Dusty let out a small breath, and looked at his target as it slowly moved across the clearing in front of him. He slowly drew his bow back, aiming for the drop spot. He adjusted slightly for the wind, and let the arrow fly. It hit its target square and true, right behind the left shoulder, and the deer dropped without a sound.

"Bullseye." He said under his breath, before shouldering his bow and jumping out of the tree he was in, and walked over to the downed deer.

"Decent sized buck, ain't the biggest I've ever seen, but he'll provide enough." he said examining the deer, before grabbing it and hauling it over his shoulder.

He carried the deer back to camp. Thyra was sharpening her throwing knives when he walked in.

"Hey." She murmurs, not looking up from her task. "How'd it go?" She glances up at him. "Not bad, clearly."

"Nope, apparently there are some deer on the island." he says, laying the corpse down, and drawing his daggur.

"I'm going to assume you know how to skin." Thyra says, placing her knives away.

"Yeah, you?" he asked back, cutting into the deer.

She shrugs. "Kinda. Haven't done it for a fair few years, though."

"Want to give me a hand then?" he asked, pulling the skin off the deer's belly and chest.

Thyra shrugs in agreement and moves over, pulling her dagger out to help.

After two hours of basically tearing the deer limb from limb, they finally finish, a good thirty pounds of meat was now sitting in a basket.

"Well, we won't starve!" Thyra comments, sitting back and washing her knife off in a bucket of water.

"No were not, but now would be the time I tell you my plan, and your probably gonna kill me for it." Dusty said, pulling out a map.

"Alright," Thyra sighs, "Enlighten me, then." She brushes her hands on her shirt, getting rid of any blood.

"So the only maps I found, we're of this island range here and the mainland. I couldn't find any others." he says giving her the map.

She unfolds it, sure enough it was a map of the mainland. She sighs. "Well, it's better than nothing, that's for sure."

"Now listen, before we left rome, I heard a romur, just a romur, that an island called Berk has made peace with the dragons."

"Berk? Nah, that can't be right! From what I've heard, some guy, uh, well the chief, hates the dragons! Isn't there a rumour that one killed his wife?"

"Can't recall, but the last rumor I hear was even crazier, his son befriended a dragon, and not just any dragon, a Night Fury."

"A Night Fury? Whoa. I mean, I was surprised to see these two," Thyra points to Pulse and Darkstripe who are curled up by the fire. "I didn't really think there would be any others." She pauses, and laughs. "For all we know, the whole island will be riding dragons, if we do show up there. Probably being led by that Hiccup guy we read about."

"You never know, but the main reason we might need to head there is, they don't recognise or practice slavery."

Thyra perks up at that. "If we do go there, that means they won't turn us in? Well, that is a pretty good reason to at least check them out."

"That's where the problem comes in, we need a ship." He say pulling out another document.

"Well, that's going to be a problem. But why do we need a ship? We have dragons. That is, if they choose to stick with us..."

"That's why we have to play it safe, we have dragons. For all we know, those donors about peace aren't true, and they still kill them. And another point, what would you do if a number of strangers appeared on your island out of knowhwere, no ship, no transport, your going to question how they got there."

"Yeah. We'd be walking right into a trap." Thyra realises. "Of course they'd attack."

"That's why we need to head to the mainland, and head to a port that can get us a ship there."

"Now, that sounds like a death trap." Thyra dryly exclaims, turning away as she picks up her dagger.

"Do you want to risk Pulse? Flame?" He asks

"I don't want to risk anybody! Both ideas are risky, you gotta face it. But unless we wanna be stuck on this island, we're gonna have to take the risks." Thyra sighs. "So, you better hope the mainland doesn't attack."

"That, and we don't have a map of the archipelago Berk is in, I couldn't find one anywhere on that ship. So we have to get a map, unless you want to blindly fly around for months."

"I'd rather not." Thyra nods. "So, I'm guessing we can try and find something like that on the mainland, or hitch a ride right to Berk, if it even trades with the mainland."

"Here's the problem, the only town that charters voyages to their island is, Dannia."

Thyra's gaze hardens. "Are you absolutely sure? It'll be impossible to sneak in there, since it's the capital now. Not to mention if my Uncle finds out I'm there. We'll never make it out!"

"I'm pretty sure the last thing they expect is for us to show up there, not to mention it's a month's travel on foot."

"I guess. They probably think the hunter's have either killed or captured us anyway." Thyra considers it. "It'll be hard, but they won't really recognise us, if we're careful."

"That and we have our crest and armor, that should help, especially since they'll think we're hunters." Dark and Pulse turned and looked at him after hearing that, confused

"Probably earn some temporary respect, too." Thyra nods. "The scales will be a dead giveaway, they'd never consider us to be anything else but hunters."

"That's exactly what I'm saying, so I think we'll be ok till we get to Dannia, then we'll have to be careful while waiting for a ship."

"Yeah. Like trying not to talk to speak to anyone, or draw too much attention to ourselves."

"If anything, you should be talking, you still have their accent, mine is completely different."

"That's a good point, since they usually calm down if you're one of them."

"Are you all suspicious of outsiders or something?" Dusty asked curiously.

Thyra laughs. "We have trust issues."

"Yeah, I've seen that." Dusty said jokingly.

Thyra rolls her eyes and punches him with a smirk. "We're not stupid to trust someone who just walks in. Trust is usually earnt."

"Is it like this in the whole country?"

Thyra shrugs. "Probably. I haven't been everywhere, so you never know."

"Ok then, now all we need is gold, which we could probably check the ships."

"Yeah, wasn't there gold in one of the captain's quarters' chests?" Thyra asks. "I wouldn't be able to tell you which ship it was, though."

"I think so, but we'll have to check." Dusty say putting the maps up.

"Just add it to the to-do list."

"Now, the first town we come through, we need to get horses, I'd rather fly to Dannia, but they have dragon scouts everywhere, if we got caught...best to not talk about it."

Thyra nods in agreement. "Thankfully I rode all the time at home. I'm gonna assume you can ride?"

Dusty didn't look too enthusiastic, "Umm, no."

Thyra winces. "Well, I guess you'll be learning on the job."

"Yeah, it's one of the few things I never learned, I know how to make saddles for them, but only know some of the basics, but it's been 5 or 6 years since I last got on a horse."

"Well that's a useless skill cause you don't necessarily need a saddle to ride!" Thyra laughs. "Well, some experience is better than none, I suppose."

Dusty looks over at Darkstripe and Pulse, with an idea forming.

"Actually, I think it might be useful right now." Dusty said pushing himself to his feet.

Thyra follows his gaze. "I see where you're going. It would be much easier to hang on.""Yeah, are you sore after all that from last night, cause I sure am." he said stretching.

"Mm," she nods. "But it was totally worth it. Especially when we won the race back to camp!" She laughs as she and Pulse share a smug look.

"To be fair, y'all did have a good head start, but hey, next time." Dusty said, grabbing some leather and metal.

"I helped my Pop make saddles for a couple months once, so you don't need to do it all." Thyra admits, walking over to Pulse and greeting her gently. The dragon purrs, eyeing her curiously.

"Well, you want to make Pulse's then?" Dusty asks

"Yeah, I've already got an idea." Thyra replies, examining Pulse to get a good idea for measurements.

Dusty gets Flame, and they set to work on the anvil, shaping the metal. While Thyra got measurements for Pulse and Darkstripe.

Dusty we to work on Dark's saddle, while Thyra worked on Pulse's.

After a few hours of work, Pulse's saddle was done. It was slick, shaped to fit her shape and move with her. It had 'girth' straps going under her belly, and some metal rings around her front legs that also made straps. It had flexible leather handles to hang on to, and a stirrup on each side. Thyra made sure it didn't rub uncomfortably against Pulse, and fit right.

Darks saddle was just like Pulses. Slick, and able to move with him, without making him too uncomfortable, it had three straps going under his belly and chest. It had footpedals on each side, spaced apart enough to where they didn't rub against Dark's side, and and a small elevation on the front to hang onto, and finally, places for his weapons, extra arrows, and a few provisions.

"How do you like it, girl?" Thyra asks Pulse after fitting it to her. Pulse turns and sniffs at the saddle, runs around in a circle, checks it again, then smiles at Thyra. "I'll take that as 'it's okay' yeah?" Thyra laughs, petting the dragon. Then, she eases herself up onto the saddle. "Ohh, yeah. Nice." She holds onto the handles. Pulse grins up at her. "Wanna take it for a test drive?" Pulse warbles at that and already walks towards the cave entrance, waiting just in front.

Dusty put Darks saddle on Dark, who seemed to like it, giving Dusty a slobbery lick. "Aww, really?" he said a bit annoyed.

"It won't wash out, trust me!" Thyra laughs, calling back into the cave after witnessing it.

"Would have loved to have known that." he said, flinging some of the saliva off him. Dark gave a laugh, before gesturing to the saddle. "Guess its time for a test drive, You agree bud?" he asked Dark, who warbled in agreement.

"Ready?" Thyra asks, patting Pulse's head. The dragon opens her wings with an excited grin, and Thyra grips the handles in anticipation. "Go!" She cheers, Pulse taking off immediately.

"Right behind you!" Dusty yelled as he hopped on Dark, and they shoot into the air.

Thyra laughs freely as they jackknife, heading right up into the clouds. "C'mon, girl, push yourself!" She cheers, looking below them. Pulse's tongue rolls out of her mouth, and they keep going until they suddenly stop their accent, tipping over backwards and shooting back down. "YEEEAAAAH!" Thyra shouts through the air.

Dark flys strait up, going through the clouds, before stalling and falling backwards back through the clouds, "It's holding together well bud! Let's push it!" Dusty yells to Dark over the wind, and he shoots back up.

"That's right!" Thyra yells as Pulse opens her wings again and they shoot off, skimming the ocean before diving into the trees, twisting and turning as one to dodge them. "It works!" Thyra laughs giddily.

Dark spun through the air as they started a dive, and bent his wings, to produce the screech night furies are known for. He extended his wings, and leveled out just above the trees, and they flew towards the seastacks.

Pulse let out a happy roar, before twisting up through the trees, and spiraling up into the clouds. "Haha, I'm getting dizzy!" Thyra calls out, and that's when Pulse immediately folds her wings and twists down towards the ground, increasing in speed. They leveled out by the tip of the mountain, and speed down the side of it, nearly touching the surface as they cut through the air.

Dark and Dusty cut through the seastacks, pulling many sharp turns as they went through them, and Dark, deciding it was a good idea, dropped into the ocean, then flew back up, as they turned back toward camp, both of them soaked.

Pulse and a whooping Thyra shoot down past them, before flying out, circling a sea stack, and following after them.

"How did the saddle hold up?" Dusty asked.

"Well, I'm still alive!" Thyra laughs. "So, Yep, perfect! You?"

"It held up perfectly, I'm just wet and cold now thanks to this guy." he said gesturing to Dark.

Pulse looked up at him, and Dark gave her a small warble. Pulse gave Thyra a backwards glance, before also diving into the sea below them.

"Y-you had to?! Really?!" Thyra splutters, spitting water out of her mouth and picking seaweed off her shape. Pulse chortles a laugh.

"Useless reptile." She grumbles.

Dusty and Dark gave a laugh as they landed back at camp.

"Well, at least we know they work." Thyra exclaims, getting off Pulse.

"That they do, let's just hope they don't do that when we have our weapons and provisions packed."

"Yeah," Thyra agrees. "It would not be helpful." She sends Pulse a warning look, but the dragon just smirks in her own way, and curls up by the fire after relighting it.

"Not a bad idea, there." She sits down by her dragon's side and tries to dry off.

Dark lays down next to them, and Dusty sits down next to him, his back against Darks side.

Thyra leans over and pulls a fish out from the net, tossing it to Pulse. "Thanks for the flight, girl. But the ocean? Let's not make that a habit." Pulse chortles a laugh after downing the fish.

"We're probably never gonna get over flying, it's amazing."

"It's more than amazing, I just don't have the words!" Thyra adds.

"So, when do you want to leave?" Dusty asked

"As soon as possible. Sure this island is beautiful, but I am pretty sure it's a hotspot for lost ships. Within a day, maybe?"

"We could leave tomorrow if we wanted too."

"It's not like we have much to pack!" Thyra laughs. "Tomorrow it is?"

"Why not, but Well have to say goodbye to Flame and Maroon, they can't come with us, they'll never make it."

"Aww. We'll have to say goodbye." Thyra jumps when a squawk sounds at her ear, and she turns to see Maroon sitting there smugly. She winces, rubbing her ear. "Besides, Maroon has eggs to look after anyway." At that, Maroon gives an alarmed squawk and flies out of the cave as fast as she can.

"Short visit?" Thyra laughs.

She looks out at the darkening sky, their last night on the island.

"Night already? Full moon, too." She comments.

"Is that something we should worry about?" Dusty says, also looking outside.

"No, I don't think so." Thyra shakes her head, then turns to take the saddle off Pulse. "We'll be fine." She sets the saddle by the fire to dry off.

"Its never gotten Dark this early." Dusty says, looking toward the setting sun. Then headed back into the cave, and took Darks saddle off.

Thyra shrugs. "Well, we'll just have to deal with it."

Dusty stretches before laying down next to Dark, calling it a day, as Dark wraps his tail protectively around him

Thyra settles into Pulse's side, setting a hand on her head soothingly. "I think we'll take the first shift." Pulse purrs and nudges her happily, curling around her and setting her head in her lap.

They kept watch till past midnight, then swapped shifts Dusty and Dark stayed by the entrance of the cave, till they both noticed something odd.

The moon was doing something odd, it was turning from white to red. Dusty couldn't believe what he was seeing, so he went back to get Thyra,"Thyra, wake up wake up." he says shaking her

Thyra bursts awake with a battle cry, leaping onto him and pushing him to the ground, holding a dagger to his neck. "Who—Dusty?" She blinks. "Uh, what the hell?!"

"Well if you would remove the daggur, that would be appreciated." he said slowly pushing it away from his neck.

She takes the dagger away and backs off, sliding it back into place. "You should not wake someone when they sleep with a half dozen knives."

"Noted, but you might want to see this." he said pushing himself up.

Thyra stretches, "sure, but if it's not worth it, you'll regret it." She threats.

"Is the moon turning blood red worth it?" he asked sarcastically

She raises her eyebrows and moves towards the entrance, a startled Pulse following, who had woken up when Thyra had. "Whoa..." she mutters once she sees the impressive sight.

Dark stood next to Dusty and Pulse next to Thyra as they looked up at the moon.

"I've never seen it like this, you?" Dusty asked Thyra.

"I've only ever heard about it."

"What did you hear?" Dusty asked curiously.

"Not much. That it's pretty rare. Different people believe different things about the meaning of it. Some say it makes the path of a king into the afterlife. Some say it marks an upcoming war. Some say, well, anything really."

They stood there for a few minutes, mesmerized by the rare event.

"Mother of Thor, where did this headache come from?" Dusty said, holding his aching head.

"I don't know, but I think your shouting has given me the same!" Thyra responds, rubbing her temple in annoyance.

"What shouting? I'm talking normally." He asked confused

Thyra scoffs in disbelief, "Right." She mumbles sarcastically, before especially blinks and shakes her head, the headache gone. "That was quick."

"Yeah, gone as quick as it came." he said, shaking his head.

"I'm going back on watch, you can go back to sleep." Dusty said, moving back to his spot.

Thyra nods, placing a hand on Pulse's head, "coming, girl?" They walk back inside, Thyra taking care with her steps, until she looks up and blinks. "Wow. The fire's lighting up the entire cave..." she trails off, seeing the fireplace completely dark and out, as it had been when she woke up.

"Hey, Dusty?" She calls, not looking away from the fire, Pulse coos as her curiously.

"Yeah?" Dusty responds from outside the cave

"I think I'm insane. Well, it's either that, or it's daylight in here."

"I think that headache got to ya, you ok?"

"Just shut up and get in here, then you'll see what I'm talking about."

Dusty walks in, and looks around, "You ain't kiddin, where's the light coming from?"

"I thought it was the fire at first, but..." Thyra kicks at the cold ashes. "Clearly not."

Dark walks in, wondering what was going on, and coo's rubbing his head against Dusty's side.

"What's going on?" Dusty asked seemingly no one

"You tell me!" Thyra mutters. "I think we must have eaten something weird in the forest..."

"If so we would be seeing two different things, not the same things at the same time." Dusty points out.

"Yeah, but do you have a better idea?" Thyra snaps back. "I mean, maybe whatever we ate has the same effect?"

Dusty never responded, because he ducked to avoid a flying apple, that came from behind him, Thyra ducked right after him and it hit the wall behind them.

"Wow. All that business must have sharpened us!" Thyra laughs, turning to look at the apple, but snapping her head to lock eyes with the culprit. "I should have known!"  She growls.

Wait growled?

"Uhh, Thyra, did you just, growl?"

"No." She pulls a confused look. "Who's the crazy one now?"

"Not me... uhh." Dusty says looking at her

"We're standing in a cave full of dragons, I think there's gonna be growling." She rolls her eyes in frustration.

"No that came from you! Ask Pulse or Dark." he defends.

"Sure." She smirks. "Pulse? Did I growl?" Pulse just looks at her and snorts, cocking her head to the side. She gives a little affirmative growl of her own, looking her right in the eyes.

"Told ya."

Thyra just rolls her eyes. "Whatever, I think we're missing the culprit here." Thyra turns to look at Maroon, but she's gone. Then, the air tingles, and she steps to the side to dodge a fish, which continues through the air, and slaps Dusty right in the face. Thyra laughs.

"Didn't dodge that one, did ya?"

"Maroon, if you throw another fish..." Dusty said through gritted teeth.

"Who's growling now? And, by the way, I thought you found her amusing!" Thyra smirks.

Dusty was becoming agitated.

And that's when another fish hit him.

"Maroon! Cut it out!" he yelled, looking at the dragon.

"Firstly, you just screamed in my face, ow, and secondly," she pauses and turns to Maroon. "Aww, don't listen to him, Maroon! He just doesn't like it when it happens to him!"

"Hey, isn't my fault she's starting to become annoying" he growled.

"She's been annoying from the start, Dusty. I think you should take a breath and calm down. I mean, look at you. You're gonna kill somebody soon!" Thyra warns lowly, crossing her arms and staring him down.

Dusty takes a breath, and slowly calms down, "Thanks."

Thyra shrugs. "It must be a moody kinda night for us, eh?"

That's when she gets hit with an apple.

"Ow. That's bloody rock hard!" She complains, turning and pelting it at Maroon, who barely manages to dodge it with an alarmed growl. Thyra rubs her head. "On second thought, I've had it with that dragon...what is going on with us?!"

"Don't know, but I swear Maroon is trying to make it worst."

"Which I don't understand. She's only a dragon. And Terror's are not known for their intelligence."

"There's always an odd one out." Dusty points out.

"True." Thyra grumbles.

"Well I'm headed back out." he says walking out of the cave, as the sun started to rise.

Thyra shrugs and takes a seat by the dead fire with Pulse. "I don't know what's going on with us, but I suddenly have the urge to kill everything, walk through the dark, which is actually light, and...I don't even know the rest!" She complains, falling back against the dragon, who coo's sympathetically.

Dusty was having a similar talk with Dark. "Dark, I don't know what happened, that cave was pitch black when I got her up, and now it's as bright as daylight. When I snapped at Maroon, I actually wanted to kill her, I never got mad at her before, and when Thyra stepped in, I wanted to kill her too. I'm glad she helped me, cause I don't know what would have happened if... I don't know bud." he said, giving Dark a scratch.

He watched as the sun rose above the horizon, their last morning on the island. He pushed himself up, and headed back into the cave.

"Ready to go?" he asked Thyra

"Sure. I was too angry at everything and everyone to sleep, for some inexplicable reason." Thyra shrugs, organising her stuff quickly.

Dusty grabbed his satchel, and provisions and placed them in Darks saddle, and they were ready to go, they already had their armour on.

"Let's get outta here, yeah?" Thyra says, mounting Pulse outside the cave.

Dusty walked up to flame, and gave him a pat on his horn, "Stay safe bud, when this is all over, well come back and see you again."

"Yeah, Keep Maroon out of trouble, and away from fish and apples." Thyra calls.

Dusty mounts Dark, and they walk up next to Thyra and Pulse. "Ready?"

"Yeah, lets go." Pulse opens her wings and they practically float into the air, waiting to go.

Dark jumped up and floated next to them. "We won't see this place again, till this fight is over" Dusty says looking back.

"Good. Well, apart from Flame, but still, good." Thyra replies. "I'd rather go now than later."

"Well we have a long way to go, and a short time to get there. So see if you can keep up!" Dusty and Dark shot off. Pulse gives a competitive roar, and they dart after them.