The Dragon Book

By the time Hiccup got back to her village, it had started pouring. She entered the dinner hall where Stoic had held his meeting soaked from head to toe. She couldn't help but reflect on how the weather matched her mood.

As she opened the door and gazed at the empty hall she hoped her dad was alright, wherever he was right now. The teens were all sitting around a single table with Gobber at the head.

"Alright, where did Anstred go wrong?" he asked his students.

"I mis-timed my somersault dive. It was sloppy and just completely threw off my reverse tumble," he answered.

"Yeah, we noticed," commented Ruffnut sarcastically.

"No. No. You were amazing. You could pull of any move," Snotlout defended.

"He's right," said Gobber as Hiccup walked up to the table. "You have to be tough on yourselves." Hiccup grabbed her plate of food and walked to the next table to sit alone and hopefully vanish. "Where did Hiccup go wrong?" Why Gobber? Why?

"Uh, she showed up," Ruffnut commented. She tried to ignore the conversation but felt a blush creep up to her face.

"She's didn't get eaten," chuckled Tuffnut.

"She has no idea what she should be doing," Anstred finished. "Which isn't exactly her fault I suppose?"

"Thank you Anstred. You need to live and breathe this stuff. The Dragon Manuel," Gobber dropped an old worn our book on the table, "everything we know about every dragon we know of." Hiccup strained her neck to see it, slightly in awe. She wasn't even allowed to gaze at it before today.

Thunder rolled through the sky and Gobber began to exit. "No attacks tonight. Hurry up."

"Wait," Tuffnut commented in shock, "you mean read?!"

"While we're still alive?" Ruffnut added.

"Who reads when we could just kill the stuff… like the amazing way Anstred does," Snotlout added."

"Oh!" Said Fishlegs, excited. "I've read it like seven ties. There's this water dragon the sprays boiling water at your face. And-and there's this other one that buries itself for like a-"

Tuffnut cut him off. "Yeah, that sounds great. Now, there was a chance I was gonna read that…"

"…But now?" Ruffnut finished.

Snotlout shot up. "You guys read- I'll go kill stuff." Everyone but Anstred rose and headed for the door. "Coming Anstred?"

He waved his hand in dismissal as Hiccup took a seat across from him and opened the book. There was an awkwardly long pause. "So-so I guess we'll share?"

"Read it." He pushed the book towards Hiccup and started for the door.

"By the way, that was an awful thing you did in training today." He stopped, confused. "You knew that shot would hit me and yet you didn't me a heads up or anything. You just saved yourself."

"Listen, I'm going to teach you the number one rule of killing dragons. You are in it for yourself. You don't have time to look out for others you have to look out for yourself." He continued out the door.

"Well, now we know why you really don't have any friends." He stopped again for along moment before confidently exiting the hall. Hiccup sighed.

"I don't know what I saw in that jerk," she huffed to herself as she took a seat and looked at the book. She grabbed a candle and looked around the now dark and empty room. She slowly opened the book, taking great care not to damage it in any way.

"Dragon Classification: Strike class- fear class- mystery class," she read out loud. She turned to the first page, which bared a graphic drawing of a fearsome monstrous beast.

"The Thunder Drum. This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide-pools. When startled the Thunder Drum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight." She gazed at the dragon nervously for a minute before turning the page. "Okay, let's hope we never run into that one.

The next looked even scarier. "Timber Jack: This gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight. Let's add that one to the avoid list." She turned the page again.

"Scaldron: Sprays scalding water at its victims. Extremely dangerous-"A loud boom of thunder startled her into falling off the table. She rose up again and took her seat. "Now I know why Dad never wanted me to look at this. Get a grip. Get a grip." She began to read again.

"Change Wing: Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight."

Nervous, she started to flip through the pages faster. There were the familiars: Gronkle, Zippleback, and Monstrous Nightmare.

But then she hit the part that made her never want to leave the hall. "Burns its victims, parries its victims, chokes its victims, turns its victims inside out… okay, let's move on." She flipped even faster. All were labeled extremely dangerous and kill on sight. Noted.

She came to the last page, which was practically blank. It was the Night Fury. "Speed: Unknown. Size: Unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon." Too late she couldn't help but think in her head. "Your only chance: hide and pray it doesn't find you."

She pulled out her journal and flipped to the picture she had drawn of the Night Fury. Surely the dragon she met wasn't the one described here. Sure it had destroyed hundreds of houses, but the one weakness of a missing tail fin practically diminished it to nothing. And… and it hadn't killed Hiccup when it got the chance. But she still had no idea why. Dragons were like this book said… hell, one had killed her mom. But… but what if they were wrong? What if that dragon down there in that canyon was just like her in a way.

She shook her head out of her foolish nonsense and shut the book. She'd talk to Gobber in the morning. Sadly, that was a reason to go back to dragon training.