Enjoy the next chapter!
Entry 64
The Night Fury, it turns out, is in fact still on the island. I'm just not sure exactly why…
Early this morning, I went back out to the woods. I found the cut up bola pretty easily, and started in the direction I had seen the dragon fly off before I… well, passed out. A ways through the trees, I found something I'd never even known was on Berk: a cove. It's quite beautiful, actually… with tall rock walls on every side and a lake surrounded by mossy dirt and trees. And, on the ground at the entrance, I found something: black dragon scales. Proof the Night Fury had gone this way.
As I kneeled down, inspecting the scales, a rush startled me, and I looked up to see… the Night Fury.
It was acting weirdly, though. It was clawing at the rock walls, as if trying to escape, before gliding to the other side and trying again. I dropped down a couple ledges to watch, perplexed. Each time it took off, it looked like it lost its balance, crashing to the ground. Seeing an opportunity, with the dragon so close, I took out my sketchbook, trying to get its shape drawn. A head with ear like appendages, large, broad wings, smaller secondary wings underneath, and a tail with tailfins. As I drew, the dragon fired one its plasma blasts, burning the ground black, and it was here I noticed something different. An inconsistency between my drawing and dragon before me. It didn't have a left tailfin.
I erased the fin from my drawing, and the dragon took off again, crashing by the lake. I watched as it tried to catch a fish, only to come up empty. And as I looked on in near mesmerization, my charcoal pencil slipped from my fingers, hitting a rock below with a clack.
At the sound, the Night Fury stood up, its eyes quickly finding me. It just stared, its gaze unsettlingly calm. The look it gave me… I knew it recognized me. And, I couldn't seem to look away. I leaned forward just a bit, tilting my head in wonder. And, a moment later, it mimicked my exact movements.
After a few more seconds of us just looking into each other's eyes, I broke out of my state, pocketing my sketchbook and climbing away.
I don't even know how to describe what I've experienced. There's something almost… awe inspiring about that dragon. As far as I know, I'm the only person to have ever seen one so close, and lived. It's almost… beautiful, in a strange, draconic way.
Now, I'm sitting at home, waiting until the last moment possible to leave for a Dragon Training lesson, studying the picture I drew.
I could have sworn, those few times I saw its silhouette, that the dragon had two tailfins. I suppose I could be misremembering… but it just doesn't make sense. Dragons seem to be pretty symmetrical creatures, like humans. I can't see it's natural form having a lopsided tail.
How did it lose it? The night I shot it down, I'm pretty positive it had two. Of course, I only ever saw it streak by, and I could barely make out its shape when I took my shot. But I think I know what I saw.
That means that sometime between my bola hitting it and our encounter today, it lost a tailfin. It makes me wonder… was it something I did? I don't remember ever seeing its tail when I found it in the woods, so it's possible its fin was already gone. Hm.
Whatever it was, though, it couldn't have been that important. Very few dragons even have tailfins... I bet it hurt its wing or something, and that's why it kept falling. Until it heals, I might as well keep checking in. Maybe I'll even bring some fish… it looked like it was having some trouble on its own…
But that's not important right now. It's getting late, and I really should head to the Great Hall. It's been rainy all evening, so we won't be in the Kill Ring today. I wonder what Gobber has for us today…
Until next time…
-H
Unfortunately, that tailfin WAS important... you'll figure it out soon, Hiccup
