Sarah: We... we mean no harm! We did not know anyone lived down here!
Mark: Sarah, what are you doing? It is a wild beast!
Sarah: Shut up, Mark! She just spoke to us!
The giant ice dragon took a slow, deliberate step forward, her heavy tail sweeping across the frozen floor with a soft hiss. She lowered her immense head until her golden eyes were level with Sarah's face. Cold mist puffed gently from her nostrils with every exhale.
Mother Dragon: Humans have not set foot in these deep ice chambers for three centuries. Why do you intrude upon my nest now?
Sarah: We were mapping the glacial shifts in the mountain... we followed the heat signals. We had no idea you were here.
Mark: Please... we are leaving right now. We will climb back up and pretend we never saw this.
Mother Dragon: If you leave, you will bring others. You will bring machines, lights, and noise. You will destroy the warmth that keeps my eggs alive.
Sarah: No! I promise you, we won't tell a soul! I am a researcher... I protect rare wildlife habitats!
Mother Dragon: Wildlife? I am the last elder guardian of the northern peak, human. I am no simple animal to be protected by your laws.
Sarah: I understand... I am sorry. Please, just let us prove we mean no harm.
The mother dragon tilted her head, her sharp gaze shifting from Sarah to Mark, who was trembling violently near the climbing rope. She lowered her head further, resting her chin on the cool ice near the nest, watching them closely.
Mother Dragon: My clutch is hatching today. The air above is colder than it has been in decades. If the fissure warmth fails, they will freeze before their first flight.
Sarah: The heat fissure... is it closing?
Mother Dragon: Ice shifts. The earth moves. The thermal channel from deep below is blocking with fallen stone.
Mark: Sarah... look at the thermal scanner. The temperature in the nest is dropping. It is down to forty-five degrees already.
Sarah: The eggs need sixty degrees to hatch, don't they?
Mother Dragon: If the ice freezes over the vent completely, my children will perish inside their shells.
Sarah: Mark, get the collapsible entrenching shovels out of your pack!
Mark: Are you insane? You want us to do manual labor for a giant ice monster?
Sarah: She is trying to save her babies, Mark! Look at her! She can't reach inside those small rock fissures with those massive claws! We can!
Mark: If we fail... or if she gets hungry...
Sarah: We aren't going to fail! Hand me the gear right now!
Mark hesitated for a brief moment, looking back and forth between the massive dragon and his research partner. Finally, he unzipped his heavy tactical pack and pulled out two reinforced titanium trench shovels.
Mark: Fine! But if this thing breathes fire on us, I am blaming you!
Mother Dragon: Fire? I do not breathe fire, little human. I breathe the frost that shapes the mountains. Now hurry... the frost approaches.
Leave a Comment