15 - Exposed
It was so simple. So brilliant. So devious. So... Camicazi!
Hiccup practically danced with anticipation. Hidden in the seclusion of the woods at the edge of the village with only the dim, pale light of the crescent moon to see by, he and his dragon may as well have been invisible. Toothless, the unseen sentinel, occasionally twitched his sensor lobes, feeling for the passive hum of anyone nearby.
Finally, someone started walking their way. Not just one person, but a small crowd. Camicazi herded her brilliant plan toward them.
The rider rested his hand on his dragon's neck and the duo scanned the crowd of approaching Bog-Burglars through a single pair of large, green eyes.
Good, just kids. Eight of them, maybe ages 4-15. And all girls... welcome to Bog-Burglar Island.
Hiccup waved to Camicazi while Toothless crouched down in the ferns, melting into the darkness. The Hooligans and Burglars had a pretty good relationship, so there was a celebration to see off their friendly tribe that would be sailing out tomorrow morning. This had given Camicazi the perfect excuse to take some kids into the forest under the guise of collecting firewood for their own bonfire in the village square.
As they came near, Hiccup could hear his friend's voice.
"I saw some good sticks and logs over here. We're almost to that downed tree I talked about, earlier. We've got some help, too. This is Hiccup. He came in from Berk with the others. And our other help is... somewhere..."
Camicazi looked around. The dark mass of the dragon's head rising off the ground to clear the ferns made her shriek.
Shaking a finger at the dragon, she hissed, "Don't scare me like that, Toothless!"
The other girls screamed and backed up, torn between staying with Camicazi and running away from the dragon.
"It's alright," Camicazi quickly said as she took a step to stand next to the dragon's head. She held out a hand and Toothless sniffed at it, pressing his snout to receive some scratches.
"He's friendly," she continued, encouragingly. "Come say hi to my friend, Toothless. Hiccup flew here from Berk on the dragon's back. C'mon, Gretta, you've always said you wanted to pet a dragon. Here's your chance!"
A little girl, maybe ten years old, said, "But dragons kill people, Cami. I don't want to die."
Camicazi casually leaned on the dragon's snout. "Is this dragon killing me?"
"I guess not."
"C'mon, Gretta. Tomorrow, they will be gone and you will never ever pet a dragon. Is that what you want?"
Gretta paused for a moment. "I guess not."
She took an uncertain step from the huddle, then another, but stopped in fear, looking back to her peers, who were whispering among themselves.
"What's she doing?"
"Cami has gone crazy."
"That's a dragon! Gretta, don't go near it!"
"Cami's a dragon tamer? Dagur's gonna marry her."
"And then she'll probably kill him!"
Despite the rampant fear, a couple tittered at that.
"Gretta, you're either very brave or very stupid."
"Probably both!"
Camicazi crouched down by the dragon's head and reached out to Gretta with her other hand resting on the dragon's snout.
"C'mon, Gretta. I promise he won't bite you. This is your chance to pet a dragon. Don't think you'll ever get another."
The little girl reached out an uncertain hand, which Camicazi gently grasped, slowly guiding it toward Toothless. The dragon casually sniffed, causing the girl to jump in fright.
Camicazi smiled as she encouraged the child again in a soothing, sing-song voice. "C'mon, Gretta. It's alright. He just wanted to sniff your hand. It's how a dragon gets to know you. He can recognize you in the future by your scent."
"You promise it won't bite me?"
"I promise."
This time, Camicazi let Gretta reach her hand forward by herself. With a gasp, she touched the scaly snout and let out a squeal of delight. Camicazi showed her by example how to scratch the Night Fury's head. Toothless leaned into the little girl's hand and purred, causing her to giggle uncontrollably. With jealousy starting to take over, the other girls started to approach the dragon, one by one, reaching out tentative hands to touch him. Hiccup almost collapsed with how relieved he felt at how well things were going.
"Is it really... purring?
"Such a nice dragon, yes you are!"
"Can I have one?"
"I think he likes my petting the best!"
"I want mine to be red."
"It really is purring."
Pretty soon, Hiccup was showing them all of Toothless' favorite spots to be pet, scratched, and rubbed. After no time at all, the dragon was on his side, receiving belly rubs with his tongue hanging out, hind leg twitching in the air. Hiccup could feel waves of joy coming from him.
All too soon, a stern, deep, female voice could be heard approaching them, shouting, "Hey, what's taking so long, kids? You don't need to clear the whole forest!"
Toothless gently rolled over on all fours, careful not to crush anyone, and dashed off, disappearing into the dark forest.
Camicazi walked over to the approaching adult. "Hi, Martha. Sorry, we got a little distracted."
Then, turning back to the kids, "Let's get a few more sticks and head back."
The girls just stared longingly at where the dragon had disappeared, now long out of sight, and started complaining.
"But I wanna pet Toothless some more."
"I think Toothless liked my petting the best!"
"Why did he leave so suddenly?"
"Martha, Martha, there was a dragon, and we pet him, and he purred and licked me, and his name is Toothless, and his tongue was all wet!"
"He nibbled on my fingers, but he had no teeth and it felt funny.
Martha held a level stare at Camicazi and Hiccup. "What's this talk about a dragon, girl? You're supposed to be getting firewood."
Camicazi shrugged. "You know how kids can be. I dunno what they're going on about. To be honest, I think Gretta is lost in the deep with fantasies of petting a dragon. I know I went through that phase as a child, but… this..."
Eight pairs of eyes turned to Camicazi with shock, betrayal, and disappointment written all over their faces. Their voices loudly spilled out in an indignant and undecipherable mess about what they saw and did and how Camicazi is lying and there really was a dragon and...
Martha just rolled her eyes and shooed all of them back to the village, muttering under her breath something about the darkness playing tricks on their eyes.
Hiccup and Camicazi exchanged wide grins. Everything was going exactly according to plan.
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"Where is it?"
A rough, basso voice drew Hiccup's attention from his plate of food. He looked up to see a figure - a very large and heavily muscled figure - in a blue dress with elegant, flowing gold highlights. It was a common style of the Bog-Burglars in this season that contrasted with the simple, more durable clothing with earth tones the Hooligans wore. More than likely, it was the style that happened to be in fashion when it was stolen.
Hiccup smiled at Big Bertha, mother to Camicazi and chiefess of the Bog-Burglar tribe, as she leaned menacingly over the table to tower over him. Some of her brown hair, flowing freely over her shoulders and hanging down almost to the table, threatened to encroach on the fruit and eggs on his plate. Already, the din of chatter in the mess hall was toned down from when Bertha exploded through the doors.
The rider blinked with feigned ignorance. "Where is what, ma'am?"
Bertha glowered. "Toothless. That dragon. Where is it?"
"Ta-ta-ta-Toothless? I'm sorry, ma'am, I don't know what you're talking about. If there is a dragon on your island, you should talk to my father. He is a very experienced and capable dragon slayer. They say that way back when he was a child, before he even learned to walk, he popped a dragon's head-"
"Don't even think that I can't read you, boy!" Bertha slammed a fist on the table, causing everything to jump. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. Gretta and Gerd won't stop talking about it. Toothless licked me. I sat on Toothless' head. Toothless gave me a ride. Toothless purrs when I pet him. Toothless ate my roll. Toothless put his paw in his mouth and it was funny."
She narrowed her eyes and said, "You've got a lot of explaining to do, dragon master!"
The hall instantly became absolutely silent. Every eye shifted toward one table in particular. Off in a corner, a cat meowed.
Hiccup really didn't like that title, but he schooled his face and raised his eyebrows in feigned shock. "Dragon… master? I'm nobody's master, Ma'am. I'm sorry, but I know nothing about this… dragon pony that gives rides to children-"
Camicazi snorted and choked on her drink. A fleck of egg shot out of her nose at the "dragon pony" comment. She buried her face in her mug as she hacked out the liquid. Hiccup kept a straight face. Spending fifteen years as the clumsy weakling in a village full of proud dragon slayers and their arrogant children forced him to learn a lot of self-control in order to survive.
Spending two years constantly shadowed by the offspring of lightning and death hasn't eroded such self-control too much. Yet.
Pretending nothing happened, Hiccup continued, "But I, however, would be very interested in riding this dragon pony for myself. Let's both go ask Gretta and Gerd where they found it."
The hacking started to subside, but Camicazi kept her face buried in the mug.
Bertha shook a fist at the diminutive boy sitting across the table. "Don't play with me, boy, or I will flatten you. I don't care if you're Stoick's heir. Show. Me. Your. Dragon!"
Hiccup didn't doubt for a moment that Bertha would do just that. She was tall, broad, strong, and prideful. However, curiosity was both his greatest strength and worst liability. He was wondering how much further he could go with this charade before things got physical.
"My dragon? I'm sorry, ma'am, but I don't own this dragon pony." Hiccup held a hand up in oath, saying, "I can assure you that I have never owned a dragon, nor have I ever made a dragon give rides to little girls."
It's true. I don't own a friend and I didn't make Toothless give rides. That was by his own free will.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Camicazi, her face now out of her mug, hunched over her plate as she shoveled food into her mouth. It was almost enough to conceal her suppressed shudders of laughter. Big Bertha grabbed the half-eaten apple from Hiccup's plate and chucked it at Camicazi, but she dodged it.
The large woman just crossed her arms and glowered at Hiccup. "You're not fooling me one bit, ya scrawny runt! Tell ya what. I'll be real nice and count to five before things get ugly."
"And even if there is a dragon," Hiccup droned on.
"One..."
"I don't think it's fair to assume that it's-"
"Two..."
"MY dragon. I mean, maybe it's Cami's-"
"Three..."
"Why do I get all the suspicion?"
"Four..."
Hiccup smiled. "Alright, let's say I am a friend of a dragon and this dragon may or may not be on your island. I'm sorry if he's been disturbing your people. I'll go find him and make sure he stays out of trouble. I apologize for anything he's done here and I will make amends for any damage he has caused."
Camicazi sniggered at Hiccup's side. Big Bertha just glared at them both.
"You're not leaving until I see your dragon. I knew you could control them! Dagur was right about-"
The report of wood striking wood sounded out as Hiccup's chair clattered against the floor in the suddenly silent hall. He stood there, leaning forward, hands braced on the table. There was an absolute stillness that seemed to feed the fire in Hiccup's eyes as he glared up angrily at Bertha.
"Let me make one thing clear. I do NOT! CONTROL! DRAGONS! Dagur is a lying, manipulative tyrant. If you know what's best for your tribe, you would avoid any interactions with him at all costs."
Bertha actually seemed to relax at this sudden outburst. She smiled and said, "I'll agree with you there, but don't insult me, boy. You really think I would grovel at his feet for a far-fetched promise of power? Just show me your dragon."
The young Viking straightened, taking a few deep breaths to regain his composure, and said, "Alright, fair's fair. I will gladly show you Toothless. I will also show you and everybody else in your tribe all I know about dragons – how to befriend them and how to deal with angry dragons in a way that not only does not harm them, but also minimizes damage and harm to your village and tribe. You can accomplish a lot more by making a dragon into a friend than a corpse."
Big Bertha held a calculating stare. Hiccup sucked in a deep breath.
"I have one condition, ma'am."
"I'm listening."
"Well, two, actually. First, I don't like being called 'Dragon Master'. 'Dragon Friend' or 'Dragon Whisperer' or 'Dragon Ambassador' all work for me. Some even call me Hiccup."
"And the other condition?"
Camicazi suddenly slipped out of the mess hall.
Hiccup said, "I will accept all responsibility for everything Toothless does and all consequences of his actions will be on my head. But you and the rest of your villagers will not raise a weapon against him. I can assure you that he will not attack anybody."
Bertha considered this for a moment. "Deal, but if he attacks anyone, he's free game - and so are you."
Hiccup nodded.
Bertha asked, "When can you bring it by?"
"Him. Toothless is a he, not an it. I'll go outside right now and call him right now."
"Your dragon is nearby... on this island?"
"Yes. He flew off to sleep overnight on a tall sea stack nearby, but should be hiding out in the woods by now."
As the boy walked out with the Bog-Burglar chiefess, he was tempted to invite everyone else in the hall to join, but that was quite unnecessary. Breaking out into the sunshine outside, he spotted his father, who was trading some seal skins and yak hides for some interesting looking swords that the Bog-Burglars probably... acquired... from ships they plundered on the seas. Hiccup called out to his father.
"Good morning, Dad."
"'Mornin, son."
"Moment of truth."
"Head in the dragon's mouth?"
"Nah. That would just be disgusting!"
"Hiccup..."
"Really, Dad. I think you'll be impressed. I took care of the dragon's teeth."
"Promise?"
"Promise!"
"Think I'll join the show, then."
Bertha looked back and forth between Hiccup and his father, clearly unsettled about what was obviously code talk between the two, but Hiccup just kept on walking along toward the treeline of the forest, idly whistling a tune. Stoick hastily handed his hides off to Ack, nearby, and set into fastening a new sword with scabbard to his waist.
As he started to follow his heir, he shouted over his shoulder, "I'm eyeing that halberd, Martha. Be back soon."
As Hiccup walked onward, Bertha in tow and full of uncertainty, an entourage of female Bog-Burglars and several Hooligans fell in behind to see what was going on. The rider cupped his hands called out.
"TOOOOOTHLEEEESSSS!"
A moment later, a black form emerged from the trees, flanked by Camicazi.
"Toothless won't let me ride him," she shouted over to Hiccup.
Bertha stared at the dragon and her heiress in disbelief and bellowed, "Cami, get away from that thing, now!"
Camicazi shouted back, "Don't worry, Ma. He won't hurt me."
"Cami! NOW!"
Camicazi just shook her head slowly. "Please, Ma, trust me. I'm not in any danger."
"Cami, you WILL come here NOW or I'll slap you so hard your head will fall off!"
However, Camicazi wouldn't move from the dragon's side. This was part of their plan - at her own insistence - to help ward off any immediate aggression. There were about 10 paces between the dragon and the crowd when they stopped approaching each other. Dragon and Burglars did not feel comfortable getting any closer as they didn't trust each other not to attack.
Little Gretta ran forth from the crowd, shouting, "Toothless! You're so much prettier in the daytime!"
As she practically leaped onto the dragon's snout with a big hug and a giggle, someone shouted, "Gretta, get away from that thing! It's dangerous!"
Hiccup suddenly noticed that many of the women were holding spears, swords, and bows at the ready. However, the two girls clinging to the dragon prevented them from taking any action. Nobody felt confident enough to approach with a sword or ax and they would not trust a projectile to avoid the girls.
Stoick came up and clapped his son on the shoulder, saying, "You're right about the dragon's mouth. Well played, son!"
Bertha was glowering at Hiccup and his father at that comment, obviously uncomfortable with how things were playing out.
Hiccup glanced up at Bertha. "This is why Cami was so insistent that she stays with Toothless. Have I not been true to my word? Toothless has been very calm and peaceful, unlike your fellow tribe members. Remember the deal we made."
Bertha nodded. "You promise it won't hurt anyone?"
"He. Toothless is not an it."
"Hiccup!" Both Stoick and Bertha shouted at the same time. They shared a surprised look.
Hiccup sighed. "I swear on my life. Cami and Gretta are a testament to my claim."
Bertha nodded and shouted, "Weapons down, but keep 'em handy."
Swords were sheathed, bows lowered to the hips, and the butt-end of spears were dropped against the ground. However, hands still rested on sword pommels and around bows and spears.
"Good enough, I guess," Hiccup muttered under his breath as he strode over to his dragon.
As he approached, Camicazi was glaring at the Night Fury - who was now carrying Gretta on his back - with arms folded, apparently upset at the dragon.
"Really, Tooth?" she demanded, sternly. "You're gonna let her ride you, but not me?"
Hiccup sidled up next to his dragon's head, giving some scratches. "Well, Cami, you did kick his rider between the legs. Hey, Bud, you didn't actually fly when you gave the girls a ride, right?"
Toothless rolled his eyes in a what-do-you-think sort of way.
By now, there was a lot of chatter from the group gathered apart from the dragon. Hiccup looked over and called out to them. "Well, do any of you want to meet Toothless? I promise he won't bite. He's really nice as long as you don't start swinging weapons at him. Oh, and he really loves fish."
Big Bertha just stood there, arms crossed, slowly shaking her head in disbelief. However, some of the other girls from last night ran over to the dragon, giving scratches, giggling at the purring, and Toothless even retracted his teeth to playfully gnaw on one of the girl's hands with his toothless gums, drawing out a squealing giggle.
A couple other young women in their late teens also cautiously approached the dragon, succumbing to the jealousy of others petting him without them. Hiccup gently guided their hands to the dragon, who sniffed at them and allowed them to touch his snout to receive some more scratches.
"Oh, look," One of the older girls saying as she gave Toothless a belly rub. "It's a girl!"
Rider and dragon groaned in unison as Hiccup dryly stated, "No, he's a boy. It's just like with fish; He's more aerodynamic because-"
The rider blinked, suddenly realizing what exactly he was talking about and started to sound irritated. "Wait, why are we even talking about this? Girls are so weird! If you are really so interested in his hindquarters, he would enjoy some massaging on his haunches. SOMEBODY was trying to impress Camicazi by leaping straight up into the air and pulled a muscle- Ah! Toothless! Ewwww!"
Somebody decided his rider needed dragon tongue therapy.
After wiping an inordinate amount of slobber off his face, Hiccup put his hand on the dragon's snout to talk with him. Toothless assured his rider that he sensed no ill will from the younger Burglars currently on and near him and that the massaging on his haunches was indeed exquisitely marvelous. Content that his dragon, now melting into a puddle of bliss, was safe, Hiccup walked back over to Bertha and the group of Bog-Burglars, stumbling occasionally as he used his tunic to wipe any last remnants of dragon saliva off his face.
"Well, ma'am, I think we can say I've shown you my dragon. I would be happy to spend some time telling you all I know about them and how you can deal with the ones in your area."
Bertha looked uncertain, but a little more accepting at least, with the sight of the dragon sprawled out under a pile of girls.
"Yes, that sounds good, but your ship's scheduled to leave pretty soon."
Hiccup chuckled and said, "Well, Toothless is a dragon... who can fly..." The rider cast a quick glance at his father to see a subtle nod. "I could stay for a few days and still beat them home."
The winds would be less than favorable for sailing back to Berk. The ship would have to tack back and forth with the wind hitting the sail at an oblique angle. They would likely even have to row a good distance, which would take a while, too. A two day trip to Bog-Burglar Island would probably require five or six days to get back home.
On the other hand, Toothless can handle a headwind much more gracefully than a ship. He can always manage the wind in such a way that, no matter which way it's blowing, it's always to his advantage. It's dragon magic!
Bertha smiled. "Alright, boy, you tell me what you know and I'll make it worth your time. I may even give you my daughter as a wife if we end up with riders of-"
"I'LL CASTRATE HIM!"
Hiccup nervously chuckled.
"Let's just stick to my area of expertise."
A/N:
Thanks for reading!
I'd like to give a special thanks to Anhedral for taking the time to write such a detailed review. You make me very glad I kept chapter 8 and gave me a lot to think about. Also, thanks for the reading assignment. I'll have to check out the Nighthorse books.