CHAPTER 6
The next few weeks were a blur of dragons and notes. Tengan had decided to remain an extended houseguest of Astrids after the two had bonded. Honestly, between the guilt of taking up Hiccup's bed and the combined snoring of two dragons in the loft, she had been sleeping a lot better while bunking with the Nadder trainer. Not that a couple extra hours here and there were making a world a difference. Either she had landed on Berk during an unusually busy month or the island never seemed to catch a break. Between mass lightning strikes, a two day long festival of games, and a rogue dragon carving a network of tunnels right under their feet, the prospect of a morning consisting of nothing but flight maneuvers seemed like vacation to her sore muscles.
"Ok Tengan, up or down?" Astrid called from behind her in the saddle. Tengan sat low over Stormfly's neck, rapidly weighing her options as the half fallen log came into view. There appeared to be more space above the log than below at first glance, but the thick canopy could scrape the two of them off Stromfly's back. On the other hand, going low meant they would have to lay almost flat, but as long as the Nadder tucked her wings…..
"Down!" Tengan cried and flattened herself in a silent nudge to the dragon beneath her. Astrid followed suit.
With a roar, Stormfly tipped downwards, slamming her wings tight against her body. The trio breezed under the log and surged upward immediately afterwards. Stormfly lazily circled overhead, head jerking slightly to keep the rest of the crew still flying beneath within her sights.
"That was perfect Tengan!" Astrid cried out, thumping the beginner in the shoulder blade with her fist. "I thought for sure you were going to scrape us against the trees."
Tengan rubbed circles into Stromfly's hide with both hands in silent appreciation for the dragon's trust. "Seriously? I've seen the two of you squeeze through way tricker spots than that. Do you really think so little of me?" She teased, twisting in the saddle to smile at Astrid.
"Knock it off," Astrid chuckled, punching the other girl a second time. "Let's see if the others can squeeze through."
As expected, Hiccup and Toothless slipped through with no issues. Also as expected, Snotlout panicked at the tight squeeze and yanked Hookfang upwards at the last moment, earning himself a helmet full of branches. It looked like Fishlegs would have made it, if it hadn't been for the twins. Both had directed Barf and Belch in conflicting directions, leading to a classic dragon-viking pileup in the thicket. Before anyone could extract Fishlegs, he had executed a complex series of hand signals that Meatlug clearly understood as she circled back around and had him free before anyone else could approach.
"Fishlegs, that was amazing!" Hiccup called.
"Meatlug and I were just working on some rudimentary hand signals-" Fishlegs began explaining. Although, Tengan lost the rest of the conversation as Astrid whispered in her ear.
"Bet you stall cleaning duty we fly back to the academy to start practicing that in the next twenty minutes."
"No way I'm taking that bet. Hiccup's got that gleam in his eye again. Besides, it'll be more like ten minutes." Tengan whispered back.
No less than fifteen minutes later, although it would have been under ten if they didn't have to untangle the twins from Barf and Belch's almost knotted heads, the team had landed in the arena and he began working on hand signals. Tengan sat out at the beginning as she jotted down the inspiration for the training techniques as well as any pertinent information she had recalled on the subject of nonverbal cues from books she had read back home. After a while, it seemed Snotlout was having a bit of trouble working on directing the focus of Hookfang's signals so she paired up with the shorter viking with only mild trepidation. At Tengan's suggestion, they decided to teach Hookfang to lift and retrieve objects they pointed out. Unfortunately, Snotlout quickly figured out he could direct Hookfang to lift people off the ground too.
"ARGHH! Snotlout! Again?!" Tengan twisted in Hookfang's talons to glare at the smirking viking.
"Hey he can't help it! You know how it goes. Dragons kidnap princess and" He propped his foot up on an overturned weapon's barrel, puffing his chest out. "knights in shining armor come to their rescue!"
Tengans retort died in her throat as the twins began shouting at each other. Usually the disagreement died out after a couple quips and harsh swings but, today, it just continued to grow in intensity and animosity as they quite literally butted heads over who would command the Zippleback. Before anyone could do more than glance awkwardly at each other the two stormed off in opposing directions with poor Barf and Belch straining to follow their respective charges. In their wake, Stoick swooped in atop Thornado, landing at the entrance.
"Son, I've received word that Oswald and the Berserker tribe will be landing tomorrow for the annual treaty signing. While we are all content with the presence of dragons here on Berk, they could be seen as an act of aggression to others. I'd like you to temporarily relocate them to the far side of the island until the treaty is signed." Stoick's tone left no wiggle room for pleas or negotiation.
Tengans eyes glittered as she wiggled free from Hookfangs claws. "Cheif! Did you say another tribe would be visiting tomorrow? Do you think they-"
Stoick cut her off with a deep laugh as he dismounted. "Aye, their chief would be happy to answer all your questions. He isn't called Oswald the agreeable for nothing." He patted Thornado's side. "Now you lot get these dragons out of sight. I've got some last minute preparations to make with Gobber."
In hindsight, it really was too much to hope for an easy day. The rest of the morning and the entire afternoon saw Tengan helping the riders, sans the apparently still furious twins, round up every last dragon on the island and herding them to the deserted shore. Tengan was so exhausted she hadn't even noticed she technically flew her first solo flight when Astrid leapt off Stormfly to control a rebelling Monstrous Nightmare until Fishlegs pointed it out with a joyous giggle. By the time they all retired for the evening, she barely had enough stamina left to jot down a dozen sentences of the day's events before falling into a dreamless sleep.
The next morning saw the crew, numbers still reduced by the absent twins, sore and yawning at the docks, staring hazily at the slowly approaching telltale blob of ships on the horizon. Tengan lazily held several scrolls to her chest, eyes fighting to bring Hiccup into focus.
"Are you sure Oswald won't mind?" She asked, stifling her fifth or seventh yawn, she had lost count, behind her clutch of papers.
"Oh yeah," Hiccup replied dully. "Oswald's awesome. I just hope he hasn't brought that lunatic of a son with him this year."
"Dagur?" Snotlout brightened. "That guy's awesome!"
"Are you kidding?!" Fishlegs reeled with revulsion " He's a lunatic! Last time he was here he force fed me rotten cod heads."
Hiccup, Astrid, and Tengan flinched in unison as Snotlout cackled. "Oh yeah, I had almost forgotten that!"
"Is he really all that bad?" Tengan whispered out the side of her mouth.
"Worse." confirmed Astrid. "He's used Hiccup as a knife throwing target, twice. Luckily his aim wasn't the best."
Hiccup ran his fingers along his scalp, stopping a couple inches from the crest of his forehead. "Yup. Still have the scar. At least his father is tolerable. I shudder to think of the day Dagur becomes the Berzerker chief. Hopefully not for another couple decades."
Tengan shifted. "I'm more worried about the twins. We still haven't found them and Barf and Belch won't leave without them."
Hiccup groaned under his breath. "I know. But once they're here I won't have a lot of opportunities to go find them."
Tengan glanced between the approaching ship and Hiccup's anxious face. "Look, once you introduce us I can probably keep them from noticing your absence for at least an hour that should be enough time to hide Barf and Belch… where's Toothless by the way?"
"I asked him to stay in the house today. He doesn't like it but I don't think he'll come charging out anytime soon." Hiccup shrugged, puffy eyes still focused on the approaching boats.
"...How many fish did you leave with him?" Tengan smirked.
"Nearly four hundred. I've been up since before dawn catching them."
"Should we start calling him a Night Fatty instead?" Tengan whispered, causing Astrid and Hiccup to dissolve into giggles with her.
"Comeon you three" Gobber chastised, "Show some respect for the Berserker tribe, They're one of our oldest allies you know."
"Yes, Gobber" Tengan bowed her head to hide her guilty smile as Hiccup and Astrid looked away, the former coughing to hide a chuckle.
Within an hour, the gangplank of the lead ship thudded over the rail, revealing a large viking standing on the precipice. He thudded the butt of a spear on the wood, commanding attention. "Presenting the high chief of the Berserker tribe! Cracker of skulls! Slayer of beasts! Dagur the Deranged!"
The announcer stepped aside, revealing a boy who seemed a couple years older than the riders and of similar age to Tengan. Before she could register little more than the horned helmet atop his head, Dagur had launched a throwing knife, sneering in satisfaction as the blade embedded itself in a wooden post right behind the space where the top of Hiccup's head had been located less than a second ago.
Shaking off the adrenaline, Tengan hissed feverently in Hiccup's ear as Stoick approached the boy chief. "I thought his father was leading them?"
"He is?" Hiccup hissed back. "Or was at least. I don't know!"
"This is bad." Astrid remarked, her eyes narrowing as Stoick's expression grew taunt through his exchange with Dagur.
"I need time to find the twins before Dagus finds their dragon." Hiccup was speaking very quickly, his hands bunching his tunic. "Tengan, can you keep him distracted as discussed?"
"I can try" she responded, eyeing the teen with ill-masked distaste.
"Hiccup!" Dagur announced, shunting Stoick away to strut towards their small gathering.
"Dagur!" Hiccup cried out with forced enthusiasm. "It's been ages! Hey, remember when you tried to drown me?"
Dagur laughed, a sound that sent waves of unease coursing through the other teens. "Oh the laughs we shared. Bored again!" he retorted briskly before his eyes landed on Tengan. "Hello, who is this? And why is she so…..dark?"
While Tengan was deciding whether or not she was offended by his remark Hiccup cut back into the conversation. "This is Tengan! She is our guest from the Shimmering Shores." He elbowed the mentioned girl in the ribs in a silent plea to keep the peace.
"Ouch!" she hissed before fixing her expression to be something she hoped resembled awe and interest. "Yes! I'm here to learn more about the viking way of life. My task is to collect stories of the...uh… bravest and most daring warriors. Surely you, Dagur, chief of the mighty Berserkers, has a few tales that would thrill my people." She ended her small speech with an attempt at a smile, forcing her gaze to remain locked on the teen before her. She was well aware that even without the towering horns adorning his head hat he still had at least a few inches on her.
Her act was soon rewarded with a greedy, overconfident smirk as Dagus snaked his arm over her shoulders. It felt more like a grab at a new possession than a friendly gesture, one she willed herself to accept without complaint.
"Of course I do!" Dague crowed, leaning in much too closely for comfort. "Come, I'll tell you how best to educate your people on the 'mighty Berserker tribe' as you so perfectly called us." He laughed, jostling her about in the process and almost dislodging her papers. "Once I'm through you'll want to erect a statue in my honor!" He turned towards the island, tugging her with him. "Lead on Stoick! I haven't got all day. To the armory!"
Tengan twisted a bit to glance over her shoulder just in time to see Gobber restrain Stoick from grabbing his sword. Simultaneously, Hiccup mouthed "I'm so sorry!" before scampering off in search of the twins. A sharp tug and throat clean from Dagur brought her attention back and she made haste to unroll a piece of scrap paper to jot down a few notes as he began with "The glory of my tribe only began to blossom after my birth!" She had a sneaking feeling it would be another long day.
Her suspicions proved correct as the tour of the island wore on through the late morning. No matter what they stopped to look at , it seemed Dagur had an anecdote as to how the same item, building, or process was better on the Isle of the Berserkers. Apparently, even the eggs produced by their chickens were superior. Tengan could have praised Stoick for suggesting a break to eat in the great hall, until Dagur literally pulled her down onto the bench next to him. She was so unprepared for the motion she nearly landed in his lap, the stumble earning her a cocky smirk from the fiery haired lad.
"Please tell me you found the twins" she moaned miserably towards Hiccup as he clambered into the empty seat on her opposing side.
"I'm working on it." he sighed. "Snotlout thinks he knows a place where they would go. Just keep him occupied for a bit longer"
Tengan groaned quietly, fighting the urge to bang her head against the stone tabletop. "Hurry, Hiccup. He's starting hinting I should come back with him to Berserker Isle 'To properly learn and write about his glory.' He actually said that!"
"Alright, we'll find the twins and get him off your back. I promise."
"Good. Now go find them before-" The rest of her sentence cut off as Barf and Belch trumpeted their arrival, thundering into the Great Hall. She had only a moment to register what had happened before Dagur was shaking her by the shoulders.
"A zippleback!" He cried in absolute delight. "Excellent! It's a sign! A head for each chief!" He cried out to his men scattered amongst the table before turning to Tengan. "Now you will get to see how a real viking handles dragons!" His teeth were bared in a fierce approximation of a grin. "Bring a fresh scroll Tengan and prepare to sing my praises!"
Tengan smiled shakily before speaking out of the corner of her mouth just loudly for Hiccup to catch her words. "Find them. Now."
It took less time than Tengan had hoped for Dagur to track and capture Barf and Belch. Only Stoick's quick thinking to bring them to the arena before killing them bought them a bit more time. Even Tengan's attempt to distract Dagur with questions was becoming ineffective, as the viking seemed to drown out all other thoughts than the beheading and blood-letting of poor Barf and Belch. Once they reached the area all stalling techniques had run dry. With Hiccup still nowhere to be found and Dagur bearing down on the restrained dragon, Temngan could only watch helplessly as Stoick made to draw his weapon in defense of one of the scaly residents of Berk that had come to depend on him.
Just before the chief's sword swung down to end Dagur's bloodlust now and forever, Hiccup came barreling into the arena, barely continuing a smile as several of the rider's dragons clambered in after him. "Dragon attack!" he all but cheered the phrase as Hookfang began to descend, claw over claw, down the chain dangling into the center of the arena.
Tengan feared his jovial tone would alert the Berserkers of the ruse but a quick glance at Dagur's horrified expression easer her fears. Fighting the urge to giggle she scrambled and began to dodge all of the "attacks" aimed her way. Once or twice she managed to catch the subtle hand movements of the trainers and nearly doubled over laughing as Meatlug flattened a particularly burly viking in an attempt to hug him. Despite her best efforts, she couldn't seem to shake Dagur and Hiccup in the fray. Wherever she sidestepped, the two seemed to be forced into her, knocking her into tables and weapons racks on more than one occasion.
A sharp whistle caught her attention, as Snotlout, grinning from ear to ear, mimed the hand signal he had used with Hookfang to harass her the day before.
Catching on, Tengan waved her arms frantically in the air while backed against a stall door behind the boys to call the Monstrous Nightmare's attention to her. As soon as his head swiveled around, she mimed the "pick up" cue and patted her chest twice to indicate herself as the target.
Hiccup, noticing the change in Hookfang's attention, abruptly grabbed Dagur and slammed him onto the floor less than a second before the dragon was upon them.
Tengan held her arms out to either side and screamed as Hookfang made off with her, the sound diminishing to a giggle as he winged out of the arena and climbed dozens of feet into the air. With a quick flip, Hookfang tossed her onto his back, rumbling low in his throat as she rubbed his neck in appreciation. "Who's the smartest kidnapping dragon on the whole island!" she cooed. "You are! Yes it's you!"
Hookfang angled away from the chaos and lazily floated on updrafts as he glided towards the far side of the island.
Tengan glanced back at the diminishing cloud of smoke over the village. "Why don't we wait a bit before we head back?" She tickled behind his horn as he spoke. "You've more than earned a few smoked salmon and I know the perfect stream pen to nab a few." She giggled again as Hookfang rumbled in his chest and allowed her to tilt his head in the direction of the mentioned stream. Snoutlout could wait an hour or so to have his dragon back after all.
The pair returned just after dusk, gliding back into the arena where the remainder of the riders, including the reunited twins, sat laughing over the flames. A cheer and raised mutton legs rang from the group as she dismounted and Hookfang crawled over to his boy, unceremoniously stealing the meat right from his boy's outstretched hand. Tengan laughed with the others and pulled out her notes to finish compiling the day's events as the others filled her in.
"T-Tell me again how fast they ran!" Tengan struggled to form the words through fits of laughter. She fell back against Barf and Belch's hindquarters, smiling into the firelight.
"More like blasted away," Tuffnut exclaimed. "That last one knocked them halfway to the ships, right Belch?"
The aforementioned dragon's head curved down into the glow of the fire and asserted Tuff's claim with a loud roar.
Tengan flinched at the noise but her smile held. "I'm glad you're all together again. They weren't the same without you two." She patted Ruffnut's shoulder affectionately. "Good thing too, because I am never going to spend another moment in that lout's company again, no matter what the reason! It took a dragon abduction to get away from him!"
Another round of laughter from the teens filled the night air, accompanied by the coos and growls of agreement from the dragons lounging behind their partners.
Snotlout was the first to recover. "Yeah, but maybe get your own dragon next time! You were supposed to borrow the Fangster, not run off with him!"
The laughter trailed off almost instantly as Astrid shot him a look and hissed "Snotlout!" Hiccup and Fishlegs stared openly at Tengan, their expressions almost too understanding. Even the twins exchanged uncomfortable glances.
"No, it's alright. Really." Tengan attempted to smile but the muscles in her face felt unusually heavy. She could only manage a feeble twitch of the lips before standing. "It's getting late. I'm going to start heading back."
"Tengan, please stay. We'll give you a ride back later." Hiccup started to reach towards her but, thinking better of it, let his hand flop to his side.
"Yeah, don;t let this muttonhead get to you." Astrid added sharply, digging her elbows into Snotlout's ribs.
As Snotlout yelped from the unexpected pressure, Tengan shook her head once more. "Nah, I wouldn't want to sleep in tomorrow morning…. Since you all are heading out for early patrol Gobber is going to take me to Gothi's to study the island's medicinal herbs."
As she turned her back to the group, Hiccup made a final stab at comfort. "You know all of us are happy you're here with us Tengan…. You're part of the group." he added lamely as Fishlegs made a weak murmur of agreement.
Tengans shoulder's tightened as she kept her back to the fire. "...Goodnight guys." She fought to keep her voice even before heading off in the dark on the long winding path back to the village.
As soon as she was out of earshot, all remaining eyes, dragon and human, turned on Snotlout.
"What!" the targeted teen demanded, crossing his arms across his chest. "Now I'm the bad viking for pointing out the obvious?"
"Yep." the twins responded in unison.
"How was I supposed to know she'd get all mopey?!" Snotlout protested. "Girls are weird."
"Well, actually it's pretty easy to figure out." Fishlegs asserted in a tone usually reserved for lectures on newly discovered dragon secrets. "First, remember she's here all alone. Away from her entire family. Secondly, we do tend to leave her alone for most of the day whenever we're not training close by."
"And think about what we're doing when we're all together." Astrid cut in. "Bonding with our dragons and letting her tag along when it's convenient." She rubbed Stormfly's jaw for emphasis, her brow furrowed.
"And to top it all off, even when she does get a chance to work with us it's always to help with our dragons. She doesn't have one to bond with." Hiccup finished, eyes downcast.
"If one girl could feel all that she'd die of loneliness." Tuffnut concluded, throwing himself backward against his dragon's side for emphasis and earning an eye roll from his twin for his theatrics.
Snotlout huddled himself deeper into his grumpy slouch. "Well then mister Dragon Master, why don't you find her a dragon if she's so lonely!" he nearly shouted across the campfire.
Hiccup stared at Snotlout for a moment, gears almost audibly turning in his head. "You know what, Snotlout, that's a great idea!"
"Of course it is." Snotlout snapped from across the circle, oblivious to the grins on the other's faces.