Soul of a Dragon

Chapter Seven; Making Progress

A whole season has passed; three freezing cold months. Hiccup inspected the tiny sprouts of green grass that poked through the snow. Toothless was jumping around outside their cave, enjoying the sunlight on his scales. Garsh and Dawn joined him, and Hiccup felt a smile creep onto his face. Garsh played with the female deadly nadder, the little green grunkle bounced around her feet happily while they both laughed.

Hiccup felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, feeling tense. Something was-

And then he felt the pile of snow hit his head, followed by toothless' mocking laughter.

"Aw come on bud!" Hiccup brushed the snow off of his head. He heard Toothless huff, and fling more snow at him. Hiccup gritted his teeth as the snow hit him square in the cheek; he took a deep breath,

"Stop it" Hiccup growled. Literally. He opened his mouth and a low growl left his lips, causing pain in his throat. He saw Toothless' ears perk up, the dragon gave him a toothless grin; Toothless bounced over to him.

"You know that physically hurts, right?" Hiccup stated as Toothless let out small giggles. Yeah, Hiccup could distinguish the difference between a dragon laugh, a dragon chuckle, and a dragon giggle. It had been a long winter season.

Hiccup saw Dusk exit the cave, his sister dragon approached him, nudging his now healed wing joint. Dusk raised both his wings up, flexing them after being injured and then cooped up.

"Better?" Hiccup grunted towards Dusk, and he nodded. He squacked something that Hiccup could barley translate

"Sky...human...learning..."

"Thanks? I hope." Hiccup turned back to Toothless and patted him on the shoulder.

"Up for a flight?" He gestured towards the clear sky, but Toothless ignored him. Hiccup groaned dramatically and took another deep breath;

"Fly!" Hiccup roared as loud as he could; Toothless laughed a bit, then nodded and lowered his head. Hiccup couldn't swallow his grin and he climbed on, they hadn't flown in almost a whole week! And when they did, it was for gathering supplies; and it was usually snowing. But today it was clear, and the weather was clearing.

It only took mere seconds for the duo to lift off. They circled the cave from above, and Hiccup saw Dawn waiting for Dusk and Garsh to lift off. Garsh's face scrunched up as he beaded his wings as hard as he could, slowing lifting off from the ground. Dusk knew how to fly, but hadn't had the chance to do it that often since his injury; Hiccup suspected his shoulder was still sore. But both of them were off the ground in a minute, following Dawn higher up and above the trees. Hiccup shared a glance with Toothless, before they dived down and zoomed away just above the treetops. Hiccup erupted with laughter as they flew through the air, reaching the island's edge in minutes. They did circles around the island, spotting a few wild dragons and boars.

"So when do you want to strike, bud?" Hiccup addressed after a few more minutes of flying. He heard Toothless coo, and then grunt a few times. Hiccup took that as 'Your plan is stupid, lets not rush'.

"My plan is great! What are you worrying about?" Hiccup scratched the top of Toothless' head.

"Stupid Human" He understood Toothless growl; but then he nodded and grunted something else.

"Well, in my opinion, the sooner the better." Toothless seemed to coo in agreement.

"The hard part is going to be getting that thing outside." Toothless grunted something in response;

"Right, "Queen"." Hiccup mimicked the sound. He assumed it meant 'queen' or 'large dragon monstrosity', since the dragons used that sound when referring to that giant dragon in the mountain. Hiccup dubbed that island 'dragon island'; the nest that he heard rumors about since he was born. The 'queen' was the huge dragon that was controlling all of the other ones; either feed the giant or become food for the giant. Hiccup gritted his teeth at the thought. Bullies come in all forms, as do their victims.

They headed back to the cave after about an hour. They picked up some firewood and water; and Hiccup grabbed some rocks for Garsh. Hiccup felt the warmth of the cave before he even walked inside. Dusk was sitting closest to the cave entrance, and Dawn was watching over Garsh, who was hoarding a pile of rocks. Garsh's head perked up as Hiccup walked past, he dropped the rocks into Garsh's pile and the baby grunkle squealed with delight and started chowing down. Hiccup sat in the corner, gathering up his journals and charcoal pencils. He walked towards the center of the cave.

"Okay. If the weather stays clear for the next couple of days, I think we should go forward with the plan." Hiccup announced; the dragons exchanged worried looks.

"Oh come on guys, have some faith in me!"

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Dusk was shaking his head. "He's insane. You'll never make it out alive if you challenge the queen."

"It's lovely that he wants to help; but if the queen could be defeated, we would have done it already." Dawn added.

Toothless growled;

"It can be done, he's got a smart idea and a solid plan! Plus, I'm helping him. We can do it." Toothless defends, "besides, no one can talk him out of it; dragon speech or human talk."

"Because he's insane. You're both insane!" Dusk roared. Garsh stopped chewing and whined.

"Stop scaring the hatchling!" Dawn growled.

"He can fly, he is no longer a hatchling."

"It's okay Garsh, Dusk is just scared of the queen." Hiccup soothed the hatchling, and Dusk huffed at the insult.

"All you two need to do is help with the distraction, that's it. Then you two can fly away in terror" Toothless cooed with the dragon version of a smirk.

"And I will forget you both when you die." Dusk grunts and wanders outside. Dawn seems to sigh,

"I will not; if that happens." She follows her brother outside.

"Sooo...I guess they don't like the idea." Hiccup kneels down next to Garsh.

"Yeah, they're just scared."

"Your with me, right Toothless?"

"Of course." Toothless nods with his signature grin. Hiccup pats Garsh on the head; and stands up flipping through his book.

"Spring is the season of new beginnings; let's make this one count."