Freyja

Chapter 3: Village

In the skies above a moor peppered with huts and wooden structures, a dragon soared away from the sun. She had scales of such a deep red hue that she appeared almost black, and her eyes glowed with a golden light. Atop her back lay a young boy dressed in half charred clothes. He was clinging onto her and squinting through the wind at the moor below as he called out a single syllable over and over.

"Tue! Tue!" he cried.

With each repetition of the name, the dragon flapped her wings and released a small puff of fire from her dark throat as if she recognised the word. The sun beat down on the boy's back and he finally decided that the combined heat from the weather and the magnificent creature was too much for him to handle.

"Slow down, Eldr!" he shouted, and the dragon obeyed. "Can we land just there, in that valley?"

He pointed down towards a shallow valley nestled comfortably among a range of tall mountains. The dragon rose, her wings tilted to catch the wind, before circling down towards a cave that lay on a slope near the valley. The boy clung tightly as he felt the hairs on his arms rise in exhilaration. Soon, he felt the dragon land smoothly on the ground.

"Thank you, Eldr," he murmured, dazed. After slowly sliding off her back, he gave her a polite bow and peered into the cave. The dragon swished her tail around and moved towards its dark depths.

"Do not worry, we will find him," the boy reassured, although his words barely reached her. He proceeded to wander away from the cave, lost in thought. "What happened to him? He was supposed to come out riding you, a battle cry issuing from his mouth and his spear held above his head. He was supposed to look like a warrior with the power of man and dragon combined. But he is not here."

He found himself moving down the slope, searching for a sheltered place to cool down. A coppice of small trees appeared in his line of sight, so he headed straight towards it. After a few minutes resting in the shadowy copse, he found himself restless again. He stood up and paced around the trees,  attempting to piece together a plan.

"I need Tue. If we find him soon, I shall know what to do," he said, brightening up. "We shall search the skies and the seas for him!"

Finally, his chain of thoughts trailed away and he heard the faint noises of a civilisation. He edged closer to the sound, careful to remain hidden. He remembered the last people he had met: their cruelty, their harsh language. As he got closer, he thought it might be a village, but a few more steps revealed another layer of houses behind the first, along with several taller structures.

"This is no mere village," he whispered. "This is a town. Perhaps they have food."

He slowly progressed towards the nearest hut, his eyes roving around cautiously. As he got closer, he picked out the hut's wooden walls and thatched roof and silently thanked Eldr for staying in the cave. Her glorious flames would obliterate this town, and then he would have nothing to eat.

Or perhaps the meat would be cooked as if the buildings were a furnace.

As he contemplated whether or not to destroy hundreds of lives for a simple meal, a woman with a blue skirt looked up from where she was chopping wood and noticed the boy. She neared him, the fabric of her long skirt flapping around her ankles as she walked.

"Hello, young boy," she said as soon as she was in hearing range. A moment later, she was closer still. "What do you need?"

The boy panicked and dived to the nearest tree, grabbing onto the lower branches and preparing to climb.

The woman got closer and noticed his attire. "Oh! Are you dressed as a beast trainer?"

Sighing, the boy ceased in his efforts to scale the looming plant. He shuffled over to the woman, who was now watching him with an amused smile.