Mysterious Rider

The Dragon Prince

"Wait just a minute!"
Valka climbed over hexagonal pillars as she, her husband and Gobber ran after the young dragon boy. Soon after discovering that the strange boy was her son, he took off into a dimly lit tunnel using his staff as leverage to leap and run through it with ease, stopping every once in a while to gesture to them to hurry. He had removed his mask and tied it to the red sash around his waist, revealing a face of slightly pale skin littered with faint freckles, big emerald eyes and a strong chin build. He was jumping from one fallen pillar to another as he ran ahead of the three Vikings along with his black dragon the Night Fury.
The Viking woman huffed as she continued to pursue her long lost son who she, and all of Berk, thought dead. "You're my son!" she exclaimed "Do you grasp how delusional it sounds?"
The boy didn't answer the question. Instead he stepped up onto a pillar at a diagonal angle leading to another and higher tunnel. "Come. Hurry." he ushered before disappearing into the tunnel.
"I have questions" Valka called out "Where have you been all these years?" She grunted as she tried to grip onto the top edge of the stone to hoist herself up, but without success she kept slipping down. Stoick and Gobber caught up to her and helped her up the pillar, as she continued to bombard the boy with questions.
"What have you been doing? We all thought you were dead! Everyone thinks your were eaten by..." she trailed off as she stepped out of the exit of the tunnel into a bright light that led into a gigantic cavern with rock formations tilted at an angle, supporting an ice roof overhead. Plants of vines, moss and flowers creeped up on the rocks and supports. What really caught their attention was the dragons that flew or nested in this paradise. Dragons of every species and some they did not know of resided in the ice structure.
The three Vikings stood on a big rock ledge where a group of baby Gronkles played with each other to the side. The sight was a magnificent one to behold. Never before, and the Vikings seen such a beautiful area that was inhabited by dragons. The clearing of a throat caught their attention; they looked up and gasped in surprise. The orange brown Stromcutter was hanging upside down from a rough rock face that was joined to the ice roof, it rotated its head around to get a better look at the group of Vikings an gave them a smile. The Night Fury was on the Stormcutter's back, holding onto its spines while the boy, Hiccup, was on the black dragon looking down on them.
"This is where you've been these past fifteen years?" Stoick asked
He nodded in response.
"You've been rescuing them" Valka gasped as she observed a nearby Nadder with scars running down its back and stomach.
"You are...not...mad?" Hiccup spoke out in slightly broken Norse.
"Mad? No. It's just a lot to get my head around. I means it's not everyday you find out your son is some crazy, feral, vigilante, dragon boy."
The young man chuckled at that as he hooked his staff onto an offered claw of the Stormcutter's wing and slid down it and landed softly on the ground in a crouch. "At least...I'm not boring...right?"
"I guess there is that one specific thing" She flinched slightly as a dark blue Snafflefang came over a gave her a little sniff. Valka smiled and gave it pat on its snout.
Hiccup came a little closer, taking hesitant steps towards the Vikings. "Do...you like?" he asked as he gestured to the ice haven.
"W-we don't have the words" Valka stuttered.
The Night Fury jumped from the Stormcutter's back and glided down to gracefully land on the ground, then leaped over to Hiccup. Stoick growled a bit at the black dragon that told his son away. Hiccup noticed this and frowned slightly that the huge Viking wouldn't be that accepting of the dragons and it would take time.
"That's...T-t-Toothless" Hiccup introduced as he rubbed Toothless' head "He's my brother. And that's Cloudjumper. He's the one who brought me here"
Valka looked at her newly found son in surprise. The son she gave birth to had called a dragon 'brother'. She then realized that her son had taken after her and her understanding of dragons.
"MOTHER OF ODIN!!!" yelled Gobber. The group of people and both dragons jumped at the sound and remembered Gobber was there as they had forgotten. "That's a big dragon!" He pointed to the white giant in the water.
The dragon was white and a very large, spiky dragon with two big mammoth-like tusks and huge multiple wings. Huge white spines protruded from its body that had red and black tips and were coral-like. Its eyes were closed as it rested peacefully as a group of dragons formed a circle round and bowed their heads down in respect.
"That is the White King," Hiccup explained "A Bewilderbeast. One of...the very few...Alpha species that...remain. We all live under his care...and his command. Except the babies of course." he gestured to a group of Scuttleclaws that were playfully tackling each other. "They listen to no one."
Cloudjumper scaled down from the pillars coming from the ice ceiling and made a small calling roar to the Night Fury and Hiccup. Toothless bounded over to Cloudjumper while Hiccup walked over to him with a limp from his left leg. Valka noticed this.
"Hiccup. Your leg"
"Oh. Yeah" he sighed "That happened five years ago."
"How did it happen?" asked Stoick.
"The same way it happened to these dragons" he gestured to a Raincutter, Snafflefang and Hobblegrunt. "Dragon traps"
The three vikings looked slightly confused as the young boy said that. Hiccup continued on with his explantion. "This Snafflefang lost his leg to an Iron trap...this Raincutter had his wing sliced by razor netting. Oh...and the poor Hobblegrunt...was blinded by a tree snare...then left to die...alone and scared." Hiccup wrapped an arm around the blind dragon and made soothing rubs on the dragons head. "I was on patrol one afternoon...and we heard a cry...for help by a dragon. We went to help... and found a Nadder trapped in a net...out in a forest clearing. Me and Toothless landed and went over to it...but when i was a few metres away from it...an Earth Jaw trap...suddenly sprang from the ground...and...clamped into my leg. I don't remember much after that. But, one thing's for sure. The trap...wasn't placed were a dragon...would stand. It was meant for me."
Valka was horrified and angry as Hiccup explained, people had hurt her son and they would pay when she found out who they were. She became even more horrified as Hiccup wriggled his left foot out of the boot, and revealed his damaged limb. Hideous, jaggered scars clawed down the leg and scarred puncture holes showed where the teeth of the trap had caught him.
Hiccup slipped his boot back on his foot and turned to Cloudjumper and nuzzled his head against the dragons. "But, enough of that. The King would like to speak with you." He walked down a rock slope among the plants and ferns heading down to a bridge. The Vikings followed closely, admiring the spectatcular sight of the santuary. The Alpha stood up from his resting place and turned towards the bridge were he greeted Hiccup, Toothless, Cloudjumpers and the Vikings.