Author's Note - Enjoy the final volume.
"Whiter than new snow on a raven's back." - William Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet
Light Fury
She was terribly thin, so much so that each of her ribs stood out on her side. There was a leather muzzle strapped around her mouth and a metal collar ringed her neck. The visible claws on her forepaws were clipped and worn down into stubs. Perhaps worst of all though were the old rips in her wings. The tears were fine enough that they could only have been done by a blade. She had clearly put up quite a fight in the past and had needed terrible measures to control.
All considered, she looked relatively peaceful while asleep. Her breaths were labored, but her chest still slowly rose and fell with life.
But they noticed faintly strange details about her appearance that they had missed on first glance. Her head had no frills, nubs, or ridges, her wings seemed a bit more rounded at the tips, her back had only one long and narrow fin-ridge running its entire length, and her scales seemed almost so smooth as to be indistinguishable from each other.
And there was the complete strangeness of her color as well. It seemed to go completely contrary to the name of Night Fury.
Almost as though she was not one.
Oh my gods...
Shadowwing finally remembered to breathe, though he could not tear his gaze away from her. Neither of them could look away as they stared in pained and horrified awe at this discovery.
Was-Grounded recovered his voice first with a whisper.
"She needs help. You stay here with her. I will get Kin-liver."
He spun around and dashed back up the passageway.
Shadowwing almost called out to him to take his place so that he could get the help instead, but he stayed silent, not wanting to suddenly frighten her awake with a shout. There was no way of knowing how long had she been a prisoner here or how she would react.
He cautiously walked over to the cell and inspected it more closely. There were what looked like scratches on the ground near the door. He was also met with new smells. The strangest one was evidently hers since it was familiar but also not. Another was the faint aroma of old dung in the cell. The last was a very faint and old mix of several distinctly male dragons.
He froze mid step, aghast at the realization. It was exactly what he had smelled at the terrible breeding pen. She could only have had the same smell because she had been there too.
What have they done to you? How dare they!
They must have been trying to breed her too. That could never have worked since they definitely did not have another Night Fury or whatever she was. She would also never have willingly gone along with it.
Why would males try to do that with the wrong dragon? It makes no sense. They don't do that outside their own kinds.
He took a deep breath to steady himself.
Maybe the Bewilderbeast forced them to... I do not know... I do not want to know...
He allowed himself a very faint snarl and tail thrash to vent his anger.
I really wish Drago was here now so I could tear him apart myself...
Another deep breath followed as he tried to slow his racing heart and resolved to not think about what he had just learned.
Alright, calm down... this could go wrong so many ways but someone has to get you up.
He pulled the pin out of the lock, and the door opened without making any noise. He slowly and carefully walked over to her and paused, his nose hovering over her shoulder. There was no telling what was going to happen next or how this moment was going to change their lives.
He gently nudged her shoulder and stepped back from her.
She stirred slightly at his touch and forced open her drowsy eyes. A moment of confusion passed as she gradually realized that she was not alone anymore. Her light blue eyes found his and went very wide in alarm.
She scrambled to her feet with a muffled bellow and backed away from him until she ran into the rear bars of her cell. Her eyes darted wildly from him to the open door behind him. Her breathing was panicked, and she could not seem to stop whimpering in fear.
He was completely frozen as neither of them moved a muscle. It was heartbreaking how terrified she was of him. But he could not look away from her, and she did not look away from him.
"I will not hurt you," he whispered.
He lowered his head and began slowly walking toward her. Doing so made her whine softly, but this had to be done for her own good. The muzzle was a very simple one and could easily be pried off if only one knot came loose.
He sat down in front of her and slowly lifted a paw to her head. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion at his sharp claws, but she made no other move, whether out of paralyzing fear or choice he could not know.
He hooked a claw into the knot and gave the rope a tug. The muzzle loosened after a moment of fiddling with it.
She blinked, possibly realizing that he was trying to help. Knowing that he was trying to help apparently did not stop her from trembling at how close he had to bring his claws to her face though.
He carefully worked a claw under the edge of the muzzle and began to pry it away. She pulled away as he tugged at it. The muzzle fell away from her head, and he flung it outside the cell with a growl. He backed away from her to give her more space.
She did not move for several moments, apparently being stunned at having the muzzle off. She opened her mouth widely and rolled her jaws every which way, clearly glad to be able to freely stretch, with her still sharp teeth fully unsheathed.
How long did they keep it on her? Why did they think they needed to muzzle her?
"You are safe now..."
She snapped her jaws shut at his words and stared at him again.
Can she even talk? Maybe she doesn't...
"I... am... safe... now?" her raspy voice filled the silence.
Even from a strange dragon, it was impossible to mistake the trill of a voice that had not been regularly used in a very long time.
"Yes, you are. I will help you," he promised.
"Water..." she weakly moaned.
What? Oh, she needs water first.
It was at that moment that he heard footsteps bounding down the hallway. She heard them too and immediately slunk back a couple steps against the cell's wall as the light from a torch grew nearer.
"I brought Kin-liver."
Was-Grounded peered around the corner and noticed that the female was awake and crouching against the wall of the trap in clear fear. Her smell also told him that as he came closer. It also told him exactly how she had apparently been used by the bad two-legs' male thrall-kin. That part was not surprising since he himself had almost been used as one of those male mating-thralls before. He felt his liver burn with anger and he barely stifled his growl, not wanting to frighten her.
"Shadowwing, what is the matter? He wanted me to follow him and…"
Valka's voice died the instant she looked into the room and saw the three Night Furies, one of which was impossibly white and was clearly a female by appearance.
Another Night Fury! They were not the only ones!
Anger filled her heart at seeing the noble and... strange... dragon with her torn wings, scratches down her side, and her clear starvation. The white Night Fury whimpered the moment she saw her and avoided meeting her gaze.
"Oh, you poor girl. What did they do to you?"
What terrible things she must have suffered from the trappers and from Drago's soldiers to react so weakly to seeing a human, she did not want to think about. It was not hard to imagine from all that they had seen of this place.
Shadowwing got her attention with a purr and quickly scratched out what needed to be said. Valka peered at the dirt scratches through the dim torchlight.
She needs water
The trappers and Drago's men had presumably been gone from the island for several days now and almost no one had apparently been here in that time to be able to bring the captives any food or water.
"I think I know where the supplies are kept. Will you tell her to follow me?"
Shadowwing turned back to the female.
"This two-leg will take us to water."
Something like complete dismay and distrust bloomed in her eyes.
"Why… you… with Monster…? Bad, bad Monster," she whined.
"No, not all two-legs are bad Monsters. This one is good. We will give you water and fish."
"No. Bad. Scared," she barely hissed.
Shadowwing looked back at Valka and flicked his head to get her to come over to him, which she slowly did. He slipped his head under one of her arms with a purr, and she began to scratch behind his ears, apparently understanding his purpose. Together, they looked in the female Fury's direction.
No... Not true!
She could not believe her eyes. They had to be telling her a not-true sleep-story even when not in sleep.
First, a dark wing male appeared in the open mouth of her trap. And he did not try to force himself on her or hurt her even though he smells like a new two-leg-Monster.
"I will not hurt you," he said.
That was too good to believe. No others have not tried to hurt her in some way. Others are danger and not safe.
He approached her with a claw outstretched toward her. A new hurting game or threat?
He helped her take off the bad mouth-closing thing the two-leg-Monsters put around her mouth to stop her from biting their paws off.
And she was able to stretch her jaws for the first time in a very long time. Was any of this true or only another not-true sleep-story? It had to be too good to be true but it felt very true.
"You are safe now..." he said.
Safe? How? What?
"I... am... safe... now?" she stammered.
They were the first words she had spoken aloud in her recent memory.
"Yes, you are. I will help you," he declared.
Help me? If you want to help then get me some-
"Water," she whispered.
She heard something large approaching her trap along with a growing light. Light and approaching things meant two-leg-Monsters. The fear returned, and she crept back up against the wall which she had unknowingly moved away from.
Another dark wing male appeared, and his scent flowed in as well. He did not smell of two-legs, but he did smell heavily of a dark wing female.
A she-two-leg-Monster appeared as well. She looked for the hurting-vines and other hurting-things that it surely had to have, but she could not see any. She still tried to get as far from it as possible. Two-legs were danger.
'Flee on sight...'
The first male began strangely pawing at the ground in full view of the two-leg. Was this an act of submission to the Monster? The two-leg-Monster growled and grumbled softly in its small way.
"This two-leg will take us to water."
Impossible! Is he helping the two-leg-Monster? I should have known.
"Why… you… with Monster…? Bad, bad Monster."
He did a strange shaking of his head that looked like he was being swarmed by little buzzers. She wondered for the first time if his head was filled with twisted-wrongness.
"No, not all two-legs are bad Monsters. This one is good. We will give you fish and water."
Her mouth slightly opened at the thought of fish.
I want fish and water...
But why would she ever believe that the two-leg-Monster wanted to help her? That was unnatural, wrong, and not the normal way of life. Two-leg-Monsters only exist to hurt and kill or use kin. To break the life-fires of kin and stop them from being free. To change them into weak life-thralls like all the other false-kin she remembered from this much-bad place.
Two-legs are Monsters.
"No. Bad. Scared."
The first male gave a sad croon, got to his feet, and walked towards the two-leg-Monster. He put his head under its dangerous paws and…
She could not believe her eyes again. The female two-leg-Monster was not hurting the very brave or very thought-twisted dark wing male. From his soft purr, the male seemed to enjoy the almost-grooming that the two-leg-Monster was giving it. Almost as though they were known to the other and were one flight.
She gave the creature another look. It had not yet truly done anything threatening to her or to the male. The male obviously knew the two-leg-probably-Monster and trusted it not to hurt him, impossible though that seemed.
What she was seeing went against everything she knew about two-legs. Against all her painful experiences, burned so deeply into her memory.
'Two-legs are filled with danger, flee on sight.'
The words seemed to echo in her memories from sometime long past.
"Where are... other bad-two-leg... Monsters?" she unsteadily asked.
"Gone," he growled.
"Gone?"
"Yes, gone, flamed, grounded, and dead," he replied with a dangerous gleam in his eyes and a growl in his throat.
More than anything else, that flash of anger flown elsewhere reassured her that the male was not flying with the much bad-dark-skin-two-leg-Monster-Alpha that she knew.
The female two-leg probably-Monster and the two dark wing males both backed out of her trap, leaving her alone inside.
"We go now?" the first male asked while looking directly at her.
She looked around her trap. It was the only place that had given her any peace for as long as she could recall. As long as she was in here, she was not out with the other false-thrall-kin males trying to foul her or claim her in their much-bad-no-thought-liver-twisted-wrongness. Fighting them was always hard, but she was strong and had never stopped fighting them despite all the foul-bad-wrongness.
Even so and after so long in here, it felt almost like she was supposed to stay here. She knew every single detail of this trap, every scratch in the walls, every bump, and every rock. And she hated everything about it. This was a chance to walk out without the metal vines around her neck and apparently without the danger of the other male thrall-kin or thrall-making two-leg-Monsters.
She took one cautious first step and started weakly shuffling toward them. A quick glance outside and around the corner showed that there were indeed no other two-leg-Monsters in sight. All the other traps were also emptied of the other female-thrall-kin.
For the first time in living memory, she walked down the path freely and under her own limited power, following two dark wing males and a maybe-not-Monster two-leg female.
And it was very much not a false-sleep-vision.
Her chilled life-flame felt warmer than she could remember it ever burning. Not that it was a roaring fire, but it was more than the smoldering and dying flicker that it had been until now.
But she was still very hungry and thirsty.
The first dark wing male slowed down and let her catch up with him. She felt a bit more wary of his purpose as he began walking alongside her and turned his attention to her.
"When did you last eat?" he softly asked.
"I… do not... know... Many sun-cycles…" she weakly answered.
"I should tell you that there are other good two-legs and free kin where we are going."
She immediately stopped walking.
Others? More Monsters and other kin?
"They will not hurt you. That is liver-truth."
How can I trust that?
She looked straight at the male dark wing. He did not look coldly at her or have a hunger in his eyes. If he had wanted to use her or hurt her, he would not have helped her by first taking off the bad mouth-closing thing. If anything, she thought he looked and smelled sad about something. There was a chill around him, and his head seemed always bowed with eyes downcast.
But she still did not know anything about him, the other kin, or the other two-leg probably-Monsters that she would need to meet. Maybe they could be kept away from her.
She hesitated for a moment and made her decision.
Shadowwing purred happily when she started walking again. She was still very weak, but she was at least walking with a bit more purpose now. Though he wanted to talk to her more, he knew that she needed water, food, and proper rest before any lengthy discussions.
The four of them finally came to the main entrance to the entire complex. The sunlight from outside was a very welcome change from the torchlight inside the cave system. The female Fury groaned though when the light began to grow brighter.
Gods, how long was she kept in there?
They finally left the building and saw the remains of the abandoned village in plain sight all around them.
Almost as soon as they exited, several dragons noticed the gathering and began to approach out of curiosity and deference to their Alphas. Thankfully, most of the riders were further down the beach and busy working with their packs of supplies.
He heard her start whimpering and noticed her creep away the moment the other dragons began drawing near. He recognized all of them from Berk and the other tribes. They did not seem to notice her distress, so he spread his wings, softly growling and baring his teeth in a polite warning to them. The other dragons understood that signal at least and backed away, the ones on the ground with a quick bow as well.
He saw where Valka was leading them towards. It was one of the nearby supply rooms. He glanced at the white female and noticed how she had her eyes narrowed as she stared at the visible dragonriders.
It will be hard for her trust any of them after what happened to her. Really good thing that we have Valka here to help.
"Follow me," he whispered to her.
None of the four of them said anything further until they reached the building.
"Wait here," Valka addressed him as she walked inside. He sat down to wait for her to return while the white female nervously shuffled on her feet and looked around in apprehension.
"There are no bad kin or bad two-legs here now. Do not fear," he whispered.
She said nothing back to him following that plea of his.
Valka appeared a minute later, struggling to roll a barrel in front of her.
"Can you help me with this?" she groaned.
He got up and helped her roll the barrel into their midst and put it right side up. She pulled out a small knife, carved at the top of the barrel, and pried off the lid.
The sunlight sparkled off the rippling surface of the cool and clean water inside.
"Here is water for you to drink," he told the female.
She got to her feet and looked into the strange thing. It was filled with water! The not-Monster two-leg and the dark wings did bring her to water! Not only was it water but it was clean and good for drinking.
She eagerly buried her muzzle in the strange thing and water.
Valka watched happily as the dragon began to guzzle down the water. She was still deeply disturbed by how poorly the dragon had been treated. This Fury had clearly borne the worst of all the trapped females, and she could guess at why. Nothing deserved to be starved like this one had, and no dragon deserved to be used as breeding stock. Shadowwing had not said anything to confirm it, but she had her own suspicions from all that she had seen. There was no chance that Drago would not have tried to get eggs from this female, even though he certainly could not without another Night Fury or whatever kind of dragon she was.
"Son, keep her here. I will see if I can find some dried fish or meat for her," she said.
He nodded and watched as Valka returned to the storeroom.
The female finally lifted her dripping head from the barrel and shook to hurl off the droplets of water.
"Better?" he asked.
"Yes, much better," she sighed with relief.
She looked at him and blinked several times.
"Why is the she-two-leg good to me? Why… are you helping me?"
"No one should be hurt the way the bad two-legs were hurting you. I… know what they were doing here. We got all the other females out of their traps. This she-two-leg has the liver of a kin and has helped kin for many season-cycles."
She was quiet as she listened to what he was saying. She threw a glance at his brother.
"And the other male dark wing? Is he your kin?"
Was-Grounded stepped forward at that question and spoke with a surprisingly soft and gentle voice.
"Yes, he is my egg-mate. We were hatchlings in the same nest. He is my…" he said something that she could not understand.
Regardless of what he said, it felt somehow strange to her that two dark wing males were so close to each other and were not fighting each other for status.
"Egg-mate? What is that?" she wondered.
"We hatched from one egg together. Did you see any other Night Furies here?" the second male asked.
"What are Night Furies?" she grumbled in confusion.
"They are us, our type of dark wing kin."
"Night Furies… I never heard that name before. No, I have not seen any other dark wings or my own kind."
"Your own kind?" the first male softly asked.
"Other... light wings..." she clarified.
Shadowwing blinked in surprise and turned to his brother who also tossed a confused look back at him.
So maybe she is a new type of dragon that is like us Night Furies? This, this changes everything...
"What is your name?" he asked her.
She blinked at that question and hung her head.
My name…
She vaguely recalled that she had once had a name, something that meant her. Something that her dam and sire had given her, but that was so long ago. That was part of a very different, much better life and world.
And a forgotten one.
"I do not know."
"What?" "What?" the males both exclaimed.
"I do not remember it," she glumly rumbled.
Shadowwing blinked in confusion and growing pity on her behalf.
She has forgotten her own name? I... did not know that was even possible.
"That is not good. My name is Shadowwing."
"Shadowwing... And your egg-mate?"
"I am Was-Grounded," the second male spoke.
"Were you grounded once?" she blinked in amazement.
"Yes," Was-Grounded hummed back, "I was grounded two times."
"And you fly now," she whispered in wonder.
"Shadowwing!" Valka called.
He lifted his head and turned around upon hearing her voice. She was walking toward him and she carried a small bag. The faint smell of dried meats wafted into the air. Valka picked out several small haunches of dried meat and lay them on the bag.
The white Fury perked up and began staring at the bag and licking her lips eagerly.
"I think you should give her the meat. It looks like she trusts you more than me," Valka whispered.
He nodded in agreement, grabbed the bag in one paw, and turned to the hungry light wing, as she called herself.
"Here is meat for you."
He deftly tipped the bag on its side and poured out the salted meats on the ground. She swallowed them without pausing to chew the small chunks.
"Thank you, Shadowwing. They did not give me food for…" her voice died off as the two-leg began to walk toward her. She shuffled backward slightly as the female two-leg approached with something very dangerous looking in its paws.
"What is it doing?" she hissed.
"She wants to show you that she is good and does not want to hurt you. Trust her. She brought water and that meat."
She looked at the two-leg's dark green eyes. She was no judge of two-legs being good, having seen none of them so before, but this one looked almost not bad. It moved almost like a kin in ways, and it also smelled of many other kin.
It did bring the water and meat...
She took one cautious step forward and stared at the extended paw. Some of the bad ones had been foolish enough to stick their paws near her teeth and one had lost its paw to her belly. It was after the last such incident that they had started putting the mouth-closing thing on her.
But two-leg paws were too dangerous. This one's smelling of many kin did not matter. Many of the thrall-maker two-leg-Monsters smelled of many kin. To give it a trust-sign and nose-nuzzle would make her less and give the two-leg power over her.
She stepped back from it with a faint hiss and wary grumble.
"She will not hurt you..." Shadowwing implored.
"No... no touching," she whimpered.
He glanced between the two of them, trying to figure out what to say.
"Do you want us to take off that bad holding-thing on your neck?"
That got her to freeze. She reached up and tugged at the heavy bad-thing around her neck. It had been there a very long time.
"Yes..."
"You must let this good two-leg touch you. She has the liver of a kin. She wants to help you."
"What can it do to help me?"
"She can take a two-leg thing with strong teeth to that thing around your neck. That will break the thing around your neck."
"And it will not hurt me?"
"No, you will be free of the bad holding-thing."
"Free..." she whispered.
She glanced from the two-leg to the dirt to the two-leg and back again.
"Have the two-leg do it," she hissed to him.
Shadowwing turned to Valka and nodded while looking at the bolt-cutters. Valka slowly approached, again with her hand extended toward the dragon's nose.
"It is ok girl, I will not hurt you."
Again though the female shied away from her direct touch. However, the female did slightly expose the collar clasped around her neck and did not move further. That was good enough for now.
"Tell her to stay still."
He relayed the message, and the female appeared to comply.
Valka lifted the heavy cutters and set their teeth around a length of chain holding the collar. She squeezed but she was not strong enough and could not snap the chain.
Shadowwing took a couple steps in her direction to investigate the problem.
And she had a crazy idea.
"Come here. I need your help."
He did so.
"Can you bite down on this? I am not strong enough."
He looked at the handle and nodded. She held the handle in place while he slipped his jaws around it. He gave her a small nod once he had a firm grasp on it and she drew away her hand.
The collar's chain link snapped when he bit down. A quick shake of the head was all it took, and the metal collar fell to the ground with a clang.
The female stepped back and stared at the bad-thing in amazement before giving it a faint growl.
"See, I told you she is a good two-leg," he said.
"You did. It is... hard for me to trust any two-leg... or any kin now," she whispered as she stared out toward the nearby ocean.
The way she said it, so frail and weak, almost made his rent heart bleed with sympathy for her. He again imagined what she was probably forced to suffer as a prisoner here.
"I want... to be alone now," she whispered.
"Go. You are safe now with us," he answered her.
She turned away from all of them and slowly walked toward the ocean while staying away from all other two-legs and kin.
It was still too good and warming to believe. The last time she had been outside the bad-caves and had seen the ocean had been on her almost-escape that ended so terribly.
She stood alone, staring out toward the endless waters. No restraint on her neck. No mouth-closing-thing on her jaws. No chain-vines. Free.
She slowly unfurled her stiff and cut wings, completely ignoring the pain, and held them aloft as though she were about to fly.
I do not remember the last time I did this...
The clouds and winds were calling to her once again. To be soaring near the sun and gliding on the unseen winds. To fly near the great moon that was as white as she was. An old hatchling dream that she hoped to one sun fly.
But she was now life-grounded.
Even if she was strong enough to fly now, it would be twisted to do so when flying would only tear the holes even larger and ground her more.
Maybe I can live as a grounded kin...
She walked into the ocean and let the water roll over her as she ducked under the waves. It would hopefully wash away the dirt and dried old waste clinging to her and let her feel cleaner again.
But water could not wash away the past.
Neither Shadowwing nor Valka could look away as the dragon slowly wandered the beach, warily keeping her distance from all other dragons and humans. She walked up to the ocean and spread her wings for the first time in what had to be a very long time. She held them outstretched and looked up at the sky in profound longing.
It was terribly bittersweet.
He eventually nudged Valka to get her attention.
Need to fix her wings
She had been thinking about it for a while. There was nothing that they could do here, but it should be possible since she was well-practiced at mending fixable wing damage. It was easy enough at least back at the ice nest. A worse issue though could arise if those tears were old enough. Recent injuries like the ones she commonly saw in the ice nest were the easiest to treat because there was no scar tissue and the healing could begin properly. Old wounds were trickier.
"I can do something to help with those tears but only back at home."
She cannot fly
"That is a problem. Cloudjumper is strong but he cannot carry anyone her size that far."
We cannot leave her here
"I know. It would be heartless of us. We are supposed to be back at the island tomorrow so that everyone can prepare to leave for Haven. We do not have the supplies to stay here for long."
Was-Grounded stepped forward after noticing and overhearing part of their conversation.
"What are you talking about?" he asked.
"How to bring the light wing back with us."
He looked to the new female washing in the water.
"Back to the ice nest island?"
"Yes, we cannot leave her here, and she is grounded. Kin-liver can help her wings when we get back to the ice nest," Shadowwing explained.
Was-Grounded hummed in thought.
"What about the water-walker?"
"Water-walker? Where?"
He used his tail to point toward where he had seen it.
Shadowwing eagerly spun around.
I will be back
We might have a boat
"A boat? That might work if it is big enough," she exclaimed.
He eagerly nodded and flew off toward the port.
Valka turned her attention back to the new Fury as Was-Grounded stood nearby. If she was healthy, the white Fury would certainly be a beautiful dragon. She would probably be only slightly smaller and lighter in weight than Green-Wings after being properly nourished again.
While she looked very similar to Green-Wings, there were faint differences even aside from her amazing color that was very rare in her own experience with the dragon world. Her tail was slightly longer, her head had no frills at all, she looked slightly leaner even accounting for poor diet, her back had only one long and small ridge, and even her wings looked slightly different at the tips.
It now looked more likely to her that this new Fury was a type of related dragon to the Night Furies. There was so much about them that no one knew. All that she knew for sure though was that this dragon was as smart as a Night Fury and could speak to the other Furies.
"I hope she comes with us..."
Skald eventually called out to her as he approached.
"Dragonheart, we are almost ready to go. What about you and the…" his voice died away the moment he saw the new dragon in the waves.
And he stared in awe.
"What is that?" he gasped.
"She is almost a Night Fury but not exactly. I have never seen a dragon like her before," Valka answered.
"Yep, that is definitely not in the Book of Dragons. You say she is almost like a Fury, so is she smart like them?"
"Yes, they have been talking."
"Amazing, one more with the maximum intelligence level. I get to make a new page in the Book now! So, what should we call her if not a Night Fury?" Skald mused with glee.
They both stared for a while and let their thoughts wander.
"I don't know. She is definitely a Fury. Sun Fury? White Fury? Day Fury?" Valka wondered.
"Light Fury?" Skald suggested.
"Sure, yours is better, probably. Light Fury it is," Valka laughed softly.
Her momentary happiness quickly withered.
"She is not doing well."
"No? How bad is it with her?" Skald solemnly asked.
"She is starved and she cannot fly because her wings have been cut. And of course, there is what was happening to the other dragons we found here," she seethed.
Much to his credit, he managed to remain focused on the task at hand.
"What are we going to do for her?"
Shadowwing returned at that moment and swooped in over them before landing. The speed with which he wrote showed how excited he was.
It will work
It is big enough
"What?" Skald asked.
"He found a boat that is big enough to carry her. Does she want to come?" she turned to ask him.
Wait
Shadowwing ran over to her and called to her. She hauled herself out of the waves at his approach and shook herself dry.
"I need to talk to you."
"What about, Shadowwing?"
"The Kin-liver two-leg can help your wings be better. She can make the breaks heal and grow good again."
Of all the things he had said to her, nothing made her look more amazed and shocked, given how wide her eyes went.
"No, I am life-grounded. I... nothing can help me..."
"Yes, she can. I have seen her make better even wings with worse breaks than yours."
"How? How is that possible?"
"She can put... small vines around the breaks so that the wing-skin grows together."
She stepped back and looked at the breaks in her wings. She glanced up at the sky again with a look of open, mournful longing.
"And... will I fly again?"
"Yes, but you will need to trust her to touch your wings."
She moaned softly at the idea.
"I do not like that. But if it lets me fly again, I will let it touch my wings."
He gave her a satisfied hum and continued.
"We must leave this bad island. All of us."
"But how can I leave this bad place? I cannot fly or swim."
"How did the bad two-legs bring you here?"
She groaned as she tried to think back that far.
"On a two-leg water-walker."
"That is how we can get you off the island. Our good two-legs will use it and guide its flight. It might be a pawful of sun-cycles on the water before we get where we are going."
"Where would it go?"
"A nest-island far from here. A place where…" he paused, not quite sure how much was prudent to tell her.
What if he told her about the battle that had just been fought there or about all the dead dragons that would never be buried?
"… many free kin and two-legs are."
"What do the two-legs do to kin?" she hissed.
"What do you mean?"
"Do they have hurting-things? Do they take eggs?"
"No, they do not use anything on us to hurt us. They do not take eggs. We are not their thralls."
"I do not like it..." she mumbled.
He gestured at the whole island.
"But this is a bad place. You should not stay here. How can you hunt? What if the bad two-legs come back here?"
She again looked at the gaping holes in her wings and rumbled sadly. She knew that she was too weak to fight anything right now and she could not even escape from a fight. Hunting was also impossible on this two-leg-island because there was nothing left to hunt even if she could.
She was a weak prey to life.
"I… will go with you. I do not trust the two-legs though."
"Good, good. You will be safe with us. And I will come with on the water-walker."
He eagerly bounded back to the observers patiently awaiting news of her decision.
She will come with
Valka sighed with evident relief.
When do we leave?
"We are ready now. All the other females are freed and have either flown away or are stretching their wings again. Most of them are just weak from being on the ground long."
She turned to Skald.
"We need a few to crew the ship. A minimal crew of three or four should be enough."
"For a Fury who needs the help, definitely. I will volunteer and get a few others too. Meatlug can do just fine without me for a while," Skald answered.
I will go with on the ship
"Ok, let everyone know that we will be delayed getting home. It will also be good for the tribe to get one of these ships for ourselves," Skald said.
He turned and left for the gathering of people.
Valka stepped over to Shadowwing.
"I will lead everyone home and let them know what we found. You watch out for her."
Of course I will
She hugged his neck, and he gave her a soft hum back.
"Stay strong son," she whispered.
She left to return to Cloudjumper and help lead the return flight.
Was-Grounded slowly walked over to them both.
"I should fly back to Green-Wings and Dawn-Singer."
"Who are those?" the female asked.
"My mate and my fledgling. They are waiting at the ice nest."
"And you left them with two-legs?" she exclaimed in alarm and disbelief.
"Those two-legs are not thrall-makers. And my mate is very protective of our little one."
She looked past them both and stepped back in amazement. She watched as the other kin went to their two-legs and eventually allowed the two-legs to mount them. The kin had clearly enjoyed the grooming and nuzzling they received from the two-legs' paws. The liver-twisting flight flew out over the sea.
"I do not believe it. They carried the two-legs..." she whispered.
"Yes, they are kin-bonded to the other. It makes the kin warm in their livers to share their back and wings with their two-leg," Shadowwing answered.
Was-Grounded stepped forward and stretched his wings in preparation for flight.
"Brother, are you not too liver-chilled?"
"I will live," Shadowwing groaned after a moment's pause.
Was-Grounded hummed, brushed his wing briefly, and took wing to follow after the other flight.
"What does he mean, why would you be liver-chilled?" she asked.
Shadowwing turned to her and almost started to answer.
"I... no, not now. Follow me, I will take you to the water-walker."
They walked along the coast and through the empty village. They had to be the only living things on the island, except for maybe a few other freed females somewhere else far from the village, the few workers left behind and now hiding somewhere, and the small Berkian crew about to pilot the ship.
She pulled up and stared at the strange two-leg water-walker as horrible memories assailed her. Vines tied around her legs, wings, and muzzle. Being kicked by laughing two-legs. Being fed nothing but bad fish and kept pinned to the same place. It was so true and here-now again in her thoughts that her liver began to feel a chill and her weak limbs started to feel stiff.
"Bad thing… It is a bad thing," she whispered while looking down at the sand.
"No, it is not a bad thing. It is a thing that bad two-legs used to do bad things."
"These two-legs are good ones?" she warily hummed.
He took a breath and paused to remind himself that he was asking a lot from her. She had only been recently freed from the prison and had likely been tortured in terrible ways while in there for the gods only knew how long.
I have to be patient to keep her trust.
"Yes, they are good. They have kin-friends of their own. They are on the water-walker to help you come with us to where it is safe."
As strange as that seemed, she already had met one two-leg who was good to her and wanted to help her. She hummed in wary thought as she stared at the water-walker.
He moved first and walked down the row of felled trees before hopping up and into the water-walker with a thud.
"Now you," he called.
She took a breath and forced herself to walk along the path. One leg in front of the other as the trees creaked beneath her every step. She did not have the strength to jump like he had, but she managed to drag herself over and into the not-bad-thing water-walker.
Even though she had been told that there were no two-legs who wanted to hurt her on the water-walker, she still crouched low to the false ground and warily looked around. Her arrival had drawn the attention of the three two-legs on the ground of the water-walker. They did not look any different from the ones who had hurt her. And they were barking to each other while looking at her.
"What are they doing? Afraid…"
"Do not be chilled, they are saying that it is sad how small, hungry, and hurt you are."
She wondered at how he could possibly understand their incomprehensible whistles and barks. She carefully walked along the side of the walker up to its head where she could sit down and still keep an eye on these two-legs as they did whatever they were doing. But there was nowhere to run to if they did turn on her. This was another type of trap.
Everything about two-legs was a life-trap.
He watched as the men, Skald, Arngeir, and Oskar, worked the ship as best they could. It was a normal trapper vessel with a dragonhold. Finally, after a bit of work, they took their stations.
"Ready?" Skald asked him.
Shadowwing nodded once.
"Set sail! All sheets to the wind!"
The men worked to unfurl the sail and did so very quickly for being so small a crew. The boat began to rock back and forth with the waves as the vessel escaped the harbor, made its way into the open ocean, and turned for the north.
Shadowwing stared over the vessel's stern at the receding island. That place was an example of some of the worst things that people could do. A village that existed only for the purpose of trapping and breeding dragons. Of making dragons into slaves and mere tools to be used in war.
The same war that claimed the lives of both Astrid and almost certainly his own father in addition to the friendly Chiefs he knew and hundreds of others whom he did not know. The same war that had also shattered the peace that had been growing.
The frozen dagger once again reached its way inside his chest and stabbed at his heart. So much that was once was now lost, and now he was on a boat with a terrified, abused, and starved dragon onboard sailing back to a place devastated by war.
He almost lay down on deck right there to sob. It was such a different feeling from what he had felt when he fled Berk years ago. He had been angry and confident, knowing that Toothless was still alive somewhere. But he was even more lost now than he was in the past.
He turned around with a sigh and saw the female again. She had curled up as far towards the ship's bow as possible with her back to the railing. He walked very slowly over to her, making noise to let her know of his approach.
"Are you better now?"
She pulled her head out from under a wing.
"Is there any food?"
There sure is.
Skald and the others had rolled a few barrels of salted fish and meats onboard among the supplies. He walked over to the barrel and got the man's attention with a soft roar and a nod.
"You want fish, no, oh the other one wants fish? Arngeir, get down there and open the barrel for them."
Arngeir did so, prying the barrel's lid off before returning to work the sails. Shadowwing reached inside and hauled out several of the preserved fish. They smelled barely edible, but would be a feast for someone who was starving.
"Eat these. They smell almost bad but are still good for eating."
He dropped the mouthful of fish in front of her, and she sniffed at them suspiciously before cautiously snapping up one of them. She clearly did not like the taste, but that did not stop her from eating the other ones that he also brought.
"Those fish were good," she hummed.
He dipped his head to acknowledge her words.
"Do you want to sleep?"
"Yes."
"Ok, I will show you… under the ground."
She whimpered and refused to budge. Her eyes betrayed her fear.
"No, I will stay here."
He nodded, respecting her decision, and hopped down into the open hold. Unsurprisingly, the cell inside had chains and had nothing comfortable to sit on.
Floorboards it will have to be for me and...
He realized something that almost made whip himself with his own tail.
Of course she would not want to sleep in this. How stupid of me.
He lay down and curled his tail in on himself. Between the exhaustion, both physical and emotional, of the day and the regular pitch and sway of the boat, he managed to be lulled to sleep shortly thereafter.
She watched as Shadowwing stepped out of sight down the mouth of the two-leg-cave. She was not going to go down there. Too much of her life, or of what she could remember, had been spent trapped as a thrall under the ground on that bad island. So different from what should have been...
It felt safer up here even if there were two-legs up here with her. Being up here let her watch them. All was good as long as they were not threatening her or planning to do anything to her. She watched them for a long time without anything suspicious happening. Their strange calls to each other made no sense, and it was hard to imagine them having a language except that they did look at each other when they made their noises.
And Shadowwing could somehow talk with them.
She was reluctant to hide under her wing and leave herself fully blind even though the two-legs did not seem to be doing anything aggressive. In truth, she had no idea what they were doing, moving their paws all about the vines and metal things on the water-walker.
Maybe they are guiding its flight on the water? Aiming its arm-wing?
One of them, the male flight-Alpha barking the most to the others, started walking toward her. It would almost have been chilling if it had not been holding a fish in his paws.
It began hissing something to her while staring at her. She wanted to bare her teeth in warning at its advance, but there was that fish…
The flight-Alpha stopped rumbling at her and tossed the fish to her, which she snapped out of the air. The two-leg bared its teeth at her, and this only confused her even more. Why would it give her a fish and give a fight-sign only to turn away from her and not fight?
So liver-twisting... bad creatures... needing them for fish makes me weak.
The two-leg returned to its place on the water-walker, and they all stayed away long enough to somewhat assure her that they were not going to hurt her. That combined with her exhaustion finally drew her to rest. She curled back up and hid her head as well as she could to escape the dimming sunlight and the world around her.
For the first time in her memory, she slept both above ground and free of chains, vines, and other bad two-leg things. And she hoped that there would be no sleep-visions.
He flew on ahead of the rest of the flight, as he was the fastest of all kin, without even bothering to stop to rest as they did. The flight to the thrall-nest had been a slow one since he and Shadowwing had been made to wait on the other kin and had rested on the small island.
The broken ice nest came into view again in the dark, but it looked different now. It was starting to melt and collapse.
The good great-tusk-Alpha kept it cold...
He flew in toward the nest, again noticing all the dead bodies of kin on land and the largest one in the waves. He roared aloud and heard the answering call from down the beach.
Green-Wings and Dawn-Singer arose as one from their rest and bounded toward him as soon as he landed.
"Sire!" Dawn-Singer joyfully bellowed as he hopped up on his back.
"Little one."
"Grr, I am not a little one."
"You are to me, my little one," he teased.
Grr.
Dawn-Singer began retaliatory gnawing on one of his soft backridges.
Was-Grounded nuzzled Green-Wings and hummed his presence to her.
"I am warmer now that you are here," she said with relief.
She nipped one of his ears as well.
"What was that for? Where else would I want to be?" he teased.
They started walking down the coast together while purring to each other.
"What happened out there over the water?" she eventually asked.
"We found many female kin that were thralls. They are not thralls now."
"That is good," she hummed.
He stopped walking and turned to her.
"And we found another female. I think she is almost one of us," he gave a curious growl.
She paused and looked at him in amazement and confusion.
"Almost one of us? You think?"
"Yes, her wings and scales are white and very light in the sun."
"She is a... light wing?"
"She is not a dark wing like you and me, but she is almost one of us. She has a like-smell that is only a little different. And she is... not well," he hummed sadly.
"No? Why not?"
"She is grounded with broken wings. And I think that the twisted-liver-rotted-waste-pile-thrall-making-bad-wrong-snake-fish-spawn-two-leg-Monsters were using her to try to make eggs with other kin," he snarled.
"What!" she bellowed.
"Yes, they try to do that with their thrall-kin. The bad two-legs that had me a thrall tried to make me sire eggs with other female kin."
She snarled and spun on him with an astonished, horrified, and possessive look.
"Why did you not tell me about that?"
"Because there is nothing to tell. They tried to make me, but I did not join with any other kin. They do not understand what season is right for us or what kin we want for mates and can make eggs with. Those Monsters have such little and empty heads."
She visibly relaxed at his words though she did not stop rubbing against his neck. He did not complain about her attention to him.
"But what about that she... light wing?" she eventually stepped back from him.
"I do not know about her. I do not know why other kin males would want to force-mate with her."
She moaned softly.
"How hurt is she?"
He gave a very soft and pained warble.
"She is very chilled and has no life-fire burning in her liver that I could see. Maybe with time, much time, she can warm again. She is being brought here on a water-walker so that Kin-liver can heal the broken wings."
"And what about Shadowwing?"
He said nothing for a while.
"He will need us. He is much chilled by the grounding, fighting, and dying that was here."
"He is our kin. We will shelter him with our wings if we must," she said.
"Yes, we will," he hummed.
He glanced toward her belly.
"What about you and the egg? How long do you have now?"
She thought for a moment and considered the faint discomfort that carrying it now caused. This was going to be long to carry the egg out of necessity.
"There are only a few more suns now before I must drop it. I can carry it until we get back to our den-cave."
They both looked out over the two-legs busily preparing through the dim light for the flight up to what had been their own range before. Toward what will be this strange, mixed-nest Haven as Shadowwing called it and explained it to them. A new mixed-nest for these surviving two-legs and kin where all could live in peace.
She eventually snuggled up under his outstretched wing and returned to sleep in preparation of an eventual long flight. Dawn-Singer hopped down and vanished between them both.
Was-Grounded hummed softly as he too fell asleep with them both resting at his side. His sleep was filled with visions of the good range that all were flying to soon, his old cave-den that would soon shelter a new egg, the new light wing or almost Night Fury that had entered their lives, and himself with his wings over Green-Wings, Dawn-Singer, and his own life-chilled brother.