The three of them had been flying for a few hours non-stop, hoping to get back to Berk before night fell. Time wasn't exactly with them at that point, so they arrived back a bit after dark. The village seemed quiet and no one was moving around on the watch towers. Everyone seemed to be in the great hall waiting for the cure for eel pox.
Toothless landed just outside the great big doors and the two of them dismounted. When they walked in, they saw almost the entire village wrapped in blankets and coughing. Gothi was in a by the fire with a huge cauldron. They quickly walked over to her and handed her the eel they had caught. As well as the half of one that ended up in Shadow's stomach.
Gothi looked at them expectantly, wanting to hear about what happened. She was no fool, she knew something happened.
Shadow gave her a dirty look. "Not a word. Form either of you." She sulked off outside.
Gothi looked at Hiccup. "She ate an eel. It didn't agree with her."
The small elder just gave him a look and went back to work. There were people there that needed her. Hiccup got up and left her to her work.
He met up with Astrid and Fishlegs outside, the two of them somehow avoiding the outbreak of eel pox. They asked him what happened while they were out getting the last ingredient.
"I don't know how she managed to do it. But she swallowed about half an eel. I saw her dive in the water some time before, and when she disappeared and didn't come back up, I got really worried. After I pulled her out of the water, she said that she ate an eel. After that she ran off into the forest. We didn't find her again until about an hour later because we were chased by a Typhoomerang."
"Do you have any idea why she acted like she did?" asked Fishlegs. He shrugged in response. "She pretty much went feral again before she ran off. I know it sounds strange, and frankly it is. But on a side note, in my opinion she acted like a dragon does when it sees eels."
"Well, we can all agree that there are many strange things about Shadow." Said Astrid.
"Speaking of strange, after Toothless and I finally found her and she stopped running, she spoke in some sort of strange language. Toothless could understand her, and he spoke back. They were communicating in the same language."
Their eyes went wide. They knew dragons were smart and had their own culture about them with the way they acted, but they didn't know that they had an actual language, and that humans could replicate it.
"How is that possible?" squeaked Fishlegs.
"I don't know how, but I'm going to find out. Do you guys want to come with me and ask her?" said Hiccup.
They nodded. The three of them, plus their dragons went to go and find the dark, mysterious girl and ask her a few questions. They found her on the edge of the forest, lounging in the branches of a tree. She still looked sick and was probably resting to get her strength back.
But as soon as they approached, her silver eyes opened and looked at them. Her eyes appeared to glow in the moonlight. She seemed stronger despite her sickness.
Her questioning gaze followed them as they came closer to her tree. "I assume you want answers." She said.
Hiccup nodded and stepped closer. "Yes, we want some answers. For instance, how were you able to speak to Toothless?"
Her eyes closed as she considered her next words. She knew they were onto her, and they were questioning her. She was afraid that soon, they would find out. They would find out what she really was.
"When you have lived around dragons as much as people, you pick up their dialects. I have been exposed to many forms of communication, and learned to replicate it."
Hiccup was surprised, but kept it hidden and asked his next question. "Why did you speak to Toothless and not me? And what exactly did you say to him?"
"After I had ingested that god forsaken eel, and got sick because of it, I couldn't speak properly from all the coughing. Dragoneese was the easiest language for me to speak in to communicate. Anything else would have damaged my vocal chords. I asked him if there was anything in his saddle bags that would intentionally make me sick so I could purge that disgusting sea snake from my stomach."
"Ok, time for the bigger questions. Humans are able to eat eels, but dragons avoid them entirely. We can guess that dragons would get sick from eating them, so how come you got sick?"
Shadow hesitated with her answer. She looked slightly nervous.
"I've never had a stomach for eels, they don't agree with me. And you are correct, dragons cannot eat eels. If they do, they get severally sick. Now let me ask you a question. Lets think back to a week ago for a second, just before I had passed out while Fishlegs had me cornered. He told you exactly what I said, yes?"
They nodded.
"He told you that there is a mental and physical bond between me and the Black Moon dragon, correct?" another nod. "Well, if dragons cannot eat eels, that means I can't either."
"What exactly is this connection you have?" asked Astrid. Shadow stiffened slightly and narrowed her eyes.
"It's a curse. We are bonded. We cannot be separated. Where one goes, the other follows."
"Well, where is it now?" asked Fishlegs. Shadow narrowed her eyes. "I told you that already. Its gone. Disappeared. And it won't be back until the next new moon, when the lunar cycle resets. It has been regaining all its lost energy while it rests, and its giving me a chance to catch up with it."
"You still haven't told us where it goes. How does it go into hiding? Its not like you can easily disguise a big black dragon."
Shadow glared at them. "I refuse to tell you the secrets of the Black Moon dragon. I cannot, and will not tell you where it is. There is nothing you can do to force that information out of me."
Hiccup looked at her curiously. He noticed that in that moment she became closed off to them, and she would only have a reason for doing that if she was hiding something. "Tell us about your injuries. When we first found you in the cove you were covered in blood, and when you passed out after going missing for hours you were covered in blood again. So tell us, where were those injuries and what caused them?"
Shadow felt both frightened and angered. He body was feeling cold from fear, but also hot from anger. She didn't know what was more prominent. They were asking too many questions. Questions that were too close to home. Their questioning gazes were unwavering, and she was forced to provide an answer.
"They were from… old injuries. I was badly clawed once by a large dragon, tore my back up pretty good. I barely survived it. But if I move too much, the wounds reopen. I overexerted myself when I first got here, and again when I ran off a week ago. I simply reopened the cuts again, and blead out quite a bit."
Hiccup was not convinced. It didn't add up properly. That sort of thing didn't happen to wounds of that nature, if they did, she would have appeared to be in a lot of pain, and the cuts would have been infected. She was lying to them, he was certain. But he didn't show it.
"Speaking of the first time we found you, how exactly did you get here anyway? People don't just randomly turn up in the middle of the forest at Raven Point. Especially after a strange dragon disappears in the night. So how about you start explaining that one." He demanded.
Shadow's heartbeat increased dramatically. Her heart felt constricted, like a snake was coiling itself around it. Her breathing was ragged. Her eyes were wide. She was running out of ideas. She was on thin ice now.
She gulped as she began to speak again.
"I told you didn't I." she began with fake confidence and a challenging tone. "I flew here. On the back of the Black Moon dragon." She added.
She watched as Hiccup's face darkened. It was at that point that she knew that he knew she was lying. She had just fallen into her own grave. She was screwed.
"Really? Is that so? Well then by that account it would seem that Dagur was lying to me then. Not that I trusted him to tell the truth anyway, but what he said doesn't add up to what you said. He claims that the Black Moon dragon attacked his village, as well as his fleet when they went after it. It was unburdened by a rider when it attacked his armada. And we have the words of his soldiers to back him up too. They told us the same thing. The dragon that attacked them, the Black Moon, had no rider. And once it was done attacking them, it flew north. They followed because they knew that Berk was the closest place to make repairs, so logically it must have come here too. But you said that you rode on its back and that it brought you here, so how exactly does that work huh?"
Shadow's silver eyes were wide, and her body was frozen like stone. He could see the fear in her glowing eyes. She was caught in a web of lies, and he knew it. She did too.
"Who are you really?" he accused.
Oh boy, the accusations start flying! now we are getting somewhere. tensions are high and Shadow is being questioned. how will this all go down? frankly, I dont fully know. I got nothin now. mental blank. missing piece. I need some help here. I go a great big plan for when they find out about her, and see with their own eyes that she is the Black Moon dragon, but I got two weeks worth of time in the story to kill. right now, by my calculations it should be within a few days of the full moon, the time when Shadow is at her peak of strength. I got to get rid of another two weeks before the dragon is revealed, and I need ideas. especially on how Shadow gets out of this situation. I could seriously do with those lovely reviews *wink wink* *nudge nudge*
but anyway, because of events n normal life, and exams that are coming up that I really should have been studying for, I may not post anything for a week (this may also be influenced by lack of ideas for this situation). so just forewarning you.