CHAPTER THREE: HUMANITY LOST
CAUTION- contains mentions of rape, violence, and death.
Stranger
She ran as fast as she could. Who was that? She asked herself, her mind reeling. It's been years since she'd seen humans, and those that she had seen had been dangerous and deadly.
The young woman ran until the pain in her leg made her stop. She sat down on a rock, panting. She looked at her leg, peeling back the bandage to reveal a shiny, red burn where the Nadder spine had grazed her leg. Somehow, this stranger had found her, removed the poison, and cauterized the gash in her leg. These weren't like the people that she knew. They would have killed her on sight. But that man had helped her, and done so with kindness. She had woken up with a gentle hand on her knee. Not a firm grip around her arm or a knife to her throat. He could have restrained her with rope or chains, or even left her to die from infection. That thought made the woman take a second look at her leg. It was clean. And more than just a "jump in the lake" kind of clean. She gingerly touched the burn mark and hissed at the pain. The burn definitely stung, but there was no burn of infection. She carefully rewrapped the bandage around her leg and leaned back.
Moon purred and rubbed her head against the woman and sniffed at her leg. She rested her hand behind the dragon's ears and gently scratched as her thoughts turned to the young man that she had just encountered. He wasn't aggressive in nature or appearance. If fact, he had seemed downright terrified when she had pinned him. She could only assume he was her age, tall, but thinner than the men of her nation.
I wondered how he had gotten to this sanctuary. The only way into these cavern that I knew of was to fly. An image of an imposing figure from my past riding on the back of a great dragon filled me with fear. Did he follow that tyrant's orders? Did he have the same beliefs? I instantly feared for my dragon family here in this haven. They were the only family I had. My own human family had all died. My own father at the hands of the self-proclaimed master.
The girl wrapped her arms around Moon and the white dragon warbled quietly, nuzzling into the young woman before pulling away, moving back towards the way they came. She looked back at her companion, her blue eyes asking the girl to follow her back. The young woman took a deep breath and stood up, wincing as she put weight on her left leg. Moon trotted back to her, and moved under her arm, helping to support her weight as they walked back towards the strange man.
Hiccup
Valka walked over to her son laying on the ground. She couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle the the scene she just witnessed. Hiccup looked up at her, his eyes still wide with shock.
"What. In Odin's Balls. Was that?!" Hiccup gasped, his body still paralyzed with shock.
"I guess she woke up," Valka mused, turning towards the path that the young woman and light fury had taken.
"You think?" her son responded, sitting up.
"I am curious about her behavior," the woman replied, "It seemed fearful, aggressive, almost feral. Not unlike-"
"A dragon," Hiccup interjected.
Hiccup stood up and followed her gaze. They stood quietly for a moment, contemplating what they just witnessed and the implications it had. Hiccup wondered how she had come to be here, and why she wasn't chased away. The dragons that lived in the Hidden World did not take kindly to humans. He remembered how he and Astrid had been chased by a hoard of dragons, only escaping with Toothless and Stormfly came to their rescue. Could this young, feral, woman have been here for years with no human contact?
As if hearing his thoughts, Valka spoke quietly; "For twenty years I lived with dragons. I had forgotten what it meant to be human. I spoke their language, both with sounds and with posture. It wasn't until you came into my life that I even uttered a word in Norse. She reminds me of a younger version of myself. She may have lost touch with humanity, living only as a dragon would. She sees us as an enemy, here to disrupt our way of life."
As his mother turned back towards Cloudjumper, Hiccup continued looking towards the direction that the two females had fled to, wondering about the young woman's past.
Toothless nudged him and crooned softly.
"Hey bud, I'm fine. Just wondering who she is," he said to his friend, "Let's get going."
Hiccup went to mount the dragon, but Toothless moved away from him. Hiccup sighed and walked around to the other side, again attempting to climb up. Once more, Toothless moved away from the young chief, this time dropping his rump to the ground, and cocking his head to the side in question.
"Toothless, come on!" Hiccup exclaimed, "I don't have time for this! We helped her, but now I need to get back to New Berk."
Toothless nudged Hiccup and called quietly into the woods. Out of the shadows, the light fury moved gracefully towards her mate. They nuzzled each other, turning their gaze back to the trees. The light fury called into the treeline softly, stepping forward. Hiccup was surprised to hear a timid trill in response. The alpha dragon and his mate then turned around and lie down.
"I guess we're not going anywhere," huffed Hiccup, his mother smiling inwardly.
Stranger
Moon and the woman had reached the glade at the base of the cliff. She could see Alpha avoiding the young man, completely comfortable with the human's presence. The large dragon sat on the ground, and the man huffed in annoyance. In the background, she noticed the large Stormcutter that had come to the sanctuary with Alpha watching the scene in front of him with amusement. From behind him, a tall thin woman that she had not seen before stepped into view, smiling at the two with fondness.
Alpha looked toward the pair, and called them to him. The woman stepped back, but Moon turned and looked at her before walking to her mate. She took her place beside him and beckoned the girl to them. They showed no fear, but she was apprehensive. She denied them, preferring to stay in the cover of the trees. The two dragons turned an lay down, granting the pale girl her privacy.
She observed the two strangers. They were clearly related, as they had the same body structure and similar hair colors. What surprised her was the level of comfort that the dragons had with the humans, and comfort that the humans had in return.
The woman carried a bag on her shoulder, made of supple leather, and brought it over to where the man was sitting on a rock. They spoke quietly enough that the feral girl couldn't make out their words, but she could gauge their emotions. The woman was calm and inquisitive, listening to the young man, but obviously taking in the world around her. The young man was very animated and moved his arms while speaking. He seemed frustrated, but not aggravated. The woman pulled some kind of dried meat out of the bag and handed to the man. He thanked her, but continued to speak and wave around his right arm while eating with the left. The woman would smile, nod, or speak in return, but otherwise remained silent, frequently glancing back toward location in the trees where the stranger hid.
They finished eating and stood up. The woman made her way over to the lake and sat down next to the larger dragon who was laying on the ground. She stroked his great snout and examined everything she could see. She lifted up rocks, moss, and plants close to her face to examine them. She watched the great water dragons play in the lake, and the multitude that flew overhead.
The young man went to his own belongings, pulling out a book of some sort and sat along the treeline some distance from me, but close to the napping dragons. He had a stick in his left hand and moved it across the paper. He would look up, squint in concentration, and then turn his attention back to the page. The very tip of his tongue peeked from between his lips as he focused on his task.
The young woman was curious about these people. She wanted to know why they were here, but she was still too nervous to reveal herself to them. She quietly made her way through the trees along the outskirts of the grove closer to the man until she was behind him. He was scratching frantically, the stick flying across the paper. She could not see what was on the pages, as his head blocked her view, but she could see black lines and shaded edges. He was drawing something. She wanted to see what it was, so she inched closer to him, trying to peer over his head. She could see the outskirts of the drawing, a rough sketch of the lake and the cliff face, but the center- the focus of the picture was still hidden. The trees here was sparse, but the young woman didn't care. She was too distracted by her own curiosity, so she took another couple of tentative steps forward. By that point, she could see over his shoulder, and she was shocked at what she saw. It was a perfect image of Moon and Alpha sleeping in the glade. Behind them, the cliff face and to the left of the image, the lake. He had captured so many details; the scales on Alpha's face, the reflections in the lake, even the softness of the moss beneath the sleeping figures. A quiet gasp escaped the girl's lips, and the broad shoulders in front of her stiffened. She took a small step back in apprehension and looked up. Both the woman and the Stormcutter were watching her intently. Neither showed any aggression or fear. She felt herself relax slightly, but her heart still raced. The woman took several slow, measured steps toward her, one hand raised slightly.
"We mean you know harm," she said, her voice warm and gentle, "the dragons brought us here to help you."
The girl did not answer, but she also chose to stay, only taking a small step back.
The young man slowly placed his book on the ground and rose to his feet. He was tall, much taller than than her. And while he was thin, his shoulders were broad which led her to believe that he was quite strong. He hunched himself down slightly, looking up at her through dark, thick brows with bright green eyes.
"It's ok," he said, the corner of his mouth raised in a small smile, "we're friends." He gestured toward the dragons, now awake and standing next to the young man. Both were calm and relaxed, eyes wide, watching her and the young man. "Toothless brought me here. To you."
The young woman did not understand what he meant by that, and she couldn't help the look of confusion that showed on her face, head tilted to one side.
"Oh. Uh-" he said basfully, one hand raising to scratch his neck, "that's Toothless," he gestured to Alpha. "He's my friend. We used to fly together."
As if to show the girl, Alpha moved to the young man, rubbing his head against his chest, purring. The black dragon then turned to meher, eyes wide and tongue lolling out in joy. She looked to Moon, and while the white dragon made no move towards the human, she blinked slowly and dipped her head in acquiescence.
The woman came up to stand beside the man. "This is Hiccup, my son, and I am Valka. Our dragons brought us to you. Do you understand?" she asked.
The mysterious woman understood Norse, though it had been years since she had heard it spoken. She rarely spoke it herself, usually speaking through posture or through dragon-speak, but she nodded nonetheless.
"Would you sit with us?" she added. "We have food and warm clothes."
The idea of food piqued the girl's interest. She smiled shyly and nodded with a bit more enthusiasm.
She followed them out of the trees towards the rocks in the center of the glade. The woman, Valka, walked calmly, back straight, occasionally glancing back at the red-haired girl. Her son, Hiccup, was clearly either excited or nervous, his arms swinging by his side, hands clenched. He too would look back, but would then look away quickly, as if embarrassed.
Valka grabbed her bag and sat down on the rocks, pulling out some dried meat and holding it out to the thin younger woman. It had been ages since she had anything other than what Moon or Alpha brought- usually fish. She grabbed the meat eagerly, nodding in thanks and sitting down beside her. Hiccup had grabbed himself an apple and sat down on the other side of his mother.
"So," he began tentatively, "how did you get here?"
The young woman chewed the dried meat for a moment before swallowing and turning to them, "Moon found me," she said, not recognizing her own voice- it was fuller, more mature, and huskier from roars and purrs instead of murmurs and songs.
Hiccup's eyebrows rose in shock. He was clearly not expecting her to speak. "Who is Moon?"
"Moon," she indicated, gesturing to the white dragon before turning back to the food in her hand.
"The Light Fury?" Valka asked, "She brought you here?"
"She found me on the rocks at the edge of the waterfall," she affirmed.
"If I may ask, my dear" interjected Valka, "what is your name?"
Hiccup flushed, apparently embarrassed that he had forgotten to ask the stranger's name in his excitement.
"Kenna," she answered. "It means 'born from fire' in my mother's language."
"Are you not Norse? You speak the language fluently," she continued.
"I am. My mother's father was a trader and would bring her with him. I guess on one trading mission to the North, she met and fell in love with my father. She stayed, married him, and had me."
"You have an accent though," Hiccup added. "It's familiar, but I can't remember from where…"
"It's the same accent that my father's people have. They speak Norse, but I guess with a different accent than your people," she shrugged, grabbing another piece of dried meat.
"So," Valka continued, shooting a stern look at her son, "how did you come to be at the entrance of the hidden world?"
Kenna paused. She didn't like to think about the series of events that had led her there. Her past was gruesome and painful. She took a deep breath to gather her courage and placed her hands in her lap, my eyes on them instead of on the faces of the two vikings.
"I left my people. It's cowardly and shameful, but I had to leave. My father was challenged by a tyrant for control of my people and its resources."
Kenna did not miss the glance shared between mother and son out of the corner of her eye.
"I was the daughter of a chief. Where I'm from, women are not permitted to be chiefs, but the line of royalty follows the blood line. My mother died when I was born, so I had no brothers. When my father dies, the mantle passes to any sons I may have.
"Our nation is rather large. We have a lot in terms of resources, especially ships and sailors. Our nation's wealth comes primarily from trading; fur, gems, textiles, livestock, even dragons."
Hiccup made a move to interrupt, but Valka shook her head at him, encouraging her to continue.
"My father was challenged for the chiefdom by a stranger. He showed up on our shores with an army and a small fleet of ships, demanding an armada, sailors, and resources. If all of our ships had been in port, we could have defeated him, but the vast majority were away on trading voyages, far away from our people. This...monster threatened my father and the life of all of my people. My father would not bow to him. He refused to give him the ships and goods he demanded. The tyrant threatened to execute my father, take what he needed, and burn my village to the ground. My father was the only family I had. These people were all that I knew. I had to do something. I stepped forward and volunteered myself. In exchange for sparing my father and my people, I would marry him. Any children I bore him would be chief following my father. My father objected, but the challenger accepted my offer. I married him that night. I spent every night for three months on his ship, in his chambers. I was there to provide an heir. That was it. He did not care if I bled, if it hurt, if I didn't want it," her voice tightened with the emotion of reliving those dark days, "it didn't matter, he didn't care, every day and every night, he would, would-"
"Shhh, love." Valka crooned softly, placing one hand on her shoulder and the other stroked her red hair gently. "Hush. It's all right. It's not fair that you had to go through that."
Kenna glanced up at the kind woman and her son. She had never gotten to know her mother, and the warm gesture she showed toward Kenna was calming and comforting. Valka looked at her fondly and gave a small encouraging smile. Her son looked at the young woman with concern on his face. No judgement, just empathy.
Kenna took a small breath and continued her story; "I became pregnant. I didn't want to believe it and held off telling anyone for as long as possible. I prayed the gods would end the pregnancy. I didn't want the offspring of a monster inside me. But I couldn't hide it. He ordered his healer to examine me twice a moon cycle. When he found out, my master," I said with disdain, "announced it to my people. And in front of me and our entire village, he murdered my father."age, he murdered my father."
