"text"- Movie
"text"- normal speech
"text"- thoughts, Dragonese
The Vikings of the island of Berk had long prided themselves on their raw strength and toughness. They had been on Berk for over 300 years and had never once thought of leaving, despite constantly being raided by dragons and having miserable weather that made farming difficult. Even their enemies had to concede that they were a tough and stubborn tribe. They did not get that way by accident, however. From an early age parents trained their children in hunting, fishing, sailing, healing, and most of all, fighting. It was not seen by them merely as a tradition to maintain, but as a way to help ensure the future survival of both the Berk and their children. Since Berk had been engaged in a vicious and unending war with dragons since the Vikings had first come to the island, not to mention occasional raids from rival tribes, it was not unusual for children to become proficient with a weapon by the time they were ten.
The viking of Berk held their heads high at the praise they received. The other tribes had to admit that Berk was one of the stronger tribes in the archipelago.
The dragons agreed that they were indeed the most tough and stubborn tribe of them all but that alone wasn't worth much since they didn't use their brains often. Had they used their brains more maybe they would've found their nest instead of failing like they have for the past 300 years.
Hiccup snorted. Oh, they were stubborn alright. "Toothless once they find out who I am I'll come over to you."
"Why not just come over here now?" Toothless knew what the vikings did to Hiccup before he met him and he didn't like it one bit.
"I don't like it here either but I have to stay here for now. I'll be fine bud." He could tell Toothless was just worried about him.
"You better be."
Such was the case of Astrid Hofferson. She was by every definition the image of what a warrior ought to be. At her parent's urging as well as her own desire to be the best she possibly could, from an earlier age than most she had trained and practiced. The work had long ago paid off, and she had easily outstripped all of the people her own age, and now, approaching the age of 23, she had a reputation of being second only to the mighty Stoick the Vast, the Chief of Berk. Many Vikings twice her age had sparred with her, yet for nearly 8 years she had never been defeated. Stoick himself had offered to duel her on occasion, but she refused to battle her chief.
Astrid tried to keep a straight face but you could see a small smile forming at the praise. Meanwhile her father Olaf was going around telling everyone that's his daughter right there. Not that anyone needed the reminder, they all heard of Astrid before, some tried to challenge her only to lose like everyone else.
Her most constant challenger was the chief's nephew Snotlout Jorgenson. Snotlout had had a crush on Astrid for well over a decade, and she had found his behavior repulsive for the same amount of time. His constant flirting with her drove her crazy, his massive ego disgusted her, and his preference to brag about his own heavily exaggerated abilities than to focus on the job at hand drove her patience up a wall. Snotlout was not only her most constant challenger; he was by far the most consistent recipient of her punches. Despite this, he never seemed to realize the actual effect he had on her, nor did he ever seem to take the hint that she wasn't interested in him.
This wasn't really news to the people of Berk. They all knew how Snotlout was and most of them would much rather have Astrid as chief.
Snotlout like usual did not get the hint and just thought that she was lying. "Come on babe, you know you can't resist all of this." He said while flexing his nonexistent muscles. All he got in return was a punch to the face. No one blamed her, they'd do the same.
Due to being the Chief's nephew, Snotlout was considered by many, especially himself and his father, to be the next chief of Berk.
"Because he will be, no matter the cost." Spitelout thought.
Stoick had had a son once, but he had died some 8 years earlier, a fact Snotlout had often been gleeful about, though never when the Chief was around.
All of the tribes knew that Hiccup wouldn't have been a good chief but the fact that his own cousin was glad about his death disgusted even them.
The dragons were furious, the Hatchling was a great leader, what a shame the vikings couldn't see it. Hiccup wasn't really surprised, he knew they hated him. That's why he left Berk after all.
However, as Astrid and her abilities became more known among the villagers, there were a great many who thought Astrid would make a better chief. Astrid's father Olaf, in particular, had long been suggesting to Stoick that he should name her as his heir. He put forth a strong case, for while Snotlout was connected to Stoick by blood and could fight reasonably well, he was often self centered, bratty, and lacking in common sense. Astrid, in contrast, was not only the superior fighter, she was not delusional about herself nor given to making empty boasts, as Snotlout often did.
The more everyone heard the more they agreed that Astrid was a much better choice than Snotlout.
On the other hand, Astrid had no actual claim to the position of chief. Her family was well respected, but was not particularly wealthy or well connected, except to Stoick himself, who was an old friend of Olaf Hofferson. Supporters of Snotlout were quick to point this out, while supporters of Astrid were equally quick to ask if bloodlines should count for more than ability. For a while it had been suggested that the issue could be solved by Snotlout and Astrid marrying and more or less sharing the position of Chief, but while Snotlout was in full favor of this (and often declared that he would marry Astrid as soon as he was chief), Astrid had long made it clear she had no desire to marry Snotlout. The last time someone had suggested it to her face they had gone to the healers with two black eyes, a broken and bloody nose, and three loose teeth.
No one blamed her for not wanting to marry him. The women in the audience would rather kill themselves than marry someone like Snotlout.
"I would rather jump off of a cliff into an active volcano than marry you." Astrid told Snotlout with venom in her voice but like usual Snotlout just thought she was in denial.
Hiccup and the dragons just shook their heads at his stupidity. "Is he always this stupid?" Persephone asked him.
"Unfortunately yes."
Stoick had so far left the decision in the air, declaring that he would observe both of them and decide who was the most able to lead a village. This had led to Astrid working even harder than usual, to prove that she would be the better choice and to show that she could run Berk without having to be married to Snotlout. She approached her tasks with fierce energy and dedication. She often assisted at the docks with the loading and unloading of ships, as well as repairing them, she helped with repairs to the village after storms, and during the harvesting times she worked hard to ensure the stores were full for the long winter.
The Bob Burglars and especially Big Boobied Bertha were nodding their heads. Astrid would be a fine chief.
One thing Astrid was not very skillful at was farming, so she compensated by transporting food to storage and organizing and cataloging it. Her main duty, however, was to train new recruits to fight against both dragons and humans. So when Stoick had asked her to take some children to a nearby island for survival training, she instantly agreed to go. However, and much to her disgust, Snotlout was to come as well, and Stoick also decided to send Fishlegs Ingerman with them, mostly because he knew Fishlegs would be a more useful assistant to Astrid than Snotlout would be. There had also been talk of the Thorston twins joining them, but that was before they had nearly blown up Stoick's house… again.
"Chief, weren't we supposed to go on that trip in a few days?" Astrid asked Stoick.
"Aye, lass that is correct." He answered while stroking his beard. "Which means that this must really be the future." Most people who were doubting that they could be watching the future believed it now and started to pay more attention to the events happening on screen. Though they didn't see why training recruits could be important.
The idea behind this training exercise was to teach the youngsters how to survive in the wild with nothing but their wits and whatever they could find. The trainers and trainees were rowed to a nearby deserted island and abandoned there for a week or so. Until the boat returned, the abandoned ones were completely on their own. The trainers were always given extra supplies so things would (hopefully) never actually turn into a legitimate struggle to survive, but they were not to use these under normal circumstances. Astrid took these rules very seriously and kept all the extra supplies under her constant guard. Until she gave the word, nobody was going to touch those supplies and escape with all their limbs intact.
The trainees who were going to be on that trip were only slightly worried for their safety. They were honestly more scared of Astrid than anything else.
But that was not to say that Astrid was a tyrant with her students. While she drove them hard and had no tolerance for the idle, she was also fair and was always ready to commend those who put effort into their work. Her students were always somewhat afraid of her, but also highly respected her; partly because she had made it clear it was for their own good that she drove them as relentlessly as she did. She was hard, yes, but that was because she knew that kindness was no use in the wilderness."You have to look after yourself because Nature won't." she'd tell her students, "You can't rely on the Gods either because you don't know what their intentions are. You have to be able to rely only on yourself, and I'm going to teach you how to do that." She also was more considerate and willing to help those who had never done this kind of thing before, though to those who had she showed little patience if they still were messing up. Since most of the children in this group had never been away from home for more than a night or two, and had never spent much time in the wilderness, Astrid decided the first night would be purely demonstrative, so she and Fishlegs prepared dinner and a fire themselves (Snotlout had gone off to find a tree and hadn't returned for nearly an hour), all the while giving out advice and showing the proper methods step by step.
Stoick looked around and saw that more and more people were convinced that Astrid would be a better chief. "At least I know who my successor will be."
Spitelout saw this but decided to keep his mouth shut for now. He could still turn this in his favor and he was sure that his future self would.
After dinner was done and darkness had fallen, Astrid went around making certain the area was secured, an old habit of hers. While there were no animals larger than a rabbit on the island there was always a chance an enemy boat or dragons might land there. It was a starry night and the moon was nearly full, so she didn't need to bother with a torch. She reached the beach and stared out across the black ocean. There was no sound apart from the waves gently coming onto the shore or lapping against the giant sea stacks that rose out of the ocean in random places. There was no sign of any ships on the horizon or dragons in the sky. Complete tranquility prevailed. She closed her eyes and breathed in the salty air. Abruptly she was startled out of her relaxation by an ear piercing shriek that made her blood run cold. She instinctively whipped out her axe and scanned the horizon.
Everyone recognised that sound and instinctively ducked down.
"NIGHT FURY!" "GET DOWN!"
They got back up once they saw the masked man and the dragons laughing their asses off. Could dragons laugh? "What the hell are you laughing about?!"
"You do realize that sound came from the screen right?" Hiccup said and the vikings were just slightly embarrassed. It was an instinct, that's not their fault.
"Yes, fear me vikings, fear me!" Toothless said before Grimm hit him on his head.
"Alright don't let it get to your head bud."
She heard another sound behind her and spun around, but it was only Fishlegs running towards her.
"Astrid! Did you hear it?"
She gave a curt nod and went back to looking about her.
"That was a Night Fury call, right?"
"What else could it have been?"
"Good point, but if it was a Night Fury, then that might mean that he might be here, and if he is here, then that might mean that we might be in deep trouble, I mean, we might-"
At this point people realised that they were talking about the Dragon King. Most of them still believed that he was just a legend, a myth. Little did they know he was sitting just a few meters from them.
"Are the others all right?" Astrid interrupted him.
"What? Oh yes, yes, they're fine. Gustav has got them all armed and standing in a circle."
"I suppose Snotlout dove behind the nearest tree?"
"No, but when I left he was making certain all the kids keep in front of him."
"Coward," Astrid growled, not taking her eyes off the sky. For several long minutes they gazed about in silence.
Snotlout was in denial as usual. Spitelout was disappointed in his son as usual. The villagers were disappointed and disgusted but not surprised… as usual.
"See anything?"
"Nothing-Wait a minute, look there!" Fishlegs cried.
Astrid turned to where he was pointing. She could see a sea stack and on top of it she could see the faintest outline of something very large. "Good eyes. How did you see that?"
Everyone could see the outline of something but they still believed the Dragon King wasn't real. It was probably just a random dragon.
"I noticed stars suddenly disappearing, indicating that something was in moving front of them." Fishlegs replied matter-of-factly.
Astrid smiled slightly. "Do you think it's him?"
"I don't know. It's too dark to make much out."
They continued to stare at the sea stack for several more minutes when Fishlegs suddenly spoke. "A bunch of stars just reappeared. I think it's flown away. I have no idea what direction, though,"
Astrid slowly lowered her axe, "Come on; let's get back to the others."
They made their way back to camp and were greeted with a barrage of questions from the anxious children. "Did you see it?" "Was it big?" "Did you kill it?" "Was it- him?" "What happened?" "What did you-?"
"Enough!" Astrid said loudly, and the group fell silent. "Now, yes, we saw something on the sea stacks, and it's gone now. We will be naturally keeping a watch out tonight, but I think the excitement is over." She sat down on a log. "Fishlegs, you take the first watch. Have Peer relieve you in an hour."
"Well," Snotlout said eventually, "that dragon was smart to fly away. If it had tried to attack us, I'd have sent torn it to pieces without blinking an eye."
Sontlout's bragging and empty boasts were starting to get really annoying at this point.
"You wouldn't be blinking because you're eyes would be screwed up shut," Fishlegs mumbled. Astrid heard him and chuckled slightly.
Chuckles went around the theater. Snotlout wasn't paying attention so when he saw everyone laughing he laughed with them. Poor Snotlout.
"But was it just a Night Fury? Or was he with it?" Asked Peer, his eyes opened wide with curiosity and fear.
"We don't know, Peer," Astrid replied.
"Astrid, what should we do if the Dragon King does come?" Asked Gustav.
"He won't show up because he doesn't exist." A random viking voiced his opinion.
"What proof do you have that he doesn't exist." Another argued.
"What proof do you have that he does exist." The fist one shot back.
"Fight it, of course," Snotlout declared at once.
"Do you think we could?" A girl named Ase asked anxiously. "They say the Dragon King commands all dragons, that he can destroy an entire armada with a single gesture, that he can-"
"Ase, that's enough," Astrid cut in, "if the Dragon King shows up and attempts to harm any of us, we will fight back. That's if he shows up."
"But is it true he rides a Night Fury?" Ase pursued.
"No one knows, Ase," Gustav said, and they all knew he was right. The simple fact was that nobody knew very much about this man. They didn't even know if it was a man, or if it was even human.
"Well, I would say that I am human." Hiccup thought to himself.
The dragons were talking with each other. "I would say he's half human half dragon." That was a statement most dragons agreed with.
Some five years ago Trader Johann had arrived on Berk and had told them some stories he had heard during his trading rounds concerning a man who had been seen riding on the back of a dragon. At first everybody had dismissed this as stories told by drunken fishermen, but with each successive visit Johann brought more stories from people who had seen this thing. The size of the dragon varied, with some declaring it must have been the size of a mountain and others swearing it was only the size of an eagle, but all agreed on a three things: it was a black dragon, there was something that resembled a person on its back, and it was incredibly fast. Most people only got a glimpse of it before it was gone. Bit by bit the Vikings of Berk and nearby villages began to take more notice of these reports, and soon they began to have their own sightings of this phenomenon. The person who rode on the dragon was given all kinds of names, including the Dragon Sorcerer, King, Emperor, Enslaver, Demon, etc, and he soon became the talk of the archipelago. People discussed him over meals, over drinks, placed bets on him, debated gossip concerning him, frightened children off to bed with stories of his cruelty, and so on and so forth. Children played games which featured him as villain, drew pictures of him to use for target practice, and made up their own stories to frighten other children with.
"Good to know they don't hate me." Hiccup told the dragons dryly.
"I swear to all the god's your sarcasm is your most powerful weapon." Evictus said with all the dragons agreeing.
"Yeah, if someone from Berk ever captures you you'll probably annoy them to death." Midnight was sure Hiccup would make that possible.
Ultimately, however, nobody could say much with any kind of certainty about the Dragon King, as he was most commonly called. Sightings of him were always short, sporadic, and unpredictable, and determining his intentions had so far proved impossible. While there were rumors of him and the Night Fury wiping out entire armies single handedly, there was no solid evidence to tie them to any injuries or deaths. Nobody could say if this person was plotting to enslave all Vikings and in time conquer the world, if he was the secret defender of the entire archipelago, a scientist or sorcerer seeking a quiet place for research and studies, a criminal hiding from the law, a pilgrim seeking solitude, some combination of any of these, or even something else altogether. People debated the King, his methods, and his motives until they were blue in the face, but they were no closer to an explanation at the end of the discussion than they were before it had begun.
"All he is is a traitor who sided with those demons!" Stoick said with finality. Some agreed with him though most knew that there was something else behind his motives. They knew that Stoick was blinded by his hatred for dragons and they couldn't blame him. Those dragons did take both his wife and son.
"Well, it's good to know he hates me even more than before." Hiccup thought to himself.
The dragons were mad but they knew they couldn't convince simple minded vikings. The only one who truly understood them was the Hatchling.
"Do you think it really is a Night Fury that he rides?" Someone asked.
"We don't know," Astrid said shortly.
"Well," Fishlegs called over as he patrolled outside of the group, "we know the King rides a black dragon, and the only known black dragons are Night Furies and Whispering Deaths, and since the size, shape, and speed of the dragon do not match a Whispering Death, it follows logically that he rides a Night Fury."
"Bet the chief doesn't like that, considering what happened to his son." Gustav commented.
Gustav was right. Stoick did not like that one bit and if he ever captured this Dragon King and his dragon it would not end well for them.
"Why? What happened?" Another trainee asked.
"You already know what happened." Astrid said.
"Only that he was killed by a dragon,"
"Who cares about what happened to Useless?" Snotlout said loudly.
"What was that?" Stoick asked shaking with anger.
"Nothing." Snotlout knew his father would be extremely disappointed if he lost the chiefdom and he was right Spitelout knew that at this point the only way for his son to become the chief was if Astrid died.
Hiccup was surprised. Did his father actually care about him? Nah, he only cared about the Hiccup who did well in dragon training.
"It happened the day after he placed first in Dragon Training," Fishlegs explained, ignoring Snotlout, "the day he was going to kill a Monstrous Nightmare and be officially declared a Viking. He never showed up to the Kill Ring. We thought at first he'd just lost track of time, so we sent out search parties. Astrid led a group to Raven Point because she'd seen him around there a few weeks earlier."
Everyone looked at Astrid, expecting her to continue the story. Finally, with a huff, she said "We found a cove. In it we found Hiccup's tracks, as well as fresh tracks of a dragon."
"How do you know they were a Night Fury's?" Ase asked.
"There were black scales in the cove as well, and, like what I said earlier, that could only mean a Night Fury or a Whispering Death-"
"And the traces didn't fit a Whispering Death," Astrid interrupted impatiently, "ergo, it was a Night Fury, and since even the Chief himself would have trouble killing a Night Fury-"
"Stupid, weak Useless wouldn't have had a chance against one," Snotlout finished for her, "now if I had been there, that Night Fury wouldn't have stood a chance!"
Stoick really wanted to rip his head off.
"Against your breath or body odor maybe," Astrid mumbled.
Again chuckles went throughout the room.
"What was that?"
"But what was the dragon doing there in the first place?" the child who had first expressed interest asked.
"We wondered about that for a while," Fishlegs told him, "the evidence was the dragon had been there for some time, and it appeared to be injured. In one set of tracks we saw one of its tail fins was missing, but in another we saw both intact. Then Gobber remembered Hiccup had claimed he'd shot down a Night Fury during an earlier raid."
"If only we'd listened to him…" Gobber lamented. Had they listened to Hiccup maybe he would still be alive. Losing his apprentice who was almost lika a son to him hit Gobber hard.
"As if," Snotlout scoffed, "only my dad and I could do something like that…"
Even Spitelout had to facepalm that time.
"Anyway," Fishlegs raised his voice "it was concluded Hiccup had shot down the Night Fury, but it had gotten away with just an injury. It hid itself in that cove and waited until it had recovered."
"What was the Chief's son doing in the cove that day anyway?" Asked Peer.
"Leaving Berk once and for all." Hiccup and the dragons thought to themselves.
"Judging by the tracks, he liked to go there a lot," Astrid said softly. "it's a beautiful spot, and he probably went there to clear his head or train, or maybe both. He'd probably gone down that morning to prepare himself, and nobody has seen him since. There wasn't even any blood or sign of a struggle. The thing probably carried him off to another island and ate him there."
"Good riddance to him," Snotlout said loudly, prompting Astrid to kick him in the shin, "OW! What? Everyone on Berk was relieved to hear of his death, you know that!"
The other tribes looked at the Berkians in disbelief. Sure he caused trouble but that had to be exaggerated. When the Berkians started to look ashamed of their actions the others had their answer.
"I always knew it, now I have the proof." Hiccup thought to himself.
"The chief wasn't and neither was I." Astrid said at the same time her onscreen self did.
"The Chief wasn't." Astrid snarled "and neither was I."
"You were furious at him only the day before. You certainly looked ready to murder him when he won first place."
"I was angry at him, yes, but I never wanted him dead!" Astrid shouted "what about you, Snotlout? You were cheering for him that day as if he was your greatest hero, and now the fact that he's gone pleases you more than anybody else!"
"So the person who hated him wishes he was back, and the person who rooted for him is glad he's dead?" Gustav commented to the other trainees.
"Would you look at that, the she-viking you wanted to mate with actually wants you back." Toothless wasn't going to let such a good opportunity to tease Hiccup go to waste. And neither were the other dragons who could clearly see that this affected Hiccup quite a bit.
"Toothless I swear to god I will make you take a bath in a lake full of eels." Hiccup threatened him though he was blushing under his mask.
"But why," said Peer loudly, in an attempt to distract Astrid and Snotlout from coming to blows, "did Hiccup and the dragon only meet on that last day? If Hiccup had gone to the cove before, and the dragon was already there, why hadn't it killed Hiccup then?"
"Because the dragon was a coward," Snotlout said, "anything that was afraid to fight Hiccup the Useless could be nothing else,"
"One more insult Snotlout and you can forget about being chief." Stoick said making the Jorgensons blanch.
"No, it was smart." Fishlegs said firmly "it was injured, and knew if it didn't succeed in killing Hiccup, he'd run off and bring back more Vikings who would kill it."
"But how could it possibly not succeed in killing Useless?" Snotlout scoffed.
The Jorgensons looked at Stoick but he just kept looking at the screen.
"I really want to kill him. Hiccup can I kill him or at least blast him a bit." Grimm hated humans but Snotlout was something else. He was insulting the only human who understood him and he wasn't going to let that slide.
"Grimm what did I say about killing?" Hiccup asked him not unlike a parent would ask a misbehaving child.
"Ugh, you're no fun."
"It didn't know how strong Hiccup really was, so it decided not to take the risk."
"It didn't know how strong-Fish, that kid was a twig!"
"Looks can be deceiving. Didn't Tuffnut jeer at a Terrible Terror once and it gave him a bloody nose? And don't forget, this would have been around the time Hiccup drove a Zippleback into its cage by waving his hands. I believe the Night Fury could sense something dangerous about him, so it played it safe and stayed hidden until it had healed."
"He drove a Zippleback away by waving his hands?!" Gort asked. The other tribes had never heard of this, how could he possibly have done that?
"He was great with dragons. He could defeat them without even using a weapon, but then…" Gobber slowly trailed off.
"And then it got a chance and carried him off," Ase said, "did you ever find the body?"
"No," Astrid said grimly, "Stoick sent search parties everywhere, but they didn't find so much as a hair from his head."
"Do you think the Dragon King killed Hiccup?" someone asked, "or was in some way responsible?"
"We don't know," Fishlegs said, "Hiccup was killed some 8 years ago, and we didn't hear of the King until about 3 years later. Of course, he could have just been keeping a low profile at the time,"
"But you think the King's Night Fury killed Hiccup?"
"No, I don't think so." Toothless said getting some chuckles from the dragons and weird looks from the vikings.
"It's impossible to tell, of course, but to our knowledge we've only had encounters with one Night Fury, so unless the King found another one, it would logically follow that his mount is the same one that carried Hiccup off. Though the King may not know about that," He added.
"If he can talk to dragons he probably does," Snotlout said, "he was probably thrilled to hear it. A man that rides such monsters can only be a very evil one, so he probably enjoys killing people."
"Why is he this stupid?" Shamrock was genuinely curious.
"He's Snotlout." Hiccup said dryly.
"Whoever said he can talk to dragons?" Ase asked.
"Because when Astrid saw him he seemed to be communicating with them," Fishlegs said.
Astrid sighed as she felt everyone look at her again. "I was wondering when someone would bring that up," she said quietly, "I suppose you all now want to hear what happened?"
"I think we all do." Mogadon the chief of the Meathead tribe said getting nods of agreement.
"Oh yes!" the trainees cried, "Did you really see the Dragon King?" Peer asked eagerly.
"We don't know for certain, but we don't know who else it could be," Fishlegs said, "there's a lot we don't know for certain, in fact, but it's fairly safe to assume that she encountered him when she was-"
"Fish, are you going to tell this story or shall I?"
"Sorry,"
"Yeah don't interrupt my girl when she's talking!"
"I am not your girl Snotlout." Astrid said venomously.
"Snotlout, one more sound out of you-" Astrid ran her finger along the blade of her axe, and Snotlout shrank into the shadows.
Spitelout put his head in his hands. Why was his son such a failure, cowering from a woman.
"Thank you. Anyway, we were on a voyage to visit the Owl Gut Tribe to have a peace talk with Chief Gort. A storm hit and my boat smashed into rocks near an island. No deaths or serious injuries," she added quickly, "but our ship was badly wrecked and we were exhausted by the time we got to shore. Some fell asleep as soon as they reached the beach, even with the wind and waves roaring and the rain coming down by the bucketful. The next morning I went with a group to find water and forage. I wandered upstream a little to get a better view and I slipped down a hill and fell into a ravine and lost consciousness. I didn't come to until it was night, so of course I had no chance of finding my way back until morning. I was all set to spend the night where I was when a Zippleback suddenly appeared. I tried to fight it off, but my leg was injured from my fall and it was hard to see in the darkness. Even after the Zippleback missed me and lit a shrub on fire I was still at a disadvantage, and it knew it,"
"She's just being modest," Snotlout whispered to Gustav, "I'm sure she beat that demon to a pulp."
Snotlout was really annoying as usual but they didn't have time to focus on him. They were trying to find out who this Dragon King could be and what his intentions were.
"Anyway, I was prepared to go down fighting and take the dragon with me, but we both heard a loud growl and it froze in its tracks. At the top of the ravine I could make out a large black shape with green eyes looking down at us, and I saw a man come down the slope and approach the dragon. He made some strange sounds and held out a hand, and the next thing I knew the dragon was acting like a little puppy. It began licking the man, which prompted the creature on the top of the ravine to growl, and then it flew away. Once it had the man turned to me and then ran away."
"Is someone jealous?" The dragons started teasing Toothless who looked towards Hiccup for help only to see him snickering to himself. Traitor.
"I waited a few minutes and he returned. He said nothing but held out a hand. I took it and he helped me up the hillside and began to lead me down a trail. Of course, I asked him all kinds of questions, like who he was, what he was doing, where was he from, where were we going, etc. but he never said a word. He led me back to where the others were camped out, and then vanished."
The vikings were surprised. Why would a demon lover ever help one of them. Maybe this Dragon King wasn't an enemy.
Her audience had listened with rapt attention, and now that she had stopped Gustav asked "what did he look like?"
"It was hard to tell, because he was dressed entirely in black and it was very dark. He wore a mask and helmet, and he moved very silently. I couldn't see any weapons on him either. The next day I told the others what had happened, and led a search party to the ravine. There was evidence that there had been tracks but they had all been wiped away. The shrub the Zippleback had lit on fire was still smoldering, though."
So they still weren't closer to discovering the Dragon King's identity. Some of the "smarter" vikings were looking at the man sitting close to the dragons, the King's description matched him. But they dismissed it as a coincidence though they were sure to observe him every now and then.
"What happened next?"
"Nothing really. We repaired the ships and sailed on. Everything went smoothly after that and we returned to Berk about 10 days later."
"And ever since most people have believed that the Dragon King is indeed a real person." Fishlegs added. "Some have tried to say Astrid merely hallucinated, but they can't explain the burning shrub or the wiped away tracks to anyone's satisfaction. Snotlout's dad was one of them for a while, as I recall,"
"He was just being smart. I mean, who would instantly believe a story of a man talking with those demons and controlling them?" Snotlout said contemptuously.
As much as they hated to do it they had to agree with him there, the story did sound a bit unbelievable at first.
"You believed it pretty fast, if I remember right,"
"Because it was Astrid who told it. If Useless had told it, I'd have laughed and given him a black eye for telling such lies."
Stoick was trying really hard to control his anger now. Unbeknownst to him so were Gobber, Astrid, Fishlegs and the Dragons, especially Toothless.
Astrid suddenly and impatiently announced that it was time they got some sleep. The children attempted to quietly discuss what they had just heard, but she gave a loud growl and they decided such things could wait until daylight.
"Would you look at that, she growls like a dragon. Maybe she's half dragon too, see she would be perfect for you." Toothless told Hiccup in a teasing tone. As for Hiccup, he decided to just simply not give him the satisfaction of reacting.