Recap: You saw some stuff going on between Gredår and Tôrfa.
The knocks stopped. Gredår shoved Tôrfa behind some of his furs on the wall that were hanging. A strong smell of smoke emitted from them, making her need to sneeze. She managed to muffle it somewhat, but the voices stopped for a moment before continuing. Tôrfa stood still as she heard Gredår lead whoever was there outside. Moving the furs away from her face she peeked out.
Tôrfa crossed the threshold quietly and slipped out the back door. Running swiftly, Tôrfa managed to get to the Town Hall. By now word had spread of her argument last night. Hopefully no one had heard her and Gredår shouting. Looking around her eyes softened uncharacteristically for a moment. Children were playing tag along the long the snow laden road. A midwife hurried to a house. Muskoxen huffed and snorted loudly in their pens next to houses.
The door that Tôrfa was standing at, suddenly opened. The rest of the village's teenagers stood there.
"Well? Are we going to go already?" Tôrfa managed to ask. They just stared at her.
"The were heading top the ceremony, are you going to come?" Alvoriç asked.
"We do have one question though, what happened to your hands?" a unidentifiable voice asked.
Tôrfa looked confused, lifting them up she saw the swirls from earlier. Checking the rest of her body she only saw them on her hands.
"No comment" she whispered in wonder.
"Alright then, can we go now?" the same voice from before asked. Tôrfa shrugged and backed up from the door. She could see that they didn't know how to respond to her. The group walked down the road, heading to the end of the village. Elders waited there for all, then ceremony would begin.
Ponies were lined up along a wooden post. Bags weighed them down. Snow had started to fall lightly, with torches in hand the Elders gestured the small group to line up side-by-side. A Elder brought up the last bonding group of dragons and Vikings. Sharpbeaks and Frozen Spearheads along with Nightmares followed behind a group of adult Vikings.
"Choose one that you will bless with the gift." a raspy Elder's voice told the Vikings and dragons. Each Viking took a position in front of the new group. Tôrfa inhaled sharply when Gredår stepped in front of her. Smiling encouragingly he assumed the same position as the other mentors. A huge Frozen Spearhead loomed over the two. A burning lust raced through her body as she tried to not twitch from desire in the dream of spilling a dragon's blood.
Then the real ceremony began. A huge bonfire was lit, the Elders began groaning and moaning in a chant. Each mentor was handed a bowl and knife. Gredår cut his hand and let the blood run into the bowl. Then, turning to his dragon he took a claw and cut it too. Blue blood poured from the wound into the bowl, mixing into a light purple color. Other trainees looked scared as their mentors dipped their fingers into the blood and reached for the faces of the trainees. Some flinched away, but dragons pushed them back.
"Gredår?" Tôrfa whispered.
Gredår said nothing, but cocked his head sideways in answer. He began to draw blood on her face, painting her neck, forehead, and her eye lids. Her cheeks were done last.
"What happened to your chin?" His eyes met Tôrfa's in surprise. "There are blue lines on it, the same color as the swirls on my hands."
He said not a word, but stepped back to allow an Elder to walk over to her. The bonfire flickered as the wind howled in the night. Snow was thrown up as the Elder began to shake dragon bones over her.
After the Elder finished blessing the group he took a step back.
"Mentors, present your trainee with the Gift." All mentors took something small from their pockets. Gredår had walked back up to Tôrfa; in his hand was a necklace. Its thread was mad of white fur; Tôrfa thought that it might be polar bear. It touched her heart that a kind soul like Gredår would kill something for her. On the thread, there were different types of dragon teeth and one polar bear tooth. The bear tooth being smaller was in the center, while the dragon teeth surrounded it.
Gredår's hands went up around her neck and moved Tôrfa's hair away. His cold hands made her shiver. He clasped the ends together by slipping a knot through a small loop. The new weight on her chested startled her. She didn't think dragon teeth weighed this heavy. Moving his hands to her cheeks, and smearing the blood, he leaned down. His green eyes bored into her until an Elder coughed slightly.
Quickly drawing back, Gredår coughed slightly and looked away. Suddenly Tôrfa felt breath upon her upper back and neck. As she turned her head she saw a dragon's head. It was Gredår's. His giant blue orb focused on her, his pupil thinning ever so slightly. The rare moment Tôrfa had the fortune to witness, was gone in a blink. The dragon pushed her forward slightly to the Elders waiting. She could tell the ceremony was almost done, the ponies were untied and ready to ride, their restless stomping showed their unease at the closeness to the dragons around them. Two cold fingers to her forehead brought her back to reality, The rest of the group got a similar treatment with two fingers to their head. Almost all of them looked shaken. The mentors brought the ponies over to their trainees. Gredår helped Tôrfa up onto her pony, even though she looked cross at being singled out as a weakling. With a few words of fare well from the villagers on the fringes of the bonfire, the Elders led both the trainees and the villagers to the end of the village. The dragon's began to crouch down as their riders climbed onto them, taking off they began to circle above in a amazing show of trust and skill.
The ponies began to walk off into the barren desert of the frozen lands. Taking the group of teenagers with them.
So? Sorry this took so long, I hope that we can get 1 review for this chapter. That's the goal. 1 review.
R&R! Have a nice day!