as his battered body kindly suggested. But what about Nyrisa's voice, or the eerie magic that made his victory over Leobard possible? A hallucination? A half-forgotten dream?

He spoke no words on that matter, and neither did she. After all, she was a hatchling. She shouldn't possess that ability, magic or no magic.

Aleks cast his mind off that even, focusing on his surroundings, on what he could see and feel. Even down here, in the crevasse of a narrow canyon, the blizzard howled. Aleks' ears were hopelessly frozen and numb to anything else but the harsh cry of the wind swiping past the jagged ridges rising all around them. It muffled his footsteps, his moans when the ice stung his cheeks.

Better here than up there, Aleks thought as he glanced upwards, towards the plateau expanding around the canyon. The setting sun of late evening bore down upon it, wan and weak. Up there, they would have had to seek refuge from the blizzard and camp. Down here, they moved. At a snail's pace, but they moved, and every footstep through the gaping whiteness ahead brought Nyrisa and him closer to the human lands, to safety.

He straightened his back at the encouraging thought, draped the deerskin shawl farther down his brow and increased his pace to match Nyrisa's. He sloughed through the snow with all his remaining strength, yet Nyrisa's effortless shuffle still kept her ahead of him. Unlike his maladroit feet, her paws were small and light, never sinking too deep. And when the ground became barren ahead, her sharper claws scraped at the thin layer of ice for purchase, while his blunter ones skidded across it helplessly.

Aleks trudged after her, following her rocking tail tip up to a withered willow overlooking a layered hollow. Even though the small pond dried up long ago and snow filled the hollow entirely, the willow's gnarled branches still reached towards it, as if in supplication.

Nyrisa squeaked, then covered the remaining distance with several enthusiastic pounces.

"Where you going? Lake's dried, tree's dead, and its husk is barely thick enough to shelter us from the blizzard." Aleks spoke slowly, taking sharp breaths with every word. "We cross this canyon. That's what we do. And when--"

She sat. Then she curled into a ball next to the willow's thick trunk.

"We agreed to keep going, Nyrisa. You've heard Leobard's words. If any of the fleeing IceHowlers were to find us..." Aleks trailed off and tightened his grip around his hides when she began licking her tail. As if on cue, the wind howled louder when he spoke. As if the ice he treaded upon wasn't enough of a torment already!

By the time he reached Nyrisa, the dragoness already finished grooming herself. Aleks winced at the sight of the numerous scratches spread across her tail fin, and the bleeding gashes and bruises lined along the lower parts of her tail. He fumbled for his dark leather satchel with two numb fingers, and only managed to undo the clasp before she shifted a wing across her tail to cover it. A soft whimper escaped her, and her azure eyes shifted towards him for a fleeting moment before she turned her head the opposite way, towards their goal.

She rose onto her shivering haunches, then put weight onto her trembling forepaws.

"Wait a moment," Aleks stretched an arm forward, rethinking their strategy. "I think...it is better if we linger for a while. Those scrapes need a layer of healing salve, and I need a gulp of water and a bite."

The dragoness' frills twitched with the slightest trace of enthusiasm, and she leaned on her side to make enough room for Aleks to snuggle against the willow's trunk.

Not that they didn't have enough space. The bulbous base of the trunk was thick enough to shelter both of them, without any need for Nyrisa to expose the amethyst scales of her belly to Aleks to warm his hands. Useless as it was, she always insisted to warm up at least part of him.

As if on cue, the dragoness sneezed when the wind shifted. Snowflakes pelted her soft scales. They made her hind paws twitch, and forced her eyes shut against the onslaught. Yet still, she stood like this, exposed, even when Aleks grabbed the hind paw that she held aloft, her pads as cold as his.

"On your belly, now. Didn't you notice how wide this bulge is?" Aleks kicked the trunk for emphasis. "There's no need to get Wet Snout just because--"

Her toes curled around Aleks' wrist, and all he heard was her thin squeak before she pulled him in, insisting to do right by him. Aleks planted a fist against the frigid ground to keep himself from being dragged by her. He only managed to prop his back against the willow's trunk when she leaped on top of him, changing her tactic to warm him on the move. Satisfied that she got ahead of him, Nyrisa crouched until her body covered Aleks belly, her wings spread to the sides to cover his arms under their silky surface

"Nyrisa, Nyrisa," Aleks pleaded while stroking her neck with the tips of two fingers. "I have to check your tail. Fumble for a water skin. Bring out something to eat. I'm hungry. You are too. Right?"

She didn't budge. Her slender snout poked Aleks' brow, her azure eyes broad and playful. "We'll rest like this if you want, but after."

Her head tilted to the side, and her crest twitched slightly. "After I do what I said I do," Aleks said.

She tucked in her wings to free his arms, visibly upset with his choice.

Aleks released his drawn-out sigh. The narrow pond sprawled in front of him, and behind it, a wall of jagged rock. As long as the wind continued to blow against the willow and not from the sides, this shelter was their best options to spend the night.

Aleks inspected his surroundings, looking for any other trees, perhaps a dry shrub to provide kindling for the fire, when Nyrisa shifted her body.

"What are you--we're not--"he broke into a fit of gasping and chuckling when her front paws groped at his furs. Even through three layers of hides and clothing, her claws still tickled him, and her lower belly pressed so hard against his groin Aleks' eyes bulged.

It all ended when Nyrisa's hind paws tucked under her belly. Aleks drew in a sharp breath, his wide eyes staring straight into Nyrisa's. He licked his lips, blinked, tried to smile while his mind whirled with questions, requests, excuses--anything to make her snout move further down his chest. It stood inches from his mouth, her nostrils twitching, her breath hot upon his frozen cheeks.

"I said I'll--I had that thing to do, that something." He shifted his gaze to the side, towards his dark leather satchel when his cheeks began to boil. "Ah yes, the salve. One layer is all--"

His words cut off when something warm, and moist and wet ran along his jaw. He turned to face her, only to squirm under the terse assault of her tongue. It brushed against his brow, ears, chin--anywhere but his lips. Aleks grabbed her snout before her tongue snaked out for another stroke, caressing her brow with his other hand.

What got into her? The dragonesses' frills twitched, her crest swayed with pent-up excitement, and her nostrils flared to accommodate her rapid breathing.

She shook her neck to release herself from Aleks' grasp, let out a soft murmur, and curled her tail around Aleks' shins for support as she shifted in his lap.

Aleks' heart skipped a beat when her inner thighs pressed tight against his. Her belly lowered against his loins, her chest squashed his, and her wings alighted upon his frozen hands. The warmth seeping through the soft scales of her belly returned the sense into Aleks' frame, despite the rather...unconventional means employed by her.

"I'm good, I'm warm again," Aleks said. He wriggled his hips against her, tried to free his hands from her grasp. As expected, Nyrisa squawked and didn't move an inch. At least her front paws loosened enough for Aleks to break free and hug her elongated neck. "I'm grateful for what you did, unnecessary as it was," he whispered into her left ear. "Got my furs for that." With her head resting on top of his shoulder, Aleks couldn't gauge her answer from the movement of her crest and frills, from her expressive gaze or head movements. Whatever it was had to do with doubt, for her wings kept twitching in their joints.

"I've got to build a fire," Aleks said. "Night will fall, and with it, frost."

Nyrisa snorted. Her paws sought his hands to hold them in her warm, comforting grip.

"At least allow me to check your tail. The scrapes, the bruises, they need at least a layer of--"

Her tail tip slithered along his thigh, snaked through the narrow space between them when Nyrisa rose onto her feet, then flicked against Aleks' groin. He winced, she squeaked with glee, and crashed back on top of him.

"Good," Aleks wheezed. "Mobile, flexible, no significant damage that I can assess."

As a hatchling, she knew little of the male anatomy, or how uncomfortable it made Aleks to be touched down there. To her, every part of his body deserved to be warmed, despite the implications of their different genders and age difference.

His hairs stood on end as a mellow thrum ignited within Nyrisa's throat. He felt it rippling through his breast, rushing alone his spine in the form of a warm tingle. Her head suddenly rose, azure eyes bearing into his for a curt moment before she squeezed them shut and darted her snout forward to rub her cheek against his.

Aleks chuckled at the touch of her soft scales against his bare, frigid form. She felt so warm, so comforting, and the short dabs of her tongue against his wind lashed cheeks soothed the sting within them. Aleks brought his hands up to stroke her sensitive neck, to scratch her jaw lightly, to fondle her smooth crest.

Nyrisa's thrum acquired a higher pitch, becoming a purr as the dragoness gave in to the pleasant treatment. Her snout fell limp onto Aleks' chest, right in front of his lips. Then, before he had the chance to let out as much as a yelp, she covered the remaining distance between them and touched his nose with hers.

Aleks' breath stuck in his throat. It lasted no more than a heartbeat, yet it stunned him nevertheless.

Nyrisa drew back, yet he still felt the smoothness of her scales upon his lips; their smothering warmth. He blinked several times, and so did she.

Did she even understand the significance of her action? And where did she copy it from? Surely not from--

"Where have you seen that? That--that gesture" Aleks said hoarsely, shocked by her sudden pravery. "Do you know of its significance?"

The dragoness released a soft yip before 'kissing' him again, squeaking in glee at how it flustered him. Like last time, Aleks froze. His limbs fell limp, his chest constricted, his heart pounded. His hands wrapped around her neck, and he pushed, too slow and too feeble. Nyrisa felt encouraged by his protest, and began licking his face with broad, sensual strokes of her smooth tongue tip.

She suddenly stopped.

The dragoness squeaked and thrust her snout towards the knapsack propped at Aleks' side. She licked her snout and lowered her head to feign a slurp.

"Nah." Aleks shook his head. "I'm no longer hungry or thirsty. Unless you--"

She placed a paw on each side of him, and prepared to descend upon him. Aleks grabbed one of his hides and pulled it at the last moment before her warmth made his skin prickle.

"Tuck your wings tight."

She did, and Aleks draped the white bear hide across her back, and down to her haunches. A broad smile spread on his lips when Nyrisa trilled in appreciation, only her neck visible.

"Cozy, eh? Now that we cuddle, I can pull more from..." Aleks trailed off as he brought a hand to his side--or, more likely, to Nyrisa's wing. It covered his flank from arm to toes, and he had to wiggle his arm past her wing joint to grip his second fur--a thinner spotted deer hide.

He chuckled when Nyrisa's snout rested atop his shoulder, giggled and laughed while she licked and nibbled at his ear.

"Uh, cold night, this one. Dark too. Darker than I realized."

Nyrisa snorted in derision at his babble and shifted her snout on top of his neck, so that their noses found themselves inches from one another. Her tongue darted out a moment after, basking the cold, dark nose of the wolf in slimy affection.

"You keep me warm, of course, so I can't feel the cold. Not even a snowflake," Aleks sought to encourage her, even when the hides did that better than her petite size could.

Her crest flexed as her gaze darted upwards, towards the darkening sky. In mere minutes, Aleks would not even see Nyrisa through the thick darkness of the gathering clouds, yet her slitted eyes saw even past them. Or so myths claimed. They stared at each other until the last ray of light vanished and the glint in Nyrisa's eyes faded into nothingness.

He needed something to combat the darkness and the worries creeping in. Distractions! An intellectual topic to occupy his mind with.

"Have I ever told you about the Endless Night that came long before any other bipedal races but for the Alkhari existed?" He said in the span of one breath. The tips of his ears seethed, and his stomach knotted with apprehension at what might follow if Nyrisa actually fell limp in his embrace, before he even had the chance to tell her one of the stories she so favored.

Aleks released his pent-up sigh when he felt her frills twitch with enthusiasm against his palm. He leaned forward to plant a kiss between her nostrils and scratched her cheek.

"The Dorlarrans existed also, on the far out reaches of the coast, or along broad rivers," Aleks continued. "But they have their rivers to nurture, so that the rivers in turn nurture them. The Alkhari, at that time, were exactly as my people."

Nyrisa yipped, and her snout pushed further into Aleks' palm.

"Greedy, proud, with only expansion in mind. They considered themselves the pinnacle of evolution, the apex predators, and had one great kingdom built of stone and wood and clay." His voice grew harsher, laden with the weight of his origins.

Aleks cupped Nyrisa's chin, dabbing at it with the tips of his fingers until she rumbled with ecstasy. "Alkhari. Great bipedal wolves, the embodiment of wisdom, cunning, and ferocity. Their priests were called Shapers, for they Shaped the very foundations of Alkhar with their magic. Their magic constructed houses out of pebbles, walls from black rock that no pickaxe would chip at, let alone crack. They performed wonders with their earth magic, yet only within reasonable limits, and not more. Harmony dictated their doings, balance was their creed, and they never expanded over nature more than they needed. They respected the land they lived on, not the kingdom they helped Shape, and so, they provided just enough dwellings for everybody to live inside and a wall big enough to defend them. No more."

Aleks stopped when Nyrisa placed a forepaw on top of his wrist. He grabbed it, felt the smooth texture of the padded underside with his fingers, and sheltered it between his palms. "Yes, they're as skilled in magic like the humans, the realm where we head to. Only, they were a handful of priests, and Alkhar was a kingdom, with its own chieftain and hierarchy that despised their senseless blather. Their leaders treated them as glorified slaves, to use their magic whenever they commanded them to. And the Shapers did, for they had no choice, until the Endless Night came."

Nyrisa's tail curled tighter around one of Aleks' shins. Her other forepaw landed on top of Aleks' hand, her toes slender yet strong. "The Winter Without a Sky, the White Desolation. Many names for a single, continuous blizzard. It spanned over years, during which all of the Alkhari secluded themselves in their homes, while the Shapers were cast out into the wilderness out of their very homes that housed the mercenaries the Alkhari relied upon during their conquests. The Alkhari chieftain thought them to be dead, yet they thrived in the caverns spread throughout the forest."

Nyrisa curled her toes around Aleks' fingers and poked his brow with her snout, his cue to fondle her twitching frills. "Fish still swam under the frozen water, frost berries still grew on bushels. They had food, and they had shelter, and when their supplies dwindled, the Alkhari leaders marched their armies through the forest, seeking to conquer their ally and steal their supplies." Aleks paused to swallow, coughed to clear his voice, and closed his eyes.

"The relentless cold cracked their dwellings back in Alkhar, and their resources thinned to the point of desperation, so they did what they had to do. They filled the caverns and pushed the Shapers out into the bleak desolation, claiming their home yet again. After years of continuous blizzard, every tree had not one single leaf, and everything was dead."

Nyrisa growled slightly, only to hum in delight once Aleks found her crest.

"Until the First Shaper gave his life to nurture a tree with his magic. He refused to accept death. Refused to let darkness claim everything. And, with every fiber of his body, he seeped his magic into the tree and urged it to grow and fight the cold. The other Shapers took his cue. Together, they funneled their magic into the forest, urging the trees to twine their branches and form a protective sanctuary against the cold.

It was still dark, but, unlike the Endless Night, it was a warm darkness, lit by the fireflies that started to emerge. The forest recovered thanks to the Shapers, and once the Endless Night ended and the Shapers no longer had the magic to keep the tree barrier united, they stopped the magic.

Blazing light greeted them after years spent in darkness, and when they went to find out what happened to the other Alkhari, they found them frozen in their caves. Since then, they cared for the land so that the land, in turns, cares for them."

His breath turned ragged by the end, and he sweltered within his sanctuary. He shook his hands out of Nyrisa's paws to scratch her behind her petite horns. She squeaked, yelped, shook her head to get rid of the pestering itch. "What about you, little Nyrisa? Do you care for me?" Aleks taunted, aware of how much she enjoyed having her loyalty questioned.

With one jerk of her head, she freed herself, pressed her forepaws onto Aleks' chest and pushed her snout right into his face. Aleks squeezed his eyes shut under her hot, steaming breath, and opened them again when their lips touched.

He kissed her not once, but several times, if only to listen more to her joyful trilling at discovering this strange habit bipedals indulged in.

Nyrisa beamed. Even though Aleks couldn't see her, he felt her mirth radiating through the tightness of her embrace.

Then, she let go of him.

Aleks wrapped his arms around his torso when coldness replaced Nyrisa, and he looked around with wide, useless eyes. Blinking, shivering, searching for her. Blast it. What in the five hells was she--

Then, he felt it. A surge of spiritual energy so strong his breath caught. It welled into the tree, fortifying it. Forcing life back into it!

Aleks rolled forward when tiny boughs sprouted from the trunk, brushing past him and forming a leafy sanctuary around him. Aleks waved his arms around, feeling the soft texture of the leaves, the strong wood of ever growing branches. If only he could see as well...

Nyrisa's bulk drew him out of his reverie. Aleks yowled when she crashed on top of him, assuming the same straddling position as before. Only, this time, she was positively restless. Aleks couldn't even grab hold of her head, least stop her tongue from dashing all over his face and hands.

"You seek praise, yes, but it's hard to say when I can't even..."

A soft, amber glow pierced the darkness. No more than a mote, a speckle of color into a gaping void. Aleks followed it with the corner of an eye until another twinkled into existence, then another.

"Fireflies," Aleks whispered, his voice feeble before the awesome display of draconic acumen. Nyrisa heard the story only once, yet she infused the willow with the same magic that turned it into a sanctuary, just like the one from the myth. Aleks' gaze fled from a clump of twined branches to the dangling, verdant tassels around them.

"That's...that's..." he trailed off with a snort when Nyrisa leaned her head on his chest. "This type of magic is lost to history. How did you even...?"

He trailed off when her hum flared to life. She held up a forepaw for him, and Aleks grabbed it and cupped it in his hand before touching his nose against hers. "I am well in awe with your proficiency over magic, yet this...you might have perished in the same way with the First Shaper I told you about."

She hissed at that and blinked back the exhaustion from her half-closed eyes, unwilling to admit weakness nor defeat.

Aleks let go of her paw, slithered his fingers past her nape and stroked her crest and neck with slow, tender moves. "We all have our limits, Nyrisa, and if what you told me was true..."

His muzzle snapped shut in an instant to lock those foul words within. He shouldn't have mentioned them. By the grace of the Eternal Dragon, he shouldn't have tempted fate! Not when Nyrisa was still awake, in his lap, nuzzling at his wrist and blinking back the heaviness settled over her weary, azure eyes.

"We're alright. Both of us. Is all that matters. Rest now," Aleks urged, draping the furs over her head, leaving only her little snout and nostrils visible. "You've more than earned it."

END OF CHAPTER 10

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