Sorry about the long wait you guys! I've just been so busy writing my other stories and surviving school that I haven't been able to pay proper attention to Snatched. Hopefully this chapter makes up for the long wait! Also I have a little side-note/shameless self-advertisement, I've written a new story that focuses on the newest Star Wars movie, so if anyone is a fan of the series I recommend reading it.
Huge thanks to ChaosX97 for helping me with this chapter!
Cloves of garland and garlic hung from wooden rafters while dried herbs and flowers were layered upon one another carefully in half-open chests. Their sweet and sharp smells were thick in the air, mixing oddly with the strong scent of the ocean. Random pieces of various goods were strewn about the hold, a confusing hodgepodge of various items of different cultures all mixed together. Entire tables were dedicated to displaying the exotic articles; from ceramics of foreign design, masterfully woven baskets, iron weapons and oaken shields, fabrics of fine silk brought from the exotic southern lands mixed with the wool jerkins of the Barbarian Archipelago and the seal fur jackets of the Icelands.
According to the trader, his ship apparently had anything the two would ever need, for a fair price of course. He boasted about his wide collection of goods scavenged from all four corners of the world. From the northern Icelands and the Barbaric Archipelago all the way to what remained of the Roman Empire and beyond.
It was cold, and Eret could see his breath frost over in the air with each exhale. Besides him, Hiccup seemed to shrink in his sealskin jacket. The only source of light was a brazier of fire, carefully fed and controlled by the merchant.
Above the doorway, the skull of a Monstrous Nightmare watched them through sunken sockets. The flickering of the flames made the polished skull weave in and out of constant shadow, its menacing teeth gleaming menacingly while its eye sockets seemed to follow their every move. From the corner of his eye, Eret could see Hiccup staring at the bare skull that almost seemed to grin back, his eyes wide and a quiver in his lips. Eret felt himself grow a little sick and forced himself to look away, pulling Hiccup with him.
"Anything you boys are looking for?" The oddly accented voice of the trader piped in.
The trader was a pale dark-haired man garbed in rather odd, foreign clothes of red and blue, the material seeming neither to be hide nor wool. Cloth bands and leather belts wrapped around his somewhat slender form, with pockets aplenty along with odd rings upon his fingers and a coin pouch close to his hip. Underneath a worn wool cap was dark brown hair, darker than Hiccup and Valka's but lighter than Eret's, lightly streaked with gray to match the knot-tied beard underneath his chin.
The trader had introduced himself as Johann, and had proudly shown them around his ship and its cargo hold. He allowed them to search around, hanging back in the corner while keeping a close eye on his goods.
Eret tried to keep an eye on Hiccup, especially when the younger brother, whose social skills with other humans was terrible in the bluntest of terms, tried to stuff random things into his pocket. He had to smack the boy's hand away before he got them kicked off the boat, though luckily the vendor hadn't been none the wiser.
Hiccup stared at the odd man with wide, unblinking eyes.
"Erhmm… something I can help you with perchance?" Trader Johann asked, looking rather uncomfortable at Hiccup's piercing, unblinking stare.
A flush of heat rose to Eret's cheeks as he realized why Hiccup was so interested in Johann. It wasn't the accent, the odd garb, the unfamiliar features, or enticing stories. Nope. Not in the slightest.
It was Johann's beard.
Eret remembered a year or so prior when he had reached the age of sixteen, the age of manhood almost upon him, and how his body had become taller and broader with each coming day, and when the first few bristles of hair began to poke its way onto his face Hiccup's reaction had been less than enthused.
The wild boy's face had paled, before screaming so loudly it made Eret's ears ring before Hiccup suddenly disappearing into the labyrinth of tunnels with Toothless hot on his trail, leaving a confused Eret behind. He had had to enlist the aid of a concerned Valka and Cloudjumper, who managed to track the younger son to a remote cavern that had once been a nesting ground for Deadly Nadders but had long since been abandoned.
They had found him curled up in an old nest, bits of broken shell scattered around him from where newborn hatchlings had burst out in typical explosive fashion. Curled up beside him was Toothless, who was trying to nudge the boy out of his shocked state, mewling pitifully when Hiccup ignored him. It had taken Valka a while to coax her son out, even with Toothless helping her. When they finally managed to get Hiccup to look at them, both humans had been surprised when Hiccup tearfully asked if Eret was going to leave them for the other humans.
Eret had to concede that for Hiccup, whose only positive interaction with someone of the same species was with his mother and brother, it did make a little bit of sense for him to be oblivious to certain information that Eret himself had always taken for granted, having been brought up in a human society. Facial hair had never been something Hiccup had ever encountered before, save with hostile trappers and Vikings and thus didn't know that all males always sported facial hair as it provided some protection from the cold.
It was understandable, in some odd way, for a boy who had never truly understood what it meant to be human to separate himself and his family from those that wished them harm. Trivial things like facial hair just served to help distinguish friend and foe; such simple things that Hiccup just didn't understand. Which did lead to an interesting question:
Did Hiccup even consider the trappers and Vikings as belonging to his own species?
Granted, Eret's younger brother was odd and eccentric enough to classify as his own subset of humankind, but it was still an interesting look into Hiccup's mindset.
What were humans to Hiccup, a boy who had grown up with only dragons?
"Can we goooo?" Hiccup asked him in a low tone that sounded suspiciously like a whine, pulling Eret away from his thoughts.
Eret smirked slightly when he saw Hiccup's freckled cheeks colored a rather faint gray, a sign that the boy was nauseous from the constant rocking of the boat against the ocean's currents. Hiccup, who had spent his whole life leaping from dragon backs while in flight and loved doing aerial displays with Toothless, had a severe case of seasickness – it amused him to no end.
He pushed the boy lightly on the shoulder, grinning wildly when Hiccup stumbled awkwardly with flailing arms to catch his balance. "Not yet. We've still got some things to grab."
"I should have stayed behind with mother…"
Rolling his eyes at his brother's reluctance, the older boy gently pushed the dragon rider forward.
Valka certainly didn't enjoy the thought of her sons being in the company of humans, even if it was a wandering trader. She was paranoid of Drago's spies hiding in plain sight, and not to mention that she believed that any human would try and cause them harm if they knew that they were selling and buying with wanted criminals. The three dragon vigilantes were well known throughout the Icelands, and had been declared criminals throughout every known civilization within the region.
The trader hadn't seemed too entirely put off by their attire. The boys still wore their armor, but had hidden it behind layers of thick furs to hide the distinct markings, and neither had brought their helmets that marked them as the dragon vigilantes. They could have easily blended in with a crowd, though Hiccup might have trouble if he forgot the social customs that Eret had tried to teach him.
They had introduced themselves to the merchant as the sons of a hunter, and the man had seemingly believed them by looking at their wild assortment of fur and leather. Johann decided to ignore the oddity of the two boys, perhaps because, as he so proudly boasted, he was a professional, and these two ruffians weren't the oddest bunch that had been on his ship.
Valka had given the boy a list of herbs and plants that was needed for Thor-knows-what concoction. Despite Valka's rather impressive herb garden, not all plants could be grown within the Nest, which meant they had to find certain plants within civilized areas. She needed stalks of yarrow for when fevers or infection struck, tansy, elderflower, marigold and thyme, not to mention hornwort, honeysuckle, crow's eye, buckthorn, and longrube. There was also a long list of poisonous plants that Valka desired to use against their enemies.
"Hmm…" Johann stroked his beard thoughtfully, "I have the plants you're looking for amongst the veritable garden I seem to possess but, eh… your mother is aware that quite a few among that list are poisonous?" He added that on suddenly, looking at the boys with a critical eye.
Wonder what he'd think if he knew that mother had even more poisonous herbs stored away, Eret thought humorously as he calmly said, "We've got a bit of a problem over here with predators of sorts that are always coming onto our territory and tryin' to kill our own. We've found a simple solution in regards to that violence isn't a problem when there's no one on your doorstep lookin' for a fight."
"That's… rather dark," Johann said, looking a tad uncomfortable as he fiddled with his jerkin.
Eret shrugged, "but not uncommon." And it wasn't. Death was common to those who lived in the Icelands, whether from the cold, wild animals, dragons, or even humans themselves.
Johann hummed in agreement at that, but still looked a bit uncomfortable, so Eret grabbed one of his coins and forced it into the man's palm, reminding the trader that there were far better things to have than a guilty conscience. Immediately Johann's hesitance went away, and he was already beckoning Eret to come forward with an energetic wave of his hand.
"I've got some Blue Oleander up in storage. Beautiful flower, soft as a little lamb's wool as well. Interesting story of how I came to get it." Suddenly the oddly garbed trader spread his arms out dramatically. "There I was, surrounded by masked enemies while dangling precariously off a cliff-face with only three fingers, I swung and-eh? What's wrong?" Johann stopped his tale, looking concerned.
Hiccup started at the mention of the flower, whilst Eret felt his face pale.
What most people didn't realize was that Blue Oleander, while beautiful to the eye, was perhaps the most toxic flower when it came to dragons. It was incredibly deadly, and the boys had seen dragons die after unknowingly eating the flower. It usually occurred when the more carnivorous dragons, such as the Monstrous Nightmare and Deadly Nadder, would often fly to wooded areas where the flower grew and hunted deer that often ate the blue flower as a part of their diet –as it was only poisonous to reptiles- and thus accidently ingested the flower from their kills.
"We don't want that." Hiccup said, his voice sharp. Both boys were adamant that the beautifully dangerous flower be nowhere near their home. Johann stared at them oddly, dark eyes flickering uneasily at Hiccup, whose face was twisted into an animalist snarl.
Placing a gentle hand on the feral boy's shoulder in an effort to calm him, Eret stepped forward with a small scrap of parchment scrawled with their mother's spiky handwriting. "We've got a list of what we need. N-no Oleander for us."
Johann accepted the slip of paper, although a bit warily.
Not wanting to ruin the chance to trade, Eret quickly added: "We've also got goods to sell as well. I think you'll be interested."
The wariness faded away, a more open curiosity replacing it.
"Come on, Leif," Eret encouraged his brother, using a different name to avoid any difficulties with identity. "Show the man what you want to sell."
Hiccup looked up at him balefully, though he remained silent. Hiccup had never truly enjoyed the company of humans, and was often quiet when Eret took him into a settlement for supplies that they could not procure in the wilds. Valka had wanted Hiccup to remain behind whenever they ventured out, but had relented when Eret had argued that the experience would be good for him. If only so that Hiccup would be able to blend in if trouble arose and he couldn't get home. Before Hiccup wouldn't have lasted a minute in a human village, but now Eret hoped that the boy would know enough to remain undetected until help arrived.
Hiccup reached into the pockets of his coat, and began to pull out a large assortment of various dragon scales, teeth and claws from the folds. The vendor looked at the rather large piles with a wide grin, looking very much pleased. Eret knew that many humans believed that parts of a dragon held some odd mystic power, and were incredibly useful for medicines. They weren't commonly used, however, as they are hard to find, as one had to kill a dragon to claim them, and were thus valuable.
"Oh, quite an assortment of rarities you've got. As a man of business I must say I'm curious as to how you procured these?" The dark-haired vendor stretched out his fingers to rake them through the glinting scales.
"Found 'em…" Hiccup's reply was a muffled mumble, barely audible. He was speaking the truth; it was rather easy to find such items when one lived in a dragon Nest. Scales loosened by age or wear were often found littering the Nest, often near certain rock structures that many dragons used as scratching posts. The teeth and claws were rarer, but it was easy to find some in old nests from where growing hatchlings had grown out of them.
"Mmmhhmmm," Johann hummed, though it looked as though he hadn't been paying the boy the slightest of attention; his dark eyes fixated instead on Hiccup's collection. They were precious commodities, valuable in all corners of the known world. He began muttering to himself, "I'm acquiesced with a number of traders down south who've been itching for dragon scales and teeth. Bit of a challenge in obtaining them, you see. Perhaps that nobleman in Al-Andalus would be willing to trade in those prized ceramics of his for a few Monstrous Nightmare claws…."
Hiccup perked up at the mentioning of the south, where he was forbidden to venture. "You been to a bunch of places, Trader?" he asked excitedly, his normally reserved and slightly uncomfortable nature in the presence of other human beings momentarily forgotten.
"Oh, I've been all over." Trader Johann boasted, gesturing at all of his cherished trinkets and wares with a broad sweep of his arms. "I've made port and met folks at some of the most far-flung backwater reaches of the world: from Svarheim and Farthern Dûr here in the Icelands you boys call home to the distant ends of the Barbaric Archipelago. I've been to Outcast Island, Healer's Island, the Meathead Islands, the Puffin Isles, the Isle of Berk, Breakneck Bog, Bloodspilt Bay, the Isles of Doom, and so many more."
Hiccup wrinkled his nose at the man's words, "Those last ones all sound like terrible places."
Trader Johann let loose a bark of laughter, his chest heaving. "Well o'course they do. They're home to the Vikings. Miserable lot, but one has to admire their resolve and survival skills."
Hiccup looked up sharply at Johann's words, his mother's warnings ringing in the back of his mind of deadly warriors who held no mercy to someone like him and who would gladly kill his beloved dragons without hesitation or mercy. His mother's bedtime stories, though Valka had treated them as warnings for the future, had engrained the notion that Vikings were not to be trifled with, and to never try to reason, or even talk, with.
"Vikings?"
"Mmph," Johann nodded his head, stroking his long beard sagely. "The epitome of stubbornness, I dare say. Refuse to move from their homelands despite the constant dragon raids. The seas will consume those islands before any Viking even thinks to leave." Suddenly he gestured towards the doorway, where the Monstrous Nightmare skull peered down at them, "Got that beauty as a gift not too long ago. You should have seen the size of its body! Killed by a Viking who sports the moniker 'the Slayer'. Appropriate title too, chopped its neck though with a single swipe! He gave it to me as a gift after I gave them some much-needed herbs for burn and infection medicines."
Both boys felt rather ill at the tale. All the stories told to them by their mother about the brutality of Viking kind continuing to establish itself within their mindsets.
"Ah, I'll admit I do prefer the Archipelago at times. Brutish folk there, yes, but simple folk just the same. The Icelands, pah! People here're as rigid an' as frosty as glaciers and will point their weapons at you just for looking at them funny. No manners whatsoever, and this is from the mouth of a man who's consorted with Vikings. Not to mention," Johann sniffed disdainfully, "that it's plagued with ambitious, blood-thirsty vigilantes who ride dragons. Dragons, of all creatures!"
Both of the boys wisely looked away during the man's small tirade. "So, what'll you give for these pieces?" Eret asked, wanting to change the subject. If only he knew that two of the three 'blood-thirsty vigilantes' are right in front of him, Eret thought to himself wryly. He might change his tune rather quickly.
Johann shrugged his shoulders. "Well, hard to put a price on these, especially when they're in such nice quality. Eh, why not let your brother have his pick of my wares, and I'll decide if it's a fair trade, how's that?"
Immediately, without so much as a moment of hesitation, Hiccup silently pointed over towards the side of the cargo hold. "Eh?" Johann looked at where the boy had silently pointed, which happened to be a small area near the corner by the doorway. Beside a small, sturdy bookcase full of rolled parchment, plastered on the wall, was a sea chart with numerous charted islands dotting it.
"You want maps?" He asked incredulously, not understanding why the boy would willingly give away valuable items for a few old, musty maps. "Interesting. What would a hunter's boy have need of such large maps for, if you don't mind my nosiness?" he asked. People in the Icelands didn't travel much, unless they were either sailors, fishermen or pirates. It was a given that hunters didn't leave their land.
Thor damnit, Eret thought, thinking fast. "Leif's a bit of a wanderer at heart. Doesn't enjoy how… constricting our little island can be at times. He'd rather prefer to wander and see the world. One small rock in the middle of the ocean isn't enough for our little nomad here."
And Eret was telling the truth. Hiccup's restless spirit wasn't content to staying within the borders of their lands, but rather turned his eyes towards the horizon and what lay beyond. Both he and Toothless wanted to be free to fly until they reached the end of the world, and then go further beyond. Though their love for the unknown could not match the love they held for their family, human and dragon alike. They would rather remain in the Nest to protect those they loved, though a piece of them would always remain wistful.
Valka had seemed to understand Hiccup's desire to explore, and had even allowed both of her sons to fly further and further from the safety of the Nest, so long as they returned within a set amount of days to ease her ever-worrying heart. Valka had only enforced one rule to their freedom: they were forbidden to fly anywhere near the borders of the Barbaric Archipelago, the home of the Viking tribes.
The brothers didn't understand why their mother avoided the homelands of the Vikings so greatly. And when asked, the woman's face had tightened and a look came into her eyes, a sad forlorn look mixed with bitter anger, and neither had the heart to prod further. Valka obviously had no desire to share her reasons, and her sons abided to her wishes. Hiccup, despite his insatiable curiosity, stayed away from the Archipelago and regions too dangerous to fly in. Since he could not physically go to those regions, he instead turned his attention to charted landmasses. A map of all the places he wished to see was the next best thing, after all.
"Why don't you go look at the maps?" Eret offered, nodding his head at his younger sibling.
Immediately, as though pulled by a rope, Hiccup wandered over to several barrels and a bookshelf stuffed with rolled parchment. He ran a finger across the faded parchments, a hint of longing in his eyes.
Eret knew that his brother loved maps, though he could barely read them despite Valka's teachings. Both he and Valka had been amused when Hiccup began to hang all of the maps he had chartered himself, some accurate and others not, within one of the smaller tunnels that led to a dead end on mixtures of pitch and dragon saliva. "How much for a map?" Eret asked the trader.
"Mmm…" Johann stroked his beard, dark eyebrows furrowed in thought. "Depends on what the lad wants. I've sea charts, constellation maps, trade charts, routes and major trails on certain islands, and a few random ones I've gathered over the course my travels. One of those maps on top of everything else you're buying… hmm… I'd reckon that pile of dragon scales would do well for one."
Eret knew that the man was ripping them off, he was a proficient haggler, and it wasn't as though the scales were hard to find. "Deal." He decided, shrugging his massive shoulders casually. "But Leif chooses which, out of the lot of them." He said, leveling the smaller man with a fearsome scowl.
Johann blinked before giving a wry smile that showed his amusement at Eret's turning the tide by removing the price barrier, taking advantage of his vague words. In all honesty the old merchant didn't care in the slightest if they took one of his more pricey maps; Johann had memorized every sea and trade route scribbled onto those pieces of parchment. And he found the two brothers to be rather interesting company, though not the most eccentric people he had ever met. "If the young master wants a map, he'll have a map." Johann said, raising his hands in mock surrender.
Pleased, Eret turned his back to the foreign man and headed back towards his younger brother, who was already nose deep in a barrel of rolled parchment, carefully examining each piece. Hiccup suddenly tensed as he looked at another random map, its contents hidden to Eret due to the younger's back. He craned his head over the boy's shoulder to get a better look.
Eret felt a hiss of breath escape his clenched teeth as he stared at the map Hiccup apparently desperately desired. It showed various islands, both small and large, with twisted shapes in various locations scattered across the parchment. It was written in Norse, the language the boys both spoke and read, and Eret felt his eyes drawn to the large font on the top: Barbaric Archipelago.
"Hiccup…" Eret hissed under his breath, keeping his voice low so Johann couldn't hear. "Not that one. Grab a map of the Icelands, we'll have more use of it and you can fix your own maps."
"I don't want a map of the Icelands." Hiccup mumbled, his mouth turned into a stubborn grimace that Eret knew instantly solidified the younger rider's opinion. "Aside from the few 'cities,' and those spots where Drago's men are hanging out, Toothless and I have seen about as much as there is to see around here." He tapped a finger against the musty parchment, "We haven't seen this."
"Mother forbade us." Eret reminded him. He rubbed his fingers against his temples in a vain attempt to stave off the pain that came with dealing with his idiotically stubborn younger brother. He wondered if knocking the boy out would resolve the argument, but the thought of the fiercely protective Toothless' displeasure of his beloved rider of about a year knocked into unconsciousness by his tough love stopped him.
"She said we can't fly there. She never said anything about not having a map of the Barbaric Archipelago." Hiccup reasoned triumphantly, looking rather pleased with himself for devising a plan to not directly disobey his mother's orders. Eret knew that Hiccup was too loyal to his mother to ever go against her orders. Even if he wanted nothing more than ignore her cautious warnings and stern orders and drift with no resemblance of rules. "Please, big brother?" Hiccup begged the seventeen year old, green eyes wide and pleading.
Feeling his resolve crumbling at his sibling's pleads; Eret closed his eyes and exhaled loudly. For a few moments he didn't speak a word, and Hiccup was left to wonder at his decision…
"Fine," Eret relented. Hiccup visibly perked and a smile grew on his youthful face. "But don't expect any help from me when mother finds out you bought a Viking map behind her back. You're on your own," he jabbed Hiccup with his index finger playfully, "And I get all your stuff when mother feeds you to the eels."
"Deal!" Hiccup crowed, not at all concerned with the possible outcome.
He placed a hand on Hiccup's shoulder, looking grim and solemn as though he was preparing Hiccup's last rites, "I shall gladly take your meal portions, and fly Toothless." He swore solemnly.
"Toothless won't let you eat my meals, he'd take it for himself." Hiccup pointed out smugly, still gleeful.
"Outeaten by a Night Fury…." Eret shook his head in disbelief as Hiccup grinned up at him. "Well go on, let's have a look at it." He got closer as his younger brother spread out the map, allowing both to see it clearly.
Eret scanned the parchment, soaking in the odd landmasses and islands that composed an entire region banned to them by their mother. He would admit that he had always been curious about the Archipelago, but he had never gone against his mother's wishes in order to sate his curiosity. At least with this map, he could learn more without betraying his mother.
"All these places sound terrible…" Hiccup murmured, tracing a finger over a small pinprick that was labeled Brokeneck Hill. "A hill can't have a broken neck."
Eret turned his attention to the middle of the map. There were several islands, two large, and smaller broken off pieces of land near the south. "Meathead Islands…" he looked over towards the island towards the west, much larger than its neighbor in which it was not split off into smaller islands, and peered at the name. "The Isle of Berk…"
"Must be two different tribes." Hiccup mused, "Look there." He tapped the map. "Even their seas sound terrible. The Sullen Sea… The Wrath of Thor… The Sea-Known-as-Woden's-Bathtub…" Hiccup shook his head in amazement, "Who's Woden? And why is his bathtub so important? How'd Woden get a whole ocean named after his bathtub?" There was a moment of pause, "What's a bathtub, Eret?"
Eret had mostly shrugged at his brother's questions but blinked at the last one. He didn't reply, as it could be rather exhausting trying to explain what a bathtub was to someone who bathed in springs. "They're Viking lands. 'Course they're named weirdly. I hear dinner's a time of inspiration for them." He shot Hiccup a reproachful look, "And as though you're one to talk. Your naming skills're just as terrible."
Hiccup looked rather offended. "What do you mean?"
Eret stared at him blankly. "Itchy Armpit sound familiar?"
A dark blush rose to Hiccup's cheeks. "It seemed fitting at the time," Hiccup mumbled, his ears beet-red.
"When is there ever a time where a name like that would be fitting?"
His younger brother bristled at the words, his reddened face bright against the fur of his coat. "It sounded good then." Hiccup repeated himself, refusing to look his grinning brother in the eye.
"Maybe you have some Viking blood in you," Eret joked with a smirk.
Hiccup scoffed at that. "Now you're just talking crazy." He declared as he gently rolled the map up and placed it back in its wrap of sealskin before standing up, swaying ever so slightly due to the constant rocking of the ship. "I hate boats…" Hiccup groaned under his breath.
Johann watched them silently as the two brothers gathered their things; Eret packing away the requested herbs and other precious commodities while Hiccup clutched his map, which was cradled protectively in his arms.
Eret slung the large bag of supplies over his shoulders, easily carrying its cumbersome weight. "Thank you for the supplies, Trader Johann." He nodded his head in respect towards the eccentric merchant. "Perhaps we'll meet again someday."
"Thank you, Young Masters Eret and Leif!" Johann said exuberantly, his pockets practically bursting with dragon scales and claws. "A pleasure doing business with you!"
"Stay clear of pirates and sea creatures while on the waters." Eret called out as Hiccup gleefully bolted up the ladder towards the freedom of the deck. The elder brother paused at the ladder. "And be on the lookout for those vigilantes. Don't wanna get mixed up with them."
Johann nodded his head severely, though his smile remained bright and cheery. "Fair warning to you as well, Young Master Eret. Be on the lookout for those loathsome dragons; the woods are full of them. Why one time I came face to face with a Gronkle and had to wrestle it with my bare hands in order to-" the rest of Johann's story faded away as Eret climbed atop the deck.
Hiccup was waiting for him atop the deck. The younger brother shot Eret a look of mild annoyance, "Be on the lookout for those vigilantes?" He mimicked Eret's voice mockingly.
"Ah, dearest brother." He ruffled the boy's hair, and dodged Hiccup's attempts to smack him away. "You might know everything there is to dragons, but I know humans just as well enough. I meant nothing but caution, we mean the trader no harm so long as he doesn't involve himself in our war." Eret looked out across the deck, where the ocean broiled underneath dark waves and crescents of frothing foam. "The world is dangerous, Hiccup. Remember that."
He remembered his own world burning around him. His old life had been consumed by flames, leaving behind nothing but a broken boy clutching at its ashes. He had sworn long ago when Valka and Hiccup had welcomed him into their family to protect his newfound mother and brother with his dying breath, to ensure their dreams became reality and to care and love them as they had done for him.
"I will, Eret." Hiccup said, looking up at him with somber eyes. They warmed ever so slightly, a small grin forming on his lips; "Now let's go home!"
The boy bounded off of the deck, running down the plank that connected the ship to the dock and raced towards the outskirts of the small fishing village heading in the direction of where they had left Toothless and a Monstrous Nightmare that had given Eret a ride.
Eret followed his brother, lagging behind slightly due to the weight of the bag. He was smiling, however, as he watched his brother all but skip towards the location of Toothless. Some things never change, he thought to himself with a hint of nostalgia. Hiccup had always been the excitable one. Valka had always been the serious one, but her smiles could light the room. They were his family, and this was his life.
And he wouldn't give up that life for anything.