Chapter 4 – Dragon friends
Ingrid POV
I stayed at home whilst Hiccup went to dragon training. I prayed to the gods to keep him safe. I was packing a small bag with lunch and some yak milk and a few fish. I swung it over my shoulder and left.
"Good morning Ingrid" Several Vikings greeted me.
"Good morning!" I smiled happily and went off to the place We had seen the nightfuries.
On my way there, I stopped. I noticed the second nightfury by a small pond trying to catch fish, I snuck out, but it heard me. It faced me growling.
"Sshh." I hushed it and opened my bag and held out a fish. It looked at it. "Here you go!" I smiled, it crept forward sniffing the fish, the took it and ate it. It sat down and looked at me as if waiting for more. I chuckled and got out another fish. "Will you let me look at your wing, if I gave you this?" I asked, It looked at it's wing. I gasped, it could understand me! The nightfury nodded, I threw it the fish and it was gulped down at once. I approached the wing, I got out a drawing Hiccup made of the wing of a Night fury, I noticed the problem. "You need to keep this wing resting…I have an idea!" I got a bandage from my bag. "This will keep it in place…do you trust me?" I asked it, I reached out my hand to it's nose. The dragon looked at me and pressed its nose into my hand, I smiled. "I'll make sure you'll be better in no time." I promised and began to bandage the wing in a position it would heal faster.
I soon finished with the wing, the nightfury was laying down, quite happy.
"so, are you a male?" I asked, it shook it's head. I giggled. "So, female, we need a name for you…" I thought about it "FRÍÐR?" I asked, The nightfury thought about it, then shook it head. "Selena?" I asked, it nodded. "Selena, I am Ingrid Valka Haddock, pleased to meet you!" I smiled, Selena made a gurling growl. I chuckled. "Let's go and see that other nightfury. I can see if I can help." Selena nodded and we walked together.
We stopped over looking a small scene, Hiccup just kicked his knife into the lake, . The dragon calmed and it approaches the fish, Hiccup was the first to notice that it's missing teeth.
"Huh. Toothless. I could've sworn you had..." A set of razor sharp teeth emerge from its gums to grab the fish. Toothless snatches and gnashes it up, swallowing it. "... teeth." The teeth retract again. Toothless presses closer with an expectant look. Hiccup retreats nervously. "Uh, no. No, I don't have any more." The Fury backs Hiccup against a rock, placing himself the same position as before. The dragon closes in over him, staring blankly. A tense moment passes... then Toothless regurgitates a chunk of fish onto Hiccup's lap. They exchange stares. Hiccup realizes what Toothless wants him to do. Hiccup crouches slowly and squeamishly picks it up. The dragon waits expectantly. Hiccup gags and gnaws off a bite of the slimy fish. He forces a smile. Toothless mimics him. Amazed, Hiccup sits up and tries to touch him. Toothless hissed and flaps off to a crash on the other side of the cove. He blasts the mossy ground to a red-hot temperature... and curls up on it like a giant dog. He turns to find Hiccup seated beside him. Toothless tolerates his persistent presence... until Hiccup tries to touch his damaged tail. Toothless snaps at him. Hiccup takes the hint and leaves. I laughed, Selena nudged me, then jumped down the rocks and over to the other one, and joined him, hanging upside down from a branch.
"You and the nightfury seemed friendly." I joined Hiccup.
"Ingrid! Where were you?" Hiccup asked worried
"With Selena." I smiled
"Selena?" He asked, I glanced over at the two nightfuries. "the one who has an injured wing…"
"I met her by a pond trying to fish. I had pack some, she let me help her wing. She is a very nice dragon. Not dangerous at all, at least, not to me anyway." Hiccup pulled a face. "What?"
" I still taste fish." Hiccup groaned, I laughed. "It's not funny!"
"I am surprised he even let you share the fish. Maybe it was a sign of friendship. " I suggested. She watched the dragons. . "Are you going to name him?
"Toothless." Hiccup answered, I nodded.
"fitting, a nightfury is the only dragon I know off that can do that with its teeth." I smiled
Hiccup POV
Twilight was soon upon us, Ingrid was trying to hang upside down from a tree, I was sketching a picture of Toothless. I was using a stick, Suddenly, Ingrid fell from her branch, Selena was soon beneath her, catching her. But Toothless came up behind me, watching carefully as I drew him.. Then Toothless walks off, I stopped and look up, Ingrid watched from Selena's back. A moment later, Toothless reappeared with an entire sapling, drawing lines in the sand. He rushes here and there, making haphazard lines in every direction. He looked at me every now and then. Finally, Toothless dropped the tree and inspects his work. He seemed pleased. I stood and take in the sprawling scribble, amazed by it. I accidentally step onto one of the lines, eliciting an instant growl from Toothless. I smiled, an idea formed, I stepped on it again. Toothless growls again. Realizing how sensitive he is, I step carefully between each line, turning round and round until I unwittingly bump into Toothless. Toothless snorts. Once again, we are face to face. I slowly extend my hand. Toothless hesitates. I turned my head away and close my eyes. After a minute, the soft touch of the scaled muzzle pressed against my palm. I opened my eyes and looked at him. Toothless looked back, then shook his head. In a flash, the dragon is gone, leaving me astounded.
Later that night, Ingrid and I had said bye to the dragons. We sat with Gobber and the recruits seated at the top of an abandoned catapult tower, toasting campfire food around a blazing bonfire
"...and with one twist he took my hand and swallowed it whole. And I saw the look on his face. I was delicious. He must have passed the word, because it wasn't a month before another one of them took my leg.
"Isn't it weird to think that your hand was inside a dragon. Like if your mind was still in control of it you could have killed the dragon from the inside by crushing his heart or something." Fishlegs said
"I swear I'm so angry right now. I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot. I'll chop off the legs of every dragon I fight, with my face." Snotlout said, He postures to Astrid. She rolls her eyes.
"Un-unh. It's the wings and the tails you really want. If it can't fly, it can't get away. A downed dragon is a dead dragon." Gobber said with a mouth full. Ingrid looked at me, I looked back. We both hid our faces from the others. "Alright. I'm off to bed. You should be too. Tomorrow we get into the big boys. Slowly but surely making our way up to the Monstrous Nightmare." He grinned. I took Ingrid's hand and lead her down, she followed, a little unsteady. I took her to the blacksmiths.
We enter a small room at the back of the stall. It's covered in drawings of weaponry and scale models. I light a candle and lay my sketchbook out on the desk, opening it to the drawing of Toothless. With a look of determination. I pick up a charcoal stick and re-draws the missing tail.
... a creaking leather bellows. The stone forge glows with every pump. Tongs pull intricate iron pieces from the coals. They're dropped onto the anvil, twisted, lightly hammered, and dunked in a barrel. The pieces are carried to my workbench and laid out in place on a one-to-one schematic. Ingrid places down some cloth she was working on…It's a sketch of amechanical fin.
The next morning, I was winded, straining under the weight of a full basket of Fish. He clicks the scale he found, Toothless approached us, sniffing.
"Hey Toothless. I brought breakfast. I hope you're hungry." I drop the basket and kicks it over. Fish spill out. "Okay, that's disgusting." Toothless approached, settling in to devour the feast. "Uh..we've got some salmon...some nice Icelandic cod... and a whole smoked eel."
Toothless muzzles fish aside looking, then he sees the eel. He growls weirdly. Ingrid picked up the eel and put it aside.
" No, no, no! It's okay. Yeah, we don't like eel much either." She chuckles, taking note in her book "I wonder if the other dragons like eel…" She mutters under her breath. Toothless focuses on the remainder. With the dragon distracted, I unwrap the prosthetic fin and opens it like a fan.
"Okay. That's it. That's it, just stick with good stuff. And don't you mind me. I'll just be back...here. Minding my own business." I cautiously approach the injured tail, but every time I gets near it, Toothless sweeps it away like a cat. "It's okay." I drop a knee on top of the tail. Toothless' head juts up, slows its chewing to a halt. " Okay...okay.." The dragon tenses, slowly spreading his wings. I strap the prosthetic fin in place. I cinches the straps. " There. Not too bad. It works." Toothless bolts! He snaps his massive wings and takes to the air, carrying me with him.
"Hiccup!" Ingrid called, watching in complete shock, but she help smirking.
"Woah! No! No! No!" I struggle to hold on to the tail. As the ground speeds away, Toothless immediately tips into an uncontrolled bank and dive. I looked at the folded fin rattling uselessly in opposition to its flared counterpart. Flap as he may, Toothless can't correct his trajectory. I swallow my fear and crawl toward the folded prosthetic. I reach it and pull it open. The flared, fan- like appendage catches the air, stabilizing the twist tail.
"It's working!" I cheered as Toothless arcs just short of the water and climbs... high into the air.
"Yes, Go Hiccup!" Ingrid laughed from the ground.
"Yes! Yes, we did it." I smiled, Toothless glances back at me, busily holding the tail open while trying to hold on. They're going to crash. Whoomp! I was suddenly thrown from the tail in the intense force of a turn. "AAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!" I crash into the water's surface and take a dive. I swum up and resurfaces, roughed up, but beaming. Toothless appears seconds later.
" Yeah!" I cheered, Ingrid was laughing at me, Selena roared happily.
