The Outcast and The Night Fury
AN: I just wanted to let you all know that I accidently updated this chapter under "Stepping Forward" at first, and that is why you may have received a note that SF had a new chapter. I'm sorry, but this one is it for now. I plan to work on SF again this weekend, so hopefully that story will be updated next week.
Thank you all!
CHSHiccstrid: Thanks again so much! I'm glad you're enjoying 'Outcast' even if we're not seeing eye to eye on everything.
Chapter 6
I went home first to pack a lunch for Toothless and me. Just as I slipped Toothless' antibiotic pills into one of the fish, Mrs. Holt came into the kitchen from the butler's pantry.
"Oh, Hiccup, how was your morning at the Center?"
I shrugged. "All right, I guess."
She glanced at me with keen silvery-gray eyes. The Holts have been with our family all my life. They know how Sly can be and they're usually sympathetic. But I didn't want to talk about falling into the pen or about the morning at all, really. Like I told Sly, I'm not a snitch and it was embarrassing anyway. At least I had managed not to get my clothes dirty or torn when I fell and although I suspected I would have some bruises and scrapes, my face was unmarked so Mrs. Holt wouldn't be able to tell that something had happened just from looking at me.
"It seems like a lot of fish have been disappearing from the freezer lately." Mrs. Holt gave me another pointed look.
I tried to look as innocent as I could, which admittedly wasn't very innocent considering that I had a raw fish in my hands and several more in the backpack sitting on the floor beside me.
"What are you feeding? A seal? A dolphin? Some kind of bird?"
"Why do you think I'm feeding an animal?" I tried to stall.
Mrs. Holt rolled her eyes. "Well, I doubt that you've suddenly developed a taste for raw haddock."
"Please, Mrs. Holt, it's just for a little while. He's hurt and I'm just bringing him some food until he's healed. I'm being very careful. I promise." I pleaded.
She sighed. "Why don't you let those people at the Wildlife Center take care of it? That's their job, isn't it?"
"They do know about him. I'm helping them out, that's all," I told her.
Mrs. Holt still didn't seem happy, but after a moment she only said, "Please be careful."
"I will. I am." I thrust the fish into my backpack, grabbed it, and hurried through the mud room to the outside door.
"But what kind of animal is it?" Mrs. Holt called after me, but I was already outside and I pretended not to hear. Hopefully she would have forgotten by the time I came home in the evening. If not, well, I would have to lie even though I didn't want to. But there was no way any of them would let me near the cove again if they knew I had befriended a dragon.
Yet Toothless was the only good thing in my life and I couldn't give him up. I had never before deliberately disobeyed Dad, or Mr. or Mrs. Holt. At least I didn't remember doing so.
But I would for Toothless.
"Hey, bud, I'm here," I called to him as I entered the cove. I already felt so much happier. Whatever else was wrong in my life, this was right. Here in the cove, with Toothless, I could relax and be myself, and he liked me just the way I was.
Except that Toothless wasn't there.
At first I thought that he might be napping behind a boulder so I started looking for him, but I made my way around the cove without spotting him anywhere. There was a terrible sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach as I realized that Toothless simply was not there.
I had worried that he might leave once he was well, but I had hoped he would stay. I swallowed hard against the painful lump that lodged in my throat and whispered, "What am I going to do now?"
I didn't expect an answer, but there was a sudden cry.
"Icka! Icka!"
I spun around to see Toothless, wings outspread, landing lightly a few yards behind me.
"Icka, fi!"
I ran and threw my arms around his neck. "Toothless! I'm so glad you're here. I thought you had left me."
Toothless actually folded his wings around me, like a hug, and nuzzled my face. My knees went weak with relief that he was still here and I clung to him for several long minutes.
When we finally stepped apart, I caught my breath in sudden realization. "You were flying! But your shoulder-. I didn't think you were well enough."
Quickly I examined the wound on Toothless' left shoulder, but it did look fine. Better than fine actually. He was healing amazingly fast, much faster than I thought a human would from a similar injury. Sven and Phlegma had told me that they had used dissolvable stitches. Yesterday I had noticed that a few were gone and today it seemed that about half of the stitches had dissolved, leaving a thin pink scar in their wake. I traced it with gentle fingers.
"Well, it looks good, bud. I can't believe how quickly you've healed. And you can fly again. I think I'm jealous. Flying would be so awesome."
The image of the golden eagle from this morning flashed through my mind and I sighed wistfully. "You must feel so free."
Toothless gave me a considering look. "Icka fi."
I scratched under his chin. "Yea, you dragons are pretty lucky, aren't you? And birds, too. I wish I had wings. Some days I think I would fly away from here and keep going forever."
Toothless just looked at me, a little impatiently now, it seemed to me. Abruptly he sank down to the ground and used his wing and nose to try to push me onto his back
"Whoa, Toothless, what are you doing?"
He kept prodding at me and finally I got it. "What? You want to give me a ride? Is your shoulder well enough? I don't want to hurt you."
Toothless shoved me harder.
I laughed. "All right. If you're sure."
I managed to clamber onto Toothless' back-his shoulders really-between his neck and wings, and sat up straight. "Okay, bud, I've ridden a horse before without falling off, but you don't have a saddle or bridle so let's stick to a walk, all right?"
But instead of walking sedately around the cove as I expected, Toothless tensed, and before I knew it, he raised his wings and then beat them down strongly. We shot straight up into the air.
"Arrgghh!"
Frantically, I grabbed at Toothless' neck but his sudden lunge had caught me off guard and I tumbled off of his back and plummeted towards the ground.
I'm going to die! It was a wordless realization though, more than an actual thought, because I didn't have time to think in words. I didn't even have time to be scared because as soon as I realized that I was falling, I felt a sharp hit and then I was zooming sideways as well as down. Then I fell into the icy-cold water of the pond.
I was struggling to swim towards the shore when Toothless swooped overhead, grabbed me in his front paws, and set me down on the ground. He landed beside me and began nuzzling me again, crooning apologetically.
My teeth were chattering so hard I could barely speak but I tried to reassure him. "I-, I-, It's all-, right. I-, I'm okay."
Toothless hurried around the cove, snapping branches off trees and laying them in a pile near me. When he had quite a high stack, he blew a small fireball at it and set it ablaze.
"Wow, that's pretty cool," I said and then grinned. "Or should I say pretty warm? But this is nice. Thanks, bud."
Toothless laid down near the fire and I sat down and leaned against him. Now that things were quiet and I had survived my second fall of the day, I was feeling a little overwhelmed.
"What happened, Toothless?" I whispered. "I was falling and then something hit me…"
Toothless waved his tail at me, looking a little guilty.
"You hit me with your tail?" I asked but I already knew. I put my arm around him again. "It's all right. You saved my life. If you hadn't knocked me into the pond, I would have died."
Toothless lowered his head in shame.
"What's wrong?" I asked him. "Don't feel bad about letting me fly. I wanted to. I do want to, but I guess it's too dangerous."
"Unless—," I caught my breath.
Toothless watched me curiously, but I didn't speak for a long moment. My mind was racing. Obviously flying could be dangerous, if I only held on to Toothless' neck. But what if I had some kind of saddle or harness? Like with a horse?
"That's it!" I turned to Toothless in excitement. "I need a saddle or a harness so I won't fall. Would you be all right with that?"
Toothless nodded.
"Great!" But then my smile faded. "But where am I going to find those?"
And then, as if it were meant to be, I knew.
"The old carriage house," I breathed.
Toothless made a questioning sound and I explained. "It's a building on our estate where my great-grandparents kept the tack and carriages for their horses. You know how people used to ride horses or in carriages before there were cars."
I don't know if Toothless understood that or not, but he didn't question it.
"It's been cleaned out, mostly, but there are a couple of old trunks that didn't get moved for some reason. I looked in them once and there were some leather harnesses inside. Surely I could find something that would work."
I was so excited that I almost wanted to run home and search through those trunks right then. But I didn't want to give up my afternoon with Toothless, not even to work on a flying harness. There would be time enough for that this evening, after all. With Dad gone, I could sit up all night patching something together if I wanted.
"This is going to be amazing, Toothless. Thank you so much."
Toothless rumbled back and I settled against him to wait for my clothes to dry. But before long my wet shirt sticking to my chest started to bother me and I decided to take it off. The bonfire was warm, and so was Toothless, for that matter. So I pulled the royal blue polo shirt over my head and laid it in the grass beside me.
Toothless crooned sadly again and I turned to him, only to find him watching me with a pained expression.
I glanced down at the bruises and cuts on my chest and grimaced. "You didn't do this. I think this happened when I fell into the dragon pen this morning."
Toothless raised his head and gazed at me intensely.
"Well, you know I told you about working at the Wildlife Center with my cousin and the other kids?" I told him all about my morning, the fall into the dragon pen, and how the other dragons had seemed friendly and concerned.
Toothless, however, was furious. I had never seen him really angry and I have to admit, it was scary. I certainly wouldn't want to get on his bad side. He jumped to his feet, growling ferociously with bared teeth and narrowed eyes. It was a good thing that Sly wasn't around or I think my dragon might have had my cousin for lunch.
"Hey, bud, calm down. It's all right," I tried to soothe him. "I'm fine, really. And Sly didn't mean for me to fall. He's awful, but he's not that awful. Not quite."
But that didn't seem to cheer Toothless up. He was still stomping around, looking like he was ready to do battle with the whole village of Berk. Watching him, I felt a warm glow inside. No one else had ever cared or wanted to protect me.
I went to him and wrapped my arms around his neck again. "Thanks, Toothless. But it's okay. Calm down. I don't want you to go after Sly. It would only cause a lot of trouble, and I can't risk losing you."
Toothless growled and grumbled some more but finally he relaxed a little and began licking my face and hair. I had to laugh because it tickled. "Okay, okay. Hey, you know what? We never had lunch. Want to eat?"
I went to get our food from my backpack and Toothless and I settled down close to the fire again. I ate my sandwich and he gulped down his fish, except when he came to the one with the medicine inside. Always before Toothless had eaten that one just like the others, but this time, he sniffed it, made a face, and then held it upside-down in his front paws. He shook it until the pills fell out before popping the fish into his mouth.
"Hey, buddy, you need your medicine," I said. But Toothless shook his head at me and with his right front paw, he flicked the pills into the fire.
"Well, you do seem almost well," I admitted. "I guess I could ask Sven and Phlegma tomorrow if you still need them."
I looked at him. "So you knew all along that there was medicine in one of the fish?"
Toothless gave me a smug look.
I shook my head. "You guys really are super smart, aren't you?"
Toothless nodded and grinned gummily at me. I grinned back and leaned against him. As I watched the flames dancing before me, I wondered about the other dragons at the Center. Were they as smart as Toothless? They had seemed to understand me this morning when I had told them I was all right and that they didn't need to stand guard over me. And they had been kind and concerned. They hadn't seemed dangerous at all.
It was funny, and kind of sad, how dragons—even dragons I scarcely knew—seemed to care more about me than the humans I lived with.
My clothes were dry by the time I started for home. Before I put my shirt on, Toothless stepped close and began licking the bruises and scrapes on my chest.
"Toothless—," I started to move away when a memory clicked in my brain. Dragon saliva had healing properties. "Oh. Thanks, bud!"
I wanted to stay longer, but it was nearly time for dinner; Dad would be calling from Dragon Island soon; and I wanted to check the trunks in the old carriage house. So I reluctantly said good-bye to Toothless and left the cove.
Dad called just as I entered the mud room and I spoke to him for a minute. He didn't say much, just that he had arrived safely, that he would be home Friday, and he reminded me again to be good and not cause any trouble. I was glad to know that he was safe of course, but honestly, you would think I was a juvenile delinquent to hear Dad talk. I know I make mistakes and mess things up a lot because I get nervous around him, but I do try to please him and do what he wants (most of the time, at least). Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I didn't, if I really did start being bad, but then Dad really would hate me and I wouldn't have anyone.
Except Toothless. I had him now. Just knowing that made me feel so much better.
I ate a quick dinner of beef stew in the kitchen with the Holts—Mrs. Holt does not bother cooking a five-course meal when it's just me. Afterwards we cleaned up and they retired to their rooms on the top floor while I went back outside.
The carriage house is close to the main manor, just off to the right side, but it's hidden behind a line of tall oak trees. I followed the white pebbled path that led to it and to the old stables beyond. The carriage house is a decent-sized building in its own right. It's a two-storied stone house with a steeply gabled roof, a row of arched windows on the top floor, and a corner tower on the left side that serves no purpose other than to be decorative as far as I can tell. Back in the day, my Vastley ancestors kept several horse-drawn carriages inside on the ground floor and the coachman lived in the rooms above with his family.
But that was all a long time ago. The carriage house is used for storage these days. I entered through the wide door and flipped the light switch on. Four dark wooden trunks sat by the far wall, a veneer of dust across their tops. I knelt in front of the first one, opened the lid, and peered inside. There was a tangle of leather straps and brass buckles, covered with cobwebs and grime. I carefully lifted it out and spread it out on the faded brick floor, working through the knots until I could tell it had once been a horse's harness.
But looking at it stretched out before me, I had to sigh. The leather was old and cracked from disuse and lack of care. Obviously, it would not be safe to use as it was and I didn't know if it could be repaired. So I wouldn't be flying with Toothless just yet.
But I was going to fly.
It was funny. The idea had never even occurred to me until a few short hours ago, but sitting there in the quiet carriage house while evening fell outside, I felt that resolution deep in my heart. Somehow, some way, I would figure out how to make it work, and then Toothless and I would soar to the clouds together.
And I would be free.
Author's Notes: Thank you for reading! Please review!
