Author's Note: Sorry I haven't updated in a while I just got a new job. Anyway here we go with what most people have been waiting for. Again this is dragoneese. I own nothing.
11. After All This Time
"She smells like one of us, but also not like one of us." Hiccup didn't recognize the voice but she did recognize dragoneese when she heard it. Her head hurt and it took her a moment to get her bearings, though she stayed still as she was aware that there was at least one unfamiliar dragon in the area that might attack if she made any sudden moves.
"She smells a like that nightfury." Ok so two unfamiliar dragons, most likely more. Hiccup opened her eyes. The cave she was in, for that's what it had to be, was almost pitch black. The only light was a slightly blueish glow coming from the entrance and the eyes of the dragons that surrounded her. Her head was throbbing but she kept her face clear of any pain. She carefully and slowly reached down to the hilt at her side as the dragons backed off warily. She clicked the button on the hilt that extended the blade and lit the monstrous nightmare saliva on fire. She rolled to her feet wobbling slightly as she did. She twirled the blade around slowly, letting the dragons see that she could create fire just like them. There was a noise behind her as several other dragons came to investigate. She clicked the button again and retracted the blade. Deftly she switched cartages, the empty that the trappers had set off for a new one, and let the zippleback gas stream out the other end of the hilt. Spinning made her head hurt worse but she did it anyway making sure every dragon watching could see the gas. She set off the spark and the dragons pulled back slightly as the gas went up in a quick burst of fire, she rose and stowed her hilt in one fluid motion. Slowly, carefully she stepped forward towards one of the nearer dragons, her hand outstretched. There was a noise to her left that made Hiccup draw back, hands slightly raised in surrender. The figure from before was in front of her, the woman in the strange armor. Hiccup was worried for Toothless but she needed to survive this encounter to get to him, she was no help to him dead.
"Who are you? The Dragon Thief we've overhead the trappers talking about?" The woman circled her, silent as a statue. Hiccup tensed slightly.
"Do you work for Drago Bludvist?" Her tone was quite harsh at the thought, fear driving her to anger rather quickly. If this strange woman worked for Drago then Toothless was likely as good as dead already, likely left to drown under the ice. Hiccup thought she saw a bit of a shake to the woman's head but she wasn't sure. The woman just kept circling.
"Do you even understand what I'm saying?" Hiccup weighed her chances but chose not to speak dragoneese around this woman until she could be sure of where this woman's loyalties lay, with the dragons that surrounded them or with the tyrant Bludvist. The woman twirled the staff in her hand and a rattling noise covered the growls the woman made enough so that Hiccup couldn't make out the words but she could still tell that the woman was speaking dragoneese. But before she could process that fact fully the snafflefang that had tried to snatch her off of Toothless flew over the crowd of dragons with someone very familiar in its claws.
"Toothless!" Hiccup rushed forward, not caring that it made her head hurt so bad the world around her swam. Hiccup hugged Toothless tight, slamming her eyes shut to keep the world from spinning. Toothless warbled and crooned.
"Are you alright? If they hurt you at all I swear I'll…" Hiccup smiled up at Toothless.
"Just a bump on the head bud. I'll be ok. You had me worried there for a minute though." There was a thump and a rattle and the dragons that they had both forgotten about filled their mouths with fire giving Hiccup a clearer view of the figure in brown and blue. She still wore her helmet. Toothless crouched protectively next to Hiccup, a threatening growl building in his throat. The woman crouched and dropped her shield and staff. She crawled forward on all fours. Toothless hissed at her stepping further in front of Hiccup. Hiccup put a hand on his head, their signal to calm down, there was no need for blood to be shed if it could be avoided. The strange woman waved her hands in an intricate movement and in a few minutes Toothless had fallen over, half asleep. Hiccup took a step back from the woman as she walked closer. The woman didn't stop, Hiccup almost tripped over Toothless's tail. The woman reached up and removed her helmet tossing it to the side. Then she moved closer to Hiccup and gasped as she reached out for the scar on her chin. She drew back in shock, seeming to make herself as small as possible, like frightened dragons did.
"Hiccup? Could it be? After all this time?" She took a step forward tentatively.
"How is this possible?" She didn't seem to be talking to Hiccup this time, but to herself.
"Sh… Should I know you?" The woman looked back up at Hiccup a sad almost broken expression on her face.
"No. You were only a babe." The woman stood up a bit straighter, looking Hiccup in the eye.
"But a mother never forgets."
