How to Train a Dragon Rider

Chapter 4

Dragon Training

When they had landed, Yoseph had showed them to a pair of empty houses, and went to speak to the chieftain of the village.

The next morning, Hiccup woke up long before everybody else. Toothless was still asleep after the long flight, curled around the hearth, and Hiccup let him be. He decided to take a look around the village. He put his prosthetic leg on, and left the building.

When he walked out the door, he was startled by a "Hey," from above his head. He looked up to See Yoseph on the roof of their hut.

Hiccup recovered his breath, and said, "Oh. Hey, Yoseph. " He looked around. "Where's Ceara?" Hiccup hadn't known him for long, but if he had learned anything from their short acquaintance, it was that the boy's dragon was a constant presence.

"I have no idea. Probably out where all the other furies go." Yoseph replied, laying back and looking at the sky.

"She leaves the island?" Hiccup asked.

"Yeah, not very often, but usually she disappears for a little while when we get back from a long flight. Most of the furies leave every once in a while, even after they've chosen a rider." He jumped down from the roof, bending his knees low to absorb the impact. "You want to see the village?"

Hiccup shrugged. "Sure."

Yoseph began walking uphill, towards the highest house. "First, let's introduce you to Kleave. He's the chief."

Kleave's house was not unlike Hiccup's own, back at Berk. It was the chief's hut, a little sturdier, a little higher in the village and closer to the meeting hall.

Yoseph knocked at the door, and it was answered by a huge viking. He said, "Yoseph. And you must be Hiccup. You're in luck, you two, I'm just having breakfast. Care to join me?"

They walked in, and Kleave led them to a large table. He dropped a huge bowl of meal in front of both boys – it was more than Hiccup knew he could eat, but he didn't see any signs that the chief had a child, and reasoned that he had no smaller portioned tableware.

"Sorry boys, but I can't stay long. There's a broken pylon at the dock, and I want to have it fixed before your father gets here." He winked at Hiccup. "Can't have him think we're some low-class vikings. First impressions and all that."

Hiccup smiled timidly.

"Wait. Yoseph, what time is it?" Kleave asked.

"It's just about time, sir." Yoseph replied.

"Well then by all means, don't let me hold you back!" The chief exclaimed, "Go show Hiccup the dragon training ground!"

Yoseph smiled, and led Hiccup outside. They walked through the village, which was just waking up. Hiccup noticed some of the people stare at his leg as they passed, but no one stopped them. They came to a large open field, and Hiccup could see a long, one-story building at the far end of it. Yoseph stopped, still some distance away.

"What do you think?" Yoseph asked.

"This is your training ground?" Hiccup asked.

"A small part of it," Yoseph said, grinning widely, "Most of it is up there." He pointed to the sky.

"So where are the dragons?" Hiccup asked.

Yoseph looked at the sun. "Should be coming out just about. . ."

Suddenly, the long barracks opened, and a dozen dragons leapt out. Riders ran out after them, and quickly jumped onto their place on each dragon's back. Without any commands or signals that Hiccup could see, they unfurled their wings, impossibly close to one another, and took off in a tight formation. It was amazing to Hiccup, to see so many furies in perfect synchronization.

". . . Now." Yoseph finished.

When they reached altitude, the twelve dragons spread into arrow formations of three each, according to color. Two of the groups were solid colors, one completely red and one completely blue. Two of the formations, however, had one of each primary color, and were led by a grey – it was hard to tell from the distance, they had climbed fairly high, but to Hiccup they both seemed slightly red.

The young viking looked over at Yoseph, amazed at the tight coordination that each dragon and rider had. The boy was still grinning, looking up with him.

"It never ceases to amaze me, when they do that." He said.

Hiccup looked back up, to see that each formation was heading towards a different point at the compass. He asked, "Do you do this every day?"

"No, it's a rare drill. Today just happened to be the day we did it. Great coincidence, huh?" Yoseph replied. The way he was smiling, Hiccup didn't believe it to be much of a coincidence at all.

A large viking stepped out of the barracks behind the dragons, bellowing after them.

"Quartsy, I saw that! How many times have I told you, you've got to pull up faster!"

"That's Rauge, the dragon instructor." Yoseph said. "We tell him we can't hear him when we're in the air, but his voice carries. You'd be amazed at how far away he can yell from." Then Yoseph cried, "Ceara!" when he saw his dragon walk out next to the instructor. The blue-grey dragon bounded over and tackled him, licking his face, and then let him back up.

The man who had left the long house walked toward them and yelled, "Yoseph, mount that dragon of yours and go get Weavil's flight! They're flying off course again."

Hiccup hadn't noticed the man look up since the dragons took off.

Yoseph smiled and gave a mock salute to the man. "Yes sir!" He said. He put a hand on Hiccup's shoulder. "Good luck." He quickly climbed onto Ceara and took off. They went the short distance to the longhouse first, presumably to pick up a harness for Yoseph.

Rauge walked over next to the remaining boy and said, "You must be Hiccup."

"Yes." Hiccup replied.

Rauge held out his hand, and shook Hiccup's vigorously. "I've heard good things about you, lad, good things." Letting go of Hiccup's hand, he continued. "I hear you're the one who managed to convince the Berkians to stop killing dragons. And then you kept on flying even with–" He looked at Hiccup's missing leg, "–that."

"Yeah." Hiccup said.

"Understand you got rid of the big queen dragon, the size of an island. Never would 'a though there was one like that, but then, we don't get many of the other species here. Just the furies."

Hiccup replied, "You sure know a lot about us. . ."

"Course I do! Been talking with your little friend all morning!" He laughed, "Though I can't quite say she's as little as you!"

"Astrid?" Hiccup asked, knowing that she would be the only one awake early enough to get here before him.

"Yup." The viking man replied. "Put her to work cleaning the stables. The dragons are wonderful about leaving their waste outside, but you wouldn't believe the stink that piles up after a big supper of fish!"

Hiccup wondered how he had convinced Astrid to do that – they were good friends, and he couldn't so much as get her to pass the salt.

"Where be that dragon o' yours? Still sleeping?" Rauge asked.

"Yes. " Hiccup answered.

"Well, go wake him up!" The dragon master shouted. "We got a training course today, and you won't be missing it after a little flight drowsiness!"

Hiccup wondered when he had become a student," Uh. . ." but though it best not to question. "Yes sir!" He said, and headed to the house to get Toothless.

"And wake those friends o' yours, too!" Rauge shouted after him.

Rauge reminded Hiccup a lot of Gobber, but with a much stronger accent.

People were starting to fill the streets now, and to Hiccup, it looked a lot like his home village; all except for the tight formations of furies that patrolled the skies, much unlike the jumble of different dragons that filled those of Berk.

He hoped that they weren't always so ridged; it didn't look like too much fun. But then, he had never done it before, and Yoseph had said it was a rare drill.

When he reached the hut, he saw Snotlout's monstrous nightmare still sleeping outside. He walked in the door, and noticed Fishlegs and his gronckle still asleep on the floor. Tuffnut and Snotlout were fighting over the last piece of breakfast, and Toothless was watching as the food passed between the two fighting vikings. When he saw Hiccup, he leapt over the table, knocking it and both boys to the ground.

When they got up and looked at him, Hiccup announced, "We're leaving. Their chief wants us to join in with their dragon training class for today."

"What?" Snotlout asked, "But we just woke up!"

"Everyone else is already out." Hiccup replied, "We'd better wake up Fishlegs."

It was easier said than done. After a solid hour, they had everybody up and on their dragons. Ruffnut joined them outside, and mounted the second neck of the zippleback. Hiccup led them to the dragon training field, and they landed near Rauge. Astrid and her deadly nadder were already there, waiting. Yoseph began calling the other riders down to the field.

When everyone had landed, Rauge introduced them.

"These are the dragon riders from Berk. They will be training with us today. First, let's see what they can do. Who wants to go first?" He asked the crowd.

A girl stepped out of the crowd, flanked by a red-grey fury. "I will." She said.

"Excellent!" Rauge pointed at Astrid. "You and her will have a dogfight."

"What's a dogfight?" Hiccup asked.

Rauge answered, "Lad, have you ever seen a dog?"

"No."

"Well, they're little furry creatures that like to growl and chase each other's tails. When you're in a dogfight, both of those happen a lot. Yoseph!" he said, "Go get some bows and targets for the two ladies!"

Yoseph nodded, and jogged over to the longhouse.

"Now, in a dogfight, you have to get behind your enemy." Rauge explained. "Have you ever shot a bow before?"

"No." Astrid shook her head.

Yoseph returned bearing a shield on each arm and a crossbow in each hand. "Good lad!" The dragon instructor exclaimed as he dropped the weapons on the ground.

He held up one of the crossbows to show them. "What you do is fire these at the shield on your opponent's back." He pointed to one of the shields, outlined in red with a dot in the center, "While trying to protect your own."

The girl began to put the shield on her back, as well as equip one of the sashes Yoseph had brought, which carried extra bolts for the crossbow.

Yoseph walked over next to Hiccup and whispered, "That's Carmine. She's one of the best. Still, Astrid's got a chance, if she can learn quickly."

Hiccup wouldn't be surprised. Astrid's nadder wasn't as powerful as most dragons, but it could turn even faster than Toothless, and had almost as much endurance. And, of course, Astrid would put up a good fight.

Carmine suited up and mounted her dragon, and Astrid mirrored her. Rauge began to explain the rules.

"Astrid, you go to the north peak of the island. Carmine, you go to the southern peak. After that, try to stay over the island, but anything goes. Everyone else will stay away from the fight."

Carmine looked over to Astrid, and smiled. "Let's see what that parrot can do."

With that, her fury took off straight up and began to fly away. Astrid's nadder took off, slower, and headed in the opposite direction.

Carmine's dragon flew quickly to the end of the island, and had to circle and wait for the nadder to reach its position before they flew back towards each other.

This time, Carmine's dragon went slower, and they met right over the field. Carmine dived under Astrid and tried to come around behind, firing her crossbow, but she missed. The nadder turned around, and they began circling each other.

"The bows aren't powerful enough to hurt the dragon or the rider," Yoseph explained, "but they will give you a nasty bruise."

The two continued fighting, twisting in their saddles as they circled, trying to get a shot at their enemy's back. Carmine had reloaded her crossbow, and nocked a new bolt.

Suddenly, Astrid turned sharply and fired at Carmine's back, but missed. The red dragon commenced a hard 180 degree turn, and nearly got a shot in at Astrid's shield. Astrid struggled to reload the unfamiliar weapon.

Carmine's dragon began flying erratically around Astrid, until her nadder dived away. Carmine dived on her tail, and both dragons swooped low over the field, where all the other children ducked out of their way.

The fight continued for some time. Yoseph remarked, "She's doing great! If only she could shoot the crossbow better, she'd have won by now."

After several minutes of fighting, Astrid got above Carmine, and dug into her satchel. She pulled out one of the spare bolts, and dropped it at the red fury beneath her. It missed, and Carmine flew up, beginning her next attack.

She followed Astrid through a turn, and missed her shot. She pulled away to reload, and Astrid followed. While she reloaded, Carmine put her dragon into a climb, and they began pulling away – if Astrid hadn't had her bow loaded, she wouldn't have been able to follow them for long enough.

But her bow was loaded, and Carmine's back was turned to her as she readied her own weapon. Astrid lifted her bow, and carefully lined up her shot. She fired, scoring a solid hit, and Carmine looked back at her, scowling.

The two dragons flew down to the ground, Astrid smiling brightly. The young vikings from Berk cheered as she landed, along with Yoseph. The rest of the crowd joined in.

Carmine landed with the scowl still on her face. She immediately jumped off her dragon and pulled the shield off her back, yanking the small arrow out of it. She walked over to her opponent, and the other vikings backed out of her way. Astrid jumped off her dragon.

When she was close, Carmine yelled, "You cheated!" She stopped in from of Astrid, who stared back impassively.

Then, surprisingly, she held out her hand. "Good match."

Astrid cautiously took the hand, and replied, "Good match."

Carmine smiled wickedly. "I'll get you next time." She walked away.

Yoseph, smiling, walked over to Astrid. "Next time you fight with her, I'd recommend wearing a face mask." He tapped his temple. "It's happened to me before. I think she was aiming for the chest."

Contrary to Hiccup's earlier fears, dragon training was turning out to be very entertaining.