Last Updated: Jul 31
It's Aug. 14.
Not too bad for me, I guess.
This is a calmer chapter than the past few, but I think that's appropriate. The boys could go for a 3000 word long break.
R & R & Enjoy!
Toothless
Well, after last night's fiasco, I was surprised to realize that I'd managed to fall asleep. The morning sunlight shimmied into my cave and pressed against my eyelids. As I slowly drifted into consciousness I could feel the burn of my pounding headache and my aching muscles. Hm. Maybe I'd needed the rest more than I'd realized.
I stretched my aching tendons and let out a jaw cracking yawn. I was trying to rub some life back into my face when I suddenly heard a series of weird noises. It sounded like…chittering?
Curious, I crouched low and let my ears flick from one direction to another until I could detect that sound again. When I finally found another round of mouse-like squeaking going off, I became confused. My cave wasn't unfamiliar with rodents per se, but I've never had a nest of them.
I sniffed around, suddenly picking up five different scents. Funny. I hadn't caught a whiff of them last night.
I cocked my head, and my brow furrowed.
This cave was not big enough to hide a cluster of vermin without me finding it.
I noticed the tiny nest-like stack hidden in the darker reaches of the cave. I crept toward it as the squeaking hushed down. I paused for several seconds before finally ripping away the stack with my teeth. The pile splattered apart in chunks of mud, straw, and a miscellanea of other decaying vegetation, but I didn't really notice. I was a little too busy locking eyes with five baby dragons. A Nadder, a Zippleback, a Gronckle, and two Terrible Terrors blinked their infant eyes at me. Some cocked their heads curiously while others were stock still. There was a pause. Then I groaned and buried my face in my paws.
Oh no. This was way worse.
Hiccup
"Gobber!" I whined. "Seriously, I don't need an escort."
Gobber scoffed as he walked me to the house. "Aye, an' I still 'ave both my hands intact."
We walked through the village during the height of our repair period. Children were chasing after loose livestock while adults were fixing roofs, trading supplies, and hauling humongous bundles of lumber on their shoulders. I ducked under a man who hadn't noticed me as he swung his stack up to his friend on the nearby ladder.
The entire village still had that lingering stench of burnt flesh and ashes, and we still had a few corpses lying around. Dragons, dead livestock, and…others too. I wrinkled my nose in disgust.
Once Gobber and I arrived at the house, I leaned against the doorframe and crossed my arms. "Why does Mom have to blow this out of proportions?" I grumbled.
"Ah she's just do'n her job. An' can ye blame her?"
"I guess not."
My poor mother had apparently freaked out when she spotted Dragon carrying me off. That was about the time everyone started throwing stuff at Dragon and me. By the time we were out of sight, Mom had tried to chase after us, but Gobber had stopped her in time. The raid was far from over, and she'd still been needed to lead as Dad's substitute.
When I finally came back, smelling like soot and my hands covered in some of Toothless's blood, Mom had been in tears. I'm pretty sure my bones still have bruises from that hug. And I have been under "village arrest" ever since.
"Ye gave everyone a scare," Gobber continued on.
I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "I know, I know. And I'm sorry—really." I'm especially sorry since I couldn't give Mom a good explanation behind my miraculous escape. She had looked positively sick when she saw the blood on me. "But I'm fine!" I continued. "It'll take more than that to kill me."
Gobber chuckled. "Don't we know it." He ruffled my hair and slapped my back hard. "Now get in there."
I rolled my eyes but obliged. After a quick, bantering exchange of goodbyes, I slammed the door shut. I pressed my body against the door and let out a deep whooshing sigh.
I really hoped this micromanagement would die off quickly because I desperately needed to meet up with Dragon and Toothless.
I waited until I couldn't hear any activity outside the house. The door creaked as I nudged it open to check. When I didn't see anyone on "Hiccup Watch," I took the chance.
The front door snapped shut, and I made a beeline for the backdoor. I grabbed some medicinal supplies along the way and stuffed it into my satchel. I nearly slipped before I could grab the handle. After another quick check, I was out the door like a flash, and I disappeared into the woods.
Later, I was in the forest, traveling toward the cave. There was something surreal about the walk there. Nothing in nature seemed to be disturbed by last night's events. I could still hear insects and small creeping things running around the forest but out of my sight. Normal. A bird flew overhead with something small in its beak. Also normal. I'd imagined the trees to look paler or more rotted after a destructive night like I'd seen. But they weren't.
I reigned in my train of thought. I had to be careful and pay attention to my surroundings. If someone decided to follow me I needed to know, so I could get rid of them.
I didn't see anyone and I was finally near the cave. You could tell because of all the fallen branches and burnt foliage.
I mentally rehearsed how I would be asking Dragon about Toothless's island when the squawking reached my ears. What on earth? I came into the clearing where the smell of smoke and charred vegetation was finally beginning to disappear. There was no way I was prepared to witness the scene before me.
Dragon was curled up next to the cave entertaining two baby dragons, a Zippleback and a Nadder. Meanwhile, Toothless was flailing around as he tried to get rid of the baby dragons clinging to his back. A little grayish Gronckle and two Terrible Terrors were using his body as a play fort.
If this hadn't been so startling, I would have laughed. Dragon was so calm and in control, but Toothless looked like he was ready to jump into the river!
Eventually, I cleared my throat. "Er…wha-what's going on?"
Everyone's attention snapped to me. The two little ones who'd been with Dragon scrambled into the safety of the cave. Toothless took this opportunity to shake off his own little clingers. As soon as he got rid of them, he scurried away until he was hiding behind me.
I laughed. "What are they too much for you?" I asked.
Toothless glared at me and grumbled something to himself.
"I'm kidding."
He huffed.
I smiled and shook my head. Since he was already within reach, I decided to check up on Toothless and medicate what I could. Dragons heal at a slightly quicker rate than humans, I realized. Some of his wounds had already scabbed over, and they looked okay. But if his scales didn't grow back, Toothless would have plenty of nasty scars to show off.
I lightly traced my hand over the wound where his wings attached to his back and carefully applied some pressure. Toothless flinched away and snapped at me. I pulled my hand back in time, and he growled a warning to me.
"Well, gez, I'm sorry," I said. "But if you're well enough to trample around with a bunch of babies on your back, you should be fine."
Toothless huffed.
I worked in silence while Toothless stood as still as he could.
"So um," I eventually began as I applied some medicine to a particularly bad wound, "What's the story behind these guys?"
Toothless shrugged and nodded over to Dragon.
I made a wild guess. "You brought them here?" I asked.
Dragon bobbed his head.
I frowned. "But where are their parents?"
Dragon made a low moaning sound. He nosed the little Gronckle and looked at it pityingly.
"Oh."
Toothless seemed to figure it out the same time I did. He eyed the Nadder and the Zippleback who were innocently play fighting. I wondered again how old they were. Did they even realize that they were supposed to have their parents with them?
Then something nipped me. It was a quick flash of pressure through my boots, and I noticed it immediately. The perpetrators scampered away from me before I could spot them. Then I caught one peeking over a rock. You think Terrible Terrors are small when they're grown up? This guy could have fit in my hands! Meanwhile, its little accomplice—the one who bit my heel earlier—was now tugging furiously at my boot.
Naturally my first reaction was to jerk my foot away. And naturally, the little heel biter decided to clamp down hard. Infantile growls vibrated out of its throat as it flapped its little wings and held on for dear life.
Things got a little more interesting when the earlier Terror decided to join the fun by biting my other boot.
By the time I got the two to lay off, Toothless had laughed his butt off at my expense. Dragon chuckled over my poor child management while I shooed away the two Terrors. I decided to name them Criminal and Accomplice. They were real trouble makers for their age—whatever that may be.
However old they were, they were apparently old enough to begin flight practice. One by one, Dragon set each of them on the roof of the cave where they began jumping off the ledge. It was a good way to distract them, I guess.
It was a little terrifying the first time I watched them in the act! But can you really blame me? They weren't big or coordinated like their adult counterparts, and they'd shriek when they made a rough landing. I was afraid that the Zippleback's necks would snap on impact.
Toothless watched them practice while Dragon helped them get back to the ledge each time, but I couldn't watch for long. So instead, I decided to start a conversation with Dragon.
"Hey, Dragon," I said. "There's something I need to talk to you about."
Dragon cocked his head and plodded over to me.
I explained the situation I was in and told him about Toothless's island.
He listened patiently, and when I was done, his eyes roamed over to Toothless. Toothless was still watching the flying practice, but his ears were flicked in our direction.
"So do you know about this island?" I finally asked.
After a moment's consideration, he dipped his head into a low nod.
"Can you take us to it?"
He hesitated. Dragon studied me with careful eyes. There was something about the way his eyes met mine that felt…weird. I-I'm not completely sure how to explain it. Maybe it was like de ja vu?
Regardless, after a long time spent thinking, Dragon finally nodded.
Toothless
To be brutally honest, I didn't really care for this idea. Don't misunderstand—it had some merit, but it was still grasping at straws. And we were going to have to wrestle past a horde of stampeding Gronckles just to grasp this lousy straw.
How did he plan to pull this off? Just disappear one night without any explanation and hope that Mom and Dad won't notice? And what about transportation? Maybe Hiccup could head out with the Stormcutter, but Dragon can't carry both of us. And I can't exactly…
Fly.
…Oh crap. Now I'm the one with the bad idea.
The baby Nadder swerved sharply thanks to a sudden burst of wind and slammed into me. Even the littlest dragons were pretty tough, and this one just hopped back onto its feet and shook itself like a wet dog. No harm done.
It hopped over to me and made a series of squawking sounds. Embarrassingly, I didn't understand it.
Going on a hunch, I picked it up by the tail. It was very vocal about this treatment, but it didn't try to lodge a spine in my mouth. Once I placed it back up with its friends, it chirped. I'm guessing that was a thank you.
As it resumed its earlier shenanigans, I toyed with this downright dumb idea on my own. Predictably, my wings stretched and flexed at will. I followed that with a series of light flaps. Unlike what had happened with the little ones, my body didn't even lift a hair's breadth off the ground.
I felt foolish because I was flapping but not really seeing results. It was too late when I realized that I had drawn an audience. I heard a small screech which I recognized as the look at me call. The perpetrator was one of the Terrors—I think Hiccup named it Accomplice. It did some sort of bobbing dance as it screeched.
I tilted my head. What?
It screeched again before scampering back from the ledge a little. It crouched down low, and then it raced toward the edge before jumping off. It flapped furiously, but, alas, it soon tumbled back to the ground.
It shook itself off, perfectly fine. Then it looked up at me and made a chortling squall. I didn't understand until I received a nudge from behind.
I hadn't realized that Dragon and Hiccup had been watching. Oh Gods. If I were still human, I probably wouldn't have been able to hide my reddening face.
Dragon nudged me again before gesturing toward the jump off. I briefly appraised the ledge. It wasn't that high, but it wasn't stupid low either. Gah! It wouldn't hurt to try.
I glared at Hiccup. "Don't you dare laugh."
I climbed up the ledge while the Gronckle had been shoved off by the chortling Zipplebacks. The little dragons all scurried out of the way while I kinda just stood there awkwardly. I stared at the landing area with trepidation.
Hiccup and Dragon were still watching. Crap this is embarrassing. Dammit, dammit, dammit—
"C'mon, give it a try."
I glared at Hiccup. In turn, he rolled his eyes and turned away. I could hear him grumble under his breath, but I didn't dignify it with any reply. Instead, I slowly backed from the ledge a little to give myself a running start.
C'mon, Toothless, I told myself. This'll be simple. Just run, jump, and flap, right? This'll be a piece of cake—
And it'll be incredibly embarrassing when you land on your face.
Crap.
Gritting my teeth, I burst into a run and jumped off the ledge before I could scare myself out of it. I flapped furiously, but I crashed and nearly squished the babies. Expertly tucking and rolling myself out of an injury did nothing to save my bruised pride.
I groaned and cracked my eyes open only to see Hiccup crouching over me worriedly. He tried to smile.
"Um…want to try that again?"
Great. Sibling pity.
I tried several more times, failing each time, before Dragon finally took pity on me as well. The language barrier made communication based lessons impossible, but Dragon did his best by taking off at a rather slow rate. Slow crouch, slow run/trot, and great emphasis on jump offs.
Even when the younger dragons were getting better, I was not. The frustration was bubbling up higher and higher as I kept crashing. Hiccup stayed quiet but loudly optimistic, but the very fact that he was watching me fail was embarrassing.
I tried a higher vantage point, a hill. The idea was that I could start a glide downhill before trying to fly. Dragon looked skeptical while Hiccup tried to stay encouraging.
"Go for it!"
I did, but my flight—if that's what you would like to call it—only lasted a few seconds before I lost my balance. This crash was worse than the others because I tumbled down the hill like a runaway wheel. Rocks and prickly plant life dug into my hide before I slammed into a tree.
I think I opened a few wounds.
I shook myself off as Hiccup and the dragons ran to my side.
"Are you alright?" Hiccup asked as he tried to help me up. I was tired and pissed off, so naturally I shoved him away.
I dug at the grass underneath me to give myself some writing space.
Hiccup briefly read it before he replied, "Okay I'll admit that it sucked, but…it wasn't that bad—"
I growled at him.
He backed away with his hands slightly raised, ticking me off even more. Later I'd tell myself that any sort of reaction would have pissed me off. After all, my pride had been basically kicked in the dirt. I hadn't exactly felt like hugging bunnies at the moment. Nevertheless, I hissed at my innocent brother before dashing off into the cave.
Hiccup
I understood why Toothless was so upset. It really did kinda suck—his flying skills, I mean. But he forgot one huge detail: He was not born with wings! Of course he wouldn't get it right on the first try! Dangit not even the baby dragons were really taking flight like fish to water. This stuff takes time!
So I guess it was up to me to get that through Toothless's thick skull.
In the evening, I returned to the village and went to the smithy where I locked myself away from everyone. In my workroom, I outlined everything I knew about aerodynamics—which wasn't a lot—and jotted down all the dragon data I'd gathered. These new notes soon replaced my old blueprints that were hanging on my cork board.
I blew out a breath of air as I tacked extra notes to my sheets. By the time I was done, my board was covered in a slew of garble to the untrained eye.
This was going to be an…interesting experience.
I swear the little guys will have more significance in the future. I'm building to it.
—Tenchiko
