TW: Blood.
A/N: looooooong chapter ahead. The art is from Tumblr: duskish-dragon.
Frida was laying on top of Shadow, the blood gushing out of the wound in her side.
Why had he taken her away? Where was he bringing her? Was she ever going to see Heather again?
All of these questions swirled in her mind as she desperately clung to her dragon so she wouldn't fall off and drown.
"Where are you taking me?" She asked her dragon.
'To a place where you can be healed,' Shadow said as he continued to fly. Frida was too weak to answer him so she just let it happen.
They flew for what seemed like an hour before Shadow spoke again.
'Hold your breath,' he said.
Frida held her breath and tightened her trip on her dragon. The water engulfed her abruptly and she was tempted to take a breath but stopped herself.
Shadow when further and further down and Frida felt the painful pressure make itself known in her ears and around her eyes.
She carefully opened her eyes and almost gasped.
What was in front of her was a huge black cave in the bottom of the ocean. It was almost shaped like a dragon with a mouth wide open as the entrance.
Shadow flew towards it and entered through the mouth. All the water disappeared and Frida greedily gulped in the air. She looked around in the cave as Shadow flew in complete darkness. That was before his markings began to glow a bright purple.
"Cool," she said. The pain in her side suddenly made itself know again and she clutched it.
Shadow made a sound, making sure she knew that he was worried. She pet his side to let him know that she was fine.
They continued to fly in the darkness, but Frida could see light ahead. It was only a few more seconds before they flew into a big open room with hills and caves at the sides with hundreds of dragons laid there. Especially Night Furies.
They were of all different colors and sizes.
In the middle of the cave was a giant pool of lava with a few of the Furies taking a bath in it.
Shadow landed and Frida slid off him and hit the ground painfully. She sat up and leaned her head on Shadow's leg. She looked around and saw more and more dragons gathering around them.
Frida reached for the knives at her side but Shadow shook his head. She pulled her hand away and looked at the dragons around her.
They were all Night Furies. Some were big, others were small. Some were black while some were purple or green or any other color. But they all had one thing in common. They looked at Frida with disgust.
'Kill her.' She heard some say.
'Let's eat her.'
'Murderer."
'Dragon traitor.'
She could hear Shadow growl at all of them and tell them to back off.
There was a loud thud in front of them and everything turned silent.
Frida carefully looked up and could feel her heartbeat quicken.
In front of her stood a titan-wing Night Fury. It was clearly a male, and he was at least 100 feet tall. He had blue glowing markings all over his body, but the most noticeable was the one on his head and ear fins which resembled a crown. He had way more spikes than a normal dragon would have so he was clearly old.
Frida could see the other dragons backing away while bowing to the dragon.
So this has to be the king, Frida thought.
The enormous dragon lowered its head slowly so it was at eye level with Frida. His eyes were the most beautiful blue she had ever seen.
'Frida, the dragon traitor,' his roar boomed. Frida still wasn't sure if they were roaring when they spoke or if they spoke. But what caught her attention was that he had called her by her hunter's name.
'I see you are confused and you should be. Your father is well known among us Night Furies as the Night Fury killer,' he said.
Frida bit her lip. This was not going to end well.
"I am not my father," she tried to defend herself. She heard gasps and roars from behind her.
'I know you are not your father, but that does not justify the deeds you have done to the dragons,' the king said.
'I can speak for her, she has done nothing wrong,' Shadow shouted.
There were protests from the dragons behind them, most of them calling Shadow a traitor to their kind.
"It's ok Shadow," Frida said as she ran her hand up and down his leg.
'You let a human name you?' The king questioned Shadow.
'I see this human as family. She took care of me when I was wounded and sacrificed everything so I could live. She has called me Shadow ever since and I feel honored to be able to call her by her real name. I would not let anyone of you harm her,' Shadow said with a growl.
Frida felt touched by his little speech and hugged his leg tightly.
'So would you consider this human to be your equal?' The king asked again.
'I consider her my sister,' Shadow answered.
The dragons were outraged by his response and many of them flew up into the air while holding ready plasmablasts in their mouths.
Frida felt faint and held her throbbing side.
'She needs help, that is all we ask for, then we will leave,' Shadow pleaded.
'Hvítr?' Someone asked from the crowd.
Shadow turned and Frida turned with him. Walking towards them was an old-looking dragon. By its features, Frida guessed it was a she.
'Mom?' Shadow asked.
Frida's eyes went wide. He had a family. Not only his sister but also a mother, he probably had a father too, maybe a mate. She felt extremely guilty for keeping him away from them all of these years.
The dragon walked closer to him but stopped once she saw Frida. Frida had begun to loosen her grip on Shadow, partly from exhaustion partly from being ready to let him go to his family if he wanted.
The dragon growled at Frida threateningly. Shadow growled right back while stepping over Frida so she was below him.
'Hvítr, step away from her, you don't know what you are doing,' the female said. She came closer but Shadow can't his stance and growled at his mother.
'I won't let you hurt her,' he said.
'She is going to die anyway, why protect her?' His mother asked.
'Because there is always hope,' Shadow responded and looked back at the king. 'Please, I can't lose her.'
She king examined Frida with one of his big eyes. He landed on her wound hand carefully smelled the air around her.
His eyes widened and Frida thought he looked almost sad.
'Deathgripper poison,' he said. Shadow nodded. 'I will help her Hvítr, don't worry.'
With that, the king carefully took her in one of her claws and flew her away.
Frida woke up with a start and looked around. She was surrounded by... Baby Night Furies?
She tried to remember what happened but the only thing that came to mind was that Shadow had brought her to a weird cave with hundreds of Furies and then being lifted up. Nothing more.
'The human is awake,' one of the hatchlings said and jumped up on her bed. She was in a bed right, it was comfortable and she was draped in a blanket.
The small hatchling had the traditional Night Fury colors, black, but his scales shimmered slightly, almost as if someone had dumped glitter him. He started at her with big yellow eyes as he sat on the side of her bed.
'You have been asleep for a whole day,' he said matter-of-factly. 'The king probably wants to see you because he said he had something very important to tell you, but he said that Hvítr would come and get you when the time comes. How old are you? How do you fly? Why do you not have scales?' The little hatchling continued to ask question after question along with his other buddies who had joined him on the bed.
"Ok ok, wait," Frida said. They all turned silent. "I don't have wings so I don't fly. I am 23 years old. I am a human and humans don't have scales, and no I do not lick myself clean..."
The hatchlings continued to ask questions but one question caught her attention.
'Do you have a mate?'
Frida took a deep breath.
"Yes I do, and she is the most amazing person in the whole world." She expected the halflings to ask why she had a female partner but they just began asking questions on what she looked like and how she was.
After a while, Shadow came into the cave.
"Shadow!" Frida said happily and tried to get out of bed, only to realize that she didn't have her mental leg on, but she did have clothes. Weird.
Shadow came over to her and gave her a quick lick on the cheek before nuzzling into her chest.
"I have missed you," she said as she hugged his head as a few tears escaped her eyes.
'Your face is leaking,' one of the halflings said horrified.
"It isn't leaking, I am just crying. It is what humans do when they are sad or happy," Frida explained.
'Are you happy or sad?' The little halfling asked.
"I am very happy," Frida responded.
'The king wants to see you, he needs to discuss a few things,' Shadow said.
Frida nodded and stood up from the bed while holding onto Shadow. He moved to the side and she jumped up on his back.
He began walking out of the room, just as another Night Fury came in. It was a female, pitch black, and she began to boss the small hatchlings around.
Shadow brought her out of the cave and into an open space with a pool of lava in the middle. Frida remembered it from the first time she came here. He jumped off the ledge they were at and glided into another tunnel.
This tunnel had to be over 200 feet tall and wide. But it had to be to fit the ginormous dragon king.
Shadow stopped as they came to a big open space that was almost twice the size of the other room. This one looked more like a sleeping area, pelt laid on one half of the room, while the other half had a pool of lava and a pool of water.
On top of the pelt laid an enormous dragon. Frida felt quite intimidated by the sleeping dragon.
He opened one of his big eyes and looked at her. He lifted his head and moved it to where she was sitting on top of Shadow.
'Do you know why you are here?' He asked.
"No," Frida said while looking down.
'You are very well known among dragons as 'the dragon traitor'. And many dragons know your father. You are hated in the dragon world for what you have done, and all dragons who are here wish you to be dead,' he said in a low, chilling tone.
'I must ask, have you ever had something weird happen to you?'
"What do you mean?" Frida asked.
'Strength, healing, speed, resistance?' He listed.
Frida thought back, and sure enough, she had had quite a few incidents when she could lift things no woman should be able to lift, (or man). She was faster than everyone in her old village and could keep up with a horse. She had always healed quickly from major wounds, and she never tired as quickly as others.
"Yes," Frida breathed.
The dragon king moved in his bed so he could comfortably look at her.
'Your father's actions had consequences, but also positive effects on your life. He killed a Night Fury, he was one of the first ones to do so. Which gave him severe consequences. Your ancestors were blessed by the Light Furies, hence your white hair. By killing that dragon, he broke the trust with them. All of his power was passed on to you.'
Frida tried to wrap her head around everything that was said. Did that mean something? Was she some sort of chosen one?
'You do have powers. Powers that are easy to use once you accept the dragon side of you,' the king said.
Frida looked down at her hands.
You can do this, she heard someone say deep in her mind.
She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply.
'Focus on the heat around you, your dragon beneath you. You hold the power of infinite dragons of the past.'
Frida continued to breathe and feel. She searched deep in her mind for something, anything, that might be what she needed to do this.
'You need to do this. Your family is dying.'
Frida's eyes shot open at what he said.
"What?"
'Your father is charging to war against humans. You must stop him. Even if it costs your life. He cannot kill the Alpha.'
"I can't master this so quickly! I need time!"
'Which is something we don't have. Now focus!'
Frida closed her eyes and tried again to search for what she needed. She always felt landing on a memory of Heather. How happy they were. The many flights they had together. Her own thoughts about finally proposing.
She smiled and opened her eyes and saw a bright orange color.
'You found the power. As cheesy as it is.'
"Love," Frida sighed.
It was incredibly cheesy that she would be about to unlock this power with happy memories of Heather. It sounded like one of those badly written fairytales.
'Shadow will take you to the battlefield. Kill Grimmel. And find your heart.'
* * *
"And then I convinced Shadow's mate to come with us, though she actually was more resistant on coming."
"That was cheesy," Heather said as she finished her story.
"Call it what you want. It is what saved both of us," Frida said.
"That truly was an amazing story. It shows how lost you two are without each other. Just two lost riders. Without each other you would be dead," Mala said from her chair.
Heather had also told her story and Mala seemed to trust Frida more now.
"We will leave you two love bugs here. You will probably be able to go home in a few days," Dagur said as he helped Mala up from her chair.
It had come as a shock to Frida that she was pregnant. She didn't see her as the woman to want children.
"I'll be leaving too. Remember to not be too rough. You are both still weak," Astrid said as she stood up.
Frida laughed as Heather groaned and buried her face in her chest.
This was just an amazing day.
A/N: if anyone is wondering what happened to Blaze, he escaped when Frida initially got hurt in Grimmel's layer. He managed to free his mother and sister and get out.
Hope this wasn't too cheesy, but it is often like that and I find it sweet.
Drink some water, eat some healthy food and get enough sleep. (I see you.) Your body needs it!
Put off some time to do the things that make you happy and that you want to do.
There is a person out there that loves you a lot and still wants you with them ❤.
Have a blessed day/night/evening.
Comments and votes are appreciated.
Two more chapters and this story is over. Can you. Believe it?!
Love you all so much <3