The Abandoned Duo

Chapter 10

People were making their rounds flawlessly. I was proud of the Vikings I created. I stood alert with my shift and watched the night sky with alertness.

"Ma'am, the other shift is here." a man informed me.

"You are dismissed then." I dismissed them. The sun was just starting to rise over the horizon. I watched the golden hues break from the watch tower.

"Hello, Gorgeous." Snotlout greeted with a grin. I rolled my eyes and turned to him.

"Hello, Snotlout." I greeted.

"We have our date in 4 hours?" he confirmed. I put my finger on my chin and dramatically thought for a moment.

"Hmm, did we?" I questioned. He looked scared for a moment. "We did." I nodded to him. "See you then." I waved him off as I continued with the other group. I wasn't quite ready to leave it them despite Snotlout just arriving for his four hour shift.

The other watchtowers were filled with the rest of the guards while this one was for the leading guard per shift.

"Everything okay?" he asked suddenly. I turned at looked at him, nodding. "I know it's not." he said quietly. "How have you not collapsed after all of this? You lead and are in charge of everything. How do you relax?"

"I don't. I was raised this way, it's normal." I shrugged.

"Can you tell me what it was like?" he asked, sitting down on one of the seats. I thought for a moment and eventually nodded, my eyes still watching.

"My fathers training was always apparent inn my life. I never knew a day without it. I was trained everyday from the moment the sun came up to the moment the sun left the sky." my focus was absent from the sky as I watched twinkling lights instead of looking for moving shadows. My shift was from midnight to 4 while Snotlouts was the next four hours. The sun would rise within the next hour so the night sky still shown.

"I would pray to Thor, Odin, Loki, Sif, Frigga, and every other God and Goddess I could think of to let it end. It never did. As I got older, my father would train me harder, despite my mothers pleas." I continued, remembering the days like they were yesterday. "Some days he would go easier, but that was usually because we got another dragon." I shrugged.

"When the days were over and my father deemed I was to my breaking point, I would go home. I would get into my pajamas, and I would leave again. I would go to the dragons. I would befriend them. They were my only friends." I said, smiling at the thought of them.

"I never felt alone, no matter how horrendous my days were. I would catch a glimpse of a dragon I befriended and we would share a look. And those looks were always the same. 'Everything is going to be okay'." I continued.

"And they usually were. The dragons never felt my fathers wraith as long as they followed command. I would warn them of that. So they were always okay." I assured myself once again despite that happening so long ago.

"Then the fateful day came. I protected a dragon against my father. An orphaned Skrill. My father said none could survive as young as he was. I took the lash from the sword. It pierced to my bone." I nodded as I told my story.

"He left me on that Island to die with the Skrill. To my fathers discontent, I didn't die. I lived, I continued training as hard as he trained me, and I promised one day I would return to end him and his reign." I said, my face hardening.

"Wow." he breathed next to me.

"So that was Balthazar?" he asked quietly.

"No, he was a different Skrill. He was orphaned, the poor thing saw me as his mother until he was ready to leave the Nest. I know he is out there somewhere, but he occasionally will find me and Balthazar." I smiled, remembering my friend.