AUTHOR'S NOTE: I claim no rights to other characters than Iselin and her dragon, Wonderchant. The rest of them and the places mentioned belong to Cressida Cowell and DreamWorks.
Pssst. I hope it's okay I created a character of my own :') Hope you like it!
It was the darkest hour of an autumn night on the isle of Berk. The only audible sound was the swishing of a dragon's wings as it flew towards the closest shore on the island with its dainty rider in the dim light of the full moon. They landed right at the edge of a vast forest where the beach began, and the female rider took out her shiny dagger.
"Wonderchant, will you please lift me a little so I can cut us some firewood?" The dragon let out a musical hum and obeyed the rider.
The rider cut some branches and the dragon put her down, earning a gentle stroke from the rider.
"Thanks, boy. It's getting cold out here so campfire is a necessity," the rider mused to her dragon as she piled the branches. When she was content with the pile she had made, she frowned looking at it.
"Yeah, perhaps it's better if I gather some rocks to secure the fire before lighting it," the rider murmured to herself and turned to her dragon, "it's okay, you can go to sleep now, boy. I'll just go search the beach and gather some rocks and I'll be back here in no time."
She looked fondly at her drowsy-looking dragon as he briefly hummed to his mistress and lay down beside the freshly gathered firewood. The rider turned around and started to search the beach for adequate size rocks, humming a beautiful melody.
While she was gathering rocks, she would look longingly at the full moon at times, thinking of her family that had probably perished in the shipwreck that had led her to her dragon's island about a year ago. She had had a mother, a father and a little sister whom she now missed terribly much. Of course she had searched the archipelago and beyond when she had learned to ride on Wonderchant but their efforts had been fruitless so far.
"Oh how I wish you guys were here... to see me and Wonderchant now, you would be amazed by him. I really miss you all," she murmured sadly and sniffed, still looking at the moon. She looked back to where she believed her dragon was, sighed, and started humming again. She looked around at the moonlit sand and grabbed two more rocks, deciding they would do. She jogged back towards the big, black silhouette of her dragon and got down on her knees beside the firewood. She set the rocks in a circle around the wood, and was left with two spare rocks. She put them on her lap and took one branch at a time to roll them hot.
When she was done with five branches and the palms of her hands felt like they were on fire, the rider rubbed the two spare stones against one another right above the branches and managed to ignite them with a few sparks. She smiled contentedly at the campfire and went to sit right next to her dragon. She leaned her back comfortably on her dragon's side, and he partly hid her under his right wing and rested his head on her thighs. The rider looked fondly at the dragon and stroked his head, making the dragon hum drowsily in response. She then admired the full moon and the stars one more time but yawned and closed her eyes. It only took her a few minutes to fall into a peaceful sleep in the warmth from her dragon and the campfire.
At the same time in the biggest building of the village, the chief of the tribe, Hiccup Haddock III, was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling as his black Night Fury, Toothless, was dozing off on his big stone bed. Hiccup closed his eyes, turned to sleep on his side and tried to fall asleep but gave up after five minutes. He sighed and sat up on his bed.
"Toothless," he called quietly. The dragon let out a low sound but didn't open his eyes or lift his head. Hiccup stood up and walked to his dragon. "Toothless, I can't sleep for some reason. Do you think we could go on a short night patrol?"
The dragon lifted his head and looked drowsily at his master. He smiled to the rider and got up on his feet. Hiccup smiled, blew the candle that was still lit on his bedside table and mounted his dragon. He wondered how in the name of Thor he had got his dragon to get up in such a good mood after so little sleep. Toothless took off and they flew out the ceiling window.
Everything seemed in place on the village side of the island. Only some light from fires in huts was to be seen.
"It's a beautiful night, isn't it bud?" Hiccup asked, glancing at the full moon. The dragon let out a sound in agreement.
They turned left and flew towards the vast forest on the other side of the peak from the village. Toothless crooned as he noticed something down by the waterline.
"What is it?" Hiccup asked and looked down as well. "Oh, I see it now, too. A campfire! Let's get a closer look, but carefully."
Toothless flew down towards the moonlit beach, and the closer to the ground they got, the better they were able to make out the big, black silhouette right behind the fire. Hiccup's mouth opened and he stared at the silhouette.
"Can you light it up a bit, bud?" he asked quietly and Toothless obeyed. His jaw dropped as he recognised the dragon, that now raised its head and looked viciously at them.
Hiccup had only seen Death Songs in one colouring: dominating amber with maroon stripes, orange in the wings, and big, light blueish purple dots. This one was considerably darker, though it was impossible to make out its exact colouring in the dim moonlight and Toothless's purple light. Toothless shut his mouth and let out a long, low snarl, clearly tensing under Hiccup.
"Calm down, it's okay, bud," Hiccup said quietly, placing his hand on Toothless's cheek, "he has a rider, I doubt he's vicious if we don't do anything to threaten him."
Toothless obeyed and looked curiously at the Death Song. Then they heard a loud yawn from behind the dragon's wing, and they did not let out a sound.
"What is it, boy?" a drowsy girl's voice asked. Hiccup dismounted but did not take one step closer to the fire, the dragon, or the girl that now stood up behind the dragon's wing. She gasped and took out a dagger that shone in the campfire light. The girl seemed to be about Snotlout's height, though much more dainty. In the moonlight her hair colour looked lighter than the mahogany it was in reality, but it was easy to make out her eye colour- amber. She stepped forth from behind the wing. She was wearing a maroon tunic with a black belt, black trousers and light brown boots.
"It's okay, we come in peace," Hiccup said calmly and raised his hands in surrender, standing perfectly still.
"Who are you?" the girl asked quickly, a hint of panic in her voice.
"I'm Hiccup Haddock the third, the son of the chief- I mean, the chief of this island and its tribe, the Hairy Hooligans," he answered quickly, "and my bud here is my Night Fury, Toothless."
Toothless opened his mouth and smiled at the strangers, hoping it would calm them down. The unknown dragon and its rider stayed a little tense, but calmed down after a while.
"It's okay, Wonderchant," the girl said, "seems like they won't harm us."
"No, that's absolutely not what we want to do," Hiccup said and smiled, relieved that their peaceful approach had worked. "It's a bit cold here, could we possibly join you by the fire?"
The girl scrutinized Hiccup from head to toe, and gestured for them to come sit down opposite them. Hiccup smiled widely at Toothless and walked towards the campfire. He sat down and Toothless came right after him, settling down in a half circle behind him.
"I know you're tired, bud, you can doze off if you wish it," Hiccup said fondly and placed his hand on Toothless's head. Toothless crooned gratefully, put his head down on the sand and closed his eyes.
"So, you know our names now," Hiccup said in a friendly manner, "may I ask for yours?"
"I'm Iselin, Iselin Ivarsson," the girl replied, "and my dragon's name is Wonderchant."
"Yes, you mentioned his name. It's a great name, by the way. How'd you come up with it?"
"Because of his chant, it attracts other dragons," Iselin explained.
Hiccup gave her a crooked smile. He thought back a couple of years when they'd been on the Melody Island twice, first when they had been looking for a place for Dragon's Edge, and then when they took the baby Death Song Garff to the very same island. He chuckled a bit when he remembered how they had had to sing to the dragon but his smile turned into a frown.
"Yeah... we- me and the other dragon riders- know all about it. We've encountered Death Songs before," he said seriously.
"Death Song? That's what you call them?" Iselin exclaimed, looking nearly outraged by the obviously inaccurate name to her wonderful dragon's species. Then she calmed down when she noticed that she had woken up Toothless who gave her a grim look. Hiccup put his hand on Toothless's head to calm him down and he got back to sleep.
"We have never come across a tame Death Song," Hiccup explained, "and when we first encountered one, we had to come up with the most fitting name, in a hurry. At the time, Death Song seemed like a good name for the species. Though trust me, it wasn't my suggestion."
Iselin took a deep breath and nodded.
"You know, this is huge! Really huge! I've tamed a Night Fury and countless other species but never would I ever have dreamed that anyone could tame a Death Song! When we tried it, the dragon just got us all cocooned in its amber and seemed to want to eat us. How'd you manage?"
Iselin looked somewhat self-content at the words and glanced fondly at her dragon.
"I was in a shipwreck with my family about a year ago, they went missing when I ended up stranded on a beach on this other island. When I explored the island for food and fresh water, I found Wonderchant injured in the forest. I had absolutely no former experience with dragons but somehow- how, I don't even have the faintest idea myself- I earned his trust and managed to heal him. When he could fly again, I learned to ride and we've been looking for my family ever since... with no success, whatsoever. Tonight we ended up here- did you say the name of the island was Berk?"
"Yes, this island is called Berk," Hiccup said, still in awe of Iselin's story, "I have to say, you're one incredible dragon trainer. Did Wonderchant ever cocoon you in his amber?"
Iselin laughed. "Naturally, many times! You can imagine how scared I was but eventually I learned to mimic his chant and earned his steadfast trust."
"Did you come across any other Death Songs on that island?"
"No, but I found some amber far from where I found Wonderchant. Why?"
"So it was Melody Island you ended up on," Hiccup stated, "Oh... why? Because Wonderchant's colouring is remarkable! The Death Songs we've come across have always had the same colouring, the dominating colour being amber, with maroon stripes, orange, and the dots a light shade of blueish purple. Wonderchant's colouring is considerably darker than that."
"Yeah, his colouring is beautiful! Just wait until you see it in the daylight," Iselin said and stroked Wonderchant's head. Hiccup looked at them with a friendly smile. "So, you're the chief of the tribe, huh?"
Hiccup was surprised that Iselin remembered him mentioning that, they had been talking about Death Songs for a long time now.
"Ehh, yes. I'm Hiccup, son of the late chief, Stoick the Vast... so I quite recently inherited the Berkian throne as he passed away," he said quietly, with a sad smile. Iselin's mouth opened and closed as she looked Hiccup sadly in the eyes.
"I'm sorry for your loss, Hiccup," Iselin said compassionately.
"Thank you. Though no need to be too sad! Unlike I would have thought, my dad's death didn't make me an orphan. I found my long lost mother just days before my dad died."
"I'm glad to hear that you found your mum," Iselin said, now smiling confidently. Hiccup smiled, too.
"And you know, life on here is so great. Only five or six years ago we fought and killed dragons but only one night, one fateful night of dragon attacks changed it all."
"Wow... Well, what happened that night?" Iselin looked at Hiccup with surprise in her eyes.
Hiccup cleared his throat.
"Everything began with this fella, my best friend," he started. "I was really scrawny and feeble, I could barely hold up an axe! I was actually the favourite subject of ridicule in my village, and my father was ashamed of me. That fateful night I disobeyed orders to stay inside, took my bola trap outside and actually shot him down. No one believed be, not until I started being good at dragon training. It was of course thanks to befriending my bud once I found him where he fell. I experimented with him and found out about dragon nip's calming effect and dragons' soft spot under the chin. Well, eventually I won the ultimate prize- I got the honour to battle and kill a Monstrous Nightmare..."
Hiccup emphasized the word "honour" with scorn. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"A Monstrous Nightmare?"
Hiccup raised his head and frowned for a second until comprehension dawned on him.
"Oh, right! They are the ones that set themselves on fire, and they have long double horns, if you've seen them."
"Ah yes, those ones. I recognise them from your description. But please, do continue! What happened then?"
"I went to the arena... I picked a shield and the smallest knife I could find. When the dragon was released, I dropped the knife, the shield and my helmet. I tried to be quick enough to show them how to bond with a dragon. I was almost there until my dad... messed it up for me. He decided to hit the metal rail with his hammer and scare the dragon that then almost got many of us killed. And you can only guess how my boar-headed dad saw it. He messed it up himself but claimed that I almost got all of us killed! Me! And he disowned me. Thank goodness I befriended my friends and was able to teach them how to fly a dragon. I told my dad that I'd been to the Red Death's nest, then they kidnapped Toothless, and used him to find their way to the nest. We followed them, flying on the dragons that used to belong to the dragon training school. The Monstrous Nightmare became Hookfang, and he's Snotlout's. The blue Deadly Nadder became Astrid's Stormfly. Deadly Nadders are the bird-like ones that shoot two-coloured spikes. The green Zippleback, the two-headed one, belongs to the twins, Ruff and Tuff. They named him Barf and Belch. Don't ask. The last one, the brown Gronckle, is Fishleg's Meatlug. He named Meatlug before he found out Meatlug is a she."
Hiccup and Iselin chuckled.
"Well, did they find the nest, what happened when you left?"
"Yes, they did, and we found them. Toothless and I managed to kill the Red Death by luring it into the smoke cloud, destroying its wings, igniting its shot in its mouth when luring it back down, using its size against it. Surprisingly, there were no victims even though it did do lots of damage to our armada. Oh well, now that the dragons were free from the Red Death's slavery, the village managed to befriend themselves their own dragons and get back to Berk on them. Which I, of course, found out when I woke up from my temporary coma. Toothless and I had fallen a long way down after the Red Death's tail hit us before it died. Toothless saved my life, like I saved his. In that battle I also lost part of a limb!"
Hiccup raised his left leg and presented his futuristic prosthetic. Iselin gasped quietly.
"I guess it was Toothless's payback for his left tail fin. He lost it when I shot him down so naturally I built him a new one so he can fly. It's only possible if someone rides him because the fin position needs to be changed many times during a flight. I did build him a fin that would let him fly by himself but he made it clear that he doesn't want to fly without me, or someone else."
"Wow, what a story! So you helped your "boar-headed" father find a dragon, too?"
"Yeah, he actually had two dragon in his life. His first one was a blue Thunderdrum, a wide and low dragon whose strong, projecting sound can make you deaf, even bring down trees. Due to a situation some years ago, Thornado had to stay on Dragon Island to look after three baby Thunderdrums. His other dragon is a Rumblehorn, a big and colourful dragon that has amazing tracking skills. He named the Rumblehorn Skullcrasher. Skullcrasher now belongs to Eret, son of Eret- he's a new dragon rider."
The two sat in silence, looking at the campfire or the moon and the stars for a while as their dragons dozed off. Eventually they both yawned. They chuckled because they had yawned simultaneously.
"Okay, now it's really late. Would you like to come to the village for the night? I could accommodate you in my hut. There's a comfortable spare bed and lots of space for Wonderchant, too."
"That's really friendly of you, thank you!" Iselin said, her voice full of appreciation, and both the riders woke up their dragons.
When they were in the air, it was slowly getting lighter. The sun had started rising slowly.
"I see you don't have a saddle," Hiccup noticed, "I work for the village blacksmith, Gobber. We'll make you one tomorrow."
"You make saddles?"
"Oh, yes we do, and so much more! You'll find out about it all tomorrow, and you'll meet my best friends: Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruff and Tuff. Maybe even Eret."
"Sounds great, I can't wait!"
They flew towards the village in silence until Iselin started humming an unknown lullaby, making Hiccup smile. It did not take them long to reach Hiccup's hut, and they landed right in front of it. They both dismounted.
"Welcome to Berk, Iselin," Hiccup said and held the door open for Iselin and her dragon.
"Thank you, Hiccup." He and Toothless followed the guests and he closed the door behind him.
"The spare bed and a big stone bed for the dragon are there in the corner, Toothless and I will be upstairs."
"Okay, thank you again. Good night."
"Good night."
Hiccup and Toothless slowly climbed upstairs and got to sleep. Hiccup thought of his new acquaintance, and he fell asleep wondering what tomorrow would bring them all.