Dragon Wings

Long Live the Queen

Dragons were swarming around Hiccup. They were excited to see him.

"What's with all the dragons?" He laughed.

"Not many visitors. These usually keep close range to the nest." Ryo said, still shuffling Hiccup along.

"You've trained them all?" Hiccup asked.

"Like I said, I have a lot of free time."

The two were heading into a small jungle at the center of the cave. Many kinds of dragons were following them. Nightmares, Raincutters, Zipplebacks, and especially the Terrors. They took a liking to Hiccup.

Ryo finally stopped short and Hiccup almost fell.

"We're here." She said.

"Where? What's amazing that you wanted to show me?" Hiccup looked around.

"Just wait." She took out a small seashell. It was the size of her finger. Ryo took in a deep breath and blew through the whistle, making a faint squeak. They waited.

Just then the ground started to shake. Ryo took Hiccup's hand and ran behind a tree. The ground shook even more. Hiccup saw the clearing in the forest spreading, like it was cracking during an earthquake.

Ryo kept her balance, but Hiccup had fallen to the ground. He looked back up to see a red mist come from the opening to the floor. A ghastly roar came from beneath. Hiccup knew what this was.

This was a Red Death.

He got back to his feet and tried to keep his balance. The quaking stopped, and Hiccup nearly fell again. This day was wearing him out.

Once it stopped, Ryo immediately ran to the large crack. She looked as though she was going to fall in. Hiccup caught up to her and drew her back, but she crouched next to the crack even closer.

She blew the seashell again, and a head appeared in the mist below.

"Wow." He said. "How did you get it to do that?"

"Once you gain their trust, it's not hard at all." She smiled. The Red Death roared.

"The last one I met tried to eat every dragon and person in sight."

"Well, maybe that one wasn't shown anything but hatred." She said. Ryo outstretched her hand. The beast met her halfway and she rubbed her hands on its rough skin. Hiccup per-cautiously join, and soon knew what a Red Death had felt like.

She got to her feet. The beast roared and hundreds of dragons swarmed the crack.

"Feeding time." She said. "It's late, why don't we set up a fire?"

"But what about the one back there?" He said.

"Oh, that's long snuffed out." Ryo said. "Besides, I know a great place. Lunar." She climbed onto her. Hiccup called for Toothless and they both set out further into the cave.