Dragonling - The Gathering Storm [a HTTYD 3 rewrite]

Chapter 9 - Guardians

Apologies for the late chapter, life kind of got in the way. Besides that, no special notes for this chapter. Enjoy! :D

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Flame didn't look too impressed by my revelation.

"Well, that's all great, I guess I'll go grab the Book of Dragons that I always carry around with me so I can check it out... Oh wait, that's right, I don't have one," she said sarcastically. "Where do ya think we're supposed to find one, anyway? It's not like they're everywhere. The only copy I've ever seen is back on Berk. In fact, I don't think Deathgrippers are even in the Book of Dragons, anyway." She started pacing. "And there's probably nowhere we could find out if they aren't, because I for one don't want to ask Grimmel, or his Deathgrippers. And I've never heard of them before, and I've been far more places than just about anyone on Berk, so there's no way any of the other Berkians would-"

I decided to interrupt her there. "You bring up some good points," I admitted, standing up as well. "But I wasn't talking about Berk's Book of Dragons. I actually didn't know you had one. I was talking about mine. When I left my island after the dragon attack, I took with me anything I could salvage that might be helpful. I found the Book hidden in a secret compartment under the floor of the house of one of our elders. It was still mostly intact, and I thought it would be useful in finding out dragon's weaknesses. Then I found Spirit, and she taught me most of what I know about dragons. I kept the book anyway, just in case."

Flame had stopped pacing and was listening intently, but now she interjected. "You still haven't told me how you know the Deathgrippers would even be in your Book."

I smiled. "Right. Well, I'm not certain they're in there, but I do remember that, when I was little, people from my village would tell me stories about Furies... and red-and-black scorpion dragons."

Flame caught on to where I was going. "Scorpion dragon sounds like a pretty good description of a Deathgripper," she noted, and I nodded confirmation.

"The Book might not have all the information we'll need, but it's the best I've got. Unless, like you mentioned, you'd rather ask a Deathgripper themself," I teased, walking back to Spirit to check her saddlebags. I reached in and instantly got worried. "It's not here." I checked the other one. Still nope. I was on the verge of a panic attack when I remembered and groaned.

"What is it?" Flame asked.

"I put the Book with the rest of my stuff. It's with everyone else, probably a few miles back the way we came." I sighed. "Oh well, there's still one thing we can do while we wait for it to get here."

Flame looked at me curiously. "And what's that?"

I mounted Spirit again. "Scouting. We still have a few hours of daylight left, so we should use them."

Flame followed my lead and in a few minutes we were on our way again, flying towards a blank horizon.

An hour later, there was still no land in sight. What was in sight, however, was a cloudbank climbing in our view. Gray and threatening, it loomed over the dark water. A harsh wind had gusted out of nowhere and seemed to be getting stronger the closer we got. Our dragons were fighting it with every wingbeat. I turned to Flame and yelled to be heard over the wind, “We should head back, before our dragons get too tired.” She nodded, and I sent Spirit in a wide bank, Flame and Misty following our lead. The wind caught under Spirit’s wings, and we darted forward, far faster than before.

 “Hey!” Flame hollered. “Come back! I just saw-” The wind gusted again, breaking off the rest of her shout.

“Mind slowing down a bit?!” I said to Spirit, leaning close to make myself heard.