Chapter 6 - Pushed:
That night Hiccup walked back to his house, prepared the fire with some dry wood from inside, and lit the fire after a fair amount of effort. He took his wet clothes off and hung them by the fire.
He grabbed a couple of new candles from a cupboard, lit them and took them upstairs.
Hiccup then realised that his eyesight was getting better, and he could see easier with the candle's help. He supposed that many of the dragon traits hadn't fully come into effect yet.
He went over to his wardrobe and took out some other clothes. Placed them on, then blew out the candles and got into bed. Hoping that he wouldn't need the candles in the morning due to his eyesight hopefully having improved.
He slept well, and when he woke up, he took a deep breathe in through his nose.
The scents of the morning chilly mist and the odour of the burning wood downstairs filled his nose. While the sound of the crackling fire, the outside birds and his own breathing penetrated his ears.
He hopped out of bed and went downstairs. Once again avoiding the nasty shard of wood without realising. The fire was nearly out, and his clothes were dry. He took his current ones off and placed the older ones back on. He raced upstairs to put the blue clothes back into the wardrobe. He preferred his green clothes over his other blue ones.
Not feeling hungry like the previous morning, he grabbed another axe that was hanging on a wall that his dad liked to place there and went out the door.
The sun was just about to pop over the horizon as Hiccup looked out to sea. It was a beautiful dawn. Bright orange streaks of light shone onto the clouds from the horizon.
He walked slowly down to the arena, taking his time.
By the time he got there, he saw Gobber coming out of the arena which had changed dramatically since he last saw it. It was filled with large, tall fences throughout. It looked like a maze.
He also could smell a strong scent of fish and chicken. He looked and saw a large pile of said meats just above the chains of the arena.
"Well yeh are here early." Gobber greeted. "What brings the future Night Fury killer here at this time?"
"Oh, I just wanted to get here a bit earlier than usual. I was late the first time, so I wanted to make up for it." He answered.
Gobber nodded, "tell yeh what, can ya help me with something seeing that yeh are here early?"
Hiccup nodded, eager for something to do.
"Could ya feed the devils for me? I need to go back up to the forge to get my hammer in case the Nadder misbehaves. I left it there. All yeh have to do is divide and place this pile of food," Gobber indicated at the fish and chicken pile, "into each enclosure. Just open each one a fraction, and drop the food into each one from above the arena, so you can't get hurt."
Hiccup was nervous.
"Are you sure that's safe? What if one gets out? What if I open it too much by mistake?" He cautioned, unsure.
Gobber waved it off, throwing his hands through the air as if fighting off invisible birds. "Ah, yeh'll be fine. I trust yeh. I'll be back within half an hour and the other teens will be coming with me. Oh and don't forget to shut the main arena gate first."
Hiccup nodded. "Okay."
The blacksmith smiled. "Thanks. Good lad."
He turned around and began limping away.
Nervous and afraid something would go wrong, Hiccup decided to do it anyway. He placed his axe (which felt extremely light), down on the ground. He took the pile of food into fifths and placed them near the edge of each enclosure above the gates.
Then he noticed that there were levers and pulley systems above each enclosure. So he didn't have to go into the arena at all.
He listened first to see if he could hear the dragons talking. But there was nothing, just silence.
He shrugged to himself and bent down by one of the levers and pulled it halfway, which in Hiccups opinion should open the enclosure only a little.
Instead, the enclosure opened completely.
Immediately, a dragon sped out, roaring with fury. It was the Nadder. It turned and looked at the maze like structure, and sprinted through it.
It led right to the arena entrance, which Hiccup had forgotten to close.
"Hey! No, STOP!" He called desperately.
The Nadder spun around, and flung spikes in all directions from its whip-like, spiked tail. Some hitting the fences and others flying into the sky, even a few narrowly missing Hiccup.
The dragon's eyes looked up at the sight of the Viking.
"Screw you. I'm leav-"
The dragon stopped mid-sentence. Its voice was the lighter, sweeter tone he heard earlier.
"You… are you, are you the one with Night's mark?"
Hiccup gulped, but slowly, he nodded. He drew his sleeve back and revealed it.
The Nadder's eyes widened so much, and immediately it ran through the maze again till it stood outside its enclosure, where it faced Hiccup, it raised its wings and bowed its head to the ground.
"Oh my. Sir I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have shot my spines at you. Please forgive me!"
Stunned once again, Hiccup didn't know what to say.
"I'll go back into my enclosure. I won't come out ever again, I'm sorry."
Regaining his composure, Hiccup said, "Hey, calm down. It's okay. Look, the recruits today will be coming to train on you. All I would want you to do today is to act natural. Don't try and protect me or anything. I'm so sorry about this, but I'll promise you something. If you stay here today, tonight I'll set you free."
The Nadder raised its head and jumped up and down, shaking the nearby ground and it felt as if there were a mini earthquake in progress. It looked like an excited puppy.
"Yes sir! I understand. But what about my friends? They are locked up too?" Asked the Nadder.
Hiccup was formulating a treacherous plan in his head. He was going to do something he could be banished for, but he realised which side he was on now. The dragons. There were still many suspicions he had, but he'd talk to his friend Toothless about that later.
"I don't know, I might be able to, I'm not sure. I'll try and free them if I can tonight. We'll see. Here's some food." Hiccup answered.
He pushed the Nadders share of food down into the enclosure, as the dragon raced in.
"Yes sir. Thank you very much." It said gratefully.
"You're welcome, but please don't call me sir. Just call me Hiccup, and tell that to the other dragons too."
"Yes si-I mean Hiccup." The Nadder replied.
Eventually Hiccup opened all the cages, and pushed the food in for each. None of the other dragons came out or said anything. He presumed they had heard his conversation with the Nadder.
Not long after, Gobber returned with the other recruits and their weapons.
"Oh there's the punching sheep. Finally here early eh kid?" Spoke Snotlout.
Ignoring him, Hiccup looked around and saw Gothi, the village elder and one of the highly skilled healers, walking quickly down to the arena stands.
Hiccup gazed at her for a moment, never having been close or talked with her once in his life, and he could have sworn she winked at him just then.
"All right recruits. Today we're with the Deadly Nadder. Go down into the arena, now!" Instructed Gobber.
They all made their way as fast as possible to the open gate of the arena, which Hiccup had earlier forgotten to close. They all picked up a shield at the entrance this time, along with their weapons in their other hands.
Gobber opened the enclosure from above, and the Nadder burst out.
"Today… is all about, ATTACK!"
The Nadder flew up and stood on top of one of the fences, searching for the Vikings.
"Nadders are quick, and light on their feet."
"Damn right we are." The Nadder boasted.
The Nadder spotted Fishlegs first, and he shrieked in fear as the Nadder shot some spines at him.
"Yeh job is to be quicker, and lighter!" Echoed Gobber's voice around the arena.
Fishlegs pulled the spines out of his shield and ran around the walls, trying to find a good place to seek shelter.
"You know Gobber, I'm starting to question whether your methods of teaching are safe!" Squealed Fishlegs.
His teacher ignored him.
"Just look for the Nadders blind spot. It has a very vulnerable one. See if yeh can find it and use it to yeh advantage."
The twins were running around the arena, through the passageways repeatedly, trying to find the dragon.
Suddenly they turned a corner and came face to face with it. Only the dragon didn't see them.
They had found the blind spot.
Tuffnut and Ruffnut stayed in front and a bit below the dragons head, where they discovered the dragon could not see them.
Ruffnut suddenly smelt something horrible, it seemed to be coming from her brother. Hiccup swore he could smell something a little foul too from where he stood at the other side of the arena.
"Oh, do you ever bathe?!" Ruffnut asked, disgusted.
"Where are you?! I can hear you!" Screeched the Nadder.
"If you don't like it, then why don't you just get your own blind spot?" Tuffnut shoved his sister away.
Fuming she came back pushed him back, resulting in yet another fight between them.
"How about I give you one?!" She threatened. All of a sudden, they turned at the sound of the dragon squawking in surprise.
"There you both are!"
They ran around the corner just before the dragon fired at them.
"Dragons may have a blind spot, but they don't have a deaf spot." Gobber chuckled.
Hiccup just walked around the arena, watching and listening to the others trying to outsmart it.
He walked around till he noticed Astrid and Snotlout creeping down, attempting to hide and perhaps launch a sneaky attack on the dragon.
"Come out come out wherever you are." Hiccup heard the dragon taunting nearby.
"Hiccup!" Astrid whispered. "Get down!" She had her fierce warrior look on her face that meant she was not to be trifled with at this time. She already looked angry and disappointed, as if Hiccup had already fallen short of her expectations.
"Yeah runt, get down!" Echoed in Snotlout.
Hiccup did as he was told, and crouched down.
Just then, Astrid rolled on her front passing a corridor. The dragon must be in there.
Snotlout followed swiftly, Hiccup however, turned around and went the opposite way.
"Where you going? Idiot!" he heard Astrid's whispered rage behind him as he got out of sight of the two teens.
Hiccup turned a few corners and made sure no one could see him due to the huge fences.
Then he came face to face with the Nadder suddenly. But the Nadder turned its head to look at him, so he wasn't in its blind spot.
The dragon didn't react, it just stared at him for a moment.
"Should I chase you to act natural? Or go for the others sir- I mean, Hiccup?" The dragon whispered.
"Chase me, I'll lead you to them." He replied.
Hiccup ran, and the dragon roared behind him before running after him.
He turned a corner and saw Astrid and Snotlout. Hiccup suddenly then took a sharp turn and the dragon didn't follow, it went after Astrid and Snotlout.
Hiccup heard Snotlout in the distance say, "Watch out babe I'll take care of this." Followed by an annoyed, "Hey!" By Astrid.
The Deadly Nadder chuckled, "Nice try."
"The sun was in my eyes Astrid!" So Snotlout missed. Hiccup thought.
Hiccup heard more chasing sounds and some words exchanged over the next minute or so, then suddenly the wall closest to him got rammed on the other side and the fence began to fall.
He bolted away from it, only to turn around and see Astrid jump from the top screaming, "HICCUP!" And landed on top of him.
"Ooohh, love on the battlefield…" Jeered Tuffnut from the sidelines. "I'm pretty sure she can and will do better than that filth." Added in Ruffnut.
Hiccup pushed her off with more force than he intended, but her axe was stuck in his shield and she had a solid grip on it. So she fell back onto him again.
She pushed herself off him, having released the axe and she made a grunt of disgust. Now standing, he pulled her axe out of the shield as Hiccup stood up too.
Suddenly huge footsteps were heard as Hiccup saw the Nadder running at them.
Hiccup turned around and bolted to the sidelines, just as Astrid swiftly brought her axe onto the side of the dragons face.
He heard it wince in pain, and it scurried away to the other side of the arena.
"Well done Astrid." Commented Gobber from above. Just as Hiccup dropped his axe to the ground.
The girl in question spun around to look at Hiccup.
"Why did you run away from the dragon?" She asked, looking very aggressive. Now approaching him and holding her axe tightly.
He didn't answer, till she got really close and he mumbled, "I wanted to let you get it."
"Is this some sort of joke to you? You don't run away from the enemy! You stand and fight. Our parents war is about to become our own, don't you realise soon you will have to confront dragons you pathetic boy?!" She thundered.
She then put her axe to Hiccups throat. "Figure out which side you're on! Instead you're running away and coming back all the time, only to run away again. Why don't you just run away for good?! You'd do the village a favour!"
"Don't speak like that to the Viking with Night's mark!" Roared the Deadly Nadder, who came charging over to them at once.
Gobber leapt through the arena's chains and tackled the dragon to the ground before anyone else could react. Then he took it back into its enclosure and shut the gate.
"That is enough out of yeh Astrid! I won't have yeh talking to my apprentice like that! What has he ever done to yeh?"
Astrid turned around and stormed off. Muttering under her breath.
"Now you've upset my girlfriend. You little piece of dragon dung!" Spat Snotlout at Hiccup, as he ran out of the arena after Astrid.
Fishlegs and the twins said nothing, and just casually walked out.
Gobber put his hand on Hiccups shoulder.
"Come with-"
"NO!" Cried Hiccup, tears leaking out of his eyes. "I think I've had enough of Vikings today!"
He ran out of the arena as fast as he could, but then suddenly he heard something behind him.
Gothi was there, she had tapped her staff on the ground hard which got his attention.
Hiccup, unsure but willing to give it a shot, walked over to her.
Gothi turned around and signalled him to follow.
He did so, and she headed up the hill, towards the forest. Hiccup looked around them, there was nobody in sight.
She entered the forest, and he still followed.
Hiccup checked his birthmark to see if it was glowing. It wasn't, yet.
Still Gothi kept walking, using her staff as a walking stick. Her grey hair billowing behind her. Then Hiccup saw it, through his sleeve his birthmark turned a dim blue.
Suddenly Gothi stopped, and turned around. He nearly walked into her.
Then she grabbed his right arm with surprising speed and strength, and pulled his sleeve back.
She stared at the dimly glowing dragon mark. But her face showed no sign of surprise, shock or otherwise. It remained completely plain and her expression unreadable.
"Uhhh…"
She looked up at him, and smiled.
"Hiccup, you shall travel far and wide. Find the other five, and together the six will unite over time. Go to Myrka country to start, there you will find two of them. Years may pass, but do not be dissuaded of your goal.
"Alliances shall be forged, and enemies will be found and created. Substantial changes may happen, and learning to adjust will endure. You will leave Berk, but do not forget it. Remember what I have said. I have limited time left, but I've told you what's necessary. Farewell."
At a loss of what to do or say, Hiccup just watched her walk around him, and back the way they came into Raven forest.
He stood still, trying to digest what he had just been told by an old woman who was to the village it seemed a mute. Then he heard frustrated voices in the distance and the sound of an axe hitting trees.
He followed the sound and saw from behind a tree, a young woman with bright golden hair running and throwing her axe onto the trees.
"You want some of this, Gronckle?" She pegged the axe and it smashed into a tree. Sending splinters flying.
She yanked it out, and, "How about you, Nadder?" And she threw it again.
"Or even you, Hiccup!" Astrid threw it once again and it smacked really hard into the tree.
Horrible, saddened thoughts returned to him, and he realised that they were all right.
What use am I to them? I just make things worse. What future do I have here?
Tears leaking from his eyes once again, he used his Night mark to find Toothless. He wanted his company.
He was in the cove once again, but this time he looked like he was trying to catch a fish. He was staring at the water with the utmost concentration, not moving a single inch. Then he suddenly lunged into the water, and came out with half a fish dangling out of his mouth.
"Well done."
Toothless snapped his head up and his ears plates rose and twisted as he turned to see Hiccup standing at the top, watching.
The Night Fury swallowed the fish and called out, "Thank you. You have no idea how long it took me to catch that one." His deep, booming voice reverberating around the cove's walls.
Hiccup ran and jumped off the five-metre cliff and landed on the ground on his feet perfectly.
Toothless approached, "What's the matter? You don't look so good." He rushed over, his ears raised right up, and a sorrowful look on his face.
Hiccup told him everything Gothi said, and what happened in the arena.
Then, he finished off with, "I want to leave Berk tonight."