"Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light;
I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night."
In Which Hiccup Learns About Dragons and People
Raven's point was an outcrop near the coast skirted by overgrown, rocky land that sloped suddenly to the sea. Smallish though it was, the pinnacle was bare stone and commanded a clear view over the treetops. It would have been a lovely perch if it weren't for the fact that Hiccup didn't quite trust Astrid.
Not once had it crossed his mind to think ill of her for it, but it was true. She was a Viking. Well, so was he, but she was a proper Viking- a warrior loyal to her people. Not necessarily loyal to him, and certainly not loyal to Toothless.
The point of Raven's Point could be seen from hundreds of yards in any direction despite the rough terrain, and was altogether too obvious a place to linger. So Hiccup and Toothless spent the day after their discussion with Astrid exploring the land around it and taking mark of vantage points where they could be spied upon. They found only that the area was surprisingly isolated, bereft of traps or sneaking Vikings. At dusk the two tucked beneath the lip of a boulder and both slept soundly through the night.
By noontime the next day Hiccup and Toothless had already gone fishing, scouted the area to ensure they were still alone, and returned to start up a small fire at the base of the Point. There the dragon, stuffed with fish, blasted a patch of ground near the cooking fire and curled up on the glowing coals. Their company arrived just as Hiccup was pulling his spitted fish away from the flames.
Astrid was punctual, but the wariness Hiccup regarded her with must have been a mutual sentiment. She had not come alone. Her escort couldn't exactly be described as 'threatening', however, so Hiccup didn't mind. Quite the opposite- he couldn't wipe the grin off his face when he recognized the extra voice as Fishlegs. He the thought of seeing another familiar face filled him with an unexpected giddiness. Hope crept up on him, that this meeting would go well after all, and the feeling was justified somewhat by Fishleg's reaction to Toothless.
The mousey-haired blond was scared stiff at first, especially since Astrid hadn't warned him about the Nightfury, but his hesitancy turned into stunned enthusiasm faster than Hiccup could have hoped. The lure of seeing the most elusive of species up close was too much. With Hiccup's reassurance and lack of aggression from the dragon, the young man was soon bustling about the clearing to observe a bemused Toothless from every angle.
When the Viking lad started mumbling statistics to himself that even Hiccup didn't understand, he leaned over to Astrid.
"Fishlegs?" He questioned with a dubious raised eyebrow.
Astrid punched him in the shoulder hard enough to jostle him, but not to hurt. Hiccup surrendered with a step back and a light laugh.
"He knows more about dragons than anyone in the village," Astrid pretended to grump, but it was clear Fishleg's unabashed fascination had put her in a good mood, too. "So if there's anyone who will know if you lying-" she glared "-it's him."
"Ah ha." Hiccup nodded, and didn't bother to hide that he wasn't at all intimidated.
"Also," she added in an almost rueful undertone, "He'll keep his mouth shut if-" she raised her voice again when Hiccup started to smile. "- on the off chance that we decide not to turn you in… You convince us there's not a threat, and we'll keep quiet. For now."
"Well then," Hiccup started back to where Fishlegs still buzzed about and the long-suffering Toothless hadn't bothered to rise from his bed of scorched earth. "Let's get started."
As Hiccup anticipated, Fishlegs was won over in a heartbeat. If a Nightfury hadn't been enough, he only had to show a drawing of three flying Timberjacks. Not the sketchy half imagined silhouettes-at-a-distance that was all Fishlegs had ever seen, but clear and detailed close-ups from above, just as Hiccup had viewed them from dragonback. Fishlegs was captivated and Hiccup counted his first victory.
Astrid was a harder case, but Hiccup answered Fishleg's questions and didn't push her. She paid quiet attention as the boys talked, kept an eye on Toothless, and flipped through the many sketchbooks Hiccup had fetched to show them. Her focus drifted only once, and Hiccup was about to call her back into the conversation when he saw which sketchbook she was engrossed in. It was his first, the one he'd brought with him when he left Berk. Astrid was going over his early observations- and his first weeks with Toothless.
It gave him pause, but he let her be and returned to discussing Toothless's saddle with Fishlegs. Later, when Hiccup unfolded the giant map he was still working on filling in, Astrid joined them and was just as openly amazed as Fishlegs. She wasn't relaxed, but her constant supervision of Toothless ceased.
Hiccup didn't get his hopes up until the three of them agreed to meet again a few days later. Before they left to return to the village, Fishlegs fed Toothless the remnants of one of the spitted fish and Astrid, not to be outdone, braved a pat on the dragon's nose.
When they were out of sight, Hiccup dared to count his second victory.
A less-than manly scream echoed past the cold rocks and bare trees. Even from a distance, it was without a doubt Fishleg's voice.
"The twins?" Hiccup deadpanned.
"The twins." Astrid confirmed, equally grim.
In the tight-knit village of Berk, secrets could only be kept for so long. Really, Hiccup was impressed that they'd managed a few weeks' worth of clandestine meetings before someone caught on, and counted them lucky that the adults had other, more pressing matters to worry about.
"Fishlegs won't last long under pressure. He'll crack." Astrid stated.
Hiccup nodded, thoughtful.
Toothless sat tall and skinny beside the two teens, stretched to get as much height as he could with his forepaws still on the ground. His ear-lobes were perked straight up and he scanned the terrain with wide eyes. When another, clearer bout of screams reached them he glanced back and forth between the Vikings and the general direction of the sound, obviously wondering why the humans weren't concerned by Fishleg's distressed shrieking, and if he should be.
"Oh, that sounded like Snotlout, too." Hiccup noted with only cursory surprise.
Astrid snorted. "Well, we can threaten Snotlout to keep him quiet, but the twins…"
"Are not put off by bodily harm."
"Definitely not."
"They're far enough away that Toothless and I could bolt."
"Or you could hide in the cove. It's so out of the way- they won't find it."
"Unless one or both of the twins fall into it by accident. Which… knowing them…."
"Good point."
More yelps in the distance, and Toothless tipped his head in concern.
"We should rescue Fishlegs." Hiccup nodded as if to answer the dragon, and slid off the boulder he'd been sitting on.
"Do you have a plan?"
"They're onto us now. They'll figure it out sooner or later. We might as well make it 'sooner', and on our terms." Hiccup swung onto Toothless's back, then took a deep breath and nodded, once, to himself. "We're going to recruit them."
"Seems like a longshot…" Astrid murmured, her brows furrowed.
Her concern drew a crooked smile from Hiccup when he looked back. "Well, you did too. Soooo…"
Astrid accepted that, and seemed to take it as a compliment. "See you there, then. Wait for me to catch up before you pounce on them, in case you need backup."
"Whaaattt? Backup? Me?"
Toothless took off in a flash and cleared the bare treetops with one stroke of his wings. Though Astrid had confirmed they were into April and winter was finally flagging, cold wind nipped at Hiccup's face. He thought nothing of it and didn't even bother to don his mask or fur scarf for the short flight, only pressed to Toothless's back and squinted against the breeze as the dragon began a long, low level approach.
They had no trouble finding where Snotlout and the twins had cornered Fishlegs against a half buried, lichen encrusted boulder. Toothless, silent as a shadow, glided in and lit on a rock outcrop a couple hundred feet away with nary a wingbeat. Though they were close enough to hear some of the words spoken below, no one noticed their arrival. Fishlegs still hadn't squealed despite insidious means of 'persuasion'. Hiccup' opinion of him skyrocketed. He had to hold both himself and his dragon back from immediately leaping to the boy's aid. They remained crouched, tense, on the outcrop while Hiccup tried not to wonder where Ruff and Tuff had managed to find live leeches before the thaw.
Toothless sprung from his perch without prompting the instant he glimpsed Astrid on the other side of the boulder, and Hiccup had no objections. The Nightfury dove on the young Vikings with enough speed that the whistle of air around his cupped wings broke into an unmistakable shrill wail.
Snotlout and the twins wasted half a second frozen in shock before they scattered with incoherent screams that put what they'd squeezed from Fishlegs to shame. By the time they'd gathered their wits, Toothless was already upon them with a leap and a bound. He took down Tuffnut and Ruffnut in one clean motion just before Astrid leapt from behind the boulder and brought Snotlout's retreat to an abrupt halt.
"Way to back up your partners in crime, Snot." Astrid growled as she manhandled him back to where Toothless had the twins pinned flat with one heavy forepaw on each of their chests.
Hiccup had dismounted and was at Fishlegs's side before Toothless stopped moving. Tuffnut had not followed through with the threat to put leeches in his ears, and the sight of his tormenters driven before a Nightfury had apparently made up for the entire unpleasant experience in spades.
But as amusing as Snotlout's slack-jawed expression and the twins' rambling attempts to bargain with Toothless were, Hiccup motioned for the dragon to let Ruffnut and Tuffnut up.
Toothless complied with a happy churr-up, at ease again now that the potential danger was clearly passed. He let Fishlegs give him a 'thank you' pat on the head before he circled back to Hiccup's side to eye the new arrivals.
"You guys chose a good day," Hiccup smiled, and spoke like he'd just bumped into them at the mead hall. "I was thinking about talking to you anyway."
It was news to Astrid and Fishlegs, but they were quick studies and neither let on.
"Okay… but…" Snotlout made a gesture that expanded to encompass the entirety of the gathering. His voice was pitched, eyes still a touch wild about the edges. "… What!?"
"Surprisingly articulate." Fishlegs noted.
Astrid agreed with a small, satisfied smile. They were united in their enjoyment of the situation, now that they were on the other side of it.
"I wanted to talk to you three." Hiccup helped haul the stunned Ruff and Tuff to their feet. "To see if you wanted to join our little… club. There was no need to hound Fishlegs for information."
The reprimand was lost on the twins. They stared after Toothless, expressions unchanged, still stuck on the fact that the big black dragon had chirped. Snotlout was only marginally better off.
"Club…" His monotone dripped with disbelief.
"Yeah!" Fishlegs fairly bubbled. "Hiccup's learned a lot about dragons-"
"We think," Astrid cut Fishlegs off as kindly as possible, "that there might be a way to make peace with the dragons."
"Peace!?" Snotlout's voice cracked. "With the…!"
Toothless let a low warning growl roll from his throat, and Snotlout visibly checked himself.
"And you want our help." He glanced at Astrid and Fishlegs but kept looking back to Hiccup, whose stance beside the Nightfury said that he was in charge.
"Yes." Came Hiccup's even reply.
"Done!" Tuffnut threw himself in front of Snotlout to ensure he had Hiccup's full attention, then hastily gathered his composure and crossed his arms. "On one condition…"
Ruffnut vaulted into place beside her brother. "That we get dragons, too!"
"Agreed." Hiccup answered without hesitation, and managed not to smile. "With the understanding" he paused for emphasis, "that you will be training your own dragons."
"Yes!" The twins crowed, and celebrated with a near violent high-five.
Hiccup stepped to the side, and was joined by equally confused Fishlegs, Astrid, and Snotlout. Ruff and Tuff had, in their enthusiasm, exited the conversation.
"You're going to give us dragons?" Snotlout eyed him.
"I'm going to give you the chance to train your own dragons." Hiccup glanced at Fishlegs and Astrid. "If we're ever going to end our warring with the dragons, we'll have to move beyond befriending Terrors on the beach. The next step is working with new species. And, as luck would have it, we all know where to find them."
"If you're planning on getting eaten, I'd definitely go with the Gronkle..."
"What, Slip-up down there? They won't eat him, he wouldn't make a mouthful."
"Heh heh, yeah, but they need toothpicks, right?"
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, guys!" Hiccup called up to where all but Astrid and Toothless stood in relative safety, outside the chain netting of the dragon arena.
"No problem!" Tuff yelled back.
Hiccup groaned. He was right where he never thought he would be- in the pit of the dragon arena. The kill ring. Despite his relentless attempts to change his mind, Hiccup had never expected his father to put him in dragon training with the rest of his peers. Under any other circumstances, it would be a place he was wholly unprepared to be.
At least now, he reasoned, he didn't have to worry about whether or not he could kill a dragon. That ship had long since sailed with the tide.
"Why these?" Astrid asked, her eyes sympathetic. "You've gotten close to all sorts of wild dragons, so why not…?"
"Because I'll never be able to get all of you close to wild dragons. And even if these are used to fighting in the arena, they aren't adult dragons. It took me a while to realize- they're not even full size yet. Young and inexperienced enough to get caught in traps, but old and big enough to be kept for dragon training."
And what had happened to the trapped dragons too young to be useful? Hiccup tried not to think about it.
Fishlegs's voice drifted down from above: "What did he say?"
"Hiccup thinks these dragons won't eat him." Snotlout grumbled.
"Why?" That was Ruff.
"Because they're dumb teenagers!" Snotlout snapped.
"Yeah! Just like us!" Tuffnut cheered, oblivious the taken aback silence of the others.
"I can't believe Snotlout actually understood it that well." Astrid spoke with a dry huh, whaddya know tone that would have gotten a smile from Hiccup in most any other situation.
As it was, he just gave Toothless another pat. Hiccup had tried to explain the situation, and Toothless clearly understood some of it as his body language screamed 'concern'. He walked with tiny steps, his head held low, ear-lobes laid flat, wings pinned tight to his back, and hadn't stopped looking up at Hiccup with those wide, great green eyes.
The sight tugged at Hiccups heartstrings. When he hugged Toothless's broad head the dragon just nuzzled his chest with a painfully small coo.
"It's alright, bud! We're leaving the gate cracked so I can get out if I need to. And if anything goes wrong, you and Astrid will be there. A Nightfury and the finest warrior of Berk to help me! It'll be no trouble at all."
Hiccup missed Astrid's wide-open expression as he scooped up a shield and walked out into the arena.
"Fishlegs!" He called, but kept his gaze level. "Open the Nightmare's pen!"
Only the toughest Vikings went after those. Hiccup was under no illusions, but he might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb. And if he could deal with a Monstrous Nightmare, he could handle any of the dragons in the ring.
There was distant murmuring, too far away for Hiccup to tell who was talking.
"… he gets killed, we go back to the village and establish alibis before Gobber feeds the dragons tonight."
"-we know nothing-"
"… and say nothing!"
"Agreed?"
When four voices gave the affirmative, Hiccup let his eyelids droop in feigned apathy. He'd have to encourage Fishlegs to feed Toothless an eel next time the opportunity arose.
The heavy metal gate groaned as Astrid cranked it shut behind him, and the sound had only just ceased when the log that barred the Nightmare's doors shut ratcheted up. And for a breath- two- there was nothing. The doors drifted loose on their hinges and showed only a sliver of black beyond them.
An abrupt roar, and the Nightmare whipped into the arena in a rusty blur of serpentine motion.
Hiccup ducked forward to dodge the arc of liquid fire it spat before it and pivoted, still in a crouch, to follow the dragon's darting movements around the ring.
The Nightmare was not like Toothless. Where the Fury bounded like a cat, his movements vertical, the Nightmare swung from left to right as it slithered in lightning-fast bursts, movements all horizontal. It had no ear-like lobes, only scalloped horns. No forelegs or paws, only wings and the hooked crook of the wrist joint. No lips, instead a severe under bite and teeth like ivory knives that rose from a scooped lower jaw. Its presence alone made the arena feel much smaller. Reading its body language was like speaking a different dialect- a vast departure from something fundamentally understood.
Despite that, Hiccup could tell the stoker was confused. The quiet, mostly empty arena was not what it expected. It spat a blast of fire that sent the twins, Fishlegs and Snotlout skittering away from the arena's edge.
"They're alright, hold there!" Hiccup yelled when Astrid called to him in concern.
The Nightmare's head whipped around at the sound, its yellow eyes locked on where Hiccup stood in the middle of the arena. In one slow, liquid, threatening movement, it dripped from its perch at the lip of the stone wall and to the arena floor. Just as deliberate, it moved forward- and seemed to swell as it went. It stood taller, lashed its flattened tail, and flared the folded fans of its wings to display the colors and patterns on their backs.
"I see you- very big and scary." Hiccup spoke under his breath and stepped back as the dragon approached. "No need to get bigger and scarier. See? No shield-" He dropped his shield so it rolled a few paces before it fell.
The Nightmare followed the movement, then paused in its advance as it looked back at Hiccup.
"Yup, no weapons, either." He slid off his coat to prove he was unarmed. That he also showed exactly how small he was probably didn't hurt.
The Nightmare deflated somewhat and tipped its long head, nostrils flared as it smelled him.
"Yeah…" Hiccup confirmed with a somber smile. "… I'm not one of them."
He stepped forward with a hand held out in front of him. His stance was neither ridged nor cowering- his hand tipped just a little to one side, relaxed.
The Nightmare allowed his approach and watched, unblinking, until Hiccup rested his hand between its slitted nostrils.
The dragon and the Viking both let out their held breath at once, and Hiccup laughed aloud when the warm gust ruffled his hair. The Nightmare's posture eased into to something closer to calm. It buzzed like a giant cat when Hiccup scratched the flat of its snout behind the horn on its nose.
It didn't occur to Hiccup how quiet the arena was until he heard an incredulous voice from the edge of the ring.
"No way…"
The Nightmare tipped its head and looked toward the sound, but didn't startle or pull away. A sly smile stretched Hiccup's lips.
"Snotlout!" He called back, "Thank you for volunteering!"
Alternate chapter title: 'In which Hiccup does his best mob boss impression'. 'Do ya… wanna join our little club…?' No, Hiccup, that's not how you do it. Unless, of course, you follow it up with the first rule of the club... (The Flight Club episode had me in stitches. They saw their chance, and they took it.)
A couple of things- 'slitted' should definitely be a word and I'm keeping it, the alliteration bug bit me harder than normal for this chapter and I'm not sorry, and are Hiccup and Astrid flirting? Or is it banter? Both? I just don't know. I also apologize for the inevitable typos in this one- I think there are more than normal but I just. Can't. Find them…
"Might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb" is equivalent to "in for a penny, in for a pound". I chose it because it sounds slightly less anachronistic. Said the lass that then had her Vikings use 'alias' a few sentences later- the same Vikings that us 'plasma blast' in canon. Hn.
(P.S. Nightmares have crocodile-like slitted nostrils that I bet they could close up if they wanted to, which totally supports the 'dives after schools of fish' foraging hypothesis.)
Occasionally misattributed to Galileo, the opening quote is from the poem "The Old Astronomer" by Sarah Williams.