Both teens slowly looked up as the furies pulled their snouts away from them, and watched their eyes widen from slits to a more docile look. They still couldn't register what they had done.

They had earned the trust of not one, but two Night Furies.

Dusty moved his hand back toward the fury he was with, and the dragon allowed him to stroke his head.

"Whoa..." Thyra breathed, grinning. The dragon coo's, inching forward. Thyra smiles and stretches out to carefully pet the dragon. The dragon pushes into her touch, flashing a gummy maw.

"Interesting. Retractable teeth." Thyra murmurs.

Dusty gives the dragon a scratch behind his head, earning a small coo from the dragon, then he scratches the dragon under his chin, causing the dragon to fall to the ground. Dusty jumps back in shock, thinking he hurt the dragon.

Thyra turns her head from playfully batting the dragon's paw in fake battle, to see the other dragon on the ground. "Uh...what did you do?" she asks.

"I have no clue, I was just scratching him then he collapsed."  he kneeled next to the dragon, and found the dragon was purring in relaxation.

"Hey, scratch her under her chin, and see if she likes it." he requests.

Thyra shrugs, scratching the dragon along her face, but as soon as her fingers hit the 'sweet spot', the dragon drops to the ground in a big mass of purring.

"Aww!" Thyra laughs, sitting down next to the dragon and running a hand over her scaly head. "She doesn't just like it, she loves it!" the dragon pushes into her hand, purring.

Dusty's dragon looks up at him, and gives a small coo, then swings his head to look above Thyra, just as another fish lands on her.

Thyra jumps in surprise, and pulls the tuna from off her head. "Ugh. Maroon!" she complains, before getting an idea. She holds the fish out to the Night Fury as she slowly gets to her feet. The dragon coo's, and snatches the fish up, downing it in two bites. Thyra laughs freely.

Dusty looks over at his dragon, and finally gets a good look at him. He had pitch black scales, perfect for blending into the night sky, except for a red line of scales that starts at his snout and goes to the tip of his tail. And his eyes were the same colors as his.

Thyra smiles, also examining her new friend. She was as dark as the other dragon, but she had purple highlights on her wings, underside and tail. It was a really dark purple, almost black anyway, so it wouldn't stand out much. She was slightly smaller and sleeker, and her eyes stood out the most, being a brilliant, intense dark blue. They were what Thyra felt drawn to the most, they nearly mirror her own, except for the fact that the dragon's eyes were a few shades darker.

"I still can't believe that this is happening." he said stroking the dragons head, which was now in his lap.

"I know. It feels like a dream." Thyra replies.

"They're not mindless beasts like we were raised to believe."

"No, they're kind, intelligent, amazing creatures."

"Everything we know about them, is wrong."

His dragon gave a coo at that.

"We need to name them." He sayed as he thought of a name.

Thyra was a little occupied, petting the dragon as she curled around her, soaking up the attention. "Well, she's a beauty!" she laughs, running a hand over the dragon's belly. "But, I think I have a name..."

The dragon straightened up, nudging her new friend. "I was thinking...Pulse." the dragon coo's, then drags a wet tongue over Thyra, causing her to laugh. "I think she likes it... note for later, this is really sticky."

"And I don't think that's gonna wash out." Dusty said with a laugh.

"Yeah, " Thyra agrees, trying to wipe it off herself. "Worth it, though."

Dusty traced the red scales going up the dragons head, "I think I got a name, Darkstripe."

"So it's settled. Pulse and Darkstripe." Thyra nods, petting Pulse.

That's when they heard an aggravated roar between them, as Maroon or Irritation gave another roar.

"I think someone wants their name fixed, instead of having two different names."

"Feeling jealous, huh?" Thyra laughs. "Alright, I'll try to refer to her as Maroon. But no promises."

Maroon gave her a 'really just really' look, before flying off into the darkening sky.

"That dragon is way too easily annoyed." Thyra laughs, stroking Pulse, then noticing the time.

"Wow. It's getting dark already? How long are the days, three hours?!" Thyra observes.

"Ask six different people, and you,ll get six different answers, but I say they're about eight hours long."

"Ugh. I thought it was twelve people, that's what you said last time!" Thyra rolls her eyes.

"Does it really matter." Dusty asks getting up.

"Nah, it's a stupid saying anyway." Thyra jokes.

"But here's my question, will Darkstripe and Pulse stay with us? Or go back to their cave?" Dusty asked petting Darkstripe's head.

"I don't mind, they're dragons, and can do what they want." Thyra shrugs, scratching Pulse lightly. 

Dusty grabs his sword and reattaches it to his hip, shouldered his bow, And sheathed his daggur.

Thyra follows his lead, gathering her weapons as well. "No wonder they don't like weapons." She says, examining the blood stained knives.

"We should head to camp, and we still have to check on Flame." he says taking the lead.

"I hope he's alright." Thyra replies.

"I hope so too." Dusty says as Darkstripe walks next to him.

"Guess they're coming along." Thyra grins as Pulse playfully nudges her.

They walked with their dragons, and coincidently came across their fishing trap, which was overflowing with fish."

"I actually forgot about this." Thyra exclaims.

The dragons sniff curiously at the trap.

"Want to help me haul this out?" Dusty asked jumping to the other side.

"Sure." Thyra replies, grabbing a hold of the net.

"Three, two, one, pull!" Dusty pulled up on the net on his side as Thyra did the same on hers, and they lifted the net out of the stream, still overflowing with fish.

They managed to get it onto dry land, surrounding it.

"Wow. We've got a heap." Thyra observes.

"For the dragons, not for us. I would rather starve than eat another fish."

"Duh, I'm not gonna eat any fish for the rest of my life." Thyra laughs, reaching in and pulling out a flapping fish. She uses her knife to end it, then chucks it to Pulse, who eats it, licking her lips and purring in content.

"Alright, so we should get this home." Thyra nods.

"I'll carry it." Dusty says, throwing the net over his shoulder and started toward camp.

So they trekked back towards camp, the Night Fury's following as they sniff at the net curiously, then they look up at their cave, then at their new friends, then back at the cave. They run up to Dusty and Thyra, and grabs them by their shirts, and carrying them towards their cave.

"Dark? What the heck? What are you doing? Where are you taking us?" Dusty tried to yell back at the dragon as he glided into the cave.

Pulse coo'd as if to comfort Thyra, but she was too busy looking around her. "Stop complaining and just look around, Dusty." she laughs. "They're taking us into their cave!"

"I can see that! But why?" he shot back.

"I don't know, we'll have to wait and see."

The two dragons stopped deep in the cave, and dropped them on the cold floor of the cave, but they couldn't see since it was pitch black.

"Thyra, you good?" Dusty asked

"Yep, " Thyra replies, getting to her feet. "You?",

"I'm fine, just wish I could see right now."

And right on cue, Darkstripe and Pulse lit the cave with their blasts.

To reveal a body of another Night Fury.

Dusty and Thyra stood speechless.

"That's...another one." Dusty said "But...it's...gone." He said sadly

Thyra sinks to her knees in front of the dragon, placing a hand on it's motionless head.

"Yeah...you're right." She sighs.

Dusty kneels down near the main body, examining it, trying to hide his sadness. "Arrow wounds, they litter her chest, stomach, and wings."

Thyra's eyes blaze with fury. "I'm going to murder them hunters..." she growls.

Pulse puts her head against Thyra, wanting some comfort. As Darkstripe laid his head down my the dead dragons head, nuddging it sadly.

Thyra pets Pulse sadly. "She's your mother, isn't she." She whispers. Pulse warbles lowly.

"From the wounds I can see, and the blood around them, she's been dead for at least two days, and she suffered with these wounds for at least three weeks." Dusty said, anger rising in his voice.

"This is why they were so protective!" Thyra mumbles. "We wanted to know, and now we do." she adds angrily. "And, now I have another reason to murder the hunters."

"Just add it to an ever expanding list, I was going to suggest sneaking aboard one of their ships and get some info, but now, I want to kill every single one of them.

"I'm wholeheartedly with you on that plan." Thyra nods, clenching her fists.0

Dusty looks at Thyra, "what do we do with her? She's too big to carry, and I don't want to show disrespect."

"I...I don't know. I've never had to send off a dragon before." Thyra replies.

"Something tells me we leave her, and let nature take care of her." he said sadly.

"Dragon's might have their own way of doing things anyway, " Thyra nods in agreement, setting a hand on Pulse's head.

"Agreed, I think we need to go, we still have to check on Flame." he knelt down next to Darkstripe, "Thanks for showing us bud, now we know why you wanted to trust us." He placed his hand on him.

"No wonder you guys were so hostile." Thyra murmurs, setting her hand on Pulse's head. "Let's get out of here..." So the four make their way out of the cave, sad and angry. Together they walk down towards the camp, hoping to make sure Flame is alright.

They make it to camp as the sun fully sets, throwing them in darkness. Flame is laid down in the cave, his right leg placed out to his side, obviously in pain.

Dusty walks up to Flame, who gives a welcoming squawk, and looks for the arrow. He doesn't find just one arrow, but he finds three. One on Flames leg, one on his tail, and the last on his stomach.

"Oh Flame, they really got you didn't they." he says, trying to comfort the dragon.

"Poor thing." Thyra winces, petting his head.

"Thyra, we're gonna have to pull them out, you wanna grab the one from his tail, I'll get the other two." Dusty says

Thyra nods, moving towards the dragon's tail. She pulls it out swiftly and chucks the arrow into the dead fireplace. "Stupid hunters."

Dusty grabs the other two, and also chunks them into the dead fire. "Thyra, you wanna take Pulse and look for some fuel?"

"Yeah." Thyra agrees, walking out with the Night Fury hot on her heels. She runs a hand along the dragon as they walk, already comfortable around her new friend. "Whaddya say, girl? This way?" she lets the dragon energetically bound ahead.

Dusty set his weapons to the side, but still in reach, as he sat down next to Flame, as Darkstripe came over and growled something to Flame, Flame gave a squawk back and Dark started licking Flames arrow wounds.

Dusty looked confused at what was going on, but didn't say anything, since it probably was a dragon thing.

Meanwhile, Thyra and Pulse have collected a bundle of sticks, and Thyra was reaching for one more branch, when Pulse playfully grabs the other end. "Uh, no!" Thyra warns teasingly, and Pulse playfully growls. They start a game of tug of war, moving between the trees. "Aww, come on!" Thyra complains with a laugh, eventually getting the branch ripped from her grasp.

Pulse chortles a laugh, then walks up and drops the drool-covered branch from her mouth, down into Thyra's pile. "Thanks, girl!" Thyra laughs, petting the dragon's head. "We better get back, yeah?" the two turn back towards camp.

Dusty had "accidentally" fallen asleep against Darkstripe, who was also asleep, as Thyra and Pulse walked back in.

"Wow." Thyra jokes to Pulse. "We leave for half an hour, and they slack off!" the dragon chortles a laugh. Thyra runs a hand over Flame as she passes him to get to the fire.

"How are ya feeling, boy?" she asks. The dragon squawks in response. "I'll take that as a 'much better' ha." Thyra adds as she drops the wood onto the fire rather loudly.

Dusty and Darkstripe were jolted awake from the sound of the wood falling.

"Was that really necessary?" Dusty asked as Darkstripe gave an annoyed growl.

"Nah, not really." Thyra shrugs, smirking. Pulse turns and fires at the wood, surprising Thyra. "Wow. Thanks, Pulse. We can start fires on our own, though. You don't need to worry about that." she smiles at the dragon, as the fire crackles below her.

"Now can we go back to sleep? I have to hunt for breakfast in the morning."

"Yeah. We'll take the first shift, won't we girl!" Thyra responds, letting Pulse playfully gnaw at her fingers with a toothless maw. she laughs, and the pair head towards the entrance, settling down to keep watch. Thyra sits against Pulse, setting her crossbow-shield in her lap.

They kept watch till a little after midnight, then they swapped shifts with Dusty and Darkstripe. Flames slept the whole night. Dusty left Darkstripe and the camp a little before sunrise, to find some breakfast. He manages to get a rabbit and two small birds before returning to camp.

Thyra looks up from sharpening her staff with her dagger to see Dusty walk in. "Nice catch, by the looks of it." She nods toward the animals he holds. Pulse croons from her side, waking up from her nap.

"It's better than nothing, and something tells me there are few, if any, deer or boars on the island." Dusty says tossing her the birds as he draws his dagger.

"Who knows, we might have better luck next time." Thyra shrugs, beginning to pluck the birds quickly and carefully.

They all turned their heads when a twig snapped outside the cave. Darkstripe and Pulse smelled the air, and gave a low growl.

Thyra stood up and held her staff in front of her defensively. She shot a 'should we go out?' look over to Dusty, who already had an arrow knocked on his bow, he shook his head 'no'.

Thyra nodded in understanding. The two Night Fury's paced back and forth, eyeing the entrance. Even Flame managed to stand up.

That's when they heard voices coming from outside the cave.

"You sure you saw him?" one man asked another

"Yeah, he had a rabbit slung over his shoulder, he was walking this way." the man answered.

"I don't like this guys." said another voice. "They already killed nine of our men, and we're down to six, nine counting us."

"Well we can't leave till we find them, but especially the girl." said the first man

"What's so special about her?" the second man asked

"Her Uncle has a hearty reward for bringing her in alive. He wants to show her to her parents, before he kills them all." the first man responded

Thyra stiffens at that statement, and her grip tightens. She has a thunderous expression on her face.

"How about we change that." Dusty whispered to her. She nods wordlessly.

They move to the entrance to the cave, to see the three hunters having their backs to them.

"Now where do you want to look now?" said the first man, the one on the right.

Thyra silently pulls out a throwing knife, and aims to the one on the left. She clenches her jaw, and then throws the knife right at his back. It sticks right in.

Before the other two men can respond, Dusty fires an arrow that sinks into the middle man's heart.

Thyra let's out a battle cry, rushing to meet the final guy standing. Her staff and his sword clash, but she moves violently and relentlessly, driven by the words she'd heard. Within seconds she has his own sword pressed to his neck as he lays on the ground at her feet.

"You and I are gonna have a little chat!" she hisses at him through her teeth.

"Remind me to never get on your bad side." Dusty jokes striping the man of weapons, before tying his hands behind his back.

"He's gonna wish he didn't cross me, that's for sure." Thyra nods with a smirk.

"Your gonna regret this when I get loose." the man snaps at Dusty.

"Get loose? Ha. The only way that will happen is when you die." at the end of the sentence Thyra takes her dagger and stabs the man's leg.

"While you do that, I'll get breakfeast ready." Dusty says leaving Thyra too it

"Third guy I've tortured. I kinda know the drill, now. So tell me your name, first." Thyra demands, but the man doesn't budge. After threatening and stabbing him a few times, it's clear she won't get that answer, so she tries a different approach. She pins the guy to a tree by his collar. "How does my uncle know i'm alive?!" she shouts, punching the guy in the face.

"Because they didn't find your body on the ship." he says through the pain. "Or his."

"Yeah? And why was he looking there in the first place? Why does he want me alive?!" She takes her dagger out. "You better speak."

"So him and his daughter can be lords of your former providence, the capital is being moved to your former city, and the Lord of the city is going to become the Lord of the whole providence."

"I lost the rights to the throne the moment I was branded a slave!" she growls. "And what about my parents?!"

"They're still alive, your uncle wants to humiliate you in front of them before he kills all of you. Please that's all I know!"

"What makes him think he's capable of that?! My mother was the greatest warrior ever seen in the north, and my father is the greatest leader alive. All my uncle is, is a dirty scum. Like you." she punches him again, nearly shaking in fury.

"It was a coup, all of the towns souldiers and a fourth of the royal guard joined him."

"What lies did he promise them?"

"Money, all money. Please, that's all I know, please don't kill me." the man begged

"Hey Thyra, here's breakfast." Dusty says handing her a piece of the rabbit.

"Thanks, Dusty!" she smiles cheerfully. "Also, I had an idea... I was thinking we let Pulse and Darkstripe deal with him."

"I think they'll like that, Dark! Pulse!" Dusty called.

"Who's Dark? And Pulse?" the man quivers. Thyra smirks, pulling her weapons out of him, before serving him one last punch to the face.

"You'll find out..." she walks away from him, shaking out a bloody fist.

As two separate growls came from behind him, he slowly turned around, to see The Unholy Offspring of Lightning and Death Itself, also known as Dark and Pulse.

"He's all yours you two." Dusty says checking the bodies of the other two hunters.

The man's eyes widened, but before he could say anything, Dark grabbed him as him and Pulse shot into the sky, his screaming could be heard as they flew away.

"Well, now that that's out of the way, what did he tell ya? If he told you anything."

"Not his name, but he did open up about my Uncle."

"What about him?" Dusty asked.

"Well, to put it simply, he's organising a coup, out to present me to my parents before he kills us all, and then him and my cousin get the throne. And not to mention the capital city has been changed to my former one, so they get rights to the entire island. Fun."

"Well that's just great, but did you hear what he said about their ship?" he said grabbing Thyra's throwing knife.

"No, I didn't."

"They're down to six men, we might have a way out of here." he said tossing her the knife.

"Nice." Thyra nods putting the knife back into place.

"But from what the commander on the beach said, their ship is off the coast, the only way there is by boat."

"Or...flight?" Thyra suggests.

"You know what, that might work." Dusty says looking in the direction Dark and Pulse flew.

"We'll have to take it up with them," Thyra nods. "Or Flame."

"It's our only shot. We'll ask them when they get back."

"Agreed."