Warm Journey, Cold Reception
Two days of straightforward flying, was starting to get to everyone but Caverna and Snowcap, and even though he was trying to keep up with her, even Toothless felt the strain of flying this long.
"Caverna, we need to rest, the dragons are exhausted." Hiccup called to her.
Caverna had Snowcap turn around to look at him as she heard his voice and she saw how tired everyone was and she patted her dragon's head, looking at her then back at them. "There should be an island five minutes away from here; will you guys be able to make it?"
"We can, can't we bud?" Hiccup asked, as he and Stoick rode their dragons after her, with Astrid flying alongside them on Stormfly and the twins keeping up behind them on Barf and Belch, whilst Snotlout followed idly on Hookfang and finally Fishlegs and brought up the end of the group on Meatlug. Eventually, they came across an island that after a quick scout, Snowcap deemed to be safe for them and they all let their dragon's land and the group ate and rested whilst Caverna sat on top of a rock with Snowcap lying beside her, stroking her dragon's scales. However, when Toothless joined them, Caverna gave them some privacy and she walked over to the edge of the cliff that they were near, and her hands rested on either handle of her swords, as she looked out over the sea.
"Are you alright Snowdrop?" Stormfly asked as she lay on the other side of her.
"Yeah, I'm okay; I just worry for my rider." She looked over at Caverna. "She's worried for her family."
Stormfly looked over at Caverna, as did Toothless, before they both looked at Snowdrop.
"We will be back at your village soon, and then everything will be alright." Toothless told her.
Snowdrop nodded, knowing that Toothless was right and she lay her head down on the ground, as both Toothless and Stormfly done the same, putting their heads close to hers.
Astrid and Hiccup watched their dragons and they smiled at each other, glad that Toothless had found someone of his own kind but that both he and Stormfly were treating her like she belonged here.
"They're getting on really well aren't they?" Astrid asked him as she watched the three dragons all lying together.
"Yeah they are." Hiccup smiled.
"You don't think that Toothless and Snowcap would mate, do you?"
"It's a possibility, I mean, Snowcap is ten years old, Toothless is about our age, they are both the right age and the obviously like each other." Hiccup shrugged.
"That's true, and Night Furies are still rare, I mean we've only found two until now." Astrid looked over at them. "I can't believe Caverna got in front of Hookfang, Hookfang could have killed her."
"I know, that was certainly different, I mean when Hookfang is angry not even I would get in front of her."
"I guess, if you love your dragon enough, you'll do anything to keep them safe."
"Yeah, that's true; I mean I'd get in between Toothless and another dragon if he was going to get hurt, just like you'd do the same for Stormfly."
"And then you'd pull me out of the way." She told him teasingly.
"Of course I would, because you're my girlfriend and I don't want to lose you." He told her, gently kissing her lips.
Astrid smiled at her boyfriend, returning his kiss, before she rested her head against him and settled down to rest.
After a few hours rest, they all set off again, towards Caverna's island, with Stoick flying right alongside her.
"Caverna, what are your parents like?" Stoick asked her.
"My father is the chief of the tribe, he is known as Brock the Charismatic." She told him, looking over at him. "That's why our problems started, my father is too kind, he took him in and my mother is no better, she nursed him to health and well you know how he has repaid us." She sighed.
"I know your father well; we were boys together before he left Berk." Stoick told her. "We were good friends."
"I know, my father told me of a man, Stoick the Vast, he said that he would help us, or know someone who could." Caverna told him.
Stoick smiled softly at her. "What are you siblings like; you mentioned having a brother and a sister."
"Yes, I've got an older twin brother Eridor, and a younger sister Eleanor, but only my brother and I are dragon riders, my sister doesn't like flying." Caverna told him with a fond smile.
"Your family sounds like they are really close to each other." Stoick told her.
"Well, we siblings are close to one another and our mother, but we aren't close to our father, he thinks that my brother and I are too unruly." Caverna sighed. "We only seem like this so we can look after the village."
"Your father has lost his fight, hasn't he?" Stoick asked.
"Yes, he lost is a few years ago, since then Eridor and I have been trying to run the village and getting ourselves trained to deal with what's happening as well as trying to look after everyone." She sighed. "I don't know how you do it Stoick."
Stoick smiled. "Well, I don't have a raging lunatic terrorising the village." He reminded her.
"That's true." She sighed.
Things went well from there for the riders as they flew over the seas, everything was quiet, and occasionally they would ask Caverna questions about her life and the village where she was taking them too. It had now been four days of flying, and they were close to Caverna's home, which she seemed grateful for. They made their last stop on another abandoned island, or so they thought was abandoned, since Snotlout went to check it out for them. As they all sat around a fire, each one having either a drink of water or some food, as the dragons all lounged around, getting themselves comfortable. However, just as they were about to fully relax, Toothless, Hookfang, Meatlug, Stormfly and Skullcrusher all looked up in alarm.
"What's the matter bud?" Hiccup asked, standing up and walking over to Toothless, who had suddenly curled himself around Snowcap.
"What's the matter girl?" Astrid asked, running over to Stormfly.
As everyone else ran over to their dragons to try and calm them down as they got more and more nervous, Caverna noticed something running towards them and she stood up. It was a purple Deadly Nadder, and Hiccup and Astrid before called for her to get out of the way but she didn't, instead she found herself pinned beneath it by one of its feet. Just as the others were about to attack the Nadder, Snowcap shot out from where Toothless had tried to hide her and she pounced on the Nadder the pair of them rolling around snapping at each other but it wasn't fighting, they looked to be playing.
"What in the name of Gods?" Fishlegs asked as Caverna stood up and dusted herself down. "Okay, get out here and get or dragon." Caverna spoke, well more like called to the trees.
"Caverna, there is no one there." Tuffnut told her.
"Eridor, get out here, now." Cavern carried on, and sure enough a burly looking man walked out from behind a rock.
"Dear sister, you really must stop that." He told Caverna and the siblings stood side by side, and they both whistled.
It was a strange whistle, it sounded hollow and ghostly, but it still stopped the dragons from play fighting and Snowcap walked over to Caverna whilst the Nadder walked over to the man, now known as Eridor.
When the dragons had returned to their owners, and the other dragons had recognised the new dragon to not be a threat, they all started to calm down.
"You travel with quite a pack sister." Eridor told her as he looked around at the group.
"Eridor, I wish to introduce the people who shall help our village." Caverna told him, and she gestured to each man and woman in turn giving them their name and the name of their dragon.
Eridor bowed his head to them. "My name is Eridor, son of Brock, soon to be chief of the Destroyer Tribe, and this is my Deadly Nadder, Lightning." He told them, his voice rang with authority. "Our father spoke greatly of you Stoick the Vast; it is an honour to meet you in the flesh."
Stoick bowed his head. "It is an honour to meet you Eridor." The two men shared a handshake.
Eridor nodded. "I must say sister, I expected you to be quicker, and after all you are the only one to ride a Nightfury."
"Do not torment her Eridor, you know how she gets." Caverna told him as she scratched the top of her dragon's head.
Eridor rolled his eyes, before he climbed onto the back of Lightning, looking at the group. "Shall we ride on or do you all need a few more moments rest?"
"We can ride on now, how far is Crendor?" Stoick asked.
"About, an hour and a half's dragons ride." Eridor told him.
"Then let's go." Stoick gestured for the others to get onto their dragons and when they did, they flew off after the siblings.
They reached the island in good time, the sun had reached its highest, signalling that it was noon, and upon their dragon's landing, Eridor and Caverna were pounced on by a swarm of people, all of them talking at once, and it surprised the group with how quick they were able to deal with it and make sense of it.
"Is it always like that?" Hiccup asked Caverna.
"Not always, especially if we bring visitors, I guess they had a good omen whilst we were gone." Caverna told them.
"So what do we do?" Astrid asked her.
"You might want to meet our mother and father." Eridor told them, just as there was a loud crash and a bellowing voice.
"Eridor, Caverna!"
"Uh-oh, he's angry." Caverna looked at her brother. "You didn't tell him did you?"
"Well you were away for a long time." Eridor told her.
She sighed, looking at her brother. "Take the dragons to the stables; I need to take them up to the house." She looked back at the group of Berkians that she had brought with her. "My brother will ensure that your dragons are comfortable."
"Good luck." Eridor told her once he led all of the dragons away, and Caverna led the group along paths until they got to a house on the cliff. This was going to be fun.