Once in a Nightlight

Chapter 12

Toothless was still observing the female on the island in front of him, gently pushing the reeds out of the way so he got a better look at what their life was here in the North. The weather had picked up and it started to rain and heavily thunder above his head but luckily Toothless was protected by the thick leaves from the trees and the reeds protecting him from any rain. Ahead of him the Northern female had curled around her cubs and sheltered them with her crooked wing, around her there was no hollow for her to scurry in with her children to keep them all dry and no dugout to hide under, instead she had to suffer with the harsh cold and thrashing rain while trying to keep her cubs nice and dry. Concern filled in the Nightfury's eyes as he watched the hapless mother trying to do her best for her cubs, so he decided to stand up and quickly brush his way down a slope that was ahead of him silently, but thankfully the loud thunder stopped the mother seeing Toothless making his way down to the island's edge to the shore.

"..Fish, I need fish." Toothless mumbled to himself and crouched on the edge to survey the water in front of him, but the droplets of rain that hit the sea's surface distracted him from seeing any carps or bluefish tuna's. With a swish of his tail, the King ran back up the slope to hunt for a land animal in hope that the female would take his kind gesture to feed herself and her children. Upfront of him his gleaming eyes caught the presence of a caribou munching away on grass and leaves on the moist floor, unbothered by him as the rain blocked out all noises as the animal peacefully ate. Slowly he crouched into a hunter's crawl and started to prowl his way towards the caribou in utter silence, Toothless wasn't too confident trying to take this land animal seen as he mostly fed on fish and marine life but he didn't want the mother and her babies to starve, so he went for it. With one huge leap off his haunches Toothless threw himself onto the animal's back and dug his rounded teeth into the scruff with a chomp, feeling the caribou's startled snort of surprise and tried to kick the dragon off it's back but the Nightfury fastened his teeth into the neck and suddenly ragged it to the side, snapping the neck so the animal lay still in the wet grass unmoving.

Toothless dragged the caribou by the neck and made his way back to his camping spot where he paused for a little break to dig his claws into the back and lift it up when he hovered, then slowly and carefully he flew his way towards the island as the wind howled harshly around them, the rain pounding against his black scaly pelt. When he landed with the dead animal, the female's head lifted with a startled growl and lurched to her paws uneasily, hunching her back in defence as she protected her cubs under her belly.

"Calm..." Toothless purred to her softly and lowered his head to show he was no harm, and threw the animal towards her. "Eat, you need it."

"Why should I eat this from you? Who even are you?" The female scoffed with a curl of her lip but she wearily glanced to the caribou, her face easily showing Toothless how bad she wanted to rip into the plump meat.

"I've been watching you from the forest, you need feeding to keep your cubs healthy." Toothless gestured to the three offsprings peering from her leg. They were nothing but little scraps of meat and bone, no fat or muscle on the poor mites whatsoever, and he could see their clear shivering and desperation for warmth.

The female glanced down to her small children with a little whine when one of them coughed harshly and shook. "Mother c-can we have it? T-The nice male i-is giving us food.." One squeaked weakly and glanced to the animal in front of them. Hesitantly the mother looked back to Toothless with a grateful nod and stepped forward to tear away at the creature, yanking out thick chunks of meat and wolfing them down greedily as the cubs besides her patiently waited until she finished so they could feed again.

"Would you like me to catch you more?" Toothless asked as he came closer but slowly so he didn't startle the female any further, and when she growled he stopped so he didn't overtake any boundaries and cause a fight. She didn't reply for a long while until she had finished the Caribou off, no meat was left apart from the bones where she let her offspring lick them off.

"...No thank you. I'm full." She replied and lapped her tongue over her muzzle then looked him deep in the eyes. "Who are you?"

"I'm Toothless. I doubt you have heard of me, King of Dragons." Toothless dipped his head to her respectfully and heard her little gasp of surprise.

"King? You're Toothless?" She murmured to him and tilted her head, rain dripping from her scaly pelt and onto the ground. "Why would you come here? To a wasteland like this?" She questioned, rather bewildered at his choice to travel to her homeland.

"I'm looking for crystals to repair one of the pillars in my home. We have to travel through here to get to the Cave of Wonders and search in there." Toothless answered calmly and looked up to the booming thunder then around the island she was camping on. "Do you not have any dens to sleep in at night? Especially when the weather is as rough as this?"

He saw her face scrunch with anguish and her ears flopped softly. "No...I've been living here all my life, it's rough but it's home I guess..." She then looked up at him again. "My name is Ash."

"That's a very nice name, what about your children?"

"Apollo, Tarquin and Rufus." Ash named her three cubs with pride as she looked down at her boys who had began suckling on her desperately. Weakly, she laid back down on the soaking surface and peered back at Toothless. "You better be going now, to avoid the rain and the others before they awake. Thank you, for the Caribou, it..means a lot." Ash murmured and gave a gentle nod of approval, and before he could say anymore she curled into a ball with her wing around the cubs, and laid in silence.

Toothless respected her space and turned back to the edge of the island, leaping off with a powerful thrust forward and flew back to his spot in the reeds. He looked back to Ash and saw she hadn't moved since he leapt away and dropped his ears with sympathy. Maybe if I took her home she would feel better? Maybe she could bring her cubs up in a good environment then, he thought to himself and landed in the damp grass with a grumble. His ankle had stung terribly from the rain getting into the injury but at least it cleaned it from any bacteria and dirt. Just as he had landed Wildfang and Thunderhorn had returned with mouthfuls of prey.

"We've returned...Finally." Wildfang said through a morsel of weasel and dropped it on the ground "Thunderhorn got chased by a pack of wolves and fled like a baby, so I took out the alpha and they took for the hills." Thunderhorn scoffed at his friend and dropped the wolf he had killed at Toothless's paws, then pulled a plump capybara to him. "Feast while you can, who knows when we can hunt again." And the three amigos sat munching away at their meals and guzzled down their food in swift bites.

Once he had finished, Toothless swiped his tongue over his lips and shot another glance back to Ash who remained unmoving on her island, flicking his ear softly and turning back to his friends.

"I think we should bring her back home with us." Toothless murmured softly to them,

"Her? Why? Isn't she like the rest of the savages around here?" Wildfang muffled through a mouthful of his wolf and looked over to the resting female.

"She isn't, honestly. I think it's the starvation and desperation for shelter and a nice home that drives them insane, I don't think they mean to be hostile." Toothless commented and looked back to Wildfang. "Her name is Ash, and she's very friendly. I hunted down a Caribou for her and she wolfed it down in seconds, and she was rather grateful for it."

"Huh.." Thunderhorn raised a brow at the King. "Well, by all means we can collect her when we're on our way back, so it isn't so much effort for the cubs." He pointed with his wing to the three offsprings crawling around her to nuzzle next to her face.

"Yes...Okay, we'll do that on our way home. I think she deserves a nice home and plenty of food to eat. Now lets get going shall we? We have to find the Cave of Wonders to find these crystals don't we?"

"Yeah. It's not too far up in a cliff, but we gotta be careful because it's so dark, so be cautious so you don't accidentally walk off the edge of something to your death." Wildfang chuckled softly before shaking himself off. "We also found some marigold for your cut, c'mere." Wildfang took his outstretched ankle and applied a dab of marigold into the glistening injury. "Then some cobwebs to stop infection from getting inside, and to keep it nice and sealed." Thunderhorn did the cobwebs around his ankle and wrapped them around nicely to keep his wound protected.

"Thank you. Now, are we ready?"