The movie theater was packed for the premiere of How to train your Dragon, and she could barely believe how many people there were. "Oh my, look at all the little Vikings." She heard her mother say in bemusement as a group of kids dressed as Snotlout ran by them wearing their little horned helmets, and waving around their plastic swords.
"That's nothing, you see how many kids are dressed as Ruffnut and Tuffnut?" Her dad said in a conspirator's whisper that was just a tad too loud since she was fairly sure that everyone in the immediate area could hear him sniggering.
"I don't see anyone dressed as Hiccup." She finally said as she tilted her head back to look at her parents. They both absently reached out and ran their fingers through her mid back length black hair.
"Well that's okay. Even if no one is dressed like him, I'm sure that there are some people hanging around who are cheering for the guy." Her father finally said before then asking, "So how come you decided not to dress up like everyone else? Not that you don't look nice in what your wearing, but you've been driving us up the wall for the past four months wanting everything dragon-ish."
"Movies, bedtime stories-" Her mother began, causing her to roll her eyes as her dad finished for her mom.
"Didn't you even do a school book report on dragons? What was it called now- Mythology or Fact?"
"Hey! You have no right to complain since I made an A plus on that report. And my teacher was so impressed that-"
"She gave you in-school. We remember." Her mom said with a small smile, trying to hide the fact that she was still upset by the incident and could still at this very moment drive up to the school and pull her daughter's teacher aside and strangle them for deciding to discipline her little girl for her overactive imagination.
The damned shrews wouldn't know anything truly imaginative if it walked right up to them and bit them.
"Well you still have no right to complain since I got a good grade on it."
"Yes and we were very impressed after reading it too. You're going to have such a great career as a quack one day that no one will care if you turn out to be a crazy cat lady with a ton of cats. After all, you'll have your doctorate and being a crazy cat lady with a degree just makes you eccentric." Her dad said as he leaned down and gave her a kiss, causing her to huff at him in exasperation as he glanced over at his wife and the two shared a sad smile.
Despite how they often spoke or acted towards their young daughter- they knew that the time was quickly approaching where she would have to be told the truth about their family. And that they were descended from dragons.
Or rather the creator of all dragon kind. The dragon gods.
Which meant that their little girl would have to be shown the remains of the dragon king, the ancient scrolls, and other treasures that they had hidden from all mankind for centuries. But most importantly of all...she would have to go through the trial.
The same test that many of the females of their bloodline went through to see if they had inherited anything from their dragon blood.
His wife had.
She could manipulate fire, as well as sing ancient songs long thought dead. And if she had inherited then chances were very likely that their daughter had too.
The only question left to ask themselves is if she was the next devine mother.
And if she was...then the fall of their bloodline was close at hand. Which meant that to protect their daughter they would have to use what knowledge of magic and sorcery they knew to send her away, otherwise someone else in their family just might kill her.
(***00***)
Teal colored eyes slowly blinked open as the slight rocking of the floor that she was lying upon finally pierced her consciousness. Sighing as she took in her dimly lit surroundings, she wasn't sure what to feel anymore about her imprisonment.
Carefully pushing herself up off of the hard wood that she had slept upon, she once again ignored the pain and stiffness that she felt as she sat herself against the far wall facing the iron bars of her cell.
She no longer wondered why she dreamt of her parents, nor how everything had started to go so horribly, horribly wrong.
Mainly because she no longer cared.
It had been well over six months since she had last seen anything remotely familiar. Anything remotely home-like. Her parents had most likely died during the assassination attempt on her when their entire home had gone up in flames. And not just any flames.
Dragon's fire.
She never thought that she would live to see the day when all of her childish fantasies came to life as a nightmare of epic proportions. Between the dragon's fire consuming her home, the injuries that she had sustained the night of her attempted murder, and the death of her parents- she hadn't questioned much how she had gone from a burning building with her parents to suddenly finding herself adrift at sea.
Nor had she questioned her 'rescue' by the strangers, one of whom had taken a liking to her and in his own warped way had been protecting her from his comrades.
Or at least that was always the impression that she got from the redheaded man in the weird face paint and leather and metal armor, Dagur- it had taken well over a month for her just to pick up his name due to the language barrier.
The same language barrier that got her meals with held from her, got her beaten and had almost gotten her frigging killed on several occasions before he had come to save her.
Apparently hurting, injuring and killing a little kid just wasn't what the man had signed up for when he had signed up for his job. And he took those who did those things and tossed them overboard into the sea where he and the other inhabitants watched them either drown, or get eaten by sharks or...water type dragons.
Either way, the guys unfortunate enough to cross him, wound up dead.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she missed hearing Dagur's voice yelling something above deck as his heavy footsteps helped her figure out what he was doing. And from the sounds of things, he was coming below deck. Though why she couldn't fathom.
He had placed her in her current cell to protect her from the others as well as the wild beasts that they captured, killed, and took to market for trade and such. So it was a little bit beyond her reasoning at the moment why he would make any attempt to come down to where she was while he was supposed to be working.
Which was why when he and several other people appeared, five of which were some of his men, and two others who just happened to be strangers- one male and one female- and he opened the cell and tossed the other two into the room with her, she wasn't exactly sure how to react.
The man shouted several things at Dagur as the woman looked around the cell until her eyes came to stop on her. Curiosity flickered in her expression as she quietly reached out and tapped her friend on a shoulder to get his attention before she pointed her out.
She shrank back underneath both of their stares.
She couldn't help it, usually whenever someone looked at her like that pain of some kind ensued.
(***00***)
Queen Mala didn't know what to say for once.
It was one thing for the ruler of the Defender's of the Wing to go on patrol for dragon hunters, and get caught. But to find herself not only captured and held prisoner but to find a young child of maybe nine or ten winters old also being held captive- was merely beyond words.
It was horrifying.
Outrageous even.
Dropping into a kneeling position on the floor where she had been standing, her green eyes locked on the little one, she noted the way that the child shrank back from her and her guard. The fear that the child's expression held, leaving a bitter taste in her mouth as she slowly extended a hand towards the child.
Always keeping in mind that the child could be a dragon hunter herself- though it seemed highly unlikely considering the state that she was in.
The poor thing looked far too thin. Her long black hair was tangled and matted around her pale face. Her clothing was practically threadbare and offered little to no protection against the winter season's chill. Though it was a tad bit warmer here below the enemy ship's deck, it still wasn't enough to ensure that the child didn't succumb to illness.
Reaching up, Mala shrugged her shoulders so that her large, long jacket slid from her body and then held it out to the child, hoping that she would take it. However after a moment or so of absolutely no movement whatsoever it became apparent that perhaps the child was far too frightened to try.
Either that or she feared that there would be repercussions.
"It's alright little one, you don't have to be afraid. I just want to give you my jacket so that you do not take a chill." Mala said in a low, coaxing tone of voice. The same tone of voice that she often used to sooth a nervous, hurt or frightened animal.
Not that the child was an animal or anything.
But sometimes the same tone worked on human's as well.
She made a few more coaxing sounds and noted that the girl was slowly starting to react to her tone. She was no longer cowering against the wall. She was slowly shifting away from it, though Mala could tell that she was still greatly afraid.
And finally after what seemed like forever, the little one reached out and tentatively grasped Mala's jacket and carefully tugged it from her grip and then scampered back away from the Queen and her guard until she was settled back against the wall again as Dagur came back into view and spoke to the two strangers in the cell with her briefly before handing over some food.
Not the usual gruel either, but actual food.
Some oats sweetened with honey, and some pieces of dried meat strips and four pieces of fruit. Nice crisp looking pears from the looks of them.
The woman carefully divided the food for the three of them and handed the man's portion to him and then set aside her own portion before she then brought her her portion, and carefully set everything down where she could reach it before backing off again when she heard the man speak. But tuned it out since she couldn't understand what he was saying anyways.
"What do you think Dagur meant when he said she wasn't safe here anymore?"
"What he meant was- He's going to let us go as long as we take her away with us."
"Are you sure that's what he meant? It could be a trap of some kind."
"It could be, but I very much doubt that it is since he seemed concerned for the child's wellbeing." Mala replied as she sat down on the floor of the ship that she and her guard would no doubt destroy and glanced over at the child that they would be taking with them when they escaped.