Chapter 6
Hiccup smiled as he slid quickly down through the air. He had been falling for ten seconds already and he was loving each moment of it. It was the closest he would ever get to flying under his own power. That was something he wished he could do, but for now he would stick with riding Toothless and these free falls.
But that being said, the point of this free fall was not for fun, but rather this time it had to purposes. The first was quickly became known as Toothless came down beside him. Within moments they were aliened and Hiccup was able to get on Toothless saddle again. Pulling up they came out of the dive a hundred or so feet from the water.
"Not bad bud, a little close though," Hiccup said glancing back behind him.
Toothless's small ear flaps hit Hiccups hand, letting Hiccup know that Toothless thought it was just fine. Hiccup sighed, and soon they were headed up towards the other riders, Hiccups test and demonstration having gone perfectly.
"And there you go, now Fishleg's your turn," Hiccup said.
"I really rather not," Fishleg's said, glancing down towards the water far below them.
"Come on Fishleg's this is a trust exercise, when you fall you need to have faith that Meatlug will catch you. Just as Toothless did with me," Hiccup said.
"I rather do my trusting on the ground thank you," Fishleg's responded.
"Here I will do and show you everything will be just fine," Astrid said, getting a nod from Hiccup to proceed.
Astrid rather than just falling off, ran along Stormfly's back, before finally diving off. Hiccup chucked as he heard Ruffnut say something about show off. She looked rather graceful as she passed through the air, and only a few moments later Stormfly gave chase. And while Stormfly was nowhere near as fast as Toothless, he was more than able to catch Astrid far higher than Toothless had done for Hiccup.
"Good job Astrid, you to Stormfly," Hiccup said as the pair returned.
"Why thank you, and I must say Toothless could learn a thing from Stormfly here," Astrid called back.
Hiccup chucked, as Toothless gave a rather disgruntled snort, as if he was believed his own catch was just fine. Hiccup was not about to complain though, he was working on Toothless trying to make it so he could fly on his own, the parts were proving to be a little harder than he had thought to build. Right now Toothless could make do though with a Tail flap that could be locked in position allowing for at least so form of flight if Hiccup was knocked off.
"He is doing just fine, okay you Fishlegs," Hiccup said, looking at Fishleg's again.
"I really rather not," Fishleg's said, fear creeping into his voice.
"Like this Chickenlegs," Snotlout shouted out, before letting go of Hookfang's horns, and sliding off to the side and down into the open air.
"Oh no," Hiccup said looking down.
In their flight they had come back in over the land, and Snotlout was falling right towards Mildew's home. And Hookfang did not even seem to notice that Snotlout had leapt off. Which meant that if someone did not do anything soon, Snotlout was about to meet a rather painful landing, if not death.
"Should someone tell Hookfang," Tuffnut asked.
"Let's sleep on it," Ruffnut replied.
Astrid and Hiccup moved closer before both calling over, "Hookfang fetch!"
Hookfang looked little confused, making them realize he had been flying while thinking of something else. But the moment he was focused back on the world, he saw just why they were pointing downwards. His idiot rider had just made a jump, and with no warning either.
Hookfang dove rapidly downwards, getting ready to grab Snotlout out of the air. But it did not go to plan as Snotlout landed in his face, making it hard for Hookfang to see anything. With no other choices or option, Hookfang spread his wings trying to turn this into a glide, but it was already too late to slow much more. Seeing the ground coming rapidly towards them Hookfang closed his wings and braced.
With a loud crashing sound, they broke through the roof of Mildew's house. Snotlout took a few moments to realize where he was, and when the spotted Mildew glaring at them, they bolted as if Loki was after them. They did not stop trying to escape till they had reached the group again.
"Oh great I can just see my father's face when I get home," Hiccup said with a small groan of annoyance.
Hiccup though did not have to wait to get home before his father showed up. Stoick had his normal disappointed scowl in place, and Mildew was not far behind, with his normal leer like grin. Hiccup directed the riders and their dragons to land and move into the arena while he talked to his dad.
"Hello son, I trust you know why I am here," Stoick said calmly.
"If it is about Snotlout, and his fall into Mildew's house; yes I do," Hiccup said, figuring it was not a good idea to beat around the bush.
"Good this makes it easy then. Tomorrow I want you and the other riders up fixing his roof, understand," Stoick said, looking from Hiccup to the other riders.
"Yes, I am guessing no dragons as well," Hiccup said, glancing over at Mildew.
"Yes," Stoick said, as Mildew, looking rather annoyed at the lack of real punishment walked off.
"Well okay," Hiccup said, going over how much wood they would need in his head.
"Oh and for what it is worth, if this is the only problem we have while raising dragons, I am glad it happened to him, just make sure it does not happen again," Stoick whispered to Hiccup before walking off.
Hiccup chuckled as the others came over, with Astrid asking, "So let me guess we are in trouble for breaking the roof."
"Well, kind of. We, or more correctly I got told off, but as a whole, our job is to fix Mildew's roof by tomorrow. No dragon help either," Hiccup said.
Everyone groaned in annoyance, not just because they were being punished from the lack of dragons make the work all that much harder. Mildew's house was not built in or even near the village, but rather a good mile outside town. The trip alone was not the safest unless you were sure footed, add hauling wood up to Mildew's house would just make the climb all the more troublesome.
"Well I guess it could be worse," Fishleg's said.
"True, as it is I will letting you all go for today, Fishleg's and Astrid you are with me tonight for patrols," Hiccup said, not wishing to tempt fate anymore by bringing Snotlout or the twins with him on dragons in the dark.
The others nodded, and thankfully the rest of the rest of the day progressed without any more problems. They took off later that night, about an hour since the sun had set. Snow was slowly falling as the three took into the air, and began checking the outlining islands for any sign of trespassers.
It was a slow night for Fishlegs and Meatlug both of who had not taken an afternoon nap as to have more energy for the night. For Astrid and Hiccup and their dragons, they were having a grand old time. Their favor thing to do was dodge and weave between the large stone spires near Dragon Island, which with their faster dragons was rather fun.
Finally they were on their way back to Berk. No one was approaching Berk, at least currently. And as they landed, Fishleg's looking about ready to fall over from lack of sleep, with Hiccup and Astrid looking tired but otherwise okay, did the sun slowly begin it rise over the island. Hiccup bid both Astrid and Fishleg's a good morning before heading back to his house.
"Morning Father," Hiccup said, as Stoick came out the front door.
"Morning to you, no problems during your patrol I hope," Stoick said stretching and taking a deep breath of the fresh and cold morning air.
"None at all," Hiccup said.
"Good to hear," Stoick said, before looking about the steps.
"Something wrong?" Hiccup asked.
"Where are my boots," Stoick said, sounding a little confused.
Hiccup shrugged, remembering it had been boot night. Without regular washing, and constant use the boots that everyone wore, would stink up badly. So in order to counteract this everyone of Berk put their boots out once a week. It was not completely unheard of for a set of boots or two to turn up missing though if a snow storm or wolves had been around during the night.
"Should I let Gobber know before I get some rest?" Hiccup asked.
"Nah I can take care of this," Stoick said chuckling, "That freshly fallen snow, always felt nice on my feet when I was a kid."
Hiccup nodded as Stoick walked down towards the Village, before looking at Toothless and saying, "He must have had a pretty good night sleep. I have not seen him this happy in a while."
Thankfully, Hiccup was able to get some good sleep, as was Toothless. When they finally awoke it was a little lunch, and there feeling refreshed. They quickly went about getting ready to meet the day before finally heading outside.
Hiccup got onto Toothless's back and they were soon off into the air, but then something caught their attention they did not expect. A huge line of people were around Gobber's shop. While this was not uncommon during the war with the dragons, now it was a very rare site. Landing nearby Hiccup went over to see just what was going on.
The first thing he noticed was that everyone in line was without their boots. And the second thing he noticed when entering into the show, was there was a pile of scrap leather with hundreds of boot cuts already made in them.
"Did something happen to everyone's boots?" Hiccup asked, quickly spotting Gobber.
"Yes. Everyone had their boots taken last night while you were out on patrol, if the tracks are correct it was done by the Ruff's and Tuff's dragon," Gobber said as he quickly finished another set.
"Well that is weird, do you know why Barf or Belch did that?" Hiccup asked.
"No, and personally I don't think it was a dragon either," Gobber said, grabbing another sheet of leather.
"Oh why is that?" Hiccup asked.
"Well as you know I am a Viking of many Talents. One is tracking," Gobber said.
"Yes, I know, so what is the point?" Hiccup asked, and began drawing out the patterns for the boots figuring he might as well help for a little bit.
"Thank you, anyway, the tracks that were left in the snow were much too shallow to be made by a Zippleback. If anything, I think someone is trying to frame the dragons," Gobber said.
"Who would do that?" Hiccup wondered out loud.
"There are more than a few people that still dislike dragons. Mildew being the highest on that list," Gobber said.
"True and the other riders and myself need to fix his roof today," Hiccup said.
"Yep," Gobber said as Hiccup ran out of the shop.
Hiccup, hurry about and was soon able to round up the other riders. With them, and a little help from the dragons they gathered the needed wood. Afterwards they were headed up to Mildew's home, with the wood. Arriving they found the Mildew was not about currently, which was kind of surprising, but also a relief.
With six of them working they were able to repair the roof within only an hour. And when the group began leaving, the roof not only looked better, but was actually leak proof now. Hiccup though decided to remain behind, as what Gobber had said before had him wondering a little bit.
Heading back into the house, Hiccup took a quick look around and was a little disturbed to say the least. It was not so much the house was creepy, but rather the shields on the wall. Each of the four shields had painting on it, and three of these were of rather nasty and creepy looking ladies. Mildew's now dead former wives. The fourth one was of his sheep, Fungus.
Over all the house contained nothing that might suggest Mildew was the one. Hiccup though decided to give the place one more look. He checked the cooking pot, almost regretting it, as what was inside made him wonder if Mildew knew the meaning of cleaning. A quick glance under the bed, revealed nothing. Leaving just the closet unchecked.
A quick glance inside though, showed Hiccup what he needed to know though. Inside it were to boots, designed to look just like dragon's feet. Hiccup though heard the sound of a sheep not far off and decided it was time to leave before he was found out. Closing the closet quickly he bolted out of the house, and around the side, away from the main path.
Hiccup was lucky that Mildew was using it, and soon in his house. Hiccup sighed happily and quickly left back towards town, his mind still on what he had seen in the house. Gobber was right, and that someone was Mildew, at least most likely. Problem was right now, no one was to be punished thanks to Stoick.
About part way down the path though he was suddenly forced to stop as Astrid stepped out in front of him, "What took you so long?"
"Something rather surprising really," Hiccup said letting Astrid know what he had seen.
"I see, should we tell your father?" Astrid asked, a little apprehensive, still to do something after what happened the first time she did that with one of Hiccup's plans.
"Right now no, with no punishment given to the dragon's, it would also mean no punish, at least most likely, for Mildew if we were to reveal what he did," Hiccup said.
"Are you sure," Astrid asked.
"Well… no not completely," Hiccup said looking a little embarrassed.
"I see, so when do we tell your father then?" Astrid asked.
"Well, if we tell him, I think it should be if another problem is caused by 'dragons' in the Village," Hiccup said.
"So if he does something else we toss him to the wolves, but if he doesn't we leave him alone." Astrid said, looking out from the cliff side to the ocean.
"Yep, I rather not cause anymore problems than I have to just yet," Hiccup said, as they started back down towards the village.
"Why is that?" Astrid asked.
"Tomorrow the Thaw Festival Games begin, and my dad already has his hands full getting everything ready for them. I don't want to add anymore to his already busy day," Hiccup said.
"I see what you mean now," Astrid said, looking a little thoughtful.
"Yes, and since my dad is also bring in dragon's this year, at least for our age group, I want to have a chance to compete in them with Toothless at least once," Hiccup said.
"Why?" Astrid asked.
"Well, with Toothless I have a chance to be the first ever person to end the Jorgenson's winning streak, for that matter so do you," Hiccup said.
"I…" Astrid blinked, as this thought drove home in her mind.
For someone to not only beat the current Jorgenson in a Thawfest game was considered a small honor. Astrid had beaten Snotlout in Ax throwing more than once, but as she could not win either of the other two events she could not lay claim to first place. But with three new events that meant she now had a better chance, though she would also have to beat Hiccup in these to claim first place.
"Something wrong," Hiccup asked.
"No nothing, but if what you say is true, you're about to have the fight of your life these next two days to claim that first place prize," Astrid said.
"And why is that? You really think Snotlout can beat me in dragon based challenges?" Hiccup asked.
"No, not him. Me," Astrid said smirking.
"Ah yes," Hiccup said chuckling some before adding, "Just don't let your jealous streak flare up to much win I win."
"As if," Astrid said, before nodding down the path towards town, "how about a race, last one to town washes the winner's dragon."
"You're on," Hiccup said.
With that the pair sped off towards Berk. Hiccup grinned as his smaller size and longer legs quickly gave him an advantage, but it was still a fairly long way down to Berk. Astrid, while not being nearly as fast as Hiccup, had a lot more stamina and as such could keep up her slower pace longer than Hiccup's own faster pace.
Still though, in spite of this small advantage Hiccup rapidly pushed ahead, and it was not until the last few hundred feet did Astrid pull past Hiccup. She turned and waves back to him, only to trip and fall hard. Hiccup rather than racing passed her as any of the other teens would have done slowed down and stopped.
"You okay Astrid," Hiccup asked.
"Yeah, just took a bit of a hard fall," Astrid said slowly standing up.
"Good, I would not want to win just because I did not have a good competition tomorrow," Hiccup said, before nodding to Berk, "Want to call this a tie?"
"Yeah," Astrid said after a few moments, the fall had knocked the wind out of her.
"Okay," Hiccup said before giving a much quieter whistle than normal.
Toothless and Stormfly soon showed up, and the pair was off into the air soon afterwards. Astrid eyes drifted over to Hiccup as they flew and she could not help but smile a little bit. He had changed a lot, and even I the ring she now wore was not a sign of marriage right now, maybe, maybe it could be one day.