All The Small Things Chapter 3
"Oh, my gosh! Two nano-dragons!" Fishlegs was geeking out again. "Maybe they're a mated pair! Can you imagine how tiny their babies will be?"
The two tiny dragons landed on the bars that covered the edge of the training ring and looked down on the six teens who were gaping up at them. One of the nano-dragons clutched a big silver coin in its teeth.
"That one must be your friend," Hiccup commented.
"I thought he was your friend," Fishlegs countered. "He never shocked you or stole your money, right? He didn't treat me like a friend."
"But you fed him, and he liked that, right?" Astrid offered. "Maybe they're back for more bugs to eat?"
Hiccup shook his head. "I'm sure they can find all the bugs they want in the forest. I think they're here because the other one wants a shiny object like her partner has."
"I like making dragons happy as much as the next man," Fishlegs replied, "but I'm not exactly made out of money. I can't afford to give away any more."
"Huh." Hiccup looked thoughtful. "I wonder if there's a way..." His voice trailed off. He realized that all the others were staring at him. "What?"
"You're the son of the tribe's chief!" Ruff reminded him. "You're family is rich! If anyone has money to give away, it's you."
"I'm not exactly made out of money, either!" he exclaimed. "My dad has some, but I'm not that much better off than any of you. Why should I give my coins away to a greedy little dragon?"
"Think of it as a scientific experiment," Fishlegs suggested. "We can expand our knowledge of dragons. That's what the Dragon Training Academy is all about, right?"
"Or think of it as being fair to Fishlegs," Astrid offered. "After all, he gave them one of his coins, so shouldn't you do it, too? After all, you're our leader, and leaders are supposed to set a good example, right?"
"Besides, better you than me!" Tuffnut concluded.
As he thought it over, the nano-dragon without the coin drifted down and settled on his left shoulder. It cheeped at him, blinked twice, and fluttered its tiny wings. He sighed in resignation.
"Fine. You win, little one," he mumbled. "You're way too cute for your own good." He walked back to his house with one nano-dragon on his shoulder, the other nano-dragon fluttering around his head, and the other five teens following him. He found Toothless asleep beside his house; the Night Fury stirred restlessly as he eased the door open and crept upstairs to his room. The nano-dragon with the coin in its mouth followed him up and landed on his nightstand. The one without the coin joined her partner, peeping insistently.
"Don't get greedy, little one." Hiccup retrieved his little box of coins from under his bed. It rattled as he set it on the bed and opened the lid. "There isn't much here," he sighed. "I hate giving it away, even if it does make a dragon happy. Fishlegs said this should be a scientific experiment, but how? Hmmm... okay, let's try this." He picked up a large copper coin, a medium-sized silver one, and a small gold one, and set them down in front of the tiny dragons. "Which one do you like best?"
Without hesitation, the dragon that had no coin pounced on the gold one and carried it off. A moment later, the other dragon dropped the big silver coin it was carrying, siezed the medium-sized one, and followed its mate out the window. Hiccup shrugged, put the copper coin back in his box, hid the box again, and walked downstairs. The other teens were clustered around the door.
"Well?" Astrid asked.
"They like gold better than silver or copper," Hiccup answered. "They seem to like coins that are easy to carry; 'bigger is better' isn't their rule. The first one made change from my money box; he left Fishlegs' coin and took a smaller one of mine instead."
"Maybe they like money from you better than they like money from Fishlegs," Astrid suggested.
"I don't know; I guess it's possible. Anyway, he left this one behind. Here you go." He flipped the big silver coin to Fishlegs, who was so surprised that he nearly dropped it.
"Thanks, Hiccup!" he exclaimed. "I thought I'd never see this money again." He examined it closely.
"Do you think the nanny-dragons switched your coin for a fake?" Tuff demanded.
"No, I'm just checking for tooth marks," Fishlegs replied. "All I can see is dragon spit. I guess they're really gentle with the stuff they value the most."
That was when Ruff glanced over her shoulder and tensed up. "Here comes the chief! We must be in trouble for something!"
Tuff nodded. "If he found out about the noodle incident, then we're dead! Run for it!" The twins ran away in opposite directions as Stoick approached the group.
Snotlout turned to Astrid, mystified. "What are those two so paranoid about? Didn't they expect the chief to walk toward his own house?"
"They have guilty consciences, I guess," she shrugged.
"What's going on here?" the chief rumbled.
"We were just doing an experiment on some very small dragons we discovered yesterday," Hiccup explained. "They seem to like money."
"This is a bad time to talk to me about money," the chief sighed. "Hiccup, can we talk alone for a few minutes?"
"Sure, Dad." Fishlegs, Astrid, and Snotlout quickly found things to do elsewhere in the village. Stoick closed the door and sat down on a bench near the fire; Hiccup sat across from him and poked up the fire a bit.
"What's on your mind, Dad?"
"You know about the trading ship from the Wild Men of the North," Stoick began. "What you don't know is that it isn't exactly a trading ship."
"What do you mean?"
The big man sighed deeply. "The Wild Men used to raid us every year, back in your grandfather's day. They outnumbered us almost as much as the Berserkers do, and they're even more bloodthirsty. They would land from dozens of big longships, kill anyone who resisted them, carry off and enslave anyone who didn't resist, take everything of value, and burn the rest. We survived only by evacuating the island as soon as we saw them coming.
"Your grandfather got tired of rebuilding the whole village every year; it was hard enough repairing the damage from the dragons, never mind the Wild Men. The next time he saw them coming, he met them at sea and offered them a chest of gold if they'd leave the island alone. They respected his courage in meeting them by himself, and they took his gold and turned around and went home. We thought that was the end of the menace from the North forever. But they came back next year and demanded another chest of gold. We had no choice – we had to either pay them or watch them wreck the island again. So every year, they come back, and every year, the chief meets them at sea, by himself, with a chest of gold."
Hiccup had never heard of this aspect of his tribe's history before. "So their trading ship isn't here to trade? They're just collecting protection money?"
"Trade used to be the last thing on their minds," Stoick said sadly. "But now, if they like our offering, their ship will enter our harbor for some honest trading. They'll make a few deals, buy a keg of our best ale for the ride home, and leave us for another year. But you're right, they're not here to trade. They're here to collect a payoff. And that payoff usually costs us nearly everything we've got. All year long, we have to trade like crazy with the other tribes around us, just to earn enough to appease the Wild Men."
"That's awful, Dad! Isn't there anything we can do?"
"Not as long as they outnumber us so badly. Even your dragons can't help, I'm afraid; there are just too many Wild Men, and if you sank their ships, they'd build more and hit us when we don't expect it. This is one of those parts of being a chief that isn't much fun, Hiccup. But someday it will be your turn to sail out to them with a chest of gold, and hope that they like your courage. It's humiliating, but there's no other way to keep our tribe alive."
"Wow. Well... thanks for telling me about this, Dad. Now I know why you're always touchy about money at this time of year. Do we have enough to pay them this time?"
"Yes, just barely." Stoick stood and pushed on part of the log he was sitting on. The flat top of the log pivoted, revealing a hidden compartment inside. He reached in and pulled out a small chest, not much bigger than his hammy fist. He shook it; it clinked.
"This is the future of the tribe, son. Fifty gold coins, in exchange for another year of our existence. If anything happens to this, we have no backup plan except to run away." He opened the chest and swirled his finger through the tiny coins; some of them were no bigger than his thumbnail.
Hiccup recalled the events that just took place in his room upstairs. "Dad, I can make a suggestion? Maybe you should keep that chest closed."
"Why?" the chief almost laughed. "Are you worried that someone might steal it? From me?"
"Not someone, Dad, but something. We've found some dragons that live in the forest, eat bugs, and steal shiny coins. I don't want them to find that chest and rob us blind."
Stoick bristled. "Then I won't let them! How big are these dragons, and how many of them are there?"
"They're small enough to fit in your hand, and we don't know how many there are. But they're greedy and they're quick. Really quick!"
"How quick?" Stoick demanded.
"Quicker than a Bog-Burglar, according to Fishlegs," Hiccup answered.
"All right, that's quick. I'm impressed," his father nodded. "But there's no reason to think that these dragons will come to this house, looking for our money, is there?"
"Well, uhhh..." Hiccup looked embarrassed. "I just gave one of them a coin from my box upstairs."
Stoick's eyes blazed. "And now these dragons know that there's money in this house that's free for the taking? WHY in Thor's name did you do that?"
"Dad, I didn't know about the Wild Men, or the gold, or any of that stuff! You just told me about it now! Like I said, we were just doing an experiment!"
The chief relaxed, very slightly. "Well, is it really a problem? I mean, what are the chances that a flock of these little dragons is going to descend on our house between now and the day that the Wild Men's ship arrives?"
Hiccup looked away, dismayed. "If we trust in my luck, then I'm surprised they haven't descended on our house already." He looked out the window, expecting to see and hear the "flock of these little dragons" homing in on his tribe's only hope for survival so they could steal it. But there was no sign of nano-dragons, just Toothless' toothy head. He'd heard Stoick raising his voice and wanted to know what was going on.
"No problem, bud," Hiccup reassured him. "It's just a family discussion." Toothless looked unconvinced, so Hiccup added, "Want to go flying?" That was a silly question!
As they threaded their way between the clouds, Hiccup leaned forward. "You don't like those nano-dragons, do you, bud? I'm starting to think I know why. They could really make some trouble for us. But, to them, it wouldn't be trouble. They would just be... uhh... collecting cool stuff, the way Fishlegs collected dragon scales when he was a kid, or the way Snotlout collects weapons now. We can't get mad at them for that. But we can't let them get our gold, either. Got any ideas about how we might stop them without hurting them?" Toothless snorted, did a half-roll, and glided upside-down for a few seconds before he plunged into a corkscrew dive toward the ground far below them. He pulled out in plenty of time, but he had a few more crazy stunts to pull before he was satisfied. Then he glided straight and level again.
Hiccup brushed back his severely windblown hair. "I don't think that had anything to do with nano-dragons," he said slowly, "but it sure was fun! Have you got anything else?" That was another silly question! Their flight lasted nearly two hours before Hiccup decided to return to land at last, so he'd be on time for a late supper.
As they approached the house, they saw Stoick running around desperately, shouting and flailing with his hands at a swarm of tiny dragons that were darting in and out of the doorway and the window. Many of them were carrying something yellow and shiny in their mouths.
