Fan-Fic Fridays: The Secret Symbol - Chapter 32: Change in Perspective

The Secret Symbol

Chapter 32

Change in Perspective

         We have the final Dragon Eye lens, but without Garth’s housing for the one, we cannot do much.  Another thing, we have all the lenses now, but there are two lenses we do not know what they show on them.  Besides, all of the lenses are thin enough that all them can fit in the Dragon Eye lens to make one giant lens.  On the outside, it looks like we have all the pieces to open the door at that one island, however, we do not have all the information.  The more knowledge we possess, the better opportunity of success we will have against Vixxen and her vikings.  Hiccup is going to take back with him to Dragon’s Edge the Dragon Eye lens we found at Icestorm and keep it with him until we are ready to use all of the lenses.

         I mentioned to Hiccup that we should regroup and catch our breath before heading back to Dragon’s Edge.  Hiccup pointed out a large sea stack nearby, with a big enough plateau on top of it for all of our dragons to land.

         Upon landing, Lilah immediately came over to myself and Hiccup and said, “Thank you very much for saving me, for saving my dragon.  Thanks go to all of you.”

         Lilah rode with Dawn, but for some reason acted as if she had never seen Dawn before.  After Lilah had dismounted Fire Song, Dawn slowly dismounted.  Dawn’s eyes barely blinked and are opened wide in a blank stare.  It is like she is in another world and unaware of what is going on.  All she did to show she is aware of at least something, is she slowly rubbed her Sand Wraith’s chin with her right hand.

         Astrid put the question out in the open, “So, what were you doing that got on the bad side of Koll’s Cronies?”

         Lilah looked a bit caught off guard by that question, but only for a second, “Oh, well… I am a scavenger… of sorts.  Might go as far to say a miner as well.  Basically, anything I can find on any island I visit that would be worth trading or selling for a profit.”

         Cazi folded her arms, “So, you’re a Treasure Hunter?”

         “In a way,” Lilah tried to down play it.  “I do stumble upon a treasure here or there, but none to this point have been an overwhelming treasure worth a treasure to someone else.”

         I then asked, “So, are out here all by yourself?”

         “Not including my Adonis, yes, I am,” Lilah replied.

         “Where are you from exactly?” I continued.

         She answered, “I was born in the far north.  My tribe were great warriors.  But when there were no more wars to fight, our tribe nearly died off.  The wars we fought ravaged our home, so we decided to scatter throughout the archipelago.  I found my way to start a family.  What felt only like a little time, I lost them.”

         Annabeth questioned, “What happened to your family?”

         Lilah’s facial expressions sadden some as she explained, “After marrying, having a child, and then a second one, a war between a neighboring clan broke out.”

         Lilah took a breath, but before she could continue, Dawn spoke up, “Your husband, Alvin the Treacherous, feared for your safety and decided to send you and both of your children off to an allied clan.  However, your first child decided to stay with Alvin.  He was known too pleased,” Dawn paused to chuckle.  “Even though the rival clan decimated a lot of Outcast Island, hardly any lives were lost.  He was glad his one daughter was there to fight by his side.  He decided to let her stay while the war still raged on.  Most of the battles after that were fought at sea.  Yet, after a year or two, the battle subsided and were quite infrequent for many years after that.  I often would sail on fishing trips to see my sister, but then the day came that we all feared would come.  The day when our enemy would strike again.”

         “But, they did not strike where we thought they would.  They struck our allied friends… the clan of which my sister was living with.  We all thought they would try to attack Outcast Island again, but we were so wrong.  While most of our vikings were ready for attack from Outcast Island, no attack ever came.  Our enemy literally burned to the ground our allied friends’ farms and homes,” Dawn still stared at the ground; we could all see a couple tears had streaked down her cheeks, one on each side.

         “I was on a fishing trip to go see Annabeth.  But on our way there, we stumbled upon the Berserker attack.  Before we could decide to leave or fight, we were involved in the fight anyway.  After the fishing ship was destroyed and the crew either captured or still fighting, I swam the rest of the way to shore to find my sister and her adopted family.  Her house was burned to the ground, no trace of her family, nor her dragons she was raising, and no trace of Annabeth.  The Berserkers in their arrogance retreated when the battle was still not over, but the damage had been done.  The whole clan, wiped out.  They never saw it coming.  But with no island to call their own, the rest of the people scattered and moved on to other things.”

         Dawn finished, “I returned to my father and found the news had already reached him.  The loss of his of his adopted daughter and his wife broke his soul.  From then on, he was a changed viking.  The father I knew, was no more.  Not long after that did I decide to leave on my own.  Wanting to leave my past in the past and forget it, I moved on.”

         Dawn looked up as she saw Lilah looking at her with tears in her eyes as Dawn concluded the story, “But now I see the light.  As much as I thought I wanted to forget my past, the more I wanted it back.  Then after a few years, I found my long-lost sister.  And now…”

         She trailed off as she ran towards Lilah, who knelt down to hug her daughter.  Dawn broke down and cried in her mother’s arms.

         Annabeth started to cry, well we all did… even if some of us did not want to admit it.

         While Lilah knelt, she pulled her daughter back to see her face.  Using both of her thumbs, she wiped Dawn’s tears away.

         Lilah is crying too, but she managed to say, “I will never let anything happen to you.”

         Dawn laughed as her mother stood up, “Only if there is anybody left standing for you to fight.”

         “Ah, there’s the Dawn we were missing,” I declared wiping the tears from my eyes.  “Oh, man.  So much ‘mushy’ stuff.”

         Everyone chuckled.

         Annabeth walked over to Lilah and gave her a hug as well.

         Lilah told Annabeth, “Even though you are not my own, you have always been and will be a part of my family.”

         Annabeth added, “Thank you.  I don’t remember much of you, but I knew you had an important role in my life.”

         Lilah gave a big sigh and said, “Oh, I haven’t cried this much in years.”

         “I haven’t seen Snotlout cry this much either,” Astrid poked fun.

         “Cry?  Tears?” Snotlout called her on statement.  “These aren’t tears!  Can’t see I have an allergy here?”

         Cazi quipped, “Oh, yes, how could we forget this, Astrid.  He’s allergic to any emotions.  In fact, he has probably been drained of any to show, so he couldn’t have been crying.”

         “Exactly,” replied Snotlout and then he realized what she just said.  “Wait, what?”

         Everyone smiled and some laughed.

         “Alright,” Lilah stated.  “We need to talk, Dawn.”

         Lilah turned to walk to her dragon, but Dawn instead said, “Wait, mother.”

         She halted and turned around, “What is it, Dawn?”

         “What you have to say,” Dawn paused as ran her left hand through her hair on that side.  “You can… you can say in front of everybody.  I have nothing to hide and they are… they are my friends.  I would trust them with my life.  I haven’t always been the best person to deal with, but they have put up with me and taught me how to train and ride a dragon.  They have taught me many more things, even if I haven’t let on that I was paying attention.”

         Lilah grabbed her daughter’s head with her left hand, stroked Dawn’s hair, and settled it on Dawn’s right shoulder, “I was hoping you were going to say that.”

         “What is it that you are going to say?” I asked.  “Does it have something to do with the secret lenses and the symbols they show.”

         “Yes,” Lilah became serious. “I’m not sure how deep all of you are in this, but let me tell you this.  This is much bigger than any of you.”

         Hiccup said, “Jarl and his friends have been doing the heavy lifting for this mystery; that is what he and his friends are good at doing:  Solving mysteries.  We,” Hiccup pointed to his gang, using both of his arms.  “Have only been assisting when they need it.  We do have our own problems to deal with, but Jarl and them are more than capable of handling it themselves.  Still, we are ready to help when we can.”

         “Okay,” answered Lilah as she started.  “This land I speak of that is to the far north used to be the home of a massive dragon, an Alpha dragon.  An Alpha is no ordinary king or queen dragon.  I once heard someone say, ‘The one that controls the Alpha, controls them all.’  But, if you treat an Alpha like you would treat any dragon, you don’t have to control an Alpha.  They will protect you because it is a dragon’s instinct to do so.”

         Hiccup questioned, “You say, ‘used to.’  What happened?”

         “Those wars I spoke of,” Lilah continued.  “When you have the protection of an Alpha, your clan and your island will prosper.  In all areas, will this prosperity come.  We did not waste this prosperity, we put it to good use.  The inventions we made, the creations we crafted… Architecture, Science, Mathematics… all areas of all walks of live… all of it was a sight to see.”

         “But you always speak in the past tense,” I pointed out.

         “With such prosperity,” Lilah said.  “Comes the threat of those wanting to take it.”

         Hiccup stated, “The wars.”

         “Yes,” Lilah nodded.  “Many lifetimes before my own, our vikings fought against rival clans as well as dragons.  This war dragged on for ages.  Losses so great on all sides that it is a wonder any side still existed.  There were times where truces were declared to let everyone repair and heal, but those times were always so short.”

         “One day, a scout came upon the island home to the Alpha dragon,” Lilah spoke.  “When the viking found the Alpha, he fled fearing for his life.  However, when a major sea battle was pushed by winds near the Alpha’s island, for a reason unknown to my great, great grandfather -who was that scout- the Alpha rose up and came to my great, great grandfather’s aid.  Our enemy fled in terror, but my great, great grandfather saw the dragons in a different light.  Seeing the protection of the Alpha as a means to protect his clan, he brought the entire clan to that island to settle.”

         “Even though they were invading on the Alpha’s home,” stated Lilah.  “If you respect power, power will respect you.  The knowledge of the Alpha’s protection spread like wildfire among the isles.  This one single act stopped the war in its tracks, bring peace to many clans and tribes for generations.”

         Hiccup interjected, “Until yours.”

         “Yes,” she answered.  “Every few generations, the Alpha would bring forth an offspring to continue its rein, but only one.  It became our clan’s duty to protect the offspring.  The Alpha that was around in my generation was advanced in years, but still wise and crafty.  As the Alphas before him, they knew that their offspring needed protection.  While a full-grown Alpha can fend for itself with might, power, and strength, a new born Alpha is one of if not the most fragile and dependent dragon as a new born.  Each Alpha knew that without my clan’s help, their future legacy would be in danger, especially if the Alpha was not around.”

         “We all thought that our greatest enemy would be those who were outside looking in.  These we had fought for generations.  But, it was one of our own that caused the downfall of an entire clan,” revealed Lilah.  “Her name is Grunna Vixxen.”

         “Vixxen?!” I could not help but echo.  “Does she have any relation to Thorgunna Vixxen?”

         Lilah’s face looked grim, “You are even deeper than I thought.  Thorgunna Vixxen is her Dragon Hunter name.  Adding the name of Thor to anyone’s name denotes power and strength to that person.  It is something said person has to live up to, but how they go about doing so is who this person will become.”

         “Grunna Vixxen was one of the elite Honor Guards who are bestowed with the most important duty of my clan, the protection of the Alpha and its heir,” said Lilah.  “When the choice between duty and having power for yourself comes your way, be wise in the choice you make because it could define your life and change those around you.  Grunna, or by the name you guys know her as, Thorgunna Vixxen, has always been as you know her now.  It was just then she had a sense of honor and duty.  But as the prestige of being in the Honor Guard inflated her ego, she began to take power for herself.”

         “When talk started circulating that the Elders of the clan were going to basically throw Grunna out and ban her from every being in the Honor Guard again, Vixxen took matters into her own hands and somehow contacted our enemies to ambush us on our own island.  Such treason was found out by yours truly.  When I reported to my commanders, not only was banning Vixxen brought up but making her an Outcast was too.  That broke Vixxen to the core,” Lilah paused.

         “But what would you do if you knew your best friend was trying to betray your own clan, your own family?” Lilah got worked up a bit with that, but immediately calmed down to go on.  “My commanders thought that making Vixxen an Outcast and exiling her from our midst was going to solve the problem.  It only made it worse.  Even though I was the one that reported Vixxen, I did try to reason with those above me that doing this was only going to lead us to trouble.  But by the time they realized that, it was too late.  Vixxen wanted her revenge.”

         “To make a long story short,” Lilah concluded.  “Vixxen and her new allies attacked, but we held our own… until our Alpha fell.  Vixxen did not make the killing blow herself, but she told our enemies how to defeat it.  After that point, our clan gave up hope and nearly surrendered at that moment.  The rest of the Honor Guard drummed strength and the fight in others to defend our home, but within minutes, we all knew the fight was already lost.  Vixxen and our enemies were just too well equipped to be defeated.  So, those that were left of the Honor Guard retreated to our Hall of Honor to decide what to do.  Those that were left on the island were commanded to scatter throughout the archipelago and some even further.  They were told to leave this life behind and make a new one for themselves.  However, they were reminded that if the call ever came to defend our island again, we were supposed to answer that call.  And in answering that call, bring back with us any allies we could to defeat and restore our clan.”

         While Lilah has been talking, Dawn looked on in shock and angry.  Some of Dawn’s reactions told me that some of this Dawn is hearing for the first time.

         Dawn asked, “So what happened to your home?  What happened to all of your marvels that your clan had created?”

         Dawn’s look also said that she already knew what the answer is going to be, Lilah replied, “Gone.  What vikings had built up over many generations, gone in an instant.  The only things we escaped with is what we had on us or with us as we sailed away in defeat.  To satisfy Vixxen’s ego, she ‘let’ us ‘escape’ to show us she ‘cared.’  As if, she did that just because to let us be humiliated in defeat.”

         Cazi then asked, “What happened to the Alpha’s heir?”

         “Well,” Lilah spoke more upbeat.  “We all were assigned duties while we scattered, each to specific task that if got called we could come together at a moment’s notice to complete our job.  Someone was assigned to take and care for the Alpha.”

         “If I’m not assuming too much,” said Cazi.  “The Alphas that your island has had are very large in size, no?”

         “Oh yes,” she exaggerated her answer.  “That would be putting it mildly.”

         Hiccup then asked, “So, how long a have you been waiting for the call?”

         Lilah just looked at Hiccup, as if he asked a stupid question, “That is a very subtle way of asking a woman, ‘How old are you?’”

         Realizing that he did, he was about to say something, “Oh, I’m just teasing.  I’ve actually lost track of how many years it has been, but it has been long enough for me to be in the Honor Guard in the ‘prime of my life’, travel the archipelago, start a family, have one daughter, adopt another, and have both of them grow to the ages they are today.  So, in other words, I am old… but not so old I’m your granny, but old enough to… well… be your mother.”

         To that, everyone laughed and mounted their dragons.  Questions were continued to be asked as we made the return trip back to Dragon’s Edge, but they were really rehashing out some of the details that have already been said.

         I do not know about the rest of the group, but I am having a variety of feelings now.  We now have a backstory to go with Vixxen.  We now have a backstory to go with Dawn with some extra details with Annabeth.  We now know more about what Vixxen is after or at least generally speaking.  But what is making me think more than anything is the magnitude of this mystery.  I always knew for the start of finding the first unique Dragon Eye lens and then finding what it had on it, this mystery was going to be big.  But just how big is big?  The further I try to solve this mystery, it seems like the more I have only scratched the surface.  What is going to happen next?