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Chapter 7: New Tail

I've barely taken two steps into the village before Gobber grasps my upper arm, and weaves through the crowd to where tue other teens are waiting. "Wh-what are you doing?" I demand and Gobber grins and gives Asher a firm shove to the steps of the look out tower "We are having a camp-out." He says.

Asher stumbles to the steps and shoots Gobber a glare. "On a watch tower?" I ask lowering my eyebrows in confusion. Gobber nods before pushing the twins to the steps. Oh, Gobber's way of making watch duty more interesting. Snotlout and Fishlegs quickly walk up the tower themselves before Gobber can "assist" them to the stairs. I echo their swift pace and jump up several steps reaching the top in less than a minute.

As I reach the top I see that Gobber has gathered raw food from the Great Hall for us to cook. I bite my tongue to hold back a long groan. Fire.

It has to be FIRE!

I stay away from fire as much as possible. It makes me drowsy and I cant think straight. I sigh and pick a fish out of the pile and and shove it onto a stick then sit on the bench.

Gobber reaches the top, humming merrily, he lights the fire. Gobber takes out the last thing in the bag, a whole chicken. He shoves it on a stick and puts it over the fire.

I watch the flames and force myself to not flinch at every single spark that leaps from within. Its dark and the only light is coming from our fire. Gobber grins, "Now how would you lot like to hear the story of how I lost my hand?" He asks. Everyone's heads except mine jerk up. Tuffnut rubs his hands together and nods eagerly.

"Alright. It was on a raid, I'd say much like tonight but there is no raid coming. Well hopefully." Gobber mutters the last part and knocks on the wood thrice before continuing,"Well, on a raid, not like tonight, I was defending against a Monstrous Nightmare. It was big, and I was about your age. Well maybe a little older, anyway so it reached over and took my hand and swallowed it whole." He says and the other teens aw in amazement. I roll my eyes, I lost count a few years ago after a hundred on how many times I've heard this, granted it changes every time but still. Its cool the first time, and maybe the second but beyond that no, you just tune it out and pretend like you're listening.

"And I saw the look on his face I was delicious." Gobber says and puffs out his chest, clearly proud of being "delicious." "He must have passed the word 'cause it wasn't a month before another one of them took my leg." Gobber finishes. The other teens have awed looks across their faces except Fishlegs. Her eyebrows are knit together and she glares down at the chicken legs in her hands.

"Isn't it weird to think, that if you're hand was inside of a dragon but you're mind still had control of it you could have like killed the dragon from the inside by like crushing it's heart or something." She says and smashes her two chicken legs together, for emphasis.

I look at the fish that will never be cooked because of how far away I am from the fire and look up at the girl. crush it's heart?

On that happy note.

"I swear I am so angry right now." Snotlout declares scowling down at her chicken."I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot, I'll chop of the legs of every dragon I fight. With my face." She says and points at her face. Asher rolls his eyes.

"Think of the scars." Ruffnut says dreamily.

I snort, "Think of the teeth you'll lose." I say and all heads snap to me, I sit up, "Dragon skin is fireproof I'm pretty sure it's face-proof to."

Gobber chuckles and rips a piece of off his now fully cooked chicken, "No, it's the wings and the tails you really want. If it can't fly, it can't get away."

My thoughts stop and I drop tue stick to the dish in shock as everything clicking into place: Toothless cant fly because he's missing his left tailfin! "A downed dragon is a dead dragon." Gobber finishes. My heart skips a beat, I'm going to kill Toothless?! Why do I have to be so stubbornly stupid! If I hadn't fired that stupid bola, I wouldn't be slowly killing something. There has to be something I can do, It's not like he's going to grow another tailfin….unless I make him one.

Gobber lets out a yawn,"Alright I'm off to bed, you should be to. Tomorrow we get to the big boys, slowly but surely making our way up to the Monstrous Nightmare." Gobber says I stand up and slip into the shadows, moving away from them."But who will win the honour of killing it?" Gobber asks.

I slip onto the first step and start to run down the stairs,"It's gonna be me." Tuffnut says. "It's my destiny see." He adds his voice growing fainter.

Fishlegs gasps, "Your mom let you get a tattoo?" She asks.

"It's not a tattoo it's a birthmark." Tuffnut corrects.

"Okay, I've been stuck with you since birth and that's never been there before." Ruffnut retorts. I dont hear the rest of their highly interesting conversation as my feet hit solid ground and I take off running.

I reach the forge in record time, slowing to a walk. I slip into the dark building and pull the curtain to the side walking into the back room. Gobber gave it to me a few years ago so I would stop making the entire forge a mess with my inventions.

I grab my notebook and my charcoal pencil flipping to the drawing of Toothless. I set the book down and re-trace the left tailfin onto Toothless.

I grab a larger sheet of paper and with a lot of guess work, I stay up hours into the night making the prosthetic dorsal tailfin.

I shut the tailfin and look up, exhaustion ringing through me.I frown and sigh in annoyance watching the first streaks of sunrise. Its not the first time I've stayed up all night-I often do, its just, battling dragons with no sleep really doesn't appeal. Dragon training is later in the afternoon today, and I have time to visit Toothless before that.

I grab an empty sack from the corner of the forge and swing it over my shoulder. The weight of both the tailfin and the sack throw me off balance but I carry onwards.

I glance back, not like anyone would follow me, but I want to be sure. I slip into the trees slipping deeper into the forest.

I reach the river from yesterday and peel off mg gloves feeling no desire to wander around with them soaking wet. I emerge my hand into the cold water and freeze a fish in place and pull it out. I repeat the process as many times as I can. I reach in again and my hands grasp something slimier than usual. I pull it from the river and purse my lips to keep back a yelp of surprise. A eel. I hate eels, and luckily for me, I am deathly allergic to them.

I toss the eel into the sack and wipe my hands off on the grass. Hopefully Toothless will appreciate it more than I do. I close the lid and pick up the now full sack swinging it onto my shoulders. I stumble from the sudden weight but manage to regain my balance before I take an unplanned dip in the river. I grab my gloves and pull the fabric over my skin before walking forward.
...

By the time I reach the cove, my entire back and shoulder have gone numb. "Hey Toothless?" I call looking around for the Night Fury. The dragon jumps off a rock and walks over to me, nose in the air as he sniffs the fish. I toss the sack off my shoulders my limbs sighing with relief, "I brought breakfast. I hope you're hungry." I say and kick the basket over fish spilling out. You better be hungry, I am not carrying that anywhere else.

Toothless's eyes widen happily and I grimace, "Okay, that's disgusting." I note.
"Um..Okay." I say and start to back up to his tail the prosthetic under one arm. "Got some salmon, some nice Icelandic cod and a whole eel." I tell him, not entirely sure why I'm doing it. Toothless pokes his head into the pile and when he sees the eel he slowly backs away growling. I lean down and pick the eel up causing Toothless to rear. Panicing slightly, I throw the eel as far away as I can. Toothless calms again and advances on the pile. "I don't really like eel much either." I admit watching Toothless as he begins to eat the fish. I slowly back up my eyes on his tail, remaining quiet.

I reach the tail and lean down. I lay the prosthetic next to gus. Toothless tail shifts and I bite my lip in annoyance grabbing the tail. Toothless shifts again and I toss my bangs from my eyes. Deciding this isn't going to work I sit on the tail, pulling the prosthetic to it attaching the straps.
I sit back and pull the prosthetic out. "Hmm. Not too bad it works- WHOA!" I screech as Toothless takes to the sky. Funny, I didn't even know my voice could go that high. I wrap my arms around the tail, terror pulsing through me as the ground gets further away.

As soon as we get twenty feet into the air, probably less, Toothless starts to crash. I look at the tailfin flapping in the wind usually. With my heart pounding in my throat I stretch my hand out and rip the tailfin open.

Toothless soars upwards and my eyes widen, "Oh my- its working!" I shout and pull the tailfin right. Toothless turns gliding over the lake, then, finally seeming to notice me, whips his tail.

I fly through the air before I hit the pond. I struggle in the water for a second, mg heart picking up pace in terror. I have no idea how to swim! When my vision starts to get blurry, claws wrap around my shoulders and pull me upwards. I hit soils ground and take gasping breaths, coughing.

My hands shake but I push myself up opening my eyes. Toothless stands a few feet away, dripping wet.

He watches me for a second before he pulls his tailfin around himself, staring at the prosthetic with a sad, lost expression. I brush the water from my eyes, "Dont worry. We'll get you in the sky," I assure ringing my soaking hair. "Somehow."

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