Young Dragonblood

Chapter Fourteen

You left Berk the next day, earlier than the dawn birds, earlier even than the choir of Terrors. You didn’t want anyone to follow you. You had found a faint, barely readable set of directions on the back of the note, pointing you towards a barren island you had seen in the distance when you were out with Hiccup and Toothless. You had memorised the directions the night before, and now followed them as you flew. You were by no means great at flying, and it was a struggle to fly for so long with weak wings, but somehow you managed it. 

You knew it could very well be a trap, and even if it wasn’t it was unlikely that Jeger had actually changed for the better. And anyway, why would she tell you? Her estranged offspring? The person she had injured. The more you thought about it as you soared away from Berk the more you doubted this was real.

Eventually, the island you had been searching for came into view. It’s flat, was your first thought. From your angle it was just a slight grey mound rising out of the ocean, the waves lapping up on the beaches as if it were trying to lick the sand away. There was nothing special about this island, you thought, until you flew around to the other side.

There was a cave there, not deep, but still a cave. It bored smoothly into the rock as if someone had drilled a hole into it then sanded it with the utmost care. Storms and the tide must have played a large part in it over the years. Even the pebbles that littered the mouth of it looked smooth.

You swooped down and landed on top of those pebbles, scattering them into the walls and some bouncing down to the water’s waiting grasp. You Shifted to human form to give your wings a rest; for some reason you had a tendency to arch them even when you didn’t need to. Without your dragon sight, the cave was dark. It was impossible to tell how deep it went, but it had the sense of being large, even though the ceiling was less than a standing Nightmare’s height. The faint sound of dripping water echoed from deep within the cavern.

‘Hello,’ someone called from the darkness. You started and growled, searching the shadows for whoever was there. At first there was nothing but darkness to be seen, but as your eyesight adjusted you made out a faint human outline. 

‘Hello?’ You called tentatively. That did NOT sound like Jeger, it was too high, too young. ‘Who are you?’

The outline came closer. ‘You don’t need to know my name,’ he said. ‘Just what happened to me.’

‘Riiiight?’ You shuffled a little closer to get a better look at him. He seemed to be just a boy, only a handful of years older than you and shorter. He had his brown coat pulled tightly around him as if he were cold, which he probably was out here.‘Soooo… What happened to you?’

The boy just chuckled. ‘You’ll hear soon enough. When she’s arrived.’

Your blood ran cold. ‘She?’ Did he mean the hunter? You went to ask, but he just smiled and waved a hand to smack away the question. 

You stayed silent and peered at him instead. He had moved into the light since he had first spoken, and after furtively inspecting his face you discovered his skin was disfigured, as if it had been burned a long time ago. What had happened to him? Your curiosity was heightened now.

From the corner of your eye you noticed a dark shape. You glanced up at it and found it was a Silver Phantom, the very same red and white one who had caught you only days before. It made a beeline for the cave, it’s cry echoing over the sea like a lonesome albatross’s call. You moved to the edge of the cave as it came in to land, it’s powerful, ragged edged wings sweeping the air into a momentary gale that blew pebbles across the floor. 

‘Oh, it’s you again.’ Jeger jumped down from the dragon’s back, her long coat almost getting caught on the Phantom’s spines. ‘Why are you here?’

‘You sent me a note?’ You said, a slight growl to your voice.

‘No? You did.’

The boy coughed and raised his hand. ‘That may have been me.’

You and the hunter turned to him, both with matching looks of confusion. ‘What? Why?’ Jeger asked.

The boy came closer. He walked stiffly, as if it hurt to move. ‘When I was a lot younger, I followed someone into a forest. I had been watching them all day, noticing that they seemed fidgety, on edge. I thought they might need help, so when they wandered off, alone, I went to help. I had not expected to almost die then. They hid away in a cave, then, not too long later, a dragon emerged from there. I of course thought the dragon had done something to them, so I stood up to face them. That was when they shot and I was burned almost to the doors of death. Two years I was looked after and healed by my tribe. Two years before they let me wander on my own. I came looking for the one who’d shot me, and I found her.’

You looked at the hunter. She had paled a little, her eyes wide. ‘You’re the one my dragon side burned,’ she said. ‘What do you want? Revenge?’

The boy chuckled. ‘Revenge? No, never. I want to help you. I’ve been watching you for longer than you’d like to know. I’ve seen you on full moons, I’ve seen you when you think no one is looking. You can’t continue living the way you are.’

‘But what if I want to?’ The hunter replied sharply.

‘Do you really want to stay trapped between torture and the desire to be free?’

Jeger made to say something, then decided against it.

‘Yeah,’ the boy said. ‘Y/N? Show her.’

You stared at him, confused. ‘What? And how do you know my name?’ 

‘Shift.’

‘Ohh...’ You Shifted to hybrid, glancing at Jeger when she flinched back.

‘How can you be fine with such a monster waiting to take control?’

‘It’s not a monster,’ you said. ‘My dragon side is me, and your dragon side is you. That’s what I told you last time we met. It reflects who you really are.’

‘You’re saying I’m a killer?’

You gazed at her without breaking eye contact. You knew how she’d got to that conclusion… yet she, her dragon side, hadn’t actually killed the boy. ‘Not exactly.’

Jeger sighed and turned away. ‘This is stupid,’ she said. ‘If you’re trying to get me to change, it’s not going to work. You’re wasting my time.’ Neither you nor the boy tried to stop her from getting on the Silver Phantom, but the boy called out as she and her dragon turned to fly away.

‘Think!’ He called. ‘You’ll see.’

‘Yeah, right!’ the hunter called back, vanishing from view.