This chapter is still in beta-

The silver gave a slight snort as he entered the rotted log; the moss that covering the inside gave off an odor that made his nose twitch. The bronze came to a stop as he reached the snow filled end on the other side, came around a few times as he dug up the floor and made a nest of bark and moss and coiled himself within it. The silver copied his brother and made a nest and coiled up beside him. His stomach ached from emptiness, but his body ached more from exhaustion.

“I’m sure we’ll find something tasty tomorrow, we’ve made it down the mountain quite a bit, surely there’s deer and rabbits about and those that eat them but leave the smaller bits” he said.
“I don’t mind eggs and slugs for a few more days but do you think we’ll come across any of the two legs, like the short ones with the furry faces or the ones that look like trees.” The silver looked at his brother his griff twitching slightly.

“I wouldn’t cry if we didn’t, you must have heard at least nits and ticks of mother’s stories. They’re nothing but trouble always swinging their tails at something” the bronze looked at him puzzled.
“I don’t think they have tails, do they brother?”
“You know what I mean, those things they hit things with I don’t know the name, like a large tooth they carry around”, the bronze nodded he probably couldn’t remember the name either. The silver worked his head in between his body and tail.
“If we did meet something what would they call me?” the bronze asked obviously unaware that his brother only thought of sleep. “I didn’t get a name and neither did you?” the silver removed his head from its cozy resting place.

“Well father’s name was GaLzum so why don’t we name you…………Valzum?” the bronze tilted his head for a moment.
“Valzum….. I like it brother, I wouldn’t have come up with such a clever name.” The silver glowed for a griff-twitch at the complement and pleased that he had delighted his brother so.
“Clever names wouldn’t have kept us from a cold death, you thought of digging into the old tree where it’s warm so I say you are more clever” he said then returned his head to its resting spot.
“But what about you, what will your name be?”
“I suppose I would be called Valzum’s brother”

“But couldn’t you only be called that if we were together, if they don’t know me how would they know what to call you?”
“Why would we not be together?” the silver asked hoping to end the questions and get some sleep. Valzum accepted the answer weather it seemed like a reasonable answer or he just assumed his brother was out of clever names the silver didn’t know, but he wasted none of the silence and drifted off to sleep.

The silver awoke to a rough scratching sound and found his brother digging holes in the side of the log. He assumed he did this out of boredom or he was hunting slugs. He raised his head and looked about, sunshine shined down the hole that went to the surface. He could see more details of the log than he could the night before, the moss was dead and soggy and one side of the rotted tree was burnt and black. Maybe father set fire to it in a battle against intruders or sky fire did it, either way he was grateful for it for it was very comfortable.
“Brother you sleep too much and I’m starving”

They emerged from their burrow and stepped into the glaring sun, and with it reflecting off the snow made it all the more blinding to the silver’s tired eyes. His brother wasted no time in exploring and continuing his search for food. The silver remained still for a few moments, letting the sun warm his scales and tail while looking around. There were still a lot of prints in the snow considering how much snow was coming down last night; the silver didn’t pay much mind to it.

His stomach hungered too much to think about much else, The birds filled the are chilling air with chatter, with so many of them calling off and the wind coming down the mountain side he couldn’t make out what they were saying, most likely afraid the brothers would eat their eggs and with good reason. If there bug hunt went ill, eggs weren’t an awful second option. A chilly breeze struck his face as he watched his brother examine every leafy twig on the wooded slope.


“Brother come look” Valzum called as he stuck his head out of a hole in the snow “Come see what I’ve found”. The silver slothfully made his way over to the bronze, he found him standing on an old skull that was about the size of his body. He could tell by a quick glance that it had been months since it had flesh on it. It was dry as a rock that had been sitting in the sun except the thin layer of white powder that sprinkled the top. There were a few cracks in it but was covered in craters and had a strange odor.

“It’s bigger than the ones father brought back from his trips” said Valzum, the silver gazed upon the skull in confusion and alarm.
“I don’t like it” he said quietly, he wasn’t sure why but his head told him something was wrong. If it was as old as it looked it would be buried under a tails length of snow but the tree branches had a much thicker coat than it.