Dark Times
Created | Updated Dec 29, 2003
The Dark Times; Part 7
Aituár followed the narrow path through the forest, with an uncomfortable feeling of being watched. Every now and then she would stop, turn around and look back, half expecting to see the one-eyed man again - but she could neither see nor hear anything.
It was a very hot summer day, and the heat was oppressive. Wiping the sweat off her forehead with her sleeve, Aituár tried to find a spring or a stream with water, because by now she was growing very thirsty. It was very quiet, even the birds were silent, and the only sound that was heard was when Aituár occasionally stepped on a branch that cracked under her foot.
The path had grown wider and there were vague cart tracks in the ground, although almost overgrown by now. Then Aituár spotted a crumbling stone wall among the shrubbery by the side of the path, and headed towards it.
Suddenly something moved in the grass by her feet, and Aituár jumped back in surprise, but it was just a lizard that had been sunning itself on a piece of stone. She stepped over the ruined wall, and found the remains of a garden beneath it.
Aituár was delighted to find an apple tree and some raspberry bushes among the weeds. The apples were small and hard and a bit sour tasting, but she was too hungry to care. The raspberries were sweet and juicy, and she ate as much as she could.
Aituár decided to pick more apples and save them until later, but when she opened her shoulder bag she realized that the egg did not leave room for anything more in the bag. She thought for a moment and then decided to carry the egg, still wrapped in the tunic, in her arms, and fill the bag with apples.
After having wandered for hours, Aituár noticed that the sun was setting, and the forest was growing colder. She stopped to rest, and looked longingly at her woollen tunic that was wrapped around the dragon's egg. Squatting, she carefully placed the egg on the grass, opened her shoulder bag and emptied it of apples.
Aituár stuffed as many apples as she could into the pockets of her long skirt, and carefully unwrapped the egg, putting it back into the shoulder bag, hanging it around her neck. Then she wrapped the tunic around both herself and the bag, hoping that this would be enough to keep the egg warm, stuffing the pockets of the tunic with apples too.
Aituár kept walking until it was almost too dark to see the path, searching for a place where she could spend the night. All of a sudden the trees grew sparse and a lake appeared in front of her, displaying a beautiful sunset.
Aituár realized that she could not go on, not without a torch or a lantern, and she started searching among the trees for a place to sleep. Finally she found a huge old fir tree, with the lowest branches touching the ground, forming a sort of cave around the tree trunk. After having arranged a bunch of branches in a heap, Aituár sank down on them and promptly fell asleep, clutching the shoulder bag in her arms inside the tunic.
It turned out to be a restless night - there seemed to be an owl living in the top of the fir tree, to judge by the hooting, and every now and then wolves could be heard howling, luckily in the distance.
When morning finally came, Aituár woke up to a cloudy and grey day. Looking out from her improvised camp, she spotted a deer on the shore of the lake, drinking the water.
'Good' thought Aituár, 'that means I can drink it too!'
Once the deer had disappeared, Aituár went down to the lake to drink and wash her face, and she also filled a flask that she had picked up in the hermit's cave with water. She ate a few apples, and rearranged the egg and the tunic and the apples to make them fit into the shoulder bag, with the hem of the tunic hanging outside, pockets bulging with apples.
Aituár decided to keep the lake in sight while searching for a path or a road - that would keep her from wandering around in circles. She started walking, and soon found a winding path, a more distinct one than the one she had been following yesterday.
Sooner than she had expected, Aituár could hear familiar noises from in front of her, and then she saw a building among the trees.
'It must be the village the unicorn mentioned!' thought Aituár while she hurried towards it.
When she approached the village, Aituár could see a sign hanging over the door of the house closest to her - an inn! This made her long for an ale and a hot meal, but then she realized she didn't have any money. She hesitated, but then she had an idea.
'Maybe they have a job for me!'
Boldly she opened the creaking door and stepped inside.
| Will Aituár find a job or will she have to live on apples? |
| Will the dragon egg hatch? |
| Who was the one-eyed man - and how much does he really know? |
