A fierce cold wind blew harshly into the small cave. The ceiling was low and moss grew on the walls. Beorc shivered with her back to the entrance. Her scales were a pale blue instead of the healthy teal they usually were. Her ribs were prominent and her eyes longed for something. Five cat-sized dragon babes were huddled helplessly in the back of the cave. Slowly Beorc lowered herself to the ground. Her pain filled eyes scanned the babes and quietly she fell asleep.
The smallest dragon babe cried out in hunger. Beorc opened her eyes slightly but was too tired to even move. He squirmed and cried, but only managed to tire himself out. He too fell asleep. There was something different about him from his four other brothers and sisters. He had the markings of an Erthein, the earth dragons. They were the most rare of all dragons. The blood of an Erthein was said to be pure and could cure any disease.
His body was short and fat compared to his siblings, which were long and snake-like. His scales glowed a deep green and his eyes were gray. His brown fuzzy wings covered his body like a blanket, but it obviously wasn't working.

The snow poured out from the sky. A woman covered in furs carried a backpack and trudged in the knee-deep snow with a husky man also covered in furs.
"We need to find shelter!" She tried to yell, but it only came as a
muffled scream. The man nodded solemnly. Together they walked and
searched for shelter.
The woman stopped and squinted. She rubbed the snow from her face and squinted again. The man turned around. "What is it Erin?" He asked. She pointed to a hill and started walking as quickly as she could in the snow. He followed her as well as he could.
Finally they reached their destination and the woman started digging.

"Have ya lost your mind Erin?"
She continued digging and succeeded in making a hole. Instantly she wiggled her body through hole. The man followed her example.
They found themselves in a cave. It was warmer then outside, but it was still cold and dark, very dark. Silently Erin moved over to a wall. She took off her rabbit fur gloves and rubbed her hands together. She took off her large backpack, which was also made of fur. Blindly she fumbled through it and took out a piece of flint and another piece of wood, which was about the size of her arm. She placed the wood on the dirt floor. She unsheathed her sword. It was rusty and curved. The hilt was covered in dark brown leather and had a dragon head carved into the end. She struck the flint and sword together and successfully lit the wood on fire.
She lifted it up absorbed her surroundings. The walls were covered with moss. She looked at the middle of the floor and screamed. She fell backwards and the man rushed toward her.
"Wa it is Erin?" He said with an Irish accent.
"Dragon" She said, her voice was slightly above a whisper.
Wide-eyed he spun around expecting to be instantly killed. With a sigh he relaxed. It wasn't moving, which was good.
"Let me see your torch." He reached out his hand and she handed it to him. She relaxed slightly seeing his round face and warm features. He walked over to the dragon.
"She is alive, but dieing." He sounded relieved. He looking into her eyes and put his nose against her nose. His eyes rolled back into his skull and the dragon's eyes became narrow slits. Erin gasped and watched in horror. Had the dragon mentally killed him? She tried to yell, but nothing came out.
Slowly he returned to normal. "Angus? Are you all right? I thought he killed you!" Angus cleared his throat. "It is a girl. She has five two-day-old babies in here and wants to rip me apart. She is dieing of hunger and exhaustion, but mainly of heat loss. She is a wild Aqueen Dragon. Which means she is used to warm weather and likes to be by lots of water." Erin stared at him in disbelief. "How? How do you know that?" Angus grinned. "I did Fristé. Very few people can do it. It is mental communication with animal that you feel connected to. Since I was a lit-l lad I loved dragons." She smiled. "Could you teach me?" "Sure, why not?" Her smile grew wider. "Aren't dragons worth a lot?" "Yea." He answered unsure of what she was scheming. "Then lets go look for those babies!" "Hold on" He gulped. "Lets set up in here first." "Ok." "Grab her tail and help me drag her over there" he pointed to the wall across from them. They moved her surprisingly quickly. Angus then went over to Erin's bag and removed some sticks and found some dry grasses inside the cave. He took his torch and put it on the sticks and grass. Within seconds they had a warm little fire in the middle of the cave with illuminated it.