Trust (A How to Train Your Dragon Fanfic) { Up for Adoption!!! }

Prologue

I stared up at the dark blue sky which was spotted with bright stars. The large, luminescent moon hung low in the sky, bringing enough light for me to just barely see my father standing next to me. The water was calm , quietly and gently tugging our boat in the direction of new land. I sighed. On such a beautiful night, no one would have expected such chaos to unfold. It had all started a few hours ago. The men in the watch towers above our village had spotted a few dragons on the horizon. It was nothing new to us considering we dealt with dragons all the time. They loved to steal and feast on our sheep, snatching them from our fields and flying off with them, back over the ocean. At first, only a few Gronckles, Terrible Terrors, and Zipplebacks swooped down into the village, easily being taken down by the stronger vikings of our tribe. But that seemed to be only the first wave of dragons. The second wave consisted of Deadly Nadders, Nightmares, and even a Nightfury that shot out of nowhere, launching violet balls of fire at our watch towers. The dragons began to swarm the village, burning down our homes, stealing our livestock, and even killing some unfortunate villagers who hadn't found shelter in time. We had been forced to evacuate our beloved island, retreating to our giant ships. We had sailed away, leaving the vicious dragons behind.

Now we were just drifting along, hoping to find refuge before we ran out of food. We didn't have much, only what was kept on the ship for situations like this. My father, also the leader of our tribe, sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Oh Rowen, what are we going to do? We have no where to go! We will be lucky if we ever find new land to call our own."

I looked up at him, but he kept his head down. "We just have to keep going and hope the gods will be in our favor." I said, trying to put a determined smile on my face.

As if he hadn't even heard what I said, he continued, now talking to himself more then me, "I am such a terrible leader. I let our village be overrun by those devils. I shouldn't have been so quick to give in."

I gave him a firm look. "Dad, you tried your hardest! There was nothing else you could have done. Several of our strongest warriors had already been killed. By retreating when you did, you saved the lives of many more villagers."

He looked at me and smiled under his tangled, black beard. He ruffled my red hair with his huge hand and I returned his smile. "Ever the optimistic one aren't you, Rowen." He looked back out to sea and I smoothed my hair back into its normal position before joining him.

We just stood beside each other for a while, watching the stars twinkle above us. After a few minutes my father stepped back, saying he was going to go below deck to check on the villagers. I nodded and looked back at the stars mindlessly, just thinking about the events of that day.

Suddenly, several stars blinked out, being obscured by something. I peered into the darkness, trying to make out what had caused the stars to vanish. At first I thought it might just be some clouds that had drifted in front of the stars, but upon closer inspection, I distinguished the all too familiar shapes.

"D-D-DRAGONS!" I screamed. Immediately all heads turned to where my shaky hand was pointing. The men on deck began scrambling around the ship, grabbing weapons and shouting "Dragons! Dragons! Everybody prepare for battle!" I heard terrified screams below deck and my father came up and over to where I stood.

"Rowen, get below deck." He ordered.

Not daring to contradict the tribe leader, I nodded and immediately climbed down the ladder that led down to the cabin. There, Several mothers held their young close to them, fear in their eyes as well as the childrens'. "Everybody stay calm!" I told them. "Just don't panic and everything will be-" I was cut off as there was a loud boom and the whole ship lurched, throwing people to the ground or against the walls. After that everybody began screaming hysterically, running around and scattering like frightened sheep. "-alright..." I finished my sentence, though now it seemed rather pointless considering that everyone was already panicking. There was another loud boom and it sent even me to my knees.

"We have to get up there and help!" I distinguished the voice of Arik, one of the other teens in the village. He was strong with a larger build and had spiky blond hair which he ran his hand through in distress. His sister, Kari, stood next to him, her curly, blond hair covering her face. She didn't say anything, just nodded in agreement with her brother.

"My father and your leader ordered us to stay down here." I reminded them.

Deadleaf, another teenage boy in our tribe, glared at me. "Well judging by-" He stopped as the ship lurched once again. "that... I'd say they probably need our help!" He headed for the ladder that lead up to the main deck, but right as he reached the top of the ladder, there was another lurch and the hatch closed with a loud slam, hitting Deadleaf in the head and knocking him to the ground. Several of the others gasped and winced as he hit the ground with a sickening thud. I would have gone over to make sure he was alright, but before I could, there was a loud boom and before I could even scream, part of the deck above us fell, crashing down only a few feet away from where I stood. The fallen piece of the deck was on fire, causing the wooden floor boards around light also. Within moments, the fire had spread across the ship.

"Everybody evacuate!" I heard my father shout, sadly for the second time that day. Immediately everyone jumped overboard into the freezing water. I grabbed the unconscious Deadleaf and slung his arm over my shoulder. Then I dragged him to a hole that had been made in the side of the ship by another ball of fire, and jumped. The chill of the water surprised me and I gasped as it seeped through my clothes, numbing my entire body with its low temperature.  Please help me gods! I prayed as I swam through the freezing water with Deadleaf on my back. The cold ocean had seeped into his clothes now and he woke with a start.

"What the- Ack!" He tore his arm out of my grasp as he tried to swim on his own. He turned back to the ship which had become fully engulfed in flames now.

I scanned the water, searching for the other villagers. Several villagers were slowly swimming out to sea, eager to get away from the burning ship, while others refused to jump off the boat. Suddenly there was a familiar high-pitched screech that all vikings had learned to fear.

"Nightfury!" I shouted. "Get down!" I ducked under the water, unsure of where the beast might strike. After a few seconds, I resurfaced. The dark dragon had launched itself into the remains of the ship, causing the boat to completely capsize. Everyone who had hesitated to jump off the boat had either jumped in right before impact, or had gone down with the ship. Several dragons swarmed above the ship now, some even coming down from the sky to attack the vikings in the water. I began to swim further out to sea, hoping I wouldn't be spotted by one of the circling dragons.

Then, behind me, Deadleaf screamed. I turned around in time to see a large Deadly Nadder, flying right toward him, claws extended. "Deadleaf!" I cried. The huger Nadder grabbed Deadleaf by his shoulders, pulling him right out of the water.

"Agh! Help!" he cried as he was lifted into the sky. I watched helplessly as he was taken farther and farther away.

When the dragon was out of view, I sighed, feeling extremely bad that I hadn't been able to help him. Then, not wanting to get snatched away myself, I kept on swimming.

As I swam, the waves began to become noticeably larger. I swam on, occasionally going under a large wave. I looked up at the sky to find that large, dark clouds had obscured the stars and the moon. It was really dark now and I could barely see my own hand in front of me. Thunder rumbled in the distance and I thought, Oh great! Just what I need. A storm. The waves rose even higher as I swam. I desperately hoped I would find land soon, before the waves became too large.

Suddenly, a wave rose up in front of me. It was huge! It was maybe twenty feet high and it loomed over me. My heart stopped and my throat went completely dry as the wave came crashing down on top of me. I tumbled under the water, rolling under the wave and flailing my arms and legs frantically, hoping I would find the surface before I ran out of air. But the force of the wave kept pushing me down, making me do under water somersaults. Darkness edged my vision as I began to run out of air. Oh gods, please help me! I thought as the darkness overcame me and I slipped into unconsciousness.