Chapter two: Dragon Training.
I woke up before down. I tried to sleep again but I couldn't so I waited for the sun to come out before heading down for breakfast still thinking on my father. They should be reaching Helheim's Gate by now. I look at the bowl on the table, good think that I didn't have dinner; I didn't want to go to the Meat Hall with the other teens. It was bad that I would pass the next weeks enclosed with them in the arena.
In all the breakfast I kept staring at the axe with a weird feeling of emptiness crushing my stomach. I quite eating, if I kept going I would surely throw up. Moving the bowl aside I kept my gaze on the weapon. He should have taken it with him, it was especially done for him what was I doing with it?
Exhaling nervous I grabbed the axe with both hands and headed out. The other teens were coming out the Meat Hall in their way to the arena, with Gobber in the head, he was the only one who saw me and nodded at me to follow him.
I did, walking alone in the back of the group. Fishlegs looked back and saw me. He stopped and waited for me. "Do you want me to help you with that?" He gestured to the axe.
"I can do it." I said coldly like if I wanted him to go away although I didn't. I had to admit it: Fishlegs still knew me; he kept walking with me and even tried to begin a conversation.
"I'm so exited! Our first class in Dragon Training. Aren't you exited?"
"Yeah, I suppose." I mumbled.
"Who you think will do the final test?" he asked me. I looked up to see Asher walking a few meters in front of us. He had his long, blonde hair tied back in a braid with exception of his bangs and a few locks of short hair. He was wearing a blue shirt with shoulder plates and a skulked belt in his hips, dark blue pants and light brown boots. "Yeah, me too." Fishlegs agreed with my quite answer, his voice sounded a bit dropped but then returned to normal, "I'll try my best but we have to admit that Asher is the best of us."
Asher was holding his axe with one hand like nothing and swung it telling the others a story, probably of his last travel to the Meathead Island. I looked down to my hands; my knuckles had become white with the effort of holding the heavy axe.
I worked in the smith, yes; I could make any kind of weapon from cero, fix them and sharpen them. I could carry with them all the way in the smith, their weigh dragged me dawn a bit at first but I can. Swing them like that? Throw them? Walking a long way with them? Gobber had reminded me yesterday: no.
And to make it more difficult this axe was made especially for my father. Heavy enough for him and just for his hand grip.
Snotlout and the twins began to laugh at Asher's story; something melted inside me when I saw Asher's smile. He searched for Fishlegs, to tell him about whatever they were laughing, his smile died when he saw him with me; he turned and continued with this story.
Fishlegs didn't care and tried to hold a conversation with me. He had read a lot times the Dragon Manual and basically memorize all about dragons. He began to tell me all he knew and I listened carefully to him, knowing that it would get it hand one day.
We reached the Kill Ring and Gobber raised the iron-gate that leaded us down to another gate, "Welcome to Dragon Training." He said lifting the second gate. I stopped in the hallway, Fishlegs, in his excitement didn't seem to notice and leaved me behind joining the others.
Slowly I walked in. Five gates at the bottom were bumping, there were ashes all over the place, wooden barricades on the walls and shields scattered on the floor; the walls covered in scorched silhouettes of blasted Vikings. Very confortable.
"No turning back." Asher said to himself, fearless and very sure of himself. I wish I had that confidence.
"I hope I get some serious burns." Tuffnut told his sister.
"Nah, I'm hopping for some mauling, like on my shoulder or the lower back." She replied.
"Yeah, It's only fun if you get a scar out of it." By the tone on Asher's voice I could tell he was expecting some, too.
"Yeah, no kidding, right? Pain, love it!" I said sarcastically. Even with fifteen years I had suffer a lot of pain, and let me tell you that is not funny at all. Snotlout, Tuffnut and Ruffnut that hadn't saw me turned groaning and looked at me.
"Oh great, who let her in?" Tuffnut said, annoyed. "She doesn't belong here, she's too fragile."
That's it! Let me show you who is fragile. I adjusted the grip in the handle and gave half a step forward before Gobber stopped me putting casually a hand in my shoulder. "Let's get started! The recruit who does best will win the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village." Gobber twisted his hook-hand giving emphasis to the word.
"Hiccup already killed a Night Fury, so does that disqualify her or…?" Snotlout scoffed. Asher rolled his eyes as the twins began to laugh.
"Yeah, I killed two of those yesterday, too." Tuffnut laughed as they walked away.
"Don't worry. You're small and week, that'll make you less of a target and they'll go for the more Viking-like teens instead of you." Gobber patted my shoulder trying to comfort me (didn't work) and put me in line with the others. I put the axe on my shoulder like my father had put it last night. "Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight." Fishlegs at my side began to giggle in excitement. "The Deadly Nadder."
"Speed eight. Armor sixteen." Fishlegs said to himself.
"The Hideous Zippleback."
"Plus eleven stealth. Times two." An enthusiastic Fishlegs raised his voice.
"The Monstrous Nightmare."
"Firepower fifteen."
The dragon hitting the doors began to freak me out. I wasn't ready for this.
"The Terrible Terror."
"Attack eight. Venom twelve." Fishlegs almost screamed.
"Can you stop that?!" Gobber shouted at the teen. "And… the Gronckle." He put a hand in a lever with a malicious smile.
"Jaw strength, eight" Fishlegs whispered to me but I didn't put him attention, I had been looking at Gobber's hand. And I wasn't the only one.
"Whoa, whoa! Wait!" Snotlout screamed, "Aren't you going to teach us first?!"
"I believe in learning on the job." Gobber pulled the lever and an angry Gronckle rose out from its cave. I didn't wait to anyone to say something, I started to run, and the others did the same so I passed unnoticed. "Today is about survival. If you get blasted, you are dead. Quick, what's the first thing you're going to need?"
"A doctor?" I said sarcastically although in my case it wouldn't be a bad idea.
"Plus five speed?" Fishlegs tried.
"A shield." Asher said self-confidence.
"Shields! Go!" Gobber agreed. I ran to grab one from the floor, "The most important piece of equipment is your shield." I tried to take it but with the axe it was kind of difficult; Gobber helped me putting it in my arm and throwing me to the battle as he continued talking, "If you must take a choice between a sword or a shield, take the shield."
The dragon went for Ruffnut and Tuffnut who were fighting for a shield. "There's like a million shields!"
"Take that one, it has flowers. Girls like flowers." Ruffnut took advantage of his brother speaking and yanked the shield from his hands and hitting him with it. "Ow!"
"Oops. Now this has blood on it." She said and offered it to him like if she didn't want it anymore. Tuffnut grabbed it and they began to pull for it again.
The Gronckle blasted the shield and the twins span and went down. "Tuff, Ruff, you're out!" Gobber informed. Well, at least I wasn't the first one.
"What?" They asked in unison, still confused for the spins.
"Those shields are good for another thing: noise. Make lots of it to throw off a dragon's aim." We began to hit our weapons in the shields, the Gronckle growled, confused. I took the chance and began to walk backward to hide in a barricade. "All dragons have limited numbers of shots. How many does a Gronckle have?"
"Five?" Snotlout guessed.
Fishlegs raised his hand corrected him, "No, six!"
"Correct, six. That's one for each of you!"
I gave a sneak peek to see what was going on, "I don't think-ah!" The Gronckle cut whatever Fishlegs was saying with a blast to his shield. He ran to one side of the arena with the twins.
Gobber spotted me hiding from the Gronckle, "Hiccup, get in there!" I exhaled and got out a little, as soon as I was out the Gronckle saw me and shot in my direction. Nope. I threw myself behind the barricade. I took a deep breath and got out of my hiding spot. "Snotlout! You're done!" What! Snotlout is out, Fishlegs is out, the twins are out so… Asher rolled to my side.
"So, I guess it's just you and me, huh?"
"Nope. Just you." He rolled out. What? I looked forward and understood.
The Gronckle was flying directly to me. I covered with my shield but the dragon's fire took it off of my arm letting me exposed. I cursed under my breath and chased for the shield.
"One shot left!" The Gronckle was just behind me. "Hiccup!" I changed direction and ran to the wall searching a way out but found me trapped. My foot slipped and my head hit the rock wall. I crawled back trying to get away from the snarling beast. It opened its mouth to finish me; I felt the heat and closed my eyes.
I heard the explosion and covered instinctively my head as small rocks and ashes fell on me. I opened an eye and saw Gobber with his hook-hand on the Gronckle jaw. "And that's six!" Gobber jacked the dragon to its cage; it resisted pulling back. "Go back to bed, you overgrown sausage." Gobber span and threw the Gronckle inside the cave closing the gate quickly. Still wadded up on the floor my breath began to calm. "Remember, a dragon always, ALWAYS," Gobber turned to me, "…go for the kill" He jacked me up, "It's all for today."
I looked towards the pit on the stone that could have been me. The Gronckle was still growling, the door rattling. I followed the others to the village.
Yesterday I was as close to death as today, on the exact same position… but the Fury didn't shot at me.
"Don't worry. It was the first day. You'll make it better." Gobber tried to comfort me.
"If you say so… I'll be in the house."
"Uh hum." He knew that 'in the house' meant 'in the woods' and that that meant that I wanted to be alone. I gave him a small smile to show that I was okay and leaved passing between the others. I felt their eyes on my back as I ran to the house. I entered, grabbed the sketchbook and ran into the woods.
Crouching and putting my elbows on my knees I gazed at the cut ropes. A dragon always goes for the kill. I grabbed the bola, dry, dark green dragon-blood on it.
"So, why didn't you?" I looked up to where I remembered the dragon flying away and found a trail of broken branches. Dropping the bola I stood up and began to follow the trail. Was I really searching for it?
After a few minutes walking I found a passage, I jumped down and entered. I had never been so far from the village and I had the feeling that I shouldn't be doing this but something made me keep going.
The passage leaded to a cove. There was a big pond inside that covered pretty much all the cove fed by a waterfall. Big trees in the border of the cove were showing their long roots all the way down. At the bottom, huge rocks covered in mold followed by a space of dirt before reaching the pond.
"This was stupid." I sighed. It's a dragon; it can fly away whenever and wherever it wanted. Why did I tough it would still be on the woods?
A little shine distracted me; I looked down. Are those…scales? I crouched and took one to examine it. It was black and cold, a little green, actually. I scratched it and the green broke away.
Hope filled me inside. There was just one dragon I had seen with black scales; no Nadder, no Zippleback, no nothing have black scales. Those were Night Fury's scales… it was here. A black shadow passed in front of me and I jumped back with a yelp. Night Fury.
I raised and held to the wall to see the dragon scrapping the stone and falling back, soaring back to earth. I inspected the stones under me and jumped down to look better at the legendary Night Fury; hiding as a smile grew on my lips.
The dragon took flight and twisted to the left and fell. I was probably the only Viking that had survived to it. What are you thinking! Of course you are. I searched for my book in my vest and opened it in an empty page to sketch the dragon as it flew and fell one more time with a loud thud and a snarl.
"Why don't you just… fly away?" The Night Fury blasted the dirt in frustration. And I noticed an error in my sketch, the dragon wad a one-sided tail fin. What a weird dragon. I put the pencil down to erase the extra part with my hand; I looked at it and then at the dragon, it was acceptable. Putting the sketchbook down I accidentally pushed the pencil; it rolled to the border of the stone. "No, no, no!" I crawled trying to reach it but it fell.
Turning my head to the dragon, hopping that it didn't hear me, I froze; it was staring at me. I looked at its eyes; the Night Fury returned the gesture and began to… to purr? Was it purring?
The Fury moved its head in curiosity (curiosity!) and I moved my head, too; no, I moved my head first… no, it did. No, I… wait, what? The dragon shook its head and turned to the pond to catch some fish; the fishes swam away when he came close.
"I bet you're hungry," I mumbled "I'll bring you food." I stood and shook off the dirt in my pants. I gave the dragon a last look over my shoulder and leaved.
The fish basket was empty so I went to buy more; at first it was easy to carry with the basket now that was full I needed to haul it. To my good luck my house is in the other extreme of the village. Yay!
I began to haul the basket. Damn fish, damn village, and damn dragons. Damn branches, too. I added to the list as I remembered the bruise on my cheek. I just had taken a few steps when someone helped me with the basket.
It didn't surprised me that someone helped me; with my scrawny body most of the villagers feel pity and help me. But he had never help me –at least not since I was eight- and now he was carrying the basket for me. I stood in the same place, shocked by he's gentle gesture. Where had this kindness come from? Was it a joke? No, it wasn't his style; but neither was this. Maybe the twins challenged him. No, he wouldn't accept such a thing.
His voice broke my toughs, "Are you coming or not?" Asher was a few steps away. I blushed and walked with him, trying to look to wherever except to his face. I ended looking to my boots.
We reached the door, I opened it and waited for him to give me the basket but instead he entered to the house without permission and put the basket in its place by the one of bread.
"Uh… Thank you?"
"Gobber wants to talk to you." He said coldly and without looking me passed by my side and opened the door to me. I stood in my place looking at him confused. He exasperated gestured to me to leave the house.
I got out; he closed the door and went by his way. I blinked confused and went to the blacksmith.
Gobber welcomed me when I reached, "There are you! Come here, lass, take this." He threw me his hammer-hand, I cupped my arms and wait for the hammer to fall in it, its weight made me take a step back. What a surprise. But I straightened myself in a second and put the hammer-hand aside. "What's with that face?"
"It's my face, what do you want me to do with it?" He glanced at me and rose an eyebrow as he put his forceps-hand on, "Something weird happened." I rubbed my neck and looked outside where Asher was walking to his house.
"Ohh…" Gobber laughed; he was implying something with his tone, something that I didn't like. My blood ran to my face in a second and I gave Gobber an I-will-kill-you look that just made him laugh harder. "You still like him." He continued laughing.
I crossed my arms over my chest and glanced down letting my bangs to cover my red face. "I don't." I hissed.
"You said the same last year." He said taking a piece of metal that soon would be a hatchet from the forge; he examined the steal and threw it again to the forge.
"Well if you just wanted to mock on me I'm leaving." I made sign of turning and he stopped me.
"No, it wasn't just that. I wanted to talk to you."
"About what?"
"I don't know, you tell me."
"What?" I asked confused. He was the one who called me.
"Oh! Don't ya' tell me that you're not worry about yer father or that you're not pissed out with Ruff, Tuff and Snotlout jokes? Give me that box." He waited for my answer, he had always supported me and talked with me when I needed it but I wasn't in the mood for it.
I took the box of broken weapons he pointed –it was more than nothing full of the metal parts- and gave it to him.
"Yes, I'm worry about Dad but… he's a great Viking, he'll return, like always. I can feel it." I told him and lay on a table trying to hide my fear of losing my other parent. I didn't convince him at all.
"You wanna a hug?" He said opening his arms and moving his fingers in a very ridiculous invitation, although he stole me a smile.
"You're all sweaty, if you hug me I'll stink like you for a week." I joke with him, he laughed and disheveled my hair. I laughed with him and gave him a short hug.
"Do you need any help?" I asked looking around the smith.
"Nah, I want you to rest well and be completely focused in Training. After it's over I'll show ya' how to make an axe." He said and pushed me to the exit, "Now go to sleep, have you dinner?" I nodded even when I had not, my stomach betrayed me and Gobber gave me a look, "Make yourself some dinner and go to rest. We have training in the morning."
I sighed, "Don't remember me."
"Don't ya' worry. You'll do better." I gave him a sad look and tuned to the house. "Have sweet dreams, if you know what I mean." He told me before I leaved the smith; I grabbed the first thing I could that happened to be a piece of broken shield and threw it at him.
Gobber covered with his arms as he laughed. I rolled my eyes and leaved.
But I couldn't stop thinking in what he said yesterday. He was right, if I couldn't even lift my axe properly, how could I swing it? I needed to change if I wanted to fight dragons, but I don't want to change… I don't want to fight them… I can't.