Learning from the Masters
A How To Train Your Dragon Fanfiction
Based of Le'Letha's "Nightfall"

"Tch… the nerve of that guy…" Embrik muttered unhappily, casting a glare over his shoulder at Alekt, who was still scouring over those damn doodles of his. " 'can't believe we're actually doing this. I think I'm lucky I didn't get toasted or have a limb eaten!"

Okay, so the Nightmare had had chains around its neck so it couldn't swivel its head to bite at him, but even so, that wasn't the least bit reassuring. The species of that beast had a reputation for a reason!

"Let it go, lad," Hartvig admonished patiently as he led the way, toting along fresh water for the horses.

" 'Let it go?' Don't you even see what he's doing?" Embrik demanded hotly, glaring.

"Aye, I see what he's doing, and he's doing a damn fine job of it if you ask me," Hartvig nodded, a few of the horses perking and coming up for water. The lumbering man pushed away a few that were getting too pushy, laughing lowly as he patted them with a firm hand. "Now just hold on, you'll get your turn!"

Embrik blew a lock of red hair out of his face testily, holding up his own bucket for one of the mares.

"Well he's not doing so well from where I'm standing," Embrik argued, clenching his jaw. " 'making us do all his dirty work while he sits there and does pretty pictures, always looking like he doesn't care, not having the sense to be afraid of those monsters. It's not right."

"He knows what he's doing and he's lettin' us handle it because he trusts that we'll do the job properly."

"Yeah, the job of getting eaten," Embrik snapped. "He likes to act all tough and stone-faced around the creatures when they're all tied up and can't rip him apart, but it's the rest of us that have to deal with them in the mean-time! And have you seen the way he goes about his business with that Night Fury? Talkin' to it like he's all chummy with them the same way he's always chatting up that damn pet bird on his shoulder, but he won't even try to talk to his own kind like that, always just with that distant, apathetic voice like we're too beneath him to even spare the effort! The guy's got feathers between his ears and the dead weight of an iceberg in his chest, I tell ya, same as all the other icy freaks of his clan, and our lives are in his hands!" He scoffed openly. "I think I'd rather trust myself to the dragons than him. At least I know where they stand."

"A smart man is wary of dangerous things he doesn't understand," Hartvig nodded. "A wiser man though knows where the fear ends and a healthy respect and understanding for his enemies begins. Just because Alekt looks impassive doesn't mean he isn't without fear, lad, he just doesn't let it rule him."

Embrik gave the man a disbelieving look. "How can you even say something like that about a guy content to sit on the sidelines watching us struggle to hold down a dragon by ourselves while he just watches us and draws like there's no danger to be had whatsoever? And then just lets the damn beast go without any precaution to any of our safety afterwards?"

"Because he ain't thinking with his feelings and his fear," Hartvig replied simply, giving Embrik a meaningful look. "He's thinking with his head, and that ain't something a lot of people know how to do, much less at his age. Maybe that's just the way his people do things, maybe that's just him, but whatever it is, I have faith in a man that's got a clear head on his shoulders even when he's dealing with what rightfully terrifies most into stupidly cowering like rabbits."

"So you're saying I should just do what I'm told and be like him?" Embrik demanded huffily.

"I'm saying you should give him more of a chance," Hartvig corrected. "So far no one's been mortally wounded or killed, have they?" When Embrik looked unconvinced, he continued. "What do you think that dragon wanted most of all out of that situation? To go on a rampage, killing us all, lighting us on fire and happily watching us burn?" Embrik opened his mouth to reply, but Hartvig interrupted him. "-or do you think it would rather skip all that and the possibility of getting hurt or killed itself and run away to return to its regular life doing regular dragon things free of cages and chains and the fear of axes and swords bringing an end to its life?"

Embrik looked torn between the two answers, mulling over both of them.

"To… run away and live?" he guessed finally. Hartvig nodded his approval.

"Vikings, dragons… doesn't matter, everyone just wants to live. Now, dragons don't fear much, but everything fears death. Most of us live our whole lives fearing it. If I were a dragon, which-" he paused to laugh. "-obviously, despite my size, I'm not, I think I'd choose life if I had the option too."

Embrik frowned, the horses having finished the buckets of water by this point.

"That's not very Viking-like, to be talking like that." There was no glory in running away, despite how many times Embrik had felt like he wanted to recently, and no place in the halls of Valhalla for such cowards.

Hartvig only laughed again heartily.

"I am getting too old to care for what might be seen as making me more or less of a Viking. All I know is that I have seen many battles and many retreats, but in retreating, I lived and had to time to regroup and claim victory in the end. If I had not been meant to live, then the Gods would have taken me already, retreat or no. That's just how it works, lad. We don't choose when we die, only how we do it when our time comes."

Embrik hummed thoughtfully as he followed to get more water, gnawing the inside of his cheek in contemplation.

"So… do you think dragons believe the same thing?" He thought aloud. "That if they run away, they can always just return to take victory later?" He saw the look that Hartvig gave him and flushed, only now realizing what he was saying. "I-I mean… never mind, that's stupid, right? Since when do dumb beasts like dragons even think of stuff like that?"

Hartvig looked ahead and uncomfortable silence lapsed between them.

"I couldn't say for sure. Dragons are mysterious creatures. It could very well be that they're just waitin' for a chance to regroup and come after us." That thought made Embrik prickle nervously. "But only time will tell if that's the case. Anyway, I'm sure that Alekt has thought of the possibility already. I think he's already prepared for it."

Embrik nodded uncertainly, but he wasn't so much worried about Alekt being 'prepared' for it as he was everyone else.

"Anyway, after we get water for the horses," Hartvig began again. "Maybe a good hunt will help you clear your head for a bit. 'get some fresh air away from all these fire-breathing behemoths.

Embrik nodded his head. That sounding like a better idea than anything he'd heard all week.

When Hartvig had suggested he go out riding on a hunt, this wasn't exactly what he had in mind.

He couldn't help but scowl at Alekt's backside as the other young man rode in front of him on Sangrida, trotting through the ravine single-file. Of all the people to be stuck with right now, when he was already in a bad mood, why did it have to be him? Either the Gods themselves or Hartvig had a sick sense of humor.

He sighed to himself. It couldn't be helped. Come to think of it, Alekt had hardly left the cave at all since they arrived, other than to go out chasing down and trapping dragons. The guy had to be feeling pretty locked in by now too. Well… if he felt anything at all, which the redhead often doubted.

Embrik's eyes wandered upward as the man's pet crow cawed at them from a tree branch once they reached the forest, then took to the air, flying away somewhere. Alekt was watching it intently as well, following the general direction it had taken. The forest was mostly still, though some birds chattered and flitted about the trees, and a hare darted across their path, but it was thin and not worth the effort of catching, so they let it scamper away into the undergrowth unharmed.

Embrik was hardly worried about birds or rabbits though, warily watching the sky above, listening for tell-tale screeches and roars of dragons, or the wing-beats of looming death swooping down on them. However, the air was still. Unnervingly so.

A thick fog clung to the trees below, thoroughly shrouding them. He was used to cold fog, such a common thing back home in Norge, using his other senses and paying attention to the horses' behavior as he tried to ignore the awkwardness that accompanied their silence.

Just what the Hell was he supposed to say anyway, especially at a guy he was pissed at that he was supposed to be getting along with? He licked his lips self-consciously. Maybe he didn't need to say anything. Alekt was probably focused on the hunt anyway, and he doubted the man would even notice if Embrik stayed silent. Hel, he probably would hardly notice if Embrik just up and left entirely. He hardly even spent time with his own men when he wasn't going around dealing with the dragons, and only really because he was too small a guy to do it entirely on his own; the coward.

He heard a distant cawing, three of them, and then a pause. He was almost startled when Alekt made a similar noise back, sounding exactly like a crow himself, the same way that crazy dragon-man sounded more beast than human. He couldn't help but wonder what they might have been saying, if anything.

He remembered Alekt saying something about animals talking in broad implications, rather than specifics, like humans did. Maybe the idiot couldn't actually speak or understand crow or any animals though, same way he'd faked his way through speaking dragon. Would he really be able to do that?

Then again, he'd fooled both the dragon and Embrik into thinking he could speak and understand it. What was to say that he couldn't trick a dumb bird into the same thing? Hel, maybe he was still tricking Embrik and the young man hadn't realized it.

Maybe he's tricking us ALL and we don't realize it, he thought bitterly as the crow cawed again, and Alekt cawed back. Between the dragon-man and Alekt, he wasn't sure which was more insane.

There was a more rapid series of caws this time, but Alekt didn't reply, instead pulling his horse to a halt.

"Something's ahead," he tossed back as he loaded his crossbow, startling Embrik with his words more than the crow calls had. The redhead quickly nodded and swung out of his saddle as he retrieved his own bow, following the other man through the brush, creeping quietly.

Before long, Alekt stopped and brushed aside a fir branch, peering over a small cleft. Embrik peered over his shoulder and spotted the same point of interest, a sizeable deer that picked its way through coarse grass, nibbling and angling its ears nervously, sensing it was being watched.

Alekt slowly positioned himself on the rock and aimed, while Embrik knocked an arrow.

"Hit the back thigh," Alekt whispered levelly, once against surprising Embrik, though he nodded and aimed. At about the same moment, they fired. Embrik's arrow found its right thigh, and Alekt's bolt found its right shoulder.

The deer gave a squeal and staggered, trying to sprint away, but instead it fell on its side as both legs on the right gave out under it, flailing. Embrik had never seen a deer go down like that so fast in his life, recounting endless chases of his prey through the woods, even ones that got away because they were too quick even despite being injured.

Alekt stood and leapt down out of the brush, quickly crossing the distance to the animal and ending it with a blade through its eye and into the skull. Embrik couldn't help but shudder at just how swift and merciless a kill it was, imagining that he could probably be just as efficient in a fight against an human if he wanted to with that kind of deadly, surgical precision. Maybe he wouldn't even need help against a dragon, if it came down to it, and that was a truly terrifying thought.

That guy's just as scary as any Night Fury, he couldn't help but think, not having even moved from his hiding spot yet. Heck, the guy even dressed in mostly black like the beast.

"Let's get a move on," Alekt barked in monotone as he slung the deer over either shoulder, holding it be the legs, and trudged back towards the horses. Embrik remained silent as he followed, still reeling. "We still have other prey to find."

Embrik mounted after they'd secured the deer onto Sangrida's back and they continued on, following crow sounds again.

"So… what does it mean?" he asked after a while of tense silence… or at least it was tense to him. He was still having flashes of seeing the other take down that deer the way he had, and his mind was dredging up other images of all the ways he could think Alekt could probably do the same to him, or anyone else, if he decided he wanted to. He'd be lying if he said that Alekt didn't scare him, but he also recalled what Hartvig had told him earlier and was trying to push those feelings aside. He was failing hard, but he was trying. "Those crow calls, I mean?"

Alekt glanced back at him with those emotionless eyes, and he shuddered, glad when they turned ahead and off of him again.

"Those sounds are companion calls," he said just after the bird croaked at them again, with those short, timed croaks, then paused. "If you put it to human words, it would be as if she were saying, 'This is where I am, I'm over here, but nothing worth attention is happening'. Nothing more than a greeting to other crows, really."

Embrik nodded in understanding, never having thought much of it.

"When the crows caw in faster, irregular beats, it means something interesting is happening. The more cawing you hear, the more interesting. Sometimes its danger, sometimes it's a source of food they've found. Anything worth giving attention, really. Finding out exactly what it is though requires going and finding out for oneself."

Embrik nodded at the same time that he heard more excited cawing like just before they'd found the deer, Alekt flicking the reigns of his horse into a trot.

"Um… so how do you know that she's leading us to animals we can hunt?" he couldn't help but wonder aloud.

"Because we understand each other," Alekt replied simply. "Without being able to speak specifics, she already knows. It's a simple matter of mutual gain. She finds the animals I need to hunt, and she gets to eat what I kill. That's all either of us needs to know."

Those words gave Embrik the most amount of pause. How did one even accomplish that? It wasn't as though humans didn't have animals as companions, but mostly it was nothing like Alekt described.

How did the crow know what Alekt wanted without him telling it directly? Dogs and horses needed commands, and followed them unquestioningly most of the time. Even people needed to be told what to do, and they were the smartest creatures around, almost the top of the food chain! Even dragons had to fear humans killing and trapping them!

It made no sense, yet it seemed like it did to Alekt. Maybe it was something only those on a whole 'nother level of insane, like Alekt or that dragon-man, could ever hope to grasp, and he was just wasting his time in even trying.

Another catch – a boar – and some fish gathered from nets later on, and Embrik couldn't be happier to be back. The young Viking had been impressed and a little scared by Alekt's efficiency in taking down the deer, and equally so when they'd hunted and killed a boar, though it had still been a lot more trouble than their first kill.

Boar hunting was always such a pain, but at least they would eat well.

After they'd returned though, it was the same annoying thing all over again. Alekt went traipsing off to go coddle and talk to his damn dragons and wild dragon-man, then return to his drawings, while he left everyone else to take on the real work.

Absolutely everything about the guy was getting on his last nerve in one way or another.

He cast a glare toward the brunette even as he himself sat by the fire, waiting for the meat and fish to finish cooking on the spit. Even now, the other man was sitting somewhere off to the side, mulling over his papers, occasionally drawing, but mostly just staring over them like he was in deep thought.

Embrik huffed and turned his glare to the fire, the smell of cooking meat making his stomach audibly rumble. At least it looked like some of the fish was finally done, taking one of them for himself.

"Maybe you should go and take Alekt some food, before he forgets to eat entirely," Hartvig told him from off to his side, earning a stricken look from Embrik.

"What? Why me?" he demanded.

"Because you've been glaring and huffing at him all day."

Embrik scowled petulantly, but he wasn't in a mood to argue, standing up testily and dishing up some of the fish and brewing potatoes for the object of his annoyance, before finally approaching, still wearing the same expression.

"Hey, the other guys wanted me to bring you your share," he said, barely resisting spitting the words. Alekt hummed, but barely acknowledged him, continuing to stare at his papers and make the occasional mark. That was serving to tick him off even more.

"Go ahead and set down next to me. I'll get to it in a minute."

Without a word, Embrik did, then stepped back, hovering for a moment. He was fully intent on turning back for the fire, maybe take his mind off with listening to some old war stories, but curiosity got the better of him, and he couldn't help but lean over to look at what Alekt was doing. He'd never really given the guy's drawings a good look before now. What kind of Viking just sat around drawing things, anyway? He should have been out there helping do the heavy lifting with the rest of them.

The scene of the deer kill flashed through his mind again, and he resisted shivering again. Maybe he wasn't doing it because he just didn't need the practice.

The sketches that he saw were somewhat confusing. He knew what Alekt was intending on crafting, but most of it still made little sense to him. Making wings for Vikings was such an asinine idea. If it would actually work, then wouldn't someone else have done it by now? Or, heck, if humans were meant to fly, wouldn't they have simply been born with wings? They were humans, not birds or dragons. They belonged on the ground!

Alekt glanced up at him for the first time, and Embrik couldn't help but hope with a certain smugness that he was making the man self-conscious all of a sudden. It would serve the guy right with everything he'd put them all through lately!

"Is there something you wanted?"

"Oh no, nothing really," Embrik shook his head, feeling more confident than he remembered ever being before. If he was making Alekt uncomfortable, then he was going to milk it for all its worth. "Just looking at what you're doing."

Alekt hummed and turned his eyes back to his work, and Embrik had to resist grinning. Maybe he was just imagining it, maybe it was the stress getting to him in a bad way, but he could almost swear that Alekt seemed almost squeamish under his watch. The longer he lingered though, the more silence dragged on, and the more indifferent Alekt seemed. Embrik quickly found it backfiring as he became self-conscious himself.

Seriously, did nothing get to this guy? Ever?

"So… uh…" he began, merely trying to distract himself from his own discomfort. The indifferent silence was starting to become stifling. "Is… this-" he directed to the drawings with a flick of his wrist. "-something your clan normally does, too?"

Y'know, besides killing… trapping dragons alive only to buddy up to them… being colder than the most frigid mountain winds.

"Yes and no," Alekt answered both simply and cryptically. Embrik bit his lip in frustration, but tried to shove his temper back into hiding, recalling Hartvig's earlier words. Alekt thought with his head, not his feelings, and the redhead was acutely aware he swung way too far in the other direction.

Cool head… don't feel, think. That's how this guy operates. Maybe I'll actually learn something if I try to stoop to his level.

"O-okay, how so?"

Alekt glanced at him, and he thought he saw a flash of confusion. Maybe it was just his head playing tricks on him though. Maybe he wanted so desperately to see something there he could actually read that he was projecting emotions the guy probably didn't even have in him to use.

"My drawings are a little more technical than most of what my clan does. Less symbolic."

Embrik nodded, having seen the art done by his clan in stonework and paint. Crows were a common theme. Always with those stupid birds of theirs.

"And these… wing ideas of yours… you came up with them? Or is that a general goal for your whole clan, and I just haven't heard about it?"

"Just me. The wings were my idea. Hardly anyone else believes it will work, but that's why this is an experiment."

"So even amongst your own, you're the crazy one, huh?" Embrik humored.

"If that's the way you want to put it, then sure, I suppose."

Embrik almost laughed aloud, for once the other's almost callous, matter-of-fact bluntness hilarious as he made this response with the straightest face a man could ever make. Maybe he was getting somewhere after all.

"What's it even like, in your clan? I mean… in the land that's actually theirs." For once, Alekt's face looked somewhat thoughtful, which was the most he figured he'd ever actually gotten a glimpse of in the way of Alekt's expressions, which were always lacking. That was good, right?

"Just as cold as anywhere else in Norge," Alekt hummed. "High, surrounded by precarious cliffs, hazardous… the wind and snow howl endlessly off the peaks, like a dragon's roar that never ends for all but the rarest, most peaceful of nights, when the silence becomes haunting."

Embrik could barely imagine such a place existing in this world, but he took up a seat before he consciously realized what he was doing, nodding his head indicatively.

"Tell me more."