“Uh, nice dragon,” Tuff tried, appealing to the scaled, sand-colored creature, but it wouldn’t yield. It hissed and lunged.
Moving swiftly, Tuffnut ducked and rolled, immediately regaining his feet, ready for another attack. But he caught sight of a figure rushing toward the dragon.
It was a young woman clad entirely in tan dragon hide—clothes and mask alike. The dragon ceased its assault upon seeing her.
⇧ dragon skin suit ⇧
“Oh, thank Thor,” Tuff breathed. Relief was fleeting, however, as the girl leaped onto him, knocking him to the ground. She hissed—the same, exact hiss as the dragon—and held a sharpened stick to his throat. “Oh man, Snotlout was right,” Tuff stammered, then pleaded, “please don’t eat me, dragon lady, I assure you the flying yak rats would taste much better.”
The masked girl tilted her head curiously. After a moment of hesitation, she climbed off Tuff, letting him stand while keeping the spear pressed to his neck. She pulled the dragon skin mask off, revealing her face. “Who are you?” she demanded.
“Ah! You can talk,” Tuff exclaimed, speaking loudly, “I don’t know why that surprised me.” The stick pressed harder into his skin, and he squirmed. “Okay, okay! I’m Tuffnut Thorston, from the island of Berk.”
The girl squinted suspiciously and made a small gesture with her head. The dragon from before stalked over and tentatively sniffed Tuff, who spoke in awe, “you train dragons, too?”
“‘Too’?” The dragon girl repeated curiously.
When the dragon stopped sniffing, it gave the woman a relaxed gurgle. She immediately lowered her weapon. “Uh, yeah,” Tuffnut began to explain, “me and my friends train and ride dragons, that’s how we got here.”
“There are more of you?” the girl asked.
Tuffnut smiled and nodded. Now that she wasn’t trying to kill him, he had a chance to study her. She was a few inches shorter than him, with fair skin and magnificent lilac eyes. Her hair was dirty blonde and cropped short, swept to one side of her head.
She was beautiful.
⇧ Iris ⇧
“My name is Iris,” she finally introduced herself, “you will come with me.”
“Wait, what about my friends?” Tuff asked before moving.
Iris turned and began to walk, gesturing for him to follow. “A party will be sent for them once we arrive, if they haven’t already been found,” she explained.
“A party?” Tuffnut repeated with a giddy smile, “ooo, am I invited?”
Iris gave him an odd look, unsure if he was joking. But his big blue eyes sparkled with excitement, proving his sincerity. Iris couldn’t suppress a small, amused smile. “Sure you are.”
Tuffnut punched the air happily. “Yes! Oh that’s so nice of you.”
Iris cleared her throat awkwardly. “I apologize for the way we had to meet; it’s the helmet, we aren’t used to running into friendly Vikings.”
“Oh, yeah I get that,” Tuff considered. He smiled down at Iris by his side. “My sister does way worse when she greets me.”
Iris raised her eyebrows. “Oh my.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Tuff assured, “it’s a loving violence.”
She glanced up at him. He wore a carefree smile and a gentle expression. And although he was quite confusing, Iris was captivated. “What is this island of Berk you come from?” she questioned curiously.
And so Tuff began explaining. For the rest of their walk, he told stories about Berk and the odd Vikings who lived there. Iris was most interested in his journeys across the archipelago, but she did her best to remain serious and alert—that was her job with a stranger on her island.
Finally, they reached Iris’s base and home. It was a rudimentary village, with doorless mud-grass huts and almost no metal weapons in sight.
Upon arriving, Tuffnut noticed a group of scale-clad, masked people surrounding his friends with long spears. The other Vikings were all tied up, their dragons restrained by numerous sand-colored native ones.
One of the other women noticed Iris with Tuff and cocked her head. She removed her mask and questioned, “what’s going on?” Long black hair poured down her shoulders, reaching her waist, her green eyes staring intently into Iris’s soul.
“Mora, this is Tuffnut Thorston of Berk,” Iris introduced. “These Vikings bring no harm to our tribe.”
The other natives hesitantly removed their masks as well. Mora then ordered, “untie them, but keep their weapons.”
“And the dragons?” a man asked.
Mora made a distinct clicking sound. Out of the group of numerous tan dragons came one, right to her side. She seemed to have a silent conversation with it, then it went over to the riders’ dragons. It sniffed and eyed them, then looked back to Mora with a big, toothless grin. “Let the dragons free as well.”