Toothless' back arched, and Hiccup whooped as they sped upside down and shot out of the loop. The boy's head hung back and he stretched out his arms as far as they could go, letting the wind glide between his fingers. Far below, Astrid and Stormfly skimmed the sea in an equal state of bliss, for that day, Berk was sunnier than it had been for months.
To those with creaky joints and sickly complexions, the air was balmy and tempting. The sky was patchy, but sunlight poked through the clouds and sparkled off a nearby waterfall. It trickled down from Berk's highest peak and dissipated as it fell to the sea, chilling the air with its spray.
Astrid and Stormfly swooped straight up, and the boys whizzed past them. To stay on their tail, Hiccup and Toothless had to make a sharp turn that almost took them into a rock pillar. Astrid cackled and gracefully banked toward the waterfall. Moments later, the boys caught up, and they all landed on the patchy ground beside the water.
"Tired already?" Hiccup teased, sliding off Toothless' back.
Astrid smirked and reached into her saddlebag. "Nope, just hungry." She took out an apple and tossed it to Hiccup.
While he fumbled to catch it, Astrid sat on the edge of the water with an apple of her own and took a giant bite. Stormfly began preening herself in the water's reflection, but was interrupted when Toothless slinked up beside her and shot his claws into the water. With a hiss, she recoiled from the splash, and Toothless sniggered. When Hiccup gave him a reprimanding stare, Toothless all but rolled his eyes as he bent his head to the water for a drink. From a safe distance, Stormfly did the same, periodically shooting Toothless wary looks.
Shaking his head and chuckling at Toothless' antics, Hiccup sat next to Astrid. He rolled the apple over in his hands as he admired the shimmering horizon, drinking in the crisp sea air. The view was one of his favorite parts of flying, and it was gratifying that he, Hiccup the Useless, bane of his father's existence, had been the first to see Berk from the air. Of course, these past few years, the chief had been using Hiccup's accomplishments as an excuse to load him up with more expectations.
Suddenly panicked at the thought of his father, Hiccup pawed at his chest. He lifted a gold pendant from beneath his shirt, sighing with relief.
"What's that?" Astrid scooted closer and craned her neck to see what Hiccup was holding. He handed it to her, and she held it close to her nose, running her fingers over its surface. Expertly engraved into the golden disk was an image of the god Tyr, who stood tall and wore a serene, dignified expression. He held a spear in his left hand, and his right hand was in a giant dragon's mouth, resting among rows of razor-sharp teeth.
"Wow," she breathed. "Did your father give this to you?" She turned to face him with raised eyebrows, and Hiccup nodded.
Earlier that morning, at the break of dawn, Hiccup was finishing up a spare tail in the forge. He was bent over his workbench, making some final adjustments to the tail, when Stoick marched in. After his purposeful entrance, his eyes roamed around the smithy for a moment before he greeted Hiccup.
"Mornin', son."
"Morning, Dad," Hiccup replied as he twisted one last bolt into place. He set the wrench to the side and stood upright, wiping sweat off his brow.
Stoick twiddled his thumbs and shifted his eyes again. "What's that you're working on?"
"This," Hiccup began with a satisfied grin, holding up the tail for his father to see, "could come in handy someday. If something happens to Toothless' prosthetic, I can just replace it with this one."
"Good, good thinking…" Stoick mumbled. When Hiccup's smile faded, he put a fist to his mouth and cleared his throat.
"Son, I came here because I want to give you something." He reached toward a gold chain around his neck and pulled the pendant over his head, straightening his back as he handed it to Hiccup. "This has been passed down from father to son for generations. In fact…" With twinkling eyes, he gestured to the pendant, his chest swelling. "…that goes all the way back to Hildir Horrendous Haddock."
"Hildir the Executioner? Didn't he impale over a thousand people during his five-year reign?"
Stoick shrugged and waved his hand. "Never mind that! Look at it!" He nodded toward Hiccup with an eager, ruddy face.
Hiccup looked. It was a striking relic, marred only by the dents and scratches of age. Any Viking chief would be proud to own this rendition of Tyr, whom they all strove to imitate. Feeling a twinge of uncertainty, Hiccup looked up at his father's hopeful expression.
"The one-handed god of war?"
Stoick nodded, beaming. "Lately, I've been thinking of you every time I look at that old thing. You're going to be chief someday, and…well, our family has always tried to follow Tyr's example."
Hiccup barely concealed a frown. He didn't like to think about being chief, much less the kind of chief that Tyr embodied: fearless, uncompromising, and victorious in war. While Hiccup knew that passing down this pendant was an honored tradition, he didn't think he could ever be that kind of Viking.
When Hiccup didn't say anything, Stoick clapped him on the back, then leaned in and whispered, "You're more like Tyr than you think."
"What, because we both lost limbs to dragons?" Hiccup retorted, squinting his eyes and rotating his shoulder back. He had grown tall in the past couple years, but he still wasn't thick enough to withstand his father's cuffs.
Stoick didn't answer. He eyed Hiccup for a moment, the corners of his eyes crinkling, before turning to leave. On his way out the door, he gave one last piece of advice: "Take good care of it, Hiccup. It's very valuable."
"Do you not like it?" Astrid gave the pendant back to him, and he stuffed it in his pocket.
"It's not that, it's just…it's amazing how we've all changed, and my dad has probably changed more than just about anyone." Hiccup turned and rolled his apple to Toothless, who poked at it with a claw and chuffed. "But sometimes, I turn around and he's back to doing things the old way." The boy put his hands on his thighs and pushed himself to a stand, looking toward the horizon with a drawn expression. "And I can't help but think that what Tyr represents is…the old way," he finished.
"Hiccup, the 'old way' makes us who we are." Astrid took one last bite and hurled her apple core into the sea. "Just because our dragon-killing tradition was wrong doesn't mean every tradition is."
She stood up, brushed herself off, and scanned the horizon, oblivious to his troubled expression. Hiccup knew she was right, but it was easy enough for her to defend the "old way." Astrid had always been a traditional Viking through and through. Hiccup, on the other hand, was as nontraditional as a Viking could be. Berk accepted him well enough as a dragon expert, but he wondered if they could truly respect him as a leader.
"So, what should we do next?" Astrid's question cut off his anxious thoughts. She placed her hands on her hips and cocked her head toward a giant rock pillar in the distance. "Fancy a lap around Freyr's Peak?"
The day's recreation distracted Hiccup from thoughts of chiefdom. By mid-afternoon, they had raced around Freyr's Peak, explored Berk's gravelly beaches, and were even chased from a Fireworm cavern by a surly Queen. When they played tag around the rocks near Berk, the dragons grew so excited that they accidentally left behind a trail of scorch marks. Hiccup had no reason to be unhappy, for the day reminded him how close spring was, but as evening approached, clouds blanketed the sky, and the wind picked up.
"I think we should go back!" Astrid called as the sky continued to darken.
Hiccup nodded his agreement, but just as they turned to leave, he reached into his pocket and froze. His hands scrabbled across his body, but he knew it was no use: the pendant was gone. He smacked his forehead with a groan. Of course he would lose a priceless family heirloom the same day he received it.
"Um, you know what? You just go back without me. I need to…check something," he piped.
"I don't know if that's such a good idea, Hiccup," she warned, pointing to the sky. The clouds were thickening by the minute. It looked like a storm was brewing, and a severe one at that.
"I won't be more than an hour, I promise." Astrid looked at him incredulously. As he and Toothless sped away, Hiccup cried, "I just really need to find something."
"If you're not back by then, I'm coming after you! Hey!" She hollered after them, but her words were lost on Hiccup as he and Toothless disappeared into the approaching clouds.
They had checked the waterfall and a couple beaches, and snow began to fall as Hiccup searched around Freyr's Peak. So far, he had found no clues to the pendant's location. The Fireworm cave and another beach were nearby, but the storm was already dangerously close, and Berk's lanterns were mere pinpricks in the distance. "It's probably at the bottom of the sea by now," he mumbled with a sigh, steering Toothless toward home.
He was wondering what he could possibly tell his father when a chilling gust sent shivers across his skin. The snow thickened until they could barely see the water below, and Hiccup rubbed his arms as the wind howled. Suddenly, a wall of rock materialized in front of them. With a yelp, Hiccup steered them hard to the right, but a blast of wind hit them on the side and drove them back. He clung to the saddle with white knuckles and grit his teeth as Toothless beat his wings and tail against the wind. Without warning, they pounded into rock and were knocked senseless, the world spinning around them as they tumbled forward in a dizzying descent.
Toothless roared and Hiccup dug his weight into the stirrups, feeling like his gut had been hallowed out. He twisted his head around to see what had happened, but there was too much wind, too much snow, and too much movement. The wind flung them around like ragdolls until the sea hit them like a rock.
How to Train Your Dragon © DreamWorks Animation and Cressida Cowell