Photo by Roses_Street
The night was freezing in the Kingdom of Snowhold, colder than it had ever been. The eerie howl of the gale filled the people's hearts with fear.
King Sigrun's daughter, Ciara, couldn't sleep. She knew something was amiss. She sat at her desk, her hands itching to pick the quill and write her best friend, Tréasa, a letter. But it would be foolhardy and selfish to send the palace letterman in the heavy snow to her friend's house.
She stood by the high windows, wrapped her woollen shawl tightly around her shoulders and gazed into the sky.
It was a new moon.
The window shutters and doors shook like something was trying to get inside the house of Aja Llywelynw in Snowhold.
Aja, an octogenarian, bent slightly towards the hearth and stoked the fire with her walking cane. Behind her laid a young redhead asleep on a straw mat. She turned and tossed, mumbling incoherent words.
The elderly woman slowly limped towards the sleeping girl and sat down beside her. She put her hand into a small bowl, wrung a washcloth and gently pressed it to the girl's sweaty brows. She knew the seventeen-year-old was having one of those visions ag—
Tréasa Llywelynw sat upright with a loud gasp, her eyes wild. "It's almost time!" She whispered fiercely, her gazing darting around the semi-dark room. "They will soon be free, móðir."
Aja pressed her gently back to the mat. "Shhh, rest easy. Such haste is not good for your heart."
"I know what I saw…," Tréasa said, trying to convince her grandmother.
"I don't distrust your visions. You are a powerful seer though young. What did you see?"
"They were three - three dreki," she whispered, her brows furrowed. "Dragons."
Aja's eyes widened in surprise. "There's something you must know…there was a time, some millennia ago, when dragons ruled the world like gods," she paused at the look of wonder on the young girl's face. "But humans wouldn't let them so they warred against the creatures in the Fatal War to take control…"
"What happened?"
"Patience, Tréasa," Aja said as the rattling of the shutters grew louder. Tréasa sat up and locked hands with her grandmother. "Tell me please, quickly. I feel we don't have much time," she said.
Aja nodded. "Only three dreki are alive till this day—"
"Ha! You said it was a myth."
Aja smiled. "To a child, I'll say it's a myth. You are not a child anymore. You are a seer with powers. Know that every story ever told as folklore or myth happened truly in the history of this world that is as old as time."
Aja loved the way Tréasa's eyes shone with wisdom. She was coming into enlightenment. It was time.
"Where are the three dragons?"
"I don't know where they are. King Sigrun's grandfather, Icedrake, during the Fatal War, killed all dreki except three which he bound with heavy shackles and hid away."
"But King Icedrake didn't believe in magic. Was that not the cause of the war, to wipe out magic?"
"True but for some reason, he kept those three. My mother, a seer like you, prophesied that the time of the dragons' rule will come again—"
"Really?"
"Yes. King Icedrake did not believe her. He put her sword to her throat so she revealed a specific date—on the new moon of 1077. His scribe wrote it down in the Book of Prophecies and also Mother's last words, "Only one of noble blood with magic in her veins and as her best companion shall rule over the drekis."
Tréasa tightened her grip. "Móðir, who can it be? The new moon is almost upon us! That must be the reason King Icedrake imprisoned the dragons to shame us that our visions are lies."
Aja's eyes glazed over for a long moment. "I fear you may be right, child."
In the depths of the earth, far beyond the reach of any human, the clanking sound of heavy shackles echoed in the dark cave. As gigantic metal loops lazily ground against each other, deep growls followed and the earth began to tremble.
"Álft. You make too much noise," said a dark voice followed by a loud sigh.
"I can't help it. These shackles have bitten too deep into my ankles," another dark voice replied.
"Aye. Why do you two complain? It's almost time," another voice, darker than the other two, growled. "I can't wait to stretch my legs and exercise my throat…"
"I hope you did not warn anyone we are waking," the first voice mumbled in the dark. "Your affection for seers is what got us into this mess in the first—"
"Grrr. They fuel my magic," declared the second, "and I draw my strength from them. I see through their eyes. Your attachment is to the earth and I've never begrudged you of that…"
"Brothers! I feel the rise of the new moon inside my scales. My strength is returning to me. It is time to leave this prison and make Icedrake and his progeny our slaves."
The torches attached to the wall of the underground cave lit up one after the other revealing three huge and fearsome dragons, wrapped around each other and shackled to the ground. Their scales were brownish, like glossy mud, and shimmered in the amber light. Their enormous wings webbed like a bat's were folded behind their backs.
They slowly blinked their eyes open, their slit pupils expanding and contracting to adjust to the light. They sighed at the same time and smoke curled out of their nostrils.
One asked, "Are you ready?"
The three dragons roared at the same time.
The Kingdom of Snowhold was in chaos as the roar of the underground creatures shook the earth. The king's stable built behind the palace broke apart and the horses took to their heels as the grounds cracked open. The three dragons burst out into the air.
The heavy flap of their powerful wings released a rush of wind that blew off the roof of houses as they took off into the dark sky. People screamed and ran in different directions.
King Sigrun was already dressed in his battle armour. Veins bulged in his neck as he shouted orders at his knights to take positions around the palace and prepare their arrows to shoot down the dragons.
"Father! I can help," Ciara yelled from the back of her stallion horse. King Sigrun was shocked to see her behind him.
"Return to the palace at once!" He ordered, pulled his horse around and took off in another direction.
Ciara scowled at his retreating back, turned her horse and galloped to her best friend's house in the village. She gasped as one of the dragons hovered over the village and spewed fire. Some trees were engulfed in flames.
Tréasa waved at Ciara to stop. Ciara jumped down and the two friends held each other for a moment.
"Are you alright?" Tréasa shouted above the noise.
Ciara nodded, tears in her eyes. "I feel a tingling all over my body, Tréasa. I can't explain it but I know in my heart I can help. Father won't lend me his ears."
Immediately, Tréasa's magic took over with such force that it turned her gaze upwards to the sky, her eyes turning pearlescent. Ciara froze in shock at the sight of her friend.
Tréasa glanced down at Ciara. "It's you," she whispered fiercely. "You are the "noble blood with magic in her veins" and I am your "best companion"."
"What - what do you mean?" Ciara stuttered in confusion.
"The prophecy is real. You, the progeny of Icedrake, have the power to control these dragons and I will help you."
As the knights and soldiers lined up in a formation, gigantic arrows held on many strings and ready to be fired, they watched in awe as the three dragons hovered in the night sky. The tips of their raised wings touched each other as they formed a circle and slowly descended.
"What are you waiting for? Take the shots now!" King Sigrun ordered. His second in command pointed at the dragons, speechless. King Sigrun watched as the enormous dragons landed. The grounds shook.
That was not what amazed the people of Snowhold.
It was the way the dragons roared and bent their necks in obeisance to Ciara and Tréasa, the new leaders of a world where dragons and humans coexisted in harmony.