7 Beware of the Viking
Toothless lay quietly on his side; a low purring growl coming with every breath. The dragon had fallen hard onto the rocks, its wings folded around Hiccup in a desperate attempt to protect the frail young boy in its grasp from the searing heat of the flames erupting all around them; the only time that the Night Fury had moved since it fell, was to present the boy hurt, but alive to his distraught father.
Fishlegs Ingerman approached the black dragon with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Although he had always wanted to see a Night Fury and study one at close range, he was also very inexperienced with strange dragons, and with the exception of the giant that had just been defeated, they did not come any stranger than a Night Fury. Fishlegs was also extremely aware of how dangerous any wounded animal could be, especially one who could shoot a blue plasma flame straight through the middle of his chest; so he was pleased to know that this wounded animal was accustomed to being in the company of young Vikings.
The Gronckle he had flown all the way from Berk, followed close behind him like a faithful dog (and panted like one too) as Fishlegs began to speak to the Night Fury in comforting tones; he approached slowly while talking so as not to surprise the large black dragon.
"Hey there boy... err... Toothless," he began to mumble to himself "you don't look very toothless to me."
The dragon lifted its head and made a soft growl that made Fishlegs a little surprised, for not only did it seem to accept his approach, but appeared to be fully aware that he was only there to help.
It was only two days ago that Astrid had approached Fishlegs and the other trainees. The Viking fleet had set sail for Dragon Island with Toothless bound and muzzled on the deck of the flagship, and she had told them all about what Stoick did not know. The young Vikings had all been awestruck and almost silent as she spoke of confronting Hiccup about his odd behaviour, her first encounter with the mighty Night Fury, being lifted into the fir tree, and her wild first flight. The small group had become totally enthralled as she spoke of soaring though the clouds, under the moon and over the Isle of Berk. Their chests had begun to tighten as she told them about being surrounded by a hundred dragons bringing in the kill to the volcanic mountain, and he had almost passed out when she revealed to them what she had seen inside.
Fishlegs now found himself kneeling by the creature he had been taught to fear for his entire life; the dragon now seemed so frail to his eyes, and he began to wonder just what it was that he could really do for it. He placed his hand on its head just as he had seen Chief Stoick do, just as his Gronckle came and sat down beside them. Fishlegs looked at the two dragons together, he began to realise that more than anything else, the Night Fury simply needed to be reassured that it was safe, and that it was with friends. Yes; the dragon would not heal if it could not relax, and it would not relax if it was nervous. It was exactly how Fishlegs would feel if he were unwell and vulnerable, so he stood up and looked around the beach as an idea began to form.
Snotlout lifted into the sky on the back of his Monstrous Nightmare, coaxing it on with every beat of its wings. He may have been the youngest of the Jorgenson clan, but Snotlout was the strongest of the winter children and, as far as he was concerned, the best so it was only right that he had been given the most terrifying, the most confronting dragon of the whole group. It was true that the Night Fury was faster, but it looked like a big black salamander. The Gronckle may be the toughest, but when tamed it acted like a big lumpy puppy. The Hideous Zippleback looked impressive, but was a little clumsy; and as for Astrid's Deadly Nadder, well... it looked like a giant blue chicken. No; to his mind nothing could compare to his own impressive dragon and after all, what kind of name was Toothless anyway? His dragon would have a title that reflected its frightening visage. Monsterface; Blackheart; Megabeast; he considered many names but then remembered what it was that Stoick had told him to do.
Deeply lodged inside Snotlout's mind was the firm belief that the Chief had given him this important task, because none of the others could be trusted with it and the thought made him grin with false pride. Here he was; flying alone while Chief Stoick kept all the others nearby where he could keep an eye them. Snotlout finally overcame his pride and commenced his task of scanning the island; he was finally beginning to get accustomed to being so high off the ground after a fairly shaky start.
Yesterday morning when he had awoken, Snotlout was excitedly expectant of what was to come that day. Astrid Hofferson (or as he liked to think of her; the future Mrs. Snotlout) had regaled him the evening before with an amazing story of a giant dragon that was so big, that she claimed any other dragon could fly straight down its throat without its wings touching the sides. I was true that the other trainees were there as well, but to Snotlout it was like a magical evening that Astrid had planned, just to be with him. He would have found the story hard to believe from anyone else, but she was his lady love and would never lie, well...not to him anyway. Astrid had told them all to get a good night of sleep and to meet up by arena at first light, so after a quick breakfast, he joined up with the others and walked inside the stone walled, cage covered arena only to find Hiccup staring up at the huge iron door that imprisoned the dragons he had been fighting against for the last few weeks.
While Astrid had spent most of the last evening telling them all of her adventure on Dragon Island, the disgraced son of Chief Stoick the Vast had been here in the arena with nothing but a basket full of fish, and a handful of wild grass preparing the dragons. Everyone quivered with anticipation, except for Astrid who just stood there with arms folded and a wry smile on her face.
"Well, what's the plan?" she asked of Hiccup who smiled back and held up a finger in signal for them to wait.
Slowly Hiccup turned the lock wheel and up lifted the pin that held the prison doors fast. Moving to the centre, he pushed one door out then and slipped inside the dark prison from where a low growl came, causing Snotlout to wonder if Hiccup would ever be seen alive again. When he finally stepped back into the light, he was walking backwards with his arm outstretched; his hand was hovering inches above the snout of the red, vicious looking Monstrous Nightmare which followed in his path while looking straight into his eyes.
When Snotlout would later come to tell the story of this first encounter, he would speak of nothing but his own bravery and steadfastness, but in reality the boy began to shake and gave a little whimper as the beast approached; he even tried to pickup half of a broken spear before Astrid stopped him. Hiccup came to a halt allowing the dragon to at last make contact with his hand, but Snotlout gave a strangely quiet yell as Hiccup grabbed his hand and placed it gently on the dragon's nose; a deep purr came from the beast that reverberated all the way up Snotlout's arm, making the boy smile in surprise.
The bonding had begun.
Most of the fleet had sunk after having been burnt to the water line but some could be pulled up onto the shore because of the anchor chains and ropes that still led from the beach to the sunken wrecks. Stoick had the idea that his people could make good use of the twins Hideous Zippleback, by using the muscular dragon to help pull some of the wrecks ashore. This would also help his Viking warriors become accustomed to working with, and trusting the dragons. It took Ivar the herdsman only ten minutes to fashion a harness from some salvaged rope, but it took another ten to calm the dragon down enough to wear it, thanks mainly to the twins constant arguing and shouting with each other the whole time. The result was well worth the effort however, for although the Vikings could have done the work alone if they had needed too, the help of a powerful dragon made the work much easier. Stoick knew as well, that the sooner everyone started to see the dragons as allies and not a threat, the better off they would all be. Not only that, but the dragon appeared to thrive on the praise and attention it received as it helped, so after they had pulled their third ship ashore, Stoick gave the order for some members of the tribe to begin removing anything of use from the wrecks while the others, now dubbed 'The Dragon Team', continued to pull the ships up onto the beach.
"It'll be dark in about another half hour, so join me at the base of the mountain before then."
"Righty ho Chief" shouted back Sigrid on behalf of the others as Stoick made his way to the glowing camp fires in the distance "We'll see you soon."
'This is the only way to patrol' Snotlout thought as he soared high above the island on the back of his Monstrous Nightmare.
Dragon Island was not a small place; when the high mountain, the numerous sea stacks and several little islands nearby were combined, it was slightly larger than Berk but Snotlout was able to see almost all of it as he and his dragon rode high on the gentle winds. Two things caught the young man's attention during his short flight; the first of these was the large number of dragons that were returning to the island now that their tormenter was gone, and there were various breeds landing all over the island. Snotlouts second and far more important observation was that twenty or more Vikings were still making for the far side of the island, although he had no idea as to why this was, and so Snotlout decided that the best thing to do was to ask them; as well tell them all about his heroic exploits of course.
It could not be said that Snotlout was a stupid boy, but sometimes his vanity got in the way of common sense. In the past he would never give up an opportunity to tell everyone about his impressive dragon fighting skills, and in the future he would relish in bragging about his talent as a dragon rider, but today was a very exciting time for Snotlout because on this day, he could talk about both; although he probably should not have started with a large group of heavily armed Vikings who still believed that the Dragon War was in full swing.
Fishlegs studied the wrecked catapults that littered the ground at his feet and picked out two long, sturdy beams and dragged them back to where Toothless lay on the ground placing one on each side, and along the length of the black dragon. He looked around once more and noticed the salvaged shipwrecks on the shore and made his way down to where Sigrid the Strong was directing the two groups of workers and the Hideous Zippleback; Sigrid was an attractive warrior maid of twenty five, who hid her slender figure underneath a thick armoured chest plate and studded leather skirt.
"Excuse me" he called politely for he did not want to get on Sigrid's bad side; Snotlout had once done so only to be found a few hours later hanging by his britches from the mast of a longship.
"What is it lad? Spit it out, we've got work to do" came her short reply.
"Err, Chief Stoick asked me to take care of Hiccups dragon and I, err... need some things from that ship and a little bit of help... please?"
"Take what you need lad" Sigrid replied without looking at him "and please, take Tuffnut with you; that will stop him fighting with his sister and upsetting the dragon" she sighed.
"Thank you Miss Sigrid" he chirped and trotted off to the small pile of recovered items and grabbed a folded sail and a length of rope. He called to Tuffnut for help, and the two returned to Toothless where Fishlegs unfolded the sail behind the resting dragon; he then knelt down by its head and spoke softly.
"Hey Toothless; we're gonna make a big sling for you, and take you to the camp so you can be with us tonight, okay boy?"
Fishlegs had no way of knowing how much Toothless understood, but he felt much better for having tried.
"Wadda ya want do?" Tuffnut asked as he pondered the sail, the beams and the dragon.
"We have to get Toothless onto this sail, so we can get him up to the campsite" Fishlegs stated as clearly as he could but with little success.
"What? Wait... you wanna sail a dragon? Wow, and they say I'm crazy."
"Just get around the back and try not to hurt him."
"Me? You're the one who wants to turn him into a boat."
"Just push... gently."
With some coaxing, the pair managed to get Toothless half onto his feet and positioned the sail close behind him, allowing the dragon to roll slowly back again onto the canvas. Fishlegs brought in the thick beams and tied on the cordage lines from the sail, which turned out to be way too big; so with Tuffnuts help he rolled up the sail onto the beams, until each one was only several inches away from the dragon. Finally he ran a few feet of rope between the beams and tied them together before they hoisted the end near the dragon's head up onto the Gronckle's shoulders; this allowed them to drag the makeshift litter up to the camp, where the glow of several campfires lit up the side of the mountain in the fading light. They found one of the fires near to a small cave where Astrid's Nadder was sitting; Fishlegs soon realised this was the best place to take their wounded friend.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Snotlout yelled at the attacking Vikings as his dragon fled into the sky.
"What did it look like, ya daft pudding?" Olaf declared "we were savin' you from that Monstrous Nightmare."
"That was my dragon" he whimpered.
New on bookshelves everywhere from Berksbury Press,
SNOTLOUT: The Living Legend.
Read about this young man's amazing life from his adventures in the training arena, to the making of the Hero of Dragon Island, and his love for one very lucky girl.
Just listen to what some people have said about this incredible story;
"Absolute rubbish" Gobber the Belch
"No it's not" Spitelout Jorgenson
"CHAPTER 12 IS A COMPLETE LIE" Astrid Hofferson
"I'm tellin' ye, a dragon can nay fly; it's against the laws of physics – and why wasn't I asked to be a voice in this movie?" Montgomery Scott
"... ... ..." Gothi
"I thought it was Hiccup who was the Hero of Dragon... OWW! Stop hitting me Snotlout!" Fishlegs Ingerman
