Colossal Cave Chapter 2
Peace returned to Berk for a short season. Chief-night-fury's biggest problems were a Viking child who kept trying to ride the backs of untrained dragons, and a young Nadder who came down with a case of Coryza Draconis. This was a rare disease among dragons, similar in many ways to the common cold in humans, but with one unfortunate side effect: every time she sneezed, some of her venomous tail spines went flying in random directions. The chief had to ask her to exile herself to the rocky heights of the island until the sneezing stopped.
It was near sunset on a less-cold-than-usual summer day when Mother-of-twins noticed a trio of dragons flying in from the northeast. That was odd; the Night Furies sent aerial patrols in all directions several times a day, as a precaution against surprise attacks, but always in pairs, never in threes. The newcomers soon were recognizable as a Raincutter, a Nightmare, and a Nadder, and they slowed as they approached the village, then stopped when they were half a mile away and flew in a tight circle.
Chief-night-fury watched them for a few seconds. "I don't think they're from around here," he decided. "All of our dragons know it's safe to land in the village; so do the dragons from Toothless' nest, the Outcast Island nest, and Mom's nest. They must be afraid of the Vikings."
"Shall I go and welcome them to Berk?" Astrid asked.
"We'll go together," he said. "If they're friendly, then the sight of two Night Furies will encourage them, and if they're not so friendly, then two of us can handle trouble better than one."
"Why wouldn't they be friendly?" Bang wondered. "If they aren't from around here, then they must have traveled from a nest that's far away. They wouldn't fly all that distance just to fight some random strangers, right? They must be looking for somebody, or for something."
"That makes sense," Chief-night-fury nodded, "but we'll play it safe with unknown dragons. Bang, take care of the village until we return, okay? This shouldn't take long."
Astrid turned to Bi-xi. "Would you please keep an eye on Smallest-boy until we get back?"
"Certainly," she smiled. Looking after a Night Fury yearling wasn't nearly as demanding as trying to rein in a mischievous two-year-old, a duty which Bi-xi tried to avoid whenever she could. Hiccup and his mate bounded into the air and flapped toward the trio of unknown dragons.
"Welcome to Berk!" Hiccup roared. "I'm Chief-night-fury, the leader of this nest, and this is my mate, Night-fury-mother-of-twins. You must have traveled a long distance to get here."
"Yes, we have," the Nightmare answered. "I'm Nightmare-red-with-forked-horns, and these are my friends, Raincutter-gray-icebreaker and Nadder-green-likes-to-swim. Can we land in a safe place and talk?"
"Of course," Chief-night-fury nodded. "Follow us back to our nest. You can eat some free food, rest your wings, and we'll talk when you're ready."
"But you just came from that Viking village," Icebreaker said nervously.
"That's right," Mother-of-twins explained. "Our nest is in the village, and all around it. We've worked out a peace with the Vikings here, and we all live together. We even cooperate when a situation is too big for one group to handle alone. It's perfectly safe for us."
The three newcomers glanced at each other with something that looked very much like fear in their eyes. Forked-horns finally said, "That is way, way out of our comfort zone! Can't we talk in a place where there aren't any humans?"
Hiccup shrugged. "Sure, if that's what you really want. Let's go to the cove. People never go there." He and Astrid banked and glided toward their special cove; the three new dragons followed them. It took barely five minutes until they all landed by the water. The new dragons all took a long drink.
"That was delicious," Forked-horns decided. "You said you're the leader here?"
"Yes, that's right" Astrid said. "The dragons have put him in charge of the nest, and the Vikings on this island voted to make him their chief, so he's the number-one dragon around here."
"Is there any chance we could leave the humans out of this?" Likes-to-swim quavered.
"We're doing everything we can to stay away from them!" Icebreaker added.
"That's kind of hard," Chief-night-fury began. "For one thing, they were on this island before we were, and they're pretty well established. For another thing, our races have gotten very intertwined over the past few years; we've done a lot of fighting for them, and they've done a lot of fishing for us. And for a third thing, both of us are transformed dragons, and we have family members among the humans. We realize that most dragons still think of humans as the enemy, but that is not the case on this island, and we're taking some strong steps to extend our peace to the neighboring tribes. If you want to visit our nest, then you'll have to get used to having humans around."
The visitors exchanged a look, and shivered. "I don't think we can do that," Forked-horns decided. "Maybe, if we stayed here long enough... but we're not staying. We're here with an invitation." Hiccup and Astrid's ear flaps pricked up at that.
The red Nightmare went on, "There's a nest that we're building, a brand-new nest, far away from humanity. It's about eight days away by air. Our Alphas sent us to invite you, and any of your family who want to come along, for a visit. We have most of the dragon types represented among us, but no Night Furies. Our hope is that some of you might be willing to stay with us."
Hiccup glanced at his mate and saw nothing in her expression that looked like disapproval. "That's a tempting offer," he began. "I'll have to discuss it with my family, especially if we're going to be away for weeks at a time. But we're quite willing to visit your nest. We love road trips, and I've always been in favor of stronger ties between all the nests."
"Excellent!" Forked-horns smiled. "When can we leave?"
"Probably not today," he replied. "Like I said, we need to hold a family meeting to discuss the pros and cons, and decide who's going and who's staying. Also, I'd like to get my friend Toothless in on this, and he and his mate live in another nest."
"If you don't mind my asking, how big is your family?" Icebreaker asked.
"Well, there's me and my mate," Mother-of-twins began. "We have three adult children, two juveniles, and a hatchling. We've also got two other transformed dragons who are now our sons-in-law, and five young grand-dragons."
Icebreaker let out a quick puff of flame. "For an endangered species, that's quite a crew."
"But," Hiccup went on, "if we're going on a road trip for three weeks, we'll have to make arrangements with the Vikings in the village as well. That will involve Gobber, my second-in-command, and Rangi, my translator, who is also Mother-of-twins' youngest brother."
"Since when did dragons have to get approval from humans to do anything?" Likes-to-swim demanded.
"I don't need their approval," Hiccup retorted with a hint of an edge in his voice. "But if I'm going away for a while, then the humans need to know when I'm leaving, when I'm returning, who's going with me, and who's in charge until I get back. Any chief would do the same thing. It's a courtesy, and it avoids chaos and misunderstandings. With two different species sharing the same living space, chaos and misunderstandings would happen every day if I didn't take strong steps to keep order."
"You can keep your order," Likes-to-swim muttered, "as long as you keep the humans away from us!"
"That's enough of that!" Forked-horns snarled. "We didn't fly for eight days just to pass judgment on how they do things here."
"But they've made peace with our hereditary enemies!" the Nadder protested. "If the enemy of my enemy is my friend, then what is the friend of my enemy?"
"They're honored guests," Forked-horns shot back, "or they soon will be. Their way of life isn't what we would ever choose, but if we want them to think nice things about us, then attacking their lifestyle doesn't sound like a good move to me." He turned back to the Night Furies. "I apologize for my friend. He had a close call with a trio of human longbowmen last month; they picked off one of his friends. We don't know how you arranged to live in peace with humans. It sounds impossible to us. But that's not why we came here. Can you give us a good guess as to when you can fly home with us?"
Hiccup thought hard. "It's almost sunset now, so it's too late to get Toothless down here. We'll have a meeting tomorrow morning after breakfast. We'll discuss any issues that might come up, we'll choose a few of us to fly with you as a delegation, and we'll be on our way."
"Are you sure you don't want to join us in our nest for the night?" Mother-of-twins added. "The fish in the feeding trays are free for the taking, and our dragons are always glad to meet some new faces."
"No... no, we can't do that," Forked-horns decided. "We'll stay here for the night, catch our own fish in the morning, and wait here for your decision." His two friends nodded firmly. That seemed to be the end of the discussion, so Chief-night-fury and Mother-of-twins returned to their nest.
"They weren't very talkative," she commented as they landed.
"I think they would have said plenty," he replied, "if we'd wanted to talk about hating humans."
"Maybe," she nodded. "But that's not my favorite thing to talk about." She glanced over at Night-fury-bi-xi, who was still keeping an eye on Youngest-boy for them. "I'm back on mommy-dragon duty. Please fly up to Toothless' nest and tell him that we'd like him and Lady-night-fury to join us for a meeting in the morning."
"I will... I mean I'll do it right away," she answered. She was making a conscious effort to speak like a Northern dragon and leave her distinctive Eastern speech patterns behind. She leaped off the platform and was quickly lost to sight in the gathering darkness.
Toothless arrived early the next morning, accompanied by First-girl instead of Lady-night-fury. "Somebody had to stay behind and keep an eye on our nest," he explained. "And on our sons! What's up?" They explained about their hesitant guests and the invitation to visit a faraway nest.
"You can't fault a dragon for being afraid of humans," Toothless decided. "Most of us have had bad experiences with them, and none of us have had any good experiences, except for the dragons in our little cluster of nests here."
"What kinds of bad experiences do you mean, father?" First-girl asked.
"Getting shot at," he replied shortly. "Getting wounded. Seeing your friends get killed."
First-girl gasped. The humans she knew all seemed so... so tame, so respectful toward her kind. "Humans really do those things to dragons?"
"They used to do it all the time here," Mother-of-twins explained, "until my mate and your father put a stop to it. They still do it in other parts of the world."
"I'm wondering," Hiccup thought out loud, "if these dragons think they've found a place for a nest that the humans will never find. I can't imagine such a place, but that would explain why they want us there. Every nest needs a Night Fury or two to keep an eye on things."
"They said they already have an Alpha," Astrid reminded him.
"Actually, I think they said 'Alphas,' plural," Hiccup corrected her. "That suggests a really big nest with hundreds of dragons in it."
"I'd be curious to see a nest like that," Toothless mused. "I never heard of a nest that was so big, one Alpha couldn't control it. Except for the nest with two Stormcutters in charge," he added quickly, "and they took over from a single Alpha." Hiccup had been about to object that his mother and her mate served as Alphas in what used to be the Bewilderbeast's nest.
Full-of-surprises stepped forward. "So if they already have more than one Alpha, then what do they want Night Furies for?"
"Maybe they want us to be the Alpha's helpers, the way Stormcutter-jumps-over-clouds used to help the Bewilderbeast," Mother-of-twins suggested.
Full-of-surprises glanced at her father. "Do you think you could adjust to being just a helper after you've been the Alpha over dragons and humans alike?"
"They haven't offered me a job," Chief-night-fury answered. "All they want is for us to visit and think about staying."
"That's a reasonable request," New-beginning nodded. "I know I make a similar request to every dragon who shows up at my nest."
"So do I," Toothless added, "and I'm sure you do it too, Chief-night-fury. All Alphas do it. It's a quick and easy way to grow our nests."
"Can anyone think of any likely problems that might happen if a few of us visit this nest?" Hiccup asked. No one could think of anything. "All righty, then. Now we'll decide who's going with me." After a few minutes' negotiations, he chose Mother-of-twins, Bang, Six, and Faithful-brother.
"I assume you want me to go along as well?" Toothless asked him.
"I always feel better when you're with us on a trip like this," Hiccup replied. "You've been a dragon a lot longer than we have. If there are any signs of trouble, you'll probably see them long before I will."
"Can I go too, Father?" First-girl nearly begged him.
"I'll talk to your mother about it," he answered with a tolerant smile. "You're still looking for a way to win your adult name, aren't you?"
"I just think it will be neat to visit a really, really big nest," she said, and paused. "Yeah, it would be nice to earn my adult name, too."
Hiccup turned to Full-of-surprises. "Are you ready to take your turn keeping an eye on the dragons and the Vikings while I'm away?"
"I think so," she said, though her tone and her facial expression suggested that she wasn't exactly eager for the chance to be in charge for nearly three weeks. "As long as you promise to come back!"
"Okay," Mother-of-twins nodded. "Don't make any new laws for the Vikings until we return, and don't hesitate to ask the other Night Furies for help if you need it."
"What's the plan, Dad?" Six asked him.
"We'll fly to the cove and pick up our guests. Then we'll visit your Uncle Toothless' nest and let him talk to Lady-night-fury about whether First-girl should go with us. After that... they tell me it's an eight-day trip."
The visit to the Dragon Island nest didn't go quite as smoothly as Toothless had thought it would. He'd thought that Lady-night-fury wouldn't object to him flying away for three weeks with their daughter. He thought wrong.
"So you want to go flapping all over creation in search of a new adventure, do you?" she demanded. "You're assuming that you can leave me here, in charge of a hundred dragons, while you have all the fun? What if I wanted a turn looking for adventure? What if I want a little fun? Were you thinking of asking me that?"
"I... I didn't think you were the adventure-seeking type," he stammered.
"I'm not," she countered, "but everybody needs to shake up their life now and then. Seeing these same rock walls, day after day, is driving me crazy. I'm in the mood to do something different! I want a piece of this adventure."
"I'd love to take you with me, but we can't both go – someone has to watch the nest while we're away," Toothless said carefully. "I was looking forward to some time with my best friend. But there's no denying that it's your turn to take a road trip. How can we settle this?"
"I know!" their daughter exclaimed. "Maybe Chi-wen or Bi-xi can watch the nest, so we all can go! They've had some practice with their mountain-lake nest, right?"
"Our nest is a lot bigger than the mountain-lake nest," Toothless reminded her.
"But if they both took over together, they could probably handle it," Guana decided. "That's a good idea, First-girl. That's assuming that Chief-night-fury says it's okay, of course."
"Was it a really, really good idea?" First-girl asked hopefully.
"It was good, but not good enough to make a name for yourself," her father said. She sighed and looked down, discouraged.
"I have no objections," Chief-night-fury thought out loud, "and I know that Chi-wen and Bi-xi won't object either. They and their friend Pu-lao are all shaping up into first-class nest-minders. Toothless, rather than one of us flying there and back, why don't you send one of your dragons to bring those two Night Furies back here? That way, we can save our wings for the long flight ahead of us."
It was agreed, and the eight Night Furies were soon gliding along behind the three dragons from "the big nest," which is what they called it for lack of a better name. Their guides were still far from being chatterboxes, and they were almost rude in their refusals to tell their guests much of anything about where they were going. "It will be best if our Alphas answer your questions themselves," was their standard answer to any request for details. When asked the reason for the apparent secrecy, Forked-horns replied, "We're trying some new ways to do things that are very different from what you're accustomed to. We don't want to prejudice you with unfamiliar ideas that sound like they won't work. When you get there, you'll see that they do work. If you still have questions, the Alphas can tell you their reasons, and they'll give you better answers than I can." So they flew on, saying little, imagining much, being certain of nothing.
At last, about halfway into the eighth day, Forked-horns exclaimed, "There it is!" They could all see a large hole in the ground, surrounded by steep, rocky hills so it would not be easy to find.
And they all gasped as the unmistakeable head of a Red Death emerged from the hole.