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Chapter 22

Watching the five teenagers grow smaller in the distance, Elinor couldn't shake a feeling of uneasiness. She reasoned that it could be because of the task set before them, because her daughter was going, or because as the young Viking so aptly put it, they were going unarmed and without the proper training. She had almost stopped them from going until the Viking boy could properly instruct them in how to behave around and safely interact with other dragons besides his mount. However, young Hiccup was right in that time was an important factor; since the longer the matter remained unresolved, the more the relationship between her kingdom and the dragon taming island of Berk would suffer.

Seeing the worried look on his wife's face, Fergus pulled her close to give her a hug. "Do nae worry too much, me love. A hate to admit it, but the lad know wot he's doing." Gently guiding her back to the castle, he noted one of the shields that the youngsters were carrying propped against a wall; absentmindedly picking it up to put it on a rack, he immediately frowned when he felt something off. "Sheamus! Bring me the Quartermaster, now!

XxX

Having decided to go to the last credible dragon sighting on the reports a few days prior, the four Scottish teens rode at a somewhat leisurely pace while Hiccup and Toothless flew in circles above them, using the high altitude to scout ahead. Every once in a while he would descend and fly closer to them, telling them about dragons. "It's important to keep in mind is that with some exceptions dragons are stronger, tougher, faster-" He gave Dingwall a quick look nobody noticed. "-and sometimes smarter than you."

Merida rolled her eyes. "Tell me something A donae know."

Hiccup smiled. "This is important. Vikings have been around dragons for centuries and we still sometimes forget that."

"Maybe yer jus' dumb." Merida teased.

"That is a distinct possibility," Hiccup admitted. "But I believe it has more to do with stubbornness."

"What will be the correct way to proceed once we find the dragon?" Ian interrupted the banter.

"To turn around and go home," Hiccup answered without missing a beat. "Since that is not a possibility at the moment, you have to remember that a great part of surviving has to do with your attitude. Awe, respect, and a healthy dose of fear are all good emotions to have when confronted with a wild dragon; aggression of any kind, not so much." Having said that, he went back to his scouting position high above them; occasionally coming back down to give them tips to help them get ready. Telling them to never let them out of your sight, if they tense their posture, stop what you're doing and slowly back away. Don't cover your head with the shield until you know where the blast is going, among other pieces of advice to keep them safe.

After a few hours of riding, they arrived at a small farm, Merida frowned at the way the owner never stopped glaring at Hiccup while at the same time showering her and the heirs with flattering words.

The man took them to the place where the dragon had been causing trouble; there were burn marks and loose soil everywhere. "We were having dinner when we heard a horrible roar comin' from the clearin' where A keep me cows. Me wife didn' want me to see wot it was, an by the time A convinced her and readied me weapons, the beast was already gone. An he left A bloody mess too, ripped one me cows in half! There was blood an guts everywhere, took me all day to gather everythin an burn it."

Once the farmer finished his tale, Merida quickly dismissed him back to his house. The man looked like he wanted to say more but he complied. "Wot do ye think happened?" She asked Hiccup.

"I'm not sure," He answered truthfully. "Something doesn't fit. This seems needlessly violent. If it wanted to eat the cow, it would have picked it up and carry it to somewhere more peaceful, and since it ripped the cow in half it's obvious that it was strong enough to do so." Running a hand though his hair, Hiccup tried to find an answer. "We have too little information to know anything for sure. Let's just split up and look for clues."

"The events that man recounted to us perplexes me," Ian spoke up after a few minutes of silence. "Someone of his economic standing would endeavor to salvage what he could from his animal. Why then, did he burn the remains?"

Merida rolled her eyes at the Macintosh heir's flowery speech but she had never spent enough time around peasants to know if the question had merit. Surprisingly, it was William who ventured a guess. "Fear of disease? It was attacked by unknowns."

"I think I know why." Hiccup waved them to his location where he was looking at something on the floor. "Look familiar?"

"It's that gunk we found on the flower field." Ian immediately recognized it.

Merida wrinkled her nose. "Wot is that?"

"An attack on the senses," William helpfully replied.

And indeed, even after a few days the black goo still smelled horrible and the vegetation around it was dead and already rotting.

"This the same creature we came across during our excursion through the wilderness, princess. When investigating a half burned field we came across the same black goo," Ian explained.

"Let's spread out and look for clues," Hiccup suggested. "Try to find out where it came from or where it's heading."

Eventually, Doric found something at the edge of the forest. Hiccup looked at the scratched up tree and took to the sky to get an areal view of the area, frowning at what he saw.

XxX

They spent the rest of the afternoon following the strange trail that Doric found. It was difficult to make out from the ground but when seen from above, it was obvious that the top branches of certain trees were broken or completely snapped off. It was as if the dragon didn't care and just plowed through - a peculiar conduct to say the least, because dragons were very good at avoiding obstacles. "Maybe he's marking his territory?" He thought out loud. That would be bad; dragons were especially ferocious when defending their territory from perceived threats.

Every once in a while, the trail of broken branches stopped completely, only to start again either farther down the way or going in a completely random direction. Looking up at the sky, Hiccup decided that even if they still had some hours of daylight, it would be better to head back to the castle for the night. Hiccup wasn't a good tracker and he doubted the other four were much better. As it was, they didn't even know if they were moving closer or away from the dragon. Tomorrow, knowing what to look for and with a competent tracker by their side, they would be in much better shape.

Hiccup's planning was interrupted when he saw a blue glow in the distance. Dragon's fire? Toothless's flame was blue. It wasn't farfetched that other dragons would have them too. Maybe it's another Nigthfury… "Come on bud, let's check it out." Toothless warbled in agreement and speeded off. By the time they landed in the forest the light was already gone. Did it sense us? Toothless growled when the glow reappeared deeper into the forest, Hiccup could have swore he heard giggling in the distance. Deciding to give chase, they had no choice but to pursue on foot; the thickening forest making flight a bad idea. Getting tired after a while of running, he paused for a moment to catch his breath and noticed that no matter how much he ran, the blue glow was always the same distance from them. They chased it until the end of the forest, were it disappeared completely. It didn't matter tough, because he found what he was looking for. "What the?"

XxX

The riders down below were making a respectable pace as they traveled though the forest and still Merida found herself annoyed. We're slowing him down. It was irritating to her that she would slow someone down but she couldn't deny it either. Since Hiccup had made sure to always keep them on his line of sight, he was always on their line of sight as well, and she could clearly see that the dragon, Toothless, rarely flapped his wings to keep up their pace; instead, he seemed to just be floating lazily up in the sky. Merida had seen birds do that, but the dragon should be too heavy for that. She didn't know how it could do that, but she understood its meaning. It barely had to exert itself to go as fast as they were.

Merida's internal grumbling was cut short when she saw their airborne companion suddenly speed off and quickly disappear from view. So fast… Transfixed as she was by the burst of speed, she had to snap herself out of it in order to pursue. "Oi, look alive ye all! Hiccup found something." Spurring her horse, she rapidly pulled ahead of the group, who didn't take much time to catch up with her. She didn't worry about the direction they were going, she knew they were on the right track. Their fast pace lasted until the forest, growing thicker and thicker, started to slow down their progress.

As they advanced, they all started to notice the forest growing more and more silent, as well as the horses slowing their pace more than needed to advance. The three heirs knew what that meant because they experienced it in the past, back in the very first time they met Hiccup. And just like then, soon the horses stopped advancing altogether, refusing to take another step further. Rather than force them like last time, they hopped off and continued on foot.

Ian swept his gaze all around them, trying to find any sign of danger, his hand itching to reach for a sword he knew wasn't there. "The dragon we're looking for is more than likely in the vicinity. Please let us make sure it's safe up ahead."

Rolling her eyes at the request, Merida shouldered her way past the three heirs and walked proudly ahead of them. Her proud march stopped as soon as she got out and saw… "…Big…" She whispered.

No other word could be used to describe the beast she was seeing, although terrifying was a close second. It was a good deal bigger that the dragons she had seen before. Pitch black and well armored, its arms and legs ended in wicked looking claws. Two massive black wings, each with a talon where it had spiky protrusions all over its body made from the same carapace like armor that covered most of its body; on the back of its neck, on its tail, shoulders, knees, elbows, the sides of its chest. What would a creature so big need so many spikes for? Merida didn't know, she didn't want to find out either. To top it off, two more of those spikes went out both the back of its head and its cheekbones; its snout was lined with a row of triangle shaped teeth. The feature that most drew her attention was the creature's eyes, a solid pupil-less red that seemed to shine with malevolence. In her opinion, they made the dragon look evil given physical form, not even the fact that it stood as still as a statue, staring blankly ahead. Is it even breathing? changed that. An he tames these things?

Her inspection was cut short when she heard a low menacing growl by her side. Quickly turning to the source of the sound, she was surprised to see Toothless the dragon crouched and ready to pounce at a moment's notice. His earflaps were pressed against his head, his narrowed eyes stared forward with startling intensity, never taking his gaze away from his master. Merida felt a little ashamed that she had noticed their foreign guest last. He was halfway between her position and the motionless dragon with the shield he had been carrying strapped across his back. With his arms stretched wide, he would slowly take a step and then stop, making wordless soothing noises for a couple of minutes before taking another step. All the while being completely ignored by the unmoving beast.

She was dimly aware of the clan heirs standing behind equally transfixed at the seen before them. Her lack of attention cost her when a terrified neigh behind her Angus! caught the attention of all those present, all of them. "Oh Hell!"

XxX

Coming out of the forest, Hiccup instantly spotted the black dragon doing a surprisingly accurate imitation of the Dingwall clan's heir. Taking a step in the unknown dragon's direction, his progress was immediately stopped by Toothless, who jumped in front of him and tried to push him back. "Calm down buddy; it's okay, look. It's obviously not that aggressive if it's tolerating our presence." We're up wind, there's no way it hasn't noticed us yet.

Toothless growled and pushed back harder. "Come on, Toothless! The sooner we do this, the safer those guys will be." The dragon warbled piteously. "Don't be a drama queen. I need you to keep a sharp eye and protect all of us if things go south, okay?" Toothless made a disgruntled noise and reluctantly got out of the way. "Okay, here comes the tricky part." Slowly walking to where he considered a safe distance, Hiccup reduced the speed of his approach considerably and started making noises he knew dragons considered soothing, trying to be the least threatening possible.

The more he drew near, the more he slowed down; the more he slowed down physically, the more he speed up mentally. …big, halfway between a Nightmare and a Boneknapper… medium sized arms ending in claws made for tearing and ripping… bipedal… claws on feet close look similar to a Nadder's, good for graving prey mid-flight. Shape suggest a more offensive use… half burnt field… it has a fire breath of some kind. Nature of fire and shot limit unknown… shape of teeth suggest a diet of meat instead of fish. Most likely boar and deer… immobile and inattentive, sleeping?... reports indicate nocturnal habits; color reinforces theory… segmented armor, good for mobility… too much armor, clumsy flyer… Solid red eyes, no pupils. High intimidation factor… nocturnal… red eyes… different kind of sight?... unusual amount of spikes thorough its body... spikes… claws… armor… most dangerous at close range, built for melee. Might have close range fire breath… too many pointy bits to be ridden safely…talons on wings, they're for areal fights against other dragons! To target their wings… unknown capac-

The analysis ended abruptly when he was startled by the terrified neigh of a horse. Unfortunately he wasn't the only one startled by the noise. The dragon, finally noticing the tiny human in the middle of the field, roared thunderously and charged. "Oh Hel!"

Cliffhanger! I think?

Well, anyway, you guys are going to have to sit tight; because I suck at writing action scenes, so the next chapter is gonna take me a while t write. Hopefully I can come up with something entertaining.

On other news: We did it guys, we reached a hundred reviews!

Celebrate good times, come on!

(Lets celebrate)

I wish I had something prepared for such momentous occasion, –Pulls out sheet f paper– I would like to thank the academy for such a tremendous hono- Wrong speech… Oh, ok. To think a simple man like me could win a Pulitzer… Damn it, it's not this one either… Let's see, ummm. Speech for winning pie eating contest, Eisner award, Emmy, Grammy, Tony… Becoming pope, being elected El Precidente… Where the hell is that speech? –Walks off–