"Keep up, Useless." A flame-skin rumbled from my left. "You would not want to shame your predecessors and become Her Tribute on your first Gathering, would you?"

I bared my teeth at the older dragon. "I will not shame them or become Tribute, Surly. I am a night-wing, I would sooner eat my own leg than shame our Queen or the ones before me."

A spike-tail purred derisively from behind. "Then you will have to tell us what night-wing tastes like, Useless, before She finds out Herself."

The surrounding Thunder roared and crows in amusement, I hiss and quickly lift myself further up into the clouds to escape their jeers.

I was finally old enough to join a Gathering. Something I'd waited many seasons for. Being the only night-wing in the Nest would not be so bad, had I not fallen short of what was expected.

I was a runt, my scales were black-brown, not the black-blue I was told night-wings possessed. I had all the speed of a night-wing, and none of the grace, I was constantly tripping over my own feet and tail and slamming into the sea stacks surrounding our Nest. I learned to fly and use my flames many seasons after the others of my age.

Had I not been the only night-wing, and smart for my age, my Queen might have taken me as Tribute early on.

"Viking Nest ahead! Be ready!" The Thunder Lead bellowed. "Night-wing! Get in position!"

I trilled in acknowledgement, breaking away from the Thunder and circling the Human Nest.

Vikings have always intrigued me. They were so very clever, they could make so many things with their little hands and imaginations. They had no claws so they crafted their own. They could not burrow or make tunnels in rock, so they used trees and stone to make their dwellings. They had no fur or scales to protect them from the elements, so they made use of the leftovers from their prey. No fire, so they built their own flaming-rock throwers. They were very smart. I would have loved to know more about them, but She requires sustenance, and the Vikings stand in the way.

Below me the Thunder have engaged the Vikings, spike-tails and buzz-wings going after the food, two-necks going after the Vikings dwellings, and flame-skins spread out. There were also many little-biters, but they usually did their own thing.

The Thunder Lead, a flame-skin, has engaged the Alpha, which is my cue.

SHRIIIIIIIIII-BOOM!

Direct hit! Who's Useless now, huh!?

I come back around and unleash a follow up attack, swooping low to dodge the aftershock. I'm distracted by scoping out my next target, I haven't regained my height as I should have, which is how a Viking fly-claw manages to hit where my wing meets my shoulder. Pain shoots through me and my wing stutters, throwing me off course and sending me hurdling into the dense trees.

The pain in my shoulder is drowned out as I tumble and crash through trees and rocks, my scales protecting me from worse damage, but not the pain.

I feel a searing slash across my face just before I finally hit the dirt, digging a trench into the ground and finally halting. I only have a few pain filled moments of consciousness to think..

Maybe... they were right...

Author's Notes

Taking a few ideas from different interpretations of what dragons name things:

flame-skins/Monstrous Nightmares

night-wing/Night Fury

spike-tails/Deadly Nadder

buzz-wings/Gronkle

little-biters/Terrible Terrors

fly-claw/arrow

dwellings/houses

A Thunder is a smaller group, while a Flock is all the dragons in a Nest

And they name each other as how they see one another, so while one dragon may call another Stupid, a different dragon might call them Curious

I've also added a picture of what Toothless and Hiccup look like on my DeviantArt and Tumblr, both SierLeAn