Chapter 10 is finally here, and we're now a 1/4 of the way through this story :) I have now seen the new series of HTTYD Race to the Edge, and I absolutely love it :) So if a lot of people request it, then I will also include it at the end of this story :) In the mean time, Enjoy :)
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Episode 10
Heath Report: Part I
Hiccup – Hicca
Astrid – Arvid
Heather – Heath
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Through the forest on the cliffs of Berk, Toothless and Hicca soared and dived in between the trees and branches.
They were taking part in a new challenge set up by the other teens at the academy. Flying around the sea stacks in the quickest time possible, it started as a race, but it became a good exercise to improve the dragon's speed. And of course, Hicca was more than happy to prove just how fast Toothless was.
"Yeah! Come on bud!" Hicca called out in excitement as they passed the academy flag, the starting point of the race.
"Here they come!" Arvid yelled to the others.
Fishlegs stood by the sundial, and marked the shadow with chalk, starting the countdown.
Toothless rocketed through the air, circling around the halfway flag at one of the furthest rocks. Hicca spotted the final flag and directed Toothless towards it, feeling the wind whip past her as she and Toothless flew back towards the academy. Night Fury's were no doubt one of the fastest dragons alive, and Hicca intended to keep that title.
Fishlegs marked the shadow on the sundial again as Toothless made a sharp turn around the halfway flag, getting ready to mark the dial again and Toothless soared over head.
With a final mark from the chalk, Fishlegs examined the marks. "Yep, it's a new course record," he stated. Then again, he had no doubt Toothless and Hicca would be triumphant.
"So?" Hicca asked as Toothless landed in the academy. "How'd we do?"
Fishlegs pulled out his book and marked down the times, "Technically you're still the fastest, but someone, and I won't mention who, is gaining significant ground."
Hicca's eyes widened, someone else and their dragon was catching up to her and Toothless? Who?
She looked around at the other riders in the academy. It couldn't Fishlegs, mostly because he didn't take part in the time trials. She looked up at the twins, who were currently trying to untangle their helmets from each other.
"Don't look at us!" Tuffnut stated.
So it wasn't the twins either, and Snotlout wasn't here. That only left...
As Hicca's eyes fell on Arvid, he looked over his shoulder and gave her a sly smile. Stormfly was catching up to Toothless?
Either that, or was something wrong with Toothless? Something making him slower?
"How can that be? How can Toothless be getting slower?" She asked with concern.
"He's not," Fishlegs showed her his book. Just as he said, Toothless's times were staying steady. "Stormfly's getting faster."
Hicca was still surprised, but judging by how smug Arvid was, she had the feeling he was up to something. "Oh, really? Anything you'd like to share, Arvid?" She asked with a smirk.
Arvid turn to them with an almost innocent smile. "Let's just say I'm experimenting with what she eats. Apparently, it's working."
As if in response, Stormfly let out a sudden burp along with some magnesium sparks. To say that Hicca and Fishlegs were curious would be an understatement.
But their curiosities were interrupted by a sudden exited yell from above. They turned to see Hookfang swooping into the arena, Snotlout on his neck still cheering himself. "You will not believe what I just found!"
"A severed head?" Tuffnut sked.
"Our cousin, Lars?"
"Our cousin Lars' severed head?"
Fishlegs turned to the twins with a look of horror, "Lars died?"
While Arvid and Hicca ignored the twins, Snotlout yelled at them to get back their attention. "Um, excuse me? Do you guys want to see this, or not?" With that he turned Hookfang around and took flight, leaving the others to follow him to the beach.
/LINE BREAK/
When they finally arrived at the beach it was almost sunset, but even in the dying light, the teens could make out a small boat. It was turned upside down with its mast thrown against its side, possibly wrecked in a storm before being washed up here.
"Huh. A wrecked boat on Berk? Yeah, there's something new," Tuffnut said sarcastically.
Snotlout ignored then and stepped closer to the wreck, "Just remember, I saw it first, so it's mine."
He knelt down and looked through a hole in the boats side, gesturing for the others to come look. But when Hicca and the others knelt down to look inside, they were shocked to find a person.
They were lying face down but appeared to be breathing, and thankfully they didn't look too badly hurt. It looked like a boy judging by his clothes and shape, with short, shaggy dark hair.
"Whoa! Now I like the boat," Ruffnut said excitedly, it wasn't every day a person washed up on their shores.
"Remember, I get to keep him!" Snotlout stated, clearly seeing this as an opportunity to finally get that servant he'd always wanted.
But Arvid was having none of it, "Snotlout that's a person! Not a slave."
Hicca ignored them and inched closer to the washed up newcomer, checking to see if they were alright. She shook their arm hoping to wake them up, "Hey. Hey there."
As the person woke, Hicca scurried back to give them some space. He slowly raised his head and shook away some of the grogginess, but when his eyesight cleared and he saw the other teens, he lurched back and raised his arms in defence.
Hicca raised her hands to show they were unarmed, "It's okay. We're friends."
The boy studied them warily, he looked to be about their age. As he slowly lowered his arms, his body jerked as a sudden cough forced its way out. "D-Do you have any water?" He asked, his voice croaky and quiet.
Snotlout, Ruffnut and Fishlegs all shot forward presenting their water flasks. But while Fishlegs was just trying to be nice, Ruffnut gave a flirty look, and Snotlout had a cocky grin, clearly trying to act like some kind of hero.
The boy inched his hand forward a carefully took the flask that Snotlout offered, taking a few much need mouthfuls before handing it back. "Thank you," he said, his voice still quiet, but already sounding better. "Where am I?"
"This is Berk," Hicca answered. She was about to help the boy out when Toothless suddenly pushed by, clearly curious as to what was taking so long. The boy gave a gasp and pushed himself further against the walls of the boat.
Hicca reached round and pushed back on Toothless's snout, pulling him aware from the boy. "D-Don't be afraid! He won't hurt you." She moved back and gave him enough room to leave the upturned boat. "Come out, it's okay," she said in a gentle tone.
The boy crept forward and stuck his head out of the ship wreck, watching with wide eyes as Hicca gestured for Toothless to move back. "H-How did you do that," the boy asked as he finally got to his feet. Now that he was out of the boat and standing up straight, the others could see that he was about the same height and build as Arvid, maybe a little less muscular, with green eyes and shoulder length, shaggy black hair.
"That? That was nothing." Snotlout slid closer to the boy, taking the opportunity to show off to a newcomer, the cocky grin still on his face. "Watch this." Snotlout turned to his dragon. "Hookfang, get your butt over here!"
The Nightmare jolted awake at the sound of his voice, but instead of moving towards his rider, he took off and flew in the opposite direction. Snotlout gave a nervous laugh, "He'll be back. Oh! And just so you know, I'm the one who rescued you."
Hicca just shook her head as Snotlout flexed his muscles at the newcomer, striking a heroic pose while the dark haired boy continued to look uncomfortable. She introduced herself as she stepped forward, "I'm Hicca."
"Heath," the boy stated with a polite nod.
"So, Heath... what happened to you?" Arvid asked stepping forward.
A worried look crossed Heath's face, "My family and I were on our way home to our island, when our boat was attacked by pirates."
"I wanna be a pirate!" Tuffnut suddenly piped up. The others turned to look at him, all throwing him a surprised look at the out of the blue comment. "Or a fish cleaner. I'm still on the fence."
Arvid rolled his eyes and turned back to Heath, "Anyway... You were saying?"
Heath gave a sad sigh "They attacked our boat and took us back to our island, laying siege to it." His voice became quieter then as he turned away from the teens, the memories still clearly vivid in his head. "I was able to escape, but my mother and father... they weren't so lucky."
The others looked at one another with the same look, all quite for a moment. Hicca stepped closer and placed a gentle hand on Heath's shoulder, "Hey, everything's going to be okay. My dad's the Chief, we'll figure something out."
Heath looked down at her and gave a thankful smile. Hicca smiled back and lead him towards the dragons, they needed to head back to the village soon. But as the other teens followed, Arvid held back. He didn't know quite what to think of the newcomer, he just seemed... a little off for someone who had just had their home taken by pirates. He turned and looked at the upturned boat, examine it closer. Strangely enough, it didn't seem that banged up, still mostly in tacked with only the sail broken off.
But then again, maybe he was thinking about it a little too much. He shook the thought out of his head and ran to catch up to the others. Mounting Stormfly just as Hicca was helping Heath get onto Toothless's saddle, trying not to let show how much it bothered him that Heath was sitting so close to his girlfriend.
Instead, he threw his usual cocky grin towards Hicca, "Hey, don't we're meeting tomorrow to work on our times. Unless you want Stormfly to be the fastest one in the Book of Dragons."
Hicca gave a small laugh, "Yeah, that's definitely not gonna happen. We'll be there"
Stormfly took off, and Hicca gave Heath a quick warning before Toothless leapt into the air after her. Heath gave a yelp and wrapped his arms around Hicca's middle, but thankfully Toothless wasn't going too fast.
However, unbeknownst to the other riders, they were actually forgetting someone.
"Uh, can I get a ride from someone?" Snotlout pleaded after them.
/LINE BREAK/
When they arrived back at the village, Hicca found her father in the main plaza. After telling him what had happened and introducing him to Heath. Stoick allowed the boy to stay in the village, at least for tonight, then they could figure out what to do tomorrow.
The only question now was... Where was Heath supposed to sleep?
There were many houses on Berk, but most of them not only had to occupy the residence of Berk, but also their dragons, sometimes two per household. Staying with one of the other teens was a good idea, but out of the five homes, there was only one house with enough space. That and Hicca didn't mind giving up her bed.
"Alright, just this way. Watch your step. And here we are." Hicca spread her arms as she gestured to her room. Toothless bounded up the stairs behind her and sat on his stone bed.
Heath reached the top of the stairs and looked around the large space, "It was nice of your father to let me stay here."
"Well, until we can find you a safe place to go, consider Berk your hope," Hicca said with a smile.
Just then, Heath's eyes landed on Hicca's desk. Drawings strewn across it, and some designs pinned to the wall. "Wow, what are these? They're really cool," Heath stated as he moved closer and looked over the designs.
Hicca followed and looked over her own drawings, they still looked very rough to her. "They're new saddles designs for Toothless. We're trying to get some extra speed so we can stay on top of Arvid and Stormfly." She turned to Heath with a chuckle, "Arvid's very competitive."
Heath also laughed, but then things turned quiet.
Hicca just watched Heath for a moment. It was nice to talk to someone who was actually interested in her designs for once. Arvid did try to act interested about her creations, but often her inventions and the mechanics behind them were a bit over his head. Hicca gave him credit for trying, but it was easy to tell that he often grew bored when she was talking. Heath didn't look bored at all, he was genuinely interested.
The dark haired male soon realised that the girl's eyes were on him, and turned to face her with a warm smile. Hicca couldn't stop the blush that suddenly ran across her cheeks. She quickly took a step back towards the stairs, "O-Okay, so, uh, do you need anything? Something to drink, or eat?"
Heath gave a soft chuckle at her flushed face, "No, but thank you, Hicca. I'm really tired, it's been a long day."
Hicca kept walking backwards until she was near the entrance to her room, "Right! Okay, uh, come on, Toothless. We're sleeping downstairs tonight." The dragon gave a grumble but got up from his bed and followed her.
Heath's face suddenly had a look of surprise, "Wait, you're sleeping downstairs?"
Hicca nodded, "Yeah, with the fire going we'll be nice and warm."
"W-Wait!" Heath let out a yelp. "I can't let you do that! A man should never kick a woman out of her own bed."
Hicca let out another chuckle, "It's fine. Like you said, you've had a long day, you deserve a good night's sleep at least." She turned before Heath could protest and started making her way downstairs.
"Hey, Hicca?"
Hicca turned back to him, "Yes?"
Heath smiled down at her, "Thanks."
She returned the smile, "Sleep well, Heath."
/LINE BREAK/
Meanwhile, at the Hofferson household, Arvid stepped out of his house and round to Stormfly's stable. In his arms, he carried a large basket of roast chicken. His secret food item to increase Stormfly's speed. "That's it, girl. Finish up your chicken. By the time Hicca figures out this is what's giving you all that energy, she'll be eating our dust!"
Arvid stroked the Nadder's jaw as she ate, when suddenly her head jerked upwards and her spines twitched.
"What is it girl?" Arvid followed the dragon's line of sight towards the other side of the plaza where a line of houses stood. He wasn't sure, but for a moment, he though he saw something moving in the shadows.
"You stay here," He told Stormfly in a hushed tone. The dragon just squawked and when back to her meal.
Arvid peaked around the buildings, looking for anything that seemed out of place. So far nothing seemed moved, and there wasn't a trace that anyone was hiding around, but Arvid still could shake the uneasy feeling.
Suddenly he heard a clatter to his right. He quickly turned to see a figure rushing out from between the houses. "Hey!" Arvid called out and gave chase.
He frowned and stopped running as the figure left the shadow, leaving the village and running up the hill towards the chief's house. In the light of the moon, Arvid finally got a good look at the person he'd been chasing. Tall, slim build, with shoulder length, shaggy black hair.
"Heath?"
Arvid watched as the outsider climbed the wall of the house and clambered into the upstairs window. Arvid's features hardened. Why is Heath running around the village at night? And why is he sneaking back into the Haddock house... through Hicca's bedroom window?
Arvid could stop his fists from shaking. Was Heath sleeping in Hicca's room? Was Hicca also sleeping in her room? Were the two... sleeping... together!?
Arvid shook his head harshly. He couldn't think about that, he wouldn't allow himself to think about that. He couldn't do anything tonight, but he would not simply forget about this.
/LINE BREAK/
The next day, just after sun rise, Hicca was up and already busy working. Her long hair tied back and apron tied tightly around her waist. She held a still warm metal rod with a pair of tongs in her left hand, and hammered it into shape against the anvil. She wanted to be able to finish before she and the other teens raced again today.
"You're up early."
Hicca turned at the sound of the male voice. To be honest, a small part of Hicca had wanted to see Arvid standing by the entrance, that same part was a little disappointed to see Heath instead. Hicca gave a smile, "Yeah. Just wanted to get the jump on this."
Heath looked and the rod Hicca had been hammering, then turned to the mounted saddle near the entrance. Thinking back to the designs in the girl's room, a thought suddenly occurred to him. "You know, with a shorter connecting rod, it'll push you back in the saddle and make you more streamlined."
As the words swirled through her head, a large smile spread on face. She turned back to the fire pit and pulled out one of the other rods she'd been working on. "Which will increase our speed! Yeah! You hear that, bud? Stormfly's gonna be seeing a lot more of your tail."
Heath walking into the forge and "So. When can we test it out?"
"How about right now?" Hicca asked excitedly.
/LINE BREAK/
It was already midday, and Arvid was still waiting for Hicca.
They were supposed to meet up hours ago, but she was nowhere to be seen. He sat atop of Stormfly as she stood on top of one of the sea stacks, pushing his hair out of his eye and looking up at the clear sky, hoping to finally catch a glimpse of that familiar dark dragon shape.
But when he finally did, he only frowned more.
Toothless dived, looped and zoomed through the air, no doubt being flown by Hicca, no one else could help Toothless perform those tricks. But what really bothered him, was hearing Heath's shouts of excitement coming from behind Hicca. So, Hicca was late, because she wanted to show off to Heath.
"You have got to be kidding me," Arvid grumbled. He nudged Stormfly's side and directed her into the air, following Toothless as they finally headed towards the academy.
When Arvid landed, he grew even more annoyed that Hicca still wasn't there. Instead of actually landing in the academy to train with the other teens, she was still flying around with Heath.
"Are we training or not?" Snotlout asked in an annoyed tone. It seemed that Arvid wasn't the only one annoyed at Hicca's tardiness.
Fishlegs turned to Arvid with a slight frown. "Hey, where is Hicca?"
Arvid didn't turn to face him, and instead just kept glaring upwards. "Giving a private lesson," he could practically feel himself seething.
But apparently Arvid's annoyance was lost on Fishlegs, as the large blond started babbling excitedly. "I didn't know she gave private lessons! Can anyone get in on that?"
"Apparently, just him," Arvid muttered through gritted teeth.
Strangely enough, it was Tuffnut who first put two and two together. "Uh-oh! Look like there's another rooster in the hen house." He smirked at Arvid as the axe wielding male turned to glare at him.
"Yeah, another hen in the rooster house..." Ruffnut mutter from her half-asleep position. The female twin frowned suddenly and turned to Arvid, "Wait, what?"
"Nothing," Arvid said firmly. "He thinks I'm jealous, which is completely ridiculous." Jealous? Absolutely not... Protective? Maybe a little. Suspicious? Definitely.
"Right, right," Ruffnut gave a smirk. But then her confused look took over once more. "Wait. Of who? Me? Wait, am I the rooster... or the hen?"
Arvid gave another annoyed sigh, "Trust me, the last thing I am is jealous." He gave the others a firm look, warning all of them not to say anymore about it.
Finally, Hicca decided to make her entrance. Flying in on Toothless, then quickly dismounting and walking towards the others, soon followed by Heath.
"Morning class! How's everyone doing today?" Her smile as bright as ever, like everything was right with the world.
Arvid folded his arms across his chest, "Oh! Nice of you to show up." He frowned at her in silence for a long while, until Hicca finally remembered.
"Oh! We were supposed to meet up," Hicca slapped her hand over her face. "I'm so sorry," It honestly hadn't been intentional, Hicca had just been having so much fun flying with Heath.
Snotlout snickered as he watched the scene unfold, it was fun to watch his cousin squirm. "Awkward," He whispered to the twins.
Finally the pieces seemed to snap together in Ruffnut's head, "Oh, so Arvid's jealous of the new hot guy, right? Why were you talking about hens and roosters?"
Arvid ignored them, keeping his gaze fixed on Heath, "So, Heath? Sleep well?"
"Very well. Thank you, Arvid." Heath answered politely with an innocent smile, but it just made Arvid fume more.
It's like the dark haired male was doing it deliberately to get under his skin, lying to him and being all cosy around Hicca, the idea that he'd actually slept in Hicca's bed last night was still making his head spin.
Eventually, Arvid's fierce glare grew too much for Heath, and he decided to change the subject. "So... This is it? Your Dragon Training Academy?" He asked moving closer to Hicca and the other teens.
"No, Our Dragon Training Academy." Ruffnut corrected as she gave a flirty smile, "Remember, I'm the one who called you Hot."
She winked at Heath, causing her brother to take a step back. This was too weird, even for him.
Hicca ignored the other female, "We've been training dragons to become part of our everyday lives."
"And it all goes right in here," Fishlegs added as he presented the Book of Dragons.
Heath's eyes widened al his gaze fell onto the book, "Really? Everything?"
Fishlegs nodded with a proud smile, "Yep. I'm kind of the Log Keeper. Log Master, really."
"He writes down what Hicca tells him to," Snotlout corrected.
"I give it my own spin, thank you."
Hicca looked back and forth between the two males with a frown. Seriously, was everyone apart from Arvid trying to show off to the new comer?
Thankfully, Heath didn't seem to notice, his focus still on the Book of Dragons. "Can I see it?" He asked Fishlegs.
But just as Fishlegs nodded and was about to hand over the book, Arvid snatched it from his grasp. "I'll take that, thank you." He then turned and grabbed Hicca's arm, pulling her in front of him and began shoving her toward the entrance of the Academy. "Excuse us."
While the other teens were left wondering what just happened, Arvid stood in front of Hicca and fixed her with a firm look. "Hicca, I don't think we should be showing him all our dragon secrets."
"Arvid, it's fine." Hicca tried to reassure him with a warm smile.
But Arvid shook his head, "I don't trust him. You shouldn't either."
It wasn't just his tone that made Hicca's smile drop, it was also the way his words sounded like an order. She frowned at him, he was just being over protective, and it was starting to get ridiculous. "Well, I do. And you should trust me."
Hicca turned on her heal and walked back towards the other teens, leaving Arvid standing by the entrance. Even though it was only a few steps, it felt like the start of a large wall between the two of them.
/LINE BREAK/
As the day rolled on, it seemed like Heath was making friends with all the other teens in the academy. All except for Arvid of course, who was keeping his distance.
He asked Fishlegs loads of questions about the dragons, in particular the Gronckles, and listened intently as Fishlegs gushed about how strong, loyal and loving Meatlug was. He'd then messed around with Tuffnut and helped him destroy random ships in the harbour, all the while not freaking out too much at Ruffnut's obvious flirting. He'd even gone so far as to hang out with Snotlout, stroking his ego as the shorter teen went on and one about how great he and Hookfang were.
Hicca was really happy that Heath was getting along so well with everyone, maybe he could actually stay on Berk and join the academy. Maybe after a while, Arvid would finally trust him. Hicca frowned as she kept working on Toothless's tail fin. They were lounging on the grass just outside her house, Toothless relaxing in the sun whilst Hicca made the adjustments to improve his speed. She was really starting to worry about Arvid, he just wasn't acting like himself. Hopefully she could properly talk to him about it soon.
Unbeknownst to her, just inside the house and up the stairs, Heath was snooping around again. He had seen Hicca take the book of dragons from Fishlegs after they were done at the academy, so it must be in her room somewhere. He looked in her satchel, her wardrobe, before finally finding the thick tomb under her bed.
"Gotcha," he said to himself. He pulled out the book and ran his fingers over the cover, making sure no one was coming up the stairs, before leafing through the pages. "The Book of Dragons. Monstrous Nightmare... Gronckle..." He kept flicking through the pages, looking for something specific. "Here we go. The Deadly Nadder. Piercing spines, loyal, powerful-"
"Intelligent, and of course, deadly." Heath whirled round with a gasp, only to find Arvid standing over him. "What do you think you're doing!?"
Seriously? Was this guy ever going to give him a break? Arvid snatched the book away from Heath, checking it over before closing it carefully. Heath took a deep breath and slowly stood, his fists clenched tightly at his sides.
The two didn't say anything to each other, they just stood there glaring at each other. Both of them ready for whatever was to come, weather that be another talk, or a full blown fight.
Thankfully, Hicca came up the stairs before things developed further. She had come up stairs to grab one of her designs, and had instead stumbled across the two males in her room. "What's going on?" she asked them, all the while a feeling deep in her gut told her that this wasn't going to end well.
Arvid handed her the Book of Dragons, keeping his eyes on Heath. "Well? Are you going to say something?" He asked the dark haired male with his arms crossed over his chest.
Heath gave a sign and turned to Hicca, "I am so, so sorry, Hicca." He looked down as his hands fiddled with his sleeves, "I was cleaning up your room and I found the book. I couldn't help myself."
Arvid glared as Heath gave another innocent smile with those sad eyes, no way was Hicca going to fall for-
"It's okay, Heath."
While Hicca returned the smile, Arvid turned to her in surprise. "It's okay? What do you mean 'okay'?" He asked fiercely, how could she be so forgiving when another male had been snooping around through her things? Did she really not care?
"Arvid, come on. Lighten up," Hicca tried to calm him down, but it actually had the opposite effect.
"Me!? He's the one sneaking around!"
"Sneaking around? W-What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about last night. Near my house."
Again, Arvid's glares seemed to have no affection Heath. "That was me," He admitted. "I couldn't sleep so... I went for a walk. I was having terrible nightmares."
Hicca nodded in understanding, "I can imagine."
Arvid was so close to punching Heath at that moment, how many times was this guy going to take advantage to Hicca's caring nature? What's more, was Hicca really siding with Heath more than him? Didn't she trust him?
"Is this really happening?" Arvid asked in disbelief.
"Okay. Arvid, that's enough," Hicca stated firmly.
She really was taking Heath's side over him, and Arvid had had enough.
"You're right, Hicca. It is."
Hicca was left standing there as Arvid turned and walked away. The wall she had felt forming between them at the academy, had now fully formed into a barrier. Hicca was pulled from her thoughts when she heard shuffling to the side. She'd honestly forgotten Heath was still here, and by the looks of it, he was starting to feel a little awkward.
"I-I'm sorry about this," Hicca said as she turned back to him.
But Heath shook his head, "No, I'm sorry. I was wrong to look at your book."
Hicca gave the best smile she could manage, "It's no big deal. I trust you," The strange thing was, it was true. Hicca did trust Heath. She wasn't sure why, but while Arvid was being paranoid, it was nice to have someone clam to talk to.
Hicca turned and knelt down, sliding the book back under her bed before heading back down stairs. She didn't catch Heath's sly look.
/LINE BREAK/
Under the cover of night, Heath snuck out again. Climbing out of Hicca's bedroom window and allowing himself to drop onto the soft ground.
He now knew where he was going and took off in the direction of the Hofferson household. Running around the outside until he reached the stables where Stormfly lay, cooing softly in her sleep. Heath though over what he'd read in the book, he'd only glanced at it, but he still remembered parts of it.
Stormfly seemed to sense his presence and groggily opened her eyes, but once she spotted the stranger, her eyes snapped open fully. Standing and spreading her wings out, she gave a squawk and pointed her tail forward, allowing the sharp spines to spring forward.
"Spines. Just like the book said," Heath noted as he ducked to the side. "Stay in the blind spot," he told himself as Stormfly tilted her head back and forth, trying to see past her large jaw. Heath reached into the satchel he'd taken from Hicca's room, and quickly pulled out the leg of roast chicken he'd snagged from the Great Hall.
Stormfly visibly relaxed as the familiar smell drifted into her nostrils. "I hear you like this," Heath commented with a smirk. The Nadder pulled her spiked tail away and sniffed the chicken leg again, suddenly snatching it from Heath's hand. As the dragon ate happily, Heath raised a hand to stroke her snout.
But before his hand made contact with the scaly skin, he was forced to pull it away at the sound of a very annoyed voice.
"What are you doing with my dragon!?"
Heath whirled round to see Arvid standing behind him. In any other circumstance, he would have played innocent, but in front of Arvid, it had little to no affect. So Heath didn't bother. "Huh, you really like to sneak up on people," Heath said with an annoyed look.
"Only the ones who deserve it, and don't give me you innocent routine." Arvid stomped towards Heath and made it clear he wasn't joking around.
Heath gave a smile, "I wouldn't think of it. You're way too smart for that, Arvid." His smile turned into a smirk as Stormfly nudged him from behind, most likely hoping for another chicken leg. Heath stocked her scaly nose, causing her to coo happily. "I think your dragon likes me... almost as much as Hicca dose."
With that, Heath turned and left. Leaving Arvid frozen with anger.
That bastard. Arvid would definitely make him pay for that. But he had to make Hicca believe him first, if he didn't then she would just take Heath's side again. Once he showed Hicca the truth, he would definitely give Heath the punch to the face he deserved.
Before Arvid could lash out at Stormfly or scream in anger, he stormed into the house and grabbed his axe. He was going into the forest to let off some steam.
He hurled the axe at random trees, each time imagining it was Heath's face. "'I think your dragon likes me'," He mimicked the other male in an unflattering tone. He couldn't stand Heath, he wasn't just messing Hicca around, but also every other dragon rider on the island. Arvid gripped the handle of his axe tightly, "No one messes with me, or my friends."
Arvid was about to throw his axe again when a snapping twig caught his attention. Instinct taking over, he quickly knelt down and hide behind a tree, just in time to see Heath run past him. So he snuck out again, time to see where he was going. Arvid ducked behind the trees and bushes as he followed Heath closely.
After a little while, Heath ran out onto the beach, leaving Arvid to duck behind a rocky outcrop at the edge of the forest. Arvid wasn't sure what to expect when the sneaky male ran out onto the beach, but as he watched, Heath simply sat down and drew his knees up to his chest, looking out at the ocean.
Arvid frowned as he watch, his mind slowly ticking away. Maybe Heath really wasn't up to anything.
He thought back over the last few days, and to be honest, Heath hadn't really done anything wrong. Sure he'd been a little snarky before, but maybe Arvid had it coming. He'd yelled at Heath when he found him reading the book, and had gotten really annoyed when he started spending all of his time around Hicca. But really, Arvid hadn't really caught him doing anything wrong, apart from reading the book, but Heath had apologized and explained himself for that.
Arvid gave a sigh as he thought to himself, maybe he really was paranoid of the new comer. All because he was jealous that he was seeing less and less of Hicca.
"This was stupid," Arvid muttered to himself. He turned to head back to the village, he would apologise to Hicca tomorrow.
But in the blackness of the open water, something caught his eye. A shape moving through the water towards the shore, as it came closer, Arvid squinted as he tried to make out the markings on the side of the boat, spiked shields lined the outside with dark markings scrawled along them.
The blonde's eyes widened, "That's and outcast ship!" He remembered it from when they had invaded their island, was Alvin back already?
At the ship hit the shore, Arvid could make out three figures in the boat. Two were pulling on the heavy oars, while another stood just behind them, clearly in charge, but too thin to be Alvin. The figure, jumped out of the ship and onto the sands, stalking closer to Heath as the dark haired boy stood. Once he was close enough, Arvid was finally able to recognise him as Savage, Alvin's right-hand man.
"What have you learned about the dragons?" The outcast asked.
"I've learned a lot," Heath said quickly, he seemed a little nervous. "But there's something else, something that's going to make Alvin very happy."
Savage raised an eyebrow, "I'm listening."
"They have a book. A Book of Dragons. It's got everything in it, everything Alvin could hope to learn about controlling dragons."
Savage looked Heath up and down, a little sceptical at his claim. "Where is this book?"
Heath looked down at his feet, "I don't have it. But I will. I promise. I just... I just need a little more time."
"Alvin isn't known for his patience," Savage glared down at him. "He won't be happy at having to wait."
Heath took a step back and held his hands up in defence, "Please. You have to trust me! When I get back to Outcast Island with the book, the wait will be worth it."
Arvid shifted in his hiding place to try and hear them better, but in doing so, he nudged a small group of stones. The small rocks tumbled over the side and smacked against the larger stones below, before the clatter could alert Savage and Heath, Arvid quickly ducked behind a tree.
Heath's head whirled round at the sound, but thankfully he didn't see the blond. He frowned and turned back to Savage, "I better go."
Savage nodded and made his way back to the boat, ordering the men to start rowing back to Outcast Island so he could report back to Alvin. Heath took off into a run along the beach, darting back into the forest. While Arvid took a second to make sure no one had spotted him, and then ran back to the village.
Specifically, Hicca's house.
Arvid threw the front door of the Haddock house open, immediately spotting Hicca on the floor near the dying hearth. Well at least Arvid could put his fears to rest, Hicca and Heath hadn't been sleeping in the same bed all this time.
Toothless perked up at the sound, but soon settled once he realised it was Arvid. Hicca on the other hand didn't wake, so Arvid marched over and nudged her shoulder with his foot harshly. "Wake up!"
The auburn haired girl jolted away, holding her shoulder as she turned to glare at Arvid. "Ow! What!? Why would you do that? What are you doing?"
"Saving our butts!" Arvid answered quickly. "I just saw Heath talking to Savage. He's working with the Outcasts!"
Hicca gave Arvid an annoyed look as she tied back her hair, "What? He's upstairs, sleeping."
Arvid crossed his arms with a defiant look, "Oh, yeah? Let's go find out."
The shorter girl rolled her eyes before leading Arvid to the stairs.
Upstairs, Heath had only just clambered in through the open window, almost panicking when he heard the sound of feet coming up the stairs. He quickly slid under the covers, rolled away from the door, pulling the covers up to his chin and shut his eyes tightly, managing to pretend to rest for a few seconds before the thumping stopped at the entrance to the bedroom.
He slowly rolled over and opened his eyes, pretending to yawn as he sat up. "Hey, guys. Is everything okay?"
Arvid was livid as Heath plastered a smile on his face, he really was going to kill him when all this was over, he was making Arvid look like a fool.
Hicca gave a tired sigh for behind the blond, "Everything's fine Heath, sorry to wake you."
The dark haired boy shrugged before rolling over and pretending to go back to sleep, while Hicca gripped the other males arm tightly and pulled him back down the stairs and out of the house, she had had enough of this.
"Arvid, don't you think it's possible you saw someone else? I mean it is pretty dark out here."
Arvid grumbled and stomped stomping down the stone steps, turning to face her. "I know what I saw. That guy is not who you think he is!"
"So, who is he then?" Hicca asked with a frown.
"I-I don't know... Nobody knows! He just mysteriously washed up on our beach. You don't find that strange?"Arvid stumbled over his words, trying to get Hicca to believe him.
But Hicca couldn't, there was just no proof to support Arvid's stories. "No, because his ship was taken over by pirates and his whole island is under siege."
Arvid gave an annoyed groan, "The only thing 'under siege' is you brain! You're not thinking clearly."
"Oh really? Me?"
"Hicca, the Outcasts could be attacking any minute!"
Both of them had started to raise their voices, but Hicca took a deep breath before speaking. "Arvid, if there's one thing I know, it's this: Heath... is not working for the Outcasts."
With that, Hicca turned and walked back into her home. Leaving Arvid outside to grumble and groan to himself before also heading home. Hicca leaned heavily against the door and listened as the blonde's heavy footsteps began to grow faint. She gave another sigh and slumped against the door, sliding down to the floor.
Toothless gave a quiet gurgle and stepped close to make sure she was alright, but honestly... she just wanted this to be over with.
/LINE BREAK/
Unbeknownst to Hicca and everyone else on Berk, Alvin had been trying to train Dragons ever since he saw Hicca and the other teens riding dragons.
But so far, it wasn't going well.
In the killing ring on Outcast island, a Nightmare burst into flames and spat magma at anyone who came near, the Vikings tried to avoid the pools of fire as they ran around, pulling on the ropes that were bound around the dragons neck and body. The dragon thrashed around, but the poor beast had already reached its shot limit, now it was just flailing against the strong ropes.
Alvin watched from the viewing stands, crushing a tiny spark between his fingers. "Interesting... There's really no rhyme or reason to that thing, is there? Just catches fire at will?"
Savage stood next to him, having returned to their island a little while ago. "That's why we need the book! Heath said that everything the Hooligan girl knows is documented in its pages. If we have it, we can control any dragon."
Savage gave a grin, hoping the news would please the Outcast leader. But Alvin just turned to him with a glare, "Then why aren't I holding this book in me hand?"
"Y-You will be," Savage assured him as he shrank back slightly.
Alvin turned back to the kill ring, "Good. Because your life depends on it." With that, he turned and left, leaving Savage standing there.
"I hate it when he says that," he muttered to himself, barely missing another shot from the Monstrous Nightmare.
/LINE BREAK/
The next morning on Berk, Hicca awoke to work on the book some more. But it wasn't on the table where she'd left it.
"Hey, Dad, have you seen the book?"
Stoick looked up from where he was packing away some supplies, "You'll have to be more specific."
"The Book of Dragons. I can't find it anywhere."
Almost as soon as Hicca finished speaking, the front door burst open. Arvid stormed in looking livid, then again, that look was becoming more and more common as of late.
"She's gone!"
"Who's gone?" Hicca asked.
"Stormfly! 'Little Mr Innocent' stole my dragon!" Arvid roared.
Hicca's eyes widened as she glanced up the stairs to her room. Heath hadn't been in bed this morning, but she'd just assumed he'd woken early and gone out.
But now Heath, the book, and Stormfly were all gone together. That really wasn't good.
Hicca frowned to herself as she thought about everything that had happened. All the times Heath had been caught by Arvid, but the newcomer had come up with a perfectly reasonable explanation every single time. And Hicca had fallen for every one of them.
How could she have been so stupid? She'd thought Arvid was just being silly, and maybe it had started as paranoia. But she should have known something was amiss, especially when his accusations started to involve the Outcasts. Arvid wouldn't have lied about something like that.
But before Hicca could open her mouth to try and apologise, Arvid held his hand up to stop her. "We need to assemble the other, now."
The blonde ran out of the house, while Hicca whistled at Toothless to follow them.
After a little while, the teens gathered on the cliffs near the academy. Hicca quickly explained the situation, and the teens got to work preparing their dragons.
"Oh, this is bad. This is bad, this is bad, this is bad! This is catastrophic!" Fishlegs was shaking terribly as he tried to attach Meatlug's saddle bags. "I-If Alvin gets that book-"
"He won't," Hicca spoke up, trying to stop the larger blonde before he worked himself into even more of a panic.
She turned back to Toothless, trying to focus on making sure his saddle was tight enough, but her mind was elsewhere. "How could I not have seen it?" She asked herself aloud.
Tuffnut chuckled from on top of Belch's head, "Because our brain was 'under siege'."
Hicca threw him a tired frown, "Do you even know what that means?"
"Yes... No... It's not good, right?"
"No, it's not good," Arvid answered with another glare towards Hicca. He stepped closer and climbed onto Toothless's saddle.
Hicca winced at the sharp tone, "Arvid, I-"
But he cut her off again, "Save it! You can apologize when you get me my dragon back."
Hicca nodded, "Alright, let's go." She climbed on in front of Arvid and clicked her foot into place, "We can't let him reach Outcast Island."
They all took off, and started flying north towards Outcast Island.
/LINE BREAK/
It actually didn't take that long to fly to Outcast Island, but after an hour of Flying, Arvid was already starting to get worried.
"We're never gonna catch them! Stormfly is too fast!" He told Hicca.
She turned to look at him, "When you're riding her, definitely. Not with a stranger."
As it turned out, Hicca was right. Heath was having enough trouble trying to get Stormfly to fly in a straight line, let alone fly at high speed.
Sure enough, Snotlout spotted a shape flying shakily up ahead of them. "What's that? Up ahead!"
Hicca squinted to see through the clouds, but soon the unmistakable Deadly Nadder form became clear. "It's Heath. And is he ever gonna be sorry he helped me with Toothless's speed."
Arvid looked at her in question, just before Hicca snapped her pedal back, pushing herself further back into the saddle. Toothless suddenly rocketed forward, forcing Arvid to hold onto Hicca tightly. Just as predicted, Hicca and Arvid were able to lie low to Toothless's saddle and reduce the wind resistance considerably.
The sudden whistling through the air alerted Heath, he turned and spotted the Nigh Fury catching up to him. Heath and Arvid caught each other's eye and glared at each other through the wind and clouds.
"I'll get you in close," Hicca called as she directed Toothless fly alongside Stormfly. But Heath was ready. He reached into Stormfly's saddle bag and pulled out another leg of cooked chicken. Quickly passing it down for Stormfly to snatch into her beak. "I-Is that chicken? That's what you've been-?"
Arvid groaned and cut her off once more, "Really? You want to talk about that now!?"
Stormfly shot forward, quickly followed by Toothless. The Nadder climbed higher before diving down again, trying to shake the Night Fury off her tail, but Toothless was managing to keep up. Arvid kept his eyes in Heath, waiting for the opportunity to jump, he was getting his dragon back on way or another.
"I'm going to fly above her!" Hicca called.
They flew upwards and located Heath below them as they levelled out. Hicca directed Toothless to dive down until they were right on top of her. Arvid carefully began to stand on Toothless's saddle, placing a hand on Hicca's shoulder to steady himself.
"Okay, hold him steady!" Arvid judged his distance one last time, then he jumped.
He fell through the air and directed himself towards Stormfly, just as Hicca had taught him to many times. He landed on the Nadders saddle with a thud, greatly surprising Heath. "Going somewhere?"
Heath's spun round to glare at Arvid, he wasn't about to let them catch him, not when he was so close. He elbowed the blond in the stomach and shoved him backwards. Arvid rolled along Stormfly's body, almost falling right off the dragon. But thankfully he grabbed onto Stormfly's tail, holding tightly whilst being careful of the razor sharp spines.
"Stormfly! Tail flip!" He roared over the rushing wind.
The dragon did as she was commanded and whipped her tail upwards, sending Arvid flying up and back into the saddle. He grabbed Heath and tried to pull him off, but the dark haired male held on tightly, all the while trying to shake the other off the dragon.
Hicca watched with worry, keeping a close eye on the blond, and ready to make a move if she was needed.
"Uh, Hicca?" Fishlegs worried voice caught her attention. "I really hate to be the voice of doom, but we just crossed into Outcast waters!"
Hicca quickly looked down at the water below them, only to see jagged rocks sticking out at the water, they definitely weren't over the ocean anymore. In front of them, a dark shape could just be seen through the fog, sharp mountains and dark sands. Any minute now they would be visible from the shoreline. "Hey, Arvid! You might want to move this along!"
"Give me a minute!" Arvid yelled back. He had managed to turn Heath around to face him, still trying to pull him out of the saddle. But Heath was shoving him back, throwing punches at him every chance he got. "He's stronger than he looks!"
On the shores of Outcast Island, the Vikings had already spotted the incoming dragons, readying their catapults on the rocky shoreline. "Incoming! Fire!"
All at once, the dragons were forced to dodge and weave, as burning rocks were flung towards them. They had to get out of there, now.
"Arvid!" Hicca yelled again, but she couldn't do anything to help.
On Stormfly's back, Arvid had managed to wrestle himself into the saddle. But Heath had reversed their roles and now had his arm around the blond's throat, trying to choke the blond into submission. Arvid grabbed Heaths arms and ripped them away from him, "Don't you ever... touch my dragon... again!"
Arvid lurched backwards and shoved his whole body into Heath, finally throwing the dark haired male off of him. And right off of Stormfly as well.
Heath slid from the saddle and tried to grab onto Arvid or Stormfly, but he missed. The Book of Dragons that had been hidden under the saddle, also slipped out with him, both now falling through the air.
"I'll grab the traitor!" Snotlout yelled.
"And I'll grab the book!" Hicca yelled back.
The Nightmare and the Nightfury both dived towards the ocean, aiming for the respective targets.
Heath's screams came to a sudden halt as the Nightmare's claws closed around his mid section, he gasped at the sudden stop, and felt around the claw to make sure he wasn't dreaming. He gave a sigh of relief, but then froze again at the sound of Snotlout's voice, "Gotcha! I knew you wouldn't escape."
But while Snotlout had captured his prize, Hicca was still diving after hers. The book was smaller than Heath, and was falling much fast. Toothless had tucked his wings in as tight as possible, and Hicca reach forward as much as she could, desperate to catch up to the falling tome.
But just as the leather binding of the book brushed against Hicca's fingers, another flaming rock hurtled towards them. Hicca had no other choice but to pull back and steer Toothless out of the way, but she kept diving, still determined to catch the book. Unfortunately another rock flew past her, this one coming much closer to her. It grazed her arm and burnt a hole in her tunic, singeing the skin underneath, she let out a cry as she quickly gasped her upper arm.
Toothless heard Hicca's pained yelp and opened his wings wide, forcing them to slow their descent and retreat back to the others, he wasn't going to risk her getting hurt again.
The Outcasts cheered as they watched the dragons retreat. They counted this as a victory, and they were right to do so.
Hicca flew alongside the others, still clutching her wounded arm. "Please tell me you got it," Fishlegs pleaded in his panicked tone.
But Hicca was forced to shake her head, a worried silence passing over the group. "I was too late... Alvin has the Book of Dragons."
End of episode 10.
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Chapter 10 finally done :) There will most likely be another long pause, as I am starting my new internship, but I wouldn't leave you all hanging for too long :) Let me know what you all think, and I'll see you all next time :)