"Ouch," Hiccup moaned softly, picking himself up out of the grass. Guess he still had a little work to do on the hammer swing he'd made. He turned slowly to see if anyone had happened to be around to see the massive stone hammer hit him square in the chest and knock him backwards. A pit grew in his stomach when a Monstrous Nightmare clambered over a pile of rubble nearby.
The beast gave a terrific roar that did its name justice. The young Viking wasted no time in taking to his heels – as best he could, at least. All the rubble on the ground made it difficult for him to move forward; the ground – charred bits of roof and nets – kept slipping out from under his feet as he ran. It was lucky for him that the dragon seemed a little put off by all the screaming and hollering he was doing. Leave it to me, he thought, to be found by a dragon in the one part of the island where I'm alone. He was hoping that the screaming and hollering would attract the attention of another Viking.
Stoick the Vast secured the last knot on the net, trapped under which were a handful of dragons that had almost made a meal of the village's shearing sheep.
An extremely familiar scream hit his ears, and sure enough, on the horizon, he could see Hiccup running back to Gobber's shop – with a Monstrous Nightmare on his heels. Stoick sighed heavily, then turned to his fellow Vikings. "Take care of them!" He pointed to the trapped dragons as he turned on his heels in a run towards the boy. The man ducked down to grab a set of bolas – at the rate the beast was gaining on his son, he'd need them to attack from a distance.
Hiccup staggered in the rubble he was climbing over. He could see the shop on the horizon line. He just had to keep going and he'd be home free before he knew –
Hiccup's ankles interlocked, sending him pitching forward to the dirt. He never hit the ground, however. Something had caught him and hauled him to his feet. Correction, he thought, something had caught him and hauled him off of his feet. He was vaguely aware of the giant talons that were wrapped around his upper arms, transfixed on how he was being lifted further and further off of safe ground. Wildly, he looked up to face the jaws of the dragon that had just begun carrying him off like a sheep.
Hiccup flailed and twisted, realizing two things about his efforts: it was useless. The dragon had too great a grip on him. But also, it was dangerous. Hiccup's foot had just scraped against the roof of the Mead Hall. He was more than four stories into the air. If he fell now, it would mean certain death.
Against the wind, he could hear his father's voice in the distance. "No! Not my son, you Devil!" he bellowed
Stoick hurled the grappling stones at the beast that was making off with Hiccup, aiming directly for its neck. By this point, Hiccup had screwed his eyes shut as tightly as possible, preparing for the stomach-churning drop that would occur after the stones hit the dragon. If Hiccup had been watching, he would have seen the stones flying towards the pair. If he'd been watching, he would have seen the roof of the Food Hall disappear from underneath his feet as the dragon gave one great swoop upward. If Hiccup had been watching, he would have known that he should have lifted his legs to avoid the grappling stones from hitting him. But Hiccup wasn't watching, not until he felt the stone hit his leg, felt the sharp crack and the searing pain as his leg broke. The boy gave a shout of pain that was drowned out by the dragon's final roar of triumph as it swopped downward, past the cliff that housed the Village.
Stoick watched as the dragon's tail disappeared over the cliff.
He'd missed. He'd missed, and Hiccup was gone.
Sorry its so short! D: