Sorry this one took so long. I made a few errors in the story that needed fixing but had to go to work on both days of last weekend. Everyone say "Aww, poor Marty."
The Short Nap
Chapter 3
It has been said a person can choose their friends, but cannot choose their relatives. I had always theorised that people raised together as a family, tended to have similar ways of looking at and dealing with life; I call this my General Theory of Relativity. The sinister deeds my sister had been up to however, I could not even begin to understand.
"Why did you do it Ruff?" I asked when I found her re-filling one of the dragon feeding stations with fish.
"Why did I do what?" she feigned innocence.
"Why did you cheat?"
She halted her task and turned to stare at me with one hand on her hip and a mischievous look on her face. It was a look I knew far too well and it spelt trubble. Ruffnut's face never was good at spelling.
"Does it annoy you brother?" she smiled like a Gronkle in a rock garden.
"Of course it annoys me!" I stated plainly.
"Well then..." she returned to her work "...there's your answer."
I could not fathom just how callous her attitude was. This was no outcast or New Loren jailer standing in front of me, it was my sister. Just over a year ago, she had tried to seduce Hiccup away from Astrid and now she was sabotaging his dragon's tail. AH-HA! Lightning flashed inside my mind as I realised the truth at last; it was nothing more or less... than pure jealousy.
"I see it all now" I pointed my finger "You didn't really do this to annoy me, you wanted to get revenge on Hiccup."
"Don't be stupid Tuffnut; Hiccup had nothing to do with it."
"It was Astrid then... you wanted to get even with her when she and Hiccup got back together, so you sabotaged the dragon of the man she loves."
"Sabotage? Now you've really lost me; what are you talking about."
"Your cheating" I stated again.
"Err... yes?" she looked as confused as Snotlout with a text book
"In the dragon race we won a few weeks ago" I clarified.
"WHAT? I didn't cheat in the race, you moron" she protested like a Viking in a vegan restaurant.
"Then why did you just confess?"
"I was talking about this morning. I wanted to take Barf and Belch and you didn't want me to, so we picked for high cards and... I had the ace of hearts in my hand the whole time."
Once again my precious sister had taken me for a patsy for the sake of her own convenience. When was I gonna learn?
"So if you didn't put the kibosh on the Night Fury, then the chiseller is still out there" I noted "but who and where?"
"Let me get this straight Tuffnut; are you seriously telling me that someone has been tampering with Toothless's tail mechanism?"
"That's about the size of it sister but the question is, who had the most to gain?"
"I've got an idea that may help you find out; follow me."
She led me over to the western cliff face where new grandstands were being built for the many fans of Dragon Racing. On the opposite side near the course tower, were two score boards; the first was for the sheep tally for the race at hand, while the second showed the race by race positions of each rider throughout the current season. Ruffnut pondered the second board for a few minutes before she spoke again.
"There's the pattern; can you see it?"
"Do you mean the decorative filigree around the border?" I asked.
That may not have been the pattern Ruffnut was referring to, but she didn't have to hit me so hard.
"Look here Tuff, at the first race of the season. Snotlout won while Astrid had a DNF."
"I've already crossed Snotlout off my list of suspects... and what's a DNF?"
"It means Did Not Finish. I remember Astrid and Stormfly had minor collision with Meatlug on the second lap and ended up in the bay; Hiccup lost too much time when he went back to make sure they were okay so even though he was already behind Snotlout and Hookfang, he had no hope of catching up again giving the second place points to... Fishlegs."
"You can't be telling me that Fishlegs is the one who's been gumming up the works; he hasn't won single race this season."
"No, but look at the rest of the races."
I stared at the board trying desperately to see what my sister alluded too, when it sprang out and slapped me like Astrid warding off Snotlout's flirting. Fishlegs had scored points in every single race, mostly by coming second while every other rider and dragon had mixed success with the occasional win, with at least one last place or DNF. The only person who had managed to score more points throughout the season was Hiccup, until that fateful day when his dragon's tail strut failure put Fishlegs ahead on points.
"He's winning without winning!" I gasped.
"Not a bad scam eh?" Ruffnut nodded "No one would suspect the guy who hasn't won a race."
