Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon. Cressida Cowell and DreamWorks do. I'm just having a little fun.
Two hours later, Hiccup made her way to the cove, a pack basket over her shoulder. "We're leaving, bud," she called, hoping Toothless was close enough to hear her. "Let's pack up. Looks like we're taking a little vacation. Forever." Setting the basket by a boulder with a sigh, she opened it to make sure she had everything she wanted to take with her. She didn't notice Anstred sitting on the boulder, ax in one hand and whetstone in the other until he scraped the stone down the blade of his ax. Jumping back, Hiccup could only gape for a moment before remembering that Toothless was nearby and needed to be protected. "What are you doing here?" she asked, pleased her voice didn't betray how nervous she was.
"I want to know what's going on," Anstred told her, looking up from his ax and dropping the stone to one side. Getting to his feet, he jumped off the stone and landed in front of Hiccup. When she backed away, he followed. "No one just gets as good as you do," he went on, giving her a shove with his ax. "Especially you." Hiccup hid a wince at that. "Start talking! Are you training with someone?"
"Training?" Hiccup asked, scrambling for a believable story that wouldn't get her killed.
"It better not involve this," Anstred mocked, grabbing the flying harness she wore and giving it a tug.
"I know this looks really bad," she replied, holding her hands out in front of her, "but you see-" She cut herself off when Anstred passed behind her, grabbed the back of the harness and dragged her back a couple steps before tossing her to the ground with a surprised gasp at a noise in the trees. Stepping over Hiccup, he narrowed his eyes and moved closer, hoping to see what had made it. "You're right, you're right," Hiccup blurted out, scrambling to her feet to follow Anstred. "I'm through with the lies," she went on as she came up beside him. "I've been making outfits." It sounded pitiful to her own ears, but it was the best she could come up with on short notice. "So, you got me. It's time everyone knew." Grabbing Anstred's hand, she put it under the harness on her shoulder. "Go ahead, drag me back. Here we go."
Anstred, though, grabbed the hand she was using and bent her thumb back toward her wrist, taking Hiccup to the ground with a cry. "Why would you do that?!" she demanded, getting to her feet when he let go.
"That's for the lies," Anstred told her, kicking her feet out from under her. He dropped his ax, handle first, on her stomach and caught it before it hit the ground. "And that's for everything else." He looked up when he heard a growl coming from not too far away. Spotting a black dragon lying in the shade as it lifted it's head, eyes opening to pin him in place, he gasped and dove for Hiccup, wrapping an arm around her waist and taking them both to the ground. "Get down!"
Toothless, thinking the Viking had attacked his Hiccup, growled and started running their direction. Jumping to his feet, Anstred grabbed his ax and prepared to defend them as he shouted for Hiccup to run. Hiccup knocked him down, grabbed his ax and, in a burst of strength she didn't know she was capable of, twisted the ax out of his hands and slid it across the ground. Holding her hands up, she stopped the dragon.
"It's OK, bud," she was saying as Toothless growled, his wings open to appear bigger. "It's OK. He's a friend." Anstred stared at the pair in shock as the dragon lowered its wings but kept burning green eyes on him as it nuzzled into Hiccup's hand as she turned back to face him. "You just scared him."
"I scared him?" Anstred replied, not taking his eyes off the dragon until what he said caught up with him. "Who is him?"
"Anstred, Toothless," Hiccup told him, gesturing from him to the dragon. "Toothless, Anstred." He growled at her, still angry about seeing Hiccup knocked to the ground. Anstred shook his head, unbelieving at the scene before him, before turning to run back to the village. "Oh, we're so dead," Hiccup groaned, pushing a hand through her bangs. Toothless just growled and walked away. "Hey, where do you think you're going?"
Forget him, Hiccup, he told her as she chased after him. He's not important.
"He's going back to tell the village about us," she insisted, jumping into the saddle and quickly securing herself. "We have to stop him."
Fine, he scoffed and took off to chase the other human. After a few minutes, they spotted Anstred running full tilt beneath them, ducking branches and leaping over logs. Mid-leap, Toothless swooped down and grabbed him by one arm. He reached up with his free arm to either get loose or hang on tighter, he wasn't sure, but smooth black scales reminded him of just what had a grip on him.
"Oh, great Odin's ghost," he breathed as he watched the ground getting farther below him. "This is it." The claws around his arm loosened and he surprised himself by screaming as he dropped into the top branches of a pine tree. Gripping a branch in his hands, he tried to haul himself up so he could get a better idea of how to get down, only to be knocked swinging when the dragon joined him in the tree. The upper part of the tree bent sharply and Anstred could only hold on as best as he could. "Get me down from here, Hiccup!" he demanded, trying and failing to get his leg over the branch for a more secure hold.
"Not until you let me explain."
"I'm not listening to anything you have to say," he growled, shifting closer to the trunk of the tree.
"Then I won't speak," Hiccup replied, holding her hand down to help him up. "Just let me show you." He scoffed and looked away as he inched closer to the trunk, wondering just how far down it was to the ground from here. "Please, Anstred." Too far down to jump, and the next branch was too far down to climb. Heaving a sigh, Anstred pulled himself up, and carefully got his feet under him before knocking Hiccup's hand away. The dragon growled as he reached for the saddle and he paused, but after a moment climbed up behind Hiccup. Sitting as far back as he could, he hoped the dragon would listen to Hiccup and get them down without killing them.
"Now, get me down," he ordered, ignoring the quiver in his voice.
"Toothless, down," Hiccup said, patting the dragon's head, "gently." Like rippling silk, the wings opened and Hiccup smiled over her shoulder at him. "See? Nothing to be afraid of."
Care to wager on that, my Hiccup? Toothless asked with a sly grin before launching them into the air, going almost straight up. Anstred was yelling in terror, and with nothing to hold on to, was in danger of falling off.
"Toothless!" Hiccup scolded, even if she saw the humor in the situation. "What are you doing? Bad dragon! Ow!" Anstred had grabbed her braid and used it like a rope to haul himself upright and wrap his arms around her waist. "He's not usually like this," she said over her shoulder to Anstred before heaving a sigh when Toothless leaned to one side. "Oh, no." Toothless rolled onto his back and let them fall, seemingly uncaring that they might crash. Screaming, Anstred just clung to Hiccup and prayed she could get her renegade dragon under control.
Toothless flipped back over and took them into the waves below. Coming up quickly, he shook the water out of his eyes before doing it again, then a third time. "We need him to like us!" Hiccup shouted, trying hard not to laugh. Flapping hard, Toothless took them straight up before folding his wings and corkscrewing though the air. "And now the spinning," Hiccup muttered, laughter forgotten as she tried to keep her lunch from coming back up. "Thanks for nothing, you useless reptile."
Useless reptile? Toothless repeated, locking his wings and just letting them fall. They twisted and turned, Anstred screaming for his life.
"All right! I am sorry!" he hollered, his eyes squeezed shut and his heart in his throat. "I'm sorry! Just get me down before I throw up!" Toothless caught an updraft and settled, taking his riders high. This high up, the clouds formed castles and cathedrals, only to be scattered by the winds that went unfelt along the ground. Anstred slowly opened his eyes and gasped in wonder. Toothless was soaring effortlessly, nearly touching the clouds right above their heads.
He unwrapped one arm cautiously and reached up to feel the clouds. Cool droplets passed between his fingers, and with a laugh, he reached up with his other hand. Closing his eyes, he forgot all about his problems on the ground as they passed through the clouds. Bringing his arms down, he held Hiccup's shoulders as Toothless took them through a gentle loop before going higher, above the clouds now. It was dark, the moon and stars almost close enough to touch. In front of them, dancing waves of fire in greens and purples filled the sky. His father had told him of the Fire of the Gods, but he'd never seen it until now. The view was indescribable and he knew, without a doubt, that no one would ever believe he'd ridden on the back of a Night Fury to see it so close.
Toothless took them back down and Berk came back into view. From this high, it looked like a nest of fireflies clinging to a rock in the ocean. With a sigh, he wrapped his arms around Hiccup's waist again and rested his chin on her shoulder, missing her blush. They passed the carved rock towers that marked the way to the docks before going up again. "All right," he said, sitting back and looking around in amazement, "I admit it. This is pretty cool. It's . . . amazing. He's amazing." He put a hand on Toothless and noticed for the first time how warm his scales were.
"Yeah."
"So what now? Your final exam is tomorrow," he told her, making her stiffen in front of him. "You know you're going to have kill-" He cut himself off and continued in a whisper, "kill a dragon."
"Don't remind me," she groaned, knowing she'd have to come up with a plan. Toothless suddenly took them into a dive, and Hiccup moved the pedals without thinking about it as Anstred tightened his arms around her. "Toothless, what's happening?" she asked, but received no answer. The bond between them was buzzing like a hive on angry bees, making her head hurt. "What is it, bud?" They evened out in the fog that was rolling in. From their right, a Monstrous Nightmare emerged, a large cow clutched in its talons. "Get down!" she hissed quietly and they pressed themselves as low as they could against Toothless. Other dragons began coming into view, more than they could count: Zipplebacks, Nadders and even a few Gronckles, each carrying something with them.
"What's going on?"
"I don't know," she replied as she put a hand near Toothless' head. "You got to get us out of here, bud." He shook her off and kept following the other dragons. "It looks almost like their hauling in their kill."
"What does that make us?" Anstred wondered, old habits dying hard with so many wild dragons around. Suddenly, all the dragons dove for the water before evening out to weave their way through the sea stacks that emerged from the fog. Hiccup followed his lead, clicking the pedals into position when he leaned or shifted to change direction. Guiding them through the stacks, she couldn't help but wonder where they were going. Streaks of orange light lit the fog ahead of them and as they neared, she realized it was lava coming from the island they could barely see through the mist. Before they knew it, they were inside the mountain, twisting and turning to squeeze through the tunnel. They emerged into a giant chamber, lit by a dull, angry red light from below.
"What my dad wouldn't give to find this," Hiccup whispered and Anstred tightened his arms briefly and ducked closer. The dragons ahead of them were dropping their cargo into the pit below them, without touching any of it. Toothless passed over it, circling around until he came to a ledge and hid behind the large column of rock that held it suspended from the ceiling. "It's satisfying to know all of our food is being dumped down a hole."
"They're not eating any of it," Anstred observed, leaning up a little to see around Hiccup. An off-beat buzzing caught their attention and they looked up to see a lone Gronckle, flying as if drunk, heading for the pit. Opening its mouth, it dumped out a single fish. Hovering, it lifted one foot to scratch an itch behind its head before flying away as a growl sounded from below. With a speed belying its size, an enormous dragon-head emerged from the mist and snapped up the hapless Gronckle in one bite. Easily longer as their largest long-boats and four times as wide, its scales were a dark stone grey with teeth long enough to skewer anything unlucky enough to be caught in its massive jaws. The other dragons drew back in fear of the monster below them, hiding in narrow openings that the head couldn't reach them in. "What is that?" he breathed in shock as it dropped back before coming back up, nostrils twitching as it caught their scent.
"All right, bud," Hiccup said urgently, putting a hand on Toothless' neck, "we've got to get out of here . . . now." Toothless leaped into flight just as the massive jaws snapped shut where they'd just been. All the dragons took flight, headed for the opening above them, desperate to escape the confines of the nest. The monster rose up, reaching for the fleeing Night Fury but instead caught a Zippleback.
The flight back was spent discussing everything they'd seen. "It totally makes sense," Anstred was saying as they came to a landing near where he'd first found them. "It's like a giant beehive. They're the workers and that's their queen. It controls them." Hopping off Toothless, he started to head back to the village. "We should find your dad."
"No!" Hiccup cried as she dismounted. Running after him, she grabbed his arm and turned him to face her. "No, not yet. They'll kill Toothless. Anstred, we have to think this through, carefully." She turned to walk back to Toothless, who had wandered away to drink from the pond, hoping Anstred would believe her.
"Hiccup, we just discovered the dragons' nest," he reminded her, trying to understand why Hiccup didn't want to run to her dad with this new knowledge but exasperated, too. "The thing we've been after since Vikings first sailed here, and you want to keep it a secret? To protect your pet dragon? Are you serious?"
"Yes," she answered fiercely, whirling to face him. "He's more than a pet, Anstred. He's been my best friend almost since I met him. Toothless doesn't care that I'm the worst Viking Berk has ever seen. I'm enough just as I am! No one in the village has ever given me that kind of understanding."
"OK," he said quietly after a moment to get over the shock of what she'd just said. He'd known it hadn't been easy for Hiccup, being the chief's daughter, too skinny and too smart for her own good, but he hadn't known it was quite that bad. "Then what do we do?"
"Just give me until tomorrow," she replied, heaving a sigh and shoving a hand through her bangs. "I'll figure something out."
"OK. Just promise you won't run away."
"I promise." Anstred sighed before punching her in the shoulder.
"That's for kidnapping me," he informed her with a fierce glare. Hiccup looked over her shoulder at Toothless, who just shook his head and went back to drinking. Grabbing the harness, he drew Hiccup in and dropped a kiss on her cheek. "That's for, um, everything else." With that, he was gone, leaving Hiccup and Toothless alone. Hiccup stared after him for a long moment, one hand pressed to her cheek until Toothless crooned curiously at her shoulder.
"What are you looking at?" she demanded, hoping the dim forest would hide the blush she knew was firing her cheeks. With a devilish look in his eye, he licked her cheek and she groaned in disgust. "You know that doesn't wash out!"
See? Nothing to be embarrassed about, Hiccup, he told her with a smug grin. She shoved him but he didn't budge, only laughed deep in his throat at her. He stopped her from taking the saddle off, wanting to be able to leave as soon as she was finished doing whatever it was she was going to do tomorrow.
