by Resa Nelson
“Yes, Master Benzel,” Skallagrim said. “But how long will it be before I can use a real sword?”
All of the other boys laughed. Bruni struggled to keep her composure.
“Seph?” Master Benzel said. “Would you like to explain?”
This time, Seph held his hands behind his back and looked down. “It takes years of practice before we’re allowed to touch a real sword. We have to get good enough to control the blade so we don’t hurt each other.”
Astonished, Skallagrim said, “That takes years?”
“It’s easy to swing a sword,” Bruni said. “But not so easy to control exactly where it goes.”
Seph looked up at Master Benzel. “I saw a dragon go into the woods! I looked for you, but you weren’t here. I couldn’t let it roam around. Someone had to stop it!”
“Which is why you must look for me or one of your other teachers instead of swiping a sword you’re not fully prepared to use.” Master Benzel swept his arm across the row of trainees. “What if you had killed Bruni?”
“I didn’t, and I wouldn’t have.”
“You don’t know that. You could have tripped. She could have tripped. Any number of things that you can’t anticipate could have happened.”
“But they didn’t,” Seph muttered.
“Which is why I’m permitting you to remain in training.”
Seph looked up in surprise.
“But if it happens a second time, you will be going home to your mother and a lifetime of farming.”
Seph opened his mouth as if to protest again but thought better of it. Instead, he said, “Yes, Master Benzel.”
Turning his attention to Bruni, Master Benzel said, “I’d like you to be Skallagrim’s training partner this year. Help him learn Midlander and Southlander. Once he’s proficient, he can spar with everyone.”
Bruni beamed. “Yes, Master Benzel.”
“But first, a lesson about dragons,” Master Benzel said. He gestured for Mistress Po to stand by his side. “Every dragon you face will be different. They are cunning creatures. If you underestimate their intelligence, they will kill you. Understood?”
The young dragonslayers nodded.
“Good. Every fight you have with a dragon will therefore be different. The dragon will size you up and determine the best way to slaughter you. Your disadvantage is that the dragon is covered from head to toe in armor.”
Surprised, Skallagrim spoke before he could think. “Dragons wear armor?”
Master Benzel paused and gave him a long look. “Yes, they do. Dragons are covered in scales so strong that even a dragonslayer sword will glide off and leave the animal unscathed.”
Seph raised a meek hand and then spoke when prompted. “But dragonslayers kill dragons all the time. How do they do it?”
“That is the heart of today’s lesson,” Master Benzel said. “A dragon has two weak spots. Its underbelly, which is covered in scales soft enough to be penetrated, and the back of its neck, where the overlap of its scales is wide enough to let a blade slip through. The problem with the underbelly is that you must get a dragon to roll over on its back. That rarely happens. You will have better luck going for the back of its neck.”
Another boy spoke up. “But dragons are too tall. Unless it’s a young dragon, it’s impossible to reach the back of a dragon’s neck.”
“There is a trick to it. Remember, the legs of a dragon don’t stand underneath it like a horse or a cow or a pig. The legs of a dragon bow out to either side.” He gestured toward Mistress Po, and she lifted her arms out to her side with her bent elbows as high as her shoulders and her forearms and hands hanging below her elbows. “This is the shape of a dragon’s legs when it walks or runs or stands still.”
Skallagrim studied Mistress Po’s arms. “Her elbows are square, like the corners of a house.” He brightened with a new thought. “Or like stair steps!”
Master Benzel’s eyes gleamed. “And what do you think that means, Skallagrim?”
Skallagrim’s mind raced. “Could you use them like stair steps? To climb up on the dragon’s back?”
Bruni clapped her hands together in delight while the other boys groaned in disgust.
“You’re saying that’s how we get to the back of the dragon’s neck,” Bruni said to Skallagrim. “We use its leg like a stair step!”
“Yes,” Skallagrim said. “I think so.” Looking at Master Benzel, Skallagrim said, “Is that right?”
“That’s exactly right,” Master Benzel said. His posture appeared to straighten even more, as if he stood with pride. “And that’s why we will now include balance exercises in our daily routine.”
The boys exhaled with more groans of dismay.
“Or if you prefer,” Master Benzel said, “you can spend the next several years learning how to use a dragonslayer sword only to go out into the real world where you will let a dragon bite and kill you because you couldn’t get your footing when trying to climb upon its back.”
Master Benzel then instructed the young dragonslayers to pair up for drills. He showed them how one partner could use a lunging step to mimic a dragon’s leg and then how the other partner could climb upon it. All the other boys paired off quickly, leaving Skallagrim with Bruni.
Facing him, Bruni said, “You don’t mind working with a girl, do you?”
“You’re not just a girl.” Skallagrim smiled. “You’re a Northlander. I’d rather work with you than anybody else!”
Beaming, Bruni skipped to the wall to retrieve two wasters.
At the same time, Skallagrim had a strange feeling. He looked around the room until he noticed Mistress Po staring at him. Her look made him feel unnerved and relieved at the same time.
“Why are you looking at Mistress Po?” Bruni said when she returned with a waster in each hand. She gave one to Skallagrim.
“I’m not looking at her. She’s looking at me.”
“You make no sense.” Bruni raised her free hand and beckoned for the mysterious woman to join them.
“What are you doing?” Skallagrim said in a panic. He didn’t know why he suddenly felt afraid of Mistress Po, only that he did.
“I’ll not have you thwacking me in the head with a wooden sword because you’re busy wondering why Mistress Po is staring at you. We’ll get to the bottom of this right now. Once that’s done, I’ll get you started on learning how to use a sword.”
When Mistress Po walked across the room, the airy robe swirling around her made it appear as if she floated.
Skallagrim couldn’t help but stare at the woman who looked so different and exotic compared to anyone else he’d seen before. She had the blackest hair and the darkest eyes, which had the prettiest shape he’d even seen, like slanted buckleberry leaves. The closer she came, the more awkward he felt at being in the presence of such a striking young woman.
Mistress Po gave a brief bow to each of them. “Bruni. Skallagrim. Do you need help?”
“Yes.” Bruni took charge. “Skallagrim thinks you’re staring at him. There’s no way I’m training with him until I can get his full attention.”
“I see,” Mistress Po said. “It’s true I stared at him.” She addressed Skallagrim directly. “I’ve seen you from another realm. I recognize you.”
A lump of fear tangled in Skallagrim’s throat, and he struggled to swallow it.
Bruni squirmed with delight. “Was it a portent? Did you see Skallagrim in a portent?”
“Yes. I had a portent last night, and it revealed his arrival to me.”
“How exciting!” Bruni jumped up and down, barely able to contain her excitement. She shook Skallagrim’s shoulders. “She saw you in a portent!”
When Skallagrim managed to talk, his voice came out in a timid squeak. “How could I be in a portent? I don’t remember anything about it.”
“There is no need for you to remember,” Mistress Po said. “When I have a portent, my mortal body stays here while my mind goes to another realm. Think of it as climbi
ng to the top of a mountain. Once there, you can see so much land spread all around you. When I had my portent, it was like being on a mountaintop and seeing you below. You were still in your world, but my mind was in a different place where I could see you.”
Skallagrim felt even more uncomfortable, wondering exactly how much Mistress Po could see when she had a portent.
Bruni took no notice of his discomfort. Still excited, she said, “Was it only his arrival here that you saw? Or is there something he needs to know? Something you can tell him about his future?”
Mistress Po glanced at Bruni and then looked back at Skallagrim. “Should I speak to you in private?”
“No!” Skallagrim blurted. He reached out with his free hand to grip Bruni’s arm. “She’s my friend. I trust her.”
Bruni’s eyes misted. “His secrets are safe with me.”
Mistress Po smiled. “So, they are.”
“Is it about dragon quelling?” Bruni said. “Skallagrim asked me if you were going to teach us how to quell dragons.”
Mistress Po nodded. “Master Benzel asked me to do exactly that.”
Bruni trembled and worked hard to keep her voice to a whisper. “Dragon quelling! We get to learn about dragon quelling!”
Skallagrim found Bruni’s excitement had a calming effect.
I’m not in this alone. Whatever Mistress Po brings, good or bad, I won’t have to face it alone. And if it’s bad, Bruni can help me figure it out.
Finding his normal voice, Skallagrim said, “That’s not all, is it? If you can see the future, did you see mine? Is there something you need to tell me about it? Is that why you’re going to teach us how to quell dragons? Because someday I’ll need to do it?”
“Someday you will,” Mistress Po said.
Skallagrim gathered his courage to asked the question he needed her to answer. “Will the dragon kill me? Or will I succeed in quelling it?”
Mistress Po laughed. “The dragon will not kill you. But neither will you be able to quell it, although it’s imperative that you learn how to do so.”
Skallagrim released his grip on Bruni and held onto his waster with both hands. “Why?”
“You must learn the process of quelling to understand that it involves love and kindness,” Mistress Po said. “That way, you will have no fear when the dragon you meet succeeds in quelling you.”
CHAPTER 8
Skallagrim remained in dragonslayer training for many years. Although his parents came to visit a few times, he did not return to Tower Island. With Bruni, he spent his days learning how to slay a dragon from Master Benzel and his evenings learning how to quell a dragon from Mistress Po. Along with their fellow dragonslayers in training, Skallagrim and Bruni were assigned to work with a different established dragonslayer before gaining their own independent routes.
Several years after gaining that independence, Skallagrim finished an uneventful circuit of his route in the eastern region of the Northlands. Even though this circuit would prove to be the last of the season, he’d encountered no dragons at all nor had the villages on his route reported any sightings.
Now, he traveled by foot toward the port city of Gott, his last destination before heading toward the Southlands for the winter route.
When Skallagrim arrived in Gott, its familiar sights and sounds made him smile. He’d grown to love the smell of salt in the air, the constant squawks of gulls, and the constant chatter on the boardwalk in all languages. Now well versed in Midlander and Southlander, Skallagrim easily understood every conversation he heard. As a matter of habit, he always looked for Uncle Claude and Auntie Thurid, even though they’d given up traveling for the quiet life of farming in Bellesguard.
Feeling at home as he walked through the bustling port city, Skallagrim headed into his favorite tavern for a hearty meal and to find a room for the night. He grinned when he saw the back of a woman with the long blond hair of a Northlander and the traditional green-and-brown patchwork garb of a dragonslayer.
Can it be her?
Skallagrim rushed up to the bar and grinned at the sight of a familiar face. “Bruni?”
Looking no older than the last time he’d seen her, Bruni lit up with a smile and embraced him. “Skallagrim!”
Separating, Skallagrim held her at arm’s length for a good look. “I haven’t seen you in ages.”
A tavern man placed a mug full of mead and a bread trencher full of stew on the bar in front of Bruni. “The same for my friend,” she told him. “We’ll be at that table by the window.”
Following her, Skallagrim peppered her with questions. “I hardly see anyone I know from our days at Bellesguard. No one knew anything about you. Someone even said you’d been killed by a dragon, but I didn’t believe him. Where have you been?”
Bruni took a swig of mead. “Brace yourself.”
Her tone worried Skallagrim. He took her advice and prepared to hear the worst.
Bruni smiled. “I got married and had a baby.”
“Married?” Skallagrim’s mouth gaped open.
Bruni’s smile widened. “My husband is Seph.”
Skallagrim laughed until he cried, while Bruni dug into her meal. When the tavern man placed mead and food in front of Skallagrim, he couldn’t eat for laughing.
“I know,” Bruni said. “Some days I can’t believe it either. When we first left Bellesguard, we ended up on routes where our paths often crossed. Seph and I ended up here in Gott and other ports at the same time, and one thing led to another. When I had the baby, we found a home in Bellesguard and I stayed there with him until he could eat solid food.”
Skallagrim composed himself. “You have a son? Who’s at home with him now?”
“Seph.” Bruni gave a wistful smile. “Taking care of a baby is hard work, and it’s not something I thought I’d be doing so soon. I wanted to go back to being a dragonslayer.”
“Seph agreed?”
Her tone turned serious. “Last year he heard about a local dragon and looked for it. But he came to a village too late. The dragon had slaughtered everyone in it. Seph never found the dragon, and it changed him. Almost broke him in half.”
Skallagrim understood. “I don’t know what I’d do if that ever happened to me. We’re here to save people’s lives, not find their bodies.”
“That’s why staying at home with a baby sounded good to him.”
“And you?” Skallagrim hesitated, not sure if he wanted to ask the question. “Do you ever wonder if you’ll walk into a village where everyone is dead?”
“Sometimes.” The corners of Bruni’s mouth twitched as if she tried to keep from smiling. “But anything is better than being stuck at home with a screaming toddler who has just learned how to say no.” Bruni rolled her eyes. “I can quell a dragon, but I can’t quell a two-year-old. Somehow, Seph is the one with the magic touch.”
Skallagrim laughed.
“It’s a good thing,” Bruni said. Her voice softened. “Taking care of our son makes his heart stronger. Every time I go home, Seph’s eyes have more life in them. Even when our son is difficult, Seph makes the boy laugh.”
Two young Northlander women approached their table. Ignoring Bruni, one of the women spoke to Skallagrim. “You must be a dragonslayer.”
Although Skallagrim didn’t like being interrupted from the rare opportunity to catch up with an old friend, he reminded himself that a dragonslayer had a round-the-clock responsibility to others. If anyone needed help, his duty was to provide it. He put down the trencher of stew he’d been eating and wiped his hands clean on the tablecloth underneath it. “I am.”
The other young woman giggled and looked away.
They look like sisters.
When the Northlander woman continued, her voice trembled as if she struggled to hold back laughter. “We’re in great need of a dragonslayer to stay with us through winter.”
Skallagrim couldn’t help but exchange a knowing look with Bruni. To the young women he said, “And why is that?”
The Northlander woman who dared to speak collected herself. “We heard word there’s a dragon hiding in a cave close to home.”
“And where is home?”
The other Northlander woman drummed up the courage to speak. “On the south side of Gott.”
Skallagrim gave a stern look. “There are no caves on the south side of Gott.”
“Even so,” the first Northlander woman said, “the winters get mighty cold and we could use someone to help keep us warm.”
Both Northlander women burst into a fit of giggles and scurried out of the tavern before Skallagrim could reprimand them.
“By the gods,” he said with a shake of his head. “Does that ever happen to you?”
Bruni smirked. “All the time. I’m just surprised they didn’t proposition both of us.”
Skallagrim raised an eyebrow. “Women talk to you like that?”
“Sometimes. Mostly, it’s men.” Bruni rolled her eyes. “If one more man asks me to pretend he’s a dragon, try to slay him, and then be wooed by his charms, I’m going to punch him in the face.” She groaned. “But then I remember what they taught us at Bellesguard. People want to get their own stories about personal encounters with dragonslayers so they can feel important. So, we must be patient with them.”
Skallagrim polished off the last few bites of his trencher. “Did you ever take anyone up on his offer?” He gave Bruni a steady gaze. “Or her offer?”
She smacked his arm. “Stop it! Of course not. I love my husband and son. Why would I be stupid and do something to dishonor my love and loyalty to them?”
Skallagrim laughed. “It was just a question. Calm down.”
Now Bruni raised an eyebrow. “Why? Have you ever taken anyone up on her offer?” She paused and grinned. “Or his offer?”
Surprised, Skallagrim giggled like the Northlander women. “First, no man has ever asked me to pretend he’s a dragon and try to slay him.”
“And the women’s offers?”
“Here and there,” Skallagrim said with a smile. “But I’m not married and give my loyalty to no one.”
Bruni rolled her eyes again. “Typical dragonslayer. No wonder those girls came over like moths to a flame. It’s too bad Master Benzel’s lessons about how to treat a woman never stuck with you.”