My Name is Night

Chapter 2

Zephyr's POV:

"Laila!" she goes limp and I quickly catch her head before it hits the sand.

"Zeph," Grandma gently pulls me around, "I'll take her up to the house. You need to help the dragon, she knows you better than us."

I nod, rubbing my head as I numbly stand and walk to where Dart is lying on the sand. Once I reach her, though, all trace of numbness leaves and a sense of purpose fills me.

Moving slowly, I drop into a crouch and creep towards Dart, "Dart? Hey girl, remember me?" I hold my hand out the way Dad showed me when I was five and after a moment I feel her warm scales gently press into my palm, "Yeah? There we go," Crouching beside her head, I make sure I'm where she can easily see me, "It's gonna be okay, you're safe now," I gently stroke Dart's head, careful not to touch any of the wounds that are all over her.

Without looking over my shoulder, I ask my Dad, "Do we have any of that sage fruit Mala and Dagger sent us when we were having that problem with the boars?"

When conformation comes I go back to talking to Dart, barely noticing my dad run off and Grandma and Gobber gently lift Laila onto the stretcher Grandma made, leaving alone on the beach with Dart.

 Still moving slowly and carefully, I carefully take off her armour so I can scan the black-and-white dragoness's injuries, trying to determine which are the worst, or most life-threating. Settling on the arrow wounds on her tail and wings - her armour did a good job of protecting her head and body- I rip pieces off my tunic and tie them around the injuries, "Yeah, I know. I know it hurts. Just breathe, girl, you got this."

Dad comes back with Nuffink and hands me a few of the orange-and-green fruits.

"Thanks," I look briefly over at my little brother who seems absolutely terrified by what's going on. I give him a quick reassuring smile before turning to Dart, "Here, can you eat this for me? It'll calm you down and hopefully will help with the pain," she purrs quietly and open her mouth just enough so that I can put one of the fruits inside, "There you go, num-num-num."

Dart visibly relaxes and small puff of smoke comes out of her mouth as she sighs, "Good girl," I look back to where Dad and Nuffy are standing, "Did you bring bandages?" 

Nuffink holds out a handful of fabric strips and I motion him over and start showing him how to tie them in place.

"Zeph," Dad says from behind me. When I turn to look at him he continues, "Your brother and I have got this, you go to your friend. I-When she wakes up she'll want a familiar face."

"But-"

"Zeph, go. Nuffink and I can fix Dart up and help her up to the village."

"I-"

"Go."

With one last glance I hurry away, up the path to the village.

________Time skip brought to you by:  Winter Break Laziness_______

3rd Person POV:

Valka quietly walks down the stairs looking absolutely drained. Astrid follows her down, her long blond hair pulled up in a hurried bun. Both of them have blood all over their hands.

"Well?" Hiccup stands up from the table he was anxiously sitting at and brings a bowl of fresh water so the two women to wash their hands off.

"The girl will live. Zephyr is staying with her. How's her dragon?" Valka asks, turning to her son.

"Dart? She'll be fine. Thanks to that armour both of them were wearing, most of the wounds were superficial."

"Her armour is really something," Astrid walks over and picks up one of Laila's shoulder pauldrons from where had been discarded onto a table, "Look at this, ten layers: some sort of moss padding, a couple layers of some sort of animal skin and then a few of something I don't recognize. Wait, Honey, the top layer looks like dragons scales."

Hiccup and Valka hurry over to the table and look carefully at the armour Astrid is holding up.

"Hmm, remind you of anything?" Hiccup asks holding up a vambrace that has been carefully crafted to resemble Dart's black-with-white-tips colouring.

Astrid smiles knowingly, lightly taking the armour from her husband with a quick kiss, "It's like ours," she says, referring to the dragon-scale armour they wore around the time they came to New berk.

"Yeah," Hiccup looks down and fiddles nervously with cuff of his sleeve.

"What is it?" Astrid asks, taking Hiccup hands in her own.

"Something that girl said on the beach..." He trails off, looking out the window with a concerned expression, "Assemble the village council."