It has been several days into their journey towards Bothnin. By now Sweiza has begun to miss Strife’s banter; she always kept it interesting. She does check on the woman on occasion. Strife has gone through all the symptoms of the berserkergang, but by now they are starting to subside; the hair being the most noticeable as it has become much shorter and skin is finally visible. Sweiza is curious how the woman’s berserker symptoms don’t affect her (Strife) as much as they do herself (Sweiza). Sweiza has also taken to learning how to compare position settings on a map versus measuring distance by stars. The latter is easy, as shes does it regularly. Howver, it is the calculations on the map that give her trouble; she’s not even sure if they are correct. But the coordinates and their current speed indicate they will arrive at Bothin in a few days. Strife should also be up in that time, but how long that will take, is anyone’s guess.

—-

“Dear Journal,

Today I…”

Sweiza has the words “Dear Diary” written, but they are both scribbled out and a new line has been made with the words, “Dear Journal”. The entry is also unfinished.

—

It is sometime in the evening. Sweiza has had dinner. Pickled ham and dried fruit are the order. It is the powdered milk that Sweiza takes an unliking to. Sprite quite literally drops from the air to the table at the display. She holds her nose as she drinks a glass of the nasty confection. Sometime in their journey Strife had shown the girl had to make it and sweeten it, but it doesn’t make it any less nasty than milk straight from a cow.

“All good girls drink milk.” Was something her mother used to say.

Sprite won’t stop laughing.

Sweiza puts the metal cup down and walks over to his location on the table. Sprite quickly flies up with several beats of his wings. His eyes turn terror as she picks up his dinner - a mug of honey. She walks out with it and holds it over the ship’s rail. He starts pleading with her. She finally relents and walks back into the cabin. The mug of honey is set back down on the table. She looks down at her handywork, future Strife would be proud. She is about to take the helm again, but as she turns around Salmira appears before her, blocking the view of said helm control.

“Go away! Anytime you get involved you have some task for me or there is some kind of trouble!”

Salmira’s arms cross and a smirk appears on her face. “You are very astute. Have you taken a look at the horizon?”

“The setting sun?” Sweiza says it unamused.

Salmira motions with her crossed arm’s finger from the girl to outside. Sweiza looks over and sees a bolt of lightning.

“Are you doing this?” Sweiza stands up with her hands on her hips. She’s had quite enough of this woman.

“Yes and no. Before you exercise your contempt for me, would you like to hear my explanation… I mean, you are in charge after all.” Salmira smirks again at the girl. Sweiza’s arms cross in defiance.

“Oh don’t be like that. If it wasn’t for me you would be dead several times over.” Salmira’s glasses flash a distinct glow from the lanterns in the cabin.

Sweiza turns her head sharply and gives a “hmph!” to the woman.

Sweiza suddenly feels a hand under her chin as it forces (although gently) her head to look back at Salmira. Salmira has approached a few feet, Sweiza shakes once, but tries to hide her fear.

Salmira points outside.

“There is going to be a rare celestial event. You used to look forward to them as a kid. I believe you also used them as catch phrases.”

Sweiza’s eyes twitch at the woman. “Those are terms only a little kid uses! What do I look like, a brat?”

Salmira’s eyebrows cock up and her head tilts at the girl. Sweiza looks away to hold her shame.

“Regardless young one, I need your assistance with something.” Salmira taps her finger on her arm patiently.

“What now, another one of your shitty assignments?” Sweiza’s head cocks back at her with yet more defiance and attitude.

Salmira is undeterred.

“Good, we are in agreement. Very muchly so, as such, please pay attention.” Salmira knows she has won and smiles at the girl.

“A jet stream of cold air from Niffleheim has been mixing with warm air from Muspell. It is creating the low pressure system you see in front of you.” Salmira flicks her finger again. Sweiza doesn’t understand these terms. “The ‘storm’ that you see in front of you is going to be quite an exotic thing. One reason I have appeared to you is that you originally go to sleep without checking the weather tonight. Your ship ends up sinking and your journey takes much longer than originally intended. By appearing to you tonight and alerting you of the next few ‘exotic’ hours, your ship will be sent off course instead. Understand?”

“So why not point me in the right direction around the storm?” Sweiza is a bit more relaxed now. Salmira may be a slave-driver, but she seems to be looking out for her.

Salmira’s eyebrows raise, “…as I was saying, when you are blown off course, your ship will be run aground on a sandbar near an island.”

Sweiza is familiar with the term sandbar, sand pushed up from the ocean floor, but might also indicate a nearby coral reef. She’s always wanted to see one.

“Take the rowboat to the island. It’ll be about a mile south west of your direction. There will be two individuals there. They have been kidnapping individuals for experiments. They will make a breakthrough tonight due to the celestial event. Stop them. Future descendants and events of this world depend on it. In addition to keeping your wits about you, take the dragon and sprite with you. No harm will come to the woman. When you are done, have the dragon dislodge the ship. If necessary, have him pull it back out to sea. All good? That will be all… Sweiza.”

There is an odd and offputting kindness in the woman’s voice as she says the girl’s name. Everything turns white and when Sweiza’s eyes adjust again, Salmira is gone.

Sweiza looks down at Sprite. He peaks up from the now ‘empty’ mug of honey. Sprite beams at her, “It’ll be exciting!”

“Maybe for you, you little twirp. You can simply fly away or hide, I don’t get that luxury.”

Sweiza now has a more difficult task ahead of her. She must speak with Surt. However, as she approaches the door, she looks out the window of the cabin at the horizon. She can’t see it, but she knows what the celestial event is, she mutters, “Half moon, triple moon, crescent moon.”

Her favorite catchphrases as a kid.

—

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Salmira has apparently already spoken with the firedrake. His typical demeanor (as explained by Strife) as experienced by Sweiza, is strangely absent. Perhaps Salmira is more powerful than the young Valkyrie gives her credit, perhaps she simply appeared underwater and spoke to him? Whatever she said, he has an ‘interest’ in these individuals, but he will not confer with Sweiza as to why.

She accepts her fate.

However, just as he starts to retract his head from above deck, she finally pops the question, why does he talk with such a low growl and why does he only speak in short phrases? The explanation is awkward on his part, but she gets an honest answer. Dragons don’t have vocal cords like humans; they speak using membranes in their windpipe - like birds. Speaking like a dragon is easy, it is quite difficult, and sometimes painful to speak like a human.

She attempts one more question. “How do you make dragon fire?”

The dragon ignores her request and his head retracts and he disappears beneath the waves. She sticks her tongue out at him. When she turns around Sprite is there to beam and laugh at her. She breaks down laughing with him. Surt seems intelligent, but he is quite difficult to work with. Maybe. ‘Maybe’ being the keyword; she might be able to win him over… maybe.

—

The sails on the ship suddenly pulling tight are a telltale sign they are in the vicinity of a thunderstorm. In fact, she notices the ship is moving quite hastily. She remembers the word ‘exotic’ being described towards the storm. Just how bad is it going to be?

She learns her answer soon enough. The sight of white caps around the ship has her startled and on edge. As if to acknowledge this, the repeated rocking and swaying of the ship gradually increase. It is when she feels the ship creak from the wind shifting direction as it picks up and hits the port (left side) of the ship that she is left a bit bewildered. Shouldn’t air from Niffleheim be from the south-west? This air is from the north-east, so perhaps it is circling around. She isn’t sure. At the moment she doesn’t care.

Sprite is not flying at this time. He is sitting with his hands over his knees and his legs against him (a rare sight). He sits just right of the compass that in turn is just right of the helm control. Sweiza looks down at him once, but otherwise gives him no attention. She remains silent.

Time passes. The wind has further picked up. The ship has changed direction. Sweiza sees the sails start to flap more than they should. She takes one look at Sprite. He knows the drill. He’s on the steering wheel while she goes out to adjust the sails.

Her adjustment is a simple one. She loosens ropes around pulleys and pulls the sails in. It is a strange sight to see a ship without them open. Whatever. She’s thankfully had some minor training by and discussions with, the sailors from the “Sterling Blue” on matters such as this. Her mind changes to Strife in the lower deck briefly. She is thankful her (Strife’s) future self, made her (Sweiza) learn this life lesson, among many others. She is beginning to see that while Strife’s future counterpart is stern, it was to teach and train.

She likens it to ‘preening’ the sails, but the job is done. They don’t have to worry about the sails tearing. Lukas probably had a repair kit on board, but it’s not something she wants to think or worry about at the moment. She has more important matters.

—

Sprite wants a warm place to sleep. Sweiza tells him to stay awake. He salutes in a rude manner and slips into her pocket. She shakes her head.

Another bolt of lightning.

She tries keeping her hands on the helm, but it only has some small control over the vessel. By now the wind is pushing the ship in a very specific direction. It’s not as if she can simply turn the ship around. She curses her luck. This will be a long night.

Lukas thankfully had the foresight for stores of coffee. She hates the bitter stuff. It really could use more sugar.

Those words again. She snorts.

Wind and lightning are her only friends. Maybe sprite if he behaves himself. She does look down at him as the thought occurs to her. Thunder finally booms. The wind seems to peak, although it is already strong. She finally sees rain passing by the ship. She wonders how Surt is doing in this? Strife had said dragons can swim fast and can live under water for days at a time before surfacing. How? Gills? She’ll need to ask. Lightning streaking over head finally catches her attention and breaks her back to reality.

Right now she could use a dose of it. Maybe a dream by Demi. No. She needs to stay alert. Salmira had said the ship originally sinks due to her (Sweiza’s) carelessness. Best not to repeat history. Maybe the witch is looking out for her after all.

Hours pass. Sweiza is quite alert from all of the coffee. The wind lessens a bit and the white caps nearly disappear, but the sky is still dark without any stars. The ship is a little easier to control, but the wind still pushes it off course. By this time, Sprite has also fallen asleep near the helm’s compass. She doesn’t know how he does it. She shrugs. However, she is startled to the ship jolt and then slow down. It finally stops.

Sprite is jolted awake. He jumps to a hover in the air with rapid wing movement. He sees Sweiza look down at him once and then run outside. He watches her as she circles the railing of the ship. She is looking around as she circles. He sees her suddenly working the small wheel that drops the anchor. Whatever for?

She rushes back inside. His curiosity is answered. “We’ve hit a small patch of sand. It’s sticking right up from the water, not flat either. The wind is also letting up.”

Sprite takes one look at her and then bolts outside. He circles the ship once. He comes back in.

“Well?” She asks.

“It’s enough to be an island, but there is water here and there on top of it.” Sprite seems to be enthusiastic. He wants an adventure.

Sweiza rolls her eyes at his enthusiasm.

“We’ll take the rowboat.” She says it as Sprite follows her.

“Help me!” Sweiza barks it at him. She seems to be having trouble with the pulleys and rope.

Sprite tries to help her, but he isn’t strong enough to move them. He thinks about sending a slice of wind to cut the ropes, but that might be a bad idea. He attempts to fake his way through helping Sweiza, if not to make himself look useful. She shoos him away and finally breaks one of the circle wheels free. Perhaps it will need to be replaced, or so she thinks.

The small rowboat hits the water right at the edge of the sandbar. Thankfully she is strong enough to push it free. However, she doesn’t get ahead of herself and uses the rope ladder to get down from the ship and into the rowboat… She then has to actually get onto the sandbar itself and push the small dinghy while jumping inside. She looks up at Sprite. “Well don’t just hover there, come here!”

He flies up to her face.

“Really Dewey, you need to…” She stops when she sees him circle around and dive into the boat. She turns around and lets out an audible “eep!” when she sees it.

It’s Surt.

It’s hard to see him. She thinks back to when she saw him in the future. She doesn’t remember his form. She was too terrified of him. She only remembers having tunnel vision and seeing his face. Those horns… his eyes… and then that wicked forked tongue. She shivers. She looks at the dragon’s form illuminated by lightning. He is crawling up onto the sandbar. He has wings, they are attached to his forefeet, or are they arms? He walks on them like they are hands. His back feet are what she expects, they look powerful. But it is his neck and especially his tail that get her attention. His neck is shorter than she thought, but he is also about the size of the ship. His back must have been half out of the water when he spoke with her. How did she not notice?

…and then there is that long tail. Yikes! Are those spikes? What is he, one of those fabled dinosaurs she’s heard about? Absolute nonsense!

All that from one bolt of lightning? She can’t believe this.

More lightning flashes multiple times across the sky. She catches him flick his tail into the sand. It sprays the sand in multiple directions. Her wide eyes look back from his tail and shoot up to him. His eyes are not glowing, but she can see them reflecting off the lantern in the rowboat.

He stops just shy of ten feet from her. She avoids letting out another “eep!”. That is a bad habit that only little girls use. She hears him let out a snort of air. It sounds like a low growl. She lets out an “eep!” anyway. She’ll makes a self conscious thought to correct those and her other childish habits in the future.

“Surt! You watch the ship. If I’m not back by high noon, come and get me.”

She widens her eyes (briefly) at him and gives a mock salute with two fingers. The dragon must have listened to her, because he makes no attempts to move from the sandbar and the lodged ship. She does note he turns around to watch the dinghy regress, but that is it. Salmira said the island was south-east, didn’t she?

—

Rowing towards the island, Sweiza cannot believe how much the wind has let up. All of this seems ‘too’ coincidental. Did Salmira plan all of this down to the letter? Just how much of the future does she know anyway? How much meddling has she done in the lives of other people?

She is still on the fence about that woman. She grits her teeth at the oars. She has a job to do! Sprite on the other hand serves as her forward lookout and light to the stern (if it can be called a stern) of the small rowboat. His glow is comforting. She is glad her friend is there for her.

—

After about a quarter of an hour of rowing she hits beach at the island. At her request, Sprite surveys the surrounding area. Just as she is pulling the boat further ashore, Sprite comes flying at speed in front of her. He is glowing a very light, but bright blue. His body language is frantic.

“Sweiza, there are two men, they are… RUN!”

He darts off to her right. Her attention is on him, but then she turns around to see the form of a man and something grab her. She feels his arm around her neck, she feels a hand cover her mouth and nose. She can’t breath.

Her thoughts race. No, not like this! Don’t pass out, don’t pass out, do-

Blackness overtakes her.