Unknown Rider
"Huh, another dragon rider in the Barbaric Archipelago?" I said to no one in particular. Toothless was lying in the sun outside the forge that I created. "It also sounds like the dragon is a Razorwhip. Those dragons haven't been seen in years, many thought they all died off."
After reading the message, I wrote back to Camicazi saying that I would be at the meeting when the moon is full in the sky once more. After I sent the terror mail on it's way, I decided that we would have to scout out the Island of Frigga for ourselves to make sure that it was safe for both dragons and vikings. Luckily the sun seemed to be near the midpoint in the sky, signaling that we had plenty of hours of sunlight to burn.
"Hey Bud," Toothless looked up at me as I mentioned his name, "You up for a scouting mission? We can try out that new tail of yours." Toothless bounced up, stretched his legs and wings out to their full extent and bounced over towards me. "Whoa, someone is excited? It's been a while since we actually went flying longer than getting food, hasn't it bud?" As Toothless approached, I gave him a few scratches in all his favourite places on his neck. "Well, let's head over to our cave and get the tail and a few supplies and we will be off."
I walked over towards our cave while Toothless bounced around me, he would stop occasionally in front of me with he head low and his tail swishing back and forth. When I finally reached our cave, Toothless was already with his tail laid out in the designated position of where I would usually put his tail fin on. I walked over to my desk and picked up the new tail fin. Basing the new design off the prototype that we have been using, I improved on the design which would hopefully allow us to fly faster, take corners sharper, and have less of a risk of getting destroyed.
I walked over to Toothless and crouched down near his tail. The Night Fury could barely keep still, he was shaking so much from excitement, it made a simple task that much harder. Once the tail was on, Toothless flug his tail around a few times to test the weight difference. As the Night Fury was inspecting his new tail fin and getting a feel for it, I walked back over to my desk and started to prepare for the journey. I put on the prototype riding suit that I had been working on for a little while. It wasn't anything fancy, it looked like normal armor made out of hardened leather and had a few compartments for certain items, like a compass and a small dagger. I picked up my belt that matched the riding suit and put it on. I picked up the dagger and place it in it's rightful spot on my wrist guard beside my compass, and finally, I picked up the sword that I had sharpened and sheathed it away in the holder that was on my belt. Finally I picked up my latest notebook and placed it inside the inner pocket of my suit, alongside my writing stick.
Once I was finally done putting everything on, I turned back around to see Toothless just watching me with excitement in his eyes. "You ready to go bud?" and before I could even finish my sentence, Toothless bounced out of the cave, looked back at me, and gave me a look that I could have sworn said 'hurry up.' "Okay okay, I'm coming," and I rushed out of the cave right behind him. I jumped into the saddle and before I even had my foot on the second peddle, Toothless jumped into the sky and took off. "Whoa! Easy now! Let me get strapped in!" Toothless must have understood because he leveled out and gilded while I started to strap myself into the saddle. We both learned the hard way what happens when I wasn't strapped in properly, we both ended up having a nice cold bath in the lake in the center of the valley.
"Alright bud, Im strapped in, let's see what this new tail can do!" and at that, Toothless shot off towards The Island of Frigga. The high pitched screech that followed from Toothless came sooner than normal and before I knew it, we were shooting along the top of the water, leaving huge waves in our wake.
It seemed like everything was flying by within a blur and before long, the Island of Frigga came into view. I signaled Toothless to ease up on the speed as we approached the unknown island. I pulled him to the left a bit and as if on instinct, Toothless start circling the island at a slower pace than the one we were flying not even a few minutes ago. Once we circled the island and determined it to be empty, we flew over top it. I looked down as we flew over the island and noticed many dragons but no viking settlements.
In the middle of the island, closer to the north side, was a mountain. I signaled Toothless to circle the island from the top down to the bottom before we landed at it's base. I jumped off Toothless' back and took of my riding helmet surveying the land. "This seems like a good place, dontcha think bud?" I looked back to see where Toothless was and noticed he was gone. "Toothless? Where'd you go?" I ran off in the direction of where I thought he would have went, starting to panic because we were in a strange land.
Relief washed over me once I finally caught up to Toothless, who didn't go far but was sniffing the air as if following a scent. I was on high alert right away once I noticed his ears also flicking at every direction possibly. I pulled out my sword and started to follow Toothless through the dense forest. It wasn't long before Toothless stopped abruptly before a clearing and started a low growl. I stepped ahead of Toothless to peer into the clearing and noticed a Razorwhip starting back at us.
The Razorwhip seemed to have known we were here and was watching us with it's big green eyes. It had its tail in the air with its spines on edge as if ready to shoot but it was like it was waiting for us to make the first move.
"I never thought I see another dragon rider" came a unknown voice somewhere behind us. I whipped around to see where the voice came from but came up empty.
"Who's there? SHOW YOURSELF!" I yelled into the trees.
A flicker of light caught my eye right and I had just enough time to bring my sword up to block the attack from the other rider. Toothless jumped back and starting growling while the Razorwhip watched the fight go down. Neither dragon wanted to attack with the risk of hurting their own rider. The masked rider and I went back and forth a few times before they outsmarted me, sunk to the ground and swiped their feet under mine which resulted in me falling on my backside. Before I knew it, I had an axe under my neck with two angry green eyes staring at me.
"Call your dragon off or else this will be the last time you ever see him." the other rider threatened me. I gave Toothless a signal and the dragon fell silent but was no less alert than before. Within seconds, Toothless could shoot a plasma blast and hurt or kill the other rider but with the Razorwhip so close, there was no telling what could happen.
"Now, why were you following us?" the other rider asked, slightly annoyed.
"Following you? We weren't following anybody." I replied with my hands slightly up signaling I meant no harm.
"Yes you were, I heard you approach the island, circle it a few times before landing at the base of the mountain. I then watched your dragon there sniff out my Razorwhip. Admit it, you were following us." She accused me. The axe was still pushed up against my neck and was very close to piercing the skin. Toothless started growling again when she pushed on the axe slightly.
"I wasn't following you. I had no idea you were here. I didn't even know there was another dragon rider up until today." I said honestly, backing up a little bit to put some distance between the axe head and my neck. The other rider lowered their axe slightly giving me a lookover as if they were deciding whether I was telling the truth or not.
"So let's say I do believe you, do you promise to hop on your dragon there and leave this island?" she asked with her axe still raised towards me. I guess it was slightly better than having it directly under my neck but was still too close for comfort. Toothless was still growling quietly behind me.
I looked back towards Toothless and said "Calm down Bud, I don't think she means any harm," turning towards the other rider, "Do you mean any harm?" I asked her directly. She looked as if she considered it a moment before lowering her axe down to her side. I slowly got up from where I was sitting on the ground and Toothless came rushing to my side at the same time the Razorwhip came forward to rest beside the other rider. "You know, I thought Razorwhips were all hunted and killed off. It's been years since I have seen one." I said looking at the other dragon.
"I could say the same for Night Furies. That is the only one I have seen in my life." she replied after a few seconds. I looked at the other rider for a few seconds.
"Can you take off your mask so we can have a normal conversation?" I asked her while giving Toothless a scratch to calm my nerves. It seemed to have worked for both of us as Toothless just sat there watching instead of growling. She seemed to have considered it for a few moments before deciding.
She sheathed her axe on her back and pulled back the hood that was covering her head. Jet black hair came into view and fell down her back in a small braid. She also lowered her mask off her face revealing. There was no mistaken who she was, with her jet black hair and those deep green eyes which reflected my own.
"Heather?" I asked still a little unsure. She looked almost exactly like the Heather that I used to see at Chieftain meetings when we were younger. She had grown up since then, but everyone thought she was dead after Dagur the Deranged took over the Berserkers.
"How… How do you know my name?" she replied nervously, grabbing her axe from her back again.
"The last time I seen you had to be close to ten years ago at one of the Chieftain meetings." I told her, and a look of realization came over her and she practically dropped her axe.
"Hiccup? Is that you?" she asked in return. "How did you end up riding a Night Fury? And what are you doing on this side of the Archipelago?" Both of our dragons seemed to feel the tension leave the air as both went from high alert to giving both riders confusing looks.
"That would be me. It's a long story." I scratched Toothless again, "How about we set up camp and I can explain?"
"So you're telling me that you shot down a Night Fury, befriended him, ran away from your village and is now exploring the Barbaric Archipelago by yourself?" Heather asked after I explained the whole story from when I shot down Toothless to the events that led up to today, minus the Camicazi and Heirs situation. "So what is your plan now? You can't just leave your village to the dragons with the information that you know." I sat back a little bit, scratching the back of neck like I usually did when I was nervous.
"Well, you see… I was actually trying to figure that out. A few weeks ago, I ran into Camicazi, the Heir of the Bog Burglars. She kind of attacked me when I was stealing supplies…" I explained. There was no sense in lying to her, especially if we could get her on our side. "Toothless came to rescue me when she attacked. Once I realized who it was, I told Toothless to stand down so that I could get a better look at her. She knew that I ran away from home, my Dad has been spreading the message like wildfire trying to find me."
"So why don't you go back? It seems like your Dad is missing you." Heather said in a calm but hurt voice.
"I can't go back, not yet. My Dad would kill Toothless the moment he lays his eyes on him." I said honestly. "I really wish I could go back. It seemed when I live there, nobody wanted me there and now everyone wants me back. I just can't deal with that right now."
"Wait, Camicazi? The same girl that used to fight Astrid over you?" Heather asked with curiosity in her voice now.
"Yes, that Camicazi. How did you know that she used to fight Astrid over me? Did she tell you?" I asked in return. I saw Heather's eyes go wide with realization.
"So you never knew. It was obvious whenever we were all at the Chieftain meetings that Astraid had her eyes on you and only you. Anybody who would try to get close got threatened by her. She even threatened me once when we were younger."
"I can't believe it. How did I never notice that?" I asked to no one in particular, putting my head in my hands.
"That's because you were always too busy hunting trolls or searching for dragons." Heather explained. "You never saw the way she looked at you when you would lead her through the forest on a new adventure, but everyone else did."
I got up and started pacing in a small area, turning around every few steps. "I don't understand. She wouldn't even look at me, let alone acknowledge me before I left. The only time she ever talked to me was when she was either belittling me for my mistakes or when she threatened me when I passed her in dragon training." I sat back down where I was previously sitting, thinking over the events that led up to my leaving, as well as all the way back to when we were kids.
"Hiccup, listen. That's in the past, let's leave it in the past. It's too late to change what happened now. What is your plan with the Dragon Queen?" Heather said, trying to put all the past behind us and look towards the future.
"Well… That's why I was here in the first place. I plan on using this island, The Island of Frigga, as a middle ground between a few people that I think I can trust with the knowledge of dragons." I started to explain to her. She sat back and looked at me to show she was listening and waiting for me to continue. "In a few weeks, I plan on meeting the Heirs of Uglithugs and Meathead tribes. Camicazi is already on my side, and she has successfully befriended a dragon during our first meeting."
"So you are getting the Heirs of allied tribes to help you change people's minds on dragons? Is that it? What about the Berserker or the Hysteric tribes?"
"Norbert is not levelheaded enough to even consider showing him a dragon. There is a reason behind how he got his name the 'Nutjob' and I really don't want to find out. Ever since Dagur took over the Berserkers, there as been no Heirs that I know of, and I really don't want to deal with someone who calls himself 'Deranged'." I explained to her.
"What about me? Can I help?" Heather asked a little determined. "I was Heir to the Berserker Tribe alongside Dagur before he burnt the village to the ground and set our Father and I adrift to sea. I've been looking for him ever since but every trail I follow seems to go cold." Heather finished off with a little sadness in her voice.
"I'm sorry Heather. I heard the rumors of what happened but never knew it was true. That would explain why nobody has heard from you in years. Have you been alone out here searching for your Father?" I wanted to comfort her but I didn't know how so I just stayed where I was.
"Yes, I was alone and lost in a strange land when Windshear found me. She was very young at the time, barely able to fly. We protected each other and ended up becoming the best of friends. She eventually let me ride her and we have been traveling the Archipelago ever since. After Dagur set me adrift, I never wanted contact with another person again, but it has been a lonely journey. That is why I watched you from afar when I saw you land on your Night Fury, but when your dragon threatened my dragon, I had to attack to protect her."
"Toothless would never hurt another dragon, would you Bud?" which resulted in a purr and a nudge from the said Night Fury. "I know you wouldn't hurt another dragon unless you had to protect me." I scratched him in all his favourite spots under his chin as I talked. "I would do the same if I was in your position." I said to Heather, turning back towards her as I watched her dragon look up and nudge her for some scratches.
We both sat there in silence while we both scratched our dragons. It wasn't long before Heather spoke up again.
"I'll help you with the Dragon Queen and show people the good of dragons. I'm just as tired of this war as the next viking, I just want it to end." Heather said a little with confidence. "And maybe I can show you some tricks that I have learned along the way."
"Really Heather? That would be amazing! I promise to help you find your Father in return. With two dragon riders searching the Archipelago, it should take us half the time." I promised her in return.
"So the plan is to meet Camicazi and the other Heirs on this island in a few weeks? What do you plan to do in the meantime?" Heather asked curiously.
"Well, Toothless and I will probably go back to our cave and start preparing. I still have to finish the riding armor I am wearing and there is a few other things I need to do to make sure everything goes smoothly. You are welcome to come back with us, it's not far from here." I offered her.
"Ummm, no thanks… I really don't think we can do that right now." Heather said a little nervously. She got up from where she was sitting and approached her dragon, and started petting the Razorwhip to calm herself again.
"Is something the matter, Heather?" I asked a little worried now. I noticed the behaviour because I would do the same when I was in dragon training or when I was working on how to fly Toothless and I wasn't sure something was going to work properly.
"No, it's nothing… we will come back with you but we are not sure how long we will stay," and at that, she jumped onto the back of her dragon in her makeshift saddle and took off into the air. It wasn't long before I followed suit, putting my helmet back on my head and jumping onto Toothless' saddle and we shot up into the sky alongside Heather.
I pointed Toothless in the direction of Nepenthe and let him take over. We glided at a much slower pace than when we were heading to the Island of Frigga. Heather and I flew mostly in silence, side by side. We talked for much longer than I originally thought as the sun was just reaching the horizon in the West. Before long, we were plunged into darkness.
"We are approaching Nepenthe, where we stay. Stay close so you don't lose sight of us." I called over to Heather, receiving a nod in return. I nudged Toothless a little and we started flying at a faster pace. I kept looking back to make sure that we didn't lose the other rider in the dark. It wasn't long before we reach the island, shot up towards the peaks of the mountains and landed near our caves. Heather wasn't too far behind as I heard the Razorwhip land a few feet behind us.
"This is home, at least for the time being." I said to Heather as I removed my helmet and jumped off Toothless' back. I quickly reached around to unbuckle the saddle from Toothless and let it fall to the ground inside the cave. The Night Fury stretched himself a bit before settling down outside the cave. "This is where I currently sleep but you are welcome to it for tonight until we figure out where you can stay." I indicated the small cave behind me as I stood in the entrance. "Toothless and I will be staying in a cave not to far from here. Toothless and I are going to grab some food and be back, and we can have some dinner before bed."
Heather had gotten off her dragon and undid her makeshift saddle and placed it beside Toothless' saddle. She walked into the cave and looked around a bit. "You never did stop drawing, did you?" she mentioned as she was looking at all the drawings and inventions I had pinned all over the walls. "Even when your Dad threatened to take all your notebooks and writing sticks, you still found a way to draw and invent." She stopped suddenly while looking over all the drawings.
"Hiccup? Is that Astrid?" she said pointing to a specific drawing. The drawing that she was pointing to was the recurring nightmare that I had when I first arrived on the island. Astrid had her axe in her hand, but it was lowered to her side. She had her family crest shield on her back and her hair wasn't in her usually braid and was blowing around her. In big black letters at the top of the page read "Why did You leave?"
"Yes, that is Astrid. It was a recurring nightmare I had when I first got here. Drawing always helped me escape the demons inside my head and I didn't even realize I drew that until I was finished. I hung that directly in the center of everything to remind myself that I have to, no, need to go back and save them, but I can't do it alone." I explained to her as I turned around and walked to the entrance of the cave again.
"Hiccup…" Heather said quietly as she walked up behind me.
"It's… Okay. I haven't had the nightmare in the while." I said honestly and slumped my shoulders. "I still think about her every single day. I try to keep myself busy or tire myself out so that I don't think about her, but she always finds a way to creep into my mind."
Heather came up beside me but didn't say a word. She looked up into the sky and watched the moon rise and the stars appear overhead. It felt like hours that we stood there in silence. The dragons both sat on either side of us and watched the sky with us.
"I have to figure out how to defeat the Dragon Queen and finish this war. I need to save Astrid, my Dad, and my Home from anymore destruction. I don't care if I am outcast from the island, I don't want to see them suffer ever again." I said with confidence, finally looking at Heather and her returning the look.
"There's the Hiccup that I used to know. Not scared of anything and always trying to protect everyone around him." she said in return. "You will figure out a way to defeat her and save everyone, and you won't do it alone. I might not have been able to help my Father but I can help you protect yours." Heather said with a slight smile and a tear rolling down her cheek.
I walked over to Heather and pulled her into a hug, right before she collapsed. She welcomed the hug and silently cried into my shoulder. "And I will help you figure out what happened to your Father." Heather gave a little hiccup before pulling away and wiping her tears away with her sleeve. She looked up at me and smiled once again, her eyes shining with tears.
"Thank you Hiccup. You don't understand how much that means to me." She said sincerely. She looked up into the sky once again. I looked into the sky for a for more seconds before deciding to leave her for the night.
"I will leave you two alone. I won't be far away, only in the cave over there." I pointed in the direction of the cave that Toothless and I would be sleeping in tonight. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to come find me." I walked over to where Toothless was sitting watching the sky still and gave him a nudge. He gave a slight coo before compiling and getting up from where he was sitting. I turned around once more to see Heather still staring into the sky with her dragon beside her, "Good Night Heather." I received no response from her before I turned around and walked towards the forge.
"Today went completely different than what I planned it to go, eh bud?" I said to Toothless as we were walking towards the forge. The dragon gave a slight grumbled sound, signaling he was annoyed at how the day went. "Oh common, it went way better than expected! We got to try out that new tail of yours, which I must say performed tremendously, we scouted the island a little bit before the Heirs Meeting, and we met an old friend who is also a Dragon Rider and is willing to help finish this war. Isn't this exciting?" I explained to Toothless. The dragon just grumbled again before it clicked. "Awww, are you upset that you can't sleep on your favourite rock?" Toothless mocked me making sounds as if he was trying to talk and moving his mouth.
"Aww, you poor baby," was all I got out before I found myself flat on my backside, tripped by Toothless' tail as he continued to walk towards the forge. "Yeah… I guess I deserve that." I said and got back up. I spirited the short distance to catch back up with the Night Fury. "It's only temporary until we find her a more suitable place for her to stay. We will search first thing in the morning." I promised Toothless as we reached the forge.
When we were finally at the forge, Toothless made some whining noises a few times before finding a corner he liked and lit up the area beneath him and laid down. I watched him for a few seconds just lay there before I made my way over to him. I sat down against his neck and he rolled slightly to allow me more room.
The hole in the ceiling was providing a little light into the forge, enough to see all the shapes around me. I took a small torch that I had made, that acted similar to a candle and lit it. I placed it in front of me and took out my drawing book and writing stick. I knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep anytime soon because of the exciting day that I had so I got comfortable against Toothless and just starting drawing.
I sat there drawing for much longer than I anticipated. Before long, the torch that I had lit was getting down to its final stages of light and was only providing about half the output from when I originally lit it. I took a look at my drawing and just couldn't believe what I drew.
On the page that I was working on was the view of the sea from my favourite hillside on Berk. I could see the two viking statues to the left of me and the sea stacks that I learned how to fly Toothless through on the right. In the middle of the picture stood Astrid looking out to sea, her back to the picture. She had the same axe I made her slung across her back. She was standing there in her normal armor that she always wore that looked a little worse for wear. Her shield that I drew last time, was nowhere to be found. She looked slightly taller than when I drew her last. She had her hand on a Dead Nadder beside her, as if supporting herself. The dragon was a mix of light blue and yellow and seemed to be watching the sea with her. There were letters at the top of the pages that read out "When are you coming Home?"
It was almost the same as last time. I started drawing and somewhere along the way, I zoned out before coming to a while later and finding a picture that I had drew. It was as if I was drawing what I think would happen in the future. First, the village burning down because I left it, and now Astrid standing on my favourite hillside beside a dragon, asking when I was coming home.
I blew out the torch that was finally reaching its end and placed my drawing book and writing stick aside before turning onto my side against Toothless. The Night Fury gave a little huff when I moved but went back to sleeping. In the position I was in, I could perfectly hear the steady beat of Toothless' heart and with that being the last sound I heard, I fell asleep.
During the night I dreamt of Berk again, but this time it wasn't a nightmare. I was standing on the Haddock doorstep looking over Berk. Toothless was beside me watching as well. All over Berk, was dragons of all shapes and sizes. I could see many Nadders, Gronckles, Nightmares, and Zipperbacks to name a few. Many vikings were riding, feeding or petting said dragons. Everywhere I looked, vikings and dragons were at peace with each other. I couldn't believe my eyes.
As I was looking around the village, I noticed Astrid standing on my favourite hillside from afar with a dragon of her own. I climbed on Toothless' saddle and flew over to where she was standing looking over the sea. The deadly nadder beside her cocked her head towards us when we landed but didn't make a move towards us, instead turning back towards the seas and looking over it.
"Hey Astrid" I tried to say. She didn't move or acknowledge that I had spoken. I tried to walk up to her but quickly realized that no matter how fast or slow that I tried to move forward, I was stuck in the same spot. I tried to look around to see what was stopping me from moving forward but could find nothing, so I tried to look around her to see what she was looking at but found nothing but the endless blue of the sea and sky.
Very softly, as if talking to herself, she said "When are you coming Home?" with some sadness in her voice. She brought up her sleeve to her arm and wiped her face as if she was wiping away tears. Astrid was a warrior and never cried. The last time anybody had seen her cry was when her Uncle Finn was killed by a Flightmare. No, if Astrid was crying, something seriously was wrong.
I woke up not too long after I realized that Astrid was crying in my dream and that something was seriously wrong. Astrid was a warrior and never cried. The last time anybody saw her cry was right before she pledged herself as shieldmaiden of Berk when her Uncle Finn had died. That was close to seven winters ago, when we both had been 10 years old.
I got up from where I was lying against Toothless, who was still sleeping. I could tell from the light in the forge that the sun had barely reached the horizon. I walked out of the cave and started walking towards the lake in the middle of the valley. As I reached the lake, the sun was just starting to break the horizon, and painted the sky into all colours of red, orange, and yellow possible.
I sat down near the edge of the lake and just looked out over it, thinking about what exactly the dream had meant. The picture and the dream was not a coincidence, it was as if something or someone was trying to show me what the future held for me. The first picture showed that if I never returned to Berk that it would burn to the ground taking the people I cared about most with it. The second picture showed me that I had left Berk when someone had saved all the dragons and that I hadn't returned. The dream confirmed my theories about saving the dragons by showing the vikings and dragons living in peace, but I was nowhere to be found. Even when I tried to confront Astrid on my favourite hillside on Berk, she didn't even acknowledge or realize that I was there, and she was crying.
This proved that the future has changed. That's the only way I can explain the drawing and the following dream. Somehow, the Dragon Queen was defeated and the dragons were saved, which ended the war against them and they lived in peace with us on Berk. Sometime after the world was save, I had left Berk or I never returned to Berk and Astrid was waiting for me by herself asking when I was coming home. After hearing what Camicazi and Heather said about Astrid, it would mean that she still cares for me regardless of what happened after her Uncle Finn had died and she started to ignore me when I became 'Hiccup the Useless'.
I wasn't sitting there long in my thoughts before Toothless came up behind me a nudged me. "Good Morning Bud." I said to him quietly before he nudged me asking. It felt like he was asking if I was 'okay' because I wasn't there when he woke up. "I'm okay Toothless. I had another dream last night. This time it wasn't a nightmare but it still woke me up from my sleep and I couldn't fall back asleep." I explained to the dragon. It seemed to satisfy the dragon as he rubbed up against me again as if saying 'okay' before walking past me to get breakfast.
I watched the dragon play in the water trying to catch fish whenever he could. Sometime he stood still enough to let the fish come to him, other times he would pounce close to 20 feet in the water to try to catch one that was swimming away.
"So is this what you do in the mornings? Watch your Dragon try to catch breakfast?" a voice said behind me, scaring me.
"Whoa!" I practically yelled and jumped up before turning around. "Oh, it's only you Heather. Don't sneak up on me like that." I said to her as my heart came down to a normal pace. "Honestly, I usually help him by flying him over the lake but his saddle was left in the other cave, and I didn't know if you were awake or not." I told her honestly before settling back down on the ground to continue watching Toothless.
"I see… Well, is this spot taken?" Heather asked, gesturing beside me. Windshear was watching her every move as if ready to protect her at a moment's notice.
"No, you are welcome to sit there." I said a little confused.
"Thanks." she said, before turning to Windshear, "Why don't you go help Toothless catch some fish for breakfast?" The dragon cocked her head for a second before nodding and flying over to where Toothless was. They tag-teamed fished with Toothless scattering them in all directions they would swim right under Windshear and she would catch them, throwing some onto shore for us, and eating the rest with Toothless.
We both sat in silence and watched the dragons hunt for their breakfast while we waiting for the sun to rise a little higher in the sky. Once the dragons were played out and my stomach was growling similar to a dragon, I got up and went over to where I had some spare wood stacked. Toothless and I would come down here in the mornings and hunt together and then we would cook beside the lakeside before I got busy with my chores for the day. I picked up some of the wood and brought it back to where Heather was sitting, who was watching me make the fire.
I was setting up the fire when the dragons came over to lay behind us. I finished setting it up and took out my fire starting stones that I had in my pocket, clicking them a few times and watching the fire come to life. I quickly blew into the fire to help accelerate the flames and get it high enough to cook over top. All the while, I kept noticing Heather watching me. I finally looked up at her and she avoided my gaze, instead looking to her dragon and giving the dragon a slow pet on her neck that was beside her. I raised a questioning eyebrow but thought nothing of it as I got back up and walked over to where I was sitting before.
Again, we sat in silence as the flames finally reached cooking height and I took out a stick and stuck a fish on the end of it and passed it over to Heather before grabbing another and doing the same for myself.
"So how did you sleep last night?" I finally asked once I was sick of the silence coming from both of us. Even Toothless wasn't normally quiet.
"Oh… Uhh… good. How about you?" Heather said, the question catching her off guard and returning the question.
"Honestly, I couldn't fall asleep last night so I stayed up and drew for a while, and when I finally dozed off I kept having this weird dream. It's hard to explain exactly what it was." I said in return. I knew exactly what happened in the dream but I didn't feel comfortable talking about it. She had already seen my picture of my nightmare that recurred when I first ranaway.
"I'm sorry to hear that Hiccup, I shouldn't have taken your bed from you." She apologized. "You can have it back tonight, Windshear and I can find our own sleeping grounds, we've been doing it for years now."
"Nonsense. I offered you the bed, it wasn't the missing of the bed that caused me to have a sleepless night." I explained to her. "We can find you your own spot today. Actually, that's the first thing I would like to do after breakfast. Find you a spot where you can stay and make you a bed and get whatever your dragon needs to sleep on if she is anything like Toothless."
"You don't have to do that for us. We know how to survive by ourselves and we will get by just fine." Heather tried to say in response.
"No. I invited you here so I will help you find somewhere you can stay." I told her.
Heather didn't respond again, so we went back to sitting in silence while we cooked our fish. Once mine was evenly cooked all the way through, I started tearing strips off and wolfing them down, starving from the sleepless night. Once I had finished my fish, I took a bucket that I had made out of a fallen tree trunk and went to the lake and filled the bucket. I walked back to the little campfire that we had and doused the fire completely so that it wouldn't spread.
"For having changed so much, you are still the old Hiccup that I remember." Heather finally said while I was placing the bucket down.
"What makes you say that?" I asked her in response, curious myself.
"Well, you still care about other people more than you care about yourself and always want to make sure they are happy before you are. You gave me your bed and your cave for Windshear and I, you made sure that our dragons were fed before feeding us and even then you made sure that I had my food before you took yours." she explained. Before I had a chance to respond, she continued. "You even offered to find us a place to stay and help us make a bed for Windshear and I." she continued.
"So if that makes you remember me the way I once was, what had changed?" I asked a little curiously now.
"For starters, it seems like you aren't as clumsy. Even when you were younger, you could barely walk straight before falling over your own two feet. Everyone was always making sure you didn't hurt yourself. Now it seems like you are fluid in your movements, even when I attacked you, it seems like you knew exactly what to do. When I last saw you, you couldn't even lift a dagger, let alone a sword, and now you are defending off attackers. You could use a little practice, but you still defended yourself nicely." Heather commented on my skills from yesterday. "You also seem to be able to invent and create whatever pops into your head. Nobody would have been able to make that saddle like you did, or that mechanism that allows Toothless to fly again. Yes, I snooped through some of your designs but you leave them hanging all over the place!" She said a little innocently raising her hands in front of her a little bit. "You also invented that riding gear for yourself with all those components all over it. Let's not even mention the weapons you have on the walls in your cave. Those are some of the finest craftsmanship I have ever seen and I have been all over the Archipelago."
Once Heather had finished explaining what exactly she meant, she went quiet again. All at once, it seemed to have sunk in with what she had actually said and I saw her go red in the face before turning around. She starting petting her dragon along her neck with a nervous gesture. Even though Heather had her back turned to me, I could tell she was embarrassed. I honestly didn't know what to say, I never thought about those things ever since I left Berk, and now she had pointed out every flaw that I had had that are now fixed or almost fixed.
"Hmmmmm…" I said quietly to myself. A little louder, I said "uhhh, thanks Heather"
"Don't mention it." Heather said in response. "How about we go find a spot now?" not waiting for a response, she jumped onto the back of her dragon and took to the skys.
"You go on ahead! Toothless and I will catch up!" I yelled up to where she was circling in the sky. Heather gave a single head nod before taking off in a random direction while Toothless and I walked over to where our sleeping cave was and picked up the saddle that I had taken off of him. I hooked up all the mechanisms that allowed the tailfin to work with paddles on the saddle and we shot into the sky.
The rest of the day consisted of Heather and I searching for a position for Heather and Windshear to stay for when they stayed on Nepenthe. It took us most of the day but we had finally found a spot that would be perfect for the two of them. On the other side of the hot spring cavern was a cave of similar size to my own. We had also spent a few hours making a bed for Heather and getting some grass and tree branches for Windshear to sleep on. By the time we were finished with Heather's new sleeping cave, the sun already dropped below the horizon and the moon was coming into the sky. We both went back to the lake, had a quiet dinner together before going our separate ways for the night.
For the next few weeks, I was in the forge almost every night, crafting two perfectly balanced and equally deadly daggers. As I finished off the engraving in the baldes, I took a step back and admired my work. They were truly the best work that I had ever done, even better than what I created for myself. I smiled sadly to myself before taking out a piece of parchment out of my journal and my writing stick and wrote a quick note, rolling it up and tying it up to one of the handles. Under disguise, I had Heather deliver it to one of the traders. Heather said she knew the trader from before, trading with him many times when she needed supplies and knew he was very trustworthy. The trader had agreed to deliver the daggers upon a certain date before he set sail the next morning.
During this time, Heather and I trained through the sunlight hours. If she wasn't training me in hand to hand combat with an axe or sword, or what she had learned when she was living in the wild, I was teaching her everything that I had learned while growing up on Berk. I showed her how to repair her weapon, gear, and saddle and how to keep it in it's best shape.
If we weren't training, we were doing other chores. I continued to work on the prototype riding gear that I had created as well as a few other tailfin designs. Heather asked if I could improve on her saddle and I did as such, making it more comfortable for riding long distances and including some pockets for miscellaneous things.
When I had finally received a terror mail from Camicazi, two and a half weeks had gone by since the last one. I had scooped out the island once more with Heather and found a good spot to meet. The letter had mentioned that Camicazi was on her way and she would be a few days early, saying she wanted to meet with me beforehand to make a plan on how everything would go down. I thought it was a great idea to go over the plan, especially since Heather was with us now.
Camicazi,
I will meet you on the island in 3 days, giving us time to go over the plan and make sure that everything will go according to plan. Toothless and I have scouted the island multiple times and have found no threats to our meeting.
Toothless and I ran into the dragon rider that you had warned me about. Turns out, after she attacked me, that she's an old friend and has agreed to help us. She will be coming with me when we meet on the island to go over the plan.
Safe sails and see you soon.
- H