Several days passed, and before long, the God Enrager was being prepared to set sail again. It was at this point that Helga noted a certain modification that had been made on the vessel. She looked at her husband coldly. "You stole my wing."
"I repurposed it," stated big Eret defensively. "And the glider you want to put it on is broken anyways.
His wife didn't let up her raging gaze. "You are a thief."
"I helped build that wing," he retorted.
Helga snapped. The ship looked ridiculous now! "You cannot just put a wing on its side, put it on a mast and call it a sail!"
A smirk made its way onto the ex-dragon-trapper's face. "But I can," he said sweetily. "And, as it turns out, I can make the ship considerably faster by doing so."
Helga tried to come up with a comeback, but in lack of anything else, saddened. "You stole my wing," she said defeatedly.
Big Eret nodded. "Yes. Will you let me use it?"
Reluctantly, his wife agreed, upon which big Eret returned to work on the sail. Because, as Helga had admitted to herself, they had bigger problems to deal with. Fire-breathing dragons, far too enthusiastic children… and a horde of vikings that would slit their throats if they had known what they really were doing on those trips. Big Eret found his wife's arms wrapping around him from behind, and though she couldn't see it, smiled. "Thank you. I know this isn't easy for you," said his wife.
The ex-dragon trapped relaxed. And with that came the implications of her words. "Are you suggesting that dealing with dragons is hard for me? I am fully capable of taking care of those fierce, angry and terrifying beasts," he clarified stubbornly. Helga smiled at his words, until the viking decided to put his luck a little too far. "That is why I am with you."
The arms wrapped around his waist squeezed harder, almost painfully, and fingernails started to poke against his sides. "Say that again and I'll make you feel my dragon claws," threatened Helga playfully.
Eret quickly apologised. "You are right. You are nothing like a dragon." He admitted. "A yak would be a better fit…"
News of a fully-grown viking trying to run from a bulky, yet surprisingly fast woman would soon spread to the entire island.
The next day, the ship set to the wind, its new sail both exciting to the passengers and quite useful, despite a tendency for it to lean the ship precariously on its side. In the seeming blink of an eye, the island they had left disappeared beyond the horizon. In reality, it took about six hours, but for the two adults being forced to take care of eleven children, those hours didn't feel like monotonous waiting.
About twenty kilometres from the ship, Ulf cursed loudly, alone on his small sailboat in the middle of the ocean.
The viking took a breath, resting his aching arms. Apparently, no one on berserker island cared enough to see whether kids were being sent to dragonkind's hideout, and so the viking had tasked it upon himself to follow the God Enrager to Helm's Gate or beyond.
Yet his ship had proved too slow. In an effort to catch up, the ex-dragon-trapper had resorted to rowing, and kept up the gruelling pace for hours, until his muscles had given in, burning with every moment. Still, he had kept using what force he had until now, when the mast of the ship he was supposed to follow had sunk beneath the horizon.
The viking looked at the wooden structure beneath his feet with spite. "I will sink you." The ship didn't answer, and Ulf groaned in frustration.
With a sigh, the viking looked through his supplies and took out the map and charcoal. The waters near Berserker island were covered with lines, common routes that had been done countless times and definitely did not contain dragons. Ulf had not travelled far enough to leave these waters. By continuing forwards, he had no better chance than the countless boats who had preceded him.
Still, there was one more thing he could do. Using his charcoal, the viking marked out the spot where he had last seen the God Enrager's mast. And under that mark, he added a short message in runes.
Possible route from Berserker to dragons.
For the last twenty years, dragons had been gone. He was going to make sure they stayed that way.
At the same time, yet in a very different place, the alpha shook his head. "I don't care if it is violating your privacy. You are not allowed to fire a plasma blast at your brother's eye, even if he accidentally walked in the tunnel you were in."
"I was… distracted. And he startled me!" complained Pouncer. "It was just a reflex, there was nothing I could have done differently."
The night fury seemed unimpressed. His mate, even more so. "Was continuing by firing at his nose, wing leading edge, tail and other eye also a reflex?" she asked.
Pouncer gave a very exaggerated roll of his eyes."You don't get it, do you?" he said exasperatedly. Sometimes, he felt like the only sensible being in a world of idiots.
"I understand that you got angry at your brother. But you are becoming an adult," said the night fury firmly. "And adults act mature, and do not resort to violence just because someone annoys them…" Toothless halted himself as he noticed how his son was not paying attention to his presence in the slightest. "Are you listening to me?"
But this turned out to not be the case, as the nighlight's attention had been taken by an approaching light fury. However, not a light fury that Pouncer knew. This one was a lot larger, and seemed a lot less friendly.
"Alpha! Your mate threatened to kill me!" stated the newcomer bluntly.
Pouncer cast a teasing grin at him. "Adults act mature, you said?"
The alpha had the sudden desire to vaporise into particles too little to be seen. "Shut up. But we will continue this session as soon as the statement becomes true again," he said quietly. The nightlight flew away snickering.
Light seemed affronted. "I never threatened you, Lemon!" she barked defensively.
Toothless' mate had told him about Lemon, and about how she wished to see the dragon rotting in the bottom of a pit. However, he couldn't really ignore the accusation, not when an inhabitant of his realm had what could be a serious concern. Toothless observed closely as the other light fury rolled her eyes. "Really? Do you deny saying that the non-violence rule was the only thing keeping you from murdering me?"
Light seemed outraged. "That is not a threat! That is a statement."
The night fury closed in on her. "Now I see who Dart took from," he whispered in his beloved's ear, making the dragon roll her eyes.
"Alpha! Please do something about this outrageous dragon!" asked a furious Lemon.
At this, Toothless shook his head. "Light did not harm anyone, and neither did you," he explained. "Threat or not, it's not forbidden. Noone will be punished. Not yet." Thinking of it, letting everyone threaten each other how they wanted was… But it felt natural.
"She is a traitor to her kind, a menace to our lifestyle," protested the other dragon. "Even if you don't want to punish her, she is not worthy of being your mate!"
Light froze. "Oh," she whispered silently.
"Oh," noted Toothless, just as silent. His claws rumbled within their sheats.
Seemingly satisfied with their silence, Lemon decided that it would be a good idea to continue. "You know that it is true. She and the abominations of her children are causing chaos, and people are turning against you, alpha," she spat out venomously. "And your apparent obsession with humans isn't helping either."
At this point, the night fury looked at his mate in the eyes. And with the security that only two who had been mates for twenty years had, he understood all the light fury's marevelous and complex thoughts from just those two raging, yet so, so beautiful eyes.
The thoughts seemed to be a rough proposal to open Lemon's throat. Toothless didn't really reject it.
"Go on," he asked.
With the go-ahead, Lemon continued her statement. "What I, a proper light fury am doing, is giving you a chance. The humans are causing chaos, and if they arrive one more time, you should chase them away. And if that doesn't work…" She gestured the movements of snapping someone's neck.
Both Toothless and his mate were now very silent. "Anything more?"
"Yes. And it has to do with her," spat out the increasingly suicidal light fury. "You should leave them, find someone better and don't let their negative influence hurt you in your role as an alpha. And after that…"
"Don't you dare say one more word!" he roared, his patience finally gone. "Not when you call her children, my children, abominations or ask me to kill the innocents that are our only hope to ever leave this hole!"
"You know that it is true!" said the light fury defensively. And that was one more word. The night fury and his mate looked at each other and nodded calmly, yet determined.
"Tell me, Lemon, are you good at flying?" asked the alpha.
The large light fury tilted her head. "Why are you asking?"
The words 'because me and my mate are going to chase you until the end of the world with extended claws and teeth' were never actually spoken, and instead subtly implied in Toothless and Light's actions. In summary, for the next half-hour, the three dragons found themselves very occupied.
Ruffrunner was lying on a warm stone in a peaceful part of the hidden world, partly sleeping and partly eyeing a nearby stream for something interesting. He then felt paw gently patting his side. The nightlight responded by a simple purr. He was grateful for the patter's manners, but didn't really want to leave his heavenly position.
"Would you please get up?" asked Dart kindly, attempting a diplomatic approach for once. "I want to explore that cavern where Laura lives, and I want you to guide me there."
Hearing his sister's voice immediately made the situation more tense."Why don't you ask Pouncer?" pleaded the nightlight.
"I don't Pouncer," explained the blue-eyed dragon.
Ruffrunner rumbled. "Don't like, don't want to see or don't stand Pouncer?"
Dart nodded. "Yes."
"As much as I agree with you..." Ruffrunner, pointed at himself using his tail, with particular emphasis being put on just how comfortable his position was. "…for the moment, I am very busy. So how about another time?"
Dart thought about the situation. Sure, the diplomatic approach that she had chosen had failed. However, attempting it hadn't really cost her anything. So talking was perhaps not such a useless concept, she reasoned. After all, even if the talks failed, there were always more options.
"Uhhh… what are you…" "Hey!" and "Hey!" said Ruffrunner as his sister's pressed against his side, aggressively pushed him away from his resting spot and shoved him right into the water of the stream, respectively.
He opened his eyes and found himself face to face with a small trout calmly swam by, and he could swear that the animal's gaze was mocking him.
Ruffrunner rose out of the stream and wandered back to a rather impatient Dart. "Fine, I am coming," he stated sadly. The nightlight then had a better idea. He spread his wings. "Catch me if you can."
Dart was lighter and more experienced in flying than her brother.
Too bad that this race was a fifteen kilometre vertical dive, a track where none of that mattered. As relaxing as dives were, what really pushed one downwards was weight, and her brother's twelve hour naps didn't really do much to reduce it.
Ruffrunner threw a quick glance backwards and gladly noted that his sister was fifty metres behind him, and kept getting further. "Would you mind hurrying up?" he teased before facing forwards again, being forced to squint against the heavy airstream. However, as Dart roared "I will end you!" he still managed to roll his eyes. This was going to be a fun one.
A near collision with a strange trio consisting of a light fury being chased by a second light fury and a night fury was easily avoided with the flick of a wingtip. The rocky walls of the cavern streaked by in the corners of his eyes. The humid air felt like a liquid as the nightlight screamed through it, making it feel like he was constantly entering head first into the ocean. But luckily for the nightlight, he was a hybrid between a night fury and a light fury. Every part of his body, from the wings to the paws to the tailfins, was retracted and hugging against his centre to minimise drag. In other words, he was made for speed.
And with his sister now far behind, the nightlight could now put his plan into action. His wings spread slowly, starting the high speed turn. From there, he swooped into the underground ravine, surveying the sea of dragons. Now, as the dragon behind him had still not entered the ravine, he fired and flew through a plasma blast, before swiftly disappearing among the crowd. And although many dragons complained at the sudden invisible obstacle, Dart flew overhead without seeing him.
"I won't miss you", he whispered at the passing dragon as his camouflage started to wear off. The nightlight found himself snickering. He was smart.
The nightlight then found himself not snickering but rather yelping as he was roughly knocked on his side and dragged/carried among the crowd into a narrow crevasse by some unidentified, yet very aggressive dragon.
Dart looked from side to side while surveying the cavern. "Where did you go?" she barked angrily.
After a few more seconds, she had reached what seemed to be the end of the tunnel (literally). Here, the underground ravine narrowed down into an opening that was almost too small for a terror, much less her. The dragon then reluctantly turned around, all the while muttering her opinion on that excuse of a brother. "You lazy taker of space…"
Ruffrunner was feeling very cramped in the narrow cave. He had countless bruises from being carried with seemingly no concern to his well being. And lastly, it was almost completely dark, save from some light coming from the ravine, light that the dragon who had captured him almost blocked by standing in front of it. In short, Ruffrunner considerably disliked this dragon.
"Ruffrunner," said the dragon, a young, male monstrous nightmare with orange scales. The dragon reminded the nightlight of those stupid males who ever so often decided to challenge his father, and get miserably humiltiated.
"Who are you?" asked Ruffrunner.
"You can refer to me as… the captor," said his captor, who apparently wasn't very original either. "And I apologise for the rough introduction, but I have a suggestion for you, and I want to be somewhere private when I give it to you."
The nightlight huffed. He had much rather been laying on his sleeping slab right now. "What is it?"
"To be frank, I don't like your father being alpha. In fact, there is a person who I think would be a much better fit for that position. However, Toothless will not simply resign his power," said the orange dragon before facing the nightlight. "I want your help to take out the alpha, and make this person the new alpha."
After a few more minutes of fruitless searching, Dart proceeded to once more roar her opinion. "It's always like that! Ruffrunner, if you hear this, know that you're annoying!"
The nightlight was taken back. "Why do you think I would help you?"
The orange dragon smirked. "You and your siblings. Three seemingly innocent, clumsy hatchlings that care for their father deeply and yet destabilise the hidden world by bringing humans here," said the captor with a smile. "Some may think you're just stupid. But I'm not one of them. I think that you are perfectly aware of your actions and doing it on purpose, clawing away at your father's rule from under his snout. I think that you're smart."
Ruffrunner blinked, taking a moment to process what had been said.
"No!" he barked with determination.
The captor,who had seemed fairly calm during their encounter, growled. The nightlight observed tensely as the orange dragon faced him. "You're annoying," growled the captor.
"You're not the only one who thinks that," muttered Ruffrunner, but a hiss made him shut up. Seemingly, all manners that the captor had held against him were gone.
"Tell the alpha what I want then," stated the orange dragon. "If he obeys, I will stop fighting against him."
Ruffrunner thought about it. And while he didn't want his father to lose his power, just the thought made him feel tired. Toothless would not obey the wishes of a stupid young male anyways. "No. I'm too occupied," he said.
Ruffrunner sighed after seeing how the monstrous nightmare was displaying a claw almost as big as his paw. "…what do you want my father to do?"
In a strange mix of anger and enthusiasm, the captor made sure to tell him exactly what he wanted, not sparing many details, if any. "First, those filthy light furies have denied us others a great fishing spot, 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!"
Finally, the orange dragon let out a breath indicating the end of his opinion. Ruffrunner warily nodded. "Okay. I will tell him that," he said, determined, hoping that this would finally allow him to leave. But the nightlight wouldn't have it that easy.
Slit thin eyes, the captor advanced until Ruffrunner was huddled in the corner of a cave. The orange dragon gave a low hiss. "I want to make sure your father takes that seriously. Give me your tail."
Even though the captor had started with a pacific offer, the nightlight could feel how the dragon's attitude had changed. His tail was a necessary part of his survival, and the nightlight couldn't risk the captor doing anything to it. Even a small rip would take weeks to heal. "What will you do with it?" asked Ruffrunner suspiciously, wary of any indication of violence in the answer.
"Cut off your tailfin."