Journey of a Thousand Miles: Chapter 7

Hiccup had hunted trolls before, several times. He'd also hunted for other mythical creatures. However, he was beginning to suspect that the Whispering Death was a myth. He'd seen more signs of trolls than he had of this dragon.

"Two weeks…that's how long it's been, all without a sign…" Hiccup muttered as he pressed himself against Toothless. It was cool, and rather chilly. The sun hadn't fully warmed the Earth yet, and the misty morning air was rather cool when flying on a dragon. Toothless didn't seem to mind, in fact, he reveled in it. Cool air was Toothless's second element. It likely had something to do with the fact that his insides could produce fire hot enough to melt stone.

They had left the Skrill without much of a fuss, likely because Astrid had left a few scales that Bluebell had shed. Jack had grown rather attached to Charcoal, the leader of the band of Skrill they had met. The little Timberjack had grumbled for a few days after they left, being rather moody towards Astrid, and completely ignoring Hiccup, not that him ignoring the Viking was unusual. Jack didn't like sharing Astrid's attention.

The day they left, they flew until they reached a river that was about a thousand feet across, and several feet deep. The river emptied out into the ocean, created a brackish fjord at its mouth. They'd camped there for the night, turning inward and following the river until it turned south.

They'd left the mountains behind while traveling along the river. While they'd sat around the fire the first night after turning inward, Hiccup had produced several charts of the stars and the map, trying to find their position.

The mountains depicted on the map formed a U shape, beginning near the mouth of the large river, and headed north, where they eventually traveled back down towards the river, in a near straight line until a small valley formed a dimple. After the valley, the mountains turned and headed west until they ran off the map. The small dimple of a valley was where they were headed. The valley was popular with the Whispering Deaths in the spring, according to some old explorer's logs Hiccup had read.

After extensively studying the map and charts, Hiccup had declared that they would reach the small creek that ran into the river by noon the next day. They would follow the creek back north until they reached a small lake that it ran through, and then head Northwest until they reached the small valley.

It took them about two and a half days of travel to reach the small lake depicted on the map, where they camped for the night. From there they turned Northwest just like Hiccup had planned. The group had reached the Entrance to the valley about a half day after leaving their camp, and began to set up a new one at the mouth of the valley.

After lunch that day, Hiccup and Toothless took their first flight over the valley. They'd flown multiple times over the last week and a half, and Astrid had conducted foot searches. They had found no signs of the Whispering Deaths.

Their latest flight was to search the last and farthest west part of the valley. Hiccup was tired from waking so early, and rather irritated at the wasted time they'd spent. He resolved that if they didn't find a sign today, they were leaving.

"What's that?" Hiccup called to Toothless, pointing towards a dark smoke cloud hanging just above the forest. The dragon glanced back at Hiccup, following his gesture. Toothless spotted the cloud, and angled himself towards it as Hiccup switched the tailfin. They dove towards the treetops, skimming just over the smoke, where Hiccup saw a small cabin.

"Take us down Toothless." Hiccup said, wondering who could be living here, in the middle of nowhere. The nearest town marked on the map was south, about a hundred miles away. Toothless banked in the air, Hiccup adjusting as needed, slowing them sufficiently to land by the cabin.

Hiccup eased off the side of the dragon, checking to make sure he had his daggers on his waist before moving towards the door. There were no windows in the cabin, and the bark was still on the logs it was composed of. Hiccup reached towards the door, unsure of whether to knock or not. The Viking decided it would be a good idea, and extended his hand, rapping loudly on the thick door before stepping back a few paces, unsure of what to expect. The door opened, and a puzzled looking old man stood there, holding a walking staff in his hand. He blinked when he saw Hiccup standing there.

"Uh…Hi." Hiccup spoke, nervously waving his hand.


Astrid was walking along something that looked like a path. She'd stumbled across it while combing through the underbrush. Bluebell and Jack were off somewhere, Bluebell probably watching him play. She'd followed the path towards the mountains.

It was slim and not well worn, but it was cleared and not overgrown with sticks and such, like a game trail. She stopped, looking at a depression in the mud. She kneeled down beside it, examining it closer. It looked similar to one of Bluebell's prints. It had three claws, but these were thinner and long, and there was a fourth, smaller than the others behind the main body of the print.

"This must be the dragon…" Astrid said, rising from her kneeling position. She felt a sudden pressure in her head, and a piercing pain split her mind. She wasn't sure what was happening, but she thought she screamed in pain…


Hiccup sat across from the strange man, sipping on a strange brew he had made. It tasted unusual, like a cross between slightly sour grapes and raspberries.

'Probably an acquired taste.' Hiccup thought. It wasn't a bitter brew, but it was something he'd have to get used to before he could enjoy it.

"Hmhm…you seem unsure about the herbal root tea." Balder chuckled at Hiccup's expression.

"Yeah…it's a little…odd." Hiccup said, setting his cup on the table between them. The cabin was small, containing a bed in one corner, with a small chest at its foot, a table in the middle with a few cabinets above it, and a fireplace right next to it.

"So, young Hiccup, rider of the legendary Night Fury, Toothless, may I ask what are you doing in this humble valley?" Balder asked, still smiling.

"Well…you see, I'm from Berk, and last year we made peace with the dragons that live there, thanks to Toothless." Hiccup began. "We destroyed the dragon that was making them steal food. That's where I lost my leg. Recently, I've been rewriting the dragon manual that details the dragons that we know about. So Toothless and I, along with Astrid and Bluebell and Jack, our friends, we've been flying around trying to find the dragons so I can learn more about them."

"That seems to be quite the undertaking." Balder said, scratching his chin. "I suppose you've come here to meet the Whispering Death species?"

"Yes, sir. Astrid is probably still searching for a sign of them." Hiccup answered, suddenly feeling a small pang of guilt that he'd forgotten about her searching.

"What all do you know about them?" Balder asked, gazing at Hiccup with curiosity.

"Well, the KOS Manual, Kill On Sight, says that they are medium sized dragons with six sets of teeth, but that's not what makes them deadly, it's the fact that they can paralyze victims with some sort of mental attack." Hiccup said. "Which sounds a little far fetched. I think they may just let out a screech that's too high for human ears to detect that can cause pain by stimulating some part of the ear."

"Your manual isn't too far off actually. The reason they are known as 'Whispering Death' is because they rarely make a sound. They communicate with their minds."

"Whoa."

"Indeed. I can take you and your friends to meet Loki if you want."

Before Hiccup could ask who Loki was, he heard Toothless scratching at the door, whining loudly. He rose to his feet, Balder also rose slowly, and they moved to the door. Toothless whimpered, looking towards a path through the trees.

"Oh my. I believe your friends may have already met Loki." Balder said.


All Astrid felt was pain. Skull-splitting, mind numbing pain. She was in more pain than she had ever felt. She thought she felt tears running out of her eyes, but she couldn't really think of anything more than escaping the pain, primal terror gripping her. Then the pain lessened for a moment, and she opened her eyes. She saw a blurred shape before her mind shut down, attempting to preserve her sanity.


Bluebell and Toothless had both heard Astrid's scream, though Bluebell was much closer. She roared and charged in the direction it had come from. Her protective instincts were in overdrive as she arrived onto the small path. She roared again, the strange screech loud in the quiet valley. There was a red dragon standing over her girl, and she struck it with her body as hard as she could. He went flying into the bushes along the path, and a small shape dove onto the dragon from above, latching onto one of its neck spikes. She looked upwards and saw Hiccup and Toothless landing.

Hiccup slid off of Toothless, running over to Astrid, checking on her. Bluebell growled at Jack, telling him to let go of the strange dragon. Bluebell stiffened as she realized there was another human, a stranger, there. She looked over at him as he kneeled next to Hiccup who was examining her girl. Jack detached himself from the strange dragon and flew over to Astrid, nuzzling her cheek slightly.

"She's okay Jack, she just passed out." Hiccup spoke to the little dragon as he held Astrid in his arms.

"This is Jack?" Balder spoke.

"Yeah, he was a baby Timberjack when we found him. And this is Astrid, and Bluebell is the Nadder." Hiccup said, not looking up from his Vikingess.

"And that was Loki." Balder said, pointing to the red dragon that was laying knocked out cold in the underbrush on the side of the trail.

Astrid began to stir, moaning softly. She slowly opened her eyes, focusing in on Hiccup.

"Hiccup- mph!" she was cut off as Hiccup kissed her. She shifted slightly, shutting her eyes before she sat up, breaking the kiss, then punched him on the arm softly. Then she noticed Balder standing nearby and blushed a bright red color, wanting to really hit Hiccup.

"What happened?" Hiccup asked, standing and offering her his hand. She swatted it away before struggling to stand up. Her head was still throbbing, but it was fading fast.

"All I remember is kneeling to check out a footprint and then a splitting pain from my head." Astrid answered.

"That was Loki. He's the Whispering Death dragon you've been searching for." Balder said, looking at Astrid and smiling.

"Astrid, this is Balder. Toothless and I found his cabin when we were flying over earlier." Hiccup said, gesturing to Balder.

"I'm sorry about Loki, but he's not used to strangers. Your axe probably frightened him." Balder said, gesturing to the axe on her back. Bluebell came over to nuzzle her as Jack rubbed against her legs. She slowly rubbed Bluebell's jaw as she watched the man walk over to where the red and yellow dragon was lying in the underbrush. As he approached, the dragon lifted his head before standing.

Hiccup watched as the dragon slowly looked at them and blinked before looking back at Balder.

'Hello.' Hiccup heard the voice in his mind, and judging by Astrid's face, so did she. Hiccup was the first to respond, remembering what Balder had said earlier about the dragons communicating with their mind.

"Hello." He said, forcing his voice to work. He elbowed Astrid who glared at him before returning the greeting.

"Hi." she said.

'Sorry.' the dragon directed his words towards her. It was definitely male, its voice wasn't gruff, but deep and rich.

"As I told you earlier Hiccup, the Whispering Death dragons use their minds to communicate." Balder said, rubbing the top of Loki's head. "It's taken me a while, but I taught Loki to talk, though he prefers communicating with images."

Hiccup's mind began to wonder at all the possibilities of being able to have exact communication with dragons. No longer the in general, pick-up-on-the-clues game that it was now. He could speak to Toothless and the dragon could understand him, but it wasn't always so easy understanding Toothless's replies.

'You are very…sharp minded.' Loki spoke to Hiccup. 'Maybe this is why you learned we aren't bad.'

"Well, it had a lot to do with Toothless not killing me." Hiccup said, scratching the back of his head. He didn't take compliments well. He wasn't used to them. Toothless set his head on Hiccup's shoulder. Hiccup scratched him under his chin and he made the strange purring sound that meant he was enjoying it.

"Well lets not stand around like statues! Come, we'll go back to my cabin and I'll brew up some herbal root tea." Balder said, beginning to walk towards his cabin.

'Oh no…not the rot-root.' Loki said, following after him.

"Rot-root?" Astrid whispered. Hiccup smiled at her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as the walked.

"You'll see."


And she did. However, unlike Hiccup, who found it manageable, she couldn't drink it, much to Balder's amusement.

They were sitting outside the cabin on the wooden chairs from the table inside.

"It's funny, when I made the extra chairs, I never expected I'd need them." Balder spoke.

"I imagine it's rather lonely out here all by yourself." Astrid said, watching Jack chase Loki's tail.

"Not really, it was at first, but I have my companions in the Whispering Deaths. Of course, Loki is the only one that stays year round, but I don't have any complaints." Balder answered.

"I've been wondering, why did you name him Loki?" Hiccup asked. He heard the dragon chuckle in his mind as Balder spoke.

"Because I thought the gods were playing a trick on me when I first realized I was communicating with a dragon."

"So when did you first meet?" Astrid asked.

"Oh, it was a long time ago. I was traveling through the mountains when I fell off the path and injured myself. Probably would have bled to death if Loki hadn't found me. He flew down my pack full of supplies to me and brought me fish while I was recovering. After that, we were wary of each other, but not unfriendly. I left, continuing on my journey, but I came back here about a month later. Loki was still here, so I returned the favor of giving him some fish. We gradually got to know each other over several encounters through the years. Eventually, Loki came to stay outside of town where I worked as a blacksmith. I kept him a secret though. Eventually, when I retired, I moved out here and built this little place."

"Wow. You've known each other for so long." Hiccup said, marveling at them. Their bond didn't quite reach as far as his and Toothless's but they were close, and had been for years. It was quite amazing. "If you don't mind me asking though, Loki, you don't quite look that old. At least, not by what I've seen in other dragon species. They typically are larger the older they get, and just…well, they have that general feel of knowledge that comes with age."

'It is hard to predict age on…the looks of we dragons.' Loki said. 'I however am fifty-five years and three seasons old.'

"Yep, Dragons definitely age better than humans." Astrid said. Hiccup chuckled, wondering what she was thinking.

"So, what about you? How did you meet your dragons?" Balder asked. Hiccup began relating the tale about how he was the screw-up then he shot down Toothless, fixed his tail, and was excelling in dragon training because of it, had his flight with Astrid, who took over the story after that, censoring out her pep talk and the kiss she gave him after he got better. Afterwards, they sat in silence until Balder spoke.

"You've been through quite a bit." he said smiling. "But your village…it sounds like a wonderful place now. I would like to go there. Maybe even live there. Then we could be free to pursue what we want, Loki."

"Really? That'd be great!" Hiccup exclaimed.

They talked until the sun grew late in the sky, telling stories and tales. For all three of them, it was nice to be in the company of other humans. For Hiccup, it was one of his greatest dreams come true. Here he was, standing on the threshold of communication with dragons.

When they left that afternoon, Hiccup and Astrid thanked Balder for everything, and flew back to their camp. Once there, they ate a rabbit that Jack and Toothless caught, and climbed into the tent, exhausted.

"Astrid?" Hiccup asked, wondering if she was asleep.

"Yeah Hiccup?" She asked, adjusting herself on his shoulder.

"Are you embarrassed about me?" He asked, not sure what to expect, but wanting an answer.

"No! Hiccup, I'm not embarrassed about you! It's just…well…it's embarrassing to me…you know? I mean…I'm doing a really bad job of explaining this…" she said, sighing.

"Yeah you are." Hiccup agreed. He heard her moving and felt her hear leave his shoulder. Then he felt her hair falling on his face as she came nearer to him, kissing him. Their kiss lasted until she stopped to breathe.

"Hiccup, I love you so much…it's just, I guess I'm embarrassed about other people knowing. But I'm not, and never will be embarrassed of you." she said, then kissed him again before laying back down on his shoulder.

"Hmm…I don't think I'm convinced." Hiccup said. He heard her laugh at him before she gave him one more kiss.


AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Remember, review! It helps a lot more than you might think.

Anyways, Here's chapter 7. BAM! Talking dragon. Bet you didn't see that coming. And look. Fluff. Nommy nommy nommy fluff.