Chapter Twenty: Into uncharted waters
Whenever his father had taken him to one of the other islands on the boat, Hiccup had gotten seasick. Another very unlike Viking thing.
But this time it was different.
Maybe it was the air, maybe the different waters, maybe the fact that Hiccup simply was older now or due to the fact that Will told him to fix his eyes on the horizon, but Hiccup felt great.
Maybe it was because the up and down on the waves reminded him of the up and down of Toothless' wings when they were flying.
He pretty fast learned how to move on board and Will taught his some basic sailing skills like raising sails and what kind of knots you had to make where.
He even let him steer the boat.
Hiccup could understand why people loved sailing. It gave you freedom. Just like flying.
It was afternoon. Hiccup stood at the wheel and was steering the ship. Will sat next to him on the guardrail and was emptying one of his bottles.
From time to time Hiccup took a sip from his.
He wasn't a big fan of beer or mead or that stuff but what Will had given him wasn't too bad. He called it vodka.
Toothless laid in the bow while he stood at the heck, and enjoyed the sun like and overgrown lizard.
They were sailing through the afternoon sun. The water gleamed turquoise and blue and green. Sometime Hiccup saw schools of fish and they even passed a school of dolphins. In the distance Hiccup once even spotted a whale.
He had seen whales in Berk too. But this was different.
"You know dwarf, I could get used to this?" Will suddenly said as he watched Hiccup loosen the sheet to open the sail further for the wind. Hiccup still couldn't convince Will to call him by his actual name, even though they'd been sailing for four days now together.
"Get used to what?" he asked and steered a bit to the left.
"All of this dwarf. It's nice to be able just to relax and enjoy the beauty of the sea without doing a thousand things to keep the ship from going the wrong way or from keeping it sinking. It's nice to have someone here to share the work with. Or someone to do all of it. Because, sometime, when I do my big tours and there are storms and I have to be at ten places the same time, I miss another pair of hands." He took another sip. "If I think about it in such situations I miss maybe four or five pairs of hands." "Then why don't you get yourself a crew?" Will sighed. "People don't like me. They say I'm impatient and to rough." "Gee, wonder why?" Hiccup said, rolling his eyes. "What did you say punk?" Will growled and raised the bottle in a threatening way but he already had too much so he decided wisely to stay seated.
"You're different dwarf. We get along. If, whatever you have to do in Derandolia doesn't work, you can always come here." "Okay Will, put the bottle ways, you are totally drunk!" Hiccup said with a smile. "No, I mean it." "So I get to do all the work?" "Yes. But I could show you the world." "I have a dragon." Will straightened up. "Listen closely dwarf. I don't know if you know. But there are places in the world that don't like dragons. They kill them. For fun, in self-defense and whatever." "Yeah, I come from such a place." But Will ignored him. "I know they think so in Durgonheim. In the Archipelago and in Talkin. The people of Kinkal have the luck to have no dragons. No dragon likes the desert so they are neutral when it comes to the reptiles.
In Derandolia that might not be so. But I can promise you that even in Derandolia you will find people that won't like you and your dragon. It's always important to have someone backing you up when you sail into uncharted waters." Hiccup grinned with raised eyebrows. "And you volunteer for the job?" Will belched loudly and said: "Of course dwarf! I…" Then his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell to the ground, out cold.
Hiccup chuckled. "Sleep Will. You don't know what you are talking about."
He sailed in silence for a few hours.
When the sun started to title towards the water, Hiccup kicked Will awake. "Rise and shine sleeping beauty." He mocked and laughed as Will slowly opened his eyes trying to proceed what had happened.
He didn't seem to remember their conversation. Good. Hiccup didn't want to drag him into anything.