Right, so I've re-uploaded this chapter with some minor changes. Minor but necessary, as gracefully pointed out by Shadowmaster91.
Firstly, if not obvious : This chapter is a narrative recollection of the notable events and happenings over several months. ( God, that's a mouthful ! )
Secondly : It seems my sense of irony/sarcasm/antiphrasis/comic is miscalibrated and understood by no one, I have only myself to blame. Hence, I owe you an explanation : if I say "Liked to near death" I do not mean he/she was literally licked to death...Then again my writing might not be good enough to make that obvious.
Thirdly : I know some things like birthdays and whatnot were not part of Viking culture but then again nor was Christmas ( Snoggletog ). Furthermore, this is a story set in a world full of dragons...I think birthdays, are the least of historical inacurracies. ( If that's even sayable )
Jitters, turned out to be an excellent hunter, indeed, his previously mentioned spike-throwing skills were quite admirable.
I remember one time, five days after having found his knew family, he got into a exceedingly competitive archery competition with Hiccup ( yes, it turns out Hiccup does actually have a competitive streak to his character ), to see who could get the bullseye from a hundred meters away. Both got the bulls-eye on their first shot. Hence, the human and nadder have been in a constant struggle to bring back more game than the every week. It spiced things up and added a little fun to the necessary chores.
Otherwise, the nadder was infuriatingly fidgety, always in sporadic motion, never fully resting. He only really sleeps certain nights, but when he does it is long a long, peaceful lethargic sleep. They had quickly discovered that waking him up from these moments of blissful quietness was rarely a good idea, and if you absolutely needed him awake right this moment, then it is recommended you somehow hold his tail down. When woken up from deep sleep, Jitters is often startled and his reflexes will order his tail to fire spikes indiscriminately without aiming at anything in particular. This caused many a fright and tenfold the apologies from the nadder.
Furthermore, Jitters and Marcus grew quite close as the months flew by. Indeed they seemed connected in the same manner that Hiccup and Toothless were, they understood each other beyond words and could easily guess the other's intentions. It was like they were destined for each-other, somehow.
Summer came, the air got a little warmer, but not much warmer. For let me remind you that Dreki, is way down south from Berk, but nevertheless on the Meridian of Misunderstanding and within the Barbaric Archipelago, one of the coldest and most unpleasant regions of the world.
Hiccup turned sixteen, and although as humble as ever. He could not prevent his friends from preparing a small occasion behind his back. The human custom was explained to the dragons ( Jitters learnt to understand basic Norse within the first three weeks of meeting the humans and fury ) and when Hiccup returned from his usual daily hunting trip, he found a table set with meat, fish, nuts, berries in abundance.
It was truly a surprise, he had never enjoyed a birthday ever before, and this was truly a first for him. Previously, his passings into a superior age were spent alone at night, in his bed, sadly muttering to himself 'Happy Birthday Hiccup...'
His cheeks turned an interesting shade of red when the three siblings offered him a wooden carving of he and Toothless that could fit in his palm, carved by Lucia. Hiccup had his hand on Toothless' nose, in the same manner and position of when they first made contact in the cove. Hiccup's head was looking away, both had their eyes closed. It was a magical moment in both's memory, now masterfully captured in a small wooden sculpture. Hiccup set it down besides his mattress and admired it often, musing on this moment, that seemed so distant yet that he could remember so vividly.
Toothless, offered Hiccup about fifteen consecutive licks, each one as warm, fishy and gooey as the next. The boy would have refused the presents, but unfortunately he had no say in the matter as he was pinned to the floor by a rather strong night fury licking him to near death out of affection.
Another week passed and the Romans talked things over between themselves, and came to the conclusion they'd be happiest living here, with Hiccup and Toothless. So they proceeded to tell the pair of their wish to stay. The two accepted enthusiastically, of course. But Hiccup could never quite grasp the concept that people had grown attached enough to him and Toothless for them to choose to settle besides them. It was a first. Then again, so was interacting with humans that treated him as equal.
Hence, the next two weeks were spend on the construction of a house for the Romans and Jitters. It was a hard process, but with Hiccup as architect and dragons as builders, the process was actually rather rapid all things considered.
The house was composed of two floors. The bottom one consisted of a stone-paved living room with a fire-pit in the centre as well as a surprisingly sizeable smooth solid slate sleeping slab for Jitters. In the next room was the kitchen, which in turn led to the storage room. On the second floor were three bedrooms of wood, comfortably furnished with wardrobes and soft beds. All the furniture was produced by Lucia, who had some wood-carving basics ( She was forced by Hiccup to teach him all that she knew in the process, Hiccup being the knowledge hoarder that he is.)
But although Marcus had his own bedroom, he understood Hiccup for sleeping besides his dragon brother. For he will never admit it ( he is after all a brave Roman soldier by nature ), but anyone living on Dreki knew he'd creep downstairs to sleep under the warmth and reassurance of Jitter's wings every now and again. That is, when the nadder is in fact, sleeping. Otherwise the hyperactive and insomniac dragon would go on walks or flights around the island, simply enjoying the night life.
As mentioned before, Marcus and Jitters had grown close. But the Viking teenager had yet to convince the Roman to accept Jitters' proposal for a first flight.
Eventually, Hiccup and Lucia managed to get Marcus on the nadder's back, who couldn't wait to show his friend the wonders of flight. A harness and saddle was made for the pair within two days. Hiccup had reassured the Roman that he and Toothless would fly alongside them and catch him if anything went wrong.
The take-off was rather brusque, it was exactly what Jitters' had promised not to do, it seemed like the dragon had a little mischievous side to him and wanted to scare the Roman that now furiously clutched to his back for dear life.
If scaring was his objective, then he was effective. Marcus was more terrified than he had ever been, never, did he feel a fear as powerful as this. He clung to the nadder until his knuckles were white and his eyes clenched as tight as possible. A humorous aspect of the situation was the language Marcus produced, which was as colourful as the rainbow :
" Perfide ! Stercore ! Ego vadens ad moriendum ! Mallem nutrientibus gallus quam fugere ultra ! "
Hiccup ( who flew besides the pair while atop of Toothless ) merely laughed from behind the helmet. He armed his sarcastic tone and yelled over the wind : " I'm flattered to be insulted by your mother tongue ! You must really mean it ! "
" I AM NOT LISTENING TO YOU EVER AGAIN !"
" You should open your eyes, the view is wonderful."
Marcus still had his head pushed against Jitters' back, and his eyes were tightly closed. " I'm sure it is, but I'd rather not see how far I'm going to fall thank you very much ! "
" If you don't open your eyes I could get Jitters to do barrel-rolls..." Suggested Hicup
Marcus didn't respond for a moment but before long he realized he didn't have a choice and his voice rose up " ascendit vestra-... ! "
" Whatever that meant..." Scoffed the helmeted boy with a smile.
So Marcus did reluctantly take a peek at the world around him. And, from that moment on, he relaxed and marvelled at the view of the vivid green island below them and the wide expanse of the sea, reflecting dots of afternoon sunlight.
Needless to say that they went flying again the next day, and the day after, and the day after that, ect...
Within a week, Jitters and Marcus were performing flips and racing Hiccup and Toothless through the sea-stacks surrounding the island. But the most daredevil occupation for both, was the skydiving. Indeed, they had found a thrilling occupation consisting in jumping from an altitude so high the air is too thin to breath, and race to the bottom. The riders would unhook themselves from their dragon's saddles and they would fall side by side, two dragons and two humans, maintaining the same speed in their descent and regaining their place on the saddle at the same moment, pulling up only mere meters from the ground.
Things went well for the two months following. Hiccup, still performed his weekly visits to Dànor in order to trade, the Romans never accompanied him, knowing that the Vikings there would eye them suspiciously and their presence there would cause nothing but trouble.
But one day, Marcus and Jitters landed hastily in the clearing between both the houses, they were out both of breath, as if they had just crossed the island at great speeds. Hiccup, was outside practising his aim against a target hung on a tree and Lucia was cleaning a pelt while sitting on a rather large log. When they saw the flustered pair land, they immediately understood something was off, Marcus' expression was a clear indicator.
" We have a problem." He said simply between short inhales.
Hiccup nodded and shot inside his own home, to wake Toothless and equip his armour. When it was done he leapt on the night fury's back and they shot into the air after Jitters.
" So what's the problem ?! " Yelled Hiccup over the high winds. Marcus merely pointed out at sea. His finger indicated a terrifying sight, there, on the flat blue water, floated a small sailing boat, no bigger than the one the Romans arrived to Dreki with.
But the terrifying part wasn't the small sailing boat heading for Dreki's unique beach, no, the scariest was the fleet of five Viking long-ships following said fishing boat. Hiccup and Toothless stared in disbelief, this was indeed, quite a problem.
Oh noes ! What's going to happen next ? Well, I'm afraid you will just have to wait another two days again...MUAHAHAHAHA ! I'm so evil...
On a more profane note : I don't recommend looking what I wrote up. Now you know why there's a T rating in this story, even though it's Latin...
In the meantime...
Rant Over !