How To Train Your Dragon: Shivering Cove

Chapter Thirteen

By far the time she got back, Emyra's headache taken a turn for the worse. She hurried across the moor - Toothless and Blizzard were both asleep, Darkflight was circling around in the sky, and Hiccup was no-where to be seen, but the light coming from within the shelter suggested he was probably in there.

With the flask full of water, Emyra ducked over to the shelter - Hiccup was reading. She put down the water in the corner and half-sat half-collapsed down beside him.

"The sun doesn't look like it's going to set anytime soon," Hiccup observed. "When do we want to sleep?"

"Now," Emyra grumbled, burying her face in a make-shift pillow. (Canvas stuffed with grass and things.) She gritted her teeth as pain shot through her forehead.

Hiccup looked up. "Are you okay?"

"I. Am. Dying."

"Wait, really?"

Emyra inwardly rolled her eyes. "No. Headache."

An awkward silence fell between them. Hiccup then stood up and closed the front of the tent-like contraption they'd built. He grabbed a piece of cloth and dunked it in the water Emyra had brought back.

"Roll over," he instructed.

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"I just want to help."

"Don't need help."

"I'll touch your bow if I can't," he teased.

Emyra groaned. "Fine."

She lay on her back, and Hiccup placed the wet cloth on her forehead. Emyra's eyes snapped open and she bolted upright. "God, Hiccup, that's freezing!" She gasped. She couldn't help grinning a bit. "What the heck was that for?"

"Fixing you're headache," he laughed.

Emyra threw the cloth at the other dragon rider, hitting him squarely in the chest. "It's still there!"

Hiccup rolled his eyes, throwing the cloth back at her. "It's not instantaneous!"

"It wasn't at all effective!" She protested, hurling the cloth back towards him.

He held up his pillow to defend himself. "It wasn't on your head for a full second!" He threw it back.

Emyra sighed and lay down, placing the cloth on her forehead. Hiccup sat down beside her and wrapped himself in blankets, then blew out the lantern, making the tent as dark as they could manage.

"Good Light, Emyra."

"Good Light. Not that I'll be able to sleep anytime soon."

Hiccup shrugged and rolled over, facing away from her. He didn't really feel like sleeping either. Yes, he was tired, but his thoughts kept him awake.

Emyra had said finding Astrid could take months. It seemed like they were in the right place, but Emyra could be right yet. They were trying to find a single tree in this wide moorland. It was possible the tree wasn't what they should be looking for in the first place - there was always the tunnel Hiccup and Toothless had found.

Then again...it had appeared quickly every other time they'd stumbled upon the field. Well, stumbled upon wasn't really the right phrase - he was convinced none of this was an accident. He let out a long sigh.

Eventually Emyra's breaths became slower and more even. The sun was still high in the sky, but Toothless had assured him it had moved since they'd left Berk.

Suddenly he heard a shrill shriek outside. Hiccup glanced over his shoulder - his companion was still asleep, and he had a feeling she wouldn't appreciate being woken. He stood up and parted the tent to see what was outside.

He swallowed when he saw the source of the noise. "Dear God..." he sighed, almost facepalming. The three dragons were exchanging uneasy, guilty glances.

How was he going to explain this to Emyra?

***

"What?!"

"Look, I didn't have any more of an idea than you did!"

"Well you should've!"

Hiccup raised his hands in front of him. "Please, Emyra, I know you're mad, but please try to be rational-"

"Rational!" She snapped. "You're the one not being rational! You're not even slightly worried that she's flown all this way-"

"Emyra, she's fine,"

"But what if-"

"This may turn out to be a good thing-"

"Are you kidding?!"

"Actually-"

"This will only slow us down!"

"Emyra, please listen-"

"You..." she frowned, biting her lip, looking for the right insult. "You idiot!"

And with that, she turned on her heel, setting off towards none other than Owl Eyes, fuming.

The small Stormcutter was innocently chewing on a fish. Hiccup didn't feel like intervening as Emyra scolded the dragon harshly. Owl Eyes had been following them the whole way, and none of them had known. She's just worried...

"I can't believe you would leave without telling anyone back home, and follow us! I thought you knew better!"

Well you should've noticed I was here! Owl Eyes retorted.

"If I had, I would have sent you straight back home, and you know it! The only reason I'm not making you go now is I don't know where you'd have to fly!"

Stop treating me as if I were useless! Stop treating me as if I'm still a baby! I got myself here, didn't I? I managed this journey better than you could!

"You-"

I didn't get hypothermia! I didn't nearly drown! I didn't get stolen away like Stormfly!

"That doesn't mean you should've-"

Darkflight watched, bemused, as the most hot-tempered dragon she knew, and Emyra, who's tolerance of everything going wrong was thinning, threw insults back and fourth.

The five of you couldn't even travel for a day without something going wrong!

"Well, maybe you could have helped when that happened!"

You would have just thought me weak and sent me back!

"With good reason!"

What, that I can't take care of myself?

"Because you shouldn't have snuck away in the first place! You betrayed Fallon's trust, you betrayed Blizzard's, and you betrayed mine. The second we get out of this-"

I found the tree!

Emyra opened her mouth to reply, but stopped dead. The others looked at her incredulously, eyes wide. "You what?"

Owl Eyes, incredibly pleased with herself, puffed out her chest. It was right below me when he field appeared. It's not far-

As she spoke, the ground rumbled beneath them. All of them dropped down so that they wouldn't fall over. The shelter fell down completely.

When the earthquake stopped, after about half a minute, Emyra and Hiccup exchanged a worried glance. Emyra sighed, and got onto Darkflight's back. Hiccup sprinted over.

"Where are you going? What just happened?"

"Owl Eyes found the tree," she said, hastily filling him in - he was he only one among them who couldn't understand Owl Eyes. "But that earthquake..."

"Where are you going?"

She sighed. "I have a theory."

And with that, they took off, rapidly becoming a black speck in the sky.