Chapter 5
Back on Berk Serenity sat in her chair as usual. Edelweiss was asleep on her blanket, in the soft grass. Tenor was grazing apples, and Re and Aurora were putting final touches on the Dragon Island Castle. Re wanted it to be as safe as possible from a future eruption, before officially moving everyone into it. Apollo, Avalon, Eider, and Black Window were having their own dragon race, collecting chickens instead of sheep. At that moment Ruby and Harmony returned from fishing.
"Hey Serenity," Ruby said softly. "Are you okay?"
"Yes Ruby, I'm alright," said Serenity.
"It's just you spend so much time alone these days," said Harmony. "You hardly go flying anymore."
"My dragons friends are so busy, that's why I've been by myself," said Serenity. "And I have no one to fly with." Ruby nuzzled her shoulder. She hugged his head.
"You miss Chris don't you?" he said.
"Of course," said Serenity. "Edelweiss is missing him to." Ruby looked over at Edelweiss and Black Widow.
"Look at her, she's going to be learning to ride in no time," said Harmony. Ruby turned back to his ward.
"Won't you coming flying with me, for old time's sake?" he asked. Serenity considered. She looked at Edelweiss.
"I'll look after her for you," Harmony said. She laid beside Edelweiss and draped her feathery wings over her.
"Alright Ruby," said Serenity. The dragon looked pleased. Serenity got to her feet and saddled him up.
"We'll be back later," Ruby told his mate. "If the king and queen stop buy will you tell them where we are?"
"Yes Ruby I will," said Harmony. "Just don't be gone long." Ruby spread his wings and flew off over the ocean. Harmony watched them go and made herself comfortable.
Down in the great hall Hiccup and the riders were having lunch. Their dragons were fishing except for Toothless who was doing his job as alpha. The riders ate their lunch in silence until Snotlout broke the silence.
"You know now that Chris is gone, that Dragon Healer of ours has no man in her life," he said. "I bet I could be a better man to her than Chris was."
"Don't be silly Snotlout," said Fishlegs. "She wouldn't want you, you have no respect for dragons. I know dragons better than you, I could offer her a lot more."
"You don't know anything about women Fishface," said Snotlout. "They want someone to protect them from all evil doers."
"You guys are fighting for Serenity now?" asked Astrid. "That's the dumbest thing I ever heard."
"Besides she's already married," said Hiccup.
"Yeah but Chris left her behind, what kind of a husband does that?" said Snotlout. "I wouldn't ever do that, I would treat her like a princess."
"She would want a man who has more in common with her," said Fishlegs. "I love dragons, she loves dragons, we were made for each other."
"I have a Monstrous Nightmare, the most impressive dragon of them all," said Snothout.
"And you have a Gronkle, the slowest dragon." Fishlegs was about to protest when Hiccup spoke up.
"That's enough," he ordered. "If I hear of this again I'll tell Re and Aurora about it, and I just hope they don't declare war on us." At that moment there came a commotion from outside. Gobber came into the great hall.
"Hiccup you might want to come out here," he said. All the riders got up from the table and rushed outside. They saw the village crawling with crazy chickens. They were running all over, being chased by Avalon, Apollo, Eider, and Black Widow. They were trying to catch the chickens and failing to do so. The vikings were no doubt mad about this. Hiccup spotted Mulch and Bucket also trying to catch the chickens.
"What happened?" Hiccup asked them.
"Those baby dragons let out all the chickens out of the coop," said Mulch. "And they're making it hard for us to catch them." Toothless ran over, he too tried to catch the chickens. He spotted the young dragons laughing and chasing the chickens. The Night Fury roared and ran at them. He tried to restrain them, but only got Black Window. He pinned her to the ground with his paws. She wriggled.
"Unhand me you fiend or I'll introduce you to my teeth," she barked. Apollo, Avalon, and Eider realized Black Widow wasn't following them and went over to where Toothless still pinned her down.
"Hey, don't do that you're hurting her," Avalon begged.
"When she stops struggling I'll let her go," Toothless said. Black Widow heard this and went limp. Toothless got off her and she went over to her friends.
"What are you guys doing?" asked Hiccup.
"We were trying to do our own dragon race," said Apollo. "Our parents told us about it and it sounded like a lot of fun. We're too small to lift sheep so we decided to use chickens." Suddenly a bola came out of nowhere and snagged all four young dragons. They let out a roar of surprise and fear. Everyone turned to see that Not-so-silent Sven had fired the bola.
"That'll teach you to scare me chickens!" he bellowed. "I ought to kill you right now!" The young dragons struggled violently, officially scared. Then Sven went at them with a pitch fork, and was about to stab them when Toothless got in the way.
"Sven, killing them will only make things worse," Hiccup said. The whole village started protesting.
"Something should be done with these vermin!" shouted a woman. "Banish them from the island." Suddenly more suggestions came out.
"Hang them by their tails over a pit of lava!"
"Feed them eels for a week!"
"Don't feed them at all!"
"Bury them alive!"
"Drown them!"
"Declare war on their parents!" Toothless let out a roar and everyone quieted down. Hiccup looked at the trapped dragons. They looked more terrified with every suggestion they heard. Avalon was actually crying. Hiccup didn't want them do be harmed; not only because Re and Aurora would be furious, but because they were only kids who were just trying to have fun. On the other hand he didn't want them to cause any more trouble.
"I'll keep them in my house," he said finally. "I will not let them out until Re and Aurora get back." He pulled out his dagger and cut the ropes of the bola.
"Toothless, get them up to our house," he ordered. Toothless gave a nod. He went over to the young dragons.
"Get going," he said harshly. He gave them a scoot towards the big house on the hill. They walked up to it, their tails between their legs and their heads bowed in shame. Toothless herded them to the front door, pushed it open with his head, and scooted them inside. The young dragons looked around the room, if they weren't in such big trouble they would've been fascinated by it. They went to one corner and laid down.
"You lot can stay here until your parents come for you," Toothless said.
"But my daddy's here already," said Black Widow.
"And my parents are dead," said Eider. "Ruby and Harmony are good to me, but they aren't my parents."
"I'll go get Tenor," Toothless said. "Maybe he will bail you out." He went back outside, closing the door behind him with his tail fin. Once they were alone the young dragons sank to the ground, laying their head on their paws.
"I'm sorry guys," said Apollo. "It was my stupid idea to chase the chickens."
"Well it was my idea to shoot the gate open," said Black Widow. She sniffed and wiped her tears away.
"I want to go home," Avalon cried. "I don't like this place anymore."
"Same here," said Apollo. "Mama and Papa are never around anymore, Chris and Windwalker are gone forever, Serenity's a stick in the mud, and the other dragons won't let us have any fun."
"Maybe we can go home on our own," said Black Widow. "Daddy taught me how to navigate using the stars and Re says any dragon can find Draconia by gut feeling."
"We'll have the castle all to ourselves," said Eider. "And more kids to play with."
"We have to break out of here," said Apollo.
"But what if Mama and Papa come looking for us?" asked Avalon. "They will be very worried." Apollo considered. His gaze fell on the fire pit, it gave him an idea. He went over to the fire pit and covered his left front paw in black soot and went over to a bare patch of wall. But then he stopped and looked at his blackened paw. Another idea came into his head.
"Hey maybe we don't have to go home," he said. "I think we can have fun right here." He went back to the fire pit and jumped into it, kicking up a huge cloud of black soot. He rolled in the black stuff. Then he jumped back out, his red scales covered in soot.
"How is that fun?" asked Black Widow.
"This stuff feels great," said Apollo. "And look." He used one of his talons to draw a smily face on the floor.
"Hey that is cool," Eider agreed. "And if we run out of that stuff we can make more with our fire." Avalon went into a playful crouch, then jumped on her brother and knocked him back into the fire pit.
"Careful we don't want to break anything," said Black Widow.
"Don't worry we play around our Mama's antiques all the time and we never break them," said Avalon. Black Widow exchanged a glance with Eider. They shrugged and jumped into the fire pit. All four of them began laughing again. They smeared the soot all over the house and each other. Suddenly the door opened and Tenor walked in. He looked shocked at the activity.
"What's all this?" he barked. The young dragons stopped what they were doing and looked at him.
"Hi Daddy," said Black Widow. "Will you play with us?" Her black scales were covered in soot, making them even darker.
"Get out of that stuff you'll get sick," Tenor said, worried. The young dragons looked sad again. They got out of the fire pit and shook the black soot off, but it had stained their scales. Tenor looked concerned.
"Look at you lot, you're a mess," he said.
"We just want to have fun," said Apollo. "We already got in trouble for chasing the chickens."
"And that's another thing," Tenor said his voice rising. "I thought you were going to ask Sven first if you could play in his chicken coop."
"We..." Avalon started but was interrupted by a fit of coughing. Tenor perked his ears up at this sound.
"Come on let's get that stuff off you," he said. "Then Serenity can teat any illness you most likely have."
"Will she put needles in us?" asked Apollo.
"She might," said Tenor. "But if you hold still it won't hurt." The young dragons followed him outside. In the daylight Tenor say that they looked far worse than they did under shadow. The soot was caked on to their scales, and from the sound of their coughing it had gotten into their lungs. At that moment Hiccup and Toothless came up the hill.
"Whoa what happened to them?" asked Hiccup.
"They got into your fire pit," said Tenor. "I'll trying to decide the best way to get it off."
"You can use the dragon wash," said Hiccup. "It's over there and no one's using it right now."
"Invented that one did you?" Tenor asked, impressed.
"I came up with the idea but the other riders helped put it together," Hiccup said. "With some help from the dragons of course."
"Hmmm; inventor, blacksmith, chief, architect, cartographer, swordsman, sailor, idea man, dragon rider, and trainer, is there anything you're not good at?" Tenor said. Hiccup just shrugged. Tenor's attention was turned back to the young dragons when her heard his own daughter coughing.
"Well I better get them cleaned up," he said. Tenor led the young dragons to the dragon wash. When he got there he put them through it one at a time. It took several trips through the dragon wash to get all the soot off. The water also helped clear their lungs. When they were clean they shook the water off their wings and scales.
"Can we go play now?" asked Avalon.
"Not yet," Tenor said. "Come on." He spread his wings and led them up to the Dragon Hospital. Serenity had returned from her flight with Ruby. Her spirits were lifted a great deal.
"Hey Serenity can you check these guys?" Tenor asked. "They got covered in soot and I want to make sure they didn't get sick already."
"Sure," she said. She put Edelweiss down on her blanket and went into the house where her bag was. When she went inside she found her bag, but then here gaze fell on the bed near the back of the house. Beside the bed was a coat rack made of wood and real dragon horns. Hanging on it was Serenity's hat, and Chris's coat which he had left behind. Leaning on the coat rack were Chris's twin swords, also left behind. Serenity sighed heavily. Then she wiped her own tears away, grabbed her bag, and went back outside. She found the young dragons gathered around the picnic table, Avalon was on top of it.
"Avalon has volunteered to go first, she the least hesitant about this process," Tenor said, then he spotted the sad look on Serenity's face. "You alright?"
"Yeah I'm okay," Serenity said. Tenor narrowed his eyes slightly, something he did when he knew he was being lied to. Serenity recognized the look at once.
"I'll talk about it afterwords," she said.
"Alright," Tenor said. Serenity went over to the table and put her bag on top of it next to Avalon. She opened her bag and pulled out her silver stethoscope.
"Are Mama and Papa ever coming back?" asked Apollo. "I feel like they've forgotten about us."
"They haven't forgotten about you," Tenor said. "They just want to make sure our new castle is absolutely perfect. They'll come get us this evening." Serenity finished examining Avalon. The Princess jumped down and Apollo took her place. Serenity examined each and every one of the young dragons, before giving her diagnosis.
"They're okay," she said. "I don't see any sign of fever. But I'll give them a vaccine just to be safe." All the young dragons looked scared.
"That means needles," said Apollo.
"Just one needle," said Tenor. "It's not that bad." He lifted Apollo back onto the table. Serenity pulled out four syringe needles and a bottle of red fluid. She filled the needles with the fluid. Next she pulled out strips of gauze and a large jar of Night Fury silva. She took the cap off the jar, then she got to work. Apollo laid down on the table. Serenity soaked a piece of gauze in the saliva and wiped it on the area she was going to inject, near the base of the dragon's neck. Serenity could feel him shaking.
"It's okay Apollo," she said, in her soothing voice. "It will be over in a second. Close your eyes and hold your breath until I say." Apollo did as he was told. He shut his eyes real tight and held his breath, waiting for the pain. But all he felt was a pinch.
"Okay all done," Serenity said in no time. Apollo opened his eyes and let his breath out. He looked at where the needle went in, all he saw was another patch of gauze taped to his scales. He jumped to the ground and faced his friends.
"It doesn't hurt," he told them. They looked somewhat relieved to hear this. Black Widow jumped up next and Serenity did her.
Avalon was the last to get vaccinated. When she jumped down they all turned to Tenor.
"Now can we go play?" asked Eider. Tenor nodded.
"But please stay out of trouble," he said. The young dragons beamed. They spread their wings and took off. They flew over the village, looking for something to do. Then Black Widow spotted the huge basin of water that was Berk's water source. She flew down and landed on the edge of it. The others landed beside her.
"That water looks inviting," Black Widow said. "We can go swimming in it."
"What if we get in trouble for this too?" asked Eider.
"We seem to get in trouble no matter what we do," said Black Widow. "Come on." She jumped into the water and swam through it like a dolphin. Then she swam to the surface quickly and jumped out of the water. The others looked at each other, then joined her. They splashed around and jumped in and out of the water. Then they tried a new game that Black Widow invented. She called it Shark Tag; she played the shark while the other three went to one side of he basin. Their goal was to get to the other side of the basin without getting tagged, if they got tagged they had to stay where they were. The last one to get tagged became the shark next. It was a really fun game, they all got a chance to be the shark.
Then when Black Widow got her third chance to be the shark they heard someone land on the edge of the basin. They halted their game and looked up to see Tenor looking at them, he did not look happy.
"Do the Vikings know you're in their water supply?" he asked.
"No," said Avalon. "We're not hurting anyone, or bothering anyone." Tenor made a gesture towards the plaza with his head. The young dragons got out of the water and followed him towards the plaza. When they arrived they saw Re and Aurora in the plaza with Ruby and Harmony. They both smiled when they landed.
"Mama! Papa!" Avalon cried. She ran to her mother and rubbed against her legs like a cat, then did the same with Re. Apollo did the same.
"If I didn't know any better I'd say you missed us," Re chuckled.
"Where's Serenity and Edelweiss?" asked Aurora.
"Still up at the apple tree," said Ruby. "The poor girl suffers from depression."
"Yeah, I know how she feels," said Re.
"She's up there by herself?" asked Hiccup.
"Yeah, why?" asked Re.
"Probably not a good idea to leave her unsupervised," Hiccup said. "Snotlout and Fishlegs want to fill the void Chris left, and not because she's a wonderful person but because she's pretty." Re growled in a threatening way.
"I hope you won't declare war over this," Hiccup asked.
"I won't," Re said, now in a very bad move. "But I might not be as forgiving if she's harmed in any way. But I do appreciate you telling this."
"Anyway," Aurora said changing the subject, she looked down at the young dragons. "I heard you four got into a lot of trouble today."
"We were just trying have fun," Eider said. "But everything we did we got in trouble for."
"Cloudjumper wouldn't let us play tag," Avalon said.
"We got locked up for trying to have our own dragon race," said Apollo. "With chickens instead of sheep."
"Then we played in a fire pit and got all covered in soot," Eider said. "But Tenor said we would get sick and made us stop."
"Then we got in trouble again for playing in a big basin of water," said Black Widow.
"We're not allowed to do anything fun here." Aurora and Re exchanged a glance.
"Well I think I have a way to fix that," Re said. "The castle is finally ready."
"Really!?" said all four dragons at once. Bothe the King and Queen nodded.
"You'll have plenty of room to play there," said Re.
"We should bring Serenity with us," said Aurora. "It'll keep her safe, and maybe it will cheer her up." Re nodded.
"You go get her," he said. Aurora spread her wings and flew up to the apple tree. She found Serenity asleep in her chair, Edelweiss was on her lap also asleep. They were both covered in Chris's trench coat. The Queen gave a sad smile. She went over and gently nudged Serenity. She stirred and opened her eyes.
"Hello your majesty," she said with a yawn.
"Are you okay?" Aurora asked. "You look so miserable."
"I'm trying not to be," Serenity said. "But it's like I forgotten how to be happy." Aurora nuzzled her face very gently. Serenity hugged her head with one arm and held Edelweiss with the other.
"I know you miss him," Aurora said. "We all do." Serenity gave a huge sigh and calmed down a little.
"Well our castle is ready now," the Queen continued. "If you want to see it."
"Sure," said Serenity softly. She carefully got up so she didn't wake her sleeping child. She wrapped Edelweiss in the coat. Then she followed the Queen, heading for the plaza. They found the others waiting for them. Tenor had been saddled all day, complete with the baby seat. Serenity went over to her dragon. At that moment Snotlout landed in the plaza, soon followed by Fishlegs. They both hurried over to Serenity. Tenor snarled and flashed his black teeth. Re and Aurora growled as well. Hookfang clamped his jaws around Snotlout and pulled him back. Meatlug grabbed Fishlegs and pulled him back.
"Really sorry about that your majesties," Hookfang said to Re and Aurora. "We'll keep these guys under control." Serenity didn't say a word. She put Edelweiss in her special seat.
"What's going on Tenor?" she asked in Dragontongue.
"We'll tell you on the way to Dragon Island," said Tenor. Serenity got on his back. Tenor noticed that she put Chris's coat around her shoulders.
"We'll be back when you need us," Re said.
"When are you going back to Draconia?" asked Hiccup.
"When the summer ends," said Aurora. "And it just started so we'll be here awhile."
"Can we go Mama?" Avalon begged. "I want to see the castle."
"Alright," said Aurora. "Let's go." The dragons spread their wings and took off.
They flew over the ocean in formation. The adult dragons told Serenity everything that Hiccup had told them. Serenity was very scared. She didn't think Snotlout and Fishlegs would do anything, but she didn't want to take any chances. She gripped the reins tightly and Tenor felt the tension in his bridle. He looked back at her.
"Don't worry," he said. "Hiccup assured us nothing will come of this." Serenity took three deep breaths and felt a bit calmer. At that moment they arrived at Dragon Island. It looked the same; except the volcano had doors and windows all over it. The dragons landed in front of the cave the was carved by the Red Death. A granite jetty was connected to the beach. They faced the cave entrance which had been carved into a arched doorway, with a pair of spires and a tilted roof. In the doorway was a polished set of ivory doors with a carving of a Bewilderbeast on them. The doorway was made of polished lava stones as large as a viking ship sail.
"Wow," said Avalon. "Can we go exploring? Can we please?"
"Go a head," said Re. The young dragons spread their wings and took off. Re and Aurora watched them go, smiling widely. Then Re turned to Serenity.
"What do you think?" he asked.
"Is the whole interior of the castle made with that lava stone?" Serenity asked.
"Yes," said Aurora. "We figured it would be appropriate."
"It's beautiful," Serenity said.
"Well come in we'll show you the entrance hall then show you where you and Edelweiss can sleep," said Re. They went up to the ivory doors and Re pushed them open. They went inside and looked around. The entrance hall was lit by the same glowing crystals that the Draconian Castle used for light. The walls, and floor had been smoothed out and lined with more polished lava stones. At the back of the room was a huge balcony with no railing made of more lava stone and ivory. There were no stairs to the balcony, so Serenity guessed it was only accessible by flight.
"No thrones?" she asked.
"That balcony is one big throne," Re explained. "It's big enough to hold all of us." He spread his wings and flew onto the balcony. The others followed. On the balcony was series of huge cushions, big enough for dragons, surrounding a giant fire pit. Among the cushions were two large winged armchairs, one with a C on it and the other with an S. Hanging on the wall was a huge Draconian Flag.
"Wow, that looks comfortable," said Serenity.
"Yeah, that was what we were going for," said Re. "Now lets show you where you'll be sleeping; while you're still with us." This made Serenity sad again. In a year or so she was going to move in with Chris and his parents, and never see the dragons again. She hugged Tenor's neck like it was her only source of life. He turned his head around and nuzzled her shoulder. Then they all turned and flew out of the entrance hall. They few towards the top of the volcano. They landed on another balcony, with a railing, in front of another pair of ivory doors set right into the mountain and surrounded by windows. Serenity got off Tenor and they went over to the doors. Serenity opened them and entered a cozy looking room, made of more lava stone. A king sized bed sat next to the window. Beside the bed was a large crib made out of the ribs of a dragon. A mobile with dragons hanging from it hung over the crib. Beside the crib was a dragon saddle made of black and red leather. There was a symbol on the saddle flap of a white flower with a red hour glass behind it.
"I hoped Edelweiss could learn to ride in that saddle," Re said.
"Cool, I still have the saddle I learned to ride in," Serenity said. "It's way too worn out to use anymore though."
"We'll let you get settled," Aurora said. Serenity got Edelweiss out of her seat and put her on the bed. The dragons left and flew back towards the entrance hall. Serenity sat on the bed next to Edelweiss. She was looking around for something to play with. Serenity looked around too, and her eyes fell on the wooden swan Chris had made for her on the night stand. She picked it up and handed it to Edelweiss. Serenity was missing Chris more and more. She had lost count how long it had been since he kissed her good bye. She suddenly felt a hand on her arm. She turned to see Edelweiss looking at her.
"Mama," she said loudly. Serenity hugged the child who hugged her back. They fell asleep next to each other under Chris's coat.