Cara froze in place, palms flat against the rough boards behind her. The dragon stretched out his neck with curiosity, peering inside the barn. Damn Will and Darth for barking at the creature that was snuffling the warm air. Damn Grand Dame for requiring that not even one hair on their furry backs be harmed. Swallowing down terror, Cara cleared her throat twice and said,<br/><br/>“Ummm, nice dragon. Hey, dragon, do you talk? The dragons in the legend could talk.” She said with only  a small quaver in her voice. “ Here, boy, come out here and talk to me,” she said, in that sweety sweet voice that people use with children and dogs.<br/><br/>The air around her had grown considerably colder while the frost dragon was so close. Cara almost wished it would kill her. At least if she was eaten, she would be on the warm insides instead of in this cold wasteland. The horses were nickering loudly and banging the sides of the stalls. They could make a break for it, but with wings like those, she knew they would never outpace the dragon. She ran through her bag of magic spells and only drew a blank when it came to standing off predators. There seemed like a spell for frost dragons from that legend but damn me, she thought, that was just a dim memory. Who would have ever believed she might need it?<br/><br/>In the distance , over the pounding of her heart, Cara heard the whump whump of helicopter rotors. Maybe help was on the way, but she looked at the white body and tail of the dragon that was nearly pressed against her and realized that far before they could ascertain the problem that the dragon might very well panic and kill her and the beasts she was to guard. The best she could do was to camouflage the area and hope they flew on.<br/><br/>She eyed the dragon but his head was still inside the barn so she raised her hand with a casting motion and the sky above her took on the glow of sunshine and blue sky.Someone could fly through it with no hindrance but would not be able to see below it. To their eyes, all would be snow and landscape with no sign of movement or even trees for that was the scene she had imagined for them to see. Her conjuring worked in such a way.<br/><br/>“Dragon, hey, dragon,” she invited softly, “Can you talk to me?”