Call of the Night
One early summer night over the archipelago, Tenor was on the hunt for his midnight meal. He was prowling through the forest on the Isle of Change, being very quiet. The Changewings had graciously let him hunt on their lands. He kept to the shadows where his black scales made him invisible. He soon spotted a few boars, also hunting. They were stalking a baby Changewing that had fallen out of his nest. They suddenly charged at him. The baby dragon ran for his life. The boars ran after it, and Tenor ran silently through the shadows after the boars. The baby dragon ran until it got too tired. Tenor leapt onto the branch of a tree, preparing to attack. The boars advanced on the helpless Changewing, surrounding him. They then pounced on their victim. Tenor roared and pounced on the boars. They scattered in a squealing fit. The largest boar ran at Tenor thinking it could take him out. Tenor snarled and swiped his claws at the prey, slashing it across the face. The pig squealed and fell over in pain. Then the rest of the boars came at him. One jumped on his back and tried hooking him with its tusks. Tenor bucked it off, while slashing more boars with his talons. The biggest got to its feet and joined the fight. Tenor launched into the air and circled his prey. He swooped down and snagged the biggest boar in his talons. He hovered in the air. The boar squealing for its life. He then sank his black, venomous teeth into the boars flesh. It died instantly. Then Tenor dropped it near the other boars. He then attack the others, slashing and biting all seven boars. Then he put them all into a pile and landed. The baby Changewing crawled out of its hiding place. Tenor turned his attention to the hatchling.
"Where's you mother?" he asked.
"Still sleeping in the gorge," said the hatchling. "Can you take me back? I can't fly yet." Tenor pulled his black teeth into his gums. He lifted off the ground and gently picked up the hatchling in his talons. He flew off and headed back to where the mother Changewings slept.
"Which is your cave?" Tenor asked.
"That one," said the hatchling. He pointed to a cave near the top of the gorge wall. Tenor flew down and landed at the entrance. He let out a screech to alert the parents. A pair of Changewings came out of the cave.
"Excuse this intrusion," Tenor said. "But is this one yours?" The mother looked at the hatchling, and her face lit up.
"Mama!" cried the young dragon. He ran to his mother and she nuzzled him. She then turned to Tenor.
"Thank you sir," she said. Tenor gave a small bow and turned to go.
"Just a minute," said the father Changewing. "You can spend the night here if you want, we must be allowed to return the favor." Tenor looked over his wing and smiled.
"As much as I would love to acept that offer," he said. "I have my own family to get home to. I just caught them lunch and should take it to them before scavengers get a hold of it."
"Lunch? But it's midnight," said the mother.
"For me midnight is lunchtime," Tenor said. "My family and I are nocturnal you see."
"Well where do you live?" asked the mother.
"Dragon Island," Tenor said. "My brother's the King."
"Oh, you're the Draconian Prime Minister," said the father. "I've heard of you. And from what we've heard of you, you must have really proud parents." A look of sadness and longing came across Tenor's snout. He turned towards the sky and flew away. The father turned to his mate.
"Was is something I said?" he asked.
Tenor flew back to where he left the boars. He picked them up by the legs and headed back towards Dragon Island. He was deep in thought as he flew over the ocean. All his life he had looked different from other dragons. He had just been left on the doorstep of the Draconian Castle as an egg. Whenever he went out to play with Re and Aurora all the other dragons avoided him for several reasons: he was the only dragon with tail fins, he was the only dragon with no parents, and he was the only dragon that was all black. Most dragons had black on them, but none of them were as black as him. He also won every game, causing the other dragons to not want to play with him because they were sick of losing all the time. The only friends he ever had were all gathered at Dragon Island, he also had a few on Berk. He had a mate and a daughter who looked like him, he also had the prettiest Dragon Healer in the world for a rider. He had a throne in the Draconian Castle next to the Dragon King. And though he thanked Lord Draco for all this, he still dreamed of one day finding his parents and finding out why they left his egg on the doorstep. He often feared that they left him there because they didn't want him, like having a hatchling was the worst thing in the world.
At that moment he arrived at Dragon Island which was devoid of vegetation at the moment due to the volcanic eruption the previous year. The whole island was covered in dried lava. Tenor flew to the smoke cave and landed at the entrance. He began skinning the boars with his claws and teeth. There was no blood because his venom had evaporated it all. Once all the boars were skinned he brought them all into the cave where the boars and salmon his mate Windwalker had caught night before. He pulled down those boars and hung up the ones he caught, for the following night's meal. He then relit the fire that made the needed smoke. He clamped the boars in his talons and flew up to the cave he shared with his family. He landed on the ledge outside their cave. As he walked in he found Windwalker waiting for him. The cave was lit by the fire and the glowing crystals that hung from the ceiling.
"You've been ages," said Windwalker. "Does it really take you that long to catch a few helpless boars?"
"Sorry I was defending a helpless baby Changewing from those boars," Tenor said. "And there was quite a few of them."
"Oh, that makes sense," said Windwalker. The way she was talking made Tenor think that she was hiding something. He looked around the cave. Then something jumped onto his back from above. He roared in surprise. He looked over his wing to see Black Widow perched on his shoulders looking pleased with herself.
"Ha! You didn't even see me over the doorway did you?" she said, laughing.
"No you got me," Tenor said, quite proud. He looked at the top of the doorway. "What were you perched on? There's nothing but flat stone." Black Widow jumped to the ground, very happy, and crawled up the wall like a spider to the top of the doorway and stopped. She was using her talons to dig into the rock.
"Impressive," said Tenor.
"Yeah, I was inspired by the spider I'm named after," Black Widow said. She jumped from the wall and onto the floor again. She had grown a little bit. When she hatched she was the size of a piglet, now she was the size of a sheep. She still had a long way to go before she was big enough for a rider. The three of them then gathered around the fire with the smoked boars. Because they were nocturnal the tree black dragons went to bed when the sun came up. The cave entrance was covered by a rolling stone.
Windwalker had a daymare that day, about when her parents were mercilessly assassinated by a Night Fury she thought was a friend. She'd had this daymare quite often, ever since it happened. And it ended the same, with her parents killed and her old friend Syrik harassing her. She woke up just before he finished the job. She sat up and looked around breathing heavily. The cave was very dark and even a little spooky, much like the cave the event had taken place in. Suddenly she heard a loud snort coming out of the darkness. She jumped to her feet and took a fighting stance. Then she saw glowing green eyes in the dark.
"Show yourself!" she ordered. The dragon moaned then lit the fire pit. Windwalker saw that it was only Tenor looking annoyed, amused, and worried.
"Daymare again?" he asked, with a yawn.
"Yeah," Windwalker said, a bit embarrassed. "About the night my parents were murdered."
"Oh that explains a lot," Tenor said.
"I've had this daymare ever since it happened," Windwalker said, laying back down.
"At least you got to meet your parents," Tenor said sadly. Windwalker looked at him.
"Oh yeah you never met your huh?" she said. Tenor shook his head.
"They're out there somewhere," he said.
"Have you ever tried to find them?" Windwalker asked.
"I don't even now where to start looking," Tenor said. "They could be anywhere, and furthermore they might not even be alive."
"Well we can still try," Windwalker said. "Maybe one of the dragons in this archipelago have seen them." Tenor sighed.
"Okay," he said. "We can bring the others with us."
"Then come on what are we waiting for?" said Windwalker. She jumped to her feet again. She rolled the stone aside, letting in the sunlight.
"We could wait until evening," Tenor said.
"You want to find them don't you?" asked Windwalker.
"Of course I do," Tenor said.
"Then come on," Windwalker said. She spread her wings and vanished. Tenor quickly opened his wings and followed her. They flew to the throne room which was behind a set of ivory doors and the bricks were made of polished lava stones. The two dragons entered the throne room and landed on the large ledge. Re and Aurora were sitting around the big fire pit with Serenity, Chris, and Edelweiss. Apollo, Avalon, and Eider were most likely out playing.
"Well what brings you two out this time of day?" Re asked.
"Re I want to find my parents," Tenor blurted out. "I want to find out why they left me behind as an egg." Re and Aurora exchanged a glance.
"It makes sense that you would want to find them," said Aurora.
"Maybe you could use your magic to track them," said Windwalker.
"That sounds like it might work," said Aurora. "My magic hasn't failed me yet in finding something."
"But we can't go after them just yet," Re said. "This might take a long flight, over dangerous country and ocean. We'll need preparations."
"And maybe Hiccup and his riders can help," said Serenity.
"Great idea," said Tenor.
"You two can go back to sleep," said Aurora. "You'll need your rest. We'll leave tomorrow. We'll go ask the Berkians if they will help us look, I have to think of what to say that doesn't reveal the fact I have magic."
"Okay," said Windwalker. "We'll come back here when we're ready to go." The two of them spread their wings and flew back out. They went back to their cave which was adjoined to Serenity and Chris's room via Whispering Death tunnel. When they got back they went right back to sleep. Black Widow was curled up on a bed of wool stuffed into leather. The two adults warmed their spot next to her, curled together and fell asleep. Tenor was happy that he was about to make his dream come true.
He dreamt that he was flying over a huge island with a few villages on its shores. It was night and the full moon was right in front of him. As he flew low over the trees he spotted a black shape running as fast as it could. More dark figures were chasing it. The dark shape was joined by another and they ran for their lives. Tenor swooped down to save them because something told him those shapes were innocent. But suddenly a bola came out of nowhere and bound him to the forest floor. He landed near a cliff where the two dark shapes were being cornered by the hunters. They had weapons and torches pointed at their victims. Tenor felt adrenaline build up, and suddenly he was flying backwards faster than normal. He stopped back at Dragon Island. A head of him was the full moon at its highest point. It shone down on him as though beckoning him towards it. He was about to follow it and save those two helpless individuals, but then he woke up.
He opened his eyes and sat up. The moon was right outside. It was a waxing crescent. Tenor carefully got to his feet so he didn't wake Windwalker. He went outside where he could see the moon better. It seemed to speak to his instincts; saying that he had to follow the moon to that island, and he had to get there before the full moon which was less than a month away. If he didn't get there in time he would regret it. He looked behind him at Windwalker and Black Widow. They were both asleep. He wondered if he should wake them. But his instincts told him that he had to go alone, he'd be faster and get there sooner. Tenor took his crown off and put it at the mouth of the cave. He hoped it would help the others follow him when they all woke up. Then he spread his wings and flew into the moonlight.