Chapter 31 - Dinner & An Explanation:
On top of the Skrill Spark, flying towards Dyflin…
"So…" Kormak drawled, trying to start a conversation. They so far have had a very quiet flight, with neither of them speaking to each other.
"What?" said Vali, almost irritated that she was disturbed from her thoughts. She glanced ahead and looked at Kormak's shortish light brown hair waving in the wind.
"Nothing." Kormak replied instantly. Staring ahead of him.
Due to the speed Spark was flying, the clouds became a cold spray of freezing water each time they flew through one. It proved quite chilly for the pair, however both of them were taking in the incredible scenery and views.
The lands appearing and disappearing beneath them. Neither of them had enough time or could squint enough to be able to distinguish anything on the lands. Their speed and altitude was too great.
It was an exhilarating feeling for both of them. Considering there were no jagged or sharp turns or movements. It was just a straight and steady flight. Kormak felt as if he could just jump off Spark and plummet till the dragon caught him.
It was unlike anything they had ever experienced, especially for the first few hours since they left. Even though they hadn't spoken, they both smiled and took it all in. They could easily understand why Hiccup and anybody for that matter would feel just so, free up here in the sky.
And to think, that soon I could have my own dragon to do this with. Kormak thought with wonder.
As for Vali, she was wondering how she could become friends with a Skrill to befriend and become her dragon partner.
Her first and immediate thought of course was the dragon she was currently riding on, Spark. Vali had already become quite fond of the dragon. Its attitude towards problems and threats are substantially similar to her own. She thought they had a lot in common.
But she wasn't sure if the Skrill itself felt like that. She had no idea of what it was thinking, or saying when it speaks for that matter. However as Hiccup had said before, the mark translates dragon language into Norse so only the mark bearer can understand.
Vali pulled her sleeve up and looked at her mark as she sat right behind Kormak. Yep, it was definitely a mark of a Skrill.
Kormak saw Vali's arm out of the corner of his right eye. He pulled his own sleeve back and turned around to show Vali his own.
"It's pretty cool, isn't it?" said Kormak. As Vali now looked over at his mark, the mark of the Thunderdrum.
Spark turned her head towards the upper right, and moved her eyes back till she could just see Kormak and Vali looking and comparing each other's dragon marks.
She gave a grunt, indicating she wasn't particularly interested, and turned back to face the three dragons leading her and her passengers towards Dyflin.
The dragons too had been silent throughout the journey so far, although they were only about halfway there.
Spark decided to end the silence. She didn't like not talking that much, she preferred being around noise. So she asked the dragon's ahead a question.
"Oi, how long to go?"
The three dragons looked at each other. Grunting in quiet words, till the Flatsea said, "Just under four hours I'd say. How you holding up?"
"Well enough Flatsea. How about you, the Frillwing and the Spikeoteeth?" She asked politely.
"We're not bad." Squeaked the Spikeoteeth.
Spark could not resist it and burst into laughter. It had been a long time since she had last met a Spikeoteeth, she found them absolutely hilarious despite their heavy and large build.
The Spikeoteeth species as all dragons know, have a very narrow throat that only widens and opens up more so when eating food or drinking water. When the species is not doing either, its throat narrows significantly on the inside, which makes its voice to dragons very high pitched and squeaky like the small Cheek dragon species, which in Viking language are called Terrible Terrors.
The Spikeoteeth shook its head and rolled its eyes, causing the Thunderdrum and Frillwing to laugh too.
"Oh I'm sorry!" Spark laughed, trying to get a hold of herself. "It's just been so long since I've seen one of you before and I haven't laughed in a long time. It's nice to finally do so!" Spark smiled, extending her lips a little further around her face.
"It's fine." He squeaked. As Spark gave a few more chuckles. "I get it all time. Even Valka laughs on the odd occasion." The Spikeoteeth replied honestly. Fondly remembering times when Valka burst into laughter the first time she heard its voice.
"Who's Valka?" Spark asked.
All three dragons suddenly widened their eyes in shock, and the Spikeoteeth now deeply regretted what it just previously spoke. They just gave away the person's real name who lives in the glacier with them!
"Oh, um… Nobody…" The Frillwing muttered, as Spark now observed the Frillwing and Thunderdrum looking very angry at the Spikeoteeth.
Spark looked at the three dragons in front of her suspiciously. She knew something was amiss as soon as she said Valka.
"Who's Valka?" She growled at them.
Kormak and Vali on Spark's back now suddenly begun to notice the tense atmosphere now developing. They heard Spark's angry grunt and thought something was going on.
"Just one of the dragons back home." The Thunderdrum said immediately. But not entirely truthfully. The three of the leading dragons kept glancing at one another and turning around to look at Spark.
"Is that so?" She taunted, "Sure you're not lying to me?"
"No!" The Spikeoteeth squeakily denied.
Vali patted the Skrill a couple times from her position on her back. "Hey Spark, everything all right?"
The Spike Bolt turned to her and nodded.
Spark looked back ahead of her and spoke, even though she knew the intended recipient could not understand dragon language yet. "Yes Vali." She then narrowed her eyes suspiciously and kept them glued to the dragons in front, watching their every move. "Everything is fine."
Back on Lowtov's Glacier…
Hiccup reeled backwards, gasping in shock.
"Shh shh." Valka said gently, raising her hand in front of her to quiet him. She looked back to the glacier, as if she suddenly had an idea.
"Come." She then gestured for Hiccup and Toothless to follow. As she began to walk away and she turned left through the glacial corridor. Kari followed her, but took off even faster.
Hiccup got a hold of himself and began to follow. "Wh-hold on, wait just a minute!"
She ignored him and quickly walked on. Hiccup followed as quickly as he could, trying to keep up. "Wait come back here!" Hiccup noticed Kari sprint ahead past Valka and out of sight.
Toothless followed eagerly behind him, listening to everything that was going on. He found it remarkable and almost unbelievable about what he had just heard, but now that he knew, it wasn't a huge surprise to the dragon.
The Night wasn't sure if Hiccup had noticed yet, but the dragon could smell the same or a very similar scent on the woman that he could smell on Hiccup. Adding on to that, he could also see a little resemblance in their eyes and physique.
"Come!" Valka said again, now smiling excitedly. Still she kept going through the icy corridors further and further down. The corridor kept going left, it never changed direction yet.
"You can't just say something like that and run off!" Hiccup accused, as he sped up his pace. "You're my mother?! I mean what the-!" Even the words sounding on his tongue felt strange, this was just so uncomprehending.
"Don't you grasp how insane it sounds?!"
Suddenly a large icy shard was present in the middle of the corridor, and Valka easily and fluently climbed over it with ease and kept on going.
Hiccup approached it but slipped every time he tried to go over. Every jump he tried made his chest feel freezing from the icy surface dampening his clothes.
Then on his third jump as he was sliding back down, Toothless pushed his head between Hiccup's legs and pushed him over the large shard of ice. Hiccup slipped on his way down due to the very slippery surface and fell frontwards.
Luckily he landed on his hands, just as Toothless jumped over the shard with one big leap and landed ahead of him. Hiccup quickly got up, as the ice was burning his hands and stood up.
They were now looking at once again another truly remarkable sight. There was an opening here, where Hiccup and Toothless were now facing.
To their right the tunnel continued but became rock instead of ice, and both Hiccup and Toothless could smell something cooking down there. However what was to their left in front of them at this large opening drew their attention the most.
It was a massively open and partially enclosed structure. Like a gigantic nest. The entire area was made up of rocks in the middle, however the walls around the large oval like and almost cylindrical structure were made of ice.
It was like a massive great big hole or crevasse inside this enormous glacier, with sunlight streaming in from the opening at the top.
On the ground and in the middle however, lay lots of rocks, several plants in places, two huge hot springs and in-between them a tiny patch of soil housed the roots of one large beautiful tree.
The sight was breathtaking. Never had he seen anything like this before. But those were not the main iconic things inside this glacier.
What occupied the springs, or at least took up some room in both, and what was flying around or in and out of the glacier, were dragons.
More than he had ever seen. It was at this moment that he remembered the notes section of some of the parchment back in the desks above. One note had the amount of dragons they kept here was something like three-hundred and eighty four.
Inside this gigantic chamber of ice and rock, the dragons were either resting or mucking around in the hot springs. Steam was wafting gently off its surfaces. Some baby dragons played in the water, some dragons were flying around, others were sleeping or just sitting on rocks. And even some seemed to be resting somehow while being attached to the icy walls.
"We have visitors!"
A loud and booming voice suddenly echoed around the chamber. A familiar dragon appeared. The same one that Valka was riding on before. A four-winged dragon. And speaking of Valka, she was standing on top of it.
All dragons heard the voice and stopped whatever they were doing and looked at Hiccup and Toothless.
"We have found them! The leader of the Six and the Night have arrived! Two other members of the Six have also been found, and they will be back here soon!" The four winged dragon roared.
Every dragon in the chamber flew onto the rocks and whatever they could stand on, even in-between the hot springs. They all chanted, "Welcome!"
The noise was deafening and Hiccup almost had to cover his ears. All of them then bowed all the way to the ground. With the four winged dragon and Valka joining in.
Hiccup was in total shock. He stood as stiff as a block of ice himself, and just stared at them all. Toothless however, was very surprised too, but saw the state Hiccup was in and took the cue.
"Thank you very much. We are honoured and thank you all for welcoming us to this beautiful place. Please forgive us as this is such an enormous shock to us and will take time for Hiccup and myself to get used to."
"Please call my friend Hiccup, there's no need to call him sir or otherwise. The same goes for me. We shall look forward to speaking with all of you. But now I think we need rest."
All the dragons nodded in understanding, and flew back to continue whatever it is they were doing previously. Valka and her dragon however approached and she hopped off her dragon.
"I-I,..I..-I…" Hiccup stammered. "I-" Valka walked right up to Hiccup.
"This is a lot to take in." Valka said, brushing Hiccup's brown hair out of his face.
"DINNER!" Came a loud and strenuous voice from down below. Quickly followed by the sound of something metal crashing and clanging onto a hard surface.
"I'M ALL RIGHT IT'S ALL RIGHT! JUST DROPPED A COUPLE METAL PLATES!" The voice bellowed.
Valka laughed and shook her head. "Oh Edda, she's a funny one." She turned to the four-winged dragon. "I'll just take Hiccup and Toothless down for supper. You want to come Cloudjumper?"
The dragon named Cloudjumper shook its head. "No thanks. You enjoy the dinner, I will go out and catch some dinner for the injured ones."
"Okay. Be safe." Valka petted her dragon fondly, before Cloudjumper took off. Spreading its amazing four wings.
"You must be hungry. Come and eat." Valka gestured down towards the corridor that led to a rocky opening.
Hiccup just smiled and walked down there. While Toothless and Valka followed behind.
Inside this rocky sweet smelling cave were undoubtedly the kitchens. Hiccup noticed a couple fires burning against a wall with a rocky chimney built above them, plus several cauldrons hanging over each furnace. While cooking materials were scattered around the benches.
In the middle, was a big wooden table, with ten chairs around it. And two large bowls on the ground in an area opposite. Probably for dragons.
There was steak, lamb and chicken served on table. Which was neatly set with knives forks and spoons. Even the two bowls had stacks of fish in them. Kari just finished putting down some lamb on the table. The smell of the whole room was intoxicating. It made Hiccup very hungry.
"Oh my Thor, you've gone to all this trouble? How can I repay-" Hiccup began.
"Oh it's no trouble." Edda positively sang as she moved around in the kitchen holding some herbs. "You have no need to repay me. I want to do it anyway, Kari isn't good enough at cooking yet as I'm teaching her, and Siva's cooking is horrendous."
"Oi, it's not that bad!" Valka defended. As Edda now gave Valka an are-you-kidding-me face. "And you can call me Valka now. I've told him everything." Valka said, her cheeks going red.
"Ah I see." Edda echoed, not even looking up from her work now as she sprinkled some herbs onto a salad. "Well then, welcome Hiccup. Now everyone please sit down."
Toothless was now fixated on the fish in the bowls nearby. His eyes saying what he wanted. He bobbed up and down on his paws, and looking with pleading eyes at Hiccup and Valka. He really wanted that fish.
Valka smiled, "Go ahead Toothless."
Faster than a flying arrow, the mighty Night Fury shot over to the bowls and began gulfing down gallons and gallons of fish.
Both Hiccup and Valka chuckled at the dragon devouring the fish like he had never done so before.
Several hours later just as night time began, on Spark's back flying to Dyflin…
"We're nearly there." Squeaked the Spikoteeth. Alerting Spark the Spike Bolt, the Flatsea and the Frillwing.
The journey had been fairly quiet since the last time the dragons spoke. Kormak and Vali however had been talking most of the way. Together they talked about everything, past life experiences such as Kormak's father's death and his slavery in Myrka.
While Kormak had learnt a fair amount about Vali too. What her responsibilities back in Myrka were, what she did during dragon raids, and when she first met Hiccup.
The dragons had kept quiet since the Spikeoteeth accidently revealed the name of Valka, but no more was said so Spark never found out who Valka was.
"Understood." Said Spark. She now looked below, but she couldn't make out the land. She knew the dragons ahead of her knew the scent of Dyflin and navigated that way. Spark the Skrill had not visited or been on Dyflin long enough to recognise its scent.
The electrical dragon then turned her head as best she could and looked at Kormak and Vali still chatting away. She grunted to get their attention.
Both members of the Six turned at the sound of the grunt to which Kormak looked at her and asked, "Are we nearly there?"
Spark nodded, before turning back to face the other dragons.
"You said the island was destroyed wasn't it?" Vali asked, wanting to double check.
Kormak nodded. "Unfortunately yes. Most of my village was killed. There aren't any buildings left, it's all rubble. Most of the forest was burnt too. The Dyflin crew should be there by now, and Trader Johann should be looking after Polk still unless the crew are."
"Okay."
The Frillwing, Spikoteeth and the Flatsea began to descend, and Spark followed.
They broke through the chilly clouds, and as they steepened their descent, they began to notice two little flashing bits of orange light near the shores of the island.
Their descent accelerated greatly till they were almost plummeting, and Dyflin came clearer into view for the dragons.
They landed with ease next to the orange lights. Which now Kormak and Vali realised were two bon fires. Kormak and Vali recognised all the Dyflin crew sitting around one of the fires. They were all asleep.
"Master Kormak!" Came a quiet and excited voice.
Kormak and Vali spun around to see the other fire, of which two people were sitting next to. It was Trader Johann with Polk asleep next to him covered in blankets.
"Johann!" Kormak whispered, sounding very relived indeed. He and Vali walked over to them, and sat down by the fire beside them. As the dragons behind them just talked to themselves and walked away a little bit so they wouldn't wake anyone up.
"Oh I'm so glad to see you. Are you both all right?" Kormak asked.
Johann smiled and nodded. Patting Polk gently on his head. "He's a great boy. You've got a great brother there. And yes, we're fine. That lady who knocked us out was very kind and apologetic afterwards. It's all sorted out. The Dyflin crew only arrived here about half an hour ago. The dragons that escorted them only just left."
"As you can imagine, the Dyflin crew were in quite a state of shock and anger when they saw this. Especially chief Asan. But by that time, they were all very tired. So I managed to convince them to have some sleep. We set up the fires and all nodded off. I agreed to stay up on watch."
"How are you though? Everything all right- Oh my, forgive me, we are very rude. Who is this lovely young lady?" Johann looked ashamed of himself for not doing any introductions.
"Oh yeah." Kormak looked to Vali. "This is-"
"I can introduce myself thank you." She interrupted Kormak. "I'm Vali. Formerly from Myrka. And you are?"
"From Myrka? My my, that's a dangerous place. Even I try to avoid the country when I can. Miss Vali, your name sounds very familiar to me. It's an honour to meet you. Trader Johann at your service." He made a polite and formal bow from where he sat.
"Yes I know Mr Johann. I used to live there. I was King Harun's daughter. That's probably why you knew my name." Vali answered.
"Oh my, what are you doing-"
"Don't worry Johann, it's a long story." Kormak said before Vali could answer.
"Ko-Kormaky…?" Polk quietly mumbled.
Kormak slowly moved towards his brother. And patted his brother gently on his head. "I'm here little man."
His eyes shot open and he leapt up. "KORMAKY!" He said loudly.
"Shhh! Bro everyone is asleep. Don't worry, I'm here." He assured, hugging his brother.
Johann smiled at the warm moment. Watching fondly.
"Listen Polk, there's something I have to ask you." They separated, and Polk sat down in his lap. Putting his hands up and keeping them near the raging fire's heat.
"This is not going to be easy for you to answer little man, but I have to know. Are you ready?" He asked, now turning his brother around to look him in the eye.
Polk nodded nervously, and looked down at Kormak's chest, waiting.
"What happened on the night Dyflin was destroyed? Can you please answer me as detailed as you can little man?" Kormak said.
Polk began breathing heavily. "Okay. Okay."
Many days ago, on the night of Dyflin's destruction…
Drifa finished reading Asan's letter out to Polk, and folded it up again and tucked it into her pocket.
Polk said nothing, and just sat there, staring towards the ocean in front of him with the light of the full moon above them.
"Listen Polk, I'm going to go inside and make dinner. You want to come?" She asked softly.
Polk shook his head. "I just wanna be out here for a little longer."
"Okay." Said Drifa. "Please don't be long. It'll get cold quickly, and dinner will be ready soon." His mother added. Beginning to stand up.
She gradually began walking back to the house, while Polk kept looking out to sea, wondering when he would be able to see his brother again.
Polk lay down on the sand. He knew his mother didn't like that, but he liked it. He stared up at the full moon in the sky, watching it with fixed eyes. Staying completely motionless.
Suddenly he saw a figure, a very fast speeding figure fly directly above him and it blocked out the moon for half a second. He was unable to make it out.
He stood up as fast as he could, just in time.
In one huge and gigantic blast, something black and nearly invisible to Polk's eyes, blew out an immensely bright white stream of fire. In one massive breath.
It circled around and hit every building with just the one huge breath. When the white fire hit something it could burn, it turned into the normal colour of flame. Orange.
People came out screaming from their houses, some were on fire, others were brandishing weapons ready to fight, but this was no dragon raid.
The instant a person was visibly coming out of a building, the black figure in the centre of town blew another blast of white fire at the person. Disintegrating them almost immediately.
Polk walked forwards, keeping deadly quiet and then lay down to get a closer look.
The creature he could only see a part of. He could not firmly identify what it was. But he could say this. It had large black wings. Like the Night Fury he saw Hiccup riding. But these wings seemed able to retract extremely well that they could not be seen.
It appeared to be standing on two legs. Which seemed very weird to Polk. Dragons had four legs. However he could not see very well, the only light was that from the moon and the burning fires.
Perhaps this creature had some camouflaging technique. Polk had heard of a certain species of dragon that could do that. It was called a Changewing. But his dad had shown him a drawing of one before, and this didn't look anything like it.
This creature was human size. About the size of chief Asan. It almost looked human. The only thing that made him think it was a dragon was the fire obviously, and the wings.
The creature then appeared to walk on its two feet, around the houses and killed any remaining Vikings with a quick blast of bright white fire.
Afterwards, it came back into the centre of town, and shot one more massive blast into every building including the Great Hall. And within a few seconds, every building including the hall had collapsed and was on fire.
Polk then noticed something even more terrifying. The creature then spun around where it stood on its two legs, and it grew bigger whilst spinning. It got larger and larger till it was about the same size of at least three Monstrous Nightmares put together. It was completely black still but seemed to camouflage into its surroundings a little.
It drew its wings now, which were huge and even bigger than they were before. And then in one huge leap it took off into the sky and disappeared within a few seconds. The creature had not seen Polk.