Tales From Berk

Chapter One: The Approach

As the swarm of dragons flew towards their target, ready to snatch another night's worth of food for their master, one dragon flew behind, not out of a lack of speed, or cowardice, but because of it's own unique position within the dragon hierarchy.

This dragon, the one the vikings called "Night Fury" was not tasked with gathering food, like the others were. His job was to strike fear into the hearts of the vikings, to destroy their buildings and draw their attention, so that his fellows could gather more food for the master. Unlike the others, who were tasked to gather as much live food as possible, or else suffer their monstrous master's wrath, the Night Fury could return without even a mouthful of food without having to worry about becoming food himself.

He did not think these things, he simply knew them.

Although all species of dragon were capable of at least some degree of intelligent thought, they much preferred to rely on their instincts, particularly where vikings were involved. Those bloodthirsty brutes had killed many of their kind, and for what? Simply because they had taken one or two of their cattle? The dragon's instincts, passed down through countless generations, told them to be wary of all vikings, and to never let their guard down around them.

The black dragon snorted in defiance. How such soft, fleshy creatures, who needed to wrap themselves in metal just to fight, became such a threat to dragonkind was beyond him, despite the fact that his kind was the most intelligent of all the dragon species.

But thought was not required in what was to come. Action was. Fast, decisive action, the likes of which he had performed on countless nights before, and would doubtlessly do so in countless nights to come.

As the silouette of the vikings' island appeared over the horizon, the Night Fury shook himself out of his reverie. It was time to go to work.

To Be Continued...

(How to Train Your Dragon and all associated characters are the property of DreamWorks Animation.)