There’s nothing we can do about it now.
We both watch as the thousand or so blessed pass through the portal. There are only a hundred left when Thunar steps in front of me. I learned, while you were hiding from me, that your little earth-child witch released the vanir.
I straighten, not that it matters. He still towers over me. My bonded, when she was hurled into the volcano against her will, met Freya, who was stuck there with the vanir. In order to recover the heart from Freya, she had no choice but to release the vanir.
How did she do it? Is Freya yet alive?
I could lie. I could tell him she’s alive, or tell him that the vanir killed her on their way out. But in my experience, lies like this get bigger and bigger. So I break my own proscription and confess. She had to kill Freya to recover the heart.
You’re lying. Gullveig wouldn’t have done that. They were bonded.
They were bonded in a past life. As we’ve already explained, she’s not Gullveig. She’s Elizabeth Chadwick, and she’s my bonded. She did as I asked and released the vanir and killed Freya to recover the heart.
I would never mourn Freya’s loss, but that should worry you most of all. Thunar steps closer, his face looming in front of mine, his hot and dank breath blowing across my face. Mark my words, little hatchling. Your bonded was the biggest liar I’ve ever known. She’s a child of earth, through and through. She does nothing but destroy the sky children she meets, and she leaves a trail of devastation in her wake.
You would be wise to steer clear of our path, then, I say.
You may not remember your mother, but she killed her, and you don’t seem to care. That may be the most telling part of your so-called bond. You should kill Gullveig, Thunar says, while you still can.
You said she just kept coming back to life, I say. She’s done that here, as well. I’m not sure that even killing her would be enough.
“You’re the one who should be careful,” Liz says from my back. “The blessed who can’t eat puke and die, and you aren’t bonded.” She smiles. “I’d conserve my energy if I were you. I’d hate for you to fall over and vomit. With as big as you are, it might take us days to clean up that sticky green mess.” She laughs. “Not that I’d be sad if you died. I’d clean up a mountain of green goo for that kind of reward.”
You know, Odin and Freya found Gullveig entertaining, too. Thunar meets my eyes. It’s no secret that I have never cared for you, and I think we’d all be better off without you, even if that witch foretold that you’d save us. But you should believe me when I tell you that she’s bad, for all of us. Kill her over and over until she stays dead. One day you’ll wish you’d listened to me. He finally flies through the portal.
“Wow. You should kill me over and over until it takes.” Liz snorts. “Frankly, I think that’s an improvement. He didn’t try to roast anyone yet today, not even me, the undying witch sent to destroy all of you.”
It’s early yet.
I fly through the portal into the park that’s more or less in the center of Stuttgart. The bundled-up humans are gathered just as the Prime Minister said they would be. The entire time we’ve been working with the allegedly-friendly human governments, I’ve been nervous. At every turn for months, the humans attacked us. Over and over, they were hostile and aggressive. I do understand that each time it was the same organization—Liz’s government, the United States. Even so, I keep waiting for the same aggressive duplicity in each of these interactions.
Why now would they suddenly choose to play nicely? Why now are they helping when they wanted to destroy us before?
Is it as simple as Liz has made it out to be? Do these humans willing to bond us really just want to be associated with us thanks to some games they played or stories they told? Was it really just the government who wanted to attack, and these other human governments are peaceful?
Or is this all part of a plan that we don’t yet see?
“Oh look!” Liz claps. “It’s a Christmas market.” She’s beaming.
I like it when she smiles.
I follow her line of sight to the street behind the park where everyone gathered. There appear to be a great deal of tiny street stalls and wooden buildings that are all full to brimming with more, even smaller things. There are lots of tiny twinkle lights, tiny towers, and bristle trees. The trees are all covered with other things, like lights, dangling ornaments, and strings. I don’t really understand what part of all that made her smile, but whatever it is, I want to encourage it.
I’ve taken enough from her. More than enough. If there’s something I can give her, some kind of joy I can provide, I want to do it.
“It’s a German Christmas market,” she says. “They’re famous—I’ve read about them and watched lots of reels, too. The Germans love their holiday markets here. People travel from all over the world to do their shopping for Christmas and soak up the festive feelings.” She drags in a big breath and lets her eyes close for a long moment when she exhales.
Festive?
I try to recall what that might mean, but I’m not recalling anything about ‘festive’ or ‘festive feelings.’ Before I can ask her whether she wants to go see it, a man standing on a platform with a dark suit and a long, tan coat starts talking into a microphone. “Willkommen, Gesegneter.”
Liz whispers. “I think Willkommen means welcome.”
“I’ll switch to English, as I understand most of the previously dragon-bonded humans come from the United States of America or from Australia.” The man smiles.
It looks forced.
“We’re very excited to welcome you here, and we hope that you find many humans capable of bonding one of you. We in Germany are as happy to help you as the Australians, and we’d be happy to host another event like this one in a few days. Some of the interested humans were unable to travel here on such short notice.”
