Chapter 12
Meatlug had always been the slowest of the dragons. And as you can imagine, that didn't go over well with Toothless, the fastest of the dragons. He would have been able to live with it, but Meatlug also wasn't as chatty as Stormfly or Barf and Belch. Which basically boils down to: Toothless plus Meatlug equals a very bored Toothless. Which meant I was counting down the seconds until he began to focus on me.
Right now, Toothless was making large, lazy swoops. They were U-shaped, ending a few yards above Fishlegs and his dragon, and passing underneath them. Toothless was barely even flying; he just fell with his wings extended, and let the lift his speed generated carry him back up to the top. Occasionally, his wake would rustle the unearthed pages in Fishlegs' hands, although Fishlegs himself didn't seem to notice.
"She was studying them for a really long time," Fishlegs said. "Look, she even knew about the Red Death!"
"And didn't tell anyone? She sounds like a wonderful individual."
"Looks like she knew that the Red Death was controlling them, too."
"Again, sounds wonderful."
"I wonder why," he said. "I don't think she would have done all of this just out of curiosity."
I swallowed. I had ideas. None of them were what you would call good. Which was fitting, seeing that the witch had attacked us anyways.
"Whoa!" I pressed myself against Toothless's body as he nearly went upside down at the end of his loop. He glanced over his shoulder, curious gaze passing over my face.
I knew what that stare meant.
It was the beginning of the end.
"Toothless, I really don't want to . . . no, don't chirp at me! We're on a mission, right now. No time for . . ."
"Whoa!" That was from Fishlegs this time, not me. The sentiment was the same though, as he said that after watching Toothless try to buck me off.
"Toothless!" At that moment, l looked not like a little dragon, but the human I very much was. I had wrapped my arms around one of his ears, clutched it tight to my chest, and stared at the ground with wide eyes as I hung on for life itself. Toothless just thought I was being silly.
He turned over. I could feel my grip slipping, so I automatically bit down on his ear. After a few seconds left, that's all I had left. I was hanging in mid-air, attached to Toothless by my teeth.
Through a mouthful of dragon, I said, "Toothless, let me up!"
He flipped back, but then he started tossing his head, trying to dislodge me that way. Thank you, teeth. They were the only thing between me and a terrible fate.
"Are you two okay?" Fishlegs called.
I rolled my eyes. I tried to say 'fantastic', but I think it came out more like: "uh-aa-ic".
But my brilliant comeback had distracted me. I found myself biting empty air, and Toothless flashed me a victorious grin. I staggered as the slope of his shoulders became uneven.
"Toothless . . . !"
The angle steepened –
"Toothless, no!"
The snarl came unbidden from my chest, bouncing from side to side of my throat like a startled rabbit. It was guttural and lasting, vibrating through the air long after I stopped. Deeper than a regular growl; fiercer than I thought a dragon like me could sound like. And would wonders ever cease, Toothless listened. His roll stopped, and his ears flattened against his head as he whined. It was what I liked to call his pouty mode.
I noticed Fishlegs was staring at me.
"Sorry," he said bashfully. "That's just the first time that you actually sounded like a dragon."
In an odd way, I was flattered. Throw what you could at old Hiccup, and he would find a way to make use of it. At the same time, I felt guilty that one of the first things I had 'said' to Toothless had been in the form of a snarl.
I didn't know how to say sorry, so I went for the closest thing. I rubbed my head against the back of his. I love you.
It was hard for him to stretch and rub back against me, so instead he chuffed. Hello.
Then he chirped. This time though, it was softer. A question rather than a demand. I pressed myself to his back, making my position on the topic very clear.
He made a sound I couldn't translate.
I had a sneaking suspicion it meant: next time.
Fishlegs was consumed by those papers. He read them all the way home; he was still reading them when Stoick greeted and asked us about our search. He ended up walking into his front door because he was so busy reading them. Somehow, though, we had made it to his room. Now he was lying back on his bed, still reading. Meatlug dozed across his legs. I had no idea how she didn't crush them.
"It's control!" he said suddenly. He tried to jump up, but could only do so much with Meatlug's bulk atop him. "That's what she wanted; she was experimenting on the dragons because she wanted control over them."
From where I was on the foot of the bed, I cocked my head. Toothless laid his chin on the frame.
"It's not like us," he further elaborated. "She didn't want to tame dragons. She wanted to control them. Like the Queen did."
The difference didn't surprise me much. From what I had seen, the witch had kept her dragons in cages, and when you did that, of course they would act like mindless animals. They wouldn't have acted like their true gentle selves. So, it was only natural she wouldn't have known that dragons had a mind of their own.
A while later, Toothless and I perked up when we heard Astrid outside the house. She ended up letting herself in, seeing that Meatlug had Fishlegs pinned. And I was right at the door to greet her; I bounced around her feet like an overexcited puppy. Toothless chuffed.
She picked me up. "Not much happened on our end," she said. "Just wait. I'll tell you both together."
Fishlegs didn't even notice when we walked back in. He was scanning through the papers, mouth half-open in an expression of awe. It took Astrid clearing her throat to finally get an acknowledgement out of him.
He told her what he told me, about the control. She took it all in with a neutral expression. She asked if the witch had succeeded, to which he answered no.
"Great." The bed rustled when she sat on it. "At least you found something. All we learned was that the Ferocious Fiends used to sell captive dragons to her. But then the Red Death happened, and the dragons didn't come into their village for them to capture anymore, so now? Nothing."
"Then how did she get the Terror?"
"It's just a Terror," Astrid said. "She could have trapped it herself."
"Okay, so it's back to square one. Where's everyone else?"
She pointed her chin toward the window. "Outside. They said they had something important to do."
Snotlout and the twins? I was doubting that. As for why, let's just say that we had a radically different definition of 'important'. That was why I had a desire to look out the window for them and . . .
Hey, they were right there.
Ruffnut waved me down, visibly stifling a snicker. Next to her, her twin put a finger to his lips. Snotlout grinned widely, hands grasping something behind his back.
I glanced back at the others. When I looked back at the trio, they all shook their heads.
Right . . . this couldn't possibly go wrong. But at least I think I got to be a prankee this time, instead of the pranked. I mean with this whole dragon situation and all, I deserved a break. Right?
I snuck out of the house, but that didn't mean I went directly toward them. Okay, I did. But I kept distance between us. As much as I trusted them to have my back . . . I really didn't trust them.
Good thing, too. Because if their smiles were telling me anything, they had no plans to make me a partner-in-crime.
"What's going on?" I backed away, mindful of how their shadows seemed to reach out for me.
"Nothing!" Snotlout said that much too happily for my liking.
They were lying. That was obvious. I just didn't know what they were lying about . . . but I did have my secret weapon: my enhanced senses. I took a deep breath, shuffled through their individual scents, and zoomed in one that I didn't recognize –
Whoa.
Whoa.
It was warm and gentle, yet also red-hot and as sharp as a blade. Like the smell of sunlight. It shocked every nerve in my body; static danced along my skin. I paid no more mind to my earlier suspicions and crept closer to the trio.
What was that smell?
The scent grew stronger. I shuddered deep in my bones. It was . . . beautiful. I could feel myself floating away . . .
Oh, wait. I was just leaning back on my hind legs. I don't remember doing that.
"Whoa, it's actually working!" Snotlout laughed. His hand moved to his front and opened –
That was it. There it was. It was everything I ever dreamed of . . . I couldn't actually see it that well; the smell had overwhelmed my senses and the world was so bright and pretty, but I knew it was there. Snotlout waved it over my head, and I followed it –
Whoops. Just fell over. Heh, funny. I'm funny.
Where did it go? I followed my nose, ending up right at Snotlout's feet. It was still in his hand, higher up. Sure. I could work with this.
"Argh! Dude, that hurts!"
He was sure moving a lot. That's okay. That's what claws were for. I dug them in deeper and climbed.
He threw it. Why would he do that?
But it was mine now. I pounced. Rubbed my face in it. So perfect. I just wanted to gobble it all up and make a nest out of it. All for me. Mine.
Upside down, I purred, "I love you guys."
The twins were staring at Snotlout's leg. He had pulled his pants up, revealing a couple of red scratches. Oops. Was that from me? It probably was. Bad Night Fury.
Night Fury?
"Toothless! Hey, Toothless! Where are you, you big oaf?"
Toothless burst out of the house. He stopped short.
"Isn't it wonderful?"
Toothless joined me in rolling around.
" . . . Hiccup?"
I slurred, "Astriiiiiiidddd!"
She stepped toward us. "What are you doing?"
"Just enjoying life."
She scowled. And turned on the others. "You!"
I frowned. She sounded mad. Why was she mad?
"You gave him Dragon Nip?"
Ohhhh. So that's what it was. Dragon Nip. Got to remember to grab myself some.
"It was Fishleg's idea!" Snotlout shouted. His voice was all wobbly and funny. "He was the one who suggested I try it."
Tuffnut added, "Yeah, we're going to try the eel next."
"What?" Astrid sprung between Toothless, me and them, arms held out as if to shield me. "You are not going to poison him!"
"We're not poisoning him; we're just going to see if he's scared of it."
I didn't quite catch Astrid's response. Everyone's voice was weird and it took way too much focus to listen. But she was mad. Very mad. It was distracting. She just needed to take a deep breath and relax . . . she needed some Dragon Nip. Dragon Nip was amazing. It made everything better.
No, Toothless. Stop complaining. Astrid's on the Sharing List.
"Astrid!" I grabbed a few strands of the Dragon Nip and walked over to her. I accidentally crushed them. Juice trickled into my mouth and . . . and . . .
What was I talking about again?
Hey, look at all the bright lights.
I tried to grab one. Astrid held me against her chest. She smelled nice . . . ugh, my head hurt. Too much at once.
Astrid hissed, "Well, let's see what Stoick thinks about this."
Snotlout made a weird squeaking sound.
Tuffnut held his hands up. "Okay, no need for that."
"Come on, Hiccup." Toothless and I both cried out when she stuffed the Dragon Nip in her pocket.
Everything was kind of a blur after that. I hung limply in Astrid's arms, still holding onto the memory of that perfect moment. I missed that Dragon Nip.
Astrid sighed, and said, "You are going to be so embarrassed. Yes, I'm being serious. You can stop purring. Once you sleep off whatever that stuff did to you, I don't know how you're going to show your face."
I just purred. Silly Astrid. Everything was perfect.
Review Responses:
Guest: Thanks! If you've been following what I've said to the other anons, then you know why I didn't want them to speak like humans... at least I think I mentioned it to one of them before. It might have been a response to a signed review; I don't really remember.
Jazz: Well, the basics of storytelling are always the same, right? Although I'll admit that I find it much easier to write description in third-person than first-person. :)
