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“They told me that the humans who had bonded dragons would likely all speak English.” She shrugs. “But almost everyone in Iceland speaks fluent English anyway.”
And now I feel stupid. “Oh, okay.”
“Would you mind if I. . .” She walks down the steps and toward Azar, her mouth gaping open. Tears roll freely down her cheeks. “He’s so beautiful.” Now she’s sobbing in earnest, sobs wracking her hunched frame. She’s trembling and also smiling broadly as she stares up at Azar.
“He’s really amazing,” I say. “But can you tell us why everyone evacuated and where they went?”
She shrugs, wiping at her eyes. “We were ordered to leave, so most people went to the city, or they left to stay with family.” She’s still staring at Azar, barely even looking my way.
I sheathe my sword, feeling a little stupid for drawing it at all. “But you stayed.”
“I told you. They wanted someone to stay,” she says. “I think they assumed you’d demand a sacrifice, and they were hoping I’d be sufficient.” She laughs then, tears still streaming down her face. “And if you want to eat me, it’s fine. I won’t even fight.” She drops to her knees in the mud, never lowering her face. “I’ve always wished that dragons existed in our world. I’ve lived a long life—feeding one of them isn’t a bad way to go.”
I can’t help rolling my eyes. “Get up. Azar’s not eating anyone.”
She turns toward me slowly. “You’re heith?”
“What?” I frown, starting to be annoyed by this woman. “I don’t even know what you’re saying.”
“Have you read Sibyl’s Prophecy?” She turns back toward Azar again. “The poet who told of Ragnarök—Sibyl.” She shakes her head. “Of course you haven’t. Americans are Christian—they don’t study our Norse traditions.”
“What are you talking about?”
She shakes her head. “Heith are the shining ones. You’re heith, are you not?”
She means you’re a bright.
“Wait, are you saying that to you, I’m shining in some way?” I blink. “I don’t—no one in America can tell—I can’t see what the dragons see.”
“There have always been shining ones among us. They’re the ones chosen by the gods and giants.”
“I have no idea what you’re saying.”
The old woman turns toward Azar. “If I can serve you, I’ll do it, great master. It seems that I may be of some limited use as a teacher, if you’ll allow it.”
Azar inclines his head slightly.
“I assume you’re not alone?”
He nods.
“All the homes here are empty. Their occupants fled, along with their most treasured belongings. Please, have your companions join us in Selfoss.”
I wonder whether she’s ready for ten thousand dragons to descend. “At least the river and the ocean are both close,” I say. “That’ll be good for the water blessed.” I doubt Gordon’s going to find many grubs in this frozen tundra, though. I hope he ate lots before we left.
“You should know that a storm’s coming. It’s early for us, but it’s looking like it will be a large one.” The old woman shivers. “If you’d been just a day later, you’d have been fighting your way through swirling piles of snow.”
I climb back up on Azar’s back, the woman watching in awe, and say, “Stay warm. We’ll bring the others, and I’ll be back to talk to you as soon as possible.”
Azar takes off without a backward glance, winging his way toward the dragons waiting on the top of the mountains. Axel will need to be present, running most of the details of settling the earth blessed.
Which is a problem if everyone’s watching me and Azar.
“What if you and I left to check out Eyjafjallajökull?”
What?
“We can say we’re going to look at the volcano, then fly over it at least, and then you can return as Axel to direct where people should go. Then you can come back and get me.”
