Did Anybody See That? Chapter 5
Hiccup's next project was to find a bigger cave. He needed a place large enough for himself and a dragon. The coldest part of winter was coming, and both he and his friend would need shelter from the storms.
After some searching, he found the perfect place. It was a deep hollowed-out space between two big rocks, covered by a great tree whose roots ran down the sides of those rocks. Toothless could climb in and find room to turn around, and the opening was wide enough that Hiccup could build a fire there for warmth, and still have room to get in and out. He showed the place to Toothless, who explored it for a few moments and apparently found it acceptable.
His timing was good, too. Two days later, the first big snowstorm of the winter hit them. He had stored up some firewood in the cave, and he didn't need flint and steel when he had a dragon, so between their shared body heat and his fire in the cave mouth, they kept fairly warm. They had to venture out for food, but that didn't require much tramping through the snow. They just had to get far enough from the cave for Toothless to spread his wings; then they'd fly out to sea, find some open water, catch some fish, and fly back. That concluded their work for the day. If the weather was clear, they'd go flying for fun; if the snow was flying, they'd hide in the cave.
He spent the days telling Toothless all about his life. Exactly how much the dragon understood, he didn't know. But it felt good just to talk freely, without worrying about anyone having a negative reaction. He talked about past hurts and injustices; he talked about people he knew; he talked about his inventions, and the history of Berk. He spent some time talking about how they'd tried and convicted him, and he came to some unusual conclusions about that. Toothless was a good listener, at least. He couldn't remember the last time someone actually listened to him.
He'd thought of some minor improvements he'd like to make on the dragon's head harness. He also needed to mend a small hole in one of his boots. But that would mean a return trip to the village, and his bootprints in the snow would give everything away. Projects like those would have to wait until spring. At least he felt like he might still be alive in the spring, which was more than he could have said a few weeks ago.
For a criminal on the run, he felt like he was doing pretty well.
Astrid's plan to investigate the north side of the island was put on hold by the storm. No one could go out for days, and when they finally could go out, the whole village had to help clear the snow off the fishing boats, the docks, and the ramps that led to the harbor. Not to mention digging out the dragon training ring so their lessons could continue. It took nearly a week before she found the time for her journey.
She followed the shore toward where she'd seen her mysterious flying creature. It was slow going through the snow; she couldn't see any holes that might be in the ground, so she had to take every step carefully. Every cove meant a detour inland.
As she rounded the third cove, she smelled burning wood. She checked the wind; it was blowing from the west as usual, so she couldn't be smelling anything from the town. Someone or something else had started a fire around here. To her way of thinking, that meant a large creature that could breathe fire. She brandished her axe and went extra-slow.
She glanced across to the other shore of the cove. There it was – a small fire near the mouth of a cave. It had to be man-made. Many footprints in the snow came out of the cave. Human boot prints were mixed with the tracks of some kind of very large animal. That made no sense! The tracks only went a few feet away from the cave, and then stopped. That made even less sense! There was no evidence of a struggle. She tried to think of any possible scenario that might explain what she was seeing; nothing fit.
"Hello?" she called. The snowy landscape didn't return an echo. But she got an answer.
Almost the moment she called, a huge black scaly head jutted out of the cave, stark against the white snow. Two angry eyes quickly located her; a mouth full of jagged teeth snarled at her. The beast crept out of the cave, showing four legs and two bat-like wings. She had never seen anything like it, but she knew she didn't like it. She held her axe ready, her eyes wide.
They went even wider when Hiccup stepped out of the cave and stood next to the monster, resting one hand on it. "I heard it too, bud. It sounded like..." He looked where the dragon was staring and saw her. "Dat da-dah, we're dead."
Astrid found her voice. "One act of treason wasn't enough for you, Hiccup?"
"It's not what you think!" he shouted back.
She took a step back. "Astrid, don't! Please, let me explain!" he called. She turned and ran. There was a strange dragon, nesting right here on Berk island. The chief had to know about this. He might want to know about the traitor, too.
She ran almost blindly, not trying to retrace her steps; she was bound to get back to the village if she just kept going. The snow wasn't so deep under the trees, but fallen branches threatened to trip her at every step. She jumped over one downed limb – and kept going up! Something had clutched the back of her shirt and lifted her off the ground. She had no leverage to swing her axe at anything. She tried not to scream as she saw the ground falling away beneath her, but even her courage had its limits.
The dragon that had grabbed her turned around and flew back to the cove. It dipped low and half-pushed, half-slung her into the cave. She scrambled to her feet, but the black thing had landed and blocked the exit before she could escape. Her axe came up; it bared its teeth and snarled viciously. Each waited for the other to make a move.
After a few seconds, Hiccup slid into the cave beside the dragon, and hesitantly stepped between them. "Whoa, whoa! Time out, everybody! Astrid, how about you put down your axe, and I'll put down my dragon, and we just talk?"
"I have no interest in anything you could say... traitor," she spat.
"Then make yourself comfortable," he replied. "I can't let you go running back to the village and tell them where I'm hiding. They'll chase me out of here, and I'm running out of places in this world that don't hate me."
"Do you think you can keep me here forever?" she demanded.
He shrugged. "I'm already wanted for treason. A little kidnapping can hardly make things worse." He held out one hand. "Please, Astrid."
Her angry scowl didn't change, but she slowly lowered her axe head to the floor of the cave. Hiccup turned to the dragon. "Toothless, it's okay, bud. She's a friend." The Night Fury was obviously not convinced. He lay down in the cave mouth, grumbling. Hiccup sat down a few feet from Astrid and gestured for her to sit as well. After a few seconds, she did. She glared at him; he fidgeted with his hands.
"Well?" she finally asked.
"I don't know what to say," he replied, not making eye contact. "You're the first person I've seen since I became a free man again. I didn't have any speeches ready."
"You call this freedom?" she cried, waving one arm around the cave. "You're living like an animal!"
"It's not so bad," he said. "I've got plenty of food, we stay warm enough at night, we keep each other company..."
" 'We'?" she exclaimed. "Company? You mean that... that dragon thing? You make it sound like some kind of a friend!"
Now Hiccup made eye contact. "He is a friend! We take care of each other, we rely on each other, and he actually listens when I talk." He broke off for a moment. "I never had a friend like that before."
She stared at him. She knew he didn't have many close friends in the village, but was it that bad, that he preferred the company of a dragon? After a long pause, she asked, "Why did you do it?"
"You mean, let that other dragon go?" She nodded. He stared into her eyes, and she was struck by his intensity. "Astrid, I always had the same dreams you did – the same dreams every kid growing up in Berk has. I wanted to kill dragons in battle, make a name for myself, be famous... maybe make somebody notice me..." He turned away, reddening slightly. She realized what he meant, and turned a bit red herself.
"But when I looked in that dragon's eyes, he didn't look at me like a killer. He was scared to death. He was as scared as I was. I looked at him, and I saw myself."
"So you couldn't bring yourself to kill him?" she asked, a bit more softly than she'd intended.
"I wouldn't," he replied. "Call me fearful, call me weak, call me a traitor if that makes you feel better, but don't call me a bad person."
"To most Vikings, fearful and weak add up to a bad person," she commented.
"And that's why I was always such a terrible Viking," he finished. "I couldn't be a good Viking, but there wasn't anything else I could be, either. The only thing worse than that would be going to Outcast Island. In Berk, I had no place to fit in, but out there, I'd find a place. In a box."
She considered that. "You can't keep me here forever, you know," she said. "You're bound to fall asleep sometime."
"Toothless won't let you go," he replied. "But I don't want to hold you against your will, just like I don't want you to run back to... to my dad... and tell him where I am."
"Sounds like a problem with no solution," she said.
"I don't believe in those," he answered firmly. "Maybe I could buy your silence?"
"Buy my silence? With what – snowballs? Firewood? You've got nothing! You're dreaming, Hiccup! Get your head out of the clouds."
He looked at her speculatively. "Actually, I was thinking of getting your head into the clouds."