Lightning And Death Itself Chapter 18
The clouds of dust and ashes slowly settled on the battlefield. The Vikings had faced annihilation a few minutes ago. Then they watched as three Night Furies baited their gargantuan enemy, led it up into the clouds, fired on it repeatedly, and brought it down to its death. The sheer scale of the battle, and the size of their adversary, left them feeling breathless.
At last they could see more than a few feet. In the distance, they could see the charred remains of the giant dragon. Between it and them lay three irregular black lumps, chests heaving as their injured lungs tried to pull in enough air. The one on the left had landed very hard; its left hind leg was badly injured. The smaller one in the middle was lying on its side, gasping for breath, while the one on the right was clearly unconscious.
Stoick took in the scene at a glance. His eyes narrowed. Three Night Furies, at his mercy! This would be sweet payback for all the destruction they had dumped on his village over the years. He hefted his hammer and advanced on the left-hand one, which seemed to be the most alert. He could take the other two at his leisure.
"Sir! Wait! Don't do it!" came a voice. Someone was running up behind him. He turned.
"Fishlegs Ingerman? I don't remember you being part of this raid."
"Well, uhhh, I just kind of came along. But don't hurt those dragons!"
"The dragons?" Stoick's bafflement turned to anger. "That's what you're worried about? What about all the people they've killed?"
"I have a really strong feeling these dragons haven't killed anybody, sir."
"They're Night Furies! Killing is what they do! It's all they're good for!"
Fishlegs worked his way between Stoick and the closest injured dragon. "Sir, there's something I have to tell you about these dragons." He told him about the encounter at The Cliffs.
"And you expect me to believe this wild story of yours?" Stoick demanded.
"Yes, because it's true." Ruffnut broke away from the crowd and stood in front of the middle dragon. "All four of us were there. We all saw it and heard it."
"All four of you? How many stowaways did we bring on this raid?" Reluctantly, Tuffnut and Snotlout left the mass of Vikings and stood next to their friends.
Stoick shook his head. "You've listened to too many fairy tales! They're dragons and nothing more! Even if it was true, how could you know these are the same Night Furies you saw? Get out of my way!"
"We can prove it!" Ruff exclaimed. She turned and walked over to the middle Night Fury. Everyone gasped – getting that close to a dragon, even an injured one, is not a smart move when you're unarmed. And this was a Night Fury!
Ruffnut knelt next to the black dragon. "Astrid? I think that's you. Can you hear me? It's me, Ruff! I know you're kind of banged up, but can you do that fist-bump one more time, so they'll know it's you? It's really important." She held out her fist.
Slowly, agonizingly, the black dragon raised a paw and gently batted Ruffnut's hand. There were more gasps from among the watching Vikings. Ruff turned so no one could see her face; she was determined not to cry this time.
"A simple trick!" Stoick scoffed. "It just copied what you did! That's all!" He heard a scratching noise. The injured dragon had struggled to its feet and was making marks on the stone with its claw.
HI, DAD
It seemed as if Stoick had turned to stone. He stared, motionless, for what seemed like forever. Then he shook his head. "Another trick! Those dragons are clever! They saw something we wrote, and then learned to copy it! Don't let them fool you!"
IT'S ME, HICCUP
THAT'S ASTRID
Fishlegs braced himself. "Sir, I don't think any dragon ever saw that written down anywhere."
Stoick got down on one knee to look the injured Night Fury in the eye. "I'm supposed to believe that you're my son? That you got turned into... this by some kind of dragon magic, but it's really you in there?" The dragon bobbed its head up and down once and made a burbling noise.
The chief put his hands to his temples and shook his head. "No. This can't be. This is some kind of nightmare! My son... a dragon? Not my son!" The Night Fury made a sad crooning sound.
"All right, we'll settle this!" Stoick snapped, standing up again. "If you're really Hiccup, then tell me something that only Hiccup could know!"
The dragon stood motionless for a moment. Then it backed up, visibly wincing when it put its weight on its injured leg, and began scratching.
ON THE DAY MOM DIED
YOU PROMISED "I WILL BE
THERE FOR YOU ALWAYS"
It was all Stoick could do to avoid breaking down on the spot. No one else could possibly have known about that promise, in those exact words. And no one else could possibly have known how badly he had broken that promise. His hammer fell from his hand, forgotten. He addressed the dragon in a voice that was very close to breaking.
"I've spent my entire life fighting dragons, killing dragons, hating dragons. If I could wipe every dragon off the face of the world, I'd do it with a smile. And now, suddenly, I have to accept you, as part of my family? Live in my house? Share my food? It's a hard thing you're asking of me... Hiccup."
The dragon scratched. Only one answer could possibly push the chief over the line and make him truly believe.
THANK YOU FOR SUMMING THAT UP
With a groan, Stoick the Vast sank to his knees, hiding his face in his hands, oblivious to all the warriors who were watching. "My son... my son..." he sobbed. "I thought I'd lost you..."
The dragon slowly limped over to him. It reached out its head and gently rubbed its nose against his shoulder with a soft moan. Behind him, he heard Toothless stirring. Ruffnut was resting a hand on Astrid's head and saying something, but no one else could hear her.
The chief looked in the dragon's eyes. It didn't look like a killer. He took a deep breath.
"I really don't know if I can do this. There's been so much hurt, so many deaths, so much destruction... I'm not sure I can just put it all aside."
The dragon scratched out a long message. Everyone was straining to read it.
IN WAR, PEOPLE GET HURT.
YOU KILLED SOME OF MY FRIENDS TOO.
NOW WE HAVE PEACE
WE HAVE TO LEARN TO FORGIVE
Stoick slowly turned to Gobber, who was reading over his shoulder. "Gobber," he asked softly, "is a dragon lecturing me on right and wrong?"
"No, yer son is lecturin' ye on right an' wrong. I think ye better listen to 'im."
Slowly, hesitantly, Stoick reached out and rested a hammy hand on the dragon's nose. The Night Fury started to flinch away, but held himself in place and forced himself to return his father's gaze. He blinked twice.
"Hiccup... this isn't going to be an easy thing for me. It may take a while. It's going to take some major adjustments."
FOR ALL OF US
Hiccup turned, startled. It was Astrid who had written those runes. Toothless looked over her shoulder, curious. She told him what she'd written, and what the other runes said. He nodded.
"I'll give 'em this," Gobber interjected. "That was some fine fightin' they did in the sky. Stoick, I think your son is a warrior after all."
"Speaking of that," Stoick said suddenly. "If you're Hiccup, and that's the Hofferson girl, then who's that?"
TOOTHLESS, MY BEST FRIEND
HE TAUGHT ME HOW TO BE A DRAGON
Stoick looked back and forth between them. They were all identical except for some variations in their markings, and the fact that the Astrid-dragon was slightly smaller. "Toothless, uhhh... thank you, for training my son." The dragon answered with one of those half-moan, half-growl noises that meant nothing to people.
HE SAYS YOU'RE WELCOME
I am the chief of Berk, Stoick thought, head dragon slayer of my tribe, and I'm exchanging polite pleasantries with a Night Fury. Maybe I should serve tea and biscuits for them next? The ridiculousness of the scene nearly overwhelmed him. He needed something else to put his mind on.
The chief looked back at Hiccup's long message and read it again. One word suddenly leaped out at him. "Peace? What kind of peace are you talking about?"
DRAGONS RAIDED TO FEED THE MOTHER
– THAT BIG DEAD THING.
NO MORE MOTHER, NO MORE RAIDS.
PEACE
Stoick read it twice to make sure he understood it. "No more dragon raids? If that's true, it's my life's dream come true, but..." He shook his head in amazement. "How many of these huge changes do you think a person can handle in one day?"
Astrid's lungs still ached, but she managed a half-smile at Hiccup as she scratched on the rock.
WE'VE HANDLED BIGGER CHANGES
Meanwhile, Gobber had wandered behind Hiccup and was looking at his injured leg. He shook his head. "Hiccup-beastie, that doesn't look good at all. If you were a human, I'd say we had to take some o' that off."
There was no mistaking the horror on Hiccup's face, dragon or otherwise.