Comet Nights (HTTYD Fanfic)

Chapter Eight: Back to the Sanctuary

Once the pair and their dragons had regained some strength- and the weather had quietened down- they set off to the Sanctuary. It was a long and harrowing journey, Hiccup knew, and he hoped that it wouldn't take them too much time. Every hour that passed made it more and more likely that they wouldn't be able to find Comet at all.

"Which way?" screamed Astrid beside him. It was still very windy, and there was a high chance that a strong gust would blow the two dragons off course. He checked the miniature compass on his gauntlet.

A few degrees to starboard!" he called, and the riders adjusted their path. Silence reigned for the next hour, and Hiccup was about to attempt to talk with Astrid- just to relieve the boredom- when Toothless suddenly gave a piercing scream and banked to the right. Stormfly followed him, not able to keep up with the Night Fury's extreme speed.

Finally, Toothless landed on a rocky cliff, trembling while at the same time staying stock-still. Hiccup jumped off his dragon just as Stormfly came into land.

"What's going on?" asked Astrid, looking at Toothless confusedly.

Hiccup said nothing. He had noticed something odd about his Night Fury, something he had seen only once before.

Toothless's pupils were expanding and retracting rapidly, going from a nearly iris-less state to tiny slits of black. The one time Hiccup had viewed this was when...

When Comet had appeared on Berk and Toothless had caught her scent.

"Sshhhhh!" he hissed. "I think he's found Comet!"

Astrid made a pleased squeak, but stayed quiet.

After a moment of unbearable tension, a soft cry echoed through the gully below. Hiccup listened closely. It sounded like the cry Toothless made at the breeding island... That was it! It was mating call! But it was the height of summer. Why would Comet be making a mating call now?

Hiccup didn't have much time to ponder more, because Toothless suddenly leaped off the cliff. He was gliding towards the source- but then he suddenly started to fall! Hiccup hadn't activated the staysafe on his tail, and it was no more than a useless strip of cloth waving in the wind.

"Astrid! Quick, let me on!" He jumped haphazardly onto Stormfly, wrapping his arms around his girlfriend's body. "Toothless is falling!"

"What! Alright, let's go!" Astrid gave a short, sharp command to her dragon, and the Deadly Nadder dived down after the struggling Toothless. The ground of gully was fast approaching, and Hiccup feared that his beloved Night Fury would hit the ground wings-first. That would mean broken bones... Or even death.

Once they got close enough, Hiccup leaped off and spread his leather gliders. They caught and, not bothering to open the fin, he sailed towards the Night Fury. The ground was so close now, he was getting brushed by tree leaves...

Yes!

Hiccup grabbed the saddle, pulled himself up, and slotted his peg leg into the mechanism. The replacement tail snicked out in the wind, and he gave a sigh of relief as his dragon's breakneck fall turned into a controlled, looping dive. That had been too close for comfort. He never wanted to do that again.

Toothless landed on the gully floor, his tail twitching erratically. He cast his rider a grateful look before bounding off into the woods, Hiccup still firmly on his back. Stormfly's heavy footseps were audible behind them, even though the Night Fury was causing a racket as he crashed his way through the trees. Every once in a while, Hiccup could hear the soft mating cry that was hopefully Comet's.

Finally, the gully wall came into view, along with the mouth of a dark cave. Toothless stopped in front of it, sniffing at the air, lashing his tail back and forth and bunching up piles of dirt. He edged towards the entrance, then reared back and let out a mating call.

Silence. Even Stormfly and Astrid creeped up on them without making a sound.

Then, suddenly, something roared out of the cave, nearly severing Toothless's nose. The Night Fury jumped back with a strangled squawk, and they could see what was attacking them.

An enormous dragon, with a mottled blackish hide and a row of blue spots running down its side. Its ears were huge, seeming far too big on its head, and fluttering like a pair of butterfly wings. It turned towards them, eyeing them with electric-green eyes, flared out a magnificently colored ruff on its neck and screamed. The sound drove through Hiccup's ears like a spear and made him flinch. The cry sounded like metal screeching on metal.

Toothless shot a fireball at it, but it only shielded itself with a massive ruffled wing and turned to spit acid at them. The two dragons lifted off into the air and started to fly away, dodging acid balls as they went. Seeing that its prey was escaping, but seeming unwilling to follow them, the dragon opened its mouth and gave a Night Fury mating call. Toothless twitched and nearly turned right around, but he rightened himself and flew away twice as fast. The dragon's angry cries followed the two into the sky, like it was trying to trace their hasty escape.

Once they were out of acid range, Astrid turned to look at the creature below, then to Hiccup.

"What was that?" she exlaimed.

"I have no idea!" responded Hiccup, breathless from adrenalin.

"It mimicked Toothless's mating call!"

"I know!"

"What about a Mimic Spitter?"

"Huh?"

"We should call it a Mimic Spitter! So if we ever encounter it again, we'll remember what it is and what it can do!"

"Good idea! Now, let's go!"

One day later, the two dragon riders were exhausted. They were sweat-soaked, thirsty and sore, and their dragons were too. Hiccup was beginning to dread every minute he spent in the saddle, when...

"Hiccup! Look!"

He looked.

And there it was.

The home of dragons, the safehouse for all species. A structure made of the Bewilderbeast's breath that housed thousands of the scaly denizens of the sky.

The Sanctuary.