Ragewind

ragewind
Ragewind scaled the mountainside, her long sleek body allowing her the agility needed to maneuver over the rocks and cracks marring the ancient path she followed. She studied the ground, not even sure she was following the trail anymore. Her surroundings had been the same for the past few miles: rock, barren rock, nothing else. Ragewind lowered herself to the ground, scratching at the rock with a talon. It seemed to be more worn than the surrounding granite, telling her that she was indeed still on the right track. She straightened, her long neck unfurling, eyes cast upwards, to the peak still achingly far in the distance. It was a rite of passage in her tribe, all young dragons must reach the peak of the mountain. Few returned, either lost, starved to death, froze, or killed by the many creatures that stalked through the mountain. In her tribe of skydancers it was custom, every dragon that came of age had to go through it, and if they failed, then the tribe was better off. Ragewind hated the rite. Her brother, Soaringskies, had come of age when she was still young, and left to scale the mountain and prove himself as a skydancer. He never came back. Her parents had seemed indifferent, explaining to her that he hadn’t been strong enough, and that “the rite is an ancient tradition, and the peak is a sacred place that is as close to the sky as we can get. A skydancer who cannot make the journey to the sky is not a skydancer at all”. They had moved on, leaving Ragewind confused and upset, not understanding why they had taken her brother away, why they hadn’t cared. Now it was her turn.
Ragewind realized that she was wasting valuable time reminiscing about her family, and she checked the sky again. The sun was dangerously close to setting, and once it passed over the horizon, it wouldn’t just be the cold or the treacherous path threatening her, but the creatures dwelling in the caves dotting the mountainside. She started off again, her talons carefully stepping over the patches of loose gravel that would send her sprawling down the mountainside. She flared out her wings to steady herself as she almost tripped over a crag sticking up out of the path. While Ragewind wished she could just fly to the peak, her tribe forbid the teaching and learning of flying until after the rite, and even if she knew how, the wind lashing against her feathers was too strong that if she attempted, she would be blown clear off the mountain. Darkness was falling, and Ragewind thought that she could hear an eerie howling in the distance, sending chills down her back. The treacherous path was becoming harder to see by the minute, and she would need to find shelter for the night soon. Spying a cave in the distance, she altered her path, making her way for it as carefully as she could. The wind strengthened, threatening to blow her off the mountainside with each lash to her wings and face. Remember your name she thought to herself, Ragewind. Raging wind. You can rage against the wind. You can make it to the peak, and make it home. You are the raging wind. The cave was closer now, she had almost reached it. In her haste to get to the shelter of the cave, she forgot to check the ground, and she tripped over something, her talons losing their purchase on the mountainside. She tumbled backwards, slamming into the unforgiving rock, and managed to dig her talons in before she was sent sprawling into the mist far below. She slowly and carefully got to her feet, peering through the deepening darkness to see what she tripped over. What she saw made her sick to her stomach.
It was a skull, white and stark against the grey rock. Tears sprung to her eyes as she gazed over it. It was clearly a skydancer, and she couldn’t help but wonder if it had been her brother. She swallowed the horror and nausea that rose in her chest, and carefully picked her way around the skeleton, trying not to look at it. As she reached the cave mouth a thought struck her: what had killed that skydancer? It could have been the cold but- just as she realized her mistake, something burst out of the cave mouth, missing her by mere inches. It was a chimera, talons splayed, snake tail lashing, fangs bared. With a snarl it stalked towards her, crushing the skydancer skull as it came, causing Ragewind to flinch. It pounced again and she rolled, hearing it slam into the mountainside behind her. Panic caused her to spring to her feet and turn, running blindly into the darkness. She could hear the Chimera get to its feet behind her, and roar , so loud that it shook the rock. If the other creatures that dwelled on the mountain hadn’t already been alerted to her presence, they certainly were now. It was her tribe’s fault, her tribe had sent her here, her tribe had killed her brother, and countless like him. And they might’ve killed her too.
She stopped her fleeing, realizing that not being able to see the treacherous path was almost as dangerous as the beast behind her. She turned, catching her breath. Everything was silent, pitch black except for the light of the moon and stars. Just when she thought she was safe, the chimera burst out of the shadows, it’s fangs closing on her shoulder. She screamed, kicking her back talons and throwing it off. She had nowhere to run. If she tried to flee into the darkness she would almost definitely fall into some unseen crack or gorge, or trip and fall off the mountainside. If the terrain didn’t kill her, the other creatures now certainly knew her location, and would delight in tearing her apart, but now she was injured, and the chimera was getting up. With a cry she lunged forward, slashing at the chimera with her talons. It roared at lashed out with its snake tail, which bit into her leg. She screeched, cursing herself for forgetting about the tail, and tried to regain her balance. The chimera was upon her then, pinning her down, its hot breath terrifyingly close to her neck. It’s claws dug into her stomach, causing her to whimper in pain, and it’s fangs were so close, too close. Ragewind shut her eyes, panic flaring in her chest. She struck out with her only free claw, talons flared, when something seemed to burst out of her talon, sending the Chimera flying off of her. She scrambled to her feet, clutching her stomach with one talon, staring at the other. It had been wind, wind had come out of her talon. Not just wind, she realized, magic, she was a magic bearer. As the chimera got to its paws she flared her wings and concentrated as hard as she could. Wind burst from her talons, slamming the chimera into the mountainside. Panting, she realized she could feel it, the magic flowing through her. She couldn’t go back to her tribe now, they would kill her immediately if they knew what she was. If she had wind magic then.. she gazed towards the open sky, the shimmering stars. As the Chimera struggled to her feet she turned and ran, limping from the bite on her leg, and jumped, her talons leaving the rock, only empty air beneath her as she went over the cliff side, and fell.
Ragewind plummeted through the air, the cliffside a blur beside her. She snapped open her wings, but the wind threatened to rip them apart at the speed she was falling. She closed her eyes, feeling the magic in her, awakened after its initial release. She let all panic leave her, and tried to feel the wind whipping around her, feel it, and tame it. You are the raging wind. Suddenly she felt the wind slow around her. She had done it. Concentrating still, she allowed the wind to come up under her wings, the updraft giving her the lift she needed. She fell a few more feet, flapping her powerful wings, and she flew. Ragewind soared up, up over the mountainside in a few beats of her powerful wings. She kept control of the wind around her, using it to boost her, to catch her if she fell. She had learned about flying from the adults in the tribe, and so she knew how the wind should feel through her wings. She didn’t angle herself towards the peak, nor back towards her tribe, but north, towards the woods. She had heard word from a passing coatl that there was a clan in the northern woods, one that welcomed any dragon, regardless of species or skill. Her tribe had killed that coatl for coming into their territory, called it inferior, but she had marveled at her, not having ever seen a different species. She smiled, feeling the wind through her feathers, and kept the memory of the coatl in her mind as she flew, flying towards her new home.

GNU Terry Pratchett

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