The Other-worldly Protector

Chapter 30: Silent Ears

Being surrounded by only dragons now, Kiara felt like she could breathe again. The dragons were mostly minding their own business: Hookfang was still lazily curled up; the nadder had found a shiny shield and was crooning as she eyed her reflection from every possible angle; Meatlug lay on her belly, scratching behind her ear every now and then; and the zippleback (Barf and Belch are what the twins had called them) was still inspecting Whiplash, one head either side of her, making her squirm uncomfortably. She squeaked and bounded away just as a head snaked under her belly, then growled, warning them to stay put.

Kiara took a moment to look at her surroundings. Dragon's Edge was a fairly large island. The outpost was but a small part of it with many wide stacks of varying heights. The stacks were heavily built on by the Vikings. There were five huts (each built in a drastically different way, as if reflecting the occupant's personality), a large clubhouse on the highest peak, and a big dome in the middle of it all. The huts were linked by pathways, stairs, zip wires or bridges.

Even in the dim light, everything about the place screamed Viking — it seemed unreal. It was definitely not what she had imagined when she set out looking for humans three months ago.

She looked up and glimpsed the Vikings in the clubhouse. Then glanced at Whiplash and wondered... 

"No, I can't hear them from here," she answered the question on Kiara's mind. "But if we got closer..."

"No way!"

"Come on! Toothless did it to us."

"So?"

"We have a right to know what is being said about us."

Kiara huffed and folded her arms stubbornly. But as her eyes strayed back to the hut, she couldn't help but feel curious. Whiplash drew closer, her eyes widening in anticipation.

"I know you want to..."

Kiara exhaled. "Fine."

But first, she walked over to the brown bee-shaped dragon. "Meatlug, was it?" she asked. The gronckle lifted her large head and her yellow child-like eyes locked with Kiara's. "Can you do me a favour, Meatlug?" Meatlug got up on four stubby legs and nodded like a bobblehead while grinning ear to ear. "Thanks, girl," Kiara cooed giving her a friendly scratch. "Can you babysit our friend over here?" She motioned to the hunter, who was rolling towards what Kiara assumed was Snotlout's hut. "You need to make sure he doesn't go anywhere." Meatlug's head snapped to the hunter and she let out a little roar, before padding over to him. Her tongue lolled out of her mouth as she advanced on him like an excited toddler. Her wings whirred, lifting her a few feet before she dropped onto the hunter's back, pinning him there.

"Thanks!"

-

Whiplash landed silently on top of the clubhouse just above the door, which, like all the huts, was large enough for dragons to enter.

"This is not what I had in mind when I said close proximity," Kiara thought, not daring to speak.

"At least we BOTH can hear now."

Before Kiara could point out that she would have listened though their mind link, Snotlout's incredulous voice was heard through the open door. "So you're saying, this girl single-handedly freed all the dragons from a hunter ship, Ryker's hunter ship?"

"Yup, pretty much," Hiccup replied.

"Cool," the twins breathed. A chicken clucked quickly.

"Wait, does no one else find that hard to believe?"