ALL NOVEL Chapter 2. (8)
He took one last glance at the dead dragon before heading deep towards the East of the village where the livestock and vegetables were being kept and over which he could still see a few flying figures. Along the way he came across various Vikings, some of whom were trying to put out the raging fires by using wooden buckets, some of whom were looking for members of their families, some of whom were also heading towards the East to deal with the dragons gathered there. The dragons that had been attacking the North, South and West sides of the village had already been dealt as they were few in number but the ones in the East had been quite troublesome to deal with and hence there were still a few of them remaining. Of course, some of the dragons had also already left after gathering their fill of livestock and food and hence at this point in time only a few dragons were left. Due to this most of the Vikings, just like Turyn, had gathered at the East side of the village to deal with the last of the dragons.
A few meters above a sheep shed was few dragons who were catching and carrying sheep and a few yaks within their claws as they also tried to dodge the Vikings on the ground who were firing Bolas, crossbow bolts and a few of the functioning ballista were firing deadly arrows towards the dragons. The dragons currently being attacked by multiple Vikings had also realized that only they were the remaining dragons in the village who were still attacking as most had escaped with their various quarry while some had been killed and hence, they too decided it was time to leave. The dragons all began to ascend in the air with their current stolen livestock captured tightly within their claws.
The attacking Vikings also noticed this and any Viking who was still carrying a close combat weapon immediately replaced any of their current short-range weapons with long range weapons such as catapults, ballista and grappling chains which were all fired at the dragons. Although some of them did manage to dodge the volley of rocks, arrows, and chains long enough to ascend to a high enough altitude and escape, most of them were struck down. Some of them were struck in their wings causing them to fall and the very few unlucky ones fell on their heads breaking their necks. Some were struck on their heads and necks killing some of them instantly while the rest were either simply knocked out or already on death’s door with massive fatal wounds.
As for the ones that were still alive, they could be seen being instantly surrounded by at least 3-4 Vikings who quickly dealt a killing blow with their sword, spears, axes, and hammers.
Turyn watched as the last remaining dragons on that field were killed in amazement at the efficiency of his fellow Viking tribesmen. Eventually every last dragon was killed at which a horn was blown to signal the end of that night’s battle which was followed by a cheer by everyone. Despite the surprise attack of the dragons, the Vikings of Ragna village were already used to dealing with dragon attacks and hence few lives were lost. Besides Vikings considered a death battling a dragon as an honourable death worthy of a Valkyrie’s escort to Valhalla so there was no need to be sad. Despite their believe however there were still some Viking men and women, who had lost someone, who could be seen crying while clutching their loved ones. It was a happy yet sad paradoxical event night for everyone.
Seeing that the dragons had all been killed allowed Turyn’s mind to relax allowing to finally remember that he hadn’t seen his mother the entire time. So he began running around the village asking anyone he met if they had seen his mother, eventually one of the women in the village said that they had seen her in the great Hall at the centre of the village and so he ran there at full speed.
He quickly entered the hall passing by various people who were leaving and entering the hall eventually arriving in the interior of the hall where much to his relief, he spotted his mother directing a few men and women on what to do at the front of the hall. The Hall was currently filed with various objects, food, women and children who had all been brought here for safe keeping. He could even see some of people he had previously trained with discussing among themselves some of whom turned and immediately gasped in shock upon noticing his presence which in turn elicited others to look towards his direction eliciting the same reaction causing even more to do the same until eventually everyone in the Hall was looking at him in shock and bewilderment.
Tuweryn ignored all this as he walked towards his mother who at this time had also noticed him. His mother immediately rushed towards his side with a face full of joy and worry of his well being.
“Turyn, what happened to you? Are you alright? you are all covered in blood.” She asked as she quickly patted down his entire body in search of an injury of any kind.
“I am okay mother there is no need to worry as the blood on me isn’t even mine.”
“That’s good then.” She said as she sighed in relief. “Why don’t you sit down somewhere here as we wait for your father and the rest of the warriors to arrive. They are currently dealing with the assessment of damages and the number of deaths that have occurred alongside other things. You must be tired.”
“Hmm” nodded Turyn in agreement as he walked over to the nearest table occupied by a few children. He was indeed tired mentally from having nearly died to killing a dragon to seeing the corpses of his fellow villages either ripped to pieces or burnt to smouldering black charred corpses. All of this happening on one night to a 15-year-old boy was bound to at leave one extremely fatigued. And so with a heavy heart, clothes stained in blood and a dried bloodied axe, he sat down and fell deep into his thoughts.