Chapter 4

I just want to precise that just like in Dragon's Prince, Night Furies aren't rare in this fic, Toothless isn't the only one. I must say I always thought it was a shame not to have other Night Furies around in Httyd universe.

Setting up a camp and sleeping in wild places was something Hiccup was used to, thank Thor and thank Gobber for teaching him and his friends. One of the first things they learned to be comfortable in nature was the importance of choosing a good spot. Hiccup found the perfect place soon enough: it was sheltered from the wind, but not too deep to be smothering, it wasn't too cold or too hot and the ground was flat enough to sleep well. He made himself a fire and ate some food along with Toothless.

"We're doing fine for now Bud, but I wonder what else can be found here."

The two didn't stay for long before the fire, Hiccup made himself a torch and started to explore the cavern with his friend. He walked in the biggest gallery dug in the stone and soon found himself in a gigantic cavity, which was impressive by itself, with a lake of lava taking half of the space in there making the inside glow and huge stony stalactite and stalagmite everywhere, but it wasn't the first thing Hiccup noticed. What he saw first was the amount of gold and other riches in there. He had heard legends and tales of dragons collecting gold, but he always thought those were untrue, especially since he started to tame those, he thought those were only fairytales. But hell! Now he could see that it was true for this dragon! There were chests and piles of riches, not gigantic piles like tales would speak of, but of good size, sometimes reaching Hiccup's waist.

He saw some dragons in there, Gronkles again and even two Night Furies who came to see Toothless. Hiccup was happy, they wouldn't cross Night Furies that often, and though he would have liked to observe them, he decided to give Toothless some space to interact with his kind. He was a little more afraid when he saw Change-wings but none of them attacked. While his dragon was getting acquainted and starting to play with the two other furies, Hiccup continued to look around.

Why this dragon did keep such a treasure? Heather told him the Beast would sometimes steal their goods but the tribe probably never possessed so much gold. No, this certainly came from other ships and tribes. He heard of pirates getting attacked by dragons, maybe it was this one and all her servants. He knew more than one Viking who would have given his life to find such a thing, and Hiccup himself wasn't insensitive to gold, but it wouldn't drive him mad either. If he could ever get to make this beast understand she did wrong, he would tell her to give back some of that gold to the tribe.

He looked more closely and saw that there were some books and scrolls in chests. Some were thrown around, obviously neglected. Hiccup picked those up, they risked getting dirty, and some were even partially burned! Obviously those didn't interest the Beast much, it were probably already in some of the chests she stole. He saw some maps, some books about dragons, others were story books, legends about the gods and fairy tales…He smiled, to him it was more precious than gold. He put those safely in a chest, it would be better.

He looked to see the two wild Furies flying away after a short time to play with his dragon, and Toothless returned to his rider, he sniffed the chests and the precious metal, obviously puzzled.

"I know Bud, I wonder what use it can have here. Whatever, it won't be of use for us either, after all we are confined in wild territories, gold have no value there."

The books however could be useful, but he would look at those later. For now, he would continue to explore. He crossed the gigantic cavity and went to another gallery which seemed to go deeper in the mountain. Then he saw something strange: a space glowing with a mysterious light. Other parts of the cave glowed but it was because of the lava, the light was therefore natural. Here it was a clear blue light, and it certainly didn't look natural. The light was coming from a turn, and though Hiccup wanted to be careful, Toothless advanced with no trace of wariness, and because he trusted his friend's animalistic instinct and followed him.

When he found himself before the source of the strange light, he gaped without thinking of it. Here was another cavity, smaller this time, and you could hardly see any stone here because the whole place was covered by deep green moss, soft dragon grass and more importantly by countless tiny blue flowers from which emanated the light. The little flowers weren't only on the ground but also on the cave's faces, and together they were bathing this spot in that soothing and subtle glow which was only enhanced by the natural darker green of the walls. Small fireflies sparkling with the same light as the flowers were flying peacefully through the place.

As if all this wasn't enough to amaze anyone, Hiccup saw a huge mirror standing there. He approached it and was even more astonished as it seemed like the mirror was just part of the mountain, it wasn't against the moss or the stone, it was part of it. He had never seen any mirror like this, all those he had seen were simply polished metal, but this one seemed to be made of pure crystal and reflected him perfectly.

Beside the mirror, Hiccup noticed a small pond of water. He kneeled beside it and saw silvery fishes in there. The water was also of a light clue color, glowing softly as well. It was crystalline pure water, and it seemed like it was radiating with peace and gentleness, the shimmering reflections almost hypnotic in their gentle movement. In fact, the whole place was lulling him into a sentiment of serenity. It was almost impossible to describe, this plain wonder was strangely enchanting, and Hiccup could feel it more than he could see it.

He plunged his hands in the water slowly, to feel it was quite fresh, but not cold at all. He wondered if he could drink some of it, it seemed so magical that he wondered if touching it only wasn't already too much. He took away his hands, and smiled before looking at the strange flowers, what kind of plants could do such a thing? Those around the water were obviously the fireflies' favorite spot. They started to come around Hiccup, obviously they started to like him. Once again, he remembered some stories about fairies and magical places, and he felt like he was in one of those places. It was as if the storm carried him not in a foreign island but into a real fairy tale.

Letting out a content sigh, Hiccup stared down at Toothless who was rubbing himself in the dragon grass and saw that the fireflies were starting to like his dragon as well. He sat down and just observed the place. For someone as naturally curious as him, everything in this whole mountain raised many question, but this particular spot even more. The beast might tell him more, even if he wasn't really eager to speak to her at this moment. The little bugs came around him and he couldn't help but smile.

"I never saw anything like you guys…Toothless, this is unbelievable!"

The dragon gave a happy groan, and Hiccup looked at the ceiling and realized there was absolutely no opening to the outside, yet the air was fresh, not cold, just fresh, as if they were in the forest and not deep inside a mountain. Maybe there was another exit close by? He would see after, for now, he just wanted to stay here a little. Though Hiccup always enjoyed the beauty of nature, he was quite practical and wouldn't fawn over pretty little things like flowers or fireflies, he would more likely admire grand landscape or sunsets on his dragon's back. Yet, here it was more than just pretty flowers, it was magic and he would have been dim not to feel how special this was.

In fact, the more he thought about it, the more it seemed to make sense, a talking dragon who seemed to be half-human commanding other dragons, treasures in the mountain, now this strange spot filled with magic… He had always heard that fairies were beautiful creature under the form of women, some were benevolent but other could be malevolent and in this case, they would often have a monstrous form. He wondered for a short moment if this wasn't the lair of an evil fairy. It was somehow fitting everything, a monstrous form, a creature with obvious magic powers who terrorized a population…Yet, he couldn't really believe it, he didn't know this creature already, but he had the feeling the situation was more complicated than this.

"I don't know what is going on here, but this place is enchanted…Some sort of spell maybe…I was often skeptical about magic, but here it is…"

Toothless rolled happily, making his rider laugh. He felt his eyelids grow heavy, his body was aching a little, it had been a long day, and he would have a long work to do. Seeing his dragon curl at his side, he let sleep claim him here, watched by the small bugs and the mirror which shined softly. His sleep didn't last much however.

A growl awoke him and when he started to regain his spirits, he felt a move near him and just saw Toothless above him, as if he was protecting him from a threat. He vaguely understood that something had left the room but he didn't know what…or who.

"Toothless, what's wrong?"

The dragon growled again. Hiccup stood up, rubbed his eyes and decided it was maybe better to go back to his small camp. He remembered the way, and when he came there, he found Terrible Terrors snooping around. They left immediately when they saw Toothless and Hiccup, but the rider just smiled at them. He laid down again, hoping that this time, nothing would disturb him from sleeping.

O o O

The next morning, Hiccup woke up with the sunrise. He went out of the cave and hummed the fresh air. Toothless was still sleeping, something quite unusual, in normal times, his dragon would be the first one to be awake, and would make a ruckus to force him out of bed to fly. He contemplated briefly the idea to wake him up as some kind of revenge, but it would be kind of petty, even mean because Hiccup suspected him to have stayed awake all night to watch over him.

He saw a Monstrous Nightmare landing, but the beast didn't hurt him, instead, it just cleaned itself, paying him only brief attention. Astrid said none of the dragons would hurt him, apparently it was true. Speaking of the Devil, he heard her voice coming from behind him.

"Do you remember your promise?"

He turned toward her, with an annoyed look.

"I do. I'll be here by sundown. Do you remember yours?"

"They'll be left in peace."

She walked toward him until she was close enough for them to speak normally. He was about to say something, but noticed something then which intrigued him: the Monstrous Nightmare and all the other dragons around had taken their distance away from them.

"Are they afraid?"

"They are afraid of their mistress."

"Aren't they your friends?"

"You can't be friends with servants."

He huffed in indignation, he hated when people considered dragons as servants.

"You enslave humans, you enslave dragons, is there anyone you don't consider as a servant?"

Her nostrils flared and her eyes narrowed in anger. She roared at him, and Toothless put himself before his rider, ready to protect him, yet Hiccup passed before his dragon, keeping a hand on him to show him he wanted to handle this himself.

"What are you gonna do? Rip me into shreds?"

"You'll have to learn to obey, I don't appreciate that kind of insolence!"

Hiccup straightened his stance, held his head high and looked at her right in the eyes.

"You see, I have a big problem since I'm a kid: I just can't do as I'm told, obedience is really not my thing, no."

"Then maybe I should beat it into you."

"Good luck with that. A lot of people tried, most of times they were bigger than me, more armed, more powerful. Yet they all failed. Only my father could get me to obey from time to time and I didn't make it easy."

Needless to say Astrid was infuriated at this speech. How dared he?! But she was also disturbed, she wasn't used to people saying 'no' to her.

"I gave you good conditions, I gave you a lot of freedom…"

"And considering I accepted to stay here willingly, it's the least you can do."

"I can still take that back!"

"You promised, remember that!"

They glared at each other furiously, both of them hard-headed and unwilling to drop the subject.

"I hardly held my promises," she growled.

"Then maybe you should learn. Otherwise I fear you will never get anything else but servants, and I truly pity you in that case."

This left her speechless, not that she couldn't find anything to answer, she could have retorted that he would need to learn obedience first, but his last words hurt her, it truly did. He went to his dragon without a word and started to fly away. She watched him leave. She was hurt and angry, yet a part of her couldn't help but admire his courage. She went back in the cave and went to her private space, where her mirror stood. The place was beautiful, she was pretty sure the Valkyrie gave that to her in order to give her some solace from this horrible fate, yet from time to time, the blue light depressed her a little. She laid down in the grass and thought about what he said.

The other kids in her tribe hardly dared to be insolent toward her, not only because she was the chief's daughter, but also because she was a good fighter. Even adults were careful around her, because her father wouldn't have tolerated anyone to disrespect, as he used to say, it would have been like disrespecting him directly. I truly pity you…Why was she thinking of everything he said so hard? How could she make things go better between them? Her father used to offer things to comfort her when she was upset. Maybe she should do that?

O o O

Outside, Hiccup was trying to calm down, the Beast really angered him. Odin, if he had to tame that one, it would be the most difficult thing he had done until now: But he wouldn't show himself submissive, he couldn't if he wanted anything done, she had to see him as an equal and nothing else. For now, what should he do? He saw the village and knew he couldn't get there, yet it would be good to speak to one of them, to see Heather maybe and inform her. She was probably worried. He saw one of their fishing boats not far from here. It wasn't near the village but near the mountain, he could go there.

"Toothless, here."

They flew toward the boat and Hiccup saw something bad coming: a Thunderdrum under the water, circling around the boat. He immediately thought of Thornado, the dragon who left his father to raise other young dragons, but it was probably not him. There were three persons on the small boat and he recognized briefly the re headed guard who found him in the forest the day he landed here. When the Thunderdrum got out of the water, he reacted immediately:

"Plasma blast."

Toothless shot, and got the Thunderdrum on the head. People on the boat saw them and watched as the wild dragon rushed at them, Toothless dodged one of his assault and Hiccup took out of fire-sword.

"Easy, calm down," he yelled while holding out his hand.

As the dragon approached, he gave a roar, but simply to intimidate as he soon grew fascinated by Hiccup's moves with the sword. The rider flew toward the nearest beach, and the dragon followed them here as he wished. He was still wary, and Toothless extended his wing with a roar, while Hiccup got off his back. He extended his hand and took out his sword again to reassure the beast. The wild dragon eyed him with distrust, but Hiccup spoke softly to him.

"Easy, I'm sorry about the blast, but we don't want to hurt you."

Toothless calmed down, just continued to eye the other dragon to be sure he wouldn't hurt his friend. Hiccup extended his hand and when he was about to touch the dragon, the beast turned away and flew in the horizon. He couldn't bond with him, but at least he made him leave without any incident.

"Come on Toothless."

They went to the fishing boats, were everyone was looking at him, pretty much in awe; The red-haired girl went toward him.

"I never saw anything like that!"

"Thanks…Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I came to escort my parents, they had already been attacked before. My name is Eira by the way."

"Eira…Could you give a message to Heather for me?"

"Of course, but how did it go with the Beast?"

"I made a pact with her. You should be left alone…At least that's what I thought. Could you tell your chief to meet me at the border of the forest?"

"I will, don't worry."

He thanked her and left the ship. He would definitely have to talk with the Beast, was it their earlier argument which made her retaliate? He felt guilty for making her mad, because it meant what happened was his fault. He decided to fly around the island, to know it a little more, though he did have a good look at it while searching for the Beast's cave, but he didn't see everything yet. He had to admit the island was quite huge and beautiful; this tribe should have lived in abundance here. He smiled as he saw the clearings and deers running through it.

He finally landed in the forest near the village, but not in, he didn't want to anger the beast furthermore. He called for Heather and after few minutes, he heard an answer:

"Over here!"

He saw the dark-haired girl emerge from a path, and went toward her, she looked relieved to see he was okay.

"Eira told me what happened this morning."

"I have other things to tell you about."

He explained her the whole pact he made but didn't tell her about the riches he found in the cavern. Revealing all the Beast's secrets would be unwise.

"Hiccup, you don't have to do this for us, we will find another way…"

"It's okay Heather, I'll be fine don't worry. I decided to help you all an I will, you're not the only ones who needs help I think."

"Who else then?"

"That beast. I don't know what kind of creature she is but I think she is lonely, and she probably needs help."

"I don't know, Hiccup. Some people just can't change."

He had no doubt she was talking about her brother and felt bad for her as he saw her tired expression. He put a hand on her arm.

"I promise I'll be careful. Things will be better."

"Let's hope you're right, We have a lot of difficulty to handle the disease spreading in the village."

Hiccup bit his lips. That was indeed another problem, it seemed like difficulties were piling.