Young Dragonblood

Chapter Five

You screeched from the pain, the teeth of the trap ripping through your tail fins, snapping a couple of phalanges. It was such a strong trap that not even your dragon strength could have parted those metal jaws. You looked back, twisting your head right round so your neck clicked, and saw the hunter who had shot the trap. She was perched on the back of a red and white Silver Phantom, her brown hair tied back in a rough ponytail that danced in the breeze. Her cyan gaze met yours, cold eyes mesmerising you. You knew this hunter, you had seen her before, and not just those few years ago. She was so deeply familiar, engrained in your consciousness somewhere. Buried far back in time. 
    A purple-blue plasma blast scorched between you and the Phantom rider, decimating the trap. You were flung away by the blast, the temporary flames singeing your scales and pieces of sharp metal battered down on you. The end of your tail screamed in pain, even more so when you hit the rocky ground with a thud. 
    Hiccup swooped down through the smoke and landed beside you, hurriedly pushing you to your feet. ‘Go,’ he said, not so gently nudging you away. ‘Go!’ You didn't need prompting again. You leapt away into the forest, pain and fear making you fast. You only tripped up a couple of times, your claws catching on roots and stones. You almost ran into Toothless when he shot out of a thick patch of trees. He dodged you and ran beside you as best he could through the thinning trees, his breath coming in pants. 
    ‘Shift to human!’ You heard Hiccup yell down from just above the tops of the trees. 
    ‘How?!’ You shouted back, your voice higher than you would want to admit. 
    ‘Will yourself in to human form!’ He replied. ‘Remember what—’ he paused to fire a blast back the way they'd come. ‘—What it feels like to be a human! How different it is from this form!’
    You willed your thoughts to stray from the danger and focus on the human side of you, trying to feel what is was like to be a clumsy person. Your form wouldn't Shift at first; it was determined to stay in your newfound reptilian body. What if you couldn't Shift? What if the dragon side was taking over like you had feared? Fear began to rise higher, but then a familiar aching tingle swept through you, making you shiver, and you found yourself face down on the ground in human form. Toothless skidded to a halt and helped you up, urging you to get on. You couldn't understand his words now, but it was clear enough what he meant. Hiccup dropped down from tree branches above and pulled you onto the saddle, your limbs trembling to much from your exertions to be able to control properly. He leaped up in front of you and hooked his metal foot into the stirrup, growling something to Toothless in Dragontongue. The Night Fury shot straight up, branches cracking around you. He was just a dark blur in the dawn sky. 
    You looked back in search of the hunter and found her below, crouched on the back of the Phantom. Its ragged edged, large wings were not designed got fast flight and it soon fell behind, the hunter glaring after you as the Fury disappeared into the low cloud. Those cold eyes haunted you as you sat in silence, only Toothless's wingbeats disturbing your racing mind.