Amelia walked along with the rest began to walk down the dirt path, following behind Blann, she looked around the village, allowing her eyes to wander around seagrass rooftops, marble walls and majestic fjords, Gascony has an amusing atmosphere. Quiet and Humble seemed to be the way of its people before the dragon attacked. The main attraction though was the castle, which was built 39 years ago and designed by ancestors of Vikings.
She couldn't help but wonder how a village of war, wasn't able to protect themselves from a dragon, something inside her, made her stomach turn. Was it how Hillverion acted once he landed or how uneasy Ethrinria has been these last couple of days?
Caeda stopped in her tracks as she was the first one to notice the burnt houses, her eyes widened as she also witnessed burned bodies still laying on the ground. She didn't know dragons could be too vengeful and filled with hatred to do such a thing, she cleared her throat before speaking up.
"Have you lost lots of villagers here Blann?"
Blann looked over towards Caeda and nodded his head, "Yes unfortunately we have, it's why we had to get you guys here, we've tried everything to stop the dragon and to kill it but it seems nothing is working. We lost 30 in last night's attack and 25 the night before that, we've been so lucky until now."
Blann stopped walking once he arrived just outside of the forest entrance, behind that stood a beautiful stone mountain glistening from the sunshine, he turned towards the dragon riders and bowed his head, "Walkthrough here and you'll find the entrance to the mountain, once you are done please come and see me.
He stood up, not waiting for a reply from any of them, Ruvaen didn't say anything as he too turned to face his team, "Alright Phyahi and Srocs, please stay here and keep an eye on him. Caeda, Sam, Amelia and I will go towards the mountain and find out why this is happening. We know there has to be a reason."
Phyahi scoffed but said nothing as he turned on his heel and headed back down the dirt path to the village, Srocs followed shortly behind. Ruvaen started making his way into the forest with Amelia, Sam and Caeda following behind him.
They were instantly captured by the beauty of the forest, the forest itself was gigantic, radian and ancient, the canopy was contested by walnut, ash, and elm, and ample openings let enough dancing beams of light through for a variety of shrubs to sprout in the fertile soils below.
Curving branches embraced many a tree, and an array of flowers, which claimed remnants of light, caught attention in the otherwise unvarying backdrop. A variety of wild noises, predominantly those of critters, brightened up the forest, and almost completely muffled the occasional splashes of frogs jumping in the nearby lake.
The four of them stopped as they made it to the mountain even closer, the silver-coloured rocks still shined, allowing them to spot the entrance on the far left of the mountain, Ruvaen took the first step and headed inside.
"This is it, let's figure this out."
Amelia was the first to follow Ruvaen in, opening up her hand she said in a hushed tone, "Eldur andans, Eldur ljóss. Ég bið þig að sýna mér leiðina."
Caeda and Sam noticed a yellow flame appear in her hand, allowing them to see a little deeper in the mountain. It's filled with skeletons from those who wandered in and got lost, not to mention pathways splitting off to different directions, which one do they take? On the path on the right, Amelia can hear rushing water. alerting her there seems to be a stream inside the mountain, and on the other path, she heard nothing. Not even a rat squeaking, silence.
"Which one?" Caeda asked.
Amelia looked at her pointing to the right, Caeda was unsure but Amelia began heading down the path. Its twisted trail leads to a room that was fogged over by some type of ability. Was this some type of weather dragon? There are a few skeletons of dragons mostly baby dragons making their hearts break at the sight.
"Oh my god!" Ceada whispered as they continued.
Amelia felt sick to her stomach seeing all the dead dragon babies. They carefully continue onwards, deeper into the mountain, the sound of the rushing water was getting louder and louder. Not to mention a wall filled with drawings, people riding dragons. Someone was here before the dragon was? Or did they come together?
The questions kept mounting up inside Amelia's head, Sam noticed that those riding the dragons were Vikings themselves. Wasn't Gascony ancestors of the Vikings, why are they so afraid of it? Amelia was the first one to enter the most covered part of the mountain where she spotted the dragon, sleeping beautifully on the ground. The dragon was a mix of blue and red colours, Ruvaen's eyes were drawn down towards the baby dragons that were still alive.
"There seems to be some sheep bones in the corner meaning the mother was feeding her babies. Do you think the village attacked them for revenge?" Caeda asked.
"Possibly... Most likely that's what happened. It wouldn't surprise me," Ruvaen replied.
The mother dragon began to stir making the four of them slowly step backwards and head out of the mountain, they found the evidence they were looking for. Amelia was the last one to leave making sure to cover their tracks in case the mother dragon woke up. She slowly walked out of the mountain meeting up with the Ruvaen, Caeda and Sam outside.
"Let's ask some questions, we need answers," Sam said, his jaw was clenched.
Ruvaen now understood why Hilverion acted up when they had arrived, he sensed danger but it wasn't for the humans; it was for the dragons. The four of them slowly walked towards the village, silence filled them as they were still grasping the fact of what they had seen.
When the four of them arrived back into the village Srocs walked up with Phyahi following behind, "What did you find?" Srocs asked.
Sam looked up at his goblin friend, "We found dead baby dragons and learnt the mother dragon was taking the livestock for her children."
"How do you know that?" Phyahi asked.
"We found some sheep wool in the corner of the cave, plus a few sheep bones as well. It's clear that they were getting the livestock," Caeda explained.
Srocs's mouth dropped, his eyes met Amelia's face as she was the one who cared the most about dragons. She held the top of her sword in her sheaths before heading off with Ruvaen following behind. They were going to see Blann and get him to confess what he and the villagers were doing.
Amelia stepped on the doormat of Blann's home and knocked a few times waiting for him to answer which he did after the fifth knock, Blann smiled at Ruvaen and Amelia before stepping back allowing the two to enter which they did without saying a word to Blann.
Blann sat down on a chair before offering Ruvaen and Amelia a seat which they took, "What did you find?"
This average-sized, square bedroom has coordinating wooden furniture. The floor is carpeted and the walls are painted. Light is provided by floor lamps and ceiling lights.
The room is done in an animal theme in warm vivid colours and overall looks fairly modern. Among the first things, one notices walking in are a few tools laying about and a well-stocked bookshelf.
Not to mention that his home was filled with dead animals, a bear rug was placed in the entrance of the house, his bedding was made from cowhide. Not to mention the dragon head that was positioned over the bed, Amelia wished she could use her magic to drop it on him.
Ruvaen looked at Blann, he didn't like the way they were being played and how innocent Blann was pretending to be, "We found something very interesting. We found the mountain that is holding the dragon; we also discovered that it has babies."
The two of them watched the colour drain from Blann's face; he cleared his throat allowing them to continue. "We also found about 10 dead baby dragons on the ground, and then we figured out why the dragon took your livestock. Did you kill the baby dragons for revenge over a few livestock?" Amelia asked.
Blann was silent for a few seconds; he bit his lip and scratched the back of his head, "What were we going to do? They were taking our livestock. We couldn't allow that to happen."
Amelia clenched her fist, "The only reason why the dragon was attacking your village is that you killed its babies. It was peaceful before... Right" she watched Blann nodded.
"Here is what you are going to do, you are going to leave the dragon and its babies alone and you will leave a few livestock out tonight for it. Tomorrow we will guide the dragon and its babies to a new home. But if I find out that you and your villagers attacked them once again you'll be answering to me... Got it!"
Blann watched Amelia watching as she grew angrier by the second which made him gulp, he knew never to mess with a mage, "Yes Amelia, you have my word."
Translations:
Léttleiki... léttleiki - Leviatate... Levitate
Bjarter af ljósi, bjarter af eldi. Ég bið þig að sýna mér dreka ela - bringer of light, brigher of fire. I ask you to show me a dragon of fire
Eldur andans, Eldur ljóss. Ég bið þig að sýna mér leiðina - Fire of breath, fire of light. I ask you to show me the way