Hi! Once again: Comment. Or I'll incur Thor's wrath upon you. Enjoy!
"No! Wink! Don't eat that!" I pleaded with my dragon desperately, trying to pull her off of the dragon dummy they had previously been training with. Even though the training had been about how to calm a dragon, Wink seemed to think that the straw Gronckle was trying to eat them.
So she ate it first.
Prying her tiny jaws open, I pulled her away, whispering fervently to her about what she'd done wrong. She seemed sorry, but I knew that if I let her go she'd be right back at the dummy.
"Sorry…"
Hiccup coughed, obviously trying to think of something to say. "Well, she's got… spunk! And… we can work with that. Yep!" He clapped his hands together with a shaky laugh, but he wasn't fooling anybody. Well, if anyone could even hear him over Pickler's wracking snorts. If he looked anything like he sounded, he must be an overweight boar. If he looked how the girls in town described him, he must be Thor himself.
Wink squeaked, wrapping her thin tail securely around my arm. I glared at her, and even though I couldn't see her, she shrunk back as though my eyes were boring into her.
A horn blew; apparently, today's training was over.
"And we didn't make a bit of progress…" I lamented to Wink, who murmured an apologetic hum. I huffed, knowing that she really was sorry. I rolled my sightless eyes.
Leaving the arena, I muttered to myself, cursing Pickler to an eternity of troll-eaten socks. Wink, never one to stay somber, flew away suddenly, chasing some squirrel or other unfortunate creature.
"Wink! That's not good! Come ba-ACK!" A tree root of doom had snagged my boot, sending me face first into the snow. With a shake, I pulled myself out, shivering. Why did tree roots need to stick out like rabbit traps?
"Wink! You-" I proceeded to call my dragonesque companion using a number of endearing but highly unprintable terms. Tramping after her, I fumed so much that the snow melted right off me. In hindsight, it was probably a good thing that Wink wasn't around.
The problem with being mad is that it seriously dulls your senses. Have you ever been so mad at someone that you didn't even see that pillar in front of you? Or hear someone yelling at you to duck? Well, the first one doesn't really apply to me anyways, but whatever.
Anyhow, being as mad as a disgruntled dragon, I didn't feel the edge of the cliff until I'd stepped over it.
I seriously thought I was going to die. I know, usually people say that their lives flash before their eyes, and that they have some huge epiphany. But really all that I was thinking was: AAAAAAAGHHHHH!
Even thoughI probably fell for about three seconds, it felt like whole minutes. For example, it felt like at least half a minute passed before a very familiar tail grappled around my ankle, slowing me down by only a degree. Then, after what felt like about ten seconds, my fall shifted violently into a much lesser degree. I was tumbling, crashing and sliding, as opposed to the (fairly gentle in comparison) vertical drop I had previously had the misfortune of experiencing.
As I rolled, my scream changed too. It had been one solid, high note- but you try holding a note whilst being thrown about like a yak bladder. You must also remember that I have a very scared-and very sharp- panicking reptile strapped for dear life to my arm. Together, we sounded something like this:
SQUEEA-Yipe-AAGH-KRAW-ODIN'S HA-OWW! Though I was somewhat preoccupied, I did notice myself slowing, and the incline become less and less steep. Expecting to coast to a stop, I stuck my head out to see where I had ended up.
CRACK!
When I woke up, somehow I managed to process several things at once.
One: I hurt. Everything, from my head (especially my head) to my toes was a blinding (I know, bad joke) torrent of pain. What had happened to me?
Two: I could smell the sea. I could feel the salty air exfoliating my sinuses, and I could even detect the smell of rotting seaweed. My heart lurched- I actually tried to avoid the sea recently, because getting too close reminded me of what I could never have.
Three: Wink was no longer wrapped around my arm. I knew she'd been there, though, because my good sheepskin coat was shredded all down one sleeve. I worried about her, but the last thing I noticed was the thing that took up the most of my concentration.
Because Four was that I wasn't alone.