The Soul of a Dragon

Chapter 4

Vara

My cheeks burn from the cold air hitting them at what should be a dangerous flying speed, but I don't care. I enjoy flying fast. The wind messes with my hair and slashes against my face, causing tears to blur my vision. Aria must sense my giddy mood because she croons with a playful look in her eyes.

Oh no-

"Aria...", I say admonishing, but I cannot suppress a small giggle from escaping my mouth.

Not paying any attention to me, Aria takes a ninety-degree turn and with several impressive beats of her wings, we reach the tippy-top of a mountain. The view up here is amazing, but I only have a millisecond to admire it, as Aria folds her wings and tilts her head down.

Here we go...

A mixed sound of laughter and screaming releases itself from my core. But I instinctively press my body flat down on Aria's back to gain more speed. We're diving faster than any falcon and I can quite literally feel the stress and worry being whipped from my brain.

Right above the great dark surface of the ocean, Aria opens her wings again and we slow down to a relaxing glide across the cold water. I sigh and pat my girl on the back of her head, earning a soft purr in return.

On the horizon, a dark shape begins to materialise. It looks like a ship.

Well-

It is a ship. Idiot, I internally slap myself.

"Here we go again, girl", I mumble whilst furrowing my eyebrows in concentration. My lips form a thin line as I slowly breathe in and out to collect myself.

"Let's stay low this time", I steer Aria closer to the water, its surface blurring due to our increasing speed. Putting my mask on and leaning closer to Aria's body, I decide to initiate our attack from the right, hence the port side of the ship.

I don't hear many voices, nor do I see any catapults from down here. Strange.

That's when I realise that the ship is anchored and swinging back and forth in place. Double strange.

Aria casts me a meaningful glance, and I know what she is trying to say: no risk, no fun.

With that, we fly upwards to the ship's deck. We prepare for something to happen. Anything.

But there is nothing on this ship. No cages, no dragons, no men. Nothing.

Now, don't call me paranoid. An empty ship is not at all unusual, but this particular boat is different.

Just when I was about to turn Aria around to leave, a trapdoor on the far back end of the boat's deck opens.

A figure slowly emerges from the boat's depths. The bright sunlight reflects off equally brilliant hair. The figure turns out to be a slender man with sharp contours, a pointy face and silver hair. His general manoeuvre is measured, calm and calculated. It's eerie.

But what's the scariest is the way he's directly looking at me. Like he already knew I was going to be here. His ice blue eyes match his pale skin and cast shivers along my spine.

I know I'm not imagining a smile creeping onto his face and still I don't tell my body to get away from this situation, even though everything inside me screams "flee".

Then everything goes black.

Hiccup

All I can think about is the small unconscious figure falling off their dragon. The arrow hit them straight in their right arm. The rider-less dragon evades a massive wave of nets and arrows coming its way, moving its slender body with ease. Its scales sparkle in various colours as the sunlight hits them at different angles. I am amazed at its resemblance to Toothless.

The gang is flying behind me, and I know we are supposed to be looking for this new guy who's apparently one of the most ruthless dragon hunters. But I cannot think of anything else other than the mysterious dragon rider hitting the water's surface. Shit. I block out everything around me and urge Toothless to fly even faster towards the bubbling waves, indicating the place where the rider fell into the water. I don't know why I'm acting this way, but my instinct is telling me to save this person.

Suddenly, Toothless and I are forcefully hit by a large body mass. We quickly regain our balance, which is why I can now see the white fury flying above us, a purple glow showing behind its teeth. It's warning us to back way, successfully I might add.

It must realise her rider is still sinking into the dark depths of the sea, because it growls one more time and turns around to directly dive after its rider without any hesitation.

After a few seconds, a distraught dragon re-emerges from the cold, water dripping from its ears and paws. I want to help the obviously frightened dragon and I can sense Toothless wanting to do the same. But I also don't want it to feel threatened again.

The gang has reached our position by now and quietly observes the scene in front of them. Astrid looks at me, worry plastered on her face. I look away but I can feel her burning stare on my back.

The white fury is still distressed but now seems to be communicating with something in the water. After a few seconds, the heads of two large blue-green Scauldrons part the ocean's surface. As one of the dragons stretches its long neck towards the fury, I can see the dripping wet figure of the dragon rider laying on top of its snout. I cannot believe my own eyes when the Scauldron slowly tilts its head and places the rider as carefully as possible on the white fury's back. The latter croons, thankful for their help, and releases a short and happy bark.

The Scauldrons dive backwards into the water like humpback whales, causing waves to splash powerfully around them.

"Did that dragon just-", Fishlegs' quietly begins after a short moment of silence and the fury left the scene with her rider unconscious on her back.

"-command other dragons?", Snotlout finishes sceptically.

It is not uncommon for dragons to help each other in times of need but this seemed different. The fury told those Scauldrons to help rescue its rider. That could only mean that it's an alpha of some sort.

"Interesting", I whisper to myself. Toothless hums in agreement.

Somehow everything about that mysterious pair keeps getting more fascinating. And especially the rider seems to have a secret hold on me I cannot quite get rid of.

Who knows, he or she could be my salvation or my doom.