A/N: *Sidenote: If I ever put "Toothless" instead of Tt-th-ss or "Hiccup" instead of (click)-uhp in Alekt's or any other non-dragon's POV, it's because my sub-conscious is a dirty sneak and I didn't catch it(as some of you have been so nice to point out so I could fix it a couple times before!). Consider it a typo in those cases!
Learning from the Masters
A How To Train Your Dragon Fanfiction
Based off Le'letha's "Nightfall"
It was so good just to be free and together!
This was their element. This was where they belonged. Not in dank, cramped cages. Not in nasty, rattling binding-things. Not amongst pfikingr stink in dark caves away from the sky and the sea and the wind that lifted them up, up, UP! and pleasantly whipped their faces and their sides and tugged on the patch of fur on Hiccup's head and made the webbing of Toothless-love's wings gently rattle from the air that flowed by and around them very, very fast and made them both smile toothy, dragon grins because nowhere was better than just flying free you me we us!
They swooped to the one side and then the other, feeling the wind, and dipped, diving and letting the wind fill their faces and their breath, and go down down down until they could almost taste the sea and then caught the wind of their own descent to go back up up up up higher faster up! until it almost made them dizzy with good yes free us flying flying together up! that filled them both with just as much warmth as it did with the cold of wind whipping fast and hard around them.
Spiraling and drifting and falling and spinning and carried by the wind and after being worse than just stuck on the ground but trapped to not even walk freely, open freedom had never once felt and tasted so savory, like the first fat prey of spring after a long, scarce winter all bundled together with all of the craziness and need to go go fly fast free crazy yes faster up higher up up faster! and it is indeed crazy and tiring and hard and makes heads light and wings strain with the need to go ever harder and faster but neither worry or care because it is the best feeling in the world!
And they open their jaws to scream a sound of delight with no mind of keeping their voices to themselves even in this night because bad pfikingr are still far away and they are too happy-crazy with freedom and the wind is so fast and harsh in their speed that it almost chokes them but they fight it back and challenge it with their roars and delighted cries anyway because the wind is their domain and their mastery and it feels good yes best amazing free flying you me we us together partner-mine not-alone yes together us flying!
When the two-who-are-one have drank their fill of wind and flying and down down down then up up up high fast! they descend from the clouds quivering with a high of exhilaration and simply what it means to be free again to go where they please and when they please and no binding things or cages or pfikingr to keep them still and are breathing too hard yet not breathing enough because they were flying too fast and too happy-crazy and too up-down-up-up but it is worth it and they have not felt this content since first being caught by E-e-kTT and his pfikingr flock.
Their flight now was steadying and low and they spared attention only now that they had not been paying much heed to where E-e-kTT and his pfikingr were but with wings that carried them up and with Cloudjumper staying closer to the humans they were easy to find again even in the still dark of night.
Cloudjumper rolls his eyes at the free-high of his young charges and E-e-kTT only regards them with eyes still unmoving like stone itself. The pfikingr working around the boat are silent in voice and careful with their movements to not make much noise but Hiccup can see them indicating and speaking with their bodies as they point and nod or shake their heads and direct the vessel along its slow but progressing path.
When they reach the place where E-e-kTT first showed Hiccup - it is dark now, but he recognizes the mountain and has to resist flying ahead to the cave with the wounded dragons - they stop their boat in the shallows and move it ashore, just enough that the sea will not carry it away, as waves clawing the edge of land sometimes do.
Hiccup and Toothless busied themselves then with soaring high over the trees, blended against the sky and unseen to any on the ground, save for an owl perched at the topmost of a tree that dipped further beneath the canopy. An amber glow somewhere afar drew them and they circled safely out of the glow where they wouldn't be seen, finding a procession of bad pfikingr marching alone with flaming sticks in-paw.
They did not immediately make a move and instead circled back, knowing that they were to wait for now and first get E-e-kTT's approval to charge in.
Of all the pfikingr that they had met, E-e-kTT was one of the more understandable. They knew some concepts and words of the clumsy pfikingr tongue but few enough that trying to communicate even the most basic quickly became frustrating, especially since most seemed either unwilling or too stupid to hear and speak dragon, and most of the things that worked for pfikingr to speak to each other did not work for dragons because they were too abstract and unnecessary to the life of his kin to bother with.
E-e-kTT had done much pfikingr speaking but he tried and did at least somewhat of an acceptable job of dragon-speaking - for a pfikingr, at least - and with the painted stones and above-drawings of the island and a great deal of time and repeating they knew what he wanted and the pack hunt he had planned and it was a good plan as far as he could tell. Dragons hunted many things and sometimes they were big things or fast things one dragon alone could not handle or catch especially young dragons still learning so Hiccup and Toothless understood the concept of a pack hunt and planning and cooperation even if he and his Toothless-heart had not actually participated in one in a long, long time. More seasons than there were toes on his front paws.
They more felt E-e-kTT's eyes on them than saw as they came to hover above the group, directing into the trees.
"Pfikingr!"
E-e-kTT nodded, speaking low and hollow towards his own kind as Tt-(click)-th-uhp-ss dropped to the ground and prowled through the dark cover of trees ahead, showing where despite that it kept them more than a bit too close to the humans than they were strictly comfortable with but Hiccup filled his patience with thoughts of rescuing dragons and Toothless trusted his smaller half and their own together-strength if trouble pounced upon them to stomp away such uneasiness for now.
The moving was slow-going and most of the pfikingr were not good for such darkness and sneaking about but E-e-kTT kept them quiet and guided them effectively so that the two-who-are-one only had to show the younger pfikingr Alpha the way until they found the enemy and their stick-fire glow that was far too easy to spot in the darkness.
E-e-kTT said something near-silent and motioned the other of his kind to stop and wait a safe distance before he followed the two night-camouflaged dragons to just outside the fire's glow, crouching in watch of their prey who were loud as arguing dragons themselves. When he deemed it time to truly begin hunting, E-e-kTT backed through the woods and motioned to the sky, signaling with a motion like a fast swoop with his paw and a quiet hiss like fire.
Hiccup and Toothless took flight without confirmation, but they understood what was being asked of them. They gained proper distance and height, keeping the glow of flames ever in their sight, before arching sharply in the air and dipping downward, tucking themselves inward instinctively and whistling through the sky with a speed only they were known for and letting out a pair of perfectly matched roars that only lent to the namesake Fury.
The bad pfikingr familiarly cried out in alarm before Toothless ever even fired a single blast, and the further shouts of fear as the ground exploded amidst the group made both he and his Toothless-half inwardly cheer dragon laughs as they flew fast and hard away in a wide arc to double over and swoop in a second time, this time unaccompanied by fire but flying close enough to almost rip the fire-sticks straight out of pfikingr paws with their tailwind alone. A third go and Hiccup whooped and keened amusement as the pfikingr threw themselves to the dirt to cower in terror, that they might be hit or plucked from the ground.
Toothless snorted and rolled his eyes You silly crazy reckless silly wind-drunk yes you first-fly hatchling-silly! as they circled though there was still shared agreement in his partner's joy of flying again and scaring bad dragon-hurting pfikingr and they truly had not flown nearly enough or even been together nearly enough and the heart-fire of even just being close is the best thing and only stronger now after being apart and alone even if they were nearby for so long.
Hiccup only drummed the top of his head with an affectionate hum silly crazy yes free again flying great you me we us together bad pfikingr fearing fun yes flying fear-making us fun yes! as the scared cries and chattering start to settle and Toothless fondly agrees as they turn and dive fast and terrifying and loud again and make bad pfikingr scatter and fall and run like many startled hare-prey going for their bolt holes.
When they circle around again, it is to abandoned fire-sticks on the path and only one bad pfikingr left that runs up the hills towards the island's mountain and E-e-kTT's flock emerging from the woodland to keep fire from catching the trees and spreading, putting them out. E-e-kTT motioned to the mountain and led them back through the trees while Hiccup and Toothless-heart of mine soar above in search of the cave entrance closer to the top that Hiccup knows is there where he and E-e-kTT entered before.
It takes some looking, but the flying pair find it and perch at the top as they wait for E-e-kTT even though Hiccup is not patient and while Toothless is more so than his human/dragon-twin he is also anxious and wanting to help their dragon cousins from pfikingr claws and traps but they are hunting so both can stay still and wait until the proper time to pounce. E-e-kTT is the fastest to reach them with a binding thing around a shoulder, the end of which he throws up to Cloudjumper to bite while the longest part he throws over the side of the rock for the rest of his pfikingr to climb as they are not nearly so good at the skill.
When all that are meant to climb are up, E-e-kTT pulls up the binding thing and leaves it coiled at the edge of the rock at the top, and the dragon-pair would be uncomfortably crowded if not for the fact that the helping pfikingr were still terrified of them enough to squeeze away against the farther wall and keep their distance. E-e-kTT motioned to his eyes with two front toes and motioned in a circle, and once again, the boy and dragon took to the air, circling around silent and careful.
There bad pfikingr running there ground rock mouth trees Toothless softly warned and Hiccup soon saw them as well down a path towards where they had first attacked so that they could turn and head back, landing on the ledge where E-e-kTT waited. Hiccup pointed out towards the sea to indicate, since motions seemed to work well on both sides where words failed. "Bad pfikingr kkko."
E-e-kTT merely nodded and turned into the cave, Tt-(click)-uhp-ss prowling behind until they reached where his pfikingr flock waited just above the belly of the bad pfikingr stone-nest. If there had been a replacement up at the top to watch this side, they did not see one. E-e-kTT stood at the very edge overlooking the cavern near a much larger human with long slashes down his face perhaps left by a dragon's talons once and the youngest, fire-haired pfikingr that Hiccup and Toothless had seen amongst them.
There were a few quiet words entirely lost on them before E-e-kTT reached up to scratch the head and between the shoulders of the black bird perched next to his neck and he fell into that vaguely dragon-like chatter. Both dragon-man and Fury craned to try and hear but it was not entirely understandable to them though closer to their own dialect so there may have been snippets they could understand like fly and affection love and get-for-me though there were things that were more human-speak as well that made it hard to distinguish beyond that.
Nevertheless, the bird took to the air and spiraled downward toward cages and bad pfikingr to disappear in the dark like he and Toothless did in the night. E-e-kTT and the fire-hair murmured things to each other but it was beyond any words that either of the pair understood and this part beyond what they knew of the hunt. They knew only to wait until E-e-kTT signaled to go.
When the bird returned, it was with something in its beak, perching on Alekt's shoulder where he took it, and tossed it to the fire-haired younger pfikingr, speaking to him. When the fire-hair held it up, Hiccup could see that it was small and long, with square teeth at the very end. Hiccup had seen them before and knew they could open locks on things like traps or boxes sometimes but usually they only fit to a few things and each usually had their own unlocking thing different from another's. Much of the time it was simpler to find his own way to pick such things open than to find the right one.
E-e-kTT then turned his attention to the two-who-are-one, and motioned from them to the Fox-Furred. They recognized their own names and go then another human-sounding word - Eh-brr-kK? - that they assumed to be the fire-hair's name. Hiccup hummed acknowledgment as E-e-kTT directed the other pfikingr to where they should be for the group-hunting and the dragon and rider went to where the fire-hair was, noting in satisfaction that the youngling was quite intimidated, much more as he should be unlike E-e-kTT.
They were wary themselves as they should be of a human of course but confident and they had seen and heard and smelled how this youngling was scared by them even with a cage between them so they were not terribly worried what he would do though they still kept him in their sights just in case and he seemed to be doing the same though still with trying to put as much distance between them without leaving entirely which left the two to sit and hold their ground with even more confidence.
When Eh-brrr-kK crept down the rocks, they crept too, sliding down from one ledge or outcrop to another with quiet ease and getting perhaps too much amusement out of Eh-brr-kK's rabbity tension at having them follow him.
Below there were still enough bad pfikingr to match E-e-kTT's band though they had no noprey things to ride and most of all they had no dragons on their side as friends, only captives. Soon enough, not even that.
When they reached a ledge just away from the cages and the firelight, Eh-brr-kK stopped and crouched in the shadows, the dragon-pair doing the same. Some of the remaining bad pfikingr after the others left thinking their hunters outside stood and chattered their nonsense near the cages, relaxed and unaware to being stalked but fidgeting as if unknowingly sensing a predator somewhere.
They saw the dim glint of a sharp thing in Eh-brr-kK's paws as he shuffled next to them apprehensively like a growing hatchling to its first hunt of something much bigger than the tiny prey things that mothers brought for their hatchlings to practice with, quivering faintly with nervous tension. His attention was trained so hard on the bad pfikingr that he nearly jumped into the sky when Toothless' tail end lightly brushed him, his Hiccup-half huffing silent laughter at the wide eyes of fright that turned towards them.
You nervous edgy calm easy hunt bad pfikingr easy unaware calm you nervous hatchling calm Hiccup hummed encouragement under his breath as he and Toothless wriggled themselves flat and still against the rock, comfortable and relaxed but ready to spring when they would be needed. He was only met with a mute, stupid stare that made him roll his eyes in frustration that the other couldn't even grasp such a simple concept. Even if he couldn't speak dragon at all Hiccup had at least hoped for a slightly better result.
He didn't voice such complaint but he could almost hear Toothless' silent agreement in the way the dragon shifted to glance up at him and give his own slight roll of the eyes and a dragon's smirk. Humans were still very stupid.
Settling, they waited until they saw E-e-kTT and his flock spring from the shadows, startling the bad pfikingr into scattering at first, then regrouping with sharp things drawn to defend their stone nest. There were shrill sounds of sharp things clashing and grinding, human roars and chaos. The pfikingr that guarded the cages went rigid and whirled, running towards the fray without noticing them in hiding nearby.
That was when Eh-brr-kK scrambled up and slid down the rocks and towards the cages, Tt-(click)-th-up-ss sliding down after him silently and using the cover of the shadows to remain unseen. No pfikingr noticed them and turned to attack, and there were no fires to reveal them easily. The dragons in the cages chattered alarm at the commotion, so they didn't have to try hard to conceal their noise.
Eh-brr-kK fumbled with the small unlocking thing that E-e-kTT's bird had brought, the mechanism clicking open and door swinging open with a dull screech that was masked by the shearing of sharp-things and dragon howls of alarm. Eh-brr-kK hesitated at the door and looked between the wounded dragon in the cage and Tt-(click)-th-up-ss in helpless uncertainty of how to proceed, then darted out of the way as the dragon-partners pushed past and chattered to the injured cousins open free now go no trapping leave out safe now come before pfikingr see go now you out though still keeping some distance so as not to come off as a threat being that they were strangers even if these were other dragons.
The dragon in the cage watches them with scared-wide eyes and chirps and growls scared noisy danger hurt fighting confused and clearly doesn't trust them but Hiccup and Toothless continue to offer their reassurances and coaxing until the dragon starts to come forward and they move back to let it leave. Its moving awkwardly, and a good part of its wing is damaged, maybe too much to fly, and the long-lingered scent of blood and sickness is evident to them both.
The dragon is nervous, but they continue to lead it along with gentle warbles that are all but lost under the deafening noise of clashing sharp-things. When they reach a part of the cave that is separated from view and the fighting, near the cave entrance on the ground but not straight into it yet, they order the dragon stop wait hide quiet no move here stay you yes before going back to the other cages when they are sure it listened to them to find Eh-brr-kK prying open another of the cages.
They do the same with another, while the youngest pfikingr goes to work on another cage. There's an aggravated screech and Hiccup turns to look back as they're ushering the second freed dragon along. The first two had been anxious and timid, hesitant to leave their confines, but the next immediately lunged outward and at Eh-brr-kK ready to shred off his limbs.
Hiccup hops off of Toothless' back and saunters back, trying to draw her attention and convey that Eh-brr-kK is there to help free peace friend no harm and not one of the bad pfikingr but she isn't listening and sends spikes from her tail his way that he leaps aside and rolls away from. Toothless is there in a second and snarls in defense of his dragon-boy with wings and fangs splayed.
She turns to screech at them, but it is short-lived and she is uninterested in them and wholly committed to Eh-brr-kK with snarls of human bad dangerous human kill! even as he's retreating and trying to dart to the sides to safety only to be cut off and cornered. Hiccup can see one paw tightening over a sharp-thing at Eh-brr-kK's side and he doesn't see dragon and Viking walking away without a bloody confrontation first and that's when Eh-brr-kK surprises him.
He's making noises. They are clumsy noises. Noises that are not wholly human as Hiccup has heard them but neither quite dragon or animal, but he faintly recognizes the noises and he knows immediately where Eh-brr-kK probably heard them before to use them.
They are almost whimpers, more closer to pleas, and the more he goes on the more Hiccup can catch those same things that are almost like peace friendly surrender don't hurt in only the vaguest concept of meaning in the sounds but they are deliberate and loud enough to be heard over the nearby fighting.
If nothing else, it confuses the dragon that was ready to rip him apart and makes her step back and tilt her head to examine him and make sure she is attacking a human for sure and not a dragon hatchling and the hesitation is enough to switch her focus to the fighting pfikingr nearby instead and change priority from fighting to fleeing. She leaps on top of one of the cages and takes off past Hiccup and Toothless to escape, her wings still good for flying, and Eh-brr-kK just stares, looking as dim-faced as a human's prey-thing.
Finally he lets out a long breath and combs front toes through the red fur on his head, chattering something low so that it is lost to Hiccup, though it is in his own human language and so he can't understand it anyway. Shaking himself off, Eh-brrr-kK goes to the next cage to unlock it, and shifts nervously to the side somewhat as the Hiccup-Toothless linger behind him patiently.
It is then when they're freeing another dragon that Eh-brr-kK barks something, and once again its meaning is lost to Hiccup's ears, but its sharp, like a warning, and he sees the flash of the sharp-thing at Eh-brr-kK's side being hefted back. He and Toothless snarl and duck when it goes flying, and sticks in a bad pfikingr somewhere behind that crumple to the ground. Eh-brr-kK leaps past them to retrieve his sharp-thing.
They are looking at him with some surprise and thankfulness when a human roar announces another pfikingr bearing down on them. Toothless likewise barks a warning, Eh-brr-kK whirls around and ducks aside the swing of another weapon, and Toothless blasts the attacker, sending him flying back and bowling into others in the fray.
Eh-brr-kK stands and regards them, looking wide-eyed, but says yet more that they can't understand but they can hear something like relief and surprise and praise somewhere in the tone that they take as gratitude and purr accordingly in reply.
They continue to work to get the dragons out, and it becomes easier since the remaining ones had seen their fellow cousins go free and therefore need less coaxing to be drawn out and taken to the place in the shadows with the other dragons though it is tense and not all are friendly with the other presences even though they have been in cages beside each other for what has probably been a long time now.
The fighting is beginning to subside now, no more sounds of sharp-things bashing into others or into shields or rock or wood. There is an echoing rumble and the scent of noprey things from the entrance and wide, flat slabs of wood with rolling rounds on four of the corners as if whole chunks had been taken from the circular trunks of trees.
Eh-brr-kK motions for them to follow and get the wounded dragons along with them, some which took more coaxing or pushing to make move than others, but were likewise too weak or battered to refuse easily, even in their wariness of the noprey's and the rolling wood things that they were made to climb onto and lay on.
Of those in the cave, there were no more bad pfikingr, E-e-kTT's flock having taken care of them, and were soon to rejoin near the entrance and go about busily attaching binding things to the fly-with's on the nopreys and secure the dragons without hurting them or having them turn hostile against the humans.
It wasn't long before Toothless perked to listen, and the nopreys shifted with a nervousness of sensing danger. The sound was soon to reach Hiccup's ears as well, the clatter of much running and jingle of sharp-things or flap of leather coverings. E-e-kTT noticed as well before any others besides Tt-(click)-th-uhp-ss and came to stand near them with long, claw-curled sharp-things ready in either paw.
From the shadow of the cave throat appeared many more bad pfikingr, fresh to the fight and in equal enough numbers to E-e-kTT's own entire group, brandishing sharp-things and shields with anger on their faces.
The Alpha was easy enough to pick out from the group, a snarling man with a face of long black fur from his chin, two full paces ahead of all others, who hesitated and watched him to wait for him to make the first, leading move.
He howled furiously, all of it lost in nothing but pure gibberish to the two-who-are-one, but E-e-kTT stepped forward, not backing down from what may have been an outward challenge, and clearly understood as he spoke back. There were a few snippets that were vaguely understandable, dragon and no and free with others words between that were lost on them.
Whatever was being said was clearly not an agreement or a stand-down as the bad pfikingr Chfff snarled and stepped forward with weapon drawn, ready for an all-out fight all over again as he brandished his sharp-thing towards E-e-kTT, before then directing towards Toothless with his weapon and a low growl.
Both Hiccup and Toothless-soul-mine snarled back, not at all intimidated.
E-e-kTT then said something else, and they recognized some mention of Cloudjumper in there and E-e-kTT raised a paw to his mouth and made a shrill, ear-splitting whistle that made the two black-scaled dragons perk and yelp out now now!
They were answered by a deafening roar that filled every corner of the cave with a booming echo and Cloudjumper dropped from the shadow of the high ceiling where he had perched in wait. The bad pfikingr jumped in fright and scattered like rabbits, looking straight up at the descending dragon whose maw threatened flame, and Hiccup and Toothless roared their own greater confidence at the pfikingr as they joined him in the air, hovering over E-e-kTT's band.
They looked as though they might regroup, and E-e-kTT waved a paw over his head, sharply motioning to either side and making a noise that was like a blast of fire to either side of the narrower cave tunnel. They knew the signals and fired, taking either side to blast and further scatter the enemy Vikings to clear the way. E-e-kTT shouted something to his own flock and they urged the noprey creatures forward, first in an abrupt lurch, and then gaining speed and movement forward.
The bad pfikingr moved to get in their way, and E-e-kTT motioned for another blast to deter them as the first of the noprey's and pfikingr wood pulled-thing and wounded dragons disappeared through it, then another. Fighting exploded on the sidelines, between E-e-kTT's flock and the other pfikingr as the wounded dragons were towed through, until the last ones were out.
E-e-kTT cut down one or two more enemy pfikingr before shouting and motioning for a retreat, motioning for Cloudjumper to go back out above and for the rest to follow him through the lower tunnel, which was only occasionally lit by tame fires on the side walls.
Hiccup and Toothless were less at ease with the narrow confines of the tunnel, though most of it went only one direction without turning much, and it was wide enough for them to fit and have some room to spare on either side, enough to turn and blast a pursuing Viking here or slash and beat another one aside there.
They easily overtook the stragglers, and then E-e-kTT when he stopped where the cave opened into forest again. There was a strangled noise behind them, and then something in the pfikingr tongue that they did recognize.
"Stop!" For a moment, they were uncertain who had said it, before they turned to see E-e-kTT, a sense of urgency in his voice that was so abnormal and foreign as to be startling. "Stop!" There were more words, but they were lost on them. What wasn't was the male turning and darting back into the cave, sharp-things drawn. Amongst the words they didn't know, they caught one that was more recently familiar to them.
Eh-brr-kK.