AN: All right everyone. Are you guys excited for this? Because I hope you all really enjoy this chapter. It's so weird as an author to have so many people interested in reading this story. I mean this is the first thing I've actually successfully published and it seems I have a lot of faithful readers. I'm so happy I might cry! *sniff* You guys are so great! This is an intense chapter. And not to be like "my character's completely original because she's _ (you'll figure this part out after you read this chapter, unless you still don't get it)" I've come to realize plenty of other people have the same idea... Let me at least give you this. I've thought about this scene for quite some time now. Like, the idea for the main part of this chapter had been in my head for a while and I wrote out the original thing weeks ago. Obviously, I've changed plenty of things so that it actually works with my story, but I was one of the first with this idea! ANYWAYS, enough of my ranting. You guys wanna get to the story. But really, I hope you enjoy it and please give me feedback. What's good, what's bad, what needs some work. ANYTHING! Honestly. I can handle it.
I talked to Old Wrinkly this morning. He rebandaged my arm, the gash quite healed now. Falkor's arm and belly was only sore now, scars in place of his own wounds. The wing membrane still needed healing, although the hole was much smaller now, but the doctor had asked me to gather some herbs while I was out. The bow I'd been working on last night had gone unfinished and I set it beside my campfire along with the old one and my quiver. I couldn't finish it because everyone had gathered too soon. I told Falkor to stay behind, that I'd be all right. The rider would not be stupid enough to attack us as a group. But, then again, he may be clever enough to get away with it. Dozens of scenarios played through my head as I held on to Snotlout's waist. He explained earlier what kind of dragon Fireworm was.
'He's a Monstruous Nightmare. Ever heard of one before?' He had said.
I'd told him, 'No,' and that was the end of it. I couldn't talk that day. All I could do was think of all the terrible things that might unfold.
It took only a few minutes to reach the beach, and when we landed, there was nothing to be seen. "You did say he landed over here, right?" Hiccup said to Ruffnut.
"Yeah," she replied. Everyone looked around, looking for footprints that might lead elsewhere.
"Well, there's nothing here!" Astrid said and kicked up sand.
This wasn't possible. I crept out into the forest, leaving the others behind, and climbed up the hill. I paused on the hillside for a moment, holding on to a tree and listened.
Nothing.
Small voices could be heard from the beach, but that wasn't what I was looking for. I continued up, and stopped again to pick a small herb nestled in the ground. Something for Old Wrinkly to use.
"KELDA!" A shrill voice called up the hill.
My muscles tensed, and while I wanted to yell back to them, I knew I couldn't. It would merely give away my position. I climbed up the hill more, faster now, in an attempt to get away from the group behind me. If they followed me, it would simply ruin everything. I needed silence.
I reached the top faster than I realized and only heard a faint echo of a voice calling my name. I listened for something else. Perhaps someone moving through the forest.
Again, nothing.
I trusted Ruffnut's judgement that someone had landed over here, but there was nothing. Only quiet birdsong. I continued through the trees and was startled when a few does took off running. If the deer weren't threatened until I came along, then there was no doubt nobody was here but me.
I found myself relaxing now. Just listening to the silence. Just me and the woods. It was peaceful. I gathered herbs as I walked, still remaining quiet. It took quite a bit of time as I closely examined every little plant I came across. At times, I would pause to listen to the forest again, only to hear the silence. Nobody moved around me and the deer kept their distance now. I no longer cared if Hiccup and his friends were out looking for me. If anything, they probably would have flown back to the village, disappointed by their lack of findings.
A cold breeze blew across the island and I found my fingers growing a bit numb. They felt funny as I picked herbs. Finding one of my last few, I took it gently in my fingers and stroked the leaves before reaching down and snapping the plant off at the base. A quick whiff verified the herb and I tucked it into my boot. Feeling adventurous, I climbed up a boulder and leapt off the other side onto the leafy forest floor. Looking down the hill here and I saw Berk through the trees. I didn't realize I was so close to the village now. I sighed contently and started thinking.
Behind me, something brushed the ground. It was a long sweeping sound, too. Then there was a sudden THUMP.
I jumped and wheeled around to see Toothless, having crawled down the rock I just did. "Oh..." I sighed and smiled. "Toothless, it's just... You..." My smile disappeared as I saw his tail flip over him. There was no bright red false limb on his tail. Just... Black...
Dread washed over me as I felt my stomach drop. It was...
"Who's Toothless?" A voice sounded from atop another rock just to the right. It was the rider, his bow held down, yet prepared to fire, as he didn't understand my mistake.
My heart began to pound in my chest. For a moment that seemed to drag on forever, we stood in silence, frozen with anticipation. I anticipating the dragon to leap upon me or the rider to shoot me, they anticipating my flight instinct to kick in. And so it did.
Turning around in a quick, unbalanced motion, I stumbled over my feet as I ran down the hill. After yesterday, I knew this part of the forest, and understood where to place my feet. The bounding gait of the Black Devil behind me thundered across the ground while the quicker steps of its rider ran beside it. An arrow hissed past my ear and I veered right, just to hear the scream of the dragon as it prepared its fireball. Then it slammed into a tree just behind me. I ducked beneath a fallen tree, cleared a small boulder, and flew through the forest. Remembering the river gully coming up ahead, I was about to leap over it when another scream sounded behind me and I slipped, falling into the gulley as I tried to dodge the inevitable flames. It exploded against a tree ahead and the two slowed as the line of sight was broken. I pressed myself against the mud wall and remained quiet.
For a moment, everything became still.
Suddenly, the dragon fell into the gully and stumbled, downstream, into the river. I was running again but, this time, the slippery rocks slowed me down. The open space here gave way for the dragon to close our distance. Traveling upstream and uphill, I found it hard to avoid things. Another arrow sliced through my sleeve and cut deep into my right arm. Grasping it in my hand, I blocked the blood and struggled to find a way out.
Along one gully wall, the ground sloped up at an advantageous angle. Pausing to pick up a large rock the size of my fist, I looked back for long enough to see where the dragon was. I threw the rock straight at its face and watched as it closed its eyes waiting for the impact. The rider, too, was distracted by the flying object and I used this chance to crawl out of the gully. They didn't see where I went at first, and while I backed away from the river, I quickened my pace until I was running again. When they heard me, they erupted from the gully and another fireball roared past me. Turning right again, I slipped on the mud and decided to use my weight to leap over the steep decline. Ahead, I made out a cliff, and an arrow stuck in a treetrunk. This time, it served as my final act in this death game. I ran straight for it.
Two arrows hissed past me once more as I grew closer to the cliff. Right as I got mere feet away, my senses cut off, my adrenaline pumping my blood all too fast. My sight was completely heightened for a few moments and I turned around to see where my enemies were behind me. That's when I saw the blue ball racing past. I didn't understand why it was so off, and when I turned to see its target, I saw it explode against a tree just ahead of me and to the left. I skidded to a halt, but it was too late. The wood exploded and splintered the air. Thousands of tiny slivers stuck into my fur coat, and while the tiny ones were stopped by it, the larger splinters cut into my arms and left side. Then, time slowed to a crawl as I watched a horrendously large piece of wood flying at my face. It launched straight into my left eye right and my hand flew up to cover my face. Then the wave of fire hit me and I found my left side burning.
I screamed. My mind flooded with the pain as I felt my skin melting. Then I remembered the cliff and leapt over it. Although one might think I'd fall into the icy waters below, I, instead, fell onto a slim, but flexible tree branch. Grabbing it with my right hand, I felt the cold, salt water ridden wind as I slammed against the cliff-face. Letting go, I dropped down onto a ledge, the rocks scraping against my back as I ducked into a large crevice to my right. Here, there was a cave I'd managed to check out the day before. When I got inside, I covered my mouth with my right hand and rolled on the ground until the flames were completely out. With my other hand still covering my left eye, I felt the splinter planted deep in my cornea. I began whimpering loudly.
Then the Night Fury's wing flashed over the cave entrance, its eyes missing my location. I froze and silenced myself. I stood up and eased to the edge of the cave, watching the dragon and its rider fly over the water, searching for my body. They also took to flying by the base of cliff to look for me amongst the rocks, but found nothing. The rider yelled in a rage and guided his dragon back to the island. I stood there for a moment, my muscles locked up in shock. After a moment, I let out a great sigh of relief.
Taking deep breaths to calm my pounding heart, I felt the adrenaline cease. I began to relax again. But there was still the matter of the splinter in my eye. I reached a hand up and held the end of the splinter in the tips of my fingers. With my left hand still over my eye, I eased it out, my face contorting with pain. I resisted yelling for fear of the rider returning, but once it was out, I closed my eye and cried, allowing my pain to exit in my tears. It hurt, a lot, and I felt like I'd just pulled my eye out. It was weird and painful and I sat there crying for ages.
After a while, I stopped crying and stood back up to look around. I'd never explored the inside of this cave, afraid of becoming lost within, but I did know the ledge extended back up to the top of the cliff. Pressing myself against the rocks once more, I shimmied left, my hand still over my eye. It took a lot of time as I dragged myself up to another ledge, and once more later on, until I reached the top of the cliff. Shivering in the cold and from the fear of the duo returning, I stumbled along the edge of the woods until I could see Berk once more. I pressed myself against a tree so that anyone in the woods could not see me and I controlled my shivering until it stopped. I took a deep breath and removed my hand from my eye, while still keeping it closed. Then I sprinted for the village. My muscles ached as I ran for the closest building, feeling the eyes of the devil watching me. And when I reached it, I couldn't bring myself to stop, running straight into the village until I slammed into someone. We fell into a heap and I leapt back to my feet, only to trip backwards. I panted and shook violently as I saw Tuffnut looking at me. And although he was staring at me, he said nothing. Instead, his mouth gaped slightly. He quickly stood up and offered a hand to help me up, never once taking his eyes off me. I took it and stood up, placing one hand against my chest to control my breathing and the other on his shoulder to support myself.
"Kelda! There you are!" Hiccup was walking up to me, then stopped and gasped, "What happened?"
From the top of one of the buildings, Toothless dropped in to see what going and, once we locked eyes, I felt my body crumpling under me, my mind going blank.
(page break)
My legs ached and my left side was sensitive when I woke up again. It was only a few minutes later and I was laying in the grass with Tuffnut, Hiccup, and Toothless gathered around me. Nobody else had really noticed what happened yet, as far as I could tell. But I couldn't see anything out of my left eye.
"Good, she's awake," Hiccup was the first to speak. He and Tuffnut let out a sigh of relief.
Tuffnut chuckled, "You really scared us for a minute."
"You okay?" Hiccup said.
"Do you think she looks ok? Why even ask her, idiot?" Tuffnut said to Hiccup.
Confused, I asked, "What's the matter?"
"Your eye is bleeding, dude!" Tuffnut said.
Now that I thought about it, the area around my eye did feel wet. Taking a hand and rubbing my eye, I looked at my fingers and saw they were bright red. "Ah! Oh Odin! No wonder I can't see!" I sat up and tried to wipe the blood from my vision.
"You can't see...?" Hiccup said, a dread lingered in his voice.
I stood up and turned around, "No! That's not it! I can see fine! It's just all this blood in my eye...!" I started rubbing my eye more. Tuffnut came up and held my face still with one hand, motioning for Hiccup. With his other hand, he pushed my hand away and opened my eye. I instinctively closed my right eye while they examined my left.
"Don't move..." Tuffnut said right before he ran a thumb across my cornea. My face contorted again and I made a pained, sucking hiss at the sensation of my eyeball being touched. Opening my right eye ever so slightly, I saw him turn to Hiccup with a concerned look.
"Sorry, Kelda..." Hiccup said finally and I opened my eyes, wide with realization.
When Tuffnut took his hands away, my body slumped, "B-but... I can't... It's-" My eyes began welling up again. "It's not fair..."
"There's a cut right down your eye, there's no way it could be anything else..." Hiccup said.
I held back the tears this time, however. Instead, I just stood there. The blood crept down my cheek like tears and I covered my eye. "I-I need some bandages..." I finally said, and pushed past the two. Walking off, I made my way to the Old Wrinkly's house. He asked for an explanation, but I merely held out the herbs I'd gathered and shook my head. The old man wrapped the bandages around my head and tied it down.
When I went back outside, I knew I wouldn't be able to walk very far. Instead, I turned and dropped, sitting just a few feet away from the door. I drew my legs up in front of me and rested my chin on my knees. I wanted to cry, but I also wanted to break something. I was sad, but I was so angry, too.
"Thor Almighty!" someone cried and took off down the road. I lifted my head and leaned around the corner of the building, but was startled when a massive, brown shape tumbled down the hill. When I turned to look, Falkor's nose smacked me in the face and he was growling and snorting, smelling the blood from my eye.
I tried to push him back but he wouldn't budge, too concerned for my safety. After a moment of this, he looked up and wheeled around, growling at a small crowd that had gathered around. Falkor shook his wings and stood over me.
"Kelda! What is going on with your dragon?" Fishlegs called around him.
Falkor turned and snapped his jaws at someone who'd come unfortunately close to his tail.
"Falkor!" I leapt up and ran around to his front side. "What's the matter with you?"
He looked down at me and stopped growling, but the dragon had an intense look in his eyes.
"I don't know," I told him and watched as the people stood there, watching the scene. "Could you go somewhere else?" I said to the onlookers.
Falkor rustled his wings again and stomped on the ground. A low, almost inaudible rumbling started up from his throat.
"What do you want, Fishlegs?" I said, doing my best to ignore my dragon.
He seemed to have forgotten what he wanted to say, though. All he did was stare at me.
"Fishlegs?"
"What? Oh, sorry. What happened?" he asked.
I looked away and said, "Nothing. What do you want?"
"Your dragon is acting crazy today. We only got back here a few hours ago, but one hour ago, that dragon up and takes off into the forest, nearly destroying one of the buildings we're trying to fix. Now your dragon comes barreling in here tryin' to run people over!" He seemed mad, but I didn't know anymore than he did.
"Look, I only just got back and I don't even-" I realized something. Turning around to look at Falkor. "You said he ran out of the village just an hour ago?" I noticed Falkor was panting, but only just barely now.
"Yes, what about it?" Fishlegs was still pretty annoyed.
I reached a hand up to stroke the scales on his face and smiled gratefully. The dragon's attention focused on me and he seemed to calm down. I leaned my forehead on his nose and just stood there for a moment. "He just wasn't thinking," I said finally.
"Well, you should-"
"Just forget about it. His reasons were justified."
"If they were justified, why don't you tell me what he was doing?" he raised his voice.
"Because I don't want you to be involved!" I turned to him. "We'll be leaving within a few days and then things will go back to the way they used to be. All right? My business isn't yours."
"What happened to your eye?"
The question was blunt, straightforward. It begged for more information. I looked up at him again and just got angry. But when I spoke, I kept myself under control. "It was just an accident." Falkor picked up on my rage and began growling again. I didn't understand why Fishlegs was so suspicious of me. It was like he was trying to be my enemy. And that was the last thing I needed right now. I stormed off, Falkor following behind me. I gathered all of my things at my campsite and brought them into the village, no longer wanting to sleep out there.
When I thought about the events of that day, I was angry. I couldn't believe I let my guard down. I felt like an idiot. This was no vacation. This was serious. And I paid the price for my childish behavior.
When I went back in the village, I decided to go to Old Wrinkly's house once more, getting some of the poultice he'd made and sat down outside his house. I took Falkor's wing in my hands and scraped away the hardened bits from the last time I'd applied it. In a hushed tone, I recounted the day's events to Falkor, and while he probably didn't understand anything, it just felt good to tell someone. It was getting late, so I didn't expect anyone else to be around. When I was done, I washed my hands off in a bucket of water nearby and sat down beside Falkor once more.
I sighed and reached a hand up to touch my eye. "Falkor, it's about time we went back home. Another few days and we're gone. No more troubling these people with our problems." I stared at the ground for some time, stroking my hair mindlessly.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Falkor move his hand up to his face and scratch his eye. After a minute or two, I looked up to see him purposely digging his claws into his eye. A line of blood ran down his face and I leapt up to pull his hand away. He looked at me and made a sorrowful whine. I wiped the blood away and sat there staring at him for a long time. It hurt to see him do this, but I understood why he did it. He acted like an elder brother to me. Always coming to the rescue when I needed help. I was grateful to have such a friend. I curled up beside him, wrapping my blanket around myself, and fell asleep. I dreamt of my first days knowing him and how free we used to feel.