Author's Note: This chapter is being posted before my beta goes over it, but only because I couldn't get it to them until the night before last, thanks to my lack of a connection. Small to moderate changes may be made in the upcoming days, but I don't anticipate any huge edits. Then again, I've been wrong before…
Also, as recompense for this chapter being a few days late, it's longer than normal. (It was going to be longer than normal regardless, but that's my excuse).
UPDATE: As expected, there weren't any plot-important changes that needed to be made. The small edits have been made; I don't think anyone wants a list of every removed comma or reworded phrase, so I'll leave it at that.
'Well, at least we know where to go,' Einfari remarked casually.
"There's no way you're landing there," Heather replied.
'Of course not, it's surrounded by armed Meatheads,' she admitted. Heather was looking through her eyes, so it wasn't like they were seeing different things. Did Heather really think she planned to land in an open plaza ringed by large humans wielding sharp objects? 'I guess it's more accurate to say that at least we know where we're supposed to land.'
"Right," Heather murmured. "Look for a better place to land."
'Already on it.' Einfari didn't point out how obvious that was; Heather was probably nervous on her behalf, and not being physically present, the only thing she could do to help was offer suggestions.
"You know, somehow I was expecting a warmer welcome," Maour remarked as he surveyed the area from her back. "Everyone else was polite, by Viking standards."
'Isn't that why we came here?' Einfari asked. She had been under that impression, anyway. The Nótt and the Svartur were best sent to the more dangerous situation when the only alternatives were Myrkurs or Eldurs. Really, two Nótts would be ideal, but Heather had to stay home.
"Yeah, it was," Maour admitted. "See that hut over by the fields?"
Einfari quickly found the large expanse of green grass, and from there easily spotted the single distinctive hut out in the middle of it. 'That seems much less dangerous. And if they charge, we will see them coming with plenty of time to spare.' There would be no hiding amidst paw-high grass, and even the stupidest human was smart enough to know that charging a dragon without any sort of defense was asking to be blasted to pieces.
"Toothless likes it too," Maour agreed. "Just be ready to get us out of arrow range if they do charge. They'll all see us land."
'Of course.' There had to be a few humans stationed around the island with no task other than watching the sky for such a thorough response to have been prepared in the few minutes they had been visible approaching the island. Of course, they were approaching in broad daylight, making the task of spotting them far easier than it should be, but she didn't think that was enough to adequately explain the response time.
"Einfari, do you want me to go looking for the other Nótts?" Heather asked. "This doesn't look so bad, but they might be able to give better advice than I can."
'Second-paw? I don't think so,' Einfari replied after a moment of consideration. 'They taught me well enough, and without being able to actually see all this, they would have to ask too many questions for their advice to be helpful.' The difference in cunning between her and her parents was not so large as to make that delay and abstraction worth it… And she didn't want her parents worrying unless there was something to worry about.
"Okay…" Heather said worriedly. "But I'm blaming you if they ask."
'Deal.' Einfari glided high above the island and made sure to pick an exit strategy before even preparing to dive. The fields were in the center of the artificial structures, which struck her as inefficient, given that they created distance between structures that would otherwise be close together. The downside was that the only safe exit direction was straight up, which was slower than any other escape route. As a backup plan, she could also fly North through a clearing much faster.
That decided, she folded in her wings and dropped like a stone, trusting Maour to hold onto the saddle. There would be no slow, easy descent, not when the safety of their landing spot depended on them being there before any of the humans could arrive.
"Don't land hard, it might break!" Maour shouted as they descended. He sounded so calm as they dropped; she had to attribute that to all the free-falling she had seen him and Toothless doing over the years. This might be more normal for him than her, all things considered, as she did not often find reason to dive in her daily routine.
As the human structure got close, the ground closing in on her plummeting body, Einfari spread her wings, mindful of the extra weight of her passenger that her wings had to bear. Heartbeats later, her paws impacted the wooden top of the human structure, and with an ominous groan, it held her weight. For the moment, that was; she could feel it creaking beneath her.
"Now, we wait," Maour announced. "I hope they have an easily resolved reason for being ready to spear us the moment we set down. Otherwise, this might be a very short stay."
'What are the odds they would find my dead body a worthwhile compensation for breaking the treaty?' Einfari asked warily. She was good at reading and predicting people, but only when said people acted rationally, and according to known values. She didn't know the values or priorities of this group of humans.
"And get wiped out by Dagur? Not likely," Heather scoffed.
"It's not impossible," Maour replied at the same time, "but it would be a really dishonorable move, and I think they wouldn't want to make it right away. Not when holding their axes in check gets us close and, to their minds, unsuspecting."
'That makes sense,' Einfari purred. She liked that Maour could talk and think like a Nótt on occasion; it made him far easier to get along with than anyone from the other two families.
"But it looks like we don't have to speculate for much longer," Maour continued. "There's one, over by the two tall huts."
'I see him.' Bulky, armed with a slender but sharp pole, and wearing a tri-pronged head armor, he or possibly she was not advancing out into the open field. That was a good sign, as it either meant a sense of self-preservation or a more tactical mind at work. Either was useful, assuming these were still their allies.
"Oy, dragon rider!" a gruff voice called out a few moments later. Einfari swung her head around to trace the sound and located the even larger human who had spoken immediately, as he had taken several steps out into the open field. He was their alpha, the chief, if she recalled correctly. It was hard to recognize specific humans, as she defaulted to trying to check eye color like she would a fellow Fury, and eye color was worthless as an identifier for them.
"Mogadon!" Maour called out. "Any reason you had a welcome party waiting with weapons and not food?"
"'Ad to be sure it was you, of course," Mogadon boomed. "Wha' if it had been another Night Fury?"
"Then you would be threatening one of my fellow riders, and one of your allies," Maour replied loudly. "Still a bad move."
'Do not trust him, that could just be his excuse,' Einfari hissed. It was suspect that his reason was so obviously flawed and pointless. That, and the less than friendly welcome made her far more wary of him even if he was hypothetically an ally.
"Eh, best to be prepared," Mogadon replied. "A real Viking wouldn't be bothered by it."
"That's a stupid taunt, too," Heather volunteered. "He has to have heard or noticed that Maour doesn't consider himself a Viking anymore. It was said or implied often enough at the meeting of tribes."
'Sounds like this human is just all-around stupid,' Einfari decided. 'Or acting like it.' One could never really be sure, and she hadn't had much chance to observe Mogadon before now.
"Are you ready to set sail?" Maour called out.
"Two days from now," was the shouted reply. "Stop hidin' up there on our livestock supply hut and come talk to me in person."
"Order your men not to strike at me or her first," Maour replied. Einfari felt him shift and assumed he had gestured to her.
"Ye all heard the boy," Mogadon immediately replied. "Raise a weapon to either black-wearin' oddity up there and I'll demote ye as far as ye can go, and then exile yah!"
"Can't get more serious than that," Maour quipped at a more normal volume. "Einfari, I'm not quite ready to trust this was all just a Vikingly lack of common sense, so I'm not going to dismount yet. Can you walk us over there?"
'Watch my back,' Einfari requested, hopping down from the wooden structure. The grass was short and irregular around her paws; she knew the signs of grazing prey, even if the island she had grown up on had no such thing. She wondered where said prey was now; judging by the lingering smell, it had been around recently.
As they approached, the expression on Mogadon's face changed. 'Heather, what emotion does that imply?' Einfari asked. Here was something Heather really could help her with.
"He's annoyed, but not that badly, and possibly a little insulted," Heather interpreted. "Maour's demonstrating that he doesn't trust Mogadon that much right now, and that's an insult whether or not Mogadon was planning anything. Not a big one, so I don't think it will be an issue, but that's why he's unhappy."
"I signed that parchment o' yours," Mogadon growled once Maour was closer. "Stop actin' like I'll go back on it for fun. We both got bigger fish to fry anyway."
"True," Maour agreed. "And thanks for intervening last time."
"Got a good scar out o' it, and a look at what my son still needs to learn about bein' Chief, so I'd say it was worth it anyway," Mogadon admitted. "But yer welcome."
Maour slid down out of the saddle, landing beside Einfari. "Two days, you say?"
"Aye. Thirteen war vessels fully crewed with the finest Meatheads and the finest salted meats for the journey. You here to tell us where we're goin'?"
"Mahelmetan island is where everyone is meeting," Maour hedged. "Einfari and I are here for the trip. We'll be acting as scouts or guides as necessary."
"The other tribes are gettin' the same?"
"Yes. One rider and one Fury each," Maour agreed. "We'll need a place to rest on one of your ships, but we'll be supplying our own food and keeping out of the way of the crew."
"I'll want ye on the leading ship wit' me," Mogadon grunted. "But we're not settin' out yet. We have a guest hut you can use, and a field for any livestock guests bring with them."
Einfari didn't need to understand exactly what he meant by that, but it was clear he was insulting either her or Maour. She bared her teeth and growled warningly.
"She'll be sleeping in the guest hut with me," Maour said firmly.
"Your choice," Mogadon grunted. "Well, I got plenty o' preparations to get to, so just be sure not to set anything aflame or maul anyone, and everyone'll do the same for you." He very deliberately turned his back on them and walked away.
"Looks like he's a lot more obnoxious on his own territory," Heather observed. "More confident, too, to let you go wherever we want."
Einfari snorted, watching the arrogant human go. As long as he held to his word and pitched in when the fighting began, she didn't care how rude he was. Besides, it was only to be expected. There were plenty of reasons Maour didn't consider himself a Viking, and all of them were walking around in the human nest surrounding them.
"I guess we should go find where we'll be staying," Maour suggested. "Then we can…"
'Go flying,' Einfari offered. 'I know we just finished a long trip, but I would rather be up in the air then down here.'
"So would I, but we have an opportunity here," Maour countered. "Every moment you spend down here is another blow to the mindset of every Viking who sees. We shouldn't just avoid them all the time. And there will be a lot of people here who aren't leaving with us, so this might be our only chance to influence any of them."
'The children and the elderly, as well as those caring for young?' Einfari asked.
"Exactly."
'Let's go find them, then,' she decided. She could do that; assuming there were no Vikings as overly defensive as her own brother, it wouldn't be dangerous at all.
"Be careful not to make any threatening moves," Heather warned her as she and Maour made their way between two wooden constructs, venturing into the depths of the human nest. "Don't bare your teeth, keep your claws sheathed, and don't smack anyone with a wing or tailfin unless you want to lose it. No touching without ample warning, either. They might take it as an attack if they're surprised."
'So basically, what I told you when I was introducing you to my family?' Einfari warbled in amusement.
"Yes, but in this case I'm not there to speak for you, and they wouldn't listen if I was," Heather fretted. "I wish I was there."
'I wish you were too,' Einfari admitted in a low voice. 'Maour is my friend, but I'd be more comfortable having you here.' She knew Heather better than she knew Maour, and that meant she could more easily anticipate what Heather would do and want, making everything that much easier.
"Hey, Hiccup!" a male human called out, stepping out in front of Maour.
"Not my name," Maour quickly responded. "I was wondering where you were, Thuggory."
"Getting everyone ready to go, of course," Thuggory replied. "You have the run of the place, right?"
"Yes. It was very generous of your father to grant us that," Maour said diplomatically.
"Whatever. You know, we're not on that boring island of peace and nonviolence now," Thuggory said conversationally.
"He is setting something up, that look is definitely one of scheming and failed subtlety," Heather warned.
Einfari had never dropped her guard, so she didn't physically react to that warning, but she was entirely ready to intervene. Hopefully Maour had it handled, but she would be backup if not.
"True, but I happen to prefer words to spears," Maour said calmly. "What of it?"
"I want to see you use that thing," Thuggory replied, pointing directly at Einfari.
Einfari glared at his hand and lifted her lip just high enough for him to see her teeth. He hastily withdrew the hand, though it was nowhere near her, and turned the motion into grasping the top of an object hanging from his waist.
"My weapon, or Einfari?" Maour asked. "Because I don't use her to do anything, if that's what you mean, and I won't be asking her to spar with anyone, for obvious reasons."
"Either," Thuggory clarified. "Mostly the weapon. You carry around a big polearm, but nobody has ever seen you use it. I want to test you."
"Not here, in the middle of your village, surely," Maour objected. "That's a good way to start a brawl."
"Always with the excuses," Thuggory said smugly. "How about the day after we set out, on the deck of a ship? I can have it cleared for a few minutes, and that's all it will take for me to beat you."
"Sounds like a plan," Maour replied confidently. "See you there."
"And that," Heather said smugly, "is the face of someone who has just been surprised and confused."
Einfari made a note of Thuggory's expression. A slightly slack jaw, widening of the face around the eyes, and uncomfortable shifting of the body. That was one expression explained. Only what felt like a thousand more to go. She couldn't even take what she knew of Heather or the other riders for reference; Heather's look of surprise and confusion was far less obvious.
"See you there," Thuggory replied, sauntering off.
"I knew that was coming the moment he stopped us," Maour admitted to Einfari. "It's no big deal. I'm a little out of practice, but not enough to lose to him without giving a good fight, and that's all I need to drive home that I'm not the Hiccup he remembers."
'Would this have happened for any other rider?' Einfari asked.
"Probably not," Maour admitted, "but they would have had to prove themselves in some way, or Thuggory and Mogadon would walk all over them. It's best I'm here, because I know I can prove myself. They have very low expectations when it comes to me."
'I see… Should we still go find the people you want to influence?' She would still rather fly away from here and relax in the safe, open sky, but the reasoning behind staying on the groundprobably hadn't changed.
"Yes, we should. Don't worry," he added as they continued walking, "we can go flying tonight."
Toothless was not sleeping deeply; the first exclamation of surprise woke him immediately. He knew what it meant, too. So, he got up, shook himself, and made his way over to the side-cavern his parents shared, and now tended to the eggs in-
Only to almost be run over by Shadow, who rushed out just as he was turning the corner. 'Clear a path,' Shadow barked, continuing onward. 'We're moving the eggs into the main chamber. It won't be long now.'
'Got it!' Toothless stepped out of the way, backing into the entrance to the side chamber he and Maour usually shared.
'Is it time?' Von asked, poking her head out further down along the passageway. She sounded excited, which perfectly matched how Toothless felt.
'Sounds like it,' Toothless confirmed with a smile.
Shadow returned, still moving hurriedly, and disappeared into the side-cavern for just a moment, before backing out exceedingly slowly, followed by Cloey.
Toothless watched as his father and mother carefully walked by, each with what looked like a very full mouth. Hints of eggshell could be seen between toothless gums, and those hints seemed whole, but Toothless knew better than to question his parents on that. If they said the eggs were cracking, they were cracking.
And if they were cracking, it was time to get Maour's attention. Toothless expanded Maour's sense of sight, entirely sure he was awake, as it was the middle of the day.
An image of Einfari carefully nuzzling a Viking child greeted him, and he laughed at the tentative look on Einfari's face. 'Maour, guess what time it is.'
"The eggs?" Maour whispered excitedly. Einfari perked up, glancing over at Maour.
'Yup. You know what to do.' Toothless didn't bother reminding his brother to get somewhere safe before entering a trance-like state to watch; even if Maour forgot about that, which was highly unlikely, Einfari would remind him.
"Okay everybody," Maour declared, looking around at what Toothless now noticed was a small crowd of adults, most of whom were holding on to younger children, "this is the last one. Einfari needs a break. We'll come back tomorrow."
'Thank you, Svartur eggs,' Einfari said vehemently, though her body language conveyed none of her relief as she held still while the child in front of her vigorously pet her ears. 'This one stinks.'
'It looks young enough that it might have soiled itself, so that's probably why,' Toothless remarked, knowing that Einfari wouldn't hear him.
"I'm not telling her that, Bud," Maour said under his breath. "This isn't fun for her as it is."
'Why not?' Toothless would have thought Einfari wouldn't mind Viking children. They were fun if one got into the right mindset.
"She's just not the type, I guess." Maour moved forward and gently led the Viking child away from Einfari. "Ready to go?"
'More than ready,' Einfari warbled. The moment Maour was secure, she leaped up and out of the village, flying forward and upward at a steep angle. 'I'm looking forward to gliding for the rest of today. Maour, do you need anything from the ground, or should I just go wherever I want now?'
"Go wherever," Maour replied eagerly. "We just had lunch, remember?"
'I remember stinky prey that was scorched and covered in plants that totally ruined the smell,' Einfari replied dryly. 'You had lunch. I risked my sense of taste to make our allies happy.'
Toothless winced in sympathy. He had yet to find anything Maour tried with food to be an improvement, and it sounded like these Vikings were far more elaborate with their pointless additions.
"You said it wasn't bad," Maour objected.
'I said it wasn't bad, not that it was good. It didn't even taste like food.'
'It doesn't matter,' Toothless interjected, remembering the far more important matter he was currently missing to listen to Einfari complain about human strangeness. 'Maour, I'm going to go watch now.'
"So am I," Maour agreed, focusing on all of Toothless's senses aside from taste. Toothless could see from Maour's eyes that he had slumped forward, lying in the saddle as Einfari glided. He would be as safe as anyone could be high in the sky without wings.
Toothless returned entirely to his own senses, aside from keeping hearing cracked open enough for Maour to talk to him, and quickly made his way to the main chamber. Cloey, Von, and Shadow were arrayed around the eggs in a circle, all lying down facing inward. There was a gap open between Shadow and Von, so he settled down there, copying them.
'They won't get too cold without one of us touching them, right?' he asked worriedly. The eggs were sitting out in the open, shaking every few moments but otherwise unchanged to his eyes. They didn't look like they were breaking open.
'Not right now,' Cloey purred. 'Not before they hatch. Listen, you can hear them scratching the inside of the shell, pushing and prodding.'
Toothless obligingly perked his ears and focused on the twin eggs in front of him. This close to them, he actually could hear what his mother described.
'Can you hear it, Maour?' Toothless asked.
"Yes, actually," Maour replied quietly.
'He is with us, right?' Cloey asked worriedly. 'I never liked letting him leave and miss this. I want him to see it all.'
'Yes, he is,' Toothless purred.
'Good,' Shadow purred. 'Now, during a hatching like this, it's fine if you talk, but try to avoid negative sounds. Anything unhappy or angry or worried, really, so no growls, no snarls, nothing like that. We don't want to scare them.'
'That is easy enough,' Toothless purred. 'How long will it take?'
'Depends on them,' Cloey murmured, her eyes fixed on the eggs. 'Von hatched quickly, while Kappi took so long I was worried something was wrong and contemplated breaking the shell to help him.'
A while passed in which there was no talking, only soft humming from Shadow and Cloey.
'Would you have?' Von asked quietly.
'Have what?' Shadow replied.
'Mom, would you have broken his shell to help him?' Von clarified.
'If it took much longer, yes.' Cloey nodded firmly. 'He was the only thing I had to remember my mate by. I would have done anything to keep him. But I don't think we'll have to intervene here. They're getting close already.'
Toothless focused on the eggs, trying to decide what made his mother think that. To his ears, the scratching was only a little more intense, only a little more persistent, and the shaking shells no more fragile in appearance-
No, there was a crack on the one to his left. A thin, spidery ravine was tracing its way down the uneven outer surface of the shell, slowly spreading even as he watched. Other jagged lines branched out from it as it went for a short time, and then the expansion stopped.
Moments later, the spreading began again, more rapidly this time. Toothless found himself purring loudly, encouraging the one inside to keep going. His eyes flicked over to the other egg long enough to confirm that it was progressing just as quickly, and then went right back to watching the one to his left. He could only focus on one at a time because he didn't want to miss anything while looking back and forth.
'Very soon, now,' Shadow purred. 'Remember, no negative sounds. Von, Kappi, you may be surprised by how they look when you first see them, but don't worry, it's normal.'
With a warning like that, Toothless was almost certain he was in for a shock. What could Shadow be referring to? Something strange enough about his new siblings that he might let out a whine or growl if he wasn't ready for it? That sounded bad.
"I wonder what he means by that," Maour said, his voice quiet even though there was no reason for it in his case. "Fishlegs never told anyone about the hatching, or really anything about the new Eldur. They must have wanted him to keep it all secret."
A loud, obvious cracking sound from both eggs cut off that train of thought. Toothless leaned forward, eyes wide, not wanting to miss an instant. He saw very clearly the hairline fractures multiplying and covering a part of the left egg facing the other one, and then a chunk of the surface bowed outward, splintering and giving way just above the midline in the egg.
A strangely grey limb poked feebly out of the small opening, recoiling almost immediately, only to be followed by more cracking lower down, and another hole. The egg gave way moments later, and a small flood of clear fluid sloshed out as it collapsed outward, stopping just short of Toothless's paws.
Toothless couldn't care less about the odd smell or the strange liquid; his eyes were fixed on the creature that had come out of the egg, the one sprawling in the middle of the mess it had created in breaking free.
Grey all over, small and feeble, with a massively oversized head devoid of protrusions aside from two stubby ears, Toothless would have had no trouble identifying this creature as a hatchling of his species if it weren't for one massive detail. The hatchling was totally missing its wings and tailfins, sporting a lumpy, misshapen back and whiplike tail with no protrusions on the end.
Thanks to being forewarned, Toothless was able to hold in a whine of confusion and sympathy, and instead looked over at the other egg, or at least where it had been. Another identically lacking hatchling lay there, its head moving feebly.
'They are totally normal,' Cloey announced proudly. 'The fins and wings start growing once they've spent a few days out in the open, and grow fast once they begin sprouting. Their color will come in as they shed their first set of scales.' She moved forward to collect the one to the right, while Shadow did the same for the one on the left.
Toothless's eyes followed the leftmost hatchling as they were conveyed to lie between Cloey's paws, and promptly licked clean of the clear fluid coating them. Cloey gently rolled the hatchling over to get its stomach and cleaned that too.
'She smells female,' Cloey announced, lowering her nose to her newest daughter's stomach to check. 'Shadow?'
'He's male,' Shadow replied, doing the same with the one he had taken. 'Lively, too. He's already trying to open his eyes.'
'So is she…' Cloey let her head rest lightly on her newest daughter and purred soothingly. The weakly thrashing hatchling stilled, and its small limbs gradually went limp. 'To no avail, of course.'
'Why not?' Von asked.
'It takes them a few nights to get to that, too,' Cloey explained. 'Other kinds of dragon come out of the egg fighting, or howling, or at least seeing, but our young are far slower to develop.'
'Healthy, though,' Shadow said proudly, gesturing to the slumbering male between his paws. 'There's absolutely nothing wrong with either of them despite their unusual circumstances.'
'Don't tell me you like having two at once,' Cloey joked, mock-glaring at her mate. 'The work is really only beginning, to say nothing of how bad just carrying their eggs together was.'
'The way I see it,' Shadow replied lightly, 'your body was just trying to make up for lost time. We're all caught up now.'
'More than caught up,' Cloey agreed, looking over at Toothless. 'Five children now.'
"Thank you, mom," Maour said quietly. Toothless repeated him word for word without needing to be asked; he wished his brother could have been present in person for this.
'When do they get names?' Von asked.
'Usually after their wings start growing out, though most of the time they're named after something related to the hatching,' Shadow supplied. 'But your mother and I have agreed that since we're going to be so heavily relying on all three of you to help us cope with the difficulties of raising two hatchlings at once, we want their names to be a family decision… And one made only once all of us are here to make it.'
'Hear that, Maour?' Toothless quipped. 'We're waiting on you.'
"Apparently. I hope that won't be a problem."
Once she heard Maour's objection, Cloey was quick to reassure him. 'Two months means you'll be just on time for when they would usually get names anyway. And you have several years before they grow out of deeply trusting whoever they spend time with, so there's no issue there.'
'And for now, it's mostly going to be them sleeping, eating, and soiling themselves at random,' Shadow added. 'If it sounds particularly fun or enjoyable, it isn't.'
'Can I hold one of them?' Von asked. 'You know, before they start doing that last thing.'
Cloey gestured to the female between her paws. 'Go ahead and savor the lack of that danger while you can.'
'You had better do that too, son,' Shadow offered, nodding down at the male hatchling he held.
Toothless awkwardly stepped over to him, avoiding the mess left by the eggs, and stopped right in front of him. 'I use my mouth to pick them up, right?'
'Yes, that's how.' Shadow gently clasped his gums around the midsection of the hatchling to demonstrate. 'If you're not comfortable trying that now, I can move and let you take my place instead.'
Toothless looked over at Von, who had already taken up a similar offer from Cloey, if her positioning was any indication. 'Let's do that.'
Moments later, Toothless had his new little brother securely held between his paws and chest. 'I'd better get used to this,' he said aloud. 'Right?'
'Oh, yes, you're going to be doing a lot of that,' Cloey said, stretching her wings and back legs. 'We all are, with two of them. We're going to go eat while you two hold them.'
'You are?' Toothless hadn't expected his parents to so quickly delegate caring for their new-hatched children.
'Well, usually only one of us would go eat so that we can bring up softened fish later when they get hungry, but there are two of them, and we don't want to give them less than they should get,' Cloey explained. 'We'll be quick.'
'Don't rush,' Von offered. 'This isn't bad at all. Much more fun than caring for an egg.'
'Again, wait until they start soiling themselves on a whim to make that comparison,' Shadow replied. 'But thank you.'
Toothless watched his parents leave the cavern and contemplated what it meant that there were two hatchlings. If even feeding them would have been a difficult task with only two caretakers, how complicated was it going to be with just the four of them? How much worse would it be if the coming war pulled some of them away to defend everything?
"I can't wait to be back," Maour said forlornly. "Your senses are great, don't get me wrong, but it's not like I'm actually there. I'm just watching."
'I can't wait for the war to be over and done with,' Toothless replied seriously. 'You're making sure that happens. It's worth it.' He didn't know what the future held, but it probably involved danger of some sort, and Maour was making sure that danger came nowhere near their family. He understood his brother's longing to be present and would switch places with him immediately if it were possible, but one of them had to be out there, and he was glad Maour was on the job.
'Go for the head,' Einfari advised, sitting primly by a coiled stack of something unimportant. She was under the impression that this was all just for show and posturing, meaning going for the kill was not the goal, but it would suit her fine if Maour ended it as soon as possible.
"I'd say go for between the legs," Heather advised, watching through Einfari's eyes with considerable interest. "I want to watch him squirm."
'Looking forward to seeing Maour best someone besides you?' Einfari teased, knowing Heather wouldn't take it the wrong way.
"Yes," Heather admitted frankly. "And I kind of want to see how Maour stacks up against a competent fighter in a fair match. He's somehow avoided that for as long as I've known him."
Einfari couldn't argue that. She was looking forward to this for the same reason. She wanted to see what Toothless's brother could do when fighting was not only the best option, it was the only option.
"Thanks for the advice, Einfari," Maour remarked, walking out into the rough circle marked out by the same sort of coiled brown vines Einfari was sitting by, weapon in hand. "But I'm trying to win, not put a hole in his skull."
"You talk big," Thuggory taunted, an overly large sword dangling loosely from his right hand. "I'm going to have fun with this."
"Speaking of talking big," Maour retorted, "where was all of this last time we met?"
"I had to hold myself back. No fighting there," Thuggory said eagerly. "First blood or death blow ends it. Best of three, but best of one if it's ended with a death blow, of course."
"Because nobody would survive for round two if we were fighting for real," Maour deadpanned. "Yes, of course."
Thuggory hefted his sword above his head and charge, a bulky mass of muscle and blade twice Maour's weight.
Maour, as calm as if he was walking along in the forest without a care in the world, stepped to the side just as Thuggory swung downward, swept his scythe around, countered Thuggory's off-balance attempt at a swipe, and drew a long line down the larger combatant's face, all in the space of three seconds.
'Too easy,' Einfari asserted. At least he had only drawn blood; everyone watching knew that he had caught Thuggory totally off-guard by doing… well, anything aside from cringing and trying to block the overpowered blow. Even for a dragon who didn't know much about humans, that was obvious.
"Just the first round," Thuggory grunted, swiping the bloody line across his cheek with the back of his arm and glaring murderously at Maour. "Ready whenever you are."
"Now, then," Maour said, advancing slowly, spinning his Scythe in seemingly random directions as he moved. Every step he took, his arms and his weapon moved faster.
Einfari watched Thuggory's face carefully, taking the opportunity to try and improve her knowledge of human facial expressions. 'That's worry, right?'
"What?" Heather asked, obviously not paying attention to the same thing Einfari was.
The ring of metal on metal drew Einfari's attention back to where it should be; the clash between Maour and Thuggory. This time, they didn't end it nearly so quickly, Maour's two blades flicking out only to be swatted away by the larger one wielded by Thuggory. Einfari didn't know enough to follow the fight blow by blow, but the impression she was getting was more than enough. Maour was winning, though not easily.
"Honestly," Heather murmured, "I thought he was better than this. Maour, I mean. He should have had Thuggory down by now."
Einfari began looking closer, spurred on by Heather's observation. Maour didn't seem to be moving consistently; his blocks were faster than his strikes, the latter seeming to almost match Thuggory's speed.
The ground beneath them all chose that moment to shift, reminding Einfari that they were sitting on a floating hunk of wood even as the ground tilted to one side. Maour stumbled and Thuggory pressed his advantage, forcing Maour back for a moment.
But then the rocking subsided and soon after, another line of blood appeared on Thuggory's hand, left there by the back end of one of the spikes as Maour withdrew it. Neither combatant noticed it for a long few moments, but Thuggory eventually looked down at his stinging hand and realized that he had lost, disengaging with a scowl.
"First to three," he called out. "Remember?"
"I remember best of three, but sure," Maour corrected idly. "Want to take a break first?"
"I'm sure you need one," Thuggory panted.
"That's why I offered," Maour agreed, walking out of the makeshift ring and sitting down in the pile of false vine beside Einfari.
'You are not fighting to your full potential,' Einfari said accusingly, voicing her suspicion. 'Why?'
"Close enough, actually, and I'm not used to fighting on ships," Maour admitted, resting his scythe across his lap and looking over at her. "I'm out of practice anyway. But even if I could, I wouldn't humiliate him. That would just make him want to challenge me over and over again until he won and regained his honor. I want to win, not destroy him."
'Smart,' Einfari purred, totally approving his plan now that she knew it. He had been right to come out here himself; he clearly knew how to handle the aggressive Meatheads, and how to do it in a way that prevented future conflict.
"Come on, I'm ready," Thuggory yelled, having returned to the ring. "Or are you too tired still?"
"Taunting when you're losing doesn't make you look good," Heather said snarkily. "At least Maour isn't letting him draw any blood to make it really look like they're closely matched. He has that much pride… And common sense, to not let that idiot injure him."
Einfari eyed the whirling blades and human directing them. 'Yes, he does.' Really, Maour was pretty great, as humans went. Smart, cunning if need be, considerate…
"Look, Thuggory almost got him," Heather deadpanned. "Or at least that's what Thuggory will brag later to bandage his wounded pride. I think this is funnier than crushing him would have been. This way, Thuggory will walk around thinking he's a match for Maour."
Einfari purred quietly, but her amusement did not stem from Heather's joke. She was pretty sure she knew where certain eventualities would lead, and she was pretty sure she didn't mind. Of course, there was the problem of neither Heather nor Maour seeming at all aware of the obvious implications of their situation, but that could wait. After the war, once things had settled down a little bit. A quick talk with Toothless would ensure they couldn't remain oblivious then.
After the war. They had to get through that first. Einfari wasn't about to tempt fate by bringing up possibilities that Heather and Maour seemed content to ignore when the coming conflict might render it all moot anyway.
'Kick forward,' Eldurhjarta instructed, watching closely.
Heather did as told, standing on her good leg and kicking out with the bad one. A slight twinge in her backside was all that came of it, though her kick was a little shaky.
'No pain?'
"None worth mentioning," Heather clarified. "I feel worse after exercising for five minutes."
'Good, good… You're sure you won't let me get a closer look?' Eldurhjarta asked hopefully. 'I can only get better at treating and diagnosing humans if I can see what I'm working with.'
"Not happening," Heather replied, keeping her voice polite. Dragon or not, healer or not, there was no way she was stripping naked like Eldurhjarta had tactlessly requested at the beginning of their meeting. She knew for a fact, if one hastily obtained from Einfari and by extension Maour, that none of the other humans on the island did anything like that when Eldurhjarta checked up on any injuries of theirs.
"I don't get why all of you are so self-conscious about that,' Eldurhjarta grumbled, flicking her tail in annoyance. "Not even Fishlegs will help me learn. He offered to do drawings for me, but that was it, and I can't learn much at all from those."
"It's a human thing," Heather offered. "We don't do that if it's not absolutely necessary." She decided not to mention that she just might have done it if Eldurhjarta had begun their meeting by acting as if it was totally normal; said tactic wouldn't work now, and she would feel bad for any new rider who came to Eldurhjarta in the future.
'Well, anyway, as far as I can tell you've healed nicely,' Eldurhjarta continued after a moment of silence. 'I can't smell sickness or infection, the wound has closed, and you can move normally. Thank you for coming to me about it.'
"Thank Einfari, she insisted," Heather replied, walking out of the main cavern and back into the Nótt section. It felt odd to have the healer thanking her for her time, given it was usually the other way around.
'Heather, are you covered?' Einfari asked politely. Too politely, and there was a hint of a warble in her voice.
"You could have warned me that she would ask that," Heather complained. "I almost considered it before thinking to have you ask Maour if it was normal. And even that was embarrassing, so I blame you for that too."
'I can't warn you about something I didn't know about,' Einfari replied more seriously. 'And I don't really get it either.'
"Imagine… You know what, forget it." Heather didn't feel like going down that path; Einfari didn't need to understand everything about her.
'Oh, speaking of forgetting,' Einfari exclaimed, 'we had better not forget our promise. Go find Toothless.'
Heather stopped mid-step and spun on her heel, heading right back out into the main chamber of the cavern complex. "Good idea. I could use some action now that I can do anything interesting.' Skarpur wasn't meeting up with her until midnight anyway, so she had some spare time to burn.
Not much, though, so she was glad she knew exactly where to go to find a Svartur. Von was lying in plain view, physically blocking the way into the Svartur section of the cavern, and it was the work of a moment to walk across the open space and get her attention.
'Toothless? He's out running somewhere,' Von replied tiredly. 'Mom and dad are watching the hatchlings. I'm only out here because I can't stand the smell anymore.'
"What smell?" Heather asked curiously.
'You really don't want to know,' Einfari and Von both said in unison.
"Okay, so where do I find Toothless?" Heather asked. "And I need to get his tailfin, right?"
'The tailfin is in Maour's workshop, but a Svartur will have to get it because nobody else is allowed into our territory,' Von explained. 'And Toothless won't be back for a little while. How about I give him the message and have him meet you tomorrow night, dark and early?'
"Sounds like a plan," Heather agreed. She was looking forward to it, really. Learning Toothless's tailfin promised to be a challenge, and something to pass the time. Both were welcome at the moment.
'Okay, now tighten that strap there,' Toothless instructed, twisting around to get a good view of Heather fiddling with the connecting bits between his saddle and his tailfin. 'If it bends it's fine, just get it tight. That part is just for support.'
"Done," Heather reported, cinching the strap so hard her knuckles whitened. There was an extra layer of tension to all of this, knowing that she was responsible for the mechanics that would keep them from plummeting to their deaths in a few minutes. Sure, Maour was watching through Toothless's eyes to make sure she didn't make any mistakes, but it was still nerve-wracking.
'That's it,' Toothless said eagerly, prancing ahead a few steps, shaking his body at random. 'And everything feels secure.'
Heather covered her amused smirk with her hand as he turned back to look at her. What he had done had a legitimate purpose, but it looked absolutely hilarious too. He didn't need to know that, though; she hoped to see it every time they got ready to fly for these lessons.
'Okay, now get in the saddle… Set your boot in the pedal, putting the heel as far back as it will go,' Toothless continued, coaching her through all of the little things that differed between a normal saddle and his setup. 'Ignore the clicking, just keep pushing it back… There, it's ready. That's the fully closed position. Can you tell me the others?"
"Forward for open, tilt back for turning to the tailfin's side, don't tilt for other turns," Heather recited. "That's not all there is to it, is it?"
'No way, but we're just going for the very basics,' Toothless replied. 'Maour can match me move for move only because of the link, and we can't cut off communications with Maour and Einfari just to give you that advantage, not when we wouldn't be able to get them back.'
That, and Heather was pretty sure nobody involved wanted to break their links for any reason. She certainly didn't; she could remember what being totally alone felt like, and Einfari's constant presence in the back of her mind was a soothing reminder that she was never going to be that alone again.
'But this is more than enough for a fun glide off the mountaintop, followed by an easy loop around the island, and landing on the shore,' Toothless concluded. 'Nóttskarpur, are you ready?'
'Ready,' Nóttskarpur purred. She was there to make sure that no matter what happened, the fragile human component of Toothless's flight survived the attempt. Heather wasn't sure whether the prospect of being snatched from Toothless' saddle if things went awry should make her more or less nervous.
'Okay,' Toothless purred, walking up to the edge of the mountaintop, 'just flare the tailfin when you're ready, Heather.'
Heather braced herself and pushed her foot forward, spreading the tailfin into a gliding position. Toothless hopped forward, spreading his wings and swooping downward, before leveling out…
And that was all there was to it. Heather didn't even have to hold her foot down to keep the tailfin out; it was held open by the wind.
'I missed this,' Toothless purred, flapping lightly. 'Even gliding is amazing right now. You're doing perfectly, Heather.'
"Not much for me to do, really," Heather admitted. "But thanks."
'Oh, we can get into more complex stuff later,' Toothless promised, 'but for now this is more for my sake than for actual learning. Thanks for helping me.'
"What are friends for?" Heather asked rhetorically. "And I do want to see how much we can do without a link to make it easy. It might come in handy someday."
Toothless laughed at that. "Maour says he thinks he and I could do most of what we do without the link by now, so you and I can probably do quite a lot. I'm looking forward to it.'
Heather smiled at him; she was looking forward to it too. Nothing could replace Einfari, and being responsible for keeping them in the air made her nervous and probably always would, but this was fun. She liked having friends again, and between Einfari, Maour, and Toothless, she had plenty of them now. The Berserkers weren't taking anyone else from her, either. She would stop them no matter what.
Tuffnut dangled from the front of the lead vessel of the Rockbreaker fleet, bored out of his mind. Sure, the thrill of avoiding an unpleasant drop and unwanted bath was keeping him alert, but it just wasn't the same without the threat of someone prying his hands from the prow of the ship and dropping him in the moment he got distracted.
"Why is he doing that?" someone asked in a low voice.
"I don't know, just leave him be," the night watchman replied. "He paid me a Night Fury scale to keep people from asking questions, and that included me."
"What do you plan on doing with that scale?" The first man sounded intrigued. "And do you think he'd like two guards? I've always wondered whether they would make good spear tips, or maybe armor like the Chief says their leader wears. It'd be fun to experiment."
"Hands off, it's mine to use," the night watchman warned. "And I can't let you ask him, or he'll take it back. I'm supposed to stop people from asking questions. But yeah, it'll be a nice change of pace to do some experimental work."
Tuffnut sighed. Of course, out of all the tribes to be sent to, he had to be sent to the one where everyone acted like Gobber in the forge. A whole tribe of smiths, and somehow Maour hadn't ended up here? It was clearly a mistake on somebody's part, mainly whoever decided which rider and dragon pair went where. And unlike most mistakes, this one wasn't any fun.
'Still hanging in there?' Myrkurljós called out, swooping below Tuffnut and pulling out at the last moment. 'This is lap thirty-two.'
"Yeah… Come around again," Tuffnut decided. "I'm ready to drop."
'I thought you said you could do thirty-six at least.'
"I'm still bored, and this isn't helping."
"Do you think the dragon can really talk to him?" The night watchman wasn't speaking loudly, but he was audible to Tuffnut. "He seems crazy, but the Chief said the other ones did too…"
"It's hard to get anything from the Chief nowadays. I hope he moves on soon," the other man said worriedly. "We need a leader, not a man who smiths like he's trying to kill the metal and broods in his cabin. He got us into this."
Tuffnut saw Myrkurljós gliding in under him again, and let go with both hands, dropping onto Myrkurljós' back with a thump.
'You've gotten heavier,' Myrkurljós noted. 'But I guess there's no running around the island all night to keep you fit here.'
"And no angry pranked victims to be chased by," Tuffnut added sourly. "How long have we been here?" He tried not to keep track of the days as they went by; that only made everything feel slower.
'A week.'
Tuffnut collapsed in the saddle, utterly bored. "Take me up above the clouds and drop me," he requested. "I need to feel a thrill." He wasn't going to survive five more weeks of not pulling a single prank.
"You really don't know anything about Skrill?" Fishlegs asked incredulously.
'Watch it, he probably isn't too proud of his tribe having to be told who has been attacking for decades,' Myrkurheili warned. 'Starting fights is fine, but only if you mean to.'
"Not that I mean to imply that it's embarrassing for you to know nothing," Fishlegs stuttered, trying to correct his mistake before the seemingly mild-mannered Chieftain sitting across the table from him could challenge him to a duel over slighted honor or something equally violent. "It's totally understandable, really! They've hunted Night Furies for as long as anyone I know can remember, and none of the Night Furies I know can even tell me why. We're in the same boat."
'Nice save,' Myrkurheili purred sarcastically. 'If I wasn't busy gnawing at this wooden post, I'd applaud you.'
Fishlegs resisted the urge to look under the table and see if Myrkurheili was really doing that.
"Be that as it may be," Aldir responded, looking thoughtful, "the fact remains that we don't know anything. I would rather ask you the same question. What do you know of Skrill?"
"Not much," Fishlegs sighed, feeling far more relaxed now that the awkward moment had passed. Better yet, he was being asked for his knowledge, which was always fun. "They channel lightning, storing it in their bodies for later use, and can apparently survive being frozen solid in ice, if one believes the Viking legends."
"Any truth to that?"
"Short of something ridiculously improbable like the Berserkers finding a frozen Skrill and being stupid enough to break it free, there's no way to know," Fishlegs replied confidently. Then what he had said hit him, and he blanched.
"If Dagur had done that, he would never keep it quiet," Aldir reasoned.
'And if he did, we'll have some fun,' Myrkurheili asserted eagerly. 'You know, this wooden thing tastes really good.'
Fishlegs refused to fall for Myrkurheili's trick and focused on the worrying question at hand. "I guess there isn't anything we can do about it, so there's no point in worrying. Besides, we'll have more than enough Night Furies to take one down if it happens. It only takes one or two if there's no storm."
'And if there is a storm, it takes one with a lot of extra guts and glory on the side,' was Myrkurheili's contribution.
"Do you know anything about them?" Aldir pressed. "Anything we can use? In that case, or just on my island the next time one attacks."
"Well…" Fishlegs thought back to the dragon section of his notes, wishing he had brought it. He wouldn't even have had to take the Night Fury pages out; he had long since dedicated an entire set of notebooks to that specific species, given the veritable flood of information he had been inundated in for the last five years. "Unless you want to hear speculation about their motives in hunting Night Furies, nothing solid. Maour and Heather fought one a few months ago, but you would want to talk to one of them about that."
"How did they kill it?" Aldir asked eagerly.
"From what I heard it was an air battle, and Toothless dropped down on its back, driving it out of the sky. The fall did most of the work." Fishlegs was beginning to feel uneasy about where the conversation was going.
Aldir slumped back in his chair, seemingly disappointed. "Ah, well, of course it's not going to be easy," he remarked. "My village needs to defend itself, but if there's no easy answer, we'll just keep trying."
'Give him some tactical advice,' Myrkurheili suggested. 'You've got a strong mind. And ask him why parts of this wooden thing taste like burning prey smells."
"Not falling for it," Fishlegs muttered to himself. "Sir, if you could tell me what stops your people from fighting them like they would other dragons, maybe I can offer advice. I might not have an easy solution, but there might be a good way to approach the problem."
"We can't even see them, given nobody has ever mentioned seeing a dragon directing Thor's wrath," Aldir admitted. "And that means they're flying high, probably out of reach of our strongest bolas and arrows. If we could locate and strike at them, that would be enough."
"Two issues, sight and reach," Fishlegs summarized. "Getting up higher might help with both. I saw a tall mountain by your village…"
"Putting an outpost up there might help with seeing it," Aldir admitted. "But something tells me that won't be enough."
"At least it's a start," Fishlegs offered.
'Just put one of us there or have Maour come up with something to take them down,' Myrkurheili offered. 'Also, how mad will they be if I bite this off and keep it? It's great.'
"Have Maour make something…" Fishlegs mused. That actually wasn't a bad idea. Maour had made something capable of taking down a strike-class dragon, and one known for not being visible. The bola launcher fit the requirements perfectly.
"Did you think of something?" Aldir asked eagerly.
"Maybe," Fishlegs hedged. "But I'd need to talk to Maour about it, and I would have to do it in person." He knew well enough that Maour would be hesitant at best about building another bola launcher, and for good reasons. After the war, maybe. Right now, they had enough problems as things were.
'You never answered me, Fishlegs,' Myrkurheili persisted. 'I'm taking your silence as permission.'
Fishlegs ignored him, certain he was bluffing-
Then there was a loud crack, and the table wobbled.
"What was that?" Aldir grunted, pushing his chair back and looking under the table.
"I thought you were kidding!" Fishlegs exclaimed. "You can't just take a table leg!"
'Mine now, and I'm just getting started,' Myrkurheili asserted smugly, darting out from under the lopsided table, a rough wooden table leg stained with various foods held in his mouth. "I'll find a new place to claim for myself. Have fun explaining this!" He darted out of the room before Fishlegs could say anything else.
"I thought they weren't animals," Aldir said suspiciously, glaring at Fishlegs.
Fishlegs let his forehead fall to the wobbly table. He knew this was going to be a long and embarrassing explanation, and he wished he only had Myrkurheili to blame, but it was his fault for agreeing to go on this trip with a Myrkur in the first place. He couldn't wait to be home and back among people who didn't steal table legs for fun.
At that, at least there was one bright side. He and Myrkurheili hadn't been sent to travel with the entire tribe of people who stole for fun. It could be worse.
Ruffnut swung her fist forward, only to find herself tumbling after it, and cursed wildly as her side hit the wooden deck. A boot impacted her side, driving the wind out of her.
"Had enough?" Camicazi asked impishly, planting a foot on her back and leaning down.
Ruffnut grinned through the pain and pulled her leg up and back, just flexible enough to impact where she had guessed the back of Camicazi's knee was, buckling the leg holding her down just long enough to roll over-
And then the boot stamped down on her stomach, driving the wind out of her. Camicazi was still smiling smugly. "Saw that one coming."
Ruffnut held up both hands and performed the Thorston-spiting gesture she and Tuffnut had recently invented, knowing that Camicazi would have no idea what it meant.
"I think that means 'I yield' given you only use it when I win,' Camicazi guessed, stepping back and allowing Ruffnut to recover. "Are you telling me that I'm number one?"
"You know… Very well… That it's an insult," Ruffnut panted, sitting up despite feeling as if she could just lie there a while longer.
"But not what it means, so I get to pretend I don't know that," Camicazi replied smugly. Everything about the girl screamed 'smug'. Aside from that admittedly annoying quirk, she was all that Ruffnut had anticipated. That was one of the reasons Ruffnut never intended to tell her what the gesture meant; as long as Camicazi didn't know for sure, she wouldn't risk using it for fear of Ruffnut changing the meaning on her.
"Ready for round…" Ruffnut stood, trying to think back as she did. "Fourteen?" She hadn't been keeping count.
"Six," Camicazi supplied. "No, let's take a break."
"Below deck," Ruffnut clarified, not waiting for Camicazi to agree. The sun was bright and glaring, and she wasn't used to being up in the day more than once every few weeks. The constant light was actually getting to her.
"Sure," Camicazi agreed, following her down the hatch and ladder and closing it behind them. "Let's go see what your dragon is up to."
Ruffnut smirked at that. She was sure that it was going to be amusing, whatever it was. Earlier that morning, several younger women had asked about the dragon, assuming he was a female and asking how docile 'she' was. Since the Burglars had been ordered to never harm the dragon, and Myrkurvængur was conspicuously absent all day long and wasn't making a single peep from within, something entertaining and, by extension, humiliating for Myrkurvængur was going on.
Ruffnut pushed open the door to her cabin, eagerly anticipating some horribly girly activity with Myrkurvængur in the middle of it all, miserable but tolerating it for the sake of keeping their allies on their side.
'Oh, hey Ruffnut,' Myrkurvængur purred, glancing over in her direction, a look of bliss on his face. 'I wondered where you were.'
"What do we have here?" Camicazi asked, stepping into the cabin. "Hildegarde?"
The woman currently rubbing Myrkurvængur's back with a rag looked up from her work. "We figured her scales could use a good polishing, like we do with our swords, and Greta got the idea to sharpen her claws with a whetstone."
Ruffnut looked down at Myrkurvængur's paws in mild disbelief and noticed that his outstretched claws were indeed sharper than they had been before, and far more regular, smoothed down so that they all matched.
"It takes five of you to polish scales?" Camicazi asked, gesturing to the other women working on different parts of Myrkurvængur's back.
"You have to put a lot of effort into it to get a good finish, like with a rusted weapon," Hildegarde explained. "Not only does she obviously love it, it's a great test of arm strength."
'It's the best feeling in the world,' Myrkurvængur purred. 'Why do you and Tuffnut never do this for any of us?'
Ruffnut couldn't believe how not-embarrassing this was. It wasn't funny at all! Of course, she could fix that… "Once you're done," she suggested slyly, "maybe paint her claws and face like a Viking lady. Just to complete the look."
Hildegarde favored her with a flat stare. "That would be like defacing a beautiful weapon by intentionally blunting and staining it. We're sailing to war, not some stupid social event. If you want it done, do it yourself. We're doing this because we like the dragon, not because we work for you."
'Try it and I'll bite your hand off,' Myrkurvængur murmured agreeably, too content to be annoyed by her attempted sabotage. It wasn't clear who he was talking to, but Ruffnut assumed herself, as he obviously didn't mind the so-called warriors working him over at the moment.
"Good work, everyone," Camicazi announced loudly. "This is what I like to see, pitching in to help allies relax and prepare for battle. Carry on."
"Carry on," Ruffnut muttered disagreeably, slamming the door behind her. She hadn't tricked Myrkurvængur into pretending to be a girl just so he could be pampered and boring. They were only two weeks in; if she had to watch his smug face being massaged and 'prepared for battle' for the other six weeks, she was going to throw up.
"She's way more relaxed than Toothless," Camicazi observed conversationally, leading the way back up onto the deck, not even looking back at Ruffnut. "Maybe a little too trusting. She's lucky this is the ship with all the newest recruits. All of our older, dragon-hating fighters are on other ships."
"Lucky us," Ruffnut grumbled. "Do they do this for all of your allies?"
"Giving backrubs and trimming nails?" Camicazi laughed. "Not a chance. But it's not weird to do it for a dragon. I'd say they've taken a shine to her. Literally."
Ruffnut laughed along with Camicazi, but only because she didn't want to give her annoyance away. "Still. Would they be doing this if she was a boy?"
"She, or he in that scenario, is an adorable instrument of death and destruction with a tendency towards stealth and a reputation as extremely dangerous, something that intimidates Vikings," Camicazi extolled, climbing back up the ladder leading up onto the deck. "She's basically our perfect mascot. I don't think anyone would care either way. At this rate, your biggest problem is going to be keeping up with her need to be polished and sharpened after we part ways."
Which, of course, Myrkurvængur would be bragging to the other Myrkurs about, which in turn would mean pressure on her and Tuffnut from Blast and Boom to at least try and do the same just so that their little brother wouldn't be able to hold it over them, which in turn would probably lead to a lot of boring, back-breaking work on stupid scales for the foreseeable future…
Ruffnut held in a groan and quickly scaled the ladder. "Let's keep sparring," she suggested. She needed to hit something. Tuffnut had been right, being stuck with Myrkurvængur on this trip was terrible, but not for the reason she had expected. Not even revealing the lie would get it to stop, by Camicazi's logic, and Myrkurvængur was still probably bothered by letting them all think he was female, meaning he was going to complain about that when this was all over, and word would get to people who knew it wasn't needed.
She was still going to pay for her attempt at a prank, but she wasn't even getting any of the benefits! This trip stank like a ship full of rotten fish-
A fist struck her chin, sending her crashing to deck. "Round seven," Camicazi crowed smugly, "won in a single strike!"
Ruffnut groaned and let her head fall to the deck. This was going to be a long six weeks.
Author's Note: …And this was a really long chapter. I actually had to cut out the last scene I had planned for this one, because this was long as it was. I'm not making the mistake of skipping things that shouldn't be skipped, but it's taking a surprisingly large amount of words and time to give all of this the attention it deserves, and this is just the minimum amount of coverage. I could probably have expanded the trip to be its own separate book, between the five different locations to cover, each with plenty of potential for expansion. But I think this is good enough; there is a war to get to at some point, after all…
Also, there's another version of Ruffnut's scene here, but I actually scrapped it immediately after writing it. Another thing that'll be seen in the Deleted Scenes entry at the end of this story… which is now over 24,000 words long. That'll be a big one.