Chapter 11 - Dragon Harper

A/N: This is a bit of a Toothless origins story (not many of them out there) with a bit of movie canon thrown in for good measure. Enjoy!

All characters (not including my own) are property of Dreamworks Animation and Anne McCaffrey.

The next restday, H'cup and the rest of his weyrling class were at the lake washing their dragons. After a good oil rubdown, H'cup went with Tannluth to lay in a patch of grass under a tree. The rest of the weyrlings went back to the lake for a swim.

H'cup stroked the scales on his friend's neck and asked him; "Tannluth, what was your life like before we met?"

Tannluth turned his head and looked at him. :You really want to know? What does it matter anyway? We're here, and we're together:

H'cup shrugged and said; "Well, I'm just curious. I got to know you a bit in the nine months we had together in Berk, but I don't know anything about your past. Where are you from, and how did you come under the influence of the Red Death?"

Tannluth laid his head in H'cup's lap and said; :Well, to start off, I come from a land far to the South of Berk, a place that you know as Africa:

H'cup's eyes grew wide; "You came from Africa?" He whistled and said; "THAT'S quite a way down South. How long did it take for you to come North?"

Tannluth snorted in amusement and said; :I didn't fly North as soon as I hatched, H'cup. I spent a lot of time wandering and learning about the world. Among dragons, my kind are known as 'Prophet Singers'. It was my mission in life to travel the world and learn about new things. I would then teach the younger dragons about the things I have witnessed:

H'cup nodded; "That's what the Harpers do for the young humans here on Pern."

:That's exactly what my mission in life was. The teachings of Prophet Singers help keep young dragons from flying into hazards they don't know about:

"How long have you been doing that?"

:About 452 turns:

H'cup's jaw dropped. "WHAAAT? You trying to tell me you're 452 turns old?"

:No, I'm actually 457 turns old. I didn't leave the nest until I was five:

H'cup's head spun. He had no idea his friend was that old. "Whoa, I guess I'm going to have to start calling you 'old man' now."

Tannluth swished his tail around and gently slapped H'cup on the back of the head. :Watch your mouth, or I'm going to start calling YOU 'young pup'!:

H'cup laughed and rubbed Tannluth's eye ridges. "Okay, okay, truce! I guess 'old man' would be wrong. After all, you were just hatched a few sevendays ago!"

Tannluth purred in pleasure at H'cup's ministrations. He told him; :Yes H'cup, I am in a new body, but keep in mind that I didn't die when we were snatched out of the sky above Berk. This body is new, but I still have the mind and memories of a 457 turn old Prophet Singer:

H'cup was still coming to grips with how old Tannluth really was, but asked him; "So, you spent most of your life wandering the Earth. What are some of the places you've been? Are there other types of dragons besides the ones we knew in Berk?"

:Oh yes, there are quite a few different dragons in the world that you have never seen before. Many of them lived further South because they couldn't tolerate the colder weather of the North. The ones you knew in Berk could use the fire they generate to regulate their own body temperature. The ones who couldn't remained where the weather stayed warm throughout the year:

"Interesting. And the places you've been?"

:Well, like I said, I was born and raised on the Western coast of Africa. When I left the nest, I flew South along the coast learning about the new dragons and other creatures I met along the way. Not all those meetings were pleasant. Near the Southernmost point of Africa, I encountered a being much larger than I was who tried to eat me while I was fishing. All dragons knew and respected my kind, but this creature wasn't a dragon:

"What was it?"

Tannluth shivered and said; :A sea serpent:

"Sea serpent? I didn't think those things existed."

:Oh, they exist all right. There's no mistaking that black slimy body with the yellow stripes. Ugh, just thinking about them is turning my stomach!:

"Wait, black body with yellow stripes? Is that why you hate eels so much?"

:YES! They're disgusting! They look and smell exactly like sea serpents, only much smaller:

H'cup nodded and said; "I see, but in the Training Arena when I used the eel to herd a Zippleback back into his cage, he reacted the same way you did. How did he know of the connection between eels and sea serpents?"

:Because I told him about it, of course. He was listening to my lessons before he got captured on an earlier raid to your village. He was actually one of my better students, but one of his heads would always get the idea that nothing bad could happen to him:

H'cup started laughing; "Yeah, that's Zipplebacks for you. Anyway, where did you go after your encounter with the sea serpent?"

:I spent the next few turns making my way up the East coast of Africa to the sea you know as the Mediterranean. Once there, I spent my time flying along the coast learning all I could about the land, its dragons, and the animals inhabiting them. I avoided humans whenever I could, but the few times I had an accidental encounter it would always go bad. They would start screaming and throwing things at me and brandishing weapons whenever they had some close by. I could never understand what they were saying, but their aggressiveness was unmistakeable. So, I avoided humans like they were eels, flying at night and remaining unseen:

:After two hundred turns, I decided that I've learned all I could in that part of the world and decided to leave. I flew North across the continent and crossed a large body of water. I found myself in a rugged land of mountains that seemed to come from the depths of the sea! It was quite possibly the most beautiful land that I have ever seen! I decided right then that this was where I was going to spend the rest of my life. When I roared in my delight at finding a new home, you can imagine my surprise when another dragon roared back! I turned getting ready for a fight, but relaxed when I saw the most beautiful dragoness Prophet Singer flying up to meet me. Her name was Nilakanta and she became my mate:

:For the next hundred turns we flew together along the coast of what you call Norway. During that time we raised many young and taught them what they need to know in order to survive in the world. We were flying with my latest brood when one of the youngest felt a call in her mind and flew toward it. She had a pretty big head start, so by the time Nilakanta, myself, and the rest of my family caught up to her we all felt the pull on our minds. We flew into a mist which surrounded a volcanic island. We were drawn into a large cavern on the island which housed a monster:

H'cup whispered; "The Red Death".

:Yes, only we just called her 'Demon'. She was much smaller at that time, but the influence she had on the dragons around her was very powerful. My youngest daughter was affected by the demon's call more than all of us, so she flew straight up to her. The demon opened her mouth and snapped her up in one gulp. The horror of losing one of our offspring temporarily snapped the demon's hold on Nilakanta and myself. We howled in grief and rage and attacked the demon for all we were worth. We fired many fireballs at her from different angles in order to keep her off balance. It seemed at first that we were getting the better of her, but it became apparent that she was just taking our measure. After taking the full brunt of our combined fireballs, she just started laughing! I was horrified that nothing we did could hurt her, but Nilakanta roared in pain, frustration, and rage and charged straight at the demon. I screamed for her to stop, but she didn't listen. The demon swung her spiked tail around, catching Nilakanta full on the side. I could hear her ribcage shatter as the blow connected and she collapsed to the cavern floor, mortally wounded. The demon climbed up out of her pit and stood over Nilakanta. I begged the demon not to hurt my mate any more. She just laughed and said; "Don't worry, little slave, I'm not going to hurt her. Much". My eyes grew wide and I screamed just as the demon's jaws snapped shut around Nilakanta's head, swallowed it, and started eating the rest of her body. I gagged and turned away as the demon finished the rest of her grisly meal:

:I tried to run while the demon was eating my mate, but the power of her mind held me in place. She laughed and said; "Where do you think you're going, little slave? You can't run away now, I've got plans for you!" I didn't like the sound of that and I tried struggling against the hold she had over me, but my efforts were futile. Apparently, the demon could sense my resistance and she laughed; "Oh, I like you, little slave. I think I'll keep you around a LONG time! Unfortunately, these little ones are of no use to me. Come to me, my dears". I had an idea of what she was going to do and I roared for my sons and daughters to fly away, but they were just as helpless as I was. This time, she forced me to watch as she ate the rest of my family one by one. With the blood of my family on her teeth, she smiled at me and said; "Now then, little slave, you're going to be my second in command. You're going to lead the dragons on food gathering excursions. I don't care WHERE you get the food, raid the human settlements for all I care, but BRING ME FOOD! I know how you Prophet Singers empathize with other dragon species, so if you fail in your mission I will eat some of the other dragons here and force you to watch. Oh, I won't eat YOU, little slave, so don't start thinking that you can join your family that way. I foresee a long and profitable future, little slave, at least for me!" Then she started laughing. I have never hated any creature as much as I hated her right then:

Tannluth paused in his story and had a low growl in his throat. H'cup could see that his eyes were orange with streaks of red. He asked him; "Hey, you okay there, buddy? We don't have to talk about this any more if you don't want to."

Tannluth shook his head and his eyes turned more to yellow. :I'm alright, H'cup. Sorry about that. It's just that the memory of that bitch and what she did to my family kind of set me off. I want to finish this story. Not only for you, but for the rest of our audience:

H'cup blinked; "Audience, what do you mean, audience?"

Tannluth nudged him with his snout and said; :Look around:

H'cup did just that. He saw that the ground around the tree was filled with young dragons, all intently staring at Tannluth with whirling yellow eyes. He looked up at the ledges surrounding the Weyr bowl and noticed that EVERY dragon in the Weyr were staring at them with the same yellow eyes.

"Wow, I guess you've got their attention, buddy."

:Uh-huh, and that's why I want to finish this story. Look at their eyes, H'cup. Do you WANT to have every dragon in the Weyr irritated all afternoon? I need to finish this on a happy note:

H'cup nodded; "Good point, I guess you'd better continue."

:Thank you. Getting back to my story, that was my life for the next hundred and fifty turns. I would lead raids on human villages, wipe out whole schools of fish, decimate herds of wild animals, and basically terrorize the entire countryside all in an effort to bring that demon her food. During that time, she grew larger not only in size and weight, but also in influence over other dragons. When I was first drawn into her service, there were only a few dozen dragons in her cavern. By the time I led the raid on your village, the numbers were in the hundreds. Even though I was their commander, I was also their self-appointed guardian and teacher. I took it upon myself to teach them things about the outside world, not only to keep their spirits up, but also in the hope that if we broke free of the demon's influence, they would have a clue about what life was like as a free dragon. Most of the time it kept their spirits up, but occasionally a dragon would give up the struggle and return to the cavern without food. The demon kept her promise and would snap up the offender. I was starting to look upon them as the lucky ones:

:One night, we left the cavern to go on another raid of a human village. I didn't know it was your village at the time, they all looked alike to me. It was my job to be high watch for the other dragons. When the humans would deploy the heavier weapons, it was my job to take them out. I would scream in my dive in order to scatter the humans surrounding the weapons, then fire a fireball at it. I took two shots that night and felt something wrap around me and pinning my wings against my body. I fell out of control toward the forest, screaming the whole way. The trees slowed my fall enough so that the impact with the ground didn't kill me, but it knocked me unconscious:

:I woke up the next morning still wrapped up in the ropes. I tried struggling with all my might to break free, but I couldn't get the leverage I needed. I laid my head back down to rest when I heard a noise coming from the forest. I could smell you and froze in place, hoping that you would pass on by. When you got closer, I started to get REALLY nervous because your scent was the same as the one on the ropes binding me! I thought at the time; "This must be their greatest warrior, to come up with a weapon to shoot me out of the sky. And now he's here to finish what he started!" You said something and put your foot on my shoulder, but I shrugged it off. When you came around my wing so I could see you, I almost fainted with relief. I thought; "Heh, they sent the village pup after me". My joy turned to terror when I saw the knife in your hands!:

H'cup told him; "Hey, I was scared too, you know. We didn't know ANYTHING about your kind. We just called you Night Furies because that is the time when you would attack us. We never could see you, we knew to just get out of the way before we got blown up. Now, here I was, the village screwup, standing next to one. I didn't know WHAT would happen."

:You might have been scared H'cup, but imagine what it was like for ME. There I was, all wrapped up and helpless, with a Viking standing next to my throat with a knife in his hands. Yes, I was scared. Scared of dying a stupid, senseless, wasteful death. Dying in battle I could accept, but to have my throat cut when I couldn't fight back was almost more than I could handle. I started moaning, hoping that you would have sympathy and let me go. When I saw you raise the knife, I laid my head down and readied myself for you to strike. When it didn't come, I waited longer but was surprised when you started cutting the ropes. I stayed still until the last one fell free. I first thought I was going to just leap clear and get away, but my dignity demanded that I get a little retribution first. When the last rope fell away, I swept your legs out from under you and pinned you to a rock. I then stared into your eyes and tried to get you to feel what it was like to be bound and helpless. I was mightily tempted to incinerate you right then and there, but I could see the same fear in your eyes that I had in mine a few moments before. It would have been wrong for me to kill you when you let me go, so I roared every dragon curse word I knew at you and flew off:

A dragon on one of the upper ledges roared and Tannluth turned his head to look up at him. Apparently something was said to Tannluth, but H'cup could only hear his reply.

:HEY! Don't yell at me! He wasn't my rider at the time, I didn't even know him then! All I knew was that he shot me down and nearly killed me! How was I supposed to react?:

H'cup asked; "What did they tell you?"

Tannluth scoffed and quietly told him; :Branth and a few other bronzes were horrified that I would be tempted to kill my rider. You heard my response to them: A bit louder, he announced to all the gathered dragons; :Look, this started as me and my rider having a little heart to heart talk. If you keep interrupting, I'll just call it quits right now!: H'cup could hear quiet murmuring from the dragons on the ledges. Tannluth responded; :Okay, okay, I'll finish my story. Just remember, no more interruptions!:

Tannluth continued; :You already know most of this H'cup. How we met, how we learned to trust each other, and how you helped me learn to fly again. What you do not know is that you gave me a greater gift than my flight, you gave me my freedom:

H'cup was confused. "Say what? How did shooting you down and crippling you give you your freedom?"

Tannluth answered; :You shooting that weapon at me is not what gave me my freedom, H'cup. I'm fairly certain that the impact with the forest floor knocked something loose in my brain. After I made my escape from the ropes and was able to sit quietly to think, I noticed something was missing besides my tail fin. The constant buzzing in the back of my brain which was the demon's influence on me was silent for the first time in a very long time! For the first time in one hundred fifty turns, I was finally free! I was actually very glad to see you come to the canyon those first few times, H'cup. It was my innate sense of caution and the fact that I didn't want to scare you off that kept me from coming right up to you and showing you my gratitude:

"How would you have done that?"

:How do you think? How did I always show you my gratitude and affection?:

H'cup rolled his eyes; "I see. You'd have drowned me in dragon slobber."

Tannluth gave an affectionate purr and raised his head to lick H'cup on the side of his face. :You got it. That's how dragons show their feelings for one another. I also did it because I knew you hated it at the time and it amused me to see your reaction. You don't seem to mind it now:

"That's because your breath doesn't smell like rotting fish anymore. Also your tongue is much drier. I don't have to wring my tunic out every time you lick me!"

Tannluth started laughing and licked H'cup on the side of his face again. H'cup laughed and pushed his head away and said; "Enough of that, go on with your story."

Tannluth laid his head down in H'cup's lap and said; :Certainly. Obviously, you kept coming back to the canyon. Each time you returned, the trust between us grew stronger. Each time you returned, you brought something that would help me fly again. You were determined to fix what you've done, and I was just as determined to make it work. After much trial and error, you finally put together something that worked, but we had to test it. I was extremely nervous that morning we flew together for the first time, I didn't want to do anything to screw up and hurt you. Dragons can take quite a bit of punishment and come out okay, but any impact that would mildly hurt me would certainly be fatal to you:

:Despite a few minor crashes into some sea stacks the flight went pretty well, until you came loose from the saddle. I roared in fear that I was going to lose you, but you managed to get back in the saddle and stop our tumble. Unfortunately, we were very close to the sea stacks and we were going too fast to steer around them. I screamed 'DO SOMETHING' and I think you heard me! Something seemed to click into place, because it's as if you weren't riding me anymore and suddenly became a part of me. I have never flown that fast or wild in my life, but you kept up with all the necessary changes in the tailfin and we made it through okay. You yelled in joy and I expressed my happiness in my own way:

H'cup chuckled as he remembered the fireball they flew through. "Yeah, and thank you very much for that. It took two weeks for my eyebrows to grow back!"

Tannluth also chuckled and said; :You're welcome, I thought it looked good on you:

A/N: I had to cut this one off here, will have the next chapter up in a few days.

Special thanks to Fjord Mustang for the inspiration behind the Red Death. If you read her first story,To Soar Into The Sunset, you'll see what I mean.

As always, thanks for reading and please use the blue button below to leave a review. Reviews make H'cup, Tannluth, Heimdall, (and me) very happy!