Disclaimer: I do not own or take any credit for the movie or the characters of How To Train Your Dragon.
AN: I AM SOOOO SORRY! There really is no excuse for my delay in updating. I had a serious case of writers block and laziness. I will never leave this story that long again, I promise! I have the next few chapters all laid out so it shouldn't be too long between updates. I hope you enjoy the new chapter :P
Blazing pain shoots up my spine, over and over again. My eyes fly open in agony and a scream rips out of my throat. Immediately the pain fades to a dull, throbbing ache.
It takes a moment for my eyes to focus through the blurriness that either came from the pain or the remnants of my fever. But when they do, it takes another for me to decide whether or not I am dreaming or hallucinating.
In front of me are, not one – of course I expected to see Toothless – but two dragons. Beside my Night Fury is a Monstrous Nightmare. Now why… would there be a Nightmare with Toothless and I? It just doesn't make sense…
Oh!
It all comes flooding back to me. Finding Toothless lying there unconscious; injured, the red dragon guarding him, falling asleep and having fevered dreams.
I struggle for a moment to sit up in order to reach a more dignified position than flat on my face, but no such luck. The Nightmare places its paw gently on my back and pushes me with little effort back to laying on my stomach. It comes closer to me and I realize what had caused the intense pain; the dragons tongue snakes out of its mouth as it bows its head. Ignoring the pain and the two dragons growling protests, I roll to my feet and scramble away from them. There is no way I'm letting that happen again.
The first and only time Toothless every licked me, I discovered something that not many people know: dragon's tongues are raspy, like a cat's but about 20 times rougher. It could have something to do with breathing fire, or maybe because they have scales they need to clean. So to have a dragon clean a wound for me was totally out of the question. It could probably do more damage than good.
Just as Toothless and the other dragon move closer to me, I can suddenly hear a strange sound. It is a sweet, lilting sound with a rising and falling melody. The two creatures perk their ears in the direction it is coming from. Toothless starts growling at something that I can't yet see. Stepping forward, he protectively puts his bulk between me and the ocean. It isn't long before we can hear the words clearly.
'We are the lost
Pushed from our kind
By the sympathies we keep
And the whispers we speak.
Some call us gypsies
Others say traitors
We are the Speakers
Our saviour a myth.
With death as his friend
On wings dark as night
Hidden wrath unquenchable
The Tamer shall come.
A curse shall follow him
Unwanted by all
Who better to save him
Than the ones who are lost?
On an island rock
After the rage of a storm
Pride hurt and injured
Blood will find him there.
With death as his friend
On wings dark as night
Hidden wrath unquenchable
The Tamer shall come.
An evil as green as jealousy
The ancient terror awakened
Controlling the wills of the weak
Life shall be consumed.
The Tamer will stand with death
Becoming defeaters of evil
The sky alight with his rage
The Tamer shall come.
We are the lost
Pushed from our kind
By the sympathies we keep
And the whispers we speak.'
By the end of the song, I can see a small figure in a canoe, paddling leisurely towards the beach where we are. Starting their song again, they beach their craft and climb out. When she turns around, she instantly freezes. I can't really blame her. Two dragons would terrify the daylights out of almost anyone, especially a small girl.
To my surprise though, she starts walking towards the three of us. Not even cautiously, just strolling along calmly, as if there weren't two dangerous, fire-breathing creatures in the direction she is walking. The Nightmare and Toothless likewise seem surprised; they both huddle closer to me. Or maybe the red dragon simply moves closer to my own.
As far as I can tell, the girl still had not noticed me behind Toothless; her eyes are glued on the dragons. Her hair glints dark red in the sunlight and her dark eyes sparkle with happiness. She is younger than me, maybe 7 or 8 years old, dressed simply in a wool dress. She could easily be mistaken for a common village girl in any settlement from the area. Except for one thing, a large amulet hanging from her throat in the shape of the sun. Something like that is too expensive and flashy for a mere villager to have. A tingle goes through my body at the sight of it.
Without fear, she approaches the dragons. 'Do not worry, Fire-Breathers, I mean you no harm,' she speaks soothingly. Then she looks at me, just as she says: 'Oh, you have a human with you? How unusual,' the girl placed a hand on each of the dragons and gently nudged them aside, 'I am Starlit.'
It is unusual how easily Toothless moved aside to allow this girl to come near me, especially given the fact that I'm injured. He normally doesn't trust people very easily. Ok rephrase: He doesn't trust people, with me being the only exception. And, I am pretty certain she hadn't seen me until after she said "you have a human with you". But how else could she have known?
'I'm Hiccup,' I struggle to get up in order to shake her hand properly, but she puts her hands on my shoulders before I can. Surprisingly strong for her size – she is as tall as I am kneeling – the girl grips my shoulders and pushes me down into a sitting position. I try to protest but she shushes me distractedly.
Her forehead creases, 'You're hurt.' I nod dumbly as I had just noticed something else strange about this girl. Along the sides of her face and neck and down her arms in circular patterns were marks that resemble dragon scales, specifically a Night Fury's. Before I can examine them more, she moves behind me and prods my back. I let out a yelp.
Toothless suddenly regains his protectiveness and leaps forward in a deep snarl. The girl removes her hands from my back and holds them up in an effort to calm him. I get there first, though. 'Easy, Bud. She'll be able to help me better than you can.' Instantly he relaxes his threatening stance and shuffles his paws a bit so he's closer to me and curls up with his head on my knee. Glancing at Toothless, the other dragon does the same, except slightly farther away from me.
Starlit kneels beside me and puts her palm on Toothless' head and stares at me. 'This is your dragon? He listens to you?' She glances at the slightly tattered saddle on his back. 'You ride him?' She sounds incredulous and awed.
'Yeah, he's my best friend.' I reply simply, kind of abashed at her amazement.
She mutters something under her breath and then moves back behind me. Pulling stuff out of a satchel on her hip, Starlit sets to work on my back.
I suck in a breath in pain at her gentle touch; even it causes my entire back to spasm. Toothless' big green eyes are focused unblinkingly at me filled with sadness as he tries his hardest to be comforting.
'Hiccup…'
'…What…?'
AN: I hope everyone enjoyed this :) does anyone have ideas about where I'm going with this? Let me know what you thought :P Keep reading 3