Dimmadreki Chapter 6
"Today won't be as intense as yesterday," Myrkrid announced. "You'll finish your gliding lessons, and then we'll sleep for the rest of the day. Tonight, you'll try flying, and you'll start adjusting to your new nocturnal schedule. It's time to put the 'night' back in Night Fury. By the way, how did you sleep?"
"Quite well," he responded as he stretched. "Can I ask you something? You were making some kind of sounds when we were going to sleep, and –"
"I was? Oh, this is embarrassing." She looked away. "That was a dragon lullaby. I haven't done that since I had hatchlings. I don't know what I was thinking. I'm sorry if I kept you awake."
"Far from it," he replied. "It was very relaxing; I think it helped me fall asleep. It made me feel... safe."
"Is that something you're not familiar with?" she asked.
"I don't think I've felt safe since the day my mother died," he said quietly.
Myrkrid stamped her foot, almost angrily. "So I'm treating you like a hatchling, and you're thinking of me like your mother? From my point of view, this is not going well!"
"No, not like my mother," he tried to reassure her. "I trust you because you've shown that you want what's best for me. You're starting to ask me what I want, instead of telling me. I can talk to you, and I feel like you're actually listening. To me, that spells 'friend'." He paused. "Of course, that's something else I'm not so familiar with."
After staring at a tree leaf for a few seconds, she said, "I'll go get us some breakfast," and flapped away.
Hiccup spent the morning learning how to turn and bank. It came more easily to him than gliding in a straight line. "You're learning a lot faster than I expected, Dimmadreki," his teacher called up to him. "Could it be that your dragon instincts are kicking in?"
He landed in front of her. "I was wondering about that. I still feel like I'm Hiccup, as far as my thinking and feeling goes, but I'm thinking and feeling with a dragon's brain now. I probably have reflexes and instincts that I never had before. I guess, the longer I live in this body, the more natural it will feel. I might even reach the point where I'm so familiar with being a Night Fury that I wouldn't want to go back to being human, even if I could. That's kind of a scary thought."
"That's not exactly what I was getting at," she fussed. "But go ahead and think that way, if it gets you into the air faster. Speaking of which, try that left-hand bank turn again."
By lunch time, he'd learned just about everything about gliding that she could think of. "The only thing you haven't done is soar on a thermal, and you can't do that in this cove. I'll show you how that works after you've learned to fly. We'll start on that tonight."
Fly? Tonight? Just like that? For a quick moment, he was horrified at the thought. Surely he must have to do more prep work first! Two days ago, he'd been walking because that's all he could do; could he become a creature of the sky, as quickly as that?
Myrkrid thought so, and she seemed to know what she was talking about. In a way, it came down to one simple question: did he trust her?
Yes, he did.
"Get some sleep while you can," she suggested. "We're going to be up all night. That's what Night Furies do."
He lay down next to her, still hesitant about being that close to a dragon. She edged over toward him; he edged away.
"What's it going to take for you to stop treating me like the enemy?" she asked.
"I've spent my entire life thinking of dragons as the enemy," he replied. "Fighting and killing dragons was my life's ambition. It's hard enough that I am one now; it's even harder to try and fall asleep right next to one."
She took a deep breath. "How many dragons do you think you killed?"
"None," he sighed. "I failed at that, too. I think there were people in my village who counted how many dragons would have been killed by other Vikings, but I saved them with my foul-ups."
"If that was what really happened, then it would be good news," she replied. She paused. "Would it bother you if I wound up singing my lullaby again?"
He nodded. "Until I get more used to being around dragons, I probably need it to fall asleep." He laid his head down and listened to her soft crooning. The next thing he knew, it was dark, and she was nudging him awake with her nose.
"Wake up, flight-school cadet!" she ordered him. "Your first real lesson awaits! You've been a promising student so far; don't disappoint me!"
He shook off his sleepiness quickly. He was actually excited about this! Gliding was fun, but the thought of flying, actually flying… the fact that he needed to learn to fly in order to feed himself and stay alive had become secondary in his mind. He could see those dragons again, flying away from the village after that raid, gracefully cutting through the air. Am I about to join you? He sorted through the mistakes he'd already made, and resolved not to repeat any of them.
"You're going to start just like you were gliding," she began. "As soon as you jump off the rock, start flapping. Remember to keep your tail straight. The most common mistake is to not flap evenly with both wings; you're bound to be a little off with the first few flaps, but don't overcompensate. So far, so good?" He nodded eagerly. "Just gain some height and get comfortable with the fact that you're flying. Once you're in the air, I'll join you and talk you through the next steps. Any time you're ready."
He stood up on the rock, fanned his tail, spread his wings, crouched, and jumped.
His first flap was too strong on the right side; he veered off to the left. His second flap kept him level, his third flap got him back on course… and he lost track of his flaps from that moment on. The far edge of the cove loomed up in front of him; he tipped his tail up, turned slightly to pass between the tops of two big trees, and he was out of the cove and into clear air.
Just like that, he was flying.
The ground was below him, and slowly falling away. The clouds were above him, and he knew he could touch them if he worked at it. He turned in a broad circle to orient himself; he didn't want to overfly the village by accident. A huge smile split his face, and he let out a roar of delight. He was flying!
If only the Vikings could see me now! he thought. Except they can't see me because I'm almost invisible in the dark, and they'd try to kill me if they could see me... okay, never mind. I'll enjoy this pleasure without them. I guess I'm used to that.
"Slow down, hotshot!" Myrkrid came up behind him and just above him. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Does it matter? Look at me! I can fly!"
"Fly straight and level for a minute so I can talk to you." He reluctantly obeyed, and she pulled up right next to him. "First off, and I tell you this honestly, I'm pleased at how well you're doing. Even if you'd regained your memory, you'd still be a little rusty from too much time on the ground. I expected a near-spinout or two for sure."
"It just makes so much sense," he replied. "I feel how the air moves across my wings and my tail – my wings! My tail! That sounds so weird! But anyway, I feel the air, and I can feel how it affects the way I move, and I can tell how much to turn my tail to control where I'm going… it's almost easy! Yes, I know you've got a lot to teach me, but this is my first time in the air, and… can I just fly for a few minutes?"
"You're a male Night Fury, all right," she smiled. "Okay, we've got all night. Enjoy yourself for a while. I'll follow at a distance; I'll catch up with you when you're ready, and we'll talk about what you're going to learn next." She dropped back out of sight. For the next half hour, Hiccup just flew. He swooped, and banked, and climbed, and put on bursts of speed, and glided. It was as though he'd left all his troubles behind on the ground. He had never felt so contented in all his life.
At last, she caught up with him. "I hate to ruin your joyride," she said, almost apologetically, "but there are some intermediate moves I want to show you before the sun comes up."
"Intermediate moves?" he wondered. "Am I done with the basics already?"
"The basics are all about controlling your height, choosing your heading, and not panicking when you hit a gust of wind," she replied. "You've got those mastered. Now I'm going to show you how to turn while you're flapping." He mastered that one within five minutes. She showed him loops and figure-eights and vertical turns; she showed him upwards and downwards chandelles; she got him into a flat spin and showed him how to recover. No matter what she threw at him, he followed her on the first or second try.
At last, out of ideas, she suggested a game of tag. "The first one to tag the other's tail with a paw wins bragging rights for the rest of the night," she decided. "Fly straight out for ten flaps, turn, and go!" They separated, and after a few seconds, they turned and raced toward each other.
Hiccup knew she'd expect him to go for a quick tag, so he didn't. He turned to the right instead. She turned tighter than he thought she could, and came up behind him fast. He waited until she was almost close enough to tag him; then he flipped upside down and put his tail "down" toward the sky, both to keep it out of her reach and to make himself climb. At the same time, he flung his legs out; the sudden drag slowed him down dramatically, and she shot right underneath him. He rolled right-side-up, let gravity pull him down, and reached out with his forepaw as he dropped behind her. She turned sharply and whipped her tail away from him, but he didn't miss by much.
"Hold it right there!" she shouted. "Time out! I never taught you to fly upside down! Are you still going to tell me you know nothing about being a dragon?"
"It just seemed like a good thing to do," he protested. "I've never lied to you."
"I'm not calling you a liar," she retorted, "but I am calling you a very good flier. Remind me not to make any more bets against you. Let's land and get some rest; we're on a night schedule now, and the sun will be up soon."
"Do we have to land now?" he asked wistfully.
She had to smile. "All right, ten more minutes. But head away from the village; we don't want the Vikings to see us." He spent his ten minutes in a string of shallow climbs and dives, then reluctantly joined Myrkrid in the cove.
"What are you teaching me tomorrow?" he asked hopefully.
"Tomorrow is lesson number one about your fires, and if there's enough time, I'll show you the Night Fury specialty, the power dive. The night after that, you'll learn how to take off from flat ground, and you'll fly with me and watch as I show you how we catch fish. The next night, we'll try some high-altitude flying, and I'll show you some basic evasive maneuvers, in case the Vikings start throwing spears at you. If you think you know everything, let me reassure you – you're just beginning!"
"Awesome," he yawned, and stretched out on the ground. She lay next to him, making sure not to come right up against him. She forgot to sing her song, but he fell asleep quickly anyway.
o
Alvin the Treacherous couldn't believe his ears. He'd just gotten a report from his informant on Berk, delivered by Savage, and the news made no sense at all.
"One search party?" he demanded. "The chief's only son disappears, and his father sends out only one search party?"
"Apparently, the dragons did a number on Berk's food supply," Savage reported. "Chief Stoick has everyone fishing, even if they're just dangling lines off the docks. There aren't any people to spare for searching."
"But that's his only son!" the Outcast chief burst out. "What kind of father would let his boy disappear and not even try to find him?"
"My source says the boy has disappeared in the past, and always came back a day or two later. No one is panicking over there yet."
Alvin glared at his second-in-command. "When they do start panicking, I expect to be notified."
"You will, Alvin, you will," Savage said soothingly, and quickly left before his boss got mad.