Nearly two months passed and Hiccup and Toothless were coming back from a hunt on the island. "What do you think of our hut here Toothless?" Hiccup asks.
Toothless barks as she flies through the trees to the small wooden hut they were able to build. With Stormfly lounging nearby and yawning for what felt like a long time. But Toothless lands nearby and barks happily at her and Stormfly perks at them being back before sniffing the air and smelling the meat, drool starting to drop from her mouth. Toothless gives a simple bark and look and Stormfly shakes her head to control herself.
"So where is Nighttail Stormfly?" Hiccup asks getting down and started to unload the kills.
Stormfly croons and looks to the campfire and they see the black dragon on his back and snoring heavily as his tongue rolls out and drools. Toothless's ears fall to the side of her head as she stares blankly at this lazy dragon. He's injured, but he should have some semblance of dragon might…or he could be just a lazy lizard.
"You think he is ready to fly to Berk with us?" Hiccup asks the two dragons.
Both dragons keep watching and just listen to the heavy snore from Nighttail and slowly turn back to Hiccup with the same expression.
"Good, I look forward to getting back home even though this is now our second home," Hiccup says smiling.
Astrid yawns and stretches as she steps out of the hut, more dirt, and smears over her face and clothes. "That's if we can make it past the barrier. I and Stormfly checked it out, still there."
"You know that may be beneficial to us then," Hiccup says thinking.
Astrid looks at him as if he's gone mad with his time here. "How? We are stuck here. And we don't have enough knowledge to make a boat and leave. Doubt that thing will let us take a boat out past it."
"Well, I and Toothless found that destroying certain runes created holes in the barrier so we have made an escape route, but this barrier is also very useful if we make a village here. It will be very defensive," Hiccup says showing her the large kills they came back with.
Astrid uses her ax and pokes the kills. "I could be, but there are too many negatives to it. We need to just bring it down Hiccup," Astrid informs.
"But, we could..." Hiccup tries to come up with an argument as Astrid leads him to the kitchen area.
Astrid hums as she follows along. "It wouldn't work for the majority Hiccup and those holes can't be blocked without giving them away," Astrid says.
"Yeah, that is why I have an idea on how to mark the areas with holes," Hiccup says starting to skin the first kill.
Astrid raises an eyebrow at his possible suggestion. "How?"
"Well was thinking certain colored flags would tell them...but you're right." Hiccup concedes looking to the troll's skull that they had peeled all the flesh from to become a trophy for the great hall after skinning one of the kills.
Astrid smirks and bumps her hips against him. "With your arrow marks. I think we know who's getting the glory."
"Nope. We both took this thing down," Hiccup says, handing her the pelt.
Astrid hums as she hangs them one by one. "I just had a thought…that was one troll…do you think there are more? Because we never encountered one in…well, all our lives. Oh, Gobber is going to have a field day with this."
"I think they exist, but maybe have mostly died out…or could there be a different reason?" Hiccup questions as he thought it over as Astrid put the meat onto the spit and starts turning the meat to cook.
Astrid narrows her eyes as she keeps her eyes on the meat. "Could it…but we aren't sure if it's the trolls from the stories we tell."
"I don't think it is the one from the stories, but I have a question for you. Would the family settle on this island this long without knowing how to fight it or did the troll come here later?" Hiccup asks.
Astrid kept spinning the cooking boar and watches it. "Three generations of vikings…not likely for the first thought. Maybe it is the second one."
"If it did come here from somewhere else, the question leads to where," Hiccup says, putting some birds that he had finished plucking onto splits and setting them near the fire to cook.
"What do you think girls and boy?" Astrid asks the three dragons now wide awake and staring at the food with a drooling expression. Only Toothless had enough of a mindset to raise a paw and shake it back and forth.
"Come on over you three. After we all eat, we are heading to Berk and Toothless before we go we will search the island one last time destroying as many runes as we can," Hiccup informs before start dumping some fruit they had into a pot of water and starts to add meat into it, making a stew. "Stormfly, low burn please," Hiccup requests.
Stormfly breathes out a breath of fire under the pot and starts to immediately steam it before it bubbles and boils.
"Keep doing that for a bit, ok girl?" Hiccup asks starting to stir the stew.
Stormfly growls and takes a quick breath before firing more under the pot.
Hiccup smiled as they kept cooking and soon the five were eating with Stormfly getting an extra serving of stew to her delight. After finishing the food and storing all the things in the house, the five tied ropes around the skull and put a tarp over it before starting to fly away.
Stoick hummed to himself as he made his rounds. Hiccup and Astrid had been gone for nearly two months and everyone had noticed. Many of the younger students of the academy wanted to fly out and look for them, but they were still in training.
"Another few requests to go out," Gobber says giving him a few papers from the dragon riders in training as Stoick walks up to the training ring.
"I can understand why. To all the clans in the alliance, Hiccup is a hero, especially to the riders in training. They even started calling him and Thorve the founders, can you believe that?" Stoick asks chuckling, trying to hide his anxiety.
Gobber hums as he carefully watches the riders bond and takes care of their dragons. "I know when the chief is uneasy. Why not go out on 'patrol'? Take a quick look? Get your mind clear?"
"Chief!" a rider calls as he and his dragon lands on a landing pad. "There is something approaching from the northeast in the air."
Stoick nods before whistling, getting all the riders' attention and those in training watched as they all mounted up before the instructors stopped them and all the riders took to the sky to investigate.
"What did this thing look like?" Stoick demands as he flew on Thornado. The group of riders flying behind him in a simple defense formation. "Did you get a good enough look?"
"It looked big is all the spotter of my patrol told me before sending me to inform you," the rider informs.
"I see," Stoick says as he flew till they spotted the squad in escort formation. Then Stoick's heart leaped as he made out Toothless.
"It's Hiccup…Hiccup and Astrid," Stoick laughs as he cheers and soon the rest of the group cheers as well. Seeing both Hiccup and Astrid look over in some amusement before looking at each other and smiling at the welcome.
"Think we should tell them?" Astrid asks chuckling.
"Let's save it when we get into the center of the village and unveil the trophy we have," Hiccup says.
"And our new dragon," Astrid says looking above them to the dark dragon flying above the clouds.
"Call him down," Hiccup says.
Astrid whistles loudly and Nighttail roars before starting to glide down above them, hanging a little back. Soon the cheering dies down as the riders take in the sight of the dark dragon.
"To the village, all of you!" Hiccup calls.
"Yeah…we surprised them," Astrid says, trying to hold back her laughter.
"He is all yours," Hiccup says smirking as they started to land in the center of the village touching down softly so the cover didn't come off what Stormfly and Toothless were carrying.
"Where have you been son?" Stoick asks as he lands with the rest.
"Oh…you know. Out looking around, flying, discovering a new dragon species, and an island," Hiccup says nonchalantly.
Stoick frowns. "That is not usual stuff to happen when…what is this?" he asks, gesturing to the large cloth-covered object they just landed.
"Oh Gobber, you want to do the honors?" Hiccup asks smirking, getting off Toothless as she and Stormfly let go of the ropes.
Gobber became curious himself and moves over to grab the cloth and pulls it down to see just a white stone.
"Little bit more. You got the back half," Hiccup chuckles, eager to see what kind of reaction everyone has.
Gobber moves to the other end as does everyone else when he mentions it was only the back half. When he pulls the cloth down and away, they all gasped at the sight of such a large skull that wasn't even looking human and much more deformed for it.
"Behold our trophy. The skull of a troll we fought. We brought it back to see if we could mount it somewhere," Hiccup explains to his dad.
Astrid snickers behind his back a little. "Not even trying to claim the glory. Just where to mount the thing," she somewhat whispers to him.
"Yes," Hiccup says smirking, leaning onto her.
Astrid hums as she turns her head to him. "Who killed the troll? Because that question will be answered of who made the killing blow."
"It was a team effort," Hiccup informs.
"Uh-huh. I am just glad to be back home. Missed the good food," Astrid mentions smiling.
"That a stab at my cooking Ms. didn't complain once?" Hiccup asks.
Astrid jabs at his back and makes him grunt. "Quiet."
"And there is Thorve," Hiccup says spying she was measuring the skull now.
Astrid grins. "She's a better cook than you, you know?"
"What about you?" Hiccup asks back.
Astrid smirks. "What do you think we did when alone? Always kissing?"
Hiccup says nothing before sidestepping Swordfang who came in for a hug, getting Astrid who he started licking.
"Gah! Really?! Hiccup! I will get you!" Astrid tries to yell over the licking and laughter from herself as he walks off and gives a wave over his shoulder.
"Come on Arrowback. Let's go relax," Hiccup says.
The little whispering death chitters and flies over to him before wrapping around his chest to hang on and place his head on Hiccup's shoulder. A low growl coming from him as he nuzzles the furred shoulder.
"You have grown quite a bit since I left I see," Hiccup says.
Arrowback growls happily at the praise and nuzzles his neck.
"You and Swordfang been keeping his pack in line?" Hiccup asks.
Arrowback huffs and raises up proudly at the sound of that.
"Good job," Hiccup says, scratching Arrowback's head.
Arrowback growls happily and pants, with Hiccup even imagining a tongue panting out of his mouth if he was a canine. Now Hiccup wonders if dogs really exist on these islands with that image.
Days had passed and Hiccup laid out in his spot relaxing. He lies against Toothless as they lean against the wall of the forge. Toothless's wings covering them up to not let the sun bother them, but did make Hiccup slightly interested when he saw the light through her wings and saw some blood vessels through a black tinted permeating light. The lines making him wonder what treating injuries are like with them. But other than that, he mostly slept and relaxed with the dragon cuddling him in her paws.
Some vikings did come to talk, but he only gave sharp advice to some and ignored menial questions and problems. It helps when a growling dragon is in your face to make them go away. However, when the sun is starting to hit around a few hours past noon, he heard rumbling and some commotion from the forge. Hiccup groans and sits up, ending up face to face with the annoyed Toothless who is also awoken by the noise and yawns a little.
Hiccup hears Toothless grumble as she opens up her wings for them and blinds them with the sun before rolling over and letting them both stretch and get up. More grumbles from Toothless made Hiccup nod in agreement. "Yeah. This is a bit loud too. Let's deal with it and get back to our rest. Want that girl?" he asks tiredly and Toothless nods, trying to keep her yawning in.
Stumbling over to the forge entrance, they come across Meatlug looking sick to her stomach and Fishlegs trying to explain the situation to Gobber who had the unfortunate job of handling the forge while Hiccup napped and had his rest.
"Hey, Gobber. Where are all your new apprentices?" Hiccup asks, trying to straighten his hair.
"Had them go look for materials to practice forging with. Let them know what makes what. But, now dealing with Meatlug here who seems to have eaten something bad," Gobber explains, gesturing to the girl herself as she groans and almost lays on the ground.
"Can't be an eel. Would be ten times worse," Hiccup observes. All of them shivering as they remember what eel does when one of the young dragons ate one accidentally and they had to figure out why it died so suddenly. When seeing it was an eel in his stomach, it caused all the slime to stick to the stomach lining, with the result being all the food and water to not get in or out. Even making the cascade effect of their organs looking like they had been left in a damp cave overnight and make slime-like layers that made it hard to move it all naturally. A death sentence for any dragon it seems. Though Hiccup did question why in all the time they fought dragons, they never saw this from when dragons grabbed fish crates and left some behind even if there was enough of the creatures. Which made Stoick and Gobber, and the dockworkers, very embarrassed they missed this fact. "So…what did she eat? Looks like a stomach ache."
"Fishlegs explained he just kept throwing random rocks for her to eat," Gobber informs.
"…" Hiccup slowly turns to Fishlegs and raises an eyebrow at him. "That's it? Maybe it was just a rock covered in something. You got some?"
"Ah, no," Fishlegs admits as Gobber got out a feather.
"Gobber, are you going to basically make Meatlug puke?" Hiccup asks seeing this.
Gobber shrugs. "Why not? Works for us," he says tickling Meatlug with the feather.
"Well, we don't basically puke melted rocks," Hiccup points out, getting out of the shop.
Gobber and Fishlegs suddenly step back as the molten lava spills onto the ground before them. "There we go. That should do it," Gobber says proudly for his powerful feather.
"Hiccup," Thorve calls.
Hiccup looks behind him and smiles and waves. "Hey, Thorve. Meatlug just had a small stomach ache. No more bad rocks," he warns Fishlegs.
"That can wait. Did you forget what we are presenting to your dad today?" Thorve asks.
"Oh right. The thunder ear as you call it," Hiccup says.
Thorve shrugs bashfully. "It's not much. Come on. Your dad's waiting," she says, nodding her head towards the spot.
"Let's go," Hiccup says as all of Gobber's assistants run over to check on him.
"Now, as you see dad, it may look like a horn, but it is not made to make a certain sound," Hiccup explains as Stoick looks it over.
Thorve stood behind them as she looks over the blueprints, looking for any signs of improvements that can be made.
"And what is the purpose of this?" Stoick asks.
"Take a listen," Hiccup says lighting a torch and a rider out near the lookout tower on the sea stacks started to read off a report which Stoick could hear via the thunder ear.
"Amazing," Stoick says in amazement. "How far can one hear from this?"
"That depends on the one listening and the size," Hiccup says before Stoick heard something else.
"What is that?" Stoick asks, turning the horn to better hear.
"Hear what?" Hiccup asks, looking toward where he is pointing.
"Sounds like some sort of dragon," Stoick says, getting Thorve's full attention.
"Then, we should investigate," Thorve says.
"We should be able to handle that," Hiccup says before whistling and Blazesnap came climbing up the cliff to them. "Alright, your pick or call it?" Hiccup asks Thorve, bringing out a coin.
"What are you waiting for?" Thorve asks, already on Toothless.
"Thorve, we had a deal," Hiccup says putting the coin back as Blazesnap slips under him and takes into the air with the other two dragons.
"It came from that way," Stoick says as he and Thornado lead the way.
"Your father the tracker," Thorve says, flying by Hiccup.
"Speaking of which, how is the new category of the dragon coming? I can guess it is a bit hard seeing as we are removing fear class and putting in a new one," Hiccup says.
"It makes sense. We have to make sure to clear up those dragons in the class," Thorve shrugs, looking thoughtful.
"Swordfang's species is the first you adding to it?" Hiccup asks.
Thorve nods, flying above him now. "Heavily documented enough where I can give them a proper class."
"Track is where they would fit the most given their ability to do so," Hiccup says as they kept flying and searching for a bit until Thornado veered off a bit.
"Down there," Stoick calls, letting Thornado lead the way down to some sea stacks where three young-looking thunderdrums were.
"Three thunderdrums," Thorve says, watching as they flew around. "Well…who else can make a loud noise?" she jokes smiling.
"Dad?" Hiccup calls.
Stoick hums while looking at the three dragons that started flying around them now as they played. "Thornado," Stoick says before Thornado roared at the three dragons, making them land. "I taught him that one," Stoick says proudly.
"I thought I recognized that roar," Thorve says sarcastically as they landed on the sea stack.
"Well, you both have to admit they are both," Hiccup starts.
"Cute? Cuddly?" Stoick asks a bit excited.
"Sure, let's go with that, but so, dad…" Hiccup starts.
"Hey, hey. I know what you are thinking and you might as well forget it," Stoick says as the three started to roar cutely at them. "There is enough racket on Berk with those twins and the dragon training,"
"Dad, look at them," Hiccup says, getting off and walking over to the three dragons, easily starting to pet them when they let him get close. "This one has claw marks far bigger than what the other two have. They are either being bullied or hunted by other dragons. Do you really want to let these three young dragons stay out here and fend for themselves?" Hiccup asks.
Thorve raises an eyebrow as she looks around. "Hiccup, they possibly could fend for themselves," Stoick argues.
"If they could, they wouldn't have these healing wounds. They also might have lost their parents," Hiccup points out, petting the one he had.
"Come on chief. A few more dragons can't cause too much trouble and we could use more thunderdrums like Thornado," Thorve adds, seeing that Stoick was really debating this now.
Thornado growls at them at the sound of that.
"Even Thornado agrees," Thorve says as Hiccup kept petting the three children and Blazesnap moved over to play.
Stoick looked at them before sighing. "Fine, I see your point," Stoick relents.
"Good. Alright, you three want to come with us?" Hiccup asks.
The three thunderdrum hatchlings jump around each other, running towards them and jumping onto Thornado's head.
"Alright, let's get these three back before lunch at least," Stoick says.
The three little hatchlings just jump around on Thornado hearing the sound of food.
