Nepenthe
The sky was just changing colour from the black of night to the morning glow when I entered the cove. The first thing I saw was a dragon, black as night, sleeping on some burnt rock. The dragon seem to have noticed me when I jumped down off the small ledge as his head whipped around to stare right at me. He slowly got up, stretched his wings, tail, and legs to their full extent and sat back to watch me approach with those light green eyes.
"You ready to go bud?" I asked as I threw down the small pack of luggage I had on my back. Toothless just gave a excited croon before jumping around me a few times and than licking me right in the face. "You know that doesn't wash out!" I exclaimed as I wiped my face clean of the dragon saliva. "Now sit still so I can attach this pack to your saddle. We are leaving this island and won't be coming back for a while."
I made sure to check the saddle and the prosthetic mechanism after I let out the Kill Ring's dragons last night. I had to make sure they weren't going to fail mid flight, that would be bad for both of us if that did happen. Toothless laid down beside me at the same time I picked up my pack and I attached it to the saddle right after. I didn't bring much because I really didn't have much to bring in the first place. The few items in the pack were a single change of clothes, my current drawing book, a new drawing book, and a few writing sticks. I also had a small carving knife attached to my waistband which wasn't useful for much other than sharpening my writing sticks and maybe gutting small animals.
After attaching the pack to the saddle on Toothless's back and making sure it wasn't going to blow off, I climbed onto the saddle while Toothless was still lying down. I attached my safety string to the saddle just as Toothless stood up and walked around a few times getting used to the weight difference.
"Let's go bud, we want to be off the island before everyone wakes up and starts to notice that I left." I grabbed the handles on the saddle tightly as the Night Fury crouched down on his front paws, threw his wings open and burst into the morning sky all within a matter of seconds. Just like every time before, my breath was stolen from me and my stomach tightened itself into a knot just before we levelled off. The sudden rush of leaving the ground and entering into the air was never going to grow old.
The sun was just breaking the horizon and casting long shadows over the island. I guided Toothless to circle around Berk one last time. Nobody would be up this early to notice us in the sky, and if they were, they would suspect we were a bird from how high up we were in the sky. Berk seemed peaceful, and that's how I wanted to remember it. As we finished our circle, I pointed Toothless southbound before angling us into a downwards spiral, gaining speeds at a rapid pace, before finally leveling off close to the water and shooting off towards Nepenthe.
Nepenthe wasn't the best place for a boy and his dragon, but remembering back to when I would go there with Dad to update the treaty agreements with King Mikkel the Munificent, I knew there was some secluded mountains on the north-eastern side which were uninhabited by humans. The south-western side of the island was more of a vacation spot with its natural hot springs and warm sandy beaches and was inhabited by many vikings and home to one of the biggest trade ports south of Berk.
Even with the fastest dragon known to man, it felt as if we were flying for days. My legs were getting numb and I couldn't feel my arms anymore when we finally came across the outskirts of Nepenthe. By the time we were flying over the island, the sun was about three quarters through the sky. We immediately started flying towards the mountains on the north-eastern side of the island, passing a few small villages along the way, as well as a trading village at the foot of the mountains. The trading village wasn't very big, it looked to be smaller than Berk in size and had less activity. Being so far in from water, it seemed like the only trade that happened was with the small villages that surrounded it.
We flew higher into the mountains and what we found at the top surprised the both of us. Who would have thought that at the top of the mountains was a valley in between the peaks that was uninhabited by vikings. Directly in the center of the valley was a lake with forest surrounding it on all sides. As we flew over the valley, we noticed some dragons resting in the sun by the water, or hunting for fish in the lake and many small animals lurking in and around the forest below.
After taking in the views of the valley below, we skimmed over closer to the peaks of the mountains looking for a cave that wasn't inhabited by dragons or other animals. We eventually came across a cave that resulted in a dead end, it was the perfect size for Toothless and I to sleep in and have the room to make a fire and to put my belongings.
It wasn't long after finding the cave and dropping our luggage that we decided to go find some food and some wood to make a fire. After flying all day and not really stopping for long along the way, we both were starving. We flew over to the lake in the center of the valley that had the least amount of dragons around and began to hunt for fish. Toothless was more than happy with some raw fish but it made me sick to my stomach so I needed to have mine cooked. After Toothless was full and I had my share of fish to cook, we slowly made our way back to our cave picking up some fallen branches, logs and other sticks along the way to help us make a fire.
By the time we reached our cave, the sky was a mixed of colours from yellows to oranges to blues and even purples, results from the sun breaking the horizon once again. The moon was slowly creeping its way into the sky bringing all the stars along with it. I entered the cave first and started setting up sticks we picked up into a pile that pointed towards the sky. Toothless was sitting just outside the cave looking up into the sky, most likely following the moon or the stars as they crept across the sky, or maybe he was just yearning to fly at night again, I wasn't sure.
"Hey Toothless" I said to him after a few seconds of watching him. He turned his head slowly to look towards me with his big green eyes. "Do you mind lighting the fire for me?" I managed to get out before a small plasma blast was shot towards the sticks and it instantly lit up in a purple flame before dying down to the normal colour of yellow and orange. "Whoa! Thanks Bud." I said to him, stepping back a little as the sudden change in light and temperature surprised me. The Night Fury got up from his spot outside and made his way into the cave, settling against the cave wall close to the fire, leaving enough space for me to lean against him when I was ready. I picked up one of the bigger and straighter sticks that I happened to find and took out my carving knife, making a small spear out of it, and sticking one of the fish on the end of it. Proud of my work, I walked over to Toothless and sat down in front of him while hanging the fish over the fire to cook it. Toothless put his head down right beside my legs and I scratched behind his ears while I waited for my fish to cook.
After sitting there a while, turning my fish over and over again to cook it thoroughly, I sat back against Toothless and let my fish cool down. Once it cooled down enough, I took the fish off the makeshift spear and cut it up with my carving knife, and eating it quickly after realizing how hungry I actually was. Once I finished eating, I stood up and placed my spear against the wall furthest away from where Toothless and I were sleeping and picked up my drawing paper and writing stick before sitting down against my dragon once more and started to draw whatever came into mind. Tonight's drawing was the beautiful view of the valley that we discovered and how the lake was in the center of it. After working on it for a little while, I realized it was getting late when the fire was dying down into a pile of coals. I put my drawing book and writing stick aside and threw another log into the fire before settling back against the sleeping Night Fury.
"Do you think I made the right choice leaving Berk, Toothless?" I asked my dragon out loud. Receiving a sleepy croon and letting his head invade my lap, I continued. "If I would have stayed, I would have been tasked with killing that Monstrous Nightmare. I knew I couldn't have done it after learning the truth about dragons." I spoke out loud, as if trying to reassure myself that I made the right choice. "Even if I would have stayed, someone would have found out about you Toothless, sooner or later they would have tried to kill you or would have been killed by you." I received a small growl in response at first and a small croon for the latter. "Yeah, I know bud, I wouldn't have let that happen. I couldn't imagine my life without you after all we have been through." I quietly said to Toothless as I scratched him behind one of his ear flaps, receiving a small dragon-like purr from him that I felt throughout his body.
Here I am, sitting in a cave a long ways from home, against a dragon that was supposed to be my sworn enemy and I am having a full conversation with him. "I must be going crazy…" I quietly said a little worriedly and received a lick to my face from the beast behind me. That did it, I must be getting tired. After making sure the fire wasn't going to go out anytime soon, I settled back against my dragon once again and quickly fell asleep. Throughout the night I dreamt about Berk, bouncing between all the familiar faces in the village and finally settling on a special shieldmaiden.
For the first time in a long time, I was awoken out of my sleep from the dreams that turned nightmares halfway throughout the night. I opened my eyes and noticed the fire has died down to red coals. I found myself lying against Toothless and completely drenched in sweat. I clutched my chest begging for my heart to stop trying to race around my ribcage. Toothless immediately knew I was awake and slowly opened his eyes to look at me. "It's okay bud, just a nightmare. We still got a few hours before the sun rises in the sky." After confirming that I was not in pain or hurt in any way, the Night Fury looked outside once more as if confirming what I said and put his head back down on his paws before drifting off back to sleep. I knew I couldn't fall asleep again so I decided to get up.
Slowly getting up and stretching my body to relieve the aching pain from sleeping on the cave floor, I made my way to the entrance of the cave. I sat down outside the entrance of the cave and looked up towards the sky. The moon was barely passing the midpoint in the sky indicating that night was far from over. While still looking up into the everlasting night sky, I noticed that the stars were different here. No, not really different. These were the same stars I was used to looking at but the position of the stars were all wrong. After trying to figure out why the sky was so different in this part of the world and getting nothing but a headache, I decided to shake myself out of it and look towards to the forest in front of me. Everything was quiet with all the dragons and animals sleeping, I had nothing but my own thoughts to entertain myself. My own thoughts were the last place I wanted to be currently.
I dreamt of Berk and all the familiar faces that I recognized. While they were looking down at me or scolding me for messing something up again, it felt as if I never had left. I was walking through the village, greeting everyone by name on the way to the forge, but I knew something was wrong. As I reached the forge, I turned around and the whole scene changed before my eyes.
After turning around, I found myself amidst a dragon raid. I was watching those familiar faces rush headfirst into battle, yelling their common viking yell before puncturing another dragon in the heart or slashing their neck. As I swept my eyes around the village, I noticed the fire crew, consisting of Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Tuffnut and Ruffnut, putting out another fire on someone's home before rushing back towards the well.
It was the last raid that I partook in, the one where I shot down a Night Fury and nobody believed me, but something was off. I looked down to my left hand and noticed that I had a strange looking sword in it. It wasn't just any sword though, this one was on fire as if a dragon was breathing fire down it's blade. Before I could think of throwing the sword down before it burnt my hand, I heard a loud roar directly in front of me. I quickly whipped my head up and found myself face to face with the very same Night Fury that I called my friend. We both stood there for a moment, slowing down time and staring into each other's eyes before someone yelled out "Night Fury!" and the spell was broken.
Before I could react to anything, the Night Fury jumped over me onto the roof of the forge and took off into the night. Everything seemed to worsen from that point forward. The dragons came in swarms and started laying down fire to anything and everything in their path, catching vikings, animals, and buildings in the process. All around me I saw everything go up in flames and all I could do was stand there and watch. I noticed the fire crew rushing back to the well before that was completely incinerated, burning up Snotlout, Fishlegs, Tuffnut and Ruffnut in the process. Astrid looked towards the ashes where her crew once stood before, and eventually turned towards me. Even at the distance I was at, I could see those bright blue eyes swell up with tears.
"Why did You leave?" was the only whisper I heard on the wind as if it was right beside me. The voice was very sad and completely defeated. It was the last thing I heard from Astrid before the fire consumed her. I was powerless to do anything other than watch her burn before I was ripped out of the nightmare.
Sitting outside the cave entrance under the stars, I couldn't stop thinking about the nightmare as if I was actually there. The last scene is what played in my head over and over again. "Why did you leave?" was the last thing that Astrid said to me. Those words were burned into my head, repeating themselves, as if she kept saying them to me. I sat outside staring into the night sky playing the scenes of what happened over and over. Time seemed to pass without me knowing. Before long Toothless was nudging me in my back, dragging me out of my state of mind. I quickly glanced around noticing that the sun was creeping over the horizon and shining through the peaks of the mountains, casting long shadows all over the hidden valley.
"How long have I been sitting here?" I asked the dragon a little tiredly. I received another soft nudge into my side before receiving a worried croon. I pulled the dragon's head into my lap and starting scratching in all his favourite places. "I must have been sitting here for most of the night because the sun is creeping into the sky now. I dreamt of Berk last night." Toothless was purring slightly before hearing that and he tensed up at the word. "I had a nightmare where we met during the last dragon raid, the one where I shot you down. I was watching vikings attack dragons like many times before, and once they realized you were there, they turned on you. You noticed them before I did and flew away. Right after you flew away, the dragons in the raid seem to increase dramatically and started burning down the village."
Toothless pulled his head back at this and laid his ear flaps along his head, turned his head to the side and wouldn't look me in the eye as if he knew something I didn't. "It's not your fault Bud, it was nothing more than a nightmare." At this, Toothless looked towards me again with a worried look in his eyes. "What really scared me is that the dragons fire was so hot that it burned everything and everyone in the village. I watched Astrid burn before my eyes." I said to my dragon before wiping a few tears from my eyes. Toothless noticed this instantly and put his head back into my lap and started purring, as if to try and comfort me the only way the dragon knew how.
We sat together in silence for a while, just enjoying each other's company. I finally decided that I was done moping around and pushed his head off my lap and got up. "It's time to get a move on Toothless, we have a lot to do if we are to survive here." I mentioned to Toothless as I wiped off some grass and dirt that stuck to my clothes. "It's going to take a while for me to get used to this, but I am okay now and we need to figure out what our next plan is."
I woke up again from another nightmare. It's been about a week since I left Berk and settled into the Valley. While the nightmares haven't completely disappeared, they sure have occurred less frequently throughout the night. The nightmares were never different but were never quite the same. They always appeared like a normal day on Berk and then they would quickly turn disastrous, always ending up with Berk being completely destroyed by fire, by dragons, or by some other means. They always ended up with someone asking "Why did You leave?" The most common person asking me that was Astrid, but I have also had a few other people ask me, including my Father, Gobber, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and even Gothi once.
Living in the Valley with a Dragon wasn't as bad as I would have expected. I usually caught myself speaking out loud to no one in particular. I knew there was nobody else in Valley that would hear me but I had to be careful of other dragons. I knew for the most part that they were friendly, but I had run into a territorial Deadly Nadder last week and almost had a spine shot pierce my side. The Nadder didn't give chase, so after catching my breath, I quietly went back and observed her. I quickly released that she was hunting and after trailing her for a little while, she ended up coming across a nest with little baby Deadly Nadders. I knew for future reference to stay away from that area of the valley and marked it on my makeshift map in my drawing book.
Today was going to be another day of mapping out the valley. With the help of Toothless, we marked off where every specific dragon could be found and where specific small animals would hide. Today's task was going to be even tougher. I had made the decision that we would also explore the caves that jutted into the peaks to see where they would go. Not only was I curious about where they all went, but I had to make sure which ones were inhabited, uninhabited and dead end caves. I knew that some animals lived in the smaller caves and that some of the dragons took refuge in some of the bigger ones. If the caves were anything like the Caves of Jotunn, the natural cave formation under Berk, there is a possibility that they might be connected to each other somewhere deep in the mountains or even under the valley.
With the help of Toothless using his echolocation, we figured out that most caves were dead ends and were not worth exploring, but we found a total of nine tunnels that didn't end as suddenly as the rest. Toothless's echolocation ability had its limits and couldn't see how far the tunnels went or if they branched off into other tunnels or caverns. While we were searching the dead end caves, we made a convenient discovery of a natural hot spring with a hole in the top of the cave, casting a nice light into the cavern, that wasn't too far away from our current living quarters. We quickly explored the hot spring cavern and noticed that it looked like it was almost human made. I decided to revisit the natural hot spring later since we had a lot of caves to explore, so I marked it down in my drawing book, and directed Toothless to the next tunnel.
Most of the tunnels that we explored that day seemed to loop back into the valley and never seem to have much else in them other than some complex mazes. They were great if you were trying to lose someone chasing you, but otherwise were useless tunnels. I marked all the looped tunnels and maze tunnels off as such. It was getting pretty late in the day and we decided to leave the final tunnel until morning.
Toothless and I made our way over to the lake in the center of the valley to grab some dinner for the night, and finally made our way back to our living quarters. After living here a week, I had collected enough sticks and fur pelts to make a makeshift bed for myself as well as a desk and chair. Working in the forge back on Berk had its benefits, not only did I learn about how to craft and use any type of weapon, but I also learned how to work with wood. Gobber also insisted on me helping out the town's carpenter on slow days, saying that the skills might be useful for me one day.
After finishing my dinner, I looked over the new sections of the map that we created today. I glanced through all the valley maps again trying to memorize where everything was so that I wouldn't have to reference my makeshift map every single time. This had been the common occurrence over the past few nights after we first starting mapping out the valley. As I went over the sections of the map, I came across the newly added part of the natural hot spring. "Hey Toothless" I said to the dragon that was lying down behind me. Without opening his eyes, he perked up his ear flaps, a telltale sign that he was actually listening to what I had to say. "Wanna go explore that hot spring we found earlier? We used to have one back on Berk and would wash in it once a week. It's been over a week since I last washed and I could really use one." The dragon lifted his head up, and sniffed me, quickly yanking his head back with a disgusted dragon look on him. "Oh come on Bud! I can't be that bad!" but I knew I was stinky.
I gathered my spare change of clothes and walked out of the cave. I figured that I could wash them in the hot springs when I was washing myself, to kill two dragons with one boulder. When I said that the hot springs were conveniently close, I meant that it was less than a five minute walk to the cavern. Toothless followed behind me as I walked towards the hot spring with a torch in my hand. We passed a few sleeping dragons and smaller animals which would usually perk up and scatter off when we got close, but now they just sleep soundly.
We reached the entrance of hot spring not too long after leaving and slowly entered the cavern. The entrance was big enough for Toothless and I to walk side by side without touching and tall enough that we could fly through the connecting tunnel without any issues, as we have done earlier. As we entered the hot spring cavern, we both stopped instantly, amazed at what we came across. The Moon was just visible through the hole in the top of the cavern and was shining into the hot spring itself, making everything glow a brilliant white. We slowly approached the hot spring and noticed that the water seemed to glow with the moons light.
"Wow, this is amazing! I never would have thought that the spring would glow with the moon" I said to the Night Fury who I thought was beside me. Getting no response from my dragon, I turned around and called out "Bud, where did you go?" I kept looking around until I saw two green eyes looking back at me from across the cavern. "There you are Toothless, why are you over there?" I asked as I started to make my way over to where my dragon was. As I approached, I noticed that Toothless was sniffing at the wall as if there was something there. I brought my torch over to where Toothless was and couldn't believe my eyes with what I had found. On the wall was drawings of all sorts, something we hadn't noticed earlier when we were quickly scouted the area. They seemed to have been drawn quite a long time ago as they were badly faded. I couldn't make out what any of them actually meant but from a few of the pictures, it looked like it was trying to tell a story of dragons and vikings. "So someone was here once before, but it looks like they haven't been here for a long time." I explained to Toothless, glancing over the drawings once more before turning around towards the hot spring again. We had come here so that I could wash and clean my clothes so the drawings would have to wait.
I didn't take long to get into the hot spring, and once I was in, I figured out the water was the perfect temperature for washing in. I had tried to wash in the lake a few days ago and that water was freezing and had way too many eyes around for my liking. I dunked my head under the warm water a few times before resurfacing. I tried to wash myself the best that I could, but I had no soap to clean with so I couldn't do much other than wash off the few days of sweat. I happened to find two perfectly smooth stones not far from the hot spring, and used them to wash my clothes, but there was only so much I could do with no soap.
After I was done with my clothes, I climbed out of the hot spring to dry off. I took out my second drawing book and for the first time since the first night, I decided to draw whatever came to mind. My first drawing book was now full with what I had drawn before I left Berk up until the map of the Valley. Before I realized what I was drawing, I found myself drawing my recurring nightmare of Astrid getting consumed with the flames. She was standing still with her axe in her hand and shield on her back, but her axe was lowered down along her side. She wasn't looking at me, she was looking at all the destruction the fire had caused. Her hair was untied from her usually braid and was blowing in the wind. I drew fire around her feet and legs so that they were hidden from the knee down, as to show that she was being consumed. In the background was a burning home already half gone. I scribbled in the words at the top of the page "Why did You leave?"
I threw down the drawing book once I was done. Even though I knew the nightmare or drawing wasn't real, I could still remember it so vividly as if it had actually happened. I felt a slight chill go through me once I realized how long I had actually been drawing. Toothless had been lying beside me asleep as I was drawing and quickly lifted his head and snapped it to me once I threw the book down. "It's time to go Bud, we have to get back to our cave and prepare for tomorrow." I said to the Night Fury who just watched me get up, get my clothes and get dressed. I picked up the now unlit torch that laid beside me held it towards Toothless who gave it the smallest plasma blast he could muster and lit the torch up again. Once everything was basked back into light from the Torch, I picked up the rest of my clothing and headed for the entrance of the cavern with Toothless hot on my heels.
It wasn't long before we were back at our cave. Toothless went to his rock and breathed fire on it to warm it up before settling down while I went over to the firepit in the center. The fire had gone out a long time ago and only a few small red coals remained. I gathered some of the logs that I had stored near the entrance of the cave and placed them on top of the red coals. I knelt down in front of the red coals, sucked in lungs full of air, and gave the red coals a mighty blow. The dry wood quickly caught fire and I jumped back up to my feet and put out the torch and placed it away from anything burnable.
After extinguishing the torch, I made my way over to my desk and put my drawing book on it. I opened the first page again and looked at the drawing I created, still shocked that I actually drew that in such fine detail. After staring at the drawing for a few more seconds, I closed the book and walked over to my bed. I climbed on top of my bed and turned over so that I could see the fire. I watched the flames dance with themselves for what felt like ages before I fell asleep. For the first time since I left my home island of Berk, I slept without nightmares. Sometime during the night, my dreams turned towards Astrid, but they weren't nightmares. Astrid, of all people, was riding a dragon. Not just any dragon either, a Deadly Nadder. They seemed to fly together perfectly, Astrid matching the movements of the Nadder and the dragon doing the same. I slept peacefully that night watching Astrid and the Deadly Nadder fly together.
I awoke the following day when the sun was directly shining into my eyes. I sat up in bed slowly, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and looked around the now-empty cave. Toothless must have gotten up before me and has wondered out to get some breakfast. I swung my legs off the bed and got up slowly getting used to standing on my legs before stretching as far as my limbs would go. I walked over to where my desk was to grab my second drawing book and found that it was open to the image that I had drawn last night. I could have sworn that I had closed the book last night. I picked up the book and writing stick, stuffed it into my pocket, and walked out of the cave to look for Toothless.
I didn't have to look far for the Night Fury. As I walked out of the cave to look at the surroundings, trying to decide which direction to walk, I happened to hear a noise slightly behind me. I swung around in time to see two green eyes watching me from a tree not too far from the entrance of the cave. Before I could react, Toothless dropped out of the tree and knocked me over, sniffing me and than giving me a lick right across the face. "Gross, Toothless! You know that doesn't wash out, trust me, I tried!" I yelled at him before swatting him off. He gave me his toothless grin before licking me once more and jumped back before I could swat him again.
"Good morning to you as well" I said to my dragon as I wiped my face clean of dragon saliva and got to my feet. "Did you let me sleep in this morning?" asking Toothless and receiving a happy croon from him. "Thanks Bud, I really needed that." I said walking towards my dragon and giving him a scratch under the chin in his favourite spot. "We have a big day ahead of us. I want to explore that final tunnel. By the looks of it, it wasn't like the other ones" mentioning what I realized when we first looked at it before climbing onto his back. "Let's go and see what this cave is all about" and Toothless shot off into the sky before I could even get the words out of my mouth.
I knew that Toothless was just as excited as I was to be flying and exploring again. It might have only been a few hours since we went to sleep, but I had a suspicion that it felt like days to Toothless who couldn't fly on his own anymore. We flew around the valley a few times, doing our, now daily, routine of checking all the locations for any changes and practicing our flight maneuvers. Other than some dragons moving from one spot to the next, it seemed as if everything was exactly the same. I directed Toothless to the final tunnel and we landed right before it. I picked up the few handmade torches that I left at the entrance and stood back and admired the tunnel.
The tunnel wasn't like the other ones. While the other ones were big enough for Toothless and I to fly through, this one seemed just big enough for us to walk single file through, and was barely tall enough for a full size viking to fit through. It would have been funny to watch one of the bigger vikings from Berk try to make it through this tunnel, knowing they would have been struggling the whole way.
"Give me some light Bud," I said to Toothless as I held up one of the torches. I received a small plasma blast directly to the top of the torch before I could even finish the sentence. I held the torch closer to the entrance of the cave and seen that even the tunnel walls were different. "This tunnel almost looks human made, they remind me of some of the tunnels that branched off in the Caves of Jotunn." I said before it finally clicked in what I had just said. "Human made… Hmmm…, that would explain the drawings in the hot spring we found last night." I said to myself once again. I turned around to see Toothless eyeing me carefully. "Are you ready Buddy? I am not sure what we will find in this tunnel?" I asked my dragon, watching him blink a few times, before he finally nudged me forward excitedly. "Okay, okay, calm your scales, I'm going, I'm going!" I managed to get out before being completely plunged into the darkness of the tunnel with only my torch being a source of light.
Toothless and I made the slow trek through the tunnel. We were both on high alert since we entered, with my eyes jutting around from stone to stone as the light uncovered them and Toothless ear flaps twitching at every little sound. Toothless also tried using his echolocation ability a few times but it only yelled a frustrated growl from the dragon, as if he couldn't see more than a few feet ahead of us.
It felt like we had walked for days through the tunnel, carefully stepping over each stone in our pathway while staying high alert. I know it couldn't have been more than a few hours but it was hard to tell what time it actually was with the tunnel being so dark and the sun nowhere in sight.
Toothless was trying his echolocation once more after walking a little longer and I was receiving a worried croon from him as we continued forward. I didn't know what to expect from what I was hearing from him, but I was going to find out soon. We walked not even a few more steps before I came across what looked to be a dead end. I walked a few steps further, so that I could examine the wall more closest before figuring out what we had stumbled across. "This dead end wasn't just a tunnel collapse, this wall was put here deliberately. I can see cracks and sections in the wall where they failed to put rocks and I can see some sunlight shining on the tunnel floor on the other side." I said to Toothless before trying to move a few rocks by hand. "Damn, whoever built this wall built it so that nobody would be able to move it once it was placed here. There has to be another way to get through this wall" I said mostly to myself as I walked back towards Toothless and started to pace back and forth.
When I wasn't looking, I heard a high pitched squeal from behind my head and noticed a faint purple light across the tunnel right before… *CRASH* I whipped my head around to see that Toothless had shot a plasma blast directly in the center of the makeshift wall and completely destroyed it, send rocking flying outside the tunnel exit. What didn't shoot off into the unknown was melted from the heat of the plasma blast. "Toothless! What are you doing? You could have killed us both if this tunnel was to collapse!" I yelled at my dragon before noticing what he had actually done. As quickly as my anger came up, it dispensed and was replaced with curiosity. "Wait here Toothless, let me check out the exit and make sure it's safe for us."
I walked over to the, now completely gone, wall and climbed over the few pieces that were left on the ground. I approached the exit with extreme caution, unknown to me what I would find once I reached the end. I quickly had to shield my eyes from the sun that was now directly overhead as my eyes adjusted to the sudden change in brightness. I glanced around to see exactly where we were and was surprised to find that we were indeed on the other side of the peak of the mountain. I found myself on a ledge looking over Nepenthe and all the small little villages that I had passed on the way in. I followed the paths from the small villages to the trading village at the foot of the mountain that was almost directly beneath me currently. To the right of the exit was a path that looked like it trailed down along the mountainside and ended not too far away from the village. My eyes followed the path down the mountainside and to where the path ended and figured that this path hasn't been used in many seasons. The beginning of the path at the bottom of the mountain was completely covered in overgrown bush and had many trees around it.
Once I was finished looking at the beginning of the path at the foot of the mountain, I turned around to find Toothless directly behind me. It seemed like he had been there the whole time, looking over the small villages and finally following the mountainside path. I noticed right behind Toothless that there was something scribbled on the wall. I walked past the Night Fury who quickly took his eyes off the view below and followed me with his eyes as he sat on the small ledge. "Mountain Peak's Valley, huh, what a name for the valley. It wasn't so hidden if humans have found it" I said mostly to myself and receiving a small grunt from Toothless as if he was agreeing with me. Written right below the name of the valley in big letters was "BEWARE OF DRAGONS, KEEP OUT" was all it said. It must have been the reason why the tunnel was closed off in the first place. I could only guess that humans had gotten into the valley and disturbed the dragons and in return got attacked.
"Well, what do you say Bud? Want to get a closer look at the village or should we come back at night when nobody would notice us?" I asked my dragon. I was curious to see what the village held as it could be useful for when I needed supplies or other things that I couldn't get myself. Toothless, who was looking at me, looked back over to the small trading village at the bottom of the hill and than back at me. As if making up his mind, he walked back towards the tunnel and motioned his head as if to say that we should go back. "I guess it would be pretty stupid for us to head into a trading village, especially when we don't even know how they will react to a Night Fury among them" agreeing with Toothless, as we started to make our way back through the tunnel into the valley. Time seemed to go by a lot quicker this time, and we were back in the valley in no time.
By the time we got back to the valley, the sun was already three quarters through the sky. If we were going to head back to the village tonight, we had to get some food in us and some rest before we left. I climbed onto Toothless's back and quickly flew up into the sky. We flew high into the sky before doing a few flips and practicing our sky maneuvers before landing near our edge of the lake. After Toothless had his share of fish, we settled along the shore so that I could get some of my own dinner. A few dragons walked by and gave us curious glances as if to say "What is that human doing here with a Night Fury?" before continuing on with whatever task they were doing. I quickly gathered up some fish and made the short trek back to our living quarters with Toothless hot on my heels.
By the time I made it back to our home in the cave, the sun was just grazing the tops of the mountains. We had a few more hours before the sun finally settled below the horizon and plunged the world into nighttime again. I placed the fish beside the fire, which had burnt out sometime last night, and made my way over to my desk. Toothless heated up the ground with his fire a bit before settling down into his normal spot. His breathing changed quickly as he dozed off into sleep. Lucky dragon, he could fast asleep anywhere if he wanted too. I placed my drawing book and my writing stick on my desk and made my way over to my bed. I laid down on my bed and turned over to watch Toothless breath in and out, and before I knew it, I was out like a light. For the first time since I got to the island, I didn't dream once through my short nap.
I was woken up suddenly when I heard a small crash with a angry growl followed not too long after. The sun just ducked below the horizon, leaving the whole valley in darkness. My eyes searched our cave for a second adjusting to the darkness before resting on the spot that Toothless was growling at. Laying down right where Toothless was sleeping previously was a green and reddish-brown Terrible Terror. The dragon must have flew into the cave and crashed landed against Toothless which promoted him to jump up and growl. I got up and approached the two dragons, calming down Toothless in the process, while glancing down at the little Terror. The tiny dragon looked exhausted as if he just flew for days without food, water, or a break.
As I approached the dragon, he seemed to recognize that I was in front of him, shook his head and shot his head up towards me. Instead of flying off like most Terrors did, he just stood there and watched me, giving me a hiss when I reached out my hand. The dragon sniffed my hand a few times as I waited for his reaction. His mood seemed to changed instantly after sniffing my hand and before I could react, the small dragon licked my hand a few times before finally collapsing from exhaustion. I moved closer to the dragon and picked him up in my hands before carrying him closer to where the fire should have been. I laid him down beside the unlit fire and went to gather some firewood before stacking it up in the firepit. I signaled Toothless and the cave was instantly plunged into light when the small plasma blast connected with the firepit.
The Terror rolled over on his back, with his wings spread out beneath him and continued sleeping. I watched him as I grabbed my fish roasting stick, stuck a fish on it, and started to cook it over the fire. It wasn't long until the small dragon rolled over and opened his eyes. He must have smelt the fish being cooked because he got up and walked over to where I was sitting and curled up beside my leg. I took another fish that I had caught earlier and placed it in front of him and before I even had a chance to remove my hand, the Terror grabbed the fish and ate it full, surprisingly me completely. Once he swallowed the fish whole, he nestled up against me and fell asleep once more.
I finally got a chance to look at the Terrible Terror when he finally fell asleep once more. The dragon looked oddly familiar like the terror that I had released from Berk before I had left. Judging by the design of the reddish-brown on his back, he wasn't the dragon that I had once fed before when Toothless and I were learning to fly again. No, this pattern was very similar to the one that Berk had caged for so many seasons.
Toothless never moved from his spot and watched the Terrible Terror nestle against my leg, never taking his eyes off the dragon. Once Toothless realized he was sleeping once more, the Night Fury approached us and sniffed the little dragon before shaking his head and sitting back in his spot. He looked at me, looked at the tiny dragon, and looked at me again, as if to confirm my suspicion of this being the same dragon as before. Toothless finally got back up, walked towards the entrance of the cave, and sat down under the night sky and watched it once more. I knew what the dragon was waiting for, and I quickly finished my fish off, put my roasting stick back in it's normal spot and got up carefully as if not to disturb the small dragon. When the small dragon didn't move a muscle, I walked back over to Toothless and looked up at the sky with him.
"You ready to go to the village Bud? You know it could be dangerous if anybody sees us." I asked my dragon as he rolled his eyes and I received a nudge in my arm as if he was trying to say "I know that, stupid." I took one last peak at the sleeping Terror in our cave and decided that he couldn't cause any trouble there, turned back around to Toothless and jumped into the awaiting saddle. Toothless didn't hesitate and shot up into the sky with a very powerful jump. Just like every time before, I felt my stomach leave me completely before returning once we levelled off.
We shot off towards the the southern peaks, not even circling the valley like we normally do, quickly finding us soaring high above the trading village below. We shot down into a twirling dive and levelling off high enough in the sky so that we wouldn't be spotted but low enough so that we could gauge our situation. It seemed like we had come at a good time because people were slowly filing out of their homes and walking towards the largest building in the area. The building reminded me of the Great Hall back in Berk with people walking in and drunks stumbling out. We circled around the village a few times trying to pinpoint the best location to land while trying to determine which buildings were what.
We spotted a building with a faint glow near the edge of the village that had a larger smokestack than most of the buildings around, and had a small smoke stream flowing out. Knowing how the forge looked like back on Berk, I knew that this building had to be the village's forge. I directed Toothless towards the forge and landed not to far away in the forest behind it, quickly dismounting from Toothless, I listened to see if anybody had saw us or heard anything. Once I knew we were in the clear, I signalled Toothless to be quiet as we approached the forge. Once again, I listened to see if anybody was around or inside the forge. Luckily for us, the blacksmith must have went to the village's Great Hall for a night drinking with the rest of the town's folk or has gone home for the day. I signalled Toothless to stay behind the building but to stay high alert and to signal me if anybody was approaching. I snuck around to the front of the Forge, opened the door as quietly as I could, tiptoed inside and quickly but quietly closed to door behind me.
Once I was inside the forge, I turned around and couldn't believe my eyes. While the village was much smaller than Berk, the forge seemed to be at least twice the size. After gazing over all the unfamiliar equipment to me, I walked over to where some of the weapons were stored. The first thing I picked up was a sword, and after giving it a few swings, I determined that it was close to being perfectly balanced. Knowing that a sword would come in handy, I placed the sword into the unused scabbard on my belt. I looked once more at the weapons and found a few more useful weapons and tools. I grabbed a small hatchet that would come in handy when gathering wood, a smaller and bigger sized hammer in case I needed to do any metal modifying of my own, a good size chisel, and a few materials including clumps of metal, leather, thread, and needles.
Before I knew it, I was overburdened with everything that I had took, and I tried to quietly make my way over to the door and failed completely. I was making a lot of noise and anybody walking by would hear me as I walked any amount of distance. I opened the door and peeked around the wall to see if anybody was on the street leading to the forge. Luckily for me, the forge was far enough away from the town that I wouldn't be heard or seen if I did leave now. I stepped outside and closed the door before noisily making my way back to the forest to hide my stash of weapons and materials. Toothless was watching me every step of the way and even hissed slightly when I approached him too closely. I stashed the items against a tree a little ways away from the forge and threw some leaves around them. I would come back for them once we explored the village a little more.
Toothless and I approached the buildings closer to the main path of the village. Just by luck, we stumbled across the clothes maker building, which was also completely empty. I snuck into the building through the back door and grabbed a few clothes that were hanging around that seemed to be about my size. I also happened to find a new pair of boots that were slightly too big but knew I would grow into them, I took them as well. The last thing I grabbed on the way out was a completely black cloak, which I quickly threw over my shoulders as I ducked out the back door. Toothless lead the way back to where I stored the weapons and I stored the clothes at the base of another tree directly across from the weapons tree.
Luck seemed to be on my side tonight as it seemed like everyone in the village was at the Great Hall and all the buildings and trading spots were completely deserted. After dropping off the clothing, I decide to push my luck once more and went back to another trading spot, this time it was stashed with food and spices of all different kinds. The back door of the building was locked, and I had to sneak around to the front of the building. I was just about to open the front door when I was grabbed from behind and I knew instantly that my luck had run out. I tried to run or scream or do something but my movement was limited and a hand had covered my mouth.
"And what do you think you are doing? Trying to steal from this nice village?" asked a female voice behind me. I knew I had been caught and there was nothing I could do other than take the punishment that I was to receive. I was dragged behind the trading spot and was thrown up against the wall, with my cloak being so big, I still didn't get a good view of who had caught me. As I tried to turn around to look who had caught me, all I had caught was the sight of a fist before it slammed into my face and knocked me against the wall. "That'll teach you to steal from a friendly trading village, you low-life good-for-nothing thief!" was all I heard from the female's voice before I was grabbed by my vest and brought to my feet. My cloak's hood must have fell back because I was released and a sudden gasp of breath was heard at the same time. "No way… Hiccup?" Was all I heard before I collapsed back to the ground at the same time Toothless pounced from the forest and knocked the female onto her back. Toothless was now hovering over her, with his teeth fully visible and a angry growl emitting from the back of his throat. The female was completely stunned and couldn't react, she didn't try to struggle or scream out or anything. She knew that she was dead if the dragon decided to attack her.
"Hold her there Bud but don't hurt her" I managed to get out to Toothless before standing back up once again. I was still stunned from the plow to my head and I had to wait until the stars stopped flying in front of my face. The voice had sounded oddly familiar and I wanted to see who this was that knew me..
Once the stars stopped flying around in front of me, and my eyes adjusted to the darkness once again, I stumbled over towards where my dragon was and grabbed a hold of him to steady myself. "Alright Bud, back up a bit so that I can get a good look at her." Toothless hesitated for a few seconds before I gave him a tap on his shoulder and he finally moved back a little bit. He never took his eyes away from the unknown female, and his teeth were still fully visible and the angry growl was still present.
The female looked to be very young, maybe my age or a little older but not by much. She had dark blonde hair and some gold jewellery on her ears and wrist. As I studied her closer, I realized that she looked familiar but couldn't think of a reason why. She had bluish-green eyes that almost reminded me of Astrid's eyes but with more green. "Sit up so I can get a better look at you, but don't think of doing anything crazy or else you will be ashes right where you lay." I commanded her. She did as I requested and sat up slowly, never taking her eyes off of my Night Fury. "Now, how did you know my name?" I asked her with an more angry than needed tone.
"You mean, you don't recognize me?" the female said, taking her eyes off Toothless the first time since he appeared and looked directly into my eyes. "I guess it has been a while since we last saw each other. I believe the last time I was on Berk was when I was 10... " she trailed off as if almost trying to remember a simpler time. "You were always a little pipsqueak."
It finally clicked on who this female was. "Camicazi?" I asked a little excitedly, anger now completely gone finally realizing who I was talking to.
"The one and only," Camicazi said.