Chapter 45
Blue and the Nightmare soon found themselves being surrounded by a Light Fury and three Night Furys. The four dragons circled overhead for a short time before one of them touched down and roared.
"Hi there... well this is a surprise" Blue blurted out.
He took a step forward and tried to look as non-threatening as he could, but all Blue got for his trouble was a ball of blue plasma fired near his feet.
"Okay so you don't want to be friends then" Blue said as he was showered with rock dust.
The Nightmare moved in front of Blue to protect him in the same way it had seen Windstorm do back when he himself had threatened the humans. In response, the other three Furys landed beside their colleague to back him up. Now that they were all on the ground, Blue could see the first to land was the largest of the group and therefore must have been their leader. He wondered if he could try and appeal to this Night Fury and possibly de-escalate the situation but before he had the chance, the Nightmare grabbed the back of Blue's jacket, tossed the boy onto his back and shot up into the sky.
This move surprised the Furys even more than it surprised Blue, and they were all quite slow to respond. This situation did not last long though and soon all four were in pursuit of the escapees. Not knowing what to do, the Nightmare took the gamble of following Windstorm to the southwest, hoping to gain some allies in this unwanted fight.
Down on the ground, Firefly and Daisy crawled out from their hiding places and followed the other dragons at a safe distance while up ahead, things were going from bad to worse for the Nightmare and his passenger.
The Furys could all easily best the Nightmare with speed and firepower, so they flew up on his left side and shot a succession of plasma blasts to drive the fleeing dragon around to the north. The leader of the group then shoved his head into the red dragon, pushing him even further around, until he was going exactly where they wanted him to go.
As Firefly watched, he realised exactly what the Furys were up to and just like the Nightmare, the little Terror also realised they all needed help; so he roared to Daisy and pointed his head back to the southeast. Knowing precisely what he meant, Daisy turned and flew off to get Calla and Windstorm, while Firefly continued to follow the Furys and their captives.
Once the group were well out over the ocean, the Furys suddenly showed another side of themselves Blue would never have expected; particularly based on what he had learned from the writings of Hiccup and Fishlegs. Now that the Nightmare was on the course they wanted, the Furys had taken up positions all around their captive; above, below, left and right. The dragon on the left side then moved in below the Nightmares wing, while the one on the right moved in on top; and then suddenly and without warning, they used their bodied as rams to send the Nightmare into a complete roll, throwing Blue off the dragons back and sending him plummeting into the sea.
The Nightmare panicked and tried desperately to dive down and save the boy, but the Furys would not allow it. They snapped at the red dragon and threatened him with glowing blue plasma, but he refused to yield to their bullying tactics. Down in the water, Blue was desperately trying to keep afloat, a task not made easy thanks to his heavy clothing and hiking boots. Finally and with little other choice, the lead Fury swooped down to where the boy struggled and grabbed him roughly by the shoulders, lifting him back up into the sky. The Fury then showed the Nightmare who he had, while wearing a very smug look on his face that seemed to say 'You want him, then come and get him' before flying off to the north once more.
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Although Calla did not know the problems Blue was currently having, she was disappointed to find she and Windstorm were also flying into trouble when they arrived back at the farmhouse of Simon Lisberg. Out in front of the house, a small group of men had gathered and appeared to be trying to get in but were being held back by Haley and Simon, who were each brandishing some kind of firearm. A few more were at the back door of the home where Thorston and Olaf were doing the defending.
Calla decided she needed more information about what was going on and in order to get it, she would have to be down on the ground. To get on the ground near to Haley, she needed space and to get that space, she needed those men to move back there was no doubt about it, they had to go.
Before anyone on the ground became aware of the approaching Nadder, Calla guided Windstorm in a dive near the right side of the house before pulling out and speeding by, just above head height. The turbulence caused by the dragon's expansive wings knocked the unsuspecting men back, some of them even falling to the ground. The shock was so great, each one clambered to his feet and retreated from the immediate area.
"WAAH-HOOO" Haley jumped and shouted as Calla brought her dragon in to land near the house.
"You did it... you really did it... you found the dragon!"
"Haley, meet Windstorm" Calla said as she dropped down from the dragons back.
"Windstorm...he's beautiful."
"She's beautiful" Calla corrected "according to Blue anyway; so what's happening here?"
"Oh some guys from a town down on the coast came to see Simon and went nuts when they saw the Terrors; they even tried to blame us for bringing the dragons here."
Behind them Simon walked down the front steps of his home, still leaning heavily on his cane.
"Oh my..." he gasped "...this is the dragon that attacked me... and you've tamed it?"
"I don't think you'll have any more trouble with Windstorm" Calla smiled "Now let's take care of this misunderstanding."
While Haley fawned over the new dragon, Calla strode over to the rapidly regrouping men with Simon hobbling along behind her.
"HEY YOU IDIOTS, WE DIDN'T BRING THE DRAGONS HERE, BUT WE DID COME TO TAKE THEM AWAY!"
"How do we know you didn't bring them?"
"Use your brain man" Simon called out "These young people have only recently arrived, but the dragons were first seen here months ago."
"Well how did they get here then; and why did they come?" someone else barked.
"We sailed here after rescuing some fishermen from the Shetlands" Calla replied "My friend Blue worked out the dragons that had attacked those fishermen may have come from here, so we set sail as soon as we could."
"And now you're using the dragons to attack us" another said accusingly.
"Hey, you were attacking my house" Simon retaliated "we were only defending ourselves."
"Yeah... chill out and learn something" Calla sneered "Blue managed to win over this dragon with love, respect and one roast chicken. And now he's trying to do the same with the other dragon; so do you want us to go home and leave you to cope with the Monstrous Nightmare by yourselves, or do you wanna back off and let us work?"
"I want you to stop all these lies."
The voice came from the centre of the group and was accompanied by a fist sized rock. The eyes of a Nadder are very sharp, meaning Windstorm immediately noticed the projectile and could see it was arcing straight towards Calla's head. So without even moving, the dragon spat out a small fireball and blasted the rock into dust. Everyone gasped as the remains of the rock blew back towards the crowd, giving Calla the current advantage.
"If you go home now, you'll go home intact. But if you try and get violent, I can't guarantee you'll live to see the sunset."
"Look... um... sorry about the rock... it was only one of us..." the man in front tried to explain.
"Then take him home and tell him to show some self control... better yet, lock him in the cellar for a few days" Simon barked.
The men considered what their next move should be and as they conversed in a huddle, Olaf and Thorston came around the front with the men who were trying to enter by the back of the house; and each one was held with one arm behind his back.
"Well I can see you don't need our help" Thorston smiled "What do you want us to do with these two?"
"Oh just put 'em with those other idiots" Simon growled.
"Alright... we'll leave, but this isn't over" the leader of the group told them.
"You bet your life it isn't over" Simon replied "As far as I'm concerned, you all owe me and these people an apology."
"Apology!? For trying to protect our homes from these... beasts?"
"NO! FOR GOING OFF YOUR TREE WITHOUT EVEN TALKING TO ME! NOW GET OUT OF HERE" Simon insisted.
"Can we have our guns back?" Someone dared to ask.
"NO!" Simon, Thorston and Olaf all said in unison.
"Guns?" Calla asked as the small group walked away down the hill.
"Where do you think we got these" Haley held out the shotgun in her hand.
"There's a pile of what's left of the rest over by the door" Simon nodded towards the house.
Calla looked to the door and indeed saw a pile of wood and metal that at one time could have been a number of firearms.
"Ginger Nut and Azrail did a great job of disarming those fools" Haley smiled "Took 'em all completely by surprise."
"Now that they're gone, tell us all about your new dragon" Thorston said with excitement.
"Sorry guys but I don't have time" Calla shook her head "Blue told me to come and get Haley and I don't want to leave him alone with a Monstrous Nightmare for too long."
"A Monstrous Nighmare?" Thorston beamed and ran to his vehicle.
Searching through the back of the Land Rover, he soon found the portrait he was looking for and returned to the group.
"Take a peek at this Olaf, he looks like a nasty one."
"How exciting" Olaf replied "You will bring him back here, won't you?"
"Don't worry boys, I'm sure we'll visit again before we leave; we still have some gear in the house and a yacht down at Sund" Calla noted.
"Just give me a minute to grab my pack and we'll be on our way" Haley said as she dashed for the door.
While Haley was inside, Windstorm took great delight in all the attention she was receiving. She had had really begun to trust in Calla's ability to tell good people from bad, so the dragon had adopted a policy of accepting anyone Calla did. Certainly the group of men who had just left were proof of Windstorms theory because Calla clearly did not like them, whereas the three still remaining were most polite and friendly; although one of them did seem familiar.
"It's like a different dragon" Simon declared as he placed his hand on the Nadder's nose horn "Nothing like the beast that threw me to the ground before. I am so glad I had the chance to hear you young people talk about dragons a few days ago, you've really changed my mind about them."
"Well you are a farmer, and they tend to reasonably understanding about an animal's point of view, even the pests" Haley said as she returned "Back in America, we sometimes had to deal with coyotes and although we couldn't let them raid the hen house, we knew they weren't bad, just hungry."
"I see what you mean" Thorston nodded "Not being a farmer myself, I'd never thought of it that way."
"Well if you're ready Haley, we'll be off" Calla said as she climbed up on Windstorm's back.
"I can't believe it... I'm actually going to ride a..."
Haley's words were cut off by the sudden arrival of a tired and frantic Terror, squawking very loudly.
"Daisy... what's wrong?" Calla asked.
The small dragon circled once around the group and then flew a short distance north. She then tuned and hovered while still making a lot of noise.
"I think we'd better follow her" Haley said.
"I think you're right" Calla replied "Azrail, Ginger Nut, let's go!"
Three dragons and two riders followed the little dragon as she led them away, leaving three slightly stunned and worried men behind.
"I hope the boy's alright" Thorston declared.
"Ya... it would be a tragedy to lose someone so young, yet so wise" Olaf agreed, not realising he sounded like a founding member of the Dragon Riders Fan Club (Faroe Islands chapter.)
"Well... there's nothing we can do about it now but pray" Simon nodded "Also I think we should head off into town and lay down the law on those frightened fools; I'll teach them not to listen to rumours."
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Well... here we are again, hanging around the house and trying to keep ourselves amused. So far I have built one shelf unit for my garage and are halfway through a second, trimmed a few trees in the garden, and sorted out all the old nails and wood screws I had sitting in jars; all while avoiding doing the dishes for two and a half days. Hey, I'm a middle aged guy living alone, so letting the dishes pile up is pretty normal. ;D
Now that I'm getting so many recommendations about High School f the Dead, I'm getting even more determined to have a look at it. After all, we don't have Adventure Time or Steven Universe anymore, and it's been years since Sword Art Online and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya finished so it's about time I found something new to watch.
Sorry to hear about your grandpa Vin, it is always horrid to see a loved one suffer. Hope you get to go back to a normal life soon, then Draco can go back to designing roads, and I can go back to driving on them.
Back with more story soon, Marty.