First Friends

Chapter 13

I scratched on the door, roaring softly but urgently. I had to pee really bad, bud I didn't have a bucket to pee into. Stoick yawned and rose from his sleeping place before thumping over to the door and opening it for me. I darted out and behind a bush where the still air carried the sound of me relieving myself to his ears and when I came back after a few minutes he rumbled a laugh.

"Had to pee, huh, Tiger?" he chuckled, running a hand down my back. I purred gently and nuzzled into his hand before trotting back up the stairs and going back to bed. Hiccup rolled over in his sleep and flopped an arm around my chest, filling me with happiness. Two months had passed since Stoick had gone off on that fateful search for the Nest, and I saw more and more of Nina in the forest with a stick-shooter and no shoes instead of in town with everyone else. I still scented sorrow on her, but it was diminishing, being replaced with the scent I associated with determination, hard work, and strangely enough, love.

I decided to follow her one day after I dropped off my cart at the butchers' shop. I slunk back into the forest, following the invisible trail she left unknowingly for me. I stopped when I came to a clearing next to an enormous tree. A rock stood a few meters away, but what bothered me is that Nina's scent went down, instead of up. Almost as though she had gone underground. A door opened up in the clearing, right where her smell disappeared. I jumped back, hackles raised and ready for a fight. I bared my teeth, ready to growl if need be. Nina came up out of the ground and I just sat down, dumbfounded. She spotted me and froze. A Terrible Terror sat on her back, peering out behind her at me.

"Herby, get back in the bunker!" she hissed. To our surprise, he instead flew over to me and landed in front of me, completely unafraid.

"Follow us. I know you mean us no harm, and I trust you," he said to me. I was stunned, but followed automatically as he flew slowly to the entrance of the cave Nina called the "Bunker." The heavy door closed behind us with an ominous thud.

I followed Herby and Nina down a winding corridor until we came out into a decent sized room. I flinched back and hid behind the doorway, scared stiff. There were about twenty Terrible Terrors, including Herby, and Nina was working with them? Had the loss of her parents driven her mad?! The dragons spotted me and surrounded me, growling viciously. They spoke no words, just growled menacingly. I slowly backed up until I was in a corner, where I flattened myself into the wall, trying to make myself bigger. It had no effect. I closed my eyes, hoping my death would be quick and painless when a voice I never thought I'd be happy to hear spoke up.

"That's enough! He's trustworthy enough. He's no threat, the humans can't understand him," Herby growled, leaping in front of me, wings raised in a challenging manner. "Besides, he found the bunker on his own, so he deserves to know more about our secret lives."

Without thinking I blurted out, "You guys need to bring food back so you don't get eaten!" I clapped my left paw over my mouth, mentally cursing my stupidity. Herby looked back over his shoulder at me.

"How do you know that?" he asked.

"I tree-whacked a Night Fury during a raid a few years ago. It was just a few months after I lost my leg. The attackers were trying to get the sheep and I told them I'd never let them get even a sick sheep. One of them told me that you guys need to bring back food so you don't get eaten," I explained hurriedly. I ducked my head, and hoped I wouldn't get fried.