Chapter 20

I was a nervous wreck the rest of the day. Or, to further outline the implications of that little detail, I was a bumbling, stuttering fool. In total, I accidentally set three fires (all of which I extinguished before anyone had noticed . . . except for the one in the house); nearly smashed my own thumb with a hammer at the forge; tripped and strew the sketches of Toothless's saddle all over my floor; and I spilled water on my shirt. But that last part was pretty ordinary, so let's forget about it.

Night came. I watched through my window light after light went out, until all that was left were the stars and the fires in the watchtowers. A dark shroud set over Berk; it was a new moon today, giving the village that extra bit of murkiness, one that would serve me well.

I could hear Dad's heavy snores as I walked past his room. Ever since his return from the failed hunt for the Dragon Nest, he had stayed up night after night until he passed out from exhaustion, combing through his sea charts in hopes of finally finding that secret place. So far, he'd had little luck.

The front door creaked as I pushed it open. A sharp gust forced its way past me, making the candles inside tremble. I hugged my vest closer, and stepped outside, letting the door fall shut on its own. I didn't move right away; instead I stayed completely still, checking that no one was watching me. True, that was rather unlikely – who would want to watch boring old me? – but Astrid . . . I didn't know what was up with her, but she was definitely suspicious. Of something.

I took a deep breath to calm myself. No one in Berk would have had the patience to linger outside my house all day and wait for me to leave. Especially not Astrid. She was a warrior through and through, and unlike me it seemed, understood the value of a good night's sleep.

With that in mind, I made my way back to the Arena. Not before snagging a lantern on the way of course; there was no light except the natural kind inside that place.

The Arena had always been an open, lonely place, but now that feeling was tenfold. The dim halo of my lantern didn't even reach any of the walls, and the sky above was so dark it was like standing in a cave. If I squinted hard, I could see the iron bars crossing the sky, which didn't make me feel any better.

I groped my way to Fishbone's cage, and set the lantern down. This was it. If Fishbone was still mad at me, there would be no Astrid or Gobber to save me. Not to mention that in darkness like this, I would be a sitting duck for the Terror.

I unlatched the food flap. "Fishbone? You in there, bud?"

He took a long time to emerge. I blame it on the fact he had probably been sleeping. But when he did, it was just to poke his head out.

Quietly, I said, "Hey."

Yellow eyes blinked. I could feel his gaze sweeping over me, absorbing every inch of my body. He held himself defensively: wings raised and arched, ready to snap open at a moment; weight low to the ground so that he could dive back into his cage. It took a few seconds before I realized how I looked to him, but once I did, I carefully lowered myself to his level.

"Hey," I repeated.

He eyed me suspiciously. He knew I had saved him in the Arena . . . but I had also betrayed him.

"I brought a peace offering. A wet, slimy fish, just like you like them . . ."

I didn't even finish before he had swallowed the thing whole. He looked expectedly at me for more.

"You're lucky I'm used to dealing with a glutton." I smiled fondly as I thought of Toothless, up until Fishbone slapped me in the face with the fish tail.

"Are we cool?" I held my hand out, held it in the same way I had when Toothless had pressed his –

Fishbone went for my fingers.

" . . . I'll take that as a yes."

Fishbone bounded over and crawled up my arm, settling on my shoulder. He stared at the lantern, as if thinking of biting that, too, but then decided randomly looking into the darkness was more interesting. I smiled.

There was a sudden groan. Not a human one. This one was more like the wail of a falling tree. A dragon, to be exact. Now that I thought about it, Fishbone wasn't staring at nothing; he was looking in the direction of the cages.

The darkness swallowed up Fishbone's cage as I walked towards the others. Although I knew that had been a dragon groan, I had no idea which dragon. I was banking on the Gronckle though, as the Nadder tended to sound more birdlike, and the Zippleback had a higher voice.

Of course, it could have been the Nightmare.

I shuddered. The Nightmare was the one dragon us trainees hadn't faced – for good reason. Plus, it was the same Nightmare that had nearly killed me the night I brought down Toothless, so there was that added bit of creepiness.

I looked back at the other cages.

"Do you think . . . do you think I could handle two dragons?" I asked Fishbone. He seemed pretty tame right now, so the idea was getting more and more inviting . . .

Ah, screw it. I'm going for it.

Fishbone slithered down my arm, watching my fingers move as they worked on the lock. I could hear something moving beyond the door – the Zippleback, no doubt. Would it be in a good mood today, or a grumpy one since I interrupted its sleep? Who knew?

It seemed to be a good one. The Zippleback was already waiting by the time the door swung open. I instinctively threw a hand up (Just in case. You never knew with dragons). The Zippleback leaned forwards and sniffed it, then followed the hand out.

It just had gotten beside me when it spotted Fishbone.

The Zippleback went still. Fishbone continued to have no cares in the world. He panted, then leapt – almost lunged – toward one of the Zippleback's heads. Before I could even blink, the Zippleback had run back into its cage.

I shook the arm with Fishbone. "That was mean."

"Hey." My voice echoed in the cave. "He was just playing. I mean he's tiny. He's not actually going to hurt you . . . I'd try bribing you with a fish, but he already ate them."

I could faintly make out my lantern's reflection in the Zippleback's eyes. It wasn't getting any closer, and probably wouldn't as long as that annoying troublemaker called Fishbone was on my arm. Thinking quickly, I scooped a rock off, showed it to Fishbone, and then tossed it into the distance.

He went after it.

There, now I could try to coax the Zippleback out. I spoke to him softly, lowly, just a constant barrage of what I hoped were comforting sounds. When he did inch forwards, I moved the same distance back.

The Zippleback emerged out of the darkness . . . right when Fishbone returned. I could see him thinking about whether to attack.

Not on my watch. I kicked him. I meant to shove him aside, but ended up persuading him to figure out how to burrow through my shoes to my toes. I guess that was fine? I mean, he wasn't going after the poor Zippleback anymore.

"I guess I need a name for you." Let's see: we had two heads here. Twins. And there was a famous set of twins . . . But I don't think the gods would appreciate me naming a dragon after them. So, switching around a letter or two . . .

"Breyr," I announced to one head. To the other, I said, "You can be Breyja."

They seemed to like it.

Well, now that I had given them a name, I guess they needed a gender, too. So far, I had two male dragons. So, statistically speaking, this one was most likely a female. So it was. And so it shall be.

Breyr and Breyja sniffed my hand. They refused to press their heads against it (maybe they didn't trust me that much yet, or maybe that ritual was just a Night Fury thing), but I reached under and rubbed Breyja's neck anyways. Breyr stared, then huffed in what I thought might be jealously. So, I rubbed her neck, too. It seemed like a good solution, but now Fishbone wanted attention. He jumped and clung to my chest, squawking.

I plucked him from my shirt, rolling my eyes as he gently gnawed on my hands. Breyja and Breyr shook their heads, as if being breaking free of some trance. They eyed the Terror in my grip.

"Let's try this again." I kept a tight grip on Fishbone's midsection. "Breyja and Breyr, this is Fishbone. Fishbone, this is not food."

Fishbone was perfectly calm, but the Zippleback was already backing up. I followed, thrusting Fishbone into their face.

Finally, Breyr gathered the courage to sniff . . . up until Fishbone tried to bite her. Thanks to my inherent genius, but mostly my irritation at the little brat, I held Fishbone's jaws shut. He glowered at me.

I held the little dragon up again. Breyr and Breyja seemed to recognize that he was currently harmless, and closed in. Fishbone still tried lunging at them, but they only flinched.

"See," I crooned, "we can all be friends. Right, Fishbone?"

He watched the Zippleback intensely. Probably planning ways to torment her.

"Why don't we . . . why don't we make the party a little bigger." I said, suddenly giddy. I stared at the Nadder's cage. I already had two dragons out . . . what would be one more?

I shifted Fishbone to my shoulder. Breyr and Breyja followed me to the Nadder's cage, utterly confused as to what I was doing. But they, too, knew what the click of a lock signified, and their necks snapped straight up to attention.

I put my foot on the door. "Three, two –"

Bang.

When I opened my eyes a second later, I was squashed between the door and the wall. Fishbone was playing dead on my shoulder.

"Ow . . ." As the pressure lessened, I slid to the ground. The door slowly moved away . . .

Revealing a towering, shadowy figure.

My heart slammed against my ribs. I could see spikey things, lots of spikey things. And a big, black blob that I imagined was a body. The lantern was on the floor behind the things, and its dim light illuminated the underside of a wing, but not much else.

"You must be the Nadder," I said.

Claws clicked against stone. The Nadder picked its way sideways, circling me, moving into the darkness. I could only keep track of the Nadder by watching where Fishbone was facing.

But at least I could get to the lantern now. With Fishbone clinging to my shoulder, I dove and rolled all in one move . . . realizing afterwards that I had forgotten to grab the lantern while I was rolling. Let's pretend I didn't, though. I swung the lantern up, right into the snout of the Nadder.

"Heeeeello." I took a giant step back.

I could barely see the Nadder's pupils, so small were they in comparison to the rest of its eye. It had its head angled slightly to the side, keeping me out of its blind spot. The spines on its head were pointed outwards, a behaviour I knew to be an aggressive one.

I had no idea where the Zippleback was at this point. Fishbone was still here, but he was currently crawling over my head and not much help. Just me and the Nadder then.

I held my hand out. Braced myself.

The Nadder drew itself up high. I always thought that, thanks to its body structure, it always had to throw its weight a little forward. But not this time. This guy, from his chest to his head, was perfectly vertical.

"Is my hand offending you?" I lowered it. It didn't seem to help much.

I grabbed Fishbone and held him out. "Fishbone, help me!"

In retrospect, I should have known better. In retrospect, I should have expected that he would try to flame the other dragon.

I glared at Fishbone. "Thanks for nothing."

He panted.

Stupid reptile.

And now the Nadder looked angry.

First things first, ditch the Terror. By that, I mean toss him aside. I doubted he would be hurt. Next, try to make amends somehow.

"Those Terrors, huh?" I said, all the while backing away. "They're so much trouble. You must know that, right? I mean, being a dragon and all."

The Nadder cocked its head. It looked like it was trying to be parallel to the ground. It jerked back – I realized it was because the Zippleback had slithered up behind me – but the Nadder returned right back to its spot once Breyr and Breyja retreated back into the darkness.

Rock dug into my back. Alright, nowhere to run. This couldn't go that badly, could it? I mean if it wanted me dead, the Nadder would have shot spikes at me or something.

Cautiously, I raised my hand again.

Its nostrils flared. Unlike Toothless, The Nadder didn't keep my hand in front as it sniffed, but kept it beside its snout. It would choose one side, tilt its head sideways and sniff, then do the same to the other side.

"You're awfully twitchy, aren't you?" I said. An idea dawned in my brain. "Twitch. That seems as good a name as any. And I already got two guys, so you can be a girl, too."

Satisfied with my hand, Twitch moved on to my wrist.

I smiled. The bottom of her jaw grazed my palm. I curled my hand, letting my nails make contact with the scaly skin.

The Nadder crooned. The more I scratched, the more those head-spines flattened. I took this as a sign that we were cool.

"And one more . . ." I reached for the Gronckle's cage. I wasn't crazy enough to go for the Nightmare -

Crash. The entire wall shuddered when the Gronckle slammed into it. I had only touched the door, and yet the dragon was roaring and snarling at me. Clearly, it knew what I was up to. And did not approve.

"Annnd not one more." I tiptoed away. I think I was going to call this one Grump.

There was a whistle. Like the sound of a kettle going off. Twitch perked up as Breyr slunk into view, and then quickly disappeared. Twitch squawked and tromped after her.

I smiled, watching her go.

I frowned.

How was I going to get these dragons back in their cages?

Next Chapter: See You Tomorrow

Review Responses:

Guest FTG: Thank you! #noyoustayawesome

Guest: Thanks! That's great to hear!

It was a bit of both, actually: Toothless deliberately got his scent on Hiccup to signal to the other dragons that he was okay. Of course, he didn't have to do that by drooling on him (he could have just rubbed against him). That choice was, as you said, Toothless being Toothless :) And yes, there will be another dragon raid.

Jazz: I'm a truthful liar! Honestly :D And I was referring to A Small Problem.

spark-sizzle: Thanks! Well, I don't know about dragons, but I bet grumpy teenager Vikings did exist XD

Hiccup's got a while to go before his time comes, but I've already finished writing the Kill Ring chapter, so you'll see what happens with that!

random reader WITH a profile: Oh, yes he is. Hiccup is never not in trouble ;p

ZambleTheZombie: Hate to break it to you, but I've always stuck to my update schedule. So telling me to update a day earlier isn't going to work :)

You already started the speech? But there's still like another 8-9 chapters to go X) And I haven't even written some of those!

Lol when I saw that note about the dentist I was like "Uh... is she reviewing the wrong story?" Then I realized you were talking about yourself and not the dragons X) Plus, when you're talking about the army coming for them, are you referring to the plot of the second movie?

Next story? I'm not certain at this point, but apart from a possible sequel to this, I suspect it will not be in the HTTYD fandom. Sorry :(

Arca out!