The rain continued into the morning. The dragons and Hiccup sat in the cave watching the rain fall in sheets; the trees on the other side of the clearing were blurry and hard to see. Hiccup sighed. It was midmorning and he was already bored, more so than he was on a normal day. The cave was small with the two large dragons, a fire pit, and Hiccup's nest all crammed inside. It didn't help that the Nightmare had stomped the fire out and was insisting on Hiccup staying next to the cold fire pit while she continuously breathed out at him with her horrid fishy breath.
"Will you cut that out?" Hiccup mumbled. The Nightmare snorted and let out a breath again.
"Eww," Hiccup said coughing, "Your breath thtinkth."
The Nightmare grumbled to herself and the Drake chuckled by the entrance to the cave. Hiccup watched in amusement as the Nightmare snapped at her mate. His smile faded when she turned back to him, certain that she was going to breath in his face again but she held back. She was looking at Hiccup but wasn't looking at him, she seemed to be thinking. Without warning the Nightmare blew a small blast at the wall over Hiccup's head. The boy ducked his head down as sparks, dust, and some small rocks fell on his arms which were covering his head. His heart was pounding as the Nightmare nudged his arms away with a croon.
"Why'd you do that?" Hiccup asked with big eyes. He turned to look at the still scorching mark. Was the Nightmare angry again? What had he done this time?
The Nightmare barked and pulled on Hiccup's shirt till he faced her again then nudged the fire pit and blew a burst of hot air again. This time the fishy smell was mixed with smoke. Hiccup looked at the fire pit and up at the dragon,
"You want a fire?" He asked.
The Nightmare rumbled and bobbed her head, obviously pleased.
"Well, why'd you stomp it out then?" Hiccup said. He sighed; of course he wouldn't get an answer, "Jutht relight it then." He said waving his hand. The Nightmare snorted and gestured at Hiccup with her snout.
"You want me to relight it?"
The Nightmare bobbed her red head.
"How?" Hiccup asked. He had no kit. Besides, he only knew how to rekindle a fire from low burning embers, not light one from scratch. Not even Gobber trusted Hiccup with that knowledge.
The Nightmare blew at Hiccup again.
"Will you cut that out?" Hiccup said holding his nose. "Fine. Dad thaid friction can thtart a fire." Hiccup said to himself, "I have no flint but I could uthe two thtickth. I thaw Dad do that onthe," He rummaged around the firewood for two sticks he could use. The Nightmare tried to get Hiccup's attention again, breathing on him, and the fire pit. "Knock it off," Hiccup said offhandedly, peeling the bark off the sticks, he figured that would only get in the way. He couldn't recall whether or not there was bark on the sticks when he'd seen it done before. The Nightmare huffed but left Hiccup alone to rub his sticks together. The action hurt his hands long before any sign of results, not even the hint of smoke for his effort. Hiccup threw the sticks down in frustration,
"Thith doethn't work. Can't you do it?"
The dragon looked away and grumbled.
"Utheleth reptile." Hiccup muttered, "Be that way. You're the one who wantth a fire." He sat back, crossing his arms. A rumble and snort got his attention. The Nightmare leaned down to the fire pit, her eyes on Hiccup, and blew air on it again.
"Jutht light it." Hiccup grumbled. He jumped when the Nightmare barked sharply before blowing again.
"What'th wrong with you?" Then an idea crossed his mind, "You want me to blow fire?"
The Nightmare nodded.
"You know I'm not a dragon, right? Vikingth don't breathe fire." Hiccup said. The Nightmare insisted and he gave in; demonstrating for her by blowing into the fire pit causing the ashes to fly into the Nightmare's nose. She sneezed.
"Yuck!" Hiccup said, wiping snot off his face. The Nightmare set about washing him clean, much to his displeasure.
"I told you." He glared at the dragon. A wind blew in, bringing some droplets of rain with it. Hiccup drew his knees up and hugged them. It was a cold rain and while the cave kept them dry without a fire it was just as cold inside as it was out. However, Hiccup and the dragon were at an impasse; he was unable to light the fire and she was unwilling to do it for him.
Hiccup sat there shivering and glaring at the Nightmare who just as stubbornly glared back. The Drake sighed and shot a burst of flame into the pit to light the fire himself. Hiccup broke eye contact with the Nightmare to put some bark into the fire for more fuel before throwing another log on it. Casting a look up at the Nightmare, Hiccup bent down and blew into the embers of the small fire and stoked it with a stick, causing the flames to flare up.
"And that'th the closthetht you're gonna get." He said.
The Nightmare grumbled but lay down, seemingly content, but who could really tell with her? The Drake rolled his eyes, before settling down for the usual midmorning nap. Except these naps were usually taken outside the cave. Hiccup knew, however, that the dragons only dosed; both the nightmares were aware of everything Hiccup did during these siestas. Today, however, was worse because they were all cramped into the little cave leaving no space for Hiccup to even attempt a form of amusement. And he wasn't the least bit tired.
Hiccup stood and wiped the dirt off his trousers before stretching, "You going to block the door all day?" He asked the Drake. The dragon opened one eye in response to the question.
"Ok, sheesh." Hiccup said. He looked around the cave crammed with two large dragons. "It'th going to be a long day." Hiccup sighed. The Drake huffed in apparent agreement and Hiccup glanced at him out of the corner of his eye,
"What about a thtory? I kind of know the firtht one: about the how the world was made." Hiccup sat again, against the Nightmare. It made her happy and let Hiccup keep an eye on the Drake and his reactions.
"Burning ithe, biting flame; that ith how life began."* Hiccup started, "Thouth ith Muthpell. It'th firey and too hot for anyone to live who ithn't born there. North is Niflhiem It'th ithy. Between them wath Ginnungagap. It wath empty but the riverth in Niflhiem came into it. Only, the riverth turned to ithe and everything in northern Ginnungagap wath wintery. Thouthern Ginnungagap wath jutht ath hot ath North wath cold. The middle wath jutht right, like a thummer evening.
"Firtht there wath the giant Ymir. He'th a frotht giant. Gobber thaid that they're huge!" Hiccup said leaning back and holding his hands out and up to demonstrate. The Nightmare didn't open her eyes and the Drake huffed.
"They're real thcary but Ymir wath alone tho he had no one to thcare. Or eat. Gobber thayth they eat people. Thome of them do at leatht. But Ymir didn't cauthe there wath no one to eat. He would have if he could have, though, becauthe he wath evil. Not jutht Gobber thayth tho either. All the adulth thay he wath evil. Have you ever met a fotht giant?"
The Drake sighed and the Nightmare gave a dragon chuckle. Hiccup glared at the dragons and took a deep breath,
"Well," Hiccup said, "While he wath thleeping he thweated. A man and a woman grew out of it under one of hith armpitth, ummm." Hiccup paused for a moment, "It wath hith ri- no left! It wath hith left; I remember becauthe I'm left-handed. Gobber thayth that'th a thign that the Trickthter, Loki, Thtayth near me; which ith why I mesth thtuff up tho much." Hiccup stopped, he hadn't meant to say that. He preferred not to think about it. When Gobber had told Hiccup about the Trickster's affinity for left-handed people Hiccup had tried to use his right hand, but that only made him clumsier. When Stoick noticed that that was the cause of the increase in spilled milk and much longer meal times he told Hiccup to stop messing about and use his correct hand.
"Umm, where wath I?" Hiccup continued, "People, right. Tho they came from armpit thweat and then ithe in Ginnungagap melted and a cow wath formed. I don't know how, I mean, wouldn't new cowth form every thpring then? Anyway, the cow wath called Auduma. She licked another man named Buri out of the ithe. I don't know what he wath doing there and neither doeth Dad or Gobber."
The Nightmare growled a little at the mention of Hiccup's father, as usual.
"Well, they don't." Hiccup said, "Buri'th thon wath Bor and Bor married a daughter of Bolthor, one of the frotht giantth. I don't remember her name but it began with a 'B.' They had three sonth named Odin, Vili, and Ve. Thethe three didn't like Ymir or the frotht giantth and eventually hated them. Their hatred grew until they attacked Ymir and killed him! The three brotherth lugged the body to the middle of Ginnungagap." Hiccup grew more animated as he got more excited with the story; miming the actions of the heroes,
"There they made the world from Ymir'th body and mountainth from his unbroken bones. The broken oneth were made into rockth. Hith blood they uthed to make laketh and the thea. Then, they made a huge," Hiccup spread his arms wide to show the two napping dragons just how huge, "Ocean that'th tho big no one even dareth to try and crosth it. I don't know how all the water became blue if it wath made from blood though. Gobber thaid that frotht giantth have thin blue blood but Dad thaid that Gobber should thtop filling my head with nonthenthe. Can you fill a head though? I mean, get tho many thoughtth in there there ithn't room for any more? Where do all the thoughtth thtay?"
The Drake huffed loudly.
"Right, thorry." Hiccup continued the story, "Then Odin, Vili, and Ve lifted up the thkull, Ymir'th thkull, and made the thky from it. They put the thkull so itth four cornerth reached the endth of the earth. They thet a dwarf under each corner, I don't know where they got the dwarveth from; their nameth are Eatht, Wetht, North, and Thouth. That would be awful don't you think? They jutht thtand there alone holding up their corner. It would be tho boring; like being thtuck inthide on rainy dayth every day."
The Drake finally had enough. He huffed and blew a small flame at the Nightmare. With a groan and a stretch the Nightmare curled her tail around Hiccup to hold him against her and put her wing over him, woofing her sleep noise.
"It'th thtill daytime, I'm not tired."
The Nightmare didn't move her wing. Hopefully, the rain would let up soon; for the good of all three of them. Hiccup grumbled under her wing. He needed a nest mate to play with, the Nightmare thought. The problem was that he had no nest mates. The Nightmare laid her head back down, ignoring the hatchling's grumblings. A dragon nest mate would help her little one learn about his new life. The Nightmare thought about the problem; she could always lure the lone black hatchling out with the promise of a flight. He wasn't allowed to leave the nest without a grown dragon. The Nightmare could bring him here to play with her little one. That was what she would do; bring home a playmate for her hatchling.
It had been 24 days. 24 long days since that winged devil had stolen his son. Three weeks and four days of living with dragons; one month of regurgitated half-burnt fish, sleeping in a drafty cave, and wearing the same dirty clothes with no baths. While hardships similar to these were common, minus the regurgitated fish, on voyages or long hunting trips children Hiccup's age usually only went out for a night or two. A week tops. And they were with adults; not held captive by fire-breathing monsters.
Stoick stared down, into his still-full mug of mead. Hiccup was fine, that's what the reports said. Stoick saw that himself whenever he went to see the boy. Except Hiccup wasn't fine. He was thinner, for one thing. Stoick hadn't thought that possible but there it was. Stoick could also see how tired the boy was. Hiccup clearly wasn't sleeping well. The others couldn't tell but Stoick knew just how active and chattery his son was and what he saw in that clearing was not Hiccup's normal behaviour. It was much closer to how the boy acted Snoggletog afternoon when he was tired from barely sleeping the night before but trying to not show it.
The bench rattled as Gobber sat down.
"So, Stoick," Gobber waited for Stoick to look up from his mead, "I was thinkin."
Stoick raised an eyebrow, this wasn't promising.
"Spitelout's headin to the clearing day after tomorrow and is lookin for a volunteer to go with 'im." Gobber paused.
Stoick could see where this was going; he rubbed his face. "I need ya here. Who'd run the forge? It's raid season, Gobber. Two or three warriors we can do without but we need the forge up and running."
"And we need our chief here too, but you go running off ta the woods every chance ya get. And go lookin for the nest from time to time. There are others who can work the forge. Put Hrothgar in there." Gobber said, waving his good hand.
Stoick raised his brows and turned to face his friend, "Hrothgar? You'd let Hrothgar back in yer forge?" He actually smiled when Gobber cringed.
"Ah, he's not that bad. Jus' has no love or care for it. He's the best one around, little hope that that is." Gobber thought about it for a moment, the hesitation clear on his face, "But he's not ta touch anything he doesn't have to." Gobber said, pointing the mug at the end of his arm at Stoick, "Repairs and simple weapons only. And nails. For unimportant things, like wheelbarrows." He sighed, "It's only a few days and I haven't seen the lad at all. It's been 24 days, Stoick."
That got him, Stoick sighed, "Fine. If you trust Hrothgar in the forge for a few days you can go."
Gobber nodded, "So, ya going to drink that or just stare at it?"
Stoick decided not to respond and went back to his thoughts.
"Have ya eaten at all today, Stoick?"
'You know I have cause you were here at breakfast."
"Right, right. But since?"
Stoick decided not to respond to that either.
"Uncle Stoick?"
Both men turned to the group of children standing by the table. It looked as if Snotlout had been pushed forward to speak for the group; he was fidgeting where he stood.
"Umm, we were, we were wondering if,"
The Hofferson girl sighed, stepped forward and drew herself up, "We want to help. We can go watch the dragons so the warriors don't have to."
Stoick looked them over. The twins were barely standing still and acting civilly, the Ingerman boy looked about ready to wet himself. Snotlout looked nervous too; only the Hofferson girl held her head high and stood steady. A seeming warrior in discipline already, though she was yet untested. They were all untested and too young.
"No." Stoick said.
There were visible breaths of relief from two of the boys.
"Told you," One of the twins muttered to the other.
The Hofferson girl blinked, "But-"
"I said no."
"Let's go," The Ingerman boy whispered. Snotlout was nodding. The girl stood her ground.
"Sir, we want to help, it's just watching,"
"I said no and I don't appreciate being argued with." Stoick said.
"Yes sir." They all chorused. Except the girl. She huffed, she tried to hide it but Stoick saw. She wasn't so disciplined as to hide her annoyance, yet.
"Yes sir." She finally said. The children left.
"Huh." Gobber said, "Could have agreed, keep the warriors at home."
Stoick fixed his friend with a look, "They're children. Hiccup's age."
"Less prone to disaster." Gobber countered with a grin.
"Still children. Though, the Hofferson lass shows promise."
A/N: I really like how this one turned out. I seem to remember hearing or reading somewhere about the connection between Loki and left handed people, but I can't find anything on it and it sounds like it could have been after Christian influence got into the Norse culture so don't take it as fact or a real belief. Is anyone else done with Hiccup's lisp? I've been done with it since the second chapter when he had it to tell the truth. I considered taking it out just for when he tells the story but CB convinced me not to so sorry if it's hard to read. Reading it out loud helps, I find.
*The Penguin Book of Norse Myths: The Gods of the Vikings is the version I used of the story that Hiccup told. It is the real myth although Hiccup left out some bits and messed minor details up in his telling. This site has a brief telling, if you find it interesting I advise you find the book I used as it is described better and told in story fashion. .
Thanks to: AniLovesMe for Hiccup's fire lesson idea. I was going to have him light it but when I wrote it that didn't work out.
Also Hopelessromantic4life for the nest mate idea. I know this isn't what you meant but it's the closest the Nightmare will come to that. Don't get too excited though, I'm not planning on deviating from the movie very much.
And thirdly, thanks to Monkey Lover 911. I wasn't going to have anything with the other kids until later but you mentioned having them try and rescue Hiccup and that idea stuck.
KaliAnn: I don't think the communication would ever get that detailed. I worked with horses for three years and while I could read them well it wasn't that cut and dry. Same with my husky. The movies do well with it, I find; the relationship between Hiccup and Toothless is very similar to horse and rider. There's still some "What do you mean?" going on in their communication. Most of it is learning to think the way they do: I treated the horses the way a horse would treat them, same with my dog. I knew what made them tick and so could anticipate their responses/ actions. I don't think Hiccup would go that far with the nightmares because he wants to go home; he doesn't want to go that far. If it were by choice, yes, he does it with Toothless, but here it's forced and that boy could outdo a mule for stubbornness.
Kas3y: Really? Why don't you like Astrid? I'm curious because I know there are people who don't like her and I don't know if it's an as a person thing or a character issue. Personally I like her but I'd like to hear about why she is disliked. Character building and using flaws and all that. Plus, it's a challenge to keep them in character and get people who disliked them to like them. I did that to myself with Valka in Imprint. I don't think she was justified abandoning Hiccup (She could have come back but didn't) yet when I wrote that I was grudgingly accepting it. Still don't like her much but she's growing on me. Stoick's too good for her though.
Hopelessromantic4life: Umm, I really debated with your question; on the one hand I'm tickled pink that anyone would want to write something based off one of my stories and I love creativity, but on the other hand the Nightmare and the Drake are like my babies and I'm not ready for someone else to look after them just yet. In the end I'm okay with it but I'd appreciate it if you didn't post it until this story is done. It's a bit of a long wait, there are three more chapters to this part and then part three isn't written yet but will possibly be 7-8 chapters. Then it's done. I would like you to wait so that the Nightmare's character remains pure for this story, there are still little details you don't know yet that motivate her.
TheWoofster: I pulled the fire-breathing as a punishment from the movie's "Not so Fireproof" scene, where all the Terrors are roaming about and they shoot fire at each other almost constantly. Pirates was supposed to be a one shot that turned to more one shots and will eventually grow. It really isn't one long story, other than having pirates in Berk for the winter, more like a collection of stories, and it's not on the schedule because it's a post-as-I-write thing. I got behind on the main stories so I haven't worked on that one other than story ideas in a while, I've been thinking of continuing. It doesn't get a lot of feedback but if I get enough requests to continue I might consider adding it to the schedule for regular updates, otherwise it'll be random updates.
As always special thanks to CB for the edit.