A/n: Another of trystrike's ideas, not technically today from my standpoint but hey, it's only a few minutes off...
Five more requests are left to make it up to 75, by the way. (And it'd be nice to have some feedback once in a while; it's hard to improve without your mistakes being pointed out!)
It was a nice change, Hiccup decided, to have something bad brought to the island that couldn't be blamed on Trader Johan. This time it was the weather, with some bad luck added for the sake of it, that allowed the speed stingers passage to Berk once more.
Armed this time with language, Hiccup thought it better that he went out to face the pack of dragons alone. It would be good to actually know what they wanted, before they came and took it by force.
He met the group on the ice, blocking their path in the least threatening way he and the night fury could manage.
'Why are you here?' Hiccup asked.
The response was confusing. 'Dragon whisperer?' one of the group asked, eyes darting between his leader and Hiccup.
'Dragon whisperer.' the leader confirmed. 'Home here?' he asked.
'Umm...' Hiccup wasn't sure what to do. The speed stingers had caused complete chaos on Berk last time, but he didn't want to deny them a possible home. Not if they'd changed. 'Speed stingers... behave?'
A chorus of 'Yes!' rang out through the small dragons, starting in the middle with their leader and moving outwards in a wave.
'Well...' he said, still a bit reluctant, 'Yes. Home here.'
"You did what?"
Hiccup sighed. Judging by Astrid's shrill exclamation, she was reacting just as he'd feared she would.
"They said they'd behave." Hiccup explained calmly. "And, whether I believe them or not, I'm going to give them a chance."
Astrid stared at him. "Okay," she said finally, "I trust you, at least. What's the plan?"
Hiccup grinned. "We'll keep them separately from the other dragons at first, until we can be sure that they're not going to try to sting anyone. In the meantime, we need to try to convince people to let them stay here..."
That was going to be easier said than done. Though they had forgiven dragons in general for ravaging the village for years without much thought or time, the speed stingers had, essentially, proven themselves to be one of the many species that were too hard to train, and weren't much help in general, more a hindrance.
Well, it would be interesting, at least.
The conversation that followed was interesting, just as Hiccup had predicted. Not interesting in an 'oh, this is new and surprising information' kind of way, but Viking Interesting.
Viking Interesting involved quite a bit of yelling, some fighting, and absolutely no progress whatsoever. Hiccup had only managed to get 12 words - an entire sentence! Success! - into his speech before he was cut off by the beginnings of what promised to be a quite excellent angry mob.
"There's a group of speed stingers that's coming to live on Berk."
"What?" Ever supportive of Hiccup, Snotlout was the first to question him. "You mean those things that paralyzed me? Where are they? I need revenge!" Hiccup rolled his eyes at this; Snotlout spoke in an overly dramatic tone that lacked seriousness altogether. "I need... I'm going to avenge my face for the beating it took that day!"
Silently, Hiccup was rather impressed that Snotlout even remembered being paralyzed by the speed stingers. Out loud, he simply gestured for silence, before his cousin could accidentally start up a rebellion of sorts.
"They said that they would behave."
"And you believed them?" Snotlout asked, disbelieving. "You can't trust those speed stingers; they're as violent as they are stupid.
Hiccup's sarcastic mutter of "and you aren't?" went unheard by the gathered crowd. Astrid, as the only other to hear it, had to quickly disguise her laughter, provoked by the statement, as a cough.
"Trust me," Hiccup offered. "I have a plan for if they misbehave - it's fine."
After a few tense moments, the crowd grumbled their reluctant agreement. Hiccup sighed, slumping in relief at their obedience.
It was a shame that it couldn't last.
Hiccup stood in protection of the unwitting speed stingers, brandishing his blazing sword. Beside him, Toothless warmed up a plasma blast in his mouth.
The group of Vikings flinched away from the flame, but stubbornly refused to back off. They weren't the brightest bunch, and had taken Snotlout's words to heart. Unfortunately, as their brawn more than made up for the lack of brain, they'd taken the violent approach to getting rid of the dragons. Really, it was lucky that Hiccup had been there when he was.
Though he was finding it hard to see it that way at the moment.
"Can we go one day without fighting?" Hiccup pleaded, waving his sword a bit more. If the Vikings had any sense at all, they would've obeyed their chief and backed off.
As it turned out, the group had as much bravery as they did stupidity. It wasn't the good bravery either, where they were willing to make personal sacrifices and risk life and limb for the good of others. No, they had reckless bravery, which, more often than not, ended up doing more harm than good.
"Not until they are gone!" the largest - and therefore leader - said decisively, punctuating his sentence with a prod of his sword in the direction of the small dragons.
'Vikings hurt?' the lead speed stinger questioned venomously.
'No!' Hiccup corrected urgently, having no choice but to leave the Vikings to Toothless as his attention turned to the flightless dragons behind him. 'Those Vikings bad.' he pointed over to the sword-toting group, 'Hiccup,' he prodded himself in the chest, 'good. Help speed stingers.'
The lead stinger gave him a sceptical look. There was no time to confirm Hiccup's statement, as one of the Vikings barged past Toothless and held his sword over one of the dragons' heads.
"No, don't!" Hiccup yelled, bringing his own sword to counter the attack. The two metals collided with a sharp clang, and the speed stingers' eyes narrowed in unison.
"Ah, great, you've done it now..." Hiccup grumbled. "Run!" he commanded, and for once, the other Vikings listened. The speed stingers gave chase.
'Toothless!' Hiccup gasped as they ran, 'Tell Astrid to put the plan into action!'
Toothless nodded grimly and took off, thankfully unhindered as he escaped fast enough. The villagers who had caused the original problem were also out of danger now, their bravado escaping them once provided with a genuinely dangerous situation.
That left Hiccup to face the stingers alone.
Typical, he thought, rather truthfully, as his metal leg started affecting his speed. The small dragons, staying true to their name, were almost upon him.
Why is it always me? he moaned as the paralyzing effect took place.
As soon as Toothless showed up without Hiccup on his back, Astrid rushed off to grab the cage. She and Stormfly got it and brought it over to the night fury, who led the way to where the small dragons were being kept.
When they arrived, only Hiccup stood in the middle of the chaos. Ten speed stingers circled him, while another few kept a watch out for the other Vikings that had threatened them. Hiccup was obviously paralyzed, stuck in a position of utter resignation.
Narrowing her eyes at the sight, Astrid searched out the leader. He was slightly further away from the group, at the back and quite exposed. Astrid used that as a means of grabbing him, stuffing him into the cage before he could work out what was happening.
'I have your leader!' she taunted, grateful for her Dragonese-speaking ability, 'Come get him!'
The ensuing chase didn't last long; Astrid was much more competent than she had been the first time round, five years ago, and the operation had been pulled off with barely a hitch last time. It gave her plenty of time to get back to Hiccup, and to yell at the idiots that had caused everything in the first place.
"Mmf! Mmm!" Hiccup tried to speak as she raged at the suddenly sheepish Vikings.
"Yes, of course," she said calmly, sure that Hiccup knew that she didn't understand him in the slightest. "Toothless, if you could take him home?"
The dragon nodded happily, and picked his rider up by the legs before dragging him off.
"Now, where was I?" Astrid asked with faked sweetness. "Ah, yes. How could you be so ignorant?"