Chapter 4
The tiny girl wandered over to the locked door. The chains creaked as the large log was pulled away, allowing the door to open. The small girl, no more than ten, stared as the door opened, revealing a whispering death. It shrieked and she watched its teeth spin. She blinked. Maybe she should just make it mad. If she made it mad, then her daddy would stop trying to make her befriend the dragons. She liked the dragons, but she knew that if she befriended them, he'd only use them for fighting other dragons to kill them and would throw them away when he didn't need them anymore. They'd be weapons and nothing more.
"Come on." A grisly voice called down from the caged dome. "I know ya can talk to it. Go on... Or would ya rather be a snack for it?" The girl stared up at her father then turned back to the dragon. It was regarding her, debating if she was friend or foe. She stuck her arms out to either side and closed her eyes. It hissed, uncertain. She heard its teeth slowing down as it regarded her as not a threat. "Bah!" She didn't stir as her father commanded his men down into the ring. Her eyes only opened when she heard the whispering death roar. It gave her a desperate look as it was herded back into its cell. She lowered her arms and turned as her father approached.
He stormed right up to her, jabbing a poorly washed hand in her face. "Now, listen ere ya little runt! I'm your father and you'll do as I say!"
She regarded him and could see her lack of reaction simply angered him further. He glared. "Bah! You're no use to me! I don't have a use for a soldier that won't listen." The girl blinked. She was only ten and yet her father considered her his soldier? He smirked and crossed his arms. "When we have no use fer something, we get rid of it."
The girl glanced around at her father's men closing in. "...help..." Her soft voice reached the whispering death's ears and she looked at it. Their gazes locked. She spoke again, soft and slow, even though time was of the essence as her father's men closed in on her. "...if I had acknowledged you, you would have been killed..." Its eyes widened and it roared, racing toward her. It caught her on its head and she quickly scrambled behind its head as it burrowed under the area. Her tiny hands held desperately to its spikes as it carried her through the earth and then into the air. It flapped, carrying her away from that awful dome. She smiled as the wind blew back her hair. Flying! It felt wonderful...
The happiness only lasted for a moment.
There was yelling and the whispering death turned to the sound of voices. The girl tried to coax the dragon away, but it roared, holding its ground. The men began throwing items at them, trying to knock them out of the sky. With a roar, the dragon moved its body quickly, knocking the girl farther down its body and hidden behind one of its wings. She clutched desperately to the spikes. Luckily, she was small enough that she could sit among the spikes.
Suddenly, the whispering death shrieked and a moment later she felt a sharp pain in her left shoulder. She looked down and her eyes widened in horror. A flaming spear was wedged in the whispering death's wing. The tip of the spear was wedged in her, right between her left shoulder and collar bone. The flames singed her skin and she jerked back, screaming. The dragon began to fall to the ground, unable to fly. It glided a short way, gaining a bit of distance on the men before it landed.
They hit the ground hard and the kicked up dirt quickly put the flames out. She clutched her bleeding shoulder and scurried to the whispering death. It was panting, its wing torn. She grasped the spear and, with all her strength, managed to pull it free. The wound would heal, but the poor dragon wouldn't be able to fly anytime soon and she heard her father's men approaching. The dragon hissed at her and she looked at it frantically. "No! I won't leave you!" With a cut like that, she doubted it'd even be able to escape underground. Then again, she doubted it would for then it would be abandoning her and she realized the dragon wouldn't do that to her. The dragon nuzzled her and she clung to it, but then it roared loudly. A changewing flew from the trees landing beside them. The whispering death hissed to the new dragon and the changewing nodded. It regarded her for only a moment before it scooped the girl up on to its back and was off. "NO!" The girl looked down as she saw her father's men catch up to the whispering death and tie ropes around the injured dragon. It looked up at her. Its face didn't show any regrets.
She turned and buried her face in the blue scaley skin, tears streaming down her face. This was all her fault... The dragon glanced over its shoulder at her in concern. "Will you..." She sniffled. "Will you take me to my mother...?" The changewing nodded and they flew off.
Ursa sat straight up in bed gasping, clutching her left shoulder. She pulled her shirt off her shoulder and inspected the skin. Sure enough, there was no blood, only the scar. She pulled her knees up and rested her elbows on them, pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes. Ursa focused on calming her breathing first. Her breathing was ragged and uneven from the old memory and echoed in the empty great hall. Stoick had pulled a spare cot in for her to use and she was the only one there. Her dragons were camping on the roof and outside. Finally, her breathing steadied and she wiped the sweat from her brow. Her light brown hair was soaked. She laughed softly. "I thought I was done with that nightmare..." The girl looked over at the flickering candle she had lit before bed. She climbed out of bed and walked to the front door, past where her loincloth and top shirt lay, neatly folded.
The moon was the only thing wide awake at this hour, shining pale light on her tan clothes, but it seemed to be growing sleeping. It hung low and plump in the sky and she knew morning was only a few hours away. She leaned her back on the door and rubbed her shoulder, although the pain had faded long ago the memory was now fresh in her mind.
Hiccup yawned and shoved away the snout that was nuzzling him. "Toothless..." He yawned, leaning up on one arm. "Do we have to go for a morning ride everyyyy morning?" The dragon stared back with wide eyes as though the answer was obvious. The skinny viking groaned. "Fine..." Hiccup pulled back the thin blanket and swung his leg over the side of the bed. "Only if you pass me my leg and we stop by to check on our guests, though, bud."
Hiccup yawned, again, sleepily. The sun was barely shining on Berk as they headed to the great hall. "Toothless? Do you really have to wake me before the sun even wakes up?" The dragon looked at him curiously and Hiccup rolled his eyes.
The pair approached the great hall and he opened the heavy door. They wandered inside and Toothless whined as Hiccup approached the cot. "Hey, how did you sleep, Urs..?" He trailed off as he saw the blanket was neatly folded on the bed. There was no Ursa in sight. Where was Ursa? He had seen Dusk and Swift still snoozing outside so she hadn't left in the night at least. He turned and raced to the door. "Come on, bud!" Toothless bounded after his trainer eagerly.
Hiccup was just approaching a path out of town when he heard a faint voice singing. He paused and made out some words. "You flap your wings so strong...flap your wings so fast..." Hiccup gestured to Toothless and they quietly approached the voice as it continued. "Will you use your fast, strong wings...to carry me away...?" They rounded the last house and he could make out a faint figure near the cliff side. "Or will you use those wings of yours...? To blow, blow me away?" As they approached, Hiccup was amazed to see it was Ursa that was the singer. She was slowly twirling or swaying in the grass. Slowly, she'd bound or spin around Sliversky, who watched, captivated. Her hair and top clothes swayed in the breeze she created. Hiccup could tell the song was nearly over and gestured to Toothless to wait. "So tell me my fire breathing friend...? Will you keep me close or push me away...? In...the...endddd...?" She closed her eyes, hands clasped to her chest, as she let the last note finish and fade slowly. A slight breeze picked up and playfully fluttered her hair back. Her eyes opened halfway, slowly, and she smiled at Sliversky.
"That was really beautiful." Ursa's eyes flew open and she looked to Hiccup, clearly startled. He watched as her hands quickly dropped away and she fidgeted, one hand brushing some hair in front of her face.
"Th...thank you..." She looked shyly at the ground.
Toothless and Sliversky began to play so Hiccup and Ursa sat in the grass at the cliffside. "What were you singing?"
She smiled, watching the dragons play. There was no way she could meet Hiccup's eyes. She got terribly embarrassed whenever anyone heard her sing. Ursa would have acted in the same shy way no matter who had heard her, except her father. In that instance, she would have been withdrawn. Dragons were the only company she ever felt truly comfortable enough around to sing to. "It...was a lullaby. My mom used to sing it to me all the time. Now, I sing it to the newly hatched dragons on our island to calm them down." He nodded, watching the dragons too. Toothless would raise his haunches playfully and Sliversky would chase after him with a squeak. "You and Toothless are so close. You're lucky."
Hiccup stood, dusting himself off. "It wasn't always like that. When Toothless and I first met, I was going to kill him." Ursa's eyes widened and he sighed smiling. "I've always been a bit different, but Toothless showed me how different I really am."
Ursa stood up and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Different doesn't always equal bad, though." He looked at her in surprise and she smiled sweetly at him.
Suddenly, they heard a cracking noise, followed by a rumble, and looked down to see the footing beneath Hiccup's feet crumbling away. His eyes widened slightly in surprise as he fell backwards, toward the ocean. "NO!" In an instant, she had grabbed Hiccup's vest and wrenched him back toward land, throwing him into the grass, but the force made her stagger. She was too close to the crumbling rock and began falling into the open air as the unstable earth beneath her feet gave way. It seemed to happen in slow motion and she saw Sliversky racing toward her. "STAY!" She roared the command at the tiny dragon and Sliversky instantly backed down, unused to that amount of force in Ursa's voice. There wa no way Sliversky would have been able to carry her to safety, Ursa knew this and didn't want to pointlessly risk the baby night fury's life. She closed her eyes as she felt the wind pressing against her back.
Toothless caught a flash of brown hair disappear over the cliffside and was alreay racing toward the cliff's edge. Hiccup matched stride with his dragon effortlessly and slid into the saddle as Toothless launched himself over the side. "Come on, Toothless!" Hiccup saw the water racing up at them and at Ursa's falling form. "Just a little more, bud..." Toothless roared, making Ursa open her eyes, and he swooped down under her, catching her on his back. The girl yelped in surprise, landing sideways and skidding into Hiccup, practically knocking the skinny Viking from his saddle. Toothless flapped hard to steady himself. The speed and sudden swoop and dive had given him too much speed and they had ended up a surprising distance from shore.
Hiccup looked at Ursa worriedly. "Are you alright?"
She nodded. "You saved me..." She turned and rubbed Toothless's head. "Both of you..." Toothless crooned happily.
Hiccup smiled, glad she was alright. "Well, you saved me first after all. Toothless, let's head back." The night fury turned easily and started heading back.
Hiccup rested a hand on her shoulder to keep her steady on the saddle. It wasn't an affectionate gesture, just an impulse since nothing was holding her to Toothless and she could easily fall off, but it made her feel happy nonetheless. Ursa looked back to where they were headed, noting Sliversky's small form in the grassy area. The small night fury was away from the edge as Ursa had asked and she was glad. Then she frowned at the crumbled area they headed back to. Below it was a faintly curved indentation. It was easy to miss, but she recognized it. The hole of a whispering death. It was no accident that the rock had crumbled away when it did.
She grabbed a fist of Hiccup's vest in fear and he looked down seeing terror in her eyes. "Hey..." He squeezed her shoulder gently. "It's okay. Everyone is fine. It's going to be okay." He gave her a reassuring smile, then turned back to steering.
Ursa stared out at the water. No. It would never be okay because her past would never leave her. She could fly and run as far as she wanted to, but she could never escape who she was.
Well, I think this chapter came out well. I wanted to get it out quickly to celebrate the new season! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to post yesterday, but better late than never right? Hope my last line is getting some curiosity out of you. Please read and review! Oh, and the more reviews I get the more motivated I'll be to post quickly. So, please review and say what you thought!:)
