The Headless Dragon Rider

A/N: This is based on Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," my favorite story ever put to print. I hope you enjoy it. :)

"Scratch, scratch… 'Who stole my golden hook?' Scratch, scratch… And you turn around, and he says, 'You did!'"

Tuffnut finished his story by pointing wildly at Toothless, who stared back with un-amused eyes. In fact, a quick glance over the people and dragons gathered around the campfire confirmed that no one seemed particularly impressed with the ghostly tale they had just been treated to. Ruffnut rolled her eyes at her twin's antics. Snotlout yawned theatrically. Even Fishlegs, who was easily frightened, looked more irritated by the story's multiple plot holes than freaked out. Astrid was leaning her head against Hiccup's shoulder, and they both wore the same half-exasperated, half-amused expression.

"Ooh, tough crowd," Tuffnut remarked, sitting back down on the log beside his sister.

"No, just a bad story," Astrid returned. Hiccup grinned, though that may have been because her hand was clasped firmly in his own, something he never grew tired of.

Snotlout noticed their joined hands and smirked. "Hey Astrid, if you're scared you can always come cuddle next to me."

Hiccup glared at him and opened his mouth to tell his cousin to stop hitting on his girlfriend, but Astrid beat him to the punch. She scoffed and said, "That's the scariest thing I've heard all night."

Hiccup chuckled and gave her hand a quick squeeze. She turned her head up to him and smiled, a look reserved for him only. For a moment Hiccup admired the way the campfire's glow reflected in her eyes, making them dance and shimmer. Not for the first time, he thanked the gods he was lucky enough to call her his own.

Snotlout ignored the Viking girl's retort. "Aw, come on, Astrid," he persisted. "I've gotta be more comforting than Hiccup! I mean look at him! He's skin and bone! What you need is someone with muscle, someone who can protect you from harm! Oh, and having both legs would be a plus," he added with a smirk.

Hiccup glowered. He hated being reminded that he was the skinniest Viking on Berk, and he hated the reminder of his missing leg even more. Astrid, perhaps feeling him stiffen beside her, came to his defense. "I feel perfectly safe with Hiccup, thank you very much. It's you who should be worried for his safety, Snotlout. Keep this up and you'll end up with an axe in your head."

Snotlout scoffed. "Puh-lease! We all know that I'm bigger, faster, and stronger than anyone else around this fire!"

Hiccup suddenly grinned. "Careful, Snotlout," he said quietly. "With a head that size, you make yourself an easy target for the Headless Dragon Rider."

All eyes turned to him, some in surprise (Snotlout), some in confusion (the twins), and some in sudden unease (Fishlegs). Astrid glanced up at her boyfriend again and tried unsuccessfully to conceal a smirk.

"That old fairy tale?" Snotlout laughed. "Oh please, Hiccup. Is that the best you've got?"

"Yeah, is that the best you've got?" Tuffnut echoed in his best tough-man voice.

"Do you even know what he's talking about?" Astrid asked him.

"Not at all," Tuffnut replied, and Ruffnut shook her head.

"Why don't you enlighten them, Astrid?" Hiccup suggested, his gaze never leaving Snotlout. "Remind them why we should be afraid of the Headless Dragon Rider."

Astrid grinned and straightened. "With pleasure."

There was a pause while she gathered her thoughts. All around the campfire, the teens leaned in expectantly. Even the dragons straightened with interest. Toothless cooed softly, and Hiccup placed a hand on his forehead purely out of reflex.

"The Headless Dragon Rider was a rogue Viking that lived on Berk before even our ancestors first sailed here," Astrid began, deepening her voice to increase the creep-out factor. "He lived all alone on this island, and it was said that he was insane. He was actually the first Viking to ever ride a dragon: he conquered a Night Fury and used him to fight against anyone who dared challenge him."

All eyes flicked to Toothless, whose ears perked at the mention of his race. Hiccup scratched him under the chin affectionately.

"Well one day, in the middle of a terrible thunderstorm, a ship landed on the shores of Berk" Astrid continued. "It was filled with Vikings looking for new lands to inhabit. The island seemed deserted so they thought it would be a good place to settle. But the Dragon Rider was watching them, enraged that these fools would invade his territory and determined to make every last one of them pay.

"He attacked the Vikings' camp in the dead of night, riding his Night Fury and screeching at the top of his lungs. In the confusion and chaos that followed—"

"Confusion?" Tuffnut interrupted gleefully.

"Chaos?" Ruffnut intoned in awe.

"Awesome!" they chorused together.

"Shh!" Fishlegs hissed. "Don't interrupt!" He turned back to Astrid, his eyes wide and jaw slack, totally engrossed in the tale as if he'd never heard it before.

"Thanks, Fishlegs," Astrid said, glaring at the twins. "In the middle of the chaos and confusion, many Vikings were killed. But the survivors banded together and fought to bring the Dragon Rider to his knees. They shot him down with a well-aimed arrow. He fell from his dragon, who flew away, never to be seen again. And then…" Astrid leaned forward dramatically. "The downed Rider was surrounded. He tried to fight back but his wound slowed him down. He was killed when the chief of the new tribe took his axe and cut the Rider's head clean off his shoulders with a single blow. They buried his body in these very woods." She gestured at the trees around them. Fishlegs squeaked nervously. "The head rolled away and fell off the cliff into the sea. It was never found.

"Now according to legend, the spirit of the Headless Dragon Rider rises from his grave at night to search for his lost head. He flies on his ghostly Night Fury all over this island, and it is said that if you listen closely, you can hear the sound of the dragon's wings beating in the silence of the night. Beware the Headless Dragon Rider! For if he finds you, he may decide to take your head to replace his own."

Finished with the tale, Astrid leaned back and observed her friends' reactions with satisfaction. The twins were, for once, silent in awe. Fishlegs was trying to look nonchalant but unable to still his trembling. Even Snotlout, despite his best efforts, looked a little unnerved. Only Hiccup seemed unaffected. He continued to stroke Toothless absently, gazing at Astrid with a small smile on his face, though his eyes flickered to his cousin from time to time.

Snotlout finally broke the silence with a laugh. "The Headless Dragon Rider's just a myth!" he insisted, looking around at the others. "A story told to little kids to scare them. There is no headless ghost riding about on a dragon, I mean come on—"

"He's real," Hiccup spoke up, his face impassive. Everyone turned to look at him.

"Oh yeah?" Snotlout retorted, crossing his arms. "And how do you know?"

Hiccup paused in his attentions to Toothless. "Because I've seen him."

There was a collective gasp from around the fire. Astrid had to raise a hand to cover her lips, which she couldn't stop from quirking upward. She had caught her boyfriend give her the barest of winks.

"You…you've seen him?!" Fishlegs breathed.

Hiccup nodded. "Yep."

"Did he take your head?" Ruffnut asked excitedly. Astrid gave her an are-you-serious? look and rolled her eyes.

"No he didn't," Hiccup replied as if the question were perfectly ordinary.

"And how exactly did you manage to escape him?" Snotlout asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

Hiccup grinned and leaned forward. "Well, a few weeks ago Toothless and I were taking a late-night flight around the island. We had to make an emergency landing not too far from here because Toothless' tailfin was worked loose. As I was fixing it, I thought I kept hearing a strange noise, like the growling of a dragon, but I tried to ignore it. I figured it was a wild dragon that was nervous about me being there, and I thought the faster I fixed the tailfin and got back in the air the better.

"Well Toothless suddenly stiffened and started growling. I looked around to see what was the matter and saw a black shape in the darkness between the trees. I couldn't see what it was at first, but it stepped into the moonlight, and then I could see that it was a man on the back of a Night Fury. And the man had no head."

Fishlegs caught himself leaning forward in mingled terror and excitement, while the twins exchanged looks of awe. Even Snotlout couldn't conceal his interest. Astrid still fought to keep her smile from showing. She had to hand it to Hiccup: he sure knew how to sell the story.

"I was terrified," Hiccup continued. "I knew the story of the Headless Dragon Rider and knew that he would try to take my head. So I hopped on Toothless and we took off as fast as we could. I looked back and saw that the ghost was following us. Now you all know how fast Toothless is." He paused to scratch his dragon's chin. Toothless rumbled happily. "But this ghost was just as fast, maybe even a little faster. He stayed on our tail, never falling behind and never gaining.

"I knew what we had to do: we had to get back to the village. The Dragon Rider never ventures near the place where he was killed. If I could just get back home, Toothless and I would be safe. So I urged Toothless as fast as he could go, hoping and praying to all the gods that his tailfin would hold out until we were safe. I kept glancing back to see the Rider just behind us. I could see the stump of his neck…" He shivered theatrically, and Astrid had to bite her tongue to stop from laughing. Hiccup was clearly relishing his peers' undivided attention.

"We finally got within sight of Berk," he continued. "I glanced back one more time to see if the Rider had vanished."

"And had he?" Fishlegs asked breathlessly.

Hiccup shook his head. "No. He hadn't. He had come to a stop in midair. His dragon let out a wild screech…I've never heard anything like it before or since. And then the Rider and his dragon were both engulfed in blue flames: Night Fury fire. I blinked, and the next second they were gone."

Hiccup settled back on his log, eyes roaming from face to excited face. Even Snotlout was open-mouthed in wonder.

"That's quite a story," Astrid said, and Hiccup grinned over at her.

"Yeah," Fishlegs agreed, shivering and glancing at the woods around them fearfully.

Predictably, Snotlout tried to cover his unease by snorting. "Yeah, whatever," he said flippantly. He yawned. "Your story was so exciting it put me right to sleep."

Rather than looking offended or disappointed, Hiccup merely raised his eyebrows in amusement. "Really? I wouldn't fall asleep here if I were you, Snotlout. You never know where the Headless Dragon Rider might appear."

Snotlout puffed his chest out, hoping to make himself appear impressive and intimidating. Astrid covered up her laugh with a snorting cough. "I'm not afraid of that old spook!" he declared.

"Want to put your money where your mouth is, Snotlout?" Hiccup said lightly. "I dare you to spend the night here. Alone."

Fishlegs gasped and Tuffnut said, "Whoa!" Snotlout blinked in surprise but quickly rearranged his features into a cocky grin.

"Yeah? No problem."

Hiccup chuckled and stood up. "Very well then, Snotlout. We will see you in the morning…if, of course, the Rider doesn't get you."

He climbed onto Toothless' back, waved cheerily at his cousin (who, to his credit, kept a brave face through all this), and took off. Astrid, Fishlegs, and the twins followed him, leaving Snotlout and his dragon Hookfang quite alone.

The moment his friends were gone, Snotlout visibly deflated. "I'm not afraid," he told himself, but his voice lacked its usual confidence and swagger. Hookfang gave him a look that said quite clearly that he wasn't convinced.

The wind picked up and Snotlout shivered, shifting a little closer to the campfire. "Stupid Hiccup and his stupid stories," he muttered under his breath. Then he frowned. "I wonder if he really did see the Rider…" He shook his head as though to clear it. "Pft! Of course he didn't! He made it all up to scare me. Well it won't work, Hiccup. I'll show you! I'll spend the night here and when I come back to Berk tomorrow I'll have the last laugh!"

Hookfang, as usual, ignored his rider's ranting and settled down on the ground nearby, closing his eyes. Though he would never admit it, Snotlout was uneasy to see his dragon go to sleep. With Hookfang awake, he at least could reassure himself that he had some means of defense (not that he needed it, he quickly amended), and the Monstrous Nightmare, stubborn though he was, did make a good companion. With him asleep, Snotlout suddenly felt more alone than he ever had in his life.

He shivered, a motion that had nothing to do with the night chill, and lay down in an attempt to fall asleep himself. But every time he closed his eyes, the details of Hiccup's story returned to haunt his imagination, and he had to open them again to make sure there was really nothing out there preparing to attack. After fifteen minutes of failing to doze off, he sat up again with a sigh, focusing on the campfire.

For over an hour he sat there, keeping his eyes on the dancing flames and determinedly thinking about anything but the ghostly story Hiccup had told. Even as the fire began to die out and only smoldering embers remained he kept his eyes forward. He wished Hookfang were awake: he could reignite the fire. But he knew from experience that the dragon was almost impossible to wake, and if he dared attempt it he would likely end up losing his eyebrows.

He lost track of how long he sat before the remains of the fire, but at one point he heard a soft noise and finally tore his eyes away from the ashes, his heart missing a beat. The woods around him were dark, and it was impossible to see anything that might be lurking in the shadows of the trees. "H-hello?" he called, his voice wavering slightly. "Is anyone there?"

No one answered him.

A thought occurred to him (which in and of itself was a small miracle): what if Hiccup and Astrid were out there, trying to scare him? He sat up straighter and said with all the bravado he could muster, "I know you're out there, Hiccup! You can't scare me with your stupid stories! You're wasting your time, so you might as well come on out and admit defeat!"

Nothing. No stifled giggling, no restless shifting of feet, no hushed whispers. Not a sound to indicate that anyone was watching him. Snotlout's sudden surge of bravery vanished as quickly as it had come. "Guys?" he said, scanning the forest for any sign of his friends. "Cut it out. It's not funny."

There was no response.

"Did I imagine it?" Snotlout asked himself aloud, but no sooner had he considered this did he hear something again: the quiet rustling of leaves being disturbed by moving feet. BIG moving feet.

And then something stepped out from the tree line.

At first it was impossible to see what it was. All Snotlout could make out was a huge, hulking outline. It didn't look like any animal he'd ever seen, yet there was something oddly familiar about it. There was something vaguely human-esque about the top portion of the figure, but the bottom was far too wide and massive…

…and those two huge green glowing orbs were definitely not human…

Then the clouds shifted, and moonlight illuminated the scene. The figure was a man dressed in black armor, complete with a black cape that draped down over the back of the dragon he was riding. Two green eyes glowed in the darkness, their pupils narrowed into slits, and a faint growl echoed in its throat.

But by far the most alarming feature of this pair was the rider's head, which was notable only in its absence. With a thrill of horror, Snotlout realized that the rider's outline ended at his shoulders. Above that there was merely empty space. The dragon shifted restlessly, and the rider raised one hand. Snotlout's terror only increased at this, for in the man's upraised palm was a small, rounded shape. A head.

"Oh gods…" Snotlout breathed.

The silence was destroyed when the Night Fury shrieked, a sound that sent a chill running down the young Viking's spine. Snotlout lurched to his feet and nearly tripped as he ran to where Hookfang slumbered on. "Hookfang!" he screamed, deciding a pair of burnt eyebrows was preferable to losing his head. "Hookfang wake up! We have to get outta here right now! Wake up, you useless, overgrown lizard!"

Hookfang opened one bleary eye and glared at his rider. Then his gaze flickered to the newcomers and he blinked in confusion. The Night Fury chose that moment to rear onto its hind legs, spreading its wings and screeching, a threatening blue light glowing in its throat as it prepared to fire a plasma blast.

Hookfang woke up pretty quickly after that. He spread his own wings, giving Snotlout only seconds to leap onto his back before taking off into the sky. Looking back, Snotlout saw the Headless Dragon Rider urge his dragon upward as well. He was pursuing them, and the ghostly Night Fury was far faster than the Monstrous Nightmare. "Faster, Hookfang, faster!" Snotlout yelled, and for once the dragon listened to his rider, putting more effort into beating his wings as fast as they could go. They put a little distance between themselves and the Rider, but not much. And glancing back, Snotlout rather thought that the ghost was holding back, not pushing his dragon to its top speed. Was he toying with them…?

His musings were interrupted when Hookfang made a sharp turn toward the cove. Snotlout's heart missed several beats. The cove was in the opposite direction from the village, and Hiccup had said that the Rider never ventured to the village. So that meant (his brain was starting to hurt from thinking so hard) going to the cove was a bad idea. "No!" he cried. "Not that way! We have to get back to the village! We'll be safe there!" He pulled on Hookfang's horns but the dragon ignored him, choosing instead to try outrunning the specter. Snotlout looked behind him and saw, to his dismay, that the Rider was gaining on them.

The Night Fury roared and let out a blast of blue fire. Snotlout yelped and ducked. The burst of flame hit a nearby tree, leaving a scorching hole in its trunk. Hookfang jerked reflexively and swerved, narrowly avoiding colliding with an outcropping of rock that appeared out of nowhere. Snotlout tugged on Hookfang's horns, urging to dragon to rise above the forest. He turned his head, searching for the village.

There! He could just make out the forms of the collected huts and shops he called home. He had never been gladder to see Berk in all his life.

His relief was short-lived. The Night Fury roared again, and another plasma blast shot over his head. He screamed and urged Hookfang faster toward the village. "Come on, Hookfang!" he yelled. "We can make it! We'll be safe once we reach Berk! We're almost—"

Another plasma blast shot over their heads, and Hookfang shrieked in terror, diving down to avoid further attacks. Snotlout was nearly unseated by the sudden move and cried, "What are you doing?!" He tugged on the dragon's horns but got no response as the Nightmare dove into the trees, weaving this way and that, dodging trees and boulders in a desperate attempt to put some distance between themselves and their pursuers.

Snotlout looked back again and saw that the Headless Dragon Rider was right on their tail. He could see the glowing green eyes of the dragon, the slit pupils glaring malevolently at him. He saw the Rider's cape billowing out behind him. He saw the severed head held aloft in the Rider's hand and could easily imagine the evil leer on its face as the ghoul closed in on its prey.

The Night Fury's mouth glowed blue again, and Snotlout screamed, "UP!" and tugged on Hookfang's horns. The dragon shot upward just as the Night Fury shot yet another blast, scorching the grass below it as it followed the Nightmare and its rider skyward.

The village of Berk lay only a short distance away. Snotlout's heart gave a bound as he cried, "Almost there! Almost there!" He glanced back and saw with delight that the Rider was slowing, apparently unwilling to get too close to the town.

And then the ghost stopped in mid-flight, hovering just outside the ring of light that welcomed Snotlout and Hookfang. The Night Fury shrieked again, and despite himself Snotlout pulled back on his dragon's horns, turning around in his seat to watch the Rider disappear, as Hiccup had described, in a flash of blue Night Fury flames.

Instead, to his horror, the Rider rose in his stirrups and tossed his head into the air. The Night Fury lashed out with its tail and batted the round orb, sending it careening right at Snotlout. The Viking teen screamed and tried to duck, but too late. The missile hit his head with a tremendous crash, knocking him out instantly. He fell from the saddle and plummeted to earth. Hookfang, sensing the sudden absence of his rider's weight, dove and caught Snotlout's fur vest in his teeth with only seconds to spare before he hit the ground. Rising back to the sky, the dragon looked around for the ghostly pair, hoping he would still be able to…

There was nothing there.

The Headless Dragon Rider had vanished.

…

When Snotlout awoke the next morning, the first thing he became aware of was a pounding in his skull. He groaned and opened his eyes blearily, looking around his bedroom in confusion. Then the events of the previous night returned to him and he sat up, wincing as the throbbing in his head intensified. "What…happened?" he muttered to himself. He remembered seeing the Headless Dragon Rider hurl his head at him, he remembered a sudden flash of pain, and then darkness. How did he end up back in his room…?

He got up and headed downstairs. Upon opening the front door he was greeted by a relieved-looking Hookfang, who growled happily at seeing his rider up and about. "Hookfang?" Snotlout said dazedly, running a hand through his hair. "What…" He stopped. He'd just realized his helmet was missing.

"Snotlout?"

He jumped and whirled around to see his friends approaching. All of them were wearing grins of mirth. At the front of the group was Hiccup, who crossed his arms in triumph. "So," he said, "not brave enough to spend the night alone after all, huh?"

It took Snotlout a few moments to understand what his cousin was referring to. The midnight chase had driven all thought of their campfire gathering completely out of his mind. Then he gasped and said, "No! The Rider, Hiccup! He showed up and chased me and Hookfang all the way back to the village…!" He told them about the night's adventure, but when he finished, none of his friends looked convinced.

"You're ridiculous," Fishlegs declared. "You got scared and sneaked back then made up this story so we wouldn't think you a coward."

"It's true!" Snotlout shouted angrily. Then he grinned as a thought hit him. "And I can prove it too!"

…

"There! You see?" Snotlout said smugly. "Told you I was telling the truth."

Hiccup laughed. "Snotlout, all this proves is that you lost your helmet as you flew back last night. It doesn't prove you were chased by a headless ghost!"

Snotlout's triumphant smile flickered as he gazed down at his helmet, lying in the middle of a patch of grass in a spot not far outside the village. "But I was!" he insisted, and a desperate note entered his voice. "I swear! The Headless Dragon Rider chased me and Hookfang last night!"

"Uh, guys?" came Fishlegs' voice from a short distance away, and they all looked around at him. "You might want to take a look at this."

They all converged on the spot where their friend stood, gazing down at the mangled, shredded remains of a head of cabbage.

"What about it?" Tuffnut asked, confused. "It's just a head of cabbage."

"Yeah, but what is it doing way out here?" Fishlegs asked. "There aren't any farms anywhere near this place."

He glanced up at the others. He couldn't be sure, but he rather thought he saw Hiccup and Astrid grin at each other before looking away hurriedly. Fishlegs frowned but didn't comment. Perhaps he imagined it.

As for Snotlout, he couldn't care less about the cabbage. For the next several weeks, all he heard about from his friends were jokes about his supposed cowardice. Try as he might, he could never convince any of his friends that he'd really been chased by the Headless Dragon Rider, and when the story made its way around the village (courtesy of Ruffnut and Tuffnut's inability to keep their mouths shut) it was met with incredulity from the adults as well. The laughter and jokes died out eventually and everyone went on with their lives, though it soon became a tale regularly told around the fire pit late at night. Hiccup in particular liked to tell the story of his cousin's supposed midnight encounter, usually with Astrid by his side, her hand clasped in his own, a grin on her face. Whenever he reached the part about the cabbage he could never stop himself from bursting into fits of giggles, though he never explained what exactly he found so amusing about it.

But Snotlout never once wavered in his certainty that he had indeed nearly lost his head that night, and he never returned to that part of the forest for fear of once again meeting the ghostly figure of the Headless Dragon Rider.