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Chapter 13:
"Toothless! Let go of him!" Hiccup pleaded, but to no avail.
Toothless snarled intensely at the man underneath, who's breathing was getting increasingly sharper as the Night Fury's paw dug further and further into his chest.
Urgently, the young Viking leapt off the dragon's back and rushed up towards the front. "He's not the enemy!" Hiccup said as he pushed with all his body weight against the dragon's head, but to a Viking his size, it was like trying to push a boulder over rough terrain; impossible. It doesn't make sense! Why would Toothless risk stopping to specifically attack Oliver? All the man did was nurse him back to health after pulling him from the cav- oh.
"Toothless, if he hadn't taken me, I probably wouldn't be alive having this conversation with you!" Hiccup reasoned. His assumption was that, since Oliver was the one who carried him to the town, his scent must've been left behind and his over-protective dragon must've picked it up and thought he was the cause of all this.
The Night Fury did not budge an inch. His stare remained directly at Oliver in the same way he did moments ago, but the young Viking sensed a bit of uncertainty from his companion.
"He's not the enemy bud… He's the one who helped me get well." The teen said in a gentle, calm voice to not further agitate his already furious vengeance-seeking dragon.
Slight moments passed by before the dragon gave in to his rider's reasoning and dropped his grip. But as the man unsteadily rose to his feet, the dragon shot the man a life-threatening glare. In instinct, Oliver stumbled back, nearly falling back down onto the ground. "C-call off the beast-" A sudden growl emerged from the dragon, bringing out an apprehensive gasp from Ellen from the side. "Erm, T-toothless…"
The dragon did as told and waddled over beside Hiccup, before anxiously nudging at his arm. Toothless obviously felt an urgency to leave, being in such a dragon-despising town. He was indeed right too, but the young Viking knew that he needed something from these people first, and scaring them off was not exactly the best way of asking for help.
Hiccup leaned over and cupped his mouth towards his dragon's ear. "Just trust me bud." The young Viking whispered.
Toothless responded with a groan of annoyance.
Over onto the side, Mary and Ellen exchanged puzzled looks as Oliver regained his composition and attempted to brushed off his clothing nonchalantly, but to no luck. Every few seconds, the man's head shot up and glanced over at Toothless with suspicion.
"So how-"
"He's not my puppet master." Hiccup said blatantly, cutting off Ellen. "He doesn't have magic, he's just a plain old, regular dragon."
Upon hearing that he was just called ordinary, Toothless retorted with a loud, accusing snort.
"Fine, he's a rare and all powerful Night Fury." Hiccup said with a sharp, sarcastic overtone. Toothless, though knowing well of his rider's sarcastic tendencies, ignored it and held up his head high and proud with dignity, trying to live up to the description as being the 'offspring of lightening and death' itself.
Mary gazed at Hiccup with a strong hint of skepticism. Her usual vibrant demeanour had suddenly dropped into an uncharacteristically serious one. "But Tilgaurd said-"
"He doesn't understand." Hiccup interrupted once again. "Dragons aren't evil, they stole food because of the queen on their island. And now that she's gone, they've shown themselves on our island at not being bad at all!"
"Wait, are you telling me that the dragons, the beasts that have been attacking us for years, killing our men, stealing our food and ruining our crops that have left us in a state of famine, aren't all that bad?" Oliver asked incredulously.
"Yes, and in fact, they help us fish, hunt, and do other things in a way that would take a lot longer without them." Hiccup responded with a slight 'as-a-matter-of-fact' tone.
The three family members stared at him, soaking in the shocking, if not belief shattering information that not only dragons are not 'all bad', but apparently, his people actually co-exist with them? "This is gibberish! Dragons can't be docile! Their instinct is to kill, maim! And raid our food!" Oliver began.
"Explain how the raids suddenly stopped."
No one had an answer.
"Now, I need to get myself and Toothless out of this town safely and away from Tilgaurd along with the rest of the town who want my dragon executed. To do this, I need my riding gear back."
"Now, wait just a second-" The man was about to start.
"Dad… " Ellen began. "It all makes sense, the reason why they'd stopped just suddenly. And think about it, wouldn't it be easier to hunt, fish, and trade with dragons, instead of wasting men trying to kill them?"
Oliver glanced up for a second to consider, before sighing in defeat. "After the town meeting was adjourned, we saw the town blacksmith walking off with your, uh, saddle, towards his forge."
"We'll take you th-"
Mary was suddenly interrupted by an almost victorious roar of men, with the strength of volume high enough to seemingly reach every home in the town. Then, a boisterous clattering of feet started rattling against the dirt. With every passing second, the sound began to increase in volume as they neared closer and closer.
"Let's get them!" Could be heard faintly in the distance as the clattering got more and more audible. It was obvious to everyone that Tilgaurd was massing up an army as was approaching their way.
"Ellen, you go with Hiccup and show him towards the forge, we'll delay them for as long as possible!" Oliver urged.
"But dad, what about y-"
"No buts! Go!"
Hiccup quickly leapt onto his dragon and held his hand out for Ellen, who just stood staring at him with a look of uncertainty. "Come on, he's not going to hurt you." Hiccup assured. Without warning, a second, but much louder cheering of men shook the hesitation right out of Ellen as she grabbed Hiccup's hand and mounted onto Toothless. The last thing they saw were Mary and Oliver, running into the direction of the boisterous cheering just before Hiccup and Ellen disappeared into a wisp of black.
During the sprint, Hiccup turned his head back to check on Ellen, but to his disbelief, she wasn't screaming, nor clenching onto him like onto a branch during a fall. She was actually smiling brightly, with her eyes glimpsing to the sides to look at the rapidly scrolling by houses in wonder and amazement, oblivious to the screams of terror of townsfolk as the dragon ran down the streets.
"Umm, Ellen." Hiccup reminded.
"Hmm? Oh, oh yes! That way." She pointed.
As if on cue, Toothless sharply turned and bounded past another multitude of shops, before stopping directly at the entrance of a white, flat stone building with a large smokestack on the opposite end. The distinct, almost cobbley style chimney sent Hiccup immediately recognizing it as the one he saw when he initially explored the town.
The two jumped off and proceeded into the forge, where Hiccup peered a single eye in past the arch entrance. No sight of any person on the workbench, nor on the furnace. "Good, the blacksmith isn't here." His assumption was further proven after seeing how the coals on the furnace weren't slightly glowing dark red. As he stood over the furnace, he was mesmerized by how big the furnace was and imagined all the new applications into the area of gadgets and contraptions that were impossible to do back in Berk's forge. But soon, he had forced himself to ignored it due to the necessary speed that was needed. "Alright, look for something that looks kind of like a horse saddle, except it has two metal rings attached onto the side. And Toothless, stay out of sight."
The Night Fury obediently leapt on top of the forge, sending a few loose tiles tumbling down as he scrambled up behind the chimney.
"Is this it?" Ellen asked, pointing to a workbench.
Hiccup walked closer with a hope of excitement, before his smile fell into a frown to the realization that it was just saddle, with reins suited for a horse. "No, it's just a-AHH!" Hiccup yelled, slipping on a solitary grease spot. He flailed his arms for any object to grab onto and nullify his fall, but all he could manage was the top handle of the furnace lid. He and the lid fell to the ground with a unanimous 'thump.'
"You okay there?" Ellen asked, offering her hand.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Hiccup responded, rubbing his back. "What's this for? The furnace has a front entrance for putting in coal, why would it need a top lid for?" The curious young Viking picked himself off the ground and peeked into the top of the furnace, where a thin veil of metal was weaved and hung above the coals. And on it, sure enough, was the saddle. "They were going to burn it?" Hiccup exclaimed in horror. The normally brown coloured saddle was now covered in black coal dust, and the pedals were slightly jammed with bits of coal stuck in the metal shaft.
"Hiccup! Hurry up and finish whatever you're doing!" Ellen urged with an expression of dismay as she looked outside from under the doorway. The young Viking inquisitively peered outside, and to his horror, it was the townsfolk. Hundreds of armed men marched down the street with some breaking from the side ranks and proceeded to the homes where they slammed open the house doors. There was no doubt of their intentions.
"Oh gods…" Hiccup uttered. The boy quickly spurred into action and snatched the saddle from the furnace before running for the exit. "Toothless, hurry! Meet me at back!"
With a croon of acknowledgement, the Night Fury leapt off the roof and onto grass with a thump. Hiccup sprinted past the rear door of the forge and towards his dragon, who readily crouched down low to help quicken the speed of mounting saddle. Paws through the loops, saddle on scales, buckles secured. It's perfect except for… the fin! "Agh!" Hiccup smacked his forehead in stupidity.
"What is it? Is the saddle broken?"
"No, its missing the fin! Did Tilgaurd take it?"
"What fin? There wasn't a mention of any fin…" Ellen answered earnestly.
Hiccup was in a frantic mess. Where was the fin? Without it, will they be stuck on this island forever? He remembered back, flashing to events, conversations, anything that could lead him to the fin. The meeting; no, there was no mention of a fin there, just the saddle. Think back farther. The Mary and Oliver's house? No, they didn't mention anything of the sort either. Where? The last place would be the… cave! Didn't Oliver and Mary mention something about a metal fish tail… Yes, That's it!
"The cave!" Hiccup exclaimed with a renewed sense of optimism. "Okay, Ellen, you need to stay here, its too difficult keeping you from falling off when Toothless is in full speed." Hiccup explained as he jumped on and secured the loops to the saddle.
Ellen crossed her arms in annoyance, feeling left out after once again, being denied of going with the person(s) she wanted to. "But- Fine…" She sighed.
"Alright, good bye Ell-"
"Wait! I almost forgot!" Ellen exclaimed, running up in front of Toothless and blocking their intended path. . "Dragons hate eels right? Well, that's what Tilgaurd said that had kept the dragons away, but anyways, there's a secret passage way around the eel line; its through the mountain. It's a cave that we used to play in as little children, so not that many people know about it. It's near the villager healer's home."
Eels! Hiccup mentally slapped himself once again. If they were chased by the village out of the town, there would be no doubt Toothless that would eventually run into the eel line and force them to stop, and ending the chase with them once again, captured. He couldn't believe he almost forgot! Hiccup back looked down at Ellen.
"Thanks Ellen, and tell your mom and dad the same as well." Hiccup expressed with extreme gratefulness. As he prepared to leave, he felt an almost remorseful feeling for what he had forced both Mary and Oliver to sacrifice to send him off safely when others just thought of him as a mind controlled puppet. So, with a final wave, Ellen stepped out of the way as Toothless bounded past at his fullest speed, more than ready to part from this hyper-aggressive human settlement.
Short, short chapter, sorry! But I felt it to be a good part to leave off at.
I made up a new word. Its Cobbley. (Something similar to cobblestone, but in the form of an adjective.)Dang that's a lot of reviews! I love reading them, all your comments, criticism, praise, its all enjoyable to read. Thanks you, the reviewers, for helping me improve my writing so we all can enjoy its benefits.