Safe Out of Sight Chapter 5, a how to train your dragon fanfic

"Knowing this time I'd run from him, he spread pitch on the stairs…" ~ On the Steps of the Palace: Into the Woods

Chapter Five

An alarmed yelp shattered the stillness of the morning as it ricocheted through the trees when Hiccup was rudely awoken by a spray of freezing cold water to the face.

"Ugh, Toothless! Knock it off!" he spluttered, burying his face in his sleeves. The dragon would do nothing of the sort. Instead, he gulped another mouthful of water from the stream they had settled beside for the night and proceeded to grant the boy another icy shower.

Now fully awake and thoroughly exasperated, Hiccup ran a hand through his soaking hair.

"Dammit, Toothless…"

The dragon chuckled. Hiccup did not.

With no hope of going back to sleep at this point, Hiccup sat up and stretched his limbs, yawning and rubbing sleep from his eyes. Toothless bounded away from him and down to the end of the stream, happily lapping up water. Hiccup chuckled, glad to see the dragon in such long absent high spirits.

Hiccup prepared to stand to join Toothless downstream, but sat back down in the same motion. He held his left leg out in front of him, the metal footplate dangling uselessly at the end of his prosthetic. Though often frustrating, Hiccup had slowly grown used to the handicap. Making adjustments to Toothless' harness had helped him regain some of the smooth control he used to have in flight, and having the proper tools at his disposal had rendered the prosthetic's occasional mechanical failure a minor hindrance. Little by little, the loss was something that Hiccup was steadily learning to accept; after all, he had gained so much more. If he were given the choice again, he knew he would choose the same path in a heartbeat. Only here, now, did the broken prosthetic truly prove to be a serious complication.

Toothless had returned from downstream to crouch at Hiccup's side, a fish wriggling from between his teeth for only a moment before he pulled it into his maw. He would have offered some to his human had he not already learned that Hiccup preferred fish held over a fire to those freshly regurgitated. Ridiculous tastes those humans had…

He pawed at Hiccup's left leg, where the boy seemed to be focusing his frustration.

"This thing doesn't seem to be helping either of us much at the moment, does it?" Hiccup observed dryly, gesturing to the useless foot. Toothless sniffed at the leg, then looked up to Hiccup's face, sympathetic. Hiccup sighed and patted the bridge of the dragon's nose. He needed to find civilization soon, lest they both remain indefinitely tethered to their station in the woods.

Toothless snorted, puzzled when Hiccup reached down to remove the prosthetic from its place tied below his knee.

"It's alright, bud," Hiccup soothed. It occurred to him that the dragon had never seen him remove the false leg. Setting the useless prosthetic aside, Hiccup's gaze was drawn to the gaping, empty space where his left leg should have been.

Normally when he removed the leg, whether to sleep or make repairs, he deliberately avoided looking directly at the healing stump below his left knee; sometimes, he still half-expected the leg to be there. Now, staring at the stump out in the open, unmasked, Hiccup almost felt purer without it, free of the façade that there was nothing wrong with him. It was something he could never take back, but part of who he was now. Just like Toothless.

However, Hiccup realized, an unsupported stump was not conducive to going into town unaided nor inconspicuously. Neither would his riding gear, mangled mane of hair, or hulking. He needed something that would allow him to find the nearest town and forge without drawing much attention to himself.

Grabbing a good-sized branch from the ground, Hiccup hoisted himself to stand. The branch made a fair walking stick; it split into a 'Y' at its end where Hiccup could easily fix it under his arm. After further scouring the forest floor, he had a matching set. However, misjudging his momentum after his first step sent him tumbling to the ground. Before his hands could make contact with the earth, the dragon's head was under him, lifting him up and planting him upright. Toothless grunted, ready to support the boy's weight wherever he was headed.

"No, Toothless." Puzzled, Toothless watched as Hiccup kneeled to retrieve the crutches. Grunting with the effort, Hiccup pushed himself upright again, fixing the end of the branches more firmly under his arms. Slowly, he moved forward, alternatively pushing his weight off the crutches and his good leg. While difficult to maneuver this way, pride welled in his chest at the fact that could manage it himself.

Toothless eyed the boy's wobbly progress, concerned. "I'll be alright, Toothless," Hiccup reassured him. At least he would be for a short trip into town. Strolling into the square with a scaly beast of Night Fury was not exactly a plausible option, and he didn't need to give the dragon any more evidence of his human's frailty.

Though, it occurred to Hiccup, Toothless hadn't shown much of the agitated tension since their crash-landing that had been so painfully apparent not days ago in Berk. The playful antics and calm, unwavering support that had seemed to Hiccup to be dissipating were suddenly being displayed once again, and it frustrated Hiccup to no end that he could not, for the life of him, pinpoint why the change occurred.

Though the tactile rift between them appeared to have softened, Hiccup could still feel the scar in their unspoken understanding of one another.

Refocusing, Hiccup moved to where the basket lay by the bank of the stream. Since it had been recently emptied of fish, Hiccup was able to easily pull of the length of cloth that lined the inside. Throwing it around his shoulders, he was pleased to find it was long enough to cloak most of his body: most importantly, his legs. It was slightly damp and reeked horrifically of fish, but it would have to do.

"I'll be back soon, bud," Hiccup said, turning to leave. He stopped, however, at a pull on the back of his cloak. Toothless tugged at the fabric, his brow furrowed. He couldn't leave; they were finally where the boy was supposed to be, free of every restraint or law or expectation. Finally, Hiccup was somewhere he could breathe. So why was he in such a hurry to leave it?

"I'll be alright, buddy," Hiccup reassured, gently pulling the fabric from Toothless' gums. The dragon obliged, allowing Hiccup to slowly make his way inland with even, determined steps. Hiccup would live up to newly granted title. In fact, he would be even more than Useful; he would be a Hero. He would prove to himself and to Toothless that he was not just a burden. After being discarded as one his whole life, Hiccup refused to let his best friend slip into that mindset as well.

The village of Berk had seemed, to Hiccup, to be filled to the brim with activity during the days before the Winternights feast. Upon approaching this village, he found he was sorely mistaken. This village was bursting at the seams with hubbub, many times busier than Hiccup could remember ever seeing Berk. Even from where he stood at the edge of the wood, Hiccup could see blurs of color as villagers buzzed about the packed town square, carrying baskets of textiles and produce or pulling bleating sheep and pigs to be traded and sold.

While the commotion exceeded the general hustle and bustle of midday in Berk, there was a stronger sense of joviality amongst these people, an easy familiarity with their peaceful lifestyle. Pleasantly surprised, Hiccup found it relatively simple to navigate the crowded square; the exuberance of the people that overwhelmed him in Berk was pleasantly absent from this crowd. He travelled slowly along the edges of the square, allowing the other villagers to continue their steady journeys through town, while he scanned the surrounding stalls for the blacksmith's.

Upon reaching the heart of the village, he spotted it; an open forge settled in the center of the square. A man stood over the bellows, absorbed in his work, only looking up after Hiccup had coughed conspicuously for several seconds. Wiping his hands on his smithing apron, the man left his project and moved toward the counter. His pace was slow and measured, his shoulders slightly hunched; his muscles had seen their fair share of hard work in recent weeks.

"Can I help yeh, lad?" The man's Gaelic was thickly accented, but Hiccup could understand him well enough to reply.

"Need tools. Make repairs," he said in embarrassingly broken Gaelic, and his accent made it clear to the man that he travelling from much further north. Hiccup hoped that his lack of polite formalities would not offend the man; if Hiccup could not persuade him to allow him use of their forge, he and Toothless could easily remain stranded for a very long time. This appeared to be the only smithy in the small village, and travelling any further inland risked their safety more than Hiccup was comfortable with. "Can pay," he added hastily, quickly pulling the small bundle of what coins he had from his tunic.

The man stood back, gruffly perusing the strange foreigner's countenance, then proceeded to shuffle to the back room of the stall. Hiccup tensed, worried that he had unintentionally sabotaged his chances of convincing the man (damn his horrendous Gaelic), but was surprised to see him quickly reemerge into the main with a girl at his side. They spoke hurriedly to one another in hushed tones, the girl occasionally turning back to glare at Hiccup through narrowed eyes. After nodding her unenthusiastic consent to the man, she strode to the counter where Hiccup still stood.

"What do you want?" Her words were short and clipped. And Norse.

"You speak Norse?" Hiccup responded, failing to answer her first question for his surprise. At least now he had half a chance of convincing them. "That's great! Because…"

"You stray from my question, foreigner. What do you want?" Hiccup swallowed his next words in a dry gulp; though easily a head shorter than him and just as skinny, the girl had a fire in her eyes (and hair, judging by its color and state of wild disarray) that was not to be messed with.

"I've had an…accident," he began, aware of how unbelievable his vague tale sounded, now that he said it out loud, to the skeptical girl, whose arms were already folded obstinately across her chest, eyebrows raised. "I have some money and I'll only need a day at most to make repairs…"

"No." She turned away from him even before he spoke, quickly moving back inside the forge and away from the counter.

"Wait! You don't understand!" Hiccup called, but she paid him no mind. This was not how his first solo mission was supposed to end. He had mustered the confidence to stride into an unfamiliar village, seek out the forge, offer payment, and the best she could give him was an unsupported "No"? "At least give me a reason…"
"I owe nothing to a foreigner. Especially a Norseman," she spat. The girl was resolute.

"Look," Hiccup said, not anywhere near ready to admit defeat, "I don't know why you have such a huge problem with me,-" she scoffed, indignant, "-but I really need to make these repairs. I'll only need a day." He remained wary as her expression failed to waver. "At the most," he added. Her grimace was strong and made clear her seemingly unwarranted disgust with Hiccup, but he absolutely had to find a way to reason with her.

Before he could, the older man who had been calmly observing from the sidelines stepped in, beckoning the girl over to speak with him. Reluctantly, she went. While Hiccup was unable to understand the majority of their agitated conversation, the phrases "too much work" and "could use help" floated across to him. From the girl's indignant glares and the man's stern, knowing ones as he tried to reason with her, Hiccup pieced together the situation.

"Can help!" he called in Gaelic, causing them both to immediately snap their heads towards the counter. Hiccup directed his words to the girl again "I'm an apprentice, I can work for you," Hiccup offered again, "in exchange for use of your forge when the workday is finished."

For the first time since their confrontation began, the girl appeared to be at a loss for words. Flustered, she glanced expectantly at the man behind her. He nodded sternly. Exasperated, she turned reluctantly back to Hiccup.

"Fine." Hiccup beamed from ear to ear. She scowled just as fiercely. Hiccup thanked the man, who nodded his acknowledgement of the arrangement and left the forge. Hiccup gathered himself to go as well, but stopped at the girl's still icy words.

"I expect you here at sunrise tomorrow. Don't expect the work to be easy."

"I don't."

"Don't come back here with that stupid grin on your face, either." Hiccup still grinned at his hard-earned victory; he couldn't bring himself to smother the rare warmth of bountiful self-confidence.

"Of course not," he replied, already walking away. His nonchalant sarcasm turned her face as red as her hair.

"And do not be late."

Hiccup turned over his shoulder to look back at her, still smiling.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

As always, constructive feedback is thoroughly appreciated!