I'm having a little trouble with my other story, so I thought it would be a cool idea to start this one up. I got the idea for a series of stories while in Malta and I already have everything planned out for this first one, obviously involving the twins. Smile, everyone, it's new!

Unnngh...

Very slowly, she felt the blackness receding from her mind. She couldn't remember a thing before the darkness. Her moans sounded strange in her head, echoing and reverberating. Her head pounded and throbbed painfully. Tentatively, she opened her eyes.

Everything was blurred, the light stabbing her eyes. The sounds around her seemed to be drifting to her ears like they were blocked with wool. The smell of damp peat and grass suddenly hit her nostrils, sending a cold chill through her system and awakening her further. She was acutely aware of a loud buzzing hiss in her ears that slowly raised in tone, bringing the volume of the outside world up as it did so.

"uuunh..." Ruffnut rolled onto her back. She had no recollection of crashing, but that was the only explanation her muddled brain could present to her as she slowly began to wake up. Finally, she could see clearly, hear clearly and think clearly. "What happened...?" She groaned, reaching up to touch her head as the pain died away. She couldn't help but find it weird that she didn't feel any stiffness or injury in her body, save for the continuous throb of her head. Slowly sitting up and brushing herself down, she jabbed several points that she thought would be most likely to be hurt, but found nothing.

"Weird..." She breathed. Suddenly, the hair on the back of her neck stood up on end as she felt warm breath against her nape. Swallowing, Ruffnut turned nervously to find herself staring into the bright yellow eyes of a Deadly Nadder. The dragon squawked, peering at her first with one eye, then with the other. It was a dark blue in colour, the light glinting off the silvery patches on its skin. The Viking girl was instantly on her feet, hands up defensively, trying to stay in its blind spot, but she found it impossible when a second dragon, bright pink-purple, appeared behind the first.

The Nadders approached fearsomely, chirruping and growling. One bluffed its wings, trying to make itself look bigger. Ruffnut found herself retreating, backing away in fear. She took a second to look around herself. There was no sign of her brother or her dragon anywhere around. She was on her own.

Both dragons opened their mouths and roared, and Ruffnut turned tail and ran. She screamed as magnesium flame lapped at her ankles and pushed herself to run faster. Spines sank into the earth on either side of her and teeth snapped at her back and shoulders, but slowly, slowly, she was losing them. Her fear pushed her to run faster than she'd ever run before, her long strides eating up the soft ground beneath her.

The girl chanced a glance behind her, and seeing that the dragons had fallen quite a way back, she let out a cry of triumph. It was to be quenched as she skidded to a halt. Before her lay a long, sheer drop down hard, granite rock. She gulped. Before now, she had failed to notice how the ground was stepped all around her. She couldn't go around this drop. The wall-like structure spread right the way along the hillside, and there were more further up. The hill looked like a giant's podium.

With the Nadders closing in, she calculated her chances. She could try to run along the step, but the dragons would easily follow. No, there was nothing for it. She turned to face the drop, feeling sick to her stomach, and, with a gulp, stepped straight off.

The drop felt terribly long. Her stomach felt as though she'd left it at the top of the fall, but there was no going back now. She hit the ground, crumpled, and tried to roll over her shoulder, although she only managed to get half-way over. Lying dazed on her back, she stared up at the dragons who were teetering at the top, looking down at her.

"Ha!" She cried, jumping up and pointing at them. One simply spread its wings and glided down towards her. "Oh..."

"How did I forget that Nadders can fly?!" She screamed at herself as she shot like a bullet across the ground. The two dragons were hot on her heels, squawking loudly. One spine clipped her shoulder, throwing her off balance, but she quickly regained her feet and carried on. Her rapid, heavy breathing was becoming increasingly frantic, her throat dry and raw and every breath bringing pain. Trying to cough it away, she searched the ground for somewhere, anywhere where she could find shelter or escape. There was nothing.

She was suddenly, sickeningly aware that her joints were beginning to seize up, her muscles no longer obeying her wishes. She strained, but it was of no use; she just couldn't stop herself from slowing down. The Nadders were on her heels, one swiping at her with its dagger-like teeth.

"Oh gods... oh gods..." She choked, aware that there was now no escape. She was to be eaten alive by these wild dragons, and no-one would ever know about it. It would just be that one day she left and never came back. Still, the twin strained to remember how she crashed here, and still, her memory would not submit.

All of a sudden, she heard a sharp cry from across the hillock. She listened carefully, for there was another, and another. It didn't take long for her to recognise the voice as her brother's. She herself gave a shout, nothing intelligible, just a noise to tell him she was there. Her body found new strength, speeding up, just out of the reach of the dragons on her heels.

She saw him for a second before the creature behind him. Brilliant crimson and hot orange, the Monstrous Nightmare reared up, hissing, its great taloned wings reaching out to grasp her brother's shoulder, its mouth filling with vile, green gas, preparing to ignite. There was no time to exchange pleasantries; Ruffnut leapt forth and dived into her brother, knocking him to the ground before the fire raged forth.

Instead of hitting its target, the fiery substance spattered over the backs of the two unsuspecting Nadders. Enraged, they let forth their own volley of flame, and the quarrel of dragons quickly occupied them enough to make them forget the two Vikings clinging to one another in the grass below them.

As the fight moved away, the twins untangled their burning and infuriatingly uncooperative limbs, crawling finally aside from one another and taking a moment to catch their breath. Ruffnut curled in on herself, gasping for breath and yet not wanting to breathe for the pain it caused. It was made all the harder by the cloying phlegm that clung to her throat and blocked her airways. Lifting herself with shaking arms, she hawked and spat, freeing herself of the stifling sludge.

"Gross..." Was all her brother could say between gasps. She gave him a black look.

"Better than choking."

The twins were almost identical in appearance. They had the same long faces, the same platinum blonde hair, the same turned-up noses. Their stature was similar, lanky and thin, lacking any shape; if they stood quite still, perhaps they could be mistaken for posts or statues. Ruffnut again cleared her throat, stroking down her waist-length braids and brushing the dirt from her blue jerkin. Her brother shook out his long, yak-skin overcoat.

"Nice quick thinking, by the way." He drawled, glancing at his sister. "I wouldn't have thought of that."

"Thought of what?"

"Pulling me to the ground so the dragons fired at each other! Duh!"

"Oh, that!" The sister's voice was more gravelly than usual, still swallowing away the dryness in her throat. "I wasn't really thinking like that, I just couldn't stop running." She shrugged.

Above them, hanging unnoticed in the sky, a lone, white dragon played upon the breathing of the wind. Her skin was well camouflaged against the cloud bank; it was by far a bright day. A rider, dressed in pale riding gear, lay against her neck, a mask concealing their face.

"They're awake..."

Well, this is the first chapter, and it's here! Alone will now be updating every few days, so watch out!