HTTYD: Dragon Girl

Chapter 19: I Do Something Crazy

It's almost comical, my friends' reactions, as I tell them about my plan. These kids, who spent their entire lives striving to become the greatest dragon killers Skaldi's ever seen, are now eager to become the island's first dragon riders.

"This plan of yours..." Mollusk muses. "It might actually work."

"Do we get to set fire to stuff while we're at it?" Dorfang asks eagerly, a disturbing gleam in her eye.

Fordang shoves her aside to get all up in my face, glaring stonily. "You're crazy!" he says, then after glancing around quickly as if to make sure no one's listening, he smolders at me and adds, "So, if you wanna hang sometime..."

Keegan pushes him aside, saving me from an awkward rejection speech. "So," he says to me, as though there's no one here but us, "what's the plan, chief?"

Seeing Keegan hand his leadership over to me so smoothly nearly makes me blush, but I quickly push it down. "Don't freak out," I say, knowing that at least one of them will in spite of my warning. "This won't be something you're used to."

With that, I pull the lever that controls the locks to the Flaming Drakon's cage.

Two monstrous, beady yellow eyes narrow at me from the interior of the pen as I hurriedly step aside, hoping to avoid an explosion like the one that occurred earlier. I'm sure the dragon recognizes me, by face or by scent, but it doesn't attack. I get the feeling that it remembers what I did before all Hel broke loose and is trying to figure out what to do with me.

I hold out my hand toward the huge monster. "Come on, girl," I coax softly (from its size and behaviors, I assume that she was, at one point, a nesting mother). "It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you."

The Drakon sniffs disdainfully, but slowly stands.

"That's it," I say encouragingly to her, backing out of the pen slowly, my hand still outstretched, never turning my back on her. The Drakon follows, taking slow, deliberate steps, her gaze fixated on my hand.

As the Drakon emerges entirely from the cage, I hear Keegan utter a soft "Don't," and a quiet clatter. One of the others must have tried to pick up a weapon in their apprehension.

As I approach the others, I slow down enough to let the Drakon press her snout to my palm. Then, keeping my eyes on the Drakon, I reach out with my free hand and grab at the wrist of the person closest to me, Starkwulf. "Wait, what?" he yelps as I guide his hand toward the Drakon's snout.

"Shh," I say to him, knowing that it is just as important for the trainer to be calm as it is for the dragon. "It's okay. Don't worry."

Starkwulf stammers incoherently as his fingertips near the Drakon's snout. Then, carefully, I remove my own hand and leave Starkwulf's in its place. The Drakon mulls over this new scent, then sighs in contentment, pressing her snout more firmly into Starkwulf's palm. Starkwulf seems surprised, then laughs breathlessly,appearing more comfortable now that he knows the Drakon isn't going to eat him right away. Satisfied, I step back.

Without me right there next to him, Starkwulf immediately appears more frightened. "Where're you going?" he calls nervously, his voice an octave higher than it should be.

"You'll need something to hold on to," I say, tossing a rope at his feet. I glance at the rest of my friends. "You, too."

From the shocked looks on their faces, you'd think I hadn't told them anything. There's a shriek, and they all turn to see the rest of the dragons standing outside their cages, blinking and cocking their heads curiously at them, completely docile.

I smile. "Choose your steed."