The Edge of Black Wing

12 He Found it in the Wreckage I

Ska'i Malamalama

Hiccup and Fishlegs yelled, but Meatlug was the true hero. She bulldozed her and Stormfly out of the way with such velocity that Fishlegs fell off his dragon.

"Jeez, you guys! What was that about?"

"It's - it's possible that such warm air blowing out of a cave could belong to a dragon." Fishlegs stammered. "I'm sorry, Astrid. But I'm not sorry for saving for your life!"

"It's fine, Fishlegs," Astrid forgave, but dusted herself off rather grumpily. Stormfly agreed, shaking the dirt off her, as well.

"How do you even know a dragon's in there?" Tuff challenged.

"Yeah," Ruffnut agreed. "It could have been some backwind from Snotlout's fart."

"Now that doesn't even make any sense. Ugh! Finally!" With Hiccup's help, he managed to get unstuck. His bottom, anyway. His hand went directly into the crook, and he pulled something out. "What is this?"

Everyone turned toward him in interest, then back at the cave when they heard a mighty rumble. The snout emerged first, a horn longer than any bow Ska'i had ever seen. What followed next was a long, spiked neck, with the spikes following along to the top tip of his tail. It was such a rich shade of blue that it matched the sky, and had pure white spots patternly decorating it, closely resembling the color of clouds. This dragon tended to walk more on his hind legs, with his front arms being smaller and shorter. There was no denying his ferocity, though; there was even a claw on the pollex! Or the bone had grown out so much. Either way, big, spikey, dragon! Danger! It looked so mad. Did we do something?

"There was a dragon in there!"

"I'm never doubting you guys again!" Ruff screeched, as the dragon turned, almost knocking her off Barf.

"Is that a -?"

"Hiccup!" Fishlegs cried. "I think that's a Windstriker!"

Genuine fear washed over Hiccup's face, and he shouted, "Everyone, in the cave! Now!"

Not even Snotlout had a smart-aleck comment. Instantaneously, the blue, spikey dragon whipped around and began to charge, mouth gaping open. They were met with an instant, constant gust of warm air. And it was getting even warmer. Uncomfortably warm. Hot, even.

"Uh, Hiccup?" Fishlegs warbled like a terrified bluebird. Ska'i hadn't been around the RIders much, but she'd never seen the main scholar of the group so scared.

Stress shone intensely upon Hiccup's face, as his eyes darted around, finally settling on a spot above them.

Oh, gehena no. "Wait a minute," and she put a hand out as if to silence his order.

"Toothless, now!"

The Night Fury let out a couple of blasts, striking the rocks at the top entrance of the cave, causing them to collapse. Thus, sealing them in.

"Oh, well, that's just great!" Snotlout exploded, and the mountain rumbled threateningly.

"Snotlout, shush!"

"Hey, man"

"Yeah! Be quiet!"

Even Ska'i chimed in, "You could cause another cavein."

"Or that could have been the Windstriker, landing above us."

"Yeah, yeah," he sputtered, whisper-shouting. "So many points to bring up!"

"I know, I know!" Hiccup exasperatedly threw up his hands, but was careful not to raise his voice too loud. "I know what you'll say: That's a Windstriker, a mostly peaceful dragon! Yes, but considering she just landed on the cave she came out of - the one I got us trapped in, with no foreseeable way out - I'd say we're in a little danger! Wa-hoo! Yes, I know I messed up!"

His little sarcastic freakout was met with stunned silence. Ska'i assumed it wasn't often when Hiccup lost his head like this.

Snotlout had the nerve to speak first. "How do you know it's a girl dragon? Ha! But bet you never knew I'd say that!"

"Shhh!" Thankfully, even with all this whisper-shouting, there weren't any tremors.

Astrid did her best to ease his stress, "Hiccup, we look to you to make the hardest decisions. And you make them. It's admirable."

Everyone added their own supportive words, and then Fishlegs cocked his head at Snotlout curiously, "Snotlout? What's that in your hand?"

"Oh yeah!" And he looked down at the thing he was still clutching onto. "It's a . . . rock."

"Uh. Hello!"

"No, wait. Give him a minute, sis. See if he remembers it on his own."

"We're supposed to be watching out for rocks, Snotlout," Astrid reminded him.

"Stones, actually," Ska'i corrected.

"I know we're supposed to be watching out for rocks - stones - Astrid," Snotlout mocked.

"Well, let's look at it, Snotlout," Hiccup ordered.

They'd been in the dark long enough that their eyesight adjusted. Even in the dim light of the sun shining through the cracks in the recent collapse, they could tell this was an important rock. It was made with the same looking river rock material, for one. Although this one was shaped differently than the first two they'd found; it was an elongated triangle. More like the tip of an arrow, than anything else, and was the most brilliant color of yellow. Despite how much dust they were surrounded by - and how much they'd made - it couldn't dull the shine. Ska'i almost wanted to compare it to a piece of the sun, that fell from the sky. Its color was like it would never fade. And it was guarded by a Windstriker.