686Chapter 25: Withered Land
Author's Note – This chapter was fun to write. I've been awaiting the release of this one for a long time. There is something that we all knew had to happen eventually.
Withered Land
Much of the valley between the two sets of mountains was visible from where they perched on a high ledge. The chill, dry wind blew in their faces and ruffled Toothless's wings.
"What did you say this place was called?" Toothless warily asked.
"The Withered Heath. Now we know how it got that name..." Hiccup frowned.
Everything was grey and brown as far as they could see. Nothing was growing except gnarled shrubs bare of any green, and short, thin grasses. There were no trees in the valley, which also appeared to have canyons and gullies cut into the mountainsides. The few streams that ran down the mountainside were small and almost empty of water. No roads or other paths were visible, though that was not a surprise since no one had any business being up here.
"Almost makes Berk look like a green paradise. Hey, do those look like burn marks over there?" Hiccup pointed at a distant outcropping that had noticeable discolorations on it.
"Yes, they do. We should go look."
"Yeah, definitely."
They flew over to the rock, touched down by the rock, and investigated it more closely.
Toothless growled to himself at the confirmation. These very old scorch marks were indeed from dragonfire.
"Dragons made this," he observed.
"No, I was thinking the fire-breathing Dwarves did this!" Hiccup chuckled.
Toothless snorted in amusement at the thought of fire-breathing Dwarves.
"Anyway, any idea where the dragons might be if they're still around here?" Hiccup asked.
Toothless hop-flew up onto the rock, from on which they looked around the visible valley, and searched for any sign that it might be inhabited. There still had not been anything to suggest that there were dragons currently living here. But they only just arrived here.
"They would probably want a cave. We should look for caves or other shelter," Toothless offered.
"Good idea."
Hiccup saw the first thing of significance in a small ravine at the base of the mountains.
"Over there!"
Toothless turned and flew toward the ravine. He landed on top of the ledge that overhung the ravine, and then they stared in solemn silence at the perfect dragon skeleton in the ravine.
Hiccup thought the skeleton looked like a Monstrous Nightmare, having only hind legs and with claws on the tips of its wings, except it was also much lengthier and lacked the assortment of spikes on its head. There was no way to tell how it had died; there were no obvious signs of injury.
He put a hand on Toothless's neck while beholding the first visual proof he had seen that other dragons lived in Middle-earth. Toothless saw Smaug's bones back in the Long Lake.
"Bud, did I tell you that the Vikings had a book of all dragons, the Dragon Manual, and everything the Vikings knew about every dragon they knew of?"
"You said something about it before," Toothless softly answered.
"Yeah, your page was empty because they knew nothing about you, good job on that!"
"I tried," Toothless grinned.
"Anyway, I memorized that book cover to cover. That dragon down there is not in the Dragon Manual."
A wary growl followed as they both stared down at the full skeleton.
"I do not recognize it either. We should keep looking."
The third such ravine they found was filled with very different signs that dragons had once been there. They dove down into this one to investigate up close what they saw.
Hiccup hopped down from Toothless's back, carefully stepped between the debris, and picked up the brittle fragment of shell. The ground around the scattered shards was also covered in various chewed-on bones, most of which were those of cattle or deer but some of which looked suspiciously... human or maybe Dwarven.
He did not touch any of the bones, and he shivered as he stepped back to Toothless's side.
"Well, these dragons lay eggs. No surprise there."
Toothless reached out with a paw and nudged a larger egg shard while softly humming. The egg had been much larger than any he ever remembered seeing. But it was so old that it crumbled at his paw's touch.
He could not help but think about what the dragons that had lived here had been like in life. Were they like Smaug, filled with greed for gold and a hunger for Dwarves and humans?
Did the dams care for their young, and if so could any of them be wholly evil? It certainly appeared that at least one of either the sires or dams had brought back catches for their young, and that implied some amount of care.
Maybe they were warm only to their own kind. Did they have families or not?
He sighed, knowing that he would likely never have answers to such questions. It appeared that there were no other dragons left in this world.
Then a very twisted and foul scent floated on the wind. The scent was almost that of rotted fish.
He spun around in alarm and looked into where the wind was blowing from. There was nothing there except for a yellow pile of rocks near a steaming hole in the ground. Those smelly rocks were familiar.
They smell like rot. The Monster's nest had a lot of this...
He growled softly as he looked around, warily staying attentive for any sign of motion or scent of large life.
But the valley was still, dead, and withered.
The wind came cold down from the mountains, and the stars wheeled overhead on a cloudless night.
They were both curled up in a slight shelter on the southern slope of the mountainside. It was out of the way of the direct wind, which was somewhat of a relief.
Hiccup stared up at the stars from under a dark wing while Toothless silently gazed out over the dark expanse of the long valley.
A whole day of searching, gradually making their way to the northwest, had revealed nothing except bones, occasional fragments of eggs, a couple empty caves or recesses, and a few wild animals, but those did not matter. Those were not what they were looking for.
"What do you think, bud?"
Toothless shuffled in place.
"About what?" he grumbled.
"The Withered Heath so far."
Toothless turned to him, his eyes glowing very faintly in the moonlight.
"It is very wild. The deer could be good hunting, even if there are not many of them. One of the caves could be good for a dragon to roost in. Truthfully, part of this place does feel good in a way: as though part of me could be happy living here. But..." his voice faded away into a soft hum as he got up to pace.
"But what, bud?" Hiccup whispered.
Toothless grumbled and flicked an ear as he sat down at Hiccup's side again.
"Having seen the Shire, Rivendell, and Lorien, and knowing good humans like you, Gandalf, Strider, and the Hobbits, Elves, and Dwarves also... all of that has changed me."
"Changed you how?"
Toothless waved a paw toward the horizon.
"The wild out here feels... empty."
"Empty? What do you mean?"
A dark wing went out over Hiccup to again block out the worst of the wind and the cold.
"I do not know how to say it better. Life feels... more... around good people."
"Won't argue with you on that. The wild out here does have a harsh beauty to it. At least there is still some life here. Who knows how cold the Northern Waste will be?" Hiccup wrapped his cloak tighter around himself.
Toothless growled and let his fire show for an instant in his maw.
"We will soon. But I do not mind the cold. Neither do you with your warm furs."
Hiccup nodded, very thankful for all the gear he had acquired. The mittens, heavy coat, furs, and mask were very warm and snug. Then he rolled over and stared off the slope.
"Right about that. All the gear from Lothlorien and Dale will help a lot. I wonder if we'll find any Jotuns or frost-giants up there in the Waste."
"What are those things?"
"Remind me to teach you more mythology some day, bud. Though, I'm not sure if that mythology even works in this world. Probably not, even the gods sound different."
Hiccup pulled his Lorien cloak over himself and quickly fell asleep in the warmth under Toothless's wing.
Toothless remained awake a while longer, silently staring out over the expanse of darkness and watching for any flitting shadows or dark spots in the sky where the stars did not shine.
There were none.
Maybe I am alone.
The empty cold inside felt greater at that thought of his being the only one of his kind. Then he glanced down to his pendant and lifted it with a paw. The pearl still glowed very faintly from within.
Between that light and Hiccup's peaceful breaths at his side, that creeping fear of isolation felt smaller and far more bearable.
Hiccup frowned as he considered the thorny bush before him. The bush looked very withered, much like the rest of the valley in this harsh land, but it had large berries on it. He hadn't seen anything else edible yet in the Heath.
It would be nice to have some food other than Lembas.
The small, red berries looked sweet. He knew that some mushrooms were not good to eat, but that probably wasn't a problem with berries. These also looked something like raspberries, so they should be safe enough to eat.
The berry's flesh was very sweet at first and tart afterwards, which was an interesting combination. The small pit he bit into was so disgusting that he immediately spat it out.
Ugh... note to self, don't eat the pit...
"What was that?" Toothless barked as he bounded over.
"I learned not to eat the seed in these berries."
Toothless grumbled as he glared at the berries.
"Are these berries like bad-wrong-twisted-false-fish to humans?"
"Huh?"
"You called it an... eel!" Toothless hissed.
Hiccup shrugged.
"Maybe. There's a lot of stuff that we shouldn't eat because it makes us sick."
Toothless grumbled and looked around at what they could see of the valley from where they were.
"See anything out there?" Hiccup asked as he gathered more of the berries.
"Yes."
"What?"
"Grey mountains along our flight."
"Yeah, more of the same. It looks like we're getting near the end of the Heath though."
Toothless sighed, his ears fallen and tail stilled.
"And we did not find any living dragons here."
Toothless looked so glum that Hiccup had to help cheer him up.
"Well, there is one!"
Toothless rolled his eyes.
"We did not find any other living dragons here..."
The Grey Mountains were most appropriately named. There was very little green on their slopes. All was either white with snow or grey with rocks.
Their flight through the morning, the sun rising at their backs, carried them to the west along the last stretch of the Withered Heath until the two mountain ranges joined together.
After briefly conferring, they flew entirely over the Grey Mountains until they reached the northern slopes. Then they turned back and started flying east. The lands to the north, their next destination if they found nothing in the Grey Mountains, were very ominous in how empty they appeared. There was nothing but an empty plain of short grass as far as the eye could see.
The chill, dry wind blowing down from the barren plains did not help.
The ruins were definitely Dwarven. The small fortress lay in a valley with a broken path leading up to the structure. Discarded axes, swords, and rent armor littered the ground outside the fortress.
There were no bones of any kind, and nothing moved in the ruins.
Toothless glided up onto the wall of the ruins so that he could see inside where the roof had collapsed. Stone tables, walls, and lower chambers were visible inside.
"What were they doing here?" Toothless asked.
"See those carts over there, bud?" Hiccup pointed at the empty carts.
"Yes."
"It looks like they were mining up here, maybe gold or silver. And then... well..."
They both looked down at the deep scratches in the rock.
"Dragons happened..." Toothless grumbled.
Hiccup patted his neck to comfort him.
"Yeah, they did. I should probably take a look around and see if there's anything useful here."
"Good idea. I do not smell anything, but be careful."
Toothless hopped down onto the ground and lay down to rest. Hiccup wandered the ruins while searching for anything that might be helpful. There wasn't much left in the ruins, nothing easy to take with him anyway.
As appealing as a full suit of Dwarven armor would be... and even if it was in my size... and if I were strong enough...
He found a weapons rack in a side chamber.
Hammers, throwing axes, battle axes, shields... were these Viking Dwarves? Probably stubborn enough if they were mining up here...
Then he spied a dagger on the ground by the rack of axes, so he went to pick it up. The craftsmanship looked very fine with a bronze handle and a blade as long as the Barrow-daggers. Both the handle and blade had Dwarven runes which he could not read. Best of all, the dagger looked very sharp.
This could help with carving catches or hides. Maybe even melee fights, not that I'm going to be in any of those. I wonder what the runes mean.
So he pocketed the dagger and then left the ruins after finding nothing else of note.
"Find anything?" Toothless warbled without opening his eyes.
"Yep."
"Good. What?"
"I found a powerful, ancient Dwarven relic that is cursed with a thirst for dragon blood!"
Toothless flew to his paws and spun on him, glaring at the dagger in his hands.
"Or just a plain Dwarven dagger..." Hiccup chuckled.
Toothless snorted and stepped closer to inspect it.
"It looks like it can bite."
"Yeah, might as well have a good one since I gave the others to Merry and Pippin. The one from Dale isn't bad, but it isn't as sharp as this one."
Toothless then rolled his eyes.
"You do not need to throw this one away."
"Understood. Good to have your approval! You ready to keep going?"
"Yes, seeing these old dens that were destroyed by dragons feels bad..."
Hiccup stowed away his new dagger and then glanced one more time at the Dwarven ruins as Toothless similarly stared toward them.
"I know what you mean, bud. Let's go."
A very large cave, its mouth opening from the base of the bare mountain slope, beckoned down below.
"Why not? Let's go check it out," Hiccup offered.
"It does look like a good cave," Toothless granted.
They dove for it and landed on the rocky surface. The first thing Hiccup noticed was the amount of ice inside this cave and around the entrance. Large icicles, almost like teeth, were visible within. While it was definitely cold on this side of the mountain, it was not close enough to freezing to explain the amount of ice here.
They both grumbled while staring within.
"Ever seen anything like this before, bud?"
Toothless rumbled, deep in thought.
"Once, but that was far from here."
"What was it?"
"A big ice dragon that could make a lot of ice."
Hiccup hopped down to stretch his legs after a long time aloft. Toothless remained sitting, glaring into the cave.
"Well, we should probably check the cave. You ready, bud?"
"Yes."
They walked inside together.
The cave had more large spikes of blue ice growing from the walls and the floor. The air smelled musty and heavy, and their every footstep made a faint, echoing click. Hiccup pulled his cloak tighter around himself as the temperature fell. His breath formed clouds in the air before him.
This is really strange for a cave. I wonder if...
Suddenly, Toothless froze midstep and flung out a wing in front of him.
"What's the m..."
Toothless hissed softly while glaring at him.
"Quiet..." Toothless whispered.
"What the matter?" Hiccup whispered.
The Fury's tail swayed nervously at his side.
"I smell something. Get on me..."
Hiccup got back in the saddle. Very cautiously and being as silent as possible, they continued on into the cave, feeling as they went deeper the faintly chill wind from within.
Toothless wondered about the strange, musky scent on the wind coming from inside the cave. The scent was a strange one, but there was something that was familiar about it.
How is there cold wind from inside a cave?
They peered around a corner into a large chamber ringed with walls of ice.
Then they froze in place, stunned at what they saw within.
An enormous pile of gold coins and bars, silver, and various jewels lay in the center of the chamber. Hiccup saw enough treasure to easily fill the holds of several Viking longboats. This chamber held many, many times more treasure than the Barrow-downs had.
More important than the treasure was the massive dragon coiled on top of the treasure hoard.
Its scales were a deep, mottled blue. Its spread wings, bearing what looked like sickle-claws at the tips, were sky blue with veins of dark blue. Two long, backward-growing horns sprouted from its head. It had a short neck, a powerful torso, spikes like ice on its back, no visible forelimbs, and a strong tail without any fins. The tail had short spikes down its length.
It was easily the largest dragon Hiccup had ever seen, having a wingspan of several times that of Toothless and a visible tail also several times as long as Toothless. He could not tell exactly how large this new dragon was, only that it was the biggest he had ever seen.
Every one of its calm breaths stirred up a cloud of mist and a frigid wind, as if the sleeping dragon was the source of the cold in the cave.
Which it probably... definitely was, despite how impossible that was.
Oh my gods... that is not in the Dragon Manual either. Berk never fought any ice dragons that I know of...
Hiccup suddenly felt very conflicted as he stared in awe.
On the one hand, he had heard from enough people that dragons of Middle-earth were not good creatures. Too many otherwise peaceful people had sworn to the destruction and terror the dragons could cause. The echoes of the past in Dale, Erebor, and the Grey Mountains were sufficient proof of that. Further, this dragon was definitely sitting on a hoard.
On the other hand, there was always the possibility, however small, that one of these dragons could be more like Toothless and be able to change or try to resist temptation, just as Toothless was doing. He would never know if they didn't try to be peaceful to this dragon.
He bent down close to Toothless's ears and whispered.
"What should we do?"
Toothless was not sure either. Between having the Lorien pendant on his neck and Hiccup safely on his back, he felt no threatening pull at all from this gold hoard, even though it was far larger than the scraps around Smaug's bones or the golden ground in Erebor.
On one paw, seeing this dragon, a male from its scent, protectively sitting on and claiming the hoard was all he needed to know about the dragon. It was a thrall to the pull of gold and hoards. Not only that, but at what looked like just under Smaug's size, this was the second largest living dragon he had ever seen. The largest dragon was the nest-Monster.
On the other paw, while this dragon was definitely dangerous and did not have a good soul-fire, it might have the knowledge that he and Hiccup were looking for. It could tell them if it had seen any other dragons like him in this world.
Talking to it felt like a very twisted idea, one that Hiccup would probably have, but talking to the ice dragon was also the only plan that had any lift. He could keep himself and Hiccup safe by keeping distance; no dragon was faster than a Night Fury.
He slowly backed away from the dragon's inner treasure chamber until he was sure that they were far enough away to whisper safely.
"We should wake it and ask what it knows."
"Okay, bud. I trust you on this. This is a great opportunity..." Hiccup eagerly said.
Toothless grumbled softly and glanced back at Hiccup, already knowing what his friend was probably going to try to do.
"But we fly if it tries to do anything to us. Do not try to do anything stupid."
"When have I ever done anything stupid?" Hiccup objected.
"Hiccup..." he softly growled in warning.
"Alright, fine. Fine. No being friendly or peacemaking or anything like that."
"And do not look in its eyes."
"Right, the mind-control thingy. Got it. Won't make that mistake."
"I hope not."
"Can you look in its eyes?" Hiccup asked.
"Maybe, but I will not risk it."
They took deep breaths to steady themselves and then started back down the cave. Just as before, they glanced around the corner to where the dragon still slept.
"How do we wake it?" Hiccup barely whispered.
"I do not know. I could roar..." Toothless whispered back.
"That sounds like a bad idea. I could... do a Bilbo and grab some of its treasure..."
"That sounds like a worse idea..."
"I was joking. Do you have a better plan?"
Toothless was still wondering how to properly wake such a dragon in its own den when the massive blue dragon shifted on its hoard. Its tail slowly swayed with a clatter and crashing of disturbed metal. The ice blue wings twitched. The horned head slowly rolled to the side to face directly at them.
An instant of silence passed as the clattering echos of disturbed metal faded.
Then they recoiled with twinned gasps as the lidded eyes slid open.
They stepped back from the corner and retreated several paces, only then remembering to breathe.
Hiccup's hands were sweating despite the cold, and Toothless was shaking slightly, which was very strange for him.
Okay, that was creepy. Maybe it didn't see us...
A very cold breath of wind flowed out from the inner-sanctum. The crashing of gold and very heavy thumps of footsteps followed.
Nope, definitely knows we are here. Great...
Toothless started hastily backing up toward the cave's mouth, all while they both kept their eyes on the passage before them. The plan to talk to the dragon had been abandoned before it had a chance to start.
Alright, now what? I guess we can...
"Well... thiss iss a pleassant ssurrprrisse."
Its deep and hissing voice drew the warmth from the air itself.
"It hass been many yearrss ssincce my lasst guesstss orr challengerrss."
"We are not here... to challenge you!" Toothless shouted.
The crashing footfalls continued as Toothless reached the main entrance and bounded outside into the sunlight, putting distance between himself and the mouth of the cave.
"No? Curriouss. A human and a ssmall drragon worrking togetherr. Therre iss ssomething about yourr sscent, ssmall one..."
The large blue head appeared in the cave's depths as the ice dragon slithered out of the cave.
"We only want to talk!" Toothless cried.
"Do you? What about, I wonderr? Do not be sshy. Let me ssee you both."
Toothless spread his wings and crouched, ready to leap and flee in an instant. The blue dragon approaching from inside the cave walked slowly, using its strong wings like forelimbs. Its clawed wings clutched the outside edges of the cave as the dragon emerged. Every one of its steps sent a small tremor through the ground. Its long, whiplike tail swayed behind it, crashing into the icy walls of its cave.
Without looking directly into its eyes, they both carefully watched its advance.
Finally, the massive dragon settled down just outside its cave while hissing and thrashing its tail. Every heavy breath froze the air before it into a misty cloud. Its ice blue wings were stretched impressively wide for balance.
Then it started laughing a very deep and menacing laugh that slithered through the cold air.
"You and the human found my hoarrd and dissturrbed my ssleep. I sslept undissturrbed forr many yearrss. You wissh to sspeak to me? What about, may I assk?"
"We want to know if you have seen other dragons like me!" Toothless answered.
The blue dragon snorted and chuckled again, this time flashing his sharp white teeth. They were long and serrated.
"Wherre arre ourr mannerss? It iss cusstomarry forr guesstss to name themsselvess. Who arre you both?"
Toothless paused before answering, remembering from his long talks with Bilbo how dangerous it was to tell a dragon the full truth. But he and Hiccup had an advantage that Bilbo had not had. They knew what to expect.
"I am... Night Fury!" Toothless answered.
"And I am... Horrendous!" Hiccup answered.
The ice dragon laughed its cold laugh.
"Yess, I can ssee how thosse... namess... arre apprroprriate. You both have ssuch good mannerrss. I am Vorunturth. Wherre do you come frrom, both of you?"
Toothless smirked.
"We flew here from a place you cannot fly to now. Neither can we."
"No? A pity. I would have enjoyed... meeting thosse who live wherre you flew frrom," Vorunturth smiled widely.
"I doubt it. The humans there are dragon-killers. My friend was one of them."
Vorunturth stared intensely at Hiccup as Hiccup carefully averted his gaze. Vorunturth had a very powerful presence that made him want to look more closely and see just how strong and massive he was. Instead, he thought only about Toothless's purring and their mission to get information.
"Arre they? Now that iss interressting. They look morre like drragon-tamerrss than killerrss."
Toothless swallowed the fire that wanted to pour from his belly. He did not like this blue dragon who said such twisted and rotted things about Hiccup.
"I am not tame! I am one whom many think is toothless, but I fly unseen with fury in the night skies," Toothless snarled back.
"Do you? Imprressssive... forr a sslave. And what of yourr... human massterr? He lookss like a ssmall human who needss much prrotecting..."
"Toothless is not a slave! He is my friend!" Hiccup indignantly shouted, unwilling to let that slight be unchallenged.
He felt Vorunturth's powerful gaze on him even as he stared at the dragon's sharp claws and massive wings. He was again reminded that there was something unnaturally powerful and sinister about the dragon's gaze. A faint pull wanted him to look into his eyes and see the truth. It was a dangerous pull which only Toothless's soft growling reminded him not to listen to.
"Yourr frriend? How curriouss. I doubt that hiss ssire orr dam would name him Toothlessss. No sstrrong drragon would sso name themsself. You musst have named him that. A fitting name forr what he iss to you. Trrue?"
Hiccup was stunned that Vorunturth had figured all that out. He also felt renewed guilt at the reminder that Toothless's name was a silly one.
"Well... he likes the name..." Hiccup meekly protested.
Vorunturth rumbled very deeply.
"Sstill, I ssee that Toothlessss iss imporrtant to you. Maybe verry prrecioussss..."
"He is like family!"
Vorunturth fully lay down on the ground before them.
"Indeed. I can ssee and feel that therre iss ssomething differrent about you, human. You feel almosst like one of uss. Maybe you have the ssoul of a drragon alsso."
"Thanks..."
Vorunturth's hissing chuckling followed.
"A drragon and a human being frriendss iss verry sstrrange. How did thiss forrbidden frriendsship happen between you? It iss verry unlikely, I imagine. Pleasse tell me. I am mosst curriouss and do not get to... enjoy... many guesstss up herre anymorre."
"I helped him after he was... shot down in fighting and his tail was hurt. I spared his life, and he also let me go when he could have killed me."
Vorunturth, very deep in thought after hearing that, got to his paws and slowly paced in front of his cave. His every step sent tremors into the ground.
"Mosst interressting. You musst have been verry differrent frrom yourr kin, to ssparre a drragon'ss life. You... found him... downed in fighting, but you could not make yourrsself kill him. Ssomething sstopped you. Do I sspeak well?"
Hiccup blinked again in surprise at how much Vorunturth knew or guessed from so little.
"Yes, I was different. Three hundred years of Vikings, and I was the first one who would not kill a dragon. And now he is my friend. I trust him and help him fly."
Vorunturth exhaled a cold cloud in their direction.
"You, ssmall man whosse name I do not know, have a sstrrange way of trreating yourr frriend. Iss it norrmal forr a human to ensslave one they call a frriend?"
"He is not a slave!"
"Darrk wing, have you assked yourr massterr about yourr tailfin?"
Toothless smirked.
"I know that he shot me down. I do not care about that."
"Oh, my apologiess, you missunderrsstand me, darrk one. Yourr... frriend... iss holding you back even now. You arre nothing but a tool to him. A common beasst of burrden. A thing he ussess to feel ssaferr and morre powerrful."
"Liar!" Hiccup shouted.
"He would not keep me trapped! You do not know him! Will you answer my question or not?" Toothless roared.
Vorunturth went silent for a long time in deep thought as he sat before his cave.
"Arre therre any otherrss like you? Maybe yess, maybe no. Why sshould I ansswerr you?"
"Because he is a dragon like you! You should want to help him!" Hiccup explained.
Vorunturth slowly stepped closer to them, and Toothless stepped back to keep the distance between them. They both felt his sinister gaze on them, and his voice took on more of a deep, menacing growl the longer he spoke.
"Yess, yourr pet iss a drragon in hiss hearrt. He can burrn, tearr, rrend, devourr, and sslay, ssuch iss the hearrt of everry trrue drragon! Even sso, he iss nothing like me. Not yet. Trry again. How doess my helping you benefit me?"
Toothless snarled as he glared at Vorunturth. The larger dragon had many old scars on his side. It was likely that he had been challenged, possibly by other dragons but definitely by Dwarves, and won many times. Smaug had been much larger than Vorunturth and was supposedly the last great fire dragon.
"Am I correct that you have fought Dwarves and humans before? You have always won. You look strong."
Vorunturth preened slightly and held out his ice blue wings at his side while puffing his chest out and standing on his hind legs. He then spoke to the sky.
"Yess, my cold iss the coldesst. The sstrroke of my wingss turrnss airr to icce at my passssing. My foess' blood frreezess ssolid while theirr bladess and axess sshatterr! My brreath iss the empty wind of a cloudlessss, sstarrlessss night."
Toothless smiled a toothy smile and took a deep breath.
"Very impressive! Did you know I am a fire dragon?"
"Arre you? That grreat kind iss gone now," Vorunturth sneered.
The glowing shot left Toothless's maw before either of the other two could respond. The shot struck Vorunturth in the chest, knocking him back slightly before he recovered. His being knocked backward had been helped by his standing upright in display of his vast wingspan.
Strangely, Vorunturth did not strike back in anger. Rather, he looked surprised at first.
"Imprressssive. You have ssome sstrrength in you, desspite yourr ssizze. But you could not kill me with ssuch ssmall firre."
"Maybe not, but those wings might break if I shoot them!" Toothless snarled.
The ice dragon reared his head high. Something had very suddenly changed in his bearing. Hiccup knew to hold tightly to the saddle.
"You think you arre the only one with grreat brreath! How fasst arre you trruly, sslave?"
It happened so fast as Vorunturth inhaled deeply and then exhaled a torrent at them.
Toothless flashed his wings and jumped aside as fast as lightning.
The ground where he had stood just a wingbeat before was now covered in shards and spikes of ice that grew from the ground itself. A layer of ice was spreading... creeping outward along the ground, despite the lack of visible water.
It was as though the air itself had frozen solid.
Vorunturth snarled and leaped through the cloud formed around his breath. The great ice dragon heavily crashed down on the layer of ice he had created, and Toothless darted aside again, settling down a long pounce away.
Both dragons crouched in place and heaved with heavy breaths. While that had been a strike to kill, Toothless knew he was far faster than Vorunturth and could not be struck except if he made a big mistake.
"Steady, bud..." Hiccup whispered, his heart racing wildly.
Vorunturth settled down and refused to move as he stared at them.
"I ssee that you arre a fasst one, darrk wing. Forr that, you and yourr human arre mosst forrtunate. Yourr... prreciouss alsso burrnss ssome..."
Toothless was vaguely aware of his pendant glowing brighter now, though he was not looking away from Vorunturth. He also remembered Galadriel mentioning that evil creatures would be pained by the light. Vorunturth definitely counted for that purpose.
"I have another idea that does not involve fighting!" Hiccup shouted into the silence.
"Do you? Pleasse tell uss..." Vorunturth hissed.
"We do not care about your hoard! You can keep it! What about making it bigger?"
Of all the things that Vorunturth may have expected to hear, that was apparently not one of them because he recoiled slightly.
"Biggerr? Sspeak!"
"I have some gold with me now!"
"I know. I can ssmell it."
Hiccup withdrew the bag of Barrow-Downs gold he and Toothless had been given by the Hobbits.
"I'll give you my gold, and then you tell us what you know. What do you have to lose?"
Vorunturth thought about it, considering his options. His growling rumble still shivered the air and the stones underfoot while Hiccup and Toothless waited for his answer.
"You might come back forr my hoarrd orr tell otherrss wherre I am."
"But we cannot kill you on the ground. You know that. Who could we tell that could come out here to fight you? Dwarves? The world down south has enough problems now for anyone to bother about a dragon sitting peacefully in a cave."
Vorunturth grumbled, deep in thought.
"Gold coinss to buy knowledge. I would like a biggerr hoarrd. Sshow me the gold."
Hiccup opened the bag and counted out the coins while holding them up to see. Half went back into the bag, and the other half he threw Vorunturth's direction. The coins clanged as they crashed against the rock and each other.
"You get the other half after you talk!"
Vorunturth again laughed a hissing laughter that drew much of the warmth from the air.
"I will not lie. Thiss iss verry differrent frrom what I thought would happen. Refrresshing and tempting, almosst. I sshould not hold to the barrgain, but therre iss only gain to me. I would prreferr to take the gold by forrce frrom you, but I cannot catch you, darrk wing."
"No, you cannot! What is your answer?" Toothless growled back.
"I do rrememberr sseeing darrk wing sshapess like you, Toothlessss."
Hiccup's jaw fell open as he felt Toothless stiffen beneath him. Somehow, he was sure that Vorunturth was not lying. This news changed everything.
"Where? When?" Hiccup whispered.
"The lasst I ssaw of them wass ssome ten yearrss ago. They flew farr off into the norrtherrn dessolation. I have not sseen them ssince then, and I know nothing morre. The gold..."
Hiccup hurled the bag which then fell with a clang between them and Vorunturth. They retreated as the ice dragon approached its final payment, sniffed at the bag, and then looked up toward them.
"I ssupposse that concludess ourr bussinessss herre."
Toothless stepped back further and prepared to fly. Then he heard Vorunturth's chill voice again.
"Beforre you leave, I musst compliment you, human, forr neverr looking into my eyess. You musst have hearrd that we drragonss can be verry... perrssuassive..."
"So I've heard," Hiccup shouted over at him.
The temptation to look was very strong, but he barely resisted by focusing on Toothless's purring.
Vorunturth laughed freely.
"Verry good! If you werre to everr look into any drragon'ss eyess, it could contrrol yourr thoughtss and make you do ssomething you did not want to do. But you did not look into my eyess. Well done!"
"Why do you do this? Why do you care about gold?" Hiccup shouted, wanting to get answers that he may never have another chance to get.
"I am a drragon. Gold iss preciouss to me. It iss my naturre."
"You could try to change and want something else!"
Vorunturth tilted his head while giving a soft rumble that they could both feel in their chests.
"Change? What? Why?"
"Yeah, with all due respect to you, I think it's very stupid to do what you're doing, sitting on gold in a cave. You cannot even use it!"
Vorunturth chuckled, not even taking offense.
"Humanss, everr sso prractical, alwayss looking forr the usse of everrything. Trruly, you usse all that iss arround you. I do not need to usse the gold. And you arre assking me to give up my prreciouss? Could you do that yourrsself? Could you let go what iss prreciouss to you? You arre not trruly a drragon and cannot underrsstand, though you arre like one alrready."
Toothless snorted.
"Then listen to me since I am a dragon! You, Vorunturth, have forgotten the wind, the sun, the stars, and the open sky! You want to sleep underground! You have forgotten what it is to be a dragon!"
No one spoke while Vorunturth rumbled to himself with a curious, wary growl.
"No, darrk wing, it iss you who iss losst and hass forrgotten. It iss curriouss that you found me now of all timess..."
Vorunturth then, using his forked tongue, licked up each gold coin, hooked a clawtip into the bag, and spun around with crashing footsteps. He crept back inside his cave, his long tail eventually vanishing into the dark.
Toothless snorted derisively toward the cave and then took to the sky with his flight set for the nearest high mountains that were still a long flight away from Vorunturth's cave.
Up there in the open sky, he exhaled and let out a strangled cry somewhere between relief and pain. Relief at the news that his own kind were apparently out there somewhere, and pain at how very bad-twisted this true Middle-earth dragon had shown itself to be.
"Toothless, you okay?"
"Yes, I do not know what to think now..."
"Same here, bud."
Hiccup also struggled to steady himself, his hands shaking again at the memory of the blue dragon's words, massive teeth, ice breath, and cunning. Vorunturth's words were so cruel and vicious without reason. He gained nothing at all from trying to hurt them, and he did it anyway.
He had to have a reason. I don't understand it. Why would anyone be so...so...
No one word was sufficient.
Toothless finally dove toward a remote ledge on the mountainside facing north. While not a cave, it was partially sheltered from the wind and from sight in the approaching night.
It was also a long flight from Vorunturth's cave.
He padded to the rear of the ledge up against the rock wall, and flamed the rock until it was warm to the paw. Hiccup returned from relieving himself and sat down at his side, propping himself up with the rock at his back. Hiccup had the Elven cloak wrapped around himself for warmth.
Both of them settled for staring out into the barren land while lost in their thoughts. Nothing could see them from above, on the off-paw chance that a certain ice dragon was searching for them.
They had not yet spoken about the meeting with Vorunturth or anything they had learned in it.
"Hiccup?"
"Toothless?"
"Do you believe it? That he really saw Night Furies? He could have been lying."
"I don't know. He wouldn't gain anything by lying about that."
Hiccup grumbled and said nothing else. Something was troubling him, and Toothless noticed.
"Hiccup, you are worried. Is that because of... him?"
A sigh followed before Hiccup met his gaze.
"I didn't think that a dragon could be that cruel. It's like he was trying to hurt us as much as he could just for the... fun of it? Are... are the other dragons you know... knew like that at all?"
"Back in the Monster's nest?"
"Yeah."
Snort.
"No. They would growl at each other, try to take ledges, fight for status and mates, use the most twisted threat-signs, and be proud of killing on raids. Some of their liking of fighting might have been the Monster thinking in them. But they did not try to kill without need."
Hiccup slumped against the rock and looked up at the stars while resting his hand on his cloak.
"I thought that dragons were the victims and that it was the fault of humans for not giving them a chance. But Vorunturth never wanted peace! He liked being cruel and trying to hurt us!"
A tear fell down Hiccup's cheek.
Toothless reached over and rested a paw on Hiccup's lap.
"Hiccup, do not worry about it now. We will probably never see that dragon again. He will not leave his hoard unprotected."
That at least was an encouraging thought to them both.
"Yeah, he probably won't leave. Smaug was truly terrible also, so I should have known. It just feels more real now that we met... a true dragon from this world."
"I know. It feels twisting to me also."
Hiccup sighed.
"In much happier news, I'm really looking forward to the flight tomorrow. That land out there looks like it could give me frostbite on my spleen..."
"I hope not. The cold biting your insides would be very bad," Toothless warbled in worry.
Hiccup chuckled softly at that.
"It's just a saying. Are you ready to try for the Northern Waste tomorrow?"
"Yes, I do not need to eat for several days."
"Got it."
Hiccup snuggled in at Toothless's side, per their usual arrangement.
Something kept troubling his thoughts and preventing him from finding peace. Toothless also appeared restless and unable to drift off.
The chill wind whistled around the mountain where they hid.
A gust as if of ice blew into Hiccup's face.
'You did not look into my eyess...'
'You could not make yoursself kill him...'
'Ssomething stopped you...'
His eyes flew open, and he stared unblinkingly up at the stars without seeing them.
The soft purring at his side continued on undisturbed, all while he felt a chill creeping closer to his heart.
Those wide green eyes staring back at him as the Night Fury lay bound in the bolas had been so powerful.
His own courage and determination to prove himself to his father had wilted as he realized that he could not do it. He would not do it.
Could not? Would not? Was there a difference?
Was it truly his choice what had happened?
I... don't... know...
A gasping breath followed his realization that he had not been breathing.
Toothless noticed.
"Hiccup?"
"I..."
So afraid of the truth. He could not bear it if his fear was confirmed.
Was it all a lie deep down? A trick? Were they a lie?
Had he always been used? Was he being used now?
He had trusted the Fury completely once before. Was that a trick also?
Did he know his best friend?
Would looking into those green eyes make him lose his mind and freedom, assuming that he even had it now?
"Toothless, I... need to know this. Did you... do anything to me... when we first met?"
"What?" Toothless barked in confusion.
The darkness echoed with the silence as Hiccup kept his eyes closed.
"Did you do anything to me when I looked into your eyes and could not... do it?"
Toothless stared at Hiccup in growing dismay and fear. His friend's eyes were closed and unmoving.
"No, I did not! I do not know how I would if I could. Why do you think..."
That was when he remembered several of Vorunturth's parting words to Hiccup. Those apparently respectful but secretly cutting words had been meant to strike at them both in the cruelest way possible: to drive a claw of doubt between them and make them question their friendship.
"How can I know that for sure? What if I have not been myself since then? What if I'm not free even now?" Hiccup coldly whispered.
"No! I do not have that power! I... I swear on my wings, the moon, and the sky!"
Toothless hung his head and whined softly with his eyes closed. He could only whisper into the silence and the darkness.
"Do you trust me, brother?"
Life was paused.
Stretching out in the silence.
As the chill wind swept around their ledge.
Until warmth returned to the world at the touch of Hiccup's paw on his nose.
His weak whine turned into a solemn croon after he opened his eyes and stared into unblinking eyes that were so different from yet so like his own.
"Hiccup, I..."
Hiccup interrupted with a trembling voice.
"I'm sorry, brother, I shouldn't have... doubted you. I don't know... what I was thinking."
They stayed like that a long time in the familiar gesture of trust that carried so much meaning for them. Then Toothless pulled back slightly to lay down next to him and cover him again with a wing.
"I do not blame you. I do blame that rotted and foul pile of blue waste! Are you sure you did not look in its eyes?"
Hiccup growled at that.
"No, I did not. He was trying to break us apart, but I don't know why. Just because he could? So that we couldn't tell anyone where he is?"
"Probably that one. He could not kill us, so he wanted us to... doubt each other and betray each other so that the secret of where he is dies with us," Toothless growled.
"Maybe Middle-earth dragons really are that wicked," Hiccup relented.
That obvious truth left them both feeling more worried about what they might see on the rest of the journey.
"The Night Furies, if there are any, won't have gone like Vorunturth did, right? They won't be bad. I really hope we don't see any other dragons like him," Hiccup whispered.
Toothless stared out toward the horizon.
"I do not think they would have gone bad. There probably are no treasure hoards in the empty range. My kind would probably make a pack for protection and living together. Many dragons are like that where we are from."
Exhaustion, physical and emotional, finally took them. Hiccup fell asleep first, and Toothless remained awake a while longer, staring up at the stars twinkling in the cloudless night sky.
A rogue gust swept over their ledge, and the wind felt unnaturally cold in that instant.
Then the moment passed, leaving behind only his very soft growl and the empty desolation all around them.