2Alpha's Heir
A How To Train Your Dragon Story
By Grinning Wolf 24
A.K.A. Frostfire Markson
Originally Posted on the School of Dragons Forum
Prologue:
"Hurry up. Grab everything out of that nest too." The hulking shadow pointed across to the other end of the cave. Deep under a mountain that houses what's virtually a small city, the two figures were quietly packing up all the treasures they could get their hands on. This treasure wasn't anything you would normally think to steal; it wasn't bars of gold or pirate's treasure. It wasn't anything that could be mistaken for jewels or the wealth of forgotten countries. They were stones, all shapes and colors, about the size of a large haddock.
"Got it boss. Then let's get out of here. My sack's almost full to burstin' with these eggs."
"Good. No eggs means no dragons, no dragons means no dragon riders, and no dragon riders means no threat of retaliation." The deep voice growled out a laugh.
All of a sudden, a voice rang out from the curving stone staircase on the other side of the cavern. "Who's down there? I am armed, and not afraid." The thieves quickly hauled their sacks over their shoulders, causing the smaller thief ot trip slightly. As he steadied himself, he became even farther off balance, his sack falling from his shoulder, and striking the floor with a resounding 'crack!'. There was the sound of hurried footsteps coming down the steps, and the golden glow of a lantern became visible around the last corner. Horrified, he quickly started shoving the rolling eggs back into the sack, and then, vaulting to his feet, pelted after his boss, into the back entrance to the dragon nursery. They raced through the tunnels until they reached the dragon entrances.
Waiting on the ledge on the outside of the cliffs were two enormous dragons. Covered with a thick skin of mottled black, brown, grays, and greens, they blended into the sparse vegetation. They lifted their smooth, round, heavily horned heads, and rattled the curved spines running down either side of their tails. They finished the display by rising up onto their hind legs so that they could slash the air with the large, curved, bladed claws on their forepaws.
"Get down you mongrel lizards. Stop showing off, and get movin'! Honestly, if these strike class dragons weren't so hard for others to track, I would never have used Grapplewings. Show offs!" He turned and spat at the feet of the other thief. They hopped on, and quickly disappeared into the night, leaving a small, glowing light flickering forlornly on the ledge the Grapplewings had just vacated.
The young viking stared after the retreating figures. Once they were out of sight, he turned and started the walk back into the Nursery. Taking inventory, he saw that there were two empty sacks sitting by entrance, and half of the eggs were missing. "So, they only go half of what they were planning to." He mused to himself out loud. No one else was there to hear him, so he just addressed the air with his thoughts. "The mothers would not be happy. This is supposed to be a safe place for the eggs to stay until the nests get chosen to be moved up to the hatchery." This warm, secluded cavern was were the dragons could now choose to lay their eggs. They could still migrate, or have them in a nest somewhere private, and raise them themselves, but most domestic dragons came here, leaving the eggs to become dragon partners. The eggs stayed in the nests, warm and safe, and ready to hatch when the time was right. Up in the hatchery, a floor above, small nests of the eggs of various species awaited being chosen by new dragon-riders-in-training. When all the eggs in a particular nest were chosen, a nest of the same species was moved from down in the nursery up to the hatchery, and the process started again. With the many recruits, it didn't take long, so the eggs never had long of a wait.
He walked towards the opposite side of the cavern, accidentally kicking something hard, and sending it sliding. He looked down, but couldn't see anything out of place. He quickly walked off, heading to tell the headmaster of the robbery. What was unknown to him was that the hard thing he had kicked was a dragon egg, dropped by the clumsy thief. His kick sent the egg rolling into a nearby nest, where the small, beautiful, leaf green egg came to rest in the middle of a clutch of pale blue, purple, and green eggs, all covered in spines.