Dragons Against Drago Chapter 6
Inside the nest, the atmosphere was tense, with panicky overtones. Most of the dragons had never known any Alpha except the Bewilderbeast, and now he was gone. Who would be the new Alpha? Who would take care of all these dragons? Who would maintain peace in the nest? No one knew. The most prominent dragons met on the cliff in front of the former Alpha's favorite sleeping space to discuss the matter.
"We should ask one of the Night Furies to take over," said Nadder-yellow-flies-too-fast. "They're born leaders, and I heard one of them say that the Berk nest has more of them than it can hold. I'm sure one of them would be glad for the chance to rule a nest like ours."
"But they don't know us!" Snafflefang-orange-with-two-red-spots protested. "They'd want to do things their way instead of our way."
"It would cause a lot of confusion," Hobblegrunt-likes-sea-bass added. "We need order, not confusion, especially at a time like this."
"Someone who knows our ways would be best," the Snafflefang agreed. "But who?"
"Are we agreed that none of us can do the job?" Nightmare-black-with-yellow-stripes asked. They all nodded… except one.
Stormcutter-brown-likes-the-female-human hesitantly raised his head above the others and waited until they were all looking at him. "I don't like to put myself forward for a task like this," he said hesitantly, "but I think I might have been the Alpha's choice as his successor."
"Is that because you're big or because you're smart?" the Hobblegrunt challenged him.
"Neither," Cloudjumper replied. "As the Alpha lay dying, I looked in his eyes, and I felt a thought enter my head, a thought that wasn't my own. It said, 'Take care of my dragons.' That was all. I never would have thought a thing like that."
The other dragons glanced at each other. "If that's true," the Nadder said solemnly, "then it would seem that our Alpha did, indeed, choose you to take his place." Some of them bowed before him; others hesitated.
"No! Never mind! Stop!" Cloudjumper exclaimed. "I'm not at all sure I can do this! Look at the size of this nest! Count the dragons! I know they won't expect me to feed them all, but how can I maintain peace among so many? How can I rule a nest this big? I can't do such a thing by myself!"
"Then don't do it by yourself," came an unfamiliar voice from the tunnel entrance. They all whirled to stare at the newcomer crawling out of the tunnel, escorted by New-night-fury and Lady-night-fury.
It was another Stormcutter.
It was a female.
And her eyes were not yellow, but green.
She felt all their eyes on her, but she didn't flinch. She walked right up to Cloudjumper and blinked twice, which seemed to mean she wanted a TrueSight with him. He initiated it, and nearly fell over.
"Valka?" he gasped. "What's happened to you?"
"I've become what I always wanted to be," she answered softly. "Now that Stoick is gone, the only ones in the world whom I love... the only ones who love me... are all dragons. There was nothing left to tie me to humanity. Lady-night-fury did the honors for me. I thought that was appropriate, seeing how she's the first human who ever chose to become a dragon, and now I'm the second."
Cloudjumper struggled to speak. "You're not a... why didn't she turn you into a Night Fury?"
"The Night Fury population is beginning to make a comeback, but Stormcutters are still extremely rare," she replied. "And there's one Stormcutter in particular who, I think, could use some company, especially now that he's becoming the Alpha of a very large nest."
"Our rule has always been to use our Power to make Night Furies," Hiccup added, "but I allowed an exception to the rule because... well, she's my mother."
"I... I... I don't know what to say." Hiccup had never seen the big dragon at a loss for words.
"Say that you'll let me be your helper," she answered. "Maybe one Stormcutter can't rule a nest this big, but two of us together probably can."
"It sounds like you're making all my decisions for me," Cloudjumper stammered. "What is my role in this relationship?"
"For starters, you can teach me how to fly," Valka said.
"All of us Night Furies are qualified flight instructors, to one extent or another," Guana added, "but flying with four wings is way out of our league."
"You gave up everything to become a dragon?" Cloudjumper was still having a hard time believing it. "Your opposable thumbs, your human village, your very self-image!"
"Cloudjumper, this is my village! It always was. As for my thumbs, I think I'll get a lot more mileage out of wings that I ever got out of my hands." She stretched her wings and flapped them experimentally. "And my self-image... somewhere between the day you brought me here and the day my son found me, I realized I loved the idea of being a dragon more than I loved the reality of being human. For years, I danced on dragons' wings and pretended I was the one doing the flying! But now, I'm done pretending. Now I've finally become what I always dreamed of being! This is what it really is to be a dragon!" She swished her tail back and forth in delight. "Can't you be happy for me?"
"I... I am," he managed to say. "I just never expected this. I mean, this is..." He suddenly looked away.
"This is your dream come true, too?" she whispered.
"You knew?" he whispered back.
"I suspected for years that you loved me, but I didn't want to believe it," she said softly. "It wasn't until my son came along and got me thinking that I finally accepted the truth. That TrueSight only confirmed what I already knew."
"And you'll willingly become my partner, in every way?"
"In every way. But let me learn to be a dragon first," she replied kindly. "Let me learn to fly, and catch my own fish, and help keep five hundred dragons out of trouble. I think we've got a few centuries to work out the rest, don't we?"
"Spoken like a true dragon," Hiccup interjected, startling them. "For today, let's settle the issue of who's the Alpha of this nest."
"Indeed," said Nadder-yellow-flies-at-night. "Stormcutter-brown-likes-the-female-human, if you have the help of a second one of your kind, then I think you're the Alpha we need. Does anyone disagree?" One by one, they all bowed to Cloudjumper with wings outstretched.
Cloudjumper looked embarrassed for a few seconds. Then he put his head back and breathed a swirling torrent of fire into the air. The other leaders of the dragons did likewise. All over the nest, the rest of the dragons followed their example. In the middle of this fiery display, Valka turned to Hiccup. "I never breathed fire before," she whispered. "How do I do this?"
"He'll teach you," Hiccup said. "I think the two of you will teach each other a lot before you're done. Congratulations on joining a nest, taking a fine mate, and becoming the second-in-command. I'm happy for you, Mom."
"Not bad for a skinny little Viking lady," she smiled.
"No more Viking lady," her son replied. "The next time I see you, I expect to meet you in the air!"
"I'll fly circles around you!" she exclaimed.
"I'd like to see you try," he grinned back.
o
The Night Furies returned to their home with none of their usual chatter. They'd left Cloudjumper and Skullcrusher behind; the Stormcutter was the new Alpha of the frozen nest, and the Rumblehorn chose to remain with the others of his kind, now that his human friend was gone. Cloudjumper was now known to the dragons as Stormcutter-jumps-over-clouds, in honor of what Stormcutter-was-human used to call him, now that they could no longer call him Stormcutter-brown-likes-the-female-human. The mood in the nest was somber at the loss of the Bewilderbeast, but with the beginnings of hope in their new Alpha and his partner. There was no such hope among the Night Furies. They took turns bearing Stoick's mortal remains. Toothless and Guana were mourning the loss of their son, Full-of-surprises the loss of her mate, and Hiccup the loss of his father; no one knew what to say to them.
"We've been in a dozen battles," Hiccup quietly said to Astrid, "and none of us ever got killed. Somehow I'd gotten the idea that we were invincible. It hurts double to see how wrong I was."
"What a totally useless war," Astrid sighed. "Not one good thing came out of it. The nest lost its Alpha, you lost your father, we've all lost a Night Fury… for what?"
"At least my mother can be completely happy now," he replied. "That's not much, compared to the ones we've lost, but at least it's something."
Astrid edged over toward Full-of-surprises, who was flying apart from the rest of the group. "How are you holding up?" she asked her daughter quietly.
"I guess I'm all right," Full-of-surprises said after a moment. "I'm going to miss Young-teacher a lot..." Her voice trailed off.
"...but?" Astrid prompted her.
"He never gave me his heart!" she burst out. "I look at you and Dad, or Six and Faithful-brother, and you guys really love each other! I wanted that with me and Young-teacher, but he was just doing his duty for the Night Furies. He was never happy to just go flying with me for no reason. I tried to win him over, and I tried, and... I guess I gave up trying. He was never unkind, but he never got past the 'duty' thing. I don't want to be just a breeder for the species. I want to be loved, too. Is that wrong?"
"It's certainly unconventional for a dragon," Astrid mused, "but it's right, natural, and normal for a human. You're a full-blooded dragon hatched from an egg, but both your parents used to be human, and that has to have some effect on how you think and feel. No, it's not wrong to want to be loved."
"Thanks, Mom," Full-of-surprises said quietly.
They returned to Berk early in the morning. Hiccup landed outside the forge, got Gobber's attention, and indicated that they should meet at the Nest, where the Night Furies could write in their sand table and communicate more easily to humans who didn't speak Forge. Gobber got his first inkling of recent events when he got to the Nest and found Stoick's body on the ground there.
Gobber took off his helmet and gazed on his old friend in silence. Then he turned to Hiccup. "How did he... how did he die?"
IN BATTLE AGAINST
DRAGO BLUDVIST.
HE DIDN'T LOSE
"That's how he would've chosen to go," Gobber said softly. "I'll have to arrange a funeral, and then we'll choose a new chief. I know yer mother wanted ye to take yer father's place someday; he never said exactly what he wanted."
WE'LL SORT THAT OUT LATER.
BY THE WAY, MOM IS A DRAGON
NOW, AND VERY HAPPY
"So ye lost both yer parents? Hiccup... I dinna know what to say. I'm sorry."
I DIDN'T LOSE A MOTHER,
I GAINED A DRAGON
"Aye, I can see how ye might feel that way, an' I'm glad she's happy. She was never much of a Viking, but I'm sure she'll make a fine dragon. Like mother, like son, I suppose."
TOOTHLESS LOST HIS SON, AND THE
FROZEN NEST LOST ITS ALPHA.
AT LEAST DRAGO BLUDVIST IS GONE
"Drago's dead? Well, that's a spot o' good news amidst the bad. He was no friend to dragons or men. Is there anything else I ought to know?"
NOTHING THAT MATTERS TO HUMANS.
HAS ANYTHING CHANGED HERE?
"Well, yer friend Agnarr has had a spot o' bad luck. He –" His words were cut off by a frantic bellow from one of the other Night Furies, who scrambled to join them; that had to be Agnarr's brother. "Agmundr, I'm sorry. He lost his 'ands in a forge accident. I had to take off what was left or he'd have died, but that may not matter now. He hasn't eaten or drunk anything fer days. We think he means to bring his days to an end."
Agmundr turned to Hiccup. "That's exactly what he wants! He's told me many times that, if he couldn't use his hands to make things, he'd lose his mind. Hiccup, isn't there anything we can do for him? I've still got my Power. Can a dragon's Power heal him?" The moment he said it, he knew what the real answer was, with all its implications.
"The need to use his hands was the main thing that was keeping him from becoming a dragon, wasn't it?" Hiccup asked.
"As far as I know, it was the only thing," Agmundr nodded. He knew what Hiccup intended.
"All right," Hiccup said firmly. "We've all had enough of death for one week. Faithful-brother, it's time for you to earn your name and save your brother's life. Lady-night-fury, you come too, please; we may need your special talent."
"Hiccup, wait!" Astrid exclaimed. "Don't you remember how Toothless taught us that, if one dragon's Power goes up against another, it makes the mother of all fireballs? Agnarr had his ears and throat adjusted by the Asian dragon Alpha so he could speak and hear dragon language. If you do what I think you're going to do, you could blow up the whole island, and all of us with it."
"It's okay," Toothless corrected her. "That only happens if one dragon tries to undo what another dragon did. This won't be an undoing of what Tian-long did. If anything, it will be like a completion of what he started. There won't be any explosion. Go ahead; do what you have to do."
"You're sure?" Hiccup asked; Toothless nodded. "Okay, then let's do this." He and Agmundr padded across the town toward the room where Agnarr lived, with Guana following them silently. After a moment, Full-of-surprises joined them.
Gobber watched them go and shook his head. "I've got a sinkin' feelin' the Night Furies are about to take my third apprentice in a row," he said to no one. "Why can't they pick on the potter's apprentice or the tanner's apprentice fer a change? Still, I suppose it's better than the lad bein' dead."
Hiccup nosed the door open, and found Agnarr lying in bed, arms stiffly at his sides, staring at the ceiling. He glanced up when the door opened, then lay down again. "Leave me alone," he said distantly. His voice was hoarse from not having having eaten or drunk for almost three days.
"Agnarr, we can't give you your hands back, but we can give you a new life if you're willing to take it." It was a big help that Agnarr spoke and understood dragon language.
"Why won't you just let me die?" he said dismally. "Are you going to tell me I still have a lot to contribute?" He waved his bandaged stumps at them. "I'll never be able to contribute anything to anybody again!"
Agmundr stuck his head in the doorway. "No, we're going to tell you we love you, and we'd miss you if we lost you!" When the human didn't reply, he added, "Agnarr, I am not going to let you kill yourself. The others won't pressure you, but I will. I know you're willing to do this in principle. Don't make us force you into it!" Then he breathed out a small fireball that quickly widened into a Vortex of swirling colors that lit up the dark room.
Agnarr stared at it. He knew what it was; he'd seen Six's Vortex when she'd transformed three Asian dragons and his brother into Night Furies. "You can't force me to walk into your Vortex, so quit wasting your time," he snapped.
The Vortex slid toward him by an inch, then two inches, then three. It was right next to the bed now. Part of it actually overlapped the edge of the bed somehow.
"Hey, what's going on?" Agnarr cried as he shied away from it. "I thought that couldn't happen!"
"That's Guana's doing," Hiccup answered. "She has the ability to move another dragon's Vortex. She used that ability to save Bang and Six's lives when they were small, and she's using it now to save yours. She's just around the corner, and I'm sending her tail-signals to show her where to move the disc. She can chase you all around the room with it if she has to."
Agmundr added, slowly due to the strain of maintaining his Vortex, "You may think you're stubborn... but it's no use arguing with a dragon. Or with four dragons. Please choose life, my brother."
Agnarr looked at the disc. He looked at his arms, where his hands used to be. He looked at the dragons. He looked at his arms again. One teardrop slid down his cheek.
Then he took a deep breath and jumped headfirst into the Vortex.
He couldn't remember what happened right after that. When he awoke, the room seemed brighter than usual, but the colors were more subdued. The first thing he did was look at his hands. They were now strong, scaly black paws, which gave him a thrill – they weren't stumps anymore! He knew, without looking, that he had wings and a tail now. He gave his tail an experimental swish, just to be sure. He remembered how hard it was for his brother to adjust to the transformation at first. He really wasn't sure how he felt, aside from feeling relieved that he had hands again, such as they were.
"Welcome back to the land of the living," his brother's dragon voice said from the doorway. Agnarr had been hearing with dragon's ears, and speaking with a dragon's voice, for over two years now, but now that he actually was a dragon, there was a subtle difference in how he could hear. His brother's voice was instantly recognizable, yet slightly different. He glanced at the doorway. Agmundr was still watching him, but Hiccup was no longer there; his place had been taken by Night-fury-full-of-surprises.
"Uhh... hi," he said. "Thank you, I guess."
"You don't talk with a human accent anymore," Full-of-surprises said.
He glanced at his paws again. "I'm sorry I won't be able to scratch behind your ears now," he said, trying to sound casual. "But then, I wasn't going to do that anymore as a human, either."
"I'll adjust," she replied.
"How are you adjusting?" Agmundr added.
"I don't know," he said slowly. "It feels good to get my hands back, even though they can't do much. Ummm… how am I going to get out of here? I think I'm too big to fit through the doorway now."
"That's my brother, the practical thinker!" Agmundr exclaimed. "Now I know you'll be okay. We'll get the Vikings to knock out the door frame so you can make your escape. Then you can take flying lessons from Night-fury and start learning how to be a dragon. Trust me – it's awesome! You probably think you know what's in store, but you have no idea!"
"Agmundr… if you don't mind…" Full-of-surprises actually sounded nervous, which was quite unlike her. "…would it be all right if I taught him how to fly?"
"Sure, I guess so." Agmundr was totally nonplussed by this development.
"Won't Young-teacher get jealous if we start spending time together?" Agnarr wondered.
She stared at the floor. "We fought a battle," she said. "Young-teacher isn't coming back."
"Oh! I'm so sorry," he burst out. "I didn't know." He walked awkwardly to the door so he was nearly nose-to-nose with her. Agmundr discreetly stepped aside, leaving the two of them alone.
"Young-teacher was a wonderful dragon," she said softly. "He was a good friend and a fine father to our hatchlings. I'll miss him. But he never made my tail fins curl when he touched me. He and I did what we had to do, because the Night Fury species expected it of us, and so did our parents, and because… because the one I really liked wasn't a Night Fury at all."
Agnarr stared at her in astonishment. He'd seen Six have the same reaction toward his brother, but he had never, ever had a girl notice him. The very concept was alien to him. Now, his very favorite dragon (aside from his brother, of course) was standing here, admitting that she…
He bumped her nose with his, very gently. "I can't see around the doorway," he admitted. "Are your tail fins curling?"
"They've been curling ever since the first time you scratched behind my ears, back when I was still a hatchling," she smiled self-consciously. "But you've been through two traumatic changes in your life in the past four days. I'm sure you've got a lot of other things on your mind."
"I guess you've been through a traumatic change as well," he said. "You're moving kind of fast, for someone who just lost..."
Full-of-surprises replied, "We dragons show respect for the dead by honoring their memory, not by keeping ourselves lonely and miserable for a while, and then saying, 'I'm all better now, so let's get on with life.' Life is all around us, and it won't wait for us to get on with it. I've got a yearling and two hatchlings who are going to need a male role model, you're going to need a flight teacher, and I... well, you probably know about me needing to be the center of attention. I want to be the center of your attention, even if you can't scratch behind my ears anymore."
"A male role model? Me?" Agnarr was highly dubious. "I'm not much of a role model for anyone, except maybe another skinny hiccup."
"You're not a hiccup anymore," Full-of-surprises reassured him. "You're a dragon. You'll be amazed at how that will affect your self-confidence."
Again, he glanced at his paws, reassuring himself that they were still there. "Will you teach me how to catch fish? I'm kind of hungry."
"For now, there are plenty of fish in the feeding trays," she answered with a smile. "Yes, I'll teach you to fish, once you can fly. I've watched Young-teacher in action, and I learned some things about his teaching technique. I think I can teach you everything you need to know." She brushed her muzzle against his. "That means everything," she whispered.
Agnarr felt a shiver. "You never struck me as the shy type, but... wow! If a Viking girl behaved like you, she'd be in serious trouble."
"Then it's a good thing I'm not a Viking girl," Full-of-surprises grinned toothily.
Agnarr thought about that for a moment, and decided that this turn of events might be a small compensation for the loss of his hands. "Maybe... maybe it's also a good thing I'm not a Viking boy."