Chapter 15: Heading Home

Previously:

In complete fear and awe, I drop my sword. I watch with horror as it hits the ground with a clunk. The dragon’s bead snaps to look at me. It jumps back a little, spreading its wings and snarling. I wince, scrambling for my sword. “Oh no. I’m going to die.” I mutter, gripping the hilt tightly. I don’t have a chance against this thing! The dragon hisses, opening its mouth to fire at me. I raise my sword to my face, hoping it’ll be enough to shield me, but knowing it won’t. Though instead of meeting fire, I’m met with something else. Water. Warm, slimy water.

I gasp, swiping wet hair out of my face, and look at the dragon. “It just spat on me,” I mumbled. It lets out another hiss before it took to the air with a massive flap of its wings. The wind it sends off nearly knocks me over. I look in disbelief as it quickly disappears over the treetops, seeing a burst of red flames come from its mouth.

Now:

It was close to midday when I finally made it back to the mountain. I’d followed the stream and, although it seeded to be taking me everywhere yet nowhere, it eventually lead me by the base of the mountain, and I was able to spot the track.

So here I am now, approaching my horse. Everyone else’s horses are gone: they’ve long since moved on. Thyra’s horse is gone too; they must have either taken it with them, or she evaded the dragons and was able to move on with the trip. I hope it’s the latter.

I untie my horse and mount, looking around us warily. “Guess we’ll head back to the village,” I simulate, feeling my side stinging—I guess it would be too much go wish for it to be healed.

I’ve forgotten most of the route the hunt would be taking, and I’m pretty exhausted. My horse snorts, he’s probably been bored tied up here alone. I guess we've both had a crappy time.

I turn the reins down towards the track and click my tongue a couple of times. “Let’s go, ” I murmur, checking around us once more. No sign of anyone. My horse turns obediently and we set off at a walk down the track.

Once we hit the bottom of the mountain, instead of coming back the way we originally came, I decide to head back via Star River, because from there we can cut across Light Pass and it’s quicker. “I don’t know about you, boy, but I want to go home as soon as I can.” I think out loud, patting the horse’s neck as I pull him to the right instead of the left. He snorts, and I take that as agreement. So I nudge him into a trot, and we move off through the forest.

Twenty minutes later, I hear the rush of water, and so does my horse, because his ears prick and his steps quicken. “Thirsty, boy?” I ask him, grabbing onto the horn to steady myself. I squint through the trees; the path we’re following is overgrown and splits off into a fork right in front of us. I pull my horse to a stop, confused. “Which way?” I frown, looking around.

My horse takes a step forward. I raise an eyebrow. He takes another step. “You know where you’re going? Ok.” I shrug, relaxing my hold on the reins. He’s obviously been out here plenty of times, so it’s not surprising he’d know where to go. He takes the left oaths, and we’re only walking along for a few minutes until the river becomes visible.

I smile, patting the horse’s neck in praise. “Good boy.”

I hop off the saddle as we approach, and leave him loose. He walks straight to the water with me and starts drinking while I refill the flask and take a sip of the cool water. This river is larger than the one I found earlier, the grass green and long— up to my shins— while a tree lies partway across the river, rotting away. It reminds me of the first time I snuck out beyond the wall.

I was twelve. I’d just been to watch my father training some soldiers. But, that time was different. I wanted to be noticed. I had the stupid idea that if I called out, he would invite me to train. I know, I was blind.

“Hey! Hey dad!” I’d called giddily from the outer fence border, waving enthusiastically at my father. “Dad!”

I’ll never forget the look of anger he’d given me. A quiet word to his men, before he stormed over and slapped the fence so hard it shook. “What the hell are you doing here?! Go home! Don’t let me see you back here!”

He didn’t even give me a chance to defend myself. He made me leave, just like that.

I was pretty mad. So the only solution I saw fit was to sneak out and find a way in the forest to make my father proud. I was convinced that it would make everything better. That he would like me.

Sneaking past the border was difficult, for many reasons. I was on foot, didn’t know my way very well, it was crawling with guards, and I was alone. However, I was determined to find a way through.

I found that when I walked a good while down the fence line, the guards thinned out to the point that there was only two every hundred meters or something. I go through the fence through a small door, it was chained shut but I was able to push it open enough to squeeze my small frame through.

Once out the other side, I wondered for a good hour or so, exploring. Mind you, I was still embarrassed and angry about the rejection from my father, so I wasn’t exactly paying my undivided attention to my surroundings. Long story short, I ended up lost. I didn’t know how to bet back.

I came across a river, though. Star river to be exact! Though I wouldn't know that until later. I ended up spending a fair few hours at that river. I wanted to avoid my father, regain my energy, and figure out how to get back. Truth be told, I even went for a swim in the freezing water!

I did make it back to the village if you were wondering (I'm alive after all). But it was… pure luck. I’d heard a dragon’s growl from nearby bushes, and panicked. I’d taken off through the forest, listening to the rustling sounds that followed me no matter how fast I ran. But I didn’t stop, I just kept running blindly through the forest, hoping to lose it.

To this day, I know that’s the longest and fastest I’ve ever run. But it brought results; I stumbled right into view of the wall, and as soon as I ran towards it, the beast retreated. When I reached the wall, the guards quickly ushered me in, claiming to have seen glimpses of the creature. They asked me why I was out there in the first place, as it’s out of bounds and dangerous. I panicked and told them that I’d gone for a walk and gotten separated from my mother, and thought I would look for her outside the fence.

They offered to report it, to get a search party out, but I told them I would check my house and see if she had doubled back, and come back to them to let them know. Basically, I just walked off into the forest near the village and hung around for half an hour, then walked back and good them that I was right, she’d doubled back, and even cracked a joke that I would never be allowed to leave the house again. It put them at ease, and they warned me to never leave the boundary again.

For a while, I agreed with them… Until the next time I couldn’t resist the urge to get out again.