You Are My Romeo

Chapter 4: Night Fury

But it never came. I did fall for a split second and yes, I did have quite a hard landing, but it wasn't half as bad as I had expected it to be. I hadn't fallen further than from the edge of the roof onto the balcony. Fortunately, I'd been able to land bottom first, which probably saved me from cracking my skull open, but it did not save my poor behind, which was aching so bad I wondered if I would ever be able to sit normally again.

With a groan I forced myself up into a sitting position — against the many protests of my derrière — and brushed off the tiles that tagged along with me in my fall. Other than a minor headache and an aching bum, nothing seemed to have been broken or otherwise injured, which included my axe, to my great joy. Safe to say, it wasn't the worst that could've happened and that was good enough for me.

Once more, that high-pitched scream from earlier filled my ears as I was reminded of how I had ended up with a broken roof and an aching behind in the first place. White hot fire coursed through my veins as I gritted my teeth, forcing myself to my feet, axe in hand as pure rage filled me from head to toe. Some dragon had attempted to kill me and I was officially out for blood.

"Show yourself, coward!" I roared as I swung my axe menacingly around my sides, hoping I had been successful in taunting the dragon so that it would come after me. "It takes more than a little fire to kill me!"

A moment passed and nothing happened. I was stood on the balcony waiting for something that didn't seem to be was coming, until suddenly a large, dark shadow rose from behind the stone railing of my balcony. Bright, luminescent, green eyes seemed to pierce through my very soul as my legs quivered beneath me. The beast roared, a sound so loud my ears rung for the next minute as I attempted to keep myself from screaming in pure terror.

"The offspring of lightning and death itself," My father's voice echoed through my mind. "If you ever face this creature, run as fast as you can and hope it doesn't follow."

All my life I had heard tales of the night fury, the most vicious, terrible and dangerous dragon known to man. There was very little information on it, speed, size and power were all unknown and no Viking had ever stood face to face with the beast and lived to tell the tale.

It was like I had been drained of all courage, leaving me a shell filled with sheer terror as I — for the first time in my life — was unable to keep my axe upright. My legs shook like a piece of parchment in the wind and as the dragon opened it's mouth, a purple light growing inside it's throat, I found myself completely frozen in fear at the mere sight of it.

This was it, this was the end. The dragon was going to kill me and that would be it for not only Astrid Hofferson, but also the entire Hofferson bloodline, a line of brave warriors who had fought against every terror known to man, except for this. Which is why I'm going to be the first. The thought echoed through my mind, building my confidence and giving me the guts to break out of my state of petrification. An animalistic roar filled with every ounce of rage I had left escaped me as I ran at the dragon, axe raised.

This was my moment, this was the moment I killed a night fury and became a legend, not only in my own village but in the entire archipelago . This was — "Toothless,no!"

I stopped dead in my tracks, my axe sinking as I attempted to piece together what had just happened. Right as we were about to clash, the night fury had pulled away, but not before the sound of what I had thought to be a honking goose at first filled my ears.

Toothless? Had that dragon just ... spoken? With a roar the dragon took off in the direction of the shipyard and it was then that realization dawned upon me, even though the truth was even crazier than what I had fabricated in my head.

Time seemed to slow as the battle died out far beneath me. On the back of the night fury sat a man, a rather lean-looking man in a suit of armor which appeared to have been made from the dark scales of the very dragon he was riding. A matching helmet hid his face but in the moment he turned his head in my direction I caught a glimpse of the emerald green eyes beneath it, which sparkled like a chestful of jewels in the sunlight. For the quarter of a second, our eyes had met and I could've sworn that my heart skipped a beat.

When I was younger my mother had told me that the eyes were a mirror of the soul and that was how she knew that my father had been the right one for her. When I looked into the eyes of this stranger I felt as though I knew him better than I knew myself, it was as if I could see all his fears, his joys, his sorrows and all the love he had to give.

That one moment felt like it had lasted a lifetime, but before I even had the chance to process any of it, both the night fury and his rider were gone, vanished into thin air. I blinked myself out of my daze as I supported myself on the railing, trying to piece together what had just happened. I hadn't even the chance to do that as my focus quickly flitted over to the courtyard, where surely enough, the other dragons were retreating as well and that was when I spotted them: more dragon riders. All the dragons I had previously seen had riders on their backs with armor similar to that of the man on the night fury, made of the scales of the dragon they rode. My head felt like it might just explode with all the new information I had received in a matter of minutes. There were people out there who had not only trained dragons, but they had also found a way to ride them!

Completely baffled, I found myself stumbling backwards from the railing. Gently shaking my head, I tried to make some sense of what I had seen before I turned my gaze to the horizon, where sure enough, four dragons were flying away in formation as I was left with several questions, but only one that could not seem to leave my mind; who was that man?