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Annual Dragon Hunt 2015

Stable: Yn Chashtal Estate
Mounts: 9918 Castle's The Night Fury, A2218 Castle's The Sand Wraith, Tisa the Red Fireball Raptor
Riders: Martha McCorlett, William O'Felan
Country: Ireland


Please note that the text below contains cursing/offensive words. Also note that it's long as balls, and your birthday might have arrived once you're done.

TL;DR  |  Liam and Em team up to face Cave Dragons. However, their plan takes a dramatic turn when they encounter a pair of Sky Dragons inside the mountains- even more so when the 'fight' ensues. The team ends up victorious, even though through somewhat unorthodox means.

Both a snort and a heavy thud suddenly shook the ground in the stables.

“Oh me good lord -That was so grand, brother!”

“It’ll be grand when I kick yer head far up yer arse.”

With a quick movement of his hand, Liam shook the dirt off his clothes, trying to ignore the currently snorting man a couple foot away from him. He wasn’t sure of what was the most annoying- either Thomas’ loud laugh, Martha’s blazing angry glare or the fat black horse trying to prod his shoulder.

“I would really appreciate if you stopped messing around with that, Liam.” The short woman scolded. “The Hunt is everything but a joke.”

“Come on, I just fell down!” Liam replied.

“Go check the equipment once again, will you?”

“Gimme a break.” He grumbled, grabbing a thin paper sheet from one of his pockets. He then approached one of the wooden posts on the fence- both training tack and rope were loosely hanging from it.

“He’s right, rómhánach” Thomas blurted in, ruffling the woman’s hair. “Yer lookin’ far too serious today”

“Because this is serious, gáelach” She grumbled as she combed her strands. “If he’s so adamant in coming I want to make sure he doesn’t kill himself on the way.”

“Ye really do trust ‘im do ye?” The redhead turned around to take a look at his younger brother- who was currently fighting with a rope, tangled around his legs.

“Have you seen him, Thomas?” She spat out, frowning. “I don’t want him dead by the end of t-“

“STOP IT- TOOTHLESS!”

With the second thud of the day, Liam was thrown to the ground and dragged by Toothless. The stallion had god a hold of the rope he’d been messing around it, and playfully set off, prancing and batting his wings. Unfortunately, Liam’s left foot had been in a rather inappropriate place and was promptly tangled in that traitorous rope.

Thomas choked on air. Em groaned in frustration.

“Toothless!” The woman shouted out, standing in the stallion’s path. “Halt!”

With a half-rear, the stallion stopped on his tracks, wings expanded. He snorted and shook his neck as his front hooves landed on the dirt once again.

“And don’t give me that attitude.” She scolded, prodding the horse’s pappy lips. Toothless nipped at her shoulder.

“GUH-” From the dust cloud that formed behind Tooth emerged a scruffy Liam, hair messed up and clothes dirty. He quickly shook his foot out of the knot and rose up, both checking for wounds or rashes and shaking his shirt. “Goddamnit!”

“Ha! Ya got haltered real grand, didn’t ye brother?” Thomas beamed once again, leaning on the wooden fence.

“That horse git is crazy, I tell ya!”

“You really need to get a grip if you’re going to come along, Liam.” Em added, leading the black stallion back to the two men. “Hela is not as used to a saddle as Tooth is.”

“He’ll probably tie up that dragon and drag ‘im down the mountains.” Thomas mocked, wiggling his eyebrows at his brother.

Liam just scowled at him. His blue eyes were burning with anger.

“I might as well do, aye!”

Aleria, a month later

With each hoof that planted itself on the ground, the grass softly crunched. The almost endless fields were painted a dull green, more resembling of grey, mirroring the sky- winter was obviously marching its way in. The team had been trekking the grasslands for days- Tisa in the lead, trying to track any scent; Toothless and Hela trailing behind the dragon. Their travelling routine hardly consisted of setting tents and fire, sleeping and resuming the march- and soon enough they reached the nearest mountain range.

There was no heard sound in the whole plateau, save for that of the wind, the soft rocking of the few trees and a rider’s aggravated murmur.

“Ye told me we’d fly.”

“I did.”

“We’re in the lookout for a cave.”

“We are indeed.”

“Is that supposed ta make sense?!” Liam exclaimed, patience suddenly running low. Hela’s ears shot backwards. “Why would ye bring your flyin’ horses if we’re gonna be stuck in a cave?”

“Liam…” Em curtly replied.

“And that’s if we find ‘em! We’re practically at the back arse of nowhere!”

“Liam!” She shouted out. With a quick thrust of the reins, she led Toothless back around, facing both the young man and the red mare. “Raise your voice again and I’ll whip your face off.”

“Try me.” He protested, walking Hela around Toothless. “I assumed we’d be up there, killin’ some of those ol’ giant wyverns ye talked about last year.”

“That’s what you get for assuming things, brat.” Em picked her pace up, advancing to stand besides Tisa once again. “The point of the hunt is for the teams to retrieve any treasure from those beasts rather than kill off the riders in it.”

“Your point being…?”

“It will be much safer for you if we face a cave dragon.”

“Inside a cave?” At this point, Liam’s tone had degenerated into a screech. “With little mobility, maneuvering space AND sharp stalagmites on which we will very probably impale ourselves if we happen to fall?”

Cue Martha’s blank face.

“Would you rather explode on the ground after a 1000 metre fall?” She finally said.

“YES!”

“Trust me, you do not.”

Mostly oblivious to their rider’s bickering, both Toothless and Hela seemed to frown their brow in annoyance.

And as their word exchange continued, Tisa began to softly chirp. Her long legs pawed at the ground, and she nervously looked back at the two riders. The riders’ attention was immediately drawn to the dragoness, and with a single look they understood.

The mountainous range that seemed to lurk from the distance a couple hours ago stood tall in front of them. Slopes and hillsides were covered in frost, and the little green that sprinkled the soil completely disappeared, giving ground to hard rock instead. Pretty ominous it was, seeing the cold peaks surrounded by clouds.

“Would ya look at that” Liam’s head was raised high. “Guess it’s gunna be cold in there”

“You can bet” Em looked at him.

“So we’re here. What’s next?”

“I don’t like the look of those clouds.” She tugged on the reins, prompting Toothless to advance. “We better find the entrance to the cave tunnels as soon as possible.”

“Aye, boss.”

Loud. It was so incredibly loud.

How in the heavens could he hear the thunder from inside a freaking mountain? Talk about aggressive thunderstorms.

With a shiver, Liam shifted around in his improvised bed- made of woollen coats and extra cloth they had brought along. The ground was cold, very probably frozen with permafrost, and he was pretty positive the last thing he needed was a frozen arse. His eyes felt heavy from the sleep, but he could outline the soft orange glow of the bonfires turning the small cave into quite the cosy haven.

He slowly stretched his arms, pulling himself up and out of the coats. He looked around, only to see both horses resting peacefully on the ground, close to one of the fires and where the ground didn’t freeze their coats. Tisa did so as well, and was currently preening her leg in quite the undignified position.

Em was sitting close to the fire, cooking some meat. She looked a tad dishevelled.

“Yer up earlier than me” He talked through his raspy throat. “Might be a first time, ye marmot”

“Good morning to you as well, brat.” She looked at him, brown eyes reflecting the fire.

“What’s that yer cooking?” He dragged himself through the coats and sat by her side. “Smells nice”

“Our breakfast.”

“Ye sure it aint lunch or somethin’?” He scratched his messy hair. “I’ve lost track of time since we entered the cave.”

Liam yawned, eyelids drooping. It had been three days since they had found the caves- but there was no Cave Dragon to be found. They had scouted the surrounding area, alas to no avail.

“Why are ye wet anyways?” He rested his head onto one hand.

“I was just out with Tisa- and it’s been raining all night.” She softly spoke, retrieving a cooked piece of meat from the fire. She handed it to him. “We checked through the northern tunnels, but there’s nothing worth of mentioning there. Just a couple abandoned lairs.”

“Bollocks.” He blew at the meat, which was puffing with heat. “We can always check for some forgotten gem in there and trick the rules.”

“Don’t be such a lazy arse” She smiled. “The best part of this are the beasts, trust me.”

“Aye.” He bit at the food, taking a chunk in. His face contorted into a frown. “Oh fuck my face, this is good”

“Thank your brother for suggesting the idea” She munched at her own piece of meat, crunchy and dark.

“Say whatever ye want, but bringin’ frozen game meat along kinda kills the whole survival point, doesn’t it?”

“There’s no way I’m cleaning a whole deer carcass.” Em proclaimed, and she sighed out.

Her face suddenly lost its features, and left the silently woman staring at the fire with empty eyes. Liam took no time in noticing.

“Yall right, Em?”

“I was just thinking” She slightly frowned. “We might have to abandon the Antrum Dragon initial plan.”

“…?” He stared at her, chewing his food.

“Let’s say I found something way more interesting.”

“What?” He swallowed. “Didn’t ye say there was nothin’ out there?”

“Nothing… aside from a stranded couple of Caelum Dragons.”

Liam choked on the meat. After a fit of coughing, he composed himself and looked at the woman in front of him with excited eyes.

“No fucking way” He smiled. “We gonna hunt those, right?”

Em smiled to herself, and looked the young Irishman in the eye.

“These are different Caela, Liam.” She rubbed her hands together, trying to warm them up.

“Don’t care. You know I am prepared to face this, Em.” He pleaded. “Please.”

The woman stared into his blue eyes with a mix of annoyance and amusement. She placed a hand on his shoulder and thrust herself off the ground. With a quick turn, she offered a hand to him.

“We will, but you better gear up and prepare yourself.”

“Liam, get down this instant.”

“Just let me peek at them- they’re so bloody majestic I can’t handle it-“

“We won’t be able either if they see us like this!”

With an angry thud, Liam kneeled back down to the ground. Both riders had set off searching for the dragons, and after a couple hours, came across them. To avoid being seen and promptly burned to a crisp and eaten alive, they hid beneath an almost precisely disposed boulder which rested against the cavern walls. It was an open cave- the air smelled fresh, grey light flooded the impossibly big chamber and a big crack connected the cave with the outer surface. The dark grey sky creeped from it; roots and plants hung from the cleft and the floor was soaked- it was likely that the rain had found its way in through the crack. The wind filtered through it as well, creating a strong air current that made both Em’s and Liam’s hair flow back.

And there, in the middle of the chamber, both dragons laid.

There was a white, bigger female that slowly paced around the place, trying not to hit her delicate wings against the frozen rock. She seemed to hover those same wings over her companion- a smaller beige male that rested against the ground. His eyes slowly opened and closed, and he held his wings close to his body- even the diamonds that dusted his back had lost their glimmer.

Em noticed his behaviour, and slowly perked her head out to get a better look. The lids of the gargantuan reptile were giving in, his thorax slowly rising up and down with his breathing. The white female didn’t move an inch, her protective stance solid as the mountains that hovered through the crack.

“Ye have seen it too?” Liam peeped his eyes over her shoulder. “That lad’s not feelin’ too grand”

“He’s definitely not alright-” The woman whispered, eyes fixed on the male. “Look at how weak he is. There’s something wrong with it”

“That’s why they’re different?”

“…Come over.”

Em grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the cavern and to the safety of the outer halls. Toothless, Hela and Tisa waited for them there, tied up and tack ready.

“Oi, no need to hurt me” Liam rubbed his arm.

“Sorry for that, but I need to inform you of the whole situation we have here”

“I’m not an eejit, Em” He sighed out. “Two dragons, one is sick. Don’t think they’re up for a hunt ride though”

“If that’s all you see, then I pity your bland green Irish brain.”

“Feck off and start talking.”

Em was beginning to fidget. Every time she had something important to explain, she became as shaky as gelatine. She strode off to Toothless, opened one of his panniers and dug out one of the heavy reinforced ropes.

“Those dragons are NOT meant to be here.” She began. “They dwell on the outside, on the higher peaks and cliffs. These guys are for some reason trapped inside there, and judging by their state, they’re slowly starving to death as well.”

“Why don’t they just-” Liam questioned. “Fly out? Break the walls and escape?”

“They can’t risk their wings being damaged. They’d lose all chance if the membranes or bones broke.” The woman kept on taking out the ropes, as well as a knife and leftover wood from the bonfires.

“What’s wrong then?” The man plopped down on a rock, taking a seat.

“They’re probably both lost down there. We’re basically not because we have our location system, so it wouldn’t be surprising.” She looked up at him. “They might have somehow fallen down here through a bigger hole, freaked out, dug themselves deeper in the halls and can’t find their way back out.”

“Did ye come up with that all by yerself?” He mocked, smiling.

“Oi, I have been thinking about it since I found them this morning.” Em answered back with a grin. “You might have noticed how freaking windy it is down there, have you?”

“Aye. Gonna have trouble untangling my wonderful red manes when we’re back.”

“I think these strange underground currents might be working against those dragons as well. It’s weird enough for a cave tunnel system to be windy, but the cracks along the ridge could explain it.” She dropped the rope on the ground. “That wind could be pushing them down to the ground if it blows against them, and might make them crash against the walls if it blows in their direction.”

“So it ain’t helpful in any way”

“It might be.” She wheezed out. “Especially if we go along with this new action plan I’ve been brewing in my head.”

“…Aight missy, if ye’d care enough to enlighten me about this plan of yours?”

“I’ll gladly do.”

At this point, the cave floor was filled with untangled rope. The woman stood atop of them, separating them further with her feet. Everyone was curious about what could she be probably doing- horses, dragon and Liam himself.

“Is the rope botherin’ ye or…?” He said.

“This is what we’ll work with.”

“Could ya get to the point please?”

“We’re going to take those dragons out and make them fly back to their den.”

Liam’s face contorted into a blank face. He looked at her as if he had just seen the most fearsome of ghosts.

“First of all, we need to find an exit big enough to fit them. Once we have located it” She lashed about with her hands. “We’re going to lure both of them to the outside- and we’ll be using these wind currents to help Guy Dragon take off again. As soon as we have them out we can actually begin the fight.”

“Okay- okay. Hold yer dragons.” Liam coughed. “That dragon is dying. How the hell is he supposed to fly?”

“I already said that’s where the wind will help us. Even though we’ll need to give him a hand- direct him around with the horses and Tisa.”

“…How? Ye plannin’ on puttin’ a halter on him or somethin’?”

Em smirked.

Liam opened his eyes in a grimace.

“Good grief we brought this rope along.”

“I SWEAR TO FUCKIN’ SAINT PATRICK I AIN’T COMIN’ ALONG EVER AGAIN-”

“Liam, turn around again! We’re almost done!”

It had been three hours since the team had revealed its presence to the pair. It didn’t take a single moment for Girl Dragon to lunge at them, teeth bared and tail lashing. Guy Dragon had tried to keep her pace- and both dragons seemed to follow the plan along: they hopped around rather than walk, taking advantage of the wind currents to open their wings. After avoiding a couple blue flares, the team had managed to fly outside, both dragons giving them chase and flying after their formation- and to their surprise.

The grey, dark clouds had been warning them through the whole day. Thick white snowflakes began to fall, predicting the blizzard that was creeping on the group.

It really put a strain on the whole plan- added to the fact that the enormous Caelum female wasn’t happy at all, and made sure of letting them know in the form of scorching blue fire thrown at them, with the occasional talon slashing.

As soon as they were safely away from the sharp mountain ridge, both riders tied the sturdy rope to their tacks and mounts. It had taken a few close scrapes, but Guy Dragon was almost successfully ‘haltered’- tangles of rope were steadied around his head and neck in a way similar to those of horses. Tisa, Em on Toothless and Liam atop Hela secured it from the sides and the front- even though the more tied and close they were to the male, the more limited their movement and the more dangerous the female’s attacks became.

With a final swirl around the dragon’s head, Liam fastened a knot around his short horns.

“Em, this ain’t gonna work! If he falls we’ll fall down with him!” Liam screeched. His hair got in his face, almost blocking his view.

“You just make sure we follow the wind’s direction!” She shouted back. Guy Dragon’s roars were deafening.

“He ain’t got a feckin’ clue about where the wind is, goddarnit all!”

Em grasped her handles and leaned forward. Toothless, following her silent instructions, ducked down and dove in close to the dragon.

Once they were close enough, Em jumped on the dragon’s head.

“MARTHA!” Liam’s eyes popped out of his sockets. “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YE DOIN’?!”

“Ugh!” With a thud, the woman fell down on her belly, and grasped the hardy diamond growths on the dragon’s skin.

“GET DOWN FROM THERE! YE GONNA KILL YERSELF!”

“STOP SHOUTING AND FOCUS ON THE WIND!” With a single motion, Em wiped her hair out of her face and grabbed the last piece of rope she had left. “I’m gonna drive him!”

“Goddamnit. Goddamnit!” The man gave a strong tug at the reins. Hela’s ears perked backwards, waiting for instructions. “Alright, girl.” He spat a strand of hair from his mouth. “Let’s do this.”

His blue eyes turned to look at the red dragon leading the way. Not very surprisingly, Tisa knew how to sail and cross the skies, aware of its wind currents and how to move in and between them- it was encoded in her genes. Guy Dragon seemed to be aware of this as well, and decided that he better follow the tiny weird dragon in front of him if he didn’t want to crash down, mirroring the movement and direction of her wings.

Toothless was well trained for this. He could trust the black stallion.

Hela, on the other hand…

“Whenever yer ready, Em!” He shouted back, his red hair flailing back with the wind. He grasped the golden handles in front of him and braced himself.

“ALRIGHT!” Em tried to balance herself, steadying her feet on some of the hard gems that grew on the reptile’s head.

With a loud neigh, Toothless announced himself ready as well.

The first turn to the left.

A violent shake to the right.

A terribly close blue flare- Girl Dragon was still giving them chase, trying to free his mate.

An ascension.

Tisa flapped her wings upwards- Toothless and Hela did so too. Em tugged hard on the dragon’s rope.

It moved sideways, angling its gargantuan wings.

The team copied the movement. Tisa, Hela, Toothless- they batted their muscles and wings hard against the wind.

“LAST TURN, LIAM!” Em cried out. She was smiling, completely lost in the adrenaline of the moment. “If we can put him against the wind, we’re done!”

Liam clasped his legs harder against the woolly saddle. His whole body was moving in sync with the mare beneath him, his breath faltering. Em made the biggest effort not to fall to her death. Both their faces felt hot and scorching from the frozen flakes crashing on their face- and the rumble of thunder was becoming distracting.

And suddenly-

Tisa was quickly shaken in the opposite direction.

It was the signal- the current was changing, and with the loudest mix of screeches, neighs and screams, all of them were thrashed around by the mistral winds, including the dragon male.

With the biggest effort, the creature opened its wings- and as soon as they met air, they expanded and caused the most violent slowdown.

Liam’s torso collided with Hela’s neck, Toothless was dragged at least ten metres away and Em was thrown off the dragon’s head- leaving the small woman hanging from its maws.

For a couple of seconds, everything went silent.

The male dragon was suspended in the air, slowly but tremulously shaking his arms up and down. It was flying. With a look almost of confusion, the reptile looked around, just to realize a couple moments later that he was indeed flying. It didn’t take long for him to notice the human clinging to its head.

“Martha” Liam whispered out. Since Hela had finally stopped in her tracks, he could actually get a glimpse of the whole situation. “For the love of God, do not move” He silently prayed.

The dragon’s nostrils flared, probably from exhaustion. A low rumble crawled out of its mouth in the form of a growl.

Em went pale for a second. The sight of the enormous eye –an eye easily the size of a truck tire- looking directly at her sucked the breath out of her lungs. She clamped her eyes shut, waiting for the finishing bite.

When Em opened one of her eyes back seconds later, the dragon was still looking at her, suspended in the air. It didn’t attack, it didn’t lash out- it seemed to be waiting.

“Martha!” Liam dared to raise his voice, breaking the tense atmosphere. “Yall right?!”

“I’m…” She breathed out, barely inaudible. Her arms were shaking, her grip on the rope weakening. “I’m fine, Liam! I’m fine”

“He’s not reacting”

“I know” She looked back at him over her shoulder. “I’m quite stuck in here right now”

“Can ye-“ He softly leaned forward, prompting Hela to advance. “Can ye try ta climb it?... Back to its head. I don’t like ya hangin’ from there”

“Aye, that’ll be better” She replied, breath shaky.

Never stopping to look the creature in the eye, Em grasped one of the ropes that served as halter and pushed herself up. A bit a doubt got hold of her after she decided to scrape her hand against the skin. The scales were incredibly rough, yet smooth. Within a couple of steps she was back on the top of the giant head. The woman plopped herself on it, trying to recover from the scare.

She leaned on one of the horns and sighed, closing her eyes.

“Let’s cut the god darned rope first, it’s probably rashing him”

The young man quickly nodded and approached the dragon, which was still apparently unresponsive. In a span of ten minutes, he’d taken out their lighter and dismantled the whole ‘halter’ by burning the knots and edges. When he’d packed the rope scraps back in the panniers, he looked at Em resting on the reptile.

“Now what?” Liam’s voice shook her out. He was still on the horse, waiting for the next plan. “He doesn’t look like he’s movin’ an inch”

“Guess we-“ Her eyes opened wide, suddenly alert once again. “Liam, careful- she’s back!”

A tug of the reins made the winged red mare turn around to face the white female, who had finally caught up with the group. Its disposition was less violent than before. She softly slowed down and closely sniffed the male’s snout.

“Em, I’m freakin’ my arse out right now” Liam’s face turned into a frightened grimace. “She’s too darn close”

But Em knew better. This behaviour- she’d seen it before when raising Tisa, when interacting with the few viable hatchlings living in the lab terrarium. Her features went soft, and she let out a hearty laugh.

“Liam, do me a favour and lead Toothless and Tisa for me”

“Whaddya mean? Ya better get off that thing right now.” He frowned. “Let’s just draw back to the cave and sleep through a feckin’ week before continuin’. With some luck we’ll find another dragon or lair-“

“Trust me, that won’t be necessary” She kneeled forward on the dragon, and softly patted its temple. “Tie the guys up to your tack, please”

“Yer the boss, I guess” He shrugged, leading Hela around to retrieve the other two members of the team.

After a couple of minutes, the pair of dragons began to exchange soft chirps and rumbles. With a single movement, the female positioned itself behind its companion, and let it lead the way.

Em was ecstatic. She held onto the sturdy horns, enjoying the view and the whole experience- she’d ridden a dragon before, but this was a completely different thing. She often looked back to see Liam, the two horses and Tisa trailing behind them, happily chirping as well.

“We could buy thirty islands like ours with these”

“William, stop that. You’re gonna ruin it.”

The man looked back to see Em sitting on the floor. It was strangely warm, as the rest of the lair was- a cave large enough to fit both dragons. It was well hidden between the cliffs, with a rounded entrance on the top. The inside of the lair was pretty homely itself, apart from the fact that two giant dragons were nesting in it.

But undoubtedly, the most striking part were the walls. Thick, car-sized crystals dusted the walls up to down, shimmering with the little light that sneaked its way in. Liam couldn’t help but slobber his hands all over one of them, perfectly positioned at their level.

“Still can’t get over the fact that tis’ a diamond”

“We’re deep down in the mountain.” Em safely rested against a rock, trying to regain her strength. “Under the level of the sea. That’s why it’s so warm here.”

“What does that have ta do with the diamonds?”

“Pressure” She shrugged. “I guess. This rock is so compressed it’s ten parts brute diamonds”

“Ah” He approached her. “When are we goin’ back out though?”

Em pointed to the male dragon. It was currently moving around the cave, sniffing the walls. It occasionally bit one of the crystals while its mate watched from a higher, tiny plateau inside the cave.

“I don’t know what they intend to do” She looked up at him. “But I think they’ve realised we just helped them out of the mountains and up to fly again.”

Liam looked back at the dragon.

“Don’t tell me he’s…”

Guy Dragon chomped on the wall once again. This time, he positioned one of his rear legs on the wall, prying a huge diamond crystal out. With a shake of his strong neck, he turned around and creeped his way over the two humans. The female silently watched.

Em quickly rose to her feet, and observed as the reptile dropped the giant diamond in front of them with a loud thud.

The dragon let out a soft but low grumble, neck vibrating with the sound. He approached both of them with his strong beak, sniffing and prodding them. Em held the beak and softly caressed it. Liam, taken aback, put a shaking hand on its jaw, feeling the strong muscle. After a short ritual of acknowledgement, the creature pushed the big crystal towards them once more, and finally retreated back.

“Whoa.” Liam blurted out. “No fuckin’ way.”

“See?” Em brightly smiled. “He just admitted his defeat!”

“We didn’t even fight.” He shrugged and turned his head towards the male. It turned its head sideways.

“Tell that to my burnt arse.” Em looked closely at the giant gem. “His mate did give us one hell of a fight- and meanwhile we helped this guy up. If that’s not a harsh fight I don’t know what it is. Just enjoy our prize.”

“Put it that way it kinda does makes a difference- but aint the trinket retrieved supposed ta be a small gem, or a trophy or somethin’?” He replied. “This is at least 450 pounds heavy of pure diamond!”

“Ha!” She laughed out. “Good stuff. Guess we’ll get even more richer- wait until I tell Shaqir of this!”

“How are we gonna git this outta here, Em? It’s a bloody fat rock.”

“We can break it down and load it on one of the coats.” She tiptoed around their prize. “Toothless and Hela can easily carry this weight together”

“Oh man.” He ran his hand on his forehead and smiled. “This is too much.”

“So” Em looked back at him, beaming. “Gonna come back with me next year?”

Liam held her gaze for a second, turning his head around afterwards. The two dragons observed them, their round eyes almost soft.

“Ya bet I will.” He smiled. “This has been grand.”