Snart's Saga, Part I Chapter 9

Snart no longer felt comfortable visiting Hulm village. Fortunately, he didn't have to go there very often. Skydancer could fly to the coast and catch his own fish, and he usually brought back a few for his human friend. When he needed smithwork done, it was less stressful to take it to Berk and pay Gobber to do it (and Gobber did far better work than Hulm's smith anyway). He enjoyed his visits to Berk; he had friends there. Skydancer also enjoyed those visits, and the chance to spend time with other dragons.

He spent a lot of time with Fishlegs, talking about the additions to the Book of Dragons. He contributed a few things he'd learned, but he gained far more from what the riders of Berk had discovered. He learned about dragon-nip grass, and what happens if you rub a dragon's chin; he gained some useful hints about flying at night; and he learned to keep eels away from Skydancer if he knew what was good for him. He was astonished at how much these dragon riders were learning. He felt like he was missing out on something important.

Spring came at last, and Snart had to prepare his fields. He was out plowing one day when his pony refused to pull any more; she bucked and neighed in abject terror. Snart looked all around, but saw nothing. Finally, he looked straight up — and there was Snotlout on Hookfang, hovering above him in the breeze, looking very smug.

They landed while Snart put the pony in its stable. "If it wasn't for that dumb horse, I could have been right over you all day and you never would have noticed," Snotlout grinned.

"Maybe. But I'm sure you didn't come all this way just to scare my pony. What's up?"

"Hiccup wants a meeting tomorrow morning, and he wants you there."

"I'll be there tomorrow if I can finish my plowing today," Snart replied. "What's it about?"

"Hiccup says it's getting too confusing with too many dragon riders, and he wants some advice. If he'd listen to me, I'd fix his problem real fast, but he wants to hear from all the dragon experts."

"Tell Hiccup I'll be there," said Snart. "But I won't make it if your dragon keeps scaring my pony."

"Is it the pony that's scared, or you?" Snotlout sneered. He was a few years younger than Snart; where had he learned his manners? The day might not be far off when this dragon trainer would have to get a lesson in politeness, Monstrous Nightmare or no Monstrous Nightmare. Snart returned to the barn for his pony; when he came out, Snotlout and his dragon were gone.

The next morning, Snart flew to Berk and joined the six members of the Dragon Training Academy. He sat on the front bench with Fishlegs and Astrid; Snotlout and the twins sat on the second bench; and Hiccup stood in front of them all.

"Most of you know the problems we've been having," he began. "Now that dragon training isn't a secret, anybody who wants to make friends with a dragon can do it. And with all those dragons from Helheim's Gate making their new nests here, there are plenty of dragons to choose from. Now, all these new dragon riders think they know everything. They're giving bad advice to everybody else, and it's just a matter of time before somebody gets hurt."

"I can't believe some of those people!" exclaimed Ruffnut disgustedly. "Yesterday, this old grandmother with a Terror on her shoulder was telling me how to feed my own dragon!"

"She said if Barf and Belch don't eat sulfur and molasses every week, they'll lose their color and turn brown!" added Tuffnut, rolling his eyes.

"Is that the same grandmother who told me to file Meatlug's teeth down so she wouldn't bite her own tongue?" asked Fishlegs.

"No, that's the grandmother who told Astrid she should cut off the tips of Stormfly's tail spines so they won't get ingrown," scoffed Snotlout.

"Okay, we all know there's a problem," agreed Hiccup. "The question is, what do we do about it?"

"The seven of us here know just about everything there is to know about dragons," began Astrid, "except the parts nobody knows yet. I think we ought to be the only ones giving out advice on how to train them."

"Sounds good," agreed Snart, "but how do you convince people like that grandmother to stop giving bad advice?"

"What we need," thought Snotlout out loud, "is a way for anybody to tell the beginners from the experts like us."

"Oh, sure," Ruffnut cut in. "Are we supposed to walk around with a sign that says, 'Don't listen to her, listen to me, I'm an expert'?"

"I think Snotlout might be on to something," nodded Snart. "What if we made up three kinds of dragon trainers — the beginners, the experts, and the in-betweens? Each of them could wear a marking of some kind, like a metal badge, to show how much he knows. That way, when grandma starts handing out bad advice, people can just look at her badge and tell she doesn't know what she's talking about."

"That's excellent, Snart!" Hiccup was excited. "That sounds like just what we need. Three kinds of dragon trainers... hmmm..."

Astrid jumped in. "The lowest of the three would be, uhh, Dragon Friends. That's anybody who has trained a dragon in any way."

"The in-betweens would be the Dragon Riders," continued Fishlegs. "Those are the ones who have done something good with their dragon, like fight in a battle, or rescue sailors off a sinking ship, or —"

"And the real experts would be Dragon Masters," finished Snart. "Those are the ones who really understand dragons and can give really good advice."

"Like me," said Tuffnut. "But who decides which is which?"

"Anybody who can ride a dragon, and feed it without losing a hand, would be a Dragon Friend," said Astrid.

"We'd have rules for who gets to be a Dragon Rider," continued Fishlegs. "Anyone who meets one of those rules gets to move up."

"I think the Dragon Masters should be voted in by the Dragon Riders," Snart suggested. "And there shouldn't be too many of them. Being a Dragon Master should be something special."

"This all sounds great," agreed Hiccup. "Let's vote: who wants to do this thing with three kinds of dragon trainers?" Seven hands went up. "Great, it's unanimous. I'll make up some metal badges shaped like a dragon's head — iron for the Dragon Friends, copper for the Dragon Riders, and silver for the Dragon Master, if there is one."

"I nominate Hiccup to be the Dragon Master," Astrid said suddenly. "All in favor?" She, Fishlegs, and Snart raised their hands immediately; Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and finally Snotlout slowly raised theirs. "Great! It's official, Hiccup is our first Dragon Master." Hiccup looked embarrassed, but a sly look crept onto his face.

"And I nominate Snart to be our second Dragon Master!" he announced firmly.

"What? Me? What did I do? Do we need two Masters when there's only seven of us?"

"Hiccup is right," Astrid decided. "You did the same things he did. You trained a dragon all by yourself. You learned to fly. You've fought in a battle —"

"Flying along on that raid wasn't exactly a battle," Snart interrupted.

"I was thinking of the raid you broke up, actually," Astrid continued. "And there are more than seven of us; there are at least twenty people in Berk who have trained a dragon. You might not live here, but we need your help. You're important here." She turned to Hiccup, who nodded in support. "All in favor of making Snart a Dragon Master?" Again, three hands went up immediately, but this time, there were only three.

"What's the problem?" said Hiccup.

"There's one thing you did that Snart didn't do," answered Ruffnut. "He didn't teach anybody else how to train a dragon."

"Hmmm... yeah, I think you're right there, Ruff," nodded Hiccup slowly. "Snart, do you mind if we hold off on your Master pin?"

"Of course not, no problem at all," said Snart, who was actually slightly relieved.

"So is all of that settled?" asked Hiccup.

"No, it isn't," objected Snotlout. "Are you saying that somebody who pulls a sailor off a sinking ship is as good as us, who fought a Red Death and killed it?"

"I've got a simple answer for that," replied Snart. "Battle stars. If you've fought in a battle with your dragon, you get to wear a leather star under your metal dragon-head pin. Fight in two battles, you get two stars. Everyone will be able to see who the real dragon warriors are."

"I'm in favor of that!" agreed Snotlout, his hand raised. Every other hand went up as well.

"Well, I can see I've got work to do," mused Hiccup. "Let's see, one silver Dragon Master pin shaped like Toothless; six copper Dragon Rider pins, two Nadders, one Nightmare, one Gronckle, and two Zipplebacks; and one battle star for each of us, so far. And I can't make the Dragon Friend pins until I know what kinds of dragons people have trained. They'll have to come to me and tell me, and I'll have to decide if they've earned it. As if I didn't have enough to do!"

"I think the twins should be the ones people come to, to ask for Dragon Friend pins," suggested Astrid. "There's two of you, so you're easy to find, and it'll be good practice for you. All in favor?" Five hands went up. "Congratulations, you got the job!"

"Thanks," they said in unison, with identical lack of enthusiasm.

"Great," said Hiccup. "Now let's all head for the Mead Hall; I think I smell some venison cooking."