XV.
The future of the dragons.
Something in the tone of her speech suggested more.
The end of the dragons.
"Alright. Hold on, wait just a minute –" Hiccup began, but was cut off by the Vigilante's voice.
"Follow me," she said, and stepped lightly toward the edge of the cliff, leaning her torso over to the water beneath her once she arrived. Hiccup, frowning slightly, shadowed her, though only after Toothless gave him a warning growl. He was almost more protective than Stoick, at times.
"I'll be alright, bud."
Then he looked downward and gasped in astonishment. Toothless, suddenly very worried, rushed up to Hiccup's side, but then stared down with widened green eyes that matched Hiccup's own.
What the young Viking once earlier took to be a snowy mountain breathed out a shower of ice. Two eyes slowly, very slowly, opened, revealing a pair of slivered pupils resting on a sky blue background. The eyes of an enormous white dragon.
The dragon's eyes were set in a massive, blunt head full of spikes, each one extending upward, leading into an enormous crest that matched the icy spires towering throughout the Vigilante's fortress. On either side of its flattened face rested two enormous, curved tusks, each one of which could have impaled every house in Berk with a single thrust.
"I have taken you here, to the home of the great Bewilderbeast," the tall woman beside Hiccup announced reverently. "The alpha species." She bent her knee down as the enormous dragon sluggishly rose from the bottom of the spring waters. "One of the very few that still exists."
Though Hiccup hardly understood the Vigilante's train of thought, first mentioning the "future of all dragons," and then suddenly introducing this species, he listened, reluctantly enraptured, by her words. He still stood very cautiously beside her – she had attacked him, after all, a day back – but he eagerly consumed the information she provided him. Never before could he have imagined something like this, not even after his days fighting the Red Death. And here at last he was talking to the Vigilante, and could garner information, and could hopefully bargain for peace between her, Berk, and the dragon trappers.
But for now, he simply listened to her speak.
"Every nest has its queen, but this is the king of all dragons," she declared. "With his icy breath, this graceful giant built our nest, a safe haven for dragons everywhere. They all live under his care, and his command."
Indeed, Hiccup already noticed Toothless bending his head down submissively, respectfully, at the impossibly colossal creature before them. And as the dragon rose up, steadily, steadily, its mountainous head coming forward and resting eye on Hiccup – he, too, felt the pressing need to pay homage to the beast. One of its pupils alone could have been the size of Hiccup's torso. Its mouth might have eaten an entire house accidentally. Hiccup found himself bending forward, making himself smaller, giving respect.
"I have lived among them for twenty years, learning their ways, discovering their secrets. Through this, I know more about dragons than any other Viking alive, maybe even any Viking who has ever lived. And what I know is this: these creatures are incredible, and should never be harmed."
At that moment, the enormous Bewilderbeast let out another small puff of ice; and although it seemed a comparatively miniscule amount coming from its lengthy jaws, Hiccup felt an enormous blast of cold as his entire upper body became immediately crusted in frost. Toothless, to his side, stared out in shock; likely the Night Fury could not conceive of a dragon breathing ice rather than fire.
"Wow," Hiccup whispered, brushing the ice from his hair.
Hiccup's response must have pleased the Vigilante, for a smile crept up her defined cheekbones, and she proclaimed, "When I saw a second dragon rider, I could not believe my eyes. It did not seem possible for someone amongst the dragon trappers to ride a dragon himself. Though you tried to fight me, I needed to take you here to find out which side you are on, and whether you fight for dragons or men. To work with you if you fight for the dragons, and to…" her face suddenly turned dark "…make known my threat, did you fight for men."
That Bewilderbeast would be a threat indeed. Though the animal appeared gentle, Hiccup had no misgivings that a dragon the size of a mountain could never be matched by any combination of Viking and dragon armies.
Slowly, Hiccup stepped away from the ledge, his eyes still incapable of leaving the Bewilderbeast for more than an instant. Toothless had no such difficulty diverting his attention; he appeared to be tackling a swarm of multi-colored baby dragons. Or perhaps the babies were tackling him – his eyes were certainly startled enough to warrant the latter.
"Both. Or really, I'm not fighting for either," Hiccup answered. He scratched his head idly with his left hand as he fumbled for words. "There – there doesn't need to be any fighting at all. There can be peace."
"Not between Drago and his men," the Vigilante responded definitively. "There's no reasoning with him."
Time for the diplomacy that landed me here in the first place.
"What if I can tell you I have spoken to the dragon trappers?"
"Then you place yourself amongst them?"
"No. I – I wouldn't trap a dragon to save my life." Hiccup waved his hands up defensively before the intimidating woman launched herself against him. Her body certainly had tensed up, and the hold on her staff tightened. She suddenly appeared to be a dark dragon queen herself, prepared to protect her nest. Hiccup continued, "But they, the dragon trappers – they say they're only capturing the dragons because you have been attacking them."
"I have been attacking them because they have been capturing my dragons." The Vigilante reversed his words. Every one of them was a bitter taste in her mouth. "It is as it always has been – a war between the two species. And that will never change."