Siren
"It's been a year since I met the Viking Celts," I said, throwing another book on the table as Joey, one of my Quetzalcoatls, eyed it. "I haven't seen them ever since, and they presumably don't think very highly of me. A shame, too. It would've been nice to have had some books written in Gaelic."
I was still too proud to admit that it was reckless to go off like that and trust them easily, especially when they'd bound and gagged me very quickly. That was last March, and now, it was mid-July. I was taking a break from teaching for a couple of months, then classes would start again in September. To pass the time when I was not looking after my crops, I started learning to play the zheng, an instrument I got from Japan, though it was made in China. I also started learning Japanese sword techniques to better my fighting.
My Korean was better now since I'd been studying for two years. In a couple more years, I thought, I'll be fluent in the language. Then I can start Chinese and start translating the books. I wasn't going to bother with Arabic because I knew kids who wanted to be healers, and there were a lot of Arabic medicine books, as well as a few on the human body, so I assigned the older ones to learn Arabic. I didn't know Arabic, so they would have to rely on Linda, whose job it was to teach Arabic. Apparently Arabic was a hard language.
"Yes, I know. You keep saying that all the time, Lady Siren," Joey said. "You might get a chance in the future, though, when you become a queen."
"What makes you think I'm going to be a queen?" I asked. Joey had been calling me Lady Siren since a week before I left for Japan to learn some zheng notes. While in Japan, I was a little surprised at first that I'd been called Lady Sawako (my Japanese name), I got used to it quickly because I remembered why they called me that.
"We, the Quetzalcoatls, know you are going to be a queen with your skills and knowledge," said at least four other Quetzalcoatls that popped up behind Joey in unison. They were Cindy, Itzel, Zeus, and Chac. "You'll bring the tribes into one," all five spoke in unison, with pride in their voices.
I scoffed. Me? Queen? As if.
I went outside, where the wind was blowing. In the distance, I could see ships headed toward the shore of Dragon's Edge. They were huge, with large dragons at their bows.
I couldn't say how, but I knew that they were enemy ships sailing toward Meathead Island. I had to warn Al, and fast.
Toothless crawled up behind me and purred. Silently, I turned around and mounted him.
Al
I watched Dad's ships sail away. He left without a word. Of course he did. I was worthless to him. We hardly saw each other, and I never saw my mother. She was dead. Rumour has it that he killed her.
I sighed and kicked another rock from behind me. Up in the sky, I could see Siren coming on Toothless. While my Dad was heading south, Siren was coming from north, and half a dozen ships came from north too. Toothless landed on the roof of my house and Siren slid off him easily. She cascaded down the roof and sat on the edge.
"Those ships coming from north," Siren said, pointing in that direction, her braids blowing in the wind. I could hardly remember a time when she wasn't wearing them. "I think they're enemy ships."
I looked north. The sails had red and white stripes, an dragon shaped mastheads. They had spikes on the sides, and there were strange paintings, too.
Siren was right. The only reason these ships would come unannounced would be that they were enemy ships.
"All the adults are gone," I shouted up to Siren. "I'll get the kids ready."
She nodded, then held out her hand. I pulled her down, and Toothless followed.
"I'll join in on the fight," she said, rubbing her arms, flexing them with pride. "I'm one of the best swordfighters out there, and I'm learning some new sword fighting techniques."
I nodded. "Good."