Fly On Your Own

Chapter 7

        My eyes fluttered open as sunlight warmed my cheek. I had slumped over onto Hiccup's back and fallen asleep at some point after we left Berk, and when I looked down and around us, there was no land in sight. Hiccup must have felt me shift, because he turned around and smiled at me, then leaned forward and placed a kiss on my cheek.

        "Good morning, m'lady." I chuckled and shook my head, then extended my arms out. "What?"

        "My daughters?" He rolled his eyes at me.

        "You mean our daughters. I haven't gotten to spend a lot of time with them recently, so I've been enjoying flying with them."

        I sighed, but relaxed my arms and wrapped them around Hiccup's waist, trusting him with the girls for a little while longer. I took the chance to look around at everyone as we soldiered on. A group of dragons carried a boat with all our sheep in it, disguised as dragons in case some wild dragons came along and got close enough to see them. We were a large hoard, completely obvious and not hidden-- which was why we needed to move fast.

        "Excuse me! Coming through!" I watched as Fishlegs and Meatlug pushed their way through all the other dragons and their riders. The sound of Fishmeat loudly growling and whining. "Let me just get right through here. Fishmeat, look! Eat your rocks. Eat your rocks."

        "Gods! People who fly with babies are the worst!" Snotlout cried. I whipped my head around and glared at him, lunging forward slightly.

        "Hey!" I snapped, staring him down for a moment longer before turning back to Hiccup. I didn't have to say a word, he just knew to hand the girls back to me at that moment. I pulled them closer against my chest and smiled as Kerrigan opened her green eyes. Her chubby arm reached up and grasped the silver necklace Hiccup had given me what seemed like ages ago. I let her play with it until she started to pull, and I removed her hand from the precious object.

        "I feel like I'm always asking you this question, but--" Gobber cried out as Grump suddenly dropped. "Whoa! Wake up, Grump! Wake up!" They caught up with us again. "Is there an actual plan, or...?" Hiccup drew his eye away from his spyglass, scanning the horizon for some sort of clue as to where the Hidden World might be, or the place itself.

        "Just keep flying until we reach the end of the world." Hiccup still managed to sound optimistic.

        "Ah. Seems sensible," Gobber deadpanned.

        "It just keeps going," Snotlout whined, leaning back against his saddle.

        "That's because the world is actually round." I scoffed as everyone else laughed at Tuff's insane idea. Everyone knew the earth is flat. That was just a cemented fact at this point. "The sun's round. The moon's round. Stars are round. Even though they're small and stupid."

        Shriek flew closer to me and nudged my side. I leaned forward and planted a kiss on Hiccup's shoulder before sliding carefully down onto my dragon. Toothless' nose suddenly began to twitch wildly, and his pupils severely widened.

        "What you picking up on, bud?" Hiccup asked, leaning down and patting his dragon. Toothless' head moved around furiously, looking for whatever he could smell. My eyes flashed up, and I spotted something white with bright blue eyes emerge from the clouds.

        "The Light Fury!" I gasped, a smile spreading onto my face.

        "She's following us!" I glanced back at Val. Hope flashed across her features as she watched the Light Fury float up and down, almost appearing to smile at us. She pushed forward, getting in front of our group, then shot out one of her pink blasts and disappeared.