Chapter 17: In which an eel becomes an effective weapon

The fingers of consciousness crept upon him as Hiccup entered the waking world. The break of dawn faintly washed the bedroom with the first beams of sunshine. Hiccup tried to move, but his arm was stuck under something. As the memories from just a few hours ago came tumbling back, his heart sped up its pace.

Astrid had curled up against him and silently prompted him to wrap his arm around her. Resting his palm on her waist was nothing compared to her entire body flush against him. Sure, they'd touched and kissed and (finally!) held hands for longer than a brief moment, but never had they been this close, not even for a simple hug.

As he watched his wife sleeping in the early morning light, Hiccup was caught up in the surreal notion that this was his life. Only four months prior Astrid didn't even give him a second glance, but now she desired for him to hold her as if they were lovers. They were friends, smitten for one another. One day, they could – they would - be lovers.

Hiccup's breath caught and his mouth went dry at the prospect. Before their arranged marriage, he'd reasoned in his young mind that he was in love with Astrid Hofferson. She was everything a Viking could ask for. Hiccup realized that his infatuation was just a crush and that getting to know Astrid as a person was truly what formed the love in his heart for her now.

His thoughts suddenly switched to the day before. The Night Fury. It was crazy to believe that a Viking could befriend a dragon, but there he was sharing a "meal" with the Night Fury and drawing in the sand together. It'd taken a few hours to gain the dragon's trust, but Hiccup had left the cove with the cool touch of the Night Fury's nose on his palm.

Gobber's words from the evening before had propelled his creative mind to build a prosthetic tail for the dragon. He had to save this dragon, and giving him the ability to fly again was the only way. The plan for today was to make the Night Fury happy with a full belly while attaching the new tail. It would be a challenge, but Hiccup wasn't afraid of trying.

The day would leave him flying or falling, or maybe both.

Hiccup had spent his whole life trying to find a way to kill a dragon when he could have just drove them off with…eels. Yep, plain ole' eels. The Night Fury, who he'd dubbed Toothless after yesterday's bonding, reared up in terror at the sight of the eel in the basket of fish Hiccup had brought him.

"Having an eel around would of made dragon raids a whole lot easier," Hiccup muttered as he carefully stepped up to Toothless' half-tail.

In the last few days, he'd learned more about this one dragon than any book could have taught him. The Book of Dragons was good for one thing: describing how a dragon killed its victims. Spending time with Toothless had been the most educational experience of Hiccup's short life.

"That's was a good first try today, huh, buddy?"

The prosthetic tail had worked. Toothless had soared through the air, unceremoniously with Hiccup hanging on for dear life. The only problem was Toothless couldn't control the tail, but Hiccup's mind was already cooking up an idea to help with that and it would involve teamwork.

Hiccup was soaring at the prospect of flying with a dragon. His fingers itched to get back to the forge and craft a saddle and rig to control the new tail fin. But all that would have to wait for today. Responsibilities were calling him back to the village, but it could wait a few more minutes.

Her nose wasn't quite right, but it was hard to capture any image perfectly when drawing in dirt. Toothless watched over his shoulder, much like he did the day before. A low, questioning rumble hummed from Toothless. Hiccup glanced at the dragon, an affectionate smile tugging at his lips.

"This is my wife, Astrid," he explained, pointing his stick at the picture in the dirt. At the bewildered gleam in Toothless' eyes, he reworded to something the dragon might understand better, "Astrid is my mate." He dropped the stick and laced his fingers. "Me and her. Together. Forever."

A look of understanding crossed the dragon's expressive green eyes.

"Do you have a mate? A together forever?" Hiccup asked, curiously. As far as he knew, Toothless was the only Night Fury in the perimeter of Berk.

Toothless gave a little whine as he bowed his head.

Hiccup reached out to pat his friend's head. "There's always a chance you'll find a mate one day, buddy. Trust me, I never thought me and Astrid had a chance, but now," lovely blue eyes accompanied by a bright smile flashed in his mind's eyes, "we really have something special."

Today's training lesson was in teamwork. The goal was to wrangle the Hideous Zippleback into its cage with your teammate. Hiccup inwardly begged Gobber to team him up with Astrid, who'd returned to dragon training the day before. But when Gobber announced, "Hiccup, you're with Fishlegs," his whole body deflated. At least he wasn't teamed up with his meathead cousin.

Speaking of Snotlout, him and Tuffnut were getting their butts blown off at the moment by the Hideous Zippleback.

Astrid's words from a couple days ago cropped up in his mind as he joined Fishlegs by the railing to watch the epic fail in progress. Maybe Fishlegs would be open to talk to him if Snotlout and the twins weren't around. Maybe if Hiccup took the first step, they could start a conversation.

"Hey…uh, Fishlegs."

The larger boy glanced over at him in surprise, his overbite resting on his bottom lip. "Uh…hey, Hiccup."

The awkwardness was thicker than yak's milk, but Hiccup was willing to try to make a friend. "So, you like learning about dragons?"

Fishlegs tipped his head and shoulder, nonchalantly. "Yeah."

Hiccup mentioned the first species from the Book of Dragons that came to mind. "The speed stinger sounds cool - paralyzing its victims with the stinger of its tail. I wonder how long you'd be paralyzed. Or the Scouldron shooting scolding hot water from its mouth. That would definitely hurt."

Hiccup glanced over at Fishlegs to gage his reaction. The boy's face was slowly exploding into a wide smile and his eyes gleamed with excitement.

"Finally, someone read the Book of Dragons!" Fishlegs squeed in an outrageously high pitch that caught Hiccup off guard.

That little starter topic opened a flood gate. Hiccup had never seen Fishlegs so animated. It was like a completely different person stood in front of him. They discussed various types of dragons, the concerning screams of Snotlout and Tuffnut from the arena floor muted as they chatted.

It wasn't long before it was their turn to wrangle the Hideous Zippleback back into its pen. Fishlegs stood with his back to Hiccup, rambling off facts about the Zippleback, as Gobber released the two-headed menace once again.

Hiccup suspected the dragon to be furious with this second go-around. He doubted Fishlegs would be any help wrangling the Zippleback. The scholarly boy didn't seem to have a slaying bone in his boy. Hiccup could relate.

A popping blast exploded from the cage, and the Zippleback emerged from the smoke. Fishlegs' screams rang off the stone walls as he and Hiccup dodged the charging dragon.

"Be authoritative with this leather sack!" Gobber's voice yelled from somewhere in the distance.

"How can you be authoritative when it wants to kill you?!" Fishleg retorted in a panic.

The Zippleback seemed to prefer the terrified boy and continued its pursuit. Fishleg's short legs were getting slower and clumsier, and it was no surprise when he tripped face down on the hard ground. The Zippleback reared up, flashing its wings and screeching.

Hiccup knew this was his opportunity. He wasn't 100% sure this would work. Maybe only Night Furies were frightened by eels, but there was no better time than now to test it out.

"Back!" he ordered as he jumped between Fishlegs and the Zippleback. "Back! Back!" The dragon began to recoil, alarmed at the small amount of eel sticking out of Hiccup's vest.

"Now don't you make me tell you again! Back into your cage." Hiccup couldn't believe this was working! That meant that possibly all dragons were spooked by eels.

"Now think about what you've done," he said casually. The Zippleback shrank against the wall as he tossed the eel into the cage.

Hiccup shut the cage door and turned around to find Gobber and the other teens at the entrance of the arena, staring at him. The sight was a bit comical, really, with wide eyes and mouths hanging slightly agape.

"That was sick!" Snotlout broke the silence, apparently forgetting he was complimenting his cousin.

Fishlegs was the first to rush him. "That was insane, Hiccup! How did you do that?!"

"Yeah, tell us your secret, oh dragon master," Tuffnut bowed his head as if addressing royalty.

Hiccup wiped his palms on his vest. "Uh, I was being authoritative like Gobber said to be." He nodded a little too exaggerated to further his point. "Yep, be authoritative. That's the key." Thumbing to the side, he added, "So, uh, am I done? I got some things I need to, uh…yep. Gone."

Hiccup dashed out of the arena before he was questioned any further. He had more pressing matters than caging a dragon…like helping a certain Night Fury break free of his own cage.