All The Small Things Chapter 4
Toothless landed quickly, but didn't give Hiccup a chance to dismount. He galloped toward the house, where Stoick was desperately trying to shoo the nano-dragons away, and roared the way he'd roared at Hiccup the first time they met. It seemed to work; at the sound of the Night Fury's voice, the tiny dragons broke off from harassing the chief and took to the skies. One circled back as if to taunt him. Stoick swung at that one back-handed, made contact… and staggered, then fell to his knees. The dragon landed twenty feet away, stunned from the blow. Hiccup finally jumped off Toothless' back and ran to his father.
"Dad! Are you okay?"
"Son," he grunted, "I never thought... I'd ever see the day... when I'd say this, but… help me up." Hiccup had no strength to support any portion of his father's great weight, of course, but he extended his arm, and just the sense of balance that he gave the chief made a difference. Stoick struggled to his feet, shaking his head slowly.
"That is the first time in twenty-three years... that a dragon has put me on the ground," he rumbled. "Why didn't you tell me they could do that?"
"Sorry, Dad," Hiccup answered. "I was thinking about the gold. The shocking part slipped my mind."
"That's not something anyone could easily forget!"
"I guess you're right, Dad, but they've never shocked me, so I haven't learned that lesson the hard way. I know about it because Fishlegs was the first one to get zapped, and he told me all about it."
Stoick brushed the dirt off his hands and knees. "We can sort out those details another day, son. Right now, we have a total disaster on our hands. Those dragons just stole every gold coin in my chest. A year's worth of trading profits… gone. If it was just my money, I'd be angry enough, but that money was worth a year's peace with the Wild Men of the North! What are we going to tell them when they get here, looking for their payment, and all I have is an empty chest? Will they believe me if I tell them the dragons stole it? Will they even care? They'll annihilate us first and ask questions later. Those little dragons have doomed us all." He looked out to sea, fearful that the Wild Men's ship might be approaching as they spoke. All he saw was the familiar sails of Berk's fishing boats, heading out to their night's work.
Then he noticed the nano-dragon he'd knocked down. "Well, at least I can get even with one of those little thieves!" He stomped toward it. Hiccup jumped in front of him and tried to hold him off.
"Dad, no! It's not hurting anybody!"
"Hiccup, are you taking the dragons' side? Those little monsters have brought ruin on your tribe! Whose side are you on?"
"Dad, that dragon doesn't have any of our gold – see? There were more dragons than coins, and that one didn't get anything of ours. He doesn't deserve whatever you're about to give him."
"Maybe not," Stoick snarled, "but it would make me feel a lot better if I could show him who's the boss around here!"
Hiccup turned and scooped up the tiny dragon in his hand. It was regaining consciousness, but it didn't resist him. Stoick stopped in his tracks. Father and son stared at each other in silence for a few seconds.
"Dad… you can't hit him when he didn't do anything wrong."
"Son… why didn't he shock you when you picked him up?"
"I don't know," Hiccup responded. "All I know is, they aren't evil. They're just following their instincts to collect shiny things, and it's not fair to punish them for that."
"Hiccup, that 'instinct' may well be the death of everyone on this island!"
"Maybe so, Dad, but killing this dragon isn't going to get our gold back." The dragon cheeped weakly, as though it understood and agreed.
Stoick paused and thought. "All right. You're the dragon expert, Hiccup, and this is a dragon problem. How do you plan to get our gold back?"
"Uhh… uhh… I don't know. Let me think."
Stoick's manner softened slightly. Now he had a plan, even if it wasn't much of a plan. Let his son handle it! When it came to dragons, Hiccup hadn't been wrong ever since he'd befriended that Night Fury. Maybe he could come up with a way out of this crisis.
"Think hard, son. Think very hard. Our lives are depending on it this time. I'm putting you in charge of getting our lost gold back, and keeping our agreement with the Wild Men intact. This will be good training for becoming the chief of the tribe someday… if the tribe lasts that long. Don't let us down."
o
When Hiccup had to come up with a plan, his first move was usually to get his friends together and talk about the problem. They seldom came up with solutions for him. But he couldn't count the number of times one of them had made a chance comment that triggered a thought in his mind, and the thought had inspired a plan, and the plan had led to an action that wound up saving the day. Everyone gave him credit for the plans, but he knew he wouldn't get far without his friends' inspiration.
They met in the training ring, along with their dragons, which made it crowded but cozy. Hiccup explained the problem. Like him, the other teens had no idea that their tribe was making annual pay-offs to appease a much stronger tribe.
"We're giving them all our money so they'll leave us alone?" Snotlout couldn't believe it. "That's not the Viking way! We ought to fight them to the finish! Swords and shields to the bitter end!"
"If we did that, we'd all be dead," Ruffnut retorted.
"Yeah, but we'd be dead heroes! Maybe somebody would write a saga about us."
Astrid shook her head. "I'm not ready to be dead yet, heroically or otherwise! Besides, the Wild Men have a special fate in store for the young women they capture, and I'm even less ready for that. There has to be something else we can try!"
"There's only one thing we can do," Tuffnut decided. "We'll all become Wild Men of the North, and then they won't attack us! I'd make a great Wild Man!" He held up his hands in a bear-claw pose and roared.
"I don't think you want to become a Wild Man, dude," Snotlout said with a firm headshake. "You'd never make it past their initiation rites."
"Whatever it is, I can take it!" Tuff exclaimed. "What do I have to do? Wrestle a polar bear? Drink a keg of ale? Beat a walrus at backgammon?"
"No," Snotlout smirked. "You have to drop your pants, and they brand you with the runes that say, 'Wild Men.' "
"Brand me?" All of Tuffnut's bravado vanished. "As in… hot irons? As in… burning flesh?"
Astrid couldn't help grinning. "As in, 'Ohh, I am hurt! I am very much hurt!' " Ruffnut snorted; Astrid's impression of her brother's favorite expression was pretty good. Astrid went on, "Snotlout is right for a change; you'd never make it through their initiation." Snotlout looked pleased at her semi-compliment.
Tuff tried once more to look fierce. "Well, I could probably take it, but what good is a scar like that if it's in a place where no one can see it?"
"Guys, it doesn't matter," Hiccup said urgently. "They aren't going to let us join them. They want their annual payment, and if we don't give it to them in gold, then they'll take it in plunder and the money they'll get from selling us as slaves. We need to think of a way to either get our gold back, or talk the Wild Men out of being so wild. Fishlegs, are you even paying attention?"
"Sorry, Hiccup. I was just looking at that little dragon in your hand. I still can't get over how cute they are!"
"Oh, yeah, him. I almost forgot about him." Hiccup glanced down at the tiny dragon that was lying contentedly in his palm. He rubbed its back ridge with a fingertip. The dragon purred and arched its back like a cat, clearly enjoying the touch.
"Is he here begging for gold like the other ones?" Astrid wondered.
"No, my father knocked him down while he was looking for gold at my house, and he's still a little bit woozy."
Ruff smirked. "Which one is woozy, the dragon or your father?"
"Both, actually. Fishlegs wasn't kidding when he said these little guys pack a big wallop! I've never seen my father go down from one hit before."
Fishlegs' curiosity was up now. "So how come he isn't shocking you, Hiccup?"
"That's a good question," Astrid nodded. "They shock everyone else who touches them, but not you. Why is that?"
"Maybe it's because he smells like a dragon," Tuff suggested.
"Fishlegs smells like a dragon, and he got the Big Zap," Ruff retorted.
"Maybe his friends told him that you rescued one of them from a spiderweb," Fishlegs thought out loud, "so they think you're a great guy."
"Yeah, right!" Snotlout scoffed. "Do you seriously think those tiny dragons can talk to each other?"
"Yes!" Fishlegs nearly shouted. "Of course they do! It makes perfect sense! That's how the whole flock knew to come here looking for our coins after the first nano-dragon came back to the forest with one. I don't know what kind of language they speak, but they definitely communicate. So it would make sense that they'd spread the good word about Hiccup, the Dragon Savior!"
"Dragon Savior? Oh, please!" Hiccup looked embarrassed.
"It does make sense," Astrid nodded. "They obviously trust you, even the ones who never met you before."
"All I did was be nice to one of them," he protested lamely.
"Be nice to him? Hiccup, you saved his life! Anybody would show a little gratitude after that, even a dragon."
"Especially a dragon," Fishlegs cut in. "They're very rational creatures; they must understand things like being thankful."
"Yeah, I guess that could be true," he admitted, "but it doesn't get us any closer to solving the problem that they caused." He continued stroking the nano-dragon in his hand. "As far as you little guys are concerned, I can do no wrong, huh?" The dragon cheeped… and a smile slowly crossed Hiccup's face.
"I know that look!" Astrid said, and backed off a step. "You just had an idea that will either save the tribe, or destroy us all."
He grinned at her. "Yes, I just had an idea. Yes, it might save the tribe. But the only one it might destroy is me... I think. Do any of you have a big wooden chest that you'd be willing to part with?"
"It's not really a chest," Astrid said, "but my father has some wooden crates with hinged lids. He puts meat in them when he's doing his 'butcher' thing. How many do you want?"
"Just one," Hiccup decided. "I have to make a couple of custom items in the forge, and early tomorrow morning, I'll need Snotlout and Fishlegs for a special job."
"He obviously needs my courage and my awesomeness," Snotlout boasted.
"No, I think he needs my keen mind and my encyclopedic knowledge of dragon lore," Fishlegs countered.
Hiccup smiled and shook his head. "Actually, I need your strong backs to carry Astrid's box. It's going to be heavy, especially once I fill it."
"What are you going to fill it with?" Ruff asked.
"You'll see," he grinned.
Snotlout didn't look so happy. "I hate it when he gets mysterious like that!"
"Look on the bright side," Astrid said cheerfully. "The Wild Men of the North are probably going to hate it even more."
