A/N:
Thank for joining me again, and thank you Viggo Grimborne for betaing. Also, many thanks to anyone who feels compelled to leave a review or PM to share your thoughts!
Epclaymore, Yes, I'm totally keeping things open for now to go an infinite number of directions, and I plan to explore at least half of them. ;)
Exhausted
Firebrand was an extremely dangerous dragon. It wasn't a boast, it was simply an objective fact.
In the air, he was a phantom of death, black scales against a dark sky, and land-striders had weak eyes that struggled in the night. His fireballs never missed, and they could instantly shatter the contraptions that land-striders made to hurl boulders and shoot large wooden quills at dragons – and splatter any land-striders caught in the blast. On the ground, his low profile made him quick and agile, much more than any land-strider could ever hope to come close to matching, and the strength that he could throw into each swipe of his claws and crushing bite allowed him to tear land-striders limb from limb despite the various bits of false hides they would drape over their fragile forms.
Firebrand crashed into the ground with a heavy thud and a pained groan.
He realized that it was theoretically possible to down him. Land-striders had a hard time hitting moving targets with their little quills they would shoot at dragons, and Firebrand was especially fast, but one of those wooden quills still managed to hit him… And actually break through his scales to stick into his hide… And this one happened to be venomous.
He knew what the venom from this wooden quill was doing to him, how it would feel, even though it was something that he never experienced. Unlike land-striders, who communicated by representing thoughts with sounds in the most ponderous and cumbersome way possible, dragons could simply project their thoughts to each other. Images, sounds, feelings, memories, it was all the same, it could all be conveyed in perfect detail to any other dragon nearby. In the blink of an eye, a dragon could share every experience in every moment of his entire life.
It was through such sharing of memories that Firebrand knew that this venom would feel like fire spreading through his body. Breathing would become labored, the eyes would dilate so that everything was painfully bright, and every little sound would feel like flying head-first into a cliff. Though it was not lethal and lasted only a little while, land-striders were usually quick to jump on the easy kill.
Firebrand felt his gut clench and his legs collapse. He tried to lift his tail or at least swish it to the side as he could tell that he was defecating against his will, but no part of his body felt like cooperating.
He was the first black dragon he knew of to be hit by a venomous land-strider quill, and this was far worse than what it had done to other dragons. He writhed in agony, and his shallow panting made it easier to keep his roars of pain down to a quiet hiss. His ears rang, his vision blurred, his body cramped from nose to tail.
His vision swam with spots, and one of those spots resolved into the blurry form of another black dragon, his mate. Dragons normally referred to each other by a verbose amalgamation of all impressions related to that dragon, which took hardly an instant, but Firebrand was tickled by the idea of having a name that was his, and for some reason, that extended to his enjoyment of having a name for his mate that was solely hers.
He knew what to call her when he had first bumped into her. She was taken out of the sky by flying vines and surrounded by twenty land-striders. Firebrand was efficient in his fights, but the way she handled those land-striders… It was sloppy and excessively energetic; her name of 'Vicious' was well-earned.
His five offspring were with him, too, his second clutch. One of them snuffled in his ear, and though he knew it would normally have been very quiet, he whined and pawed at the painfully loud thunder. They all hummed with worry and anxiety.
He tried to force himself to take a deep breath and ended up heaving. As he looked around, though his vision was blurring, he could tell that they hadn't attracted attention yet. He managed to land himself on the outskirts of this land-strider nest, and his black form would have been hard to track.
A land-strider approached, lean build, black hair on top of his head and around his mouth, striding as if he alone had uncontested claim to this land. Firebrand's floundering heart plummeted. Where there was one land-strider, there were bound to be many more. They were clever creatures, and though they could sometimes be prone to panicking and scattering in a raid, they often were able to coordinate their efforts.
Through the head-splitting ringing, he could hear the hiss of Vicious preparing a fireball in her mouth, but she stopped suddenly. Better to go for a quiet kill than to attract unwanted attention with a loud and bright explosion.
As she coiled her haunches to leap, the land-strider held both hands in front of him – the only parts that could hold deadly things – and shouted, "Firebrand! I come to help you!"
The dragons didn't understand the spoken words, of course; it was beneath them to take any heed to that. However, one thing he had learned, as did all dragons exposed to land-striders, was that these critters would project their thoughts whenever they spoke, even though they typically were unaware that they were doing so. It came out as a muddy trickle compared to the swift, clear river of a dragon's projections, but it was possible to discern the gist of what they were trying to communicate with their clumsy language. This one, strangely enough, was projecting his thoughts more clearly than most land-striders.
Amid the land-strider's guttural outburst, Firebrand recognized his name. He had contact with land-striders before, not this one, but others who were friendly towards dragons, far away on an island. The leaves had grown and fallen from the trees ten times since his clutchmate Toothless had sought to find him, along with his rider Firefly. Firebrand had been convinced to fly back to their nest for a while, which turned out to be a very productive idea as the land-striders there were abnormally friendly to dragons. Some even fought Firebrand and showed him how land-striders would try to kill or capture him, and how to take them out first. That was fun!
However, the one currently approaching him was entirely unfamiliar, but the critter did know his name and that he was dying. At a quick inquiry Vicious projected at him, infinitely faster than flicking her eyes to look at him, Firebrand suggested they give this land-strider a chance to explain himself. Aside from that brief introduction, he held his peace and was moving closer, which would only make him easier to kill silently.
He stopped a few paces away at Vicious' warning growl and curled lips. "Firebrand, you've never met me, but I am a friend to Hiccup and Toothless. I once helped Drago and his Bewilderbeast, not that I'd expect you to recognize that name. The point is that I changed my ways and am a friend to Hiccup and Toothless. It is for their sake that I want to help you."
Again, the words were just noise to Firebrand, but he was able to rake his claws through the muddy trickle of the land-strider's projected thoughts and figure out what was there.
Vicious hissed at the land-strider, but she spared an instant to flick her eyes to Firebrand. {I do not like him at all, and that's not only because he's only a land-strider.}
Of course, her projected thoughts came across loud and clear, so much better than trying to understand land-striders.
"Quiet!" the land-strider snapped at her, gesturing low with a hand. "I know you can understand me, in some way that I don't quite comprehend. Firebrand has been hit by a dragonroot arrow. It normally only debilitates a dragon for a while, but he will die soon. Ask him yourself how he feels if you don't believe me."
She snarled at him. {Firebrand, can I kill him now?}
Firebrand lethargically rolled his head around on the ground to look at Vicious… and the two dragons next to her that looked and smelled exactly like her. {Is he lying, or is he being sincere?}
That was something he should have been able to discern in an instant. Land-striders always emitted a hum of their primal emotions, they could not deceive a dragon, even if their odors alone didn't give it away. Everything was dim, though. Sound, sight, feeling, it was all painfully intense and yet numbingly blurry.
Vicious prowled a couple steps forward, scenting the air. A paw came up in a flash, and the land-strider was on his back with a surprised yelp. She sniffed him up and down and grazed her teeth across his neck – gestures that were entirely unnecessary to tell if he was being honest – before she took a step back. {I sense no deceit, but he should be very frightened. One of our offspring could kill him alone, and he's facing seven of us. I do not like how confident he feels.}
{'Confident' would be a good name for him,} Firebrand mused in his half-delirium.
The land-strider, or 'Confident' as Firebrand decided to call him, stood with an annoyed huff and rubbed at the fresh scratches on his neck. "As I was saying, Firebrand will die soon to the dragonroot. However, I can help him." He stepped to stand nose-to-nose with Vicious. "You have a decision to make, and whether Firebrand lives to see the sun rise, or dies tonight, will be the consequence. Will you allow me to help him?"
She kept her eyes on Confident, and Firebrand was still barely coherent enough to hear her. {What do you think, my mate.}
His mind spun. His head felt like it was floating away. He knew he was gasping like a fish on a rock. He tried to project his insistence on trusting this critter, as he had no other choice, but his mind refused to function at all.
Vicious could tell that something was very wrong with him, so it was with a resigned sigh that she stepped aside and gestured with her snout.
Confident nodded. "First, we cannot afford to be found." He turned towards a nearby structure, one of those land-strider wooden caves. "Grab Firebrand and drag him along. Follow me."
Above and all around, the dragon raid was ongoing, but they all started to notice the lack of the black dragons in the sky. The sensor lobes all around a black dragon's head served a very functional purpose, allowing them to hear the faintest projected thoughts from afar and project their own thoughts loud and clear and far. It was for this reason that black dragons were naturally the leaders of any raid, capable of coordinating the efforts of all.
A few dragons above projected their intent to dive down and aid against this land-strider, but Vicious called them off. This raid was over, more land-striders could be killed, but more dragons would die, a terrible trade that happened all too often. It took a mere wisp of thought and the blink of an eye to communicate this to them, as well as the scent and appearance of the strange land-strider who was not to be harmed… yet.
Confident scurried over and bent down to pull up a flap of wood, revealing a small opening that descended into a small and dark cave beneath the structure. Gesturing frantically, he said, "Drag Firebrand into here, head first, not tail first. Trust me, his wings will be less trouble that way. You, young dragons, hold his wings in so he can fit through the opening."
Through teeth clenched around her mate's scruff, Vicious growled. Who was he to tell her offspring what to do?!
It was a tight fit, and the wings were difficult to manage, but they were able to drag Firebrand's limp body into the underground dirt cave. The ceiling was so low that the dragons couldn't raise their head, and the land-strider had to remain crouched.
Confident made a flicking gesture with his hands at the adolescents. "Leave us. Fly away to a safe location. For you, this raid is over, not that your misguided efforts have done any good for yourself or any dragons."
They looked at their dam, and their sire who seemed to be dead in most outward appearances, and she commanded them to fly and hide. They would not be out of communication, though. Their sensor lobes that crowned their head, which was what allowed for the great range in communication, were small and still developing, but they would not be too far away. They would still be in contact.
Confident let out a satisfied huff as he watched them jump up and almost instantly disappear to his eyes in the darkness. He grabbed the edge of the flap of wood at the mouth of the cave and pulled it down to cover it. In the darkness, he fumbled around until he found some sort of iron thing that reeked of something like a flammable fuel a dragon might belch out.
"Make a small flame."
Vicious had no idea what that was supposed to accomplish, but she complied. Confident held the tip of a strange white stick to her narrow wisp of flame, and it started to burn. He then positioned that small flame over the iron thing, and that began to burn even brighter. She hissed at the light, but he waved her off, unconcerned. Light may seep through the entrance, but land-striders had weak eyes.
He then rummaged through his false outer hides, pulling out various things. An iron thing, some sort of white not-sand, some purple flower petals, and white, and yellow, and blue–
Vicious had the presence of mind not to roar at him, but she let a dangerous snarl drift from her throat.
Confident paused and looked at her. "Yes, these are blue Oleander leaves. They're commonly used to kill dragons by poisoning food that people would lure them into stealing, but this is necessary to save Firebrand. I need you to trust me."
The snarling continued.
"If Firebrand dies, you will kill me. I don't doubt that for an instant. My life is attached to his. Why would I harm him after placing myself at your mercy?"
They stared at each other for a long while, in the flickering light of the small flame on the ground. Firebrand wheezed in his delirious slumber. Eventually, she flicked her snout to indicate he could continue.
Confident pulled some sort of unnaturally smooth and round stick from his false hides and mashed the various flowers, grinding them inside the hollow iron thing, then poured in some water from a small pouch.
"Use your fire to heat this up until you see bubbles," he said, gesturing to the hollow iron thing with that mash floating in the water. "Slowly. Blue Oleander normally kills dragons, but enough heat will make it non-lethal. It will also make this antidote more effective."
She complied, shooting out a narrow stream of fire at the hollow iron thing, along with a quiet, worried whine for her mate. He was so cold!
The liquid started to bubble, and Confident waved at her to stop. He started to stir it with a stick, but his breath caught in his throat at the sound of voices outside. Land-striders were on high alert and suspicious about claw marks and other signs of dragons on the ground.
Confident snuffed the flame on the iron thing with fuel inside of it and scampered to the entrance to throw open the wooden flap covering it.
This was it. This was the end, and Vicious knew it. She counted herself a fool to have trusted him at all. He was about to tell the nearby land-striders that there were two black dragons down here. With all the vines and venomous quills the land-striders could fling at dragons, they could kill her for how cramped this underground cave was. She would kill as many of these mangy creatures as possible before–
"Oi!" he shouted as he poked his head out. "Can I borrow that torch? My lantern went out."
"There's a bloody dragon raid going on, and you want me to stop and give you some light?!" the land-strider outside bristled indignantly. "Would you also like a sweet role and some mead?!"
"Well, if you're offering, then–"
"Get back in there and keep your head down or I'll lop it off!" he exploded. Footsteps receded. "Stupid peasant!"
Confident closed the wooden flap and turned with a smirk on his face, brushing his hands together.
"I cannot see, and I don't want to knock over the antidote I just prepared. Give me some light?"
Vicious complied, and Confident grabbed the iron fire thing and lit it again. He then gingerly touched the hollow iron thing with the pulpy concoction, pulled out a small strip of dead hide to protect his hand from the heat, and picked it up.
"Lift Firebrand's head up and tilt it back. He needs to drink all of this."
She nudged his snout up with hers from below, whining in worry. Firebrand's heartbeat was failing, and his breath was… was… he wasn't breathing!
"Steady!" Confident hissed. He pressed his free hand against Firebrand's upper rows of teeth to open his mouth so he could pour the liquid in, then rubbed the bottom of the throat to cause him to swallow.
Vicious waited, in tense silence, for her mate to die. She knew what was in that liquid.
Firebrand's eyes popped open. His pupils fluttered indecisively. His heartbeat frantically jumped. He writhed around, then shot up to smack against the low ceiling of their tiny cave, and flopped bonelessly to the ground, absolutely still. The little flame that gave light was snuffed out in the motion, and Confident crouched against the wall, awaiting his fate.
Vicious pressed the side of her head to the bottom of Firebrand's neck, and her breath caught. He was breathing! His heart was weak but steady. She looked over at Confident with a relieved exhale, and he slumped to the ground, satisfied that he would live, at least for now.
For a long time, nobody dared move. Firebrand shifted and curled up a little, but otherwise he slept. Everybody feared that anything more would break their tenuous grasp on hope. Eventually, light from the rising sun started to bleed into their little cave through the cracks in the wooden flap.
Finally, Confident slowly rose up. "I'm sure that I have earned at least some trust by now," he said. "Tell your young ones to catch some fish in the lake nearby, and bring them to me in the forest. I will give them to you and Firebrand to eat, and I'll bring some water too. You will need to stay here. We'll need to wait until night falls again before we even think of getting you two out of here, and that's assuming Firebrand has recovered enough to stand by then, let alone walk and leap over the wall and fly."
He groaned as a thought came to mind. "It's going to get very smelly in here very soon.
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Confident was right about the smell, though he was often outside to ensure no land-striders felt like poking their heads in a bad place. It didn't help that Firebrand still had smears of his own excrements from his convulsions before he was dragged in here.
Still, the sun rose and set without incident, and on the following night, Firebrand was awake, lucid, and sure that he could fly away in the dark.
As he tried to ascend out of the cave, his strength gave out and his legs buckled, but he at least had the strength to tuck in his wings to avoid harming them.
The stench worsened.
The following night, he was able to walk, but he felt hollow even though he had plenty to eat and drink. Unable to leap over the wall or even fly, he sauntered back into the cave and collapsed to rest more.
The stench worsened.
The next night, he strode out once he was sure the area was clear. If his strength gave out and he ended up getting killed, then so be it, but he would not endure this filth any longer!
"The funny thing is, standing right outside, it smells no different than any other home." Confident chuckled at the shocked and incredulous look from both dragons. To think these creatures had the audacity to tell each other that dragons were simple animals! There was even a river that was clear and delicious upstream from some large land-strider nests, but reeked of their decomposing feces downstream.
Confident straightened as he slid back into his irritating namesake. "I'm going to go into the forest soon. When you're ready, I need you to meet me there."
Firebrand stared at Confident, but he supposed he did technically owe his life to this land-strider. Why Confident had helped in the first place was still a mystery, even if he was a friend to Toothless and Firefly.
"The things we do now will determine the future for Hiccup and his people – or Firefly as you dragons call him – and for Toothless and his flock. They will survive or die because of the decisions we make tonight and in the coming days." Firebrand continued to stare at Confident, and he started to fidget. "I'll explain later. Just meet me later in the forest, or your brother and all that he holds dear will be lost."
Firebrand rolled his eyes, a land-strider gesture he had learned. As if he would be concerned for his clutchmate. One thing he had learned about land-striders was that they had a tendency to project their own values onto others.
He took off, Vicious flying with him. His strength waned at an alarming rate, but Vicious delivered a painful bite to his tail and raked her claws along his back as she flew ahead, and rage carried him over the wall to land in a safe spot. He even had the strength to lunge at her neck with his teeth bared in retaliation, but in his condition, she easily twisted around to drive his snout into the ground. He walked through the forest towards a nearby lake that he knew about and dove right in. Vicious jumped on him and wrestled with him, flaming and grinding every part of his body hard into the sandy shallows.
It took a lot of work, and he was exhausted, but he eventually found himself with clean scales and a full belly. Before finding a safe spot to sleep, he decided to go find Confident, guided by his adolescents who were shadowing him in curiosity, competing with each other to see how long they could walk within striking distance before he noticed, or how high they could make him jump from fright. The record was not flattering… for Confident.
"I'm sure you have questions for me," Confident said when they grouped together. "I understand that the ability to hear dragons can be developed through meditation, and I hope to do so some day, but let me try to anticipate what you want to know. I heard about your brief stay on Berk after Toothless had found you in isolation. You no doubt know that us humans have an imagination that you dragons lack, or voices in our heads as you see it. Well, this voice could be idle wanderings of the mind, that is something from within, but it can also be instructions from a greater being, something from without."
Firebrand gave him a flat stare. Land-striders and their imaginary, invisible, all-powerful entities that were responsible for everything good and bad that ever happened to everyone.
Confident was entirely unphased. "I don't expect you to believe that bit. In fact, I suspect dragons are incapable of such, but what matters is that this voice was my lord telling me about your plight, that I should be here on this night, and he told me about the dragonroot antidote–"
Vicious growled at him, sensing that something was off.
"Alright, I had looked up the antidote in a book a couple years ago, and you're lucky I remembered it right," Confident said, losing a bit of his namesake.
The growling continued.
"And I had business here anyway, to meet with a translator."
The growling softened.
He glared in irritation. "And I also just happened to have been the admiral of an armada that assaulted the dragon huggers up North," he growled with sudden vigor, silencing the surprised dragons. "And a thousand details lined up just right to help me see dragons in a new light and become a trusted ally of sorts, and I just happened to be on my mission to translate the scriptures ever since the aristocracy just happened to have my family killed when they learned of my dealings with the dragon riders, which happened to set me on this path that led me here, tonight, with exactly what you" – he pointed an irritated finger at Firebrand – "needed to survive. You believe in a thousand coincidences if you want, and I'll hold to my faith."
Firebrand took a step back and licked his lips. It still didn't make sense, but let the critter think as he wished, it was the results that mattered.
"My lord guides me down a dark path, but that matters not to you. What matters is the decision you must now make."
He took a deep breath. "I told you that what happens in the coming days will have far-reaching consequences. If you and I fly up to the Barbaric Archipelago, we can save them from certain destruction. A massive armada is making its way there, and we can thwart what would otherwise be their ultimate victory over the dragon-loving people up there. I do not yet know how, but I will know when I need to."
Firebrand groaned in exasperation. Sure, just trust a land-strider to direct him, one who was verifiably crazy and had something fundamentally wrong in his brain. Besides, flying the vast span of water between this land and the islands over yonder would be a difficult feat that few dragons could ever achieve, and Firebrand was not that type of dragon as he was built for speed and ferocity. The only reason he managed to make it down here in the first place was because there was a very large and powerful storm, and his instincts told him that he could ride that all the way down. If such storms moved in this direction, and only during certain times, how could he get back up?
Impossible!
Suicide!
He turned around to saunter off.
"How have the raids been going lately?" Confident grunted. "What happened a couple nights ago was not luck but the inevitable that would be postponed no longer. Like it or not, humans are becoming more and more effective at fighting off dragons in all places."
Firebrand hesitated for a moment, but he continued walking away. Confident did save his life, so he would be allowed to live on.
"A boulder that is loosened from the top of a mountain cannot be expected to suddenly stop. It will crush Hiccup and Toothless and all dragons in the Archipelago. With the extinction of the only known humans who are friendly to dragons, do you really expect the boulder will slow down and not also crush you and every other dragon in this world?"
Firebrand whirled around and snarled, and Confident lost his namesake. He prowled closer and stood nose-to-nose, staring deep into those brown eyes.
Confident swallowed and attempted to keep his breathing – and knees – steady. "Things will only get worse and worse if we do nothing, and you know it. If we help the Northerners win this battle, we can break the boulder's fall, at least for now."
He was right. Firebrand knew that he, his kin, and all dragons were in the shadow of that boulder. The raids were becoming more dangerous and less effective at deterring the land-striders' hunting efforts, and this world had fewer places for dragons to hide every day.
But he would not come whimpering to some land-strider for help. How long until this rodent would start demanding to ride Firebrand like a beast of burden?
"Oh, and this will not work without me, so you will need to carry me."
Firebrand sent a silent request for one of his adolescents to nip at Confident, who jumped with an alarmed and strangled yelp. A new record!
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Seven black dragons beat their wings through the night. For a while, they had been able to lock their wings and conserve their strength as the wind did most of the work, but it had died down a while ago. They couldn't go on like this much longer, and land was left so far back that turning around would do no good.
They had taken their time in flying to the shoreline before this big flight to their destination, which Firebrand had spent resting and flying, Confident dangling from his claws, just to make a statement even though that was quite a tiring way to hold him. Confident had spent a lot of that time sitting and closing his eyes, doing some mind-numbingly boring exercise that he said other land-striders had used to learn to hear dragons, something he had been doing for a long time already for other reasons to hear… not dragons.
When Firebrand had felt that he was back to full strength, he decided they could go – with Confident on his back this time – who said that there would be a place to rest along the way, one of those floating land-strider wooden vessels. However, they had been flying so long that Firebrand felt like he was carrying a large boulder instead of a fairly lean land-strider. They were all so dead tired, especially the adolescents. None of them were used to flying so long in a single stretch.
They had already splashed down a while ago to eat some fish and float to rest their tired wings, and Confident had brought some dead animal hides filled with fresh water to drink, but it wasn't enough. There was nothing to see in all directions but water. They would all die out here and it was all because they were foolish enough to trust Confident.
"I know it's gotta be around here somewhere," he ground out through chattering teeth from Firebrand's back. Apparently, even with his warm false outer hides, water and cold winds made a bad combination for land-striders. "I know what I saw, what I heard."
{Yes, and I know you are delirious.}
"I can hear you now, ya know. Look again, what do your dragon eyes see?"
Firebrand grumbled through his labored breathing. There was nothing in the boundless sea. It was all just water, waves, stars, more water, a brown speck on the horizon–"
His breath caught in his throat. Confident slapped the back of the dragon's neck with a whoop of joy. "Ha! What did I tell you?!"
Firebrand descended, and his kin followed for one more – entirely unnecessary – dunk into the water. "Not again," Confident groaned.
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The land-striders were both refreshingly and disappointingly not scared to death by the sight of seven black dragons suddenly landing on their wooden sea vessel. They were shocked at first, but quickly calmed down once they realized that they weren't being burned or mauled to death. It was a bit cramped, but the dragons managed to fit without sinking the vessel.
"Tord? I've heard about you," one of them said in response to an inquiry from Confident. "I'm trader Johann. I've never seen any Night Furies aside from Toothless, such magnificent creatures, but are they among the friendly dragons from the Archipelago?"
"Are they friendly, and are they from up there?" Confident mused. "Yes and no to both points, but they promised to play nice. If you would allow us a little of your water and space on your deck for the night, they can fish for themselves. And I realize you're heading back South, but if you would be willing to raise sail and sit here until we leave, we'd be very grateful. We'll continue on our way tomorrow morning."
Firebrand gave him a disbelieving stare.
"There will be another ship to land on, trust me."
Firebrand growled.
"I know what I saw! And I did tell you to leave your young ones behind, and your mate if necessary. Don't blame me that you decided to fly with children. Besides, I've been right so far about things, for the record."
One of the adolescents made a move that sent Confident jumping almost out of his hide. {Speaking of records…}
When Confident picked himself up and his breathing approached something close to normal again, the other land-strider said, "You can't just expect me to bend over backwards on a whim for a stranger! I don't have much to spare, both time and resources, and–"
Some shiny bits of metal exchanged hands.
"This humble captain welcomes you all. Say, this reminds me about that one time when I found myself surrounded by angry Skrills, when suddenly, from out of nowhere…"
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It almost killed all the black dragons, but they did spot another land-strider vessel and land before drowning in the unforgiving sea. This time, the land-striders were much more satisfyingly terrified and jumpy. They put Confident to shame by easily beating his record so far. One even jumped over the edge in his fright and had to be fished out, and that was an intense experience for him.
After the dragons gorged on fish fresh from the sea and slaked their thirst, Confident sidled up to Firebrand. "It's promising to be a cold and windy night, and they have nothing for me on this ship to keep me warm while my coat dries from that entirely unnecessary dip in the water."
He crossed his arms, and Firebrand tossed his head with a chortle.
"You've seen how Toothless would allow Hiccup to curl up with him to keep him warm…"
Firebrand let out a long-suffering groan as he slapped Confident's face with his tail. He curled up and gestured with his snout.
If this land-strider so much as breathes hard even once during the night…
"Oh, and I have good news. I think we have only one or two more of these sorts of hops to make before we get there. You're doing good so far."
Confident spent the night warm and cozy, absolutely, right under Firebrand's rump. Whether he could breathe, though, was another matter.
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Hiccup absolutely lost himself in a fit of laughter, doubled over on Toothless' back. Firebrand, who was flying with them, was willing to share what had led to Tord travelling up here, and Toothless was happy to act as a relay, as always, since Hiccup required contact to hear a dragon's projected thoughts.
"Oh gods! I can so relate to that. I know I shouldn't be laughing, but–" Under Tord's impassive stare, Hiccup lost himself in another fit of laughter.
"Now you see why I was so relieved when I came across Intrepid and learned that she was willing to carry me."
Hiccup smiled at the Monstrous Nightmare upon which Tord sat as he thought back to those early days in that battle against Drago. It was a time of pain and defeat, but the victory brought so much relief and inspired so much growth.
The Dragon King, the massive Bewilderbeast that Valka had worked with at her dragon sanctuary, had been defeated. Drago's Bewilderbeast had control over all the dragons, including Toothless, and was on the move towards Berk. Hiccup and his companions had their dragons, but Tord had defected from the attacking force and ended up riding one of the captive dragons that was released, her name of Intrepid being well-earned for that.
Hiccup simply thought it was one more rider to allow one more dragon to fight without falling prey to the Bewilderbeast's mind snare, but he never imagined the consequences would reach far beyond that. After Drago's defeat, Tord headed South and everyone expected that was the end of that. Nobody expected to see him again.
"I did what was necessary," Tord said curtly. "And so did Firebrand." He looked over at the dragon in question. "Eventually."
That instantly sobered Hiccup. "Yes, you did, and I'm still playing catch-up. All I know is that we got our butts absolutely handed to us, and Toothless got captured, and I got captured trying to get him, and all seemed lost, and then suddenly you ride in on a flaming chariot to save our hides."
"Yes, flaming chariot," Tord mused, "if by 'chariot' you're referring to the dragon I rode, I suppose that would be quite accurate." He looked over at Hiccup. "I'm still playing catch-up as well and–" he looked around. "I wasn't paying attention, but we're not flying towards Berk, are we?"
Hiccup shook his head. They had set up some dragons and riders to take care of the dragons that were freed from the cages in the retreating fleet, but he wasn't ready to head home just yet. The first victim of the attacking armada was a tribe whose island was meadows and forests.
The battle there was decidedly one-sided, and while many managed to flee on heavily-laden dragons, many died that day. The enemy took no prisoners. Hiccup's good friend, Hauk, was struck hard by the loss of his mentor Grub, who stayed and fought with his dragon to buy time for the rest to flee as they were both so full of fire and zeal and…
Hiccup scrunched his eyes. It always stung to think about good people dying, but especially so when they died doing something so noble, when they could only trust that their sacrifice accomplished something. They would never get to see the fruit of their labor but could only accept their death and hope.
It reminded him of Stoick.
Toothless shook him out of his mental rut. "Thanks, Bud, I needed that," he mumbled, and he meant it. Now was not the time to shut down or draw inward.
"Yes," he said as he followed Tord's knowing gaze toward a speck on the horizon ahead. "There's a lot more I need to learn, a lot more we all need to learn, and it'll take more than just asking the dragons what they have seen and heard."
