First Contact Chapter 3
Hiccup had never been given a royal audience before. He was used to rubbing elbows with Viking chiefs in his human days (it helped that a chief was his father), but telling his life's story to a king was different, even though the king was a dragon like himself, only bigger. Much, much bigger! "Night-fury-mother-of-twins, why don't you start by explaining how things used to be in Berk?" She cleared her throat nervously and gave a concise description of the dragon raids, the Dragon Training lessons, and the general lifestyle of the tribe that used to be hers. As he'd predicted, the Alpha asked many questions.
Hiccup picked up the story from there and told about how he'd met and befriended Toothless, and how that dragon had turned him and Astrid into Night Furies. Some of the dragons backed away; they'd had such bad experiences with humans that even an ex-human made them nervous. When he got to the part about bringing down the Mother, the Bewilderbeast stirred restlessly, so Hiccup paused.
"Regicide is not my favorite subject," the King began. "But rulership is a great obligation, not just a privilege. If this nest-queen truly mistreated her dragons in the ways you describe, then all I will say is, 'Justice was done.' Please continue."
Hiccup went on to tell the part of the story that intrigued the King the most: the forging of peace between men and dragons. All the other dragons in the nest sat in rapt silence as New-night-fury described the intense meeting with his father on the battlefield. Astrid added the parts about how she and some of their dragons had helped rebuild the Vikings' damaged ships. That also aroused the Alpha's interest.
"Did you trust these Vikings that much, that you were willing to expose yourselves to their weapons, just to help fix their warships?" he asked.
"Great One, when two groups want to reconcile but don't trust each other, someone has to make the first move," Hiccup answered for her. "We were the stronger group, so we made that first move. Yes, it was a risk, but the rewards of peace were so great, and so close to us, that it was worth taking a chance."
"True," the huge white head nodded, "but it takes great courage to make that first move. You have brought great credit to your kind, especially considering that you were newly-transformed dragons. Go on."
Hiccup told him about their homecoming, and how the release of the captive training dragons had led to the formation of a new nest in Berk village and the creation of a new kind of Viking – the dragon-rider. Astrid took over the narrative to describe Guana's transformation, her awkward courtship with Toothless, and how dragons had fought and worked side-by-side with the Vikings to save her children when the Outcasts had poisoned and kidnapped them. Then Toothless narrated the events of the Berserker War, emphasizing how the dragons had fought to protect both themselves and the Vikings, and how the Vikings had labored to heal the dragons' injuries. Hiccup interjected with the story of how the Berserk smith twins had become dragon-friends so quickly.
Then he turned to his daughter. "Your turn," he said.
"Uhh... uhh... my turn for what?" she stammered, still intimidated by the King who towered over them as he listened to them.
"Tell him about your journey to the Far East," Astrid told her. "You know that part of the story better than the rest of us."
She gazed fearfully up at that huge head. The Bewilderbeast actually smiled at her. "Please, young one. If you have a tale that is worth telling, then I would very much like to hear it."
Full-of-surprises took a deep breath and proceeded to rattle off, with many nervous run-on sentences, the story of how her older brother and sister had helped invent a common language for men and dragons; how the smith twins had contracted dragon's-blood poisoning; how both sets of twins, plus Toothless' son and herself, had flown for days to find the Eastern dragons for a cure; how her sister had tried to transform three grounded young dragons into Night Furies and inadvertently transformed one of the humans as well; how they'd found and healed another Night Fury and brought him home with them; and how the remaining human now had a dragon's long lifespan, plus ears and a throat so he could communicate in the dragons' own language. When she finished, there was silence in the nest.
At last, the Bewilderbeast spoke. "I have lived to see strange days. If I didn't already know that you were telling me the truth, I would never believe a word of this. I created my nest to give the dragons a safe place to hide from humans, because the only other way I knew was to wage war against them and win. You've invented a third way to interact with humans, and I believe it's safe to say that no one except you could have done it.
"I had thought your race was on the verge of extinction. Now there are... let me think... sixteen of you?" They nodded. "And with two breeding pairs, you will soon be even more numerous."
"That's three pairs, Your Greatness," Full-of-surprises piped up timidly. "My sister Six-shooter and Night-fury-faithful-brother are probably going to fly together soon, if they haven't already. They really like each other. They always did, even when Faithful-brother was still a human."
"I'm hoping that this one and my son will soon form a fourth pair," Toothless chimed in. "They have a lot in common, and my mate and I are convinced that they're destined for each other." Night-fury-full-of-surprises cringed; she would have turned scarlet if she could.
"Unless I'm wrong, you can make that five pairs," Astrid added. "My son, Night-fury-makes-one-heck-of-a-bang, is growing quite fond of Night-fury-bi-xi, from the East. They're spending a lot of time together, and I see all the signs of a couple about to form."
"They are?" Hiccup blurted out. "I didn't know about that!"
"What a typical male," Astrid murmured to her daughter. "He's oblivious to what's going on right under his nose."
"And all this came from one dragon and one human who learned to trust each other. From such a small beginning... after all my centuries of life, I thought I had heard everything, but I am truly amazed by this." The Bewilderbeast blinked twice. "You were right when you promised me a story that will take days to tell. You have given me a fine overview, but there are many details I wish to learn.
"You said you also came here to learn. I think it will be best if I speak to each of you in turn, while the others mingle with my dragons and learn what you will." He looked down at Toothless. "You were the first, and you set all these events in motion, so I will speak with you first. The other three are free to go anywhere in my nest." Toothless stepped forward. The other three could not step back because they were completely surrounded by the dragons.
"Okay, then," Hiccup nodded, with a bit more confidence than he'd felt when the storytelling began. "It looks like our little cultural-exchange program is off to a good start. Let's split up and see what we can find out. Astrid, I don't have to tell you what to do."
"Yes, I know," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "Find some females and do some girl-talk. You know I hate that stuff!"
"Actually, I was going to suggest that you find some fighting dragons and learn what the humans around here are like," he replied. "Tell them about that ship that shot at us, and if they already know about it, learn some more about who's on it and what they're trying to do. Full-of-surprises, go find some dragons your own age. Just hang out and have fun with them. That way, we'll learn about what they consider 'normal' stuff. Me, I want to find that big guy with the four wings. I think he's got some stories to tell." The three of them bounded into the air and scattered.
Astrid quickly linked up with a mixed cluster of dragons and asked them about any recent battles they'd fought. They had plenty to say, but they were even more eager to press her for details of the Outcast raid and the Berserker War. The idea of dragons fighting humans and winning was a new one for them. She spent more time answering questions than asking them, but because there were so many of them with so many comments to offer, she soon got a good picture of human activity in this area. The ship that had shot at them was part of a dragon-trapping expedition, led by a cruel man with marks on his face. No one knew what he wanted with the dragons he caught, except that he took them away and then came back to catch more. He was certainly creative with his methods – he had placed snares and traps all around the nest, in addition to the many weapons on his ship. He and his men were starting to build a fortified building of some kind about three miles away, which made many of the dragons nervous. Aside from him and his men, there was no human activity for miles. That was expected – the Alpha had chosen this place as a safe haven for dragons, specifically because their life-long enemies were nowhere nearby.
Full-of-surprises wasted no time in finding some young-adult dragons. Her method was simple and direct: she located a big cluster of baby dragons, and then flew as far away from them as she could. Sure enough, she soon overflew a group of adolescent dragons of various species, hanging out in a distant corner of the nest, smoking. They were quite willing for her to join them, and they plied her with questions about the outside world, to the point where she got to ask no questions at all. Still, she got a fairly good idea of how these dragons lived, just from the questions they asked her and the things they worried about. She kind of liked being the center of attention.
Hiccup searched the nest in vain for the four-winged dragon. Apparently, he'd left the nest during the Night Furies' retelling of recent events. Hiccup had to admit, that surprised him; why had an obviously smart dragon felt no curiosity about events that were still amazing to the dragons who had already lived through them? Had he found something more important to do? He settled for chatting with some of the Rumblehorns. As Rumblehorn-green-and-red-walks-into-walls had predicted, most of them had never even seen a Night Fury before. It took him a while to find the chance to ask about the dragon he wanted to meet.
"You mean Stormcutter-brown-likes-the-female-human? He probably got called out on some kind of rescue mission. That happens a lot; he's big and strong, and his human friend can do things with her hands that the rest of us can't." "They'll probably be back in an hour or two, most likely with an injured dragon in tow. He'll be glad to talk to you, I'm sure." "In the meantime, can you tell us more about what it was like to turn into a dragon?"
"Sure, but first, who's this female human you mentioned a minute ago? What's a human doing here?" Hiccup knew it would take him an hour to change the subject again, so he resolved to at least get a few of his questions answered first.
"She's the Stormcutter's friend. They do everything together. She isn't like the other humans; she likes us." "She's tried to heal a few of our injuries, but most of them are beyond her skill. She did fix a young Raincutter's broken wing so he could fly again, though." "We can't talk to her or understand her, of course, and she can't fly, but she's welcome in our nest anyway." "Hey, you used to be human – are there any others like her out there?"
He couldn't refuse to answer their questions any further without being rude, so he told them about some of the Vikings of Berk who got along well with dragons – Astrid's parents and her brother Varinn, Fishlegs, Gothi, and (of course) Agnarr. That young man's strained but steadily improving relationship with his transformed twin brother fascinated the Rumblehorns, so Hiccup told them Agnarr's entire story, from his past as an inventor of dragon-slaying devices, to his kidnapping and his adjustment to life with dragons, to his special bond with Night-fury-makes-one-heck-of-a-bang, who'd earned his name by blowing up one of Agnarr's inventions.
He was describing some of the young man's more memorable mispronunciations of dragon speech when they heard a powerful but kindly voice approaching from the entrance tunnel. "We're almost there... keep following my voice... turn a bit more to the left... that's good... we're here!" The four-winged dragon burst out of the entrance with an oddly-costumed human shape on his back and a small green dragon right behind him. "You're about one body-length above the ground. Settle straight down, slowly." The big dragon landed and continued to talk to the smaller dragon until it had landed as well. As soon as the little one was on the ground, its color changed to yellow. There was something wrong with its eyes.
The Alpha noticed the two dragons' arrival. "Excuse me a moment, Night-fury. Stormcutter, what has happened here?"
The four-winged dragon bowed. "Hobblegrunt-likes-to-be-purple was caught in a human tree snare, Great One. He was fooled by the scent of a fish left in the tree as bait. The human female cut him free and we brought him back safely, but I fear he has lost the use of his eyes."
The Bewilderbeast growled in displeasure; Hiccup could feel the vibration of his growl. "How close was this snare to the nest?"
"Less than half a mile, Great One. Their traps seem to be everywhere now."
The Alpha scowled. "The time is not far distant when I will settle accounts with these humans. I dislike violence, but if violence is the only language that the trappers speak, then I will speak their language, and we will see who is more fluent at it. Hobblegrunt, I am sorry for the loss of your sight. You know that the rest of us will care for you until your other senses help you find your way. We will bring you some food from our next feeding time. Rest yourself; you must be tired and very frightened."
"Yes, Great One," the Hobblegrunt said in a high, quavering voice. "Thank you." He bowed in the general direction of the Bewilderbeast and nearly fell over. The human slid off the bigger dragon's side and rushed over to the Hobblegrunt. She made some rumbling, trilling noises and guided the little dragon to a crevice in the rock wall. He lay down there, curled up, and slowly turned purple from tail to head until he was all purple. He was soon asleep, exhausted from his ordeal.
Hiccup cautiously approached the Stormcutter. He hadn't realized how big this dragon really was, until he was standing next to him. As a Night Fury, it took a lot to intimidate him, and this Stormcutter was big enough and powerful-looking enough to do the job just by standing there. But there was no malice in his expression.
"Yes, Night Fury?" he asked.
"I've never encountered your kind before," Hiccup began, "and I'd like to..." He broke off as the human saw him, gasped out loud, and scuttled over towards him on all fours. He backed away; he was used to humans walking on two legs. This woman was well-spoken-of by the other dragons of the nest, but she was acting strangely and that made him nervous. Besides, he had to take it on faith that she was a woman; her head was completely covered in a vaguely dragon-like mask, and her bulky clothing revealed nothing except that she had two arms and two legs. That kind of concealment was rare among the Vikings, and usually meant that someone had a good reason not to want others to know who he or she was.
She took another stride toward him; he backed away and growled softly, not wanting to cause problems when he was a guest here, but not willing to ignore the warnings in his mind, either.
"Well, now what do I do?" she asked in perfect Norse, her voice muffled by the mask. "I'm sure you don't trust humans on two legs, and if you don't like me on four legs either, then that doesn't leave me many options."
The Stormcutter lowered his head until he was almost at eye level with him. "I don't understand her language," he said, "but I think she's confused by your reaction to her. I assure you, she means you no harm. She is a dragon-friend."
"I understand her perfectly," Hiccup replied, "and you're right about her being confused. She speaks the same language I spoke when I was a human. I wonder where she's from."