Hello and thanks for reading!
Information: This story is set during the events surrounding HTTYD 2 and afterwards.
(Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD)
The Adventures of Cuftank the Thunderclaw: Chapter 1
It was a normal day that dawned on the peaceful slopes of Thunderclaw Island. My herd and I were Thunderclaws, large, horned, sharp class dragons. My name is Cuftank, and I was a young shortwing. I had been born and raised on the island, and I loved it with all of my heart. For fourteen months I had explored my home, being taught by my herd how to hunt boars and other land animals. We lived a quiet life, but a happy one. On this particular sunny day, we were resting in the sun in our favorite meadow. Unfortunately, the peace of the meadow that day was interrupted by a startling cry of, "Attack!"
My herd snapped awake and looked at their surroundings. From the edges of the forest, we could just barely see some humans. In no time for me to think clearly, the whole herd and I took off into the sky to escape in a panic. I saw Rumblebuffin, an adult male, and Whelkbarrow, an adult female, get netted and crash to the ground. All of a sudden a large net came at me, encircling my wings, and sending me smashing to the ground. I struggled to get free, and saw two other netted Thunderclaws fall too. One had a net around his head, and he was able to roast it off and fly off again. The other was also able to get away. Something bounced off my horn. It was a tranquilizer dart, I realized. I thanked God that he gave me thick skin. I continued struggling as the humans threw more ropes on me and pulled me down. One with a bottle of something ran up to me. I roared at him and he took the opportunity to pour whatever it was in my mouth. All of a sudden, my vision became fuzzy and I couldn't think. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was the man who poured the liquid in my mouth, smirking at me.
Hours later, I groggily woke up to darkness and the sense that there were many other dragons around me. I tries to move but discovered I was muzzled and chained. The other dragons were all groaning in dismay. I heard what sounded like a monstrous nightmare growl and then a muffled sand wraith call from behind the wood enclosure. I recognized a guttural growl, belonging to Rumblebuffin. I tried to growl to see if any others of my herd are there. Whelkbarrow and Rubblebuffin were the only other Thunderclaws with me. Looking up, I saw a grate and some meager sunlight coming through. The wooden enclosure was moving back and forth, an odd sensation for a land dragon. Every once and a while, a dragon would struggle to try to get free. Once a Nightmare broke one rope holding him by bursting into flames, but couldn't break the others. For the the seven seconds that the Nightmare was illuminated, I was able to see where I was. I was in a rather small wooden enclosure reinforced with metal bars with several other dragons. I saw Rumblebuffin, chained and laying on his side, and Whelkbarrow, looking nervous from her corner. The Nightmare looked positively infuriated that he was tied up, and a Hobblegrunt that was next to him tried to calm him down. A dragon's shadow was on the wall, but I couldn't see the dragon that made it.
As I looked closer, something hissed at me. I thought a felt a leafy branch brush my side. Then it was dark again. In the hours that followed, the dragon I couldn't see and the exhausted Nightmare kept trying to break their bonds. Rumblebuffin also strained against his chains, but it didn't work. Finally, after hours of lying in that enclosure, we heard voices and the overhead grate opened. These were the same humans that had trapped us. The dragons all let out growls and the Nightmare let out a muffled shriek. Four humans walked slowly over to the Hobblegrunt. She hissed angrily and raised her frill at them. They seized her ropes and cut them off. Then they dragged the struggling Hobblegrunt under the open grate. More men from up above lowered ropes. They tied her up and lifted her out of the enclosure. Then men then turned to the Nightmare, who stared them with his slits of eyes. The moment they had grabbed the ropes, he set himself on fire and swung back and forth. Surprisingly, the men held on to the ropes, though one was smacked by the nightmare's tail. The other men jumped down and helped pull the nightmare down. Two of them doused him with water. He finally collapsed, exhausted. The men lifted him out of the enclosure. Next they turned to the mysterious shadow next to me. "Where'd it go?" said a trapper. "They don't call it a Changewing for nothing." said another. "Vlad, bring some paint!" he said. When they had got the bucket of paint, he flung it at the empty space next to me. The paint splashed on something big. A strange head appeared along with a large chained body. The Changewing hissed at them. The men began again to cut the ropes and pull the dragon above. The changewing put up a good fight, though not as violent as the monstrous nightmare. His still invisible tail knocked around the men. I could still hear signs of struggle even after they had disappeared from sight. Next, is was my turn. I struggled a little, but after seeing the other dragons subdued, I knew I could not get away. I was lifted above the enclosure into the bright light. When my eyes adjusted, I saw that I was on a big wooden ship with two sails. On one side of the ship was the sea and some other ships, and on the other was a glacier with many warships. I was led off the boat and onto an icy shore where the Hobblegrunt, Nightmare, Changewing, and many other dragons were being led. There were giant metal cages and fearsome trapping devices all over the beach. I heard Whelkbarrow being led behind me. Most of the dragons there were chained and watched, but there were some, mostly other thunderclaws, that wore metal and were pulling carts or trapping devices. I couldn't understand why they didn't fly away. Eventually, all the new dragons were put in fireproof cages by themselves and were unchained. Our muzzles were also removed and we were given fish. I gulped mine down and wished I had some water to drink too. I watched a placid-looking, young Sand Wraith in a cage next to mine have his muzzle removed. As soon as it came off, he turned ferocious and tried sending a sand fire-ball at the men. His shot limit had apparently been used up, because nothing came out of his mouth. The men stumbled back though, but before the Wraith could get away they shut the cage. "I see we have a rebel." said a man. "No fish today."
The wraith eyed the men with hatred. I felt bad for him as a fellow sufferer. I threw up some of my fish and tossed it to him. He eyed me gratefully before eating the fish in one gulp. "Do you know were we are? I said. "Far North" he said. "the most dangerous place for a dragon to be: Drago Bludvist's Army."
I gasped, "Who is Drago Bloodfist? And why does he have an army of dragons?" "Of that I am not sure." replied the Wraith. "All I know is that every dragon in my family has warned me to stay away from the north glacier because a horrible, dragon-controlling human lives there. I was a fool. I attacked a trappers boat that smelled like it had food on board. One day I'll get revenge on that trapper who injured me." For the first time I noticed his right wing was hanging limp. "What is your name?" I asked. "Surewing, though I am not sure it suits me very well just now." He replied, licking his injured wing. "What is yours?" "Cuftank the Thunderclaw, part of the Thunderclaw Island herd." I said. I was captured along with two others." "Thunderclaws, huh? I see a lot of them around here." He was right. Almost half of the army dragons were of my kind. I had never seen any so many hopeless faces. I worried about what had happened to them. A few hours passed, and the ships continued to unload more dragons. I spotted a Scauldron and a Thunderdrum that had almost broke free from their ropes. The men darted them immediately. "It seems impossible to escape!" I said. Some trappers always had bola-throwers at the ready to take down a stray dragon. As night fell, the men built fires. Many dragons slept but I stayed awake. What will happen to us? I thought. Some men walked by me and I growled at them. They stopped by Surewing's cage. "See, he won't ever fly again!" said a man. Surewing woke up and resumed his decievingly placid behavior. "Why did you slash it's wing, Leik?" said an arrogant man with a black tattoo on his chin. "It was getting away!" another man said "and it also killed one of the men!" "Well you've ruined him! We won't have another head this fine in weeks!" growled the tattooed man. "Feed him to the Beast, he is worthless now." Surewing's eyes got wide and he whispered, "So it is true!" I grunted and struggled against my cage. How could I stop the men? "Surewing!" I groaned.
"I'm taking no chances. Tranquilize him." said the man called Leik. Surewing reared up but collapsed when he was darted. They dragged him away as I stood helpless to do anything. I felt fear. Was I next? What terrible fate awaited Surewing? How can the men be so evil? My thoughts were interrupted
as I heard a roar and a rush of water. My small eyes could only detect a huge white dragon, but my sense of smell detected more: A Bewilderbeast! The huge creature splashed back into the sea. All the dragons woke up and started talking among themselves worriedly. How could a Bewilderbeast be captured by these men? If a Bewilderbeast was controlled by them, what could stop it from dominating all the dragons? I fell back asleep with dread in my heart.
Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Remember, I need at least three comments for me to post the next chapter.