A Dragon Tale

E

Elflady

Guest
Original poster
As the sun rose over the horizon, pale golden streaks lighting up the mountain peaks and the high abies tree tops, high waves broke against the scattered rocks below the steep edges of the rocky island. Fog lingered and promised to do so for hours yet and no wind helped blowing it away, the air was chilly and crisp, all in all it promised to be an unusually nice day in Berk.

As the rays fell in through the windows of a small house situated at the edge of the village Hilde stirred, casting a tired glance outside she sighed and threw the covers over her head burrowing deeper down into her mattress, not wanting to leave her warm bed. After years of practice the young woman did not fall asleep again, she had duties to do in the morning but she liked to drag out the time a bit especially on cold, foggy mornings.

Sighing Hilde threw her cover off, shivering at the cold inside, the raw air having sneaked inside during the night as her fire had died down to a smoulder. Quickly throwing some logs in the hearth and making sure it caught Hilde washed up quickly before pulling on her clothes. A simple dark green tunic with a warm fur padded vest, her dark wool skirt and finally her warm boots with thick fur wrapped tight with leather strings. Feeling a lot better at once Hilde turned to her bed, the cover vibrating slightly and a soft purr escaped from underneath it.

"Hey sleepyhead," she called out to Tremor, her Terrible Terror. Nothing happened except that the lump changed position slightly. Hilde drew her fingers threw her long thick hair and gave the lump an envious glance, at times, especially mornings she wished she could laze around as much as her little terror.

Shrugging she let him be and put water in a kettle placed above the fire to get some warm tea before venturing outside. Preparing a quick breakfast consisting of a piece of bread Hilde took her tea and and bread to eat by the table and as always when food was promised Tremor crawled out from the covers, yawned so large you could see all his teeth. Easily bouncing down to the floor he came over to Hilde, stroking against her legs before looking at her with large amber eyes, clearly wanting his share of the breakfast as well.

Chuckling Hilde stretched for the fish she had taken out and held it out for him to take, in one single gulp it was gone and Tremor purred in satisfaction and went to his water bowl to drink. Hilde finished her tea and quickly braided her hair, as always not bothering to braid from the neck, instead starting below her shoulders.

Going outside with Tremor jumping around her feet Hilde started the day by letting her herd of sheep and the four cow she currently had out from their barn. Letting them go as they pleased, she had a low fence put up to keep them from going too far away, she wanted to be able to keep an eye on them. Hilde spent some time cleaning the barn while Tremor played in the clean hay and hunted some rats but eventually he lost interest and curled up in a small ball, promptly falling asleep again.

Finally done the sun had already risen high clearing away the fog, leaving a clear but crisp day behind. Moving outside into the herd Hilde began to make her round, checking every animal to see that they were healthy and content. Taking her time Hilde eventually finished with her sheep and had her cows left when Tremor came outside seemingly done with his nap, her animals had longs since gotten used to him.

The cows had never bothered with him at all, they were big enough for Tremor to hurt and could easily just stomp on him but he sheep had been nervous at the beginning until they too learned that the little dragon was too small to actually hurt them. Tremor as well had learned not to bother them, having almost been kicked several times and head butted by a sheep once. Now he had learned his lesson and guarded them instead, his territorial attitude warning against any stranger.

Today though he seemed to have gotten a temporary memory loss, heading towards Hilde his attention snapped to one of the brown cows, her tail swishing slightly as she grazed. Tremor stood still, his eyes following the bush tail end intently, and before Hilde could do anything or call out to Tremor he jumped.

The cow bellowed, more in annoyance than in pain, as Tremor got a firm grip on the cow tail with his large jaws. Kicking backwards with her hind leg she caught Tremor square in the shoulder causing him to let go instantly. Forcing back her panic and fear Hilde rushed over to Tremor, her heart beat wildly but she didn't show it on the outside not wanting to cause her stress to spread to the animals or Tremor.

The small dragon had a hoof shaped wound on his shoulder but Hilde had no idea how serious it was, she was not very skilled with dragon injuries and wasn't sure if it was even serious enough to fret over. Checking on the cow, who once again grazed calmly, she noted that Tremor hadn't managed to hurt her, only a few scratches on the tail showed where he'd bitten her.

Sighing she shifted the dragon in her arms and looked down on him, he was purring again seemingly not overly bothered by his wound. "You little demon," she reprimanded him with a stern voice. "You should know better by now." Tremor opened an amber eye, looking uninterested and bored. Sighing again Hilde headed for the dragon centre to see what they could do for her dragon.
 
Morning- it was Duncan's long time sworn enemy. As sunlight trickled in through the window the man moaned loudly in annoyance, tossing over and promptly pulling his feather pillow on top of his head. It couldn't already be morning, could it? He had been having a wonderful dream about a nice homemade dinner complete with warm turkey legs and gravy.

A gust of warm, yet not-so-pleasant air flew under the pillow and into Duncan's face which caused him to sit up and let out a disgusted hack. Looking over through his messy hair he could see his Changewing's head resting on his windowsill and looking at him expectantly with what almost looked like a goofy grin.
"Good mornin' to ye too." Duncan sighed, rubbing his eyes before lazily throwing the covers off his legs and placing his feet on the cold floor. He reached into a bucket of iced fish and tossed it to the dragon who excitedly swallowed it down. "I'll be down in a minute." He spoke with a yawn before tiredly walking to his closet and pulling out whatever he happened to grab first. First a brown, tweed long sleeved shirt accompanied by a fur vest. He pulled on his forest green pants which had seen better days and were now decorated in brown patches to cover holes. And last but not least, his warm fur boots with leather straps.

Duncan slowly walked down the stairs to his kitchen and grabbed an apple on his way out of the door. His Changewing, Grovel, was waiting for him in sitting position, his tail slightly wagging at his clawed feet.
"We've got a long day ahead of us." He spoke to him, wrapping his arm around the dragon's neck as he walked toward to dragon center where he worked. "Let's get ye some breakfast." Duncan said and at the familiar word Grovel excitedly shoved his head underneath his master's legs and romped to the stables, Duncan shouting in surprise as he tried to get a decent grip on his scales.

"Slow down, ye brute!" He shouted, his winged companion coming to an abrupt stop once his destination was reached which sent Duncan head first onto a conveniently placed pile of hay. With a groan he sat up, holding his head. It was obvious he had a long day ahead of him.
 
Walking across the grassy field towards the large dragon centre Hilde muttered tirades in her head about the stupidity of her little dragon, he could be quite intelligent, at rare occasions, but even though he wasn't on par with a Nightfury Tremor was usually smart enough to not bother things bigger than him. Or, well he mostly let the cows be and chased the sheep instead, or the other way around and he ended up being chased by annoyed sheep. But this was his most stupid manoeuvre yet.

As a hatchling Tremor had been curious and very interested in Hilde's other animals but after a few close encounters he had quickly learned what was okay and what was too much. Apparently Terrible Terrors were quick to forget as well as learn. Stroking his back, Hilde reached under his head and scratched beneath his jaw, Tremor purred ever louder giving his name justice, the heat from his body warming her from the inside.

No matter how much she distrusted dragons she was glad to have gotten Tremor a few years back, his antics, mischievous curiosity driving her nuts at times but he won her back by being adorable and irresistible. The sun warmed her slightly, bringing out the copper in her hair, and with her pace and Tremors heat she felt quite warm, looking back towards her farm to check. She knew the dragons were not evil or such anymore but she couldn't quite let her worry go either, her animals where her everything.

Smiling down at him she realised she was already at the dragon centre, looking around to find someone who worked there Hilde saw a man and a dragon, barely suppressing a chuckle as the man crawled up from the hay.

"Excuse me!" She called out to him as she moved closer, with a vary eye on the larger dragon. "My dragon needs some help, he was kicked by my cow."
 
Duncan struggled to get himself out of the unforgiving hay bale, scowling up at Grovel who just looked at him with excited eyes, his slender tongue reaching out to lick the side of his scaley lips. If Duncan hadn't already been awake, he was now. Talk about an adrenaline rush. Grovel had always been easy to get overexcited since Duncan got him as a hatchling and, bless him, had never been the brightest either. Duncan was still working on him with manners.


"Thanks for the help, ye good for nothin'..." Duncan stopped himself in the middle of cursing Grovel when he spotted a girl just a few feet away with what seemed like a small Terrible Terror in her arms. Grovel looked over curiously as well, his head cocking to the side as the girl spoke to his rider. Duncan nervously picked hay from his hair and brushed as much as he could off of his clothes, knowing that he looked like an idiot right now. Grovel would be getting an earful from him later for making him look like a fool in front of a pretty lady.
"Would it be okay if I looked at him?" He asked. He was not skilled at the medical part of dragon care, however he had a basic knowledge and could take her to the right person.
 
Stroking Tremor's green and maroon spotted back Hilde smiled at the larger dragon's obviously amused expression, it clearly had a playful personality and judging by the man's behaviour it didn't seem like this was a first time offence either. She was glad that Tremor was too small to actually do any kind of damage on his crazy days, of course he had given her share of nips as a rebellious juvenile but but now he was mostly harmless. "Sure," she said as the man finished getting rid of the hay. "I'm not very used to dragons and how serious their wounds are."

Hilde held out Tremor for the man, the dragon opened an eye to see why his sleep was disturbed and glared at the approaching man. As all Terrors he had a strong sense of territory and that often included her despite all her tries to train the behaviour away Tremor still was suspicious of strangers. Although he got along far better with humans and other dragon races than his own and generally if a person had a secure and calm hand with animals and dragons Tremor quickly got used to them.

"Normally he doesn't bother the other animals and if he does its the sheep and they often chase him instead of the other way around," she explained. Not wanting him to think she just let her dragon go around risking to get hurt because of neglect. "But today he wanted to play with a cow tail, she didn't like that and Tremor didn't get out of the way fast enough."

He must have been in quite the mischievous mindset this morning, Hilde could barley keep up with his mood swings at times, going from docile to fully energized in a second. Hopefully this would provide a lesson for tremor to not play with the cows, he seemed to have a problem understanding just how small he was. It seemed to be a racial problem as many Terrible Terrors she had seen could easily go against a much larger dragon, although they rarely won you had to give them credit for being brave, or perhaps it was stupidity.
 
Duncan offered her a friendly smile before walking closer so he could get a better look at the little guy.
"Well it must not be too bad. His instincts are still very much intact." He commented in regards to the little one's obvious glare of discomfort towards his presence. It was very understandable for him to be territorial. Not to mention it was a good sign he wasn't in any unbearable pain. If he was he was be in no condition to do much of anything. "I won't hurt ye." He said, reaching out gently to give the small dragon a light stroke on his head. Grovel looked on curiously, slowly inching closer so he could look at what was going on. He listened to her explanation of the day's events and nodded his head thoughtfully. Dragons were curious creatures in their nature so this little guy's fascination with a cow tail was much expected. Grovel had gotten into his own tussles with other dragons from being too curious.

"Stay." Duncan said sternly, knowing exactly what he was doing without looking at him but keep his eyes on the woman and dragon in front him. "He doesn't seem to be in much pain and the injury doesn't look too serious. I'm sure he'll be jest fine, but we'll take him to get looked over just in case." Duncan said after he had looked over the wound which simply looked to be a surface scrape. He managed to escape the worst of it--cow kicks can be extremely painful. Duncan had the pleasure of experiencing it himself when he was young and quite stupid.

"Follow me. I'll take ye to Allistir." He spoke, straightening back up and looking up at Grovel who, despite his command, had inched closer. One day, Grovel's curiosity was going to get the best of him. "Ye are in for it today." He said sternly to him, walking forward and Grovel following by his side. "And don't mind him, ma'am. He's harmless. Jest a little...impaired." Duncan tried to put it nicely. "And my name is Duncan. Mind if I ask yours?"
 
Feeling relieved Hilde released a slight sigh as the man said it was probably nothing too bad, she felt like she had over reacted a bit by dragging Tremor to the dragon centre but she also knew it wouldn't have felt good leaving him home. Giving a small smile as Tremor's glare turned to satisfaction when the man petted him, Tremor liked to play tough a lot of the time but give him some food or a pet then he was nice as a kitten.

"Thank Odin," she said after the man finished looking at the wound determining it seemed to be a scrape. She loved her little dragon to bits despite not being very fond of dragons over all and would hate to see him in pain and she was glad that the man wanted to have him checked out anyway.

All the time she took note of how the man handled his dragon and Tremor, it was an automatic thing she always did now a days, he was stern yet gentle, a perfect combination when handling animals. Although his mischievous dragon took his liberties when his master's back was turned, not something she was foreign too, Tremor listened to her often but she also got the feeling he often did as she said because he wanted to.

Looking over to the man's dragon Hilde met the dragon's gaze with slightly widened green eyes, sure he was cute and seemed friendly but she still couldn't get over her discomfort with larger dragons. The cat sized Terrors were much more appealing to her, no matter how impressive the larger dragons were she felt safer with a single small dragon.

Scratching Tremor between his small, curved horns Hilde smiled at the man as she followed after him to Allistir. "Nice to meet you," she said, removing some dark copper brown strands from Tremors mouth. "My name's Hildegard but please, please call me Hilde instead," she begged him. She did not like her full name and wondered what her parents were thinking when naming her, so she preferred to always go by her nickname.
 
"Likewise, m'lady. Hilde it is." He said with a cheesey grin, moving some of his dark, unkempt hair from his eyes. He really was due for a hair cut, however that was honestly one of the things he dreaded most. There was just something about the razor being so close to his face and hair falling to the ground that freaked him out a bit. It was also the main reason his facial hair often went untouched a couple weeks a time; but, his grew slowly so he didn't have to worry about getting a big beard by the end of the day.

Duncan glanced between Hilde and Grovel, feeling a bit of unease from her at his dragon's presence. Grovel honestly wouldn't hurt anyone, not on purpose anyway. Accidentally...that was a different story all within itself. Duncan had his fair share of bruises and scrapes from the Changewing's antics. Perhaps she wasn't comfortable around bigger dragons? It was understandable--they weren't for everyone. However it seemed like almost everyone in their village had one. Maybe she had a bad experience with one in the past?

"Stay put." He said to Grovel sternly who sat on his haunches with almost a pitiful expression on his face, feeling quite hungry. One fish was not enough to satisfy the appetite of such a large dragon; Duncan would take care of it once he got Hilde the help she needed. "Allistir!" He called as he walked in the entrance of the shack where the man worked. A surprised coughing noise came from the back room followed by the appearance of a rather burly middle aged man.
"Ah yes, Duncan! Finally decided to show up to work?" He asked in a caniving manner.
"Shet up. We have a lady here who needs her dragon looked at. Got kicked by a cow, this one." He spoke as he motioned to the Terrible Terror in her arms.
"Ahh, let me have a look at him then." Allistir said with a small nod and a scratch of his bushy beard.
 
Hilde smiled back at him feeling relieved by his words. She liked him already, only her friends called her by nickname while her parents and others had the annoying habit of using her full name so she appreciated that. In someone else's eyes it may seem like an overreaction, after all she could have been named something much worse like after an insult or such, but seeing as she wasn't the person to always pick on her looks like other girls Hilde believed it was only right that she could pick on her name instead.

Despite being vary Hilde had to chuckle slightly at the larger dragon's expression as he was told to stay which he also did this time, there was something with dragon's, especially their eyes, that made their scaly faces so expressive. It was probably a stupid thing to be vary about, Hilde hated to admit being scared and didn't want to admit it was fear even to herself. But some things she could not forget even if it had not been dangerous for her or had even been serious.

Realising they must have reached their destination Hilde followed Duncan inside the shack and listened to their exchange, slightly amused at the two men. As the man stepped forward Hilde held Tremor out for the man to see, hoping the little dragon would behave with Allistir, hoping he would be satisfied with a glare as with Duncan earlier.

"Thank you for this," Hilde said. It was really fortunate that during the time since Vikings and dragons made peace people had strived to learn as much as possible about the dragons so they could run places like this. "It's actually quite embarrassing that I don't know how to help my own dragon," she added, if she had been prone to blush she may have turned red but know she only felt inadequate and annoyingly helpless.

After this she would defiantly have to learn how to treat minor wounds so she could help Tremor herself, with her unease about dragons it was probably just all in her mind that it was harder to help dragons but she wasn't sure either. Sending a worried thought to her animals back home, they were hindered to wander off by the low fence and dragons now a days didn't hunt sheep as they were fed by the Vikings but she couldn't really push away the worry that knotted her stomach.
 
Ever since Duncan could remember he had a deep love for dragons despite his family's weariness of them. Everything about them fascinated him to the very core and he knew that he was destined to work with them. He had had his ups and downs on his road to getting to where he was now and his fair share of injuries, but it had all been worth it. He was where he wanted to be, and what could be more great than spending every day with dragons? He still had a lot more to learn, as did everyone else in Berk, but they were well on their way.

Duncan found his gaze constantly shifting over to Hilde. She was extremely pretty and it was a rare thing for a women to come to the center. And when they did they were always much older than he or much too...burly if that as the right word to use. The poor girl looked quite disheveled over the whole situation though. However, he was quick to snap out of it once Allistir began to speak again, turning his green gaze back to the man.
"No need to feel embarrassed, Miss. It's what we're 'ere for." Allistir said before stepping towards her and observing the wee dragon in her arms. He didn't seem too bad, that was for sure. He took him from her arms gently as to not startle him. Even if he did give him a quick bite it was nothing Allistir wasn't used to. Looking over him, he examined the wound and pressed on it slightly. Ah, a small wing fracture. "If ye don't mind, could I take him for a wee bit?" He asked, looking back to the young lady who had brought him in. "It looks like he might have a wee fracture at the base of his left wing. Nothing serious. I can easily patch it up." Allistir reassured her with a mismatched grin. He didn't want her getting anymore worried about the situation than she already seemed to be.
 
Hilde frowned and held back a sigh as Tremor did his territorial thing and snapped at the large man, when Allistir didn't care about his behaviour the dragon hissed but kept still, a decidedly offended look on his face, as if it was the highest offence to be handled by a stranger. "Sorry 'bout him," she said as Allistir checked him over. "I'm still trying to train that away although it seems his racial instinct is too strong." From what she had seen of Terrible Terrors were that they always fought between each other over food and territory so she feared Tremor would never really loose that trait, but at least he didn't attack anyone at sight.



As the man confirmed it was nothing dangerous Hilde started relaxing, having been tensed up since the accident, she didn't like showing fear or stress but when simultaneously being faced with a large dragon and having Tremor hurt she did not have full control. Having never been one to panic or show stress Hilde's weakness was her animals, she treasured them greatly and if they were hurt she was lucky she was able to mask her concern so as to not influence them for the worse.


"Of course," Hilde said. "Whatever you need to do." Throwing back her loose braid over her shoulder Hilde smiled, glad there so far had been no sight of something larger, being at the dragon centre she thought there would be more dragons but it was still early so it wasn't so strange it was a bit empty. "Maybe he'll learn his lesson after this," she added, not wishing for anymore injuries on his part. "Although that is perhaps too much to hope for."
 
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