The Great Beyond

Chapter 62: No Dragon Left Behind (Reign)

              The raises and dips of the soft silver disk against my chest provided a small sense of comfort through the buzzing keeping my mind from focusing. Sleep had eluded Hiccup and I last night as we tried our best to sketch up the plans for the redesigned Edge, leaving me bleary-eyed and agitated. Normally, when I didn't get enough sleep, I just sort of ended up feeling like I was sick, but for whatever reason, the exhaustion left me emotional and restless. I couldn't explain the change, but I wasn't about to let it distract me from helping with the repairs.

"Okay, gang, we have a lot of work to do to get the Edge up and running," Hiccup announced. The group had gathered up in the Clubhouse that morning to receive orders, hoping that if we divided it up well enough, we could be finished in a couple of weeks.

"And we cannot wait to rebuild our hut!" Tuffnut's enthusiasm was certainly welcome for the project, though its specific focus was a bit misplaced.

"We've come up with a few new designs slash renovations." From her vest, Ruff removed a small scroll of parchment.

"It's very, very now." Curiosity got the better of the group, and they moved in to get a look at the twins' plans. "It's very 'Today's Viking.'"

"And Vi-Queen. Behold, our second, third, and forth floors."

Hiccup and I exchanged a glance, unamused as the twins continued to explain their plans. There was some sort of mention of wanting to put an island in the middle of their kitchen, but by that point, I had all but tuned them out. They were always so ambitious, but we couldn't afford to waste any resources. Stoick had only given us so many extra provisions, and the twins had absolutely no reason to use them on their hut. That wood would be better put to use on our storehouse, which had a big hole blown in the top, or to repairing the watch towers for the Night Terrors; a couple more of those had fallen down in the middle of the night.

"Great. Thanks for that," Hiccup deadpanned. "Uh, whatever all that was, your hut is one of the few that actually survived, so this would all be a waste of time and resources." He rolled their plans back up and handed them back to the pair, shutting the idea down for good.

"Hey, here's a thought: Why don't you put your efforts and brilliant ideas into the stables?" I suggested. The twins' expressions remained heavily disappointed, but at least they perked up a bit.

"I guess we could put an island in the middle of the stables." I rolled my eyes at Ruffnut's insistence on keeping that island around.

"Fan-sister-istic idea!" Tuff cheered.

"One might say, 'marvel-sis'."

"No. One might not say that," Hiccup groaned, his head shaking as he rested it against his hand.

I was just about to start relaying orders to the rest of the Riders, when a loud, melodic roar overpowered any other noise. It pierced right through my skull, causing me to grimace until it finally relented, at which point exasperation took over.

"Ugh, come on, Garff," Fishlegs groaned, reading my mind. I'd grown to love that dragon dearly, but his increasing number of prey captures was getting old.

"Doesn't that dragon ever quit? This is the third time this week," Snotlout lamented.

All of us quickly jumped up onto our dragons and flew to Garff's usual spot, trying to save a dragon before it got eaten. Garff had lived peacefully on the Edge since Hiccup and I had rescued him from Melody Island, keeping mostly to himself on occasion. Shriek and I had taken it upon ourselves to take care of him and nurse him back to full health, and in the process, she and I had developed a strong bond with that dragon. But, now he was back to his old self, and with no other wild dragons around, Garff had started hunting the Night Terrors in particular. They were small enough for him to easily catch, but unfortunately, that meant we were constantly having to keep an ear out for his victory cry to ensure we rescued the poor little dragons before they could be eaten.