Moon Fire

Chapter 4

Hi, guys!

Whew! I thought I'd never see this chapter get published. But here we are. It wasn't pretty, but I finally got the thing uploaded. Many thanks to those who commented on the Author's Note. Your ideas helped a lot! I'll try to get Chapter 5 uploaded next week. If that's not possible, I'll be sure to let you guys know. I wouldn't leave you hanging.

Happy reading!

***

It couldn't be true. This couldn't be happening. Dragons and Vikings were enemies. Yet he'd just been saved by one!

Curling its elegant, finned tail around its forepaws, the Night Fury stepped toward him, its wings half extended, the look in its eyes foreign and unreadable.

The words enemy and danger lodged themselves in Hiccup's mind and he stumbled back, inwardly cursing himself for being such a wuss. Dragons could smell fear, and he was giving off enough nervous energy to fry an egg. But strangely, the moment he retreated, the Night Fury stopped, as if it didn't want to frighten him. Slowly, it came forward again, lowering its head in a sort of reassuring gesture. It took a while for Hiccup to build up the nerve to allow it to come close, but the dragon was in no hurry. It seemed content with letting him set the pace. Hiccup knew this was risky. A wild dragon that wasn't afraid of people was dangerous. Then again, any dragon was dangerous, whether it was afraid of people or not. But this dragon, of all creatures. . . .

Enemy. Danger. Storm dragon. Unholy offspring of lightning and death.

He let out a startled yelp as something warm and wet slid around the cut on his leg where the lion had tried to trip him. Bad. Bad. He shouldn't have let his attention wander like that. For all he knew, the dragon had saved him from getting eaten by the lion only to claim him as its own meal. And now—was it tasting him?

Hiccup looked at the dragon, who was now setting its sights on his shoulder, the landing site of a few more claw marks. It raised its head and stuck out its pink, slightly forked tongue, licking the wound gently.

Not tasting me, Hiccup thought in wonder, gasping, as the pain from both wounds vanished instantaneously, the bleeding stopped as if the flow had hit a wall. Healing me.

Magic had always been nothing more than a saying to the Berkians, a strange force used to explain things not understood. But right now it felt as real as the trees standing around him, as real as the balance between the constant threat of Magnus and the relief of Gobber's forge. Did the Night Fury possess some form of magic? Or was it just a natural ability honed over time from years of survival?

Either way, the dragon seemed to not want to harm him. It made a sort of humming sound when it saw the cuts mending themselves. Giving Hiccup one last mysterious look, the Night Fury snorted and spread its enormous wings, launching itself into the sky, quickly becoming a tiny black speck in the clouds.

Hiccup watched it until it disappeared, then he picked up the wood he'd collected and ran as fast as he could back to the village. By the time he got to the forge he was winded. But just before he got to the back door, he heard voices. Two of them, one raised in anger, the other calmer. Magnus and Gobber. It was hard to hear what they were arguing about through the door, but the gist of it was that Hiccup had been gone too long in Magnus' opinion and the jailer wanted to get a search party together to look for him. It was a simple conversation, but Magnus could argue with grass about being green just as fiercely as he could argue with an enemy tribe about treaty negotiations. It sounded like he was actually standing in the smithy, which meant that the safe zone was now the danger zone. Hiccup was stuck.