Alright, here's the next chapter, and we're getting into some juicy stuff now, enjoy my fellow readers, onward!
Chapter 8: Jailed
I open my eyes to see myself surrounded by a swirl of bright colors. I seem to be drifting motionless along space as if I'm being carried by water or the wind. With a muted gasp I go, "w-where am I?"
I look down to myself: it looks like I'm still a Night Fury…no big surprise there, but what is this place I'm in? Suddenly, I see something, or somebody, flickering in and out of existence! Upon closer inspection with my dragon eyes, I notice that they have gray skin…is this…is this the man from my apartment…the mysterious being who brought me here?
"Hello?" I muttered, my voice echoes as if I'm in a large room. It isn't long before the mysterious person starts to fade away, flickering in and out rapidly as I begin to hear something else: Hiccup screaming.
I wake up with a jolt, my ears perk upwards in response to the yelling from far away. I raised my head from my curled sleeping position amazingly fast, looking toward the direction of the sound.
What is going on…what is…oh no…it IS Hiccup, and it sounds like he's in trouble!
This isn't a dream…I immediately spring into action. I fly up and I'm immediately grounded afterwards due to Hiccup's absence, but I can't let that stop me! I try clawing at the wall instead to climb. Using a ledge, I can boost myself up for the first time being here! Upon reaching the edge of the cliff I dig my talons deep into the soil to help myself up. Why didn't I do this earlier…oh well, to time to dwell on it! Finally, I am out of the cove and with no time to waste I dash uphill with great speed toward Berk.
I still hear him yelling in fear…and the closer I get the more I notice the dragon snarls accompanying him. A dragon must be attacking him! I pass through the dense forest faster than I could ever hope too before…
I can't let this happen again…I can't! Hang on Hiccup, I'm coming, just hold on! I'm NOT going to lose you too!
It isn't long before I reach the human settlement: which seems empty for some reason. Is there another raid going on, or maybe…it's the queen!? Oh no…they're after us aren't they…the nest is probably after us for bringing Hiccup and Astrid in the Queen's Chambers.
I'm getting closer now, there's just one problem…there actually are some Vikings around patrolling Berk! A large and muscular female is the first to confront me. She pulls out a hatchet and charges for me, alerting two more members of her species.
I lower my posture, giving a low growl and showing teeth, "get out of my way."
She swings her sword at me as I sidestep easily, but she comes swinging again! Fortunately, push her away, sending the warrior into a pile of baskets. The other two come in together and try to flank me from the sides, but I'm ready for them. One of them tries to be sneaky and come from behind as they circle me; however, my dragon senses haven't failed me yet. I kick them away as the last one charges, and I release a plasma attack at them. The male blocks it, covering his field of view, so he doesn't see me running for him. I jump over the human as he and the other two Vikings give chase, but I soon lose them as I pass all the buildings in town to reach a narrow wooden bridge. The structure leads to a dome-shaped arena, which turns out to be the place most Vikings have gathered at. I don't see other dragons or the Queen herself…so what the heck is going on? Wait a minute…the people are watching performance of something…oh GODS, NOW I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON! Is this the final exam Hiccup was talking about!?
I climb down some stairs leading toward the arena, which is blocked off by chains holding the dome together, so I decide to try and shoot at it. I open my mouth as I unleash a deafening shriek: the same one I used when dive-bombing the towers at Berk back in the day. I jump off the staircase, folding my wings to squeeze through the hole I'm about to make. Blue lights appear from down my throat and travels up to my mouth, and in a fraction of a second, while I'm mid-air, I release the plasma bolt.
I end up inside the arena as thick smoke covers its center. Despite this, I can sense the two creatures inside: Hiccup, who is pinned down by a male Monstrous Nightmare!
I lunge at the beast without a second thought, and I end up on its back, scratching at it ferociously as it roars in pain. The dragon collapses onto the ground as we both struggle with one another.
I can't say I've ever fought another dragon before since ending up here in this world. We roll around violently until he falls on top of me. I snarl as he tries to sink his fangs into my short neck, but thankfully I punch and kick him away despite his attempts. I spot a weakness from the Nightmare: their long neck, and so I grab it and then use my hind paw to finally get the monster off me. When he recovers, he growls at me in retaliation before we both begin a fierce standoff.
They take a good look at me and finally figure out who I am, "y-you!?" It is then I too figure out who this is: it's one of the raid's most veteran members…or that's what I was told at least. They were one of several I had helped steal livestock during my time with the nest. The Monstrous Nightmare was captured that night, wasn't he? Heck, it doesn't matter…he almost killed Hiccup!
"Stay away" I warn forcefully in return, "I still got plenty of shots left!" I walked backwards toward the shellshocked boy to stand by his side. The nightmare shakes its head slightly in disbelief, "you're-you're protecting it!?"
We eye one another in a tense showdown as all the Vikings above us watch in confusion.
"Why are you protecting a Viking, Night Fury" he attempts passing me from the right to get to the teenager, but I immediately intercept him:
"He's my friend!" I exclaimed loudly in roars and growls.
The scaly beast tries again, going from the left this time, unfortunately for him I am too quick. Hiccup looks on, thinking about what to do, but he is just as stunned as the rest of the crowd above us.
"It's dangerous, they'll kill you" the other reptile shouts back, but I've had enough: I lunge at him one last time with my final growl to warn him, "I said…back off!"
The beast across from us knows just how dangerous and lethal I am to him, and so he moves back into the wall, "you're making…a mistake…trusting these monsters" it mutters before skittering away in fear. After all that, I back up more toward Hiccup as the latter finally stands up to meet me.
"Are you alright" I grunt in dragonese, looking towards him. Suddenly he leans on me, is he trying to push me away or something?
"Toothless, go, get out of here!"
"You're out of your mind buddy, I'm not leaving you here" I retort in dragon tongue.
Suddenly, the crowd of combatants jump down from above…oh right…we're surrounded...oops…
My eyes slit as I growl. Hiccup tries pleading with me, but I'm too focused on the impending battle that I don't pay attention to him. That's when I spot him: my eyes widen when I realize who it is…the imposing Viking by the entrance is said to be the deadliest among all the others here, and he's headed straight for us! I decide to act first, I rush for him head on, but not before running into a swarm of his underlings. One tries to slash me, but I punch them away. Another from the same side is thrown back by my wing while I kick another away with a hind leg. The Northman is just inches away before I finish off his followers and I pounce on him: easily restraining the bearded individual.
"Toothless, stop!"
I don't hear the boy calling out to me…I hold the warrior's arms in place before spreading my wings and snarling. I gave a death glare before opening my mouth to him in order to unleash a finishing blow.
"No!"
I snap out of my rabid state and turn to my best friend with a questioning eye before realizing what I was doing. Wait…was I really going to kill him that way…like a damn savage…oh my goodness…what have I done…
I am then suddenly struck by a hammer and quickly tackled by the other Vikings.
"Let go of me, let go!" I growled to them, but it's useless…
The large man recovers and looks down to me, "put him with the others" they simply mutter as my ears fold back in fear. Much to my dismay, I am now a prisoner of the Vikings…
…
A gate opens in the arena where I just was, and I'm thrown inside by several guards before they close the door behind. Darkness consumes the room; however, since I am a dragon, I can see perfectly in the dark: I am able to spot several other captives in this small cell. There is a female Gronckle, a female Deadly Nadder, a male Hideous Zippleback and finally the male Monstrous Nightmare that I had just encountered outside.
This needs to be said…he is NOT happy to see me right now to say the last, and the other lizards in the room just give muted momentary glances toward me (as if they're too afraid to look at me for too long.)
As soon as I got here, I turn toward the entrance and try to escape…I unleash several short bursts of plasma but it's like the door is reinforced like a shield against dragon fire!
"Dang it" I mumble, "almost out of shots…come on!" I try again, but my attempts prove to be futile.
"We already tried that…many times before…you're wasting your shots" the Nadder chirps to me, shaking her head in response to my actions.
"oh man…oh…man…" I whimper in defeat.
My ears droop as I sigh softly to myself, giving up. Well then…I guess I'm stuck in this claustrophobic cage in the middle of one of the most dangerous places known to dragon-kind, and it doesn't help that I'm on their most wanted list of all things! I'm screwed…no…ROYALLY screwed actually!
I walk toward a cold and dark spot where I slump down to rest.
"What is this place for anyways? I thought they KILLED all dragons" I mutter softly before I hear the Gronckle answer my question:
"This is where they train their young," she begins, "they put us out there for hours to help their children become better fighters against us."
"So…Hiccup was training?" I asked as I rose my head, ears perked up as I gave a raised scaly brow.
"Hiccup?" The Nadder asked, "I've heard of that name during my time fighting the kids out there."
"Isn't he the small and frail hatchling" the Gronckle asks as the former nods back to confirm.
"He's-he's my friend"
They look at me with bewildered expressions on their muzzles.
"That creature…" we suddenly hear the Nightmare growl, "…was bred to kill us. He wasn't training, Black Scales…they planned to have me killed in front of their whole nest, and that young human was the one to carry the deed!" At the end of his speech, he yelled with that deep, and booming, voice of his.
I narrow my eyes to him in response, "Hiccup wouldn't have."
"How would you know, Night Fury!?" The red dragon retorted as I stood up and faced him.
"He and I have been together for some time now, he saved me! By the way…my name is Toothless."
"And what, he named you like they name their sheep, how absurd" the Nightmare huffed annoyingly.
I look down to this outburst from him, "he…shot me down the last raid I was in."
The other dragons in the cell look toward me, surprised to hear such a claim escape my breath: they're probably thinking how crazy my explanation is to them. Of course…he isn't exactly what they call…a Viking.
Despite this, I continue, "he found me in the forest. Hiccup could have killed me, but he spared my life." Thus, I begin telling them our story as most listen intently, amazed to hear that I share a close bond with the human boy now. The Nadder twitches her head sideways and notices the harness I am wearing.
"What is that you're wearing?"
"Hiccup made it for me…you see…my fin…" I turn backwards and display my tail to them: showing all of them the brown prosthetic at the end of it. All but the Nightmare walk closer to examine the device, "…it's because of him I'm able to fly again."
"Amazing, and he made all that for you" the Gronckle asks inquisitively while I nod to her.
"all I'm asking is that you give him all a chance…as I have in the past. I mean…think about it…" I circle around the group as I justify my reasons to trust the human, "you all seen Hiccup, right? Did he ever strike you as the killer type? Be honest, now…"
One of the Zippleback shakes their head as the other nods before the first eyes him hard at his response.
"Of course not, "the Gronckle adds, "unlike his companions, he doesn't mistreat us."
"I do admit, it does seem like he wants to be our friends rather than our enemies…" the Nadder agrees softly.
"Then you know what I mean" I nod happily, giving a…ahem: 'Toothless' smile. I walk over to the Nightmare, but he seems to snort smoke as a sign of caution for me. Then…something in him made the dragon really think about what happened before things became chaotic in the ring. Unknown to me: Hiccup had disarmed himself when he was face to face with the beast to win him over to his side. Finally, they seem to understand what is going on and that I am right about everything.
"I'm sorry about what happened back there…but I came to save him…because he's my best friend…and I can't let anything bad happen to him" I mutter softly to the reptile…gosh this is going to sound hammy as heck but whatever, "humans and dragons may be different on the outside, but we're not so different on the inside" I tell him.
Suddenly, the gate opens as light comes gushing in, blinding all of us temporarily…oh boy…they're back already…
As soon as the structure opened, several Vikings rushed in and confined me in ropes, "get off of me" I roar in response.
The other dragons in the room move back in fear as they watched me get dragged out. The door closes almost as fast as it had opened…and I was gone.
Darkness had once again taken the cell while the other reptiles look at each other with uncertainty.
"Poor thing" the Gronckle looks toward the door with droopy ears and a voice of sadness to accompany it.
"What if he's right" the Nadder steps in, looking down sideways to the former.
The Zippleback behind them argue with one another regarding what I said as both females sigh in response, rolling their eyes to them. The Nightmare stands up to meet with the group, "that child…he DOES have strange abilities that calm us…yes…Black Scales…um, I mean…Toothless…is right. That human tried to connect with me…I could feel our connection…the fury came to his aid…now that is something I thought I would never see in my life: a human and a dragon as friends" the Nightmare finishes.
Meanwhile, I am taken to their docks where I am chained into some sort of wood and metal contraption, and I am lifted towards one of their vessels. I struggle to break free, but it's not doing anything of course…
The platform supporting my weight and keeping me trapped in place finally rests on the bow of the Viking ship…man…this really reminds me of something that happened a year ago…oh Friea…I could really use you right now…I'm scared…what's going to happen now…I don't think I want to find out…I just want these damn fools to get things over with fast at least!
"Set sail, we head for Helheim's Gate" I hear their leader command to his followers, it's the same man I had tried to kill earlier. He walks toward me as I continue trying to break the chains holding me. I turn to be face to face with their Chieftain and I narrow my eyes to him.
"Lead us home, devil" that last part he emphasizes with considerable disgust to me, but all I can do is give a deep glare to him in retaliation. After all, I am his prisoner…
He ultimately walks away and begins leading the fleet out of port and out to sea. It is then and there I realize with great dread where we are headed, since this route is all too familiar to me.
We're on course for the Queen's nest!
They're using me to guide them to the island…damn fools…they're going for us head on…they have no idea what they're walking into…they're doomed! Unfortunately…I'm doomed as well…
…
This isn't good, I hope things turn out well for Toothless/Darren…heh heh. I hope you all enjoyed this recent chapter; I'll see you all next time, please leave a review if you like, take care!