Shadowfire's eyes opened. He lifted his head high enough to see over Hookfang's wing. His horns closed in against his neck but he kept the snarl in his throat. He had no idea what prompted the fool human to ask his question so loudly but he would not add to the problem by snarling. Stoick was correct in sending Alpha and the others in to sleep. A night in the snow and wind drained even the hardiest of dragon. Shadowfire knew it had to wipe the humans completely out.
Shadowfire smiled as Stoick let the fool know where he had erred. Shadowfire began purring, pitching his tone to keep his mother asleep. He had done that before when Nana had died and his mother had been up far too long. Frost, picking up on his action, began purring as well. Pale followed. The other dragons were quick to join in. Shadowfire was grateful when his mother relaxed against his foreleg.
He lowered his head and closed his eyes but did not fall back asleep. Something was up. That fool human was new to the nest. New had to be evaluated to ensure Alpha and the others remained safe. There were those known to the nest to be a threat who still lived. There were others only Shadowfire and his immediate flock knew who were also threats. As different as things were now, Shadowfire did half expect foes not slated to appear yet to waltz up and say hi.
As soon as he heard Stoick and Eydis turn their back, his eyes opened again. He stared at his brother and sister-in-law, finding both staring out across the pile of humans, dragons, and sheep. Shadowfire lifted his head again. He was not surprised to find the other dragons also awake. None moved. None wanted to disturb the humans, sheep, or young who thankfully were still asleep. Each looked at the other though. Toothless twitched an ear flap and Shadowfire took it to mean the Wind-shrieker was pleased by the dragons' response. Given his title as Nest Protector it was not that far of a stretch to assume Toothless was indeed happy the dragons were awake but not moving. Yet.
"That Baneson told Hiccup that eating with the tribe more than once unless he had to be there made people ill."
"He told Hiccup what?"
Shadowfire's horns slammed against his neck. It was that idiot. Not only a stupid being to spout off dumb questions when others were sleeping, but the one to keep Alpha from eating. Shadowfire would pity the moron but he wanted to drop him into the lava that monster stayed in back on Dragon Island.
None of the dragons moved while Stoick confronted the idiot, at least not until the moron made his already precarious existence more in danger of ending in a painful manner.
"Why should he let dat burden touch his axe? He be useless 'n waste o' space 'n ever ding he touch broke. He 'bout killed us all every time he step out da door."
The Spike-thrower who came close to worshiping the ground Alpha walked on, stood. He moved to back Stoick up. Shadowfire was pleased to note he had lost the impulse to shoot first and ask questions later that he had demonstrated back on the Illusion-scale's nest. A nest guard had to be calm and calculating, not dive bombing into situation and making them worse.
Despite everything to keep him asleep, Alpha awoke and stood. Shadowfire knew he should not be amazed by this. In the movies and TV shows, Hiccup was never one to not get involved in something.
"Enough!"
Shadowfire was grateful his mother lifted her head. He surged to his paws, trusting his brother and sister-in-law to move. Alpha had called. His almost roar echoing deep into Shadowfire's soul. He had to stand. He had to respond. Alpha had but to whisper now and Shadowfire would not be able to resist any command Alpha gave.
"Now you're in for it," he heard the Spike-thrower say though the dragon was smart enough to keep the pitch out of the range the magic could translate.
The dragons knew Alpha's roar would shake things. They expected it as he grew into his role. Most of the humans were not ready for it, not even Shadowfire's own mother. While no dragon in the nest knew exactly what was contributing to Hiccup being able to act and speak as an alpha, all knew it was a matter of time before whatever it was gained enough power to shake, rattle, and roll everything and everyone that heard it.
Shadowfire watched his mother take Icewing from Lady Alpha. He watched Palewing, along with several Tiny-fangs that always hung out in the rafters when the humans met in the Great Hall, moved the hatchlings and the two fledgling Spike-throwers to the back of the cavern. He saw Iggy and Buttercup acting like herding dragons to shift the sheep rescued in the night to the back of the room as well. He spared a moment to ensure his nephews and niece were safe before focusing back upon Alpha.
Not surprising to Shadowfire, Alpha never commanded the dragons to remove the nuisance humans from the nest. He simply spoke to them, like normal. Shadowfire smirked, watching over everyone's heads as the fool and the moron who drew an axe backed away from Alpha. Alpha might speak to in order to teach, but whatever allowed him to have the voice of an alpha undercoated his tone with steel and fire. The nuisance humans had no choice but to back down.
Shadowfire's horns flattened against his neck when the fool decided to be a bigger fool. Seriously, did that human not realize he was digging his own grave? At least the female and the boat driver had their heads on straight. Both served to stop the fool and the moron from having every dragon defending Alpha with teeth and claw.
Shadowfire joined the others in a line, standing beside his mother. How he wanted to answer the moron when he asked his stupid question. Of course, Alpha controlled the dragons. That was what it meant to an alpha, stupid. He gives the orders and we follow, idiot. Shadowfire kept his comments to himself though. These humans were new and did not know about the Common Tongue. Alpha had not ordered Shadowfire's mother to unlock their ability to hear and respond.
Shadowfire had to keep his cackle silent as well when Toothless moved closer to Alpha and decided to ham it up for the new humans. It was both surprising and not all that surprising to watch the Wind-shierker he had always admired but did know truly existed, act like a hatchling begging a higher ranked nest-mate to play.
"But ye boy. He be sayin' dat lad be nothin' 'n a nobody."
And the moron did not learn his lesson. Typical. And of course Alpha had to calm the Spike-thrower. Really, did the moron human want to be spiked? He already tried to kill the dragon once. At this point the Spike-thrower hurling a spike into the human seemed inevitable. Still, Alpha asked for calm and Shadowfire felt his muscles relaxing. He felt his horns lifting off his neck. He still kept his focus upon the moron human as Alpha and Lady Alpha walked back to Toothless. The moron offered a threat he could not ignore. Until it was rendered non-existent, Shadowfire knew all the dragons would be watching the moron for the slightest twitch in the wrong direction. Shadowfire hoped the male had all his affairs in order if he was idiotic enough to do something like that. The moron would not survive the first blast from any dragon.
Shadowfire watched the boat driver move closer to Alpha, Lady Alpha, and the sensible female human. Shadowfire's gaze flicked between the boat driver and the moron who had not moved. One had shown he was a threat. The other had shown the ability to command the moron. Both would bare watching.
"May I pet da Night Fury?" the boat driver asked Alpha.
"Sure," Alpha said, holding out his hand.
Shadowfire saw the slight twitch the boat driver gave before he placed his wrist in Alpha's grip. Shadowfire's eyes narrowed. His horns twitched. That did not seem the hesitation of someone who was disgusted by Alpha's touch, nor did it seem the twitch of someone who feared what would happen to their hand. It almost seemed as the male hesitated in order to turn his wrist so only side was presented to Alpha. That intrigued Shadowfire. Why would the male not want Alpha to hold a part of his wrist?
Still the boat driver let Alpha place his hand upon Toothless' head and followed Alpha's instructions about petting the Wind-shrieker, which proved the sense the human had shown before was not a one-time incident. And the human had the appropriate look of awe from someone who got to pet a dragon.
The moment ended though when Byrnjar and the boat builder, Hoark came back into the cavern.
"The snow is piling up out there," Byrnjar said. "We'll be in here for a long while at this rate."
Shadowfire groaned as he realized that with the new humans, he could not sing to help the nest pass the time. Stupid new humans choosing this moment to visit the nest.