AN - The (page break) thing is explained in chapter 2.
The wind roared in my ears as I rode Falkor across the skies. Ever faster he went as the cruel dragon behind us continued to shorten our distance. Falkor's sleek body sliced through the chilled air like a perfectly shot arrow. The Black Devil behind us sounded its bone-chilling siren and shot another demonic fireball towards us. My dragon spun on its side and moved to the right, allowing me to glance back to see the demon close behind us. Its rider, having previously run out of arrows, watched menacingly, pushing his dragon on.
"Come on, we need to shake him!" I yelled to my own dragon, although it was impossible. They'd chased us out onto open sea and we were out of our better element. The two of us were best suited to ambushing with speed being our next best advantage. However, this one's advantage was pure speed. That and its remarkable fireballs. They exploded on contact in a jet of blue fire, expanding on all sides in a great orb. The demon had already dueled with Falkor in the air, leaving him with a damaged right arm and underside.
Ahead, I saw a small island in the midst of the cold waters that rose like a gleaming beacon of hope for us. I urged my mount faster until he could no more. That's when Falkor began to lag. His strength had deteriorated and with the rider behind us, it was only a matter of time until we were knocked from the sky and into the icy depths.
Another scream behind us and I was nearly knocked off when Falkor flipped over to take the fireball for me. I gripped onto his scales the best I could until he leveled out again.
The island grew closer, just as the dragon behind us did. However, the Black Devil had finally caught up. It flew overhead and its lashed out at Falkor's wings, biting and scratching to the best of its abilities. The beast slashed open the wing of my dragon and we were sent plumetting. The island was below us now, however, as we flew over a cliffside. I yelled instructions to my dragon, "Grab the branches, we need to break our fall!"
And so he did. He latched on to the first branch, which broke like a twig under his weight. The second, third, and fourth was just the same. On the fifth, it held up a moment longer before it gave way. It kept on until we encountered one sturdy branch. We swung vertically and I gripped onto Falkor's tan scales before we were falling again. Suddenly, the ground sprung up to meet us and as my dragon's front feet slammed on the ground, my head smacked into the back of his sturdy neck. That's when I felt myself falling again.
(page break)
Everything was sore... There was an unusual warmth to the air. It felt good, and I could smell the pleasant aroma of burning wood. Did Falkor build a fire for me? That was nice of him. Although it's so quiet.
I shifted around in my spot and felt the ground was very soft. Too soft. I opened my eyes and looked around. There was plenty of wood around, but none of it belonged to the trees. Sitting up, my head began pounding and I fought the desire to lay back down. This room was completely foreign to me, and I found my fur boots and quiver lying by my bed. Pulling my boots on, I found my dagger was still in place inside, thankful it was discreet enough to go unnoticed by anyone. No doubt the other dragon rider took me as his prisoner.
Creeping across the floor, I glanced around for my bow, although it wasn't to be found in here. I opened the door and entered the main room. Here the fire burned bright and illuminated the otherwise dark room. Brushing my thick, brown braid back over my shoulder, I looked down to see a chair by the fire. There, a lone figure sat, fiddling with a broken bow. Its intricately carved black wood glistened in the firelight. I saw it was broken in half. Creeping down the large stairs and across the room, I came up behind the man. I took the knife from my boot and held it up, poised to strike. Mere feet away, I took another step and the floor creaked audibly under my weight. The man turned his head about and leapt up from the chair upon seeing the blade. I jumped over the chair and he ducked aside, behind a tall, wooden pillar. I darted towards him and he ran off to my left. That's when I grabbed the pillar, spun around its base, and tackled him. There I straddled him, arms pinned beneath my knees, and my knife raised.
"You think you can just capture me and everything would be all right?! I can't believe you didn't think I'd have a blade hidden on my person! You outta die right here and right now, filthy troll!" I yelled at him and saw the fear in his eyes. To be honest, the man was much thinner than he appeared before. He was a little thing with somewhat long, brown hair and a fur vest over a green, woolen shirt. His olive green eyes watched me as I did him and before I could bring the blade down, I was knocked off him and pinned to the floor. Above me stood the very dragon that was chasing me before. He opened his toothless mouth and roared, only to glare at me with bright yellow eyes that threatened death if I so much as moved an inch.
"What was that for?!" The man gasped and clutched his heart. "I save your life and you thank me by trying to kill me? Are you crazy?" The man did his best to stand, clearly shaken by what just happened.
"Save my life? You're kidding me, right? You were just trying to kill me!" I hissed back.
"What? I wouldn't kill you. I don't even know who you are!"
"Why do you have this demon, then? A dozen times this monster tried to kill me, with you riding it. Or so I thought. But I could never mistake this face," I replied.
He scoffed, "Well, obviously, you have. We don't just go out hunting people. Besides, nobody else can ride Toothless." I stared, dumbfounded, at this man. Never had I seen another Black Devil, and I found it unlikely that there would be another one so close.
The dragon shifted his weight ever so slightly and pain coursed through me. I cried out in pain and began balling up around my left arm, dropping my knife. Tears formed in my eyes as the dragon step back from me. Examining my arm, it was wrapped tight in bandages with a long line of blood soaking the top of it.
"You're welcome..." The man said bitterly and turned away.
Rolling onto my knees, I sat crouched in the middle of the floor until the pain subsided. I stood up and tucked the knife back into my boot. Holding my arm, I turned to him and quietly said, "I'm sorry. You just look a lot like him… Who are you, anyways?"
"Uh, my name's Hiccup. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, to be exact," He said, patting the dragon on cue, "And this is Toothless."
"Toothless?"
"Yep. What's your name?"
"Kelda… You said you saved me?" I asked himand glanced around. I didn't see any sign of Falkor, nor did he bring him up yet.
Hiccup had limped over to the chair I'd knocked over. I noticed that he was missing a leg. "Yeah, I did."
"Did you see anyone else there?" I found myself staring at his false leg, mesmerized by its strange design.
"No, but there was obviously some kind of fight that happened nearby. I saw plenty of blood splattered about..." He sounded uneasy about the blood. For a moment, there was silence. "Yes, my leg is weird, you can stop staring at it, now..." He said.
"Sorry..." I said and looked away. "Um... Where did you find me?"
"On the side of a cliff, actually. You were lucky to be alive. You looked kinda beat up. Had some scratches along your right shoulder, too."
I reached a hand up to rest on my shoulder and hesitated before saying, "Can you take me back there? I need to know if Falkor is okay."
"Falkor? Is that your dad? 'Cause me and Toothless could go-"
"He's my dragon. Like my father would have such a heroic name." I said, thinking back to my pathetic excuse for a father. Half-brained Horton, everyone called him. He ran off looking for the "kind gnomes that would help our crops grow." Horton never came back, and I was thankful to take after my mother.
Taken aback at first, Hiccup shrugged it off and said, "Parental trouble, huh? I know how that feels...My dad used to be like 'You need to be a better viking, son!', but killing dragons wasn't my thing. As you can tell." Hiccup said and chuckled to himself. He pulled a leather saddle over Toothless and tightened the straps, then pulled a long cord down the length of his dragon's body and attached it to his tail. When Hiccup opened the door outside, Toothless bounded out joyfully and I could see him stretch his wings out in the sun. "Oh, uh..." He began and ran back over to the chair. He picked up the bow and he held it out to me. "Sorry about this. It was already broken when I found you."
Clutching the beautiful wood of the bow in my hands, I sighed and said, "It's fine. I can... Make another later..."
I followed Hiccup outside and saw a vast array of colorful dragons. They crawled on and around the houses below and lined the cliffsides. They glided through the air and pelted each other with fireballs. Young vikings played with their own dragons in the grass while older vikings relaxed in a fire pit. A chill breeze blew across the island, but nobody here paid it mind. They were already used to such weather. The sight was amazing. I'd never seen anything like it. This village sat of the edge of the island by the open sea, which glittered in the daylight.
"Hey! You coming or not?" Hiccup called over. When I turned, I saw he was already mounted up. I ran over and reluctantly did the same, holding onto Hiccup's middle with my right arm so as not to fall off. And when Toothless leapt into the air, I nearly was knocked off his back. The cold air rushed into my lungs with every breath and I felt uneasy riding this dragon. My memory thought only of the demon and the rider that chased me here.
(page break)
Toothless planted his feet and I leapt off his back, eager to get away. Turning back, I saw Hiccup's surprised expression. "He's not gonna bite," He said and unhooked his false foot from the stirrup. The cord extending to the dragon's tail fin drooped and I noticed it had an injury of its own. Where a sleek, black tailfin should be was a bright red false tailfin, decorated with a skull. It made sense why only Hiccup could fly this dragon now.
Shaking the feeling, I looked around and examined everything in sight. The trees, the cliffside, the rocks, and the earth. Each had signs of a great struggle. First, the earth, where there was a noticable indent in the ground, and scraping claws leading over the edge of the cliff. I felt my right shoulder shoulder for the scrapes and imagined myself a ragdoll, flying over the edge, Falkor reaching out and grabbing me in his teeth. I saw splinters of black wood strewn in a spot where I suspected I was thrown off my mount. There was blood stains on the tip of a rock, jutting out of the cliff-face. I ran my hand over the wound with understanding. Turning around, I looked at the trees and the earth and the rocks. There was more blood here, no doubt belonging to my dragon. A few trees had been knocked down on one side of the area, and there were scorch marks in a dozen different places. With a trained eye, I looked over every single detail, crouching in the dirt to get a closer look. Then I found it. A trail of blood leading away from the struggle. I took off after it, following with a quick eye as it veered downhill. Over rocks and through crevices in the earth. I was sprinting through the trees as I followed it. The familiar smell of burning wood that lingered on Falkor's brilliant scales led me on.
"Hey! Wait up!" I heard the distant voice of Hiccup, the bounding run of Toothless much closer behind me. It stopped for a bit while the dragon surely waited for its rider. Then things grew quiet as the trail dissapeared and I looked around the area with a sinking feeling. Was I following the wrong bloodtrail? Or did Falkor try to fly off?
Gone. It was gone. I sighed and looked around, hoping to pick up the trail again. But there was nothing.
Toothless landed just behind me and I wheeled around, surprised. This time, Hiccup stayed on Toothless's back. I thought for a moment before asking him, "Does your dragon track?"
"Track? What do you mean?" Hiccup said.
I gave him a funny look and said, "You know, follow scent trails?"
"I have no idea, we've never had to before."
With a thoughtful hum, I ran a hand through the soil and picked up some blood from what I thought was Falkor. Despite my uneasiness, I was able to step close to Toothless for him to be able to catch the scent. "You smell this blood? Can you find a similar one leading away from here?" I said a bit slow, just in case the dragon wasn't sure what I was saying.
Probably out of instinct, the dragon's nose twitched as it picked up on the scent. With an understanding in his eyes, he started sniffing the air and leaned in close to me to pick up the smell of Falkor on me. Then Toothless walked around in a circle, ignoring the trail that led back uphill and took a route to his left. Perhaps Falkor simply managed to keep his blood from dripping anymore. It was baffling, but I followed Toothless as he trekked through the forest. He led us up a slight incline and then we stopped at a gully. Toothless, even with Hiccup on his back, cleared the gap easily, but I was left standing there. The ground was soft and a bit muddy, which would prove difficult. Calculating the distance between the two sides, I stepped back and then took off at a run. I leapt off the ground and threw my legs forward to plant them in the earth before me. I nearly fell backwards when I landed, but I held my arms in front of me to counter the weight.
When I balanced myself again, I looked up to see Toothless and Hiccup far ahead of me now. I was annoyed, but took off after them. The two stopped in a thick grove of trees ahead and I saw Toothless looking around. I slowed down and heard an unusual silence here that crept around us like darkness does in the night. When I got closer to Hiccup and Toothless, I heard a tree branch whip somewhere above and a large mass of mud-brown scales descend upon the two. Toothless darted forward to avoid the falling beast and a loud, guttural roar sounded from the trees.
"Falkor!" I cried.
He looked back at me for a moment and I saw those familiar green eyes. His two sets of chocolate horns protruding from the back of his head, angling back, and his long, rounded snout with its large pointed teeth. Not to mention the bloodied right arm from the Black Devil that stranded us here.
But then Falkor turned back to Hiccup and Toothless and growled. Realization hit me and I ran to my dragon's side as he reached his head out to snap at a snarling Toothless. He moved around to a new angle and opened his mouth wide. I leapt between Toothless and Falkor, holding my arms out to block him. Falkor, obviously confused, turned his head to the side and unleashed his hellfire into the trees.
Turning back to me, Falkor grumbled with frustration and bared his teeth once more. "No!" I yelled at him. "This isn't our enemy!" Looking back at Toothless, I saw him extending his wings to make himself appear larger, no doubt feeling threatened. Then I turned back to Falkor and reached up to take his head in my hands and stroke his forehead. Falkor's head was about the size of my torso, so I could hardly reach my arms around his face, but he calmed down as my hand ran across his head.
"I take it that's who you're looking for?" Hiccup said, standing beside Toothless, now.
"Yes," I smiled back to him. "Come, let him smell you."
Hiccup came up, slowly, "Yeah, because my first instinct is to approach a dragon that's about to kill me."
I chuckled and said, "Don't worry. Anyone I haven't killed is good in his eyes."
"And that's supposed to make me feel better?"
I gently took his hand and brought it up to Falkor's snout, allowing him to take in the man's scent. Falkor made a content rumbling sound from his throat and walked around us to see Toothless. The black dragon was still a bit threatened and backed up some as my own dragon approached, but grudgingly allowed Falkor near him. Falkor looked over at me and made a funny sound that somewhat resembled a guttural bark. I laughed, "Yes, they're not the same people. Surprising, isn't it?"