Lightning Always Strikes Twice
Chapter 12: The Timber in the Woods
"Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?"
I released a content sigh, looking up at the dragon peering down at me. "As nice as saving my friend was…could I ask one thing?" I asked insolently.
Green eyes blinked.
My gaze hardened and I glared at the dragon. "Can you not be the reason they need saving next time?" I said sharply.
Toothless's response was to snort, the wind from his nostrils ruffling my hair like a sharp gust of wind, and squeeze with his wings.
Of course, when being held in the appendages, them being squeezed was not exactly pleasant.
"Toothless!" I said, slightly short of breath, "Stop, you can let go of me now!"
Unfortunately, Toothless sudden obsession with overbearing hugs forced my face up against the dragon's chest which meant I couldn't see the smirk that grew on the black dragon's maw: wide, slanted and mischievous. The kind that makes the viewer scurry back a few steps before fleeing with arms flailing and screams abounding.
Suddenly, Toothless stood up straight and forced my feet to leave the ground. A gasp, sounding much manlier than a squeal, was ignored by the black dragon as he began to prance, yes prance, around the clearing.
I was pissed.
"What is wrong with you?" I yelled at the black scales near my face. My feet kicked up and connected with the warm, overly joyous body holding me captive, but due to his hold – which, creepily reminded me of a snake in a birds talons – I could find almost no purchase, so naturally, my kicks were as damaging as a baby's; they were more irritating than anything.
There was an agenda at play. I just had no idea what it could possible be. Toothless held me like that, a wiggling frustrated worm, until I had not only calmed down but apologized for the insults that I had started to throw at my scaly companion.
Still, eventually, the dragon let me plop down on the ground, my butt colliding with the dirt as I let out an huff and the earth let out a small cloud of dirt.
Geez, couldn't even set me down carefully, I guess I'm just a sack of potatoes or something.
I rubbed the bridge of my nose, crisscrossing my legs as I grumbled under my breath.
Toothless, seeing my action, mimicked it to the best of his ability, sitting down on his haunches and watching me with scurrying eyes. An ear on his head flopped down as if he lost mental control of it.
"I don't get it," I said in a whisper and stared at my hands. "Why do you act so different around me?" I asked the dragon and turned my gaze onto his own.
The dragon closed one eye, cocked his head and narrowed his other eye as if he was examining something through an eyeglass.
I sighed.
With a groan and a slight wince at the stiffness in my knees, I pushed myself upright. My body was still a bit shell-shocked from being carried, like a ragdoll, due to a dragon over twice my size. Hopefully, Toothless didn't think I was his teddy bear or something.
That would be a problem.
I shook my head rapidly side to side like a drenched dog to clear my thoughts. My gaze worked its way upward and I quickly noticed that Toothless was no longer in the same spot. I hadn't even heard him move, how could anything be that quiet or that fast?
The graceful, and quite frustrating, dragon dropped something on the ground near me and used his head to push it through the soil toward me. The sliding sound and little pings of rocks hitting metal made the scene completely surreal, after all, what dragon pushed an axe toward a Viking?
The engraved weapon made its stop mere inches from my feet as Toothless, his task done, bounded back a bit and looked at me with those shifty eyes again. The dragon swallowed loudly.
Was this some kind of symbolic jester: one of trust? Or was there something greater occurring here?
A crack, like that of a tree being snapped in two, rang through the clearing loud and clear. By the time my mind processed the sound, something black and scaly smashed into me and tackled me to the ground.
"Oww," I meowed – really, it wasn't that bad, the tackle that was, it just took me by surprise that's all.
I could whine as much as I wanted, no creature would be able to hear it. Something black, and only a minute ago friendly, was growling like hell itself had hunted it down. It was possible to see the creature's throat rumble and quiver lightly as the dragon forced all its menace and power into a vocal expression. Green gas leaked from the winged animals mouth like some dilapidated liquid in a threatening display.
Maybe, in a situation like this, I should have been scared. Really, all the check boxes were there: pissed off dragon, check; large creepy sounds in the wood, yup; pinned to the ground and helpless, you betcha. There was just one key thing missing. Toothless's anger was not directed toward me.
No, the dragon was standing over me; his body crouched low like that of a cat with his wings draped over the sides. I could barely see anything other than the blackness of my friend, but my eyes were not drawn to the surroundings. Instead, they were drawn to the dragon's head that was snapping around at anything that dared make a move or sound.
Still, I figured it was better to play things safe. I remained completely still. The slow, periodic motions of my heart were the only part of me that so much as quivered.
Time passed. I'm not sure how much. Not all that much I believe, but it can be a bit hard to tell when you're underneath a raging dragon.
Eventually, Toothless stepped over me and prowled to the edge of the forest. His frame slinked up against a tree, a claw tapping the earth in a strange non-consistent pattern. With the precision of a professional archer, the black dragon pounced into the woods – a terrified squawk immediately arose from the same region.
A small red bird, its wings flapping at a speed I would have thought impossible, breached the canopy and fled the scene. Through the trees, I saw one of the bird's bright, red feathers land on Toothless's nose. The dragon examined it with crossed eyes, before giving a light breath to propel the feather out of my sight. And just like that, Toothless dropped lower to the ground, disappearing out of view.
I was just a bit apprehensive. So naturally, I did the only thing that made sense in a situation like this. I planned a strategic retreat. My feet kicked up dirt and small debris as I fled the open grasses and headed for the cover of the trees. Just when I made it the loving embrace of the canopy's shade and let out a sigh of relief, my head came face to face with something that contained rows of razor-sharp teeth.
My heart completely stopped. The teeth were directly in front of me; it was even possible to see slightly darkened stains, chips, and small pieces of something stuck in the gums. The mouth began to rumble and it was right then that my nose started to work.
"Ah," I coughed, "that's terrible." Tuffnut, nor Ruffnut had any competition at all – they were leagues away from this level.
The mouth took a step toward me and my feet reflexively scurried backward, the shuffling of my shoes completely overwhelmed by the deep snarl.
For the first time, I looked up past the rows of white death. Narrowed, calculating, green eyes watched me: familiar green eyes.
"Oh, thank Thor." I said and momentary threw my gaze skyward.
The growl from Toothless's maw increased audibly and the dragon used his head to push me backward, careful but with a force that left nothing up for discussion. I stumbled back into the clearing from his prodding. My boots connected with a rock and I felt my weight shift in a way I couldn't catch. A cry came out of my mouth as the ground rose to become more intimately familiar with my face.
I laid on the ground for a moment. I tried to sigh, but was still face first in the dirt, so it came out as a muffled grown. With as much dignity as I could muster, I stood up and wiped the dirt off of my pants.
The clearing was silent, the light swaying off trees the only discernible motion. The scurrying of small animals and melodic chirping of birds the only audible sounds. No giant snapping of trees; no monstrous dragons rampaging around; no Toothless.
I lightly bit my tongue and narrowed my eyes in contemplation. My gaze rapidly made it all the way around the clearing exploring each and every cranny like a curious kid.
There was no hint of black scales anywhere.
Satisfied, I turned my gaze to the opposite side of the clearing and started to tiptoe to the edge. It was slow going. Halfway to my destination, I heard a tree branch snap and quickly threw myself to the ground. The grass did an excellent job of concealing me and I stealthily scuttled my way forward on hands and knees.
Once my frame was hidden by the shadows once more, I stood up with a wacky grin of triumph of my face. There was no way that Toothless would have noticed me. I turned, took one step forward, and ran into the chest of something with black scales.
"Oh, come on!" I said with disappointment and just a bit of anger lacing my words. The head of my friend came down and looked at me with a boring gaze. His ears were flat on his head and his teeth could be seen beneath the gums. I smiled and waved at the dragon with poorly attempted cheer.
Toothless was not amused. He took one step behind me. Before, I could see just what the dragon was up to, I felt a pressure clamp down on the back of my shirt and yelped like a dog caught in the treat bag. Toothless began to drag me back into the clearing. And I acted just like a dog picked up by the scruff of its neck – motionless and defeated. Once, we reached the middle of the clearing, the teeth holding me captive released and I fell down on the dirt with a growl of protest reverberating on my lips.
"You know," I said as I massaged my sore neck, both from the chaffing of the shift and the lingering injury, "you are acting extremely strange."
Toothless disappeared in a black blur.
"Well, stranger than usual," I mumbled as I surveyed the area.
What in the world was going on? Toothless obviously thought whatever made the sound earlier was bad news – he was acting almost like a parent would. But if that were the case, why in the world did Toothless want me to stay in an open meadow? After all, I just loved sitting in a place where a large, angry, hungry something could gobble me up in one or two seconds.
You know what? Screw that. And screw Toothless too! I wanted to leave and that's that. Eventually, he'll get tired and stop this ridiculous tirade. Stupid dragon, thinking he knows better than me. I grumbled to myself and, this time without hiding my tracks, marched straight toward the edge of the clearing with my nose haughtily pointed in the air like a spoiled brat.
Toothless didn't even wait for me to reach the trees this time.
My snooty frown disappeared off my face faster than candy disappeared in a child's mouth. Toothless's eyes could be really scary when he wanted them to. The dragon held my gaze for a second; I gulped and threw a sheepish grin at him. After a moment, the dragon vociferously inhaled, held it for a second, and then exhaled with exaggerated effort.
I blinked as a shadow appeared over me due to Toothless's opening wings. With one quick flap, the dragon launched into the air, not directly up, but instead, at me. Before I could dive to the ground, sharp claws gripped the upper parts of my arms and squeezed down like the over pressurized hug of a caring mother.
Thankfully, the razor-sharp claws – man, they were a lot sharper than they looked under those scales – wrapped around my arms and did not puncture my skin.
Toothless took another great flap to increase altitude.
My feet left the ground.
Now see here, I have no irrational fear of heights. Climbing mountains, trees, houses; jumping off cliffs and bridges is no problem. No, in those situations I have control of my fate, I decided to take the plunge so to speak. Having a dragon latch down onto your arms like a parasite and pull your flailing body into the air. That, ladies and gentleman, is a very rational fear of heights.
"Toothless!" I screeched, watching the rocks and grass rapidly shrink and merge together in a mix of colors. "What are you doing?"
Of course he did it. All that wiggling and screeching I was doing was just for show right? After all, if you had a scared, no, terrified passenger that you were dragging through the air the one intelligent thing you would do is make it worse?
Right?
And when you think of it like that, the flip Toothless did really should not have come as a surprise. But let me tell you, it was a more uncomfortable experience than the time I had to explain to Dad how I blew up a warehouse with a stick, a rock, and a chicken.
I could practically feel, no belay that, practically taste the smugness radiating off the dragon like a lantern in a starless night.
"I promise you; one day, my wrath will be great!" I forced out of my mouth – my mind still spinning in all directions making the greens, blues, whites and browns of the world mix together like a kaleidoscope.
It was then that my salvation became apparent. Toothless was flying close to a branch so I grabbed it will all my power, a delighted exclamation of success erupting out of my mouth.
Toothless's revenge? To let go.
Thankfully, I didn't go plunging down through the canopy to the ground that was oh too far away. And, also thankfully, the branch that I was hanging onto for dear life was large enough to support my weight. Just barely, but beggars can't be choosers.
What was unfortunate was that just after I had propped up my elbows and gotten most of my weight off my arms, a smirking dragon came to a halting hover in-between the trunk of the tree and myself. With deliberate slowness, Toothless raised a claw, blew on it, and then brought his claw down on the branch that was my sanctuary. His claw sunk into it like a hot knife. My eyes, which had followed his overly dramatic and absurd actions widened considerably.
"Now, let's think this over, Toothless." I said in as calming a voice as I could.
His claw cut into the branch another inch and the tree quivered in response, the green leaves near me shaking in what I swore was freight.
"Please stop!" I said in a rushed panic – fear gripping my soul as if trapped in a vice.
And stop Toothless did. He threw a superior smirk my way while he leisurely approached me, tapped my head with a wing, in midair mind you, and then darted away in a black blur.
I was alone and on a branch. The ground a perilous fall beneath me.
Letting out a steadying breath, I adjusted my position on the branch and prepared to shimmy my way over to the trunk so I could climb down. The second I lifted a hand, the branch let out a chilling crack and I froze, an expression of icy terror adorning my face like a child after experiencing a nightmare.
But the branch held. That didn't mean I wasn't seconds away from plummeting to my death.
No big deal.
"Toothless," I yelled at the trunk, not even daring to move my head to search for my nemesis, "Is this your idea of a joke! Because, if it is, I'm not laughing."
The really depressing part of all this? If Snotlout could see me, he would be rolling on the floor so hard, he would imprint himself in the ground. And he would probably need a healer to check his wounded sides after the fact.
"Okay," I said out loud, "the branch can hold my weight just fine, but it can't take any more. That means no bouncing or bobbing." I took a deep, slow breath. "I can do this," I, with the deliberate care a mother would show a newborn, raised one hand and place it ahead of the next. It was a slow, arduous process, but I was able to crawl along my knife-edge platform. Just as I was about to cross the threshold of the weakened branch, a roar, obviously from a dragon, came rampaging through the clearing like a pack of rabid, hyper wolves. My head snapped toward the commotion.
The branch snapped completely.
I like to think I'm a reasonable person. And what a reasonable person would do in such a situation is scream. I screamed.
"Toothlessssssss!" I roared, both in fright and rage. It really was a strange combination.
The green of the grass beneath me would have been a welcome sight. I may have survived hitting that with a few broken bones. But nope, the color directly below me, waiting to embrace me with open arms, was the dark gray of weathered, jagged granite.
Just when I was sure that death was imminent and physically braced myself for impact, something grabbed my feet and yanked me into the air. The tip of my hair scrapped the rock.
I looked up toward my savior and saw black scales. But Toothless wasn't looking at me; he was watching the tree line with narrowed eyes and flattened ears. His trepidation made it seem as if he expected something to burst through the forest and charge us.
With not so much as a glance, the dragon lifted me back into the air and set me on another branch. This time he didn't use his claw to weaken it, before flying away. Nearby bushes rustled momentary as a blur disappeared into them. After a moment, they came to a stand still – the evidence of the trespasser lost to time herself.
"I swear…you stupid dragon." I said as I sat on the branch and looked around. "You think you're so," I rolled the word over my tongue, dragging it out, "clever!"
It was obvious what Toothless was doing. He, for some reason, did not want me to leave. And I had a feeling that his reason had to do with the roar that I heard only moments ago. The dragon was trying to protect me. And he probably figured that if he knew where I was, it would be an easier to do so. But then again, why wouldn't he just hound me like a dog as I wandered around?
"This is not the way it's supposed to work, you inept, inane, cocky dragon! Sitting precariously on a tree is not what I would call protecting me!" I shouted with cupped hands. "We need to work on our communication." I snarled out.
A revelation melted into my mind like snow on a hot summer day. Of course! I hit my forehead with the palm of my hand and closed my eyes in thought. Night Furies are all about speed. If Toothless felt an attack was inevitable, he was going to want the element of surprise and it's a bit hard to hide when your charge is stumbling around like a drunken idiot after midnight.
Humans have an overdependence on sight. We have poor hearing, sense of smell, and our instincts need a definite tune up. But even so, there are some things even we won't miss.
The light flapping of very large wings right in front of you was one of those things.
Hesitantly, I opened my eyes.
It was a dragon, surprise, surprise, but it was also one I had never seen before. It was snake-like with no hind legs and absolutely massive wings. The wings allowed it to float midair as it effortlessly moved them – which, unlike Toothless's smooth and harmonious dance, seemed to dominate and cut the very air that held it afloat. The head itself was similar to that of a Monstrous Nightmare with its two long horns, but the face itself was too narrow and the spines flavoring the creature's neck were much less intimidating.
They did have the same yellow eyes though, and these ones were staring right into my own.
"See!" I yelled, gesturing at the dragon hovering in front of me. "This is what I'm talking about, Toothless. All you did was put me at convenient biting height."
The dragon, with large, luminous, yellow eyes, blinked. Then it smirked and cocked its wings backward as if it were going to use them to blow me off the tree, which was actually a real concern. Posed, the dragon glanced to the left and then to the right.
A high-pitched shriek grew into existence to my left. My head snapped in the direction just fast enough to see a comet of blue fire heading right for me. I yelped, covering my head with my hands.
The next thing I knew, the ground was coming up to greet me yet again. At least, this time there was no diabolical rock to greet me, but still, that fallen tree right there was just about the right angle to-
Something black rocketed out from the side and grasped me in its talons just as the other dragon gave off a high-pitched screech. Not ear-splitting like Toothless's own, but the kind of sound that makes you shiver sporadically and attempt to clean the graveling sound out of your ears.
However, as disturbing as the call was, what followed was far worse. It was as if the forest itself were blasted apart – the snapping of leaves and trees rang out so loud and in such a confusing array that it was impossible to separate any of them. Glancing back, a small section of woods was, for lack of a better word, gone. Not gone as in disintegrated, but gone as in all that remained was a shredded mockery of what once was. It was as if someone had decided to have a bit too much fun with a cheese shredder and the forest was chosen to partake the role of the cheese.
The action quickly reminded me of a dark night in the Mead Hall, reading a certain book in the fading candlelight.
Timberjack. This gigantic creature has razor-sharp wings that can slice through full-grown trees. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight.
Oh joy! Too bad the book didn't tell me that the dragon could project its razor attack outward; it made it sound like it sliced through-
Toothless swerved to the right and something went barreling past us, slicing through the trees will so much precision that the cut was a single, distinct line. Of course, due to the creature's forward momentum the trees still toppled over.
Two thoughts rang through my head: well, I guess it can slice through the trees with its wings; and how in the world could something so large move so fast?
It couldn't be faster than a Night Fury, right?
From up above me, Toothless scoffed and glared at the Timberjack, which was looping back around. He also released his hold on me, causing me to go tumbling downward into a small group of bushes. Toothless's black frame was gone by the time I reappeared from the labyrinth of twigs and leaves that my partner saw fit to abandon me in.
Grumbling, I quickly looked to see if I could catch any signs of either of the dragons. Nothing. That's not to say that the forest was still – the utter destruction caused by the Timberjack had caused a mass hysteria of sorts: everything from rabbits to squirrels to insects were fleeing the area with the utmost haste as if staying in the area would spell their doom.
It probably would have been wise to take their advice.
Toothless was still nowhere to be seen, and it was then that the Timberjack began its next approach. Not that I could see it. Oh no. But, I most certainly could hear it – in fact, for the tiniest moment, I wondered if Berk could hear it: the crushing of trees and the strange high-pitched whine as if the air was being forced into a tube at high velocity. I dove to the ground.
Not a moment too soon.
The Timberjack came blasting through the area in a harrowing moment of destruction. Chaos reigned. Nothing was distinguishable; the air pressure increased and seemed to suck the very breath out of your lungs, leaving you a gasping fish thirsting for water.
Of course, the entire action took only a second at most before the dragon was gone again. However, I had to worry about the collapsing trees around me – I scampered and twisted my way around as massive trunks came crashing down with earth shattering roars and thundering thumps that made the ground quiver and shake. Hurtling myself forward, I made it to the clearing Toothless and myself occupied earlier. I came to a stop behind a deteriorated log that was completely cleared out by termites and other salvaging insects. It would have made an awesome tunnel for the kids at Berk.
I raised my hand to my heart, and closed my eyes, huffing and puffing to try to settle myself down. There were still leafs fluttering down like feathers from birds all over the place even though I was in the clearing almost a hundred feet from where the attack happened.
One of my hands was on my heart, calming myself, the other was on the ground and felt the light shake of the earth as something substantial landed on the soil. Eyes widening in fright, I quickly turned around and looked over the fallen tree.
The Timperjack was strutting toward me in a calm, collected glide, its eyes focused on exactly where I was. Of course, it could probably smell me, and if there were the case, hiding was a pointless exercise.
Where was Toothless?
My eyes were drawn back toward the Timperjack's quite intimidating jaw. Small teeth lined the back areas where the molars should be and large, arm-sized fangs, designed for tearing flesh apart, made up the front. They were so large that the spear-like teeth were readily visible even when the creature's mouth was closed. But no, the scariest part of the dragon was not the creature's teeth, nor was it the numerous scars that adorned almost every surface of the dragon. No, it was the creature's expression.
In every raid in Berk, the dragons have this insane, lurid glare that was so obvious it made it seem as if the creatures eyes were alight. They're almost always aggressive, impulsive and seemingly mindless as if they were a shell or soulless monster.
The Timperjack in front of me, approaching me like a lion does a downed wildebeest, had none of those qualities. Its mouth was twisted in what could only be described as an amused smile; its back left cheekbone raised high in apparent mirth almost like it was trying to contain laughter. The creature eyes positively twinkled, and the swagger the dragon gave as it slithered toward me like an oversized snake, were all strong differentiations from the norm.
It was enjoying this – in the same way that I would enjoy jumping off a cliff into freezing ocean water. It was fun.
Decision made, I quickly scrambled, as the dragon lumbered toward me, into the log that I was resting on. Its roots were still entrenched in the ground and it was unlikely the dragon would be able to lift it in one piece. Pausing about half way through, I stopped and listed as the rustling sounds of leaves and breathing of the Timberjack approached. The creature stopped right above the log. I waited with bated breath.
I glanced left and looked at the long grass and dirt visible at the end of the log; I glanced right and looked at the grass visible at the end of the log over the exposed roots; my gaze moved to the left again. Something shook the entire log causing my gaze to snap back to the right at the source of the perturbation. Instead of seeing the grasses at the exit of the log, a leathery wall of a wing blocked the way, so close that I would not be able to even extend my hand halfway in that direction. With stealth I wasn't sure I possessed, I slinked my way away from the deadly wing that had almost sheared me in half. I only had one option at this point – to flee out and hope the dragon tripped or something; of course, not having legs made tripping a bit unlikely…but still, hope till the very end, right?
Where was Toothless?
I almost called out his name in fear, but I had to remain calm. When I was about halfway out of the log, I saw green smog begin to enter to the log and stopped in my tracks. Green smoke like that was almost always followed up by fire.
Stupid! I hit myself in the head. Why in the world would I think hiding in a dead, unsaturated and thus quite flammable, tree while being hunted by a fire-breathing dragon was, in any sense of the word, a good idea?
On the verge of hyperventilating, I tried to think. Left was soon to be an inferno and thus death. Right was a leathery wall that blocked my way and trapped me like a rat in a cage. Maybe, if I poked it in the right spot I could get the dragon to raise its wing?
No, that was a terrible idea: the dragon had two wings after all. As soon as it felt contact on the one, it would know I was right next to it and the other would come slamming down, thus ending my great tenure.
Wait. An idea popping into my head, my hand searched the area around me furiously. Rough, dead bark met my panicky fingers and I tried to rip something off. Of course, I had to kill a giant spider that tried to bite me for invading its home, but that was of no concern.
If I was in a better state of mind, I might have remembered that it never took a dragon this long to ignite their gas.
My hands managed to pick at a suitable-size piece of bark; I turned and hurled it at the wing blocking my way with as much force as I could muster. Just as I expected, when the projectile hit the wing, a second blade-like appendage came slamming down right next to it.
For only a second did it remain in the posture, before the Timberjack removed the second wing from the log.
This was my change! Those wings were incredibly, unbelievably sharp and I had no doubt that it cut clear through the log. Rushing forward, as quietly as I could, I approached the other wing and rammed as hard as I could with my shoulder. Not into the wing, but the log right next to it. Amazingly, the section of log that had been separated from the two wings moved.
Sadly, the cutout rolling two inches wasn't going to allow for my freedom.
A whimper escaped my mouth as I glanced through the tiny separation in the log at the green grass and brown dirt. Suddenly, my world flipped on itself and I collided with my head. Dazed, I stumbled backward only to fall out of the log.
The Timberjack's second wing was resting on the cutout section. It had rolled it when I was inside. Standing right above me and glaring down at me with a predatory smile, the dragon chuckled. Yes, chuckled. The green gas still hovering around its face like smoke from an old man's pipe did not help me feel any calmer.
It was then I heard it. Finally! That loud, ear-splitting shriek that signified one and only one thing.
Toothless was back.
One, two, three times, Toothless fired. The problem was, the Timberjack did something with its wings: folding them over itself like a shield and the blasts simply rolled off like water on an awning.
Toothless, out of his primary assault, quickly flipped over his wings and turned rapidly to the left. His body barrow-rolled as he kept his wings in tight and he fired three more rapid shots at the back of the larger dragon.
Unable to keep up with the dexterity of the Night Fury, the first two blasts smacked into the Timberjack. The impacts made the air smell like seared flesh, and small droplets of blood fell down near where I lay.
I turned to see where Toothless went when something large and brown covered my vision entirely. Yelping in confusion, I realized that the Timberjack was wrapping me up with its right wing; how its flight appendages could be so flexible, I had no idea.
The world became black as I was plunged into a world of no sight. Sight deprivation is something that I'm not sure anyone really gets used to. It causes the mind to make all sorts of hallucinations and crazy, irrational excuses for the sounds it hearing. Naturally, the sounds of Toothless battling this dragon were no too pleasant.
However, right when I heard that crescendoing screech, a second sound meet it, seemingly in battle: similar in tone, but rougher and accompanied by the slashing of leaves and trees. The Timberjack was using its other wing to attack Toothless; the noise and motion caused my skull to ring and my vision to blur.
I reached for my stomach and kneeled over, feeling as if I were going to be sick. A light pain appeared in my foot and I gave a minute gasp of pain. Feeling for what poked me, my hand searched my boot and immediately felt something long and relatively sharp. Without even thinking, I gripped, what I assumed was a stick, in my hand and stabbed the wing in front of me.
Similar to the poke I just experienced, the Timberjack gave a reactionary outburst of pain and raised its wings. Sadly, it didn't open them and thus I was still trapped inside.
Right then, thankfully, was when Toothless came in for another pass and seeing itself out of position, the Timberjack released me from its grasp so it could use both wings to defend itself. My legs and arms fluttered in the air as I fell the relatively short distance to the ground.
I managed to stand just in time to see the Timberjack's wing snap out and clip Toothless as he dived by. The black dragon gave a yelp of surprise in what sounded like pain, before it crashed onto the ground, a long trail of dust and debris in the wake of his crash.
Seeing its chance, the Timberjack raised both of its wings at the exact moment that I screamed, "Toothless!" and ran out to the black mass that was breathing heavily on the ground.
Right when I got in the line of fire, Toothless rolled over and kicked off the ground with both his wings and feet in an incredible display of agility. Of course, that left me trapped out in the open with nowhere to hide right as the Timberjack was preparing to shred the area to oblivion.
Toothless, turned a cocky grin back over his shoulder, no doubt wanting to taunt the larger dragon. But what the Night Fury last expected was to see myself in the path of danger. The black dragon stopped so fast in the air, it seemed like something snapped. His eyes grew remarkably large and his mouth opened in pure horror as the dragon lurched forward with its wings working in overdrive to reach the stranded human.
Toothless managed to reach me right as the Timberjack released its attack. I was tackled by a black mass and the sounds of something ripping rang through my head like someone battered them in there with a nail and hammer.
Before I could even glance at my friend, something large and leathery divided us. The Timberjack's acute wing pressed down right on the back of Toothless, in a way, that the massive dragon could cut him in half with a simple twitch of his wing.
Well, crap.
Toothless wiggled in place and the Timberjack growled. The black dragon paused for a second, before sagging its shoulders and giving up. The display utterly reminded me of a wolf subdued by the challenger to its alpha status.
My gaze shifted onto Toothless's face and I was shocked at what I found there. His eyes were slightly narrowed and his ear was twitching relentlessly. He noticed me looking at him and rolled his eyes before quickly snapping his head away from mine, refused to meet my gaze. The expression, if I could put it into words said, quite plainly, we need to work on our communication.
"Oh, don't give me that look," I said and pointed at the pinned dragon. "This was your fault. You're the one that put me in the tree in the first place!"
Toothless threw a nasty glare at me. After a moment, his eyes moved off of my own and focused on the Timberjack holding him down.
The Timberjack had a smug air to it as if he was proven right in an eternal argument. Toothless's eyes suddenly snapped back to the ground when the Timberjack made a strange sound in its throat – it sounded almost like a trill, just a bit throatier and deeper in pitch.
A whine came from Toothless's lips as the dragon stared into the ground – his ears limp on the side of his head and his eyes burdened with guilt.
And just like that, the Timberjack's wing came off of Toothless's prone form; the enormous dragon turned and took into the air. It only paused long enough to glance back over at us, wink, and then leave in a brown blur. Small bundles of leaves swirling around in the turbulence of the air were the only evidence that it was ever there. Well, besides the utter destruction of the forest, that is.
I scrambled over to Toothless, who was still lying on the ground with his exaggerated chest motions easily visible. By some miracle, the black dragon's back was completely fine – a few marks and scratches but nothing deep enough to draw blood. My eyebrows rose in disbelief.
The Timberjack's attacks were enough to completely slice through trees as if they were a piece a paper – how in the world was Toothless still unharmed after taking a hit like that?
Moaning reached my ears and I quickly dropped to my knees and rested my hands on the prone dragon. "Are you okay?" I asked hesitantly as I rubbed the dragon's back gently.
Toothless let out a small meow of contentment and closed his eyes.
Was it possible that the Timberjack never meant any harm? Could it have been just playing a game? Impossible. Slamming its wings down onto the log could have easily killed me – there is no way it could have guaranteed my safety.
A moan mixed with a growl of protest snapped me out of my gaze. In my thoughts, my hands had stop moving over Toothless's scales and the dragon obviously was displeased with such action.
"Oh no!" I said and stood up. "If you had won, then maybe I would continue but you got beat, buddy."
Throwing me a nasty glare, Toothless otherwise ignored me and rolled over to his back his wings sprawled out on either side of him.
"So, just who was that dragon?" I asked the lazing dragon. "Friend of yours?" I made tsking sounds with my tongue and shook my head back and forth in disbelief. "You really need to make better friends."
At that point, I just gave up. Slinking over the Toothless side, careful to step over his wing, I collapsed down into the grass and dirt with an audible exclamation. My back met up with Toothless's side as I sprawled out my feet and attempted to clear my mind.
Of course, my mental muscle had other plans.
Quickly, I thought back to the Timberjack and the scars that adorned its body – just like Gobber, Dad and the other Viking veterans. That wasn't confusing in and of itself. What was, was the fact that every dragon that attacked the village – well the vast majority – were never that riddled with battle scars. In fact, their skin was often like a baby's, completely unmarred.
And what was it the village said? That we killed so many dragons that they weren't given time to mature. What a load of rubbish: sure we got some, but nowhere near all of them. There should be older dragons, especially if they can fight like that Timberjack did, in the raids on the village but there never was.
Why?
Did they choose not to participate? And if so, why did the young ones decide that they wanted to attack?
I stood up, threw my arms up into the air and stretched out.
The sun began its decent beyond the horizon, its yellow rays morphing into bright oranges and reds.
The day was ending, the grueling, ridiculous affair that it was, but, in the large scheme of things, such facts were unimportant.
I looked over at my sleek, scaly companion, still sprawled out like a domesticated pet after a meal. A smile grew on my face.
The truth was simple: a new day would come and with it the challenges and tribulations. I guess it was a good thing that I had a fire-breathing dragon to help me through it now.
Right?
I mean, with the two of us, what could possibly go wrong?
Author Notes: So, I still need to do some last minute editing on this chapter - very rough/poor in parts. And there are still errors riddled throughout. But, I figured I would get it out now since the rest of my weekend looks like it is going to be very busy.
I love this chapter - was extremely fun to write and it's a bit of a relief that Toothless and Hiccup have gotten over their initial hesitation around each other. I would love to hear what you guys think of the interaction between the two. Hopefully, it wasn't too comical and came off as believable. But I'll leave that up to you to decide.
Edited on June 13th, 2014