Chapter 8 - Dyflin:
Now in the early morning, Hiccup was still atop of Toothless. They were flying across the sea. It was still raging below them, but the wind had dropped a fair amount, which seemed to make flying easier.
The sky was a clear, crystal blue. A stunning reflection was present in the wild ocean below. There were some clouds ahead, but not thick or dark ones, just some thin wispy clouds which would cover the sunlight from reaching sea level.
Toothless seemed to be flying at the same height of the oncoming clouds, so hopefully it will conceal them from the ground below if they went a little higher.
The air certainly was tough up here. Being rather hard to breathe sometimes. But due to the sheer speed of the Night's flight, the wind seemed to suffice for enough air to breathe properly.
Hiccup was wondering what Astrid and Gobber would be thinking right about now back on Berk. Surely they would have read his notes by now. He was pretty sure, if not certain Astrid wouldn't give a damn of what he had written.
Gobber on the other hand Hiccup thought might be upset a little. He was sure the blacksmith enjoyed his company sometimes, and he was certain it was vice versa.
He was curious if his father had made it back from the search for the dragons nest yet. He wasn't sure at all, even if he had survived. Being curious as he was, he thought how his dad would react to the note.
He certainly wouldn't be happy. Hiccup thought. He'd be disappointed, but I wonder if he'd go looking for me.
Probably not. But he could easily send out word for my capture to other Viking tribes and trading routes.
On that thought Hiccup thought a bit more cautiously. As he started passing through the clouds on Toothless's back, he realised he may have to have a different identity.
There was no way he would change his first name. He has grown rather fond of it, but he thought he probably should have a different last name.
He was pretty sure Haddock would probably be at least known by some other Viking tribes out there, due to it being in Berks history of chieftains for a substantial length of time.
Thinking that he'll think about that later, he pulled out Gothi's compass and checked that they were still heading west. He noticed once again before seeing the compass, and often enjoyed looking at it, his Night mark glowing purple. He often would pull down his sleeve just for the sake of looking at it.
According to the compass, they had a current course of southwest.
He pulled a little on the straps of the saddle in the correct direction, and Toothless obliged and corrected the course till they were flying a direct west.
Once done he put his compass back into his pocket and stared out at the clouds below him.
He loved this. The remarkable sense of freedom up here in the sky. Barely even feeling the cold, he just felt free. Like he had the world at his fingertips.
He felt like he could touch any part of the world at any time he wanted to, he could reach out and explore. It was an exhilarating feeling. Also a comfortable saddle helps too.
"You okay? You haven't talked in a while." Spoke the dragon below Hiccup. Sounding curious, but not wanting to disturb him sort of tone.
"Yeah. Just enjoying the ride. By the way, anytime if you're hungry, tired or anything, we'll find a place to stop so you can rest your wings and I can stretch." Hiccup replied, patting the Night fondly on his neck.
"Sure. I will, thanks." He replied, not losing his concentration once whilst talking and flying at the same time.
"I wonder how far this Myrka is…" The dragon thought out aloud.
"Quite a distance, apparently. Gothi said we wouldn't be reaching the place for a while. I hope it's not that far."
Toothless snorted.
"It doesn't matter how far. We Night's can fly for ages. I mean like several days without stopping. As long as we get food, rest and water, we'll be there in no time." He assured.
"Well," Hiccup gave the dragon a little scratch behind the ears, earning a deep purr, "let's hope so bud."
They flew on, and on. Clouds appeared and disappeared, winds gusted and relented. With Hiccup checking his compass every so often and keeping to the correct course.
It had to be nearly midday by now at least, Hiccup thought. Looking up at the sun, he then lent over to look under Toothless to see the thin wispy clouds below.
"Okay, maybe time to go below the clouds and dip down a little. Let's find an island to rest, stretch and get some lunch. Would you like to?" Hiccup asked, already stretching his arms upwards towards the heavens and making a stretching groan.
"Sure."
Toothless ducked a little, aiming further downwards. Gravity began to pull Hiccup forward slightly, and he adjusted himself to get comfortable.
They went through the clouds, only to be greeted by the sight of ocean once again.
"Sea. In all directions." Hiccup noted, glancing around himself in 360 degrees.
"Well, we may not be stopping anytime soon." Muttered the Night.
Making a noise of impatience, Hiccup pulled his compass out of his pocket once again, as if it was a map directing him to the nearest island.
Still, they were heading a direct west.
"I hope we haven't gone past it." Hiccup worried, consciously turning around to double check to see if there was some island that somehow managed to escape his vision.
"Doubt it." Toothless affirmed.
Several more minutes passed, further and further they descended till they were almost parallel with the water below.
"Hiccup, I think I see something."
Hiccup squinted to where Toothless was looking, he lay down frontwards and he could see it too. Quite far, at a fair distance away, was an island.
"Great." Hiccup sighed in relief, "finally somewhere to rest for the day and get some food." He leaned back again and sat up.
The island appeared to be rather small, at least from this distance, and certainly not as high as Berk and its surrounding sea stacks. It didn't appear to have any high mountains. But as they got closer, with their superb vision, they could see from the side they were coming from at least, it seemed to be lush green.
Green is good. That means possible fruits, and maybe even animals.
It seemed to take forever to get there.
It was like watching a boat slowly sailing from the horizon towards Berk, Hiccup remembered once when Berk's fleet were returning from a dragon nest hunt. It took many, many hours before he could actually notice the boats getting closer.
Though the speed is of course greatly different. Toothless is going far faster than any boat could go.
At last the island seemed to be getting larger over a few minutes.
"Hiccup, when we get there, it would be wise to search the area for any Vikings and threats. After that I'll find us some fish," said Toothless.
"Good idea bud."
Finally, the island was very close. Its appearance consisted of relatively dense forest on the area that they were arriving on. It had a rocky, steep shore. Leading up a quite high cliff to where the forest began.
As far as they could see of the shore, it was rocky and steep. The waves of the coast pounding the cliff faces, slowly eroding the rock away.
The trees were tall, their trunks were thin, and the canopy was high. Hiccup had never seen such high, long trees in his life. They were at least twice as high as Berks.
The forest was a bright, vibrant emerald green. The canopy and scrub all seemed to blend in with each other.
At last, Toothless landed. Just several metres away from the cliff and into the forest.
Hiccup jumped off, placed the basket down off his back and stretched his arms, legs and most of his body.
"Ohhhhh, its good to be on solid ground." Spoke Hiccup, cheerfully. After sitting all night and all morning, he could finally walk. He noticed his birthmark once again turn blue as soon as he dismounted. He covered it with his sleeve.
The Night rolled his eyes, "Oh come on, it was only for-"
"DRRAAGON!"
Toothless was interrupted by a loud, terrified boyish shriek from what appeared to be person in the bush nearby, then a rustle of bushes and the sound of running footsteps.
Hiccup picked up his basket, hooked it around his back before sprinting into the forest after the boy, Toothless roaring behind him on his heels. His ears flat against his neck, teeth baring and growling.
With his speed and stamina increased, Hiccup easily outran the boy and when he finally reached him, he yelled, "Look its okay! We're not going to hurt you!"
The boy turned away, now screaming in fear, and then tripped over an uprooted tree root.
Hiccup approached him and seized him on the ground before he could ran away again.
"HELP! MUM! ANYONE! THERE'S A DRAGON!" He screamed.
"Its okay its okay! We're not going to hurt you! I'm sorry I'm sorry!" Hiccup tried to calm the little boy down, but the boy kept wriggling and struggling, he also kept glancing up to look at Toothless.
"Toothless, you want to back down! The boy is terrified go back a few steps!" Hiccup yelled over all the noise.
"Okay." Toothless ceased the aggressive stance, stopped snarling and took several steps back.
The boy suddenly stopped and looked at Hiccup still scared but more of a confused expression. He turned and looked at the Night Fury who was looking rather curious now, his ears raised and head tilted.
"How- wha-, how d-did you…" He stammered.
Hiccup took note of his features now. His hair was a short, very dark brown, nearly black and rather spikey. His eyes were hazel, a mixture of green and blue. A short, stubby nose with jet black eye brows. His clothes were brown, but he had a green belt. And by the size of his boots he had small feet. His physique was rather slim, with thin arms and legs but they were long, so he appeared rather tall.
Hiccup would have guessed he looked slightly similar in build to a younger version of himself.
Suddenly Toothless's ear plates rose up vertically and began twitching. He looked towards some nearby bushes. Hiccup could hear it too. It was the sound of approaching, running footsteps.
"Toothless hide! I'll call you if I need you! Don't be seen!" Hiccup whispered, trying to usher him away from the scene.
Hiccup heard Toothless obey and run into the bushes and take off. Hiccup quickly double checked his glowing blue birthmark to see if it was covered by his sleeve and could not be seen.
Just that second many Vikings suddenly burst through the dense scrub nearby, brandishing spears, swords and axes. Pointing them threateningly at Hiccup.
"Vhat's going on 'ere?!" Demanded one of them, a man, the largest one holding a sword.
"Polk!" Yelled another one of the four Vikings, who was a woman. She was looking at the boy, and then she turned and looked at Hiccup with a fierce glare. "What are you doing with my son?!"
Before Hiccup could even respond, he had forgotten he was still holding the boy captive on the ground. He released him immediately and stood up. And the boy went running back to who appeared to be his mother.
"W'o are ye'? Vhy vere ye' attacking ze boy?!" The largest one demanded again, gripping his sword very tightly, steadily approaching, as were the others around him except for the woman and her boy.
"I'm sorry, I frightened him. I didn't mean to. I didn't want to attract attenti-"
"Vell ya bloody vell did!" The same man bellowed. "Explain ye'self or ve'll-"
"All right! My name is Hiccup. I…. stumbled upon your island looking…. for food. My home was destroyed. And I…didn't know where…to go. I'm sorry." That was the best he thought he could come up with, Hiccup knew he'd call for Toothless soon if this didn't work.
"I don't want any trouble. I promise I mean no harm. I just climbed up the cliff and ran into the boy-"
"No he didn't! HE WAS ON A DRAGON! He spoke to it. I saw him!" Shouted the little boy, pointing a finger at Hiccup.
The woman suddenly kneeled down and placed her hands on the boys shoulders. She looked him right in the eye. "Riding a dragon? That's impossible Polk-"
"No it isn't!" Screeched the boy at his mother. A desperate look on his face. "I saw him! He's lying!"
"Okay okay I was lying. Yes, I was riding a dragon." Hiccup admitted. He knew that wouldn't go down well.
And he was right. All the Vikings apart from the boy and his mother burst into laughter.
"Listen, boy. I vouldn't believe ya even if ya shouted it to me face." The larger one said again, between laughing. "Now, vhat are you really 'ere for?"
"Yeah, tell us now." Spoke another Viking.
"Fine. Okay, how about we all lay down our weapons. Including me, and I'll show you that I can ride a dragon."
Hiccup knew it was risky idea, but he just might be able to pull it off in his opinion.
"All right." The largest one said, nodding. "Just for fun, ve'll put our veapons down. Eh guys? Just for a moment. 'e can't outrun us!" He said, with a rather amused and smug expression.
Surprisingly, all the Vikings then lay down their weapons.
Hiccup smiled and unhooked his sheathed sword from his belt and threw it into the distance.
The Vikings were a little surprised, some of them giving a questioning glance or two. He had just thrown away his only weapon for defence.
Then Hiccup took off the basket he had around his back, and whistled into the sky.
Immediately, to all the Vikings horror, Toothless burst through the canopy above and landed hard into the ground, right beside Hiccup who didn't flinch.
Hiccup hopped onto him and sat in the saddle.
Toothless bared his teeth and gave a little roar at them, then stopped and watched the Vikings.
"Is that a… saddle?" Murmured the woman clutching the boy.
"Yes." Hiccup replied.
Suddenly all the Vikings picked up their weapons in terror. And began to advance.
"DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" Toothless roared and snarled at them, also spitting a ball of savage purple flame up into the sky as a warning. Baring his teeth, his ears flat and his body in a pounce charged position.
The Vikings retreated and two of them fell backwards. Their spiked helmets falling off their heads.
"See? I told you. And he is saying don't come any closer." Hiccup warned, with the slightest smile. "As I said, I promise you we mean no harm. We are only defensive. We won't attack you."
Hiccup jumped off him once again, walked over to where he threw his sword and picked it up. He buckled it back to his belt and walked back over to the Night. He also brought the basket back around his back.
"You-'ow, vhat… 'ow is zat beast not attacking ye'?" Stammered the largest Viking. Not moving an inch or taking his eyes off Toothless.
Hiccup was suddenly at a loss of what to say. He realised that the only reason dragons hadn't hurt him was because he has the Night's mark on his wrist.
What he wanted to do was to be able to train dragons not to attack Vikings.
When he was in the arena, the dragon spotted his mark and thus didn't attack him.
He now knew what he had to do. He had to confront a wild dragon, make sure it doesn't know he has the Night's mark, and try to train it. Without Toothless's help.
He was pretty sure he could do it. He had a few tricks and ideas up his sleeve, theoretically speaking.
"Oi! Ve don't like to be kept vaiting! Answer me!" Shouted the Viking again.
Hiccup brought himself back to the current situation.
"Right. Okay, do you have any dragons like in cages, that you keep or anything here? Like to use for training or something?" Hiccup asked, in a very casual tone as if asking him if he had been fishing lately.
Toothless turned and looked at Hiccup, curious.
"Aye, got a few. Why?" Asked one of the other Vikings.
"I'll show you. I'll try and train them."
The large Viking looked at Hiccup as if he had gone insane.
"Dragons can't be trained." He said, though he sounded not entirely convinced.
Hiccup scoffed, "Then how would you explain this?" He walked over and stood next to Toothless. He gave him a light scratch under his chin, and the reaction was instantaneous.
Toothless closed his eyes and leaned into the touch, evidently in bliss. His ears flattened against his head as he pushed his head further towards Hiccup.
Stunned, and lowering their weapons, the Vikings awed. Staring shocked and mesmerised.
The largest Viking again stepped forward and lowered his sword. Hiccup ceased scratching the Night, as he and Toothless turned to face the Viking once again.
"All right. I accept. I'll lead you to the cages. But be varned, if zis is a plot, or if ye' or ze dragon attacks one of our villagers, ve vill not 'esitate to retaliate."
He held out his hand. "Are ve clear, 'iccup?" His other hand held the sword, but it was lowered.
Hiccup walked forward and shook the mans hand. "Yes I understand."
"Good." He spoke, smiling. He sheathed his sword, and the other Vikings sheathed theirs or lowered them. "Follow me. Men, tell ze village vhat 'as 'appened and make sure zat zey do not attack any of us!" He ordered the other Vikings.
At once, all the Vikings including the boy and his mother walked rather quickly back towards where they came from. And the largest man turned and walked too.
Hiccup began to follow, and Toothless walked alongside him.
"You sure this is a good idea?" Whispered Toothless next to him.
Hiccup nodded. "Positive. Alliances and friends with other tribes would be a fantastic asset to us. Even better if we could manage to convince them to have peace with the dragons."
Toothless said nothing, but Hiccup saw him nodding to himself out of the corner of his eye.
As they followed the Vikings through the dense bushland, the largest Viking slowed down a little and walked next to Hiccup.
"Vhats in ze basket?" He asked, curious.
"Just some clothes." Hiccup replied honestly.
"Ye' on a trip or somet'ing?"
"Something along those lines." Replied Hiccup politely.
"I t'ink ve s'ould introduce ourselves." He said. Clearing his throat. Hiccup noticed the man had a long, dark brown beard. That seemed to sway with each step he took. His eyes were a bright hazel and his hair was a light brown.
He had an elongated face, rather oval shaped to accompany his large, somewhat pointy nose. He was about the same size as Gobber, as far as Hiccup could judge.
"I am Asan, C'ief and Leader of Dyflin. And vhere are ye' from? And vhats ye' full name?"
Hiccup cleared his throat too and thought rather fast. As his heart beat quickened with the more steps he took. He could hear Toothless walking rather closely to him too, evidently nervous for what he was going to say.
Unsure what to do, he couldn't think of any random Viking town. Nor a Viking name that could replace his own.
"I'm Hiccup, just Hiccup. I am from….."
He paused; he knew he couldn't think of a random name. Plus he didn't want to lie or tell the truth, but he had to choose one.
"Berk."
Oh no. I said it. Now he is going to know where I'm from. I shouldn't have said that!
Asan, the chief of Dyflin, raised his eyebrows.
Oh no.