Cover art by avannak (Tumblr)
All rights reserved to Dreamworks and the How to Train You Dragon Book Series by Cressida Cowell
Chapter 1
How I Cried Night Fury
HIKKA'S POV:
'This, is Berk, it's twelve days north of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death. It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery. If I had to describe my village in one word it would be sturdy. We've been here for seven generations and yet every building we have is new. Berk is the perfect vacation spot. We have hunting, fishing, and a lovely view of the sunsets. But we do have a slight pest problem, and they're not really that easy to get rid of. Other places may have mice or mosquitoes, not us. We have…'
I open my door and I'm greeted by the two heads of a Zippleback. One is already sparking its mouth before I slam the door behind me.
"Dragons." I let out sigh as I press my back against the door to keep myself from being incinerated.
'This is probably the thousandth attack this week. It's really just starting to get annoying at this point. Most sane people would probably leave this extremely dangerous death spot. Not us, we're Vikings, stubbornness is kind of our thing.'
I slowly open the door to check and see if the coast is clear before running outside across the charred battlefield.
'I should probably introduce myself. My name is Hikka Horrible Haddock, great name I know. Parents believe that a frightening name will scare off gnomes and trolls, though I think our sparkling Viking personality does that on its own.'
I'm suddenly thrown to the ground as a large Viking leaps on top of me screaming, with his axe raised.
"ARGHHHHH! MORNING!" he shouts in my face before running off to go punch a Gronkle in the face. I run up the wooden steps and try to ignore all the people who are shouting at me, telling me to go back inside. I'm just about to reach my destination when all of the sudden I feel a tug at the back of my shirt, and my feet lift off the ground.
"HIKKA?! What are-WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT?! WHAT SHE DOING OUT?! SOMEBODY GET HER BACK INSIDE!" the enormous red-bearded man shouts before he lofts me to the side like a sack of potatoes.
'That is Stoick the Vast. Chief of Berk. They say that when he was a baby he popped a dragon's head off with his bare hands. Do I believe it? Yes I do.'
Before I'm swept away I hear Stoick talking with another Viking about tonight's dragon turn-out.
"What have we got this time?" asked Stoick.
"The usual, Gronckles, Nadders, and I believe I heard Hoark mention he saw a Monstrous Nightmare." the Viking replied.
"Any Night Furies?" Stoick asked while casually brushing a piece of burning wood off his shoulder.
"None so far." The Viking replied.
"Good." Stoick said and that's the last I heard before being shoved into the Forgery.
"Nice of you to finally join us Hikka. I thought you'd been carried off." a brutish man with blond hair and a braided mustache shouted over the pounding of artificial hammer hand on the hot metal.
"Oh no how could anything lift up something so much muscular and raw Viking." a short, thin girl with short, curly blond hair sarcastically remarked from the sharpener.
"Oh ha ha how hilarious." I sarcastically replied while putting my hair up in its usual braid.
'Little Miss Smartass over there is Chickenlegs. She's been my closest friend since we were kids. She's smaller and skinnier than I am (though most of her thinness is bulked up with muscle) and yet she's still allowed to go outside during dragon battles. The big brute with the attitude and the interchangeable hands is Gobber. Chickenlegs and I have been his apprentices since we could almost lift an axe.'
"Don't you have some fires to put out or something?" I asked slightly annoyed.
"Oh don't sound so jealous it's only fires. It's not like we actually get to kill anything." Chickenlegs replied.
Suddenly a Monstrous Nightmare flies overhead and shoots a burst of fire at the closest house.
'And that we have so many new houses.'
"FIRE!" a panicking Viking shouts.
"That's my cue." Chickenlegs says excitedly as she heads bolts out of The Forgery to go get buckets of water with the others.
So on this rag-tag group of "fire fighters" is Chickenlegs, my cousin Slímloust, the twins, Tuffnut and Ruffnut, and…
My thoughts are interrupted as one boy (presumably the leader) goes up to the fire and throws a bucket of water on the fire. Right after he turns around a dragon shoots a fireball right behind him causing his shoulder-length blond hair to blow gorgeously around his face.
'Aren. Their job is so much cooler (and attractive). If I could just get out of this burning hot Forgery.'
I look around to see where Gobber was off to. I look out one of the windows to see him trying to wrestle a Nadder with his mace hand.
'Now's my chance to show them what I'm made of."
I lift myself up on the window sill and nearly jump out when suddenly something wraps around my waist and throws me back inside.
"Oh no you don't hot pants." Chickenlegs laughs as she helps me up.
"Oh come on, I need to go out and make my mark." I complain.
"I believe you've made plenty of marks, just not all in the right places." Chickenlegs joked as she began to sharpen a sword.
"Ha ha but I'm serious, please just turn your head for two minutes, I'll kill a dragon and my life will instantly get better. I might even get a date." I pleaded with my friend.
"Hikka you know I love you but you've got to be realistic about this. You can't lift a hammer. You can't swing an axe. You can't even throw one of these." Chickenlegs states matter-of-factly as she lifts up a pair of bolas.
"Fair point but this," I remark as I reveal my bolas hurler, "will throw it for me". I pat the hurler but it decides to freak out and hurls a bolas at a Viking's head, knocking him out.
"Ah yes another mark made." Chickenlegs sarcastically remarks.
"Shut up." I reply looking at the hurler. "It's just a calibration issue".
"Sure." Chickenlegs sarcastically agrees. Chickenlegs stops the sharpening wheel, but holds onto the sword. "Look Hikka, if you ever want to get out there, let alone kill a dragon you need to stop all of," she gestures to my hurler and me, "this."
"How dare you gesture at my bolas hurler." I respond with mock hurt.
"I'm serious Hikka, if you want to get out there then you've got to stop inventing things, and being, well, you." she explains.
"Gee thanks that really boosts my self-confidence." I mutter, stroking the hurler.
"You know I didn't mean it like that I just think you could do so much more if you just, stopped wanting to be a Viking and started acting like one. And that means no inventing." Chickenlegs explains, putting a comforting hand on my shoulder.
"FIRE!" a Viking screams from the distance.
"Ah yes my calling, I've got to go, just sharpen this sword and think about what I said." Chickenlegs kindly ordered as she handed me the sword and ran out of the Forgery.
I amble over to the sharpener with the sword weighting my hand and heave it up on the sharpener. As the sparks began to fly I let my thoughts wander.
'Stop inventing? That's ridiculous. There has to be another way. I'll figure it out and one day, I'll get out there. Because as I mentioned before killing a dragon means everything around here. A nice Nadder head will at least get me noticed. Gronckles are tough, taking down one of those will definitely get me a boyfriend. Zipplebacks are exotic, two heads, twice the status. And then there's the Monstrous Nightmare. Only the best Viking's go after those. That's because they have this nasty little habit of setting themselves on fire. But the ultimate prize is the dragon no one has ever seen. We call it the-"
My thoughts were interrupted by the incredible sound of a distinct high pitched whistling sound.
"NIGHT FURY! GET DOWN!" I hear a make Viking shout.
'This thing never steals food, never shows itself and…'
I drop the sword as I hurry to the window and look out to see one of the watchtowers spontaneously combust into a large explosion.
'…never misses. No one has every killed a Night Fury. That's why I'm going to be the first.'
Gobber suddenly rushes into the Forgery and talks as he changes his hammer to an axe.
"Hold down the fort Hikka, they need me out there." Gobber shouts over the clank of the metal. He turns around as he's about to the leave and looks me straight in the eye.
"Stay. Put. There. Here. In the Forgery. You know what I mean." he orders before he runs out of the Forgery screaming a war cry.
I calculate the situation. There's a Night Fury out there that I have the possibility of catching. There must be more than just the watchtower on fire now so that will keep Chickenlegs busy. Gobber can't pull himself away from a fight. I make my decision.
I grab the back of the bolas hurler and heave it up onto it's wheels. I roll it all the way to the edge of the village, ignoring the shouts of protests and people trying to wrangle me inside. I get to the top the point at the edge of the village and slam down the hurler. It opens up to reveal the crossbow that I modified to fold and unfold into the hurler. I unfold the crossbow and pull back the bow that is already loaded with bolas. I squint through the little metal ring I made for aiming.
"Come on," I whisper, "give me something to shoot at, give me something to shoot at." I plead to the gods over and over. I can hear it faint roars in the distance. They get louder and louder until I hear that distinct high-pitched sound again. There's a shot of from the sky that hit's another watch tower. As the tower explodes I see the black shadow of something. It's travels so fast across the sky that I can barely make it out. I aim the bolas hurler, close my eyes and shoot. My body is completely thrown by the recoil of the hurler, but I hear the bolas make impact with something. The black shadow screams as it goes down in the direction of Raven Point.
I throw my hands up in victory. "I hit it!" I shout victoriously. "Did anybody see that awesome shooting?!" I ask to the empty air.
Suddenly a Monstrous Nightmare rises from the edge of the point. It's so close I swear I could see the hunger in its yellow eyes.
"Except for you." I gulped. I turned tail and ran down the hill with my hands in the air and screaming at the top of my lungs.
I reached the bottom of the hill nearly getting incinerated twice by the dragon. I take cover behind one of the gigantic torches that lights up the sky so we can se the dragons. The Nightmare breathes a sea of fire at the thick post I'm hiding behind. I try to look over my right shoulder to check for the Monstrous Nightmare. I don't see anything, but boy am I so wrong. Little did I know that Nightmare had gone over to my left side and was only an inch from eating me.
Stoick the Vast leaps out of nowhere and kicks the Nightmare right in the face. This knocks the dragon off its guard and it stumbles blindly away from me. Stoick stands in front of the dragon's face, ready for a fight. The Monstrous Nightmare tries to shoot fire at Stoick but it only manages to spit out a few smaller globs of fire.
"You're all out of juice." Stoick growls before he punches the Monstrous Nightmare right in the face. Stoick manages to get a few more punches in before the Nightmare retreats into the rising sun.
'And there's one more thing you still need to know.'
The torch's mast was completely destroyed. The burnt wood was so weak that the torch collapsed on itself and rolled down the steps setting a lot of things on fire. I mean A LOT of things.
"Sorry, Dad." I apologize over my shoulder to Stoick. I watch as the dragons carry of most of our sheep. I frantically look over my shoulder at my dad again. "O-Ok but I hit a Night Fury." I stammered, not meeting his eyes. My dad picks me up by the back of my shirt and carries me off. I try and talk to him as he drags me along.
"It's not like the last few times, Dad. I mean I really actually hit it. You guys were busy and I had a very clear shot. It went down, just off Raven Point. Let's get a search party out there, before it-"
"STOP!" Dad yelled, stopping me from finishing my sentence, "just…stop." he sighed as he let me go. Now I know I did something really bad this time. He hates to yell at me, especially in public. "Every time you step outside, disaster follows. Can you not see that I have bigger problems? Winter's almost here and I have an entire village to feed!" Dad roared.
"Seriously, between you and me I think the village can use a little less feeding." I joke.
"This isn't a joke Hikka! Why can't you ever just follow orders?" Dad angrily asked.
"I can't stop myself. I see a dragon and I just have to…kill it, you know? It's who I am Dad." I stated, trying to reason with him.
"You are many things, Hikka. But a dragon killer is not one of them." Dad harshly snapped. "Get to the house." he ordered me. Then he pointed to Gobber, "Make sure she gets there. I have a mess to clean up." my dad thundered.
I made my way towards my house, closely escorted by Gobber. As we walked past the "Fabulous Five" they didn't hold back on their own comments.
"That was quite the performance." Tuffnut roared with laughter.
"Wow that was the biggest screw up I've ever seen." Slìmloust marveled mockingly.
"Thanks, you it was all so you little "fire fighters" so you would have more fires to put out." I sarcastically remarked, trying to play their comments off. I saw Chickenlegs slip away from the group. She walked up beside me and put her arm around my shoulder. We walked in silence until I got to the front door of my house. I grabbed the handle and then turned around to face Gobber and Chickenlegs.
"I really did hit one you know." I stated to Gobber. Chickenlegs sighed, seeing where this was going, and plopped herself down on one of the steps.
"Sure you did." Gobber sarcastically replied.
"He never listens to me." I complain.
"It runs in the family." Gobber remarks.
"I'm serious and when he does it's always with this disappointed scowl. Like someone skimped on the meat in his sandwich." I added. I try to muster up the best impersonation of my dad. "Excuse me, barmaid. I believe you've brought me the wrong offspring. I ordered an amazing warrior who kills dragons. Extra muscle on the side. This here, this is a talking chicken bone!" I exclaimed with my amazing impersonation.
"HA! Talking chicken bone! Good one Hik!" Chickenlegs laughed from the step. I roll my eyes at her.
"You're thinking about it all wrong. It's not what you look like, it's inside he can't stand." Gobber remarks.
"Thank you for summing that up." I sarcastically reply.
"What I'm trying to say is, just stop trying to be something you're not." Gobber firmly states.
"I just want to be one of you guys." I whimper, fighting back tears. I then go in the house and slam the door behind me. I walked over to the two chairs that were in front of the fire that we never put out in our house. I try to stop myself from crying but a few tears manage to slip out. I hear the door open and close and somebody walk in.
"Go away Gobber." I groaned.
"Really? Gobber? I have both my legs Hikka." Chickenlegs says in mock hurt as she sits in the chair next to me. "What's eating at you." Chickenlegs asked.
"You heard my dad, I'm not a dragon killer. And if I can't kill dragons what can I do? What am I?" I whimper. "I don't have all the answers Hik, I can't tell you who or what you are. Mostly because I tried to and you nearly got eaten by a Monstrous Nightmare. But whatever you are, whoever you are I'll stand behind you on it. Ok?" Chickenlegs asks.
"Ok." I agree. We sit in silence for a little bit. Watching the flames eat away at the logs and send sparks up out of the house.
"So did you really hit a Night Fury?" Chickenlegs asks.
"I think so." I admit, but I'm sure I hit it.
"Then what are you waiting for? Go find it." Chickenlegs insists.
"Really?!" I ask in disbelief. Chickenlegs looks me in the eyes, smiles, and nods. "What about the Forgery, Gobber will be expecting me sooner or later." I ranted.
"Do you want to go or not?" Chickenlegs asked.
"Yes!" I exclaimed.
"Then go! I'll come up with a good enough excuse, I promise." Chickenlegs laughed as she lifted me out of my chair and we walked to the back door. "Go! Be free my child!" Chickenlegs exclaimed as she shoved me out of the door.
I'm going to do it. I'm going to get that Night Fury.