Chapter Sixty-three

CONTENT ADVISORY / TRIGGER WARNING

THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS DEPICTIONS/STRONG IMPLICATIONS OF THE FOLLOWING THAT SOME READERS MAY FIND OFFENSIVE OR DISTURBING:

~ VIOLENCE

~ DEATH AND/OR MURDER

It was a long time ago, and the land was in the early stages of cultivation, but there were few settlements. Nordic men built small towns at first, but their cities grew in size while their numbers grew in power. Farmers moved their herds without care, warriors practiced their skills in the open and dragons flew all over the skies. It was a time when dragons and mankind worked together. They were friends and allies who were experiencing a troublesome time in their relationship.

Eskil sat above a man-made pillar, the ground beneath him was well polished stone with intricate shapes carved into the slabs. It formed a large and open room, one without walls and without a roof. A place where man and dragon could meet and speak calmly.

"Eskil! These battles cannot continue; too many men and women have already died!" shouted an elderly man, stepping up from his chair to speak to the five men and three dragons around him. Two of the priests from Uppsala paced back and forth behind them. Only leaving the sanctity of their temple to discuss this foolish war, they knew the Gods had created man and dragon so they could co-exist, but they were fighting for control of the islands instead. Eskil stared down at them from his perch, his three most trusted dragons sitting behind him. Brenna stood on the ground in front of him, arguing with the mortal men.

"Men and women have died, but what of the dragons?" she asked. "This whole situation occurred only because man killed dragon! Man has rebelled against the gods! Búri created dragons to be our allies, and they fulfilled that duty! They have dedicated themselves to mankind and they have been our friends, but instead of respecting that, man sought power over them. They killed them to prove what? Their worth? What does that mean?"

"The dragons swore to protect us!" another man shouted.

"Dragons never swore that! Man abused their words and interpreted what they had said for something else. They heard what they wanted to hear," Brenna countered. "Agreements go both ways; you cannot have loyalty without both sides showing that they are in agreement. Man broke that loyalty and that trust."

All of the men burst from their seats, shouting all at once, their voices blocking each other's out. The peace talk was not going as well as all had hoped. Man wanted to rule their lands and to rule the dragons, and dragons refused to be ruled by such weak creatures. Dragons were proud creatures, and they would not bow to the weakness of man.

Eskil's kin were becoming more and more intolerant of their behavior. Their murderous acts on their young had been the last straw, and now they were retaliating. They burned the Nords' homes, stole from the flocks, and for each dragon slain, a mortal's home burned.

The slayers that had joined his force had promised to work with his kin to stop the war from progressing further, but instead, they rebelled. They were using their strength to slay the dragons for coin and worthless titles. If they did not come to an agreement soon, this would escalate to an all-out war, one he wasn't sure he could stop.

Dragons versus both mankind and the slayers. His arrogant self would smile and embrace the fields of burned corpses that would be left behind by his kin's flame. However, it would never be truly worth it. The gods did not want this war to continue. His mind had slipped from the argument, but it quickly returned when Brenna was face to face with one of the mortal men.

"You whore to a dragon! You speak lies!" One of the elder's sons stood mere inches from her, threatening and insulting her with his words.

Eskil growled a deep rumbling threat of his own at the young Nord, whose eyes widened but he did not step away. He swallowed hard. "I am right! She is your whore, Eskil, and you're a disgrace to all dragonkind!"

Eskil stood on his perch as the growl in his throat became more threatening. Brenna turned around to face him and raised her hands. "It's alright, battle-brother."

She often called him that when they were not alone. Her friend and ally. He snorted and she smiled at him when he returned to resting on his wings. Before he could so much as blink, one of the Nords pulled a knife and rushed Brenna, shouting something Eskil could not understand.

Brenna turned and grabbed his arm while another man charged her side. The other three men turned to fight with the priests. Eskil's throat widened with his roar, and with it, the clouds darkened and the air thickened. He left his perch and landed on the ground a few feet away from Brenna as one of the men assaulting her turned and rushed him. He whipped his body around and slapped the man with his tail. The mortal slammed back into a stone wall.

"Eskil!"

He turned his head quickly to her voice. She was on her knees and trying to stand when another man rushed at him, a broad sword raised above his head, ready to strike down across his neck. He evaded the man's first attack but froze when he heard one of the dragons snarl. In a moment, the dragon was behind Brenna. She was unable to react in time, as was he. The dragon's fangs ripped through her chest and pierced her lungs.

The dragon fled as one of the others launched after Eskil, landing on the ground in front of him and showering the mortal men with a fiery blaze. Eskil moved towards Brenna, who lay on the ground with blood pooling around her from her wounds. He nudged her with his rough nose as she slowly reached towards him. A bloody hand rested near his nostril, forever staining his skin with her blood. She coughed, trying to form words to speak to him but her failing lungs and lack of air hindered her speech. She gasped and coughed as blood gargled from her mouth.

"My child," he whispered to her while examining her wound. It was fatal; his little child would not recover from this injury. The remaining priest quickly retreated to a safe distance, mounted his horse and left the scene. The two surviving dragons now looked at him, nodded and returned to the sky, leaving him alone with his mortal child. He curled himself around her, gently tucking her under his wing as her head rested against his neck.

She tried inhaling, which only resulted in her coughing again. Her trembling hand reached up and pulled down on one of Eskil's horns. He turned so he could look into her eyes. She mouthed the words to him, and he felt his heart shatter. If dragons could cry, he would cry.

'Eskil, I love you. I always have, and I always will.' She paused to smile at him with tears in her eyes. 'It's not your fault.'

Brenna slipped away from life moments after, and Eskil's heartbreak slowly grew to rage. Her death led to an outbreak of war, and to the death of his kin and many mortals. And it had lasted right up to this exact moment.