Chapter 01: Flying with Goats
People said he was crazy to pursue a career in dracozoology, but Hiccup didn't listen. He'd had a lifelong fascination with the creatures that his fishmonger father told him would get him killed. Hiccup defied all these warnings and dedicated his every living moment to the field, which paid dividends as at fourteen, he became the youngest ever graduate of Mímir University. After that, he went on to apply for a doctorate, which would place him in the upper echelon of dracozoologists in the world.
Hiccup had proved everyone wrong, and what did he have to show for it now? His father's prophecy coming true. This profession was going to kill him. He'd gotten too close, and then he'd been snatched up amongst a herd of wild goats, wedged between a pair of the smelly things as the lot of them were being carted off in a net carried by three Deadly Nadders.
Were he not certain of his imminent demise, Hiccup would have pondered why a set of dragons were using such a complex tool as a net. Alas, the thought hadn't occurred to him, and he was unceremoniously dropped with the rest of the cattle in some dark, warm cavern.
That's where Hiccup was now, wishing he was on a fishing boat with his dad, casting lines to reel in cod, ignorant in matters of dragons with the refreshing spray of the salty sea in his face. Instead he was pushing bleating goats off of himself and trying to scramble out of whatever cave he was in. Only, when he was free, he noticed that he wasn't in a cave at all. He was in a room. It had flat, red rock walls, large wooden crates lined against two of the walls, very large burlap sacks in, on and around those crates, and a door.
He bolted for the door, thinking that if he was in some sort of stronghold or settlement, surely he could explain this dreadful situation away and be sent home by the end of the day! Only, when he tried to open it, the door wouldn't budge. Not only was the knob on level with his head, a less than ideal level for a fulcrum, it was also impossibly heavy. He guessed it was made of marble given its smoothness and the veins of white that streaked it. Were he in less distressing circumstances he would've admired such a geological specimen. Alas, he was panicking and couldn't make the door budge, try as he might.
Then he heard some chattering on the other side. It sounded like talking, but it wasn't in a language he recognised. It sounded guttural and growly, filled with hisses and grunts. But people were people, and he was a boy, no, man, of scholar and education, having climbed his way up from the working class.
"Help!" He called out, pounding his hands on the great marble door. "I'm stuck in here, help!" The chattering on the other side of the door stopped. The door was then pushed open before he could move back and Hiccup was knocked onto his rear. "Thank you, I thought," His voice caught in his throat when he looked up and saw not men, not humans, but tall, scaley, horned goliaths, with red bodies, black underbellies, ivory protrusions sticking out the tops of their heads, and great maws filled with countless pointed teeth.
Hiccup's brain went into overdrive. The dracozoologists in him recognised the features these goliaths bore to be those of the Monstrous Nightmare, one of the deadliest, most feared breeds of dragon in the world. But how could that be? This pair stood tall on two legs. Some dragons, such as the Deadly Nadders, were bipedal, but they technically fell into the wyvern category and were still very much draconic.
This pair was not like that, they were almost humanoid, with strong arms and clawed fingers and great, big wings behind them. Such a breed of dragon was unheard of. This couldn't be possible.
One of the pair pointed at him with his yellow eyes widening, shock evident in its tenor. The other seemed to be just as confused as the first. Hiccup took advantage of this momentary distraction to dart between the draconic men's legs and tails, making a beeline for the nearest exit. His options were left and right, and for no reason in particular, he went right.
He rounded a corner and came face-to-chest with another oddity, another draconic person. This time blue, with three horns coming from their crown and red scales around their eyes. This person was to a Deadly Nadder what the last pair were to Monstrous Nightmares. The Nadder-person seemed taken aback, offering a seemingly apologetic gesture before looking up from their clipboard and seeing Hiccup for the first time.
Their expression blanched and Hiccup made to scramble away, only to find his only path blocked by the Nightmares. He had no weapons, no recourse. He was literally being backed into a corner, the draconic people blocking his way with their massive bodies and mighty wings, the Nadder's being very batlike in how they were stretched from the entire length of their arms. Then, he was grabbed.
The next hour or so was a blur. He was easily manhandled by one of the Nightmares, whose scales were impervious to his fists. Hiccup was then rushed to another dragon, a Gronckle he guessed from its thick hide and diminutive, stocky stature. The Gronckle seemed panicked and had him gagged and put into a sack.
At this point, Hiccup was sobbing, thinking that he was going to be eaten by the time the sun went down.
He was roughly jostled in the sack for Odin knows how long, but when he was finally put down he was sure that when he left the sack, he would be torched and devoured. So, he sat, not willing to be a complicit snack. But he was left alone. No one accosted him as he pulled the gag from his mouth and cried into his knees, wishing now more than ever that he'd heeded his father's advice and took up the family trade. At least then he may have lived a few decades longer.
He was arrested from his self-piteous bout of lamentation by what sounded like the creaking of hinges. This was it, it was going to happen. Light poured over him when the mouth of the sack was lifted from the ground and a pair of piercing green eyes looked in at him. He couldn't make out any facial features, the figure seemed to be shrouded in the blackness of night despite the halo of sunlight that illuminated them from behind.
The green-eyed figure's eyes narrowed, and it gently closed the mouth of the sack again. Maybe Hiccup was being deemed too weedy to be a snack, that was the best he could hope for at this point.
Maybe they'd just forget about him, and he could sneak away in the middle of the night, away from wherever this was.
There were more snarls, grunts and hisses from outside his burlap haven. Hiccup imagined that they were arguing over who got his juicier parts. There was more creaking of hinges, and then the distinct sound of a door shutting. But there was still someone in the room.
The mouth of the sack was opened again but instead of the deep-green eyes, there was nothing but the spinning of the world as he was upended and deposited on the hard rock floor. He grunted in pain, but then started to tremble as he saw who'd done it. It was a massive humanoid Stormcutter, a very rare and powerful species of draconic-wyvern that has the distinction of possessing four wings. Two were on its back like most dragons, but it also had the bat-like arm-wings of a Deadly Nadder.
The next part was very humiliating. He was grabbed, not roughly, but as if he were an errant child, and deposited on a wooden table with what seemed like a tarp of white scales draped over it. He only had an instant to observe, seeing that the scales were so finely thread that it had the flexibility of something like wool, but was smooth like marble.
He only had the luxury of observing for that instant because, in the next second, his clothes were being surgically pulled from his body. The Stormcutter, with its large, razor-sharp claws, managed to undo his belt and fastenings without a single tear, and pulled his lower garments off, along with his shoes.
"Hey!" He cried with indignance, trying to cover himself as his face and ears flushed red. The Stormcutter was having none of it though and, as if it'd done this a thousand times, pinned his arms over his head to the table with its tail. Once he was denuded from the waist down, he was made to sit as his buttons were undone and his coat, shirt and undershirt were all pulled off, leaving him completely bare to this oddity of a creature.
He was given the luxury of being allowed to cover himself as the Stormcutter deposited his belongings in wooden boxes and sealed them with lids. It stacked one box on top of the other, lifted them and then made for the door. He made to move, which it saw, and then pointed to him. He froze, his heart beating like a drum in his chest. It pointed at him and grunted, as if telling him, "Stay!".
Then, it left, closing the wooden door behind it. A clicking told him that the door had been locked. But that didn't stop Hiccup from wanting to try it as a means of escape. Clothes or no, he wasn't going to be snacked on.
His first obstacle, though, was the desk. Given it was made for a creature the height of the Stormcutter, it was quite a drop for Hiccup. He was far from athletic and could easily see himself twisting his ankle from a drop like that. He pounded his fists in frustration, but then remembered the fabric he was on. He could use it to lower himself down slowly!
He did exactly that, landing with only a stumble and dragging the whole tarp down with him. Now that he could get a proper feel for it, he could feel that it was smooth and silky, like snakeskin, but with more substance to it. He draped it over his shoulders and pulled it closed, liking the feeling. Though the tarp draped behind him like a bride's train, it was better than being nude.
He went up to the door and noticed, for the first time, that there was something peculiar about it. There was another, smaller door in the door! Like some sort of doggy-door, but it had its own handle. It was as if the door was made with two entirely different statures of people in mind. Which, now that he thought about it, made sense. A Stormcutter was much larger than the likes of the Deadly Nadder, and especially dragons the size of a Terrible Terror.
He twisted the knob and pulled on the door as hard as he could but to no avail. Cursing, Hiccup's eyes darted around the room. The walls were glassy and smooth as if they'd been painted with some sort of orange resin after, giving the room the perpetual feel of early morning as the sunlight hit them through the windows.
The windows? No, they were far too high for Hiccup to reach, and besides which, they were barred. Other than crates like the one his clothes had been taken away in, the room was barren. All he could do was sit in the corner, draped in his white-scale tarp, and cry as his seasonings were no-doubt being deliberated.
He didn't know how much time passed, only that it was long enough for his tears to dry up. The door clicked, the smaller inner door, and it opened. Standing in it was a figure who seemed to be made of night, with piercing green eyes. Those eyes narrowed at Hiccup, but not in a threatening way a predator may look at prey with, but in the way a wealthy, or even well-to-do person looked at a beggar the evening a storm was due to hit. It was a knowing look that was aware of hardships and trials Hiccup had yet to go through, and that the looker regretted his helplessness to do anything about it. Except, the wealthy or well-to-do person could always give the beggar board for the night, or give them coin for an inn, but often didn't. Was this figure really helpless to assist him, or was it just inconvenient?
The figure closed and locked the door behind it before making its way towards Hiccup, stopping halfway there and seating itself on the floor. "Come to this one," it said in a gravelly, throaty voice, holding out a single clawed hand.
"W-Why?" Hiccup stuttered, trying to retreat further into the corner.
"So, this one may get a better observation of that one." Hiccup couldn't sense any malice or hunger from it, him, but at the same time, this was a person who dwarfed him by a few feet and whose body looked like it was made of obsidian. He would be crushed in an instant if the desire struck his visitor.
"This one understands, that one is fearful. That one is in an odd place, away from his family, surrounded by those mightier than himself. But that one has zero to fear from this one, this one seeks to understand and help." He shifted closer, gesturing with his hand for Hiccup to come closer.
Hiccup sniffed, his cheeks puffy and red. He stood, his legs trembling. He held the tarp close as he took slow, steady steps towards the dragon, self-conscious that a single misstep would render him nude. Even this creature, and the rest he'd met now that he thought about it, all wore some sort of loincloth or kilt around their waists. Now that he was close enough and relatively clear-headed, he could see that this one's cloth was made of leather and black scales. Or maybe the leather was just so fine that it too was scales, and simply looked like leather.
The creature continued to hold out his hand as Hiccup neared, a kind smile tugging at his lips the closer Hiccup got. Hiccup held out his own hand and grazed against the other's palm. Relief and hope flooded him, thinking that he finally had a friend in this awful scenario.
"This one appreciates that one's bravery. Does that one have a name?" the visitor asked, not making any move or motion aside from gently closing his fingers around Hiccup's hand, covering it completely.
"H-Hiccup," he answered simply, hoping that having a name would dissuade this creature from wanting to eat him, such as happened with children on farms when they get too attached to an animal meant for slaughter.
"Hiccup…" The creature sounded out his name a few times, clearly trying to get the pronunciation as accurate as possible, something his particular vocal cords seemed to have a hard time with, though he got it fairly close within a few tries. "This one is known as," he made a guttural sound that Hiccup couldn't make heads nor tails of, though thankfully his visitor continued. "In that one's tongue, this one's name comes close to meaning 'Toothless', so that one may call me this," Toothless said, gesturing for Hiccup to sit.
"Now that we have soared together, why does Hiccup not say to this one how Hiccup ended up with these ones' livestock?" Toothless asked, his hands now resting passively on his knees.
Hiccup took a breath and went about explaining the ordeal as simply as he could, able to gather already that Toothless, while able to speak his language very well, would understand better with simpler words. By the end of the brief explanation, Toothless' head tilted curiously.
"Hiccup studies these ones?" It wasn't said as an accusation, but as more of a curiosity.
"Yes, but not too well. My people think that…your ones are more like animals, unintelligent." He thought this would offend, so he was quick to continue. "But we are wrong, we have never seen you like this." He gestured vaguely to Toothless. "Standing tall, with hands, and speaking." He paled as he realised just how little he really knew about dragons. Hiccup, the self-asserted world expert on dracozoology, knew next to nothing about their true nature.
"We were wrong." He looked down, more than a little ashamed of his hubris.
"This is intentional," Toothless said, a single sharp claw pushing a lock of hair off Hiccup's forehead. "These ones have interacted with your ones long ago, but the result was violence, so we migrated and built safe places high in the sky. Your ones have many more to them than my ones, so while these ones have more power, that one's win in battles of attrition." His hands settled in his lap again.
"This is why Hiccup's presence caused surprise and worry, these ones fear our locations being discovered. Does that one understand?" Toothless sounded sympathetic, taking things slow for Hiccup to digest. Given his current mental state, he appreciated the gesture.
"Yeah…this one understands."
He looked down, a tear trailing down his cheek as he realized the implications of Toothless' words. "You're going to kill me."
It wasn't a question; he was stating it as if it were fact. Suddenly, the concept of his own mortality bore down on Hiccup with the weight of a herd of a thousand bison. His bottom lip trembled, and he thought of everything he never got to do in his short life. He would never wed, he would never sire children, his long family line ended with him. Why? To preserve the safety of an entire people. His own kind would do such a thing, he knew that beyond a doubt.
"Perhaps…" Toothless trailed off, his voice dripping with melancholy and regret. "But not if this one can help it." He said, tilting Hiccup's chin up to look him in the eye. "You see, this one is a captain of the hunt. This one was overseeing the brigade that captured that one. So, this one is responsible for that one being here."
Hiccup didn't know how to feel at that moment. On the one hand, Toothless was currently the only friend he had in the world. On the other, it was partly his fault that he was in this mess. Though, if he were honest with himself, he knew he should never have been that close to dragons while not on a sanctioned expedition.
"Can…can I go home, if I'm not killed?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper. He didn't look Toothless in the eye, not wanting his expression to shatter his final remaining vestiges of hope.
"This one will not lie to Hiccup. No. If your trial does not result in your death, you will still not be permitted to leave Yggdraal."
Hiccup's ears perked at the name, guessing it to be where they were. It sounded as if it were derived from Yggdrasil, the world tree from his religion. Though that didn't make him feel much better.
"Then what will happen to me?"
"This one…is unsure. This situation has not happened since before this one hatched. This one will try to sue for your freedoms and take Hiccup into this one's…'custody' is the term this one thinks." Toothless sounded hopeful, but unsure, as if the notion were distant.
"But…" Hiccup thought of the life he'd left behind. His dad, his studies, his friends, all of them will wonder where he went, vanishing without a trace. Would his dad spend the rest of his days searching endlessly for him? All in a futile attempt to get that which is impossible. Would the university memorialise him in any way, or use him as a cautionary tale for anyone too young trying to gain admittance? Was his legacy really going to be so pathetic, he who had dreamed of revolutionising the field of dracozoology and human-dragon cohabitation since he could walk?
The thought of that almost made him vomit.
He slowly started to sob again, pulling his knees to his chest and trying to hide away in them. The tarp fell away, but that hardly mattered, not now that his life was effectively over.
"This one…is sorry, Hiccup. If this one could go back and check the nets again, this one would. But this one cannot, and…this one will spend his days trying to," Toothless was cut off by the white-scale tarp being thrown at him. He pulled it off and looked down at the small, bare, trembling human, so far from home and everything he knew. He felt pity for him, for getting caught up in something so life-altering all by happenstance. It really wasn't fair, and Toothless blamed himself for it.
"This one…will go bring that one something to eat and drink." With that, he stood and left, locking the door behind him. Hiccup didn't move from that spot, he just sat there, naked, and lamented over what his life could have been.
