Woohoo! New month, new chapter. Let's do this!

And, Sakira of Asgard, no need to worry. I'm not pairing Erland/Loki with anyone in the HTTYD universe.

Rejoice, my followers, for the long-awaited Erland/Loki and Thorston Twins chapter has arrived!

NOTE: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING HERE!

Chapter 10: Learning from the Master

"Oooohhh, that's nice…" Loki sighed to himself, easing into the hot spring and enjoying the warm rush of steam enveloping him. Taking out a small bar of herbal soap from his satchel, he proceeded to wash away the dirt and sweat that had accumulated on him from one week of not washing. Holding his breath, Loki plunged himself into the water for a moment then came back up to wash his hair.

Sparring with Zenna had been like wrestling with a full-grown wolf: hard and wild. While he managed to win, it took him 20 minutes to do so. The Fiersome girl had been hard to pin down, her lanky limbs surprisingly lean and supple, as she grappled with Erland. She was also light on her feet, dodging Erland's blows and retaliating with a few jabs of her own. Loki could still feel the bruising on his ribs as he massaged his abdomen.

'Sif would love her. I haven't seen a woman fight so fiercely since her…' Loki thought, his admiration for Zenna going up. He sighed and sank deeper into the water, enjoying the warmth. Perhaps he should thank Gothi for directing him to this place…

"Hi."

As Erland, Loki opened his eyes and saw Ruffnut standing waist-deep in the water, a predatory grin on her face.

Erland quickly covered his privates. "Norns, girl, are you not familiar with the concept of privacy?!" he snapped, his face flushed scarlet.

"You try living with a twin and see if you can have a moment's peace," Ruffnut said flippantly, unwinding her flaxen braids. Submerged waist deep in the water, she only had a wide strip of tightly-bound cloth covering her decency. 'Although,' Erland thought as he looked at Ruffnut. 'she looks ready to bare herself to me.'

To his relief, Ruffnut did no such thing and settled herself beside him, their backs resting against the smooth rock wall of the spring. "Ooh, I like that," Ruffnut purred, eyeing Erland's six-pack. Erland swatted her hand away when she reached out to touch them.

"When you're done with… whatever you're doing," Erland grimaced. "please leave."

"Awww… But I wanna ask you somethin'," Ruffnut whined.

"If it's a date, the answer is no." Erland glared at the female Thorston.

"No, not that!" Ruffnut twirled a lock of her hair. "Tuff and I wanna show you how well we can prank. You said Loki would be pleased if we did!" she said.

Erland put a hand to his chin, thinking. As annoying as Ruffnut was, he was curious to see if she and her brother really were avid worshippers of him. "So I did," he realized, quickly rinsing himself off. He prepared to climb out then saw Ruffnut grinning.

"Shoo," he said sternly, waving her away. Pouting, Ruffnut climbed out of the spring and left, grabbing her clothes on the way.

"Norns, she's odd…" Erland muttered to himself as he dried off and dressed. He left the hot spring and headed back to the village. Ruffnut was waiting for him with Tuffnut, their arms laden with feathers.

"So," Erland folded his arms across his chest. "what are you both planning?" he asked.

"We're going to pour honey over Spitelout's head while he's taking a nap then cover him with feathers until he looks like a chicken," Tuffnut said, grinning.

"Any particular reason why?" Erland raised an eyebrow. He'd seen Spitelout, father of the idiot Snotlout, walking around the village sometimes. He was loud and violent, but didn't cause him any trouble.

"No reason," Tuffnut replied then his happy mood dipped. "Why? Are we suppose to have reasons to prank?"

"No. Pranking someone just for the fun of it is something that Loki enjoys." Erland summoned all his willpower not to smirk at the fond memory of transforming himself into a snake when he and Thor were eight-years old. "However he would also encourage pranking that has an agenda. Say somebody was horrid to you but you're either too weak or cowardly to face your tormentor. Pranking is the easiest and most satisfying way to have your revenge," he advised Ruffnut and Tuffnut.

"Well," Ruffnut raised her hand, dropping her feathers on the ground. "Mildew is pretty horrible. He hates everyone," she piped up.

At Erland's confused face, she and Tuffnut decided to take him to the other side of the island. "See that old guy with the sheep?" Tuffnut pointed out to the young man a wizened old coot with the face of a starved weasel. "That's Mildew. He's old, gross, had three wives, and enjoys spreading gloom and misery. And everyone, including the chief, hates his guts," he said before the three of them ducked out of sight behind some hay bales.

Erland took one look at the old codger petting his sheep and grinned. "So he hates everyone?" he inquired.

"Everyone that isn't his pet sheep, Fungus," Ruffnut replied.

"Then it's settled. He's our victim."

Tuffnut snickered, already looking forward to the destruction. "So what are we going to do? Set his house on fire?" he asked eagerly.

"Oh, please, setting things ablaze is an amateur's work." Erland rolled his eyes. "A real prank is focused on one thing: giving pleasure to the prankster while causing as much discomfort and humiliation to the victim. There's no need for messy explosions when all you have to do is give your victim the fright of his life," he told the Twins, feeling very much like a schoolmaster calling his unruly class to order. He looked into the Twins' eyes and saw nothing but eagerness to learn, and he smirked.

'These two are my disciples now,' he thought triumphantly then slung his arms over Ruffnut and Tuffnut's shoulders.

"Now what we're going to need to prank that old geezer are cunning, timing, sneakiness, a distraction, and some perfectly-cooked lamb chops…"

Mildew hated visitors. Waste of good food and time, if you asked him, those nasty visitors tracking mud all over the place and eating all of your cabbage.

So when he heard the two troublemaking Thorstons calling out to him, Mildew let out a couple of curses as he got up from his chair. His beloved Fungus bleated miserably.

"I'll be right back, Fungus," Mildew cooed to his pet, turning his back to the sheep, and limped over to his front door. Behind him, Erland skulked into the room, grabbed Fungus – making sure to stuff a ball of cloth into the sheep's mouth before it had a chance to sound the alarm – and crept out of the room.

The sight of the two heathens stamping around his cabbage field sent Mildew into a fit of rage. He chased Ruffnut and Tuffnut away from his fields, yelling and waving his staff like a lunatic. Once the Twins were gone, he went back inside only to find Fungus gone!

"Fungus?! Fungus?! Where are you?!" Mildew howled, looking everywhere. He even went to the village, shouting his sheep's name to the annoyance of the people, before deciding to take a lunch break in the Meade Hall.

The place was packed with Vikings downing drinking horns and cups of ale as legs of mutton and yak were heaped on wooden trays. Mildew stole a plate from Hiccup, the runt letting out a weak protest, then went to a tray that had one leg of yak left. Before the old man could get it, someone grabbed the yak.

"Oops."

Mildew looked at the yak thief and realized that it was the lad Stoick's son and the Fiersome girl had saved. The lad had an apologetic smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Sorry, sir. Yak's my favorite dish." He held out a plate of lamb chops. "Perhaps a trade?" he offered innocently.

"Get your hands off my yak!" Mildew grumbled, snatching the leg of yak away and, for good measure, swiped the lad's plate of lamb chops. He found himself a seat far away from everyone else and tucked into his lunch.

Mildew had just about finished the lamb chops and was licking his fingers when…

"Baaaaa… Baaaaa… Whyyyyy?"

Everybody looked up from their plates, eyes wide, as a miserable-sounding bleating filled the air.

"Mildew… Baaaaa… I thought you loved me… BAAAAA!"

Gasping, Mildew looked at his empty plate and clutched his stomach.

"Whyyyy, Mildew, why? Was I tasty?"

"No, no, no you weren't! I'm sorry!" Mildew whimpered, falling out of his chair and onto his knees.

"BAAAAAAAAAAAAA! LIIIIIEEESSSS! BAAAAAAAAA!"

"Oh Fungus, I'm sorry!" Mildew howled, weeping, and fled from the Meade Hall.

For a moment, nobody dared to breathe. Then, all of a sudden, laughter filled the entire hall. Confused, Stoick, Gobber, Spitelout, Edgar, and Henna looked up.

Perched high up on the rafters were Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and Erland. The latter was holding a wide-mouthed horn and snickering as he let out a "Baaaa!" that echoed throughout the entire hall. The Twins were nearly pissing themselves stupid as they laughed.

"Odin, help us…" groaned Stoick while his brother and three friends shook their heads.

"That… was… awesome!" Ruffnut gasped out as they climbed down the rafters. "Did you see the look on his face?!"

"Wait until he wakes up tomorrow and finds his sheep, safe and sound," Erland snickered, tossing the horn up into the air and catching it nonchalantly.

Tuffnut beamed at Erland and bowed, his back going horizontal. "You, Erland, are a gift. A gift sent to us by Loki. My sister and I would be honored to be your students in the mischief arts," he proclaimed.

Before the chief or anyone in the hall could protest, Erland bowed with a flourish and said, "I accept!" to the horror of everybody present.

"We're doomed…" one villager muttered and almost everybody murmured agreements.

Berk's resident tricksters had gained a new friend.

No one was safe.

Two more chapters and I'll be adapting the first HTTYD film. Look forward to that, people.

-GuardianDragon