The Missing Pieces to a Night Fury's Heart

Chapter 10

The corpse already reeked of decay, but it was obvious the dragon had only died just recently. Already dirt had accumulated around his scales.

Now that he had a closer view of the immobile body, he could make out that it was hardly older then himself.

All he could do was stare in dread. His heart sank. He had done this. Carefully, he began to exhume some grim from the dragon’s formerly flamboyant wings.

The mellowed wind suddenly seemed to stop howling as he continued to excavate. The thought of eradicating something else made his stomach turn with nausea. It mounted to the putrid odor rising from the dragon.

But then again, it had attacked him… Had Combustion been an innocuous dragon? Just toiled by the fact he had to work for some messed up human?

Toothless’s teeth clenched in a futile attempt to calm his nerves. You did this. The notion kept echoing in his head.

An exasperated voice came from deeper in the forest.

“Gah! Useless, no for good drag-“ Hookfang stalled, realizing the Night Fury was just a few lengths away.

“I know it was indiscreet of me to run off,” Toothless muttered, ignoring the impertinence of the dragon. At the moment, he was imperturbable.

“I just…” He looked back over to the remains of the Monstrous Nightmare. Although it was still intact, the forgotten warmth was still cold on his paws. Inarticulately, he lowered his head. None had to find out. Never.

“I know.” Hookfang ventured forward, leaning his head down in an also respectful sign of peace. Then with his vigilant stare, he turned to observe the dead dragon.

With a twinge of guilt, the contrite dragon stood in front of the dead dragon.

He knew Hookfang well and in return, the dragon also knew him. Toothless knew that the Monstrous Nightmare would quickly discover the enigma of what had occurred just by viewing the scorching mark of a Plasma Blast.

With a contemptuous growl, he stared at the Night Fury. “What? We need to know what killed it to be wary in the future.”

Giving a fleeting look at the limp body, he exchanged a warning glance with Hookfang.

“It would be safer if I checked.”

Contumaciously, the Monstrous Nightmare took a step aggressively toward Toothless, deliberately disobeying his words-much to his dismay.

“Alpha, I do heed your words, but if I may, this is one of my own species.”

He could understand his rebellious attitude, however, he still did not feel attracted to the thought of other dragons finding out.

“I do understand, but-“

“If you understood, you’d let me check on him,” Hookfang snarled. It seemed as if the Monstrous Nightmare was getting to his ‘Boiling Point.’

“I order you to stand back,” he snapped, the tension rising into his chest making it difficult to breath. He hoped the look of desperation wasn’t visible upon his face.

The Monstrous Nightmare stared at the Night Fury, obviously not deluded by the fact that he wanted to check on the dead dragon.

Suspicion crept into his amber eyes. “You don’t have anything to do with this… Do you?”

At the inquiry, he felt as if the dragon had suddenly begun to corrode his wings.

Hookfang didn’t trust him. But then again…