Chapter 4:
Hiccup stood on the spot, frozen. His father had told him stories of the White Fury Tribe, but he had always told him that they were just a legend. A myth. They weren't real, or were they? Hadn't he just seen a white-coloured Night Fury just the other day, along with this person who claimed to be part of the legendary tribe? He then heard a laugh from his side, he turned to see Snotlous holding his ribs and laughing loudly.
When he managed to stand up straight, he looked at Marko and said, "Do you really expect us to believe something as stupid as that, do you?" Marko looking Snotlout dead in the eye, and surprisingly, smiled.
"I'll prove it to you," he said in the same, cold icy tone. He then brought his left hand to his mouth, put his thumb and first finger between his lips, and whistled a long, low-pitched tone. The teens waited for a few seconds. Nothing happened. Then, a loud, ear-splitting roar came out from beyond the trees. The teens turned around, eyes widened. Marko looked at Hiccup, smiling, and mouthed the word, "Ice," and the trees that made up the tree line started to shudder as another, much louder roar broke between the trees. All of a sudden, a pure white dragon burst out of the treetops and raced towards the teens, Hiccup, and Marko.
Fishlegs screamed and ran as fast as his short legs would carry him; Snotlout, Tuffnut and Ruffnut were stuck to the spot, to terrified to move, but Astrid had somehow found an axe that someone must of dropped and had it ready in her hands, waiting as Ice got closer, and closer, and closer. Marko then managed to see Astrid holding the axe just before Ice reached them: He launched himself at the axe, and managed to wrench the weapon out of Astrid's hands and sunk the bladed end deep into the soil. They all turned round to see a pair of the same icy-blue eyes the Marko had, starring right into them.
"Ah, Ice, glad you came," said Marko to Ice, who purred loudly and rubbed her head against his arm, completely ignoring the other teens. Marko turned back to the teens, causing Ice to look at them as well, and her pupils slowly turned into slits, and started to growl softly. Marko then spoke to her in Dragonese, but whatever he said, her pupils turned back into circles and the growling stopped. "Ice, you've already met Hiccup," said Marko, lifting his hand up to Hiccup, and she walked up to him, sniffing his for a second, before purring softly and rubbing her head against his right leg. "And these," said Marko, pointing to the other teens, "Are Hiccups friends, who are called...," Marko was waiting for
Hiccup to tell him there names. When he finally caught on, he said, "Um, Astrid, Snotlout, Tuffnut, Ruffnut and Fishlegs," and pointed to each of the teens as he said there names, and each time, Ice slowly walked up to them, smelled them for a second, before nodding and walking back so that she was next to Marko. "Um, what's your dragon's name?" asked Astrid, looking at Ice curiously.
"Her name is Ice, and her species are the White Furies." Answered Marko, and the teens eyes widened even more than they had earlier: they knew that Toothless' species, the Night Furies, were extremely rare, but how rare were the White Furies, as they weren't even mentioned in the Book of Dragons? Fishlegs was the first to burst into a full round up of questions that were related to the White Furies, including; 'how fast is the White Fury's top speed?' and 'what's the largest size that a White Fury can reach?'
After a full five minutes of question assault from him, Fishlegs stopped talking and ran back to his house, saying something that remotely sounded like 'getting the Book of Dragons', and was soon block from sight when several Vikings, talking and laughing to each other, walked past. Marko turned to face Hiccup; his right eyebrow raised, and asked, "Does that kid ever stop asking questions about Dragons?" Hiccup just shrugged his shoulders, before saying, "He doesn't ask questions all the time, but he always asks when there a new Dragon that's not in Book of Dragons, or when he finds out that he's missed out something important about them."
Seeming satisfied with the answer, Marko lifted his hands up to behind his head, and lifted back up the white fabric, so that its shadows covered his face. "So," started Marko, clasping his hands together, and Hiccup was instantly reminded of how he had first met Marko, "where's Berk's blacksmith?"
Hiccup, slightly startled, said, "Um... I'M the blacksmith. Well, the blacksmiths apprentice, anyway." Marko cocked his head slightly to the left, before saying, "Well, that's even better." Hiccup was now even more confused that he was before. "Why is that batter?" Hiccup asked, but Marko just shook his head. "I'll tell you when we get there," answered Marko, and Hiccup just said, "Fine," before started to slowly limp towards the Blacksmiths, Marko right beside him, and Ice, along with Toothless, followed them, growling quietly to each other, having their own Dragonese conversation.
"So, Marko," started Hiccup, trying to start up their own conversation, "tell me about yourself." Hiccup could've sworn the he saw Marko's left arm twitched for a second, but didn't pay attention to it when Marko sighed and started to tell him his story.
"I was born on an island called Molak, and it was an island unlike any other. I never knew my parents: my father was dead before I was born, and my mother died after she gave birth to me, so I was raised by my Aunt and Uncle. When I turned the age of five, I, like all the other five year olds, were taken to the Arena: it's a tradition of my people, and there is only one rule: try to survive. And by that, they mean by ANY means possible. We stay there until we turn ten, and until then, we learn how to fight. We learn to kill. We are taught three main ways of killing: S, Stealth, BF, Brut Force, and T, Tactics. Most people only choose one of the three, and some choose two. But there are those chosen few who choose to take ALL three of them. I was one of the chosen few. Some people thought I was mad, but most of them thought I was just plain stupid. But there was one being that never gave up on me: Ice."
"The Dragon Initiation Ceremony takes place the day before we go to the Arena, but there's a difference
To how we do it: we let the DRAGONS decide who they want as there riders and Ice didn't even give me a second glance when she chose me. And since that day, she would never leave my side." Marko then lifted his head up and said, "Ah, were here."
Hiccup lurched to a stop and looked up: he had been so wrapped up in Marko's story; he hadn't noticed that they had arrived at the blacksmiths. "Um, yeah, come on in." Hiccup was about to walk in the smithy's, but was stopped by Marko's hand suddenly gripping his shoulder, and he said, "Should I tell Ice to wait out here? With Toothless?" Hiccup paused for a minute before nodding, and Marko nodded and walked over to Ice and Toothless, and spoke to her in Dragonese. When he finished, Ice was looking upset, but Marko put his hand on top of her head, and said something else in Dragonese, and she instantly cheered up. Marko smiled before turning around and walked to Hiccup, and letting him walk through the door to the blacksmiths, and then following.