Chapter 7
Chris's fever soon broke and Windwalker's blisters went away. Chris rode her bareback when he and his family went flying together, as his saddle was still being worked on. Hiccup said that he was going to make additional improvements on it so it didn't give Windwalker blisters in the future. Serenity had no idea that Gothi wanted the dragons to take her back to her original family. Re and Aurora wanted her to stay happy and not scare her back into her paranoia. They figured that if Serenity stayed far from Gothi, she would be safe. What they didn't now, was that Gothi had taken matters into her own hands. She had contacted Serenity's original family with one of her Tiny Terrors and told them where their daughter was and what the world knew her as. It took weeks for the family to reply saying they were on their way by boat to get her and bring her back to their house. They had moved since they last saw her, to an archipelago called the Faroe Islands. They would arrive in two weeks and take her back from the dragons. Gothi made sure the Draconians knew nothing of this, she want them whisking Serenity to Draconia where she wasn't supposed to be.
One day Chris went out onto the balcony. He was going to fly to Berk to pick up his saddle. Serenity promised him lunch when he got back. He mounted Windwalker and flew off. Serenity let Edelweiss run around the balcony while she made tuna salad sandwiches. Then Tenor landed on the balcony.
"Tanny!" Edelweiss cried. She ran to the black dragon and hugged one of his front legs. He lowed his head to her and nibbled her neck. She refused to let go so Tenor walked carefully over to his rider.
"Hello," he said. Serenity looked up from the mixing bowel full of tuna and vegetables. "Where'd Chris run off to?"
"He went to get his saddle," Serenity said. "Hopefully it won't give Windwalker anymore blisters." She finished stirring the salad and spooned it in between two slices of bread and cut the sandwich into two triangles.
"Hey Serenity," Tenor said, in a very serious tone. "This might seem like a random question but, would you want to go back to your original family if you had the opportunity?" Suddenly fear returned to her eyes and she traced the scar on her face with her finger.
"No," she said. "They hurt me and I don't know what they'll do to Edelweiss."
"That's what I thought," Tenor said.
"Why?" Serenity asked. The dragon shrugged.
"I was just wondering," he said. "Sorry if it hurt."
"It's okay Tenor," Serenity said. "I wouldn't go back to them in a million decades." Tenor smiled. At that moment Chris and Windwalker came back. Windwalker was saddled again. The saddle now had a lining of soft wool on the bottom of it to prevent blisters. Chris dismounted as Serenity pried Edelweiss off Tenor's leg and held her. She then handed Chris his promised lunch.
Over on Berk a ship was spotted pulling into the harbor. Mulch and Bucket went to inform Hiccup. He told them to see who was in the boat and find out what they wanted. They did as they were told and found that it was a family of five. There was a man and woman in their 60s at least, a blond girl in her late thirty's, a brown haired girl in her early thirty's, and sandy haired boy in his late twenty's. Mulch and Bucket brought them up to the plaza where Hiccup and the other riders waited with their dragons. Gothi was there as well looking pleased with herself.
"Hello," the old man said. "We got a tip from someone on this island that you know where our youngest daughter is."
"We might," Hiccup said. "Who is she exactly."
"We haven't seen her years," the old man said. "A dragon took her when she was very young. She has light brown hair and green eyes, I believe she goes by the name Serenity." Everyone looked surprised.
"You're Serenity's original family?" Astrid said.
"That's right," said the blond woman. "She's my littlest sister. Do you have her or not?"
"You're the ones who hit her with a shovel?" asked Fishlegs.
"Ah, yes," the old man said. "Our village leader made sure we paid for that crime. We want to mend our ways but we can't do it without her."
"Well, she's not here," Astrid said firmly. Her gut feeling told her these people weren't to be trusted with one of the Dragon King's most valuable treasures. "We don't know where she is." The old man considered.
"That's a shame," he said.
"Yeah those dragons keep her location a close secret," Hiccup lied. "She comes here sometimes to spend time with the dragons that live here." He knew it was a bad idea to turn the dragon healer in to people who hurt her.
"Maybe she'll come back," the brown haired woman said.
"We'll make sure you're the first to know if she does," Astrid said.
"Thank you," the old man said. "We'll be on our ship." With that they turned and left. When they were out of earshot Hiccup turned to his friends.
"Should we tell Re and Aurora about this?" he asked.
"Yeah, tell them they should probably send Serenity and her family home safe," Eret said. "It would be a real tragedy if she got hit with the shovel again." At that instant Hookfang spread his wings and took off heading for Dragon Island.
Meanwhile, Gothi went down to the docks where the ship waited. She hopped on board and found the old man and woman. In the man's hands was the same shovel he hit Serenity with when she was little, and he was sharpening it. Gothi went over to him and handed him a scroll of paper.
"What's this?" he asked taking the scroll. He unrolled it and saw that it was a map showing both Berk and Dragon Island. A small caption under Dragon Island that read;
What you seek is on that island.
The old man beamed.
"Thank you," he said. "This is most helpful. We won't tell anyone it was you." Gothi nodded and exited the ship. She was satisfied that Serenity was going back where she belonged. Weather her relationship with them was good or bad, nature put her with them in the first place and that's where she was supposed to be. The ship set sail immediately.
Hookfang flew as fast as he could towards Dragon Island. When he got there he flew right into the throne room where Re and Aurora was.
"You majesty," he panted. "I have some bad news, Serenity's original family just showed up on Berk and they're looking for her." Re and Aurora became alert at once.
"How did they know to look on Berk?" Aurora asked.
"They said they got a tip that she was there," Hookfang said. Re seethed in anger.
"It was probably that witch," he growled through his teeth. "She has a real problem with Serenity living with us."
"We better tell Serenity and get her out of here," said Aurora. "Thank you Hookfang." Hookfang gave a quick bow and flew off. Re and Aurora flew up to the balcony where Serenity and Chris were putting a child safety harness on the saddle the Edelweiss was going to learn to ride on. Edelweiss was playing ball with Black Widow. They all looked up when the king and queen landed.
"Serenity, we need to get you out of here," Re said. "Your original family is on Berk and it's only a matter of time before they find you here." Serenity instantly panicked.
"Oh no," she cried. "I knew there was someone else out there. They're going to kill me." She choked out the last part. Chris rushed to her side in case she fainted out of sheer terror.
"How did they find her?" Chris asked.
"Someone on Berk told them where she was," Aurora said. "Our guess is that it was the small witch Gothi. Apparently she's not pleased with the fact that Serenity's living with us and want's to ruin her life." Tenor instantly growled and gnashed his black teeth. Chris could suddenly feel Serenity shaking. He pulled her as close to him as possible.
"Sorry we kept this from you," Re said. "We wanted to avoid panic. We promised we would keep it quiet unless it got worse."
"I hope you have a plan," Chris said, getting angry.
"I do," Re said. "We're going to get you guys out of here and send you back home."
"Um, I don't think that's going to happen," Windwalker said. "Look." She was looking towards the south, towards Draconia. They all followed her gaze and saw clouds blacker than Tenor's teeth. Lighting flashed every second.
"That's a hurricane," said Aurora. "It appears the human god Thor agrees with the witch." Serenity panicked even more, knowing there was no escape. She started crying.
"They're going to kill me," she said again.
"Serenity," Re said firmly. "Come here please." He beckoned with his talons. Serenity went up to him obediently. He used the tip of his tail to lift her chin so she was looking him in the eye.
"Serenity, they won't get you," Re said. "I will kill you myself before I ever let them have you. I know that was a bit dark but that's how determined I am." Serenity started to calm down listening to her father-in-law. Something in his voice made her trust him 100%. But she was still crying out of pure fear. She hugged him and buried her face into his emerald green scales. Re wrapped his wings around her.
"You won't let me go?" she asked.
"No," Re said. "No we won't ever let you go." Serenity took several deep breaths and calmed down.
"We should probably get inside," Aurora said. "That hurricane is almost here and if that family comes here we'll get rid of them one way or another." Re and Aurora flew to the tide pools to get Apollo and Avalon and Windwalker, Tenor, Black Widow and their riders went into their respective rooms to wait out the hurricane.
Just before the storm hit Serenity's former family arrived at the island and made their way into the castle to get out of the rain and wind. They went through the castle and conveniently came out onto the balcony. Suddenly the blond sister looked through the storm-proof windows, she saw Serenity put Edelweiss into her crib made of dragon ribs.
"She has a child?" the sister exclaimed. "But she's a runt, she doesn't deserve that should do something."
"I agree," said the brother. "She's caused us nothing but trouble with those dragons and she's rewarded with a child. That isn't fair."
"Don't worry," the father said. "I have her old friend." He held up the rusty shovel and carefully ran his fingers along its extra sharp edge.
"When the storm is over we'll take the child away from her," the mother said. "Make sure you actually finish the job this time." Then the blond sister saw Serenity kissing her husband.
"What? She has a husband too?" she said shocked. "That is really unfair, how does she get all the good stuff when she did nothing to deserve it?"
"We'll take care of it after the storm," the father said. They turned and hid in the castle. Serenity's biggest nightmare was about to take place.