Chapter 14
"F-F-F-Father?!" spluttered Ice, trying to figure out if Cloud meant what she thought she meant. "Yes," said Cloud, still smiling, "you and Shadow Fly are going to be parents." Taking quickened breaths, Ice looked around, trying to clear her head of what had just happened. "H-How am I going to tell Toothless?" Cloud sighed, and said, "I'm sorry, but that's something that only you can decide. That, and WHEN you tell him." Sighing, Ice nodded and walked back to where Toothless was, quickly followed by Cloud. When Toothless looked up, he saw Ice and Cloud walking towards him: Ice, wearing an expression of worry and wasn't meeting his eye, and Cloud, who wore a small smile.
"So what did you two talk about?" asked Toothless, helping himself to another cod and swallowing it whole. Ice thought nervously for a moment, and muttered, "Just girl stuff." Nodding, Toothless didn't push any more on the subject. Ice mentally sighed, and looked over at Cloud, who looked at her as if to say 'how long are you going to keep this up?' look. Ice, again, mentally sighed and looked at her trying to say 'I don't know'. For a few minutes, there was an awkward silence, until Cloud said, "I still can't believe that White Light just went along with Fradokos so easily." Toothless replied, "Fradokos has spent a lot of time with White Light: he naturally follows him." Nodding, Cloud muttered, "I still can't believe it..."
Sighing and shaking his head, Toothless asked, "So, where do you think Hiccup and Mystery have gone?" Ice thought back to when their riders had entered the waterfall, and said, "I believe that they've gone to the Elders for help." Toothless looked confused, and asked, "The Elders?" Ice softly smiled at his confusion, and answered, "The Elders, or what's left of them, were the ones who were in charge of the village before Black Ash destroyed it." Nodding, Toothless silently growl at the mention of that demons name: the person who had brought so much pain and death to two islands...ONE person! Toothless train of thought was interrupted by a voice shouting, "Ice!" and Ice instantly took off and over the cliff, and moments later, she came back, this time, carrying Marko on her back, shirtless and slightly drenched.
"Long time, no see, old friends," greeted Marko, walking up to each of the Dragons and stroking their heads, causing each of them to purr. "Where is Hiccup?" asked Toothless, looking at his with many a question swarming around in his mind. "Last I saw him, I was saving him from being crushed by a hundred pound set of weights," answered Marko, looking through the pile of fish, hoping by some miracle that there was a cooked one. Toothless looked at him with confused, and Marko said, "I'm training him into one of us." At that sentence Toothless, Ice, and Clouds eyes widened in shock and even deeper confusion. Marko looked at their faces, and asked, "What?" When none of them answered, Marko just shook his head and said, "Look, sooner or later, we're going to launch an attack on Berk, and we need Hiccup to be in perfect physical condition if we're are going to be successful in doing this."
At this short speech, Toothless said, "What? How can we be ready for such an attack? We are only three Dragons, two White Fury tribe members and a Viking! How can we destroy him?" Marko looked at him with slight disgust, and said, "You are Shadow Fly, the Red Death's most trusted and trained solider! And you're scared of a single mortal?" Toothless, his teeth showing and growling at an increasing volume, screeched, "NO! I am a Night Fury! The unholy offspring of lightning and DEATH! I am not scared!" Marko didn't even change his expression, and said, "Good, we're leaving in under a week." Ice, Toothless and Cloud opened their mouths to respond to this shocking revelation, but soon closed their mouths again. "Good," Marko said, smiling, "now that there aren't any complaints, I need to keep an eye on Hiccup. Ice, would you?"
On instinct, Ice got up and let Marko mount her, before taking off and over the cliff. When she came back up, Marko wasn't on her back. When she sat down, a silence over took them as they ate the last of the fish. After a few minutes, Cloud cleared her throat, and said, "Ice, isn't there something that you want to tell Toothless?" Ice, eyes widened from what Cloud said, quickly thought and said, "Uh, um, yeah, thanks for the fish, Toothless." Toothless, looking at her strangely, said, "Um...your welcome." Cloud looked at Ice, and mouthed, "Better sooner than never." Ice sighed and mouthed, "Don't rush me." After another few minutes, all the fish had been eaten and they just sat there, taking in the darkening sky.
"Come on; let's find somewhere to sleep," said Ice, to which Toothless and Cloud nodded and took off after her. Ice led them to a darkened cave that was on top of the cliff that had the Elder's Writings underneath. Looking around, Toothless noticed that it was easily big enough to fit at least another fifty large Dragons. "Is this where the other Dragons sleep before...it...happened?" asked Toothless, looking at Ice or Cloud for an answer. Cloud said, "Yes, this is where we and the other Dragons used to spend the night when they were not out hunting." Nodding, Toothless spotted a spot on the ceiling of the cave when he could hang himself from. So, flapping his wings, Toothless hooked his tail in the hole in the wall and let himself gently swing down until he was upside down. Ice and Cloud swiftly followed his example. Soon, the three Dragons were asleep, and as Hiccup and Marko trained, the Elders started to think of an attack strategy.
Berk – Black Ash
"Sir, you should come see this!" shouted a Viking, gesturing for Black Ash to follow him down the mine. Black Ash, curiosity evident in his blood red eyes, walked past the Viking and down the ladder that went down into the mine. Once they had nearly reached the bottom, Black Ash jumped the last few steps and landed in a small puddle that had formed from the recent rain. Looking around, Black Ash noticed that all the villagers of the 'old tribe', as it is now know as, weren't in there mining. "Are they all back in their cells?" asked Black Ash, turning to face the Viking, who nodded. Smiling in an evil manner, Black Ash turned around and walked into the deeper parts of the mine. After a few minutes' walk, the tunnel ended and Black Ash saw something pointing out of the stone and dirt mixture.
It looked like a golden triangle, though one side of it was longer than the others. There was also a thin silver curved like going from one side of the triangle to the other. Looking at it with curiosity, Black Ash grabbed it and gently pulled it out. Once it was completely out of the wall, Black Ash brushed off some of the dirt, revealing two small green gems, one in the middle of the triangle, and one at the edge of it. Black Ash smiled insanely, and turned around to face the Viking, and said, "Looks like I'm one step closer." The Viking took a step closer to Black Ash, and said, "Don't you mean 'we'?" Black Ash looked the Viking straight in the eye, and said, "Of course, that's what I meant..."