"HICCUP, GET UP! We've got dragon training now!"
I opened my eyes and saw a blurry Astrid standing over me. "Mm. Can I get back to sleep?"
"NOW!" she yelled. To drive her point home, she shoved me out of my bed. I landed on the ground with a thud.
"Rrrgh! I'm up! I'm up!" I slowly got to my feet and checked to make sure I had no broken bones. None, although a few bruises were gonna show up soon.
"Gobber's been waiting for you. Hurry up." I heard her footsteps clunk out of my house.
I sighed, knowing today would be difficult because of how late I had stayed up last night. A couple hours of sleep was never going to get the job done here. But I had no choice. After nearly tripping down the stairs, and hearing the fifth step explode underneath my foot, I was awake enough to make my way to the arena. No breakfast, because I was already late.
Gobber had set up the arena with several small wooden walls peppering the ground, like temporary bunkers to hide behind. I was last to trudge into the arena, trying my hardest not to drag my feet.
"What took you so long, Hiccup?" he asked.
Before I could say anything, Astrid said, "Hiccup doesn't want to be here." I didn't say anything back. No need to, because she was actually correct.
"Well, if you prefer receiving a fireball, then be my guest," Gobber said. We all just stood, waiting for Gobber to say something. Eventually, he instructed, "Okay, everyone get behind a wall!" And waited for a little bit. And waited some more. I was about to stand up and ask him what was taking so long when he added, "You also need to find your own wall!" The twins were bickering again over who would claim ownership of the all-important wall. Eventually, Ruffnut got shoved out from behind the wall and grumbled all the way to her own wall, six feet away from her brother's. She glared at him while Gobber started a brief lecture.
"Last time, you had a maze to help you with the Nadder. In a real dragon raid, you don't get that luxury. Let's see if you have learned anything about attacking!" He shoved the lever down, releasing the bole holding a door shut. The door slammed open and the same Deadly Nadder Astrid clobbered a few days back came rushing out.
I was slumping against my wall, trying to fight sleep. After last night, I realized living this double life was going to be taxing. But I had no choice. Toothless was a secret to everyone except me and him.
"HICCUP! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Gobber shouted at me. I jumped, colliding with my wall and nearly making it topple. I grabbed the top of it and held it steady. Gobber's screaming at me helped to clear my senses for at least a few minutes. I heard the Nadder blast fire at someone, but didn't look. Snotlout yelled in fear as his shield caught fire. Before the dragon could blast him, Astrid yelled a battle cry and clonked the dragon in the head with a hammer she had picked up. The dragon snarled and took off after her. "Snotlout! You're done!" Gobber shouted across the ring.
The dragon spewed fire at Astrid as she grunted and ducked behind a different wall than where she started. And she stayed there. The dragon warbled and cackled, looking for someone to maim.
"HICCUP! WAKE UP!" Gobber shouted again.
This time, I shot straight into the air, standing ramrod straight. The dragon saw me. "Crud," I mumbled under my breath. "Let's just get this over with."
I stood there, looking the Nadder in the eyes as it approached me at full tilt. But I didn't back down, probably because I was too tired to react. It stopped and made a cackling noise. After observing Toothless, I thought the dragon might have been more interested in checking me out, rather than blasting me with fire. But I wasn't going to find out. Astrid wouldn't let me.
About thirty feet on the other side of the dragon, Astrid leapt up yelling, "HYEEEAH!" with her axe raised. She was going to kill this poor creature. I had to do something about it.
The only thing my mind could think of was what Toothless did after I took his saddle off yesterday. I scratched him under his chin and he melted in content. I stole one look at the Deadly Nadder, who was still looking me over, and began scratching it on the side of its neck. I must have done something right, because I saw the dragon's eyes lose focus. Astrid was still out for blood, so I had to move quickly. I snuck my left hand under the Nadder's chin and scratched.
The dragon seized up, grunted and collapsed in a heap and sighed, warbling softly. I saw Astrid with her axe still raised, looking at the dragon in disbelief. Then her eyes found me standing on the other side of the happy Nadder, wide like the bowls we use for supper. She couldn't believe it. A second ago, she was mere feet from lopping this dragon's head off, and then it just collapsed?
The dragon continued to mumble in contentment as Astrid slowly shuffled away, trying to figure out what happened to her. I smirked a little, trying to hide the fact that I was dead-tired. I just wanted to go visit Toothless again, so that I could get some sleep.
"Uhh, right," Gobber said after an awkward silence. "Looks like we're done for today. Meet back in front of the armory tomorrow, same time, everyone." I sighed in relief and made my way toward the exit trying my hardest not to drag my feet.
"All right, Hiccup, start talking," Astrid said to me in full earshot of everyone else as we were leaving the arena. "What did you do?"
"I, uh, stopped the Nadder from attacking me. Why?"
"But how?"
"I dunno," I said, trying to stifle a yawn. "Maybe it had enough sense to back down?"
"Yeah, sure, whatever," she said. She and the other trainees left me to trudge my way back home. I slowed my pace down so that I could stop by the armory and get Toothless's stuff. I watched as the other teens went their separate ways, not really bothering me. Good, I thought. I dashed into the armory and grabbed the saddle, cable and a few strings of leather along with a basket and wire shears. My next stop was the great hall, as I somehow remembered in my stupor to get some fish for Toothless.
Laden with gear, I tried to make my way to the cove quickly without attracting any attention. I got to the cove barely awake and tried to walk into the entrance. And promptly collided with that darn shield. The impact was enough to wake me up for just a little bit as I slithered underneath the shield with all of my gear and somehow found my way down to the bottom of the cove without tumbling.
Toothless was already there, waiting for me. Ready to go flying. But I couldn't do anything. "H-hey, Toothless," I said quietly. "Here's your fish." I tipped the basket over, forgetting to remove the shears and leather. Toothless saw them fall out and looked at me inquisitively before I realized what was going on. "Mm. Sorry," I said. I removed the gear that had mixed itself with the fish and sat down. I didn't even watch Toothless eat. I was just too tired to do anything. Except sleep.
Toothless must have picked up on me being tired, because after finishing his meal, he loped over to me and licked me in the face a few times before giving a short, raspy bark. Kinda like last night.
"Mmm. Hey, Toothless," I said stupidly. I had been trying to stay awake so hard that I had forgotten what Toothless wanted. He licked me again and rumbled, trying to wake me up for something, but I just couldn't do it. What was that something? Oh, right. Flying. Too tired. I started to lean to my left without realizing it. By the time I was gonna hit the ground, I knew I would be asleep.
Toothless immediately crouched down under me, and I ended up with my back against the left side of his neck. I was too tired to say anything, so I just sighed in contentment. Toothless licked the side of my face again as I fell asleep. I only hoped we'd have at least some time to try flying before the day was through.
I woke up, feeling refreshed. Way better than what I had felt like when I had first gotten here today. I looked up and saw the sun was high overhead. Could this be tomorrow? I wondered. I stirred, realizing I was sitting on the ground, leaning against Toothless, who was sleeping lightly. I listened to him breathe, feeling his heart beat.
I heard Toothless snort and wake up. He shook his head, sending a small vibration through my back. He grunted and stood, forcing me to sit straight up. I stretched and stood, remembering I had conveniently turned dragon training with Gobber into a very short class earlier today. In the cove I had a foggier sense of time, but I figured it was just past noon at the very latest. I had taken a short nap and I was now ready to fly.
"Hey, Toothless. You ready?" I asked, turning to face him. His mouth pulled into a grin and he looked at me in anticipation. I took that as a yes.
I put his saddle on with a minimum of fuss and fastened the loops around his front legs. I had forgotten to treat the leather, so I knew it would ride up on Toothless if we crash landed into any water again.
As I climbed onto his back, I had this faint sinking feeling that I had forgotten something important. I couldn't tell what it was, but I knew it would come to me soon. Oh, well.
Toothless hunkered down and took off as I held onto the saddle, ready this time. As his feet left the ground, everything moved in slow motion because I remembered what it was. I had forgotten to attach the tail fin to the saddle. Oops. As usual, the first few wingbeats were good and then it all went wrong. Toothless had a little more air this time, probably because the tail fin was somewhat open during his flight. He had gotten us out of the cove and was heading in a direction I didn't want him to go.
Toward Berk. I wasn't sure if he knew Berk was this way, but I hoped the tail fin would bring us down. And quickly.
It did. Toothless made a noise between a squawk and a grunt as he plummeted down into a field of garlic grass. The landing was soft enough for me to stumble about five steps forward as Toothless hit the ground. I emerged just outside of the little field and turned back to see if Toothless was okay. And if he was up for flying again. Well, he didn't have a choice because all my gear was inside our little cove.
As I parted the chest-high grass, I heard Toothless grunting and snorting as he rolled around in the grass, apparently enthralled by its scent. I knew we had several meadows of garlic grass around Berk, but I had never seen a dragon near one during a raid. Maybe this was why. Toothless was pretty much overwhelmed in pleasure as he rubbed around in the grass, trying to inhale as much of its scent as he could. I had walked through garlic grass several times and had never thought anything of it. I actually tried to stay away from it because I was always itchy later on.
But seeing Toothless happy like this was amazing, especially after another failed flight. Watching him frolic gave me another idea. A new "weapon" for dragon training. I already had scary things like eels and scratching under chins. Now I had one more. Garlic grass. I made a mental note to head here tomorrow right before dragon training.
I waited for Toothless to come down off his high before we made the return flight back to the cove. This was probably going to hurt, but I didn't know how else to get him back down there. If I left him here to get my stuff, there was no telling what could happen to him. He could wander off in search of more grass or a Viking not named Hiccup could find him. That wouldn't end well. The best solution I could think of was to crash-land in the cove to get the rest of my little contraption put together.
Toothless stood and shook himself off before looking at me with those deep yellow-green eyes. I took one step toward him when his eyes lost focus. He squinted slightly and drew in a sharp breath through his nose. By the time I realized what he was doing, it was too late. Toothless sneezed through his nose, covering my front side in a fine spray of droplets. He looked at me again, as if nothing had happened. I stood there in shock, grateful he didn't sneeze anything more dangerous, like a fireball. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down, and said, "C'mon, Toothless, let's get back to the cove." I tried to steer him back to where we came from. It was difficult because I was doing my best to hide my impatience from him, as I could think of nothing except washing dragon snot off. I walked him to the edge of the cove, which was surrounded by trees and boulders. I thought it was a very convenient disguise, as no one else but me and Toothless knew about this place.
Toothless waited for me to get on his back and then jumped to the top of the boulders without really flying. He was apparently smart enough to know that he couldn't fly yet. He then jumped back into the cove, gliding to a rough landing, but otherwise unhurt.
I ran over to the stream and tried to wash off the spray from Toothless as best as I could. Not all of it would come off, but I figured it was better than doing nothing. And I knew doing nothing about it would probably draw the suspicion of just about any Viking nearby.
"All right, Toothless, let's get this done," I said as I stood up from washing my face and clothes. I ambled over to the shears, cable and leather. Toothless loped with me, giddy with excitement.
The first thing I did was attach the cable to my foothold. I had already designed the control mechanism, so all it needed was a connection to the tail fin. Toothless just watched me, making the occasional curious sound. I straightened his tail a little bit so that the cable would be at its maximum length, making it easier for Toothless to turn while in flight and on the ground. I had observed that his tail was extremely active, if only moving up and down while pumping his wings. The cable was about five feet too long, so I clipped the excess off with the shears and tried to attach the cable by hand. I got it on the loop, but when Toothless moved his tail experimentally, the cable buckled slightly. It was still too long. I grabbed the shears again and clipped off another small section. Reattached it. Still buckling. I cut off yet another segment and kept trying to figure out how to keep the cable in a line with Toothless's side. I just couldn't figure it out.
By the time I had finished, I was out of breath, and my hands had a humongous gash running straight across from a mishap with the cable. I had tried to attach it for the umpteenth time when it slipped and dragged a jagged edge across my closed hands, making me yell in pain. I tried to flex my hands, but the pain was almost unbearable. I groaned weakly, trying to convince my audience of a Night Fury that I could stand an injury.
But I had a larger problem. The cable was resting directly on Toothless's front left leg. It would cut through his skin in no time if we tried flying. There was no way I would be dumb enough to let Toothless take to the air with this problem. He'd be in pain and he'd know that it would be my fault. Sounded like a recipe for a fireball in my direction. Not just a sneeze.
"Oh, man," I said under my breath. "Toothless, I'm sorry. I can't let you fly like this." Toothless just looked at me. He murmured softly and closed his eyes as he rubbed his head into my arm. I just stood there, cursing all these little problems that cropped up in trying to get Toothless airborne. I felt really bad for him, trying so hard to help him fly again, only to run into yet another snag. Dejected, I sat down and hung my head.
Toothless curled up beside me and found my right palm was still bleeding. He sniffed at it and licked it gently. I didn't feel any pain, but I wasn't sure if dragon saliva was going to help my hands heal any faster. I just let him go until he was satisfied, trying to keep my left hand hidden from him. But he found it anyway and swiped his tongue at my closed left hand. Oh well, what the heck, I thought. I opened my hand and let him lick my left hand until he was finished. I noticed that the bleeding stopped much more quickly than normal after Toothless had found my hands.
Eventually Toothless stopped and looked at me with those big, round eyes. Without thinking, I wrapped his neck in a hug and said, "I'm sorry, Toothless. I'm trying so hard, and I can't get it right." I heard him breathe, sounding like the bellows in the armory. I felt his heart beating, yearning for more time in the air, but I couldn't let him. He seemed to know it too. Toothless just let me hug him until I was ready to go. I was frustrated that I couldn't figure out what I needed to do, but my goal was to get him back in the air for more than ten seconds.
I let go of Toothless, who just looked at me. I shuffled over to his tail. Unwinding the cable was surprisingly easy, as I remembered I didn't have any kind of tool to tighten it. I disconnected the cable from the foothold and slowly removed the saddle from Toothless's back. I set it down on the ground next to him and pulled out my notebook with the pencil inside. I found a blank page and wrote, "Design guide slot for cable. Bring winch to secure cable. Test flight while attached to stationary object." I wanted to do all of this by the end of tomorrow.
I gathered all of the materials I needed and placed the saddle, shears and leather back in the basket. I'd have to carry the cable by hand.
"Okay, Toothless," I told him. "We're flying tomorrow. I promise." He just looked at me, wondering why he couldn't be airborne today. Begging me to fly today. I wished just this once, these problems could fix themselves and we'd be in the air.
I reached out to touch the side of his head, but Toothless backed away, grunted and loped off in irritation. My hand fell down by my side, and I shuffled back to the opening in the cove wall, looking down. I sighed as I ducked under the shield that was still lodged in the entrance. I was impatient, hoping the improvements to the saddle and tail fin would go more quickly. Maybe tonight I could get it all sorted out. And get Toothless in the air tomorrow.
Day four, I thought as I dropped my supplies in my little office. Ten days left, if that. I sat down at my drawing board and stared at it. I had been working like a maniac, trying to get Toothless back into the air. Where he belonged. And I was doing this…because I could? No, that wasn't right. It ran deeper than that. I just didn't know why.
I sighed as I put my head in my hands and tried to mull it over. There was no answer at the moment. But something didn't feel right about all this. I pulled my head back and looked at my hands. That was what was missing. I couldn't feel any pain in my hands from what the cable had done to them. All thanks to Toothless. I smiled a little bit, thinking he could do anything.
Eventually, I stood up and decided to get the improvements done on the saddle. No more wondering. I walked back into the armory. Gobber had already gone home for the evening, so it was just me again. Time to set up shop.
The guide slot was easy to build. I fashioned a reasonably thick guide tube out of cast iron and attached it on the outside of the loop that wrapped around Toothless's leg. I made it strong enough to keep from deforming when the cable ran back and forth through it. But more importantly, Toothless would be able to keep the skin on his left front leg.
Thirty minutes. A record for building stuff for a dragon. I just felt the tube wasn't enough. Other nights stretched on and on. There were those two nights when I was in the armory for until what seemed like the next daybreak, and now it just didn't seem right I was done so quickly. I looked around for something else to make. My eyes wandered from object to object, trying to come up with something useful. After a couple of minutes, they eventually settled on a large, unbroken sheet of leather. My mind raced, trying to think of some use for the leather that was currently collecting dust. How about a flight vest? Something more aerodynamic than a fur-lined vest that I always wore. Easy.
Thirty minutes later, I had a flight vest made out of leather. It held itself together in front of my breastbone. The four straps coming from the sides all met in the middle, so I just sewed them together. I could put the vest on like a shirt. I cut out strips from the unused portions of the leather sheet and braided them together. I also fashioned metal hooks and secured them to the front of the saddle. Made loops and outfitted both ends of the two braided straps. Finally, I made hooks that went onto the sides of my vest. I hung the saddle on the wall and hooked up using the newfangled straps. Perfect. I grinned, knowing I had a little extra measure of security while Toothless was flying.
I stowed everything in my little office, extinguished the main lantern in the armory, closed the front vista and left. Looked back. I had never seen the armory from this point of view before. Even though it was shut, there was a little sliver of orange light peeking out from the gap between the vista and its shutters. The heating coals. We never let them get too cold because it was difficult to get the heat chamber back up and running. I thought it was curious that the armory had been my second home, and yet, I never really paid attention to it. I continued looking for a few more seconds and then turned toward home.
I walked upstairs, avoiding the fifth step as usual, and washed off. Crawled into bed and fell asleep almost instantly.
