I had come to a clearing in the woods, it was about a 15 minute walk from where we set up camp. I walked out into the open. This place was beautiful. There was a river that ran through the middle into a pond, no doubt home to many fish. Many large rocks lined the river along with thickets of bushes and small shrubs.

"Amazing" I said to myself. I retrieved my pencil and notebook from my bag. I began to draw, I must've been there for hours because the sun was almost directly over head. It would be lunch time soon so i packed up my belongings and started for the woods, but something caught my eye. A shiny black rock on the ground, about the size of my hand. I picked it up and rubbed it between my thumb and palm.

"amazing" I whispered under my breath.

"I wonder what kind of rock this could be". I pocketed the rock and took a step, another rock caught my eye. I looked up and found I was surrounded by them, dozens of small shiny rocks around me.

"What the...? what kind of rock..." And then it hit me. These are most likely scales of some sort. I grabbed as many as my pockets would carry, and some.

It was just passed lunch time when I arrived back at camp. Everyone was already sitting around chatting. I tried my best to sneak by without being noticed but Gobber spotted me before i could get far.

"Was begin'n to worry, Di'n know when you'd show" everyone turned to look.

I rubbed the back of my neck and laughed nervously " haha... yea.. there was just... so much to explore ya know?"

Gobber looked at me with a crooked eyebrow. "got something ya wanna share with us?" He nodded towards my pockets full of unknown scales

I looked down at them debating whether or not I should tell them what I had found. "ummm... its just some rock I found" I fiddled with them in my pocket

"So what you collect rocks now?" Snotlout snickered, The rest followed.

"No, I just... I just thought they looked cool" I looked for an escape

"well" Gobber asked.

"Well what?"

"Are ye going to show us?" Gobber asked leaning closer. The twins both jumped in their seats "Yea! lets see them!"

A stumbled back a little bit. "oh you wouldn't like them they're just rocks" I waved them off with my hand.

"nonsense if you took tha' time to pick up rocks then they must been some nice rocks" Gobber stood

"no no really, they aren't that good"

"just lemme see Hiccup" Gobber walked over to me

"You'll just be dissapointed" I tried backing away but i was running out of beach.

"Hiccup, just lemme see for thors sake"

Finally i just gave in and laid them on the sand below.

Gobber was quiet for a moment.

"see just some dumb rocks"

Gobber didn't say anything. He turned around and walked over to his bag. After a moment of digging around he returned.

He held a small metal box in his hand. He opened the box and removed a smooth black stone like mine.

Are these things everywhere or something. I thought to myself

He laid it next to one of mine and stopped briefly

A inaudible whisper left his lips "Night fury"

"What?speak up i can't hear you"

"Night fury"

I was taken aback by what he said, Surely These weren't... wait, they were slick and black just like the night fury, and they did seem like scales.

"what?" i asked

everyone shifted in their seat shooting each other quick glances.

"These are Night Fury scales" Gobber retrieved his scale and put it back in the metal box.

"No one leaves for the woods alone anymore"

"pfft i'll kill this Night Fury... with my face!" Snotlout shouted.

Everyone ignored him.

"where did you find these scales Hiccup"

I stared blankly for a moment.

"where hiccup!"

I struggled to make words.

"Just north about 15 mins... there's a clearing with a river" I pointed out the direction with my finger.

"North... didn't i say dont go north?!"

"im sorry everyone else had all the other directions..."

"just don't go back there"

"okay" i said

"we need to trap the surrounding area, maybe it'll stop it before it gets us".

We spent the rest of the day setting traps up in the trees and on the ground. We had no idea how big the dragon might be. We set a couple traps around the clearing I found.

It was getting late and the sun had already gone down by the time we set up the last trap. We headed back to camp and started dinner. With the last of the sunlight fading we readied ourselves for bed.

I feel like I rushed this chapter toomuch :l oh well