Night Fury's Venom

Part 24: Return

The burns on my leg still spiked with pain at each impact from Hiccup's running. Surprisingly, my leg didn't hurt nearly as much as I expected it to. I suspected that Hiccup was right about the dragon spit because the pain diminished significantly after he had licked it—no matter how gross it felt. I was hesitant to wipe off the thick coating of saliva, worried that its presence was the only reason this wasn't excruciating.

Speaking of, I was riding a dragon! Yes, the dragon was still Hiccup, I think, but whether or not he was, it still felt so... strange. I was surprised to find that I didn't hate the idea. Doing this actually felt fun—if I ignored the pain in my leg, anyway. It was thrilling to feel the powerful muscles flexing and moving right under me as Hiccup ran, giving me the giddy feeling of adrenaline rushing through my body.

This actually felt better than the rush I got from fighting dragons!

I moved my hands slowly over the neck I was using to keep my grip, feeling the thick cords of muscles hidden under black scales. I could hear the heavy panting coming from Hiccup as he charged through the forest without so much as stumbling. I wasn't sure if this was his top speed, but it was sure faster than any Viking I knew of! Never in my life did I think I would be admiring a dragon, let alone riding one that didn't want to have me for a snack.

I resisted a laugh when I thought of the irony of this situation. Hiccup, the boy who couldn't swing a hand-ax, was incapable of walking without tripping on air, and destroyed more than helped, was doing the total opposite right now. I had no doubt that he had the strength to use the heaviest of weapons, well, if he could even grip one anymore—I doubted it. He didn't trip even once that I'd noticed. And he was successfully helping us without causing more harm that couldn't be easily avoided.

Hel, he was carrying three people, running through the forest, and jumping over obstacles without signs of slowing down!

Even more startling was the Deadly Nadder running at Hiccup's side. It was obvious it didn't like me because I doubted the occasional glare sent my way was what dragons considered friendly. However, even its apparent dislike of me didn't convince it to harm me. Aside from its glares, it only seemed to glance at me with an emotion I couldn't understand—it was hard to figure out emotions when one's face was covered with scales.

Maybe... maybe dragons aren't all that bad?

(^-^)

I was relieved that Astrid didn't have a death grip on me the entire way. I wasn't sure if she could strangle me, but judging by how much I was panting, I didn't want to find out. It was tiring to run and jump for that long, and I suspected that I needed to build up stamina. The only reason I didn't slow down at all—in fact, I pushed to go a bit faster—was because of Stormfly. Once again, I had a powerful urge to not mess up or look weak around her. And when I attempted to slow down, I noticed I would pick up speed again a couple seconds later.

It didn't help that she was looking at me every chance she got.

I slowed down to a trot, then to a walk as we broke through the treeline, the village of Berk just ahead of us. I panted heavily through my nose, ignored the twins' awful stench, and tried to calm my pounding heart. I need to exercise...

We walked cautiously into the village, moving carefully through the unusually barren streets. Stormfly, however, wasn't being as wary as she should have been. In the corner of my eyes, I noticed that she was busy staring at me most of the time, only to quickly look away if I looked at her.

I led the way up a steep incline to a semi-lonely hut. I set the twins down at the front door and gestured for Astrid to step off me. She crossed her arms when I turned my head to look at her. "I'm staying," she whispered stubbornly. I gave her a hard stare. "Take me home, and I will treat myself, but you're not going to just drop me off and leave."

"What's she saying?" Stormfly warbled quietly.

"She doesn't want to leave," I muttered with annoyance. I huffed and lightly tapped my claws on Gothi's door before swiftly turning and moving into the darkness. I watched from the safety of the shadows as Gothi opened her door and gasped at the two unconscious teens. She struggled to drag them inside before the door shut slowly behind her.

I couldn't help but hope that I could stay here without being locked up. Maybe someone could help me turn back into a human? I tried to not keep my hopes too high, though.

With that settled, I continued into the village again. Still, there were no Vikings that I could see—not even a watchman. I nervously eyed my surroundings anyway, worried about it being a trap, and eventually stopping at the Hofferson's house.

"Stay here," she commanded as she carefully stepped to the ground and limped inside. I had to resist a growl at being treated like a common animal. I wasn't going to stay, roll over, or beg. Especially not in a village of dragon killing Vikings.

I quickly moved into a darker alley, crouching to better hide. Stormfly squeezed in next to me and laid down with a soft grunt. She smiled at me when I stared at her in irritation.

What is going on with her?