Ugh, why can't I update on time!? Seriously, it's like every time I have a good idea, the universe works to prevent me from working on it. If you guys find it annoying, just know, so do I! I could get into a rant right know, but I've delayed this long enough, just read and I'll keep my anger to myself.
Chapter 3: Lessons
"Welcome to Dragon Training!"
The youth of Hagalheim stepped into the arena where they would take the first steps towards their future. The arena was no different to other arenas across the archipelago, at least in terms of size and style. The only major difference was that there were more cages in the arena for dragons than most other one. Well that and the thing was built in the caves under the village with the sources of light being torches hung on the walls of the cave and light that came through a large hole in the cavern ceiling, gated so that dragons don't escape.
"I'm hoping for a lot of burns, maybe some mauling on my chest, it'd be awesome," Sven said with high hopes. "I'm going to avoid major hits to my head, I don't want to end up as unintelligent as the rest of you," said Leif with a massive helmet on his head, muffling his voice. "Man up, fighting's only cool if you get a scar," Aria said, completely unafraid of the challenges before her.
"Yeah for pain," came another voice. The youths turned around to see Hamish enter the ring with little enthusiasm. "Looks like the chief caved and he's going to send Hamish to be dragon chow. Told you that was what going to happen Johann, pay up," Aric said, holding out his hand, Johann placing a few coins in it. "You two were beating on the chief letting Hamish into dragon training?" "No Allie, we were not betting to see if the chief was going to let Hamish in with the cool Vikings, we were betting to see how he was going to send him to his death," Aric said with a bit of sadistic glee.
"Alright, enough of this conversation," Garrison said as he closed the gate to the arena. "Now, first things first. As you all know, Dragon Training will last six weeks, and the recruit who does best will get the honor of slaying his or her first dragon in front of the entire village," Garrison said, Sven taking the opportunity to insult our hero. "If Hamish shot a Woolly Howl does that mean he's disqualified or what?" Johann and Aric laughed, Aria and Leif just rolled their eyes while Allie just looked at them solemnly.
"Don't worry, the dragons will just think you're walking bones, they'll see you as a sick being and leave you alone," Garrison said to Hamish, patting the boy's shoulder. Despite the older Viking's attempt at cheering him up, which even under normal circumstances wouldn't have worked, Hamish felt a little worse. Just as he finally gets his wish of killing dragons, he decides he can't. Isn't fate artistic?
"Know that behind the doors are just a handful of the numerous species you may have to fight," Garrison gestured to the cages containing the dragons. He then began to introduce the dragons with Leif giving a brief word or two. "The daredevil Windstriker…" "Specialize in dive bombing techniques, can breathe fire and/or heated air." "The sinister Sweet Death…" "Tree-like tongue, spits highly corrosive acid." "The hot-tempered Hackatoo…" "Can saw through wood with ease, although it takes a while to chop through stone and metal." "The superior Sliquifier…" "Not very graceful fliers, but their speed in water makes up for it." "The ferocious Moldruffle…" "Extremely skilled hunter, communicates with others of its kind by banging its horns." "The Wolfang…" "Small but aggressive, they're pack hunters that…" {1}
"Are you done yet I'm tryin' to watch," shouted Allie's grandmother who was watching from outside the arena. As village elder she also served as judge for this sort of thing. "Thank you for interrupting my lesson Freya," Garrison shouted to the elder, who didn't reply. Ignoring the scene that just occurred, the blacksmith continued as if nothing had happened. "And, the Groncicle." Leif couldn't help but say, "Liquid nitrogen blasts that are the coldest known to Vikings." Garrison walked over to the Groncicle cage, and it became increasingly clear to the students what he was about to do.
"Shouldn't you teach us first?" "There's one thing you should know about my family, we don't believe in teaching first," Garrison said as he opened the cage. A blue Groncicle bolted right out and began flying around the arena, the recruits scattering about. "Alright, first lesson: survival and necessary equipment. What is the first thing you need in battle against a dragon?" In their haste, the recruits just shouted the first thing that came to mind. "A medic?" "A distraction?" "A shield."
"Correct shield. Now get one!" The recruits each grabbed a shield a pile as Garrison continued this poorly thought out lesson. "A shield is a warrior's greatest ally, if you needed to pick between shields or other weapons, go with shields." Each recruit had now had a shield, except Aric who was taking his time looking at each one. "Too last season. Too worn down. What is this fuchsia? Naw, this is a summer, I'm more of a winter." The Groncicle noticed him, and flew towards him. In a split second, Aria tackled her brother to the ground, getting him out of the way from the dragon's ice bomb, which hit the wall and created a patch of ice on impact.
"If you get hit, you're died." "Thank you for the advice you deranged lunatic," Sven shouted, his doubt in Garrison's teaching methods increasing significantly. "So you have your shields, but you don't need them for just defense." "How," Johann shouted. "Noise. Start banging them, it'll throw off the dragon's aim." They teens started to bang the shields against the weapons the brought in, or Allie's case she hit it with her fist. The Groncicle started shaking its head in confusion, the noise was making it hard to concentrate. It fired at the recruits, but it missed and went straight to the sides of the arena, almost hitting Freya.
"Each dragon can only hold a certain amount of fuel for its fire, giving it what we call a shot limit." "Why do they have that," Aric called, still picking out a shield. "Because dragons aren't magic. Now then, how many do Groncicles have?" "Thirteen?" "Eighty-two?" "One thousand?" "Oh for the love of Thor, it's ten," Leif shouted at his uninformed classmates, "And it currently has eight remaining." While he spoke, the Groncicle fired two more blast at Aric and Allie, both blocking them with their shields. "Correction: six remaining." "Leif's right, and the dragon now has enough for all of you." Johann raised up his hand to ask a question, but the Groncicle fired right at him, knocking the shield out of his hand. "Johann, out."
At some point during the conversation, Hamish hid behind a shield rack. Garrison caught him as he peeked out behind it, "What are you doing boyo, get out there!" Hamish didn't even get to take a full step before an ice bomb from the Groncicle hit the wall a few inches behind him. As for the rest of the recruits, Sven was the next to be eliminate. He was so focused on flirting with Allie, something about moving into his parent's attic, that he almost lost a limb. Leif was eliminated shortly afterwards, he was strategizing, but he forgot one little detail; this was an actual fight were not focusing could equal death.
The Groncicle blasted towards Aria, who skillfully dodged it and ended up standing right next to Hamish. "So it's down to us now." "Nope, just you," Aria said as she ran away. Before Hamish could think he saw an ice bomb hurling right at him. He put his shield in the path of it, but thanks to his weak grip the force from the blast knocked it right out of his hands. Seeing the defenseless Hamish, who was now chasing a rolling shield, the Groncicle flew right at him.
Hamish was corned between a dragon and a hard place. The Groncicle reared its ugly head back as the cold blast built up in the back of its throat. The young Hamish prepared himself for the worst, it seems fate did plan on giving him an icy demise. But before you could say die, another shield was thrown at the Groncicle, knocking its head away from Hamish and redirecting the blast. To the surprise of everyone, it was not Garrison or any other adult, it was Allie. The seemingly meek little girl who was against fighting dragons had just thrown something at a dragon.
The Groncicle placed itself on the ground, and slowly walked over to Allie, the girl not moving an inch. Her expression wasn't fear or anger, but curiosity. From where he was currently standing, Hamish could have sworn she said something to the dragon. Everyone looked on in silence, not even Allie's grandmother made a sound. The silence was ended by Garrison taking his hook hand and grabbing the dragon by its jaw. "And that's today's lesson. Now get back in bed you glorified lizard!"
With a powerful swing, Garrison threw the dragon back into its cage. After he closed the cage, he looked at all his students and said, "Don't worry, this was just day one. You'll get better."
"Freya, tell 'em how they did," the smith said to the old woman. "Well, seeing as how she was the only one who did not get blasted, this round goes to Aria," she said, Aria giving a victorious grin. "And because she had acted against the dragon despite being eliminated, I'm sorry Allie but you're last today." Allie didn't respond to her grandmother's statement, she just forlornly looked at the ground. "So before we end for today, there is one more thing you need to know: A dragon will always go in for the kill," Garrison said, looking directly at Hamish and Allie as he said that. "Alright, class dismissed."
The Hagallheim Vikings walked out of the arena, Hamish being the last one. Before he stepped out, he turned his around to see that Allie was still in the arena, except she was sitting down with her face in her knees. Taking a deep breath and hoping the gods were on his side this time, Hamish walked over to her. "Hey," he said nervously. Allie looked at him and gave a surprised look. Hamish could tell she wasn't paying attention beforehand. "Hey," she said back.
Sitting down next to her, Hamish asked if she was alright. "I'm fine. I just…, you wouldn't understand." "Try me." "Well, I just feel like the world is against me." That surprised Hamish, to say the least. "You think the world is against you? Yesterday a tree branch hit me in the face and today I almost got hit by a dragon, three times. If that doesn't seem like the world is against me, I don't know what is." Allie's expression lightened up a bit, before going right back down again. "Well how about being the only one in the village who thinks differently about dragons? I know they're going to disagree with me, but sometimes I think that they're trying to change me," Allie said, eyes locked on the ground. "That they want me to just be like them and fight and kill dragons. The fact that I'm the only one in the village who thinks like this doesn't help."
As they spoke, Hamish felt himself being more confident. Here he was talking to his crush, and she was trusting him with her feelings. Taking a leap of fate, Hamish spoke his secret. "You're not the only one. I can't fight dragons either." Now it was Allie's turned to act surprised. "What? You're just saying that to make me feel better." "I'm serious, I can't. I thought I was like everyone else, but it turns out I'm not." "I never thought you were like anyone else, it's something I like about you," Allie said, before putting a hand over her mouth.
"What? I'm sorry what did you say?" "I said that I like how you're not like everyone else. Even when you try to you do it by being yourself. You don't try to hide who you are. I think it's a really great thing about you." Hamish immediately started blushing, Allie said she liked something about him. "Are you okay, you look a little red," Allie said, Hamish turning back into a love struck awkward teenager. "Well I just was, I think tha-tha-tha, I, 'um," After continuing to stutter for another ten seconds, Allie started to laugh. "Well I'm glad me making a fool out of myself brings you joy." "No, I didn't mean it like that, I just-" "I was just messing with you." After a brief silence, Allie stood up, "Thank you Hamish, I needed some cheering up." "You're welcome," Hamish said as he got up. "And I really did mean what I said. I don't want to kill dragons." "Well, I'm glad. I'll see you later Hamish," Allie said as she ran out, waving to him.
Hamish was in his glory days, but that quickly ended when he heard Allie's grandmother behind him say, "You do realize I was still here right?"
"So why didn't you," Hamish wondered aloud. He was currently in the woods, back at the spot where he had found the Woolly Howl. Garrison's words were still fresh in his mind. "A dragon will always go in for the kill." Emphasize was on 'always', that dragons would not let the chance to kill escape them, and yet, the Woolly Howl had spared him. The villagers had a saying, 'Despite outward appearances, all dragons are the same, devils.' Admittedly that sounded quite racist but they're Vikings, what can you do.
If the Woolly Howl didn't kill him, and the villagers incredibly biased and inaccurate belief was correct, than that would mean no dragon would go in for the kill. But if that was true, then why were they constantly raiding? Ugh, it was all so confusing.
Hamish's thoughts were interrupted by a sound in the distance. Curiosity got the better of him, and he moved ever closer to where the sound was coming from. It wasn't long until he had found himself in front a cave entrance on the side of Thor's Peak. He walked into the cave, and walked through a tunnel, one that no one else on Hagalheim had apparently seen because no one had ever mentioned it.
Hamish walked until he eventually reached a dead end. But at that dead end was a large crack in the wall, sunlight breaking into the mountain. It was large enough to allow him to get in, so he carefully slipped through the crack and saw that he had emerged from the tunnel. The place looked like a sink hole that used to be part of the mountain. Greenery was pretty sparse, only a few plants here and there with some moss on the walls. The walls themselves were large, keeping the place hidden from view. A moat was at the center of it all, with a tree growing on an island near the center.
Hamish could only describe the place as a secret grotto, an oasis in the sands of the archipelago. He was about to take another step forward when he saw it. The Woolly Howl was here, sleeping in the tree. Carefully staying quiet, Hamish moved back behind the crack in the wall. Something popped up in his mind, why was the Woolly Howl still here? Hamish had set it free, why hadn't it flown away of the island.
They boy took out the sketchbook he had on him, remembering what the villagers said about how no one had ever seen one before. As quickly as he could, he drew a rough sketch of the sleeping dragon, looking back at the dragon continuously. He was almost finished drawing it when he noticed something he hadn't seen before. On the tail of the Woolly Howl was what looked to be tail fins, yet one was ripped in half.
The realization hit Hamish faster than a speeding Groncicle. During one of the raids a few years back, he had heard Garrison say something among the lines of how without wings and tails, dragons were just lizards that could breathe fire. Back then, Hamish had no idea what the old man meant. But now he knew, that a dragon with a wound tail or a broken wing couldn't fly.
Hamish had spared the dragon, only to condemn him to a life without ever flying again.
"I admit it, today was not the best. In fact out of every class I've ever thought in my life this was by far the worst I've seen in a long time, by far," Garrison said to most of the trainees. It was currently sun set, and most off the village was in the town hall eating dinner. "I spent a whole hour thinking of what to tell your parents if one of you lot died the first day actually…" "Is this gonna go anywhere," Aric whispered to Leif. "Hard to say, Garrison's skillset does not include skipping formalities and getting to the point."
"…and all I could come up with was 'He/She/They died. So sorry.' But enough of that. Now, in order to prevent another accident, a fatal one not limb losing one, you can survive that, you need to ask yourselves, 'Where did I go wrong today?' "I got stuck with a lunatic teacher for one thing," Sven muttered under his breathe. Unfortunately for him, said teacher heard him and gave him a smack on the back of the boy's head. "No, you decided to flirt with a girl who shows no interest in ya'." Johann muttered something which no one heard. He actually said, "{Allie} could do way better," and he wasn't wrong. "You have to keep your focus on what's happening around you, not what's going on in 'Sven-land,' which I really don't want to visit." Leif couldn't resist flashing a smug smile, which was noticed by Garrison.
"Oh don't be so smug, you had the exact same problem. In a fight you need to adapt on the spot, work with what you've got. Freezing up and thinking things through will just leave you wide open. Alright, where did Aric go wrong?" "I forgot to bring Rooster that little bird always knew what color went with the occasion," the somewhat insane kid said, his sister rolling her eyes. "Aric chose to waste time and pick out a shield instead of just grabbing one." "Well excuse me sis if I want to look my best before I get blood everywhere. Thor," Aric looked up as if he was talking to said god, "Prove me wrong. Start a storm and prove me wrong." As if Thor actually heard him, the sound of thunder rang out and Gunnar walked in completely soaked. "I must use this power for good," Aric said in a low voice.
On the other side of the Hall, Brenna was cutting up a chicken leg for Junior, who was reading a well-known Viking legend called "The Dragon Valkyrie." "Mommy when is Hamish going to be here," the child asked. "He said he would be gone most of the day, I'm sure he'll be here soon," Brenna answered. Another crack of thunder burst in the air, the wind whipping up. "Although I hope he gets back before that storm gets any worse." "Mommy what was Hamish's daddy like?" Brenna just about froze up when she heard that. Where did Junior even get the idea to ask such a thing?
"Sweetie, it's not very nice to ask a thing like that. You don't know whether or not someone wants to talk about it." "I'm sorry," Junior said quite remorsefully. "I just heard Sven's dad say some bad words about him and…" Brenna put her hand on Junior's lips, silencing the boy. "First, never repeat those words to anyone. But, I get that you would be curious, though I was hoping I wouldn't have to tell you about him for at least another five or six years. Harold, he was…"
As she told Junior about her first husband, her first child wondered into the hall, completely soaked by rain. "I mistimed the summersault dive. It was sloppy," Aria said, her brother agreeing with her. "Yeah, and that shade of red is so two months ago." Hamish grabbed a plate, and Sven moved so that he was taking up two seats. Not in the mood to even try, Hamish just walked away, but not before hearing his fellow trainees make some remarks at his expense. "Where did Hamish go wrong?"
"He showed up?" "He didn't lose a limb?" "He's never where he belongs," Aria said straight to the point. Hamish wasn't sure if she said that knowing he would hear it, but the message was heard loud and clear. He was used to people telling him this, really it was every day that at least someone said something similar to what Aria said. In fact, he actually thought if someone went one day without belittling him it would be a sign of Ragnarok. Yet, know it hurt, because she was right. Hamish had nearly cost the lives of a lot of people during raids, and now he had basically cursed a dragon to the worst kind of life imaginable, all because he didn't know where he belonged.
He took his usual seat near his mother and brother, the latter running up to him and giving him a hug. The Viking teen was too depressed to return, so he simply put the child back in his seat. "What's wrong sweetie," Brenna asked, noticing the look in Hamish's eyes. "I'm fine mom. I'm just really wishing I could undo something," the teen said, pushing the chicken on his plate with a fork. Sensing that this was something Hamish did not want to talk about, Brenna stopped there and changed the topic of discussion.
"So, how was the first day of training?" In truth she already knew, the entire village did, mostly because Aric loves to spread rumors. "Oh it was great. You know how much fun having a dragon spit ice at you, being humiliated in front of the junior population of the tribe and being forced into training in the force place is," Hamish said darkly, startling his family, who were not used to seeing such a darkness in him. The thunder outside the hall clapped, it sounded like Thor was particularly ticked off tonight. But on the plus side a storm that dangerous meant that there wouldn't be a raid, most likely. Fittingly the storm matched the inside of Hamish's mind. Between the Woolly Howl and all he's put up with over the years, his heart was torn over even bothering to show up to training at all and just giving up while he's a head.
"Is this seat taken," came Allie's voice, snapping Hamish out of his dark thoughts. "Of course not, please sit down dear," Brenna said, and Allie sat down next to Hamish. The boy's cheeks started to blush a light red, this was twice today Allie was near him. "I hope I'm not interrupting something, I was just a little tired of everyone else. So, how's the little soldier doing?" "'M good. Although I do feel a little tired once and a while," Magnus said, the overdramatic tiredness revealing he was faking. "Well, do you have any suggestions for that Allie," Brenna said, playing along with her youngest' act.
"Yes, a bath and lots of rest. It works best if done once the signs start showing up," Allie said, a little bit of a mischievous glint in her eye. "Oh, and nothing sweet for the next week." "You know what mommy, I'm starting to feel good. No need to not have sweets," Jr. said with urgency. "Well, just in case let's get started on that bath." "But mom-" "No 'buts' young man. Come one," Brenna said as she picked up the boy, said child begging for her to stop.
"Well look at you. If I didn't know better I'd say Aric gave you some secret pranking lessons," Hamish joked, earning a laugh from both parties. "I'm a nice girl but if you make an enemy, you'll pay dearly," Allie said, with what sounded like an impersonation of Chief Magnus. "Oh no, it's Allie! Look out or she'll torture you with her bandages!" Allie laughed more, Hamish looking at her longingly. Her laugh was like the twittering of a song bird, beautiful and pleasant to the ear.
"Before I forget, Garrison wanted you to read over this," she said as she put a book on the table. It was an old book, the pages yellowed with age multiple spots from water damage were visible. On the cover was the symbol of the tribe, a dragon eye with a snowflake inside the iris. The book was the Dragon Journal, the village's manual on all things dragon-related. "He wanted all of us to study it together, but Leif already memorized it, Sven thought he was too cool for it and Aria flat out refused." Upon mentioning the other girl's name Allie's eyes started to sorrow a little. The sadness vanished as quickly as it came, and Allie acted as if nothing was wrong.
"Well, I just remembered my grandma needs me to restock the shelves back at the hut. So I'll see you at class tomorrow," Allie said as she got up. "Yeah, see you tomorrow," Hamish said, a small hint or sadness escaping his voice. He watched as the girl walked towards the door of the building. "Wait," he said, Allie stopping in her tracks. Hamish ran up to her and gave her his vest. "So you don't have to get wet." Smiling gratefully, Allie tuck the vest and put it on. She left the town hall, Hamish smiling like a loves truck teenager. Maybe this was a sign, things were going to go his way.
Inside the sinkhole just outside Thor's Peak, the Woolly Howl was trying to squeeze its way back into the cave entrance. The rain continued to fall, the mud messing with his snow white color. Realizing he couldn't get back in, the Woolly Howl jumped under the tree. It didn't do much, but it was just enough to keep him dry.
For the last couple hours, he couldn't stop thinking of the human boy that visited to this hidden cave. Despite his unconscious appearance, the dragon was awake and fully aware that the boy was there. He could tell by the scent that this was the same one that had released him from his trap in the woods. The dragon's mind began to wonder, how did the boy know he was shot down in the first place? The most logical thing he could think of was that the human was the one who shot him down, aiming to kill him and carve out his heart.
And yet, the boy did the opposite really. Not only did the human spare his life, but he released him from his binding. Since hatching, the dragon was told that humans were selfish monsters who wouldn't think twice about killing their kind. But, not only did the human think twice, but when it looked like he could kill the dragon again, he just left.
Why, he wondered? Why did the human not go through with killing him? Thinking back to their first encounter, the boy felt, scared? His eyes, they were the same as his back then; scared, alone, afraid of what was going to happen. It was as if Aquarius {2} herself had given him a sign, the boy was just like him, someone who was one-of-a-kind, and trapped in a cage without knowing it.
Part of him wanted to forget all this, just try to find a way off this wretched island without flying. But he decided on one thing: he had to find that boy again.
"The 'Hail Devil' and incarnation of Niflheim itself. You're only hope, pray the gods are with you," Hamish quoted from the Dragon Journal. For the supposed guide book of dragons the book was surprisingly vague. Apart from a few weaknesses and the 'KILL IMMEDIATELY' advice on all the pages, the book had very few things Hamish didn't know about inside its pages.
On top of all thought, there was no information on the Woolly Howl. Apparently lack of information was part of the not seeing one and surviving the encounter deal. Hamish looked back and forth between the Dragon Journal and the sketch of the Woolly Howl he had drawn. There was something about the dragon that just called out to him, as if the Gods themselves were trying to tell him something. One thing was for sure though:
Hamish had to find that Woolly Howl again.
Well I'm glad I finally finished that up. I just want to rip of an ear I was so angry…
But to be fair, it wasn't just the rest of the world that should be blamed. I had to figure out how where I was going with the characters, what the equivalent to the Cove was going to be like, writing out the dragon training sequence, yeah it wasn't as easy as it seemed.
1} Book dragon. There was no tiny dragon that we hadn't seen at this point in the franchise, and I like I said, I want to give some attention to the lesser known dragons in the franchise (Terror, been around since the beginning. Smokebreath, not really sure how I'd incorporate into the story, Night Terror, that's for a later time and Fireworms were too tiny).
So I want back to the roots of the franchise as selected a dragon from the books to put in to the story. Now it was only mentioned in a side book, and also called the Wolf-Fang instead of Wolfang, but what little I got off the HTTYD wiki got me intrigued so I'll just use some artistic license.
2} So you may be wondering why the Woolly Howl referred to one of the western zodiacs as if it was an anthropomorphic being? Well it's a dragon thing in the story, basically to dragons the western zodiac is their god-like beings, but instead of a bull, a fish-goat, a fish and so on, they're more dragon like. It'll make sense when it gets explained.
So, again, sorry for never being able to update on time. I'll try to keep on the every Friday possibly Saturday schedule… starting in two weeks because I have mid-terms next week and a large portion of my time has to be studying. But I'll work on chapters when I have free time.
Oh, one more thing, while I was brainstorming where I was going with the characters, I had some ideas that get a little dark so I may have to change the rating to T later on if I decide to go with them.
R&R
PurifierofChaos13100
Oh and Happy Halloween
Posted: 10/29/16
