by Chrys Cymri
‘It’s in the way of my gems,’ Raven growled. ‘I don’t want to dirty my claws moving it to one side.’
‘I don’t want a dead troll left in my vegetable patch,’ Audrey told Raven. ‘Tell them that.’
‘They’ll take the body.’ Raven took a step towards Odna. ‘Won’t you?’
‘We’ll take it,’ she said grudgingly.
Chapter Five
The trolls rowed back across the lake, Audrey seated in pride of place on the most ornate boat. Raven flew overhead. His body ached from his earlier flight, and the fight, but he was the wrong shape to fit into one of their crafts. At least the wind had died down.
Small creatures scurried away from the dead troll as they marched up to the vegetable plot. Audrey saw the torn face and visibly paled. The other trolls grabbed the legs and dragged the body down to the shore. Raven watched them leave, ready to fill his gas chamber if they showed any signs of changing their minds.
When the boats were halfway across the lake, he allowed himself to pounce onto the potato plants. The treasure was singing away to him, resting several feet below his claws. Raven dimly heard Audrey shouting as he flung soil and roots to one side. The dark pouch emerged. The leather was covered with a strange oil, which filled his mouth with the taste of rancid fat as he closed his jaws around the container and pulled it free.
Audrey had taken a seat on the wall outside the house. Raven brought the pouch over and placed it on the ground near her feet. With one golden claw, he sliced the leather open. The rough gems sparkled in the light, and he opened his jaws in a wide grin.
‘I hope you’re happy,’ Audrey said angrily.
‘Very happy,’ Raven agreed.
‘Even though you’ve rooted up most of my potato crop?’
‘Who cares about potatoes?’ Raven cocked his head. ‘Look at the diamonds. Some of them are as large as your eyes.’
She left the wall and crouched beside the gleaming treasure. ‘Yes, they are valuable, in the right hands. But diamonds won’t keep us fed during the winter. Where are you going?’
Raven had turned, his snout pointing back up the slight slope. ‘There are four more pouches.’
‘Not now.’ Audrey slapped his shoulder in emphasis. ‘You’re not digging up anything else from my vegetable plot. When I’ve harvested the last of the root vegetables, then you can have a go.’
Raven snarled. Audrey rose to her feet, thrust her head forward, and growled. He found himself backing away from the fury which reddened her face. ‘Promise?’ he found himself asking. ‘I can dig them up soon?’
‘Soon, I promise.’ Her hand patted his snout. ‘But we’ve forgotten the most important thing of all. You flew, Raven. You flew!’
‘Yes, I did.’ He tilted his head to aim one eye at the sky. But he saw no dark death dropping from the clouds. Only bright blue met his gaze. ‘It was very tiring.’
‘Only because you haven’t had the exercise,’ Audrey assured him. ‘That’s all you need. At the rate you’re growing, come the spring, you’ll be big enough to carry me. Like Ysbaddaden carries Aingeal. Would you do that for me?’
Raven felt his stomach tighten. The thought of her legs wrapped around his neck made him warm, although he had not opened his gas chamber. ‘Yes. I would. I would like to do that very much.’
‘Good.’ Audrey lifted the pouch. ‘Let’s get these safely inside. And then let’s see if I can rescue any of my potatoes.’ And as she turned away, she started singing.
Raven felt happiness glow in his own chest as he followed her to the house.
<><><><><><>
Raven was allowed to dig up one pouch, which was at the very edge of Audrey’s vegetables. A few gems glittered in the midst of large pieces of black and slippery stones. Audrey explained that these were something called obsidian, and that it came from stone heated by the earth. Raven would have dumped the rocks, but she insisted on taking them into the building. ‘Native Americans used the sharp edges as knives,’ she told the dragon. ‘I might find a use for it as well.’
As the days shortened and the temperatures fell, Audrey filled both of their days with a multitude of tasks. Raven brought back as much meat from his hunts as he felt his growing body could spare, and he allowed her to put him to work in digging up roots and spreading out fish nets. She seemed happy with the pile of logs which she’d lined against one wall of the house, so at least he no longer had to trudge into the forest and bring back long dead trees. And she wouldn’t let him rest until he’d spent at least thirty minutes flying.
One day, when a storm forced them to go inside in the early afternoon, Audrey lit a candle and pulled out a small object. The binding was a light brown, and a pattern was stamped in gold on the cover. ‘I promised to teach you how to read,’ she said apologetically. ‘But the only book I have is the Bible. More precisely, the New Testament. Do you have any beliefs of your own, Raven? Do you believe in God?’
He stared at her. ‘I don’t know what a “God” is.’
‘Of course you don’t. You’re a dragon.’ She sighed. ‘I’m not a very good Christian myself. I did think, when we crashed here, that maybe God was punishing us in some way. But Beryl convinced me otherwise--her father’s a vicar in Cornwall. She said God had spared us, and given us each other. Beryl’s parents were farmers, so she set us to tilling the land. Doreen knew all about fishing, and she worked out how to weave the nets. My uncle is a poacher, and he’d taught me his craft, so I managed to catch us rabbits and shoot some deer.’
‘But the others died,’ Raven said, confused. ‘So they weren’t spared.’
‘Yes, that’s where it gets a bit tricky.’ Audrey opened the book. ‘I can only hold on to what Paul wrote in Romans. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” I don’t know why Beryl and Doreen died, not when we’d been through so much together. I do know that I prayed to God last winter and told him that I didn’t think I could carry on. And then, a few months later, you dropped out of the sky.’
Raven’s claws bit into the wooden floor. The tone of her voice made him feel uncomfortable. ‘I was trying to escape from my mother.’
‘Yes, you were, but why did you end up here?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Exactly.’ She flipped through the book. ‘As it says in Matthew’s Gospel, “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.” You were falling from the sky, and God sent you here, where you could fall into a lake instead of crashing onto land. And where I could pull you out and save you. You’re an answer to prayer.’
‘What’s prayer?’
‘Well, prayer is talking to God. In your head. I find it helps to shut my eyes.’
‘And what’s a “God”?’
‘We Christians believe that God created the universe. Some say in six days, like the story in Genesis, but others say Darwin had it right and we’ve evolved.’ She shook her head. ‘Sorry, that’s not answering your question. I guess I’m better at knowing hymns than remembering my confirmation classes.’
Raven picked out one word from the many he didn’t understand. ‘What’s a hymn?’
‘A song.’ Audrey smiled. ‘You’ve heard me sing my favourite one. It goes like this. “All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all.”’
‘All creatures,’ Raven mused. ‘Rabbits, fish, humans, dragons, trolls?’
‘That’s what I believe. And then God entrusted the world to humanity.’
‘Where does this God live?’
‘In heaven, not here on our world.’ Audrey tapped the book. ‘God wanted us to be good, and to love each other, but we let him down over and over again. So he sent his only Son, Jesus, to teach us how to live. And Jesus
died for us, on a cross, so that we could be reconciled with God.’
‘That all sounds very complicated,’ Raven complained. ‘If this God doesn’t even live with us, why should he care how we treat each other?’
Audrey sighed. ‘I’m explaining it badly. We’ll start with the Gospel of Mark, and see what you think.’
<><><><><><>
When Raven pushed the door open the next morning, the world had changed. A layer of sparkling white covered the ground and clung to the distant trees. He stepped forward cautiously, the cold stuff crunching under his weight.
‘Snow,’ Audrey said behind him. ‘I don’t think it’s going to stick.’
Raven bent down his head and extended his tongue to scoop up some of the powder. It stung for a moment, then melted into water. He swallowed, and felt the chilly liquid slide down his throat to his stomach.
‘Hunting can be good in these conditions,’ Audrey was saying. ‘Easier to track your prey. Do you want to see what you might be able to get?’
A chill wind was blowing down from the mountains. The warmth of their house was far more inviting. ‘I ate yesterday.’
‘And we need to make sure you can eat until the spring thaw.’ Audrey pushed at his side. ‘Bring back whatever you catch, if you don’t need to eat it.’
Raven grumbled. But he partially filled his gas chamber, spread his wings, and gathered his hindquarters under his body to leap away from the ground. Steady beats took him towards the forest.
Audrey was right. He could see many traces of prey, hooves or feet leaving clear trails in the snow. For a moment he hovered, enjoying both the sight of the snow perched on tree branches and the strength of his wings. Then he followed the marks left by the deer.
The herd was now used to his hunts, and their sentry stamped small black hooves in warning as he flew in close. The thirty brown-skinned creatures raced towards the cover of the trees. Raven glided above them, waiting to see which would fall behind. An ancient stag, his head heavy with multi-pronged antlers, struggled to match the speed of his comrades. The dragon folded his wings, and dropped down onto the heaving sides. The buck collapsed under his weight. Raven whipped his jaws around and gave him a quick death.
Although his stomach was still full from a brace of rabbits two days before, Raven licked at the warm blood and took a bite of haunch. Then he straightened the body, readying it for the flight back to the house.
‘Please, sir, may a humble beggar request a small part for himself?’
Raven glanced down. A red were-fox stood nearby, low held ears and exposed teeth expressing his humility. ‘Who are you, and why should I?’
‘My name is Kenric, but that will be of little matter, if I die in this early snow.’ The fox dropped his head further. ‘I know that dragons worship Odin and his ilk. Do they show compassion on the less fortunate?’
‘Odin?’ Raven cocked his head. Vague memories from before his birth swirled in his mind. ‘I don’t know anything about him. Audrey has been teaching me about someone called “Jesus”.’
‘My good sir,’ Kenric asked, ‘are you my brother in Christ?’
‘No. Are you a Christian?’
The were-fox shimmered into human form. ‘I was baptised two Easters ago,’ he said proudly, turning to show a cross surrounded by a circle tattooed in black on his left shoulder. ‘The Lord Jesus is my way, and truth, and life.’
‘But,’ Raven noted as Kenric once again became a fox, ‘he hasn’t brought you a deer.’
‘Surely Jesus has brought me to a kind dragon, one willing to share his hunt with an unfortunate?’ The were-fox stepped forward. ‘Are you not, sir? Willing to spare a few mouthfuls for my sustenance? I’m on my way south. A good filling of my belly, and I can face the final miles to reach my den, and my wife and pups.’
Raven’s claws flexed against the cold ground. The deer was his, and his alone. Well, for him and Audrey. Then he hesitated, wondering what she would say. Only a few nights ago, they had read through a story about a man attacked by robbers and left to die at the side of the road. The hero of the story had stopped to help the man. He bent down his head, bit off one of the legs, and tossed it to Kenric. ‘Here. Eat.’
‘Many thanks, kind sir. May the Lord Christ bless you.’ The were-fox bit eagerly into the flesh.
Raven jumped onto the carcass, grasping it firmly in his feet. Then he opened his gas chamber to give extra lift. His wings pumped as he rose from the ground and flew back to the house.
Audrey was standing a short distance away, a deep hole at her feet. At her wave, Raven landed nearby. ‘It’s an ice house,’ she explained as she pulled out her knife to begin gutting the deer. ‘Or maybe an ice hole. The idea is that the meat will be preserved by the cold. Doreen’s idea, but we never caught enough to make it worth trying it out. I'm going to give it a go with this buck.’
‘Carrion,’ Raven couldn’t help grumbling.
‘You’ll be glad of anything when the snow really sets in.’ Audrey waved her knife at the white around them. ‘This is nothing.’ Then her face pulled into a frown. ‘What happened to the left leg?’
‘I gave it to a were-fox.’
‘You did what?’
Raven lifted his wings in a shrug. ‘He needed the food.’
She glared at him. ‘We need the food, too.’
‘He said he has a wife and children.’
‘Of course he does,’ Audrey muttered as she bent back over her work. ‘I just hope you weren’t taken in. Beggars will tell you anything to gain your sympathy.’
Raven watched as she pulled the skin away from the flesh. ‘And he was a Christian.’
‘A Christian? A were-animal? Are you sure?’
‘So he said,’ Raven continued. ‘He even had the mark on his skin.’
‘But how is that possible?’ Audrey brushed a stray hair from her face, leaving behind a trace of red blood. ‘How can a creature like a were-fox be a Christian?’
‘“All things bright and beautiful”,’ Raven reminded her. ‘You’ve said that God created everything.’
‘Yes, he did, but surely only those with souls can be redeemed. And animals don't have souls.’ She shook her head. ‘I don’t understand any of this. It’s beyond me. Just be careful, Raven. I nearly starved last winter, and there was only me to feed. We need every bit of food I can harvest and you can catch.’
He had disappointed her. Raven felt his ears droop. ‘I’ll bring back some more food.’ And he flew back to the woods, determined to remedy his mistake.
Chapter Six
More snow came as the days grew shorter. Wind and cold made hunting impossible. Raven swallowed his distaste and ate the preserved meat which Audrey pulled out of storage. The flesh was very salty, and Audrey had to make regular trips outside to bring in snow to thaw in a pot over the fire.
The corner fire kept the building warm, but not always comfortable. Raven kept internally warm by filling part of his gas chamber. On the coldest nights, Audrey collected her blankets and slept curled up next to his chest. Raven expelled excess flame on the fire.
The snow became too thick to make anything but the most necessary trips outside. The wind created drifts that reached Raven’s shoulders. Although Audrey discreetly used a bucket for her purposes, he broke through the snow rather than embarrass himself in the house.
A brief thaw allowed him to hunt down several rabbits. Audrey hummed as she sliced into the bodies. ‘I don’t have a calendar with me, but I think we’re near mid-winter. So we’ll celebrate Christmas next week. How does that sound to you?’
Raven snorted. ‘I have no idea what “Christmas” is.’
‘You’ve heard about it, though.’ Audrey added potatoes and carrots to the black pot. ‘The story about the trip to Bethlehem, and the shepherds and the angels. Christmas is when Christians celebrate our Saviour’s birth. We sing songs, and decorate our houses, and give presents to each other. I have something planned for you.’
‘
I don’t have anything to give you,’ Raven said slowly. ‘Except maybe more rabbits.’
‘Don’t worry about that. And it’s time I brought out the nativity set.’ Audrey dropped the meat into the water, then cleaned hands and knife on a cloth before disappearing into a side room. When she returned, a small wooden box was clutched in her arms. Raven watched, intrigued, as she pulled out several carved objects. ‘Beryl made these our second winter together. This is Mary and Joseph.’ Audrey moved several containers to the table so that the pieces of wood could be placed on the shelf. ‘Baby Jesus doesn’t arrive until Christmas Day. And the Three Wise Men arrive a week later.’
‘Do we need to do anything for this event?’ Raven asked.
‘At home, there’d be lots to do, even in war time.’ Audrey gave him a sad smile. ‘Here, I just do what I can. But at least this year I won’t be celebrating alone.’
Raven studied the rough figures. ‘Are those supposed to look like humans?’
‘Beryl did her best with what we had. If you think you can do any better, be my guest.’ Audrey returned to the back room, her voice floating back. ‘I’m going to take my buckets to the outhouse. You might want to stand well back.’
Raven quickly left the building. The skies were grey, and the wet ground spoke of a recent downpour. He strode past the vegetable plot and released some flames. Although this meant he felt the bite of the chill wind, it did relieve the pressure against his ribs.
Some pieces of discarded wood lay nearby. Raven studied them, wondering if he could somehow carve these to look more like humans than the figures on the shelf. All he could work with was fire, and he was certain that even the smallest blast would simply set the branches ablaze.
Could he work with rock? A few days ago, he had misdirected his flame whilst trying to restart the fire. Several of the stones now bore smooth surfaces. What had Audrey called those rocks which the trolls had placed in a gem pouch? Obsidian. And she’d said they had been formed by heat.