Chapter 14

Hiccup's eyes widened, and he stumbled

"Shh, shh," the strange woman said-who apparently was Hiccup's mom. "Come." 

The woman turned around, grabbed her staff and shield, before running into the crowd of dragons. Hiccup scrambled to follow her, not even motioning for the others to follow him before running into the direction she had went. Once they had gotten through the crowd of dragons, she led him down a branching cavern, using her strange staff to carry herself over the rocks. 

"Uh, h-hold on," Hiccup stammered. "Wait just a minute." 

"This way," the woman answered.

"Come back here-"

"Come." 

"You can't just say something like that and run off," Hiccup insisted, climbing over a rock. "You're my mother?! I mean, what the-? Do you-do you grasp how insane it sounds?"

"Come quickly," she said, using her staff to hoist herself up a rock slope and through an opening. 

"I have questions!" Hiccup exclaimed, using his wings to boost himself up and over the slope, "Where have you been all this time? What have you been doing? They-they said you were dead! Everyone thinks you were eaten by..." Hiccup trailed off as the tunnel opened up, stunned at what he saw. 

Dragons of every shape, size and color were soaring around peacefully. The great spires of ice that made up the structure were overed with moss and greenery of every kind as soft sunlight flooded down through the icy ceiling. 

Hiccup could barely comprehend what he was seeing as he stepped out from the under the tunnel, walking forward slowly as he gazed around him. Baby dragons were playing and stumbling on the mossy ground as adult dragons swooped up and down the pillars and walls, leaping off of ledges and calling out to their friends and family. 

Hiccup heard Toothless approach from behind him, and they both stood and stared in wonderment around themselves. 

"This is-" Toothless said, unable to find the words.

"Amazing," Hiccup breathed. 

"Isn't it?" A familiar voice above them caught their attention. 

Their heads snapped in the voices' direction, and Hiccup gasped slightly when he found the same four-winged dragon from before sitting upside down and perched on the wall, his alleged mother sitting on the dragon's leg. 

"This is where you've been for fifteen years?" Hiccup asked, awe in his voice, and the woman nodded."You-you've just been collecting dragons?"   

"No," she responded, "I've been rescuing them." 

"What?" Hiccup said, surprised. 

The woman laughed lightly, "Do you really believe that there are not humans in this world that try to take advantage of dragons?" 

Hiccup opened his mouth to respond, but was unable to find a response. 

"Unbelievable," he said instead, looking around again in wonderment. 

"You're not upset?" she asked.

"What? No. I-I don't know," Hiccup rambled. "It's a bit much to get my head around, to be frank. It's not every day you find out your mother is some kind of crazy, feral, vigilante dragon lady."

"Oh," she chuckled, and she reached up with her staff, the dragon she was sitting on reaching up with his wing to help her slide to the ground. "Well, at least I'm not boring, right?" 

"Well, I suppose there is that one specific thing," Hiccup said, awkwardly trying to move away from a large blue and green dragon who was sniffing him a bit too closely. 

"Do-do you like it?" She asked, walking towards him. 

"I-I," he said, looking around in amazement, "I don't have the words." 

"Uh, Hiccup?" Toothless asked, and Hiccup turned to see him, Stormfly, and Meatlug being crowded around and sniffed by a huge group of dragons, "A little help here?" 

One of the dragons sniffed Toothless in a bit of a personal spot, and Toothless let out a surprised yelp before growling at all of the dragons to get away. 

The woman-or Hiccup's mom-laughed, approaching Toothless, Stormfly, and Meatlug carefully, "I'm very sorry about them, they tend to get excited when new dragons come in." 

"Oh, thank you, it's fine," Meatlug responded assuringly. 

"Speak for yourself," Stormfly humphed, ruffling her wings. "I, for one, enjoy my personal space." 

"Yes," the woman laughed, "I apologize." 

"Thank you," Toothless said. "But I have to ask: are you really Hiccup's mother?" 

"Yeah, how could you be my mom?" Hiccup asked incredulously, "I mean, my father always told me that a dragon had taken my mom during a raid."

"Well, where else did you think you got your Dragonborn blood from?" the woman asked, and Hiccup's jaw dropped as her eyes began to glow a familiar blue, and the blue light cascaded down her body until Hiccup had to look away to protect his eyes. When he turned back to look at her again, she was standing there with a pair of large wings and a tail, ones that looked exactly like the the dragon she had been riding earlier had. 

Hiccup was speechless, and turned to see that Toothless, Stormfly and Meatlug were also looking at her with wide eyes. 

"I-I had always assumed that one of his parents were Dragonborn but had never had their magic triggered," Toothless said. 

"That certainly could have been a plausible explanation," she responded, "but I'm afraid that theory is incorrect." 

"How did this happen?" Hiccup asked, "Why did you leave Berk?" 

"Why did you leave Berk?" 

Hiccup looked down, and his mother smiled sadly. 

"Tell me your story, son, and I'll tell you mine." 

So, Hiccup told her. He told her about how awful it had been growing up on Berk, how he had shot down Toothless, gained his trust, was given his Dragonborn magic, fixed Toothless's tail, and eventually escaped the walls of Berk with the dragons trapped in the arena in tow. While he spoke, he could see his mother's face growing sadder and sadder, but could also see much pride in her eyes when he told her about how the Flight had chosen him to be their Leader. 

"I'm so sorry I left you alone to endure Berk," she said after he was done recounting his story, "but it was truly something that I had to do. As you know, Berk was a land of kill or be killed, and I was the only one who believed peace was possible. It was a very unpopular opinion. Then one night, a dragon broke into our house, finding you in the cradle. I rushed to protect you, but what I saw was proof of everything I believed. The dragon had his giant claw in your cradle, and was playing with you. It wasn't a vicious beast, but an intelligent, gentle creature, whose soul reflected my own. 

"But then your father appeared in the hut, and attacked the dragon on sight. To defend himself, the dragon ended up setting the entire house alight, grabbed me, and took me away to his nest." She looked at him regretfully, "You and your father nearly died that night. All because I couldn't kill a dragon. It broke my heart to stay away, but I believed you'd be safer if I did. I was not entirely sure that you would become Dragonborn like me, and raising a human babe among dragons would have been no easy task." 

"So," Hiccup said, "when that dragon took you, he took you away to bring you here?" 

"I did indeed," a voice to the side said, and Hiccup turned to see the four winged dragon. "I could smell the Dragonborn on her the moment I saw her. I would have grabbed you as well, but I wasn't quite sure if the Dragonborn smell on you was from your mother or not, and it was safer to leave you there." 

"Wow," Hiccup said. 

"My birth name is Cloudjumper, by the way," the dragon said, and Hiccup nodded in acknowledgement. 

"Now, come," Hiccup's mother said, "I'm sure the King is anticipating your meeting." 

His mom started walking off towards the ending of the large ledge they were standing on. As they walked forwards, Hiccup's jaw dropped as the ginormous dragon came into view. In the center of the entire structure, all of the ledges dropped off into a center circle, where waterfalls rained down into a huge pool at the bottom. Sitting in the center of the pool was the largest dragon Hiccup had ever laid eyes on, almost his entire body was as white as snow, there were two large tusks framing his face, a crown of horns behind his head, and spines crawling down his back and covering his face that were tipped with darker brown scales, as though they were dipped in the night sky. 

"Hiccup, I welcome you and your Flight into the home of the Glacier Titan," Hiccup's mother announced, leading them closer towards the dragon. "One of the great Alpha species. He is the ruler of our nest, the Nest of Spikes. With his icy breath, the King built our nest, a safe haven for any dragon who wishes safety. We all live under his care, and his command. All except the children, of course," they walked by a group of tiny dragons, who perked up at the sight of them, and rushed over, chattering and climbing over them all until Cloudjumper roared them away, "who listen to no one."  

His mother laughed as the group of baby dragons flew away, dancing all over the Glacier Titan's head before he blew them away. The large dragon humphed amusedly before he lifted his large body out of the water, and turned towards them. Immediately, Hiccup's mother dropped to one knee, lowering her head and spreading out her wings before him. Hiccup glanced around, noticing how Toothless was only bowing his head slightly in respect, and Stormfly and Meatlug were doing similar things, if not a bit deeper of bows than Toothless. 

Hiccup was about to follow their examples, but a deep wispy voice entered his brain, 'No need to bow, young Dragonborn. You are Leader of your own Flight, and I can sense the strength of your magic. There is no doubt that the Moon Goddess has blessed you generously.' 

A deep chuckle resounded from the large dragon's throat when Hiccup's jaw dropped, shocked that the dragon had just spoken to him telepathically. The Alpha dragon gave him an amused look, before he blew a breath towards him, frost flowing out of his mouth and dusting Hiccup in snow. 

Hiccup's mother laughed, "That means the King likes you." 

"This one has great potential, Valka," the King said. "But after a long journey here, I have no doubt that he is hungry." 

"Uh, yeah, I could eat," Hiccup said. 

"Good," the giant King nodded, and Hiccup just barely noticed how his crown of horns vibrated ever so slightly, and every dragon he could see perked their heads up in response. 

"It's feeding time," his mother said, and her eyes began to glow blue before the light engulfed her entire body, and she shifted into a dragon the same species as Cloudjumper. But instead of Cloudjumper's mostly orange and gray coloring with blue hues, her scales were dark red and warm brown, with hints of yellow and blue scattered about, making her turquoise eyes stand out. 

"You know, it's really strange to watch someone else shift," Hiccup observed as he followed her example, his front two legs hitting the ground with a thud. 

His mother tilted her head, "I think you're right, I don't believe I've ever seen another Dragonborn shift before." 

"I didn't know that our eyes glowed blue," Hiccup said. 

"You didn't?" Toothless asked, surprised, "It's always super unsettling."

Hiccup snorted, "Thanks, Toothless." 

His mother laughed, "Come. Let's go eat." 

She launched into the air, and nearly the entirety of the nest took to the air after her. Hiccup had to scramble to keep track of her as they weaved through the tunnels to get out of the nest, but soon enough they were out in the sky. He was easily able to spot her up ahead, and flew up to her. 

"So, how do you feed this many dragons at once?" Hiccup asked, glancing back at the ginormous group of dragons. 

His mother smirked mischievously, "Oh, you'll see."

They flew above the ocean for a couple more minutes, before a tremor seemed to reverberate through the dragons, and they all came to a stop. 

Hiccup looked at his mother confusedly, who had both pairs of her wings flapping hard to keep herself in place. She glanced down, and Hiccup followed her gaze, his eyes widening when he noticed the three two headed dragons circling in the water around a bunch of fish, seeming to herd them into one place. 

At first, Hiccup thought that maybe they all had to dive down to catch the fish that the sea dragons had gathered, but then two large tusks started to emerge from the water, and the great Glacier Titan burst from the depths. The ginormous dragon gulped all of the fish into his mouth, and blasted them into the air. 

Hiccup gaped in amazement at the fish raining down around them, and his mother threw her head back and laughed at his shock, before swooping down and snatching the fish out of the air. Quickly, he blinked out of his stupor, and shared a look with Toothless before they followed her example. Using their Moon Sweeper speed and agility to weave through the hoard of dragons, they captured as many fish as they possibly could. 

Soon enough, they regrouped, and Hiccup was happy to see that Toothless, Stormfly, Meatlug, and all had faces stuffed full of fish. 

* * * 

Cloudjumper had found them after all of the dragons were safely back in the nest, and Hiccup's mother led them to a secluded iceberg outside of the nest, the ground covered in snow. There, Hiccup laid out the map that Johann had given him, explaining how they had discovered the nest in the first place. 

As he pointed out various points on the map that interested him, Hiccup noticed how his mother had begun to do a rough sketch of the map in the snow, using her staff as a pencil as she whirled around. 

"There," his mother said, stepping back to admire her work.

"Whoa," Hiccup said, glancing around at the large outline of the map, amazed at how closely it resembled the map.

Toothless let out an excited screech, and Hiccup looked at him confusedly as he ran over to them, carrying a large icicle in his mouth. The large Moon Sweeper drew sloppily through the snow, completely ruining Hiccup's mother's drawing with his scribbles as he happily pranced across the iceberg. 

Hiccup gave his mother a helpless look, and they both laughed as Toothless twirled around Cloudjumper, earning a curious stare from the four winged dragon. 

"What?" Toothless asked cluelessly, stopping his scribbling to look at them, trying to drop his icicle, but ended up with it dangling stuck to his tongue. 

"You ruined the drawing, Toothless," Meatlug laughed. 

"No I didn't," Toothless argued, trying and failing to dislodge the icicle from his tongue. 

"You scribbled all over it," Hiccup said. 

"I simply added my own artistic flair," he responded, finally just snapping the icicle in two with his jaws. 

"Just admit it, Toothless," Stormfly said from where she was sitting in the snow, "you can't draw." 

"I can too," Toothless growled back. 

"Alright, alright," Hiccup's mother calmed, "how about we all go do something fun?" 

They all perked up, and she chuckled before gathering a small group of dragons and bringing them to some cliffs near the nest. There, the winds were so powerful that when they jumped off of the cliffs, the winds were so strong that they could stay up in the air without even flapping their wings. 

Hiccup's mother laughed as she watched them all struggle to get used to floating without flapping their wings, the small group of dragons she had gathered floating through the air with ease. With awe, Hiccup watched as she shifted into her half dragon form, and easily floated from dragon to dragon, using her staff to grab onto dragon horns and walking across their wings without even needing to flap her own. Each time she landed on a new dragon, she greeted them by name and talked to them for a couple seconds before moving onto the next one. 

She smiled at him, and motion for him to follow her before she shifted into her full dragon form and began to fly off. Hiccup looked to Toothless, and told him to stay there as he followed after her. For a couple of moments, they just soared through the air next to each other, Hiccup barely even noticing how cold the air was anymore. 

His mother breathed in a deep breath, "Oh, when I'm up here, I don't even feel the cold. I just feel-"

"Free," Hiccup finished for her, and they shared wide smiles. 

But then her eyes gained a twinge of sadness, "All this time, you took after me. And where was I?" She let her wing brush his softly, "I'm so sorry, Hiccup. Can we start over? Will you give me another chance?" 

Hiccup stopped to consider for a moment, but immediately knew his answer. He nodded. 

She gave him a relieved smile, "I can teach you all you need to know about being Dragonborn, and even just about being a dragon. I would never want to interfere with your life in any way that you don't want me to; I wouldn't ask you to stop leading your Flight and pledge allegiance to my King, but I would love if you would let me teach you what I know." 

Hiccup smiled, "I would love that, mom." 

Her eyes widened at the title, and they contained enough joy to out sparkle the stars.

The two of them soared through the sky for only a little bit longer, then they gathered up the dragons and started flying back towards the nest. 

Toothless flew only a little bit behind Hiccup, but he suddenly soared up next to Hiccup's mom, "Uh, did the King say that your birth or Mated name was Valka?"

"Oh, it's my birth name," she said, smiling sadly. "The one that I loved was a human, and he p-d despised dragons with every fiber of his being. He was the only one I loved and the only one I ever will love, so naturally, finding a Mate will never be an option for me." 

"Oh," Toothless said awkwardly, "well, um, Valka, is it possible that there are any other Moon Sweepers in your nest, or if you have ever met another Moon Sweeper like me and Hiccup? I would even appreciate it if you knew anything about a Sun or Sea Sweeper." 

Hiccup's mom sighed, "No, there are not any Sky Sweepers or Sea Sweepers in the Nest of Spikes at this very moment." Toothless nodded, looking downcast, "But, there once was." 

Toothless's head snapped back up, his eyes wide, "What? Who? When?" 

"Let's get ourselves back into the nest first," she replied, "it is going to be a very long story."