Ch.5
"Fright, you sure about this? I mean they're Night Furies. It's not like the Terrible Terrors we keep roasting." A Monstrous Nightmare said looking up thru the trees at the cave ledge containing the two Night Furies. "Flamewings, you aren't scared of a crippled Night Fury, and a runaway are you?" Fright said pointedly. "No, it's just, Night Furies are hard enough with one of them, but two? " SILENCE! You stupid, unimaginative fool, I should call you coward instead of Flamewings" Flamewings disliked being insulted in such a way, but unlike Fright, Flamewings knew better than to attack a Night Fury, even a weakened one without lots of compatriots and were ready for a fight. "Wouldn't it be easier to pick them off one at a time instead of trying to get them both at once?" Flamewings suggested trying to bring the somewhat stupid Monstrous Nightmare to what little sense he had. Fright grumbled and reluctantly agreed to kill them off separately to save time. He glared at the offending ledge before turning and darting off following Flamewings thru the forest.
While the two dragons were on their way to roast the remaining population of Terrors on the island, they stumbled across a Viking, he carried no weapon, and he carried no shield. All he carried was a small cylinder that he clung to fervently. A few moments later as the Viking ran for his life, the Two Monstrous Nightmares were coughing at having inhaled and ignited so much Zippleback gas. "what was that THING he used!?" Flamewings choked out aching to get the taste of Zippleback gas out of his lungs. "Whatever it is, I hate it, next time we see him, get him with the claws first and then roast the hell out of him." Fright said to Flamewings who agreed while coughing. A thought occurred to Flamewings as the last of the Zippleback gas taste dissipated, "Fright, yesterday I overheard Ashes telling another dragon that he observed a Viking climbing up one of the cliffs on the island shortly beforehand." "WHAT!" Fright expelled, "HE DIDN'T KILL HIM ON SIGHT! HE LET THE PEST GET AWAY!" Flamewings had liked Ashes. Ashes had at one point been involved with Fright's gang yet he retained some integrity before leaving with a few more charred scales than he previously had. Without letting Fright know he'd gone, Flamewings abandoned the enraged dragon narrowly avoiding the wall of fire that drenched the nearby trees. "I should say my last goodbyes to Ashes now. I won't get a chance once Fright locates him." Flamewings thought as he hurried off to find the doomed dragon.
Ashes was an old dragon, his coat had been at one time, brilliant red, but now it maintained a dull shadow of its former self. Ashes had large blackened patches from various injuries over the years across his body, but the worst damage of them all derived from a fight between another Monstrous Nightmare over mating privileges of a nearby female several years prior. It left Ashes with a limited amount of thought processes to rely on. He rarely paid attention to warnings or advice as almost never remembered them a short while later. When he did listen, he often wondered why he would be doing things that had no apparent reason. "ASHES!" Flamewings broke into a clearing panicked. "Yes, young dragon. Fl—amewings is it?"Ashes said looking up from his contemplations. "Yes, Fright is going to kill you for not eating the Viking you saw." This remark surprised Ashes. "Is he now, and what Viking did I not eat? I would have recalled such a dangerous encounter." Ashes also believed himself to be a lot stronger than he currently was, even on a good day. "You've got to hide." "Thank you Flamewings; I will give it some thought, now be going before I roast you myself, you're interrupting my thinking." The younger dragon vanished back into the woods, knowing Ashes would do as he stated, without fail. Not five minutes later Ashes had forgotten the encounter had ever happened.
Fright who was still steaming mad and now surrounded by a blackened clearing previously occupied by trees and small foliage, Blinded by rage he envisioned the last dragon on the island that still posed any threat to him, The Night Fury, that precise and perfect marksman that never failed to humiliate him. Not long after plotting her demise, he encountered her. She was flying around trying to locate a particular plant her mother had shown her when she was younger, saying it healed open wounds faster and reduced infection. "hmmm" a decidedly evil grin spread across the Monstrous Nightmare's face. He took off in pursuit of the Night Fury not remembering the four times before when she'd bested him, each time leaving him with a permanent reminder of their encounter.
He found her attempting to snag a small plant growing out of a cliff overhanging the water. The Night Fury moved in closer to the cliff to try and grab the flower with her teeth; Fright narrowly missed hitting her with a stream of fire as he dove where she had been seconds ago before tucking her body in for more control. Eletra stopped and looked at Fright who was returning for another pass. "Ugh, this stupid idiot again. How many body parts to I need to remove for him to get the message and leave me alone?" She pretended to go about her business for a few seconds longer and then effortlessly barrel rolled to one side and let Fright slam into the cliff, sending both him and the loosely packed dirt into the water. Eletra did not wait around; she had more important things to worry about; a severely injured Night Fury to name one. Fright hit the water with a loud splash and was several seconds before he broke the surface and took flight loathing the free bath he had just received. "I swear I'll snap that Night Furies neck even It's the last thing I do! Once she's dead, I'm going to rip her wings clean off her dead body one by one!" Fright nearly had sparks coming out his nostrils. "YOU HEAR THAT NIGHT FURY! IM GONNA RIP YOUR WINGS OFF YOUR DEAD BODY!" The sound of his screams echoed off the mountain. He vanished into the forest to find something to roast. Eletra had, in fact, heard him. She wasn't scared of the Monstrous Nightmare, but she did not doubt his words for a second. "I must stay clear of him." She thought to herself as she ventured off to another spot on the island to search for the plant Fright had incinerated while charging the cliff face.