Chapter 4 - Frozen Donuts

Rayne gripped the top of the cliff. Her body shook, and her arms shuddered as she pulled herself over the edge and collapsed in the snow. She was just a lump, her chest rising and falling.

“Well, look at you.” David sat down beside her. “All alive and well and everything.”

“You did it,” Dustbunny exclaimed. He hopped out of the rucksack and over to Rayne, his floating body bouncing between his hands and feet. “I knew you could do it!”

“Thanks, Bunny,” Rayne gasped out. She gave him a weak high five and lay there a moment longer. When she got the strength, she pushed herself into a sitting position and pulled her cloak around her.

“Wow,” she breathed as her eyes fell over the valley. She was looking at it now from almost halfway up the mountain. Snow gleamed in a rare ray of sunlight that broke through the clouds, and there in the distance was the memorial graveyard where she had entered the valley.

She could actually see how far she’d come. Familiar excitement swelled in her chest, and chills fluttered across her skin. She wasn’t reading the journal anymore; she was living in it.

“I can’t believe it.” She half laughed, half sobbed. “I can’t believe I did it.” The realization of it all was beginning to dawn on her.

“Of course you did.” David hopped to his feet and took her hand. “Come on, this ain’t over yet. Now we just gotta find my sword.”

Dustbunny took her other hand, and together they helped her up onto wobbly legs. They were now atop a large ledge on the mountain, and opposite the picturesque view was the twisted, still-smoldering wreckage of the plane.

The ground was littered with debris. Pieces of metal were stuck in the snow like daggers, and wire was splayed about like multicolored spiderwebs. Wind whistled across the plane, creating an eerie musical of hollow noises.

The plane had been broken in half, and all Rayne could see was the cockpit and half the fuselage. The nose of the plane had been smashed in, and the windows were shattered to the point she couldn’t see through them. 

The heap of metal groaned softly as it hung precariously over the edge of the cliff. It seemed like a strong gust of wind could blow it over, let alone two and a half people trying to get inside.

“Eastern Military,” Rayne said, squinting at the chipped, faded words on the side of the plane. “How exactly did you end up in this thing? It looks . . . old.” 

She wasn’t exactly an expert on planes and had never seen one up close before, but even she knew something felt off.

“Like I said”—David waved her off—“extradimensional donut stuff.”

“Right.” She rolled her eyes and made her way to the nose of the plane. “Whatever you say, Mr. Adventurer. Now help me up.”

David shrugged and knelt, locking his fingers together and holding his hands out. Rayne grabbed his shoulder and stepped into his hands. She yelped as he stood, lifting her high enough to grab a dented portion of the plane and pull herself up.

“Catch.”

Rayne turned just in time to catch Dustbunny as he flew through the air and landed in her arms. David hopped up next and began peering through the shattered windows.

“I’d appreciate a heads-up next time you throw your little buddy.” 

Rayne gave David a sidelong squint as she set Dust down.

“Little buddy doesn’t mind flying,” Dustbunny said with a wide smile. Then his smile faded, and he looked past Rayne, his eyes becoming hazy. “Except for that one time. That one time was bad.”

“And we don’t have to bring that up.” David chuckled nervously and shooed the two of them back just a bit. “Now watch out.” He reared back and kicked a window; though shattered, it was still sturdy. He kicked once more, and it crunched and caved in. He kicked a third time and almost fell through. Rayne caught his arm and pulled him back.

“Now we’re almost even,” she said, then pushed past him and dropped through the now open window. 

Inside was a dark and eerie mess. It looked to have been a cargo plane of some sort and was filled with wooden crates, many of them broken with straw spilling out.

“Rather creepy in here, isn’t it?” she said, stepping over a pile of debris, her boots cracking the glass shards beneath her feet.

“Spooky,” David said, poking his head in from above.

Sparks still popped from rogue wires as Rayne crossed through the groaning plane. She scanned the floor, carefully nudging things with her boots. With a start of remembrance, she knelt down and reached into a side pocket of her backpack. Rayne had almost completely forgotten she had a flashlight. It was one Eastern invention that she preferred. Small and convenient, it provided a brighter glow than a crystal lamp.

After pulling it from her backpack, she tapped it with her finger. It was supposed to turn on, wasn’t it? She shook it around, but it wasn’t lighting up.

“Fayring thing doesn’t work,” she muttered, shaking the light. She smacked it against her palm, trying to make it work, but accidentally knocked it out of her cold fingers. It hit the floor with a loud clank and flickered to life, illuminating a few wooden boxes. “This is what I get for trying new things,” Rayne grumbled to herself.

As David and Dustbunny entered the plane behind her, she reached down to pick up the light, only to notice something strange within a broken cargo box. Frowning, Rayne knelt and reached inside. Her hand patted around the pile of straw before landing on the object. It felt long, cylindrical, and like it was wrapped in a thick paper. She drew it out slowly, with a sinking feeling in her gut.

“Um, David,” she squeaked out. “What is this?”

David glanced over. “Oh that? That would be dynamite.”

“Goes boom, y’know?” 

Dustbunny elaborated with appropriate hand gestures.

“Just . . . some dynamite,” Rayne whispered, her eyes twitching. “Just a dozen crates of fayring dynamite that, if set off, could blow me into a thousand pieces.”

“Then the snow would be very, very red,” David mused. “Also, I found some gummies, but alas, they are frozen.”

“Focus, please,” Rayne snapped. She very, very gently placed the dynamite back in the box, then breathed a sigh of relief. “Let’s just find your stupid sword so we can get out of here.”

“Aha!” David exclaimed, kneeling and moving some debris aside.

Rayne stepped over to him, scanning the mess for the sword. Instead, David brandished a box of donuts.

“You . . .” Rayne pulled her glasses off and rubbed her eyes. “You weren’t joking about the donuts. You have got to be insane.”

“You don’t understand, Miss Maralyn,” Dustbunny said with an excited bounce to his body as he opened the box. “These are double-glazed donuts, specially made just for us.”

“Saved this guy Randy from a werewolf or something one time,” David said. “Turns out he owns a donut joint, and the rest is history.”

“Aw.” Dustbunny’s ears drooped. He tapped one of the donuts against the metal siding of the plane, and it let out a resounding clang. “Frozen solid.”

“Why, cruel world? Why?” David groaned. He and Dustbunny had a moment of silence while Rayne rolled her eyes and decided to do something productive.

“That’s what you get for being stupid,” she said to herself. Now that the flashlight was working, she searched the plane, careful not to step on any sticks of dynamite that might have spilled out. Reaching the back of the aircraft, she found herself staring past the torn metal at the tail section of the plane, which had been torn off. All that was left was a gaping hole looking over the cliff the plane was perched on.

She leaned out and looked down, and there was the tail, broken and scattered across the base of the mountain far below. Fear tingled through her stomach, and she was just about to turn away when she caught sight of the color blue.

It was a contrast to the white-and-gray tones the valley was overwhelmed by. Rayne got on her knees and made sure she had something secure to hold on to. Then, leaning out a little further, there it was. The sword was hanging by its sheath on a twisted piece of metal.

Rayne lay down on her stomach and checked her grip, then scooted forward a few times before reaching out, careful not to cut herself on jagged metal.

“Come on, come on . . .” She stretched as far as she could. Her fingertips pushed the sword forward, allowing it to swing back and forth and into her hand. 

“Gotcha,” she said with triumph.

She pulled the sword into the plane and was about to stand up when she noticed it.

An eye.

It blinked at her, and Rayne blinked back, her mouth falling open. At first, it looked like the side of the mountain, just a pile of ice and rock beside the plane. 

Then it moved, and the outline of the dragon became clear.

The creature turned its head toward her, snow falling off its shoulders, its wings stretching out and pulling back in. A thick plume of fog billowed from its nostrils and washed over her as it snaked its head around.

Rayne knew she was going to die. It was as if she’d stepped on a trap, and any move she made would be the end.

The dragon purred deep within its throat, and it sounded like the puttering of an engine on the ferry boat. It opened its mouth with an acrid hiss, revealing rows of teeth about to shred Rayne into nothing.

It lunged, its jaws coming so close, Rayne could’ve reached out and touched them. Just as it was about to land the killing blow . . .

It was hit between the eyes with a frozen donut.

“Time to go!” David yelled. He grabbed Rayne’s foot, and Dustbunny grabbed the other. They pulled her back just as the dragon recoiled and snapped its jaws shut.

With an earsplitting roar, the dragon began to crawl around the mountain, positioning itself so it could reach into the plane, its claws tearing the metal and shaking the whole thing as it teetered over the cliff.

Wooden boxes, metal debris, and loose sticks of dynamite rolled past Rayne as David let her go.

“We gotta get out of here!” 

Dustbunny squeaked as he helped Rayne to her feet. As she stood, she scooped him up and made a mad dash for the cockpit.

The dragon gripped the plane and tilted it down, launching Rayne into the air. She crashed into the ceiling and then hit the floor, dropping Dustbunny and the sword.

Everything that was left in the plane began to spill out toward the creature, and Rayne was no exception. She was hit by one of the cargo boxes, its old wood knocking her around and spilling straw all over her. She went rolling and falling toward the dragon’s gaping maw. She kicked out, hoping to find a foothold along the metal ribs of the plane. Her foot caught, but instead of stopping, her body flipped around so that she was facing the dragon head on.

“Don’t die please!” Dustbunny called from above. He was hanging on to a cord of wires.

“Oh dear.” David grimaced as he slid down the plane toward Rayne. He caught himself with one hand and reached for her with the other. Rayne reached up, clutching his arm, and he began to pull just as her boot came loose. “You really owe me a granola bar for this,” he said, grunting with effort.

“Shut up and save me,” Rayne snapped as she managed to grab hold of the plane and climb up.

“Get out of the plane,” David said breathlessly. “I have a plan, sort of . . .”

“You sort of have a plan? What does that mean?”

“Just get out and let me do my thing!”

Rayne scrambled up the side of the plane, and Dustbunny reached out to her. She caught his hand and swung him over so he could hold on to her backpack as she climbed. She reached the cockpit and grabbed Dustbunny again.

“Sorry,” she said before tossing him out the window. His cry faded as he went up and out of sight. She dropped her pack and tossed it out too. Reaching up, she began to pull herself out.

After making it onto the nose of the plane, she dared a look back. There was David, climbing up the plane and taunting the dragon every step of the way. The dragon snapped and clawed and roared and crawled into the fuselage of the plane, trying to catch him.

“You know what,” David called out, “it’s official. I’m going to name you Robert. That way, when I tell this story later, I can be like, ‘Oh no! The dreaded frost dragon, Robert!’” He paused for a moment to chuckle at his own joke, then yelped as he was nearly bitten in two.

“Not cool, Robert, not cool!” David yelled, and the dragon clawed at the plane, trying to reach in farther, but it couldn’t. Then Rayne realized what David’s plan had been all along.

“And that—” David grinned—“is how you make a dragon burrito.”

The dragon closed its maw, its head rocking softly as a bright blue glow began to rise from its chest and throat like the loading bar of a video game.

“Oh crap,” David said, scrambling to climb out of the broken window. The dragon opened its mouth and released a devastating blast of ice that tore through the plane. David was hit by the blast and went flying, and Rayne jumped clear just before the fuselage slid over the edge of the cliff, metal screaming as it went down.

David fell through the air and hit the edge of the cliff, his hands frantically reaching out for a handhold but only clutching snow as he began to slide over the edge.

Without thinking, Rayne jumped into action. She dove toward him, her body sliding through the snow. She reached out, fingertips touching his, just as David fell over the edge.

She lay there for a moment, breathing hard, arm still outstretched. David was gone. 

He’d fallen. If only she’d gotten there faster. If only she had gotten out of the plane sooner. If only—

“Peekaboo,” David said, popping up over the edge of the cliff.

Rayne screamed and punched him in the face in surprise, sending him back over the edge.

“Not cool!” he called from farther below, his voice echoing in the wide expanse of the valley. As soon as Rayne realized her mistake, she began to laugh.

This was it. This was the exciting adventure she’d been longing for. It was just like something out of a book, out of her grandfather’s journal.

“Whoo!” Dustbunny whooped. “We’re all alive!” The little gormaden reached out and helped David as he climbed back up for the second time.

“Thanks, pal.” David gave his friend a weary grin.

“Oh snap,” Dust said, holding David’s wrist. “You jacked your hand up.”

Rayne then noticed the blood that began to speckle the snow. One of David’s fingerless gloves had been torn across the middle, and red spilled out of it.

“Here, wait, I have something.” Rayne jumped to her feet, grabbed her backpack, and dragged it over to them. She cursed under her breath as she dug through her pack to pull out the first aid kit.

“Oh, no, it’s fine.” David shrugged. “Don’t even know how it happened. It was probably some metal on the plane or—”

“Give me your hand.”

“Maralyn, it’s fine—”

“Give me your fayring hand, David.” Rayne snatched his wrist, and he winced but didn’t fight. 

The first aid kit was another purchase from the city, and when she opened it up, she frowned. This was nothing like a medical pack from the North.

“Where are the potions?” Rayne frowned, picking up a Band-Aid and scrunching her nose at it. “Is there nothing useful in here?”

“Here.” David tried to point. “Try the—”

“Shut up,” Rayne snapped as heat rose to her cheeks. It was clear how inexperienced she was. If she were wounded and alone, she’d have no idea how to help herself and would probably end up making things worse. But since it was David, she figured she could risk a little bit for her pride.

“This’ll work,” she said, unscrewing a random bottle of clear liquid and pouring it onto his cut. “That better?”

“So much better,” David said hoarsely, tears glistening in his eyes.

She applied a cream to the cut and then wrapped it tight with some cotton and bandages.

“Good as new,” David said, flexing his fingers a bit. “Thanks.”

Dustbunny hobbled through the snow and peeked over the edge of the cliff, and Rayne followed. At the bottom was the wreckage of the plane, the dragon still wrapped up in its new metal prison.

“Is it dead?” Dust asked, his ears twitching.

“Probably not,” Rayne said. 

“Dragons are quite resilient. We should probably get moving.” She glanced up at the sky, which was a darker shade of bleak than before. “Or perhaps we should find a place to camp for the night.”

“Um . . .” David looked around the mess of snow and leftover debris. “We didn’t by any chance . . .”

“Oh.” Rayne’s gaze fell. “I didn’t get the sword. It was in my hand but . . .”

“Ah.” David nodded, a tight grin on his face. “No matter, then. I suppose we’ll just have to be creative. Now, come on, let’s go.”