Chapter 3: I Nearly Get My Head Blasted Off

As soon as the first rays of sun peak over the horizon, I leap out of bed. I rub circles under my eyes and stifle a yawn pulling my hair over my shoulder and start to weave it into a braid. I hadn't slept maybe more than thirty minutes last night. The Night Fury hasn't left my thoughts. I can't believe it didn't kill me, my whole life I've grown up the fact the dragons and heartless beasts rooted into my brain.

So...why is that wrong?

I finish the braid and toss it over my shoulder and moving towards the chest of clothing at the foot of my bed and throwing it open grabbing the first pair of clothing I see. I quickly change and grab my silver vest throwing it over my shoulders and shove on my boots, grab my dagger and start to head down the stairs.

After searching through the cabinets for something edible that appeals, I grab an apple and bite down on it staring around the empty house. I can see my breath puffing outwards in the dark building but I can't feel the cold. I let out a sigh taking another bite of the fruit tossing my bangs from my face.

I pull my gloves over my hands more letting the thick fabric cover my bare pale skin. My sleeves end a little past my elbow and from there I usually wear a strips of purple fabric over my forearms under my gloves; on my right arm mostly to cover the burn scar across my entire forearm. It's a miracle I kept the arm in the first place, with my curse I'm extremely sensitive to heat and fire and I slipped because of my amazing grace and my arm ended up in the bellows.

I didn't know how many curses Gobber knew until that day about a year ago, he didn't repeat himself, once. The scar is a jagged lightning bolt looking after the stitches.

Pulling away from my thoughts, I toss the apple core into the nearby waste basket and turn towards the door where the my dad's axe is leaning against the frame. Right. Dragon training.

I don't want to do this.

I can't kill dragons, the Night Fury proved that. And now, I'm stuck doing something I really don't want to do. There's a saying I read somewhere that when you're going through a terrible experience it's like a bow and arrow and you're about to be flung forward to something better. My bow snapped and the string is broken. I'm not going anywhere.

I grab the axe from it's position and half dragging it, I pull the door open and step into the brisk morning air shutting the door behind me with the back of my foot. I grit my teeth and start to move forward looking in the general direction where I know the training arena is. Gobber used to take me there to watch him train other teens when I was younger. As I got older he just put me in charge of the forge.

I half drag my feet through the village before I spot Snotlout and the other teens grouped together heading for the training arena. I sigh slightly and bite my lip tightly before moving forward slipping in behind them. The twins, who are in the back don't look back at me so engaged in throwing insults at each other they don't have time to.

I look forward and spot Gobber in the front, then Asher, Fishlegs and Snotlout, the twins and me. Gobber glances and me and flashes a wide smile looking way to happy to be doing this. My shoulders slump and I let out a slow breath adjusting my grip on the axe lifting it from the ground in both arms.

We reach the Arena almost ten minutes later and Gobber pulls open the gate."Welcome to dragon training." He says backing away from the entrance. Asher takes a deep breath then steps into the ring.

"No turning back," He says. The others take a few spins as they step into the ring. It's a large circular space the walls and floor are made of concrete and instead of a ceiling, long chains are linked together to block the dragon's from flying away. There's scorch marks covering several parts of the walls and across the floor is scattered equipment the odd weapon or two and nearly a dozen shields.

"I'm hoping I get some serious burns." Tuffnut says. Ha, yeah, you enjoy that. I've gotten way too many burns for comfort, Gobber's teaching method insures that. Oh, great, Gobber's teaching. We're all going to die first lesson.

"I'm hoping for some mauling, on my shoulder or lower back." Ruffnut comments and grips her spear tighter, looking excited. Asher nods and gives the Thorsten girl a half look.

"Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it." Asher agrees. I roll my eyes and let the weight of the axe pull my arms down moving forward and stepping into the arena sarcasm sharp on my tongue.

"Yeah, no kidding right? Pain: Love it." I say dryly. They all turn around surprise flashing on their faces then dread. I try to keep my expression emotionless but I'm sure it fails horribly. Asher sighs and Tuffnut looks at Ruffnut before leaning against his weapon.

"Oh great, who let Ms. Dainty hands in here?" Tuffnut asks.

Dainty hands? Seriously?

I've been called worse.

I'm weak and because of that people assume I'm fragile and it drives me crazy. I am not fragile. I'm fighting against more than they'll ever know.

"Let's get started." Gobber says moving forward and breaking my thoughts, "The recruit who does best will get the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village." He says and twists his prosthetic in a killing motion. My eyes widen slightly and I turn away from Gobber. I can't kill a dragon, I can't, I can't, I can't.

"Um, Haedryin already killed a Night Fury so does that disqualify her or…" Snotlout asks then laughs her long ponytail bouncing. The twins join in and I feel my heart plummet to my stomach, already I am assumed I going to be terrible at this. It isn't my fault the fear of the curse getting discovered often makes my slip up when I do things.

Gobber throws a supportive arm around my shoulder and I give him a bewildered look. "Can I trade classes and get a real Viking? Not a princess?" Tuffnut asks. Gobber sends a small scowl at his back but Tuffnut turns away chuckling.

"Don't worry, you're small and weak, that'll make you less of a target." Gobber assures me and begins to lead me forward, that's not reassuring in the slightest."They'll see you as sick or insane and go after the more Viking-like teens instead." Gobber says and then pushes me next to Fishlegs, she move a little away from me and I let out a breath of annoyance curling my hold on the hilt of my weapon. Everyone on Berk already acts like I am sick or insane; I don't need the dragons thinking that to.

Gobber turns and begins to pace in front of a set of doors. "Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight." He begins his speech, well I won't say it's a speech, Gobber's never one for formal speaking; preferring just clubbing people on the head and asking questions later. Fishlegs's head snaps up and she looks absolutely thrilled all of the sudden. I give her an odd look and take a cautious small step to the left. Fishlegs has a reputation for going berserk when things get hard.

"The Deadly Nadder," Gobber began his list.

Fishlegs begins to spit out information, "Speed eight, armor sixteen."

Gobber ignores the girl and continues, "The Hideous Zippleback,"

But Fishlegs is on a roll, "Plus eleven stealth times two-"

"-The Monstrous Nightmare-"

"Fire power fifteen-" Did she eat the Manual?

"-The Terrible Terror-"

"Attack eight, venom twelve!" She shouts eyes wide with excitement.

"Will you stop that!" Gobber yells and sighs with relief as the Ingerman girl snaps her jaw shut. Gobber grips the handle to the door, "And, the Gronckle." He finishes.

Fishlegs leans over to me and whispers, "Jaw strength eight."

I stare at her like she's growing an arm from her head; I thought I was the nerd. I grip the axe tighter knowing Gobber is just going to throw us into this, I want to be able to not die or get an exceedingly large injury within the first minute.

"Whoa, whoa wait. Aren't you going to teach us first!" Snotlout exclaims her voice gaining an octave higher in fear.

I smirk at this and Gobber grins, "I believe on learning on the job." He says. I, completely used to this teaching method, mouth the words to myself. Asher notices and stares at me in disbelief. Gobber pulls down on the lever and the gate breaks open. The Gronckle bursts out of the cage it full fury and we all scatter with yelps of surprise or fear as it spins and runs into a wall. I hear Gobber's voice over, "Today is about survival. If you get blasted, you're dead."

Helpful.

We all tense in running positions and Gobber looking calm, but still enthusiastic and almost excited says, "Quick what's the first thing you're going to need?"

"A healer?" Ruffnut offers.

"A boar?" Tuffnut asks.

"Plus five speed?" Fishlegs asks. I look at all of them the answer is pretty obvious.

"A shield." Me and Asher say in sync.

"Shields! GO!" Gobber shouts. I race to the shields and having no preference grab the first one I see.

I grip the back of the handle nearly tipping backwards from the sudden weight.I manage to straighten myself and race across the arena trying to remain calm. It would be hard to explain why it suddenly started snowing when it's not winter yet. Or why ice is trailing after me or the temperature dropping.

Conceal don't feel, don't let it show.

Gobber looks at us, "Every dragon has a limited number of shots, how many does a Gronkle have?" Gobber asks.

"Uh five?" Snotlout asks and runs across the other side of the arena.

"No six!" Fishlegs corrects throwing her arms up as if celebrating a victory.

"Correct, that's one for each of you!"

That's...certainly one way to look at it.

Gobber comes up to me and correcting my sloppy hold on the shield says, "Here's a lesson for each of you: If there's ever a choice between a shield or a sword. Take the shield." He pushes me backwards and I stumble tip onto something I land with an oof and turn to see I had tipped over Asher. He glares at me but stands up quickly and with wide eyes shoves me behind him as the Gronckle fires a blast.

"Asher, out." Gobber calls. Asher tosses the remains of his shield to the side and runs out of range. This dragon must be either crazy or ridiculously smart. It's preserving fire power; I can tell it's not putting everything into it's blasts Asher should have gotten a fireball through the chest if it was. To fire, shields might as well be paper, we'd need them made out of metal not flammable wood.

I give Asher a half glance before returning my attention to Gronckle. "Those shields are good for another thing: Noise; make lots of it to throw off a dragon's aim." Gobber says. The twins, deciding they are going to try something else begins to make really loud annoying sounds as Snotlout, Fishlegs and I whack our weapons against the shields. The Gronckle looking slightly disoriented snaps it's gaze back into focus when it sees or I guess hears the twins, "Ruffnut Tuffnut, what on Thor's name are you doing!" Gobber shouts.

"Uh duh," Tuffnut says.

Ruffnut holds up her shield with flowers on it and adds, "We're making noise. You know, like you told us to."

The Gronckle fires at them as they're distracted and both Thorsten's shields are blasted apart to small scattered splinters."Ruff, Tuff you're out." Gobber shouts. They run from my field of vision and I focus on the Gronckle.

It fires a blast at Fishlegs and the girl lets out a untranslatable shriek and run along of words as she drops her shield and runs for her life.

Snotlout gives me a smirk as she stands next to me,"Looks like it's just you and me, huh, Princess?" She asks.

I shake my head as the Gronckle advances on us, "Nope, just you." Snotlout gives me a confused look then her silent question is answered as the Gronckle fires it hits Snotlout's shield and she gasps in surprise splinters and woods bits are shot everywhere. Some dig into my skin. Ouch. Ow. Stupid trees.

"Snotlout Ou-" Gobber starts. The Gronckle fires again cutting off his sentence. My shield and weapon are blasted from my grasp. The shield rolls away and I turn, racing after it. Right now is a choice between a shield and a sword and I'll take the shield. Come on, pick up the pace, faster, faster, faster...

The shield keeps rolling just out of my grasp and I clench my jaw in frustration. My feet smash into something probably the dozens of large wood chunks and I trip landing on my hands and knees. I whirl around and back up as the Gronckle charges at me. I push myself up against the wall, it's close enough I can feel it's hot, heavy breaths. It opens it's mouth and prepares a blast. I close my eyes trying to block the sudden wave of dizziness.

I'm going to die.

This time it's for real, this dragon doesn't have any emotion in it's eyes beyond angered rage.

The blast fires and when my head remains firmly attached to my body, I open my eyes in confusion. Gobber pulls the dragon away and wrestles it into its cage easily. He pulls the lever up looking back at the cage. "You'll get another chance you over grown sausage. Don't you worry." Gobber says. He turns and grabs my arm pulling me to my feet as I try to calm my racing heart. "Remember: A dragon will always, always, go for the kill." He says sending me a pointed look.

I look back at the blast and my eyebrows lower in confusion. What about the Night Fury? As far as I'm aware, I'm still alive. Why didn't it kill me?

Asher touches my shoulder and I flinch ripping from his touch subconsciously. I don't like people touching me for two reasons: One: my curse might come off on them. Two: I'm not used to it. I turn and look him in the eyes, his blond bangs are covering his eyes but he stares at me, picking out a large piece of wood from my face he flicks it away,"You okay?" He asks. I nod.

"Uh, t-thanks for the save by the way." I say. He nods and turns away to the group.

"Hey Iyn?" Snotlout asks. I lift up my head. She smirks, putting a hand in her hip, "It's really disappointing that the dragon missed."

My nails dig into my palms.

Ouch.

The twins laugh and I turn around walking to the exit. Dead. Shame it missed...oh I hate it here! I bite my lip and force my head up.

Let them think what they will of me, but I have a Night Fury to find.