Dimmadreki Chapter 5
It took Hiccup seven tries before he got the hang of gliding. Each time, he found a new mistake to make. After the sixth time, he crawled out the water and asked, "Are you sure Black Failure isn't a better name for me?"
"You're actually doing very well," she answered. "You're getting all the common mistakes out of the way very early in the process. When it's your time to actually fly, you'll have already mastered all the basics; there won't be many mistakes left for you to make. Why are you looking at me that way?"
"Nobody ever said anything good to me about making mistakes before," he said thoughtfully. "In fact, not many people have ever said anything good about anything I ever did. I'm not used to that."
"I'll promise you something, Dimmadreki," she said quietly. "I'll correct you when you need to be corrected, but I'll also tell you when you're doing something right. That ought to go without saying, but whatever messed up your head did a really good job of it. Don't be afraid of me, and don't think I'll say nothing when praise is due."
"I'm definitely not used to that," he answered quietly, and climbed back up on his rock. Wings out, straight and level; tail straight; fins in a V-shape; tuck up the legs as soon as you take off; head straight ahead; jump vertically with some forward motion… and it worked. It worked! He glided smoothly across the water and reached land with twenty feet to spare. His landing wasn't exactly graceful, but seeing how it was his first controlled landing ever, he didn't feel bad about that. He looked across the water to where Myrkrid was watching him.
"I did it!" he shouted. "I did it!"
"You did," she nodded with a trace of a smile. "Now climb up that rock to your right, and do it again." He did. He went back and forth six more times before she decided he'd really mastered the lesson, and three more times after that because it was so much fun.
"That's a good day's work," she announced. "Let's call it a day, and we'll do some more tomorrow." He plopped down on the ground; he hadn't realized how wound-up he was until he tried to relax. She lay down a few feet away, facing him.
"Now, tell me, who are you?" she asked.
"I'm Hiccup, also known as Dimmadreki. I'm a Viking trapped in a dragon's body, trying to adjust to a new life that I never wanted, even though that new life has a few advantages I never thought of before."
She sighed in frustration. "Your memory still hasn't returned? I was hoping that getting you off the ground would snap you back to normal. Okay. I can be patient."
"I think I'm going to try that patience," he said quietly. "But that's nothing new for me. Will you tell me your story?"
"My story?"
"You know… where you came from, what you've been through. I've told you my story, but I know just about nothing about you."
She looked at him through narrowed eyes. "You've told me what you think your story is, but that's not the same thing."
"Yeah, whatever!" he burst out. "I'd still like to know a little more about you, seeing how my life is in your hands. Paws. Whatever."
"Okay, I guess," she said, "but it's not very interesting. I was hatched in a free nest in Siberia, far to the east of here. I've seen seventeen cycles of the sun, I've had –"
"You're seventeen?" Hiccup blurted out.
"Yes. Why does that surprise you?"
"I was just imagining my father's reaction if he found out I was getting involved with an older woman," he replied in a subdued voice.
"Seeing how we could live four hundred years or more if the humans don't get us, an age difference of two or three years is no big deal," she went on. "Anyway, I've had two mates. The first one and I hatched five eggs together before the Cossacks got him with arrows. I kind of miss that one now and then. The second one… let himself get enslaved. He left me, and I didn't dare try to go to him after that. Ever since then, I've been moving westward, searching everywhere to find another mate. I've lost contact with my parents and all my offspring, but I expected that; that's how it is with Night Furies. You could say I've gotten lonesome."
"What does that mean?" he wondered. "How 'is it' with Night Furies?"
"We're very rare; I'm sure you noticed that, even if you can't remember it," she answered. "That's because most females lay only one egg a year. We aren't like those Gronckles who can crank out eggs by the dozen. A handful of us can lay two at a time, but I've never been one of them. When you consider how often we get shot at by angry humans with pointy things, it's a wonder we haven't been driven to extinction. That means we can't let ourselves get too concentrated, or one ill-timed attack from the humans could wipe us out, so our young have to find other homes as soon as they're able. It also means that mating and raising our young is the most important thing we can do. That's why you're so important to me, Dimmadreki, and once you get your memory back, you'll realize that I'm just as important to you. I hope we'll pair off for life, but even if you give me just one egg, that's still more than I've achieved in the past six years."
"Do feelings have anything to do with it?" he asked anxiously.
"Feelings have nothing to do with pairing off. We pair off because we have to," she replied. "If you keep making eggs and raising young with the same dragon, you're going to develop some strong feelings toward that dragon, but those are the results of mating, not the reason for it. Dimmadreki, it's possible that you and I are the last Night Furies in existence anywhere. You intrigue me, and I think I could like you, but my feelings don't matter. Neither do yours. We're going to mate because we have to. We owe it to our species to make as many little versions of ourselves as we can. I don't have to like you, and you don't have to like me, as long as you can be a male for me."
"That's so impersonal!" he burst out. "How can you talk about pairing off for life with a total stranger?"
"Okay, mister Viking wanna-be. How do you think the Vikings handle things like that?"
"Well, once we're in our early to mid-teens, our parents choose a partner for us. The two families make the agreement and work out the bride-price and the other payments. A few months later, the two people get married. Sometimes they already know each other; sometimes they meet for the first time at the altar. From then on, it's their job to work out their relationship together, with the help of their extended families. Children usually come pretty quickly after that. Divorces happen only if something goes seriously wrong, like wife-beating."
"You meet for the first time when you pair off? Is that what you're telling me?" she demanded. "That sounds pretty impersonal to me. How is the human way better than the dragon way?"
"I guess it's what I'm used to," he said defensively.
She slid a bit closer to him. "Did you have a mate before we met?"
"No… no, I've never been married," he said, flustered, as he edged away. "They told me I would be quite a prize because I was the chief's son, but I think my dad was waiting until I got a little more manly so he could demand a better dowry. There was a girl I really liked, but I don't think she liked me back. I'm not even sure she knew I existed. Most of the time, the girls smacked me around as much as the boys did."
"That sounds like a perfect nightmare you've conjured up for yourself," she said softly. "You are going to be so glad to get your memory back and leave all that imaginary nonsense behind!"
He sighed. "There's nothing I can do to prove to you that I'm telling the truth?"
"Of course not – your story is just too improbable!" she exclaimed. "People don't just turn into Night Furies! Maybe if you found a Viking who could confirm your story, I might believe that, but you can't, so you won't, so that's that."
"What if I could find a Viking who could confirm my story?" he demanded.
"I don't know how this hypothetical Viking could convince me, seeing how I don't speak any human languages," she replied readily. "Dimmadreki, I understand this is hard for you; you can't see out of the prison that your own mind has built for you. I assure you, it will pass; it's just a matter of time."
"Fine, whatever. Can you tell me something else? You said your second mate got enslaved? I can't imagine anybody taking control over a Night Fury. What's that about?"
She stared at the ground for a few seconds. "There are dragons in the world, even more rare than Night Furies. They call themselves Titans, but the rest of us just call them Monsters. They're unspeakably huge, with six eyes and a mouth big enough to swallow most dragons whole. They aren't as intelligent as a Night Fury, or even a Nadder, but they're very crafty. If you look in their eyes, they have the power to take over your will. You become enslaved to them. If they demand that you go out, you go. If they demand that you bring them food, you bring it. If you don't provide enough food..." She took a deep breath. "...they eat you alive." He gasped.
She suddenly stared into Hiccup's eyes. "That's why dragons raid human towns – because a Monster has enslaved them and is forcing them to do it. No sane dragon would attack a town full of spears and swords and nets and all the other clever things humans have invented to kill dragons with, just to grab some food, when the seas are full of fish that are free for the taking! The dragons have no choice. Either they bring the food that their Monster wants, or they die.
"The fact that dragons raided this town of yours... Berk? ...is proof that there's a Monster somewhere nearby, with a nest full of enslaved dragons obeying its every command. Because you were part of that raid, that means you were enslaved, too. You ought to be thankful to the Viking who hit you on the head, because that's probably what broke the enslavement and set you free again."
"Are you sure I'm not still enslaved?" he asked, just to test her logic.
"There's no mistaking an enslaved dragon," she answered. "There's a look in their eyes, a cloudy deadness that can't be mistaken for anything else. You don't have that look. You're a free dragon like me. When we met, that was one of the first things I checked you for. If you were enslaved, I would have kept on flying."
"Is there a way to break the enslavement?" he wondered.
"A stunning blow to the head works, sometimes," she replied, "but a blow that hard can kill if it lands in the wrong place. The only other thing that works is the death of the Monster, but they live even longer than Night Furies do, so that doesn't happen very often. They're too big and thick-skinned to kill. Besides, if you get close enough to fight them, you usually wind up looking in their eyes and joining their enslaved army."
"So all those dragons are raiding us, and killing us, and stealing our food, and they don't want any of it? That's unbelievable."
"Believe it, Dimmadreki. That's going to be the down side of recovering your memory – you'll remember everything the Monster forced you to do. It's going to be traumatic. If you stay with me, I can help you get through it."
Hiccup thought he might scream. She was the one who was living with a delusion, but she was completely convinced that it was him! He'd have to think about her suggestion about finding a Viking who might support his story. But that would involve a lot more than just breaching the language barrier. It would mean finding a Viking who knew him reasonably well, and who wouldn't kill him on sight. That would result in a very short list of Vikings.
Actually, it would mean a list with just one name on it. Even that one was not a sure thing. But it could happen. That was a start, at least.
Then he had another thought. "So we might be the only two Night Furies in existence, and we also might be the only dragons in this neighborhood who can think for ourselves?"
Myrkrid nodded. "We're carrying a huge responsibility, you and I. The survival of our species might depend on you learning to fly, so we can mate. That's why it's so important for me to teach you."
"Dragons only mate in the sky?" It's not like he wanted to know, but at the same time, part of him wanted to have some idea what was going on.
"Only in the sky, and only at high altitude," she nodded. "We mate in free-fall, and we tend to black out during the process. It's kind of intense." She gave him a look that made him very nervous. "Are you getting ideas?"
"No! No, not me! I just... like to learn new things, that's all."
"I'll teach you all kinds of new things before we're done," she purred. "I think you'll like some of them." She burned a patch of grass and lay down on one side of it. "Are you ready to get some sleep?" she asked. He nodded and lay down on the other half of the scorched patch. She slid toward him; he nervously edged away.
"Now what's your problem?" she demanded. "You've been fine with me all day; why are you getting nervous now?"
"I guess you kept me busy all day, so I didn't have time to think about... things," he said lamely. "Now I've got time to think, and you're still a scary-looking Night Fury, and..."
"I've been a Night Fury all day, in case you hadn't noticed!" she exclaimed irritatedly. "And so have you! But if that's the problem, then I've got good news. I'll be keeping you just as busy tomorrow, and the day after, and probably for many days after that. If that's what it takes to get you to relax around me, then, Dimmadreki, I will keep you busier than busy!"
She let him keep a few inches of space between them. She repeated her odd little crooning lullaby, and it put him to sleep just as quickly as it had done last night. When he awoke the next morning, he found her asleep right next to him, with one wing wrapped around him.
He pulled away, slowly, so he wouldn't wake her. It wasn't her intentions toward him that made him nervous; he could avoid thinking about that if he worked at it. It was just the fact that he wasn't used to lying next to a dragon.