49 Exile (1/2)

Inside the council hall, the meeting was still ongoing. A woman was crying while hugging her son, with the support of her sobbing husband seated on the side. The elders were discussing several options regarding the issues. And the children remained quiet in this environment full of adults despite their eagerness to join in too as the discussion mostly concerned them.

A cough from one old man made the others aware that the meeting was getting out of hand. To manage the issue, Shaman Matnaad then suggested, ”Let me talk to Ling alone,” as it mostly concerned the child.

The commotion started again but quieter this time. Before anybody could say their point louder, a roar from outside reached their ears. This was followed by screams from the people.

Panicked, everybody inside the room claored to go outside. Ling was specially worried since he recognized the roar. What was he doing here?

Outside the hall, the villagers convened in front of its big doors, staring at the roof fearfully. Some were squinting their eyes to look up since the sun was already at a glaring height.

The council hall was the largest structure in the village. It has three floors with the first one as the work or meeting rooms, the second as quarters for some apprentices and the third as a storage of the village. Its roof has a steep incline but the middle part has a flat surface which was often as an observatory.

The roar came from the dragon now standing on the roof's flat surface. It was glaring at the people below with its teeth bared, but it just kept growling, not attacking anyone despite some thrown spears that didn't reach even the building's third floor.

Afterwards, the door of the council hall opened and out came several rlders. Despite their fear of the dragon, the villagers still bowed to pay their respects to the white haired men and women.

Meanwhile, the dragon saw the small figure wearing last night's animal skin coat above the usual shirt and trousers of the village children admist the group that came out. The boy was also looking at the roof where he sensed the dragon was at.

Before anybody could react, the black figure from the roof dived down and snatched the boy admist the group. Then, it flew up to the roof again, whimpering while holding the boy its arms.

”NO! LING! MY BABY!”

”The dragon snatched a child! Get your weapons!”

”Move all the children away from here!”

”Aahh! It was going to attack me too!”

”I WANT EVERYBODY TO LISTEN TO ME! LOWER YOUR WEAPONS AND LET ME TALK!”

The booming voice startled all the people, and dragon, present. Some heard a ringing sound in their ears even after the voice faded out, making them wince while still covering their ears with their hands. Fortunately, nobody fainted unlike the last time Shaman Matnaad shouted like this during a war, which could be another story.

”As I've proposed to the other elders,” the shaman looked at the said elders before continuing after no peep came out of these old men and women, ”and with their permission, I want to talk to Ling alone.”

He turned his stare to the figures at the top and somewhat restpectfully, asked, ”Maga, right? You can come with us too.”