The Outcast and The Night Fury
Chapter Nine
"Okay, bud, I think that's it," I mumbled as I finished buckling the harness around my waist and gave it a tug to be sure that it was secure and tight enough. From my perch on Toothless' back, I leaned forward to search his face.
"It's not too tight on you, is it? But not too loose either," I added quickly. After all, I did not want to plummet to my death because of an ill-fitting harness.
Toothless sighed and nodded. "It's fine, Hiccup."
As soon as I had reached home, I had checked on Toothless in the stable, and then had run to my room to get the harness and change from my torn hoodie to a green mockneck sweater. Then we had hurried to the cove and Toothless had waited calmly while I figured out how to fasten the harness around both him and me. After discussing it with him, I had fixed a circular strap around his neck too, like a collar, to give me something to hold onto besides his sensitive ear flaps.
It all sounded simple, but in practice, trying to be certain that everything fit properly and comfortably, and that I hadn't overlooked anything, it took the better part of an hour. Toothless had been remarkably patient, but even he was beginning to get antsy.
"Okay, okay." I took a deep breath and sat up straight on his back. Or more like his shoulders, to be accurate, between Toothless' neck and the place where his wings connected to his upper back. I had been so eager for this moment, but now that it was here, I had to admit that I was a little nervous. "I guess I just want to be sure I won't fall again."
Toothless turned his head to look back at me, and wrapped one wing around me, like a hug. "You will not fall, Hiccup. If you do, I will catch you. Not let you get hurt. Trust me?"
I looked into his big green eyes. "Yes," I said softly. "I trust you."
I leaned forward and curled my fingers tightly around the neck collar. "Let's go."
Toothless crouched, spread his wings, and then we were airborne. But this time I was prepared and the harness held me securely in place. Toothless was also more careful in controlling the speed and power of his flight, though it was still the most incredible experience of my life.
We flew up above the tree tops and then Toothless curved in a gentle arc towards the sea. If you can imagine what it would be like to fly on a dragon's back, it's exactly like that and more. It was a little bit like riding a horse but much smoother because we were gliding through the air. It was a little like coasting on a bicycle but I could feel the subtle movements of Toothless' muscles as he beat his wings, turned his head, and shifted his body. It might be a little like hang-gliding, but I've never done that so I don't really know.
But it was the most fun, most exciting, and most glorious thing ever.
It was noticeably cooler high in the air, especially with the wind whipping through my hair and blowing against my face. I was glad that I had switched to the warmer sweater, and I shivered though I don't know if it was from the chill or the excitement.
"Hiccup all right?" Toothless called anxiously.
I let go of the collar with one hand to pat his neck. "I'm great, bud. This is amazing!"
Then I happened to glance down at Berk's rocky coast and the windswept ocean below and felt a wave of dizziness. We were really high up here.
I grabbed back onto the collar. "But I think I'll hold on with both hands for now."
"Don't look down," Toothless advised.
I nodded. "Good idea."
I raised my eyes back to the sky, to the puffy clouds that seemed just above us, and out to the horizon. I took a deep breath and as the dizziness passed, I slowly began to relax a little.
Several tall sea stacks appeared in the distance, and Toothless glanced back at me. "Hold on, Hiccup. We'll go lower."
He dove towards the water, but not too sharply. I bent low and clung to the collar with all my might, but it wasn't really scary. Well, maybe a little, but I did feel safe and I trusted Toothless so it was mostly fun.
We soared between two of the gray craggy stacks and I heard a rough call above us. I looked up to see a flock of white seagulls. They dove to fly alongside of us for a few minutes as I looked at them in delight. Then the gulls peeled off towards the shore and Toothless called out to me to hold tight again as we approached a thicker maze of sea stacks.
He twisted through them with ease, sometimes coming so close that I feared we would crash, but then Toothless would spin away with a squeal of delight. Once we even rolled upside down, but it happened so quickly that we were right side up again almost before I realized it.
Then we were soaring over the ocean, leaving the sea stacks behind.
"Sorry, I got—what you say? Carried away?" Toothless looked back at me in concern. "You okay, Hiccup?"
I flung my arms around his neck. "Can we do that again?"
With a great roar, Toothless swung around to face the sea stacks again.
After we'd flown the maze several times—each time just as exciting as the first—Toothless headed out over the open ocean.
"Will you be all right if I catch fish?" Toothless asked. "Not scared?"
"It's all right. Go ahead," I paused. "Wait, do you have to dive into the water?"
"Only my head," Toothless reassured me. "You will be dry, mostly."
So we skimmed over the waves, with Toothless ducking his head under the water to snatch fish when he saw them close to the surface. I did get a little wet from the ocean spray, but it was so exhilarating that I didn't mind. When Toothless had had enough, he soared high again.
"Do you like?" He called to me.
"Yes! This is the most amazing thing I've ever done!"
Toothless gave a happy purr. "For me too. It's fun to fly with a friend."
We were having so much fun, in fact, that I lost track of time and direction. When I eventually happened to notice our surroundings, beyond the simple awareness of sky and clouds and ocean, I was shocked to see the sea stacks of Helheim's Gate in the distance.
"Hey, Toothless, I had no idea we'd come this far," I said. "We're pretty close to Dragon Island."
"Dragon Island?"
"Yea, remember I told you about our island and how Dad was going there for the week?" I pointed towards the wall of towering rocks. "We call those sea stacks Helheim's Gate. You go through those and Dragon Island is on the other side."
"Do you want to visit Dad?" Toothless asked.
I had to grin at him calling my father by name. But I shook my head. "Not today, bud. I'm going to have to think carefully about how to introduce you guys."
Toothless looked back at me and his expression was a little sad. "Dad doesn't like dragons?"
"Well, it's not like he'd declare war on you or anything," I answered. "But I'm not sure he'd understand our being friends. He'd probably think you were dangerous."
"Dangerous?!" Toothless looked indignant. "But I love my Hiccup. Never hurt!"
I leaned down to hug his neck. "I know that, bud. I love you too. I'm just saying that Dad might think that, so I want to make sure he knows how smart you are, and what a good friend, before you meet him."
"How?" Toothless asked curiously.
"Well, I'm not sure yet. That's why I said I'd have to give it some thought," I replied.
"So no Dragon Island today." Toothless indicated the first sea stack of the Gate rising up before us. "Let's rest there a few minutes and then we will go back."
I agreed and Toothless glided towards the stack before landing lightly on its flat top. I unhooked the harness, though I paid careful attention to how it was arranged, so I would know how to fasten it when we left, and slid off Toothless' back.
He settled down to rest, eyes closed, and I leaned back against him. I pulled my phone out of my pocket to surf the internet, but we weren't getting good reception out here so after a few minutes I gave up and put it away. We stayed there a while, with Toothless dozing and me just watching the sea and sky. Seagulls soared through the air, cawing with their rough voices, and to my delight, a flock of Terrors landed on a nearby sea stack. They looked over at Toothless and me, chattering curiously. It was a bit of a shock to realize that they were probably talking amongst themselves and to us, and I wished that I understood Dragonese and could speak with them.
I held out my hand and called to them. They eyed me suspiciously, but eventually a smaller green and rust-red one flew over and landed on our sea stack, just out of reach.
"Hi there, little guy," I said softly. "What are you doing out here?"
He chirped back and I imagined he was saying the same thing to me.
"Yea, I guess you don't see humans and dragons together too often, huh? But Toothless here is my best friend and he's letting me fly with him. We're resting now for a little while before we go back home."
The Terror tilted his head and seemed to be studying me thoughtfully. After a minute, he crept closer, sniffed at my fingers, and then curled up beside me, nudging at my hand. I grinned and petted him, rubbing behind his ears, and he purred contentedly just like a cat.
Several other Terrors came over as well, but they stayed out of reach, just watching us. I had the sense that they were both curious and protective of their friend. Eventually Toothless stirred and raised his hand. The Terrors chattered and spread their wings. Toothless glanced around and seemed to pout when he saw the little green and red one beside me.
"My friend," he grumbled. "My Hiccup."
I smiled and scratched behind his ear flaps. "Of course, bud. You're my best friend, too. But we can be friends with other dragons too, can't we?"
The little Terror got up, chirped at him, and Toothless seemed to relax. But then suddenly the whole flock of Terrors squawked and took off, flying away into the distance. The Terrors who had come over to our sea stack left too, and our new friend gave us a final warble before hurrying after the others.
"What was that about?" I asked.
"Listen," Toothless replied.
Then I heard it too—the increasingly loud hum of a speedboat. Toothless lowered himself almost flat against the sea stack and I laid down on my stomach too, though the cold rock was uncomfortable.
A dark blue boat, almost the color of the waves, appeared in the distance. Somehow it felt ominous, though I wasn't sure exactly why, unless it could be…
"Do you think it could be dragon poachers?" Toothless whispered.
"I don't know," I whispered back. "It is unusual to see boats out this way. Fishing boats don't come this close to Helheim's Gate and that's not a fishing boat anyway. It's not our Dragon Island ferry either."
"So poachers then," Toothless growled low in his throat.
"Maybe, but maybe not," I still spoke very softly, though the boat was still too far away for anyone to possibly hear us. "People do occasionally come out this way, not too often, but now and then."
We both fell silent as the boat drew near. I peered down cautiously and could make out several people in the speedboat, perhaps two men and a woman, though they were so bundled up with coats, hats, and dark glasses, that I couldn't make out any distinguishing features.
The boat slowed almost to a standstill as it approached Helheim's Gate and the people seemed to be discussing something for a few minutes. Then the speedboat curved in an arc and sped away.
Toothless and I looked at each other.
"Should we follow them? See where they go?" I asked him.
Toothless gave a sharp nod. "Must keep a safe distance though. Not get shot with dart again."
I looked at him. "Maybe we should just go home. I don't want to risk you getting shot down again either."
But Toothless shook his head. "We will keep a safe distance, not get close. Hurry with the harness, Hiccup."
So I quickly fastened the harness and then, with a strong beat of Toothless' wings, we were airborne again. But there was no playing around this time. Toothless quickly caught up with the dark blue speedboat. Well, by that I mean that we spotted it in the far distance, but we kept a good way behind it.
I had hoped that we might get some idea of where the boat was headed, but it wasn't meant to be. The weather at sea can change in a heartbeat, and in a just a matter of minutes, a thick fog rolled in, blotting out the sunlight and our view of the boat. Even more ominously, thunder rumbled, heralding one of the summer storms that often blow up in the afternoons. But flying in the open air over the ocean did not seem like a good place to be during a thunderstorm.
Toothless abruptly swung around in the opposite direction.
"Do you know the way home?" I called, fervently hoping so.
"Yes, think so," Toothless answered tersely.
I crouched low, holding on tightly to the neck strap and keeping quiet as Toothless flew furiously past sea stacks and across the waves, trying to make it to Berk before the storm hit. We were lucky that the wind was at our back, helping to push us along, though it also meant that the storm was rolling in just behind us as well.
Then Berk loomed in the distance. We were past the coastline and over the treetops. But as Toothless flew right up to the Manor House, a loud crack of thunder sounded overhead and the sky opened up. Buckets of rain fell on us as Toothless hovered outside my windows. Fortunately, they were still unlocked. I pushed them open and then we were inside my room, laughing breathlessly at our close call.
I unhooked myself from the harness, slid off Toothless' back and ran to close my windows against the storm. Toothless was shaking himself off, rather like a dog, and scattering hundreds of raindrops around my room. I took the harness off of him and hugged him tightly.
"Wow, Toothless, I don't even know what to say. That was the best, most wonderful, scary, and exciting time of my life."
"You like flying then?" He asked.
"I love flying! Thank you so much! We'll just have to try to watch out for storms, that's all," I answered.
"Too bad we lost the poachers," Toothless grumbled.
"Well, we don't know for sure that they were poachers. It looked they were heading towards Outcast Island and they're always very competitive in the Regatta. Maybe those people were just out training for that." I wasn't sure if I believed that, but it was possible.
Toothless tilted his head. "What's a Regatta?"
"Like a tournament of boat races," I told him.
Toothless still looked puzzled. "Tournament?"
"Yea, it just means a lot of boat races," I explained. "Later this summer, teams from all around the Archipelago will come and race their boats. It's a big deal around here. Outcast Island always has a good team so maybe those people were just practicing for the races."
"I don't think so, Hiccup."
I sighed. "Well, I don't know if I think so either. But I'm not sure how I could mention it to anyone without having to explain how I was out at Helheim's Gate."
"We will have to watch carefully," Toothless said.
I nodded. "Yea, we will. Hey Toothless, will you be all right here while I get a shower and change into dry clothes?"
"Yes." Toothless stretched out on my rug and closed his eyes.
I grinned. "You sure nap a lot. You must be part cat."
Toothless didn't bother to open his eyes. "Hiccup did not have to beat the storm home. I have a right to nap."
"Whatever you say, Cat-Dragon," I teased.
Toothless lightly swatted the back of my head with his tail. "Get dry clothes before you get sick, little human."
I was out of towels, so I left my room to get one from the linen closet up on the third floor. But as soon as I had stepped into the hall and closed my door behind me, a pair of strong arms caught me up in a bear hug.
A booming voice declared, "Well, there's my favorite Vastley kid! We were beginning to think you'd left the Archipelago."
At the same time, another familiar voice spoke disapprovingly. "Hiccup, your clothes are soaking wet. Are you trying to catch pneumonia again?"
Dad and Gobber were home from Dragon Island.
Author's Notes: Sorry for the long wait! I was sick and then I have to admit that this chapter had me stumped for a while. I hope people are still interested in this story. Thank you for reading and please review! I really appreciate it!
I also want to recommend two talented authors, my friends OrangeCat64 and Silver Sentinel!
