Alternate title: Kill count: 1
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
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(3rd POV: Cinderwing)
(Cinderwing's den)
Cinderwing sat beside a couple of buckets of paint he had... "borrowed" from the Dragon Riders. The colors he'd chosen included multiple shades of reds, blues, yellows, blacks, and whites. He had also meticulously carved a section of an angled wall, making it as flat as possible. Its incline would allow him to easily maneuver while still serving its purpose for what he was about to do.
"Okay... now that that's done, what should I draw?" He pondered aloud, surveying his color options.
After a moment, he nodded to himself and began lightly carving into the wall, just enough to create the outline of a Deadly Nadder.
Cinderwing carefully grasped one of the paint brushes between his teeth. He then lightly dipped it into the light blue paint and began to color his carving. His brush strokes were a bit sloppy, but he didn't mind.
Once the Nadder was mostly painted blue, he dropped the brush and gently blowtorched his makeshift canvas with his plasma to quickly dry the paint. Cinderwing then grabbed a different brush, dipped it into the yellow paint, and began adding yellow bands to the tail. Afterward, he dipped his claws into the same paint and flicked it onto the canvas, creating yellow spots.
He repeated the process of blowtorching his painting, then grabbed a fresh brush, dipped it into the white paint, and carefully stroked it to color the horns.
Cinderwing warbled softly as he finished painting, then dropped the brush and tilted his head. "It's a little sloppy... but it's not too bad," he muttered to himself, inspecting the rather crude image of Stormfly. "I wonder if she would like it?" He shook his head, then began to trot around his large den.
Cinderwing clicked his tongue. "Honestly, this place could definitely fit everyone comfortably, with room to spare, given how spacious it is." He twisted his own ear nubs around in boredom as he headed deeper into the cave.
After a while of exploring, his ears twitched at the sound of bubbling water. Cinderwing sniffed the air and continued forward until he reached a fairly sizable body of water with steam rising above it. "Unbelievable," he murmured. "There's a fucking lagoon in my cave." He quickly trotted over to the water, feeling the heat as the steam rolled over his body.
"I suppose it's more of a hot spring the size of a lagoon, but still."
Cinderwing decided to take a dip in the lagoon, his body shivering with delight as his muscles almost immediately relaxed. He purred, freezing for a moment, surprised by his own sound before returning to leisurely floating in the water.
After a few minutes of relaxing, he swam back to the shore of the lagoon and shook his body to dry himself, much like other animals do. Cinderwing stretched his body before trotting back to the main area of his cave.
Once he reached his den, he glanced at the mess he'd made with the paint. He walked over and cleaned up the best he could. He sighed, unable to completely remove the paint that had already dried outside the buckets.
"I suppose I can trust them enough to bring them to visit my 'little' abode," Cinderwing said aloud. "Except, maybe the twins; they'd most likely break something trying to prank me."
He huffed slightly before turning to leave his den.
(Scene break)
(The dragon stables)
By the time Cinderwing reached the stables, everyone—with the exception of Astrid, the twins, and their dragons—was getting ready for departure. Astrid, meanwhile, was quietly arguing with Hiccup about having to stay with the twins to guard the island.
Cinderwing decided to ignore their small argument and instead walked toward Hookfang. "So, where are you guys going?"
Hookfang huffed at the question. "We're going to save Trader Johann because he's surrounded by Dragon Hunters."
Cinderwing burbled. "And Astrid's upset because she has to stay with the twins to guard Dragon's Edge."
"Yup," Hookfang replied nonchalantly. "Are you coming?" He added.
Cinderwing shook his head. "No," He answered. "I'll stay here. I have a feeling that something interesting will happen," he added with a knowing smile.
Hookfang's eyes narrowed slightly. "You're planning something, aren't you?"
Cinderwing waved him off dismissively. "Don't worry about it. Take your time and go help Johann."
Hookfang rumbled in response.
Cinderwing finally decided to pay attention to the riders' conversation just as Snotlout began to give Astrid unneeded comfort in his own distinct way.
"Oh, Astrid, I know these next 24 hours will be difficult for you," Snotlout began, attempting to be romantic. "Unable to look into these deep, romantic, yet hauntingly beautiful eyes, shimmering like gold dust in the wind—." Before Snotlout could continue his romantic speech, Cinderwing used his tail to sweep him off his feet, causing him to fall to the floor and essentially sparing him from Astrid's wrath.
Cinderwing stood over Snotlout with a gummy smile. "Snotty, you know you can't just walk up to a lady so romantically if it's obvious that they're not interested," He advised, even though Snotlout couldn't understand Dragon-speak.
Stormfly chirped sassily. "Oh, really? And you so happen to know when a lady is interested?"
Cinderwing raised his brow. "Aren't you?" He pointed out, to which Stormfly's cheeks flushed slightly as she turned away, a bit embarrassed.
Snotlout groaned as he stood up. "Okay, so we'll see you when we get back. Have fun," He said as he mounted Hookfang's saddle. "Don't talk to any strange Dragon Hunters," He added as they flew off to help Johann.
"Bye. We'll miss you. Write home often," Tuffnut waved. "Okay, I think the first team building exercise we perform is that of going back to sleep," Tuffnut said as he turned to his sister. "I-I mean, as a team, of course," He quickly added, stuttering slightly.
"Couldn't agree more," Ruffnut replied, nodding. "What say you, Astrid?"
Astrid let out a small groan of annoyance. "I have to go hide this," She began, holding out the Dragon Eye. "And when I get back, I expect both of you to be sweating profusely from hard work," she added as she walked away, only for Cinderwing to snatch the Dragon Eye in his jaws and quickly launch into the air.
Astrid groaned before quickly mounting Stormfly. "Cinder! Bring that back!" she called out, as she and Stormfly followed close behind.
(Scene break)
(Den entrance)
Cinderwing landed at the entrance of his den and sat down to wait for Stormfly and Astrid, who arrived about a minute later. Astrid hopped off Stormfly and walked towards the Night Fury. She attempted to grab the Dragon Eye from his jaws, but it remained unmoved in his grasp. "Come on, Cinder. Let go," she grunted.
In response, Cinderwing gently pushed her away with his wing and began to walk into the cave, with the girls following. Stormfly sniffed the air around the cave, her incredible sense of smell picking up Cinderwing's scent. "This is your den, isn't it?" she noted, her tone questioning.
"Yeah," he answered, his words slightly jumbled due to holding the Dragon Eye in his mouth.
They continued their small trek until they reached the main area of the cave, where Cinderwing's painting of Stormfly could be seen on their right.
Stormfly noticed the painting and walked up to it, inspecting the artwork with curiosity. Cinderwing placed the Dragon Eye on the makeshift stand he had made for it the last time he used it, then proceeded to walk toward Stormfly. Astrid stared at the Dragon Eye for a moment before leaving it on its stand with a sigh and walking next to her dragon.
Astrid ran her fingers across the painting, a glint of recognition crossing her face. "You made this, boy?" She turned and asked Cinderwing, who responded with a smile. She turned back to the rather crude image of Stormfly. "I know that Toothless could draw, but this, this is amazing."
Astrid scratched under Stormfly's chin. "See that, girl? He painted you."
Stormfly stared at the painting of herself. "It's nice, I suppose," she commented and turned away as a blush formed on her face.
Cinderwing smiled suavely at her before trotting back toward the Dragon Eye and grabbing it with his right paw. "Come on, I'm not going to hide this thing here." He lifted himself onto his hind legs and began to slowly walk further into his cave, with Stormfly following next to him. Before Astrid followed, she spotted a tally mark rock sitting next to a flat wall. Before she could check it out, Stormfly chirped for her to follow. Astrid hesitated for a moment before turning to follow the two dragons.
(The Boiling Lagoon)
Astrid glanced around the large lagoon with amazement; a lagoon of this size, especially within a deep cave, was rare, and this one was also a hot spring. Cinderwing hummed thoughtfully as he analyzed the lagoon. He could feel it was hotter than before, and the water was bubbling, indicating it was boiling hot.
"It's boiling. It wasn't boiling before," Cinderwing murmured to himself. Astrid knelt down and put a hand over the water; even without touching it, she could feel it was too hot, not to mention it was clearly boiling.
She got up, turned to Cinderwing, and scratched just behind his jaw. He began to purr with pleasure. "It's a great idea, Cinder. This would be a great place to hide the Dragon Eye until the others get back..." Astrid began. "...but we can't just dump the Dragon Eye in the middle of the lagoon; it'll get damaged by the time Hiccup and the others get back."
Cinderwing turned to her with a deadpan expression. 'You think I don't know that?' he thought sassily, before turning his head to the cave ceiling and shooting a small plasma blast at a large piece of dripstone with incredible accuracy, causing it to fall in the middle of the lagoon with very little damage to the stalactite's structure.
He promptly proceeded to shoot down a few more stalactites. They watched as these fell into the lagoon, close enough together that they formed a floating platform, just heavy enough to stay in the middle of the boiling lagoon.
A look of realization crossed Astrid's face. "Oh. Well, that's actually a pretty good plan," she said, shrugging.
"Of course it is, just about all of my plans are great," Cinderwing said proudly, arrogance lacing his tone. He dipped his left paw into the boiling lagoon, his draconic scales protecting him from the heat.
Stormfly snorted with amusement. "Don't get too cocky, Cinder."
Cinderwing simply let out a small chuckle in response, before flying over and carefully landing on the platform. He began to carve into the stone until he made a small hole deep enough so that the Dragon Eye wouldn't roll into the water. He placed the artifact in the hole and flew back to shore.
Stormfly looked slightly dumbfounded as Astrid mounted her saddle. "That's it?"
Cinderwing hummed thoughtfully. "Yeah." He nodded, a smile forming on his lips.
She sighed. "Really?"
He eagerly nodded once more.
Cinderwing trotted ahead with Stormfly following behind as he navigated through the twists and turns of the cave like before, on their way back to his main den area.
(Scene break)
(New watchtower: work in progress)
After spending about 20 more minutes in Cinderwing's den, he, Astrid, and Stormfly left to meet up with the twins at the most recently built watchtower. They landed near the tower, only to find that very little progress had been made.
Astrid groaned with annoyance and dismounted Stormfly. "Ruffnut! Tuffnut! Get your asses over here!" she exclaimed with frustration as she began to search for the twins.
After a while, she came back carrying two logs before placing them down near the watchtower and going back into the forest to get more. Eventually, Stormfly flew off to do her own thing, while Cinderwing lay down on the ground, comfortably curling up his body and resting his head on his paws to watch the inevitable drama unfold.
(Time skip)
Astrid was looking at a sketched plan for the watchtower when the twins and their dragon finally arrived. Barf and Belch both held the same log in their jaws, and Ruffnut and Tuffnut helped each other carry their log toward the pile of logs near the tower.
"'What say you, Astrid?' Really?" Tuffnut said, slightly bewildered at Ruffnut's earlier choice of words. "Haven't I always told you it's better to beg for permission than to ask for forgiveness?"
"Personally, I think it's the other way around," Ruffnut countered.
"Oh, so now you're the literary authority on the subject of permissions and forgivenesses?" Tuffnut added.
"Quit talking." Astrid cut him off, looking up from the sketch. "You lose focus when your mouth is moving."
"I'm Astrid," Tuffnut mocked.
"Real mature, guys," Astrid said, annoyed.
Tuffnut glanced at the pile of logs behind him. "We've done all of these already?" Surprise laced his voice. "Man, we are kicking some serious—"
"No, no, no. That's your first one," Astrid cut him off. "All the others, I did by myself. Go, team," she finished with some sarcasm.
The twins dropped their log onto the pile, causing the once neatly stacked pile to fall and roll off the cliff with loud thuds. Barf and Belch, being the mischievous two-headed dragon they were, threw their log down the cliff with the others. "Heh, yeah," they laughed, before lightly head-butting each other in enjoyment.
Astrid sighed. "You know what? I'll get the rest of the lumber myself," annoyance lacing her tone. "You two start lashing together some poles for the first level of stairs. Do you think you can handle that?" she finished rhetorically, before walking away.
"She didn't let us answer," Tuffnut said, crossing his arms.
"That's what they call a 'rhetorical question'," Ruffnut explained.
"Please. Like that's even a thing," Tuffnut rebutted. "And you don't know what it means," he added pointedly.
"A rhetorical question is one asked solely to produce an effect or to make an assertion. Not to elicit a reply. Bam!" she stated, showing a surprising amount of intelligence.
Tuffnut just stared at her, dumbfounded. "Ehh." He scoffed, before they both walked away.
Cinderwing chortled silently in enjoyment at the drama, getting up and stretching his body like a cat. He then scaled down the cliff and began to grab the fallen logs and bring them back up to the watchtower.
Once that was done, instead of stacking them into the pile, he instead impaled them into the ground next to the tower, driving each one further into the ground, making a crude staircase that would force someone to jump on them to get to the top.
Cinderwing looked at his creation with a smile, his tail slightly wagging.
Not much later, Astrid came back carrying some more logs. She sighed the moment she saw the crude, makeshift log stairs, carefully placing the logs down and looking around for the twins, only to see Cinderwing staring at her with a smile, his tail still wagging.
He walked up to her, then grabbed one of the new logs, and walked back to his creation on his hind legs. Cinderwing then demonstrated to Astrid what he did earlier by repeating the process of stabbing the log deep into the ground, adding to the crude staircase.
Astrid looked on with surprise. "You did this? Really?" Cinderwing gave her a thumbs up, though it was slightly awkward due to how his paw was shaped.
She looked slightly bewildered by the gesture, before letting out a small sigh. "I guess that could work as a temporary template for the real stairs, but... please don't use any more of the lumber that I bring, okay?" Cinderwing let out a mixture of burbles and warbles in response, before Astrid left to get more lumber.
(Time skip)
Cinderwing watched with amused bewilderment as the twins used thin rope to tie their arms to each other and the two logs that Astrid had recently acquired. They chuckled as Astrid returned with two more logs, before she sighed in exasperation as she dropped them on the ground and walked away to get more.
As she piled more logs, she finally accumulated the amount she had previously before the twins and their dragon knocked down the pile. Just as she left for more lumber, the twins appeared with an extremely long rope.
Ruffnut lightly chuckled. "Heh, heh. This is gonna be great."
"Yeah," Tuffnut replied.
Cinderwing observed with a small amount of curiosity, his head tilted slightly as they tied the rope around the top of the watchtower, before Barf and Belch flew them further up the cliff.
He watched as the rope slowly began to taut. 'A zip line? How... surprisingly innovative for them,' he thought, before standing on his hind legs and preparing to spread his right wing over the log pile now that he remembered what would happen.
That was when Astrid returned with another pair of lumber. She glanced around, scanning the area. "Really," she began, exasperated. "Where in Thor's name could you two have—." She was interrupted by the sounds of whooping and cheering. Astrid looked up toward the larger cliff, only to see Ruffnut and Tuffnut using their makeshift zip line.
"Whoo! Yeah! Ha-ha! Look out!" Tuffnut and Ruffnut exclaimed with excitement as they zipped down the zip line. Astrid watched this with shock and disbelief, before Tuffnut's expression shifted as he realized that he and his sister were about to crash into the tower. "Uh oh."
[THUD!]
The twins groaned in pain as they hit the tower, before falling and bouncing off Cinderwing's stretched-out wing—who let out a small grunt—and instead landing on the ground, sparing Astrid from having to get replacement lumber.
The twins groaned as they got up. "That hurt," Ruffnut complained.
"Thanks, C," Tuffnut thanked Cinderwing, also using a nickname.
Cinderwing warbled in response. "If you could understand me, I would berate you on how you two could've done so much better with the zip line, but... well, you can't. Good job anyway," he ranted and instead gave them a thumbs up and a nod due to the language barrier.
"Astrid, you have got to try this," Tuffnut began with excitement. "The landing's a little rough, but—." Tuffnut added, before Ruffnut interrupted. "Astrid, we know that this wasn't what you were planning, but we really think we're on to something here," she explained. "The stairs have their own use for sure, but this could truly come in handy."
Astrid dropped the logs, her fists clenched as she fumed. "It can, huh?" she replied sarcastically, scowling.
Ruffnut nodded enthusiastically. "Yes. In the right situations—."
"And what situations would those be exactly, Ruffnut?" Astrid interrupted Ruffnut with a question, her eyebrow raising.
Ruffnut became slightly flustered. "Well, I mean, we could... If we were in a—." She stuttered before Astrid cut her off. "You have no clue, do you? Didn't think so," she scolded rudely.
"Is that a retalkrical question?" Tuffnut asked, mispronouncing "rhetorical."
Cinderwing dramatically gasped, covering his mouth with his paws, pretending to look shocked.
"And do you know why?" Astrid asked, ignoring Tuffnut's question. "Because, the two of you don't think. You don't plan. You just come up with these crazy ideas and you forge ahead, with no regard for logic or what you're even supposed to be doing," she berated, getting more frustrated the more she spoke. "What am I going to do with you guys? Seriously. Tell me," she asked, infuriated.
"Well, you can start by being kind. Oh, wait, you can't do that because kindness is nowhere in that scrawny little body of yours," Ruffnut retaliated, surprising Astrid and even Tuffnut with her sudden ferocity.
"What?" Astrid asked with disbelief.
Tuffnut put his hand on Ruffnut's arm in an effort to calm her down. "Easy, sis."
Ruffnut shoved his arm away. "Back up, bro. I got this," she said, before walking closer to Astrid.
"Do you want to know what your problem is, Ruffnut?" Astrid asked.
"Oh, you bet I do. I've got a list of problems so long, I can't even keep track," Ruffnut immediately retorted. "Question is, do you know what your problem is, Astrid?" she asked with Astrid's same question.
"My problem? Are you serious?" Astrid responded with disbelief.
"Allow me to lay it out for you, my flaxen-haired friend," Ruffnut began her own rant, clasping her hands. "You have no respect for the people around you who are just trying to help and be a part of the team. You have no respect for Fishlegs, certainly none for Snotlout, and you couldn't have less respect for the two of us!" Astrid was becoming angrier as Ruffnut continued.
"Damn," Cinderwing commented.
"Now, you can go ahead and shame the others. You can mock this entire island of dragons if you wish. But I am not gonna stand here and listen to you insult the entire 'Nut' family tree!" Ruffnut finished with a yell, before angrily walking away.
Astrid crossed her arms in thought as Tuffnut stopped in front of her. "She's wrong, you know." Astrid said. "I... do. I... [sighs] respect you guys," she added very reluctantly, although as if she were trying to convince herself.
Tuffnut scoffed. "Please. You can barely even say it," he said, walking away as well before pausing to turn to her. "So sad, Astrid. So, so sad." His voice was filled with disappointment as he followed his sister.
Astrid glanced toward Cinderwing. "They're wrong, right?" She asked almost pleadingly. Cinderwing slowly gestured a "more or less" sign with his paw, as well as shaking his head "no," before he flew off to get away from the now awkward encounter.
(Scene break)
The night sky was full of shining stars, the silence broken only by chirping crickets. Suddenly,
[Thud! Crack!]
A Dragon Hunter yelped in pain as he was thrown into a tree so hard that he left a dent. The hunter coughed violently; he was bruised and battered but not bleeding... at least, not visibly.
Before he could even attempt to get up, the Dragon Hunter was immediately grabbed by his neck, lifted from the ground, and slammed back into the tree. The tree groaned as small cracks formed and pieces of its bark fell off.
"Ack!" The hunter yelped in pain, fear visible in his eyes as he stared into Cinderwing's dark green eyes.
"It would be so easy for me to kill you, the question is... how?" Cinderwing said darkly, his pupils becoming thin slits. "Should I give you a quick and merciful death... or should I prolong it, just to watch you squirm?" he added, baring his teeth.
The hunter's face was turning blue due to lack of oxygen. When Cinderwing noticed, he immediately loosened his grip just enough so the hunter could breathe.
Cinderwing sighed exaggeratedly. "I'm not stupid, I know that if I get blood on my claws, Stormfly will be able to smell it from a mile away. So... a quick death it will be." He re-tightened his grip and with his empty paw, he grabbed the Dragon Hunter's head and snapped it with a sickening crack.
He dropped the corpse and immediately fled into the forest to avoid getting the scent of the dead hunter.
As he traveled through the forest on foot, Cinderwing suddenly growled in annoyance and disappointment. "Fuck. I forgot to practice my extremely unnecessary monologue on him. Damn it," he cursed, slightly upset with himself for forgetting the monologue he had prepared.
He sighed. "Oh, well, I suppose I should head toward the clubhouse. No doubt Tuffnut has already warned Astrid about the Hunters, and that they captured Ruffnut," he said to himself as he launched into the air, speeding towards the clubhouse.
The wind clashed against his body, air resistance pushing against him as he flew, reaching the clubhouse in under a minute. He landed at the entrance to find Astrid and Tuffnut rushing frantically to come up with a plan to thwart the Dragon Hunters from taking over the island and stealing the Dragon Eye... or at least hold them off long enough for the others to return.
Cinderwing saw that Astrid was at the center table, beginning to explain the situation. "Now, there is no possible way we can defend the Edge against an all-out assault with only two flyable dragons, and that's if Cinderwing would let anyone ride him." She put her hand on her chin with a thoughtful expression.
"But maybe we can slow them down until help gets here if we use our spears and arrows sparingly," she added. That was when Tuffnut tried to push his own idea. "Wait! I know an even better way we can slow them down."
Astrid dismissed his attempt. "Not now, Tuff. I need to think."
Tuffnut pushed further. "No, seriously, Astrid! You need to hear this. Listen to me!" He finally gained her attention.
"All right, what?" Astrid turned to him. "What is your idea?"
"Okay, well, as you know, tricking is my area of expertise," he began, with Cinderwing silently snorting in the background at his enthusiasm. "I am the official Dragon's Edge Trickster. Trickier extraordinaire. The Mayor of Tricks-Ville," Tuffnut exaggerated, slightly frustrating Astrid, who wanted him to just get to the point.
"Yeah. I get it. We all know how tricky you are," she said with slight annoyance, shrugging.
"But, they don't!" Tuffnut pointed out that the Dragon Hunters didn't know much about him. Cinderwing cooed in agreement, slightly startling the two Dragon Riders.
"Anyway." Tuffnut turned back to Astrid to continue his explanation. "I figured that we trick them into thinking there are more of us than there are." He explained his surprisingly good-sounding idea, before he began to overdo it. "We can start with our scare-ships, and then build our own little tricking army. It'll be awesome!" he exclaimed.
"Wait. I just think I just had another idea. Whoa!" He grabbed the weapons from the table and hugged them to his chest. "Do you know how many Loki-ish thoughts are running through my mind right now!" he added with excitement.
Meanwhile, Astrid was staring at him, deadpanning. "Tuff—"
"It's like a hurricane of practical jokes pounding on the inside of my head. Whoa, here comes one—."
"—Tuffnut!" Astrid interrupted.
"Yes?" he responded.
"This is not the time for pranks, or Loki-ing," she said, grabbing the weapons from his arms. "This is the time for strategic thinking and precise preparation." She placed the weapons back on the table. "There are times in life when you have to be serious. Deadly serious, or people can die. We can die. Ruffnut can die. Do you understand?" she added, stabbing a dagger into the table.
"Yes, I understand. I am taking it seriously," Tuffnut argued. "I'm seriously a trickster. And I seriously have some ideas that can help," he added, slightly pleading for her to listen to him.
"Tuff, listen to me. You know all those times early in the morning when it's still dark outside, and I'm out by myself on Stormfly?" Astrid asked.
Cinderwing huffed. "I certainly do, I'm usually there," he muttered.
"Uh, well, I do now," Tuffnut replied, slightly weirded out. "Is this gonna get weird?" he asked.
"No," Astrid answered. "What I am doing is training. Day and night, I train myself for situations just like this. That's why we're gonna do this my way," she explained, crossing her arms.
"But, I have ideas. Good ideas," Tuffnut rebutted.
"And, I believe you," Astrid replied, although with slight reluctance.
"No, you don't," Tuffnut countered, turning around with his hands on his hips. "The only thing you believe is that I'll mess this up and get us all killed."
Astrid sighed. "No. That's not true," she began nervously. "The only thing I believe right now is that we're wasting time arguing when we should be preparing." She said as she grabbed the weapons from the table. "Come on, there's a lot of work to do."
Cinderwing nodded. "Yup. Wasting so much time arguing when I could probably take them out by myself," he mused aloud. "Though, that would be boring. Tuffnut's idea sounds so much more fun."
"That's my sister out there, Astrid," Tuffnut turned back to her. "And if this goes wrong and we don't save her, I couldn't live with myself," he admitted.
Astrid looked down in thought, and after a moment of silence she responded. "You know what? You're right," she admitted. "You do what you have to do, and I'm gonna set up our defenses. Then we'll come together, and when the time is right, decide which one to use, okay?"
Tuffnut pondered for a moment before smiling. "Awesome plan. I like it!" he commented. "And we'll definitely end up using mine. So, it's great."
"Good, just so long as we understand and agree that I lead the counter-attack and you follow me," Astrid said.
Cinderwing snorted with amusement. "Maybe I'll get to pluck another spine from Windshear. I hope I'm not accidentally doing some kind of intimate Razorwhip mating ritual with her, and without really getting to know each other."
(Scene break)
Cinderwing, his cloaked scales powered by his lightning, watched from afar as the Dragon Hunters took Ruffnut aboard a small boat to get to their ship. His ears twitched as he listened in on a conversation.
"Uh, excuse me, sir. Oh, and ma'am. But, uh, there's something I've been wondering about."
"A daily occurrence, but go ahead."
"In regards to this Ryker fellow, it seems as though he's taken on the role of leader. And, well, I was always under the assumption that this was your role."
"Pfftt! That's not his role."
"It is, you dunderhead."
"We're just using Ryker for the time being. When he leads us to the Dragon Eye—."
"We figure out the most painful and horrible way to get rid of him and the rest of his crew. Duh!"
"Ah! That's a relief."
"Once we get the Dragon Eye, Ryker and his men? See ya."
"That really is the single worst plan I have ever heard, and believe—."
"Would you stop talking!"
Cinderwing hummed thoughtfully as he watched Dagur, Heather, and someone else whose name he'd forgotten take Ruffnut, who had a duffle bag over her head, aboard their ship. "If annoying someone could kill, Ruffnut and her brother would've caused a mass genocide long ago." He snorted.
'I'll make sure to show the hunters that I, a Night Fury, am a predator,' Cinderwing mused with a small amount of malicious intent. With a powerful flap of his wings, he launched into the air and flew towards his den. "I'm sure that a few missing hunters will go unnoticed." He chuckled darkly.
(End:Cliffhanger)
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I'm sorry for taking so long to finish this. I have classes from Tuesday through Thursday so that slowed me down quite a bit.
I hoped that you enjoyed this chapter and please comment on any grammar errors that I might have missed so that I may fix them.
Discord username: silverstorm028