Chapter 42

The line of houses ended not long after Calla and Blue reached the eastern side of the bay where the road turned sharply north. With the last vestiges of civilisation now behind them, Firefly and Daisy were once more released to play and explore.

"Looks like Daisy is getting hungry" Calla noted as her dragon flew out over the water.

As they walked down the road, Blue and Calla could see Daisy circling around looking for an early lunch while Firefly scratched at the entrance of a hole where some small animal lay in hiding. After a few minutes, Daisy dove down into the sea and caught herself a good sized fish. It did not take long for Firefly to notice the tempting aroma when she returned, so he left the fortunate animal and tried to insist Daisy share her catch.

The sight of the dragons posing and half heartedly fighting over the fish, a meal that was clearly too big for either of them, made for a very amusing sight but Calla and Blue soon stopped chuckling when they heard a sound that was very rare in this day and age, an internal combustion engine.

"Daisy, Firefly... come here!" Blue ordered.

Unfortunately both Terrors were far too invested in devouring the fish, which was rapidly getting smaller as the sound of the motor grew louder. Running to the dragons, Blue and Calla snatched them up off the ground and tried to find a hiding place while Firefly and Daisy just continued to argue over the last of the fish.

Before they could hope to get away, a dark green four-wheel-drive rounded the sweeping bend behind and drove straight at the pair. It screeched to a halt far too close for their liking and as soon as the wheels had stopped turning, two men jumped out from the front seats.

"See... and there's two of them; I told you I wasn't imagining this."

Blue and Calla instantly recognised the first excited man, but the other one was a surprise.

"Terrible Terrors!" the large stranger smiled broadly "Two... genuine... Terrible Terrors."

The new man obviously needed at least another 75% of face area to fit in his massive grin. Daisy and Firefly may have managed to finish their meal, but the rapid approach of these loud men clearly did not amuse them. Firefly made this fact plain by shooting a fireball at the large man's feet.

"I'd step back if I were you" Blue warned.

"Yeah, or the next one might just hit you in the face" Calla added bluntly.

"Please... we mean no harm but... well... just come and see for yourselves."

The two men led the way to the rear of the vehicle. The dragons were still a bit skittish so Calla and Blue put them down and told them to stay. As soon as the large man dropped the tailgate, he started to lay out his collection of framed paintings.

"I suppose we should introduce ourselves; my name is Olaf and this is Mr. Thorston."

"Blue and Calla" Blue replied while still being cautious.

"Have a look at these my young friends, and please tell me what you can" Thorston begged.

The couple quickly looked over the pictures and were surprised at what they saw.

"Where on Earth did you get these?" Blue asked.

"They've been in my family for generations" Thorston smiled "Please tell me, what do you see here."

"Well you've got a Gronkle, that's a Razorwhip, a Zippleback and... oh my goodness."

Blue picked up one of the pictures to look closer.

"This is a Night Fury... and not just any Night Fury either,look at the tail. This is a picture of Toothless; the first dragon to be trained on Berk."

Olaf and Thorston started to turn over the picture frames and read the translations taped to the back.

"Gronckle, Zippleback... he got them all right! What about the others?" Thorston asked with glee.

"Err Rumblehorn, Deadly Nadder, Thunderdrum, Changewing, Skrill, Triple Stryke..."

As Blue went on, Olaf and Thorston continued to check each answer and became more and more excited with each correct identification.

"How do you know all this?" Thorston asked at last.

"Easy; he's a descendant of..."

"Calla!" Blue stopped her "Look I'm sorry gentlemen but we don't have time to talk. A man was injured yesterday and if we don't find the dragons soon, then who knows what could happen tomorrow."

"Are you planning to kill them?" Olaf wondered.

"No I am not!" Blue stated adamantly "If it's at all possible, I intend to get closer and befriend them in the same way we did with the Terrors; and then hopefully train them to live with humans rather than fight them."

"Or die in the attempt" Calla declared courageously.

"Well... I hope it won't come to that" Blue admitted.

"Olaf said you were headed for the Eysturoy bridge" Thorston said eagerly "We could give you a lift if you like."

Blue and Calla looked to each other and shrugged.

"I guess so" Blue decided.

"Great; come on Olaf" Thorston tried to out grin his previous record as he shoved the paintings back inside the vehicle and closed the tailgate.

Blue and Calla returned to their patiently waiting dragons as the two men got into their seats and started the engine. Firefly and Daisy seemed much more relaxed now they had seen their humans getting along so well with the boisterous strangers, but when Blue and Calla tried to take them inside the four-wheel-drive, both dragons made it clear they were having none of it. The large vehicle looked like a trap to them and that was the end of the matter as far as the dragons were concerned.

"Sorry gents, but I don't think we'll be able to take up your offer" Blue said not wanting to upset the dragons.

"Oh... I see..." Thorston's face fell.

Calla and Blue put their dragons down and said goodbye to the men, but as they started to walk away, they soon noticed the vehicle was following them. Turning around they saw Olaf had climbed out and was standing on the running board while holding on to the roof rack.

"How about this?" he called out "You can ride like this and your dragons can fly alongside. Of course we'd go slowly, but it'll still get you to the bridge quicker than walking would."

Thorston stopped when Blue went back to the driver's side and stared at him.

"What are you two up to?" he said accusingly "And what exactly do you want from us."

"Please, I just want to know more about you and about the dragons. For so long now my family has believed that these pictures were nothing more than ancient art, created by one of our ancestors many centuries ago. Today I suddenly found out that one of the creatures was real and there was a strange boy from New Zealand who knew all about them."

"I'm not from New Zealand, Calla is" Blue corrected them.

"Who cares; you're not from around here, but you know all about dragons. And if that wasn't enough, you actually have two of the little blighters as pets."

"Actually we've got more than two" Calla blurted out.

"I just figured if we gave you a ride to the bridge, and maybe a little further, you could tell us more before you go" Thorston begged.

Blue looked over to Calla who just shrugged.

"Aright then, but Calla rides inside and Olaf stays out with me" Blue insisted and they both agreed.

Before they started off, Blue said one more surprising thing to Calla.

"I think it would be a good idea for you to have your little sharp friend with you."

"Okay" she smiled and took off her backpack.

Even though part of the wooden handle was plainly visible out of the top of the pack, both Olaf and Thorston were still very surprised when she removed a large American fire axe.

"Oh my goodness" Olaf gasped.

"It's not that we don't trust you, it's just that we really don't know you" Blue explained.

"Which means we don't trust you" Calla nodded.

The dragons watched with interest as Calla got in the vehicle with her axe while Blue stood on the outside running board.

"Come on guys" Blue called out as they started off but he need not have bothered.

As soon as the vehicle began to roll, both Daisy and Firefly leapt into the air and glided alongside. Calla looked out at them and noticed they actually seemed happier with the increase in pace. When Blue and Calla had been walking, the dragons would fly for a while, nosed around in the grass for a while, and then sit on an appropriate shoulder for a while, just to try and alleviate the boredom of a slow journey. Now they could fly without having to stop and wait for their wingless friends, and the aroma coming from the exhaust pipe seemed to interest them too.

"Why does this thing smell so funny" Blue asked Olaf.

"Oh that's because Thorston runs this thing on Titrated Fish Oil; you can't get normal diesel fuel anymore" he replied.

"No wonder the dragons love the smell so much, it's the aroma of dinner."

Without going into too much detail, Blue told Olaf and Thorston a few stories about his early life inside the Railgun Complex and eventually meeting DeGroot. He told them about the books he had studied to gain his dragon knowledge but left out the discovery of Old Berk. He only said that they had encountered the Terrors on their way across the Atlantic, setting out to rescue the fishermen from the Shetlands, and finally heading off to the Faroe Islands because of an educated guess that the fish stealing dragons had come from there.

Even driving slowly, it did not take long to get to the bridge. Thorston stopped on the far side and got out one of his maps from the glove box.

"You may want to look at this before you go" he said to Blue.

Once again he opened the tailgate but this time he unfolded the map on its surface.

"So where do you want to go to?" he asked.

After a quick look over the northern part of Eysturoy Island, Blue pointed out the marked mountain near the coast.

"Here... but I don't think I could pronounce it even if my life depended on it" he admitted.

"Ah you want to go to Slættaratindur" Olaf nodded.

"That's easy for you to say" Calla noted.

"Of course; that would be a very good place to start" Thorston agreed "There is a walking trail that starts four or five kilometres from here; we could take you there if you like."

"Um... okay... that would be appreciated" Blue smiled.

Soon they were on their way again, chatting about dragons, and the recent past while Firefly and Daisy circled around the Land Rover. When they reached the start of the mountain trail, Thorston stopped the vehicle and got out too.

"Maybe we should come along with you" he said eagerly "I would love to see the big dragon... if it is somewhere around here."

Blue suspected this would happen, but even though he believed Olaf and Thorston were sincere, he did not want to deal with two extra overly excited men if he should be lucky enough to find a wild dragon.

"You could come with us, but I was wondering; do you know a man named Simon Lisberg?"

Thorston looked a little confused, but Olaf certainly recognised the name."

"Yes I know Simon. He's got a farm above Sund."

"That's the guy" Blue smiled "I was wondering if you could show him your paintings, to see if he could confirm which one he saw."

"Our friend Haley is looking after him... and she had a couple of dragons with her too" Calla added.

That was enough for Thorston; the chance to see more dragons and to talk with someone who had actually seen a large one was just too tempting.

"Sure we can do that for you" he nodded "Come on Olaf."

Blue and Calla retrieved their backpacks from the rear seat of the vehicle, and they were soon waving goodbye to their new friends.

"Phew... I thought they'd never leave" Blue sighed.

"They weren't too bad" Calla shrugged.

"Well... no but you saw the way they spooked Firefly and Daisy when they arrived, so I wouldn't want to risk finding a wild dragon with them in our little party."

"Yeah... it does have disaster written all over it" Calla agreed as they started their long and arduous climb.

'

'

I must admit I'm feeling a little low at the moment. Not really deep down depressed or anything, just a little off track. One of the things I'm worrying about is although I know I'll be alright in the long run, I'm just not sure what's going to happen in the next month and I expect most of you are feeling the same way.

The news reports tell me that while C-19 is progressing slowly where I live, things are still pretty awful in Europe and will probably get much worse in both North and South America. I'm not sure how things are in the various areas of Asia but we have heard some bad predictions.

It was a real shock to hear about Prince Charles; I may not be a monarchist but don't want to see anyone his age suffer this illness. Makes me glad my own parents live in a farm district and are already naturally isolated.

Thanks to yorukakusaku from Poland for favouriting the story and good luck to Vin, Draco38 and all the other readers during this disturbing time.

Keep safe everyone, praying for you all, Marty.