Rangavar might not seem very "prepared" for cold weather, but Zag certainly is; it's time to put all of those extra calories to good use as they try to get their ship out of the snow. Although, he'll probably have to replenish them afterwards (with more calorie-dense food, of course). Rangavar could probably say the same; even though he's a picky eater, will he finally give in?


This chapter has more of the them-doing-stuff than the them-eating-stuff, but Zag might notice some "changes" from the past few days anyway.

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Under Ice
Chapter 5

Zag was panting pretty heavily by the time they finally reached the surface, pausing at the end of the tunnel to catch his breath. He felt sluggish and heavy, no doubt from all the extra calories he’d been cramming into his body lately. Although he was certain he must have burned all of them on that endless incline.

As the cold air blasted them from outside, Zag stuffed his paws into the pockets of the sweatshirt. There was nothing more than a large metal grate protecting the air vent, and the vents were the only way in and out, so they’d been feeling the temperature drop the entire time they’d been walking. He briefly wondered if he should have packed on even more layers, but the strange material of the sweatshirt was so thick that if he’d added more, he wondered if he’d be able to move.

“You’re on your own from here.” Rift’s breath was visible in the icy air. The sun was slightly brighter than it was when the two Darkals landed, but the heat was negligible.

“Thanks.” Rangavar nodded, his own paws also buried in the pockets of his jacket. He didn’t have all of the extra blubber that covered Zag’s figure, and looked like he might be shivering a bit.

Rift nodded back. He pushed open the grate. It wasn’t set into the walls or anything. Zag supposed that if nothing could survive on the surface, then there wasn’t much to keep out other than hunks of snow.

They didn’t waste any time trudging in the direction of their ship, which looked like just another large lump of snow from here. Upon closer inspection, it was mostly frozen over. “Shit,” Rangavar breathed.

This wasn’t the part Zag was worried about. What was the point of his body turning calories into magic if he didn’t use it from time to time? “Hang on, I got this.”

He lifted his arms slightly, letting energy run through them, focusing it until he could use it to apply pressure to the ice around the ship. He started to feel the ice crack.

“Are you going to do something about it?” Rangavar asked, crossing his arms as he watched. On the outside, it didn’t look like anything was happening.

“Working on it,” Zag growled through gritted teeth. “Don’t distract me.” The area around the ship started to glow blue with magic as he released more of his power into it, finally making Rangavar be quiet. Actually, as he worked, he realized that his magic seemed stronger than usual, making the process go faster as sheets of ice finally started to separate. He wondered if it had something to do with all those extra calories. Probably. As it was, it wasn’t beyond his notice that the very bottom of his gut felt a bit… drafty, despite the sweatshirt fitting before. Surely, he was just still bloated from the food, though. That must be it.

It wasn’t much longer before the ice became separated enough to pull off the ship in huge sheets, like cracking a shell. Zag released his magic from the ice, and Rangavar went over to start dragging it away. With it already broken and separated, the two dragons made quick work of it. Well, Rangavar made quick work of it, while Zag did his best to keep up. At least he felt good about his magic abilities, though; Rangavar absolutely sucked at it, so he couldn’t beat him at that.

Rangavar finished tearing ice away from the door, thin shards crumbling in his paws, and grabbed hold of it. When he pulled, it slowly scraped open.

Zag had been expecting the inside to be slightly warmer, tucked safely out of the elements, but it was actually just colder from being out of the sun. “Let’s see what we’re working with,” he muttered out loud, more to himself.

“Should I take a look?” Rangavar offered. “I don’t know shit about driving these things, but I used to do some work involving minor repairs.”

Zag shrugged.

Rangavar set about removing some panels on the floor while Zag poked around the control center. It didn’t seem to be a technical malfunction, so he pretty quickly gave up on that and went to see what Rangavar was doing. The smaller Darkal had removed a few things from one of the compartments, but Zag couldn’t tell if he’d found out anything useful. The first thing they needed to know was why there wasn’t any power.

“I think the power cells are drained,” he said suddenly, catching the drift of Zag’s thoughts. He was kneeling over one of the squares with his head through it to look around. “Or they leaked. Whatever. Since everything else in here looks connected correctly, I’m guessing they either cracked in the landing or froze.”

“Do we have to go under the ship to find out?”

Rangavar sat back up with a heavy sigh. He stared at nothing for a long moment before he asked, “Is your magic strong enough to lift the whole thing?”

“The whole ship?”

“Yeah.”

Zag was about to automatically say ‘no’, but then remembered the huge burst of energy he’d felt earlier. “…Maybe..?”

Rangavar looked at him sharply. “Can you really?”

Zag pulled awkwardly on the hem of his sweatshirt. Ironically, he realized that after all of the magic, he was starting to feel a bit hungry. He shook his head a bit; he couldn’t stop to think about food right now. This was like, the least-good time to think about food. “I could certainly try.”

Rangavar pricked his ears. “Alright. Let’s try.”

Zag backed up as the other Darkal rose to his feet. “What, right now?”

“What are we putting it off for?”

Well, nothing. He was right. Zag followed quickly behind as the other dragon hopped out the door. He made a face when his feet sank back into the icy snow and subconsciously pulled down on his sweatshirt again to get it to cover the cold gap under the bulge of his gut. Turning back towards the ship, he was a bit daunted by the size. Maybe he shouldn’t have volunteered.

“I’ll help as best I can,” Rangavar suddenly offered, probably sensing his hesitation.

Sending a thought Rangavar’s way, Zag quickly declined; he wanted as little damage as possible, not a crumpled, twisted hunk of metal. It was better to do it himself.

The larger of the two dragons spent a moment staring at the problem before him. Maybe he could just… tilt, the ship? He could roll it over a bit to access the bottom? “What if I just push it onto its side a little.”

Rangavar put a paw on his chin and looked it over for a moment. “I mean, as long as I can access the panel, I don’t see why that wouldn’t work.”

“Can you do it fast?” Zag was pretty sure he had the energy to hold it up, but realized he wasn’t sure for how long.

Rangavar crossed his arms and scowled. “What, are you planning on dropping it on me?”

“I wasn’t planning on it,” Zag replied. At Rangavar’s glare, he realized a moment too late that the question had probably been rhetorical. He tried again, “I’ll hold it up as long as I can. Alright?”

“Well, just remember, Lyra told us not to kill each other,” Rangavar snorted as he went to the side of the ship and got into position to crawl underneath.

“I think this would be considered a special exception, if it’s an accident,” Zag pointed out.

“Sarcasm, Zag.”

Oh. Despite the frigid air, Zag felt his cheeks get warm. He quickly put up his paws, letting energy flow into them, hoping to just get this over with quickly. His pudgy fingers were starting to feel stiff in the icy weather. “Ready?”

Rangavar sent him a vague emotion-thought that meant something along the lines of “Yes.”

Zag pressed up on the side of the ship, feeling it slowly, very slowly, turn over a bit. Rangavar quickly crawled underneath, half-burying himself in the snow as he pulled himself forward on his belly.

“If you get the power back on, won’t the levitation pad at the bottom blast you into the snow?” Zag thought at him, since he was straining too hard to do more than grunt out loud.

“I fuckin’ hope not,” Rangavar thought back vaguely, although Zag could tell he was trying to focus and decided to leave him alone. He was already starting to feel a bit drained; Rangavar needed to hurry.

It seemed like forever that the other dragon was underneath, but he finally started to pull himself out with a feeling of disappointment. “The power cells are dead. They don’t look damaged, fortunately; I think they were drained by the cold.”

“Yeah,” Zag grunted. They’d already suspected that much. “What’s the fix?”

“If we can get the generator working, we could try to get them going manually.”

Zag stifled a groan. Not that he had the extra energy for it. The magic was waning fast. “If you’re done under there, I think you should get out,” Zag thought at him. “I can’t hold it up any longer.”

With a sigh, Rangavar started backing out through the snow. He was pretty quick about it, but their timing was still a bit off: Zag’s magic grip faded, allowing the ship to settle back into the snow.

“Ach!” The burrow Rangavar had dug out for himself suddenly had a ceiling. “Zag!!!”

“Sorry!” Zag panted, bending over with his paws on his knees. At least the other dragon hadn’t been at the very center, and could just dig himself the rest of the way out. It would probably be funny if it weren’t so cold.

“It is not funny!” Rangavar’s voice was muffled by the snow.

Zag realized that Rangavar was reading his emotions rather than his thoughts. Well, he couldn’t control those. Out loud, he tried to sound reassuring. “You’ll be fiiiine.” He stood back and watched as Rangavar started pulling himself from beneath the ship. Zag found himself wrapping his chubby arms around what he could reach of his front side and shivering as he waited. They’d been out in the cold long enough that it was creeping through the protective winter gear. Well, he supposed the chubby bottom of his belly had been feeling chilly for a while anyway.

It took a moment for him to realize Rangavar was still struggling. “Need a paw?”

“I’m being crushed to death,” Rangavar growled.

The much larger dragon blinked. “Is that a yes or a no?”

“Zag!!!”

He was pretty sure it was a yes. He went over to help. It was immediately clear that even though the icy snow around him was holding up the ship, Rangavar was wedged too tightly between the sides of snow to worm his way out. His lower half was already free, but he was having trouble scrabbling with his paws in the snow.

“Can you pull me out?”

Zag put a paw on his chin as he surveyed the situation. “Maybe if you stop kicking your feet.”

“Or you could just lift up the ship a bit,” Rangavar growled. “You were supposed to hold it up until I was done!”

Zag felt absolutely drained. “I tried!” He leaned down to grab Rangavar by the ankles. “At least the snow is holding it up.”

“The space is too narrow.”

“Is it?” Zag snorted as he backed away a few paces and started to pull at the wedged dragon. It was true his torso was filling the space. “Or too many snacks on the ship these past few months?”

“Just hurry up and pull me out,” Rangavar growled, radiating feelings of annoyance.

“I’m trying,” Zag huffed. At least the physical exercise was warming him up some. “Suck in or something so I can slide you out.”

It took another minute of pulling and squirming before Rangavar was able to pop up from the snow, gasping in the cold, dry air. He glared at Zag.

Zag defensively put up his paws. “I said I was sorry!”

“You should have said you were going to drop the ship like, a minute earlier.”

“I didn’t know!”

Rangavar slowly got to his feet and brushed off some snow, although Zag saw him shivering more forcefully now. “Now I’m cold and wet.”

Zag was aware that the thinner dragon wouldn’t withstand the cold as long, and looked around nervously. “How long would it take to start the generator to power the cells manually?”

“Between the two of us?” Rangavar shrugged. “Ten minutes?”

It seemed like a while to be wet and shivering. Zag glanced back in the direction they’d come.

“Don’t even think about it.”

Zag turned back to the wet, shivering, miserable dragon. “Will you last ten whole minutes?”

“What kind of a question is that?” Rangavar wrinkled his snout. “If you’re so ‘tired’ from holding up the ship, then I probably have more energy than you do.”

They both knew that wasn’t really what Zag meant, but neither of them wanted to say it out loud. Finally, the larger Darkal shrugged. “Let’s get started, then.”

Climbing back inside was as chilly as before. Zag was pretty sure he’d never be able to get warm again. He watched as Rangavar slid open the panel on the back wall of the control room to reach the magnetic rotor inside. He had the vague understanding that the spinning internal rotor was responsible for generating energy for the power cells, but was really depending on Rangavar to know the rest.

“Well fuck.”

“What is it?” Zag craned to see around the more lithe dragon. The issue was immediately evident; one of the blades was bent. “Well, I guess we found out why nothing is running.”

Rangavar groaned and banged his head on the wall next to the panel, as best as the horn in the center of his forehead would allow. He compensated by slamming a paw on the wall alongside his head. “I don’t suppose your magic can repair this?”

Zag knew he could unbend the metal, but not with the precision they’d need to make the blade useable. He didn’t need to say so out loud; Rangavar already understood his limits. Zag was certain the question was rhetorical this time. “Any tools on board that would help?”

“Tools for metalwork?” Rangavar rolled his eyes. “I have a feeling that wasn’t on the supply list, Zag.” He pushed himself back up straight, staring at the rotor at a loss.

Zag wrapped his arms around himself as he started to shiver more fully. Either they needed to get this ship powered up now, or… or… Well, he realized there wasn’t another option. He frowned. Unless—

“I can sense what you’re thinking. I don’t even have to read your mind,” said Rangavar flatly.

“I’d rather hide out behind that grate and stay alive than die on this empty ship, leaving it as a frozen monument to our failure.”

“That’s very poetic, but no matter where we hang around, it doesn’t change the fact that we don’t have the resources to fix this.”

“We could ask the Iylarians,” Zag pointed out.

Rangavar lifted a brow. “Yeah, the cave dragons who have spent the past bajillion years living in tunnels scavenging plants by torchlight. They’ll be able to help.”

“They have to have a way to work with metal,” Zag insisted. “You saw the grates they use to cover the vents.”

Rangavar paused. “They would have had metal from whatever transportation brought them here. So what?”

“And the resources to turn it into complex shapes and patterns?” Zag pointed out. “Or did they just happen to bring a bunch of giant, heavy circles for their travels?”

The other dragon stared at the broken rotor, his arms crossed. Zag realized it was just because he was cold, though, not annoyed. He noticed that the wet snow on his jacket had actually turned to regular ice in the open air.

“Fine. We’ll do it your way.” Rangavar shook his head slightly, feeling mystified. “I have no idea how you notice stuff like that sometimes.”

Zag was pretty sure it was common sense, but felt it would be rude to say so. Although, come to think of it, he’d always felt more perceptive than other people. It was good for saving his ass. Like right now. “Let’s go.”

~

When they were within sight of the vent, hidden slightly by the snow, Rangavar was surprised to sense an aura up ahead. He frowned. Did they normally have dragons guarding these things? Against what? Hail?

Eventually, they could see inside to where a familiar dragon was standing. It wasn’t Rift; it took Rangavar a few moments to place him, but realized it was the other dragon who’d been at the table to greet them when they’d first arrived. Jaroshe, or whatever his name was. The guy with the soft, green-tinted whorls across his scales. That one.

The Faerian dragon had a puzzled look on his face as he watched the two freezing Darkals come up to the vent. Rangavar had been kind of expecting to come back and stroll right in, but realized hadn’t anticipated someone else in their way.

“Can we step in for a sec?” Zag said bluntly. “We need a break from the cold.”

Jaroshe watched them curiously for a moment, but then moved the grate out of the opening for them to slip inside. “I had a weird feeling you’d need some help up here,” he commented as he looked over their icy, shivering forms. Zag was better off, covered in layers of blubber even under the layer of winter gear they’d been provided, but Rangavar felt like a popsicle.

“I guess that’s one way of putting it,” Rangavar laughed awkwardly. It wasn’t really a laugh, though. His teeth had started chattering.

“Okay, let’s go farther into the tunnel.” Jaroshe beckoned them along with his paw. “It’s ridiculous to stay here.”

The two Darkals shared a glance, but ended up shrugging at each other. It was an offer they couldn’t really afford to turn down. They turned and followed the taller, rather lean dragon deeper into the cave.

It was a while before either of them started to feel warm again, but at least being out of the open air helped a bit. Rangavar brushed some of the ice off his jacket, but realized it was actually unfreezing again. It would probably be soaking him again soon enough. Great.

“Thanks for letting us in,” said Zag after a while. They’d been walking pretty much in silence, so his voice seemed loud against the bare rock around them.

“Why wouldn’t I? You were clearly struggling out there.” Jaroshe shrugged. “Although, you don’t need to stick around and thank me; I’m sure you’re eager to get back to your ship so you can work on it while it’s still daylight. You can just hide out in here as long as you like.”

The two Darkals shared another glance. Zag was the one who spoke up again. “Well, about that…”

“The damage is worse than we expected,” Rangavar explained, and quickly summed up the situation for the other dragon. “Heh. I don’t suppose you have any spare rotor blades lying around?” he finished awkwardly.

Jaroshe gave a wry, but hesitant, smile. “I don’t actually know what that is, so you’d have to ask someone else.”

“Ah, I figured.” Back when the other dragons came here, ships running on that type of equipment probably hadn’t been invented yet.

“I don’t suppose you at least have metalworking supplies down here?” Zag butted in.

Jaroshe snorted. “Now that, I have an answer for: No.”

Zag frowned. “How did you create the metal grates over the vents?”

Jaroshe opened his mouth to reply, but paused. “That’s… We have some, rudimentary, supplies,” he stammered awkwardly. He quickly added, “Nothing like what you need, though.”

Rangavar frowned. He wasn’t exactly ‘lying’, but it didn’t take a telepath to sense he wasn’t telling them everything. “Can we check it out, just in case?” At Jaroshe’s uncomfortable look, he pointed out, “We can’t leave without the part. We’re stuck here anyway until we fix it.”

Finally, Jaroshe gave a shallow nod. “You can ask Garren.”

Rangavar had the distinct feeling that Garren would have a similar answer. He frowned as they resumed walking down the tunnel, lost in thought. Most of the time, everyone here seemed so open, friendly, and sincere. Then, every once in a while, they just… completely changed demeanor, like flipping a switch. Something completely innocuous would make the others eye each other uneasily, like there was a secret to hide.

Zag suddenly thought, “Maybe they don’t want to give away their resources to strangers?”

It was a disappointing, but good, explanation. Rangavar stifled a sigh.

Since they hadn’t expected on ever coming back to the large caverns beneath the surface, both dragons felt a little awkward following Jaroshe back to Garren’s ‘office’, or whatever it was.

As it turned out, they actually ended up back at the large room with the table again. It seemed to be a popular place. Jaroshe stuck his head in and knocked on the side of the doorway. His knuckles didn’t really make much noise against the stone, but Garren and several others in the room turned his direction anyway.

Jaroshe cleared his throat. “We have visitors again.” He stepped back so that Rangavar and Zag could enter.

Garren watched curiously. “Was there a problem? I didn’t think we’d ever see you again.”

“Yes, actually,” Zag spoke up. He relayed the situation this time, just as Rangavar had for Jaroshe. When he was done, he gritted his teeth in an awkward half-grin. “Any way you can help us out?”

Garren gave him a sympathetic look. “We don’t have a way to, sorry.”

“What if we borrow the metalworking tools you used to create the vents?” Rangavar asked bluntly. Well, if Zag was right, he didn’t see why they shouldn’t just jump right in and say it.

The much larger dragon stared for a moment, clearly taken off guard. His eyes shifted between some of the other dragons at the table, but Rangavar couldn’t sense any telepathy between them, so they didn’t seem able to converse. They just gave each other some awkward looks until Garren finally spoke back up. “I’m afraid the materials we used to make such things ran out long ago.”

Rangavar frowned. It was a bold-faced lie.

“Perhaps you can still use your broken one?” Garren suggested.

“Not possible,” Zag interjected and shook his head. He didn’t call out Garren’s lie either, though, which Rangavar agreed was a smart move; they still didn’t want to give away their telepathy. As these dragons behaved weirder and weirder, communicating in secret seemed more and more advantageous.

Garren scratched behind his thick, jagged horns. “Well, I suppose you could bring it inside…” he said carefully. “We’ll… take a look…” He looked to the others again as if for affirmation. Once again, neither of the two Darkals called him on it, although it couldn’t have been more obvious. Rangavar supposed it wouldn’t matter; as soon as him and Zag left to go retrieve the part, it would give Garren and the others ample time to come up with a ‘cover story’ or something. A cover story for what, Rangavar didn’t know. He supposed that was the nature of cover stories.

Neither of the Darkals spoke as they left the room and started back the way they came, ready to retrieve the blade and see just what they could get these dragons to do.

~

They’d given Rangavar and Zag their previous room back. They’d also dropped off a box of food for the two of them, with comments about how hungry they must be after the cold. They weren’t wrong; working through the snow was really draining. Plus, they’d had to go all the way back up to the surface, trudge through the snow back to the ship, remove the blade, and bring it all the way back down. Even Rangavar thought the weird cave plants didn’t look so bad right now.

Zag held one out to him. “You can’t starve yourself forever.”

Rangavar sighed. The dragon they’d given the broken blade to wouldn’t be done looking at it for a while anyway, so he knew there was no getting around it; he needed to eat. He reluctantly accepted the fruit-looking thing.

The other dragon was already biting into his, genuinely hungry this time. Juice dribbled down his chin, but Zag wiped it away with the back of a paw. “You like fruit. I don’t see why you don’t like these.”

“These aren’t ‘fruit’,” Rangavar protested. Whatever they were, the sickly-sweet taste seemed to stick in his mouth. Maybe if he were a fan of more sugary things, he’d find them appetizing, but he wasn’t. Still, he carefully bit into it.

Zag was packing them away more quickly, his midsection stretching a bit. Or maybe he was just particularly bloated today. Either way, Rangavar thought his stomach looked a little bigger than normal. His sweatshirt was riding up again, the bottom of his doughy gut pushing out over his lap, the pale scales on his belly slightly visible. The sides of his belly budged out over the waistband of his pants in thick, chunky love handles that easily absorbed it.

Whether or not Zag noticed, he wasn’t slowing down. He chomped greedily on more of the vegetation in the box while Rangavar slowly diverted his attention elsewhere. Maybe he should change out of his wet clothes and climb into bed to warm up. Eating could wait.

Rangavar glanced back at Zag. Actually, by the look of things, if he waited to eat there might not be anything left.

Zag slowed and glanced up at him. He scowled. “I didn’t quite catch that, but I can tell you were thinking something judgmental.”

“I was thinking about whether I should eat now, or change my clothes first,” Rangavar said, which was technically true. “No judgement.”

Unconvinced, Zag continued to glare as he shoved another huge bite into his maw. Rangavar decided he might grab more after all, stuffing another bite into his own mouth. He managed to make it almost all the way through the large garden monstrosity before his stomach was complaining uncomfortably. He wasn’t used to stretching it, but it had been long enough since he’d been truly full that he figured he needed the calories. If the cave-dragons were to be believed, this food had the nutrition to help.

He did believe them; he felt physically bloated by the weight of it as it sat heavily in his stomach, and he rubbed at the taut surface, still mystified at how Zag managed to eat several whole ones in each sitting. As it was, he’d been pounding them down during the entirety of Rangavar’s meal, and was still going.

Rangavar rubbed at his own stuffed belly, not used to feeling so full. He pushed his fingers into the soft surface, and Zag’s earlier comments about eating too many snacks on their journey came back to him. He snorted slightly through his nose. “I’m going to go change.” He tiredly rose to his paws. Maybe some warm clothes and some sleep would help him feel better, too.

“Alright,” Zag replied through a mouthful of food. When he swallowed, he just immediately followed it up with another bite. Rangavar realized he might be actually feeling a little anxious, which definitely wasn’t helping his binge-eating habits.

Although he didn’t want to think about it, Rangavar wondered if he were feeling a bit anxious, too. They couldn’t leave here without all of the ship parts in working order. All they needed was for the Iylarians to help them, and they’d be on their way. But that was exactly the thing; they were happy enough to send the two Dakrals off, but seemed reluctant to actually help upon finding out there was a problem.

Why?

Rangavar shook his head to himself as he slipped out of his jacket and unbuttoned his pants, which felt tight with the amount of food he’d just packed away. It was a relief to get the wet clothing off his scales. Too bad they’d have to do it all over again when it was finally time to get the ship off the ground. Hopefully then, they’d be leaving this place for good.