"He halted and held up a long pale sword. And as he did so a great fear fell on all, defender and foe alike; and the hands of men drooped to their sides, and no bow sang. For a moment all was still." - LOTR - The Return Of The King (book)
Preparations
That looks different. There are not many water-walkers in these waters now. Unless.
Luna growled softly to herself as she glided. What was meant to be calm, solitary night flight as her life-mate tended to Moon-Dancer might not be such a calm flight. Curiosity got the better of her, and she loosed a short, hot burst of hiding-fire and flew through it. The familiar, warming almost-fire feeling flowed around her.
Her flight took her down and closer to the water-walker to see what flight it was flying. There were only three possibilities she knew of; it was hunting fish, carrying unknown two-leg things from nest to nest, or it was a kin-thrall holding water-walker used by trappers.
If it was the last of these-
She glided smoothly over its wings without making a sound. She saw all that she needed to see. Empty traps, ropes and vines, and false-tooth-sticks and other weapons. It was a kin-thrall-making water-walker.
She remembered the two-legs that entered her old den to kill her and take Moon-Dancer in the egg. It was still difficult to turn aside and not tear apart and eat the liver of the flight-Alpha that was now bonded to the storm-flier spine-tail. The hurt that killing its two-leg would do to the spine-tail kin named storm-flier was the reason why she did not kill that two-leg now when she saw it in the mixed-nest.
These kin-hunter, thrall-maker two-legs though...
She snarled and turned her flight toward the water-walker. She roared aloud to get their attention and readied her fire, the wind whistling over her fins and parted maw. Night Furies were not the only kin who could make the wind scream in pain.
And these Monsters deserved to hear their deaths coming.
Feel the chill in your livers!
She saw the thrall-makers running around on the water-walker's back. They lifted their small-tooth-throwing things and started looking around the skies.
Their confusion was great as they saw nothing to aim at. Being able to hide from all eyes was very warming.
A ball of white life-fire tore into the water-walker from above as a living, wrathful shadow struck in surprise. The back of the water-walker was torn open as its wooden bones were pulled apart by the hungry, consuming fire.
The Monsters on the water-walker's back, at least those still alive, looked up at the sky in confusion and fear. All command and planning departed from their livers as they used their stick-throwing things and threw thin-sticks up toward her.
As if you can hit me without seeing me...
The water-walker's back broken, the night was lit up by a stream of white fire that burned the water-walker's wings and spilled out on its back. The fire began to eat the Monsters or forced them to jump into the hungry water.
Fire or cold were their only choices. Death would eat them either way.
You deserve far worse! Nest-breakers! Thrall-makers!
She circled around the grounded and burning water-walker to make sure that there were no living Monsters on or around it in the water. The few bodies visible and moving in the water gradually stilled and disappeared.
There was no motion at all.
She gave a satisfied growl and turned for the far distant home-range as her hiding fire lost its use and she appeared again to the world. But there were no others to see her.
Grr, the Haven two-legs have enough water-walkers. They did not need this one. Even so, I do not think I will tell Shadowwing. This was warming to kill these Monsters.
"I am a hunter," she snapped her teeth and growled.
Shadowwing gave a very happy sigh.
Where did the spring go? I guess it was just much more peaceful with most of the dragons off taking care of business. Not that this dragon is going to complain about it...
This was another absolutely perfect afternoon. There were no incidents at all anywhere in the village because there were almost no wild dragons available to incite any incidents. He chose to use this time doing the most important thing possible, flying with those he loved.
Moon-Dancer was an absolute natural in the skies. He needed no instruction at all as he easily copied moves that should not have been possible at his age. More than flying though was his prowess with language. He was indeed picking up words very quickly and was even clearly learning to understand some of the spoken human words.
His own flights with Luna at his side always warmed his heart as they danced in the sky, taking great pleasure in fouling each other's flights and doing all manners of complicated moves for no reason other than the fun of it. Spinning spirals, flying belly to belly, upside down flights, spinning dives, all were successfully flown.
As if those were not enough, the other Furies were more than happy to join them in the skies. Those moments, the four adults gliding together while watching their children flying and playing together in games of tail-tag, flight-fouling, and speed contests, were perfectly peaceful.
No problems, very little stress of leadership, almost no trappers, this is nothing but life.
It was as he was reflecting on how good life was at the moment that he noticed something out on the horizon. A large cloud that seemed to sparkle all the colors of the rainbow was quickly approaching.
He gave a heavy sigh.
Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.
Haven was packed with dragons again. Almost every one of them that had left had seemingly returned with their broods in tow. Every Nord family was seemingly absorbed in all the activity of the welcoming back of their known dragons and respective families.
"I missed ya!" "Oh, I knew you'd come back!" "There ya are!" "Look at em all!"
Shadowwing was sitting atop the Great Hall and overseeing everything when he saw Cloudjumper land before him down on the ground. Valka, still clad in her wild attire, hopped off and immediately ran inside the Great Hall.
Odd...
He hopped down to the ground and dashed inside the Great Hall as well. He saw Chief Thorvald, Gobber, and Valka up at the main table. She had her flight helmet off.
She looked shaken and rushed to embrace his head when he returned and bounded up to them.
"Son, you might want to hear this," she whispered.
He nodded and followed her. She stepped in front of the Chief's table and held everyone's attention as she fingered her staff.
She looked up and took a breath.
"We flew over an armada out there. Dozens of ships on the water. There were enough cages for all of our dragons!"
A shocked silence followed around the table.
"You are sure? They are coming here?" Thorvald groaned.
"I do not see where else they would go. They are definitely prepared to fight dragons or trap them. There aren't many other dragons anywhere they could go after."
"How long do we have before they might get here?" Gobber sighed.
Valka leaned against the table and paused in thought for a few moments.
"A few weeks at least. They were still gathering their numbers. Definitely enough time for us to prepare... something."
Shadowwing eventually recovered himself from the shock of the announcement and reached for the pencil and paper.
What can we do?
This is our home too
"We can always have scouts in the air over the water and over land. They can fly patrols to watch for this armada. And weapons, we will need weapons. Armor for some dragons would help. I think we still have the armor we took from some of the wild ones from Drago's army," Thorvald mused after a moment of silence.
Valka asked an odd question.
"Do we still have all the empty ale barrels?"
"Sure do, why?" Gobber wondered.
"Fill them with Nightmare and Zippleback gas. Light the barrel on fire and drop it onto a ship, the barrel breaks, and the ship is gone or burning," she casually explained.
Shadowwing winced in faint sympathy for whatever unfortunate souls would be onboard such a targeted ship.
That does sound very powerful. Yeah, we can do that. Hold on...
Are we saying that ale barrels
Might help win a battle
Everyone looked around in surprise at each other and burst out laughing. The heavy laughter greatly helped to relieve the rising tension of the moment.
"Alright, we will get on it. Gobber, you are on all of the forge work, let me know how much help you need and you will have it. Dragonheart, Shadowwing, you are in charge of coming up with ways all the dragons can contribute. I will get with some of the warriors and start teaching those who are strong enough how to fight," Thorvald proposed.
"The wingsuits might be very helpful," Valka added.
I will let the Furies know about this
We can lead others dragons in battle
Thorvald stood up and looked around the table at all the stoic and determined expressions.
"We can do this. All of us, together."
"Brother, I must talk to you."
"We can talk now," Was-Grounded answered as he lay piled under several dozing siblings.
Shadowwing paused and carefully considered his words.
"It should only be the two of us. Both Alphas. Trust me."
Was-Grounded nodded at that and slowly pulled himself out of the warm pile.
"Grr... what?" Aurora mumbled before falling back to sleep.
Was-Grounded followed Shadowwing outside the house and followed him through the air out to the cliffs where they both landed. There were several other dragons with their broods walking about down the shore.
"What did you want to talk about?"
Shadowwing lifted his head and looked out over the twilight waters.
"There is a bad flight of two-legs far away on the waters. Kin-liver saw them when all the kin were flying here with their nests."
"Is there? And?"
"The bad flight has many water-walkers filled with traps for catching kin."
Was-Grounded's teeth appeared and his tail thrashed.
"And they have set their flight to this range?" he growled.
"Yes, they would not flock together to hunt other ranges," Shadowwing sighed.
"What will the Haven-nest do?"
"The two-legs are preparing to fight. They will make things to help in fighting; things that can burn bad water-walkers and protect kin from dangers. More of the two-legs are learning how to fight again with their false-teeth weapons. All will be ready to fight for this range."
Was-Grounded gave a satisfied growl as he joined his brother in looking out toward the horizon.
"Why?"
"What?" Shadowwing asked.
"Why would two-legs from beyond want to fight here? Do they truly want this range for their own?"
Shadowwing sighed, thinking back over what Eret had told them before.
"I do not know. Some two-legs have kin-hate deep in their livers. Others might want to take kin as thralls and cannot find enough kin to take in other ranges."
And he closed his eyes with a pain in his heart.
"Others might think that kin are all Monsters that must be killed."
"But what did we do to them? We are here in our range, not in their ranges and killing or hurting them," Was-Grounded objected.
"Not now, but kin might have been in past suns. Maybe some two-legs want to fly a revenge flight against kin for past bad things."
"They think they were wronged by kin and they want to hurt kin now to make those past hurts not be?" Was-Grounded grumbled in confusion.
"Maybe," Shadowwing mumbled.
"But that only means that the fighting and revenge flights will never stop."
"True, one side must choose to not fly a revenge flight even if it would feel good and warming to do more fighting," Shadowwing sighed.
They stared out over the horizon again, their tails swaying as they softly growled in wariness.
"We have many kin here to fight for the range. What will the bad two-leg flight have? Water-walkers? Two-legs and sharp stick-throwing-things?" Was-Grounded coldly laughed.
He snorted with derision.
"No great-tusk-Alpha can harm us now. There are no kin that can be a true danger to us both together," he continued.
He dropped his snarl, paused, and warily turned to his brother in clear consideration.
"Why must there be a fight?"
"What?" Shadowwing asked in confusion.
"If the bad flight does want to come here, why not leave this range and go... somewhere safer?"
"The nest already left home-nest-island and the ice nest. We cannot fly from dangers always. We must defend ourselves and show that we are strong," Shadowwing answered.
A moment of silence passed.
"How did the thrall-makers and this bad flight find our range?" Was-Grounded asked.
"Probably because they saw kin in the skies," Shadowwing answered.
"Yes, kin flying freely in the sky will always let the bad nests know where we are. What if those kin all flew in other, hidden ranges where no two-legs could ever see them?"
Shadowwing stiffened when he understood the suggestion.
Another silence passed as the last of the sun's red glow began to vanish beyond the horizon.
"No, that is not good. We cannot turn our tails on our own."
Was-Grounded shuffled closer to him and gently nudged him.
"I know that you have that good, warm vision-hope that is close to your liver, but there will be death if we fight this bad nest. How many must die? What would you be willing to lose to have that vision-hope live?"
Shadowwing closed his eyes at the memory of a time when another spoke roughly the same to him. He found that he could muster no words for a long time.
"We are one nest and will fight for each other, kin and two-legs. We should fly to our home-dens now," he eventually whispered.
They both waited not a moment longer without saying anything else. The flight was silent as they flew for their homes.
And night well and truly fell over Haven.
The next couple weeks passed in a blur of activity. The forge was kept working day and night, churning out lightweight weave armor to protect the dragons' vulnerabilities and shields to protect their riders in flight. The volatile barrels contributed to by Nightmares and Zipplebacks were stored up in the abandoned caves under constant guard to ensure no incidents. Patrols were constantly flying over the waters with eyes to the horizon and on far more distant scouting missions.
And there was a lot more drinking happening in the village. People needed more comfort after all with the growing tension in the air. Even the dragons started getting jumpier and growling at everything that moved.
Far out on the grassy plain stood two black Furies, both intently staring at the other.
"Why are we here?" Shadowwing asked.
Was-Grounded, clearly deep in thought, sat back on his rear.
"Do you remember the fighting-teaching that we did when we were fledglings?" he eventually asked.
"Yes, most of it. The weaknesses are wings, keep them tucked, the tailfins, obviously, and the throat."
Was-Grounded hummed with satisfaction.
"Good, we can play-fight later."
"Why? We will not be fighting kin, only two-legs," Shadowwing wondered.
"Still, practice-fighting is good and makes your life-fire warmer."
He grumbled softly.
"What are you thinking?" Shadowwing asked.
"You say that one of the bad-Alphas is a hunter of us Night Furies. How? I do not think that two-legs alone could find and hunt us."
"You think that he might have thrall-kin that help him?"
Was-Grounded ruffled his wings and paced nervously, his tail twitching behind him.
"Maybe. There are some kin that hunt other kin. None of them should be a true danger to us together, but I want you to be ready if we must fight other kin. Ground fighting you know, but sky fighting you have not needed to do."
Shadowwing gave a wry hum.
"I do remember the kin-eating Monster on fire-nest-island. That was sky-fighting. And I fought the great-tusk."
"Do you remember that fight well? Could you do it now against another kin that can fly after you?"
Shadowwing blinked and groaned.
"True, great-tusks cannot fly."
Was-Grounded chuckled at that before he began the lesson.
"I do not know if we could have killed the fire-nest-island Monster any other way. It had very thick scales. I do not think that we will need to fight another Monster like that. Now, what do you think is most important rule about fighting in the sky?"
Not much thought was necessary to answer that question.
"Not getting broken wings, so not getting shot or clawed in the wings and for that I need to always know where the other kin is flying," Shadowwing answered.
A satisfied hum was the response.
"Yes, always know where the other kin is. The second rule flies with the first, always know where the other kin cannot see you. Stay in that place, and you are much safer and are more able to ground them. Much of the sky fight is not in the hitting, breaking, biting, or flaming, it is in the... dance before and around."
Shadowwing put forward a forelimb and tapped the ground with his claws.
"We do not have the longest claws or biggest teeth of kin. What is the best flight for grounding a bad kin in the sky?" he asked.
"Fast flying and our fire. Fighting close to the body is not good. Our claws are not the longest, our scales are not the thickest, and we are not the biggest kin. Use fire-clouds to fill the other kin's eyes with flashes of light. Use deep-water-diving fire to break wings. Let the falling ground and kill the bad kin. Also, it is very hard to hit a kin with fire if the kin does not fly straight or in a way that is known. Always change flight every few wingbeats so that the other kin cannot know where you will be."
Shadowwing grumbled softly.
"That is much to think about."
Was-Grounded only shrugged.
"It is much like flying. You only think when trying to fledge. Stop thinking, and the flight is much easier to fly."
Shadowwing looked up from the ground, a question on his mind.
"I remember many season-cycles ago that you saw me when I was hiding in the frozen-fluffy-water. You said that you saw me without seeing me. How? It might help me always know where the bad kin is."
Was-Grounded hummed, clearly collecting his thoughts.
"Life-fire, you can see it without using your eyes."
"How?"
Was-Grounded grumbled at the question.
"I have no words that can say it well. You... let all other things that you see, smell, touch, hear, and taste not be to you. And you will see a... light... where there is life but you see it in your head, not with eyes. The light is brighter the more the living thing is. A fish is a very small light, almost like a small sky-light. We are a bright sun, even our littlest ones in their eggs."
"Grr. That helps little. I will try. Is there more that I must learn?"
"No. All the learning now should be in doing. We can fly tail-tag attack-flights if you want. No other kin is as fast as us. You can fly well against any kin if you practice against a Night Fury."
Shadowwing purred in agreement.
"Very true. I have a different question though before we play-fight. How do we lead the other kin in an attack-flight?"
"How do you mean lead?"
"Attack this water-walker and not the others. There is no good from attacking all at one time. It leaves more blind spots to make the fighting against many."
"True. The kin with bond-two-legs can listen to their two-leg's guiding. The no-bond kin will fly with an Alpha and will attack what the Alpha attacks. After that, it is more fighting anything that is near them."
Shadowwing considered this and gave a groan.
"Little thinking before doing?"
"Yes..." Was-Grounded grimaced.
"That would be much bad. Many kin could die. We cannot make kin thought-thralls, but can we guide their attack-flight other ways?"
Was-Grounded thought about it before he visibly paused. He did have an idea. It was something that he had suspected but not given voice to before.
"Do you remember when we were fighting the great-tusk-Monster after we broke the ice-trap?"
"Yes, what about it?"
"We were burning with body-light and all the free kin above us joined with our flight without being told. Maybe we can make our thought-wishes heard by the kin when we burn with body-light."
Shadowwing hummed as he considered it.
"Why would that be true?"
"I do not know. I have not tried it, but I have a thought in my liver that it might be true."
"We can try this and see if it does happen," Shadowwing suggested.
They both flew to a more remote part of the coast where there were several free dragons milling about or otherwise resting.
"Brother, you try it. Show them your light and want them to flame at... this dead tree," Shadowwing bounded over to and tagged a fallen tree.
Was-Grounded closed his eyes and cast his thoughts back to that day of fighting. To the fear and fighting-joy. To the loss and pain. To the need to protect his own. To pinning his own thought-thralled brother to save him.
The burning light came easily.
He opened his eyes and saw that the nearest kin were all watching him closely. All their eyes were wide open, and they were clearly prepared for action. He spun and stared at the fallen tree. He imagined it burning to kin-fire and balls of flame flying at it.
He blinked as he saw several flashes of fire erupt on the fallen tree. The nearest kin who had briefly flamed it turned to look at him and growled at the burning, dead tree. They made an assortment of confused sounds at him. They were clearly confused as to why the tree had been an enemy.
It felt good and warming to have them do that at his command. Dangerously warming.
I do not know about that... it feels...
Shadowwing happily bounded over to him.
"That flight has lift. I think that they knew what you wanted them to do."
Was-Grounded grumbled softly and rolled his claws on the ground as he let his burning light fade away.
"It feels like it has much danger in it," he hissed.
"What? What danger?" Shadowwing asked.
"It felt very warm to be able to do that. Filled with danger. How is that different from what the great-tusks can do?"
Shadowwing blinked in surprise.
"You did not make them do that. That is not bad-thought-whispering because we cannot make them obey, but it is a way of letting them know what we want them to do. They still had to want to do it and obey because they trust you as their Alpha."
"I do not know. I cannot ask the other kin what they were thinking or if they knew what they were doing. It feels like something a Monster would do."
Shadowwing sat down before him and purred in comfort.
"We are not Monsters. We do not do this to get more power for us. This would only be to protect kin in the fighting. The kin bend their wings to us because we deserve it and protect them as flight-leaders, not because we force their wants or foul their thinking to make them thralls."
"Still, it feels like a power that could become a much-bad rot if there is even small rot in an Alpha," Was-Grounded sighed.
They both looked around the clearing at the other dragons that had already returned to their busy day of laying about in the sunshine without a care in the world.
Shadowwing grimly chuckled.
"It is good that we are two Alphas and we have all our life-story as brothers. I would tell you if I see any rot in your liver, and you tell me if you see rot in mine. Also, we did not want to become Alphas or to lead the kin. It was not power-wanting that gave us this flight."
Was-Grounded sighed and purred in some relief after he thought about the encouraging words.
"Truth. We do not fly for us and our own power-getting. We fly for others and to protect. I feel warmer about leading the kin now."
A shared glance out over the water followed.
"I hope that we do not need to do that," Shadowwing muttered.
"We should practice-fight now. It might help to burn off some life-fire," Was-Grounded answered.
Shadowwing eagerly agreed.
They took to the sky and began practicing an array of spins, dives, twists, and turns, coming close to disaster several times but never fearing an awry strike.
Night Furies never miss.
Shadowwing got home after a long day of practicing sky-fighting with his brother. That left him quite exhausted as he ambled up to Luna and nuzzled her cheek.
Moon-Dancer hopped up before him and sat down on his rump.
"Sire-father?"
Shadowwing lay down before his son and purred to him.
"Yes, my son?"
"Two-legs are not kin. What are they? Yes, this nest is filled with them, but what life are they?" Moon-Dancer blinked rapidly.
"They are life with very strong thinking and life-fires in their livers. They are like kin in many ways," Shadowwing answered.
"But where are their wings and tails?"
"They do not have any wings or tails. But they can have wings if we kin share our wings and backs with them."
"But never forced flying. You hear that, Moon-Dancer?" Luna interjected.
Moon-Dancer purred at her.
"They fly if I want them to fly with me?" he answered her.
"Yes, my son. You should also keep learning their picture-words and spoken-words," Shadowwing purred.
Moon-Dancer eagerly bounded on his feet.
"I will! Giving words is good! Flying is good!"
Shadowwing and Luna watched as Moon-Dancer ran over to the table and started practicing some of his letters.
"His thinking is very much strong, my life-mate," she whispered.
"Yes, it is. He gets that from you," he purred.
"And from you. How was the flying with your brother?" she chuckled.
"Good. He taught me more sky-fighting, and we learned that we can lead other kin with our thought-wants when we are burning with light."
"Lead other kin... on an attack flight?"
He paused and hesitated before answering.
"If we must."
"This is because of the bad-flight you told me about, true?" she whispered.
"Yes, I have a... chill in my liver. I fear-" he sighed without finishing his thought.
Luna jumped up onto the bed-rock, flamed it, and lay down with a wing held out in open invitation.
"Rest?" she asked.
He hopped up as well, lay down on his side, wrapped his tail around hers, and gently nuzzled her nose. They stared long into each other's eyes without saying anything. It was only after Moon-Dancer tired of practicing his letters and decided to join them by snuggling up against her belly that they finally closed their eyes and fell into a fitful sleep.
Fires and screams on the water.
Amorphous dragons of mist that swarmed around him.
Staring into the eyes of a Bewilderbeast that claimed his soul.
'If you had to choose the two-leg world or me.'
An armada of ships filled with fighters and traps.
Traps filled with Night Furies, a Light Fury, and a Dawn Fury.
A faceless man wearing a Night Fury hide as a cloak.
A void that chased him into the sky, stretched out its maw, and tore apart his entire world.
As the sky was falling down.
He shook himself awake with a whimper, caught his breath, and waited as his heartbeat slowed. He snuggled closer to Luna and focused only on the sound of her breaths. Her sleep seemed similarly disturbed from her twitching eyes and faint grumble.