Ice Dragon defends den from a Warlock raiding party

The ice dragon instinctively knew that something was wrong even though her den was beyond even her phenomenal sight and hearing. She was hunting further away from her den than she would have chosen, but the lack of game had forced her to hunt beyond her regular area.

Sensing that something was wrong she pushed for home with all her considerable strength creating spirals of air currents as she drove beyond her normal flying speed with an urgency not yet realised

She was not wrong. Dragon egg raiders were climbing the rocky den and others were trespassing upon her ground.

Kill the intruders, tear them apart, feed, protect my young.

The death breath was out of her with its freezing killing penetration without any forethought. Dragons don't need to plan strategy, they kill when and whatever any fool human gets in their way.

The Warlock Mage was frightened although hiding it well. He was protected by numerous interwoven spells, both his own and those of the circle of mages. He knew that the dragon breath would hurt, but not kill him and that once they were away he and later others could restore and repair as necessary. He was scared because the sudden drop in temperature had caused his scroll to become brittle and he risked tearing it with one more twist of his wrists.

Only the greatest of rewards would tempt any mage to risk the wrath of an ice dragon.

The power to create and control spells beyond even the greatest mages would be his if and only if he could consume the dust of a dragon egg shell and thus he risked all for eternal glory.

Persuading the circle of mages to release the scroll of enhancement had been difficult and he was given no option other than to accept the nameless sentinel as protector of the scroll.

The unnamed sentinel was there to protect the scroll and not him and although the ice dragon was death on the wind his immediate fear was the sentinel. One tear of the now brittle parchment and violence would be done to him with a speed and efficiency he couldn't counter, at least not whilst an ice dragon is descending on them.

Never had death seemed closer to the sentinel than it felt right now. He and others of his guild knew that it was unlikely that any of their profession would retire to that fictional farm they talked about in the early hours when candles wicks were low and the coin in their pockets too low to buy another round of drinks. But he never expected death to be cold. In combat sweat stung your eyes and your lungs fight for air, whilst your muscles burnt from the exertion of parry and block. His eyes hurt now from the cold and his breathing was shallow because the very air hurt his lungs and his muscles risked locking from the painful cold.

The circle of mages had paid him a small fortune for this contract, and now with the Ice Dragon descending upon their party he wonder if he had been underpaid and secondly was it a wise decision to kill the Warlock. He had been told that once the Warlock released a dragon killing spell he would be vulnerable for a few seconds and that within those few second he must fire and kill the Warlock.

The circle had no intention of letting one of their own having sole access to a dragon egg, and he had been given clear instruction what he must do and he knew the consequences of failure.

Only condemned killers would rush an enraged Ice Dragon. When the only alternative was the hangman’s rope or the wrath of an enraged dragon only 3 of the 22 condemned took up the offer of freedom and fortune, because even condemned men know fear.

The Dragon’s breath hurt like no pain had ever hurt and all three had much experience in giving pain and had killed more men between them than they could recall.

A Chance of life, a chance of freedom was all they had, and that chance was as slim as a cutthroat’s razor.

Discovering that the egg was hatched and that a young dragon was nesting was bad, but witnessing dragon breath scared any hope of success from them. What was the Warlock waiting for; if he didn’t act soon they would all be dead.

The Winner of this Battle will be

As a life long fan of fantasy fiction I took an opportunity to have this diorama made to order by a professional model maker, some 25 years ago. It is my favourite fantasy figure in a small study with dragons, knights and similar models and thought I would put together a small story explaining my thoughts when I commissions the diorama. I love it and hope you like it.

The photographs were taken by one of my wonderful daughters using a Canon Camera and 35mm 1.8 lens using shallow depth and field with a large aperture.