Chapter 7
Marko groaned quietly as he woke up from a dreamless sleep; thankfully, he hadn't had another flashback during his second try at sleeping. Looking at the cave entrance, and spotted that the sun had just managed to break through the sky and into the forest. Getting up and putting out the remaining parts of the fire with the dirt and ashes surrounding the fire, Marko stepped out of the cave and spotted that the sun was only about half visible with the rest of it hiding behind the sea. Suddenly, his eyes widened in realisation: the others will probably be getting up by now, thought Marko, his hand running through his hair.
Shaking his head, he looked down at the leaf covered forearm, and decided that it was now or never to tell them what happened with his arm. Sighing, Marko exited the cave and started running as fast as he could through the forest, but at the same time, he moved with the stealth of a feline and as quietly as a mouse. After about a minutes' run, Marko broke through the tree line and arrived at their camp, and thankfully, he couldn't see anyone outside their tents. Moving stealthily across the sand, Marko made passed the two tents occupied by Fradokos and Hiccup, and stopped in front of tent occupied by Rachel. Thinking fast, Marko quickly lied down on the sand outside if Rachel's tent, and pretended to be asleep.
After a few minutes waiting, Marko heard tent flaps open behind him and acted as though he had just woken up. Once he had 'woken up', Marko opened his eyes to see Rachel looking down at him, a smile spread across her face. "Good morning, sleepy head," she said, offering a hand to Marko, which he accepted and got up onto his feet. Looking at the other tents, Marko was surprised to find that Fradokos and Hiccup weren't up already. "Probable stay up all night for some reason," said Rachel, as though she knew what Marko was thinking. Nodding in response to Rachel, Marko walked into Rachel's tent and picked up the water pouch and came back out again.
"So, think they'll be up by the time we get going for Molak?" asked Marko, opening the pouch cap and taking a swig of water. Shrugging her shoulders, Rachel replied, "Maybe, and if there not, we can always get them up." Smirking, Marko put the cap back on, but he unknowingly used his bitten arm to screw the cap on. Rachel spotted this and asked, "Marko, what happened to your sleeve? In fact, what happened to your arm?" Marko just stood there, not knowing what to say as Rachel grabbed his wounded arm and examined it. When she tried to take off the leaf bandage, Marko said, "Don't! Please, I'll tell you later." Looking up at Marko, Rachel wore a face that showed that she wanted to know now, but she decided to wait until Marko was ready to tell her.
Hearing tent flaps opening, Marko and Rachel turned around to find Fradokos and Hiccup exiting their tents, stretching their arms and legs and then walked over to Marko and Rachel. "So, when are we leaving?" asked Hiccup, accepting the water pouch Marko offered him and taking a sip. "We're leaving just as soon we've packed and the Dragons come back." Nodding, Hiccup handed the pouch to Fradokos, who accepted it and took a swig. Marko then said, "Right, then, let's get packed up and then I'll call the Dragons." Nodding, they all went to their tents and started to empty them before they started to take them down.
After about half an hour, the three tents had been taken down and packed into the leather bags. Once they had all been put into a big pile, Marko brought his thumb and first finger to his mouth, and whistled loudly, probably loud enough to be heard across the enough to be heard across the entire island. After about a minutes' wait, Marko spotted three white blobs and a single black blob high in the sky, before they angled themselves down and after a few seconds wait, Ice, White Light, Cloud and Toothless landed in front of their riders. Once the four riders had attached something to their Dragons saddles, they mounted the Dragons and were soon ready to go. "Alright, then. Let's go!" shouted Marko, and they soon high in the sky and above the sea. After half way through the trip, Rachel motioned for Cloud to get level with Marko and Ice. Once she had done so, Rachel asked, "So, how far do you think we are for home?" Looking over at Rachel, Marko answered, "about another few hours or so: not long now."
Nodding, the two were silent for a few minutes, before Rachel asked, "So, do you think you able to tell me what happened to you earlier?" Sighing, Marko told her nearly everything that happened last night, although he left out the part about his mother's medallion. So, when she asked why he was out there in the middle of the night, Marko answered, "I just wanted to clear my head for a bit, and that's how I ran into that wolf." At first, Marko wasn't sure if she'd believe it, but she nodded and didn't ask anything else on the subject, and Marko let out a silent sigh of relief.
After another few hours' silent flight, a large island came into view, but this wasn't like any island that Hiccup had seen before: this island was not covered in lush, green forests: it was covered entirely in a thick, blackened blanket. This island didn't have a visible village or inhabitants in sight. This was an island that Hiccup had never seen before, and it was one that he was hoping to never see again. When they landed on the ground, a small wave of smoke and ash flew up slightly before returning to a pile on the ground. Once Marko dismounted Ice, she whined in discomfort. "Shh, it's alright Ice," reassured Marko, stroking the White Fury's head, "I don't want to be here either."
Hiccup, confused, asked, "Um, Marko? What are we doing here? Do we need to get some supplies for here or something?" But Marko didn't answer: he just turned around and faced Hiccup, and the young Viking saw something he had never seen of Marko's face before: it was sadness. "This, Hiccup," said Marko, gesturing to the blackened island behind them, "is home." He paused for a second, before saying, "Welcome to Molak, home of the White Furies, Viking."