Riders Dragons of the Archipelagos

IX

Hiccup could hear whispering in the cave as Astrid led him in. Firelight danced on the cave walls, eerily lighting up the cave. As we entered the main cavern, he saw four figures huddled around a small fire. The two smallest stared at him curiously as he followed Astrids lead, and sat down. One of them, the one with blue eyes and blonde hair smiled at him, but the rest just stared him down.

"Hello," Hiccup whispered, a large weight on his shoulders from all of the attention. "I'm Hiccup Haddock III chieftain of Berk-"

"This is my husband," Astrid interrupted.

Suddenly Hiccup was swarmed with questions from the younger two, the smallest who he assumed was Cindy. The oldest among them tried to quiet them, but there was no use. Then Toothless lumbered in, and laid down behind Hiccup.

"Oooh," both of the young girls gasped. "Is that your dragon?"

"It is," Hiccup nodded, and patted Toothless on the side. "We've been together for the past eight years. His name is Toothless."

"Why Toothless," the second oldest asked.

"Show them bud," Hiccup said to his dragon. Toothless lifted his head so he could be seen, and showed the four girls his gums. Suddenly his teeth shot up, making all of them jump. Toothless gave them his trademark laugh and laid his head back down behind Hiccup.

"Cool!" the two youngest gasped again.

Astrid leaned towards him, "So that's Sally," she said pointing to the oldest, then the two youngest. "That's Breanne and Cindy, and then that's Stella," she pointed to the second oldest, who gave them another smile. Then she got up and exited the cave.

"What was that?" I whispered so only Astrid could hear.

"That's James's wife, Hiccup," she answered, "she's really worried about him."

"We need to help him then," I said, "you can stay here with them, but I need to go. I need to repay this deed, then we need to get back to Berk."

"No, you can't," she whispered.

"I have to, I'm sorry I'm going so soon," Hiccup said, and he stood up, "nice to meet you." He gave the three ladies a nod, then left the cave.

"We totally scared him!" Cindy blurted as he exited. He smiled, and began descending the foothills, trying to catch up with Stella. He could sense Toothless following from a distance behind. There were no footprints to follow, so he had to track blindly. Toothless caught up to Hiccup not long after, and grabbed the back of his armor.

"What is it bud?" Hiccup asked, looking back at the Night Fury. The dragon began walking in a different direction, smelling the ground. Hiccup could tell he had her scent, "Lead the way."

Toothless trotted along the same path for about a hundred yards, and stopped. He disappeared quickly into the brush, and before Hiccup knew it, he was alone. He stopped in the middle of the trail, scratching his head.

Suddenly he was raised off the ground by something soft. It held him on both shoulders, lifting him off the ground as if he weighed nothing. A low growl sounded from behind him, and he gulped.

"Why are you here?" I heard Stella's voice ask, then she appeared in front of me. She'd pulled her hair back in a ponytail.

"Astrid," Hiccup said through the golf ball in his throat. "She's my wife, so I followed her here. Your husband, James, he saved her life. She was dying so he healed her, and brought her back to Berk. I was invited here by him."

"Did he tell you why he saved her?" Stella asked.

"No."

"Drop him Snow," she said to whatever was holding Hiccup up. He fell to his feet, crumpling in the dirt. He stood, and looked behind him. He gasped at the giant feline. Its fur was white as freshly fallen snow, which is probably where it had gotten its name. Large blue eyes stared into his, they were so intelligent and focused they made him shudder slightly.

"You're lucky she was here," it growled, giving Hiccup a start. It shouldn't have talked, it must've been his mind playing tricks on him. "Or I would've eaten you."

Nope it had definitely spoken.

Hiccup scrambled backward and was about to draw his sword, but Stella stopped him. She grabbed his hand,

"Don't!" she shouted. Suddenly she grabbed it from his belt and threw it into the woods. Then she kicked his feet out from under him, and planted her foot firmly on his chest. "You can't do that around her, she's still young, and I don't want her to fear weapons for her entire life."

"What is it?" Hiccup gasped, trying to move Stella's foot, but it was planted to firmly.

"She's a Fangeera, daughter of Frost," Stella said, "she was given to me when James saved their kind from the vampire Varra-"

"Vampire?"

"Yes," Stella told him, then removed her foot. Hiccup stood and brushed off his chest. He examined the eight foot long feline, and bowed his head.

"Sorry," he said.

The Fangeera nodded, and Stella walked over to her, and placed her hand on its side. "I'm sorry, Hiccup," she whispered, looking at he ground sadly. "I guess I'm just a little paranoid, with James being gone again, and him-"

"Bringing another woman on the island?" Hiccup said.

Stella turned around and gave him a small smile, "I guess you could say that."

"Don't worry, Astrid just trying to get around," Hiccup said, "she loves exploring new places, you should've seen me when I figured out she'd left Berk on her own."

Suddenly Toothless burst out of the bushes, with a huge pink antler clamped between his jaws. Stella laughed,

"Looks like he found one of Juniper's sheds!" she said, then frowned, "wait, dragons never play around like that. They're always serious, unless they're flying. I've noticed that both yours and Astrid's dragon are full of energy, that's way different than the ones here."

"I had a feeling that the dragons here were different," Hiccup stated.

"Can your dragons not speak either?" Stella asked, making Hiccup look at her bewildered.

"Of course not," Hiccup said.

"Oh my god!" she gasped.