Fire and Ice ❅ Hiccup Haddock III [1]

I ❅ Falling From the Sky

[Chapter 1]

Freydis can't remember which island she was born on.  She can't remember the family she belonged to.  She can't remember the last time she slept peacefully.  ...She was far too young when Raiders stole her away — from her family, her life, her future, her home.

Freydis was beaten down and preyed upon ever since they stormed her village to seek possession of her powers.  She was their slave.  For seven long, hard years, she believed there was no good left in the world.  She felt her reason to live fall apart as she witnessed the Raiders pillage and murder through every Viking tribe and dragon nest they came across.  They had no honor.  They had no glory.  They knew only the hunt for bloodshed and war.  So that's exactly how they "raised" the little girl they stole away.

Then one day, when Freydis reached her breaking point — mentally and physically — a dragon, never seen before but always whispered about, appeared as if it heard her cry for help.  Black as the night sky and jade green eyes in slits like a cat, the dragon attacked without mercy and faster than a Viking could blink.  All that was left in its wake was destruction.  The only warning of attack was a quiet but sharp whistle, and it never missed.

This dragon found Freydis in the wreckage it created.  She thought that was it — she would die.  Then it did something she never expected.  The slits in his eyes relaxed into soft orbs, and he nudged her to get up with a purr in the back of his throat.  He could smell her injuries and her fear, and he wanted her to get up and keep moving.  ...So she did.

❅

The black dragon — a Night Fury, Freydis has learned — nudges his companion as she dreadfully watches the snowflakes forming over her hand.  She wills the ice to pull back and stop only to wince as her fingertips frost over.  The Night Fury coos, opening his mouth to give a low flame.  Frey smiles sadly at the dragon, appreciating the help.  The frostbite fades as the ice melts, and the pain in her fingers turns to a soft numbness.  Freydis' ice only thaws by a dragon's flame.  She supposes it creates a balance — fire and ice.  But not any fire will do.  It has to belong to a dragon.

Freydis straps the leather gloves on as soon as her hands are back to normal, shrugging her fear to the side.  Her powers slowly grow, but she can't control them.  The dragon hide gloves keep the ice contained, but every time she tests her abilities, the ice always spreads farther than she intends it to — and that worries her greatly.  She tries to stop it from spreading by pulling her powers back, but it comes at a consequence.

The dragon warbles, tilting his head as if to ask, Are you okay? Freydis gives a small smile of reassurance, saying, "Don't worry, bud.  I'm alright.  But we should —"  Frey stops to listen.  The Night Fury perks his ears at the sounds of dragons calling out.  "It's time."

The onyx dragon bends down for Frey to hop on.  She grips around his neck as best she can before patting his scales, signaling to take off. They soar through the starry sky, searching for the pyres of fire lighting up a massive Viking village.