Chapter Sixteen: A strange encounter and an unknown talent

In a way it was nice for Hiccup to know that there were gods and an ancient evil out there. Everything that went wrong he could blame on them.

Well, not all, but most.

Hiccup liked to think of himself as the smartest Viking in three generations. But even he had to admit sometimes that he was just plain stupid.

But then again Hiccup was sure there was a difference between being smart and being experienced.

And last he wasn't.

This led to the following.

Hiccup had miscalculated the fact that the earth maybe was a lot bigger then he first thought. That was the first thing. The second thing was that he had no idea what he had to expect in other parts of the world.

A little, very naïve, part in him had thought that it probably looked everywhere the same as in the Archipelago. It was a common believe, considering that most Vikings only left their home island to fight a war or to marry. And traders only sometimes made their way all around Durgonheim into the southern seas. And those who did where always a long time gone, because Durgonheim was like a massive barrier between the Archipelago, the Sullen Sea and the southern sea and the other five nations.

Of course the traders told stories and everything but it had never occurred to Hiccup that the Archipelago would be that different from the rest of the world. Those stories sounded like fairytales to him.

He and Toothless had reached the main land of Durgonheim a little more than two weeks after the cannibal incident and had made their way inland, following a river on the map, for three more days now, when he started to realize something.

On the map, Durgonheim already looked vast. But it was nothing compared to real live. It was painful how slow they were.

Durgonheim was an old volcanic, rocky continent with lots of mountains and not much flat land. Vegetation wasn't that rich and the animals of the mountains were neither tasty nor rich in numbers.

The people lived from agriculture and that bit of cattle they had. Besides that, Durgonheim was very little populated. Despite its immense vastness, most people lived in the capital city inside a ring of dead volcanoes. Hiccup was fine with that. The less people saw him, the better.

But what really gave it to Hiccup, was the weather.

Even though it was already winter in Berk, Durgonheim seemed to be behind schedule. Instead of freezing cold winds and snow and frostbite, the weather was still moist, but warm! And the farther they flew, the warmer it got. And between the giant mountains and the still active volcanoes the heat was trapped and filled the valleys and the air and there were only a few ways to cool down. And that was the problem.

Hiccups body was totally irritated.

While it's inner clock screamed winter and used a lot of energy to keep the body warm even though that wasn't necessary at all.

Hiccup tried to handle the sudden change but it was the first time it happened. Since he was born, he'd stayed in the same clime. The same conditions every year at exactly the same time. His body had taken a rhythm in. Heat up when it gets cold and save fat, while cooling the body when it got warm. Now everything was upside down.

Confused as he was, Hiccup didn't mind his surroundings, which led him into this particular nasty but also very interesting encounter with a group of Durgonheimers.

Toothless was out hunting and Hiccup was lying in the shadows of an oak-tree, trying not to move too much, one arm over his eyes to block out the sun.

His limbs arched and he was so hot!

He envied Toothless for his ability to control his body temperature.

Hiccup suddenly missed Berks cold seas dearly.

As he was lying there, head on his backpack, he heard branches break and something rushing in the bushes.

Assuming it was Toothless, Hiccup stayed where he was and just said: "Don't you think you could block out the sun?"

When there was n respond, Hiccup lifted his arm a bit to look what Toothless was doing. His eyes met the ones of five other men.

They were rather small but looked strong. Their hair was dirty but probably had a brownish color. Their eyes were brown and a bit wild.

His first thought: Cannibals.

He was up in a second and in a defensive position.

The men were armed. Bows and quiver, some axes, a short sword and daggers.

What differed them from the cannibals was that they had no tattoos and that they were dressed properly. Trousers, tunics and boots, though none of it was in a good shape.

When Hiccup moved they all had drawn their weapons and were standing in a semi circle, cornering Hiccup.

"What are you doing here?" one of the men bellowed. Like the first time it sounded alien at first but then it made 'click' in his brain and he understood them. Hiccup cleared his throat. "I'm sorry. I'm just a lonely traveler. I was hoping to spend the night here. But if that's a problem, then I will leave imminently." He promised and stepped a step back.

The men made one towards him.

"You speak our language. But you are none of us. You smell cold. You're from the north." A brief, very brief moment, Hiccup wondered what he would smell like if the man said the truth and if it was a compliment or if Hiccup should make sure he had a bath in the next time.

He wasn't sure what to respond so he said: "Yes."

The men growled.

"We hate the northern people. We kill the northern people!" another man said. The others nodded.

"You from the north are disgusting. We don't want you in our territory."

"Why do they all have to be so territorial?" Hiccup cursed in North before he raised the hands and tried to reason with them men.

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't know. Do you think, you could make an exception this one time?" "You are filth! Skin him!" the first man growled.

"I take that as a no." Hiccup sighed.

The men started to close in on him and Hiccup desperately looked around for help or a way to defend himself.

He made another step backwards and his heels banged against something.

He glanced down and saw his sword.

Should he?

Hiccup had never really wielded a sword before. Yes, he had lessons in Berk but only with heavy and wide blades he could barley lift.

The sword he had picked from the collection Loki had given him was different. Thinner, lighter, maybe a bit longer and not like anything he had ever held before.

So should he try to fight with it?

He probably ended up more hurt than his opponent.

But fighting with blank hands against sharpened steel? Not any better.

Praying to all the gods he bent down and scooped up the blade.

The men hesitated a second. Then they charged yelling.

And the strangest thing happened.

Maybe it was the danger, maybe the adrenalin, maybe the heat, maybe the feeling of the leather grip in his hand, maybe a godly inspiration. Whatever it was, it did the job well.

Hiccup saw the first strike, a mighty blow with an ax, coming his way and without thinking he made a step aside, raised the blade and stopped the strike. The he moved into the attacker, elbowing him in the face, kicking him into the knee at the same time and swinging his own blade in a wide circle, hitting the man with the hilt of the weapon in the temple.

He crumbled to the crumbled and didn't move.

The other men looked at him in shock.

Hiccup felt the same way. What in Hel's name had happened?

No time to think about it.

The other men had recovered from their shock and charged again.

Hiccup let out a small yell and ducked the first strike, swung his sword and slashed it over one of the men's tight. He turned on the spot and kicked another one in the chest, elbowed another one and slashed at the first one. He ducked under some wild strikes but he knew how to parry them and how to counter. His feet moved on their own and Hiccup had no time to wonder how he did this.

Slowly he found a rhythm and started to work on his own. An unknown joy filled him as he wielded the sword with unknown grace and strength.

In his excitement he didn't saw the first man getting up and sneaking up on him.

His blade slashed through the air and hit Hiccups upper arm.

Lucky for him that he was turning that moment so the strike didn't cut his arm clean of but left a good size, deep gash.

Seeing his own blood was like hitting a switch. The spell broke; Hiccup staggered back. The sword suddenly felt heavy in his hand and his arm seemed to be on fire.

There were only two men still standing but as Hiccup tried to lift his sword, he failed. They smirked and raised together their weapons.

Hiccup closed his eyes. Sure this was the end!

But the blow never came. Instead he heard loud roaring and the men screaming in terror. He carefully opened one eye and saw…

"Toothless!"

If the dragon heard him, he ignored him.

The Night Fury was furious.

He bared his teeth and gas gathered in his mouth.

The men did the safe thing.

They ran, dragging their semi-conscious buddies with them.

When they were gone, Toothless turned around and cooed worriedly at Hiccup. Hiccup was, despite the heat, shivering. He was white as snow and was clutching his bleeding warm tightly. A lot of blood was running down his arm, wetting his tunic and dropping to the ground.

"Thank you Toothless."

Then he fainted.

Hiccup smelled fire when he came around. He was pleasantly cool but his arm hurt badly. He cracked his eyes open and looked around.

It was dark. Stars were littering the sky and a small campfire burned next to him.

He groaned and tried to remember what had happened.

Oh yes, these men had attacked him. He suddenly could fight with a sword. One of them cut his arm. After that it was just a blur. He only remembered Toothless concerned big green eyes.

"Ah, Hiccup. Finally."

He jumped at the sound of the voice and turned only to face an angry looking prankster god.

"Seriously Hiccup. I think you want to muck me! It's not even the third week over since I sent you away with weapons, some sweet powers and a deadly dragon and it's already the second time you got yourself in danger. And yet I gave you instruction not to and to look after you and to be safe! And what do I get instead? I swear, you gonna give me a heart attack one day!"

Hiccup just looked at him. "What are you doing here?"

"Grateful as ever." Loki grumbled. "I saved your sorry butt. Again. Bit more of gratitude please." "Gratitude? Thanks for the help by the way. Not!" Hiccup shot back angrily. Loki had no right to talk like this to him. It wasn't his fault he was attacked.

"Where were you when they attacked in first place? Or back at the cannibal island? What did you do? Nothing! So stop complaining! You did nothing to make the situation any better. That was me on my own. I can look after myself so stop ranting!" Loki rolled his eyes.

"Oh come on, you were never in danger there." "They were about to eat me!" "You would have never been in that situation if you wouldn't been so stupid."

"Excuse me? What is that suppose to mean?" Hiccup asked offended.

"You must learn to think of more than just one thing and must be aware of everything all the time!" "Because that's possible!" Hiccup spat sarcastically. Loki just raised an eyebrow.

"So why took it you so long to free yourself?" "I bet you wouldn't be any faster. They took me by surprise after all."

Loki sighed heavily and looked up at the stars. "And I thought you were a smart Viking for a change." "I am!" "Oh yes? So why did it took you so long? Because if you were smart, you would not let yourself get distracted by a thing like surprise. And of course I'd be faster." "My escape possibilities were very low! I could barley move!" Loki rolled with his eyes. "No they weren't! The ropes you were chained with. What where they made of?" "Ahm…don't know. Grass, string, wool?" "And what was my last gift to you?" "Understanding any language?" "And?"

Then Hiccup saw what he meant and face palmed himself hard. But that didn't seem to cover it. So he banged his head against a rock.

"Okay, I admit it, I'm stupid." He held out his hands and willed them to catch fire. "That was your second gift. I totally forgot that!" Loki smiled smugly. "I know. Just make sure it doesn't happen again. Next time there might not be a small boy with a dragon tooth." With a jolt hiccup realized something. "Wait a minute, you knew of my capture?" "Of course I did!" "Then why didn't you do anything? I prayed for your help!" "Like I said, you were perfectly fine and after all, you did have a plan!" Hiccup groaned. "You are hopeless!" "You're not the first one to think so." "Oh, I am?" "Yes. After all I'm talking to you." "Funny." "Just make sure to stay out of trouble for a while." "It's not like I look for it! And I don't plan to have a second time." "Well that's good to know."

Exhausted Hiccup leaned backwards and looked at the stars.

After a while Loki asked more soft: "How are you feeling?" "Okay, I guess." "And your arm?" "Hurts. But it's nothing compared with what my leg felt like." Loki nodded. "So, tell me, what happened? Why did they attack you in first place?"

Hiccup hesitated a moment and petted Toothless' head that laid next to him.

But then he decided to tell Loki. Maybe he could explain the thing with the sword.

Loki listened alerted and when Hiccup finished he leaned against a tree trunk. Nervously Hiccup waited for him to say something.

"Well" the god said after a while "That's interesting."

"Interesting? It's…it's more than interesting Loki! What happened with me?" Loki turned the logs in the fire with bare hands.

"Hiccup. Everybody is born with a talent. You were born with the ability to understand dragons. Your father is a natural born leader. And your mom, well, she was a fighter. They both passed some of their talent down to you. Both, the leadership and your mothers fighting skills. Wielding that sword will come easier to you then to others. But I warn you. It doesn't make you a master jet. You still have to learn. You saw how fast you can lose the naturally intention." Hiccup nodded.

Loki smiled.

"I'm sorry. I was just worried. When I found you I thought you were dead." Hiccup laughed. "You're not getting rid of me that easy." "I hope so."