The Prince of Dragons
Chapter 7: Nicknames
BERK
Rain began to drop from the sky, slowly at first but then faster than anything you can imagine. Hiccup and the other eight Hooligans miserably continued to psuh through the murky water. Gobber the Belch continued to yell at the young Vikings, but it was more of a somewhat gleeful yell than anything else.
"Even though that was a complete fiasco, it was not a total disaster; you are now on your first steps to becoming a Hooligan Warriors but remember only one of you will have the honor of being truly excepted into the tribe."
Everyone on the narrow Viking boat seemed too lit up a little with glee. All except for Hiccup, who was sideways glancing out to the open sea, he only heard every third word Gobber was saying. The Prince had done it, he had done what the blacksmith had wanted him to do, he went on this horrible dragon murdering quest, nearly got eaten alive by three-thousand dragons and was sitting in a boat with ten complete morons he didn't even like. Well except Fishlegs, he seemed like a nice enough guy. Everyone else, was a complete arse, especially that Snotlout guy and his little gang of miscreants. Hiccup was optimistic though; he could now at least work with the Blacksmith and begin to make a new tail for the Night Fury. Fishlegs gave a sharp nudge to Hiccup. Hiccup was a little confused, he was ready to call out him out on it, Fishlegs gave a subtle point in Gobber's direction.
"Now, bring a good sword or an ax tomorrow! Tomorrow we begin the second step of initiation, dragon training."
The Young Hooligans to be, eyes lit up with excitement, Hiccup only grew tense and balled his fists. This people really were arses, how would they like to be killed for sport. How would they like to be forced into a cage and treated like a monster? But the Prince kept his cool and tried to remain calm, that is until Snotlout leaned back and said smugly.
"Smart work back there, Useless, can't wait to see you on the battlefield."
"Useless?"
Hiccup asked annoyed.
"That's you're new nickname, The Useless New Guy, and the Worthless Fishlegs, you guys make quite a team…"
Hiccup wanted to say something, but then Gobber boomed.
"Silence! This is you're initiation not a pleasant day out in the country! Silence or you'll be eating lug worms for the rest of your lives!"
Everyone on the boat gagged, lug worms made limpets look like yak
jerky. When everyone was silent, Gobber the Belch continued more calming.
"But first, I presume you all have your dragons…"
Everyone nodded, including Hiccup. Gobber then clapped his hands together.
"Splendid! There are however four more aspects to your initiation, we'll dive into those latter. Now when we get back to Berk, we can begin the slow painful process of skinning them alive and then baking their insides."
Hiccup gave a morbid look, a look more morbid then the one he gave during the talk about the lug-worms. The rest of the Hooligans were curious, none of them never had dragon. Most of them thought it tasted kinda like chicken. The young Hooligans joy turned to dismay as Gobber then said.
"Right, so who among you is going to cook the dragons?"
Everyone groaned, especially Tuffnut. Cooking took time and effort, and most Young Vikings, only put most of their effort into killing various things.
"Cooking's a girl's job. Get some girl to do it."
Ruffnut smiled nastily.
"I nominate Tuffnut."
"Yeah! Wait what?"
Tuffnut said confused. There was a lighthearted chuckle at Tuffnut's expense as Hiccup stood a crossroads at what to do. He could just let those dragons die horribly and not raise any suspicion. Or he could do something stupid and risky. Hiccup took a deep breathe in, stood up and said.
"I'll do it."
All eyes turned to Hiccup once again. He could tell what they were thinking; the guy who beat up Dogsbreath and Snotlout wants to cook? The Prince awkwardly scratched the back of his head and smiled.
"Yeah, ya know, I mean, there's not enough bread making Vikings out there, or small home repair Vikings. I mean come on; sometimes ya gotta set back and take one for the team I guess."
Gobber nodded solemnly.
"I guess it would make up for your fiasco in the Caves. You got the job boyo."
Hiccup smiled again awkwardly before sitting back down, he then went back to rowing with Fishlegs. It was a poor excuse 'not enough bread-making Vikings', but the prince couldn't let any dragons die on his watch. After a few long hours of drifting and rowing, the band of Hooligans eventually made it back to the remote isle of Berk. By the
time the young Vikings made it back to Berk, they were soaked to the bone by the constant slow by relentless rain. They docked over in Hooligan Harbor, which like the Great Hall was a quiet and vacant. Gobber still had said one final thing as he slowly walked of the long boat.
"Now remember, you can all officially call yourselves members of the tribe after you pass initiation. You'll be able to serve on the front lines in war, kill dragons and do what Viking Heroes have always done since anyone can remember. Just try not to screw it up, another fiasco like that and I'll have to change me skives."
Gobber then faced the young Hooligans as they began to hurriedly rush off the long-boat, they tried to look like proper Hooligans. All except for Hiccup who still was starring off into space, wishing he was somewhere else. Before Hiccup could finally leave this Nightmare, Gobber did the complicated Hooligan salute and shouted.
"Heroes or Exiles?!"
"HEROES OR EXILES!?"
Yelled ten boys and girls fanatically back to the blacksmith. Everyone then dispersed, and the young Hooligans began to make their way back to the village of Berk. Hiccup was still starring off into space, he didn't seem to have noticed that everyone else had already begun to make their way back to the Hooligan Village. Gobber hung back to pat Hiccup on the back, confused Hiccup asked.
"What is it?"
"Don't take me for a fool boy, I saw the way Fishlegs was sweating up a storm like Thor in a Hurricane…why'd ya cover for him."
Hiccup sighed for a moment.
"Because no one else would, alright…please don't punish Fishlegs, that guy has enough problems as it is."
The Prince said with honesty in his eyes, Fishlegs was probably the only one out of the group of Hooligan misfits that he could stand and like to an extent, come to think of it Fishlegs was his first human friend. Gobber only smiled, his slack jaw showing.
"Punish?! No, ya have me wrong be, I'm here to congratulate you…"
"I, wait? What?"
Hiccup said confused.
"It takes guts to take the blame for another person, and to be honest, I can't stand most of the arse's I call students. Except for Fishlegs and by extension you."
Hiccup smiled a bit.
"Thanks, that's really kind, so is there still a spot for open for a Blacksmith's Apprentice?"
Gobber chuckled a bit as he patted Hiccup on the back with his good hand again.
"Come by tomorrow, today's not good, I gotta plan tomorrow's lessons! Also, you need to cook up some nice hefty dragon meat."
Gobber said with a laugh, Hiccup put on a false grin. Never had his heart constantly rose and fall in the span of two minutes. The Blacksmith was indeed a peculiar person. Gobber the Belch eventually stumbled off as Hiccup slowly collected his thoughts. He sat down on the wooden harbor and removed the basket from his back that held a scared tiny dragon. Hiccup had thought that the dragon nesting inside the basket had died, for it had not moved in who knows how long. The Prince peered inside, he couldn't get a good look at the dragon, but he could clearly see that some sort of dragons was slowly breathing. It appeared to be in a sleep coma, dragons can hibernate for extended periods of time, some even hundreds of years. Hiccup had thought about letting the poor creature out of its basket imprisonment into the real world. Better the dragon dies miles away trying to return home then get eaten alive by bloodthirsty savages. The Prince thought it over and against his better judgment; he decided to keep the little dragon, as not to raise any suspicion. He then began to walk back over to Hooligan Village; the Prince had the fortune to run into Fishlegs who was sitting miserably by Hooligan Harbor, looking over his basket, a guilty look on his face. Fishlegs murmured to himself.
"I hate being a Viking…"
Hiccup walked up to Fishlegs and sat down next to him. It had become a bit difficult seeing how what started as a mere drizzle had turned to horizontal driving rain that had the strength of one of the gale force winds. The Prince then asked.
"What's the matter Fishlegs?"
"What, after a narrow escape from horrible death first thing this morning? Or maybe the limpet rations for the few weeks or so."
Complained Fishlegs.
"Followed by complete rejection by the junior half of the tribe, nobodies gonna even side-ways glance at me for years after this, except for you, but then again, you're just a weirdo like me."
Hiccup only smiled and laughed.
"Being normal is overrated; besides Fishlegs weirdoes like us are what make life exciting. Would you rather be a normal person like the rest of those Snot eating morons? Or would ya rather be a weirdo, who's different and unique." Fishlegs smiled for only a split second, he then looked over to his basket, and he frowned again. He then reached for his basket and handed it over to Hiccup, as the dragon inside plunged wildly, attempting to get out. Puzzled, Hiccup asked. "What's this for?"
"You can have this dragon back if ya like Hiccup, I warn ya, there feisty little creatures when there wet and cross…"Fishlegs said miserable, he rambled on."Gobber's gonna go off like a typhoon when he finds out you don't have a dragon…"
Hiccup smiled and took the basket out of Fishlegs's hands and placed it back on the ground next to him.
"But I have got one."
The Prince said, Fishlegs stopped as he didn't seem to fully understand the situation.
"I know it is yours really."
Fishlegs said with a weary sigh.
"I think I'll find myself a boat and just sail off until I reach some place civilized, Rome perhaps. I've always wanted to go to Rome, and I haven't got a hope in Valhalla of passing initiation anyway-"
"Rome's overrated, besides the food's horrible."
Hiccup interrupted trying to lighten the mode; also, he knew from experience but that's another story for another time. Anyway, the Prince then got straight to the point.
"No, you don't understand, I gotta another one in my basket."
Hiccup insisted as he then went for the basket and placed it in Fishlegs's hands. Meanwhile, Fishlegs's jaw dropped.
"How?"
"I got it when I went back into the tunnel."
Hiccup explained.
"Well blister my barnacles, you're really lucky, so what kind is it?"
Fishlegs asked curiously, he had always had a fascination with dragons. That was probably the only thing Fishlegs had over the other recruits, he knew what stats and abilities each dragon had.
"A Monstrous Nightmare…No, no wait a Timberjack…No, No wait, wait…a Nadder."
Hiccup pulled his basket right behind his back, he rolled his eyes.
"Probably just a Terrible Terror or a Commoner Garden, besides who cares?"
The Prince said as he began to walk away slowly, Fishlegs quickly pulled his basket over his shoulders and followed Hiccup. He began to make an argument about how a dragon determines your status here on Berk. The Prince was only half listening, his mind was elsewhere. Hiccup needed to pay the Night Fury a visit sometime. He could only imagine what that dragon was going through. Also, he had begun to reconsider risking his life to get Fishlegs a dragon, Hiccup needed to maintain a low profile; he didn't want to go around making friends. But then again, he did like a Fishlegs, he was a nice guy. On the other hand, this may turn out better in the long run. Who would think that, The Prince of Dragons, would be posing as a Viking Warrior, no one possibly could, and nobody seemed to be suspecting a thing. So, on the whole, Hiccup was fairly pleased with himself. Things where looking up. That is until he came across the other Hooligans to be. The rest of the Hooligans where littered around the town entrance, examining each other's dragons. Judging one another, based on what dragon they caught. Hiccup sighed; he really didn't want to deal with Snotlout. He had attempted to sneak by the group, but Snotlout had stopped him.
"Let's see what pathetic creature the Useless has got."
"Maybe it'll be a bread making dragon!"
Yelled Wartihog from a far, the rest of Snotlout's gang laughed cruelly. Snotlout then yanked the basket from Hiccup's back and pulled off the lid. What happened next, nobody could of saw coming. Snotlout let the basket drop to the ground. His face in abject horror, everyone then gathered around to see a Whispering Death, curled up in a tiny spiky ball. Its spiked body carefully breathing short fast breathes. Everyone backed away from the vicious looking dragon, except for Hiccup. Hiccup looked at his hands; he was wondering how he hadn't had a thousand tiny puncture wounds littered across his hands after picking it up practically blind in the darkness of the Caliban Caves. The Prince went to go collect the basket, carefully not to disturb the Whispering Death's sleep.
"What's wrong with you all? You look like you guys have seen the face of Hel herself."
The Prince wasn't terrified more fascinated by the little prickly dragon, he had never seen a Whispering Death before. Whispering Death's were large brute like dragons that didn't get along with anyone, dragon and human alike. Often the Dragons in the Caves would tell Hiccup stories about how a herd of them once sunk a whole island in one afternoon. The Night Fury often scoffed at these stories about Whispering Deaths, he wasn't too fond of the creatures, nobody really knew the reason why. Hiccup looked around to see everyone spaced far away from him, Fishlegs hiding behind a barrel said.
"Whispering Deaths are a death omen. Anyone who catches, or even sees one will die soon."
Again, Hiccup rolled his eyes.
"Oi you're all bloody mad! Superstitious nonsense, it's asleep and a baby nonetheless. You're all gonna let a Whispering Death, not a month old scare the pants off you guys?"
Hiccup said as he departed, nobody looked at him in the same light as before. Some of them looked at him as if he was a dead man. Hiccup was pleased with this terrified looks, it reminded him of a few nights ago, when these same people were looking on in abject horror at the Prince of Dragons. He always relished in the fear. He turned around for a second to face the still cowering Hooligans.
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot, try to leave your dragons at Old Wrinkly's place, I'll make you some dragon mutton."
Hiccup said before finally waving goodbye. Everyone there was stunned. Ruffnut spoke what everyone else was thinking.
"He's brave..."
Astrid scoffed.
"Or just incredibly stupid..."
The Prince smiled, despite everything, this was looking to be a fine day. Hiccup then returned to Old Wrinkly's hut, Mulch and Bucket where working to repair Old Wrinkly's door.
"Does this the door frame go here Mulch?!"
"That's a corkscrew! I'm holding the door frame! Get over here and help me!"
Bucket and Mulch were up to their usual shenanigans as Old Wrinkly watched from afar. Old Wrinkly was sitting inside his cluttered little hut, drinking some tea while he poked at a fire with his poking stick. When Hiccup returned the old man asked.
"How did it go boy?"
"Went well, got a dragon…as well as fear, respect and a friend."
Old Wrinkly nodded and laughed a bit, as he sipped his tea.
"What kind of dragon did ya get?"
"Whispering Death." Hiccup replied, awaiting the response.
Old Wrinkly nearly choked on his caramel tea, Bucket and Mulch would have fainted, if they had heard what Hiccup had said. Hiccup rolled his eyes.
"Oh, come on, not you to Old Wrinkly. Grant it a dragon that looks horrify, but no matter how hideous a dragon is it doesn't mean death."
Hiccup said as he took off his basket and placed it by the fire. He then sat down and began to fiddle with some of the stuff on Old Wrinkly's filthy table top. Old Wrinkly took a moment to collect him, he then whispered.
"Oh…Odin no, I don't believe that moronic folklore, it's a dragon, no deadlier than the sea or the wind. Nor any more vile and repugnant then fire. If you agitate it then yes, the sea will sallow you whole and the fire will consume you till there's nothing but ash. Same goes for a dragon. I'm just shocked you got one; most of the youth go for either the plug ugliest of the dragon world or the most beautiful. The Whispering Death is somewhere in between, if anything that dragon should be more related to someone without a way in life."
The Prince nodded in agreement, he had never really thought of dragons like that, let alone the Whispering Death. Old Wrinkly went on.
"The Whispering Death, tunneling all around with direction in life, hoping to find some meaning, but sometimes, it never does…"
Hiccup thought it over for a moment. In a weird way, he was like a Whispering Death; he never met his parents and tried constantly to seek the approval of the other dragons in his pack. Even though he had their respect and even though he was seen as one of their own, he was just empty inside. Like a Whispering Death trying to find his way through the rough land underneath everyone's feet. Old Wrinkly blew out smoke rings from a beautifully decorated pipe he had pulled out from under his tunic. Hiccup grabbed the poking stick from Old Wrinkly's hands and began to the poke the fire, after what Old Wrinkly said, neither of them spoke for a while. After Bucket and Mulch finished repairing Old Wrinkly's door Hiccup said.
"What does that make me?"
"What?"
"Everyone has a specific rank around here for killing dragons, eating e'm catching e'm? What does that make me?"
Old Wrinkly took a long time to think about it. He then chuckled in a wheezy way over his pipe. The Prince looked at him approach fully. Old Wrinkly hurriedly turned the laugh into a cough.
"I don't know, someone interesting…. umm…unique…"
"A weirdo." Hiccup said with a chuckle, he then looked at the tiny little dragon trapped inside of the basket.
"You wouldn't believe how small those things are, I always thought Whispering Deaths grew to be a hundred feet long."
Old Wrinkly blew out some more smoke rings.
"They can be…but size is all relative, Nadder's, Gronckle's, even Monstrous Nightmares and Whispering Deaths are all super insignificant compared to a real Sea Dragon."
Hiccup sat back up in his chair, his attention fully grasped.
"What you mean like a Scauldron?"
Old Wrinkly shock his head dismissively.
"No, a real Sea Dragon, a real sea dragon is fifty times as big as even the largest Whispering Death. A real Sea Dragon can swallow ten Viking ships with one gulp and not even notice. A real Sea Dragon is a cruel careless mystery, like the mighty ocean itself. One minute, calm as a scallop, the next raging like an octopus."
Hiccup was reminded of the Red Death or some sort of Alpha. He didn't say anything about his life as the Prince though. The Prince then got up.
"Well, Old Wrinkly, I have a friend to go check on. I'll be home for supper."
Old Wrinkly waved goodbye as Hiccup walked out the new built door, he opened it slightly, only to have the door nearly crash down on top of him. Hiccup jumped away out of shear panic. Old Wrinkly sighed and shock his head annoyed.
"Looks like those two sea-weed brains are gonna have to come back tomorrow and fix that door again it's a shame, it looked quite nice." Old Wrinkly mused.
Hiccup after, getting over his quick jump scare made his through the destroyed remains of the door he began to make his way back into the dense forest and to the cove. There was hardly anyone outside, on such a dreary rainy day. There were a few stragglers here and there getting food and supplies for the upcoming brutal winter. Hiccup as naturally as he could go back to the tiny hut where all the fish where held and secured a basket full of mackerel. He made sure, to check for any eels. Dragons had a natural fear of eels, Hiccup never asked why, mostly because whether an eel was mentioned by the pack it would usually end with the death of a dragon after it was unable to control its fire. So Hiccup had often steered away from conversations about eels. After Hiccup made sure the basket had no eels, he began to make his way to the cove. The Prince had a lot on his mind, so he wasn't exactly paying much attention to where he was going. He needed to figure out how to make a prosthetic tail for the Night Fury, and cooking a meal of unsuspecting dragons (which he didn't want to do obviously) and do all of this without being caught or having anyone figure out who he is. While thinking about all of this, The Prince failed to notice a woman with short brain hair and bright emerald eyes emerge from one of the huts. As he was walking, the Prince accidentally walked into a woman carrying a box of chopped up vegetables. They both fell to the ground; the woman's vegetables fell all over the ground. Hiccup went up to the lone woman, he helped her up.
"I'm so sorry miss; I wasn't paying attention..."
Hiccup said as helped the woman to her feet; she too seemed a bit stunned by the whole situation. Instantly Hiccup helped the woman up and he quickly began to pick up the woman's vegetables. In a quick haste, he handed them to her. The Prince then looked into her eyes, her bright green eyes. He then awkwardly handed the woman her vegetables.
"Here miss…sorry about that." Hiccup replied.
The woman only chuckled trying to lighten the mood.
"It's fine, I suppose." The woman replied, as she grappled with the vegetables in her hands.
Hiccup oddly enough felt a weird sense of belong next to this woman, like he knew this woman. The Prince was pretty sure he had never threatened her before on a dragon raid, so who was this person.
"So…miss." Hiccup asked awkwardly.
"Oh, where are my manners, my name is Valka." The older woman said with grace.
Hiccup then realized who this was, he smiled softly.
"Yes, Old Wrinkly told me about you." Hiccup exclaimed with claim.
Valka bit her lip.
"Oh, you've met my father…" Valka said uneasily.
Hiccup only smiled again.
"Met him? He's the nicest guy around!" Hiccup said with odd enthusiasm.
Valka gave Hiccup a peculiar glance, most kids around Hiccup's age would probably run away from Old Wrinkly after he used his amazing 'Soothsaying' abilities. Most of which involved the exact day and year you would die. The Prince went on.
"He's great; the guy fixed me up and then took me in."
Valka remembered this boy from the incident the other day. Though there was something oddly familiar about this boy. What was it about this familiar looking boy.
"Well I best be off, I got someplace to be." Hiccup said before he dashed of, the basket full of fish bouncing like a bashi-ball on his back. Valka only stood there and watched Hiccup run off stunned and confused by the whole events that just transpire. Who was that boy?