Eternal flame

Chapter 7

The morning light filtered through the thin veil of clouds, casting a soft glow over the rugged terrain. Despite the chill in the air, the craggy ledge felt like a haven. It was remote, shielded on three sides by towering rock faces, and offered a clear view of the valley below—a perfect vantage point.

Elsa sat cross-legged near the edge, her eyes scanning the horizon. She had an uncanny stillness, her breaths barely stirring the cold morning air. Behind her, Toothless sprawled lazily, his tail draped over a boulder, though his ears twitched at the slightest sound. His watchfulness mirrored my own unease.

“I think we should stay here,” I said, breaking the silence. “For now.”

Elsa turned her head slightly, acknowledging me without speaking. After a moment, she nodded. “It’s defensible. Hard to find.”

“And easy to spot anyone approaching,” I added, tossing a piece of dried meat to Toothless. He caught it mid-air, crunching it with enthusiasm. “If we keep our fires small, no one will notice the smoke.”

Elsa pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders. “What happens when the food runs out?”

I shrugged, trying to keep my tone light. “We’ll deal with that when it happens. For now, we rest. We plan.”

She frowned but didn’t argue, her gaze drifting back to the valley. I could see the tension in her shoulders, the weight of questions she wasn’t asking. Questions I didn’t have answers to.

The day passed slowly, the stillness broken only by the occasional gust of wind and the faint rustle of snow dislodging from the cliffs above. Elsa spent hours pacing along the ledge, her frost-covered footsteps marking the ground. Toothless and I kept watch, his sharp eyes and sharper instincts a comfort in the quiet.

"So you really dont remember anything?" Elsa asked
"All i remember is. I was walking with toothless then i got captured and tortured by pitch and when he put on that helmet and everything went black. The next thing i remember is being on the battlefield watching my friend lay dead on the ground and Astrid saying i killed him and then the next thing is from when we had been captured to now" I replied

Elsa turned toward me, her expression unreadable, but her eyes flickered with something—pity, perhaps, or concern. She hesitated before speaking again, her voice softer now. “That’s... fragmented. But it explains a lot.”

"We have to go fishing tomorrow so we have some more food" i said, Elsa nodded 

Toothless lay in the snow, his tail curled around his paws, watching Elsa and me with those wide, intelligent eyes. His alertness was a constant reminder of how vigilant we needed to be. But as the evening wore on and the air grew colder, it was clear that the real threat wasn’t the elements or any immediate danger—it was the uncertainty of the future.

I glanced at Elsa, who was still staring out over the valley. She seemed lost in thought, as if the weight of everything pressing on her wasn’t something she was ready to talk about yet. I didn’t push. Sometimes, silence said more than words could.

After a while, I spoke again, breaking the quiet that had settled over us. “We’ll need to head out soon. Fishing tomorrow is just the start.”

Elsa nodded but didn’t respond right away. Her eyes flickered to the distant mountains before returning to the valley below. “How much longer do you think we can keep hiding?”

I hesitated, not wanting to give voice to the fear that had been creeping into my thoughts. "As long as it takes. We find food, we keep our heads down, and we keep moving. It’s not ideal, but we have to make it work."