renegades, httyd

xlvii. Long Way To Go

renegades
chapter forty-seven

    Trying to escape was useless.

    Even if I somehow managed to break my rope, I was on a ship with Harald, in the middle of the ocean, far from home and no way to let the others know where I was, mainly because I barely had an idea myself. Harald knew, though; he manned the sails and guided the ship towards a certain point in the horizon. Our island? I didn't think so. He said we were going to take detours, get things for Viggo, and to think I was being dragged into whatever Viggo wants, didn't sit well. I just knew it wasn't going to be good for dragons, or for my friends.

    And no matter what Harald said, they were alive. I knew they were. They had to be.

    I eyed him at the stern, peering into the horizon, still waiting for Leopold to return. I couldn't help but feel like somehow, this was all my fault, from the very beginning. And now I guess I was finally paying the full price of it. The wind picked up a little and Harald returned to the back to steer. My gaze followed him, scowling. My wrists stung from the rope, and my shoulders ached from being tied to the mast and spending the last half a day struggling.

    "You're not going to get away with it," I told Harald, stubborn.

    "Get away with what?" he asked, turning the wood so we continued to push onwards against the wind.

    "Everything. Your plan, Viggo's plan, this."

    Harald sighed, meeting my gaze with a patronising, you don't understand yet like I was a young, ignorant girl. "Estrid, none of this is harming the world. We're not demons in disguise. We're just men, fighting for something we need."

    "You're harming dragons," I countered. Harald rolled his eyes. "And you have a dragon━how could you do that to Leopold? He put his trust in you, given all his loyalty, and you're using him like a mere hound."

    "And how do you use Winglash?" Harald argued. "Like a horse; taking you from place to place, fighting your battles? Don't judge me for only doing what you do, as well. You just hold the arrogance to think you protect your dragons, instead of jailing them."

    I wanted to retaliate, but I couldn't. I hated how in his own way, in his own head, Harald was right. And it made me rethink myself, and everything. Did I use Winglash? Did she want to fly place-to-place, fight my battles━but they were her battles, too. She chose to follow me that day in the woods, and I chose to take her in. She wasn't just a dragon; a 'horse' as Harald had said, a weapon. She was my best friend, an equal ... but did I treat her like that? I made her sleep in a stable, wear a saddle and fly into danger constantly. But ... if she wasn't happy with that, she just wouldn't let me ... right? Or ... or did she just know no differently? She was just a hatchling when I found her, this life━it was all she ever knew. If I was to let her go back into the wild, would she even survive? Would she even have the instincts? Had I━in a way━doomed her forever?