Nice work squeezing a lot of action and dialogue into the word count :) I didn’t see that use of “creative resources” coming, that was pretty neat.
I did have to re-read the first few paragraphs to understand all the action as it was quite dense. I think you mentioned on discord that this is part of a series(?) but if I think about it in isolation, I think the story may be stronger without Halfdan? That would let you focus on the relationship between Hrothgar and Unas and the banter between them (“I had hoped you would have downloaded some flying lessons by now” etc etc).
Anyway just my $0.02 - it was a really neat story and fun to read!