Interrogated

Dragon Savior carefully picked herself up and inspected her battered body. She could feel that her cheek was bruised, but it would have been much worse without the helmet, which now had a fault line running up and down.

The rest of her armor was holding up well enough, which she had become quite proficient in building, repairing, and rebuilding again from the carapace plates and scales dragons naturally shed. She especially favored the brown and teal motif that blended in fairly well in most environments. The helmet, of course, had to have long spines jutting out of it to be more relatable to the dragons.

The crash wasn't too bad. The tunnel wall she slammed into sloped at the bottom, so the fall to the ground was more like a rapid slide down the wall. In times past, she had left people staring in slack-jawed wonder at worse blows that she shrugged off, thanks to how she always designed her armor to break apart on impact so as to spare her body from such a fate.

At her feet lay the unconscious troublemaker himself, the black dragon. Well, that was what all the dragons called his kind. The humans called them Night Furies. He was unconscious but still breathing.

A quick visual inspection confirmed that he didn't seem to have endured any substantial injuries. The same, however, could not be said for some of the victims of his rage. They had varying degrees of torn wing membranes, sprained sockets, and minor breaks. However, as Dragon Savior knew quite well, nothing in this world recovers as quickly as a dragon's injured wing. A Viking's pride after an inordinate amount of ale takes a close second place.

Cloudjumper, who had immediately rushed to Dragon Savior's side, was still struggling to come to terms with why things played out the way they had. Nothing like this had ever occurred before. There should have been no way this could have happened.

Dragon Savior was in agreement there. She had come to know her flock and the nature of dragons in general from interactions in past years. Many years ago, she had learned that she could hear dragons. Well, not hear so much as… perceive their thoughts that they chose to project. It took a lot of practice to reliably hear them and it was only through contact, but she had learned the wordless ways in which dragons conveyed images, sounds, feelings, and anything else between the ears. It was always awe-inspiring to revel in just how quickly a dragon could communicate anything and everything in the blink of an eye.

The way dragons communicate has always fascinated Dragon Savior. Something as simple as a name to refer to another dragon, for example, wasn't actually a name as a human would think of it, but a verbose amalgamation of all the impressions the one dragon associates with the other. A dragon may commonly refer to Cloudjumper as: Large, Four-Winged Dragon with an Owl-Like Head and Golden Scales and Four Wings Who Came from the Demonic Queen's Nest and Was Very Fortunate to Have Escaped with His Life and Has That Land-Strider as a Rider Who Works as a Team to Coordinate All of Us Dragons in Organized Raids to Attack Dragon-Trapping Land-Striders to Free Captured Dragons Why Must These Land-Striders Be so Cruel but at Least Yours Is Nice.

Cloudjumper was very accommodating in accepting a name that rolled off the tongue a little more easily.

Dragons, of course, having been designed to communicate like this, could hear another's projections as far away as a growl could be heard. As such, they were always quite like-minded in any situation. Dragon Savior never had trouble with captured or enslaved dragons causing trouble while being rescued due to any misunderstanding. They knew they were caught in a bad way. In a single instant, Cloudjumper and the rest of the flock would explain why the captured dragons needed to cooperate and how they could do so. There was never any possibility for confusion or miscommunication when it came to dragons.

That, of course, was why she and her flock were so thoroughly bewildered when the black dragon did what he did. It was painfully obvious he was enslaved and used as a beast of burden. He had a tailfin cut off and was clearly dependant on his rider to fly far at all. Crippling a slave's mobility was something people used on humans and dragons alike. Why, then, did this dragon refuse to be rescued? Why did he lash out so vehemently when he was liberated from his slave driver?

There could be no way his mind was being directly manipulated, not so close to the nest for sure. Then again, maybe Drago's alchemists have formulated some concoction to brainwash dragons? Hopefully not. Such implications would be horrendous beyond measure!

Regardless, this rider of the Night Fury was clearly one of Drago's lackeys. Drago has become more and more of a nuisance in this area and Dragon Savior's daily efforts to rescue trapped dragons was nowhere near enough to keep up with the rate at which they were trapped.

Dragon Savior glared at Drago's lackey through the eye slits in her helmet. He stood where he was set down, surrounded by dragons, calmly awaiting his interrogation. He was dressed in all black leather and was pacifying them with a wordless and showy display of fire using some sort of hand-held mechanism… a flaming sword?

Maybe he was Drago's senior ringleader for how experienced he was in this. Well, not a senior for sure. Maybe late-teens?

Dragon Savior slammed her staff on the ground to get the lackey's attention. He jerked his eyes up at her with a scowl, then his face slid into worry as he looked past her at his unconscious mount.

"Who… are you?" he asked. "The dragon thief?"

Dragon Savior snorted derisively. Of course Drago's lackeys would spread such lies that she was "stealing" dragons when she was actually freeing them from the ones who captured them in the first place. How could one call it "stealing" when many of these freed dragons practically begged to come back to her nest? Anyone who would really believe such a lie was a fool! Anyone who would spread such a lie was beneath the insects.

"Uh, Drago… Bludvist?" the lackey asked as he scratched his head. "Do you even understand what I'm saying?"

Dragon Savior snarled and Lackey took a half-step back and held up placating hands. She was in no mood to patiently wait out him playing ignorant; it would not save him from this interrogation.

The scraping of claws on ice could be heard from behind and Dragon Savior spun on her heels. The black dragon grunted as he took one quick look around and surged forward. CloudJumper instantly swept a wing to push Dragon Savior out of harm's way, thank the egg that hatched him. Having been denied his target, the black dragon gave a half flap of his wings to extend his pounce to land directly on Lackey.

What proceeded was something neither Dragon Savior nor anyone in her flock had ever seen before. The black dragon pounced on his rider, curling his wings to roll around on the ground, and ended up on his back, gently pawing at his rider and purring.

That lasted only a moment before he instantly flipped to all fours and growled defensively. {I am Toothless and this is my Firefly. If you try to take him again, I will kill you.}

That was the black dragon. Dragon Savior expressed a wordless gratitude to Cloudjumper for acting as a relay so she could hear through contact with him.

She closed her eyes and focused on projecting out to the black dragon, something that had become easy after so many years of practice. {Be at peace, Toothless. I am Dragon Savior and you can ask my flock why my name is well-earned. Our only intent was to liberate you from your captor. We only wanted to free you. You must be very confused. Nobody will prevent you from leaving but please stay. Let us understand one another. Besides, you've hurt your head from the landing. Stay until you've healed up. Allow us to help you.}

{Firefly, we should leave now!} the black dragon insisted.

Lackey shook his head and said, "No, wait, we need to dig a little deeper. Yes, I know you don't like it here, but…" He sighed. "I just really think we should stay. I don't know why, it just-"

The black dragon snorted. {It just feels like the right thing to do. I hate it when you say that.}

Lackey grinned mischievously at his dragon. "You could always pick me up and fly us off."

{You jest, of course. I could never bring myself to do something like that and you know it. Fine, you do your Firefly thing and I will be here to kill anyone who would dare to touch you.}

Dragon Savior sucked in a shaky breath. {Cloudjumper, is it just my imagination or can he really hear dragons?}

The lackey froze with a wide-eyed stare that matched the Dragon Savior's under her helmet. "You're a dragon whisperer, too?" he asked.

Dragon Savior's mind was spinning. Drago's lackey could hear dragons? How could he remain loyal to Drago? He must undoubtedly understand that dragons are more than just simple animals... right? And by the egg that hatched the dragon king, why was the black dragon so loyal and protective toward this person?! Why was he growling warningly and wrapping his tail around the lackey?!

Dragon Savior had to find out. She had to know. This would not be the usual interrogation she had conducted with Drago's other lackeys in times past to learn the locations of dragon hunter bases. Still, it would be a good idea to start things out in the usual way. She shook her staff and projected a silent request for some light. All around, dozens of dragons opened their maws wide and filled them with slow-burning fires. A warm orange glow bathed the cavern in which they stood.

However, unlike the rest of Drago's lackeys, instead of confusion and terror, this display only brought a look of awe and joy to his face.

Dragon Savior crouched down low and slid her shield and staff to the ground. She made sure to avoid eye contact as she half slithered, half crawled toward them on her fingers and toes. The growling from the black dragon intensified a little, but she did not relent, focusing on projecting a constant stream of calm reassurances of peaceful intentions for the dragon's sake.

As she came within a couple steps of them, she rose a little but kept her posture stooped below them. The dragon clearly was of the mind to knock her aside, grab his rider, and fly off. However, it was obvious from his posturing, eye contact with his rider, and the little bits of his primal emotions she could pick up that he was holding himself back for Lackey's sake.

Dragon Savior rose a little more and raised a hand toward Lackey. It was a gesture she always used with dragons to show her peaceful intentions. Humans always had an amusing reaction to lean back, unsure of the situation, and Lackey was no exception.

At a loss of any intelligent response, he mumbled, "Uh… Uhhhhh…"

Then she saw it. Her breath caught in her throat. That scar on his chin… she saw it before. She knew this boy! There was absolutely no room for doubt, but her mind still whirled at the very notion.

It couldn't be! How could it be?! This had to be a dream, but it wasn't!

Dragon Savior croaked out, "How?" She slowly pulled her head out of her helmet and shook her shoulder-length auburn hair loose. Standing to full height, she said, "After… all… years. How… How?"

Internally, she winced. Twenty years living with the dragons did not do wonders at helping her retain her verbal language skills. Her only spoken conversations were with the occasional dragon trapper she had interrogated to make them tell her where to go to find and free the dragons. She could understand spoken language quite well enough, but her ability to speak had noticeably atrophied. Raising her voice and growling at them never helped to be understood, though it often evoked amusing reactions.

The lackey stared in confusion. No, not Drago's lackey. Hiccup! She had no doubt. There was no other way to explain that very distinct scar peeking through the stubble on his chin!

But, he would never work for Drago, right? Maybe he was threatened and forced to capitulate? Maybe…

She eyed Hiccup from head to toe and inhaled sharply when her eyes saw his left leg. It tore her heart to shreds. The poor thing had a part of his leg amputated at the shin and he stood on a prosthetic. Slave owners commonly did that to their slaves to make it easier to identify and recapture them if they manage to flee.

Dragon Savior couldn't stand the thought. She felt a trickle of blood from her fingernails biting into her palm. Her whole frame quivered with rage for what Drago did to Hiccup.

All she could do was point to his leg and shriek, "How?!"

The boy cringed at the shrill outburst, but he recovered and simply shrugged nonchalantly. "Occupational hazard. Don't worry about it. Allow me to introduce myself," he said with a genuine smile. "My name is-"

"Hiccup!" Dragon Savior shouted and rushed forward to embrace him. However, he recoiled back with a surprised gasp.

"Uh," Hiccup stuttered, ignorant of Dragon Savior's thoughts, "should I… know you?"

Dragon Savior slumped at the initial rejection. She honestly couldn't blame him for all the trauma he had been through.

"No, " she said, trying to buy some time to collect her wits. "You… hatchling. No, babe. You babe. I know."

She internally scolded herself. Think! She told herself. Think before you speak and speak like an actual human for flame's sake! This is your son and he needs to know he can trust you!

Dragon Savior took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and said, "A mother never forgets."

A/N:
Thank you for reading and thank you Colorful Crayola for being my beta buddy! My thanks to Mariah and TheNaturalLlama3 for the kind words. I absolutely love hearing feedback on my story, whether it's good, bad, or ugly. Oh, and in answer to your question, Mariah, there may be some OC. I want to stick to the movie plot with my usual shenanigans of taking my own route to the major milestones, but I don't think I would ever be forgiven if Tofa was completely ignored.

So, this whole part of the movie where Hiccup is captured and finds his mother really irked me. It made Valka look like a bit of a jerk for letting Toothless fall to the ice below and just leave him behind for some other dragon to haul him back. Besides, a spring-loaded bracket with a manual release was a common mechanism on any ship, so Hiccup would have naturally added something similar to the tailfin so Toothless could fly with a locked fin should Hiccup's foot be removed from the control lever.

I also didn't like the idea of Valka using some sort of Jedi mind trick to knock Toothless unconscious. I mean, sure, I included some sort of plausible telepathic mechanism in Ch 6 of Hookfang's Tale (#shamelessselfplug), but I'm an advocate of tough love and figured I'd show it to Toothless by smacking his head into a rock wall. Sorry, Mr. T. Please don't bite off my head.

Oh, and the instant acceptance between Hiccup and Valka in the movie felt quite contrived. "Hiccup?" "Oh, you're my Mom! Awesome! Let's go on adventures and stuff!" And then we go right to tongue petting and Toothless rolling onto his back to accept belly rubs from Valka? C'mon!

So, this is my rendition of how I envisioned such a confrontation.