Head of the Dragon: Part I

by Cooper Heilmann, staff writer


The little boy stood on the docks, waiting.  Waiting for the head of the dragon.  The waves splashed against the frozen shores and rocked the moored karfi and other boats.  Mist spread out across the fjord, reaching halfway up the steep, rocky cliffs.  Smoke from thatched roof houses rose into the air above one of the cliffs.  This was where young Eric’s village lay.
His mother stood next to him, holding his shoulder.  They waited and waited like all the others on that shore.  The longboats and karfi should have been coming by now.  The sun hung low in the gray sky.  Eric looked up to his mother.  She just stared blankly out into the open ocean, waiting as he was.  Eric’s uncle, Bjorn, walked over and stood next to them.  He towered up about six feet and three inches tall, and he was built like a bear.  He stood there, hand in his thick, blond beard, waiting.
Just then, a shape could be made out approaching the fjord.  It was a ship.  The sails were being rolled up.  People—tall, strong people were running about on the deck.  On the prow of the boat stood the figure of a mermaid.  The ship beached ashore, and the people cheered as the men jumped out of the ship.  Each held treasure of some kind.  It ranged from rice, salt, and meat to gold, jewels, and weapons.  Each man had an axe at his belt and a heavy wooden shield on his back.  They held horned helmets in their arms.  They walked victoriously onto the shore.  One walked right past Eric as if he wasn’t there.  Eric’s uncle ran up to the man.
“Sven!  Sven!  Do you know the tidings of my brother?”  The man shook his head.
“Thought ‘e was ‘ere,” he replied, and walked off.  Ship after ship came into the harbor, but none of them belonged to Eric’s father, Hrothgar. The sun soon set over the ocean, and Bjorn and Eric’s mother turned away and headed back to the village.  Eric stared out at the open ocean, and a small tear ran down his cheek.  He stood there for a while, before trudging through the snow back to the village. Eric was only eight years old.


To be continued...