Lightning And Death Itself Chapter 9

Astrid was flying better, although she hadn't caught up with Hiccup yet. The two of them had had a quiet talk the previous night, and now they told Toothless what they wanted to do.

"I think it's a bad idea," Toothless said. "Really bad. No Viking is ever supposed to see a Night Fury, you could get hurt, they probably won't believe you, and what good will it do?"

"I don't know about that, Toothless," Hiccup replied. "The last time a Viking saw a Night Fury, it didn't turn out so bad, did it?"

"One point for Hiccup. I still don't think they'll believe you."

"We'll make them believe us," Astrid said earnestly. "We know these people; we know how to talk to them. And I have to do this, I really do."

"Fine," Toothless muttered. "I suppose I ought to follow you, just in case you make a mess of things and need help."

"We'd be glad for the backup, as long as they don't see you," Hiccup nodded. "It's going to be hard enough to explain ourselves, never mind you."

Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut and Tuffnut had finished the arduous hike up to The Cliffs, their favorite spot to camp out on the rare nights when they had nothing else to do. The rocky promontory had a name on the map, but to seven generations of Viking teens, it was known only as The Cliffs. It was a flat spot on the coast north of Berk village, with a charming view of the sunset and plenty of room for camp fires and tents. They'd been planning this trip for a week.

"This is going to be awesome!" Snotlout said.

"It's not the same without Astrid," Ruffnut complained.

"She'll turn up pretty soon," Tuffnut said. "She probably sprained her ankle and it's taking her a while to get back home. Or something like that."

"I kind of miss Hiccup, too," Fishlegs observed. They all glared at him through narrowed eyes. "Well, I don't mean I 'miss him' miss him, I just... notice when he's not around." They all agreed on that. They pitched their tents, spread out their sleeping rolls, and gathered firewood for a fire. The sun had set and the stars were out by the time they were ready.

"Okay, who brought the flint and steel?" Ruffnut asked. They all looked at each other blankly.

"It's not my fault; I brought it last time," Lout said.

"If you think I'm hiking all the way back down to get that," Tuff replied, "and then hiking all the way back up again, you're crazy!"

Ruff began to lose her cool. "Well, somebody has to –" They suddenly heard a soft "pfft" sound, and a tiny blue ball of light shot out of the darkness into their campfire. There was a flash, and the wood was blazing instantly.

"What... was that?" Snotlout was on his feet in a moment, looking nervously into the darkness.

"Something weird is happening here," Tuffnut quavered.

Suddenly, Fishlegs was frantically pointing and mouthing the words, "Over there! Over there!" They looked, and saw the light of the campfire reflected in two huge pale-green eyes. They backed away, but then they heard a twig break behind them, and there was another pair of eyes.

"We're surrounded," Lout whispered, looking very scared.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Ruff hissed back. "Fishlegs, what are they?"

"Uhhh, they're big, and black, and... they're staring at us."

"That's not very helpful," Tuff whispered.

One of the creatures made a mournful sound and slowly advanced toward them. The four were close to panic before it stopped and extended a foreleg.

"It's sharpening its claws on the rock before it kills us!" Snotlout moaned in terror.

"No, it's..." Fishlegs stared. "It's writing! It's scratching runes on the rocks!" They all stared.

I AM HICCUP

They heard scratching from behind them, and chanced a look back. The other creature was also marking the rocks.

I AM ASTRID

"Okay, this just went from 'weird' to 'totally weird'," Tuff noted.

"There's just one problem," Fishlegs said to no one in particular. "That isn't Hiccup and Astrid. It's two big black things."

Both creatures scratched out another message. The one that called itself Hiccup wrote –

DRAGON MAGIC

while the other one had written –

IT'S US, YOU IDIOTS!

"Okay, that could be Astrid," Ruff decided.

"Wait a minute!" Fishlegs exclaimed. "He said dragon magic! That means they're dragons! They might be..." His voice dropped to a whisper. "...Night Furies!"

"O-h-h-h... we are so dead," Snotlout moaned.

"They aren't acting dangerous," Fishlegs observed. "They're being kind of tame and nice, for big black things."

"Or it's all a trick," Tuff scoffed. "How can we trust a dragon?"

The Astrid dragon made an exasperated snort and wrote –

RUFF, TUFF, HOW WOULD I KNOW
YOUR NAMES IF IT WASN'T ME?

"I'm almost convinced," Ruff said. "I can't figure it out, but that really could be her. Somehow."

"Now we're up to 'beyond weird'," Tuff noted.

"But how do we know about the other one?" Lout objected. "Hey, black thing, if you're really Hiccup, prove it by messing something up."

The Hiccup dragon shook its head. It backed away a step and wrote again –

TELL OUR PARENTS WE ARE OKAY
TELL THEM WE RAN AWAY
WE WON'T BE COMING BACK

"That's not going to go over well," Ruff said.

"At least it's a message," Fishlegs added. "The Hoffersons have been so worried about her! Maybe they won't worry... quite so much. The chief will be glad to get some news, too."

"They want us to lie for them?" Tuff demanded. "Why can't we just tell everybody the truth?"

"For one thing, nobody would believe us," his sister rebutted. She was about to give him a shove when they saw the Hiccup dragon scratching again. It drew a rough picture of a Night Fury. Then, with three swift strokes, it drew a spear plunged into it.

"Yeah, that would be bad," Fishlegs agreed. "So, uhhh, Hiccup, what are you going to do?"

FLY AWAY
DO DRAGON THINGS
GOODBYE

That brought silence. Slowly, fearfully, Ruffnut stepped toward the Astrid dragon. She stopped just out of arm's length. The dragon's eyes grew very wide.

"Astrid, if that's really you, I'm going to miss you." The dragon let out a low, sad moan. "Be careful, and... please be careful." She held up a hand in a farewell wave. The dragon held up a paw in a matching gesture.

Hesitantly, Ruffnut made a fist and held it out. The dragon reached forward and gently batted her fist, in an imitation of Astrid and Ruff's fist-bump.

"Oh, gods, it is her!" Ruff turned away, hoping the night would hide her tears from her brother's malicious gaze.

Fishlegs watched to see if anyone would approach the Hiccup dragon. When no one else did, he started to take a step, but both dragons turned away, leaped into the air, and were quickly lost in the night.