A/N: It's strange how time simply seems to disappear into the blue. One day I know I have to read through the chapter and publish it the next, and two days later I realize I forgot all about it.

But enough of my trouble. Here, enjoy this chapter, and please leave some juicy reviews afterwords!


IX

Stranded

She moaned. Her throat felt dry. It was cold, and she was tired. She didn't want to move. In a second she could pretend she was back in Constantinople, before her mother's death.

It was winter, her room was cold and she'd caught a cold. Her mother would open the door and come in with a cup of tea, and then Calypso would be "forced" to stay in bed until she was good again. Which meant she didn't have to do anything.

Calypso slowly opened her eyes. Light. Burning light. Quickly she shut them. What had happened? Where was she?

Not too far away she heard waves washing up on the shore. The smell of salt water filled the air. Slowly the events returned to her mind.

After she'd been brought out at the sea, she'd just drifted for a long while. It could've been hours or days. She wouldn't have seen any difference. Then the storm came. When it passed, there'd been no sight of Scotland. She'd continued drifting, until the outline of an island had appeared in the horizon. When the boat came closer, she'd tried to steer it. It had nearly worked. The boat got stuck in a reef close to the shore. She'd been forced to take her bag and weapons and swim the rest of the way. When she finally made it to the shore, she'd been exhausted.

Calypso opened her eyes, more careful this time. She sat up slowly as her eyes adjusted to the light. She was sitting at the shore of a small bay. At both her sides were cliffs, shielding her from wind, and behind her a snow-covered hillside disappeared into a forest which probably covered most of the island.

She got to her feet and stumbled a little, but quickly regained her balance. She picked up the bag and stared out towards the sea. Where on earth was she? As no answer hit her, she quickly concluded with three things she had to do immediately:

'

Find shelter

Make a fire and get dry

Find food

'

Nice. With a sigh she turned her back at the sea and trudged towards the forest line. The snow was deep, but once she came in between the trees, the layer of snow at the forest floor became thinner and she could walk freer.

For the first time she really paid attention to the environments. The trees were tall, but there was plenty of space between the stems, so lots of light lit her way. Birds chirped to each other, sang or just eyed her with curiosity. Strange. Tracks of different animals covered the ground, and she recognized both hare, deer and fox.

It had to be a really beautiful island in summer time.

As she continued, the slow rising of the landscape flattened out. A few more steps and she stood by the edge of a small lake. At the opposite side she could see a berg rising high above the trees. The top was covered in snow and ice. Maybe she could find a cave at the bottom of the berg.

She continued walking.

In about an hour she had reached her goal. The berg. There were no caves by the foot of it, but long ago a rockslide must had taken place, because boulders were laying all over the place. Some of them even stood leant against each other, making perfect small caves to hide in.

The cave Calypso chose, wasn't too big. It was high enough under the roof for her to stand up straight, but she had to walk bowed in and out. Some leafs were spread across the floor, together with twigs and branches from the autumn.

Just then she was very happy she hadn't sold the dragon-skin bag, otherwise her things would've been soaked. She wouldn't have had any wood to make a fire with, and the tinder and flint would've taken time to dry up – if it ever dried up.

Soon she had a small, sparkling warm fire going in the middle of the cave. She collected the twigs and branches laying spread across the cave and put them up to dry. Then she pulled off her coat, tunic and boots, found a blanket from her bag and tucked herself into it while she waited for her clothes to dry up.

As she waited, she searched her bag for something to eat and drink. Her bottle was empty, but she still had some dried fish and old bread left. Barely enough to fill her stomack, but at least it was edible.

She ate the food slowly, as it would last a little longer. Carefully she pulled out the books she'd brought with. She flipped through the pages of some of them. In her book about geography, she tried to make out how far from Scotland she'd drifted, but it was hard. For all she knew, she could be somewhere close to the lands of the Vikings.

Between the books she found Briskir's children's book. As she flipped through it's pages and read it to herself in silence, her thoughts returned to the kiss he'd given her before he sent her away.

Finally she put the books away and dug into the bag once more. At the bottom she found something wrapped into cloth. Her curiosity got the better of her, and she unwrapped it carefully.

Her face lit up in a smile when she recognized the flute. She'd totally forgotten about it! After all which had happened. All she'd been through. It was nearly unbelievable it was still intact. She put it to her lips and blew a few, testing tones. It seemed perfectly fine.

Happily she continued playing. At some point her eyes slid shut and she just enjoyed the music. Her thoughts went to the one who'd taught her how to play the beautiful instrument. An old man who'd visited her father's inn when she was a little. She'd always been sure the flute held some kind of a magic. At least when that old man played it. Ever since she heard him the first time, she'd been enchanted by the simple tones.

Later, when she thought back at what had happened afterwords, she was unsure whether it was because she heard it, or because she felt it's presence, but when she opened her eyes she found a tiny creature watching her. The flute slid out of her fingers and fell to the floor as she backed away from the creature.

It had huge, blue eyes. Couldn't be more than two feet long, probably shorter. It was standing there in the cave entrance at it's hind legs, eyeing her curiously with it's head tilted to the side. It's scales were pale blue, and the thin front legs seemed nearly like arms. It's tail swept back and forth across the cave floor when it approached Calypso.

She backed up even more. The creature picked up the flute she'd lost and approached her. It held the flute up.

"D-do you want me to play?" Calypso asked, unsure of whether this creature could be dangerous or not. It made a chirping sound and approached her even more.

Calypso carefully reached out and took the flute out of it's claws. She put the instrument to her lips and blew a few tones. The creature did nearly look... happy.

She blew a few more notes, before starting to play a quick and merry children's song. The creature made another chirping sound and approached her even more. Then it sat down in front of her and just listened. When she stopped playing, it would urge her to continue.

Eventually her fingers began aching from playing, her shoulder hurt and she was nearly out of breath. She put down the instrument.

"Sorry," she told the creature. "I can't play more now."

It tilted it's head and blinked at her with those blue eyes. Then it rose and took another step towards her. She held out a hand towards it, but it jerked back.

"No, don't be afraid!" Calypso exclaimed. "I don't want to hurt you."

The creature slowly approached her again. It sniffed her fingers, and then took her hand in it's claws and turned it, as if to see if she had anything hidden in it. The creature glanced quizzically at her.

Calypso couldn't help but laugh. "See?" she said softly. "Not dangerous. Perfectly safe."

The creature came even closer, until it jumped onto her lap. Carefully she ran a hand over it's scales. It made a chirping sound and nuzzled closer to her.

"You're a beautiful one, aren't you?" she whispered, running a hand over it's scaled back. It was warm and softer than she'd expected. "I've never seen anyone like you. What creature are you?" She ran a hand over it's head and it glanced up at her, making yet another chirping sound. "I could swear you looked like a tiny dragon, but no wings? Not dangerous? Do you breath fire at all?"

As if it understood, the dragon turned to the fire and blew a small fireball at it. For a second the fire burned warmer and brighter than before, but then sank back to what it had been.

"Fire," Calypso noted. "At least I don't want to get on your bad side." Suddenly she remembered something Bjartr had told her once. Dragons did exist. They lived far to the north. This meant this creature technically could be a dragon.

The creature – or dragon – chirped and got off her lap. It moved towards the exit, but when Calypso didn't move it returned to her and tugged at the blanket she'd tucked herself into. It was nearly as if...

"Do you want to show me something?"

The dragon ran to the exit, before it stopped and glanced expectingly back at her. Calypso grabbed her clothes which had finally started to dry up, and pulled them on. She left the coat to continue drying, and wrapped herself into the blanket instead. Then she stropped her bow and quiver to her back and followed the dragon out of the cave.

Once they were outside, it became nearly invisible against the snow. If it hadn't been for the blue eyes and the movements, Calypso wouldn't have seen it at all. Perfectly camouflaged.

It led her back towards the lake. When they reached it, the dragon simply ran out on the ice. Calypso was pretty sure it would break if she tried, so she followed it from the edge. She had to run to keep up with it, because, God, that thing was quick. Certainly not something she would want to be attacked by, even though she hadn't seen any dangerous weapons yet. Except from fire and claws. Which could be pretty dangerous if used the right way.

The dragon led her in between the trees once more. Soon they came to a clearing, and Calypso stopped at the edge just to stare.

A whole pod of tiny dragons moved about the place. Some at the size of the one finding her, others even tinier. There were small houses spread across the clearing, and that meant houses consisting of walls and roofs, with beds, food and warmth inside.

"I've got to be dreaming..." she muttered as she slowly followed the first dragon. It chirped something – probably a message – and soon silence settled over the clearing. Calypso had everyone's attention.

The dragon who'd found her began on a chirping speech. When it finished, no one moved for a second. Then the clearing exploded in chaos. Dragons ran everywhere. Most of them disappeared in between the trees, while others took care of the small ones. Soon the clearing was cleared.

Calypso glanced at the dragon who'd found her. If she didn't know better, she'd say it looked satisfied.

The dragon began walking back towards the lake. After a few steps it glanced back at Calypso. She hurried after it.

'

When they returned to the cave, it seemed to be filled to the core with dragons. Some of them were looking at her books, others trying to figure out what her coat was to be used for. But what clearly had caught their attention mostly, was the flute. They passed it between themselves, very careful with not loosing it.

"Wow," Calypso breathed.

The dragons had also brought wood to her. Twigs and branches of all sizes were laying piled at the end of the cave, and there was also a pile of raw fish laying there.

The dragons made space for her as she came to sit by the fire. The first dragon sat down beside her. One of the others brought her the flute. Everyone were keeping their eyes on her, waiting in quiet eager.

Calypso glanced down at the flute, and then lifted it to her lips. Even the first tone seemed to catch the dragons. She continued. The only sound in the cave was the the cracks of the fire and the melody of the flute.

Next chapter up 1. September...


A/N: As I said, thanks for leaving a review! We're soon done with the story, so feel free to ask any questions related to the plot. I'll do my best to answer - if I can.