A Grisly Reminder
"Sire-father! Play with us!" Hidden-Hope bellowed after shoving Night-Light's shoulder.
"Please, sire-father," Night-Light added.
They were both sitting on their haunches with their ears high and eyes wide. It was a look that he frequently had to endure and resist, at least with his daughter. She especially used the 'innocent' look to great effect with Valka and, more commonly, with anyone in the village. Night-Light was not nearly as manipulative as she was. Having to tell them that he was unavailable to play or go on an adventure with them was one of the worst parts of being Chief and a father. The two duties both had a claim on his life, to say nothing of his duty to Luna.
Fortunately, he was doing nothing more important than helping out with construction on the Great Hall. Doing more of that could wait. There were more important things to do right now.
"Where is your older brother?" he asked.
"I do not know," Hidden-Hope immediately answered while looking away from him.
She definitely knew where Moon-Dancer was. Was this a play-lie or something that should be punished?
Play, probably. Good thing she doesn't know her lying tells.
"I suppose that I can make the time for you both," he smirked.
"Yay!" "Really?"
"Of course! What is more important than playing with my children?"
"Alpha duties?" "Work?" they answered.
He inwardly winced, frustrated by that inherent tension in his vocations.
Oh gods, do they think I'm neglecting them? Am I failing them as a dad?
"Well, I have no more Alpha duties or work right now! What do you want to play? We could always go on a long walk in the forest," he proposed.
"Yes! I know just where to play too!" Hidden-Hope cried and spun around, taking flight.
Meanwhile, Night-Light gently butted his shoulder with his nose, "Sire-father, we should fly!"
"Yes, son. We should," he purred.
He followed his two children out of New Haven and out toward the glowing forest. They all landed at a clearing within a field of very large mushrooms which were so big that they could be perched on and would support a Fury's weight.
"What game do you want to play?" he asked.
Night-Light looked like he wanted to say something, but Hidden-Hope just looked very eager.
"We can go on a run together!" she proposed.
"And do you want to be the run-leader?"
"Yes! I do!" she bounced on her paws.
"Run then!"
They took off running through the forest of mushrooms. He had to keep shouting at her to slow down for her younger brother's sake. Night-Light simply could not run as fast as she could.
Still, something about this entire request of theirs felt odd. They didn't usually want to go on runs. There also wasn't much else in the mushroom forest. Why had his kids wanted to come here?
It was as though his children had some nefarious plan at paw.
They arrived at a large, green crystal set in a grassy clearing with a few small boulders. His daughter stopped running and then sat down in the clearing, as if she needed a break. But that didn't feel right. Night-Light was panting from the run, so maybe she stopped for him... but probably not.
"Do you need to rest?" he asked.
"No. Stay there. Blue fish!" she shouted.
Night-Light blinked and hopped away from him.
Huh? Stay here? Blue fish? What is...
He saw her eyes go above him and up to the nearest mushrooms.
It all made perfect sense what the terrible plan was. He had been tricked by his own children.
Clever. You almost got away with it!
He spun around and hopped out of the way just as Moon-Dancer dropped down into the space he had filled seconds before. His son had been silently following them from atop the mushrooms or was perched on top of one, waiting for a moment to strike in surprise.
"What? How did you know?" Moon-Dancer barked in frustration.
He smirked, "Your sister looked up, and I am that awesome."
Moon-Dancer glared at Hidden-Hope, who at least looked frustrated with herself for giving away the attack. Night-Light looked amazed, his ears lifted high.
"Wow," Night-Light whispered in evident awe.
His youngest son evidently thought that he was the most amazing father ever, and that was good.
"Anyway," Moon-Dancer began, "now that our dear to the liver sister fouled the attack-flight..."
She stuck out her tongue at him.
"...we can get back to the bonding-fighting we wanted to do!" Moon-Dancer finished.
"Yes! We can play!" Hidden-Hope gleefully added.
It had been a long time, over a month or so, since he had roughhoused with all three of his children. They were getting to the point that they could almost overpower him if they all worked together, though Moon-Dancer did most of the work since he was biggest. That was all fine, and this was a very welcome change from serious duties as Chief. He wished at times that he had more of these such opportunities with his own father in another life.
"Same rules as always? Tagged tailfins are out, mouth to neck is a win, and paw to belly is a win. I play with each of you one at a time and then all three of you together as one flight," he proposed.
"Yes!" they all agreed.
Playing with Night-Light was tricky because of how small he still was. That his son was so small meant that he himself had to be very careful and not get carried away in the playing. Night-Light was also a little more timid than either of his older siblings, and that difference made him a little slower to bite, growl, swat, or nip at noses, even in play.
Playing with Hidden-Hope was tricky for a very different reason. She loved the playing, the biting, the growling, and the general combativeness. But she was his daughter. That meant he could not be as free with playing with her as he could be with his own brother, with Dawn-Singer, with Luna, or with Moon-Dancer. There were some play-fighting moves, like pinning the opponent on his or her back, that he would not use with her on principal, now or ever. That reluctance, frustratingly, gave her some advantages in these fights.
Playing with Moon-Dancer was, naturally, the most fun since the play could be freest and because they were closest in size to each other. His first-hatched son probably needed only about another half of a year or thereabouts to be fully grown. Moon-Dancer was also strong for his age.
He won all of the individual fights, pinning each of his children in turn. Then came time for the final test of them all together against him.
"Rules for the last fight: the same as the individual fights but add no going into the mushroom-forest or flying," he said.
They purred in agreement, hopped away together to whisper their plans, and then returned to the battle, clearly with some plan in their paws.
Let them win or not... hmm.
The final fight started out exactly as he wanted. He dodged Moon-Dancer and Hidden-Hope so that he could tag Night-Light and have him safely out of the fight. His daughter closed her gummy maw around one of his hind legs. Kicking or shaking her off would be easy, but that would also possibly hurt her. Instead, he rolled and spun away from her after she lost her grip. He leaped away from Moon-Dancer's pounce, landing against the large crystal and then jumping off it.
"Give up!" "We will ground you!" "Get sire-father!"
"I will never give up!" he roared and leaped at his remaining son still in the fight, standing up to bat at him.
Moon-Dancer stood up on his back legs and began batting back at him with his paws. It would have been easy to imbalance his son in a fair fight. But his son had help.
Hidden-Hope jumped at him and closed her jaws on a forearm. Trying to hold her up like that would not have worked with how big she was, so that move forced him down to the ground right when Moon-Dancer jumped and shoved him.
He started to fall toward his daughter, and, not wanting to fall heavily on her, he jumped over her as best he could into a roll.
That roll carried him straight toward one of the small boulders which was no larger than a paw. The rock struck his chest.
Fire poured into his veins.
Someone was howling in agony.
Was his heart being ripped from his chest?
Carved out by a dagger?
Someone was maniacally laughing in the encircling shadows.
'I will kill a Night Fury before the end!'
A dark Fury-hide cape was fluttering in the wind whipped up from the encircling flames. Pale white hair framed the gaunt face of monster that laughed with madness.
Were there whispers and other distant voices? It sounded like there were, but they were fading as the shadows closed.
There was nothing other than the merciful darkness.
Moon-Dancer stared, numb and in shock as sire-father stopped screaming in pain, whimpered slightly, and then went silent and still, resting on his side.
No one was moving. No one could move.
Night-Light started bellowing in fear and furiously nudging sire-father's shoulder. Hidden-Hope was whining softly without moving, as if she was frozen in place.
Sire-father was motionless, as if he was asleep.
He had heard whispers of sire-father having an old hurt that kept hurting him a little. The small hurt-marks that he got when fighting sky-light were still there, but those hurts did not hurt so much now that sire-father was always eating hurt-helping plants.
But something bad had happened.
He did not know what to do. No one was in control. His own dear sire-father was hurting and now asleep and this was so bad and... no, someone had to act. He needed to step up, put down a paw as the first-hatched, and be flight-leader. Now!
Even if his life-organ was flying very fast and the fear was growing in his liver. What if sire-father was dead or hurt forever or...
"Sister! Go fly to Was-Grounded and dam-mother!"
"But... sire-father," she whimpered.
"Go now! I will get help! Go tell them! Fly fast!"
She reluctantly did so, leaped for the sky, and flew off toward the darker part of the range.
Night-Light was still furiously nuzzling sire-father. There was no point sending his brother anywhere.
"Brother, stay here with sire-father!"
He did not wait for a response, knowing that his little brother probably would not be able to say anything right now. He spun away and turned for the shared-nest. All he could do was go get Kin-liver. Yes, that smart and caring ground-kin would know what to do for sire-father!
It was only an accident that happened in play, but he whined, chilled to the liver that he had, unintentionally, hurt his own sire-father.
Shadowwing woke up to a world of pain and soreness as well as a constant throbbing in his chest. There was no way to know how long he had been there in the clearing in the mushroom forest. But he was not alone there.
All of his children plus Mist-Wings were present. Valka was also there, resting on the ground among the Furies.
Ugh... gods... what just...
He remembered the accident in the game. He screwed up and struck his old wound.
He very heavily got to his paws and stood up, though doing so hurt. The throbbing was also not going away or fading, unlike before.
Just like in the fight with the dragon that had headbutted him many months ago, this felt like something had changed. An unfamiliar Monstrous Nightmare had peacefully flown into the chamber, he had followed it to make sure nothing bad happened, and the Nightmare had spotted humans gathering fruits and nuts. A fight happened, and the dragon struck him in the chest before he flamed it and forced it away. His chest had stung with pain afterward far worse than it ever had after healing.
Mist-Wings must have been awake since she immediately hopped to her paws, grabbed a large strip of bark torn from some tree, and brought it over to him.
"How are you?" she softly whispered.
"It still hurts," he gasped.
She nudged the strip of bark, "This is from a willow. Chew the wood but do not eat. That will help with the pain. I will wake up Kin-liver."
"Thanks. How long have I been... sleeping?"
She winced and stared at her paws, "One sleep-cycle."
He nodded and started chewing on the willow bark while she woke up Valka. That the hidden world had some of the familiar trees from the above had helped a lot since some natural remedies were still known. Valka would surely be able to make some willow tea later to help with the pain.
For all the good that would do.
Valka was quickly awakened, and came over to him. Pity and sympathy were clear in her eyes. And some anger, oddly.
"How long?" she whispered.
No doubt she was asking how long he had been hurting and keeping it hidden. He spat aside the chewed-up bark.
"Fourr monnthss."
"And you said nothing?" she hissed.
"What iss therre to ssay?"
It was very pointless. What was there that could possibly be done for such a wound that had already healed? He remembered a phantom discussion he had with a strange, mysterious dragon near the end of the conflict at Haven. That talk happened while he was asleep after having been shot and after he somehow used lightning to kill something that should never have been.
Mimir had said that he would live with some pain for the rest of his life. That was the price to pay for using the lightning as he had. Was this injury the same: a punishment for pride or something?
She didn't answer his rhetorical question.
"Did the willow bark help?"
"Yess, ssome," he truthfully answered.
"Good. There's more of that. Still wish I knew what was going on."
"Ssame herre."
"Luna is worried about you."
Frustration was bubbling deep within. It was unreasonable for certain. Knowing that his loved mate was worried about him should be a relief since she obviously cared for him. But, somehow, hearing that reassurance also had the effect of reminding him of his own weakness.
He had failed her so many times in the past: being too pushy with her when she didn't trust humans, not being there to protect her and Moon-Dancer's egg from Eret the dragon-trapper, and not being there to protect her from Grimmel the Grisly's abduction attempt in Haven. Now he was only growing weaker instead of stronger. He couldn't even play freely with his own children without fear of debilitating pain.
Just how pathetic and useless was he, really? Why couldn't he just tough this out, endure the pain, and get better so that he could be a good father and mate? What was stopping him from moving on?
"Iss sshe with the egg?"
"Yes, she was here earlier, but she wanted to be with the egg for now and not need to move it. None of us are going anywhere. The other kids were here too, and there are some fish over there for you."
"Grreat."
He was totally uninterested by any of that. Rather, he rolled onto his back, closed his eyes, and tried to ignore everything else. Resting on his belly and letting his chest touch the ground would definitely hurt right now, so he couldn't do that.
Valka wandered idly though New Haven while leaning on her staff. Her thoughts were anywhere other than on the minor squabbles and disagreements that happened every cycle. Those events that didn't matter could wait for someone else to deal with. She even intentionally ignored several people whose problems were unimportant.
She felt so helpless. Ripped wings were an injury that she could help heal; she had done exactly that for dozens of dragons and, most importantly, for Luna herself. Sicknesses and natural ailments were another part of life she could understand and help with.
But she had no idea what was wrong with Shadowwing. Not understanding what was wrong, she could not help treat whatever was hurting him. Alleviating the symptoms didn't address the unknown root cause.
So many of the dragons she had treated had been wounded by traps and snares, not weapons. Those wounded by weapons rarely lived or escaped to be able to be tended.
She spotted someone working the fields, and she had a thought when she saw him. There was a chance, however slim, that this person might have an idea. She had tried every other avenue of learning about what might be wrong, the old books of natural healing she had salvaged long ago combined with asking men with old injuries themselves, so there was no harm in trying this one.
"Eret, do you have a moment?" she asked.
Eret stood up from the row of potatoes and mounds of soil and... pungent fertilizer. He smelled like manure, naturally, even from a few paces away. Why he liked this work, she didn't understand, but no one was going to complain that he made himself so useful and always had a good attitude about it.
"No, I am so constantly busy that I don't think I can find any time at all to talk to you. Sure, go ahead. How can I help the tribe?"
"It's not the tribe. It's Shadowwing I'm worried about."
"Him? Is this about what happened last cycle?" Eret frowned.
"How do you know?"
He shrugged, "Eh, word spreads. Anyway, what actually happened?"
"He was playing with his kids when he aggravated an old injury, really badly."
"The burn marks?"
"No, the other one. It all started a few months ago when a wild dragon knocked into him. He's been hurting a lot more since then. He didn't let me know how bad it was."
Eret frowned, "So, why did you come to me?"
"You were a trapper. Surely you must have learned something about dragon injuries in those years."
Eret heavily sighed and looked guilty, "I certainly did. Trapping wasn't pretty work. Keeping the catches alive and as unspoiled as possible was also important to fetch a better price. That sounds so terrible, I know. Anyway, I've seen my fair share of dragon injuries."
"Good. Well, not good, but do you have any idea why a wound would become aggravated years after what caused it?" she asked.
"Maybe. You haven't said what the wound is and how he got it."
That detail was not widely-shared among the tribe. It had been kept secret between the adult Furies and herself, since telling everyone that their Chief and one of their own dear Night Furies had been shot by Grimmel would not have changed anything. At the very least, that knowledge getting out would have scared Shadowwing's children. All that everyone else saw was an old scar on his chest. In short, there was no need to tell anyone.
Now there was.
"Keep this a secret. No one else in the tribe outside of the Furies knows about this. He was shot by Grimmel the Grisly."
Eret stepped back in visible shock, "Wait, what? Shot by Grimmel?"
"In the final battle over the sea. Grimmel shot him from the sky. Was-Grounded and Luna killed Grimmel and caught Shadowwing."
Eret started pacing and picked up the shovel to lean on after he stopped pacing, much as she was doing with her staff.
"Okay, let me get this straight. Shadowwing was shot by Grimmel, that knocked him out, his family caught him and brought him back here, and you helped take the shot out and tend his injury?"
"Almost. I only tended the wound."
"So who took out the shot?" he frowned.
"The Furies did themselves."
Eret started to say something, paused, and frowned yet again, "How?"
What kind of question was that, and why did it matter?
"Why does it matter?"
"I am serious. How did they take out the shot?"
She scowled, "I do not know! I was not there! Why does it matter?"
Eret closed his eyes and said nothing to her outburst, which she now saw as being unjustified. She was just taking out her feeling of useless frustration on him.
"Sorry about that. I'm just... worried for him," she apologized.
"I understand. Have you ever seen the bolts that Grimmel used?"
"No."
"I have. I never met him myself, but I heard stories of how cruel he could be. Even got to see the results of his work. Very effective at what he intended. Never let anything go to waste. Anyway, where is Shadowwing right now?"
"In the mushroom forest where the accident happened."
He flung his shovel into the dirt, "Would you take me to him? I need to talk to him."
"Sure, why?"
He crossed his arms behind his back, "I might know what's wrong with him, but I have to talk to him to be sure."
"You heard me, Chief. Did you see the bolt you were shot with?" Eret whispered.
Shadowwing already had all the children head over to the far side of the clearing so that he, Eret, and Valka could speak without the kids overhearing any... grisly details.
He still shivered as he remembered that terrible event which led to this condition he suffered from.
"Nno. Onnly the outsside parrt."
"And your brother took it out? How?" Eret asked.
"Bitinng annd pullinng it out."
Eret frowned after crossing his arms, "May I see the scar? I won't touch it."
Shadowwing huffed and sat back on his haunches, showing off his chest for them to see. As usual, the scar was there and looked no different, except for perhaps being a little swollen.
"And this only really started hurting after it got aggravated a few months back when a dragon hit you there?"
"Yess."
"When you were shot by Grimmel, did it knock you out or make you fall asleep?"
The weariness and darkness closed around him in freefall. All his strength was gone as he tumbled into oblivion, helpless.
"It did. Lunna annd Wass-Grrounnded caught me."
Eret nodded and glanced between him and Valka, clearly having reached a decision or conclusion.
"Alright, as I told Dragonheart here, I've seen Grimmel's weapons before. Some of his weapons were designed to hurt as much as possible while doing the most damage."
Eret paused, took a breath, and gestured at the scar, "There might still be something in there."
"What?" Valka gasped.
Shadowwing recoiled slightly.
What?
"There might be a... piece of the bolt still in that wound. One of his weapons had a tip that would break off if the shot was not removed carefully. The part that would break off delivered the poison that would knock the dragon out almost instantly. By leaving that tip inside, there would be a place to easily torture a surviving dragon into obedience even after the wound healed," Eret explained.
Shadowwing, still breathless, glanced at Valka as she stared back at him in surprise.
The explanation made a lot of sense and fit with everything he knew about the injury. Taking out an arrow or a bolt by having a dragon bite the shot and yank it out was not ideal. The injury was so bloody afterward that something could have been missed. The resulting healed wound had only truly started paining him after a renewed strike in that area.
He, his brother, Luna, and everyone else had been careful in the years after the departure to not aggravate his wound in playing. Even in the most personal parts of life between himself and Luna, that carefulness was something they had learned to accept and live with, however frustrating it had become in some ways.
Grimmel had intended to kill him. That much was certain. Why had the shot almost instantly knocked him out? Without Luna and Was-Grounded there to catch him, he would have shared Grimmel's fate.
Was it that simple? Was there still a piece of Grimmel torturing him from beyond the terrible man's watery grave?
"What do you think?" Valka whispered to him.
"If it iss trrue, what cann we do?"
Valka and Eret shared a glance.
"I didn't get much practice with this in the Sanctuary. You'd be better than I would," she said.
"What are you saying?" Eret warily asked her.
Valka glanced back at the scar, "The only way to deal with this is probably to go in there, check, and take out anything we find."
Shadowwing took a deep breath as the plan was very clear. They were considering cutting open that old wound in the hope that doing so would find something, some piece of a bolt or arrow, that would then be taken out.
It would be very painful for certain. But he was living in pain anyway. The pain was just getting worse and less manageable. Trying this could only help.
"Do you want us to do that?" she turned to him and asked.
"I nneed to assk Lunna firrsst, but yess, we sshould."
"Moon-Dancer!" Valka shouted.
Moon-Dancer bounded over to them from across the clearing.
"Yess?" he whispered.
"Can you please go get your mother and bring her here? Tell her that it is important and should not wait."
Moon-Dancer glanced to him, so he purred in agreement.
He watched his son fly off to bring Luna, surely while his brother volunteered to sit the egg. Green-Wings could not so reliably do that now since she had Wind-Dancer to look after.
The possibility of living without that pain, of being free of that fear of suddenly injuring himself, was such a good opportunity. Still, they would take some precautions in this.
He carefully lay down to not aggravate his chest, and settled into waiting. It felt like an eternity later when Moon-Dancer and Luna dove together into the clearing and bounded up to him.
"Sire-father, are you better?" Moon-Dancer whispered.
"I will be, son. Can you go watch over your nestmates for me?"
"Yes," Moon-Dancer answered and trotted away.
Meanwhile, Luna gently nuzzled his neck while purring in comfort to him.
"My life-mate, are you feeling any better? Liver-truth," she whispered.
"No, but I might be soon. My brother is with the egg, true?"
"He is."
"Good. You remember Eret, yes," he softly chuckled.
She faintly growled and looked over at Eret as he was... hiding behind Valka. That was not working since he was one of the larger men and Valka was very skinny. Everyone present knew why Eret was so timid around Luna; he had tried to steal Moon-Dancer's egg when he was still a dragon-trapper. Luna had killed his crew and almost killed him.
"Why is that... ground-kin here?" she hissed.
"Because he knows why my chest hurt might be hurting me."
Her hiss and faint growl instantly vanished, replaced with shock and surprise.
"What?" she barked.
"Yes, do you remember how Grimmel, the two-leg that had the death-grabbers, shot me and how my brother took the shot out of me?"
"I do," she whined.
"Eret thinks there might still be some of the shot in my hurt. A part of the arrow might be in me."
She looked so surprised and unsure that she was struck dumb, so he continued.
"Think about it: the hurt only got worse after I was hit there or whenever anything touches me there. This might be the problem!"
"So what are you going to do about it?" she whispered.
This was the part she would not like.
"Kin-liver and Eret will help me by cutting open the hurt and taking out anything bad in it."
She glanced from him to Eret and back again a couple times, clearly not liking the plan.
"I want them to do this. Anything that will help this hurt be better. I could play with our children without danger. I could be with you... as we were before I was hurt," he whispered.
She licked his cheek and purred in assent, "Okay, but I will be there with you when they do this."
"Good, because it will hurt a lot," he sighed.
Very strangely, she chuckled.
"What?" he asked.
"I thought that you loved pain," she whispered.
He snorted and rolled his eyes, "Two-leg me loved pain. Sky-kin me does not."
He took a deep breath and faced Valka and Eret.
"Wherre arre we doinng thiss?"
Valka answered immediately, "Somewhere out of the way. One of the far caves at the end of the chamber?"
"That worrkss. Whenn?"
"Why wait? How about as soon as possible after we get cleaned up?" Eret asked.
Get it over with sooner rather than later? Good idea.
"Yess, nnow."
Valka nodded and turned to Eret.
"We will get everything ready: bandages, the tools, buckets of clean water, painkillers, and anything else. Just make sure that we won't be disturbed by your kids."
Luna gently nibbled one of his ears, "I will be right back. I will go tell the children to go to your kin, and I will tell your brother and Green-Wings what is happening."
"Please do."
Luna dashed over to the children, many of whom looked curious about what was being said. They would find out after the fact.
Hopefully after their father was restored to health or at least was on the path toward that.
Everything was prepared just inside a small cave lit from outside by a glowing crystal. The inside of the cave was cooler and darker with a floor of stone only.
Valka had a small fire going and was using the fire to clean some fine and sharp blades and a pair of pliers, basic tools saved from Haven and brought to the hidden world. She also had a couple buckets of water, bandages, twine, and a now-empty flask of stronger berry wine he had already drunk. He had also eaten a lot of the pain-killing plants to help prepare himself for this. Hopefully that would be enough.
Eret was also present, pacing after having washed himself for cleanliness. He was going to be doing some of the cutting, after all.
Both of them were actually wearing very rough but simple clothing since this job would probably get very messy.
This is crazy! No turning back now!
Shadowwing sighed and took a last opportunity to nuzzle Luna before everything began.
"Hold me down if you must," he whispered.
"I will."
He huffed, trying for some last moment humor.
"If I die... look to someone other than my brother for another mate, please..."
"What!" she barked in a mix of amusement and confusion.
"Yes, if I do not make it."
"Do not talk like that!"
"It is only a tease. Before the battle at Haven, my brother asked if I would... be with Green-Wings if he died."
"Oh. I understand. Would you?" she chuckled.
"I do not want to. If it was make eggs with her or Night Furies would stop being... maybe then, but no liver-bonding. But it would make my children finding mates far more problematic. They would have to look to the other Light Fury packs then, though they probably will anyway."
He sighed and nuzzled her neck, "What I am really saying is that I do not want you unhappy if I am gone. You could find another good male, and I would be happy for you... wherever I was."
She did not respond to that at first, and she didn't look up at him when she did speak, "I would not find another. Not after all you have done for me. I do not think I can want another."
He wasn't sure if he could say anything to that, so instead he just purred softly to her and stroked her tail until Valka nodded to him.
Alright, it's go time.
He strolled into the cave's entrance, stopped beside Valka, and lay down. Then he rolled over onto his back, fully revealing his chest and the thick hide that almost looked like scale in places. Being on his back could irritate his lightning burn marks, but those were a mere annoyance in his life compared to this.
Luna lay down beside him and lay her head on his neck. Valka then knelt beside him and rested a hand on his cheek.
"Ready?"
"Yess."
"I don't know how much the herbs and wine will help with the pain, but you should be feeling something by now."
"I feel a little nnumb."
"Good. Remember, just don't move."
He nodded, closed his eyes, and lay his head on the ground. He didn't want to see her and Eret holding the knife and pliers. Neither did he want to see or know when it started. He could feel Valka's and Eret's hands on his chest as they stood opposite Luna.
Her purring was all that he thought about or heard. Even Valka's and Eret's talking to each other didn't matter. That they were talking about partially cutting him open made it easier to ignore and not want to know what they were saying.
His life had been one of so much pain. First, emotional pain through years of being useless, then rejection by his father after Stoick learned about Toothless, then soul-pain though being confused about what he was after he was re-hatched, then betrayal, then long isolation, then the despair of failure and loss of loved ones because of his own hubris, then emotional again through failure to be there for Luna and his own son, then physical from his injuries received, and then the despair that he had let take him which also led to him breaking apart Haven entirely.
In all his years of having bad things happen to him, this was definitely the first time he underwent any real surgery. His own yanking out a different arrow from his chest didn't count at all.
The fire started burning in his chest, so he gritted his teeth and growled softly, holding his limbs still and resisting the urge to kick and thrash.
'Brother... take... it... out... and flame... the hurt...'
A beach on which he had possibly become the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, since he had been struck by lightning and had probably been dead for a while.
'It will hurt much...'
Deep, biting pain and agony that felt like someone was cutting out his heart. Were they going that deep? Why were they hurting him? He had to get up and flee the pain!
But Luna nuzzled his chin, and he could still hear her purring. The confused voices didn't matter anymore compared to her comfort.
The growl faded into a whine while his legs kicked at the air. There was no way to know the passage of time.
All went dark and then bright as fires flared to life in the cave which looked so like a boat. A thin, pale, white haired man stood across from him, the monstrous man's terrible visage illuminated by the flame. Grimmel's Fury hide cloak swayed in the gale whipped up by the burning ship.
'I have already won...'
A shriek pierced the heavens as Grimmel swung out his crossbow and fired it in one motion. The bolt buried itself in his chest which erupted with fire and blood.
Then there was a different sting: that of water on the wound. Did that mean that it was over? Were they finished cutting him open? Had he plummeted into the waves to join Grimmel in the dark?
"Done! Done!" an indistinct voice or voices called out.
Was that Grimmel triumphantly holding up his heart after carving it from his chest?
"Do not move," Luna whispered.
That voice, so dear to his heart, reminded him where he was and what had happened. He was not back in the past on Grimmel's ship in the middle of an armada battle. He was safe now, and Grimmel was long since dead.
"My love, stay still," Luna whispered again.
Whatever she told him to do was fine with him, so he gritted his teeth and remained motionless. Then there was another feeling on his chest, but this feeling was far more soothing.
She was licking his opened wound that he did not want to look at. Her licks, just like a fellow Night Fury's licks, soothed open injuries and even appeared to help the healing process. The licking ended, and she was again nuzzling his neck.
"Kin-liver will put more hurt-helping stuff on the hurt," Luna whispered.
Sure enough, another soothing feeling followed as the pain gradually faded into something bearable.
"Can you get up? I want to put the bandage on," Valka asked.
He did, carefully rolling to the side and heavily getting to all fours. His chest was very warm and throbbing, but he still gasped in shock when he saw Valka and Eret. Much of their clothing was bright red as was the ground where they had stood.
Oh gods...
He checked his chest and saw that they had at least wiped him down there, even though there was still a lot of blood around the wound which he could not see into and did not want to inspect more closely.
"Hold still," Valka held up twine and a large cloth bandage.
He nodded and waited as she looped the twine over his shoulders and tied off a large bandage to be held in place almost like a sling.
"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Valka whispered.
"Yess, it wass."
Valka winced, nodded, and retrieved one of the buckets which she had apparently thrown the tools and bloody rags into.
Eret hesitantly stepped up before him and Luna, "Well, we're sure that you'll feel better."
Without saying anything else, Eret held out an open palm.
On his open palm was a cleaned, black bolthead that tapered to a very sharp point. The piece, about a thumb-length long, of the bolt had backward-slanting spikes and what looked like a broken place where the metal had connected to the rest of the wooden bolt. It had definitely broken off when the bolt was taken out years ago.
Luna gasped and whined while he just stared in shock.
That fragment had been in his chest, the tip's sharp points cutting into the healing flesh, for over three years. Somehow, the strike he had received from a wild dragon months ago had aggravated the bolthead or his chest enough that there was no more ignoring it.
"Well, that happened," Valka broke the silence.
"Yeah. Uh, Chief, what do you want to do about this?" Eret held up the fragment of the bolt.
What did he want to do with this grisly reminder of the past? Throwing it away was one possibility. Another was to keep it for posterity as a talisman out of spite. Another was to just melt it down for nails or something. That was a decision for later.
"Drragonnhearrt cann keep it forr nnow."
"You sure?" Valka whispered.
He nodded, and Eret handed the fragment to her to pocket.
Surprisingly, Luna stepped away from him and strode up to Eret. As usual, Eret shrank back slightly at her approach.
"Uh... hello Luna," Eret mumbled.
She turned back to him and nodded at him to come over to her, "Will you come talk for me?"
He slowly strolled to her and Eret. Walking didn't pain him at all as long as he walked carefully without rocking his shoulders much.
"Tell him that I forgive him for the bad that he did season-cycles ago," she hummed while staring at Eret.
He related as much to Eret, who appeared surprised at first.
"I was just doing what I should for anyone who is hurt," Eret mumbled.
Luna huffed, leaned closer to Eret, and licked him on the face, getting a lot of drool on him.
"Ugh, you had to do that," Eret grumbled.
"Yess, sshe did."
Eret wiped away as much of the drool as he could, though he looked amused and relieved.
"Dragonheart, can you toss me a towel... actually, no... don't."
"Good idea, none are clean," Valka agreed.
"Chief, if it's alright with you I will go clean up and rest. Never planned on having to do that kind of surgery on a dragon. Guess those old lessons with Eret senior paid off... in a very different way."
"Go, Erret. Thannk you," he purred.
Eret bowed slightly to him and to Luna before leaving for the waters everyone did their washing in.
"What was that for, my life-mate?" he softly chuckled.
"He did a very good thing for you, my love. He is not kin to me as Kin-liver is, but he is a good ground-kin. I cannot be cold or not trust him after what he did for you," she whispered back while nuzzling him.
So that old offense is buried. Good.
Valka stood before them. She still looked as miserable as before since she was very bloody and probably emotionally drained.
"Oh son."
"Thannk you, mom."
Luna stepped to her before he finished speaking. She lay her chin on Valka's shoulder in a Fury hug and purred to her.
"Thaaannngg yooouuu," Luna hummed.
She knew how to speak aloud only a few human words, though she understood almost everything spoken by now. There was no one other than Valka whom she wished to speak to, so there had never been any great interest in her learning much of that speech.
Valka chuckled and bowed to her, "You are welcome, both of you. Anything for my dragon-son. Shadowwing, as your tribe's Elder I order you to take it easy for a few cycles. You should also regularly come by to let me check the bandage."
"I will."
"Good. I'll send the children back with your brother's kids. I'll also tell them a little about what happened here, but you can tell them the whole story if you want."
He wasn't sure how much to say, but that was another problem for later. At the very least, his oldest children knew how badly he had been hurt in the clearing. That was another point that he had not thought about.
There was a chance that they would be hurt themselves by what happened to him. They might somehow blame themselves for his getting hurt in the playing. But he was going to make sure that didn't happen.
He nodded to Valka, stepped away from her, and took to the sky. Fortunately, he could do that without any pain. Luna flew at his side as always, though she looked a mix of worried about him and also relieved.
Alright, so about a month for this to heal and then everything will be good again! Hopefully.
After this healed, there would be no worry of shifting the wrong way in his sleep, nothing to stop him from playing freely with his children, and nothing embarrassingly inconvenient coming between him and Luna.
But there was still a nagging thought. His wound had harbored something secretly lurking, paining him even to the present. He would not have thought that intentionally opening old wounds might be the very solution that was needed.
It was good that there were no other old scars that needed to be opened, physically or figuratively.
Was-Grounded was sitting where Shadowwing thought he would be, right where Luna normally sat with the egg. Green-Wings was asleep at his side, surely sheltering her dozing hatchling.
He and Luna touched down on the ledge and then slowly walked over to the other Furies.
"What happened?" Was-Grounded whispered with a glance to the bandage.
"They were right. There was a part of Grimmel's weapon still in the hurt. That part is out now. The cloth is to help the hurt," he answered.
"Kin-liver and Eret helped him," Luna added with a purr.
Was-Grounded nodded and shifted his tailfins to reveal the egg.
"Good. That is good," Was-Grounded sighed, looking away.
"What is it?" Shadowwing asked, seeing that his brother was upset.
"What?"
"Are you well?"
Was-Grounded took a breath and stepped away from the egg, instead strolling over to the edge of the ledge. He obviously wanted to talk, so Shadowwing went to him while Luna sat down with the egg.
"You would ask if I am well," Was-Grounded grumbled.
"You sound liver-chilled, so yes."
More grumbling followed.
"Just talk," Shadowwing huffed.
"I am sorry," Was-Grounded whined, hanging his head.
"Sorry?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I hurt you. If I had done something different with the arrow-weapon; that might not have happened to you!"
"You have rock-head problems," Shadowwing snorted.
"I have problems?"
"Did you shoot me? Grimmel shot me. You did not know that the arrow-weapon could break. I did not know. You did nothing wrong. Stop twisting your tail about this."
Was-Grounded grumbled again, facing him, "It is easy to say those words, but I still feel like I should have been more careful or something. If I understood two-legs better..."
Shadowwing smirked, stepped back from the ledge, and lay a tailfin over his brother's left tailfin.
Was-Grounded blinked and hung his head at that reminder of what he had done shortly after they both hatched anew. Then, it had been a gesture of reassurance that he didn't hate him for having taken the tailfin in honest fighting in a prior life.
"Look at me."
Was-Grounded did so.
"Do not blame yourself for that. Blame Grimmel if anyone. I will heal, and then we can play again as we did before. I am... out of practice at that."
Was-Grounded snorted and rolled his eyes, though he also purred softly, "Do you truly want to be pinned so many times? You never were a fighter like me."
Shadowwing shrugged, "I fight in other ways and against other enemies, usually."
"Yes, you do. What about the sky-light hurt-marks?"
"Those will never go away, just like yours. I have more though," he smirked.
"You would boast about those hurt-marks."
"I should! Anyway, those hurt-marks will stay, but they do not hurt as much as they did after they were new hurt-marks. We will be able to play freely," he said while gently nudging his brother's shoulder.
"Good. We should do that more," Was-Grounded hummed.
They glanced toward Green-Wings and Luna, the latter being still awake.
"If we have time after the new hatchlings. Wind-Dancer is at the 'I want to explore everything now that I can walk a lot' part of life," Was-Grounded sighed.
"There is not much to see on this shared-ledge."
"No, we are going to be taking her down into the shared-nest more soon."
He agreed that exposing her to the rest of the tribe as soon as possible was a good idea.
Was-Grounded glanced at the bandage, "Green-Wings will want to comfort you when she wakes up."
"Good to hear."
"How long will you have that thing over the hurt?"
"A pawful of waking-cycles. I do not truly need it, but Kin-liver wanted me to have it anyway to help the healing."
"Having a ground-kin thing to help you heal faster is good. The faster we can forget the world above, the better," Was-Grounded growled.
"I agree," he also growled.
That frustration was always there within. Frustration and some anger. He, the humans and the dragons of Berk, the other tribes, and Haven had been living their lives in total peace, not seriously disturbing anyone. And they were completely rejected by the above. All dragons had to go into hiding because of how violent and suspicious humans were.
There was no reason to think that the people above would ever change, and he was completely fine with that. He didn't care for them anymore. He was only the Chief for the people of New Haven. That there were no free dragons flying in the above was good and for the better.
The above didn't deserve dragons anyway and could never be trusted with them!
Valka arrived back at her hut after a very stressful cycle. Performing bloody surgery on a dragon-son and learning that he had been carrying an aggravating piece of a bolt in his chest for three years was a lot to take in.
She had washed the bolthead clean of blood while trying to ignore how cruel its design was. If it was her choice, she would probably have thrown it down a waterfall to get rid of the piece.
But this was definitely her son's choice what would happen to it. Keeping it around for sentimental value also had some appeal, if Shadowwing wanted that.
She tossed it in her small chest of supplies, collapsed on her furs after shutting the hut's door, and cried herself to sleep.
Shadowwing woke up to a gentle nudge on his shoulder. He was sprawled out on his back, which was how he went to sleep to avoid irritating the wound. Sleeping on his back was not the most comfortable, but it was necessary for now.
"Yes?" he asked.
"My love, the children are here," Luna whispered.
Oh great, time for a lovely talk.
He and Luna had done their very best to hide from their three children the full truth and the details about what had happened at Haven. There was no reason to pointlessly scare them.
But the past had very clearly reached out, Grimmel had reached out from beyond his watery grave, and shot a bolt into his life, in a way. All three of his children had been there when he collapsed and passed out from the pain. They knew that something was wrong, and to deliberately lie now would be too deceptive.
His own father had never told him what happened with Valka, with his mother, being taken in a dragon raid or having a soft side for dragons before then. The little that he learned had been from Gobber.
Parents hiding truths from their children had to be very careful in doing so to not break the trust their children have in them.
He rolled onto his paws and saw Moon-Dancer, Hidden-Hope, and Night-Light sitting on their haunches beside Luna. She had the egg safely between her paws. There was no one else on the ledge; his brother and Green-Wings took Wind-Dancer and the other children somewhere else, which was very considerate of them.
I should go tell them myself later when I have the time.
He stepped over to his gathered family and sat down as his children were, "Children, I need to talk to you. I and your dam-mother need to talk to you."
"Sire-father, what happened?" Moon-Dancer whispered.
They were all staring at the bandage on his chest.
"I will tell you. All of you. First, you must promise that you will listen, and know that I will tell you what you need to hear."
"Okay." "Promise." "I will."
He took a breath, delaying for a moment longer before beginning, "The world and ranges that we all lived in before this shared-range was... not good. There were two-legs, life like our ground-kin but not in their livers, who wanted to hurt sky-kin. One of those bad two-legs... hurt me in fighting. That is where I got my chest hurt."
Moon-Dancer looked like he wanted to say something but decided against it, "That two-leg left a small spine in my hurt. We did not know the spine was there. That is why my chest hurt when it was hit. That is what happened to me in the mushroom forest."
Night-Light dashed over to him and nuzzled a leg, whining softly. Hidden-Hope and Moon-Dancer hung their heads slightly.
"Children! Look at your sire-father," Luna barked.
They all looked up to him.
"Listen to me, dear children. You did not hurt me. The bad two-leg did even though he is gone and will never hurt us again. This hurt," he held a paw to his chest, "will heal, and do you know what we will do then?"
"What?" Night-Light softly warbled.
He took a moment to nuzzle his youngest son's forehead.
"We will play much as a family-pack. And you will not need to worry about hurting me."
"What if you have any other hurts with more bad in them?" Hidden-Hope asked, strangely thoughtfully.
"There are no other hurts with hidden spines in them. I promise on my wings," he declared.
There was almost no greater promise he knew of for natural dragons.
Fortunately, they appeared to accept that as they calmly approached. He gave Moon-Dancer and Hidden-Hope Fury-hugs of a chin on their shoulders along with deep purring. Then he nuzzled Night-Light's forehead again, seeing as his youngest son wouldn't let go of his leg.
He couldn't be sure whether that reassurance was enough for them, but there wasn't much more that he could do at the moment.
"For now, I will be resting and not playing until this is better. But when it is better, you will have your sire-father to play with again!"
They purred at that promise. Then they yawned, which must have been contagious since he also yawned.
"A very good idea. We should all rest together," he proposed.
"Will you be sleeping on your back more?" Hidden-Hope chuckled.
"If I must to help the hurt be better."
"Can I sleep on your belly?" Night-Light asked.
"That might be warm for you, but it could be ticklish for me, dear son. You can sleep at my side."
They sorted themselves out differently from normal. He lay behind Luna and the egg, up against the back of the ledge wall and on his back while Night-Light was at his side. Moon-Dancer and Hidden-Hope rested more on their own, though not far away.
He couldn't be sure who was truly asleep, except that he knew Luna was not asleep. She was still staring toward him, her light-blue eyes very wide as she purred peace to him.
Dawn-Singer, Flies-With-Sun, Moon-Pinner, Aurora, Mist-Wings, and Rock-Climber stopped by later when his brother returned. He let his brother fill them in on what had happened, and the adults among that group all came over to him one at a time to whisper encouragement and give him a lick.
He remembered so many of them, all the children at least, from the egg, and now they were grown adults or otherwise generally responsible fledglings. They rallied around each other whenever someone was sick or hurt or needed help with their duties.
It was also obvious that Dawn-Singer and Aurora understood far more of what had happened long ago. They had been old enough to contribute to the defense of Haven in their own way, given that their father had forbid them from joining the true fighting.
As he thought about these two, now three in a way, dear families that so thoroughly trusted each other, he appreciated and was very thankful how few of the people here had seen and felt the horrors of war and of having a home be under attack.
Only he, Was-Grounded, Luna, and, to a lesser extent, Green-Wings, Dawn-Singer, and Aurora had truly seen any of that. The other children had certainly been too young to remember or understand much of those terrible days long ago. It was a relief that they would never have to see their home come under attack by malicious forces from beyond.