Lightning And Death Itself Chapter 10
The three Night Furies flew effortlessly across the sea together. They had spent a few more days in the cove to make sure Astrid's flying skills were up to the task before them. Her reluctance to do anything dragon-like had finally run into another trait of hers that swept all before it: competitiveness. The idea that Hiccup had become a much better flier than her was intolerable. She had to work harder at things that came naturally to him. But the same drive that had led her to hours-long axe-throwing sessions in the woods also led her to hours-long flight practice sessions in the cove, and a human observer would see no difference in their flying skills now. The trio had launched themselves into the sky early that morning, leaving the cove behind forever.
Their destination: the dragons' nest.
"We have to talk about names," Toothless called. "Dragons don't use names like humans do. Our names for each other are descriptive; they can even change if the dragon changes. You're going to meet dragons with names like Nadder-blue-white-and-black-laughs-loud, or Gronckle-brown-spot-sleeps-in-the-morning. If you don't know a dragon's name, just call them by what they look like; no one gets offended by that. It takes all the stress out of remembering names."
"That's a mouthful," Astrid said.
"It would be, if you were speaking Norse or some other human language. But our dragon voices are so expressive, and our ears are so sensitive, we can say all that in the time it would take a human to say 'Hiccup'."
"What about our names?" Hiccup asked.
"My name has always been Night-fury, because I was the only one in the nest. Hiccup, I think we'll call you New-night-fury, and Astrid will be Small-night-fury. If anyone asks where you came from or where you've spent your lives, tell the truth."
"It won't upset them to have humans in their midst?" Astrid wondered.
"They know where most Night Furies come from, and you aren't humans any more. Besides, it's easier to remember the truth than to try to keep a bunch of lies and deceptions straight. I don't know why people think dragons can't be trusted; we don't do much lying."
"I'm not surprised," Hiccup agreed. "Half a second of TrueSight would give it all away."
"True," Toothless said, "Astrid, I'm not pressuring you, but is there a reason you refuse to share TrueSight with me?"
"I'm just not comfortable with it," she said. "The whole idea, not just you. Feelings are... personal."
"I understand what you mean," Hiccup nodded, "but it's kind of liberating to let yourself be truly known, fears and all. I'm not sure that keeping our true selves secret from the world is such a great idea."
"You would take the dragons' side," she muttered.
"It's a good side to be on, seeing how you're a dragon," Toothless added. "Your position is like you've been given an extra set of eyes, and you're keeping them tightly closed."
"As long as I can see where I'm going, I'll be fine," she said.
Toothless suddenly banked down and away from them. "Tuna!" he shouted. A moment later, he fired a blast into the sea below them. It burst just below the surface, sending up a fountain of spray. A few moments later, several large fish floated to the surface, stunned.
"Each of you, grab one!" he shouted as he skimmed the water, reached down with his front feet, and nabbed a fish for himself. "These will get us into the nest with no problems."
"I thought Night Furies never brought food back," Hiccup asked as he circled.
"Any time a group of dragons enters the nest, the Mother may expect a gift," Toothless explained. "When we're part of a larger raiding group, the others bring the food. But when it's just us three, we better bring something ourselves, just to be safe." The other two siezed their fish, and they flew on.
They finally approached a scary-looking island, wreathed in fog and surrounded by odd-looking rock formations. "Finding the lower entrance is not easy," Toothless warned them. "Slow down and fly behind me in single file. We'll probably have to do this several times before you learn the way yourselves."
Hiccup was reminded of the rocks he and Toothless had barely avoided hitting on their first flight together. He tried to look for landmarks, but all the rocks looked the same. They swooped and curved around eight or nine huge stones before the island itself came into view.
"Here we go!" Toothless called. "Stay close to me until we land. If the Mother comes up to check you out, fly straight and level. Don't do anything to draw her attention." They swept into a small crevice in a sheer rock wall, and plunged into a rough tunnel that opened out into the nest itself.
The nest was a huge cave, lit by a dim red light. Ledges and small caves lined the walls and several great spires that rose up from below. The floor of the cavern couldn't be seen; it was covered in a thick yellow smoke. Above them, like an enormous chimney, was the empty cone of a volcano.
The ledges and caves were occupied by dragons of all kinds. Hiccup and Astrid pulled closer to Toothless for safety, even though they realized the foolishness of dragons depending on a dragon to protect them from dragons. Hiccup was suddenly struck by the enormity of the changes he had already accepted in his life. He was completely surrounded by creatures he had been raised to hate and trained to kill, and he was hoping they would accept him.
He felt like all their eyes were on him. As though reading his thoughts, Toothless called, "Take a good look! This is your village, this is your tribe, and these are your people." He dropped his fish into the yellow smoke; the other two did likewise.
After a moment, the smoke stirred. Hiccup stifled a scream as a dragon head bigger than his father's house rose out of the smoke. It looked around for a moment, fastened its eyes on him and Astrid, and stretched closer to them.
"Straight and level!" Toothless reminded him. Hiccup didn't dare look at that huge head, so he stared fixedly at Toothless. He heard and felt the huge thing take several sniffs; then it descended back into the smoke.
"She was checking your scent to see if she recognized you," Toothless explained. "Whatever she was testing you for, you passed. Let's land over there." He glided to an empty ledge and landed lightly. Hiccup joined him, with his usual less-than-graceful landing, and Astrid landed a moment later, as easily as Toothless did.
"Hiccup, does your father seriously think he can take this place?" she asked.
"There's a lot he doesn't know," Hiccup nodded. "A lot."
Suddenly they were joined on the ledge by a fluttering blue Deadly Nadder. "Night-fury, you're back! We hadn't seen you in weeks; we thought something bad happened!"
"I had a little trouble, but I'm back now, Nadder-all-blue-talks-all-the-time. I brought some friends, too."
"Ohhh! My goodness – I can't believe it! Two more Night Furies! This is the best news I've heard all year! I'm so happy to meet you, uhhh..."
Hiccup decided it was time to start pretending he knew what he was doing. "I'm New-night-fury, and this is Small-night-fury. We're moving in, I guess."
"Well, I know you're going to like it here," the Nadder went on. "It's a safe nest with lots of room, and we all look out for each other, and... oh, I can't believe it! Three Night Furies! This is going to change everything! I need to go spread the news!" She flapped off toward a cluster of small caves.
"She'll take care of the introductions," Toothless said with a shrug. "News spreads fast in here. We'll probably start having company in a few minutes, and it won't let up for an hour or more, so catch your breath now."
Their first visitor was an old, fat Gronckle who nearly hit the wall when he landed. "What's this I hear about some new Night Furies?" he demanded.
"You're standing right next to them, Gronckle-grouchy-questions-everything. Say hello."
The fat dragon squinted, waddled over to them, and sniffed. "Never saw you before. Where are you from?"
Here it comes, the moment of truth, Hiccup thought. "We're from Berk village."
"Village!" The Gronckle almost tripped over the word. "You mean you used to be humans?"
"Yes, we did. Tooth – I mean Night-fury transformed us."
"He got two of you? That sounds like a story I'd like to hear. Maybe another day. But if he vouches for you, that's good enough for me. Welcome to the nest. Night-fury, it's good to see you back." The Gronckle turned and buzzed away.
He had barely left when three big Monstrous Nightmares appeared. One landed, forcing Hiccup and Astrid to make room on the ledge, while the other two flapped nearby. Hiccup was forcefully reminded that, if his ride with Toothless and Astrid hadn't ended so abruptly, he had been due to kill a Monstrous Nightmare in the ring. Now he was staring up at one as the bigger dragons checked them out.
"It's true what the Nadder told us," one of them said in a rather young-sounding voice. "We've got three Night Furies now! That'll give those Vikings something to think about! Hey, guys, welcome to the nest. It's kind of dark, but we're cool here. Most of us." The other two echoed his greeting; then they had to glide aside to make room for a small flock of Nadders who all wanted to land at once. A swarm of Gronckles hovered in the background, waiting their turn.
When they finally had a short break, Hiccup whispered to Toothless, "You weren't kidding about the visitors! These guys must be desperate for news if they think I'm interesting."
"They're desperate for safety," Toothless answered. "You have no idea how they look up to us. You're doing well, by the way. Just be honest, be yourselves, and enjoy the attention. It only gets better."
Hiccup couldn't help thinking, Since when did being myself make anything better? "How are you holding up, Astrid? I mean, Small-night-fury?"
"This is just so weird!" she exclaimed. "I spent my whole life training to kill dragons, and now they're welcoming me to their village! They seem so nice, too. Most of them, anyway. They're like people, only they're not."
"Hold on a minute." Hiccup saw something on the other side of the cavern that bothered him. Eight or nine young Nadders had formed a moving sphere around a small Gronckle, and whenever the rock-like dragon tried to escape, one of them would kick it or tail-slap it back into the middle. He'd been on the receiving end of that kind of bullying, and he hated it; he realized he also hated watching it. "Toothless, Astrid, I'll be right back." He stepped off the ledge and glided over to the other side.
He circled the sphere once, quickly, then landed on a nearby outcrop. All the young dragons were watching him, as were a few adults on adjacent ledges. "I don't like what I'm seeing," he began.
"We were just having a little fun," the Nadders' ringleader said.
"Were you having fun, Gronckle-in-the-middle?"
"Not much."
Hiccup looked at each of the Nadders in turn. "Why don't you find a game that makes everybody happy?"
After a moment, one of them said, "Hey, let's play follow-the-leader in the lower reaches!" The Nadders gracefully sped away. The young Gronckle watched them go, then turned back to Hiccup. "Thank you, New-night-fury."
"You're welcome. What's your real name?"
"Gronckle-short-tail-thinks-too-hard."
Thinks too hard. The butt of all jokes. This dragon is just like me. "Don't ever stop thinking. We need all the good new ideas we can get. And don't let the others get you down." And don't tell anybody I feel like I have more in common with a Gronckle than with most of the people in my old village.
"Okay." The young dragon buzzed away, shouting, "Mom! Mom! Guess who just talked to me?"
Hiccup flew back to his ledge, where he was greeted by a Zippleback and two more Nadders. After they left, Toothless confronted him. "Do you know what you did wrong down there?"
"Uhh, no..." Here it comes.
"Absolutely nothing! That's the kind of thing everyone expects from a Night Fury. You nailed it! Now you've got a good reputation to go along with their high hopes for you."
"All I did was what you said. It bothered me, seeing them picking on the misfit. It reminded me of me."
"You're a leader in your community, New-night-fury; you're not a misfit anymore."
"And that's another thing, Toothless. You kept going on and on about how nice dragons are. How come I ran into a pack of bullies on my first day here?"
"Maybe I painted too rosy a picture," Toothless admitted. "Most dragons are nicer than most people, but we aren't perfect. We've got a few bullies, and slackers, and cowards, and boasters, and the occasional drama queen. That's one reason why we need Night Furies to oversee the nest, and it's why you'll do so well here. You've had so much practice with a society full of those types, you'll have no problems handling the tiny number of them we have here. You just proved that you know how to handle them. This is the life you were meant for."
New-night-fury looked around at all the dragons who were thinking kind thoughts about him, and wondered if Night-fury might somehow be right.