Skade's Adventures: Winter Boar

Prompt: Personal, inspired by Magic Awakening

Word Count: 1036

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It was small things at first. A cold breeze that was easily dismissible as being a passing Winter’s chill. A hot drink going cold faster than his friends. A little bit of water that would drip off his claw tips as he warmed himself at a hot fire. All things that Skade could chalk up to something else. Cold weather and sweat, usually.

Then things couldn’t be as easily explained away. More recently was his trip with Thora to the beach to meet with the new dragons. Sure, it was in November, but sea gliders preferred warmer waters. The cold winds of the Frozen North seemed to have followed Skade, keeping him and Thora cool despite their thick fur. 

Thora hadn’t dug anything since her return from the coral reefs, digging at the rock-like structures had worn down her claws. Skade, despite doing just as much work, was fine. His claws hadn’t sustained much, if any, noticeable damage. Since Thora was a teenager, she wasn’t expected to do too many duties for pack and it was easy for him and Garth to make up for her lost effort while she healed.

Skade was foraging by himself, seeking herbs and roots that could help accelerate the healing process. He dug near the base of a medicinal flower that clung onto its petals despite the bite of cold. As he pulled the flower out of the ground, roots and all, he felt a hot breath on his back and saw the heat in the air roll off of his shoulders. He felt his fur stand on end as the heavy breathing behind him continued.

Slowly, he looked over his shoulder to see the wet snout of a huge boar, its wide eyes bulging on either side. Large tusks poked from under its mouth, drawing its upper lips with them. Shaking, Skade dropped the basket he was carrying and lowered himself slowly to the ground. Inch by inch, he tried to crawl away from the massive beast without upsetting it. A regular sized boar could be deadly to a dragon his size, and this one could look a woldren adult in the eye.

To this day, Skade isn’t sure what he did to set the beast off. Maybe he looked at it the wrong way, or he moved just a little too fast. Perhaps since the eyes of a boar are on the side of its head, it didn’t even see Skade while he was in front of its face. But when Skade thought he was safely away, the boar panicked. It squealed in fear, and instead of running away, charged toward Skade.

The adolescent woldren was still crouched low to the ground, so he only had time to roll away, barely avoiding being trampled. The boar tripped over itself and this gave Skade enough time to clamber to his feet. Far quicker than he, the Boar rolled back onto its hooves. With another squeal, it ran toward the teenage woldren, head low. Skade ran, digging his nails into the soil to gain more traction. His heart drummed in his ears and that did nothing to drown the sound of the boar’s hooves tearing up the terrain behind him.

It was faster than he was. With each second, he heard the boar’s trampling getting louder. Skade’s paw caught on an exposed root and he tumbled forward. He curled himself into a ball instinctively, covering his head with his oversized paws and claws. He felt cold- deathly so. 

The boar struck its tusks against Skade. He expected to feel hot as his veins were ripped open and blood pooled from the open wounds. Instead he heard a small crack noise. At first he thought it was a bone breaking, but he felt no pain. He dared a peek between his claws. A barrier of ice had formed between him and the scared boar. It had cracked on impact, but it saved him.

The boar was nowhere to be seen and slowly Skade pulled himself out from under the barrier. He was on high alert, his ears perked and his fur on edge. He skimmed the tree line for another dragon, anyone who could have saved him in that moment. He was too scared to call out lest the boar come back. Taking a moment to catch his breath, he noticed that a thick casing of ice formed on his claws, almost looking like they were made of ice for a brief moment.

Skade felt the corners of his mouth draw back and he had to repress a laugh. Of course! He had ice magic. It probably would have been obvious well before now had he been anywhere else, or had this happened any other time of the year. Limbs still shaking as the adrenaline left his body, he found his basket of herbs. At some point, it got smashed up and most of the plants had been trampled during the scuffle.

 

“Nevermind the medicine, Skade. You could have been killed!” Thora threw her arms into the air when Skade had apologized for not bringing anything back. “Why was that boar even so big? Did you tell someone?”

“Yeah, I told Gertrud when I got back. She said she’ll gather a hunting party and look into it.” Skade shook a paw at her like it should have been obvious he wouldn’t keep that to himself. “Did you miss the part where I did magic?”

“Well, no, but- the giant boar and almost dying thing kind of overshadowed that.” Thora shook her head. “But hey! Ice magic, so…”

“Generic.” Garth finished for Thora, who squinted at him. Garth simply shrugged. “I’m right. A lot of woldren have ice magic. Honestly, it’s weird that it took until this for anyone to figure that out.”

Skade released a snort. His expression must have been something a little more than the light bitterness that he was trying to pull because Garth put his paws up in defense.

“Hey, not saying that ice magic is bad. It’s just… common.” Garth followed up with a more obvious positive. “You should have a lot of adults able to help you figure out exactly how you can hone it.”