The Price of a Secret
Early in the summer on the Archipelago the sun shone down on both the Isle of Berk and Dragon Island. The two islands had a very healthy alliance. Dragon Island had recently experienced a violent volcano eruption. The land was twice as big as it was when the Red Death owned it. The trees and plants had all grown back, thanks to Queen Aurora's magic.
Re and Aurora woke up before everyone else. They slept in the large throne with their two young hatchlings, Apollo and Avalon. Re, the king of the dragons, was a handsome emerald green with kelly green under scales and ocean blue eyes. He wore gold armor with the Draconian crest (a green dragon holding a gold apple and a gold music note in its claws, surounded by a blue circle) on his head plate/crown. Queen Aurora was sapphire blue with tropical blue under scales and silver eyes. She wore silver armor with a snowflake on her crown. Prince Apollo was blood red with gold horns, spines, eyes, and talons. He wore dark red armor with a gold crest on his crown of a dolphin leaping over a lyre surrounded by a wreath. Princess Avalon was teal green with violet horns and spines, and lavender eyes. She wore purple armor with a green maple leaf on her crown. The dragon armor had been updated so it was harder to cut of, 100% fireproof, and 100% heatproof. The plates overlapped and the leather straps that held them together were reinforced with chainmail.
The for dragons got up and stretched their limbs and wings.
"Can we go play in the tide pools?" Avalon asked.
"Okay, but be sure to come in when the tide comes in," Aurora said.
"We will," said Apollo. He and his sister left the throne room and headed for the opposite site of the island where the tide pools were. Re and Aurora spread their wings and headed for Berk where Serenity and her family were. A Sliquifier had come to her the day before in desperate need of Serenity's help, so they all spent the night at her hospital. The two dragons landed in the plaza. They made their way up to the Dragon Hospital. They found the Sliquifier asleep on the Dragonnip while Serenity changed her bandage. The dragon was a lighter teal color than Princess Avalon, with sapphire blue fins and tail flukes.
"Good morning," Serenity said as she finished up.
"She's very pretty," Aurora said. Serenity gently stroked the sea dragon's neck.
"Her name is Atlantica," she said. "She had been attacked by a shark." She pointed to the dragon's left hind leg, which was all bandaged up.
"Is Chris still sleeping?" Aurora asked.
"Edelweiss too," Serenity said. "But that's okay, I got up early this morning 'cause Atlantica's leg was bothering her." She sat in her chair.
"When do you think she'll be healed?" Re asked as he and Aurora sat beside her.
"Um, well I think she'll be better by the end of this week," Serenity said. "Dragons can take very good care of themselves, that's probably why I don't get very many patients very often." Re lit her camp fire.
"So, you're staying here another night?" he asked.
"I will stay here for as long as it takes," Serenity said strongly. Then she yawned.
"Maybe you should go back to sleep, you look like you didn't get enough sleep," Aurora said.
"No, I'm okay," Serenity said. But her eyes were drooping.
"You're going to make yourself sick if you keep putting of sleep," Aurora said. Serenity sighed.
"Very well," she said. She checked to make sure Atlantica was sleeping pain free. Then she went back into the house. Chris was so dead to the world that he didn't even stir when Serenity crawled into bed next to him. She kissed his cheek, before falling asleep.
Outside Re and Aurora were making their way down to the plaza for take off. They didn't want to take off at the hospital incase it woke up Atlantica.
"Well what do you want to do now?" Re asked.
"I would like to go fishing," Aurora said. "Maybe we can catch a giant squid."
"Or a marlin," Re said. They were just about to take off when Hiccup and Toothless came out of their house.
"Hello," Hiccup said.
"Good morning," Re said.
"What brings you two here?" Hiccup asked.
"Checking up on Chris and Serenity," Aurora said. "A Sliquifier got attacked by a shark last night, she came to Serenity for help."
"Did you say a Sliquifier?" Hiccup asked.
"Yes, a very young one," said Re.
"Wow, she must be really good by now to have a dragon like a Sliquifier ask for her help," Hiccup said. "They're supposed to be really hard to catch one."
"You've seen one?" Re asked.
"No, just read about them," Hiccup said. "I wonder what other unknown species Serenity's cured."
"As far as you're concerned, probably a majority of her patients were dragons you've never heard of," Aurora said.
"Wow," Hiccup said.
"Now if you'll excuse us, we're going fishing," Re said.
"Sure," Hiccup said. Re and Aurora walked past him to a clear spot on the plaza. Re spread his wings and lifted off the ground. Aurora was about to follow him when Hiccup spoke up again.
"Hey Aurora," he said. Aurora paused with her wings extended.
"Yes?" she said, looking over her wing.
"If Changewings, Bewilderbeasts, and the Red Death have special powers, how come you don't?" Hiccup asked. "I thought all alphas and queens had that."
"Toothless doesn't," Aurora pointed out. "Nor dose Windwalker. Not every leader has the gift of magic."
"But Draco has magic," Hiccup said. "And he's your dad and all." Aurora scrunched up her face like she was in pain. At that moment the other riders came out of their houses.
"Hey Aurora," said Fishlegs. "You look stressed." And she was very stressed. All her life Lord Draco told her to never reveal the fact that she had magic to the humans. And she swore she would never tell her secret. Neither of them wanted her magic to be used as a weapon. Aurora had fought in the Battle of the Bewilderbeast and seen what kind of destruction a human could do with a dragon's magic. It scared her to death to think that it could be her possessing an innocent dragon to kill a friend. She only really used her magic when there were no humans in sight, except for Chris and Serenity.
"I get the feeling she's hiding something," said Hiccup. They all looked at her. She closed her eyes wishing they would just drop it.
"What are you hiding Aurora?" asked Snotlout, suspicious. Aurora hissed. She figured she could just fly away, but the riders would just catch up to her and continue to nag her.
"I'm not hiding anything," she said. She folded her wings.
"Then how come you pulled that face when I asked you about Draco and magic?" asked Hiccup.
"Magic?" said Astrid, surprised. "You have magic?"
"No I don't," said Aurora.
"Why not?" asked Fishlegs. "A dragon with your bloodline should have magic. You could save a lot of lives."
"And you could eliminate all the evildoers in the world," Snotlout said.
"Father doesn't want my magic to be used as a weapon," Aurora blurted out before she could stop herself. They all looked shocked.
"So you do have magic," said Astrid. Aurora suddenly realized what she just said.
"Oh no," she moaned, her secret was out. "Father will be so furious." She immediately spread her wings and flew off as fast as she could, using her magic in front of all the riders to turn herself invisible.
"Wow, she has magic," said Fishlegs.
"I wonder where Re went?" Hiccup asked. "I think he could elaborate. Let's go find him." They mounted their dragons and headed out to find the Dragon King.
The whole time Re had been flying to a nearby island where there was a large heard of boars, perfect for hunting. But he was oblivious to the fact that Aurora wasn't following him, until he tried to talk to her.
"How many boars should we hunt?" he asked. "Just enough the two of us, or some for all our family?" He expected Aurora to come up with the idea to combine both Re's ideas, but she didn't say anything. Re looked over his wing to see why she hadn't said anything, she was no where to be seen.
"Aurora?" he called. "Where are you?" Suddenly his animal instincts blared, telling him something was wrong. He turned around and flew back the way he came as fast as he could. He kept calling for his mate and receiving no answer. He got more and more worried. Soon he saw the Riders of Berk up ahead and flew up to them and pulled alongside.
"Have you guys seen Aurora?" he asked.
"She took off," said Hiccup. "She seemed really upset after she told us she has magic." Re looked surprised.
"She told you she has magic?" he asked.
"I don't think she meant to," Astrid said. "She just sort of blurted it out. After that she looked like she wished she hadn't said anything, then she growled something and took off. She turned invisible."
"Oh no," Re said.
"Why?" asked Hiccup. "What's going to happen to her?"
"That's exactly what she's afraid of," Re said. "She doesn't know what you're going to do with her magic. She doesn't want her magic to be used as a weapon, like Drago Bludvist did with the Bewilderbeast."
"We won't use her magic as a weapon," Hiccup said.
"You say that now," Re said. "But what about in the most dire of circumstances, when you think you'er out of options." Hiccup said nothing.
"Is that why she ran?" asked Astrid.
"Yes," Re said. He looked really worried.
"Are you going to kill us because we know too much?" asked Ruffnut.
"I'll worry about all this when Aurora is found and safe," Re said. He turned around and headed for Dragon Island where Tenor and Windwalker were waiting.
Miles away Aurora flew over the ocean, heading southeast, she had lifted her cloaking spell. She felt so ashamed for all her actions. Her magic was supposed to remain a secret from the humans, that was her father's number one rule. She wondered what Draco was going to do to her. She looked up at the Dragon Heaven, which was the constellation Draco. She begged for his forgiveness.
"What ever you do to me father, I will accept," she said, knowing Draco could hear her. "I deserve the worst." She unfortunately she didn't spot the Chinese junk underneath her in the dying light. She didn't see the large Dragon's Teeth bola sailing through the air, towards her. A Dragon's Teeth was a metal bola with huge, metal barbs all over it. So it was quite painful when it wrapped itself around the queen.