Chapter 4
Stoick couldn't keep the smile off his face as he watched his frustrated son cross out yet another area on his makeshift map. The boy had some talent with tracking, to be able to mark the island so well. It made the large man question what else he didn't know about his son.
"No, not me. I manage to lose an entire dragon!" Stoick tried not to grin too widely and for the first time since the start of this strange tale, noticed noises not from the wall. The snort alerted him to Gobber's presence at the next table. Stoick rose and moved to sit beside his friend who greeted him with a glance and toothy grin. The friends returned their attention back to the wall where Hiccup proceeded to poke his eye out with a branch. Their chuckles at his bad luck were stifled by the sinister music and panning of the view down onto a splinted tree and upturned dirt. The trench wasn't man-made and it put both men on edge. Stoick's sudden rush to yell at Hiccup to run surprised him. The music grew in suspense until Hiccup reached the dirt peak and the Night Fury was revealed in all its glory.
Stoick actually thought the animal was rather beautiful with it's strong legs and wings, and it's black hide that masked it in the night. It didn't look particularly ferocious, with its dulled claws and lack of sharp teeth visible. It looked like a sky fighter, not something that would win hand-to-hand unless it used its fire. That was devastating enough to make up for it's lack of other weaponry. Hiccup had a similar reaction as he contemplates killing the beast.
Gobber wondered what the floppy things on the beasts head were. They looked like a cross between horns, ears, and frills. He wondered what there purpose was. Balance, or speed in flight? He stopped the rambling in his head when the view showed the dragons open eye. Most of it was bright green; the same green as Hiccups'. The pupils were widened slightly, appearing more intelligent than either man had ever expected out of a dragon. And when Hiccup came into view, it was clear that he saw all of this, and more.
He had the knife ready, but kept hesitating each time he made eye-contact with the dragon. Stoick frowned at the screen for his own stupidity. Hearing Hiccup trying to talk himself into killing the beast only made it clearer that the brash Viking philosophy didn't suit his boys gentle demeanor. Stoick wanted to slam his head on the table for trying to hammer that mentality into his son. Then he remembered the talk with Hiccup before he left for the nest hunt. His son had explicitly told him that he couldn't kill dragons. It hadn't been a matter of skill, it had been a matter of heart. What had he done to his boy? Why hadn't he listened?
Gobber sighed as the lad let the knife fall and took a few steps back. He'd seen Hiccup look guilty many times, but this time was different. It was an all consuming guilt that said he'd intended for this to happen, and was now realizing how wrong he'd been. Gobber glanced at Stoick and noticed an identical expression on his friend, to that of the boy. They were more alike than most people believed.
Stubborn, bad listeners, guilty conscience, it was all there in their mirrored expressions. Really it was appalling that no one, not even the boys had seen it before. Both men were drawn from their thoughts at the sound of a rope snapping. They gaped in horror at the sight of Hiccup freeing an angry and lethal dragon. What was the lad thinking? The instant the beast was free, it would pounce and kill him. Honestly, did the boy have a death wish?
Sure enough, the dragon pounced, knocking Hiccup onto his back. Both men jumped to their feet, before remembering that this had already happened, and Hiccup clearly hadn't died. With sheepish half smiles to each other, Gobber and Stoick sat down, tense in every line of their bodies. How had Hiccup gotten away? The music rose to an ominous pitch as the wall centered on the dragons menacing glare. Pulses raced, and mugs of ale were bent out of shape in too tight grips, as the men watched Hiccup stare death in the face, and get off with only an ear piercing scream from the dragon before it flew away.
Stoick inspected his bleeding palms where his nails had dug into, while Gobber let go of his mangled tankard. It seems that Hiccup shared their relief, as he fainted a moment later. Stoick chuckled in relief. It caught Gobbers attention that the beast made a shaky exit, crashing into trees and the like. It had flown straight when they'd caught Hiccup on it's back. Was the ordeal of being captured in the bola, and almost skinned alive the cause of the crooked flight? Or something else? This tale was piling on the questions much more than answering them.
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