Night Fury's Venom

Part 17: The Cove

Let's recap the day, shall we? First, I woke up with a horrible headache—that I still felt, mind you—and a very sore mouth. Next, I nearly had a heart attack when my father decided to come barging into the arena with his hammer. Then, another dragon busted into the arena, blew apart the other dragon cages—if the added explosions were any indication—, and proceeded to carry me high off the ground.

Did I mention that said dragon was the Night Fury who bit me? I'd bet he was probably still hungry.

"Quit it with the whimpering already. You should be grateful, I just saved your tail back there." Did I also mention how much I despised him?

"Leave Hiccup be," Stormfly hummed lightly, "it must be humiliating to be carried like a hatchling when he has perfectly healthy wings." Thanks, Stormfly. I definitely needed to be reminded of that.

So, let's add that to my list. Headache, father trying to kill me, kidnapped—dragonnapped?—by the Night Fury, and carried due to my lack of flying skills. Perfect.

I watched as the trees below us slowly passed by. I tried not to think about falling to my death as the dragon adjusted his grip on me a few times. It was hard to not think about that when his breathing gradually grew more labored as the seconds ticked by.

It wasn't very long when the dragon started to drift lower and lower to the ground.

"Stormfly..." He panted. "Need to... land!"

Stormfly quickly scanned the ground below us before abruptly diving down. "Here!"

My stomach lurched when the Night Fury dove down as well, moving far slower than Stormfly was. I noticed a large opening in the trees, a bit of light reflecting out of it telling me there was water in there.

Before we landed at the edge of a giant sinkhole, I was dropped unceremoniously to the grass below. "Oof!" I groaned, slowly standing up and shaking my legs one by one to remove the uncomfortable tingling. "You couldn't have set me down?" I glared at the offending Night Fury, seeing him now laying on his side with heavy breaths.

"Not my fault... you're so heavy!"

"Yes, it is!" I yelled, "all of this is your fault!"

"Woah, woah!" Stormfly quickly stepped between us, fixing me a hard stare. "You haven't even known Toothless for a day! How can this be his fault?"

"He turned me into this!"

Stormfly froze, wide-eyed. Then she slowly turned to look at 'Toothless,' who smiled sheepishly. "You did what? When I let you come with me, I didn't expect you to turn Scaleless into dragons!"

"Uh, oops?"

"OOPS?!" Stormfly snarled, startling me. "What was going through your mind?! Did you care about how Hiccup would feel about this?!" I stared with shock, my heart skipping a beat, and not believing Stormfly was defending me so readily.

"I don't... know why or... how I did it!" Toothless protested, "I didn't do it... on purpose!"

"How can you not do this on purpose?!" Stormfly growled, "did you just trip and happen to bite him and turn him into a Dark One?!"

"Dark One...?" I whispered to myself.

Stormfly shot me a look. "That's what you are, duh. What did you think you were?"

I blinked. "A... Night Fury?"

"A what-now?" Toothless warbled, finally steadying his breathing. "Is that what Scaleless call us?" Even Stormfly was staring at me curiously.

Put on the spot, I fidgeted nervously. "Well... Stormfly is a Deadly Nadder..."

Stormfly looked confused for a second before sharing an unreadable look with Toothless. "Oh, yeah... that." She cleared her throat. "You are now called a 'Dark One,' Hiccup—so is Toothless. Meatlug would be a Boulder-Wing, Biter a Tail-Biter, Hookfang a Flame-Skin, Barf and Belch a Two-Head, and me a- er... Spine-Tail."

I narrowed my eyes. "What were you going to-"

"Boy, am I tired!" Toothless interrupted quickly, "time to sleep! Yep!"

I rolled my eyes at his poor change of subject. "Sleep? Really? It's mid-day!"

"You're going to learn how to fly tonight," Toothless muttered, not meeting my eyes. "So rest up, you'll need it." My eyes widened. What? "We like the night hours better anyway."

I glared. "You like the night better, not me." Stormfly sighed, shaking her head slowly.

"Either way, we're resting. Follow me." He stood and turned to walk along the edge of the sinkhole.

Stormfly nudged me to my paws, walking by my side stiffly as we followed Toothless. "Don't let him get to you," she whispered, "he can be quite a pain in the tail, but he means well. Usually."

"He screwed up my life," I replied angrily, "how is that 'meaning well?'"

"Maybe he hasn't," she replied cryptically, her suddenly happy tone confusing me. "You seem to be doing quite well for a Scaleless."

She continued forward as I stopped walking, looking after her in bewilderment. I... was? Realizing I was being left behind, I darted after her. "Wait! What do you mean by that?"

She ignored me, faintly smiling as I pestered her for answers. She lightly hummed smoothly, pretending to not hear a word I said as we descended into the cove below.