Did Anybody See That? Chapter 4
It was autumn in Berk, which was a nice way of saying "the first three months of winter in Berk." Life was going smoothly for a change. The dragons had not come back, and neither did Hiccup. Without those two destructive forces, the town enjoyed a season of peace and productivity.
Five of the village's teens entered Dragon Training under Gobber's questionable tutelage. Astrid quickly emerged, not merely as the front-runner, but as the only one likely to succeed at all. Fishlegs was a fountain of useful information that did him absolutely no good in the ring. Snotlout was brave enough, but not nearly as competent as he thought he was. As for Ruffnut and Tuffnut, the training dragons weren't stupid; they quickly learned to leave the twins alone. Those two were more likely to take each other out than do the dragons any harm.
Late one night, the five of them were sitting around a campfire with their trainer, discussing this and that. It was Fishlegs who brought up the question, "Gobber, why did Hiccup do it?"
"Why are ye askin' me, lad? He never talked to me or anybody else about it."
"I figured, he was your apprentice. You probably knew him better than anybody else." They all noticed the unspoken indictment of Stoick's relationship with his son, but didn't comment on it.
Gobber looked thoughtful. "We all know he wanted to kill a dragon in the worst way. And 'the worst way' is usually how he went about it. But when he finally succeeded, an' then threw it all away... why he did that, I don't know."
"Did he say why at the hearing?" Astrid wondered.
The smith looked blank for a moment. "Now that ye mention it, they never asked 'im to explain 'imself at the hearing. They got their confession, they gave 'im his sentence, and that was that. It was almost as if they didn't want to let 'im talk. That was a wee bit unusual, now that I think about it." The discussion moved on to other, more pleasant topics.
The next morning, after cooking and eating his breakfast, Hiccup set about convincing Toothless that riding on his back would be a good thing. It was not an easy sell. The dragon turned it into another long game of keep-away. It wasn't until lunch that Hiccup finally got onto the dragon's neck. He pushed his handle, and the eye cover dropped into place. He discovered that the belt was also in a convenient place for him to hang on. That might be a good idea if –
The dragon launched himself into the sky, and hanging onto the belt was a very good idea.
As Toothless flapped hard and gained altitude, Hiccup noticed a huge change in the dragon. He wasn't just relieved to get out of the cove; he was happy to be flying. Joyous, even. Hiccup had spent so much time with Toothless on the ground, he hadn't thought of his reptilian companion as a creature of the air. But there was no question, Toothless was exhilarated to get off the ground, and his joy was contagious. Hiccup was soon whooping with delight at the sensations of flight. It helped to know that he was probably the first Viking ever to fly.
"Go, baby! Oh, this is great!" he shouted. "The wind in my hair, the ocean below us... you have to see this, bud! Here, take a look with both eyes!" He let the eye patch flip up. The sudden blast of wind hit Toothless' other eye, and it startled him. He tossed his head and slowed down. The laws of physics exacted their toll; Hiccup kept going, and dragon and rider parted company in mid-air.
"Ohh! Oh, no! Toothless, over here!" he screamed. The dragon saw two Hiccups and wanted to rescue both of them. He aimed between them, and passed right under his panic-stricken co-pilot.
"Slow down, bud! I'm right here!" Hiccup tried to turn himself head-down as he fell. He had to grab the head-belt, which was the only thing he could hang on to. Toothless tried to help, but his damaged eyesight held him back. At last, Hiccup got a finger on the belt, then a hand, then both hands. He pulled himself back into the riding position and lowered the eye-patch into place.
It might be too late. They were screaming almost straight down, and the only escape route was a labyrinth of rock arches and pillars right in front of them. Toothless could never navigate that, not without depth perception. Hiccup realized that he had to be the dragon's eyes, supplying the depth perception that Toothless lacked, or they would both be splattered all over those rocks in seconds.
Again with the dragons and their eyes! They're going to kill me! Hiccup thought. It's all or nothing now.
He threw his weight to the side as they entered the maze. Toothless took the cue and turned sharply. Too sharply; Hiccup leaned the other way. In moments, they figured out their rhythm together. Left! Right! Down! Hard left! Both of them were completely trusting the other to respond perfectly, with no time to make decisions, zero margin for error, and both their lives at stake. It was terrifying, it was thrilling, it was insanely fast, and somehow, it worked!
They shot into the clear air over the sea, leaving the last of the rocks behind them. Hiccup raised one hand in triumph (making sure to keep the eye-patch down with the other hand) and shouted in triumph. Toothless wore a matching grin.
The dragon glanced downward, and suddenly shot a fireball into the water. It raised a huge fountain of spray, which they flew through, soaking Hiccup to the skin. "Oh, come on!" he complained.
He stopped his complaint when he saw what the dragon had done. Toothless had seen a school of fish just below the surface. His fire shot had stunned them, and many of them were floating now. The Night Fury skimmed the sea and grabbed a big tuna with his front legs. "Yeah! We eat tonight!" Hiccup shouted. "Buddy, you are amazing."
They flew back to the cove. Hiccup built a fire, Toothless lit it, and they enjoyed a tasty, filling meal together. Afterward, as he leaned back against the dragon, Hiccup realized that he didn't feel like a criminal or an exile. He had food, he had shelter, and for the first time since his mother died, he had a real friend. In some ways, he was better off now than he had been in the village.
What he didn't realize was that, while he and his friend were learning to fly together, someone had been watching them from a distance.
She brought up the subject with her friends that night.
"It was probably a bird," Tuffnut said.
"I know what I saw!" Astrid exclaimed. "It was black, and it was big, way bigger than any bird. It was flying back and forth off Raven Point."
"I can't think of anything that's big and black that lives around here," Fishlegs pondered.
"I know what I saw," she repeated firmly, arms folded.
"Okay! Let's say you saw something," Snotlout said, looking for some way to gain favor with her. "What are you going to do?"
"Find out what it is, of course," she answered. "It might be a threat to the village."
"Uhhh... if it's a threat to the village, then it might be a threat to us if we chase it," Ruffnut objected.
"But if it's just a bird, we'd look pretty stupid trying to chase it," her brother added.
"Fine!" Astrid snapped. "I'll check out the north side of the island tomorrow morning and see what I find. You guys can stay here and twiddle your thumbs." She glared at Snotlout to see what his decision would be. He looked at her, then at the twins, then at his hands.
"I think my thumbs are due for some twiddling," he said apologetically. She scowled and stalked off toward her home. Fine, I'll do it myself.