Someone interested in planning a heist to get HTTYD Brand from Dream Works and Cressida Cowell?
That was disturbingly similar to what he expected from the dragon, the Monstrous Nightmare whole demeanor changed with the scent of the grass even its pupils behaved the way he thought they would expanding just the same way as Toothless when presented with a similar offering.
For a moment he thought he could tame the dragon, the same way as Toothless, but one look at his father, the way he was standing at the edge of his throne and his weight pushed forward, a hand on his war hammer and the look on his eyes told him that he was ready to intervene to save him the second something doesn't go as he expects it to go, that includes him dropping his weapon and getting closer to the dragon, he was sure of that.
His father knows only the Viking way and it's the only path he is willing to walk, even if there are other, both better and easie,r ways to follow.
After stabbing the dragon on its eye and embarrassingly losing his balance when the spear met some resistance on the flesh of the beast he fell to the ground where now he watches his opponent, waiting for it to move, expecting it to turn its head around and burn him until he was nothing but ashes.
But nothing happens and the tribe explodes screaming at the top of their lungs.
He did it!
For years he felt that this would be the happiest moment of his life, finally earn the acknowledgement of his father and the favor of the tribe… but he feels empty.
Was he really the only one that noticed?
The Monstrous Nightmare only confronted him when it noticed escaping was not an option, and when it got closer it wasn't with the immediate intention of fighting but mostly out of curiosity, otherwise he wouldn't had time to put his plan in motion.
The creature was no threat to anyone anymore… was it even a threat to begin with? If he tried to befriend it instead of…
He just ended a possible friend?
Could this dragon have been smart and peaceful like Toothless?
He could feel tears pooling on his eyes and his throat closing, killing the dragon was the right thing to do!
He screamed and lifted his fist, this was Berk's future chief first kill, and he must look the part at least.
Looking around his eyes found Astrid and her mother and aunt near the door… the horns!
0x0x0
Astrid allowed herself to breathe again, she had no idea how Hiccup managed to bewitch the Nightmare, but he did it. No matter how ungraceful it was or what trick he used, he was alive and the dragon not.
It took Hiccup a couple of minutes to saw off the dragon's horns, he was much more graceful with a tool than he was with a weapon, that was for sure.
The tribe was still cheering and screaming, Hel, even she was screaming.
Did it really matter he used a trick instead of actually fighting the dragon? The result was the same in the end.
Not really, Hiccup wouldn't be able to kill a dragon the way the other Hooligans could, but the same was true in reverse.
The gate was lifted, she and her mother and aunt entered the kill ring and the tribe's roars became dull whispers as Hiccup diligently sawed-off the horns, she waited until the second of the two biggest ones was removed before entering the Kill Ring, using her hands to slightly lift the skirt of the dress as to not trip on it she approached her betrothed, she could hear the confused noises that all the questions of the present Hooligans made, her mother and aunt just a few steps away from them. How they loved the idea, according to them it was a present worthy of her, well at least Hiccup was making points with her parents and clan, it should come in handy.
"HOOLINGANS!" the chief's voice has always had the effect of not only getting the attention of the tribe but silencing it as well, as if everyone on the arena were just mere children listening to their father everyone holds their breathe and listens.
"A few weeks before our last quest for the nest, Einar Hofferson and me started the negotiations of the Bride Price of his daughter Astrid!" she swallowed her saliva, the chief was lying! She didn't knew he could! Perhaps it was naïve of her to think anyone was above lying to accommodate the truth for their needs but with Stoick it just seemed kind of impossible, like everything that came out of the man's mouth was the truth, but in this case there was no chance of what he just said was true!
Before yesterday her father and Stoick barely exchanged greeting much less got together to discuss her bride price!
He lifted the parchment roll where the contract was written showing it for everyone to see and once again the voices of the tribe screamed in joy once they understood what was going on… or they thought they did at least, only she, her parents, the chief, Hiccup and probably her clan knew all the truth, but the tribe knew enough to know this was a time to celebrate.
But she didn't felt there was much reason to do celebrate, after all she just learned that the pillars of her world was not an immaculate columns of honor and integrity like she always thought, if her father and her chief lie, who could she trust?
She barely paid attention to Stoick as he read the contract for the tribe, apparently she was worth owning a small farm land, a fishing ship and two dozen of sheep, a higher prize she expected after not winning Dragon Training but the chief is simply wealthy enough to pay as much, her dowry was much more … mundane, yards of linen, weapons, half of her family herd of sheep and a bed, she was forced to smile through it all but hearing that temporarily transformed her forced smile into a real one… Take that Erik!
Hiccup was offering her the horns of his first kill right now and she just extended her hand to take them from him, pretending to smile.
Hiccup didn't looked much better, he was faking his smile just as much as her and she remembered that her partner liked the dragons more as… pets than as enemies any day of the week, she was sure the moisture around his eyes was not in her imagination.
He did what was right, he fulfilled his duty to the tribe, and he was the Viking of the hour… yet he was not happy, they needed to talk, but her rage was abated with uncertainty, their plan was going so much better than they first expected, and it was scary.
She raised her offerings and showed them to the tribe, the carcass was now hers, right now she was wealthy for a fifteen year old single girl… well now that was not true, she was now Hiccup's bride, she wasn't really single anymore.
She hugged Hiccup to whisper on his ear "We need to talk" he just nodded his head, this was going way too fast for her liking!
Stoick choose that moment to announce the date of the wedding, and Hiccups eyes widened in surprise… did he really just found out?
She didn't anticipate her hugging Hiccup would make the tribe even louder! And somehow among all the screaming voices roaring with approval she still heard Snotlout's despair filled howl.
0x0x0
'This is not happening, this is not happening, this is not happening, this is not happening this is not happening, this is not happening, this is not happening, this is not happening!'
Hiccup "The Useless" could not be getting married to his princes! She was his! That's why this couldn't be happening!
Everyone knew he wanted her, and he was a Viking, he just takes what he wants! That's how the world works!
Just when Snotlout was going to go down to the Kill Ring to put his useless cousin in his place for daring to even think he could take Astrid Hofferson away from him his father Spitelout Jorgenson pulled him back restraining him with an arm around his chest and covering his mouth with his hand!
What was his dad thinking? He should be helping him get the talking fishbone away from Astrid!
He tried to look at his father's face but all he could see was his mouth roaring with approval and he couldn't help but feel betrayed.
This is not how it was supposed to be! It should be him down on the ring celebrating with her not his useless cousin… honestly he let him won Dragon Training, Hiccup should not be grateful he let him have that much!
But no! He has to spit on his good will and try to steal his girl!
His father looked down and met his eyes, and boy he was not happy either, but then why was he allowing this to happen?
0x0x0
"… Have to work more on your final thrust but you did a good work back there!"
His father was proud of him, that or not disappointed, it was hard to tell the difference from his point of view, both them were rare enough that he often confused one for the other.
It was not important at the moment, because he would rather not talk about the dragon he just killed, however that seemed to be the only thing his father seemed to be able to think about, it was almost funny… almost.
It was still a nice feeling, he just wished he could enjoy it, like he always thought he would. But being here on their home and listen about how good a job he did he couldn't stop thinking that he was a fraud, that the skills his father seems to be so proud of are nothing but a trick.
"And the people! The tribe enjoyed themselves so much… they needed it son…" his father lets out a contented sigh "I thought they would deaf me when you gave your bride those horns!" his dad calm and not disappointed demeanor was new to him, but him talking about Astrid he was reminded about his up and coming wedding, it was a month from now on after all.
"Dad…?" he asked trying to get his progenitor's attention "Isn't one month too soon for the wedding?" the tribe will talk a lot about this, especially about Astrid and him and Astrid's belly, not that there was any risk of pregnancy, but that's not what matters here.
His dad smiled again, as if he knew something he didn't, which was kind of ironic because he knows where the dragon's nest is and his dad doesn't "Already having second thoughts?"
His jaw fell open for a second or two, if there was one thing he didn't regretted about the last two days was he decision to marry Astrid, it was a dream come true… one he doesn't regret like the other one about killing dragons "Of course not!" his father actually chuckled after he answered his question, it was getting harder to know what he was thinking, this was all so different to what he was used to.
"What is the matter then?" Stoick asked with genuine curiosity.
"Why is it so rushed? I though the wedding would be sometime after Thaw" Hiccup inquired, there was no real reason to go this fast "The tribe will get ideas" he said with a voice filled with sarcasm.
"As far as the tribe knows this was planned months ago, so they shouldn't talk more than with any other couple" at least that was true, but his dad didn't really told him what the rush is.
"But why next month dad?"
Sighing his dad put a hand on their table and looked at it intently, as if it was extremely interesting "The tribe needs something to celebrate, son… we had four expeditions this year, we lost a dozen of good Vikings just looking for that damn nest!" the times when his father looked defeated were few, but they happened, not finding the nest will always be his biggest failure. It was something he should thank the Gods for, otherwise it wouldn't be a few Vikings lost on each quest but the entire party.
Thank Odin for the small mercies.
"It will help them get in mood for yule too!" his father recovered his previous attitude and eyed him so full of not disappointment "It already started, could you listen to them? They were impressed, they will talk for years about this!" Stoick stood up and walked to the door of their home appearing exited "I'll go check how the preparations for the feast are going" and Hiccup was left alone for the first time after he killed the Monstrous Nightmare.
He felt guilty but there was something he had to do today, he didn't wanted to go today, but if he doesn't feed Toothless no one will.
0x0x0
Today was particularly noisy inside the household of her parents and around it, her whole clan was inside or around it, of course it was bound to be noisy.
Outside her kin was busy skinning the Monstrous Nightmare for its hide, extracting the long fangs of the beast and removing claws and horns, it was an interesting but bloody process she has seen a few times before, some of the meat will be donated for today's feast, mostly to be served in the high table where she will most likely be seated.
Some hide and fangs will be payment for the assistance her clan provided but according to her mom and dad the rest will be hers… of course her mom insinuated something about new furs with winter being so close and stuff, she understood completely and it was not as if she was averse at the idea of sharing, it was not as if she herself had made the kill, she owned the thing because of Hiccup's whims and she knows how cold winters can be, what happens outside of her parents household is not bothering her at all.
Inside however… she was put to spinning wool as practice for her new life as a married woman, and the same party that ambushed at Egil's house was with her right now, and with them her younger cousins.
Honestly… she would be happier helping outside than spinning wool right now, it would be easier to sneak away from everyone and talk with Hiccup, it is something they need to do, its not only because she would like to escape the overly festive surroundings.
Fat chance of that happening, everyone agrees she needs to spin faster… she just hoped this wouldn't become her whole month.
0x0x0
Sneaking to the cove with Toothless meal was much, much more difficult than it was three days ago, there was an abundance of eyes looking out specifically for him, around half a dozen of Vikings tried to engage a conversation with him to talk about dragons, his wedding, his bride and possible heirs, it was a bit overwhelming to have that amount of attention from his fellow hooligans.
But he managed to evade them after a few tries and he was now reaching Toothless' hiding place, his basket was not as plentiful as in the past but with so many Vikings in the Mead Hall he had to take fish from the cellar on his house to have something for his friend.
"Hey Bud!" he called when he entered his most secret place, watching his best friend rest on a rock.
Toothless regarded him with a look instead of tackling him to the ground to eat his lunch as he usually does which was a cause of concern for Hiccup but he got approached as he would normally "I brought you some cod and salmon, no eels on this basket!" that finally got the attention of his scaled best friend who jumped down from his rock and stared intently at him, then he sniffed, sniffed again and then sniffed some more.
Like always Hiccup threw the basket's contents on the floor for Toothless to enjoy and then he sat beside him and scratched the dragon where he knew he enjoyed the most and tried to talk to him, but it wasn't easy, he supposed it would be the same as telling someone he killed a relative because it was his duty…
Even him doesn't swallow that excuse yet, was that really his duty? that Monstrous Nightmare could have been befriended easier than killed, but there was so much on the line to risk an accident, he needs to be a Viking to be Berk's chief, and you need to kill dragons to be a Viking in Berk, Vikings and dragons will die until they can kill the Queen, and he has no clue of how to do that.
His eyes turn to the sky longing to be there flying, playing and exploring instead of here asking himself if he should tell his friend what he did or if he should stay silent.
"I killed a dragon today Bud, it was a Monstrous Nightmare" he said getting Toothless attention "it was captured a couple of months ago to be the final test of Dragon Training, killing it is considered a honor" he said with sarcasm "but I don't feel very honorable right now" he looked at his friend in the eyes, expecting to be regarded as a criminal.
Instead the Night Fury licked his face.
0x0x0
Toothless knew something was wrong with his human the moment he entered his "den" the little human was so different from the one who came in yesterday planning to leave for good, but he had already changed last night, this was more as if he didn't liked what he'd become.
Toothless couldn't understand every sound that came from his humans mouth, but he could understand his intentions and his body always said much more than his sounds, it was one of the things he liked about him, that and his ability to create things.
The sounds he could understand though were "kill" and "Dragon", he understood his friend killed a dragon, one of his kind, not a Night Fury, but a dragon.
He didn't liked it, but things are always the way they are meant to be, the have an "Order".
Dragons must feed Her so they steal food from humans, humans must survive so they kill dragons to keep their food. Little Human or "Hiccup" as the She-human called his friend defied this "Order" once when he let him live, and Toothless himself defied it once more when he didn't killed "Hiccup" either.
The "Order" is changing and Hiccup is the one who started it and once its complete the world itself will be different.
He was angry, but he wanted to see the world his friend will create.
0x0x0
Seriously!?
She noticed that sometimes when she left to train her mother was spinning, and when she came back she would be spinning again… she just assumed that there were other activities on her mother schedule in between spinning…
The feast will start soon and she has been spinning wool since they came back from the kill ring!
Hiccup better not assume she will spend her life spinning!
A/N: So I did a little research, well more like read this article about what would be expected from a married Viking woman, and apparently they would spend around thirty five hours spinning to get enough enough yarn for a day of weaving, so yea… Viking woman were in charge of making their family's clothes so they kind of needed to. Head cannon Astrid won't spend that much time spinning.
Anyway hope you enjoyed the chapter, see you guys next time.