Hello all!
I have a question, and i'm not really sure how to explain it, but i'll try.
to me it feels weird that i had a time jump of a year happen in which nothing exciting happened, but then immediately after have several chapters that span the length of a single week! it might just be me but i find that weird please let me know how you feel about that.
Anyway enough about my insecurities regarding this story, Enjoy!
Chapter 25- "developments"
(Thuggory perspective)
I told Cami and Hiccup about me possibly staying.
They were excited.
Then Bertha had come into the room.
She wanted to speak to them alone.
I left the room telling them I'd be at the training ring.
That was over an hour ago!
"Hey Katla, I think i'm done for today." I said lowering my training axes(1)
"You sure?" she asked lowering her own dual swords
"Yeah." I sighed
My instructor gave me a quizzical look but said nothing of it.
I put the hatchets back on the weapons rack and left the arena.
I approached Bertha's hut and knocked on the door
There was no answer; Bertha didn't come out and say they were still talking, Hiccup didn't say he had to help Bertha with politics and Cami never came out to tell me that she had to learn about being chief.
I opened the door and stepped inside
No one was there.
I quickly checked each room and found the house empty
The next place I would check for them would be the cove.
So I left the house and snuck into the forest.
After a couple minutes I arrived at the Cove. I didn't find Toothless, Cami or Hiccup which meant they were flying around. I looked at the sky and saw nothing but clouds and blue sky. I wasn't worried though in fact if I did see them I would be worried because that meant other people could see them as well.
I sat in the cove and looked at what we had left here as mementos; a few drawings done by Hiccup along with a few done by me and Cami (with Hiccups help of course) Hiccup even had a small makeshift forge that needed Toothless to operate along with a small leather working section where he made the saddle for Toothless we had a training dummy beside the leather working area and a large flat rock beside the forge for Toothless. I was admiring everything when I saw a shadow pass above me
"You're late." I said
"What took you so long?" Hiccup asked at the same time
Toothless landed near his rock and let Cami and Hiccup dismount
Once they did he walked onto his rock blasted it with flames and promptly fell asleep
"Lazy lizard." Hiccup grumped
"How are you guys?" I asked
"What do you mean?" Cami asked
"After Hiccup was exposed, has anyone treated you differently?" I asked
Cami and Hiccup glanced at each other then turned back to me
"Some have been refusing work done by me, but very few are acting like that." Hiccup replied honestly
"I can tell people want to 'buy me' but none have the gall to actually ask." Cami said
"I will..." I said angrily
"It's fine." she says interrupting me
"What isn't fine is we now need to find someone who heard our conversation but only me and Cami were there." Hiccup says annoyed
"What?" I asked confused
"Stoick sent a letter that says he wants someone to prove that Hiccup asked me to kidnap him." Cami said
"The problem is, there was no 'other person'." Hiccup said carrying on from Cami
"What happens if you don't find another person?" I asked genuinely concerned
"Well if we can't find anyone human to prove our story... we turn to the gods." Hiccup sighed
"And that's a bad thing?" I asked confused
"Stoick chose Thor, God of Lightning… our lives are literally controlled by something random." Cami said
I remained silent for a while as I thought about that.
"What happens if 'Thor votes' in the Hooligans favour?" I finally asked
"Hiccup is sent back to Berk and me and the rest of the Bog burglars are shamed for hiding him… me more so then the others" Cami said sadly
"...Not only that but there is a death sentence hanging over both your heads for helping me." Hiccup said after a moments silence
"WHAT?" Me and Cami roared in unison
Hiccup started rubbing the back of his neck
"Yeah… Tindra got another letter after the first, in it it said where we would wait for a thunderstorm if we can't find a witness and it also included the terms if Thor chose their totem; one of which was the execution of you two and Bertha."
"Please give me permission to hop on Toothless and blow your old island into the space between Asgard and Midgard!" I seethed
"I won't let you ride Toothless... but I will help you find your own dragon." Hiccup said
"... but if you do attack Berk, please do so discreetly during a raid." Hiccup finished firmly
"When have I not been discreet?" I asked
Both Cami and Hiccup raised their eyebrows at me
"If I were to choose one personality trait to describe each of us, you would be Arrogance." Cami said
"What would I be?" Hiccup asked
"Hhhhhmmmm… Innocence." She said after thinking for a moment
"What are you then?" I asked
"Thats easy, Patience." she said happily
"HAHAHAHAHA!" me and Hiccup started laughing
"Sure… you're patient." Hiccup said rolling his eyes in mirth
"Whau…" she harrumphed
"I can be patient when I want to be." she defended
"Right and I can turn my arrogance on and off." I laughed
"No seriously… Burglary requires incredible patience." she continued to try and defend herself
"You can't argue, you aren't always patient." Hiccup said
"Hmmmppp." She harrumphed
"But seriously I want a dragon." I said
"Any idea what kind you want?" Hiccup asked
"I don't know. something cool, fearsome and deadly."
"...And arrogant." Cami said in a joking manner
"Every dragon is Arrogant." Hiccup said
"So Thuggory must be a dragon then." Cami mused
"Can we get back to the task at hand?" I asked excitedly
"Lets go looking." Hiccup said
"Have you found any yet?" Hiccup called down from atop Toothless above us
"Other than a few Terrors no." I called back up to him
"Alright i'll go see if Cami has found any." He said and then flew out of sight beyond the trees surrounding me.
We had been searching for 2 days now, the three of us were on edge about the coming end of the week.
I felt bad for Hiccup; he wanted to help me find my own dragon, he had to work in the forge, he had to worry about how they were gonna get around the demands of Stoick, he had to worry about the death sentence on me, Cami and Bertha, he had to take care of Toothless, he had to continue learning about being a Bog Burglar, he was helping Bertha teach Cami politics. It seemed he just couldn't get a break. I offered to postpone getting a dragon for myself but he wanted someone else to know how to train them if things went wrong and he was under house arrest on Berk, his logic was flawed as, if things did go wrong I would be executed, and the knowledge lost, but I let it be. He was stressed enough as it was.
I walked down to the beach
I stood on the sand and glanced out into the bay
I saw a black serrated fin circling I looked around at the beach in front of me
There was a lot of driftwood all along the shore, some of it looked burnt
I looked back at the black fin it was no longer circling but was moving in a long and thin oval shape, Neither sharks nor Shark Worms moved in that way; something was wrong.
I leapt into the water and opened my eyes. I saw the shape of a shark worm swimming about but it had a fishing net wrapped around its leg and the net was pinned by parts of a shipwreck.
It was stuck in a small circle.
I swam near to the edge of the circle
The dragon approached me, mouth open in a snarl.
We stayed there for a moment before I realised that I had taken a breath!
I was close enough to share the dragons oxygen
I remembered something from the book of dragons
'Most dragons have the ability to survive nearly indefinitely underwater'
This dragon was no exception
The book also had a section on Shark worms
'These dragons have a small blowhole in front of their dorsal fin, what this is used for is unknown.' (2)
It seems they can blow pockets of air using this blowhole, it might have other uses but I haven't figured them out if there is.
The air pocket didn't last long so I took a deep breath and held it
I swam down to the dragon's leg and began pulling at the net as I knew a knife would most likely break any connection I had with the dragon already.
I pulled the net but I couldn't get it undone, in fact my pulling got it knotted up even more!
So I pulled out a knife and before the dragon could react I cut the net and freed it.
The dragon charged up its shot, but then realised the lack of a restriction on its leg
It released the shot into the sea bed beneath us
The shot blasted sand away and created waves in the water, the blast also blew up a part of the ship and shot wooden debris in all directions, the only thing left unchanged was the anchor stubbornly still pinning the net to the now eroded sea floor.
After the dragon took its rage out on everything with its green fireball, it swam under me and then shot out of the water. We landed on the sandy beach just a moment later
I quickly hopped off the dragon not wanting to agitate it.
Both me and the dragon stood on the shore neither of us did anything to the other
I sat down in the sand cross legged; if the dragon was unthankful to me I would have no chance to fight back.
The dragon made no aggressive move towards me but instead stood there to my right staring at the water in front of us.
The sun had begun to set by the time I offered it my trust.
I stuck out my hand towards the beast to my right but I kept my face towards the ocean and looked down at my lap.
Just like with Toothless the dragon and me were at a stalemate; both had trusted each other but to give each other a sign of our full trust we were unsure how it would be accepted.
After a long moment of the dragon staring at my outstretched palm it gently nudged my palm.
I slowly lifted my head and turned it to the dragon.
The dragon stared at my face around my palm. (3)
It snorted and pulled back
I slowly stood up and the dragon stayed where it was, it was no longer defensive or scared, it seemed neutral.
Then I heard flapping
I turned back to the tree line and looked up and saw Hiccup riding Toothless
"You ok down there?" he asked
"Yep, I made a new friend as well." I gestured to the spot where the sharkworm was only moments before.
It was walking backwards into the water, it stopped when just enough of its head was above the water for its eyes and its nose to be above, the rest of its body was a black mass under the shallow water.
Then Cami came bursting out of the trees.
The Sharkworm reared its head out of the water and blasted once near Toothless and once near Cami as warning shots.
I quickly got in front of it to stop it from blasting them.
It seemed to get the idea because it lowered itself back into the water but remained nearby but cautious of the new comers.
I walked over to Cami and gave her a hug
"Thug, what are you doing?" she asked awkwardly
"Showing him that you are my friend." I whispered
I let go of Cami and over to where Toothless had landed
I also embraced Hiccup and he must have realised why because he didn't protest.
Then I walked over to Toothless who was still upset about the warning shot.
I patted him on the head in a kind gesture which calmed both him and the sharkworm
The sharkworm slowly began coming out of the water it hesitated to bring its front claw out of the water and onto the sand. After a moment I walked over to it and gently patted its side
The sharkworm put its claw down and walked forward with me beside him
The two of us walked up to Hiccup, Toothless and Cami.
The sharkworm approached Toothless first
Almost at the same time they both bowed their heads down in a sign of submission.
Then the sharkworm approached Cami.
Cami stood her ground and the sharkworm seemed to approve of this
Then the sharkworm approached Hiccup and Hiccup met it in the middle.
The dragon rested its head on top of Hiccups for a moment then lifted its head.
Then the 5 of us went back to the cove.
Once there we realised how late it was and we left the cove (not before Hiccup and Cami kissed)
We walked home after making sure that Toothless and the new sharkworm had everything they needed, then we left.
(Omniscient Narrator)
After the vikings had left, Toothless decided to improve his masterpiece.
The ebony dragon flew above the cove to get a better view of his art.
He flew down and took his branch and used it to draw a figure next to Hiccup. The small person only stood about Hiccup's chin but had a grin on her face that made her seem much taller.
There were a lot of squiggly lines coming from the top of her head and covered a bit of Hiccup and Toothless. On Hiccups other side another figure was drawn, this time he was slightly taller than Hiccup but towered over the young women on Hiccups otherside, he also had a grin that told the story of a man that had lost much of his birth family and had found a new family. not by blood, but by friendship. The dragon was about to drop his 'sketching utensil' when he thought of adding something else. As the figures were all standing above the lake he decided to add his new friend by drawing his head and part of his body in the dirt so it looked like part of him was submerged in the lake while the rest was in the dirt looking at you in a happy manner.
The black dragon then showed his new friend his Art
(1) Katla is a character created by IamTheBrovahkiin in his story the boy behind the mask. (i highly recommend it)
(2) this is not an actual feature the dragon has in the books i just decided to convert the gills behind the horns thing.
(3) the reason it looks around his palm is because these dragons have the head of a hammerhead shark and Thuggorys hand was in the middle of its head