Chapter 3 : The Scales of the Situation

-SwT-

She was here, Her voice humming through us all. She wasn't really with us on the human-settled island of rock, but Her influence remained. Her influence guided. Her beautiful influence ordered.

The others flitted this way and that in the flickering light of fire, human- and dragon-made alike. Stonetails used balls of lava or their own rock-like bodies to bash holes in Viking structures. Preenscales fired venomous spines into the gaps, taking the defenders within by surprise. If there was no food stored inside, Twinheads filled the structure with gas and detonated it, killing any of the foul humans within.

If there was food… Her voice did not discriminate as to who would bring it back - only that we must bring it. If there was food within the human structures, sometimes dragons would lose sight of friends and foes, clawing scale and human flesh alike to retrieve that which She desired.

I avoided the food and the fights on the ground. That wasn't my place. My place was with the Flamescales, though I performed their task differently. The Flamescales She tasked with decimating the strange contraptions that throw large chunks of stone. The Flamescales destroyed them by climbing upon them, killing the defending humans and lighting themselves aflame.

Me? I destroyed those structures as well, but with much more stealth.

I spotted a stone hurtling through the air, just missing a Preenscale who dropped two sheep in surprise. Squawking wordlessly in alarm, she dove after them. I traced the path of the stone back to its source and spotted one of the humans' contraptions on an outcrop over the ocean. No Flamescales were nearby; I saw most of them dealing with a number of resisting humans on the far side of the human nest.

With a flick of my tail, I spun and dove toward the contraption, a piercing whistle vibrating in the small cavity between my mid-wings and my wings, building as my speed rose. I opened my mouth and let my fires build, a purple glow edging into the bottom of my vision. When the humans at the contraption's base began bellowing in their strange barks, I let my fires loose. The bolt shot out, splintering the trees of which the contraption was made. With another flick of my tail, I whipped past, my wings opening to catch the air and send me arcing back upwards.

Flight. I couldn't remember a time when I was without it. As far back as I could remember…

My ear plates stood on end and I blinked, the thought gone. Her voice purred in my mind and I remembered what I was thinking about. Flying. That's what I was doing. I needed to bank around and to take another swoop over this human nest. With a dip of one wing I swept around, passing momentarily between the moon and the human structures.

Sky above, I love this.

There were draconic squawks of alarm coming from near the center of the human structures; the humans had lit a large fire in a raised bowl and were chucking their claws made of mountain-vein at us, stalling our attack. I adjusted my path and dove, aiming spot on for the middle of the leafless human-made tree supporting the fire-bowl. With my signature (beautiful) whistle, I blasted the thing asunder, sending the bowl crashing down into a human structure that quickly caught alight. Even as I arced back up toward the sky I watched several Preenscales and a Twinhead dive into the structure, pulling out the strange woven-branch containers filled with fish kept there.

I heard the clank of a human contraption releasing - one made primarily of mountain-vein. I snapped my head around quickly, looking for the source. The more mountain-vein the humans used in something, the more dangerous it was. Some of the more mountain-vein-ey contraptions only I could blast apart. This sounded very much like one of those.

I never spotted it. I never had a chance against it. By the time I heard the second sound - the whooshing of taut vines in the air - it was too late. Human woven-vines wrapped around me, gripping my wings and pulling them shut. My legs were tangled too, pulled flat against my chest. I squawked in surprise, probably the most undignified sound I had ever made. Now that I thought about it, the first sound I remembered making in a long time with my mouth, apart from the shriek of my fire.

I had no time to ponder that thought, though, as my flight path immediately deteriorated. I had some upward momentum remaining from my swoop at the fire-bowl, but that was quickly expended fighting gravity without the aid of my wings' lift. I began to fall, the world spinning around me as the ground below grew larger. A piercing shriek filled my ears and it took me a moment to realize it was me - screaming. Everything spun sickeningly, the black skies blurring with the near-black ground. The only thing I could see clearly was directly ahead, growing larger by the moment. A net of mountain-vein expanded in my vision, filling up everything I could see.

As a last ditch effort to save myself from whatever fate awaited me colliding with that mountain-vein, I let the fires build in my throat and released them, cutting off my shriek of terror. The gasses exploded forward in a final, desperate attempt to do something.

The flash of the shot detonating filled my vision, the crash of whatever I hit breaking combined with that of my body hitting it, the two sounding nearly like one noise. I passed through almost okay. Almost. Just an eighth of a wingbreadth from making it through, something caught on my tail.

I stopped thinking, stopped feeling, then. Everything was pain, like the sky had disappeared and the ground had swallowed me whole. I felt crushed, battered, burned and scraped, every part of me afire with pain. My tail, though, that outpaced everything else in its severity. I didn't even feel my impact with the stone ground beyond the mountain-vein net. The only sensations I could register were of unadulterated agony, originating at the furthest point on my spine.

My mind shut down, blocking out all input to protect itself from the onslaught of warning messages describing the damage done to me. As I blacked out, the last vestiges of rationality not swallowed whole by shrieking pain thought about what this meant for me.

If I wake up, am I still going to have a tail at all?

Then my thoughts were no more.

-SwT-

I sucked in a deep breath, bruised ribs complaining at the sudden change from restful unconsciousness. The first thing I registered was that, by some miracle of the sky, my tail didn't hurt as badly as before I blacked out. Then I slowly realized that, despite getting shot down by the humans, I wasn't dead yet.

I opened my eyes, taking in the scene around me with a panicked, darting gaze. There were stone walls, a floor, the sky covered over by a mountain-vein net and-A human! A tiny, strangely very pink human stood right next to me, not a wingbreadth away, holding some miniscule mountain-vein claw. I could smell it, close and dangerous and, to my confusion, afraid. My eyes darted around, looking for anyone but this tiny, threatening being. I found none.

I thrashed, trying to break the human-made woven-vines. It was no use. They bound my legs tightly, my wings even more so. I couldn't move if my life depended on it - which, in fact, it did.

No. No, please… I crooned submissively, hoping against hope that somehow the human would find some ounce of mercy. It was stupid, of course, thinking one of these evil creatures would show such a developed emotion. Still, I was desperate. I was terrified. There had to be a way out of this alive.

Of course, even in the midst of seemingly rational terror, parts of me were being observant and entirely irrational. That human doesn't wear many false-skins like other humans. Where are the false-skins over its hind feet?

The human shot forward, slipping out of my vision toward my unprotected underside. I tried to thrash or kick it away, but with little success. I was still bound by the woven-vines wrapped around my wings. I could almost feel the human's mountain-vein claw, clawwidths from my underbelly. I was doomed; there was no doubt in my mind. Everything I could remember told me that a human always, always went for the kill.

Death didn't come. Instead, inexplicably, the human began to saw at the woven-vines. At least, I assumed it did. I couldn't see it doing it, but I felt as the vines vibrated, smelled the bark of the dried vines getting stirred up, then heard as they snapped.

I didn't remain idle in the face of this new freedom. I swung myself around, leaping to jump atop the tiny human. His mountain-vein claw clattered away on the stone, failing utterly to protect him. I pinned the human to the ground between two of my forepaw's claws, the small gap easily encompassing the human's neck. One twist of my leg and I could slash the tiny being's windpipe. A bit more pressure and I'd crush it. With a tug, I could pull its head clean off its shoulders.

Its eyes were closed, its breathing slow. I smelled ocean water, stone, and charcoal on it, mixed in with a heavy musk of fear and submission. It was like the human expected me to kill it. Any other time, any other situation, I would have. Yet, this human- this tiny, idiotic human had just released me. With me free, it was no threat to me. It had to have known that. So why did it release me?

Barks of anger echoed across the stone and I looked up. Properly armed, larger humans were storming into the space between the mountain-vein net and the stone walls, clearly angered by my freedom. I spared one last glance at the tiny human under me, then tossed it away, behind me. If I survived and it survived, then I could figure out whatever ground-bound lunacy just occurred. For now, I had a fight to deal with.

I was a Shadowscale: most elusive, most feared of my kin. Maybe, just maybe, I could use that to my advantage. Sucking in a deep breath I prepared my fires, readying to blast the onrushing humans. Attacking them directly, though, wouldn't work. I couldn't fire fast enough to get them all, and there were more of them than I had shots.

At the last moment, I chose to fire at the ground, thinking that scaring them all might be better than hurting a few. Most of them stumbled to a halt, but two didn't even slow down. I roared and charged the two, ducking under their attacks and swinging my wings upward to throw them back at the other humans. They tumbled through the air, knocking some of the more sensible humans over. However, there weren't as many of the sensible humans as before…

No!

Some of the ones that had stumbled to a halt had snuck around to my sides. Now they leaped onto me, pinning my wings, back, head and - to my horror - very injured tail. That limb screamed out in protest at the rough treatment after so recently being gravely injured. I didn't even know how injured it was! I forgot to check!

The pain from my tail's rough handling stunned me, keeping me from mounting any sort of defense as more humans piled atop me. They all smelled different from the small human: of mountain-vein, of grime, of stone, of anger. Nowhere in this pile of bodies did I detect fear.

Another human approached, I could just make it out past the restraining forelimbs of one of the humans. It - the most massive human I had seen to date - came nearer, wielding a brutal mountain-vein claw with an edge as tall as my neck. As my neck.

No! Please! I don't want to die! Please, don't kill me…

My pleas fell on deaf human ears, my struggles stopped by massive, remorseless human hands. The massive, black furred human - what had to be the alpha of the humans - raised its claw over me. I struggled, fruitlessly trying to escape the fate that awaited me. Rational thought shut down as I realized this was where I would die. I didn't want to die, I wasn't ready, there had to be a way out but I was so terrified I couldn't see it but there had to be one and if I struggled hard enough maybe I would get some space to just think and fight this and-

A chirp echoed across the small space, freezing the human alpha with its claw poised damningly above me. The alpha turned, looking toward the source. As little as I could make out, I spotted a flash of pink against one of the stone walls. The tiny, sapling-sized human stopped the human alpha?

The humans grunted amongst one another, clearly making some form of communication. After some conversation, the alpha handed out orders and some of the humans holding me down slipped off, leaving the stone-walled space. Those that remained were still plenty heavy enough to keep me restrained, especially when one of them pressed on my tail again. I whined in agony. What happened to my tail?

The human alpha approached the sapling-sized human, the size difference staggeringly apparent as the former shook the latter like a toy. The humans that had left earlier returned, bearing mountain-vein netting that, when they brought it closer, smelled like blood. Dragon blood, human blood and other scents I couldn't identify; I was sure I didn't want to identify those other scents. I pushed away, trying one last time in vain to free myself. It didn't work. In moments the humans had me restrained fully in the mountain-vein, my legs bent at uncomfortable angles.

A slimmer human approached the place where the alpha was punishing the Sapling human. They grunted, growled and hummed at one another, then the slimmer human barked at the humans standing around me. I cowered in fear as the humans… left. Every human left except the alpha and the Sapling exited through a hole in the wall, that they then covered over with mountain-vein. The Sapling human curled into a ball, producing a hiccuping keen that sounded so very broken. It honestly distressed me, seeing this human that freed me now himself in distress, seemingly because of his actions. Why do I care? It's just a human.

The slimmer human returned, bearing a few things I couldn't make out. He set one on the ground and handed the other to his alpha. The alpha did something with the object, somehow changing its size and producing out of it a flurry of white leaves, before setting in front of the distressed Sapling human. The alpha and slimmer human retreated, barking and snarling in that nonsensical human speech of theirs. They waved the remaining objects brought by the slimmer human threateningly at Sapling.

What I saw next looked impossible. Sapling (when did I begin to call him that?) reached out to touch the object the alpha had changed in size. At the same moment his paw came into contact with it, the object some distance away lit on fire, producing a tiny tendril of flame with an equally tiny tendril of smoke. No fire passed between Sapling and the thing that lit, nor between the other humans and it. One moment it was not burning, the next it was.

The slimmer human hissed in surprise, then the alpha attacked it. The alpha, far larger than the slimmer human, won immediately. The slimmer human slumped to the ground, unmoving. I didn't think it was dead - there hadn't been any blood - but the violence frightened me after the incredibly strange occurrence with the fire. What else can this human alpha and his strange objects do? What will he do to Sapling? What in the sake of the sky and the ground is going on?

The alpha approached Sapling, picking up and manipulating the size of the strange leaf-like object he had Sapling use to create fire at a distance. Seemingly satisfied with the leaves, he set the book before Sapling once again and growled at the miniscule, pink human. Sapling crawled away, afraid of the alpha's demands.

My mind could not keep up with any of this. It made no sense. How does this miniscule human resist his alpha's orders? Why did the alpha attack that other human? Did they disagree? How could this alpha have so little control over his constituents?

The alpha raised its mountain-vein claw as if preparing to strike Sapling. Then it paused, turning slowly to look my way. No, no not again! Not after I just escaped this fate! The alpha approached me, danger practically oozing from his posture. I shrank back, struggling to move in the mountain-vein restraints the subservient humans left me in. My efforts were fruitless. The alpha stood over me, claw poised once more to end my life, then growled at Sapling.

Sapling jumped forward to touch the strange pile of leaves the alpha kept manipulating. Nothing happened.

No, not as in something happened elsewhere with seemingly no transfer of energy, I mean nothing happened. No fire, nada. I whined as the alpha barked loudly at Sapling then hurled its mountain-vein claw against a wall. The massive human stormed over, grabbing the fur on Sapling's head and pulling like it was trying to tear the weaker human's head off. I whined again, this time in sympathy for the pain the tiny creature must've been feeling. The alpha tossed Sapling to the ground, seemingly frustrated by the lack of… anything.

Storming over to the unconscious slim human, the alpha kicked its subservient and barked orders at it. As the slimmer human began to groan and recover, the alpha stormed out of the stone-walled space.

At its departure I let out breath I didn't know I was holding. With the alpha not here, I was likely going to survive for a time - at least until it returned. Humans usually made a big show out of killing us, when they captured us alive. I assumed. I was really only basing this thought on the two times She sent us raiding and we arrived during some ceremonial human killing of one of us.

I stopped that dive of thought almost as soon as it began. Undermining my assumption was not important. The assumption was comforting and I didn't want to undermine that feeling of safety. Nonetheless, I watched anxiously as the slim, subservient human rose to its feet and began collecting the many objects strewn about the stone floor. Once it gathered the inanimate things it roughly pulled the Sapling human to a two-legged position and began half pushing, half dragging the small human out of the stone-walled space. Sapling gave no signs of resistance, either too injured to or something else.

The mountain-vein moving-wall clanged loudly against the stone, and I was alone.

I struggled with the restraining mountain-vein around me, trying to get some measure of comfort from the unyielding vines and claw-grip-like things around my legs. I couldn't find any comfortable position and I growled in frustration.

Moving on from immediate bodily concerns, I took stock of my situation. I was trapped and bound in a human nest, on a human island, surrounded by bloodthirsty humans. As if that wasn't fun enough, my tail was somehow badly injured, in a way I couldn't really identify as restrained as I was. I craned my head, trying to peek at my tail behind me. The chains stopped me quite a distance short. I snarled at them, the wordless threat coming out more like a snort with the mountain-vein wrapped around my snout.

To add to the strangeness of the situation, that tiny Sapling human had helped me not once but twice, the first time risking my wrath, the second that human alpha's. I couldn't wrap my head around it: Why? It made no sense. He - it! - was a human. They killed dragons, ripping them limb from limb with their mountain-vein claws. Why in all made of sky and ground would one risk death and punishment to help me?

I heard Her voice on the edge of my perception, so very far away. Everything I had learned under Her control and guidance, everything I had seen, told me this was some kind of trick the humans were doing. I couldn't fathom its purpose. If they wanted me dead then Sapling would have killed me right there in the woven-vines, pinned to the ground. What, then, could they be planning?

I shook my head, then tried to roar my frustrations and confusions out. With the mountain-vein wrapped around my snout, the sound came out like a loud growl, infuriatingly far from the bellow I needed to release my annoyance. The difference between what I needed and what I got only heightened my frustration.

I sucked in a deep breath to growl out a complete lungful of air, then paused. Somewhere beyond the mountain-vein moving-wall I heard a clank, like mountain-vein hitting stone. I held the breath, hoping that by some blessing of the sky this was not some human coming to end my life.

To my utter surprise, my hopes came to be. The mountain-vein moving-wall ground open, dragging on the ground, and a tiny human form slipped in. Sapling was back, this time without a mountain-vein claw! He hissed at me, oddly calmingly, though the content of the hiss was something I had no clue how to interpret.

You? I cooed. I had intended it to be a coo, anyway. Once again the mountain-vein on my snout butchered the sound, making it far more growley and accusatory than I'd intended. The human didn't seem to mind, approaching me far faster than I was comfortable with. I would have shrunk away had I not been restrained by the mountain-vein.

Then he was directly in front of me, his paws on either side of my face. It was unsettling, having something I so recently hated and thought hated me so very close. Then Sapling helped me again, unlocking the mountain-vein on my head.

I yawned, immensely thankful for the room to move my jaw. Then I turned to my remaining restraints. They looked stronger than the band Sapling had just removed, surely much harder for him - it! I have to stop that - to remove. It wasn't a problem, though: I could burn them off. I began preparing my fires, readying myself for the slight pain I'd get from my own fire so close to my body. Sapling squawked in alarm, causing me to halt and swallow the gasses. I looked at him, hoping that even the human could understand my annoyance. He made me waste most of a shot's gasses! As if to aggravate me further, he moved back to me and produced tiny sticks of mountain-vein that he inserted into the mountain-vein restraining me. My aggravation drained away, though, when as if by some mystical power, the mountain-vein holding me snapped into two pieces, immediately falling from my leg.

I stared in amazement as he did the same to the other three mountain-vein loops. Once all my legs were free (and eyeing Sapling carefully) I shook out of the remaining mountain-vein netting. With my legs free it seemed to hardly resist sliding off. Sapling moved to the door, swinging his paw towards himself as if to tell me to come nearer to him. Curious and apprehensive of the consequences of remaining within that stone-walled place, I followed. He led me out the mountain-vein moving-wall - which I had to move slightly wider to fit through - and out into a canyon. There he paused, as if lost.

I sniffed at him, taking the opportunity to get a better understanding of my less-than-unlikely ally. He smelled of fire and mountain-vein, even more than the ones that pinned me earlier. He also smelled of a great number of the other humans, which was odd for his tiny stature. Many human scents clung to him but none of them appeared to be stronger than the others. His back smelled of stone and was caked with dust, as if he spent time sleeping on the stone ground this island seemed covered with.

The only situation I could develop for the strange mix of scents was that this tiny human was being kept here and forced by many other humans to work on mountain-vein; that didn't make sense at all. Not once had I encountered humans not bearing mountain-vein claws ready to fight us away from their nests.

Until now, that is.

Sapling flinched when human barks and growling rang out from further down the rock crevice. My human looked left and right, then took off running up a nearby ramp, hissing back at me. I glanced between him and the source of the sounds, then hastened to catch up.

At the top of the ramp, now overlooking the arena, Sapling stopped. He looked around at the cliffs rising above us, letting out a loud moan.

Keep quiet, human! They'll hear us! I rumbled.

He looked directly at me and chirped.

The barks of the humans clattering around at the bottom of the ramp grew louder. Clearly, they'd heard him. Unbelievable. I snorted.

He shrank, seeming to grow smaller as he began hissing. He looked more apologetic by the second.

Madness of the ground- Fine! I retracted my teeth, pulling them into my gums (against my every instinct with a human standing right next to me) and scooped up Sapling's torso in my mouth, around one of his forelegs. He shrieked in alarm. I turned, leaping onto a thicker portion of the mountain-vein cage into which I'd crashed, then ran up it, toward the top of the hill-like structure. The humans chasing me and Sapling stumbled to a halt at the top of the ramp, unwilling or unable to climb the cage after us.

Reaching the top of the cage, we leaped into the air. A quick flap of my wings sent us sailing up to the edge of the cliff, though my landing was more unbalanced than I expected. Scrabbling to get my left hindpaw over the edge I silently cursed my previous entrapment.

Then I was free. Or we were, Sapling and I. Away from the humans and their trapping mountain-vein, I began sprinting northwest, toward where She lived, carrying Sapling along. Sapling hissed quietly. I ignored him.

As I ran to Her, a thought struck me. How will she react to Sapling?

He was unprecedented: a human that didn't attack dragon kind. If we could keep him, use him, we might be able to…

And that was where my argument broke down. I knew hardly anything of humans apart from what I'd seen in raids. I had no idea what a pet human could be useful for.

Apart from saving me from humans.

I shook the thought away. It will be fine. I have the whole flight home to consider it. My tongue jostled in my mouth, touching the disgusting false-skin that barely covered the human's torso. Though, maybe I don't want to carry him all that way back.

As we reached the sea cliffs on the edge of the island I launched off the cliff and into the air.

Flight, oh how I missed you.

I began tilting left, probably due to the uneven weight of the human I carried. Unconcerned, I tilted my tail to correct the roll. It worsened.

No. Nonono, not that kind of tail damage, please!

I swung my head left, looking to confirm what my other senses were already telling me. There wasn't any rush of air, stretch of lift, pull of muscle…

My left tailfin was gone.

My mind stopped, blank. Without a tailfin, I couldn't fly straight. I couldn't really "fly" at all. I might as well be dead.

As suddenly as the realization hit me, the water rushed up to meet us both. I spun head over tail from the impact, the freezing cold water like Tinywing claws under my scales. For a moment I drifted, the shock of my loss combining with the shock of the water to completely stun me. As water began to push into my nostrils, pain flaring in the sensitive areas, I regained my senses and pushed hard for the surface.

I took a deep breath of air, my lungs spasming on the small amount of seawater that made it into my throat through my nostrils. I cast about, getting my bearings. My mouth was clear, free of the (awful) taste of human flesh and false-skins.

Oh. No! I realized with sudden terror: I dropped the Sapling human!

I tread water, looking for a flash of his pink hide. All that greeted me was the stone grey of the sea, reflecting the equally grey sky.

Sapling! I barked, deciding the descriptor of his size would make a decent enough name. There was no hiss or squawk in response. I dove under the water, my eyes stinging as I looked for the strange human. I spotted a splotch of pink in the icy waters and hurriedly swam toward it.

Well, swam is too kind a descriptor. Without my tailfin I was severely off balance, my elegant swimming devolved quickly into a hatchling's wriggling as I tried to stay on target. After one stupid miss, I managed to scoop him up in my jaws, turning back toward the surface.

Around the false-skins Sapling wore, water began seeping into my mouth and throat. I nearly gagged as the cold liquid met the warm interior of my body.

I am not concerned with drowning, I am not concerned with drowning, I am not going to drown- Oh skies above, I need to swim up faster!

Just when I felt I couldn't suppress my gag reflex any longer we broke the surface. I took the opportunity to snort the seawater that leaked into my mouth out of my nose, ignoring the painful stinging that came with it. Relieved, now that I had a clear throat, I focused on coming up with a plan to save us both.

On the cliff face, maybe two wingbreadths above the crashing surf, I spotted a deep cave in the cliff face. If I could make it up there it would shelter me and Sapling from the wind and surf, as well as keep us away from any prying human eyes. The question was: how?

As a Shadowscale I couldn't take off from water. If I were a Flamescale I could climb the cliff wall with gripping foreclaws. If I were, which I wasn't. Although…

The two ideas merged, forming the stupidest plan I had ever conceived. If it didn't work, Sapling and I would be crushed between the surf and the cliff face. If it did work…

The relentless surf pulled us further in, only five wingbreadths remained between us and the wall. Preparing for the next wave crest, I let my body sink a little lower into the water. I felt the wave flow beneath me, lifting me upwards and, startlingly quickly, toward the wall. Under the water, I pushed my wings down as hard as I could, giving my body a clawbreadth's clearance above the top of the wave. The wall rushed up and I grabbed ahold, gripping the wet stone with all the force I could muster.

I managed to keep my hold, the wave retreating out from beneath me. As soon as my tail was clear of the water I heaved myself upwards, giving a solid flap to keep my upwards momentum. My forelegs made it into the cavern entrance…

Then I ran out of momentum. Scrabbling against the rock, I flapped frantically and weakly to keep myself from slipping back down. With a few moments of terrified effort, I dragged myself over the edge. I laid Sapling out on the floor, then took a few massive, shuddering gasps of relief.

It was in contrast to my own breaths that I realized Sapling wasn't breathing.

Sapling? Sapling!

He didn't respond; his tiny chest remained unmoving. I pressed down into his chest with my snout, forcing it to move. Water bubbled out over his lips, running over his pink flesh to the stone floor to join the pool already left by his false-skins.

Why did you free me? Oh skies, I should've paid more attention to my own injuries. I'm so sorry.

I let my head thump onto his chest again, another few drops of water flowing out of him. I jumped back in alarm when, to my astonishment, he moved! His head lolled to the side, a river of seawater spilling out. When what would've been a mouthful of water (even for me) exited his tiny frame, he shudderingly sucked in air.

I would have jumped around for joy had I not been worried I'd land on him in the small space. He sputtered some human-speak sounding syllables, then coughed up more seawater.

Are you going to be alright? I cooed, the question producing a dissonant, sorrowful tone in my throat. Sapling waved one of his forepaws, then began to struggle to a sitting position. After only a moment sitting up, he began shaking violently, like a hatchling that was getting too cold. He shrugged out of the false-skin covering his torso, shoving the fur away across the stone. Cautiously, I set myself down behind him and nearby, offering my warmth for his use. I was cold myself, but cold for me was still far warmer than the ocean we so recently escaped.

Equally cautiously, he lay back against my side. I shivered at the unfamiliar weight, once again having to restrain my instincts. It was so strange, not attacking a human.

I looked down at the false-skin he'd removed, considering it. It looked warmer than being uncovered, and I moved my head down to nudge it toward him. Then I recoiled in disgust. It wouldn't warm him up; it was colder than the ocean, and sopping wet! How it hadn't turned to ice already, I had no idea. I shook my head and awkwardly pawed at my snout, trying to get some feeling back. Sapling was still shivering, trying to cover his belly with his twig-like forelegs. Again with caution, I covered him over with my wing, reflecting my body heat in the small cavity containing my human.

My human. I suppose he is like a pet now. Ground damnit all, I am an awful keeper.

I considered the situation. Sapling was incredibly helpful, when the situation allowed. Still, though, I had to be very careful with him. He was surprisingly delicate, compared to the others of his species that fought us dragons.

I looked out of the mouth of the cave, staring over the horizon. I could hear Her voice, calling us back. Those who raided last night were probably still flying home, likely exhausted from their two days of sleep deprivation. She would be pleased, though... probably.

Not that it mattered. I would never see Her volcano or hear Her voice up close again. I was trapped here, with none of my kin, flightless.

With a pet human.

I just had to find the worst possible way to mess up, didn't I?

Suddenly, Sapling pushed his way out of my warm embrace. He crawled away, muffled hiccups coughing from his tiny form as he collapsed less than half a wingbreadth away.

What are you doing? I thought you were cold! Drawing the attention of the evil humans that captured us both, now trying to freeze himself? What was I getting into, trying to keep him alive?

I stood, moving over to the shivering human. Grabbing a shoulder, I half dragged, half rolled him onto his belly. Before he could protest, I lay down on top of him, leaving his head peeking out from between my forepaws.

Curling my head off to the left, I tried to get comfortable while he struggled weakly underneath me. He'd tried twice now to save my life, I was going to keep him warm and alive whether he liked it or not. After a few minutes, Sapling stopped struggling and his breathing began to even out. As he began to warm up beneath me, I dozed off as well. No use spending the rest of the daylight awake - nighttime is when everybody should be active anyway.

Warm, safe, and maybe a little hungry, the two of us dozed off.

-SwT-

A/N:

First of all, release is being staggered by my need to edit and my real life. All the content is already written, I'm just going over it for the third or fourth time with some fine tooth combs.

Next, yes, the "girl" is Heather. In this AU she grew up in the Berserker tribe, because my plot. However, and again, she is an INCREDIBLY minor character in this segment. Her time to shine is in the Torn Wingbeats sequel to this, which covers the animated series(es), and even then it's still a dim glow at my current progress with writing it.

Let me just say: the writers of all animated series are masters of writing. It is very hard to maintain a status quo, and to return to it regularly. I find that I end up foreshadowing, backreferencing, or making convoluted multi-episode plots all the time. It's taking forever compared to HTTYD1, and keeps falling apart.

Luckily, all that is in the future. For now, enjoy Hiccup and Toothless' antics on Outcast Island. Oh, and, additional note: Magic itself is a minor factor in the HTTYD1 section of SwT. Four spells are cast, total. Period. And all four of them have already been cast. ;)

Also, interesting thing to note about this whole story: Dragon perspectives are written in the first person, human perspectives are written in anything else, though usually the third-person non-omniscient style of most of my writing. You'll see why that needs to be a clearly definable line later on.

=Anonymous replies=

xMLGISIS2005x:

I couldn't abandon this story if I tried! That would be incredibly mean, considering I literally have the ENTIRE THING already written!

Thanks, have fun!

Secret:

Heather's not a big character in this section. Sorry m8.

Guest:

It is, in fact, Heather. I brought up her RTTE involvement because that's where her familial backstory is revealed.

-SwT-

Thank you all for reading!