Chapter 32

It had been a long time since Berk had seen a banishment. Not since the days of Alvin the Treacherous. Add to that the stress of a looming attack, and the villagers seemed absolutely ravenous for this punishment. They glided along after Snotlout, haunting his footsteps. There was very little speaking, even from the children. Despite their inability to grasp the seriousness of the situation, even the youngest one could tell that something very, very bad was happening. All they needed to figure that out was to take a peek at Spitelout, shuffling along like a creature half-dead. Or Fishlegs and the twins, still struggling to come to terms. Astrid though . . . Astrid stared after Snotlout with stony eyes. The corner of her lip twitched . . .

No . . . there was no way that was satisfaction.

The Great Hall's doors opened. We were blinded by a curtain of light. Snotlout, closest to the exit, recovered first. He tiptoed toward the open, stopping at the doorway. That small division between wood and stone was like a physical barrier to him. He slid one foot forward, stopping when his toe touched that line. His throat clenched.

"Get a move on!" Snotlout yelped as an older Viking came up and shoved him from behind. He stepped forward instinctively to keep his balance, and crossed over the threshold with what seemed to be an echoing crack.

That broke the spell. Someone thrust a short sword into the air, shouting, and then the rest started to bellow and chant. It was like the howls of a pack of hunting dogs, and even Snotlout was intimidated enough that he didn't dare stand his ground and argue. Back at the Head Table, all three Vikings had stood up. Gobber marched forward, pushing his way through the crowd. Dad hung back, keeping pace with Gothi.

The vengeful crowd seemed to grow. They were gathering around the entrance, herding Snotlout outside, and cutting me off from him. It took until that very moment, when the flash of his black hair could no longer be seen, that I could make myself move.

"Snotlout!"

I bounced off the nearest Viking. A wall of legs and bodies kept me from reaching him. They were packed together, and moving so frequently and randomly that any path I saw was quickly swallowed up.

Then, the crowd surged out of the Hall. The wall broke down swiftly, and I squeezed between the legs of two large-bellied Vikings and darted to the front. Snotlout was on the stone steps, descending quickly. He was hunched, as if afraid someone would throw something at him.

"Snotlout!"

I lunged, but something closed on my tail. Pain erupted at the base, strong enough that for a fleeting second, I thought it would rip off. I didn't need to look. I could smell the heat coming off Astrid's hand.

"Just leave it alone, Hiccup," Astrid said. "It's done. The Elder's made her decision."

"Astrid, what have you done?"

The crowd and commotion had attracted many of the village's dragons. None of them were bold enough to stand directly in their path, so they hung out on rooftops instead. They couldn't understand what was going on, but a few of them picked up on their owners' aggression and started to hiss and bare their teeth.

Until Hookfang charged them. He, too, had no idea what was going on. All he understood was that there were other dragons hissing at his partner, so he dive-bombed them, stopping right before he hit them and lighting himself on fire. His large size was enough to convince most of the dragons to back off, and it didn't hurt that the other teens' dragons were right behind him. Hookfang barked at Snotlout, tilting his head when he was ignored. Not for long though. He was already sizing up Snotlout.

Gobber whistled sharply. "Oi, Grump! Take care of that for us, would ya?"

Before Hookfang could spring, Grump the Gronckle drifted towards him. The very heavy, very lazy dragon landed on top of the Nightmare, effectively pinning him. Hookfang growled and thrashed, but couldn't work his way free.

Stormfly, channelling her rider's decisive personality, directed the others to Snotlout's aid. But, to her bewilderment, she was quickly called off by Astrid, and Meatlug and Barf and Belch seemed uncertain in her absence. Toothless was next to me.

The crowd made it all the way to the docks. Astrid was holding me tight, and I couldn't squirm free. I could barely see Snotlout (I think that was his helmet's horn between those heads?).

"This isn't real," I muttered. "I'm just imagining this, right?"

But the heat of Astrid's body against mine, and the icy pinpricks of fear couldn't be anything but real.

I finally broke free, just as Dad and Gothi caught up with the crowd. Astrid tried to grab me, but on instinct, I opened my wings and soared high. Finally, I could see. A half-circle had been etched out around Snotlout, who stood with the open water to his back. He had nothing, not even a weapon on his person. The same couldn't be said for those surrounding him. For a few seconds, I actually feared for his safety, until Dad finally broke through the crowd.

He and Snotlout stared each other down.

Then, Dad said, "Bring him a boat."

"No!" I slammed down between them, teeth unsheathed. My small size made it much less intimidating than I had hoped for.

Dad sighed. "Stand aside, Hiccup."

"No, I won't! You're all over reacting. There are bigger enemies here, and -"

"I know he's your cousin, Hiccup, but this is out of your hands."

"That's not even what I'm saying! Just give me some time, and I'll write you an explanation . . ."

"Astrid's right. He may have changed his mind, but that doesn't mean he'll change it next time."

My words wedged themselves into my throat. Snotlout wouldn't . . . I mean, he learned his lesson, didn't he? He wouldn't . . . not again.

But I hadn't seen the first time coming, either.

Bang. The boat was set down. I don't even know if you could call it a boat. It was a small dinghy, barely big enough for two people. Well, one person now since supplies had been stacked inside. Snotlout stared at it. Blood drained from his face as the reality of the situation dawned on him.

"Take it," Dad said.

"Dad, please!" I dug my claws into his leg, not hard enough to draw blood, but enough that he couldn't ignore it.

Quietly, he said, "Our tribe is in a very dangerous situation, Hiccup. We need to be able to trust everyone."

Helpless, I couldn't do anything but watch as Snotlout pushed his craft into the ocean. It wobbled dangerously, threatening to send some of his stock into the water. Someone booed, and then I had to flatten my ears as others joined in.

"That's enough!" Dad barked. His order sliced through the din like a sword.

The silence was a dangerous one. The crowd was on a knife's edge. With just a nudge in the right direction, they could fall upon Snotlout and tear him to pieces. How Dad was able to manage such a situation so effortlessly was something I couldn't understand. But he did. He held one hand up for silence, and walked forward fearlessly, as if unaware that violence could erupt at any moment. The sun made his hair and beard burn bright. His cape rippled behind him. He looked nothing short of a god.

"You have betrayed us," he said to Snotlout. "Your actions could have destroyed this tribe if it hadn't been for quick thinking. Now, you must answer for those crimes. Go, now, and do not trouble us again."

The god had spoken.

The dinghy rocked ominously when Snotlout's foot touched it. Snotlout still had his weight on the dock, but one leg hung in loose air, hovering just above the dinghy's hull. He seemed stuck there, torn between the safety of land, and the inevitable.

"No . . ."

I don't know if Dad's foot bumped me by accident, or if it was meant to be comforting.

As reluctant as Snotlout was, the presence of the crowd seemed to act like a physical force. He nearly leapt into the dinghy, wobbling so much that his helmet teetered to the side.

"Come on, Hiccup." Dad scooped me up from underneath. "You don't need to see this."

He didn't take me far. Just away from the front, and a few steps away from the crowd. I slipped limply from his hand to the ground. Snotlout was going, and there was nothing I could do.

Dad said, "I don't know what happened between you and Snotlout after you disappeared, but you got to understand, Hiccup. Snotlout led an attack on our ship. He might not have been there, but he and Eret were the ones to talk Dagur into it. That kind of thinking, it's not good. Even if you're right, you're the only one who saw it. I believe you, but the rest of them, they're rather stubborn about these things. Without you to vouch for him, and Astrid going after him, I can't go against the Elder. A Chief's got to do what's best for his tribe."

The crowd was thinning. Snotlout must have started rowing out.

A long, serpentine shape flew over us. Hookfang, freed from Grump's mass, seeing his rider taking off in yet another boat without him, pumped his wings hard to catch up. He flew past the docks, slowing, and his flight became rather leisurely. He carved out a rough circle, orbiting the area where Snotlout must have been, not realizing that his rider had no plans to return.

"Someone capable of creating that kind of plan is not a good person inside, Hiccup, whatever you may think."

"Like Alvin?"

Alvin the Treacherous had been the last Viking to be exiled from Berk, and look at him now: one of our most stalwart allies. Words, let alone names, didn't translate well to dragon-speak though, and my point flew over his head.

Only a few people remained at the docks. Spitelout, of course, with another man rubbing his back as he watched Snotlout steadily row further and further away. Gobber was leaving, supporting the Elder on his arm. The other riders were there, too. But while Fishlegs and the twins were bunched together so close that their shoulders touched, there was space between them and Astrid. Her hair blew across her shoulders. She stood ready, axe at her side, like an avatar of war.

She was the first of them to turn away.

I shied away. Dad seemed to understand, and didn't stop me. Astrid didn't take the hint so quickly. She marched down the docks, strong and steady.

She stopped before my father. "Chief."

"It's done, Astrid." Although I knew Dad fully supported what had just happened, he seemed reluctant to look her in the eye. "If either of you need me, I'll be in the Great Hall."

"Don't . . ." I said. I wasn't ready to be alone with her.

And then it was just me and Astrid. She glanced back at the ocean, as if afraid Snotlout had turned around to come back. At least she knew enough not to smile. But she didn't look upset, either. She looked as though she had just washed the dishes, or ripped a vest, or done something else that was unpleasant, but not worth getting emotional about. I told myself that it was just the self-righteousness and payback speaking, and that the repercussions of what she had done would hit her later.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked.

Like what? I didn't have a mirror. But then I traced my muscles and found that while my teeth were unsheathed, my lips had curled back into a precursor of a snarl. I shook my head to wipe it away.

"None of this was my fault!" She stepped forward, so that I was staring at her ankle. "Why are you mad at me?"

"I trusted you," I whispered. A cold stone settled in my stomach. Another betrayal. "I thought you understood. I didn't want you to tell anyone. It was just between us."

She tried to address what she thought my problem was. "People have to be held accountable for their actions. Snotlout made a dumb choice. He betrayed us, and now he's paying for it."

"No, no. You don't understand!" A bolt of energy made me stomp around in a circle. "You only listened to the bad stuff, and none of the good."

"I only told them the truth."

"It wasn't your story to tell!"

We faced off. It felt like I was looking at some ghost of her, a side of her I had never encountered before. Her fists lay tight at her side, but that was her only reaction to my response. Her shadow was thick, overtaking and mingling with mine.

"I don't understand," she said. "What do you want me to say?"

What did I want? What I wanted was something she needed to figure out on her own, or else there would be no point. Something I couldn't give her any clues about. What I wanted her to say was that this was just about the good of the tribe, about protecting me. That her reasons had been pure. I wanted her to say that this had nothing to do with any personal vendetta.

"Don't follow me," I said.

She did the exact opposite. "Hiccup -!"

But that's what wings were for.

It wasn't long until Toothless joined me in the air. Maybe he suspected that I was planning on running off like he thought Snotlout had. Either way, he shadowed me closely, snout at my tail-tip when I flew straight.

I landed on my own roof, reasonably sure that no one would bother me there.

"This is a nightmare," I whispered as Toothless washed my back. "It's done. They're just sending him away."

I stared out across the ocean. I could see the black dots of Snotlout and his dragon as they rowed away toward the horizon. "Even if I tried to explain, by the time I wrote everything down, he'll be in the territory of the Romans. And that's assuming the others don't argue with what I write. But even if I had my voice back . . ."

I looked up at Toothless and admitted, "I don't know if I could fix this."

I curled up, and laid my chin on my tail.

A Chief had to do what was best for their people. The more I dwelled on that, the more I questioned. Was the best decision what Dad claimed, to sacrifice one to appease the tribes but possibly turn him against us forever? Or was it to do what I wanted, and ignore the demand to punish someone who didn't really deserve it, but foster hostility? Which was right?

"Sometimes, I wish I also had the mind of a dragon. Then I wouldn't have to worry about all this stuff. Isn't that right, you lazy bum?"

Toothless chuffed as I swatted at his neck. He grabbed my ear in his mouth, and shook gently.

"Hey, quit that!" I rolled over and battered him with my free paws. He swallowed one whole.

My leg came out with a wet smack. Toothless had released it suddenly, and turned his attention to the ocean. I had no idea why –

I felt it. It was like a tap on my shoulder, but no one was there. I stared out at the water. What -?

I stood. In the distance, not in the direction that Snotlout was heading, I could see black shadows.

"Toothless, are those ships?"

Review Responses:

Jazz: Snotlout did more or less get Hiccup out of Eret's ship, but as others have pointed out, he's the reason it happened in the first place. Unfortunately, some actions do have irreversible repercussions.

Whining and yelping would have been more accurate from a dragon's perspective, but Hiccup's memories are of reacting to grief in a human way, aka. a less vocal way. So it came out as hyperventilating instead.

.

Noctus Fury: The question is how would you tell her and Hiccup apart? I think a blonde Night Fury would freak everyone out XD

Pretty much. Hiccup thought it was implied, but it's true that he never directly said that.

.

GuestGirl: Hiccup's whole I'm-a-dragon thing does limit his use in this situation. But he'll find things to do.

Probably, and maybe? I don't think Hiccup has a lot more to learn. I guess I could throw in hunting at some point.

We'll see :)

.

Guest: (screaming NOOOO): I have not read the books, but I am aware of Snotlout's fate.

.

Guest: Don't worry, that was a joke. There are no plans to make Astrid a dragon, too.