First Contact Chapter 11
"Speaking of which... is that the same dragon who carried you off?" Stoick had seen a Stormcutter only once, but the scene was indelibly burned into his mind; he'd know that dragon anywhere.
"Yes, that's Cloudjumper," Valka said, tensing up as she sensed a confrontation brewing. "He's been my closest friend for these eighteen years. He's been very patient with me, teaching me how the dragons do things. It would mean a lot to me if the two of you could get along."
"You're asking me to get along with my wife's kidnapper," Stoick said, quietly but with fire in his voice.
"He had his reasons," she said urgently. "He never harmed a hair on my head! Can't you say anything nice to him? Anything at all? Please?"
Stoick thought for a few seconds, then turned to face Cloudjumper, who hadn't taken his eyes off of them. "Well... thank you for saving her life. The other Vikings were getting very angry at her for taking the dragons' side. I think she might have had some kind of 'accident' if you hadn't taken her away."
The big dragon cocked his head curiously. Valka translated in halting Forge. "He say thank you for save my life by take me away from Vikings."
"Vikings hurt you?" Cloudjumper asked, puzzled.
"Vikings not understand me," she answered. "Vikings not understand dragons. Vikings fear what they not understand."
The Stormcutter growled. "This big one is Viking."
"Big one is good Viking," she explained quickly. "Big one is my mate."
"He love you?"
"Yes, he love me." The dragon growled again; he wasn't ready to believe that about a Viking.
"What's going on?" Stoick asked nervously.
"You don't speak Forge?" Valka was surprised at that. "Even though your own grandchildren invented it?"
"I never had any reason to learn it," Stoick answered. "The only dragons I talked to were the Night Furies, and they can understand me, and write their answers." He glanced at his Rumblehorn friend. "Maybe now I have a reason to learn it. In the meantime, why is your big friend giving me the evil eye?"
"He's been taking care of me for years," she explained. "We've done everything together. He likes me... a lot. Now that you're here, I think he's jealous."
"Jealous." Stoick looked up at the dragon with a trace of nervousness. "That's an awfully big animal, who might want me out of the way. Now I'm the one who might have an 'accident'."
"Stoick!" she burst out. "Are you still thinking of dragons as murdering, savage beasts? Cloudjumper has never harmed anyone!"
"Except for a life-long scar on a baby boy's chin," her husband shot back.
"That was an accident, because we scared him!" she retorted. "He's not jealous like humans get jealous. He doesn't see you as a threat to his own happiness, only to mine. All he really wants is for me to be happy."
"Does he understand that I want you to be happy, too?"
She thought for a moment. "Maybe I should explain that to him."
She didn't get the chance. A bright-red Hobblegrunt burst out of the entry tunnel, squawking eloquently. Valka glanced up at Cloudjumper, who, for the first time in his life, was able to translate an emergency message for her.
"She say baby dragon caught. North."
"Another bolvud dragon trap!" she burst out. She leaped onto Cloudjumper's back. "Stoick, this is why I can't leave this nest forever! Cloudjumper, let's go!"
As the Stormcutter bounded into the air, Stoick turned toward the Night Furies, who were still deep in conversation with the Alpha. "Agnarr!" he bellowed at full volume. "Grab your tools and your dragon and follow us! This is your first official emergency!" He sprinted over to his Rumblehorn friend, jumped onto his back, and pointed to the entry tunnel. "Follow that dragon!" he shouted, and they rose off the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a black blur – that pair could move fast! – and nudged his dragon to the side to let the Night Fury go first. Then he followed them into the tunnel.
It took about ten minutes of fast flying to find what they were looking for. One of the baby Scuttleclaws had triggered a deadfall trap whose working parts were hidden in a bush; the dragon's tail was pinned between two heavy logs. As Valka tried to comfort the terrified dragon, Cloudjumper moved to lift the top log, but to his surprise, it wouldn't budge.
Agnarr slid off his dragon's back and ran over to assess the scene. "It's not just a deadfall," he realized. "It's a spring trap with wooden beams for jaws, set so one jaw is stationary and the other jaw does all the swinging." He explained with gestures so the dragons could understand him. "This trap is strong enough to hold an adult dragon. It's going to take some serious muscle to pry it open." He hung his head. "I don't have that kind of muscle."
"Neither do I," Valka consoled him. "That's why we work with our dragons. We each bring something to the table that the other one doesn't have."
"She's right," Stoick decided. "Valka, tell your big friend to bear down on the bottom bar of that trap while I lift the top bar." Her Forge skills weren't up to the task, so she made a series of hand gestures. Cloudjumper watched her for a moment, then leaned his huge wing-claws on the bottom beam of the trap. Stoick put his back into lifting the top bar; it was a challenge, even for him. But he forced it open far enough to free the panicked little dragon, who half-flew, half-bounced forty feet away and landed, whimpering and trying to move its damaged tail. Valka, Agnarr, Skullcrusher, and Bang ran over to help it, leaving Stoick and Cloudjumper holding the trap.
"Pull your claws clear," he grunted at the dragon, who clearly didn't understand. "Valka! Translate for me!" She made some squawking growls in Forge; the big Stormcutter pulled his claws out of the trap just as Stoick let go, and the wooden beams slammed together with bone-crushing force... on nothing. He looked up at the dragon. "Nicely done," he puffed, and held out his hand. After a moment, the dragon reached over and laid one claw in his open hand. Stoick shook it.
"I hope this means peace between us," he said to it, knowing it couldn't understand him. "Making peace with dragons is getting to be a habit with me. My ancestors would be appalled, but I don't worry about them so much anymore." The Stormcutter rumbled something he couldn't understand, but its expression didn't seem so hostile now. "Valka, can you teach me how to say 'thank you' so your dragon can understand me?"
"His name is Cloudjumper, or that's what I call him, and 'thank you' in Forge sounds like this." She made two quick grunts. He tried to copy her; she smiled. "You just said 'I'm thirsty.' The pitches of the sounds you make are just as important as the sounds themselves." She made the "thank you" sound again; he copied her again. "Much better."
He turned to Cloudjumper and said "Thank you." The dragon snorted and made a few low-key grunts in reply. "Was that 'you're welcome'?" he asked Valka.
"No, that was something in dragon language," she said with a shrug. "I guess he doesn't know the words in Forge yet; he's as new to this language as I am. I have no idea what he said."
"He said, 'Glad to help, and you're very strong'," Agnarr called.
"I can see how helpful it will be to have a human who speaks dragon in this nest," the chief commented.
"That helpfulness has its limits," the young man replied as he walked over to join them. "Valka, what if the chief hadn't been here to help open that trap? What should I do if I face something like that, and there aren't any strong humans around, just my dragon?"
"That happens to me a lot," she answered kindly. "I usually send Cloudjumper back to the nest to get another dragon. With two of them pulling, and me giving directions, they haven't invented the trap that we can't open."
"Get help," he nodded. "Got it."
"How is little dragon?" Bang asked.
Valka's face fell. "His tail was crushed flat; he can't move the lower one-third of it. We'll have to watch it to see if the end is still getting a good blood flow. If it isn't, we'll have to remove it. Fortunately, Scuttleclaws don't need their tails to fly like some dragons do. It could have been much worse – he could have gotten caught by a wing instead of by his tail." Bang shivered; to a Night Fury, a tail injury would be as horrific as a wing injury.
Agnarr wandered over to the trap and crouched down next to it. He poked at the mechanism with a screwdriver. "It's not a very fancy design, but it'll do the job, if your goal is to crush bones and leave your victim crippled for life."
"What if your goal is to stop these trappers for good?" Valka demanded.
"In that case, I'd find the trappers and, uhh, persuade them to take up another line of work," the young smith said as he rose. "With five hundred dragons, how hard can that be?"
"Their ship can shoot nets further than any of our dragons can flame," she replied. "The dragons who lead the attack are guaranteed to become casualties. We can't find any volunteers for a suicide mission, so we don't dare attack them."
Agnarr rested his hand on Bang's head. "I'll bet a Night Fury can shoot further than those nets, and we've got three Night Furies visiting the nest. How about an attack tonight?" Bang snorted and nodded his head.
Valka considered that. "You'd have to get the King's approval. Can any of you make a battle plan and lead dragons in combat?"
"Yes," Bang growled. "All three of us have been in battle. My father and I have both made plans and led dragons. We be glad to lead this nest in fighting."
"All right," she nodded. "Speak to the Alpha about it. I have a feeling you'll have more volunteers than you can handle, once they know they can fight without getting themselves killed."
"Night Furies lead nest and protect dragons," Bang said proudly. "That is our role. We glad to do it here."
"In the meantime, can we fix this trap so it can't be used again?" Valka asked.
"Any dragon can set fire to the wooden beams," Agnarr replied, "but if you really want to wreck it, you'll need a Nadder's fire. I could take it apart, but someone else could reassemble it; I could hide the smaller parts, but making new parts is easy. You need to slice up the spring-arm and the side-jaws of the trap if you want to do the job right."
"We'll get a Nadder down here before sunset," Valka decided firmly. "There's no reason for us to wait for that, though. The little one is free, so I think we're done here." The baby Scuttleclaw was too shocked and in too much pain to fly, so the Night Fury and the Rumblehorn picked him up with their noses and settled him on Cloudjumper's back for the return flight. The Stormcutter made sure to set the wooden parts of the trap aflame, both to ruin them and to mark the place with rising smoke so the Nadder could find it easily later. They got back to the main cavern, handed the baby over to the adults who were watching them today, and reported to the King.
"I'm sad for the injured baby," he rumbled, "but I'm pleased that you rescued him, and that Hiccup's idea is bearing fruit so quickly. Night-fury-makes-one-heck-of-a-bang, Agnarr, as far as I'm concerned, you have proven yourselves. Please stay the week, just to keep your nest on schedule, but you are not on probation anymore. Tell your large human friend that I thank him as well. Agnarr, if you are willing, it would please me to talk to a human for the first time ever."
Agnarr dipped one knee. "I am willing, Great One. But first, if you are willing, I have a question. The Night Furies want to lead an attack on the trappers' ship tonight. Their long-ranged fire will protect the others. Will you permit this?" Stoick and Valka understood none of this, so Agnarr did a quick translation for them.
The Bewilderbeast looked surprised. "Why would you risk your lives for a nest that isn't yours?" he asked Bang.
"It's the right thing to do, Great One," he replied, respectfully but firmly. "I'm a Night Fury. We protect the other dragons. It's what we do."
"It's hard for me to refuse such a generous offer," the enormous dragon said at last. "If you will safeguard my subjects, then you may lead whoever is willing to follow you." Word of the impending raid spread swiftly. Within minutes, hundreds of dragons were trying to line up and volunteer.
"We can't control an army this big," Hiccup exclaimed to his son. "Half of them could go out of control and there wouldn't be a thing we could do about it. What do you think we ought to do?"
Bang thought fast. "I'd limit the strike force to the ones who have been injured by the traps. They know what humans can do to them, so they won't be reckless, and they've got a right to their revenge."
Hiccup smiled; those were his thoughts exactly. They found twenty-three dragons who could show visible scars from human traps and snares. Hiccup assigned eight of them to Bang, eight to Full-of-surprises, and took the remaining seven himself. "We strike at midnight," he told them. "Meet us at the opening to the tunnel. This will be a dragons-only raid, with no human riders. Stormcutter, I've got a special job for you..."
Half an hour later, while Agnarr was deep in conversation with the Alpha, all the rest of the Berk contingent joined Valka and Cloudjumper on the rock ledge, where they tried to decide what should happen the next day.
"Some of us, like Bang and Agnarr, need stay here," Hiccup began. "Some of us, like me, need get home soon. Rest of you, like Dad and Full-of-surprises, need to decide – home or here for this week?"
Full-of-surprises thought about it. "Because you going to raid bad-human ship, I stay until job is done. Then I go home. I can leave anytime."
"Can someone tell me what's going on?" Stoick almost pleaded. His wife gave him a quick translation. "As long as Skullcrusher is willing to give me a ride, I can leave anytime, too." He glanced down at his wife. "For tonight, I think I want to stay."
"You know we won't have any privacy, right?" she smiled nervously.
"We won't need much," he replied, almost tenderly. "I just want to hold you again. They can watch if they want to. I'll adjust to them being around."
She wrapped her arms around him. "I probably won't even notice them."