Hello, everyone!
Sorry for the delay! As always, life is super busy and inconvenient. The writer's block continues to plague me and I have deleted nearly 90 pages of draft material so far, which I'll probably post in Unheard Whispers once the whole story is uploaded. But hey, at least I learned what doesn't work.
As always, I'd like to thank Samateus-Taal, Lightbrightfury, NomexGlove, Ashora, AdamantJacakl, VigoGrimborne, GenericName, JustAnotherRandomPoster, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, Silverleone, picothea, and MysteryWriter175 for all of your thoughtful reviews! I loved reading them during these very busy and stressful times.
I'd also like to thank Crysist, kwizjunior, Anticept, Dragon-Crusader, and ReclusiveShadows for all of your help with betaing!
I hope you all enjoy, and have a wonderful day!
Chapter 15
Saw Through Closed Eyes
On my first night as a named dragon, I followed Killed the Sea Serpent back to her nest.
She turned to look at me as I landed. A burst of panic rushed through my chest. I stood at the edge of the cave, clutching the crystal with my claws and shallowly flapping my wings to keep my balance.
"Are you coming in?" she asked, almost sounding apprehensive herself.
"May I?" I whispered.
"Of course you may!" I could practically hear her roll her eyes. "Come in before you fall."
I let out a breath, padding into the nest and nestling down in my usual spot. "Killed the Sea Serpent…thank you."
She stooped into a stretch before easing herself down next to me. With a gentle run of her tongue over my forehead, she said, "Don't forget to give yourself credit, too, Saw Through Closed Eyes."
Saw Through Closed Eyes. My name. I still couldn't believe it.
"Can we still help the nameless male?" I asked.
"You can do whatever you want, now," she purred. "But, yes. I intend to help him earn his name next. Hopefully without throwing himself into danger." She tipped her head aside. "I have a question for you, though. What do you plan to do now?"
I blinked. "I…I want to help raise the swimlings and flightlings, I think. But I like to hunt for everyone, too. And I like going into the Shell with Survived the Storm and the others."
"Well," she said with a huge smile, "I'm glad you've got so many things to look forward to, then."
"But, Killed the Sea Serpent," I said. My chest tightened. "What if…what if I see Defended the Hatchlings or the others?"
She snorted. "Ignore them. They are banished. And I'm sure the storytellers are tripping over their own tails trying to be the first one to spread the news. By the end of this moon, all dragons in the Shell will know who they are and why they were outcasted. Most smart dragons would know to stay away from them, or risk making enemies of the rest of us."
"But…what if…" I shuffled and looked down. "What if they try to attack me?"
"Your flockmates will defend you. I will defend you." She nosed me, forcing my head up to look at her. "And, now, you have every right to defend yourself, too."
"I don't want any fights," I mumbled.
"Well," she chuckled, "you have proven to be one of the fastest dragons in the Shell. So, if they try to hurt you, just outsmart them."
I nodded, still frowning. "I'll…try."
"You don't have to be alone, Saw Through Closed Eyes," she reassured me. "You don't have to go off on your own. And you can always ask others to join you. I will be happy to go into the Shell with you. Although, I must admit, I miss patrol duty." She laughed when I grimaced. "But, I understand how boring it is for you. My point is," she butted her head against mine, "you are part of our flock, and your flockmates have chosen to stand by you."
Wanted. They had wanted me. Or, at least, they had wanted to be fair to me.
I nodded, my head spinning with it all. My world had changed so suddenly, I felt as though it were a dream.
The thought brought something else to mind: the dream-like memory I had uncovered on our first outing into the Shell.
"Killed the Sea Serpent? Do you know where I was hatched?"
She reared her head back, eyes wide. "What?!"
I blinked, too, surprised by her surprise. "I…" I looked down. "I remember…something. I just want to know if going back will help me more."
For a moment, she said nothing. "What else do you remember?" she asked.
"I remember…being alone," I said. I tried to go backwards in my mind, peering into the past. "I remember a dragon coming to find me."
"Do you remember who?"
"No." I shook my head. "That's why I want to go and look, to see if it helps me remember."
She nodded slowly. Though she kept my gaze, her eyes were distant. "...I see," she drew out, her voice oddly calm, like a thin sheet of ice over a lake, ready to splinter into thousands of pieces. "But, I must ask…what do you hope to gain from this?"
My eyes drifted from hers. There had been a dragon once who cared for me, who had shown me love.
But then they had left me.
Why? Why would a dragon go through so much effort for a hatchling, only to abandon them to their fate afterwards?
Something about that was wrong, though. I knew more than anyone what kind of harm can come from making such huge assumptions like that. So, instead, I said, "I just want to know."
"Well…" she said. She was silent, thoughtful, but eventually grimaced. "I'm afraid that I cannot help you much with this. Fought the Leader was one of the dragons who regularly tended to swimlings at the time, just as she does now. I spent all of my time patrolling." She nosed me. "But, you can do whatever you want, like pestering pester flockmates about showing you where in the Under you hatched. You are a named dragon now. "
"That's still so strange to me," I mumbled.
Killed the Sea Serpent laughed. "It will feel like that for a while. But it sounds like we have a busy day tomorrow." She laid her head down on her paws and wrapped her tail around me. "How about we get some rest?"
I nodded and settled up against her. The lavender crystal bathed us in a soft glow, radiating warmth like a little sun. The sky outside darkened, casting the Shell into a wash of gentle moonlight.
Killed the Sea Serpent fell asleep almost immediately. I struggled to rest, though, shifting antsily and struggling not to wake her.
What do you hope to gain from this?
Was it better to let a sad story fade away? Would it eat away at me forever if I found out?
My eyes fluttered closed. I tried to bring to mind the memory, but it was shrouded in dream-mists, more of a general feeling of sounds and sensations. The cold, the hard stone, the saltwater-smell, the hunger and fading…the warm tongue, the panicked voice, the comforting scent of another that I had long since forgotten.
Wasn't it worth it to know who had saved me?
o.O.o
I knew everything had changed…but I was still so unprepared for my new life.
It started normal. Killed the Sea Serpent forced me up, and with the groggy reluctance of a dragon who had stayed awake too late ruminating, I got up and followed her down to the willow grove.
When I landed, my flockmates didn't move away from me. Some even greeted me.
"Good morning," I stammered to each of them, fighting to keep myself from hunching low to the ground. The impulse was made even worse by how quiet it was. Normally, our gatherings were accompanied by a light bustle of dragons flying, chattering, and splashing. Now, the only sounds were the soft under-the-breath murmurs between others and the high-pitched whistle of sea-winds through the grass. The scents of the air were duller, some fading, far away, with fewer living scents than I could remember.
The absence of our old flockmates weighed down on us like a paw trapping prey. My ears drooped.
"Good morning, Saw Through Closed Eyes!" the nameless male cried, breaking the silence and drawing a flinch out of myself and several others. He bounded over and ran around me in a circle. "What's it like being a named dragon now?"
I chuckled. "I don't know," I said, twisting my head to try to keep up with his enthusiasm. "Are you ready to find out for yourself?"
He bent low to the ground, wriggling his rump. "I've been ready since I became a flightling! Let's go do some competitions!"
There was a little stir among us. "Remember, nameless," Raced the Auroras chided, "Saw Through Closed Eyes decides for herself, now."
"O-oh." He drooped and lowered his head and eyes, to me. "Um, sorry."
Panic shot through me. I balked. "No, no, it's—it's fine, I—" I glanced at Raced the Auroras, who nodded encouragingly. "I want to go where you think is best."
"Then you now have permission to compete," Raced the Auroras said, her voice gentle and stern to the both of us.
"Alright!" the nameless said, leaping upright. "Seems stupid to—" he suddenly stopped, focused in my direction, and said sheepishly, "never mind."
I turned around and nearly leapt out of my scales to Killed the Sea Serpent standing right next to me. Several of our flockmates snickered.
She chuckled. "Competitions it is, then."
After making sure responsibilities were spread evenly through our thinned flock, the three of us set out. Luckily, Fought the Leader mentioned that the flightlings would be ready to ascend above the Shell soon, becoming nameless adults. Now, more than ever, we needed that; especially because the last clutch of swimlings were about to ascend themselves.
First, we flew to what was now our usual meeting-grounds with the others: the lake where we had all hunted together for the first time. I was so used to the route that I sight-sounded only to keep watch of any other dragons flying about.
Except, I quickly realized, we were missing someone.
"Where's Survived the Storm?" I asked as I landed.
Escaped the Monsters grunted and rose from lying down. "She and her mentor watched last night. They're out telling your naming story throughout the Shell."
I had forgotten that part of the naming traditions. It was flattering and also nerve-wracking, to think that Survived the Storm was charging through the Shell shouting about me to anyone who would listen. I almost wanted to go find her to stop her, just so that everyone wouldn't be so focused on me…but they were already doing that, and in a bad way.
My heart lifted when I realized: with Survived the Storm being the one to tell my story…it would be the first good thing any dragon had ever heard about me.
"So she's almost ready to be a fully-flighted storyteller, then?" Killed the Sea Serpent purred.
"It seems so!" Fed the Flock said, puffing up with pride. "This will be her first time doing it on her own, with her mentor there to watch and guide her."
"Where is she now?" I wondered, still feeling a little outside of myself.
"Nearby, probably," Escaped the Monsters said. "She thought that the banished dragons might linger about for some time, so she wanted to offset any rumors they try to spread."
Warmth swelled through me such that I was rendered speechless. Of course I had worried about the banished, and known they would spread rumors, but wasn't that the same as always for me? To think that I had someone out there…a friend out there, defending me…
"We must thank her the next time we see her," Killed the Sea Serpent voiced my thoughts.
After a little more chatting—and a lot of inpatient huffing and puffing from the nameless male—we set off into the Shell.
Was it me, or did dragons fly closer than they did before? Was I imagining how conversations were interrupted with exclamations and descended into whispers as we passed?
We found an area where dragons were competing. Some were racing, some were sparring, some were showing off their flying expertise. Some played games of their own, chasing each other and trying to outwit each other in hunt-and-stalk. Among them all, dragons lounged and chattered.
The conversations hushed when we arrived.
Heedless of our surroundings, the nameless male threw himself forward into the competitions. "Let's race first!" he cried, his voice already carried off by the wind. After a moment's hesitation, I lifted my wings and swept after him, not liking that he was flying off all on his own.
We raced for a while, flying in huge loops around this area of the Shell. I found my mind wandering almost immediately after I focused on what was happening. Every shadow that passed over me made me flinch. Every dragon that swooped too close sent my heart racing. Soon, it was too much, and I excused myself from the races on our return and retraced my way back to where our small group was resting.
Escaped the Monsters was currently the only one there; the others were still above. He grunted a short greeting to me as I landed, scooted closer to him, and lied down.
"You seem nervous," he observed.
"I…" I glanced around, but of course, saw nothing. "I feel like something is watching me."
"Well, plenty of dragons are staring," he said, his tone betraying some irritation at their behavior. "I have been watching for some of the banished. I don't see any nearby."
A little of the tension eased out of my shoulders and wings. "That's good," I said.
"Don't let your guard down," he said. "I haven't seen any, but based on what some of these dragons are saying, they have been nearby."
Just like that, the tension came back. "Oh," I said dumbly.
"Stay close to your flock," he said. "You are named, but don't go exploring deep into the Shell just yet. If they catch you alone, they will attack you. I don't like that they stayed near your flock's territory, not at all."
"Me neither," I whispered, hunching close to the ground. Escaped the Monsters shuffled in place so that he nearly stood over me, long neck lifted high, glaring at the dragons who watched us.
"Hey, there!" someone called from afar. Both of us twisted just in time to see—or sight-sound—a stranger drop onto our rocky outcropping. "You're Saw Through Closed Eyes, right?" He approached eagerly, sniffing all over me.
"Y-yes," I squeaked, leaning against Escaped the Monsters.
"Back off," he snapped, striking his neck out like a snake and clacking his teeth for good measure.
"Woah!" the male cried, leaping back. "Sorry! I just wanted to see you up close. I heard some storytellers talking about you, and then I saw your white scales and had to see."
I perked up. "Survived the Storm?"
"Um…" he hummed ponderously. "Female dragon, really loud and makes everything about philosophy?"
"That's her," Escaped the Monsters and I both said.
"She said you weren't really cursed," the male said, taking another eager step closer. "That you didn't do anything to cause the sun and moon to die, and that you shamed the banished when you said as much. Is that true?"
"Oh, I don't—" I began.
"Yes," Escaped the Monsters interrupted, shooting me a look. "I was there."
"So, you really didn't do it?" the male pressed.
I finally found my voice. Straightening up, I stared directly into his eyes. "No. The dragons there just wanted someone to blame."
"Wow." He hummed sympathetically, as if it were some small misfortune. "Well, that's a shame, but better than the alternative. I'd rather live with thinking about it wrong all these seasons than having a cursed dragon in the Shell."
Frowning, I said, "I wouldn't wish it on anyone."
He cocked his head. "The storyteller talked about how you wept with the seasons of pain. Was it really that bad?"
"Are you always so intrusive?" Escaped the Monsters growled, losing patience. "You haven't even introduced yourself. And to answer your question, again, yes. Survived the Storm was there as well." He rose even higher, rattling his spines. A whiff of smoke drifted across my nose.
The male lowered his belly to the ground. "S-sorry," he stammered. "I just—if it was true—that she wasn't a curse—well, that's excellent news! It means those banished dragons are wrong!"
My heart dropped. "Where did you see them?"
He clucked his tongue, already forgetting his scolding. "I think…a little ways from here, actually. They were going on about how you would bring ruin to the Shell one way or another." He paused, considering. "But you are a very small dragon, now that I see you up close…" He sniffed at me again, glanced up at Escaped the Monsters, and flinched. "W-well, thank you. And sorry for all of these seasons of misunderstanding. I'll be off now." With that, he bustled away.
Escaped the Monsters snorted. "Some dragons," he said, shaking his head. "He was far too old to behave like that."
His voice was like an echo in a cave. I watched the stranger until his form dissolved into the colors of the Shell. "He apologized," I whispered.
Escaped the Monsters paused. "Yes," he murmured. He leaned down and nosed me in a rare physical gesture. "He did."
o.O.o
That night, I slipped out of Killed the Sea Serpent's nest and glided down to our flock's gathering place. Leaning down, I took in all of the scents of our flockmates. I centered on the one I needed and traced its path.
It didn't take too long. I found her nest within a young forest a short flight away from our lake, sheltered in a cave sprouting with glowing crystals and embedded with moss.
Standing at the entrance, I sight-sounded inside and called, "Fought the Leader?"
She jolted awake. "Huh?" Shaking her head, she asked, "Saw Through Closed Eyes?"
"May I…?" I asked, pawing at the entrance.
"Of course, come in," she said, easing herself upright and stretching.
"Thank you." I padded in, sniffing appreciatively at the different kinds of mosses and foliage she had brought into her nest to keep it soft. There were not as many decorations as Killed the Sea Serpents; she had no mate yet. Fought the Leader sat patiently, watching me with her pale green eyes. "I, um…" I looked down at my paws and forced them to stop tapping. "I wanted to ask you a question."
She tilted her head, prompting me to continue.
"Do you know where I was hatched?"
Fought the Leader's expression stayed calm and curious. "That was many seasons ago," she said. "Why do you ask?"
I explained it all to her: the memory I had recovered and my conversation with Killed the Sea Serpent. "I just…need to know who it was," I finished. "I know it's silly, but…"
"You want closure," Fought the Leader said. "I understand." She stared deep, deep, into my eyes. "I do remember that you were hatched last. I remember…" she paused, squinting with thought. "…we thought your egg was dead."
A wave of horror swept over me. "Dead?!"
"Your egg was cold and smelled of infection," she explained. She pressed her side into mine sympathetically. "Thank the first ones that we were wrong."
I shuddered. A dead egg…I had hatched from a dead egg?
"Is that why I am…the way I am?"
"I don't know," Fought the Leader assured me. In a more firm voice, she said, "Nobody will ever know."
I couldn't help but stare at my white scales, which shone so bright compared to her blue-black complexion. "I've never heard of this happening before. I've tended to sick eggs and they always hatched…right."
Grief blossomed in her eyes. "You're not wrong, Saw Through Closed Eyes," she murmured. "But you are correct. No dragon has hatched like you did. But we knew this information would only be used to place further blame on you, especially after you were accused of being cursed. So we spoke of it to no one, and I'm certain you will be wise to do the same."
"We?" I echoed.
Fought the Leader blinked in surprise and then sighed. "Yes," she relented, as if I'd pried the answer from her with my claws. "Myself, Killed the Sea Serpent, and…" Her ears and frills drooped. She broke eye contact and looked away. After several hushed breaths, she finished, "Healed the Flightling."
I recognized the name; she and Killed the Sea Serpent had spoken it after I had woken from my mushroom-sickness. We had just lost Healed the Flightling, our flock leader had said.
"Who is that?"
"He is dead." She met my gaze, her own eyes deepened with sorrow. "He was Killed the Sea Serpent's mate. I don't think she has ever truly recovered from losing him. I suspect that is why she passed you on to me to talk about this. It sounds like she wasn't very subtle about it." She managed a weak smile. "Please don't be cross with her. He took great care to help your egg, even when all of us thought you would die. I don't think she is ready to talk about him, not even now."
"Oh," I breathed, slumping. I hadn't even thought that our leader's behavior was odd during our conversation—she had masked it so well, and all the while, I was asking her questions that reminded her of her dead mate. "What…happened to him?"
"He fell defending her. And that is all you must know," she said. "It's a very sensitive subject."
I frowned. Swimlings form memories early; if a flockmate had died, I might have remembered it, even if I had been very young at the time. "I don't remember him," I thought aloud. "If he tended to my egg, then does that mean he died before I hatched?"
Fought the Leader's expression hardened. "Saw Through Closed Eyes, you are asking questions that cannot be answered."
I stared at her in confusion. "But I only want to know who it was that saved me," I protested.
"I know. You must stop." She refused to look away, her brows knitted together, eyes hard, jaw clenched. "With the banished flying around crying to anyone who would listen that they were wrongfully expelled from our flock, that you will bring destruction upon the Shell…" She shook her head. "The last thing you need is to go hunting for answers that might embolden them."
"Because of my egg?" I asked, my head swimming. What did she mean? I could see how it could be used against me—but they could use anything against me, and would. So why did it matter?
Pity flickered through her gaze. "Because dragons loved you so, that they would rather die if it meant you could live," she said.
I gaped. Instead of warmth, however, cold seeping through my body, from paws to tailtip. "Dragons…died because of me?"
She met my eye. "Killed the Sea Serpent asked you what you hoped to gain from this. She was trying to shield you. But I will be blunt, Saw Through Closed Eyes. You do not have anything to gain but sorrow and misplaced guilt. And now, when you are finally welcomed, and with dragons in the Shell coming to see you as you truly are, I do not want this to weigh down on you." She leaned towards me and gave me a gentle lick on the forehead.
"What's done is done. Do not ask questions you don't want the answer to. Let it rest, so that you may welcome your future."
o.O.o
The days went on in a blur.
We competed. We hunted. We played games. We patrolled. We even listened to storytellers, as embarrassing as it was to hear my own story told to me and feel the eyes of dragons comparing the real me to the imagined me.
The whole time, Fought the Leader's words rattled in my head.
They would rather die if it meant you could live.
Whoever had saved me must be gone. It sickened me, deeper and more potent than any mushroom-sickness. It was silly to mourn a dragon I had never met, but I remembered them. I wanted to scream at Fought the Leader to tell me more. I wanted to beg Killed the Sea Serpent to explain. But the thought of hurting her by bringing up memories of her dead mate, and after all she had done for me, silenced the words on my tongue.
What was it that I wanted to gain?
Was the knowledge worth it, if even the slightest understanding sent me reeling, lost in a tempest with no sight of up or down?
The questions lingered around me, twisting and turning through my every conversation with my flockmates.
I wanted to know, but I feared the answer.
Was it so wrong to follow Fought the Leader's advice?
She and Killed the Sea Serpent seemed to think so. The days of turmoil followed by sleepless nights spoke otherwise.
Now I could see that I had tracked a scent that I shouldn't have—something that lead to a dead, rotting thing, buried in debris. I should gag and turn away. I should push it from my mind. I should forget, just as I had before.
You don't have anything to gain but sorrow and misplaced guilt.
But why?
I tried to ignore it. With each sleepless night, fatigue swept upon me sooner the following day. I shouldered it off—or tried to. If I could just find something to occupy my mind, if I spent some time distancing myself from it, then I would feel better. I knew I couldn't hide Under anymore, but in this case, I wanted to bury it as deep as it could, so that it was surrounded by the cold and dark depths.
And so, with nothing else I could do, I poured my efforts into the one solid task I could grasp in my claws: helping the nameless male earn his name.
The nameless male threw himself into everything he did, but almost as if he could sense my change in mood, he began to grow discouraged. He fought to win every competition. He tried to patrol as far out as he could. He did everything he could to hunt the most.
But, as we all knew, Killed the Sea Serpent was hard to impress.
"I don't know what I'm going to do," he moaned to me as we rode the air currents outside of the Shell.
I jolted; we had been flying in silence, and since there was nothing I could do but stare at blurry clouds on patrol responsibility, my mind had wandered back to my conversation with Fought the Leader. We were near the end of our patrol responsibility, the sun inching its way down towards the horizon.
"All of my clutchmates are named," he went on, having not noticed that my mind had been elsewhere. "With the flightlings about to become adults, I'll be the oldest nameless!"
"Don't worry," I soothed him. "You're working so hard, it's only a matter of time."
"But even with Killed the Sea Serpent's help, I still don't have one. " He sighed, ears and legs drooping. "I don't know how you lived through it for so long. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of always being talked down to, being the last to eat, not being able to explore, needing permission to compete and play!"
The frustration in his voice snapped me alert. "I…didn't know it upset you so much," I said.
"It was different before. You deserved to get your name first, and I thought I would get mine right after you. It didn't even bother me until…" he trailed off, and then guilt and shame filled his voice. "…you were named, and then, other dragons started telling me I had to act different around you."
Now I was slumping, too. I angled myself closer so that I could brush my wingtip against his. "I don't like it at all, either," I said. "That's why I want to help you get your name, so everything can go back to normal."
"Not normal," he said. "Better than normal!"
"That's right," I said with a small smile.
From afar, Killed the Sea Serpent shouted, "Alright, everyone, time to fly back!"
Just like that, the nameless male's enthusiasm faded. "I guess we'll try tomorrow," he murmured.
We returned to our flock's lake. I sat next to the nameless male as those on hunting responsibility brought us some food. It didn't matter to me if I got less; I would wait, if that made him feel better.
My plan failed almost immediately.
"Saw Through Closed Eyes, come get your food!" Chased the Auroras called.
I winced. "O-oh, um…" I began.
"Go on," the nameless male interrupted, nudging me.
I pushed him back. "I want to eat with you."
He shoved his shoulder against mine, this time with an urgent glance at the named dragons. "Go."
I turned and sight-sounded towards them. All of them had stopped eating to watch.
Though I had made the decision to hold back, I knew without a doubt that they would blame him.
My ears and frills drooped. I got up. "Sorry," I murmured, and walked over to get my meal, head low and tail dragging.
"It's okay," he whispered back. But his gaze bore into my back, sending prickles down my spine.
Though I didn't eat much, the others had a big appetite. When we were done, there was hardly anything left for him.
o.O.o
Toothless
It was late evening on the second day with the sea-dragon. The sun was setting against a swath of oncoming stormclouds, a brilliant orange streak against the daunting gray-green of the fierce storm. In the far distance, a mirage of mountains poked just above the horizon. They were nearly as pale as the sky, almost completely obscured by the atmosphere. Hiccup couldn't see them yet, and the King only knew they were there when he used his looking-thing. To me, they commanded all of my thoughts and attention.
There. That was where Shadow-Blenders had last been seen. Right there, just out of reach.
We were simply sitting around, and it was driving me insane. The sea-dragon carried us shockingly fast, but I wanted to leap and fly! Instead, we were forced to wait, only taking to the wind for fun or to hunt. I paced along the spine we had lied upon, eyes flicking to the southern mountains every few seconds.
My paw landed on something warm and smooth.
"Ow!" Haugaeldr yelped, jolting awake. He'd spent all day with the Deep-Swimmer hatchlings, playing games with them to his heart's content, and had fallen asleep not too long ago. He snapped his serpentine tail away and pinned his long, rabbit-like ears at me. "Toothless!"
"Sorry!" I said, grimacing.
"Toothless, settle down. You're making me anxious," the King scolded. He and Hiccup were hunched over the Book of "Dragonese" and talking about grammar. Which was riveting.
"And you're wearing a trench into the sea-dragon's spine," Hiccup teased.
I shot a worried glance between my legs, just to make sure it wasn't true. With eggs to take care of, the sea-dragon's generosity in escorting us had not been lost on me. I would hate to leave her with bad memories of us.
"Sorry," I sighed again, stepping carefully over a grumbling Haugaeldr and settling down next to my brother and his father. "It's so hard to think about anything else now."
"Help us out with this, for now," Hiccup said. "It'll keep your mind off of it."
He was teaching the King about the tones of dragon-tongue. These were different than overtones, which were sounds on top of other sounds…much to the King's confusion. Every dragon-sound was set either in a high-pitched, medium-pitched, and low-pitched tone. When speaking, each sound could travel in six different ways: staying the same, ascending, descending, bouncing high to low, bouncing low to high, or trilling. Each variation changed the meaning of the sound. The starting and ending tone were important as well; for example, a high-bounce could start at low, bounce to high, and end back either on low or medium tones. This simple difference changed the interpretation. When multiple sounds came together to form singular thoughts, the variations became daunting and endless.
Hiccup and the King were working on the simple syntax—or, the grammar—of the tones, making sure the King could identify them. However, Hiccup was already dabbling in simple words, sometimes getting ahead of himself by describing different verb tenses and conjugations. All of it made my head spin; I pitied the poor King, who was charging headlong into the language like an overconfident yearling.
I began my job as "official sound repeater", showing the King what each variation sounded like, starting at each baseline tone. This was a trilling warble and all its relatives. This was an ascending whistle, starting from low and medium. This was a neutral growl-bark at all three tones. This was a trilling roar-bark, again at all three tones. This was a high-bounce hum. This was a descending grunt. This was a low-bounce groan. And so on and so on.
When that got old, we took a break. And by "break", Hiccup meant "changing topics". Now that the King recognized dragon sounds and tones, he spent nearly half his time pounding words into the poor human's head and forcing him—and me—to repeat them over and over.
It was incredible. Really, it was. The King could understand and even produce dragon-tongue. Staggered, drawn-out, slow, repetitive dragon-tongue. But dragon-tongue nonetheless.
…but my heart wasn't in it. Hiccup and the King had to ask me to pay attention multiple times, and somehow, my eyes continued to stray to the mountains on their own accord. Finally, after the fifth time of being snapped back to attention, I groaned, "I don't think this is helping much."
A blast of freezing wind came from the direction of the storm. The cold front had reached us; the storm would follow soon.
Hiccup shivered and pressed up against me. "You must be really excited."
"And anxious. And worried. And hopeful," I listed off, much to Hiccup's rising amusement and sympathy as he translated. My tail swung back and forth and my wings fluttered. "What if they're not there? What if they are there?"
"We'll find out when it happens," the King said, putting a reassuring paw on my forehead. "For now, the focus is on getting there. The sea-dragon said we would reach the end of her territory tomorrow, didn't she?"
"At approximately high sun, roughly ten hours into the morning, yes," Haugaeldr added sleepily, his eyes still closed.
"So that is when we head to the mountains?" I said hopefully, already knowing the King's answer.
"No," the King said. "We fly only at night now. I'll not have us spotted."
I threw my head back and moaned. That meant we would have to wait an entire half-day to get started. An entire half-day to sit around, steeping in anxiety and nervous energy.
"Patience, Toothless," the King laughed. "We shouldn't be rushing into such a dangerous place just because it took us a long time to get here."
"I am patient!" I said. He lifted an eyebrow. Haugaeldr snickered.
"It is fine," Hiccup purred. "Just a little more waiting."
"I fear there may be more than a little," came a muffled, piping voice from below: the sea-dragon. Her spines swayed like a forest of trees in a hurricane. She lifted her head out of the water, carrying waterfalls down her frills and spines. She shook the last of the sea-water away with a gargantuan flick of her head. Twisting around to peer at us, she said, "I can hear many ships moving in the water ahead. Three, by my count. They are large and have human machines on them."
Once Hiccup began translating, the King immediately got to his paws and took out his looking-thing. "I don't see them yet," he said after a moment.
"So still plenty far away to avoid them," Hiccup said. "Can we go around?"
"I'm afraid they are quite spread out, little dear," she said. A frown wrinkled across her aged snout. "I hear…dragon voices, as well. They are echoing inside the ships. Poor little dears. I cannot sink the ships without drowning them as well."
Thunder rumbled across the waves. Another icy gale rippled the water into obscurity.
Dragon trappers.
The remnants of the shadow-nest.
Here, where Shadow-Blenders may yet live.
Hiccup met my eyes, his own lit with grim determination. Our link burst to life.
We need to help them! came the decision, born between the two of us, from a self made of us both. We remembered the shadow-nest. We remembered the Kill Ring. We remembered the pain, the terror, the fear-scent, the choking blood, the metal chains, the ropes, the muzzles, the cages.
We remembered, and we hated it.
No dragon would suffer the same fate if we knew we could help.
I jolted to my feet, baring my teeth. Hiccup leapt upon my back in one smooth motion.
"No," the King commanded, stepping in front of us.
"The sun is setting. There is a storm. And it will be night by the time we reach them," I said. "They won't see us."
"We can't just leave dragons to be trapped," Hiccup added after translating, his body tense upon my shoulders.
"What about being more careful?" the King growled. "You promised, Hiccup."
I looked up at him. Guilt darkened his eyes, drawing a shadow down his face in the dim light. He pulled the hood of his dragon-self over his head, hiding his humanity beneath the Shadow-Blender scales and spines.
"We know what it's like to be trapped, Dad," he said softly.
The King's stern look sunk into one of sorrow and pain. The wind ripped past us, sending his fur flying. It was surreal, to see him so clearly in the light, while the sky only further blackened.
He opened his mouth to speak.
I gave him no chance. With a powerful leap and downstroke, I had us blazing into the sky, out towards those distant mountains on the horizon. The Dragoness of the Moon must have been guiding us, because the storm-winds gathered beneath my wings and threw us straight towards the direction of the floating-trees.
The rain came on suddenly as a solid sheet. The ocean and mountains beyond dissolved into nothing but rain and darkness, obscuring us from view.
"Dad is going to be so mad," Hiccup groaned, flattening to my back and digging his paws in to hold on.
"Let him be," I said. I narrowed my eyes. Just barely, I could make out little flecks of light on the water. Human floating-trees. "We could use his anger when we free those dragons."
o.O.o
The storm tore apart the horizon as a solid wall of roiling clouds, shocks of lightning, screeching wind, and roaring thunder. The rain barreled at us in spiny sheets, each droplet sharpened as if to pierce straight to my bones. I ambled and swooped and ducked into the warring storm-winds as they fought over my flight, each trying to rip me away just as another caught me in its claws. My tail swung like mad. Each solid wingbeat was accompanied by several small, shallow corrections, if only to keep from spiraling head-over-tail into the water far below.
Hiccup and I bore through it, piercing into the chaos like a claw through unsuspecting prey.
The floating-trees were mere blurs against the tumultuous rage of the ocean. Were it not for a chance flash of lightning reflecting bright on the metal cages, I would have swept right past them. Hiccup hissed, leaning towards the brief beacon as it sunk back into darkness.
"How should we approach it?" I shouted over the cacophony, banking hard against a sudden gallow of wind from the front.
"I can barely see it," Hiccup said, pressing close to my ear. "I think I saw cages and snapping traps."
I took us in for another view, circling at a distance like a bird of prey. Another flash-and-boom of electricity zinged through the air, leaving the stunning-bright scent of lightning zipping across my tongue. In that moment, I clearly saw barred cages.
Dragon scales glimmered within them.
"The sails are stowed," Hiccup observed. "I think I saw men bailing water. They've got a storm anchor thrown, and they're trying to run into the winds."
Sometimes I wondered how he managed to forget that I knew nothing of floating-trees. "What does that mean?"
"It means we can't sneak onto the deck," he said. "There must be people up there taking turns bailing water and steering. But maybe…"
He told me his plan.
We circled our prey one last time. Hiccup could scarcely see anything, so it was up to me to give him as accurate an image as possible. Indeed, there were humans scooping water from the floating-tree, both its dorsal surface as well as from below. All of them had attached themselves to the ship with rope and metal contraptions, so that when they fell—which happened often—they didn't slide right off the floating-tree as it lurched from side to side. The wing-like "sails" were pulled in close, preventing the wind from knocking the floating-tree about.
I counted seven traps with dragons in them. They, too, were secured to the floating-tree, with much more metal and bindings than seemed necessary.
Squinting against the rain and the sea-foam kicked up in the striking winds, I tucked my wings and swooped low. The ocean waves formed mountains and deep valleys below. Their crests brushed up against my belly. It was daunting, to be so close that a stray wave could snatch us both up and swallow us whole. I strained my wings and tailfins, fighting to keep our course straight.
The floating-tree moaned with effort as it began to climb up another wave. Its head went straight up, like a dragon taking off, and the humans and dragons on top of it would have been flung off if it weren't for their bindings.
"Now!" Hiccup hissed.
I struck my wings down in several powerful beats, racing to catch up to the floating-tree before it reached the crest of the wave. Lightning struck directly above, washing the scene in blinding light. In that heartbeat, I glanced onto the floating-tree, and met the eyes of a terror-stricken dragon.
We closed in on the floating-tree's rear. A sturdy rope nearly as thick as Hiccup dangled off the end, where something heavy was sunken into the water and dragging behind.
I opened my magic channels and felt the rush of power and heat surge through my muscles. As we sped past it, I lashed out with my claws at the rope. It severed as cleanly as though it were made of softened fish-meat.
The end sunken into the ocean disappeared in a breath. I angled my wings and ascended. The floating-tree reached the crest of the wave and crashed down its slope.
Within moments, its handicap became clear. Somehow, the heavy thing had kept the floating-tree on course. It had dragged behind it in the direction of the waves, and because of that, it had kept the floating-tree facing forwards into them, so that its head may pierce through them.
A wave crashed into the front. It lurched so sickeningly that fear for the dragons trapped there struck through my heart. The floating-tree righted itself, but just at a slight angle. It rocked the opposite direction, and as it began to even out, another great wave hit it broadside, pushing it so that it now exposed its side to the wind and water. The humans aboard began to shout, the fear in their voice clear even above the din.
I stooped my wings, dove, and landed atop one of the cages. The dragon—the same who'd seen me—looked up.
"Thank the first ones," he whimpered. "Please…please help…"
"We are," I said, tightening my claws as a gale threatened to pull us right off the cage. Hiccup scrambled off of my shoulders and leapt onto the ground. As he straightened to his two feet, so achingly, clearly human, the dragon pulled away.
"It is fine," he comforted him. He snatched up a metal thing in his paws and pulled. Just like that, the cage opened. "Go on, fly!"
The dragon gaped at him for a moment. A wave crashed over the floating tree.
I leapt and curled around Hiccup before he was washed clean off. By the time I'd looked up, the dragon had fled. The others around us began to cry out to us, shouting I'm here, help me!, adding to the chaos of the screaming humans and thundering storm.
Three more dragons we saved, darting from cage to cage, holding to the shadows. But our luck was soon run through.
A human shouted in a language I didn't understand. The two of us spun together, each of us snarling. They were just in front of us, holding some sort of contraption in their paws. Their eyes bugged out, flicking between the two of us.
Before the human could regain their courage, I spat a fireball at the rope they'd snapped to one of the cages. It disintegrated. The floating-tree rocked into another wave. The water cascaded down towards us, and with a horrified scream, the human was swept off their feet and launched into the ocean.
"Get the rest!" I cried. "I'll keep them away!"
Hiccup scrambled to the other cages, and I ran ahead of him, blocking any view of him with my body. The humans, now alerted to us, were faced with a choice: fight us, or fix their floating-tree.
The only problem with that is that both required moving past us.
A human unsheathed his sword, catching raindrops on its gleaming edge. Hiccup gasped and lurched backwards.
With another human behind him holding a bow-and-arrow, the human rushed forward.
I planted my feet and roared.
The humans skidded to a stop. I charged.
The sword-bearing human took the full force of my weight. I crashed into him, knocking him from his feet, and trampled over him in a straight line towards the other. The human squeaked and let loose an arrow, which immediately went astray in the storm-winds. It skinned across my side, painful in the constant barrage of rain but shallow. With a savage hiss, I snapped my teeth around the paw holding the weapon and clamped down. Sickening human-blood poured into my maw.
Wrinkling my nose in fury and disgust, I reared onto my hind legs and thrust the human into the air. The floating-tree swept on, heedless of its charge, and his scream faded into the ocean.
Another cage flung open, another bustling of wings.
Hiccup was suddenly at my side, holding onto me to keep from slipping. "Release the rest of your dragons!" he cried, pointing at the remaining cages.
I flared my wings and brought my fire to my throat, letting blue-purple flame drip out from the edges of my jaw.
The humans got the message. They sprinted to the cages themselves, throwing them open. The dragons blazed into the air, leaving us the only two left.
Hiccup and I leered at the humans. They babbled pleadingly, holding their paws out, some even dropping to their knees.
I didn't even want to waste my strength on such pathetic wretches. I turned my nose up at them as if they were rancid meat and extinguished my flame.
My brother leapt onto my shoulders. With one final sneer at the pathetic trappers, I leapt into the air, leaving them to the ocean's cruel mercy.
We found the second floating-tree ambling through the ocean, already lilting heavily to its side. Hiccup gasped that it must be "taking on" water—meaning, to my horror, that it was sinking.
With the dragons still on it.
Just like last time, we released its anchor. It crashed about. I barreled onto the surface, opened my wings wide, and howled like I'd gone mad.
The humans, already panicked, lost all their nerve. They bundled together like a flock of sheep, bristling with weapons, eyes petrified in the flashes of lightning. Hiccup leapt off of my back, calling to the dragons in our language and releasing them.
I charged at the trappers. The water on the floating-tree came up past my paws, rushing downwards, greedily pulling at my legs. They gasped and cried out, again in some unknown language, curling away from me in pathetic, sobbing heaps. The metallic groan of cages opening increased in intensity.
"Thank you! Oh, thank you!" one dragon cried, actually taking a moment to stop and speak to us. "Outsiders you may be, but first ones bless you!"
I glanced over at my shoulder. Hiccup, who was holding onto the cage door he'd just opened, met my eyes and shrugged.
I snapped back towards the cowering humans. They bustled even further away—not a single brave soul among them. Which was no surprise, considering their choice of lifestyle.
When the last cage was opened, Hiccup ran to my side. "Who do you work for?!" he shouted.
The humans all looked at each other, the whites of their eyes glinting. I snarled, showing all my teeth and lowering my head.
"We—still learning—Norse!" one human managed in such a thick accent that even I noticed it.
Hiccup gestured at the cages. "Why?" he demanded. "Who?"
The human quivered. "Grimmel!" he said. He reached to his neck, snapped off something small wrapped around it, and brandished it. It was some sort of metal circle, a design engraved onto it.
Hiccup stepped forward and snatched it from him. The man shrunk away, eyes darting between him and me.
"Where?" Hiccup growled, baring his teeth.
The man barked something at the others. One of them produced a leather cylinder with metal ends and, refusing to meet Hiccup's eye, held it out at arm's length.
Hiccup took it. "Thanks!" he chirped. In a single smooth motion, he turned and vaulted onto my back.
I snorted at the cowards and took us away. The floating-tree sank into the storm, listing like an injured, rabid animal. Soon it would sink below.
"What are those?" I shouted over my shoulder.
"One is a mark of employment," Hiccup said. His voice swelled with determination. "But the other…I think it's a map."
o.O.o
We couldn't find the third ship.
Though we allowed the storm to sweep us along its winds and kept our eyes and ears strained to the waters, the world itself was consumed in a ceaseless deluge of freezing rain, biting winds, and choking sea-froth. The lightning and thunder drowned the eyes and ears both, blinding and deafening.
It was impossible to tell how long we searched. It could have been minutes. It could have been hours.
Either way, the strain of flying in such hazardous conditions began to take its toll. And it was at that very moment that Hiccup and I realized that leaping away from the sea-dragon's shelter and into a hurricane was probably not a good idea.
"We need—shelter!" I gasped to Hiccup. The wind tore into my throat and sucked my breath away. I pivoted and ducked my head, and it only blasted us even harder, as if to scold us.
"I can't see anything!" Hiccup said. "Can we get above the storm?"
That would put us at risk of being hit by lightning. All it would take was one strike…one lapse of unconsciousness…
The wind pulled at my wings, so much so that I could nearly feel the membranes start to tear apart. Sea-foam and salt tore at my eyes, forcing me to squint against the pain. Hiccup was in no better a position. He wrapped all four of his paws along me, and had even pulled out a makeshift "saddle rope" he carried on himself in emergencies like this. He'd wrapped it around my neck and himself, anchoring us to each other.
We had no choice.
Heaving for breath, I flopped my tail under us and scooped at the air. Our ascent was slow, the wind fighting back at my every wingbeat. The BOOM of the storm's voice hurt, making my head fuzzy. If it weren't for Hiccup's solid presence on my back, I could have easily flipped end-over-end, disorientated in this endless sprawl of darkness and water. I squeezed my eyes shut as lightning tore right past, followed by an earth-shattering roar that would have put the young King to shame.
Hiccup stiffened. "Bank!" he screeched.
I tore us off to the side before I'd even snapped my eyes open. As I did, the whole world wobbling with dizzying afterimages, something shifted just before us. It was huge, a black outline against a slightly-less-black sky, filling most of the horizon.
Hiccup lunged to my other side. I swept in that direction, my head still spinning.
"What—" I gasped. Then I realized.
Mountains.
The storm had swept us this far?!
My heart pounded so rapidly I was sure Hiccup could feel it through my back. I tried to pull into a hover, only for the wind to buffet my tail and wings and send us in a vertical spin. Hiccup and I both pressed our weight into it, turning and turning until the wind was beneath our wings and carried us again, if for a brief moment. A pitch-black form lunged for us, and I barely spread my wings out to sweep past it, kicking off of the rockface with all four of my legs to protect my tail.
"A cave!" I cried. "We need a cave!"
"Now would be a great time for some lightning!" Hiccup groused. Of course, it didn't come.
Well, then we would make some.
I opened my magic channels again, directing it to my heart-fire keeping me warm within. With only a second to draw in oxygen to light the flame, I opened my maw wide and sent one of my widest fireballs yet into the dim beyond. It exploded in a blinding white flash, but we were prepared for it. In that brief moment, the mountains around us lit up as if the Dragon of the Sun himself had reached a guiding paw down to us.
Mountains were everywhere, tall and jagged like teeth. Deep valleys brimmed with trees, lakes and streams overflowing with the onslaught.
"There!" Hiccup cried, but the flash had faded.
"Where?!"
"This way!" He pulled his weight to the side and pressed down on my neck. It was a signal to turn and dive, and I poured myself into it.
Soon the sound of wind-swept trees added to the chaos of the rainfall and thunder. I waited for Hiccup to shift, and as he did, turning his body this way and that as a Shadow-Blender in flight would, I followed him. We leveled out. We swept up again. We turned a bit, towards the sound of a rushing waterfall.
"I saw it just here," he called. "Where the waterfall comes over the mountain!"
Now I could see it: a gaping maw in the mountain, water pouring from between its teeth. I renewed my wingbeats, panting with the effort. We were almost there, almost there, almost there—!
Silence.
I snapped wings and tailfins out, screaming to a stop, and landed atop blessed solid ground. I could barely keep my eyes open.
We were safe, and that was all that mattered.
I collapsed. Before Hiccup had even gotten off my back, everything faded away.