Entwined by Bridget E. Baker

Author:Bridget E. Baker [Baker, Bridget E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

13

Liz

Nothing has been normal in my life for a very long time, but today has been bizarre, even by my new standards. An old woman in Iceland welcoming me into her evacuated town in English is just. . .

“Who are you?” I ask. “The town oracle?”

“I am Margrét, and I’m not an oracle, but when they asked someone to stay, I volunteered.” She smiles with a cackle, her teeth darkened, perhaps by coffee or perhaps just by age. She looks like she could easily be a hundred years old.

“How long ago did they evacuate Selfoss?”

“Two days?” She shrugs.

“But you speak English?” It may be a strange thing for me to ask when there’s a dragon behind me, watching our interaction with interest, but I don’t speak any Icelandic. It feels almost too lucky that the one woman who stayed speaks English.

“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.

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