The following days Eyla had a lot to think about. She took the hampers to the docks like always, and tried to stay away from people on her way there. Sometimes she found herself looking up at the sky to see if she saw the black dragon or the blue dragon. But she didn`t see any of them. She wondered where that Hiccup came from and if there were others who rode dragons where he live.
Eyla decided to walk in the woods again. She took her notebook and pen with her. Maybe she would see something she wanted to draw. Some of the young men also went into the woods to go hunting, so Eyla stuck to the edge of the woods so she wouldn`t be in the way. She had cliffs on her right so she stayed away from the edge. She didn`t want to risk falling down again, even if this time she would fall into water.
When she had been walking for a while she walked out from the trees and looked at the view. It was very nice. The sky was blue, the ocean was peaceful. She took out her notebook and her pen and sat down and started drawing. She didn`t hear the wingbeats until the second before the dragon landed on her left. She quickly got up on her feet and backed away. It was the blue dragon, it just looked at her. Her heart was beating fast and she didn`t know what to do. She hoped that the dragon hadn`t saved her earlier just to eat her now.
But the dragon didn`t jump on her, or breathe fire on her. It walked slowly towards her, almost looking curious, but Eyla couldn`t help but take a few steps back. It wasn`t as big as she first thought, but big enough. She saw shifts in its eyes and wondered what it was thinking. Could they think or did they just act on instinct?
"Yes! I hit it!" someone yelled.
Eyla twitched and so did the dragon. She was afraid it would attack her. It growled a little, but let her be. It spread its wings and took off. Eyla let out a sigh. She started walking towards the sound. Soon she saw Ben and Tork. She should have known. They had been talking about a big bird that was hard to hit with the arrow, but apparently today was their lucky day.
It was a new day and Eyla was headed towards the docks with hampers. When she came down to the water she walked out on the pier to hand over the hampers. This time there were some hampers that had holes in them, so she had to take them back to her mother so she could fix them.
She had piled a couple of hampers on each other. The hampers were pretty big, and holding the pile, it was taller than her, so she had some trouble watching where she was going. Someone pushed her and she lost balance. She stumbled and tripped over a rope that tied a ship to the pier. As she fell she pushed someone and dropped the hampers. She landed on her back. The man she accidentally pushed had been carrying a hamper full of fish, and now all that fell on her. She screamed. The people around the docks laughed and she felt so embarrassed. It wasn`t even her fault. She moved the fish from her body and quickly started walking home. This was not how she wanted to start the day.
"What`s that smell?" her mother asked when she entered the house.
"It was not my fault. And not what I wanted to do."
"So what happened? You smell like you took a bath in a bathtub full of fish."
"Well, I didn`t see where I was going cause of the hampers, someone pushed me, I tripped. And pushed someone and got a lot of fish over me."
"You definitely need a bath", her mother said.
"Already on my way."
"Did you bring the hampers back?"
"They`re still on the docks. I need a bath. And I`m not going back there anytime soon. At least not today."
Her mother didn`t say anything. She boiled water to pour in the bathtub in the back of the house, and told Eyla to go outside. She did not want the whole house to smell like fish.
So Eyla sat down outside the house and waited for her mother to come tell her the bath was ready.
Her father came walking up to the house. He stopped next to her and looked at her.
"What happened to you?" he asked.
"Someone thought I needed a fish bath?"
Her father laughed a little, but stopped when he saw the look on her face.
"Only you", he said. "It would only happen to you."
"Because they are mean. They are always mean to me!"
"They are young. They just want to have some fun."
"But it is on my expense. And they make me clumsy!"
Her father thought about it for a second.
"Maybe sometimes. But they are just boys."
The door opened.
"Oh, Brand, you´re back. What did the others say about the dragons?"
Eyla looked up at them. She knew dragons had been seen closer to the island.
"We wait, he said. But we are prepared."
"Have you seen Eyla?"
"I`m right here."
Her mother took a step outside and looked down and smiled.
"Your bath is ready. I suggest you walk straight to it."
Eyla did so. While she enjoyed the warm water she could hear her parents talk in the kitchen, but she couldn`t hear what they were saying. But she guessed they were talking about dragons.
When Eyla`s hair had dried a little, she decided to walk in the woods. She needed to be alone, and she didn`t want to stay in the village.
She had been walking for quite a while, just walking through the woods. So her father thought they just wanted to have some fun. Well, maybe, but it was on her expense. There should be other ways they could have fun.
She tripped over a root and fell flat on her stomach. She looked up and what she saw made her crawl back up on her feet. The blue dragon was standing in front of her and looked at her. Her heart was pounding
The dragon was just standing there, looking at her. Then it took a few steps towards her and Eyla slowly took a few steps back. The dragon slowly came closer and stretched out its head towards her, and her heart started beating even faster. But the dragon just looked at her. It didn`t touch her. She met the dragon`s eyes and got the same strange feeling as up on the cliff. It blew a puff of smoke at her.
"Okay… So you`re not going to hurt me", Eyla said. "I hope."
She took a deep breath and breathed out. Cautiously and hesitant she raised her hand and stretched it out towards the dragon. She hesitated a few inches from the dragon`s nose. Afraid that maybe it would hurt her after all. She took a deep breath again and touched the dragon. The scaly nose was warm. The dragon looked her in the eyes. It was like the time stood still.
A bransch broke somewhere in the woods and both Eyla and the dragon twitched and quickly pulled back. The dragon let out a flame. Then it quickly turned around, ran a few steps while it unfolded its swings and took off. Eyla watched it as it flew away. She looked down on her sweater. Nothing, The flame had come out of surprise from a startled dragon. It wasn`t meant to hurt her.
She started walking back towards the village. It didn`t take long before she saw Ben and Tork.
"What are you doing in the woods alone?" Ben asked. "Don`t you know they`ve seen dragons close to the island again?"
"Yeah… I was just…. setting out some traps", Eyla said.
She did that occasionally.
"Are you sure they can actually trap the rabbit?" Tork asked doubtfully.
"Yes, I am."
Okay, so she had had some trouble wth the traps when she was younger. But hat was a long time ago.
"What are you doing here anyway?" Eyla asked.
"Hunting", Ben said.
She noticed the bow and arrow in his hand, and the sword Tork had in his belt. She wondered what they were hunting but didn`t ask. Since Tork had a sword, maybe they hoped to encounter a dragon.
"Okay, so… I know you don`t like me that much, but maybe you can walk me back to the village? You don`t want me to be eaten by a dragon do you?"
Ben and Tork looked at each other.
"No, I guess not", Ben said.
Eyla started walking and they followed. They didn`t talk to her, and she didn`t try to talk to hem.
It was dark when the dragons attacked. Eyla heard noices and yelling outside and soon realised they were under attack. The dragons had come back. She heard men yelling and running, dragons screamed.
Eyls opened the door and took a step outside. Several dragons were in the sky. One dragon shot fire at a house and it caught fire. She hoped no one was inside. She looked up when she heard a dragon scream when it was hit. Eyla was afraid of the dragons and that some of her people would get hurt. But at the same time she couldn`t help but worry about the blue dragon and wondered if it was out there somewhere.
"Get inside!" her mother pulled her inside. "You can`t be out there. It`s not safe! No place is safe!"
They both looked up at the ceiling with fear in their eyes when they heard a loud thud. There was a dragon on their roof. They looked at the ceiling, held on to each other as they moved with the sounds of the dragon walking on the roof. They both breathed out of relief when they heard the dragon take off.
"That is why you never go outside when we are under attack!" her mother said. "You know that!"
After the attack two houses had burned down, ten people were hurt, but no dead. The dragons had taken most of their sheep and some goats. No one slept well that night. They knew from experience that the dragons wouldn`t come back for a while, but everyone was shaken and the fear stayed through the night.