Home-Bound: The Beginnings (HTTYD)

30 - The Dragon's Curse

Saphira woke up with a raspy throat and a pounding headache. She suddenly sat up and the blue-lit room she was in started spinning, so he held her head and put her weight on her other arm.

She was tucked between two animal furs, both providing comfort and warmth in the room she now realized was made entirely of blue ice.

She stood up cautiously, testing her balance before hobbling over to the wall. Her hand ran over the frozen water, which had a certain sense of clarity to it, although she couldn't see to the other side clearly.

Saphira was astonished to find that the ice wasn't frigid cold. It was warm, almost radiating heat, as if it was alive.

She heard footsteps in the small opening that acted as a door, and turned to see a forty-year old woman, holding a tray, wearing leather and furs.

"You're awake! Finally. I was getting worried," the woman held a hand over her chest and let out a deep breath. In her other hand, the tray balanced easily.

"Who are you?" Saphira found herself asking, subconsiously inching backwards as slowly as possible.

The woman set down the tray next to the bed of furs.

"I'm Valka," the woman introduced herself "I found you nearly dead in one of Drago's ships, so I took you here."

Saphira looked around. "I'm Saphira... Where exactly is 'here'?"

Valka chuckled, and waved her hand. "Follow me, child."

Saphira picked up one of the furs to wrap around herself and followed Valka down the icy hallway, stopping occasionally to regain her balance. She looked straight ahead, and was met with a huge cavern full of rare and exotic dragons, mossy outcrops everywhere in sight.

The inside was extremely warm, and Saphira found no use for the fur, so she discarded it at the entrance, looking around as if she had just been sent to heaven. The walls were made of ice and the melt that was created form the warmth flowed into beautiful streams and tumultuous waterfalls. She turned to her left to see Valka petting the snout of large, owl-like dragon.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Valka asked, a proud grin on her face. "I've lived here for seventeen years, and I never get tired of it."

Saphira smiled, looking back out over the cliff, and down to the huge Snow White Bewilderbeast. "It's gorgeous. Better than Drago's setup, that's for sure."

Valka watched as Saphira stared at the flying dragons in wonder and longing. "I'm sorry about your Changewing, dear," Valka finally mumbled. "I would have saved it. I had enough time to. But I knew I could do nothing. Your dragon was going to die even if I got it out of there."

"Mine? Oh, no. You must be mistaken. I just take care of the-"

"I know what I saw, dear." Valka cut her off with a smile. "A true bond. Your Changewing cared about you. And you felt the same."

Saphira looked down, her brown, fire-singed hair falling over her face. "Yeah, I guess I did."

Valka's lips turned downwards in an apologetic smile. Standing up, she came to Saphira, placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, child. You'll probably bond again."

Saphira nodded, her fingers flying up to play with the blue stone around her neck. It was a nervous habit, a tell she had been trying to break.

Valka's eyes followed her hands down to the end of the chain.

"No... It can't be."

Saphira raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Taking the sapphire in her hands, Valka examined the stone, taking note of the precise metalwork of Celtic Knots that held the stone in place. She read the delicate handwriting on the side. "The child of Cay... We thought you had died!"

"Hi, Amare," Hiccup greeted, pulling out the wooden seat next to her, and sitting down. He set his satchel down next to his seat, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

Luneah smiled, glanced around quickly, before giving him a quick peck on the lips. She turned back to eating her salad and Hiccup stole a carrot slice from her plate. Luneah turned to him and pouted.

"That was mine!"

He shrugged in return, standing up. He grabbed his bag, opening it, and pulling a box out of it.

"Your refills, Madame."

Luneah chuckled, pulling the Monstrous Nightmare Gel canisters out of their box and sliding them into a small pouch on a belt around her waist: one that she had made just for this reason, as well as to hold Inferno in place. "And...?"

Luneah held her hand out expectantly.

He shook his head with a sigh. "I still have to make the Zippleback Gas canisters. Those are harder because I have to compress the gas, then seal it before any gets out."

"You haven't even started?!"

"I have! I've made like seven of them. You still have a few of the ones I made you last time, right?"

Luneah opened her mouth, but was cut off when one deep horn sounded.

Everything went silent.

Another one blew.

Then another.

Three horn blows in total.

All the villagers in the Great Hall started panicking. Luneah pushed forward her plate, salad only half-eaten. She picked up her bag and whistled for Midnight, who was in the corner with Toothless, both alert because of the horns.

"Get all the canisters. Now."

Hiccup nodded, and both climbed onto their dragons and took off towards the treehouse.

"Another battle?" He complained as his voice was swallowed up by the wind. "Didn't we just recover from one?"

He turned back towards the village and noticed that the three torches were just barely being raised. How had no one seen the armada coming?

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