ch 7
The first week after the demonstration, things change. Several tribes go home, eager to sell the idea of training their own dragons to their tribes. Hiccup feels sick at the thought as he watches them leave. They'll be back before too long, ready for tips and their own training, and Hiccup will be the one expected to teach them. After all, he's the one who tamed a Night Fury.
Unfortunately, most of the tribes stay to get better acquainted with the idea of dragons as pets. Those tribes include the Berserkers and the Celts.
Sometimes, Hiccup really hates his luck.
The group of teens have appropriated the old kill ring as a training ground. It's cloudy, cold, and Hiccup wishes he was anywhere than right in between a pissed-off Fishlegs and a ruffled Snotlout. Astrid leans against Stormfly, watching the argument with interest, while the twins are on the other side of the kill ring having a staring contest. Or something. Sometimes Hiccup thinks it best to just not ask.
"I don't know what you're talking about – clearly, I'm the better trainer!" Snotlout bragged.
Toothless huffs. 'Is that what they're calling it these days?' he mutters.
Hookfang nudges him, a raspy chuckle escaping the Nightmare. 'Let him have his delusions. They make him easier to manage.'
That makes Stormfly laugh. 'So who's training who here?' she asks, voice laced with amusement.
Hiccup doesn't get the chance to follow the rest of the conversation. Now Fishlegs is in Snotlout's face, and the bigger boy looks ready to start throwing punches. Snotlout grabs the front of Fishlegs' tunic, and Hiccup takes a step forward, eyes wide. "Come on, guys, enough!" He reaches out to push them apart (or rather, to try and put himself between them before someone got hurt), but he never makes it that far.
Snotlout shoves him hard enough to knock him to the ground. Hiccup grunts at the impact, but he brushes it off. Behind him, the friendly teasing between the dragons has stopped. In fact, all conversation has stopped. He and Snotlout are now the official focus of everyone's attention. Toothless growls low in his throat, but Hiccup ignores him for the moment. He pushes himself to his feet before rounding on Snotlout and Fishlegs.
"Really guys? You're gonna fight about who's the better trainer when we haven't even been at it for that long?" he snaps. "How would you know whose better when no one is any good at it?"
"Except you." Astrid says pointedly. "You can train any dragon. It's kinda creepy."
Hiccup pinches the bridge of his nose. Toothless is still growling, but Hiccup holds up a hand, and he subsides. "It's not really training with me, okay? That's not how I see it." he protests. Astrid just rolls her eyes.
"Do you even see what you just did?" she demands. "You don't even have to try! They just like you for some reason."
For some reason? That actually makes Hiccup flinch. Still, he turns his attention to Astrid. "Toothless and I are different. You can't expect it to turn out the same way."
"Why not?" Snotlout demands. He gets in Hiccup's face, forcing the smaller boy to back away and eliciting a whole new round of growls from Toothless. "What makes you and the stupid Night Fury so special?"
This time, Hiccup doesn't back down. Toothless's eyes flicker back and forth between his hatchling and the aggressive Viking boy threatening what's his. Behind Snotlout, Hookfang is just as tense as Toothless, keeping a sharp watch on the Night Fury. Something is about to change. Astrid watches the entire thing from the sidelines.
Something is different. It's not that Snotlout is about ten seconds away from punching Hiccup in the face – it's that Hiccup is staring down a fully enraged Snotlout with no fear. He's not backing down anymore or even shaking. He's just staring at the bigger boy with a look that could almost be exhaustion, and that worries Astrid.
Toothless slinks up behind Hiccup and buts his head against his rider's side, cooing softly. Hookfang backs down, retreating back to stand with Stormfly and the other dragons. Slowly, Hiccup turns away from Snotlout. Toothless huffs and walks away, Hiccup following by his side.
The dragons watch him leave before exchanging looks. Stormfly directs her attention to Hookfang, who shakes his head and huffs. Astrid watches the exchange with a small frown on her face.
Almost like they're talking to each other. Almost like they understand what almost happened.
Stormfly watches as comprehension flashes across Astrid's face. The dragon sighs. Finally, her rider gets it. Or at least, she's beginning to.
That could be a really good thing, or a really bad one. It all depends on where Astrid choses to stand – with Hiccup and the dragons, or with the Vikings she has been raised to become.
/-/
Hiccup barely makes it out of the kill ring before Toothless nudges him again. 'I'm proud of you.' he says softly. 'Finally, there was no fear.'
That makes the hatchling smile. "Yeah, well, kinda hard to be afraid when you have a snarling Night Fury behind you." he teases lightly. "That instills the confidence."
'One day you'll find it in yourself.'
"I already do. I have confidence that Snotlout would have beaten me into the ground while everyone watched if you weren't there." Hiccup retorts. "I'm not delusional. I know where my strengths are, and it's not one on one combat with him."
Toothless huffs a sigh. He really can't argue with that. He bumps his head against Hiccup affectionately, and Hiccup just laughs and throws an arm over his neck. The two of them set off for the forge, but a voice stops them.
"That was quite impressive. I don't think I've ever seen you not scared of that Snot-kid." Dagur falls into step next to Hiccup. Toothless snarls at him and bumps Hiccup up onto his back. The hatchling doesn't fight him, rather taking his place in the saddle. Dagur frowns at them.
"Yeah, well, face down a giant dragon-monster and suddenly Snotlout isn't all that intimidating." Hiccup says quietly. "Why are you bothering with me?"
"I told you – I want to know how you managed to tame a Night Fury." Dagur says almost cheerfully. "There's gotta be a trick to it, right? I mean, something like you couldn't possibly have done that on your own."
"Kinda did." Hiccup mutters. He's out of witty comebacks. Between Astrid's off-handed remark (for some reason) and now this – he's tired of it.
Tired of being treated like less than a Viking. More than that, less than human. Dagur is just one in a long line of people who think the world would have been better off without Hiccup in it.
Toothless, for his part, is just getting tired of people threatening his hatchling. He's not afraid of this snot of a Viking, and he's going to keep him away from Hiccup if it's the last thing he does. As suspicious as they are of the Celts, Dagur Toothless just hates. He snarls at the boy again, trying to drive him away.
Dagur laughs. "Oooh, a feisty one. Sure you wouldn't rather come home with me?"
'I'd rather be skinned alive with a blunt knife.' Toothless growls.
Hiccup chokes on a laugh. "I'm going to take that as a no." he tells Dagur. "Leave my dragon alone."
Dagur just smiles at him. "Oh, he won't be your dragon for much longer. Not if I have my way about it." he says quietly. "See you around, Hiccup." With that he walks away from them, whistling a little as he makes his way back to the Great Hall. Hiccup and Toothless watch him go, the dragon growling lowly the entire time.
Hiccup breaks the silence. "That was emphatic."
'I meant it.' Toothless growls.
"I know you did. I'm just surprised, that's all." Hiccup nudges him gently. "I wonder how far Dagur will go." he muses. "The Berserkers are one of the more influential tribes."
'Let him try.' Toothless mutters darkly. 'I look forward to biting his head off.'
Hiccup just laughs. Together the two of them make it back to the forge where Hiccup has been working on his flight suit in between projects with Gobber. He's been teaching the smith how to make saddles. He did pretty well with Toothless's tail fin, but the saddle he wears is still the original. Gobber couldn't figure it out, and the leather hadn't been that badly burnt during the fall.
Something makes his scales crawl, and he looks over his shoulder. The Celt woman stands there, smiling at the two of them. Toothless bares his teeth in a silent snarl before following Hiccup into the forge.
Raelynn laughs silently. Tonight, she'll make her move. Tonight, Hiccup will be hers.
