[HTTYD] TPIIP: The Queen Falls, chapter 5

To Put It In Perspective: The Queen Falls, a DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon fanfic by Raberba girl

Chapter 5 (rough draft)

A/N:  Really short chapter, sorry.  The next one's long.

o.o.o

After all this time in isolation, the first humans I see are children.  They're not from the palace and they don't even speak my language; they must be from a different territory, perhaps travelers.  They come tumbling out of the woods one afternoon while Hiccup and I are eating lunch.  They freeze for a moment when they see us, then the oldest girl babbles to her younger siblings and they come romping toward us.

Hiccup creeps up to my shoulders and huddles there nervously, and I remember that he probably hasn't had any positive interaction with any human besides me.

The little boy annoys me by making a snatch for my food without even glancing at me for permission.  I grab his hand before he can actually take hold of anything.  "ABSOLUTELY NOT."

While I'm distracted, his little sister grabs one of the fish from the fire and backs away with a stupid smug smile on her face.  The oldest girl scolds her for stealing food--  No, the girl snatches it out of her sister's hand, she wasn't scolding her for stealing, the little thief was scolding her thief sister for not sharing loot!

As I'm watching the greedy girls incredulously, the boy makes another snatch at the slab of bark I use as a plate, and this time he manages to close his hand on a peach.  I snatch it right back out of his hand and snarl at him like a dragon.

The brat snarls back, then lunges at the peach.  I love the flabbergasted look on his face when I knock him back, very easily despite staying seated and having to use my left arm.  (It twinges in protest at the movement, but it's not completely useless.)  I take a big fat bite of the peach, sniggering at the brat as I do so, taunting him with the sound of my teeth slicing into sweet flesh and the sight of juice trickling down my chin.  "Mmmmm," I say through a full mouth.  "Soooo delicious, and all mine."

Looking infuriated now, the boy grabs a stick and runs at me, yelling and waving his little weapon.  Without even bothering to get to my feet or put down the peach, I disarm him, then smack the stick across his bottom.  He stares at me, his lower lip starting to tremble as if he thinks he can make me feel sorry for him.  I don't, though - these kids are a little grubby, but not too much; their clothes are old and faded, but carefully patched.  They've most likely got parents nearby to look after them, they don't need my pity.

They get Hiccup's, though.  My silly, soft-hearted little dragon croons in a soothing way as he crawls down my arm, hops to the ground, and approaches the kids.

The younger ones shy away at first, but the older one looks fascinated.  She reaches out to Hiccup and he nuzzles her hand, purring.  Soon both girls are cooing at him as if he's an adorable infant, while their brother happily steals the rest of Hiccup's meal and starts toasting it over the fire.  Hiccup doesn't seem to mind at all, he loves the attention and affection and caresses.

"All four of you are doofs," I mutter, curling my arm protectively around the rest of my own meal.

o.o.o

By now, Meatlug loved the little runt, he was the only good thing about her life.  He was the only one of the fledglings who never actually attacked her except with half-hearted feints, and he brought fruit.  And edible plants.  And sometimes cooked red meat.  Not openly, but she found that if she snatched him and made a show of grappling with him (even his struggling seemed half-hearted, as if he knew perfectly well that she didn't intend to hurt him), he'd leave the food in her hands after he 'escaped.'

It was so good to have some variation in her diet, so good to have an occasional taste of sweetness, and...perhaps even better, to be able to look into the eyes of one creature in this whole cursed nest and see what she thought could be compassion instead of hatred.

The other prisoners thought the same.  Conversations were tiring because they had to yell to make themselves heard, but it was the only real company they had.  During those long hours when there was nothing else to do, they'd bellow back and forth between the pits, and strain to hear the replies of their fellow captives.

Stormfly loved the runt like Meatlug did.  The twins had more reservations, but had grudgingly forgiven the little dragon for apparently brandishing poison ivy at them the first time they'd seen him.  Hookfang, the only one who still hadn't faced the fledglings in battle, ranted and raged about how it wasn't FAIR and he was so BORED and when was HE going to get to fight some dragons, or get something to eat that wasn't freaking FISH; and on and on, so that Meatlug almost lost her temper and screamed at him that whatever the dragons had planned for him was probably the worst, if they were keeping him out of action for so long.

As far as the dragons were concerned, the runt's status had changed within a matter of days.  To his own astonishment, he went from being the lowest-ranked fledgling to being deferred to by all of them except the proud, increasingly angry gold.  Dragons who had once merely acknowledged him as their alpha's offspring now greeted him enthusiastically, without demanding any displays of submission.  Although he would once have delighted in the attention, it now dismayed him.  It was no longer an easy matter for him to sneak away to his beloved human, since his presence and absences were noticed more.

This was how matters stood when the alpha returned home the first time, discouraged by his lack of success.  The humans could be tracked up to a certain point, but when they reached the boundaries of their territory, it was like a fog fell upon the minds of the dragons, clouding and disorienting them, so that they could not remember where they were or what their purpose was.  By the time they wandered far enough away to regain their senses, the humans would be long gone.

The alpha knew that if they just had something inside that territory to focus on, something to guide them through the fog and meet them on the other side....  But what could they possibly attach themselves to within that mysterious darkness, where only monsters and evil dwelt?

The alpha was astounded to greet his offspring and read the wealth of new scents on him.  On top of the disgusting scent of stripmud (the runt made a habit of rolling in it every time he returned to the nest, in order to mask the scents his human left on him), there were signs of respect paid to him by most of the flock.  The alpha was delighted to learn that his offspring, a mere runt, had nevertheless successfully managed to outmatch all his agemates in fighting humans, including the gold female who was so strong and promising.

"I love you," the alpha crooned, nuzzling his child.

"Love you too..." the runt nuzzled back, trying hard not to hunch down in guilt.  It gave him a very strange feeling, trying to 'deceive,' but he had to protect his human and pretend that all was well.

The only other unhappy dragon was the gold fledgling.  She was outraged that the runt now outranked her, and frustrated that he kept besting her even though she knew she was still the better fighter.  She refused to mark him with respect, so she avoided him entirely except when she stalked him, trying to figure out where he kept disappearing to for so long.

The few times she caught him coming back, she tried to get close enough to catch his scents without him noticing her, but she was never able to manage it before he rolled in stripmud and erased all evidence of his activities.  He was concealing.  That was wrong.  For all she knew, he could be putting the flock in danger, but because of his concealment from his own flockmates, none of them would know until it was too late!

The gold persisted.  At long last, the day came when she successfully tracked the runt to his hiding place, and saw the thing he had been keeping secret for so long.

To be continued....