The alpha took his snout away from the vikings hand and looked at him, enjoying the calm that Eret, son of Eret, henceforth known as big Eret, showed. However, the viking then seemed very wary and backed off, his eyes stuck on a point behind the night fury. In curiosity, Toothless looked backwards, to the hidden world where they had come from. His eyes went wide as he spotted his three offspring heading at high speed towards the vessel and, curse them, landing just behind him, taking advantage of the extra space the vikings had liberated on the deck.
Toothless stared at them incredulously for one second. He then snapped. "What in the burning deathgripper dung are your three eggshell heads doing here?!" he roared, stating eggshell heads instead of eggheads due to the fact that eggs had a content.
Dart looked at him defiantly, a low growl leaving her teeth. "You want to chase these humans away. That is a mistake, and we are going to stop you from doing it."
Toothless blinked. Dart kept up her stare. Toothless blinked, again. "Okay."
Dart tilted her head. "Am I that good at convincing people?"
The alpha turned towards the dragons circling the vessel. He gave a long, calming call. "These humans will not harm us!" he declared. They had no weapons, had approached calmly and most of them were children. He wanted to live with humans in peace, and this was a golden opportunity.
"And Pouncer, Ruffrunner and I will let them explore the hidden world!" added Dart, right besides her father.
"You will not," stated Toothless immediately. Yes, he was not going to chase them away, but his offspring completely lacked the responsibility, care and common sense required to do stuff. He did keep a large part of his attention on the humans though. "And why are you helping her?" he barked at Pouncer and Ruffrunner. This was not all that unexpected for Dart, but for them?
"She is our sister, and there is nothing like love between siblings," answered Pouncer confidently. Toothless' gaze was anything but convinced, even after the white nighlight's awkward smile.
"She will fish for me for a month while Pouncer can tell her all he wants about Laura to her,'' said Ruffrunner bluntly. Toothless nodded and gave a low growl. Why would it be anything else?
A throat clearing turned his head again, and Toothless redirected his attention fully towards the humans. Just as he did so, one careful child stepped forwards, offering a salmon to the night fury. Toothless looked at it suspiciously.
"Well? Why are you not eating?" asked Pouncer.
The night fury growled. This was something he had not thought of, but if the humans wanted to offer food, that left a clear possibility. "They might be poisoned," he stated. He wanted to trust Eret and the young crew, but with all of his knowledge of humans, he couldn't.
Dart snorted. "They are not poisoned," she stated as she stepped forwards, nearly scaring the child to death and then swiftly sliding the fish down her throat before calmly looking at her father. "See?"
Toothless had his eyes wide in fear as this happened, the interaction too fast for him to avoid. In the next second, he gave a sharp roar that shook the ship and froze all life forms on it. The circling dragons kept up their flight, but that was only to avoid falling out of the sky. The night fury faced his offspring.
They were a danger to him and they were a danger to themselves. He was not going to let that continue. They wanted to take these vikings into the hidden world. He could use it. "Take care of these humans, and take care of them well. I will tell you exactly what you need to do with them," he stated, raging eyes going from Ruffrunner to Pouncer to Dart. Even though she was the instigator, his sons were still helping her, and as such also needed the lesson. "If you don't follow through with it, you're grounded until winter. Are we clear?"
Dart gulped. "Clear," she answered in the end. "What do we need to do?"
Eret, son of Eret, son of Eret, henceforth known as little Eret, observed as the night fury took off in curiosity, leaving only the three black and white dragons on the deck. For some reason, they seemed uneasy. They exchanged worried glances between themselves and the human crew as well as the many dragons that were still circling overhead. The child suspected the reason for their uneasiness to be the fact that Toothless, as the night fury was called, had just roared at them.
The boy had recognized the blue eyed dragon as the one who had carried him back to his ship and decided to cheer it up. For some reason, the cowards besides him seemed hesitant to approach. These were just dragons. What was so scary about them?
Having had enough of how no one wanted to cooperate, he approached the dragon that unbeknownst to him was named Dart. "Hi," he said happily. The nightlight took a breath and met up to meet him. He petted her and the two rejoiced at meeting again.
To the kid's marvel, Dart then bowed down her head for him to climb on.
The boy chuckled. "Oh, you're a hot piece." He climbed on the dragon's back and turned to the others, grinning in pride.
Unfortunately, the unlucky boy had parents. "What do you think you are doing? We are not here to treat dragons like toys," stated Helga with fiery eyes. Little Eret sighed.
"Don't you see? It wants to fly with me," he stated. Pointedly, the dragon below him huffed in agreement.
"Well, if that's the case, I will also fly on it," declared one child that happened to be the eleven year old girl of a fisherman. She stepped behind him and tried to climb onto Dart. Only for the dragon to back away and lightly growl at her. The girl stepped back in fear, seemingly having realised that she was facing a fire-breathing predator twenty times her size.
"This is how it works with dragons," stated Helga, deciding to take the opportunity to teach these children the lesson they needed. "They are kind, but also intelligent. Try to climb onto one without caring for it and you will either be chased away or…" She looked at the children and gave a malicious grin. "Burned to a crisp." The children looked at her mortified, particularly the girl who was realising just how close she had come to the latter. But it was the truth, and they were to learn it.
Helga nodded at the silence. "How about you show them some manners now?" The girl nodded and approached Dart calmly, fearful eyes down on the ground. She positioned herself in front of the dragon and awaited the judgement for a few tense moments.
Dart purred and gave a small lick to the girl's face before once more offering her neck.
"Stop being wastes of air and let humans climb onto you," stated Dart with the most annoyed tone her brothers had heard in a long time. Normally, neither of them would have complied. But their father had made it clear that this was their task. Ruffrunner had suggested to… not let the three of them deal with the vikings. But the night fury was determined to have them do it, both as a punishment and a lesson.
Ruffrunner resentment for Dart was higher than usual right now.
This thought was still outshadowed by one of those devilish little creatures aiming right for him. Ruffurnner's heart picked up its pace as his snout pointed urgently at his sibling beside him. He gave a worried croon, pleading for this individual to go to them instead. But no, the child approached him, and said something that he didn't recognize. He missed his sleeping slab.
The child closed its eyes and stretched out a hand, imitating big Eret from a few minutes ago. The nightlight sighed.
This child was not going to hurt him. His father had stated this and it was aided by the fact that this creature was even smaller than some fish he regularly ate. Also, he didn't have much of a choice.
Reluctantly, he pushed his snout into the child's hand. It was warm. Ruffrunner made a mental note that vikings were warm-blooded. The child opened its marvelled eyes, and the nightlight cracked a small smile. The two inspected each other for a few more moments before the child was allowed to climb on his back. Let a small, kind human onto his neck? He could do that.
It was at this point that the nightlight noticed the three children already on Dart and the four on Pouncer.
"You are slow. Get them too," stated Dart while pointing at the five remaining humans on the deck, which were both bigger and impatiently looking at him.
Pouncer and Ruffrunner took off. Dart did not. Three children were on her back, but two adults and one child were still stuck on the wooden deck.
They wanted to fly. And who was she to refuse it? But she couldn't physically carry anything above three children. Pouncer, who was (sigh) slightly stronger than her, was carrying four children and thus also at maximum capacity. Ruffrunner was filled up too. They would need help from one more dragon. How lucky that the alpha and his advisors were circling overhead.
Her father, her mother, Hookfang, Rej and Stormfly. Which of these dragons would be best suited to carry them? She seemed to recall that one of these adults was a certain Eret, who had a previous connection with one of the dragons…
"Stormfly!" she called out. "Can you carry those three?"
Big Eret and Helga looked at the sky, anxiously waiting for one of the circling dragons to pick them up. And when the blue nadder started approaching, a wave of relief washed down over Helga. For big Eret, the appearance of that particular deadly nadder did not enact the same feeling. "Why did it have to be her?" he mumbled under his breath.
"Can we please fly along?" asked Helga nervously as the nadder landed and greeted them with a chirp.
Stormfly chirped again and offered her neck for the woman and the child to climb onto. Helga swallowed her fears and jumped onboard, holding the nadders numerous head spikes for of course, when big Eret wanted to do the same, Stormfly raised her neck and instead moved her claws towards the viking.
Not wanting to repeat last time's torture, Eret promplty took a step back, away from the nadder's not-so invitiong claws, and stared into Stormfy's eyes.
He tried to gesture his wishes. The viking held his right hand out in front of him and pointed to it from above with his left hand, while vigorously nodding and smiling. He then pointed to his right hand from below and vigorously shook his head while frowning. It was a clear, simple message. Above: yes. Below: no.
Stormfly was somewhat perplexed by Eret deciding to give her details of his intimate life, but decided to shrug it off. Barking at Dart to fly away too, she grabbed him into her claws and took to the sky.
Pouncer wasn't feeling calm. He wasn't feeling calm at all. It was the first time a human touched him, let alone rode him. Oh, and there were four of them.
The only upside was that they seemed to be even more afraid than he was. At least, telling from the painful grip they held on his ear nubs.
He purred soothingly and tried to avoid going into hard manoeuvres, despite the deep urge to do barrel rolls and show these humans an even freer form of flight.
"Could you please not hold my head so hard?" he whined. Hypothetically, he liked being touched and grabbed. Though hypothetically, it would have been a female light fury to do so and not four human children. Oh, would Laura want to have him?
But as the one riding him understood Pouncer's pain and let go just a little, reminding the dragon of reality once more, the nightlight's eyes turned towards the happy, golden haired figure sitting on his neck. "Hey, you are pretty nice, aren't you?" he rumbled. Sure, this human lacked all those exquisite curves that light furies offered, but was pleasant nonetheless. And when it pointed a little hand forwards, asking Pouncer to go faster, he complied.
"Ruffrunner, what do you think? Are you enjoying the emotions of this incredible experience?" he asked the black nightlight.
Ruffrunner took a moment away from convincing himself that the three little children would not strangle him to cast an almost distressed look to his brother. "No."
Ruffrunner should take from him and show a bit less fear, thought Pouncer. The fact that the white nightlight had been just as afraid a moment ago was irrelevant.
The scorching sun shone down on the ocean. Right now, in the afternoon of a late summer day, it was warmer than ever. Even in the hidden world, where temperature differences remained at a minimum, it could be felt. It could be seen even, due to the dragons doing very little more than laying, paws and wings sprawled, on the most comfortable available surface. In general conscience, this was a day to sleep, maybe eat a little, and generally stay away from anything laborious. Four dragons carrying a total of thirteen humans formed a notable exception.
Ruffrunner remembered how he had been one of these happy creatures. It was a simpler time then. Before Dart. Before the humans. Before everything. Half an hour ago had been such a pleasant time. But Ruffrunner considered himself wise, and as a wise dragon, he would think about the future and not linger in the past. His siblings should learn from him, he thought.
And Dart had promised to fish for him for a month. It would be worth it. He could finally get to spend his time eating, sleeping and…
"And stop holding onto my split spines!" he growled at the children on his back, who the nightlight was convinced were the worst of the bunch. In particular, they seemed to have decided that the manoeuvring scales that sprouted from his back made great handles, and held the rather delicate scales with vigour. With satisfaction, he noted how the children's grip loosened. Still, these were devilish creatures.
Nonetheless, he trusted humans more than he did a few minutes ago. This was flying on currents compared to what his siblings usually subjected him to.
But at least they had arrived. The alpha and his advisors followed closely, warily guarding the quartet of dragons with vikings on them. Before descending, Dart spoke to the three of them from the front of the formation. "My beloved dragon. Pouncer and Ruffrunner. Let us show these humans the beauty that we live in!"
Ruffrunner gave her a blank stare. But he had more important matters to attend to. With the prospect of giving these children a little payback, the nightlight started to fall. "Let's see what you think of this," he growled teasingly.
The subsequent screams of fear filled his heart with joy. The fact that the children were now holding onto his manoeuvring spines with all their strength did not.
As the sun moved along its wide arch across the sky, warm rays of sunlight made their way into a tunnel on the eastern side of the hole, where the three hatchlings of a monstrous nightmare saw the sunlight for the first time. The dragons, barely a month old and not even as big as a terrible terror, were marveled and terrified by the great ball of fire, and closely huddling to their mother while observing it.
After teaching an important lesson on how you should not stare at very bright objects, said mother then decided it would be great to teach her hatchlings just how lucky they were, and how the little angels had to live their life to their fullest.
"This is the hidden world, our home," she said solemnly. Whether or not her kids understood speech didn't really matter. The monstrous nightmare felt intelligent either way. "And we should all be grateful for living here."
The large dragon closed her eyes, letting the bright rays of light warm her yellow scales. "Once upon a time dragons lived outside. And it wasn't a good life. Many were forced to fight for evil queens."
The mother purred at the hatchlings laying against her. Really, at their age, their main activity was eating and finding the closest warm-blooded animal to sleep against. And they weren't bothered but whatever that animal said. "But that isn't everything. The outside world contained humans. Small, but many, and with incredible but twisted minds, they meant that you always had to be on guard."
The yellow dragon sighed, distant memories making their way back to her. "Some of them were good. A pack of them had learned to live peacefully with us," she said. "But others were not so friendly. They hunted us. And even though they were small and weak, all of their new inventions meant that, very often, they won."
The small family looked forwards, at the heavily trafficked main entrance. The mother thought about when her little hatchlings would learn to fly. How would her life change then? She smiled at the knowledge that whatever happened, they would be safe. "But thanks to our great alpha Toothless, and no I don't know why he calls himself that, we moved here, to the hidden world, where there is no way for humans, good or bad, to reach us and harm us," she concluded joyously.
"Hello!" barked a black and white dragon as it dove in front of them, three human children on its back holding for their life. A total of seven other dragons and ten humans swept before them a moment later.
The mother stood perfectly still for ten long seconds. She then snapped back, sudden anger colouring her face. "Alright, back to the nest, now."
Under her father's watchful eyes, Dart banked towards a more secluded part of the hidden world, as she had been instructed. She cast a curious glance at those on her back, as they had strangely not talked ever since she had entered the cavern.
The children seemed traumatised, their eyes very wide and their breaths heady. The nightlight suspected that this reaction might have been caused by the dive.
Moments later, she landed on the rocky ledge and let off her passengers. Her suspicion was further confirmed when they climbed off her and physically showed their gratitude towards the ground.
The group had flown to a rather secluded part of the hidden world, home to ledges and crystals but not much in terms of dragons. That is, apart from the ones who had just arrived. Her siblings and Stormfly landed moments later.
"Stormfly?" asked the nightlight thoughtfully.
The deadly nadder had been occupied getting to know what she believed to be Eret's mate. And so far, she seemed like a nice enough person. For starters, the woman had politely asked Stormfly to take her clawed paw off Eret, indicating a deep care for others' wellbeing. The deadly nadder had responded by gently licking the woman's face.
"Stormfly!" barked Dart, louder.
Stormfly looked up. "Yes?"
"Why are you holding that human like that?" she barked. Her father had made their task clear. They were to respect the humans and make the humans respect them and the blue dragon was not really doing the former.
Stormfly smiled. "He is a friend."
Ruffrunner thought about the situation. The nightlight had expected a meeting with humans to be tense and terrifying. But then he hadn't known the age of said humans. These children were proving to be none of that, and instead just exhausting.
In particular, one of them, who seemed to want to climb on him and fly. The nightlight stepped back only to once more be attacked by hands. Ruffrunner noted how these vikings were much more docile when in the air. He gave a whine when the devilish creature attempted to hold onto his ear to climb on his back. Oh, how he wanted to act against it. But Dart wouldn't allow it.
"Ruffrunner," called the voice of his father from up above. The nightlight turned his head to the ledge overhead.
The alpha turned his snout at the small viking. "Make him respect you," he said sternly. The nighlight's eyes widened. If the alpha had told him to…
Ruffrunner's shot hit the rocky wall, the pound resounding through the cave. The stone splintered from the heat, raising a cloud of dust and leaving a hole in the wall. The nightlight turned at the child's traumatised little face with a smile and trotted off.
Moment's later, he was greeted by a new human, apparently having learned from the errors of the first. This one pointed at the air and put his hands forwards. The nightlight snorted. Very polite, but he didn't want to.
"Let him fly. This one asked nicely," stated Toothless, reminding the nightlight that he didn't have a choice.
The nightlight groaned. In the stories, humans were known to always find devilish ways to achieve what they wanted. And this little viking had shown exactly that. Why couldn't his father do this himself? Lazy alpha.
Soon enough, the viking's children's love for ground had been replaced by their love for danger, and they were once more longing for the sky. Toothless huffed in satisfaction.
"Alpha!" barked his mate urgently from a distance. She had flown away when it had become clear that there was no imminent danger. Apparently, she had found something that needed his attention, and that thing couldn't wait for these humans to leave. The night fury spared a sarcastic thought on how being an alpha never left him bored.
"What happened?" he asked.
"A deadly nadder. She's a lively hatchling, and you know how young creatures love flying." Toothless nodded, having more than enough evidence right in front of him.
Light gave a sad croon. "And hate staying on the ground for long enough for their ripped wings to heal."
The alpha gave a silent whine. Hatchlings with ripped wings. What really hurt him was that it had happened before.
He was going to meet that hatchling, appear wise and caring and threatening and try to discipline said nadder into obeying and staying still. He was the alpha, making people obey him was his job. And then… hope. Hope that a hatchling resisted the urge to fly for the weeks that it took for a rip to heal, depending on how big the initial damage was. And if the hatchling tried to fly without healing…
A permanently broken wing, at best. A crash, at worst. Whether the hatchling made it depended on how big the rip was, and how energetic the hatchling was. Toothless looked at his mate, his eyes urgent for an answer. The light fury eyes were on the ground. She shook her head.
Toothless closed his eyes and butted head with his mate. He ruled over thousands of dragons, and unfortunately, he couldn't save them all.
His eyes snapped open. "Stormfly! Does any one of these humans know how to sew through leather?"
Helga observed the situation with intensity, sketching runes on a sketchpad in the process. A group of humans was meeting a group of dragons, and she wasn't going to forget a single detail of it. Not that she could understand what was happening, children flying on dragons, enjoying themselves, offering fish… And the dragons let them. Surprisingly, this was not as demanding of her as she had expected. It seemed as if the beasts themselves were taking care of the small vikings, leaving her with relatively little to do.
Eret, son of Eret, approached her. "Remember when we explained to them how one must deal with dragons?"
Helga looked at her husband. "Yes?"
"Did we also tell them that dragons can breathe fire?"
The woman tilted her head "I thought that was common knowledge?"
The ex-dragon trapper nodded. "And one of the children thinks that we are horrible and what comes out of a dragon's behind, unless there is more that we are hiding and what comes out of a dragon's behind is also flames."
Helga blinked, not really sure what she was supposed to say. She opened her mouth, but before anything could come out of it, a deadly nadder landed in front of them and hastily chirped.
Her husband glared at the newcomer. "Stormfly! We are busy, you know!" Said husband was promptly ignored as the nadder walked up to her and offered the blue scales on her neck.
Helga's eyes widened. "You want me to fly on you?" The nadder gave one more chirp.
While giving a careful look to the surroundings, which seemed calm enough, Helga climbed onto the nadder's neck. "Well… I guess…"
She had barely had the time to take a hold on the Stormfly's spine when they took off, her husband's murmurs about disliking certain nadders quickly fading in the distance. The dragon was soon flanked by who Helga recognized as Toothless and possibly the night fury's mate, given how the two had always seemed close when she had seen them. Before she could ponder on why, they had arrived at the end of a narrow tunnel, and it took her eyes a moment to readjust to the darkness.
In front of her was a large deadly nadder, slit thin eyes stuck on her. To her relief, the night fury and his mate were casting her an equally stern stare, dissuading the dragon from attacking. This allowed the woman to focus on the tiny creature that was just in front of her. An adorable little happy deadly nadder hatchling which just sparked joy in her… until she noticed the wing.
The wing was barely as long as her forearm… and the rocky wall of the tunnel could be seen through a tear in the skin membrane, its sides coated a thin red in red from blood that had formed a crust not long ago.
Stormfly nudged her towards the hatchling, and the wing in particular. The woman's eyes went wide.
"Why did you take me here? I don't know dragons. That probably needs sewing, but I don't know how to deal with it." She looked at Stormfly, and at the deadly nadder in the back of the cave, who she now suspected was the hatchling's mother. The dragons didn't move, and her breathing quickened. "Surely, this is not the first time it has happened. You must know how to deal with a torn wing?" She looked up and down the nadder. "You just take a thin rope and…"
The woman's gaze became stuck on the dragon's claws. They were not opposable thumbs, and they were not meant to handle tools. And there was a hatchling with a broken wing in front of her.
Helga turned towards Stormfly. "I need things that are on the ship."
The hatchling whined and hopped away. Its mother gave a low growl, making it resignately keep still, so that Helga could reach his wings.
She would sew a hatchling's wing while three fire-breathing dragons looked at her. No pressure there. Her heart was pounding, but she took a deep breath "I will do my best," said the woman before focusing on the task at hand.
She put some time pondering on the rope, wanting something thin, strong, and something that would eventually decompose for the dragon to be free of it. After deciding on a thin fibre of long yak hair, she painstakingly let the needle pass through the wing's thin string membrane. She looked at the other wing, which was whole, to be sure to achieve the correct result, and made many, tight holes to ensure the two parts of the skin were in close enough contact. With some luck, they would fuse again as the wound healed, and be strong enough for flight by the time the rope was gone. During all of that time, she kept giving the poor hatchling calming hums as it would howl in pain every time she made a hole. Most likely, the other dragons also contributed to making the hatchling keep still, but Helga was too focused to notice that. It wasn't until she reached the end of the wing that she stopped her mechanical motion, upon which she made the strongest node she could manage and took a step back.
The mother chirped and nuzzled her hatchling, giving happy chirps to soothe the little one's whines, before turning around and giving Helga a nuzzle of her own. Soon after, Stormfly flew her back to where the others were.
"I did a loop with a dragon!" greeted little Eret as soon as she stepped off the deadly nadder. The sound of humans talking again took her by surprise, and she shook herself before returning to the vikings.
During all of the time the humans were in the hidden world, they could stare in awe at the many incredible dragons that it contained. Said dragons could also stare in awe at the humans, and were very much worried by this. Wasn't the whole point of the hidden world being free from humans? Many expressed their concerns in more or less colourful words. Luckily for the humans, they couldn't understand what was said about them. In the meantime, the alpha's offspring continued their aerobatics.
As soon as Pouncer landed next to the pond to let off his panting passenger, four new children flocked around him. The white nightlight grinned at the attention. "Do you think that some of these humans are females? That's not a surprise, really. It is impossible for any female to resist me, no matter the species."
"Pouncer, no," said Dart immediately, terminating the horrific idea before any twisted mind could snatch it up.
"Just know. No female can keep their paws off me," he said confidently while puffing his muscles.
Dart unsheathed her claws. "Especially your throat."
The sky was red with sunset when Ruffrunner and the three other dragons made their way back to the sea. The God Enrager's anchor shook gently as the ship was rocked by their landing. As when they had arrived, the alpha and his advisors circled overhead, but this time, the fear of the situation turning into violence was much lower. Regardless, Ruffrunner found it aesthetically pleasing.
"We are done!" declared Dart as the last of the passengers disembarked. He took a moment to breathe and looked at the setting sun, but it was currently shadowed by some kind of large pile of food sitting on the ships aft. The viking who she now knew as Eret, son of Eret, gestured at them to take it. Ruffrunner's eyes widened.
Now, he had to treat this manner carefully. As Dart had demonstrated, these fish were not poisonous, and he could take all he wanted. But it was realistically too much, even for him. The best course of action for the hidden world would be carrying it to the lower levels, where access to food was the most limited. Ruffrunner thought about proposing that, but then realised it would mean he would have to carry said food, which sounded anything but fun. However, they would likely be forced to bring this food somewhere, so the best course of action was to propose somewhere that was easy to reach. "Do you want us to bring this food to the light furies' cavern?" he asked their father up above.
"You will carry this food to the lower caverns, where it is needed the most," ordered the alpha, apparently still determined to teach them a lesson on obedience. All nightlights groaned.
Ruffrunner looked at his siblings. "For once, we all agree. This is going to be a slog," he said. Pouncer and Dart nodded, enjoying the trios' rare moment of harmony. This one was exceptionally long, lasting for fifteen whole seconds.
Pouncer then added that they also could all agree that Ruffrunnner was to blame, as he had suggested the idea to their father. The black nighlight had responded by claiming it was their sister's idea to take care of the humans, which then caused said sister to claim that taking care of the humans by force would have been much better, and it was nothing but her brothers' 'sensible' suggestions that were now forcing them to do actual work.
Anyways, it had been fifteen very pleasant seconds.
Why? Why had he agreed to this? Why had he accepted helping her sister in something that had now led to him having to make a trip that featured fifteen kilometres of vertical climb?
Ruffrunner wasn't sure what had gotten into him. But he surely resented it.
The habitants of Laura's home cavern had apparently never seen food before. The pile contained fish and mostly cheap meat from berserker island, but the dragons stared at it like it with more respect than towards an alpha.
"You can do more than just watch," said Pouncer after noticing how the small crowd of dragons was for some reason keeping a distance to the pile.
One of the dragons, a gronkle, creeped its way closer, and sniffed cautiously at the bottom of the pile. "Is that non-fish meat?" asked the dragon in awe, its yellow eyes looking at the food in marvel.
"Yes it is. I cannot tell you which meat, sadly, as I don't know that much about the animals of the outside world," said Dart while thinking that maybe a few more visits outside wouldn't be that bad…
"But I can," said Stormfly. "That is yak."
Cautiously, the gronkle transferred said yak into its mouth. "This is delicious. Where does it come from?"
Dart smiled. "It's a gift from the humans who carried it here."
The yak meat that had been in the gronkle's mouth immediately left it. "This is absolutely disgusting, and it is a disgrace that you are giving it to us," said the dragons as it flew off, its rapid wingbeats sounding even quicker and angrier than usual.
But the other dragons had heard the word delicious. And many, if not all of them now started to take from the pile, who's life expectancy was steadily declining. The four dragons which had carried it here looked at the fruits of their work. A certain female nighlight was very happy with herself.
"Thank you Stormfly. Will you help us in the future?" asked Dart.
The blue dragon chuckled and shook her head. "Sorry guys. It was fun, but you should try finding someone your age."
Dart nodded and turned towards her brothers. "You two weren't useless either. Thanks."
"Oh, such warm words," exclaimed Ruffrunner with his paw on his chest. "My heart is melting."
Dart rolled her eyes. "If there is something that I can do to repay you..." she said, trying to not show her hope. Had they managed to forget?
Nope. The toxic green eyes of her brothers were unimpressed. "Don't act as if we didn't have a deal."
Dart's honour was causing a serious pain to her used wing muscles. The nightlight had flown for hours with heavy loads today, and now had to fish for Ruffrunner because of their deal. With a final burst of adrenaline, she took the last few wingbeats and landed in her cavern. She retracted her wings, giving them some much needed rest. Tiredly, she walked deeper into the cavern and dropped the large cod in front of Ruffrunner.
"Could you get makrill next time? I like them better. But of course, since they are smaller fish you will have to get more of them," he said happily. Because there wasn't anything quite like having one's sister work for you.
After explaining how she could get a piece of Ruffrunner's throat next time, she reluctantly moved on to the next errand. While Ruffrunner's price was laborious, yet innocent, Pouncer's request to explain his dream would with all likelihood involve things that no dragon should ever hear. Nevertheless, Pouncer had helped her today, and she was a dragon of honour.
"So, how is Laura? What was that 'wonderful dream?'" she asked, fearful of the contents of her brother's mind.
Pouncer smiled. "It was spring. It was beautiful. And we were slowly flying towards the sunset…"
"Huh. That's not so bad," said Dart. She had expected far worse.
"And then it became night and we landed and…"
And Dart would feel a surge of disgust every time she looked at her brother for the coming two months.
Said brother looked rather pleased instead. "Wouldn't that be wonderful?"
Dart swore to never approach a male ever again. She was starting to feel sick.
This was not in any way improved by Pouncer, with his usual enthusiastic, despiteful voice. "Now, let me tell you about the most important things to be well developed in females," he started.
What had she done to deserve this? Dart wanted to leave. She did not want to see how Pouncer's total lack of shame once again broke basic dragon decency. But despite her desire to fly away, her promise to let Pouncer talk about anything and her aching wing muscles kept her stuck. The poor nightlight wasn't sure she would survive a lot more of this torture. Was there any solution?
"You see, the muscles that power the back paws…"
"Pouncer!" she snapped, barely managing the desire to remove her brother's vocal cords with her claws.
"What?"
"Why don't you go tell these things to Laura? I am sure she will love it!" she said with a very forced smile and slightly homicidal eyes.
Her brother looked entranced by this at first… until his toxic green eyes suddenly went downcast. "I thought that approaching females while camouflaged would guarantee results, but if Laura doesn't want to… be with me..." he sighed. This time, Dart listened. As soon as her brother was suffering he became much more pleasant.
"Now, I know that everyone will fall in love with me eventually," he clarified while puffing out his chest. "But…" Even for Dart, what Pouncer meant wasn't hard to understand. Her idiotic brother was afraid of getting rejected. How quaint.
"Really? What happened to that confident white dragon that wasn't in the least afraid to lay a wing over Laura two weeks ago?" she asked smugly. To make sure the idea really got into her brother's head, she skillfully avoided mentioning that said dragon had failed miserably and had been a general douchebag. Still was, thinking about it.
Pouncer tilted his head. "Are you telling me I should go to a female?"
I am telling you to go far away from me, she thought. But yes, the answer was yes. The female nighlight just couldn't find any other way to get her brother away from her sight.
Inwardly, she felt guilty. She was essentially sending Pouncer towards Laura. And no female should have to be subjected to her brother. But the world was a cruel place.
"You're right. I'm going."
However, there was something she could do to make it better. "Just one thing, Pouncer," she said while turning away, thus making sure her brother was behind her.
The white nighlitght looked at his sister. "What?"
Dart gathered all her force and smacked her brother's nose with her tail. She met the nightlight's astonished look with stern eyes.
"I know you will deserve it," she explained. "Now go away and mess up someone else's life."
After countless attempts to convince Pouncer of why females were nothing but a waste of valuable rest time, Ruffrunner had given up and told him where Laura lived. Coincidentally, it was in the same cavern where they had carried the food. Pouncer now dove as fast as he could, keeping his eyes wide open for the underground ravine despite the heavy airflow hitting against them.
There. The pile of food that they had delivered less than an hour ago, already considerably smaller. Pouncer hastily bit down on a mouthful and chewed it. Although less impressive than stealthily walking up to a female and impressing her with charming words, regurgitated food was still a viable option.
The cavern was full of dragons, both near the central stream and in small crevasses which dotted the walls. Luckily for the nightlight, light furies stark white colour made for excellent camouflage in white snow and in absolutely nothing else.
Many had speculated that light furies had been designed by a higher being purely to look feminine, rather than being a viable species. Well, if that was true, Pouncer was thankful. According to the nightlight, it made the white dragons much more appealing and easier to find.
There. A pure white dragon drinking from a puddle. He landed behind her. "Laura."
The light fury turned around and stared at the nightlight with curious eyes. "Pouncer? What are you doing here?"
Alright. This was his moment. "I know that you didn't want a long confession about the true meaning of love. But that was two weeks ago." A toothy grin made its way on Pouncer's face while Laura prepared herself for what promised to be an… interesting confrontation.
The white nighlight felt right at home, and spoke with a confidence that surprised even himself. "And during those two weeks, I have been thinking about your scales and wings and back and…"
"Hmmm," mumbled Laura with a noticeable amount of worry, though secretly amused by the shameless suggestion.
"Thinking of you just makes me happy. And I know you are worrying. You are breaking your head about whether I am taken, just like I am worrying about you," he said as Laura rolled her eyes.
"Well, you don't have to worry anymore as I have no mate," concluded the nightlight.
The light fury chuckled. "Who could have guessed that?"
Poucer felt glorious. He had made her smile! "And from what I saw in this cavern, the same is true for you?" he continued.
"It is," answered Laura happily. She could have lied… but this was starting to get fun. "My dear Pouncer. Do you want dating advice?" she asked, thinking that the dragon in front of her deserved as much as she had given to his brother. "I know it may seem hopeless, but… with some luck…"
Pouncer shook his head, the smile never once disappearing from his face. He puffed out his chest, displaying his muscles. "My gorgeous Laura. There is only one thing I want. And that is you."
Laura was flattered and amused. No male had ever acted this way before. But she couldn't deny that this was just stupid. "As much as I appreciate being the 'thing' you want…"
She halted herself as a mess of blood, organs and bones exited Pouncer's mouth, making a small pile onto the rocky floor. Her stomach growled in anticipation.
Pouncer had just taken out his triumph card, and now looked at his target with hopeful and fearful eyes. "Here is regurgitated fish. For you."
Laura looked at the gift in awe. It smelled like Pouncer. She could see how strong teeth had cut through flesh and bones alike, making a delicious looking mess that she had barely dreamt of.
"Thank you," was all she managed to say before practically diving into Pouncer's gift.
"You're welcome," answered the nightlight with a satisfied face as he watched her eating. He had succeeded. There was only one thing left. He made his way closer, and for the second time let his wing wrap over the light fury's body. He could feel her smooth back, her salty scent, her… muscles contracting violently as she shoved him off?!
"I am not going to mate with you just because you gave me regurgitated fish!" barked the light fury with extended claws and a tone halfway between playful and murderous.
Pouncer looked astonished. "What?!" he roared with sudden sadness and anger.
Laura sighed. She had broken this dragon's beliefs, and made him suffer. She tried to make things better. "Listen."
The nightlight looked at her with an once more hopeful look. "You don't seem like an idiot…" No, this wasn't right. This wasn't right at all. She halted herself and searched for a better way to say it. "You don't seem like a complete idiot…" Yeah, that sounded good.
"But I don't know you enough. And I don't know myself enough," she said. Laura had started finding males interesting relatively recently, and wasn't sure what she wanted. "Maybe in the future..." Pouncer had seemed fun, after all. "But I am not going to mate with you now. Even if you bring me regurgitated fish."
Pouncer just stared.
"You are the most muscular white nightlight I know," she joked to lighten the mood.
The white nightlight shook his head angrily. "I am tired of being treated like this. First you say yes, then no, then yes again…" Laura tilted her head. When had she ever said yes? "Well, I am not going to be played like this. Goodbye."
As he took off, leaving the evil female and his dreams of happiness behind. The female in question marvelled at what had just happened. "And that is the alpha's son?" she exclaimed.
"Remember when you said that females are nothing but a waste of valuable rest time?" asked Pouncer angrily.
His very much still asleep brother strugled to understand why he was being woken up in the deep of night. Using all of his effort, the black nightlight managed to whisper out an answer. "Mmmh?"
"You were right." The white nightlight curled up into a ball and covered his eyes with his tail, locking away the light and sounds of the outside world. And that night, the nightlight made a promise. He would never fall into the malevious trap that people called 'love' ever again, and never more think about Laura.
Pouncer would then keep this promise for several hours.