Short story written by a young guest
Fire and Ice
A short story by Robert Dunn (aged 9)
Robert was inspired to write this after a recent stay at Haus Anastasia
I was snowboarding in the Austrian Alps with my family, we were having a incomparable time, but the Austrians looked exceedingly worried (I had had no clue why). It was so beautiful. All around us the Alps rose up in terrifyingly sharp ridges. The snow glittered so faultlessly it looked unreal as if a special effects team had put it there!
“What is that perfectly flat object up there?” I asked my Mum.
“That? That is the glacier” She stated confidently, “It has been there for tens-of-thousands of years since the last ice age which was AGES ago!” She continued
“Can I go there?” I questioned her
”Nobody ever goes up there it’s too dangerous.” She whispered terrifyingly.
“What is so dangerous about it?” I asked. My Mum looked genuinely thoughtful for a moment then she shook her head and said,
“Oh nothing really…only that-“
“Carry on” I interrupted rudely,
“The ice moves and traps you for ever” It sounded like she was trying to shock me. “People have died there. Promise me you’ll never go there” She urged me. This didn’t make sense,
“The snow and ice are hazardous every where mum but the Austrians make sure it is safe” I argued.
“Well…well it’s not safe up there” she spoke in a very mum type way, “and I’m not talking about it anymore so promise me you won’t go up there O.K.?” She sounded worried now so I reluctantly agreed but in my heart I knew something was drawing me up to the Glacier.
That night I dressed really warmly. It was -21 degrees Celsius when I left our holiday house. I felt chilled to the bone, but I couldn’t turn around. I walked quickly down to the gondola station. I knew that the windows would be left open as our friend Eugene worked the gondolas and he always joked that he was made of snow and couldn’t bear the warmth. Sure enough Eugene was snoring in his chair. I crept through the window to him and took the small silver key from his coat pocket. It was freezing. I ran over to the controls and turned them on. I jumped into the nearest gondola and banged the doors shut. I knew that when I turned the machine on Eugene would wake up so I tucked the key in my coat pocket and lurched forward as I started up the mountain. As I looked back Eugene was waving up at me .I had expected him to be furious but he was smiling and jumping up and down and clapping his hands… WEIRD!!!
I got out at the top of the mountain, I still had that strange feeling inside of me saying for me to climb the glacier. I looked up. In the moon light the mountains were stark white but with the darkest of shadows. The ridges along the horizon seemed to be slowly moving. I started to climb. The snow didn’t crunch under my feet like it had in the past. Patches of green were appearing all over the mountaintops and I felt unpleasantly hot. I took my hat and gloves off, this was all wrong I should have been frozen. I started to run towards the glacier. My boots started to stick in the mud and icicles fell from the mountainsides with a deafening smash. I threw off my coat and ran hard. I reached the edge of the glacier it was a perfect clear blue colour and trapped inside it was a beautiful blue and white dragon. It was turning round trying to flex it’s wings but the space was to small and water was rising around it.
Behind me a gravely voice hissed and a spurt of flames shot over my shoulder. “Ha, ha, ha snow boy so you eventually arrived.”
Confused, I span round, the heat was colossal. Snow was melting all around me. In front of me was a huge red dragon.
“I am from the centre of the earth and I bring heat! I will kill this ice dragon of yours and the mountains will turn to ash and dust. They will be filled with fire! Ha! Ha! Ha!” The fire dragon bellowed evilly,
“Oh no you don’t” I shouted courageously I looked around me searching for a weapon. “How did you know I going to come up here, anyway?” I asked. Suddenly Eugene appeared behind me. He was made of pure ice and his face looked really sad. I could see he was melting too. In a bubbly voice he said, “Robert you have snow in your blood. Centuries ago your ancestors made Austria safe from the fire dragons. They left the last ice dragon here to keep the mountains cold and covered in snow. But slowly the Earth has been warming up and the fire dragons want to take over. When the last ice dragon is killed the snow will all go away…for ever.”
“Oh no it won’t,” I cried. The red dragon laughed cruelly and started to stalk towards me. I was petrified. Just above me a huge icicle hung down I jumped as high as I could and broke it off. With all my might I threw it like a javelin. It smashed against the glacier where the Ice Dragon was looking frantic. At first nothing happened and my heart began to sink. Slowly though, small cracks started to appear. The Ice dragon bashed and bashed at the wall of ice. The Fire dragon laughed, “You’ll never escape; you’ll drown! Snow Boy will never save you and the mountains will be mine. Ha Ha Ha! ” Suddenly, with an ear splitting bang the ice wall fell and the Ice Dragon flew out like a blue rocket. As he swirled in the air he grew and grew. The fire dragon shrank back and started to look around for places to hide. He was furious and frightened. He blew out a huge stream of flame at me. I thought I would be killed but from nowhere Eugene flew in between me and the flames, and the flames were useless. Eugene winked at me,” I told you I had snow in my blood” he said as the fire turned to icicles. I ran to hug him. The Fire Dragon tried again to roast me but this time |I felt the ice inside my veins too. I put my hand out and caught the flames. As they touched me they turned to water droplets and fell to the ground as sharp little pieces of ice. The Ice dragon was circling around above us and it could see the Fire Dragon was beginning to get tired. The Ice Dragon swooped down and opened its massive icicle filled jaws and snatched the Fire dragon up. It shook the Fire Dragon from side to side viciously and when it went limp it threw it back down to the Earth. The Fire Dragon fell stunned on its back along a flat ridge of mountains. It opened its jaws and screamed as it sank in to the ground. The ground bubbled and hissed as the dragon sank. The Ice dragon swooped low over the jagged ridge formed by the fire Dragons unconscious body and blew a long hard breath out. The ridges and peaks were covered at once with the most stunning and magnificent snow covering. I felt exhausted and collapsed into the snow.
The next thing I knew was a gloved hand shaking me to wake up. Robert! Robert what are you doing out here in the snow so far away from home?” I looked up at the frightened faces of my Mum, Dad and Eugene. I looked at Eugene who beamed with pride. I pointed to the breath taking view over the Dachstein Ridge , “ Mum you know I couldn’t leave the fate of these beautiful mountains to chance…I’ve got ice in my veins after all!!”” I knew it!” exclaimed Mum. “It is a story in our family that the youngest child would be born with the ice from the mountains in him and that he would help save the mountains one day, I just thought it was a silly fairy tale but now I know it is true. I’m so proud of you”
Mum and Dad hugged me tight and wrapped a blanket round my shoulders. “Promise me you won’t come to this glacier again” said Mum. I looked over my shoulder as we trudged though the snow, the Ice Dragon had settled itself silently down into the glacier surface behind us. It gave a slow nod and its fearsome face seemed almost happy as it blended into the ice. “I don’t think I need to come back for a while Mum so don’t worry”. In my heart though I knew that it wouldn’t be long before I had to return to the snow…in was in my blood after all.
This is the Dachstein ridge that gave me my idea for my story. It is in Austria and the mountains should always be covered in snow. In recent years the snowfall has become really unpredictable and it is not always as cold or snowy as it should be. Local people think it is because of global warming but I thought it would be exciting if it was because of a fire dragon who needed putting back to sleep!
