Left In The Night

Chapter 2

The one thing all Vikings could agree on was how mysterious Night Furies had always been. Since the settlement of the archipelago, Night Furies instilled a mix of fascination, curiosity, and fear. And Firewind was unaware of how close in proximity to a Night Fury nesting island they were. It had remained hidden for hundreds of years.

Especially in the past 300 years, with more and more Night Furies being caught, and eventually being hunted, the species went into hiding, the dwindling population dropping even more. They once used to be as numerous as the Nightmares and Nadders and Zipplebacks, but now they were nothing more than a whisper in history, at least to the Vikings.

The clutch sizes used to be as many as 5, but now it was a big deal if there was more than one. Nowadays, families that bore more than one egg subsequently became leaders, hoping good fortune would come to their packs. Females had become more reclusive and became harder to find compared to males. Mothers strictly enforced their female offspring to never leave the safety of the pack.

But there is always the odd one out. One Night Fury, an adolescent female, desired to seek more beyond the fog surrounding her island. She flew farther north than she'd ever gone before, defying her parents strict orders, having always been warned to never travel beyond the security of the fog bank. And despite the warnings, she left anyway, having always been the most curious out of her four siblings.

As if by chance, this female Night Fury landed on Firewind in the middle of the woods during the night for cover. She quickly located a cave to hide in as she recuperated from her first solo flight, and would await her chance to hunt later.

The following morning, Zyrah and Alvar, the second eldest of her brothers, went into the woods to get kindling for the fire pit, their mother was finally digging the Greenland shark out of the dirt and cooking it, after months of it fermenting in the ground.

"I'm not going far!" She promised Alvar, leaping over a large fallen tree and landing smoothly on the other side. She looked around and hopped from rock to rock, performing a balancing act on each one. The young Viking had no cares in this world, she just loved to explore.

A piercing banshee-like screech echoed around her, which startled her, and when she started looking around, she tripped on a protruding root and tumbled down a small hill.

"Agh!" She yelped, bracing her fall with her arm, wincing at the sharp pain that rippled up to her shoulder as she processed what had just happened. She sat up and glanced around but didn't see anything. The forest was now silent, as birds and other critters had halted their usual noise.

For a moment, she sat incredibly still, her eyes darting around in an attempt to locate the source of the screech. But when she didn't hear it again, she cautiously stood, brushing herself free from dirt.

"Maybe... I should head home." She deduced, turning on her heel and making her way back down the trail she came from.

As she retraced her steps back to the village, she ignored the lack of sound coming from the surrounding forest, becoming very uneasy, but unable to shake the new feeling that she was being watched... and followed.

All of a sudden, her ears picked up on the sound of tree branches creaking from behind. But before she had time to turn around and face the creature, she was aggressively tackled to the forest floor, tumbling a bit before she was pinned on her back. When she opened her eyes from the shock, she realized what had been following her.

A Night Fury.

The dragon had the most intense blue eyes she'd ever seen in a dragon. She could feel the dragon staring deeply into her soul, almost like it was trying to read her.

She wanted to be fascinated, but given her situation, she simply couldn't. After recalling her father's instructions should a wild dragon ever attack her, was to distract it for long enough that she could get away. As the Night Fury sniffed her hair, Zyrah inched her arm out to grab a nearby rock, and as quietly as she could muster, lifted her arm up, and threw the rock.

As the rock tumbled about in the underbrush, rustling the foliage, the Night Fury perked up, its ears up and alert. It sniffed the air for a moment, swiveling its head around trying to locate the source of the sound.

As soon as its attention left her and it was physically off, Zyrah didn't hesitate and made a run for it.

***

She slammed the door open, panting heavily. One of her brothers, Rurik, the youngest of the boys, just stared at her. Alvar had made it home during her encounter with the dragon long before her, and he initially looked annoyed to see she didn't come home with any kindling. But his annoyance evaporated when he saw what a mess she was. Her braided pigtails were pulled out, with twigs and leaves sticking out. And she was covered in dirt.

"What in Thor's name happened to you?" Zyrah swung her arms around wildly, trying to speak.

"Dragon! Night Fury! In the woods!"

"What??"

"Night Fury! It's in the woods! It attacked me!" She exclaimed frantically. Suddenly there was a loud thud on the roof, shaking the house and sending the three to the ground as Rurik was about to approach her.

"What the?! What in Odin's name is that?!" Eindride yelled from the second floor. The four siblings then ran outside only to see several Vikings stopping to stare at their house. They began to shout and point.

The siblings stepped back and Rurik's jaw dropped to see a jet-black dragon with brilliant blue eyes staring at them. It was bouncing about on the roof, kicking and scratching at the wooden tiles, and when it saw Zyrah, it roared at her.

"It followed you here?" Alvar asked, absolutely bewildered. Zyrah had no idea what to say, no dragon had ever reacted like this around her and she had no idea of what to do. She knew what to do with most of the common species her village was familiar with, even Skrills and other uncommon species.

And she, like everyone else, had heard about the deadly power of a Night Fury, but of course, sightings had never occurred around here, not in 300 years. And everyone was astonished to finally see one in person, and equally comforted that it wasn't intending on attacking.

Halvar and Eðla came running from the blacksmith when they heard all the commotion, sharing the alarm of seeing a wild dragon on their roof, and their four children staring at it. When they approached their children, the crowd dispersed, Halvar and Eðla sending everyone away.

The whole family stared up at the Night Fury, who growled but still kept staring in Zyrah's general direction, its eyes were narrowed slightly, but it cocked its head in curiosity.

It finally came down and approached Zyrah where she stood still like a statue, holding onto her mother, who stood in front of her, equal parts terrified but slightly intrigued as well.

Eðla's gaze shifted from the dragon to her daughter. It clicked in her head. Kneeling, she gestured for Zyrah to give it a try. With a cautious breath, Zyrah held her hands out in defense of herself, and the Night Fury just approached her even closer and watched her.

"Umm... hello?" Zyrah said meekly, still keeping her hands in front of her. The dragon sniffed her palm, blinking its large eyes at her. After a moment, the dragon's pupils dilated and it warbled in apparent delight, pushing Zyrah around.

"It's like it's still a hatchling!" Eindride observed.

"Well, we don't know how big Night Furies get when they're adults," Alvar replied, crossing his arms.

"It could still be a hatchling! At least I think it is!" Eindride retorted.

"Dad? What do you think?" Like his family, Halvar was also curious, but he expressed caution. Given how little he knew about Night Furies, he didn't want his daughter to rush into anything yet. They needed to learn more about it. But his son did make a good observation, it did appear to still be a juvenile.

How close it was to adulthood was to be determined, but despite all of that, he and Eðla did see the attention the Night Fury gave to their daughter.

Only time would tell.