Survivor (Book One- Lei)

6. Take Back Berk

Hiccup watched as the boat that had his father's body sail off into the distance as it burned. He looked over at his crying friends and saw the girl Lei sitting on the ground near the edge of the water slowly throwing rocks into the water.

"Hey," he said sitting down next to her. She glanced over at him and picked up another stone.

"All my life I had been tucked away from the cruelty of humans, twenty years to be exact." She said palming the stone. "And I never thought any of them would be this ruthless to kill their own kind for...power. My father was right, humans are just greedy creatures."

"I've met people who have done terrible things but they aren't as bad as Drago. Compared to him, they are just as bad as naughty kids." Hiccup said, bending down and picking up a rock.

"They told me humans were cruel and often slaughtered their own kind, I didn't believe it until I saw it myself with your father."

Hiccup wondered who she was referring to. Whoever told her that humans usually slaughtered their own kind without mercy must not have been human at all or they didn't consider themselves to be on the same level as other humans.

"Why did you try to save me?" Hiccup asked. "You barely know me, but you were ready to shove me out of the way to save my life.

Lei gave a small shrug. "I don't know, maybe it was just Instinct? I grew up with dragons, and I always tried to protect the weaker, older or younger ones that couldn't fight when a stronger dragon tried to fight them. I got scolded for it sometimes."

"Wait you grew up with dragons?" Hiccup asked in surprise.

"You think I'd make this up just to make you feel better? Of course I grew up with them, I even speak dragon!"

"Wait so you can communicate with dragons? Can you communicate or understand a Bewilderbeast?"

"This was my first time seeing one Hiccup, and hearing the bad one's voice in my head gave me chills!" Lei shuddered and rubbed her arms. "I could barely understand the Bewilderbeast, but just enough to hear him tell our dragons to attack you. I couldn't even understand them when they were under its command."

"You knew, but you couldn't even stop them."

Lei lowered her head in shame. "I'm so sorry for your lost Hiccup, I would have given my life to save his. I should have tried harder to stop my friend and yours from firing at you, if I did your father wouldn't have died."

Hiccup glanced down at the stone in his hand and he saw Lei's hand cover his own hand. It felt just as rough as his own, though he doubted those calluses were from working in a forge.

"You're not to blame, it's my fault." He said softly. "I shouldn't have tried to talk to Drago. I thought I could because it worked in the past but...there was no way I could have done it this time."

"Your father wouldn't have wanted you to blame yourself, and he probably wouldn't have wanted you to be kneeling here on the beach mourning for him for too long." Lei said as she removed her hand from his and rose to her feet. "Astrid said she heard Drago say they were going to Berk, your home island. We have to stop him- all of us."

Hiccup nodded and rose to his feet. "You're right, we have to stop him. It's what my dad would have wanted. A chief protects his own." He turned to the other riders who gathered behind them. "We need to head back to Berk and fight Drago."

"Uh...but he took all the dragons." Ruffnut pointed out.

"Not all of them." Hiccup said with a grin. "Lei has lived among the dragons her whole life, she and my mom probably know a species in the ice fortress that isn't affected by a Bewilderbeast's command."