Chapter #4Snow White Plume by: Juac   Light was streaming from above. And the bitter cold of the winter chill that crept through you was no longer there. You had been running for hours through the northern snowfall, deep into the woods and far up the mountains near your village. Whatever worth you were is long gone. Selling children into slavery for their own benefit was becoming a trend in your back-water town. Your dreams of grandeur in a life far away from it were almost snuffed out. Had it not been for a dear friend’s help you would have been next. You had already guessed as well but the greatest hints come from others. You just hoped that she was okay too.
You were given this help just before they had come to take you away. But they are on your trail as you ran through the empty woods. Thankfully your footprints were being covered slowly by the snow that nearly blinded you. The chill comes naturally with the land and the snow was low so the grass that peaked through helped to cover your path as well.
Where you were running to mattered little, as long as you escaped. But you were in unknown territory. And with the snow and forest life, lost at the time. That’s when your memory becomes vague, because that was the time that you were nearly caught.
Even though you managed to get away, they were still able to follow you through the snow. By then you figured that they were probably professionals at collecting their ‘merchandise’. Many must have run-away before, and they were sent to catch them. Your parents must have already paid.
You had already run out into a clearing that ran over the edge of a cliff. There was no escape where you were now. You ran to the edge to see if you could climb down. But the height was beyond your miniscule climbing ability. You were trapped…
But when you thought your hopes had died, you noticed a ledge below. You walked near it. It was a bit of a ways down, and if you missed… But at this point of desperation you didn’t care. Without a yell or care, you jumped down to the ledge below.
On the way you had lost your footing and stumbled backward, into the mouth of a cave no less. Sliding down you found yourself amongst clear ice crystal. One you had mistakenly bumped into, hard. You were in a partial daze because of it as well.
But even in your daze your greatest fear of the time had come to fruition. Your interlopers saw the ledge and were already entering the cave after you. You backed away in fear, but partly paralyzed from your crash. Their faces were cold but they were enjoying the hunt, you could see it plainly in there malevolent smiles.
As you backed away, you heard a faint cracking. Most of the noise in your ears was a hallowed washing noise like a river. You could not even tell if they were talking or their footsteps were making a similar noise. You just kept moving back until the cracking became a full snap. The ceiling rumbled and then you noticed what you had done. You’d released an icicle so large it connected to the floor from it’s spot. You must have loosened it when you bumped into it. It fell back and crashed into a large wall of ice behind you, cracking the glassy wall.
You only paid attention to the men after seeing the wall crack; it was not as if it would help to kill the three of you in this cavern. You kept your gaze on them. But, to your surprise they had stopped inching closer. In fact they were no longer looking at you but past you. Something behind you was making their blood run cold and you were glad for it.
As they stopped, the ice behind you shattered and a piece slammed into the back of your neck.The last thing you remember before blacking out completely were the men being thrown to the side and you being lifted up. The visions after were dark and blurry, but you remember a strange and comforting dream. Of being surrounded by snow white feathery clouds around you as you were whisked through the sky, the sun falling below its spectral line.
…
Those were the events that led you to this odd environment. You were surrounded by odd white feathers. But they had no stems, anything connecting to the fur, or skin for them to come from. But these feathers were huge and cradling you softly in their warmth. On closer inspection, the fur that made them was almost crystal like; glassy and colorful. If you had to say, they were more like feather scales.
Whatever you were sitting in was drenched in light coming from above. You peeled yourself out of the warm cocoon as best you could to see. When you finally managed to pull away the feather bungalow you found yourself covered in bright light you had to strain to see until your eyes adjusted.
Your real location was in a silvery blue cave in which your feather bed was inside of. The light was coming from a hole high above you. You could see the sky through it, the hole was huge enough to show. But was so high and put at such an odd angle it could not be climbed through. The floor was too far away for you to see, but from where you were already it was still a faraway height.
You struggled upward to see. Thankfully the feathers did not bend easily, only curve. It was odd to stand on something so soft yet strong, but you were able to see at least. The path of feathers led downward to a lake below where the feathers ended in odd prongs. But there was something stranger then the prongs. Something was moving down at the lake. Swishing left and right very slowly.
It had beautiful golden curves and trails coming off of it. Then you saw it suddenly flick upward and the entire trail shifted with it. You heard and felt the rushing of wind from above you. And as you turned to look up, your world was turned with it.
A face stood above you, reptilian in looks. Your thoughts automatically came out as ‘dragon’. And the feathers you had been laying in were its furry scales. To your thanks it was asleep and gently breathed as it did. For whatever reason it had taken you and not eaten you was beyond your knowledge. But your fears would not let you be near it without an explanation for long.
  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
| Members who added to this interactive story also contributed to these: |
<<-- Previous · Outline  · Recent Additions © Copyright 2025 Juac (UN: juacamo at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Juac has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work within this interactive story. Poster accepts all responsibility, legal and otherwise, for the content uploaded, submitted to and posted on Writing.Com. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author