686Chapter 23: The Downed Dragon
The Downed Dragon
Hiccup lowered his bow and smiled, feeling very accomplished with what he saw as progress.
"I think I'm getting the hang of this..." he said, shaking his drawing hand.
Toothless just snorted in amusement and dashed over to the ground where the arrows had been shot. He looked over the shots. They were all grouped closely together, which was a sign that Hiccup's aim was improving.
He plucked them from the ground with his jaws and carried the arrows over Hiccup, dropping them on the ground at Hiccup's feet and purring his satisfaction at a job well-done.
Hiccup thought the Fury looked very pleased with himself. Too pleased. He also wanted to get back at Toothless for his likely intentional teasing earlier in the day.
"Well done, bud. I've trained my dragon to play fetch."
"Fetch?" Toothless warbled.
"Yeah, I grab something, tease you about you wanting to get it, throw the thing, tell you in a silly voice that the thing is what you want and that you should go get it, you go get it, and then you bring it back to me."
"Why?"
"So we can do it again and keep you entertained."
Toothless narrowed his eyes and tilted his head in thought.
Hiccup crossed his arms and grinned.
"Try that and I will beat you in the head with my tail," Toothless hissed.
Hiccup wildly threw up his hands and stepped back.
"Point taken. Toothless is not a dog."
Toothless turned his shoulder on him and huffed.
"No, I am not!" he stuck out his tongue for emphasis.
Hiccup smirked at the perfect opportunity.
"Oh, are you pouting, big baby boo?"
"Big baby boo..." Toothless huffed again.
Hiccup turned around, apparently unable to see Toothless or notice any response he may give.
"Yep, not a dog. Maybe a puppy though..."
He did not turn around, but he did not need to. He knew his best friend too well. That comment was sure to provoke him, precisely as planned.
He waited the fraction of an instant that he needed, and then he jumped forward into a somersault dive while holding his bow to the side. He rolled up onto his feet, knocked an imaginary arrow, and spun to face Toothless.
More precisely, he spun to face Toothless's open, gummy maw only a couple feet from his face.
Then Toothless reared back and barked in apparent surprise, his eyes going wide.
"That was good, Hiccup! Very fast. Not fast enough, but much better!"
"Yeah, I'd probably have messed that up if there was a real arrow, but still, I'm getting better!"
Toothless snorted.
"Maybe one of these days you can do the hunting while I sit around on my waste-end."
"That'll be the day..."
Hiccup glanced again toward Dale. The guards had been gone for nearly an hour and the archers had not left the ramparts.
"Hope they don't keep us waiting too long."
The company of guards finally returned, only this time there were several more people among the group. At the head of the procession stood a great man. He had leather armor, pauldrons and gauntlets, very broad shoulders, a weathered face, long dark hair, and a full beard.
There was also a Dwarf at the man's side. The Dwarf stood four heads shorter than the man, and had iron gauntlets, a massive fur cape, and a braided white beard which hung down to his waist.
Several other Dwarves also stood among the guards. None of them looked happy as they all stopped a short distance away while holding their axes.
"Barzul! So it is true!" the Dwarf shouted, his hand to a throwing ax at his hip.
"Peace, Dain. It appears that they are not our enemies," the man said.
Both leaders stepped forward, although the Dwarf did so with some hesitancy. The man briefly nodded to them and then spoke.
"Greetings, dragon-rider. Dragon from the south. I am Brand, King of Dale, son of Bain, son of Bard the Bowman and slayer of Smaug."
Hiccup and Toothless bowed their heads respectfully to him, to the descendant of a true dragon-slayer.
"My Dwarven friend here is Dain Ironfoot, King under the Mountain and of Erebor."
"Aye, that's me! I may be old, but I've more than enough strength in me to kill dragons that need killin'!" Dain gruffly added.
Hiccup crossed his arms with a frown.
"Well then, it is a good thing there are no such dragons around here. My friend here is Toothless."
"Toothless? A toothless dragon? I doubt it," the Dwarf sneered.
"No, that is my name!" Toothless growled.
"See that there! It does have plenty of teeth and..." Dain's voice trailed off.
Both Kings blinked in surprise. Then Brand cuffed Dain on the shoulder while chuckling.
"Toothless? What a name!"
"It is my name! I like it!" Toothless grumbled.
"Indeed, good dragon. You must admit that it is... ironic," Brand answered.
"Blame him," Toothless pointed a paw at Hiccup.
"And your name, young man?" Brand inquired.
"Master... Haddock."
Brand gave Hiccup an amused look while the Dwarf silently grumbled.
"Well, Masters Haddock and Toothless, now that the... pleasantries are out of way... what business brings you up here? You know our history with dragons, I'm sure," Brand objected.
Toothless slowly stepped forward and then sat down directly before the Kings. Their gazes were both drawn to the pendant around his neck.
"I am not Smaug. I do not fly here for gold or hoards or flaming."
Hiccup stepped up next to him.
"We lived with the Elves of Rivendell and Lorien for a while. We are flying to the north to search for other dragons like him. We hope that they will join the war against the Enemy."
Dain and Brand started in surprise.
"You are flying to the Withered Heath and the Northern Waste?" Dain asked.
"Yes, we are," Hiccup answered.
The Dwarf sighed heavily and looked very pensive, which Hiccup gathered was an uncommon event for a Dwarf.
Brand spared a glance at the Dwarf before turning back to them.
"Well, you know your errand, but be warned that it is very cold and barren up there. The dragons up there, if you can find them, are not friendly at all."
Hiccup put a hand on Toothless's neck.
"Thank you for the warning, but I like our chances. A dragon helps a lot of with both of those problems."
"I still don't understand. How is this possible? I thought all dragons are weapons of the Enemy. No disrespect to you, Toothless," Brand wondered.
Hiccup sighed in frustration. Brand's worry was an understandable concern given that it would apparently be true in almost any other case.
"It is a long and confusing story, but the ones like him, if there are any, are not truly bad. They were not always of this world."
"Not always of this world? And mine chamber-pot is made of Mithril," Dain grumbled.
"How did you meet? I doubt that a dragon would normally want to carry a human on its back," Brand gruffly asked.
"Toothless, you want to take that one?" Hiccup asked.
"We met on a far away island where dragons and humans still fight. I was shot from the sky while protecting other dragons from humans. Hiccup found me and could have killed me, but he spared me."
A wing unfurled and went over Hiccup's back.
"We became friends, and he made me a new tailfin so that I can fly with him."
"A new tailfin? What?" Dain asked.
Toothless swept out his tail to display the false-fin which Hiccup made.
"He lost a tailfin, and that made it hard for him to fly. I made him a new tailfin," Hiccup explained.
Dain stared with great interest at the tailfin. Some of the gears, joints, and metal beams within the leather were clearly visible.
"You made that yourself?" Dain, wide-eyed, turned to Hiccup.
"Yes, I am an inventor," Hiccup answered.
"I can see that. Very impressive. That takes a keen mind to make. I can respect great craftsmanship whenever I see it."
Then Dain turned his attention back to Toothless, again specifically noticing the pendant on his neck. This time he looked more closely at it.
"What is that you have?" Dain gasped in awe.
"Lady Galadriel gave it to me as a gift."
Dain struggled with himself for a while, definitely curious about the pendant but reluctant to approach. He finally decided and stepped forward.
"May I... inspect it?"
Toothless nodded and held himself still as Dain stepped closer and held the pendant. The Dwarf seemed to have forgotten that he was standing before a dragon.
"Aye, yes... it's... Durin's beard..."
Then the Dwarf stepped back after a moment of inspecting the pendant and his sudden exclamation.
"What is special about that beautiful gem, I do not know. But the metal is Mithril. That is a Kingly gift!"
Dain then retreated to Brand's side, and the two friends quietly conferred.
Hiccup noticed Dain's mention that the pendant was made of Mithril.
That is the metal that is, how did Bilbo put it, light as a feather and as hard as dragon-scale. Just imagine armor or weapons forged with this stuff.
The two Kings returned.
"Incredible as it is, you are not an enemy to us. That is obvious. We do wonder why you stopped here," Brand asked.
"Yes, you could have just kept flying," Dain added.
Hiccup frowned. There were two reasons why they had decided to stop here in Dale: one reason was practical and the other was not.
"Is there anything you can tell us that might help? I understand that Dwarves have lived in the Grey Mountains for many years. Are there any stories of dragons like him?"
Dain shook his head.
"None that I recall from all my years. There are few stories of any dragons at all in recent years, to tell the full truth. The last I heard was of some small cold drake maybe twenty years ago. That story was not told by the most reliable source. However, no Dwarves ever venture into the Northern Waste. There is no reason to venture into those fell and desolate lands now."
"Okay, any supplies you can spare us would also help. We can pay," Hiccup added, hiding his disappointment that the Dwarves had no leads he and Toothless could follow.
Brand nodded.
"Yes, we can find some gear for you, Master Haddock. Toothless, do you need anything from us?"
Toothless spoke up following a brief pause.
"Nothing to wear. Some fish or other food would be good. The other reason we flew here is that I want to know where Smaug fell."
"Why?" Brand wondered.
"I want to see how big he was. I want to see that I am not the only dragon in this world," Toothless shrugged.
"I can assure you that Smaug was real. Really big too. Had quite a love of gold, roaring, flaming, and a taste for Dwarf also," Dain growled.
Brand glanced off toward the long lake.
"But if you want to know where he fell... he fell just north of New Lake-town. The city was rebuilt after he burned it, but no one wanted to build around or over his bones. To my knowledge, no one has even gone down for the gold and jewels on his armor."
"He had armor?" Hiccup exclaimed in surprise.
Brand nodded.
"So the story says. The water is deep there, but I assume that is not a problem for you, Toothless."
"No, I can swim deep."
"Do we have permission to fly there now, King Brand? We would not want to scare anyone there," Hiccup asked.
Brand snapped a finger and commanded one of his attendants, giving him instructions. The attendant then ran off toward the city.
"He will dispatch a raven to warn them not to fear your arrival. Please wait an hour before you fly there. When do you plan to continue on for the Heath?"
They turned together and stared toward the north. They could not see past the slope of the Lonely Mountain, but they remembered barely seeing the distant mountain range far off on the horizon.
"Does leaving in the morning sound good, bud?"
"Yes, it does," Toothless nodded.
"We will leave in the morning. May we rest here tonight?" Hiccup asked.
Brand grumbled and glanced up at the surrounding slopes and the hills.
"You should stay inside the city walls. I will have accommodations made for you both. It is not safe outside at night anymore."
"No? Why not?" Hiccup wondered.
"Dark shapes wander the hills. We think that the Enemy has his servants, orcs and fallen Men, watching us. We refused his offer of... peace... before, and he might seek to strike at us."
"Aye," Dain growled, "Erebor falling would open up new avenues of attack, and new supply routes for his numbers in the Misty Mountains. I still wonder what the messenger meant: something about wanting information on Hobbits and some ring which is a mere trifle that Sauron fancies. Hog shit I say!"
Hiccup glanced at Toothless, and they both shrugged, knowing that it was best to say nothing about what they knew.
Brand crossed his arms on his chest while regarding Toothless, now standing a short distance away and staring toward the lake. King Brand looked very thoughtful as he gazed at Toothless.
"I know that you both have your errand, but having a dragon openly on our side in the future could be helpful in the defense against the Enemy. We would make sure that the dragon was well-provided for in return."
Hiccup felt unsettled by how Brand was looking at Toothless. The king looked appraising and... greedy. He didn't like it at all, especially when he thought about what Brand had just said: an offer to provide for Toothless and take him away. That would not work since Toothless could not fly without him.
"No. Toothless is... with me."
"I was not implying anything, Master Haddock," Brand answered him.
"Good. We have our own mission. We might find other dragons like him anyway to help fight in the war."
"Do you know for sure that there are any others?" Brand wondered.
"No," Toothless hummed, "but the wild we are flying to is where they would be if they are anywhere."
Dain frowned.
"Aye, if there's any more dragons anywhere, it would be in the Heath, the Waste, or the Grey Mountains. Still cannot say I like the idea of more dragons in the world," the Dwarf grumbled.
"Will you judge me for what others did?" Toothless growled.
"Forgive me my suspicion, but you have not been tested or proven to me yet."
"Is my being peaceful now not proof enough?"
"No, you could be tricking us or using dragon-magic," Dain grumbled again.
"I am not, and I have none."
"We shall see..." the Dwarf calmly said.
Toothless stood on the shore of the long lake. All the travel packs of supplies had been removed from his back, and Hiccup was working to take off the last of the flying-lines and ropes.
He did not understand how they all worked and what pieces did what. All that mattered was that they let Hiccup work the new tailfin so that they could both fly.
Hiccup had explained that it probably would not be a good idea to completely soak the flying equipment by diving into the water while wearing everything. Metal could apparently bleed, or something like that, and it would not be good for the saddle, the foot-thing, or the new tailfin.
So they all came off. Everything came off except for his rope and pearl pendant around his neck. That precious pendant was staying with him for this.
It felt strange to have so much stuff off his back. Even more so to not have the false-tailfin on his tail. The end of his tail felt unbalanced, which it was.
He drew a very deep breath as he stared out at the calm lake, the water on the shore brushing up against his paws.
Somewhere out below that water lay the bones of a downed dragon.
"Are you ready, bud?"
Hiccup gave him a neckrub.
"Yes, I want to do this."
"Then go right ahead. I'll be here, definitely."
Hiccup sat down on the ground among the supplies and started munching on some of the Elven bread.
Toothless then grumbled at himself and bounded out into the lake. He swam out along the floating city while several people on the city pointed at him from afar.
What do they think of me? I should not care, but...
Having seen and felt suspicion and hostility in all the places he had flown to, he was curious about how these humans would react if they met him up close. This was also the first real city of humans that he had ever been in while humans lived there. The village-nest on Berk was so many times smaller than this place, and the ruined and abandoned city he and Hiccup found did not count.
Finally, after swimming a great distance out into the lake and just north of the new floating city, he turned around and saw Hiccup standing on the shore and waving a paw at him.
The water was dark and deep below him.
As Hiccup would say, this is time to go or go time or whatever it is he says...
He took a deep breath and dove.
Broken wooden dens lay rotting in the water under the surface.
Down past the ruins and into the darker water.
He could see several fish darting away from him. Normally, he would be tempted to go hunt them, but he was doing something far more important. He was hunting knowledge.
A faint glint of light flashed in the dark and beckoned to him.
The light was what looked like a coin set into a wall of rock.
Odd, why would there be coins down here?
The wall of rock extended out into the distance in a mound around which more wooden wreckage lay. It was as though something very big had collapsed and dragged parts of the old city.
A faint suspicion tickled his tail as he swam along the rock and looked closely at it. Then he realized that this was not rock.
They were scales.
Scales which looked almost like jeweled, golden armor. The shines coming from the dirt all around the scales were not from rocks. They were...
So much gold.
A twisting mix of fire and ice flared to life in his soul-fire as he swam alongside the great, long neck. As the body had slowly started to decay through the years, coins and flecks of gold had fallen off into the mud.
Treasure.
Gold.
Jewels.
Precious.
So precious.
All unclaimed!
He should not part with it!
Not a single coin!
It was all his now!
Then he found it, and he froze, hanging suspended in the water.
On the ground at the bottom of the lake, sat a massive skull as long as he was.
Its jaws were parted to reveal teeth bigger than his head. The places where eyes would be were empty, but they stared into him regardless.
Smaug the Golden in his broken ruin.
Smaug was not as big as the nest-Monster, but he had definitely been more clever and likely far more dangerous. Smaug's being smart certainly made him worse than the nest-Monster because it behaved like nothing more than a dumb animal concerned with filling its belly. Smaug had been cunning, cruel, clever, and the greatest of calamities.
Downed by one lucky shot, apparently, though differently to how he himself was downed.
But Smaug could not protect what remained of the hoard!
All this gold was here for him now!
His hoard!
He so wanted to reach out with a paw and touch this gold.
The darkness closed around him until there was only him and the gold and the pounding in his head.
His alone!
'It is more precious than gold, but it cannot be bought...'
He could stay here under the water with the hoard for all time...
'Remember that I trust you always...'
Alone in the dark where he could rest...
'And you will never have to fight it alone. I promise...'
Hiccup waving at him from the shore...
Why was it so bright at the bottom of the lake?
Was it the gold beckoning to him with the promise of unending sleep?
Then he blinked as he saw the glow of the pearl pendant floating in the water before his chest. Impossibly, the gem shone with pure light even now when all other light seemed to have faded.
It was as though a twinkling, burning star had fallen from the sky and now floated before him.
Clarity crashed on him like a flash of lightning.
Smaug fell because of his love of gold and cruelty. Maybe he had a choice and chose poorly, or maybe he had no choice and was never free.
Either way, Smaug was indeed a true dragon, perhaps the greatest that was in anyone's living memory.
I am more like him than I thought. I need a hoard also.
He was also a true dragon and needed a hoard.
Truth was painful.
But what was a hoard? What was precious to him? What could he protect and keep safe always?
He shook his head of the rotted thinking as best he could until all that was left was the answer that was there all along. It was not perfect, but it might be enough to satisfy what he was.
He planted his paws in the dirt and kicked off, tucking his wings and kicking hard to speed to the surface.
Up through the dark water and to the flowing sunlight high above in the open sky.
Without looking down.
Not that there was nothing down there that he wanted. Part of him did want it.
But the far greater part did not.
He was not Smaug.
Hiccup waited patiently for Toothless's return, having watched the Fury swim out alongside the floating city and then vanish with a splash of his tail. That had been only a minute ago.
Toothless had assured him that Night Furies were very good swimmers and could stay underwater for a long time.
Meanwhile, he nibbled sparingly on the Lembas bread. The cakes were very sweet indeed.
His thoughts were drawn back to Berk and the Snoggletog celebrations. The tribe would make sweet breads and enjoy them alongside meats and ales.
Guess I miss all that since we are going into the wilderness soon.
As always happened whenever Toothless was away, he felt a vague worry. This time there was a little frustration, though not aimed at Toothless at all, that he himself was unable to see Smaug's remains since they were at the bottom of the lake. He really wanted to see proof of such a great creature himself.
Eh, Toothless can tell me what he saw down there.
He paced idly while wondering about what King Brand had suggested. Specifically, his offer to... employ Toothless as a weapon to defend Dale against any attacks in the future. Now that he had more time to think it over, he saw that there was some sense in the offer, at least from Brand's perspective.
But there was something that felt very wrong about Toothless being used as a tool for any purpose by anyone.
Motion out on the lake caught his eye. He felt relief when he saw that Toothless had emerged and was swimming back to him.
There you are!
Toothless finally reached land, crawled up on shore, and then shook himself drier. He looked troubled, given how the Fury didn't look up at him and had fallen ears.
"Hey there, bud. Find anything down there?"
Toothless slowly shuffled over to him, ears swept back and tail stilled. The Fury stood immediately before him and then met his eyes. His green eyes were filled with hurt and fear.
Then Toothless leaned forward and put his forearms around his back in a human hug. The Fury's chin rested on and nuzzled his head.
He threw his arms around Toothless's neck, returning the embrace and losing himself for a moment in the solemn purring. He ignored entirely that he got wet from the hug.
"T...Toothless?"
Toothless whined softly and then stepped back, sitting down on the ground and staring at his paws.
"What... what happened?"
"I... found... it. Smaug's bones..."
"And..."
"He was very big. His teeth were bigger than my head."
"Yikes, that is very big."
Toothless then glanced out to the lake while grumbling. He struggled to speak for a long time before he finally gave a weak sigh.
"I should not have gone down there..."
"Why not? He is dead."
"There was a lot of gold down there too."
Hiccup grimaced.
"Yeah, but you beat it."
Toothless sighed and flicked his tail.
"I learned something that I do not like about myself."
They wordlessly agreed to walk over to the shore and sit down together, both staring out over the calm water. Just like Toothless apparently feared something about himself, the lake now looked calm on the outside but had a dark secret hidden under the surface.
"Do you want to tell me?"
A wing then unfurled and went over his back. He didn't bother complaining that the wing was still slightly wet.
"I... realized how like a Middle-earth dragon I am now."
"How do you mean?"
"I mean that I do want... need a hoard. Something that is precious to me and which I will never let go. Something that I would protect always with my life. Smaug," he snarled, "made his hoard a thing that could not care for him. Gold has no life. Gold does not... love."
"Toothless, are you saying what I think you're saying?" Hiccup whispered.
"Yes, it is... strange."
"Are you sure that is... I don't know. It feels odd."
"I know."
"I mean, I want to be your friend, like your brother. Not just... I don't know..."
It was a confusing mess. Toothless admitting that he was now more like a Middle-earth dragon and needed a hoard of some kind had to hurt the Fury. Being that hoard himself was... humorous.
But it was also reassuring in a strange way. It meant that Toothless would always need him. That was how their lives should be.
"You should know that I'll always be there to help you. That is what family does."
Toothless held him a little closer underwing.
They remained there on the shore in silence for a long time before Hiccup finally got restless as the end of a long day drew nearer.
"We should fly to Dale. I bet we can convince them to give you some fish."
"Yes, we should."
The promise of fish did not lift the Fury's ears though. Not this time.
King Brand had set up a tent in one of the main areas the guards trained in. The area was thankfully removed from excessive prying eyes. Brand had also been kind enough to leave instructions that he and Toothless were not to be bothered, and the King also had a basket of fresh fish and some bread left for them.
Toothless had dispatched of the fish they were brought and then curled up to rest. Hiccup remained awake well after dark, gently scratching Toothless's neck as the Fury slept in purring peace. He listened to the distant sounds of normal activity in the city at night.
This might be the last we see of civilization for a while.
He also thought about how this was a place where several armies had done battle long ago after Smaug's fall. Men, Elves, and Dwarves, previously at odds and almost coming to blows, had united against an army of goblins and wargs, large wolf-like creatures.
That battle was partly why the men of Lake-Town and Dale were so friendly with the Dwarves of Erebor. They had shed blood together long ago against a common foe.
His thoughts drifted to the far north. To the valley known as the Withered Heath and to the supposedly endless expanse of cold desolation in the Northern Waste. There was no way to know what he would find there.
So we pick up some supplies in the morning, and then we head out! I hope we find them. Wouldn't that be amazing?
He leaned back against Toothless's side and fell asleep.
The gold coins were so warm and comforting under his belly. Every swish of his tail sent coins clanging and tumbling down the slope. The coins even stuck to his hide and formed an almost golden covering that wrapped around him. It was as though he could carry his hoard with him wherever he went. That was very good.
It was his hoard, and he could do with it whatever he wanted. Even if that desire was to do nothing at all with it except keep others from getting it.
He was safe underground with his treasure.
Life was perfect now.
He needed nothing more, being completely content in this deep cave that had forgotten even the memory of light and the open sky. A lost place where there was no echo of the warm wind. Peace, darkness, silence, stillness...
Perfection.
And a deep, rumbling growl that boomed from deep under the expanse of gold.
"You think you can deceive yourself, dark wing?"
He spun around toward the voice, clattering the gold underneath him and struggling to get to his paws on the piles of gold and coins.
He froze, pierced through by what was only a short pounce away.
A long, serpentine neck stuck out from the mountain of gold. The dragon's narrowed eyes gleamed with light as it flashed teeth that were bigger than his head. The scales were golden.
But Smaug did not move to strike him. Smaug apparently tried to get up, but he was stuck under the mountain of gold which only shifted slightly.
Smaug was stuck.
He laughed aloud at Smaug's misfortune.
"You are the one who was never free, Smaug!"
Smaug's laughter shook the walls of the cave.
"You know nothing of freedom, small one! Leave now! Try to part with a single coin, if you can!"
He flew to his paws and ran, shaking the gold under his paws at his every leap and bound. Down the mountain of gold and onto the solid ground as he ran out the cave.
But the gold had become one with his scales and would not come off. That was... good?
He flew out of the cave and jumped into the open sky, but the gold did not fall away. It was part of him now.
It was like armor. That was good. Safe.
Out over the water where his reflection gazed up at him.
Great. Enormous. Golden.
He was great and powerful now.
A massive human nest lay before him on the water. The sight sparked so many memories from long ago. So many memories of dragons falling from the sky and dying on the ground.
Humans, they hunt dragons.
They would try to take his hoard!
They would die for that. It was too great a risk to let them live. They could not be trusted!
His roar of wrath and death shattered the calm of night, a herald of their imminent deaths.
Pass after pass over their nest, his fire raining down on their dens in long streams of flame. His careful shots at the largest groups of defenseless humans never missed.
Their screams of pain and fear filled his soul-fire with joy at his strength. He was the greatest of calamities to them. Nothing could stop him now!
His laughter shook burning buildings and made the water tremble.
A faint sound of rushing wind was all that he heard. Then a great, biting pain poured into his chest from the dark arrow sticking out from his chest.
It felt like it had pierced straight into his heart.
Impossible.
All strength faded in his shock as he fell toward the flames.
The last he saw before his sight failed him was a small human standing by a machine pointed his direction. Even from so far away he could see that the human had green eyes that were filled with pain. They were eyes that he knew and which sparked more memories. Such different memories. Better memories.
Clarity.
Thank you...
The golden scales and hide fell away from his falling body and faded like smoke on the wind. The black arrow fell away, being embedded in only the air. The great fire drake was gone or never was, leaving behind nothing but a small, lowly, unharmed Night Fury without a golden hoard.
He pulled out of his joyful dive and floated over Lake-town, a strange water-city filled with laughter and humans at play. One small human with deep green eyes waved up at him and called him down to the ground, a summons which he gladly answered; he was eager to greet his human brother and other friendly humans again.
Toothless woke up with a gasp and heavy breaths.
Hiccup was deeply asleep at his side.
They were both safely resting in a tent in Dale.
Nothing terrible had happened.
It was just a dream.
Slow and deep breaths followed as he calmed.
He was not Smaug even if he did have a couple things that were precious to him.
One was sleeping under his wing and the other was glowing with faint light at his chest. He gazed at both of them for a very long time: at the warm, pure light from the jewel-pendant resting on the ground and also at Hiccup's messy hair. Together, they were all the hoard he could ever need.
With a very faint purr, he closed his eyes again and fell into dreamless sleep.