I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Updates on Fridays when finished, Sundays possibly. No reviews, no updates. I won't poor myself into something to have it basically ignored.
This story will be one of the more serious ones around here, meaning mature language and possibly themes. I may edit those out.
It started with stories.
Mostly stories floated by Eret.
Hiccup generally ignored the stories, he had more important things than odd noises in the night. Being chief was hard, but not as hard as his father made it seem. The dragons curbed more problems than they caused but still, a hard day was what had Hiccup in the mead hall that night. And he had happened upon a night of seemingly tall tales.
"...'m tellin you, large than Cloud Jumper! Never seen anythin' like it!"
One of the men seated at the long bar waved a hand at Eret, who was seated two bar stools down from him with a genuinely concerned expression. He lowered his hands as the men around him chortled at his fairy tale, looking like a six year old among these burly men.
His face puffed for a moment and he grumbled. "It's real, I'm telling you! Out in Shimmermist Grove, saw it on patrol! Just cus you haven't seen it doesn' mean it ain't real."
Hiccup raised an eyebrow as a maid brought him a tankard of red grape silt. He wouldn't say anything, he would keep to himself. He was curious, but not looking to get into another debate. He had already had three, two with Astrid. She was getting ornery lately and she wasn't telling him why, saying he already knew. Hiccup shook his head and took a sip of his drink, he would never understand women.
"White as snow but eyes like the breath of a Bewilderbeast," Hiccup didn't miss the way Eret flinched at his words.
The King was still a tender spot, even all these months later. How many had it been? Seven? That felt right, Hiccup hadn't kept up, hadn't had the chance. Astrid wasn't the only one ornery, Toothless seemed agitated which meant more time in the sky. No time for rest, but it still made Hiccup smile.
He never thought he would be chief, at least, not a good one. But everyone praised him. He was doing good. It made him happy. With his mother around, things felt more complete. Not whole, just partial. As he took another slow sip, Eret caught his attention.
"Looked like Toothless but bigger!"
Now, why did that put a bad taste in Hiccups mouth? Before he could speak up, finally, one of the men taunted Eret and he finally looked furious. He slid from his stool and stomped towards the door, casting an anvry glance at Hiccup as he passed.
"Boy ain't right," One of the barkeeps muttered.
Agreements rang through the air before being replaced by idle cbatter. All the while, Hiccup stared into his tankard, running a slow finger around the edge of the metal container. Maybe he should have spoke up, talked to Eret...he shook his head and finished his drink, slipping out of the mead hall without anyone the wiser.
Eret was waiting for him, standing in front of the door to his house with an agitated expression. He met Hiccup at the foot of the stairs, staring at him down the length of his nose.
"You didn't say anything," was all he said.
He brushed past Hiccup after that, making Hiccup feel some what guilty. Why, he didn't understand, but he did.
That was the first night one of the dragons dissapeared.