Home-Bound: Broken Ties

20 - Dominicus

Dominicus: the Roman origin of the name "Dominic" which can mean "lordly", "belonging to God", or "of the master".

Valka hoped things would cool down until Hiccup and Luneah had their children and returned to Isunder. But, as usual, that was just wishful thinking.

Valka had grown used to many sleepless nights fighting Drago Bludvist's dragon trappers and many long distance flights. But after being grounded for so long due to Hiccup's condition, this cold one-hour flight was making her antsy. There was a flock of dragons trailing behind her, all different species and colors and shapes and sizes. Down below in the water, her great snowy Bewilderbeast was swimming deep below the surface of the water, the only trace of his existence being the wake he left behind him. Saphira flew somewhere back in the flock of dragons with her Changewing, Harper.

Valka sighed and leaned back against one of Cloudjumper's many horns. She had received a Terror-message from one of Mala's scouts. The scouts were the only ones who rode dragons on the Isle and periodically made rounds to check up on different dragon species. The letter she received contained a detailed report on the islands directly north of Itchy Armpit. The dragons in that area were disappearing: not slowly, like of old age or some sort of disease, but like they were disappearing. Because of trappers.

Valka knew exactly what lay in the forests north of Itchy Armpit. Typhoomerangs used to live here—one of Drago's favorite dragons to use in combat simply because of their abilities and ruthlessness on the battlefield. So when she came to the once sprawling gold and yellow-covered cliffs only to be met with ash and blackened soot, she knew something was wrong. More importantly, she knew Drago's trappers took the Typhoomerangs.

Valka felt a sudden rush of over-protectiveness. With a click, she urged Cloudjumper to go faster. She curled in tighter against his back to preserve some of her warmth, which was already being stolen away by the cold winter dusk. Thankfully, the freeze was in the stages of "getting better" than "getting worse" and the mid-January warmth began to slowly mix in the air. The rest of the dragons also picked up the pace, matching Cloudjumper's speed as they wove through the cliffs of Itchy Armpit. Then, the cliffs made way for the still-icy sea.

It really wasn't all that difficult to see the large wooden fortress in the middle of all the ice. Even though it the days steadily got darker, it was quite easy to make out the monstrosity that was the trappers' fort. It was in no way structurally sound and looked a lot more like a pile of wood than an actual fortress. The grotesque building was nothing more than a hastily-put-together set of scaffolds that served as watchtowers and crossbow netting stations. From where she was in the sky, Valka could hear the cries of dragons. They made her wince and duck her head in sorrow.

Pulling her painted helmet on, she felt a presence beside her and turned to meet the masked figure. It was Saphira, in a similar style of armor, painted a dark crimson to match Harper's scales. Just behind her, Valka could make out the shining lump of Saphira's scale steel armor, tied down to her saddle. Saphira was grasping her wooden staff tightly.

Wordlessly, they nodded to one another and swung their staffs in tandem to order the attack on the fort.

.

"Are you really this excited to be flying again?" Astrid yelled over the curling winds to Hiccup who had his arms outstretched. He had a contented smile on his face, even though he wasn't going nearly as fast as he usually would be.

"Of course I am!"

"Even with me here?"

Hiccup laughed, the sound free and boundless. Elise, Valka, and Saphira were all busy on the island so Astrid had been asked to personally supervise Hiccup and make sure his flying didn't get too out-of-hand. Previously, Midnight would be the one "babysitting" Hiccup but she had been getting increasingly antsy with the ever-approaching date of Luneah's birth(s). Valka said Luneah would go into labor any moment now and Midnight could sense it.