The next day, I walk into dragon combat class, dismayed to see who my fellow pupils are going to be.
"Oh, great," says Starkwulf Hadderson, a rusty-haired boy of large stature with a mean face. "Who decided to let her in?"
"Can we join the class with the good kids?" drawls Dorfang Mokkinson. Her older brother, Fordang, nods in agreement.
"It doesn't matter," says Mollusk Glower, a geeky boy who is nevertheless large and intimidating, at least at first glance. "She won't be able to outperform us anyway, so what's the point?"
Keegan says nothing. He's too busy eyeing the dragon cages with a determined sort of look in his eye.
"Hey, don't let me stand in your way," I say to the others, trying to make light of their jeers. "If I'm too out of your league, I can go..."
No one laughs.
"Joking," I mutter as Unferth enters the arena.
"Welcome to dragon training!" he announces. "Line up there, in front of the cages."
As everyone shuffles toward the gates, I overhear the others still talking about me, debating why I'm even here. Starkwulf jeers that I shouldn't be here because I've already killed the White Creeper, and the Mokkinsons snicker as Starkwulf smirks cruelly at me. My shoulders slump as I fall behind them, and Unferth catches up with me.
"Don't worry," he says, mistaking my guilt for fear of the dragons. "You're scrawny, so you won't be nearly as much of a target. They'll see you as sick or insane and go after the more Viking-like teens instead."
Strangely, his words don't make me feel much better at all.
"Up until now," Unferth begins, pacing in front of the doors to the dragon cages as I take my place at the end of the line, near Mollusk, "you have only watched dragons be killed. Today, you learn to kill them yourselves. To do this, you will be facing a wide assortment of dragons." He points at the first door, the one right in front of me. "The Hydra--"
"Sight: six. Toxicity: twelve," Mollusk recites automatically.
Unferth paces to the next cage. "The Spiny Scorpion--"
"Speed: eight. Sharpness: eleven," Mollusk says a little louder.
"The Fanged Fright," Unferth goes on, the trace of a glower appearing on his face.
"Sneak: seven. Bite force: nine," Mollusk recites even louder.
"The Flaming Drakon," continues Unferth, his eyebrows creasing together with irritation.
"Heat: nine. Danger: sixteen!" Mollusk practically shouts.
"Would you cut it out?" Unferth bellows at him, then places his hand on the lever for the cage the farthest to the right. "And the Norkon." His hand tightens on the lever, and it's clear to all of us what he's about to do next.
"Woah, woah, woah!" Starkwulf says quickly, skittering back nervously with his hands up. "What happened to teaching?"
"I'm a kinetic learner," says Unferth matter-of-factly. He pulls the lever, and the cage barrier rumbles out of place.
A humongous Norkon bursts out of the pen. After shaking its head dazedly, it fixes its gaze on the group of small, heavily underprepared Viking teens that includes me and takes pursuit. I follow my instincts and run for my life.
"Quick!" Unferth shouts to the scattering students. "What is the first thing you need when fighting a dragon?"
"A doctor?" I guess wildly, shouting out the first thing that comes to mind when I think of what I need at this moment.
YOU ARE READING
HTTYD: Dragon Girl
FanfictionHow does a girl with no memory go on with her life? She arrived on Skaldi in the midst of a terrible storm, at the brink of death by the deadliest dragon known to Viking-kind, unable to remember anything about her past aside from one name-- Astrid...
