Twenty Six
They return to the village in early morning light, five dragons and two wary humans trudging from the depths of the forest as the first pink and gold rays of sunlight break through the clouds. Iza stands still at the top of a hill that overlooks the village, her eyes catching on the plumes of smoke rising from the longhouses, and feels a sense of displacement.
It feels as if she has been gone for too long – only a handful of days, but each of those days felt like years. She wonders if this is what the Viking raiders feel like when they return home. Do they also feel that they are returning to a place that now feels foreign?
Iza watches the way Edvard moves forward, plunging headfirst without any hesitation, and thinks that maybe she is the only one who feels this way. Unsure, almost stifled by the prospect of the village. It is home, but it does not have the freedom of the forest and the mountain.
Home is home, but in her heart it has never felt like hers. In a way, it is naturally her home because she was born there and she has grown there. But in another way, it is not home because she has so long been on the fringes – one way or another never fully accepted, always just that smidge too different from the others.
A difference that is now even more apparent because of the dragons and the knowledge that she is not fully mortal.
Iza does her best to shake off the pensive feeling and forces her feet to move forward. One step at a time is all it ever takes to make progress. Sense of displacement or not, Iza knows her duty very well. Or at least she thinks she does. If nothing else, she understands what her goal is – that has never been in doubt.
By the time they reach the village proper, most of the village has risen with the early sun of the summer, which inevitably means that more eyes fall on the dragons than Iza had anticipated. She had dimly hoped for some way to slowly introduce the dragons, but there is really no way to do so. Dragons, after all, are very difficult to not notice, and five dragons is sure to turn heads no matter where she takes them.
Iza catches the pale faces and wide eyes lurching backward as she, Edvard, and the dragons walk through the village and she suppresses a sigh. Time away had not changed many minds. She did not think it ever would.
They halt in front of the Great Hall and the rest of the village gathers in a loose circle, anxious and watching warily as the leaders in the village come face-to-face with creatures that have been the bane of their survival for the last several years. Iza stares steadily at the Elders, Eko at one elbow and Edvard at the other.
"These dragons have agreed to form an alliance," she announces, her voice calm and loud so that it carries. "We share a common enemy."
"There is no such thing as a common enemy between dragons and humans!" one of the Elders claims angrily. Iza knows this Elder well, as she is used to arguing with him in polite tones any time she is working with Mik in the Great Hall. He is an old man who does not easily recognize his own hypocrisy and who more often than not dissents out of fear and hesitancy toward change. She had anticipated his refusal, and as such barely spares him a glance.
It is the other Elders she looks to instead. "There is a tyrant on the mountain, a dragon that has taken over and spread malice through the dragons under his control. Unlike what we have been led to believe, there are dragons who are free from the Malice Striker – and these dragons I have brought with me are but a few who are willing to work with us against a foe."
"Because we share a common enemy?" one of the more rational Elders asks with a skeptical lift of his brow. "How common an enemy can two vastly different beings have? We are humans and they are dragons. Are they not able to solve their own problems?"
"Yes!" agrees another from where he cowers slightly in the back of the small group. "If what you say is true and the ransacking of our lives is the cause of internal dissent among dragons, then why can these free dragons not fight against this-this Striker themselves?"
Iza lifts her chin. "Are there any among us who can truly accomplish anything by ourselves?" she asks, directing her question smartly toward the crowd rather than the Elders. Her gamble is right and her rhetorical point is met with mild grumbling agreements from the villagers. Iza pins the head Elder with her fiercest stare. "The internal politicking of dragons aside, we now have a solution that will help us free ourselves of living in fear from yet another dragon battle. Too long we have been struggling to maintain our way of living while constantly struggling to recover from loss of grain and houses and livestock – from loss of lives. Why should we not form an alliance when an alliance is what we need to finally end our strife?"
The head Elder stares back and Iza can almost see her mind working. The head Elder has always been a shrewd old crone, a woman who had survived the birth of four children, outlived her husband, and made rational decisions for the betterment of everyone. In many ways, Iza strives to be like the head Elder, who always listens calmly and makes impartial decisions.
The head Elder's lips press together, her slightly cloudy eyes roving over the dragons loosely lined behind Iza's back until her beady stare finally rests on Eko. The head Elder makes a thoughtful noise. "Tell me more about this fearsome foe, this…Malice Striker. Tell me what you have learned so that I might understand your conviction. Tell me why you think these dragons are any different than the dragons that terrorize us."
And so Iza does. She speaks at length about most of what she has learned on the mountain, leaving out the parts about her destiny and parentage. Iza does her best to relay all the details, and eventually Edvard pitches his own thoughts in to emphasize the breadth of the threat they are facing. From Edvard's mouth, Iza's claims seem to carry more weight – and she understand it is because the village has already spent several years placing a lot of trust in Edvard's reliable ability to provide them with food. The village at large has more faith in Edvard's confirmation than Iza's original claims, and while that irritates her, she also knows it is because for all that she does for the village and for all that she is the Chieftain's daughter, she is still that little bit too different.
Edvard might be different, as well, but he seems to have found a way to be on the right side of different.
If only the village knew he was Lokison. Would they then change their minds? Perhaps. But perhaps not. And either way it does not matter to Iza – all she cares about is that the Elders and the villagers grasp what she is trying to tell them. If they can only understand through Edvard, then so be it.
The Elders turn toward each other, speaking quietly amongst themselves. Behind Iza, the dragons are growing restless, the apparent novelty of a human village wearing out quickly due to the tension in the air and the heavy fear-laden stares resting on their scales.
Calm them, Iza says to Eko through their bond. It is almost over.
Iza feels Eko's agreement before a soft chittering escapes the dragon's mouth. The other dragons settle afterwards, so whatever Eko had told them must have been enough. Iza knows that their restlessness had not come from a lack of understanding, as all the dragons she has ever encountered have understood the human tongue well even without the ability to speak back. No, Iza thinks that their restlessness stemmed from the uncertainty of the situation – after all, the dragons have a lot of hope riding on this alliance, as well. Maybe even more than the humans in this village.
It is a very human emotion to be anxious because of uncertainty, and the fact that these dragons are clearly emoting this says a lot about the similarities between humans and dragons. Regardless of what the obstinate Elder had said before, Iza thinks that humans and dragons have a lot more in common than one shared enemy.
But even so, just for now, Iza needs the dragons to appear as docile as Eko. There cannot be a single reason for the village to reject the alliance.
Yet even as she thinks this, she comes to the private realization that if the village did boot the dragons out, at the very least Iza would commit herself to the alliance. She will do whatever it takes, help from her village or not. Ideal plans are just that – ideal. It does not mean that they are the only plans. And so as she waits for the decision from the Elders, part of Iza's mind begins making contingency plans.
Yet it turns out that her contingencies will not be needed.
"We will form an alliance," the head Elder announces, her eyes sharp on Iza as she continues. "An ally is more useful than a second foe. But let me remind you, young Iza, that these dragons are your responsibility. Keep them out of the main village. And if they should turn on us – on your head so be it, daughter of the Chieftain or not."
Iza bows her head in agreement, as she had expected nothing less and had known exactly what she was gambling when she set out on her self-imposed mission. But the threat of having her place in the world removed is not much to someone who has never felt their place in the world was all that solid to begin with.
Turning on her heel, Iza clucks her tongue once and backtracks out of the village, coolly meeting the eye of any villager brave enough to look at her even as they hastily spring out of her path. The dragons follow and behind her the village murmurs amongst themselves. And at her side is Edvard, who holds his tongue until they have begun to trek up the hill where her longhouse stands.
"That was lucky," he says.
"Luck had nothing to do with it," Iza tells him. "They agreed because it makes sense, but also because if I fail then I will have no standing in the village and they will not have to deal with me directing their council."
Edvard frowns at her, brows furrowed in thought. "Do you really think that?"
Iza smiles wryly. "The Elders are much less mysterious and wise than we think they are. It is not difficult to know they resent my involvement. I do not let them run roughshod over Mik when my father is away, after all."
"The Elders are idiots."
"Of course they are," Iza agrees. "Most of them are biased and stuck in their ways. But some of them are not, so I must be as crafty as them."
Edvard grimaces. "Is that what it is like to be Chieftain, I wonder?"
Iza hums. "Perhaps it is similar. But I do not think the Elders would be so bold with the Chieftain. As the leader of the clan, my father has much more influence over the whole village than I do – and in fact, so do you for that matter. Did you not notice that the village begin to come around when you voiced your opinion?"
Edvard appears mildly surprised. "Did they?"
"Yes. And while the Elders may be foolish, they also know how troublesome it would be to go against the entire village. Truly, I should thank you," she ways with some amusement. "If you had not spoken, I would probably be run out of the village, dragons and all."
"I do not think that is true," he says, but even to Iza's ears he sounds doubtful.
Iza lets the subject drop, shifting her attention to the dragons behind her. She reaches the top of her hill and turns to the dragons with her hands on her hips. "This is my home and this is where you will stay while we are in alliance. You must stay out of the village at all times. The villagers are…cautious of dragons, so it is better to remain on this hill or in the forest."
She waits for Eko to relay a confirmation that the dragons understand before she lets her arms drop to her sides. Iza sighs out, releasing some of the pent up tension in her shoulders, and drops her head back. "Great. Thank you."
You are tired, Eko observes with a note of concern.
Iza smiles gently at her dragon, reaching out to run her palm up Eko's muzzle and between her eyes. "I am tired," she agrees. Glancing up at Edvard, she says, "I am home now and I think everything is under control. You can…"
"Ah. Right." Edvard clears his throat. "I should return home for rest. I will…That is, I will come by later during the evening meal so that we can begin planning."
Iza nods and Edvard turns to leave, but she is quick to call out to him. "My bow!"
The tips of Edvard's ears flush red as he lopes back and quickly divests himself of her bow and quiver. He hands them back and then hastens back down the hill, surely off to return to his family's farm for the night.
Iza is left alone with five dragons then, all who are looking at her for some direction, unsure of how to behave outside of their cavern in the mountain. She clutches her bow to her chest, equally as unsure. Eko is at a size where it is becoming difficult to keep her in the longhouse – and Iza is not sure if she can accommodate four other dragons, three of which are much larger than Eko. For the first time, Iza falters. She had not thought this far ahead.
Luckily, it is at that moment that Carlisle emerges from the longhouse. He gapes at the dragons for a moment, blue eyes wide and mouth dropped open, before he blinks rapidly at Iza. "You have more dragons," he says to her.
"And no place for them to sleep," Iza sighs.
The Saxon's expression changes into one she recognizes. It is the same expression that crosses his face when he is thinking hard and trying to translate his own words. Not for the first time, Iza is glad that the Saxon is her slave – perhaps Alise had the foresight to know that Iza would need someone more intelligent than herself to at some point and that is why she guided Iza to Carlisle. She certainly thinks this is true when Carlisle snaps his fingers and says, "We make tents!"
Tents. Yes. Tents are the obvious solution. "Good idea," Iza says with relief. Her stomach chooses that moment to grumble loudly and she wrinkles her nose. "But before tents, I think we need to eat. Do you have any food prepared? I am starving."
Carlisle is quick to nod and usher her in. Before she takes any steps forward, Iza's eyes flick to Eko, their two-toned gazes meeting as easily as their minds.
I will take them hunting, Eko says. The forest is free this early in the day. I will keep watch over them. Do not worry.
Be careful, Eko.
Rest, Iza. All will be fine.
Iza can only trust that her dragon is right.
A/N: Awkward warrior Vikings are hilarious and Carlisle is a gem. Also, that head Elder? Iza is basically looking at herself in the future, which I liked the symmetry of. Was anyone surprised that I made the head Elder a woman? Vikings were pretty feminist, all things considered, so it's not out of realm of possibility.
As always, be brutally honest. I can take it.
~Rae