Life with the Night Furies Chapter 2
"You wanted see me?" Agnarr was puzzled at why Varinn had summoned him to the forge. He'd tried to use a smith's hammer a few weeks ago, just for old times' sake, and had nearly destroyed it with his newfound Night Fury strength. It would have been impossible to even try it if Varinn hadn't held his ear flaps down to prevent him from stunning himself with his own din. He had sadly admitted that his days as a smith were over. What was on the human smith apprentice's mind?
"I was thinking about what happened here last time," Varinn began. He was very used to talking to dragons just like he'd talk to a human. "You had three problems. Your ears couldn't handle the noise, you couldn't hold tools made for human hands, and you were too strong for the handles. I think I've found solutions to all three problems. Let me show you what I've come up with."
He turned to his workbench, which featured several odd-shaped objects covered by dirty rags. He pulled some of the rags off the first object and revealed something like a large, thin, springy horseshoe. The ends of the shoe were covered in padded leather.
"These will hold your ear flaps down, so the noise won't affect you," the young smith explained. "You'll still need a human to put them on and take them off, but once they're in place, you can bang away and it shouldn't affect you."
The Night Fury crooned happily and gestured at the ear covers with his head. "Put on. Now. Please."
"If I put them on you now, you won't be able to hear the rest of what I'm going to say," Varinn objected. "This is the good part." He pulled some more rags away to show an odd-looking tool. It was somewhat longer than a sledgehammer, with a handle as thick as a fishing boat's mast. At one end was a heavy hammerhead. At the other was a leather strap with a buckle. About halfway down was a wooden knob the size of a big man's fist.
"This is my first attempt at making a dragon's hammer," he explained. "The strap goes around your foreleg, and your claws can grip the knob even though you don't have a thumb anymore. The handle should be tough enough to handle a Night Fury's pounding. Again, I'll have to help you put it on and take it off, but you'll be able to do some real smith work with this. If it works out, I can make some other tools, like files and saws, using the same principles."
"I like," the Night Fury nodded. "But one problem. How I hold work while I hammer?"
"I thought of that, too," Varinn smiled as he pulled away the last of the rags. This last implement was made of two straps of iron. They were firmly fastened together at one end, then bent away from each other. In the middle, they curved back and crossed each other with a hinge joint, then curved inward to form something like a set of huge pincers. This tool also had the strap at one end and the knob near the middle.
"You can hold things with these," he told his reptilian friend. "If you squeeze the straps, it makes the tongs open. Grab something with them and relax your grip, and the tongs hold tight. Then hold the knob and you can position your work however you like. The only tricky part will be balancing on two legs while your forelegs are both holding tools. I'm working on a padded belly-bench so you can sort of lie in front of your work while you hammer, but it isn't finished yet.
"So... what do you think?"
The Night Fury looked back and forth at the odd-looking tools that might... just might... enable him to do smithwork again. He hefted the hammer with one paw; the balance was quite good for a first attempt at a dragon-friendly hand tool. He carefully reached out and batted Varinn on the shoulder with his paw.
"You are true friend. Thank you. I try them now?"
"Can you wait until tomorrow? Gobber is away, getting the metal for a couple of swords. He wants me to make blades for some up-and-coming young warriors. The raw effort of fusing the metal into a solid blade would be right up your alley, and once you work out your new hammering style, I'll bet you can do it faster than any human."
"How you think of these things?" Agnarr wanted to know.
"I'd like to take the credit, but the truth is, I had a little brainstorming session with Chief Night Fury about two weeks ago. I figured he knows about dragons and he knows about smithing, so he'd be a good one to ask. He came up with most of the ideas; all I did was build them. He said that, if they work out, he might like to give them a whack as well. Can you be here tomorrow to try them out?"
"I'll be here!" The dragon couldn't stop grinning all the way back to the Nest. Agmundr had to hear about this!
o
"Wings out, wing pairs pressed close together. Tail straight, fins fanned in an inverted 'Y' shape. Head up, neck relaxed. Okay, I've got all that." The dragon formerly known as Valka, now known as Stormcutter-was-human, was standing at the top of a very, very tall cliff and was contemplating jumping off. For the first time since she'd asked Lady-night-fury to transform her into a Stormcutter, she was having second thoughts about being a dragon.
"Well? Go ahead and jump!" Cloudjumper urged her. "You know what you need to know; I've shown you how it's done. Now it's time to do it. You wanted to be a dragon, so it's time for you to fly!"
She stretched her neck and peered over the edge. "That's an awfully long way down."
"But you aren't going to go down!" her friend replied. "You've seen how the wind lifts us as soon as we step off the edge. You've done it dozens of times while you were riding on my back. You were willing to trust me; why don't you trust yourself?"
"Because you know what you're doing, and I don't!" she exclaimed. "Can't I start by jumping off a rock or something? Do I really have to take my first flight from a quarter of a mile up?"
"Believe it or not, it's safer this way because of the updraft," Cloudjumper said comfortingly. "You don't have to flap, or choose a course, or worry about bumping into other dragons in the air. I've asked them all to stay on the ground while I'm giving you this flight lesson. All you have to do is tense up your wings and step off."
"And if I fall?" she queried him.
"You won't fall, and if you do, I'll catch you, just like I've caught you before."
"I'm a lot bigger and heavier than I was before," she reminded him.
"And I'm a lot stronger than you think. Come on! Do you think I'd encourage you to do this if it wasn't safe?"
She knew he would never do such a thing. Not to her. She looked over the edge again, backed off, took a deep breath, and jumped.
For half a second, she floated in mid-air. Then her left wings dipped and she began to spiral out of control. "Cloudjumper!" she screamed.
"Wings together!" he shouted desperately as he plunged to get beneath her. "Keep your wing pairs tightly together!" She did as he said, and slowly righted herself. The updraft caught her wings on both sides equally, and she began to rise. He got himself below her to slow her descent if she fell again, but it looked like she had solved that problem. He saw her shudder and then relax, very slightly, as she realized that the wind really wouldn't let her fall. He arched his own wings to cup the air, and rose up until he was next to her.
"That was scary," she gasped.
"I did the same thing on my own first flight," he replied. "My mother warned me about it repeatedly, just like I warned you, but I suppose some lessons can't be learned on the ground." She was still spinning slowly, even though her altitude was stable. He maneuvered into a face-to-face position and rotated around her so they stayed nose to nose. "But you've passed your first test. You didn't panic; you kept your wings out and straight. You can stop the spinning by straightening your tail." She did so; she rotated in the other direction for a few seconds, then stabilized into a true hover. He tried to hover next to her, but the updraft slowly lifted him above her because he was using his wings more efficiently than she was. He deliberately spilled some air and dipped back down to her level.
"Now how do you feel?" he asked.
She looked down, blinked twice, and looked back up at her friend. "I'm standing on nothing," she began. He waited for her to go on. "I mean, I'm just standing here, a quarter of a mile up in the air with my arms out, and my other arms that I never used to have before, and my legs are resting on nothing. My head is telling me that this is my new dragon 'normal,' but there's another part of my head that's having big problems with this. I suppose I'll get over it with practice."
"Yes," he nodded, "but how do you feel? Are you afraid? Are you proud? Are you happy?"
She paused for a moment. "I feel... free. With a touch of nerves because I've never done this before. Not all by myself, I mean."
"But you weren't all by yourself," he said softly.
"I know," she answered. "But that's not what I meant. When I was a Viking, i always felt alone, but when anything went wrong, Stoick would take care of it for me. When I was a human living among the dragons, I often felt very alone, but if I had a problem, you or the Alpha would take care of it. Now, there's no one to take care of my problems but me, whether it's falling on my first flight, or feeding myself, or... I don't know what. Yes, you were here with me, but could you have caught me if I fell? I'm as big as you are! Now, I feel less lonely than I ever felt in my life, but at the same time, I've lost my support network. There's no one out here to catch me if I fall."
Cloudjumper twisted his wingtips so he slowly glided forward until he rubbed noses with his future mate. "Then I suppose I just won't let you fall."
She blinked twice and smiled. "I can live with that."
o
"Rangi! The chief wants to see you."
Young Rangi Hofferson's blood ran cold. His life had become a series of upheavals that seemingly struck everyone around him, but somehow missed him. First, his sister Astrid was turned into a Night Fury and helped destroy the Red Death dragon. Then dozens of dragons, freed from the Red Death's dominion, had taken up residence in Berk, forcing the whole tribe to learn to get along with their former enemies. Then Astrid had married Hiccup, the son of the chief who had also become a Night Fury, and began laying eggs, which technically made Rangi a dragon's uncle. Then his older brother Varinn had been chosen to replace Hiccup as Gobber's apprentice. They had been through wars with the Berserkers and with Drago Bludvist; Varinn had taken a wife and become a father, which meant Rangi had nephews among both the humans and the dragons; and through it all, he wondered when the lightning was finally going to miss his loved ones and strike him. With this message from his father, it seemed that his day had finally come.
He finished his morning chores around the house and made his way across town to the Nest, the combination of home and city-hall for Berk's Night Furies. Chief Night Fury, the tribe's new leader and Rangi's dragon brother-in-law, would be waiting for him there, along with Night-fury-mother-of-twins, formerly Astrid, Rangi's sister. What kind of trouble was he in? He racked his brain, trying to think of what he might have done wrong recently. His mischievous tendencies had been somewhat muted of late. Maybe it was because there weren't any siblings living at home anymore, so he had no one to tease. Maybe it was because he was entering his teens, which was the equivalent of young-adulthood in Viking society, and he was beginning to grow up. Whatever the reason, he could think of absolutely nothing that might have caused the chief to want to see him.
As he approached the Nest, he saw a whole row of Night Furies lying on the second floor with their heads hanging off the side, watching him. He could tell most of them apart (after all, they were family), and he was almost used to the idea of sharing his village with dragons. But the sight of so many deadly creatures, all staring at him, made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. It would have helped if he'd had any idea at all what this visit was about. He took a deep breath and climbed the wooden stairs to the second deck, where the Night Furies lived.
Night-fury-full-of-surprises and her mate-to-be, who was still known as Agnarr, stepped aside to let him enter. Thing One and Thing Two, who were two years old and more than halfway to their adult size, watched him from a corner, while Night-fury-chi-wen gazed at him lazily from another corner. Rangi's sister and brother-in-law rounded out the group. Chief Night Fury stood next to his sand table.
"My fa-" Rangi began, and stopped as his voice broke. He tried again. "My father said you wanted to see me?"
The dragon yowled and growled at him. He took a nervous step back, completely unsure what was going on here. The dragon shook his head and wrote in the sand table with a paw:
I WAS AFRAID OF THAT.
I ASKED HOW GOOD YOU
ARE AT SPEAKING FORGE
"Not very good, I guess," Rangi admitted. "I never tried to learn it because I don't talk to dragons very much."
THAT'S GOING TO CHANGE.
YOU NEED TO START LEARNING
FORGE, AND LEARNING IT WELL.
YOU'LL NEED IT FOR YOUR NEW
APPRENTICESHIP
"My what? Dad didn't tell me anything about an apprenticeship! Who would I be serving? Please tell me it won't be with Dad, learning to be a butcher!"
YOU WILL SERVE THE TRIBE'S CHIEF.
I NEED SOMEONE WHO CAN SPEAK FORGE,
TO TRANSLATE FOR ME WHEN I MEET VIKINGS
FROM OTHER TRIBES. YOU'RE YOUNG, SO
YOU'LL LEARN FAST, AND YOU'RE FAMILY
"So I'd be, like, the chief's interpreter? Wow, that's big-league stuff. Why don't you ask my brother instead? He's older, he's ridden dragons before, and he already knows Forge."
YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN GOBBER HIT
THE ROOF WHEN I SUGGESTED THAT.
"YOU NIGHT FURIES HAVE TAKEN
THREE OF MY APPRENTICES ALREADY,
AND YOU ARE NOT GETTING THIS ONE!"
"Okay, but... why me?" He turned to face Night-fury-mother-of-twins. "Did you have anything to do with this, Astrid?"
She took her place at the sand table.
YOU'RE A GOOD FIT FOR THE JOB,
AND YOU'LL TAKE IT IF YOU KNOW
WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU,
YOU LITTLE TROLL.
"I am not a troll!" he protested, then stopped. As alien as this dragon looked and sounded and acted, she was still his sister on the inside. She still knew how to tease him, and she still tried to look out for him. That was hard to understand sometimes.
HE WANTS SOMEONE YOUNG SO YOU
CAN SERVE HIM AS LONG AS
POSSIBLE. HE DOESN'T WANT TO
TRAIN A NEW APPRENTICE
EVERY 20 YEARS.
"Okay, I see how that makes sense for him, but why should I do it? It sounds like a lot of work and responsibility, and once I take the job, I'll be stuck in it for life. Why is this good for me?"
BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T TAKE IT,
YOU'LL PROBABLY HAVE TO
BECOME A BUTCHER LIKE DAD.
I KNOW THAT'S NOT YOUR DREAM.
"So either I become the chief dragon's translator, or I spend my life carving up dead animals? That's a no-brainer! Would I get my own private longship, so I could go on long trips with you, like when you go to the Thing?"
The chief took his place at the sand table.
THERE'S NO NEED FOR THAT.
YOU'D RIDE ON MY BACK
WHEREVER I GO.
Rangi didn't have to think that over at all. His nervous expression faded and was replaced by a full smile. "I'd ride a Night Fury? Sign me up! You've got a new apprentice. When do I start?"
TODAY.
YOU NEED TO LEARN FORGE.
CAN YOU LEARN FROM VARINN?
"My own brother? That would be kind of, I don't know, awkward. Is there anybody else who could teach me? Maybe a real expert in the language?"
MOST OF THE EXPERTS ARE NIGHT
FURIES NOW. HOW ABOUT FISHLEGS?
Rangi considered that possibility. "He's not exactly cool, but he's better for me than my brother. Okay."
GOOD. I'LL SPEAK TO HIM ABOUT BEING
YOUR TUTOR IN FORGE.
THE FASTER YOU LEARN, THE MORE
USEFUL YOU'LL BE TO ME, AND THE
EASIER YOUR WORK WILL BE
"Easy work? I can do that! I'll get started on that right away."
YOU'LL SPEND A FEW HOURS A DAY WITH
FISHLEGS, AND THE REST OF YOUR TIME
WITH ME, WATCHING AND LEARNING HOW
I DO THINGS. YOU'RE NOT GOING TO
SIT AROUND IDLE FOR HALF THE DAY
"Oh. Well... okay."
THANK YOU. GO SEE FISHLEGS
As the young man bounded down the stairs, Hiccup turned to Astrid. "You're sure he's going to turn out okay? I really need someone I can trust for this job. If he thinks it's funny to translate 'Hello, how are you?' into 'Hello, your nose is ugly' when I'm greeting another chief, he could cause a major incident. Maybe even start a war."
"He's a good kid," Astrid replied, 'but he needs to be kept busy or he'll make his own fun. As long as you keep him hopping, he'll do just fine. But why worry? You understand Norse; you'd catch him instantly if he started making up his own words."
Hiccup flicked his tail back and forth. "There are two issues here. One, I'll probably need him to deliver messages for me when I'm not around. He has to be fully trustworthy to report my words, all my words, and nothing but my words, when I'm not there to check on him. Two, once he becomes my interface for the humans of Berk, they're not going to perceive him as my translator. They'll see him as my second-in-command. Even though that's not his role, they're going to think it is. You know how people think." She nodded in agreement as he finished, "So he's got to be 100 percent reliable. I'm trusting your judgment on this one, Astrid, because he's your brother and you know him. If there's a problem..."
"Then I'll deal with him!" Astrid exclaimed firmly. "I know how to handle that twerp if he misbehaves. Don't worry."
"I"m not worried about you handling him," Hiccup said. "I worry about the damage he could do before you got to him."
"He'll work out okay," Night-fury-mother-of-twins reassured him. "After all, he comes from a good family."
"No argument," Chief Night Fury grinned. "No argument at all."
o
"Forge is a very simple language, compared to Norse," Fishlegs began. "It just sounds strange to us. We'll start with the basics. 'Roo rah' at a medium pitch means 'hello.' Now you try saying it. 'Roo rah.'"
Rangi smirked. "Booyah!"
Fishlegs rolled his eyes. "I think this is going to be a very long morning."