A/N: Thank you Guest, once again, for your encouraging statements. Thank you also to P-artsypants and Dabzygirl (please forgive me if I misspelled that. My memory sucks.) for reviews that made me chuckle. I kill off one character and now I'm expected to perform more assassinations. ;-D. Stay tuned for a devastating attack that kills off everyone. X-P
Please enjoy this next chapter.
CHAPTER 25: CONFRONTATION
The villagers were excitedly gathering into the Kill Arena grandstands. Some were taking bets as to whether this would be Hiccup's last day amongst them. Those were the few in the village, like crusty old Mildew, who were of the belief that Stoick should have done what Viking tradition demanded, and put his runt of a child in a baby sized boat to send him off to appease the gods. Others were betting on how many limbs he might lose before Stoick intervened. There was a larger sized group, regular viewers of the training sessions, who were there to cheer on the new celebrity Hiccup.
After the last few stragglers took their seats Stoick stood up to address the crowd. "Here we gatherr to cheer on oorr winnin' trrainee o' the drragon killin' recrruits. And if anyone werre to tell me beforre this day that my son was The Chosen One, the Victor, I would 'ave shipped him off the Island forr fearr he'd gone mad. I almost did when I hearrd yoor cheer forr Hiccup on his last day of trrainin', and Gobber came and told me the good news. Gobber was just lucky I actually got to see my son later that evenin'." The crowd roared with laughter.
Down in the arena Astrid was interpreting his dad's speech for Hiccup. He chuckled at dad's joke about Gobber and then swallowed hard. He was about to speak and then remembered his hands.
"Thank you for all your support Astrid. You have become my best friend in such a short time."
"Hiccup, don't! Stop right there! I don't like to cry in public, and that's what you're trying to make me do. This is not a farewell speech. You will win over that dragon. You're the best, and you are Thee Dragon Master, in the good and proper meaning of that title."
"Now you're trying to make me cry." He gave her a hug and pulled away. "If anything should go wrong, please take care of Toothless."
"I will. Just promise me nothing will go wrong."
Lying through his teeth, thinking there's no way he could do so, Hiccup promised her. He daringly stepped forward to give her an actual kiss, fearing this might been his last opportunity. Astrid accepted with absolutely no hesitation even reaching her hands around the back of his neck so as to allow the kiss to linger a little longer.
It really wasn't all that long, but enough for Hiccup to breathe hard as if he had been holding his breath for hours. Turning away with Astrid's favourite goofy grin on, and wearing his horned breast helmet, Hiccup entered the only access point to the arena. The portcullis slowly clanked down behind him.
To keep up appearances, but to also emphasize in his demonstration, Hiccup walked over to the weapons display to pick up a dagger and a shield.
"Hmmm, I would have gone for the hammer." Stoick commented to Spitelout.
Looking nervous Hiccup signed to Gobber to release the dragon. Gobber raised his hands in confusion not having had the time to learn any signs. "Okay, Gobber, let him out!" Hiccup shouted over the considerable distance. Definitely one advantage for sign language.
"Why didnae you say so!" Gobber shouted back. Seeing a wiggling moustache Hiccup just shook his head at his mentor.
Gobber pulled down on the lever to release the massive lock pins securing the door of the largest holding pen. The locking mechanism was designed to pull the pins out slowly, allowing the operator to run to a secure shelter. As brave as he was, Gobber had a healthy respect for Monstrous Nightmares. This was the type of dragon who who had taken his left hand to just above the wrist. It was a Gronkle that took his right leg when he had gotten too close to her kitten with an axe. All injuries incurred by holding a weapon with intention to use it.
The Monstrous Nightmare was one of the largest of the standard dragons. They ranged in colour from a sickly reddish green, multi hued scales to flaming orangish red. They breathed a very dangerous kind of fire that could stick to its target like glue. As they were in the Stoker Class of dragons they also had the ability to ooze a flammable gel from under their scaly hide to ignite themselves on fire for an armour of flame.
Dragons like the Queen Dragon Astrid and Hiccup discovered were in the Dreadnaught class. Because of her sheer massive size, Hiccup was pretty certain there was no way he could train such a leviathan.
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Toothless was resting in the bright sun of the cove. The dragons appeared to be reptilian in general appearance, but they were far from cold blooded. Toothless was more like a cat who liked to bathe in warm sunlight when he had the chance.
"Arise my brother, your friend will need you as you need him."
Toothless jumped immediately to all fours. Wearily he looked around for the source of the voice. No one around. What's going on? This time he wasn't dreaming. Yet the voice sounded familiar. The voice from a previous dream. A prophetic dream!
"Leave this place now, or you maybe too late."
Toothless hesitated no longer. The message was clear, but how to escape this pit? He had only been able to leave with his boy on his back.
He could fly a little but he didn't have enough control with half a tail to achieve the height he needed.
His fear for his boy drove him to make the attempt like never before. Flapping his powerful wings as hard as he could he scaled the wall only to fall back. He didn't give up. He had gotten close. New approach. More hop and skip flights. Keep lower and do more jumping while flapping. This worked for the Onyx Drake. Shorter distances in the air allowed him to maintain more control of his trajectory, and gave him the necessary momentum to get him further up the cove wall. Near the top The Black One nearly faltered again, but succeeded in digging his fore claws into a boulder, and with two more powerful down strokes of his wings he pulled himself over the lip of the cove.
Where to go? Which way now?
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The pins fully retracted to release the Monstrous Nightmare, which burst from the holding pen doors fully aflame and roaring. It could only fly as high as the overhead net of chains would allow it, where it scurried along the chains like an upside down spider. It looked around for a threat, but did not immediately see one so it doused its body fire. Releasing its grip on the chains it dropped to the arena floor flipping like a cat does when dropped upside down.
The dragon finally saw a pathetically small Viking approaching it, but it was armed so the dragon lowered its head and gave this tiny Viking a fierce warning growl.
The boy then proceeded to approach it while speaking. "I'm not one of them." The youngling revealed. The boy removed its horned head cap, then dropped his shield and tiny metal stinger.
The Monstrous one was confused. The Little one had discarded all of its defenses and danger tools. Why? It wondered.
Stoick was agitated. What was his crazy son thinking? "Stop the fight!" He bellowed.
Hiccup allowed his gaze to drift up to his father just in time to see him stand and approach the chain net and iron railing, lips moving. He could only guess at what his dad probably screamed and shouted back himself. "No! You need to see this! Dragons are much more than we think they are. Everything we think we know about them is wrong."
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Hearing the roar of a Monstrous Nightmare, Toothless instantly knew which way to run, as fast as his legs and wings would allow him.
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Fuming mad, Stoick struck his massive hammer onto the wrist thick iron railing before him. It dented nearly to the breaking point. "STOP THE FIGHT!" He commanded even louder. His actions had mistakenly put his son in danger. The strike of the hammer startled the Nightmare into trying to attack Hiccup.
Hiccup had a lot practice evading dragons. The last dragon he had to dodge, the night he shot down Toothless, was actually a Monstrous Nightmare. Hiccup could maneuver more quickly and sharply than the larger dragon.
Astrid was frantic. She had to get in there to help Hiccup. That damn portcullis was down and nobody could open it just yet. She grabbed a double headed axe off the wall and used it to lever up the steel grate door. She slipped her thin frame under it and grabbed a hammer from the stand. She screamed out to distract the large dragon throwing the hammer with extreme accuracy. Just as the dragon was about to bite down on Hiccup a hammer knocked the bright orange head aside.
Enraged, the dragon proceeded to run after Astrid who adopted Hiccup's tactic of out maneuvering the massive beast.
Fearing for the girl he loved, Hiccup got right in the face of this dragon, who turned back to pin down the small Viking. Astrid inhaled with fear only to see Hiccup was not actually hurt.
The Monstrous Nightmare had only pinned down her favourite freckled boy in its cage like claws. Hiccup was not out of danger though. The big dragon decided to eliminate a perceived threat. Looking right at Hiccup it inhaled deeply. In fear Hiccup turned his head aside awaiting a fire blast.
A shrill whistling scream proceeded a blast from an explosive blue white fire ball that demolished the overhead arena chains. Someone screamed "Night Fury!"
The Black Drake immediately pounced on its larger kin, rolling and snapping at the bigger beast without hesitation.
The larger drake attempted to bite at the under belly of The Black One. Despite his smaller size he had powerful legs and was able to throw off the larger one.
Toothless immediately raced to Hiccup assuming a protective posture in front of his boy and now girl. The larger dragon tried to reach around Toothless for the humans, but that Black Drake was too quick and agile, fending off the Nightmare.
Vikings began falling into the arena like rain and with their greater numbers were able to subdue the orange red dragon.
When Stoick moved to speak with his son, hammer in hand, Toothless thought the worst. These humans had been known to attack and even kill their own. He pounced on the burly Viking, inhaled in preparation for a plasma blast, blue light glowing in the back of his maw, when he heard both the boy and girl scream at him to stop.
Stoick was very fortunate the dragon had obeyed these children, and was actually shaken by his close call. Spitelout pounced on the head of Toothless along with multiple other Vikings.
Toothless was trapped.
Standing up, a little unsteady on his feet, Stoick commanded, pointing to the black dragon, "Lock him up with the others." Looking at his son and his interpreter he didn't bother signing. "You two! The Great Hall, NOW!" Astrid jumped at Stoick's final bellow. Énjal, her mother saw Astrid jump and followed the trio fearing the worst.
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Stoick, in a hostile temper, nearly threw Hiccup into the great Hall. He didn't dare touch Astrid or he could jeopardize his alliance with Bertha and the Bog Burglars. Let alone his new relationship with Énjal.
"What in Helheim did ya think yoo werre doin' in therre Hiccup? Do ya know how many lives yoo jeoparrdized?" Stoick demanded of his son.
Hiccup looked to Astrid. This was an extremely uncomfortable situation to be in. She had become too emotionally invested in the lives of her clients, and now she had to purely interpret what was being said to Hiccup, without being allowed to interject her own comments or feelings. With heroic effort she relayed Stoick's question to Hiccup. Fortunately Hiccup could answer for himself.
"I-I-I-meant to ah tell you, bu-bu-but then I-I-I thought it would b-b-be better to show you." At the moment Hiccup was terrified of his father. He had never been manhandled this way before. That was the least of his concerns. Stoick didn't really seem to be in a listening mood.
"Show me what?" Stoick shouted.
"Tha-that we don't have t-to ff-fight the dragons. That th-there can be peace with them."
Stoick swept his hand down across his face in exasperation. This was the one dislike he had of Valka all over again. "Arre yoo daft Hiccup?! Look arround yoo. We've been fightin' drragons for thrree hundrred years. They have killed hundrreds of us. They rraid oorr livestock monthly, what else can we do? It's not like we can negotiate a peace trreaty with them." Stoick declared derisively.
"And we've killed thousands of them! They raid us because they have to. If they don't bring enough food back to the nest, they are eaten themselves." Hiccup wailes back.
"Yoo've been to theirr nest?!" Stoick asks in astonishment.
"Did I say nest? Uh-I-I meant-"
Stoick interrupts him with a shout. "Wherre is it?!"
Hiccup just realised he made a big mistake but it didn't really matter since he explained, "I don't really know. Only dragons know how to get to the Queen." Or did it matter? The look of a brilliant idea lit up Stoick's face, and Hiccup realised what he was thinking. Stoick turned to leave the Great Hall. Hiccup pathetically tried to hold him back. "No, Dad! You don't know what you're going to be facing there. Please listen to me. You can't win this fight. It's not like anything you have ever faced before."
Stoick became angry again and shoved his son to the floor. "Yoo would put drragons ahead of yoorr own people?! Yoo'rre not a Viking. Yoo'rre not my son." With that stinging statement Stoick walked out the doors. On the descending steps he paused, grief stricken at what he had said to his only son. Then he stood straighter with more resolve. He also had his village to think of. Now he and his warriors could finally put an end to this scourge of dragons.
Astrid helped Hiccup to his feet. "Are you alright?" She signed her query.
Hiccup was hurting, badly. Too miserable and too proud to reveal his tears to this fierce and strong young maiden, he just shook his head and walked out. Hiccup felt like a screw up all over again, and he didn't want Astrid to see him that way.
This rejection took its toll on Astrid, so when she saw her mom pass Hiccup on her way in she ran into her mom's strong arms to weep.
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Toothless had a leather strap locked around his head so he couldn't open his jaws to spew plasma fire. His wings were bound by broad leather straps, encircling his torso and he was locked onto a platform with inverted U shaped bars to prevent his escape. Once in the bars they released his wing retention straps. Then they clamped down a wooden stock around his neck to better immobilize him. Several hefty Vikings hoisted his platform onto a wagon which they used to transport him on a broad winding boardwalk to Stoick's waiting ship far below the arena.
In grief and feeling utterly helpless Hiccup watched as his dragon, his first real friend, was loaded aboard the Sea Dragon as if he were a condemned prisoner.
Once Toothless was secured on board his ship, Stoick looked back up at Berk only to see his son looking down at the now reduced fleet of fifteen Viking long ships. Now feeling resentful instead of guilty, Stoik turned to the black drake. "Lead us home, devil!" Toothless just growled and struggled against his restraints. They were too well made.
Hiccup lost track of time gazing at the horizon where the ships had long since disappeared. He turned when he could feel someone approaching him on the boardwalk. It was Astrid who began signing as soon as he looked her way.
"You must feel horrible. You lost your family, and your best friend."
Not in the mood to even attempt hand speak, Hiccup muttered very sarcastically, "Thank you for summing that up." Then turned away from her.
Astrid was not going to let this go when the first boy she had ever grown close to was in such heart pain. Touching his shoulder to renew his attention she carried on. "I didn't say that to hurt your feelings. I feel your pain, Hiccup, I understand it."
Now Hiccup felt like a heel. In his anguish he had forgotten that Astrid had irretrievably lost her father and uncle in a dragon raid. Facing Astrid, Hiccup pointed to himself with his left index finger, changed it to a fist and circled it over his heart telling her, "I'm sorry."
She didn't accept his apology, she embraced it, and Hiccup in the process. "So Dragon Master, what are we going to do next?" Astrid signed after releasing her hug.
"Oh-probably something stupid." He signed in reply.
"Well, you've already done that." She simply stated.
He held up his left index finger as if contemplating something. "Then something crazy. Meet me in the arena in a quarter hour!" His hands flew excitedly as he briefly ran backwards to the village.
Astrid, whispered to herself with a satisfied grin, "That's more like it."
Sign of the Chapter - Son: This is a combination sign of two words. You start with the sign for boy. On your forehead you place your flat hand horizontally, thumb under the fingers as if grasping the bill of a baseball cap; (Boy), then bring the same flattened hand into the crook of the opposite elbow as if to hold a baby. Now you have signed "Son".