The orange dragon returned, seemingly embarrassed. He didn't dare to meet the nightlight's eyes. "Well this is annoying…" The confidence that the monstrous nightmare had previously displayed was gone, replaced by worry and possibly anger.
Ruffrunner's heart was still thumping from the claw that had been on his chin. "I agree.", he said shakily. "If it weren't for Dart, I would still be laying on that comfortable rock right now." Somehow, a large portion of his problems always seemed to be retraceable to one or more of his siblings.
The captor glared at him. "Shut up. Just, shut up. And this was supposed to be easy!", he roared, making Ruffrunner flinch in fear in his cramped corner of the dark cavern.
"I am sorry.", whined Ruffrunner, terrorized by the powerful and angry adrenaline-pumped male. He thought back to his father's lesson in fighting. Because that had gone so well…
"You filthy excuse for a black dragon. You act black just to fool people, but your filthy underbelly isn't darker than a normal, disgusting light fury.", spat out the orange dragon with a venomous stare.
Ruffrunner looking down at his white underside with guilt. It was true, he was white there but… he had never really 'acted' black. It was more… the colour of his scales.
"I will figure this out, and if you cooperate, you might just live.", growled the other dragon, displaying a row of very sharp teeth. Ruffrunner nodded. Against a rational opponent, he might have been able to convince the other dragon to let him go. But this was no rational opponent, and he couldn't risk ending up in this dragon's wrath.
Meanwhile, an increasingly bothered nightlight wandered in the ravine. Sure, she had been approached by a multitude of dragons asking if she was indeed the alpha's daughter and why the alpha just had to pick this/that on decisions that she had never even heard of, but there was not really anything exciting.
Or maybe… She heard some strange cries coming from a nearby tunnel, an opening in the ravine. Her heart picking up, she rushed inside, fire building up in her chest and claws unsheathing…
And found herself face to face with an unidentified number of hideous zipplebacks who had engaged in some kind of fight and who's necks were now tied in knots that would put viking sailors to shame.
A total of eight heads turned in her direction, thus starting the nightlight's confusion. "Aren't you Dart, the alpha's daughter?", asked one of the heads, it's eyes filled with marvel. However, this changed to fear in the next moment. "We mean no harm!", called out the head, and Dart noted how the ten eyes looking at her were now terrified.
The nightlight then looked at herself and noted how she was still ready to leap, a plasma blast building in her throat. She cleared her throat and quickly recomposed herself, trying to brush it off. "Yes, I am Dart. Sorry for acting threatening. I will not start a fight with you. But you seem to have that covered.", she said addressing the mass. Jumping in the fight was tempting, but being with complete strangers, it would be rather awkward.
Two seemingly unrelated heads in the mass of dragons bowed down. "It is an honour to meet you.", answered the hideous zippleback in a much more relieved voice.
At that point, a well known light fury entered the cavern, surprised at the nightlight's presence. "Dart, Hi.", said Laura. Noting the mass of zippleback and the nightlight's confusion, she pointed at the two heads in question. "Meet Gin and Tonic, an unstoppable force of destruction…" As the white dragon looked at them, a soft smile crept upon her face. "…and my best friend.", she added.
"I have always admired the alpha's family.", said the hideous zippleback. "Your presence greatly warms my heart."
Dart was by now very confused, so Laura moved closer to whisper something in the nightlight's ear. "I suspect that there is something with her head. Like if Gin and Tonic was on some kind of strange liquid."The light fury then rose to face the hideous zippleback. "Also, fighting again? What did I tell you?"
The two heads rolled their four eyes. "These pathetic excuses for siblings never listen to me! Never! I have to teach them.", justified the dragon while pointing at the rest of the mass. For some reason, the more Dart knew this hideous zippleback, the more it reminded her of someone…
"Maybe you could try to listen to us every once in a while!", complained an angry zippleback from somewhere in the pile. This complaint was completely ignored.
In an action that defied most of the laws of physics and all of the laws of topology, Gin and Tonic seamlessly exited the mass of dragons, her body exiting from the top followed by her two necks. "Alpha's daughter, what brings you here?"
Still a bit uneasy on how the zippleback had managed to exit that mess, Dart did her best to explain. "I came here with Ruffrunner in search of something interesting, but he escaped."
Gin and Tonic rumbled. "So what are you doing now?"
Dart thought about it. She hadn't any grand plans. "Exploring, hoping to find something interesting…" As she thought more about it, her claws started to rumble within their sheats. "…and searching for my brother so that I can cut his throat for acting like that.", she concluded.
"Laura and I will gladly help you with that. It would be an honour to meet your brother." The light fury in question glared at Gin and Tonic, but in the end decided to keep herself quiet. And so, after Dart had explained that meeting Ruffrunner was not as much as an honour as a torture, the three dragons wandered out into the ravine.
Five minutes after the claw had been removed from threateningly near his throat, Ruffrunner was starting to calm down. During this time, his captor had once more gone to the dragon that was apparently outside in the search of advice. The nightlight had then heard the sound of a tail slapping a snout and a very colourful way to say 'figure it out yourself' before the monstrous nightmare returned. The orange dragon was now curled so as to block the exit, and humming thoughtfully.
"You know, I could help you…", tried Ruffrunner cautiously, not wanting to do anything that might anger the aggressive dragon.
"What do you want?", was the orange dragon's immediate response. So much for that.
The nightlight shuffled his feet. "You wanted to catch the alpha, and not me. But if you want, you can tell me what you want the alpha to know, and I will tell him.", he explained.
The orange dragon considered the nightlight for a long time. He then shook his head in resignation. "You want to know what I want? Fine."
In a strange mix of anger and enthusiasm, the captor told exactly what he wanted to the (mostly) black dragon. "First, those filthy light furies have denied a great fishing spot to us others, and should have their throats sliced. But nooo, the alpha will not allow even this simple desire.", complained the monstrous nightmare with a pained voice. Had Ruffrunner ever known the pain of not being allowed to unleash one's claws? "And instead of dealing with that problem, he decided to bring humans into the picture, because that went sooo well in the past, almost to distract us from that pack of white dragons.", spat out the captor. "This is the only dragon safe heaven in the known world, and your family is taking away even that!"
The orange dragon was now angry, and the next worlds were growled out. "But I wasn't here to tell this to the alpha. He won't listen to us anymore, that runt. Well, we would make him listen. And if he didn't…" Ruffrunner winced at the other dragon's gestures, that somehow managed to imply at least five shapes of torture. "Except for the fact that I didn't manage to force the alpha into that cramped cavern, and just catched his miserable offspring."
The nightlight felt a little shaken and more than a little offended, but wisely stopped himself from making unwanted comments. He also noted how the monstrous nightmare talked about 'we', implying that he had not been alone in this fantastic plan.
"If you let me go, I will immediately tell all of that to my father.", said the black dragon kindly. Still. The other dragon was just rude.
Seemingly to reinforce the point, the orange dragon growled at that. "Do you think that I will agree?"
The nightlight tilted his head. "Why not?"
For the first time, the monstrous nightmare seemed genuinely worried. "If I let you go, you will think that I am innocuous, and nothing will change. I need your father to know that I am serious, and ending your life will succeed in that. But if you die, no one will know what I want." A slow whine emerged from the captor as the monstrous nightmare curled into a ball. "I don't know what to do…", he admitted. Ruffrunner felt almost pity towards this creature. And as he thought about it, it was a difficult problem.
Powered by the desire to leave this cramped cave and return to that comfortable stone slab to finally shut an eye after the exhausting day, Ruffrunner squeezed his head for a solution. And soon enough, one came. "I may have an idea."
The sound of gears squeaking into the nighligt's head quickly captured the captor's attention. "You don't have to show that you are serious by killing the one you captured. There are other ways to show that you are strong and powerful." Ruffrunner hummed thoughtfully. "Just a large, bloody gash would cause a large scar and forever remind the alpha that you are a force to be reckoned with. If you want to really show your cruelty, you can also cause more permanent damage, such as destroying an eye, or a tail fin, or…" The nightlight thought about it loudly, and yes, it was a great idea. The alpha would be very shaken and take the captor with extreme seriousness once his son returned without the ability to see or fly. Sometimes, he impressed even himself with his cleverness.
Wait. Who was the alpha's son again?
"Oh, when will I learn to keep my mouth shut?", whined Ruffrunner as the other dragon stalked closer, suddenly very attentive at the nightlight's words. "But of course, that would be a bad idea, since you know, you know since…" The orange dragons' murderous stare turned him quiet.
"I don't care for you. Let this be a warning to your father. This is what I can do to his family and to him if he doesn't give me what he wants.", claimed the monstrous nightmare without the shadow of a doubt. The nightlight was almost shaking.
For a very rare moment Ruffrunner was not feeling tired at all. In fact, his heart had rarely beaten faster. "Wounding the alpha's family to get the change you want? Wouldn't it be more effective to threaten the alpha himself? Or talk to him? Or to-"
"Shut it!", roared the captro, interrupting the nightlight's stammering. The orange dragon bared his teeth and displayed the long, curved claws that stuck out from the front of his wings.
"One last thing.", said Ruffrunner. "What is this mysterious green gas that is slowly filling up the cavern?"
The orange dragon looked between his claws and at the substance that quickly flowed through and over them, rapidly gathering around the two. "Good question. I hope it doesn't explode, giving you a chance to escape."
The captor was facing towards Ruffrunner and away from the exit. As the wall of fire raged from the cavern's entrance and towards the two dragons,, the monstrous nightmare's last words were simple. "It is exploding, isn't it?"
And as the fire warmed the nightlight's scales, he became practically invisible, which was only helped by the darkness, smoke and literal wall of fire between him and his captor.
Surgical removal of an eye or tailfin on an invisible opponent was often considered impossible. As such, the captor decided to skip that plan and just inflict as much damage as possible before the nightlight completely disappeared. For now, he at least knew where Ruffrunner should be. The dragon lunged forwards, and bit down hard before the nightlight could do anything,
Strange. He hadn't expected the flesh of the nightlight to be so… hard. Or to taste so… dusty. Or to seem so perfectly attached to the stone wall.
Wait…
"Stupid, disgusting and not even well tasting rock!", roared the captor angrily before casting a flurry of strikes on the believed position of the target. Ruffrunner did his best to remain quiet as the monstrous nightmare committed unspeakable atrocities on an innocent patch of air.
But the nightlight knew that sooner or later, the dragon would come for him. And so, he took one more breath and readied the leap. He jumped forwards with outstretched claws, doing his best to climb over the dragon in his way, littering the captor's hide with claw marks in the process. But most of his attempts, he just slid right off. And on contact, the captor turned his neck in the nightligt's direction, now acutely aware of where he had to strike…
A claw on his right front leg reached deep into the captor's body and finally gave support, throwing the nightlight forwards and towards the cavern's exit, leaving a deep claw mark just below the monstrous nightmare's neck, who was now roaring in pain. Blood dripped from his claw as he ran.
The nightlight shot out of the cavern and into the crowd, the orange dragon hot on his tail. But as he looked back, awe swept Ruffrunner as the dragon received a plasma blast from both sides and was stopped in his tracks by a hideous zippleback landing straight in front of him.
"Go away before we deal with you properly!", roared the dragon as she looked deep into the monstrous nightmare's eyes. At the same time, the two dragons that had shot the blasts neared. The captor took in his surroundings with worry, before his eyes returned to the four in front of him. Finally, within a momentary surge of panic, he took off, the fight and flight system having opted for flight.
Ruffrunner examined the three. One of them was… ugh. Dart, who seemed rather pleased with herself and letting out puffs of smoke after the plasma blast. The other… Laura. It made sense, this was her home cavern after all. The light fury gave him a warm smile.
The third was a female hideous zippleback that was likely the cause of the gas, but Ruffrunner didn't recognize her.
Still, he was amazed. The captor had been a terrifying opponent, and these three (four?) dragons had chased him away in seconds. "And don't you dare touch my best friend's future mate's brother ever again!", added the two-headed dragon at the captor's rapidly disappearing silhouette.
Ruffrunner searched desperately for words big enough to show his gratitude. "Who are you?", he barked with somehow even less charm than Pouncer.
Two heads swept around to meet him, the eyes joyful and "Gin and Tonic, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am your brother's future mate's best friend."
He looked at Dart for an explanation. Her gaze gave a message that meant roughly 'a friendly idiot'. In short, Dart liked her.
"Laura's best friend who has decided that I want to be Pouncer's mate.", corrected Laura. "Which is by the way my choice, not yours!"
The two-headed dragon rolled her eyes. Even more so when the light fury asked "By the way, how is Pouncer?" to the nightlight.
As the adrenaline faded away, Ruffrunner managed to realize that he had been posed a question. "He tried to cook me alive this morning, so he is doing fine." Laura didn't seem to be calmed by this statement, but then she hadn't lived with his brother for her entire life.
A sudden wave of tiredness crashed over him, making the dragon dizzyingly hit the floor. His heart had been throbbing, his muscles tensing and his brain churning (for all the good that had done). And now… he wanted to go home. He couldn't wait to be on that rock again and shut his eyes. Perhaps Dart could bring him something too… "I want a salmon.", he asked.
"And I want to cut your throat.", answered Dart before remembering that the month of servitude was still not over. She reluctantly nodded. "But thanks for stirring up a fight. It was fun.", she added while licking her claws. He rolled his eyes.
For the first time that day, Ruffrunner smiled. If nothing else, he was alive and well. Which was a lot more than what he could have expected minutes ago.
Toothless panted heavily as he took the last tired steps towards the comfortable sleeping rock, his equally tired mate leaning on his side. But though their bodies were aching, both of them were perfectly content. "We should do this more often.", let out Light between heavy breaths.
The night fury nuzzled her side in agreement, feeling more relaxed than he had been for a very long time. "There is something about light furies that you don't get anywhere else.", he said longingly. "That sleek body, those sharp wings, it's just…"
"Oh, but I bet you that night furies would be just as fun.", retorted Light. "Just look at you. Just as sleek as us, with the exception of just those little places where you add muscle instead…", she pushed her snout along the night fury's wings and towards the strong muscles that propelled them. She was so thankful for the dragons' lack of sweat glands that apparently made humans smell disgusting after just a brief period of movement. Instead, she took in the clean, strong scent of her mate's still burning body… and went back to desperately panting to get at least a trace of cool air into herself.
Her mate purred at the attention. "Oh, We should definitely do this more often.", he said as he let a wing drape over the light fury's just as warm shape. He sighed happily. "I can't wait for the next time we have an all-out arial chase of someone as skilled as Lemon."
Light purred back as she collapsed onto the comfortable rock. "Me too, honey."
In truth, the chase had indeed been exciting, but had ended rather disappointingly. Sure, they had through clever flying that pushed the edge of their capabilities managed to force Lemon into a dead end and had had her at their mercy. But between Toothless being an alpha and Light being a (mostly) sensible dragon, they had not allowed themselves to truly show Lemon the way they felt about her. The light fury had been let off with a warning, but otherwise no physical damage. For the two mates, this had been highly unpleasant, but at least they had thoroughly enjoyed the chase.
And for the moment, the two laid thoughtlessly onto the rock with tired bodies and untouchable smiles.
They were disturbed a few minutes later when a particular nightlight walked into the cavern. Light's head rose to look at the newcomer. "Ruffrunner, hi. What is going on? You look shaken."
The nightlight whispered to his mother while giving worried stares to the dragons in front of him. "Mooom, I am too old for this, this is awkward…"
"Shut up and come here.", answered Light as she wrapped her wing tighter around the nightlight and brushed the top of her head around his neck. The light fury's wing did not even cover half of her offspring. In front of him Dart, Pouncer and his father were looking at the engagement and trying to not act entertained. Trying and failing.
"He promised that this would happen with others of the family, we will see who is laughing then!", he threatened with a roar. He had arrived in his home cavern with the hope of a well-deserved nap, and instead found this.
The light fury sighed. "I am so happy that you are okay."
"Me too.", added Toothless. "But we must find this monstrous nightmare. I don't want him to be loose and waiting for the next opportunity to strike at us."
"Hold on. He was also helped by someone else.", added Ruffrunner, remembering how the orange dragon had left the cavern to speak to someone outside. "I get the feeling that the captor didn't act alone, but was helped by another dragon."
The captor didn't want to be brought to the alpha. But like this, he was going to die of boredom before anything else, being stuck in this cave for three days. It was as safe as it would get, being one of a hundred in the middle of a forgotten tunnel, and just as exciting as one would expect. His orange scales were almost grey from the dust.
The other dragon flew in, bringing in fish for him to eat. The captor quickly swooped up the catch, but didn't show much interest in the dragon. "I am still mad at you.", he clarified.
"I should have guarded the entrance instead of abandoning you after thinking you were hopeless, I agree.", admitted the other dragon for the umpthenth time. "How is the wound?"
The captor sighed and craned his neck to look at the back of his once so shiny hide. "Better. I don't think it will leave a big scar. ", he said thoughtfully. "And I will leave this place soon.", he added.
The other dragon shook his head. "The alpha spread the news about you. A young male, monstrous nightmare, orange scales and a scar on your back. You won't last two minutes out there.", was the cold, honest statement.
The orange dragon didn't agree. "I will say that I got this scar in a fight against an idiot who tried convincing me to attack the alpha. An idiot who is prone to abandoning you as soon as you may need help.", stated the captor with a low growl. The other dragon didn't seem pleased at the passive aggressiveness.
"And if someone asks why were you gone for this long?", asked the other dragon.
"I will say that the alpha suspected me because of the wound, and he kept me there for three days. But since I am innocent, I was released. Therefore, you don't even have to report me since he has already seen me.", stated the captor with a proud smile. It wasn't a perfect plan by any means, but it meant that he would have at least some liberty. He was a young male, and didn't want to spend his days locked into the stupid cave.
"Huh. That's… not stupid", said the other dragon. Sure, if anyone ever asked the alpha about this seemingly innocent dragon, the captor would have to run, but it was still far better than the alternative.
"I am not stupid.", stated the orange dragon.
"Oh, I wouldn't get that far…", chuckled the other dragon. The other dragon then looked at the captor. "Are you still going to help me take down the alpha?"
The captor didn't have to think about it. That moment, with his claw on Ruffrunner's chin… He had felt so strong. And now, this alpha had made him hunted. As long as Toothless was in power, he was not free. The monstrous nightmare gritted his teeth. "You bet I am."
The sun was shining and it was a new day. And as much as Dart would have wanted to pump the wings and fly out into the great outdoors like someone truly free, there something held her back. Part of it was the small, yet present thought that she didn't know enough about the outside world to be safe there, and that her own world was, despite being boring and decadent, a (relatively) safe and pleasant place to live.
Another part of it were those annoying light furies and deadly nadders that always kept a very wary eye on her and had been instructed to bring her back by any means necessary if she was to try escaping. And sadly, they were ever so slightly faster than her. She knew from experience.
Dart wandered around the edge of the entrance, jumping from rock to rock above the roaring waterfalls. She cast a hopeful glance at one of those who were supposed to be guarding her…
And grunted as the dragon shook its head, the yellow eyes not even close to giving in.
"What are you hoping for exactly?", asked Sotrmfly with an amused look.
"That you will get distracted or be compassionate and will allow me to leave?" asked the nightlight. "For instance, why don't you tell me how it is going with Scarnose? Maybe you will forget that you were supposed to be guarding me that way?"
"As if that would ever happen.", said the deadly nadder with a grin. "But since you are asking…"
Stormfly then explained about the event that had shaken the entirety of the hidden world in the last few days. Dragons had then brought something never before seen into the cavern, and the news had spread like a plasma blast, igniting strong feelings of admiration and unrest into all of the cavern.
"You don't have to explain it to me. I made that event.", interrupted Dart, wondering how Stormfly had managed to forget that detail about the humans' visit two weeks ago.
Stormfly shook her head and called the nightlight self-centered. The event was, obviously, the revolutionary new way of polishing scales that she and Scarnose had discovered and displayed for everyone in the underground. This method consisted in rubbing a specific type of granite against the direction of the scales, as opposed to along it. Never before had hides with quite that shade of blue been seen. Lastly, Dart was to learn a bit of humility and not assume that everything was about her.
"You are right. All the attention should go away from me and onto you instead.", mocked the nightlight. "So why don't you show off that special hide to all these dragons so that you're distracted and I can leave?
The blue dragon shook her head and pointed at something on the nightlight's side. "The last time you went out there you got that scar. What makes you want to repeat it?"
The nightlight looked at her flank, and at the grey skin that now covered the wound with disgust. "I should be out there, learning about how to deal with boars. Not stuck here and wallowing in my own ignorance until a horde of boars swim across the ocean and attack us all!", she declared angrily. How could no one understand that knowledge was essential to dealing with problems?
The deadly nadder tilted her head. "You really do not know much about boars."
"And that is what I want to change.", said Dart defeatedly as she let her gaze land on the horizon. If only something from there would reach her, so that she could learn about the outside world without being punished for it…
Dart squinted at a point in the distance. "Is that a viking ship?"
And that is it for today. As for the next time a lot of important RL stuff was finished in the 4 weeks during which I wrote it, meaning that the next chapter is likely to come out sooner. I hope you enjoyed this one.