This chapter gave me some difficulties, mostly to do with names... but I worked it out, again with the help of the most amazing girl in the world! She'll know. Also, Kathy, thanks for lending me one of your characters... even if I didn't ask in advance... I'm sure you don't mind, right?
Enjoy!
The Adventurous Adventures of Hiccup and Wrenlou
Learners Bay, Part V
"Land!" the boy yelled, clambering down the rigging of the large three master, "land! Straight ahead! Land!"
The other sailors on the ship mumbled and started gathering at the bow. They had been at sea for months now, sailing aimlessly without seeing land, could it really be that they had finally found land?
"Land!" the boy panted as he finally reached the deck. He was shaking on his feet while he staggered to a man who smiled widely as he picked up the boy, "father, land!"
The man laughed loudly as he joined the other men at the bow of the ship, setting the boy on his shoulders. The island that was coming into view looked peaceful, with white beaches stretching as far as they could see, waving palm trees where ever they looked and soon the little rowboat was slowly dancing towards the island, the small boat rocked by the gentle waves.
As the man stepped onto the shores, they cautiously looked around, weapons ready while they slowly made their way towards the tree line, looking for any kind of danger. The young boy walked a little less cautious, breaking away from the group until his father called out to him and he quickly hurried back to the men.
"Well lads," a man with a large beard said as he stepped forward, "it seems that we have found our new home at last, thanks to young Aaron Dreycon here! You have one heck of a son Thomas!"
0-0-0-0-0-0
"Wait..." Hiccup said, "I thought that Night Fury Island was discovered a thousand years ago. How can your father be there?"
Wrenlou started laughing while he shook his head. "Not my father. My great great great great... you get the point, my grand father at least. There have been many Aarons in the Dreycon family line, I believe my father is the.. twelfth...? not sure though. But the first Dreycons to set foot on the island were Thomas Dreycon and his son Aaron. I'm a direct descendant of them."
"So your ancestors were among the people that discovered the island? That is so awesome!"
Wrenlou chuckled. "Among many others. The ship they sailed on was called the Green Sea Dragon, I believe there is a replica in Light City. It was a large three master and when it discovered the island, there were about 350 people on board. More people have come since the discovery and the founding of the city, but the original settlers came on the Green Sea Dragon."
"What happened next?" Hiccup asked, intrigued.
"I'm not sure, the books are a little vague, but I believe that they left the main island and left to the one Lightcity is built on after their settlement had been destroyed by the Night Furies twice. You have to understand, Dragoncity has existed since the beginning, since they first sailed here, but our way of life, as it is now, has only been established a few hundred years ago."
"Weren't there dragon riders before that?" Hiccup asked.
"There were, but back then any body who wanted a dragon just marched to Crystal Cove and took an egg. Over time this threatened the Night Fury population severely, so they came up with a different idea."
"But you said that their settlement was destroyed. How did they discover dragon riding then?"
"Well, for the first fifty years you could say they were at war, but it was more of a cold war. As long as they left the nest alone, the dragons left them alone. It wasn't until Aaron's son, Tyler, and his friends found a few abandoned eggs that they believed peace was possible."
"So your ancestor was among the first dragon riders?" Hiccup asked gaping.
Wrenlou nodded. "The first and the last of the Dreycon family, until me and Broghan."
0-0-0-0-0-0
"Ty! Wait up man, where are you going!"
The boy stopped on top a large hill, laughing as he pushed his black ponytail back. He was about seventeen years old, wearing only a light tunic and short pants. He was quickly joined by two others, a girl and a boy, both with flaming red hair that danced around their heads.
"What's the matter Kathy, can't keep up?" Tyler laughed.
The girl shook her head, not answering his question as she gathered her long red curls and tied them back with a leather band. She was wearing a dress that reached her knees, barefoot just like the others. She looked at her brother and the boy laughed as he pushed his red curls away from his face. He was wearing clothes very similar to Tyler's, and smiled as he looked at his twin sister. The only thing they had in common was their hair colour, and people found it hard to believe that they were twins, not just brother and sister. A second girl jogged up the hill, her blue dress dancing around her body and Tyler smiled. The girl smiled back as she straightened her long auburn braid.
"Well," she said, "what are you planning this time? Should we be worried about getting in trouble?"
"Come on Linds," Tyler pouted, "when have I ever gotten us in trouble? Wait... don't answer that."
Lindsey laughed warmly and placed a quick kiss on his cheek. They looked up when another boy came up the hill, panting as he leaned over with his hands on his knees.
"Nice of you to finally joins us Mark," Tyler said, but his voice was kind and he walked over to the boy to help him the last bit of the way up.
"Very funny Ty," Mark mumbled brushing his black hair from his face, "you know I have asthma."
"Just take a moment okay?" Tyler said and he walked back to Lindsey.
"Just where are we?" the red haired boy spoke up for the first time, "aren't we a little close to Crystal Cove?"
"Wayne, relax. Crystal Cove is miles that way." Tyler made a vague gesture to the east, "as long as we stay away from it, we'll be fine."
"But why are we here?" Katherine asked, crossing her arms, "we're not even supposed to be ON Night Fury Island. And the old settlement is way back there."
"I just want to do a little exploring!" Tyler said, "that's not a crime, is it?"
"No," Mark said, "but stealing a boat to get here is."
"Mark, relax. We'll be back before they even know we're gone! Now come on, let's do some exploring!"
The five teenagers walked calmly this time, zigzagging between trees while their feet dug into the warm sand. They took breaks at regular intervals, to give Mark the time he needed to catch his breath again. This time of year his asthma was worse than the rest of the year. No one really knew why. They had walked for a few miles, walking between the waving palm trees, when Mark suddenly stopped and the rest turned to him, worried for their friend.
"Mark? Something wrong?" Tyler asked worriedly, "do we need to go back?"
Mark just shook his head as he pointed to something laying behind a tree, half buried with sand and leaves.
"Those are dragon eggs."
The others came closer, carefully and they all gasped when they saw the smooth black eggs. Mark took a tentative step closer, but Wayne yanked him back.
"Are you insane? The mother could be close! You don't want to lose an arm, do you?"
But Tyler looked around and shook his head. "I don't think the mother is here. She would have attacked us by now if she was. It looks like the nest was abandoned."
"Poor little guys..." Katherine whispered softly as she dug one of the eggs from the nest.
"Guys..." Tyler said slowly, "do you know what this could mean? We could raise these dragons! We could raise them to like humans! We could end the war for good!"
"That's insane," Wayne said, "these are dragons Ty, Night Furies. Dragons kill people."
"Yeah, but what if we hatch these eggs and teach them to like us? To work with us? Don't you think that it's possible? If we raise them, they won't attack humans!"
"It's a little far fetched, don't you think?" Mark crossed his arms, "us, raising dragons? How did you think to accomplish that? We can't exactly take these eggs home you know. And after they hatch? What then? Do you even know what dragons eat?"
"Fish," Tyler said with confidence, "dragons eat fish. My dad told me that."
"But even then," Lindsey said, "we can't possible take that many fish. People would notice. And dragons eggs need dragon fire to hatch. For all you know, these eggs are dead."
"But we could try," Tyler persisted, "we could bring these eggs to Crystal Cove and get one of the mothers there to light a fire."
"Go to the cove!?" Mark shouted, "that's it! You are crazy! We'll get eaten! No way I'm going to go anywhere near..." his sentence cut off as he started coughing, out of breath and Wayne patted his back.
"Take it easy Mark, just take it easy. Look, Ty, he's got a point. If we go to the Cove, we'll most likely be killed before we have a chance to speak."
"I still say we try," Tyler said, "think about it. We could be dragon riders! Heroes!"
"Or we could be killed or outcasted," Lindsey pointed out, "regardless, I am willing to give it a try."
"You go along with anything Ty says," Katherine said, but she was still holding the egg and she ran a finger along the smooth shell, "but I also think it's worth a shot."
Wayne took a deep breath before he stepped towards his sister. "In that case, I'm in. Mark?"
"Very well," Mark sighed, coughing once, "but the Cove is miles away. It will take hours to get there."
"Don't worry," Tyler said, "we'll help you. Now, there are five eggs, one for each of us."
The teens knelt down, quickly digging up the rest of the eggs and they were surprised to find that they were still warm, as if the young life within had been able to sustain itself even without a dragon flame to keep them warm. They could also feel something vibrating within the eggs, very faint and they carefully wrapped the eggs in their clothes, the boys using their tunics, the girls the skirts of their dresses.
"Right," Tyler stretched his back, "let's go to the Cove. But be very careful. Stay away from the nests and leave the dragons alone. That way the chance that they will attack is a lot smaller."
The others nodded and slowly, knowing they would never reach the Cove for night fall, mainly because Mark needed rest regularly, they began to walk east. Very careful to not trip and fall, which could possible break the eggs, they made their way over to the Cove.
0-0-0-0-0-0
"So they found abandoned eggs?" Hiccup said, "but why would a mother Night Fury abandon her eggs?"
"She wouldn't," Wrenlou said standing up and stretching, "not willingly. She either died naturally or was killed. Want to know something cool?"
"Sure!" Hiccup nodded enthusiastically.
"Tyler Dreycon had heterochromia too."
"Really!?" Hiccup nearly shouted and he stared at Wrenlou, who nodded.
"His wasn't complete, as mine is, but his left eye was partially brown, while his right was all green. In fact, there have been more people with heterochromia in my family, seven so far I believe. My grand mother had it too. She's the only other human I have ever seen with the condition, and she died when I was very young."
"That is so cool..." Hiccup whispered, "did his dragon have it too?"
"I honestly wouldn't know, there's nothing about that in the books. What I do know is that Katherine's dragon had purple eyes. The only purple eyes Night Fury we know about. But then again, there are hundreds out there, there could be more we just don't know about."
"Purple eyes? That is so awesome! What happened next?"
"Well, they made it to the Cove and weren't killed, obviously. They met the Night Fury queen and she made a nest for their eggs, provided that they would raise the baby dragons themselves. Once the eggs hatched, they did. Because the dragons were raised by humans, but among other dragons, they still learned how to hunt for themselves."
"Night Fury queen? There's a Night Fury queen?" Hiccup asked as he peeled another orange. He had been sucked into Wrenlou's story and he didn't even notice how fast he had been eating the fruit.
Wrenlou nodded. "I'll tell you more about her later okay?" Hiccup nodded. "Alright. After about three years the dragons were fully grown and they had already started flying with them. All this time they had managed to keep them a secret, don't ask me how, I would never manage that."
"But... they had to be discovered somehow, right? Because if they hadn't been discovered, Dragoncity wouldn't be filled with dragon riders right now."
"They weren't discovered, they outed themselves. You see, Lightcity was attacked by pirates and they came to the rescue, riding their dragons."
"What were they called? Their dragons?"
"Well, not Toothless," Wrenlou chuckled and Hiccup gave a half hearted smile. "Sorry. Ehm... Tyler's dragon was a female called Maura, Lindsey's dragon was also a female she called Crystal. Wayne had named his dragon Diamond, also a female, Katherine named her dragon Sugarplump and Mark got the only male dragon from the nest, which he named Dezkyra."
"Sugarplump? Really?" Hiccup chuckled.
"There have been many strange dragon names during the time of dragon riders. Toothless actually makes sense."
Hiccup smiled as he looked back at his dragon, the black creature playing with Snowflake, chasing her through the waves. "What happened after they were discovered?"
"Well, Dragoncity was restored and they made it a place where riders could live with their dragons, and over the next 600 years the dragon rider population outgrew the population in Lightcity. But as I said before, the way the riders acquired the eggs, well, the way most of them did, posed a serious threat to the Night Furies, because they simply walked into Crystal Cove and took the eggs, or young baby dragons, by force. It was a dragon rider named Shirlena who changed that."
"Shirlena?" Hiccup asked and Wrenlou nodded.
"By that time the Council had been established, and she was a Council member. She was the first to realize that something had to change, or the dragons would die out."
0-0-0-0-0-0
"We can't continue like this!" the woman called out, standing at the round table where twenty three other people were seated, looking at her, "the dragon population is threatened by people coming in and destroying their nests, something has to change!"
"Shirlena, what do you suggest we do. We need the dragon riders for protection."
The woman nodded. "Yes, that may be true, but if we continue like this, there won't be any dragons left. The Night Furies have been on this island long before we arrived, they should still be here long after we have left! We have no right to drive them to extinction! What would Tyler Dreycon say of this?"
"There hasn't been a Dreycon dragon rider since Tyler." one of the man remarked and the woman turned to him.
"And you know why? Because the Dreycons are one of the very few families who still respect the old rules, rules made by Tyler Dreycon! They respect his wishes to keep the dragons in their value, to see them as sentient beings and not cattle. And we know they are sentient, we know they have feelings. We know the mothers feel grief when their eggs are stolen from them, and for what? Just so that a few selfish humans can become dragon riders?"
"You are a dragon rider," another women spoke, "aren't you being a bit hypocritical?"
Shirlena crossed her arms. "My dragon was gifted to me, I never stole her. Just like all the riders here. It's the new generation that is currently stealing eggs, and destroying nests as they do so. We have a duty to these dragons, we are responsible for them. Not just the ones living with riders, but every wild dragon as well. We bound our species to theirs the moment Tyler Dreycon convinced his friends to raise the dragons, we cannot allow them to go extinct. They are a part of this world, just as much as we are. But they are most vulnerable when they are young and we have to protect them. Night Furies only lay eggs once every five years, and with the current raids their numbers are dwindling."
"Then what do you propose we do?"
"Allow me to talk to the Queen. We know that Night Furies are highly intelligent, their Queen has to be equally intelligent, if not more. I am confident I can work something out with her. Night Fury eggs hatch every five years, maybe she can decide which eggs we get so that she once again controls the Night Fury population."
"And how then would you distribute these eggs among the people?"
"I am still working on that, but I am sure we can work something out. I just need time to talk to the Queen."
"Then we will give you that time. In the meantime, it will be forbidden for any non-dragon rider to go to Night Fury Island. Every one who gets caught will face serious punishment. We will communicate that to the people."
"Thank you," Shirlena said with a short bow, "I will go at once."
0-0-0-0-0-0
"So," Hiccup said, "this Shirlena came up with the choosing?"
"No, after she went to talk to the Queen it was another fifty years before a solution was found and our society was created as it is today. But Shirlena was certainly the one that started it all. She and her dragon Night Stalker made some ground breaking changes. Where Tyler Dreycon was the first dragon rider, it was really Shirlena who created our way of life."
"Wrenlou.. what does the Night Fury Queen look like? Has anyone ever seen her?"
"No. The only ones to have seen her are Tyler and his friends and Shirlena. Even with the Choosing, which takes place in Crystal Cove itself, she never shows herself. Shirlena did describe her though, as did Tyler."
"So what does she look like?" Hiccup asked again, eager to know.
"They described her as being bigger than the average Night Fury, a lot bigger. She has blue spots running all along her spine, as well as on her wings. The tips of her wings and tailfins look like they have been painted, or dipped in paint. Did you know that Night Furies can glow? They can light a blue glow all along their spine. With the Queen, the blue parts of her body also glow."
"They glow?" Hiccup asked dumbstruck, "really? They can do that? And Snowflake? Does she glow?"
Wrenlou nodded. "You'll see that at the next Choosing. Every dragon, wild or with a rider, will light the glow and illuminate the Cove. It's quite something. And Snowflake glows golden, like her plasma blasts."
"I never knew they could glow!" Hiccup said excited, "you never told me that, did you bud."
Toothless crooned and wailed loudly before he pounced on something in the water, sending a splash over the two boys. He resurfaced with a wriggling fish between his teeth, and he trotted off to Snowflake.
"Do you know why it's called Crystal Cove?" Wrenlou suddenly asked. Hiccup shook his head. "Because it's covered in crystals. Blue crystals. We call them Dragon Crystals, because they give the Night Furies their power. That's also why the wild Night Furies are a lot stronger and bigger than the ones living with riders in Dragoncity."
"I want to see the Cove..." Hiccup mumbled and he looked up when Wrenlou put a hand on his shoulder. "I mean, it sounds wonderful, like it's a how other world or something."
"Well, you're going to have to wait a few years. We're not allowed to go there other than with the Choosing, not even the Council members are allowed. Wild Night Furies can be extremely dangerous and there have been incidents in the past. Rico went there, he lost his right hand."
"And I would love to see the Queen."
"Don't get your hopes up, you'll probably never see her. As I said, there have only been two times that humans saw her."
"Tyler and Shirlena, you told me." Hiccup sighed. "I can't believe that this place accepted dragons. I mean, Berk is still at war after 300 years!"
"The dragons never raided us. They destroyed the settlement twice, but they left the settlers alone after they went to another island. And when dragon riding began, they accepted the riders in Dragoncity, as long as they keep away from their nests. They have become a little cautious for the reasons I just told you."
"Because people stole their eggs." Hiccup said and Wrenlou nodded.
"Come on, let's go back to the Bay. I can show you some books. I could show you pictures of Tyler and his friends if you want."
"Yes!" Hiccup shouted, jumping up, "are there pictures of the Queen?"
"A few," Wrenlou nodded, "come on then. I could really use a drink..."