Night Fury's Venom

Part 23: Instincts

Astrid's voice was quickly followed by the increasing sound of crunching leaves. My shouting definitely got their attention. Trust me to screw up at the worst possible time, right?

"Toothless!" Stormfly hissed fearfully, "I can't go back there! We need to do something!"

Toothless reacted instantly, shoving me forward and away from the incoming Vikings. "Don't run! Move slowly and quietly this way. There is a huge rock we can hide in the shadow of. Move!"

We moved quickly in the direction Toothless indicated. The two of them were quiet enough to avoid being caught, but I wasn't. Regardless, we still tried to hide in the shrubbery and shadows. I laid down next to Stormfly and threw a wing over her, ignoring the blush that came to my face. We waited in bated silence, hearing the running footsteps only getting louder and louder.

Obviously, all the noise I made ruined our chances.

Stormfly started shivering and whining under my wing. I knew what she was thinking about. I wasn't caged for that long, but she was definitely there for longer. I knew how Vikings treated the training dragons, and the thought of her going through that sent a flare of anger through my body. The anger only grew with each footfall, clouding my mind further and further. My gut told me what to do, and I listened.

I slowly stood up, ignoring the commands being hissed at me by Toothless, and stepped forward out of cover. I didn't understand why, but my back arched, my wings flared, and I crouched low to the ground. I only understood that I needed to keep Stormfly from being captured again.

That was all that mattered.

(^-^)

I knew that it didn't actually matter if I was captured again. It would hurt, but I would be fine. Yet I still couldn't help but fear being trapped in that place again. We were barely fed in there, we were forced to fight young Scaleless repeatedly, and many of us would die from infection. The smaller cages they forced us into were filthy, leading to sickness and infection being the two leading causes of death there. Day in and day out, we were forced into a pitch-black room for hours, only being let out to fight, then forced back inside.

I heard many dragons losing their minds during my time of captivity. There were times where I thought I would too. Then, Hiccup was there. He was a strange dragon who believed he was transformed from a Scaleless, and I used that as a bit of humor to ease my fears. When I realized he wasn't lying, instead of thinking he was funny, I began to admire him.

That had to be a traumatic experience. He lost his body and was forced into a life that was the enemy of his original species. How alien it must've felt for him to be bound by his own family or friends. I admired his ability to push onward. He didn't break down and give up on life, he was just sarcastic and determined to do even the simple things like walking. He could adapt so quickly.

He even forgave Toothless for causing this whole mess—and so quickly, too! I knew I couldn't have done that.

So, I was surprised when he didn't hide anymore. In fact, he growled and stood up to stand in front of us. No... me. He stood directly in front of me. Then, he dropped into a perfect defensive stance, completely baffling me. I know I didn't teach him that well! How was he doing that?! Even better, why was he protecting me and not Toothless as well?!

I cursed under my breath when it clicked. Instincts. He was in a perfect defensive stance, there was no way he was in control right now. And if his instincts were trying to protect me...