Author's Note: This chapter begins the arc of HTTYD the movie. I hope you enjoy this fourth chapter (second posted today) of "A Light of Hope".
Chapter 4: Dragon Raid
This is Berk. It's twelve days North of hopeless, and a few degrees South of freezing to death. It's located solidly on the meridian of misery. My village. In a word, sturdy. And it's been here for seven generations, but every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests. You see, most places have mice or mosquitos. We have…
Hiccup opened the door to his house, and saw a Monstrous Nightmare swooping in and breathed fire toward him, the flames blasting through the slats of wood. He quickly closed the door. "Dragons," he breathed. Hiccup reopened the door and ran out, as Vikings poured out of the buildings, ready for battle.
The Vikings, men and women, sounded the alarm as more came pouring onto the streets with axes in hand. Hiccup darted through the alleys and stayed under the weaves, and made his way through the battle.
My name's Hiccup. Great name, I know. But it's not the worst. Parents believe a hideous name will frighten off gnomes and trolls. Like our charming Viking demeanor would do that.
The Dragons swept back and forth, dodged axes and blasted the Vikings who threw them. A burly warrior was tossed in an explosion, which knocked Hiccup to the ground.
"Argh! Mornin'," the Viking said cheerfully, but insane.
Hiccup saw the Viking warrior walk away from him, and he got onto his feet as he rushed past the men and women.
"What are you doing out?" A Viking, Hoark, asked.
"Get inside!" added Burnthair.
"Get back inside!" continued Phlegma the Fierce to Hiccup, who continued running past them.
Hiccup passed a silent ox of a Viking, who picked his ear, and he was named Ack. Suddenly he was grabbed by the back of his clothes before he was hit by flames from a Dragon.
Stoick looked accusingly at Hiccup. "What is he doing out again?!" he demanded the villagers, then looked at the boy. "What are you doing out?! Get inside!" He sat Hiccup down, as flames lit up his scowling expression and matted his red beard.
Hiccup ran toward the smith, while Stoick grabbed a wooden cart behind him and threw it at a Dragon and knocked it down from the sky. Hiccup soon entered the smith, where Gobber the Belch was at the counter, reshaping a sword with a hammer and tonged appendage.
"Oh, nice of you to join the party!" said Gobber cheerfully. "I thought you'd been carried off."
Hiccup donned a leather apron and began to put away Gobber's scattered appendages. "Who, me? Nah. I'm way too muscular for their taste. They wouldn't know what to do with all this." He showed his scrawny arms to Gobber through a bodybuilder posing.
"They need toothpicks, don't they?" smiled Gobber.
Hiccup went straight to work, as Vikings crowded the counter for replacements, while he transferred the bent and chipped weapons to the forge.
…
Bright was coming down to the village as he looked around and saw Vikings fighting Dragons. He had a clue as to why they were doing it: the Dragons were fetching some of their livestocks. He ran down to the village, as Viking men shouted for him to get inside. Bright had no place to stay, however, since he wasn't from here.
Suddenly, he was grabbed by the scruff of his cloth. "What are you doing? Get inside! Go to the blacksmith stall!" said a tall, muscular Viking to him.
Bright looked confused, but complied to the Viking's wishes and went to the blacksmith, where a scrawny kid was working on reshaping a sword while the owner of the smith looked at him.
"Ah, a newcomer. Come in, and get to work with Hiccup," said the one-hand Viking to him.
Bright saluted before going over to Hiccup, who looked at him in wonder.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"The name's Bright Lightwalker," Bright answered. "Where do I begin?"
"Here, take this ax and reshape it over the wheel," said Hiccup and handed him an ax.
Bright nodded and began work. "What's going on?" wanted Bright to know, as he heard fire breaking down a building.
"Dragon attack," Hiccup replied. "If you weren't picked up by Stoick, you wouldn't be here right now."
"Oh, I see." Bright continued sharpening the ax, before he went to another weapon once it was done being sharpened.
"Oh, that's Fishlegs, Snotlout," said Hiccup once Bright noticed a few teenagers outside. "The twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut. And…Astrid…" He sounded dreamily upon seeing a tough-looking Viking teenage girl, before the others walked into view. "Oh, their job is so much cooler," Hiccup added to Bright.
"I can imagine," Bright said.
Hiccup tried to crawl out of the counter, but Gobber grabbed him by the scruff of his cloth. "Aw, come on. Let me out, please. I need to make my mark."
"Oh, you've made plenty of marks," Gobber replied, placing Hiccup back on the ground. "All in the wrong places."
"Please, two minutes," Hiccup begged. "I'll kill a Dragon. My life will get infinitely better. I might even get a date."
Gobber counted his fingers as he said, "You can't lift a hammer. You can't swing an axe…" He grabbed a bola. "You can't even throw one of these."
A Viking grabbed the bola from him and threw it up to a Dragon, a dive-bombing Gronckle, sending it crashing down after the bola binds its legs.
"Okay, fine," said Hiccup, walking over to a wheel, barrow-like contraption. "But this will throw it for me." He opened the lid of the device, as an arm sprung up, equipped with twin bows. It prematurely threw a bola, narrowly missed Gobber, but took out a Viking at the counter.
Bright blinked in wonder.
"See," pointed Gobber, "now this is what I'm talking about."
"Mild calibration issue," Hiccup whispered to Bright.
"Hiccup," Gobber's stern voice came. "If you want to get out there to fight dragons, you need to stop all…" He gestured in the boy's direction, "...this."
"But…" started Hiccup, astonished, "you just gestured to all of me."
"Yes!" Gobber exclaimed. "That's it! Stop being all of you."
Bright had no idea what was going on, so he just let himself on the sidelines, arms crossed over his chest.
"Ohhhh…" Hiccup threatened with a look.
"Ohhhh, yes," Gobber mimicked his look.
"You, sir, are playing a dangerous game," Hiccup continued. "Keeping this much, raw…Vikingness contained. There will be consequences!"
Gobber tossed him a sword, and Bright an ax. "I'll take my chances. Sword. Ax. Sharpen. Now."
Begrudgingly, Hiccup took the sword and lobbed it onto the grinding wheel. He stewed it with Bright, who stewed the ax. "Oh, I'll get out there," Hiccup told Bright, "because killing a dragon is everything around here."
Bright looked at him in surprise, fear, and…shock. However, Hiccup did not notice his expression.
"A Nadder head is sure to get me noticed," continued Hiccup to Bright, "Gronckles are tough. Taking down one of those would definitely get me a girlfriend."
Bright heard his words, slowly listening to him as he stewed the ax on the grinding wheel. So, they want to kill the dragons. What would Luna say about this once I manage to get out of here? However, his thoughts were interrupted by Hiccup's continued talk to him.
"A Zippleback? Exotic, exciting. Two heads, twice the status. And then there's the Monstrous Nightmare. Only the best Vikings go after those. They have this nasty habit of setting themselves on fire."
"I'll bet," Bright chuckled nervously. Why is he telling me all of this? Does he mean…he's unnoticed by the inhabitants of this island?
A loud screeching of a Dragon came just then, and Bright and Hiccup reacted by looking up from their work.
"But the ultimate prize is the dragon no one has ever seen," Hiccup continued to Bright, "we call it the—"
"Night Fury!" shouted a Viking loudly.
"Get down!" yelled another Viking.
A loud explosion sounded after the catapult was destroyed in one shot by some invisible winged creature. Bright looked out of the counter and stared up in the sky, his eyes sharpening into draconic shape toward the creature. He noticed a Night Fury dragon flying at high speed and dive-bombing the catapults.
"This thing never steals food, never shows itself, and…" Hiccup continued to Bright, before hearing another explosion as a tower was destroyed, "...never misses."
Bright's eyes were focused on the Night Fury before his eyes calmed as he looked at Hiccup, who didn't notice his dragon eyes. "So, what are you going to do?"
"No one has ever killed a Night Fury," he answered. "That's why I'm going to be the first."
Bright looked at him, disbelief in his eyes as he had heard every single word from the gangly teenager. He heard Gobber changing his hammer out for an ax.
"Hiccup, kid, man the fort. They need me out there," Gobber said. He walked over to the entrance of the smith stall. He turned to the boys. "Stay. Put. There. You know what I mean, Hiccup." He gave a yell as he ran out of the stall.
"What should we do?" Bright asked.
"There's only one thing to do," Hiccup added, looking at the bola launcher.
"You are not thinking what I think you are?" Bright asked.
"Exactly," Hiccup winked at him before running over to the bola launcher and whammed his way out of the blacksmith stall, with Bright joining him by running closely behind.
"Hiccup, where are you going!" shouted a Viking.
"Come back here!" added another.
"I know!" Hiccup responded loudly. "Be right back!"
The Vikings noticed the new kid, Bright, following him.
Once he was out of the eyes of the Vikings, Bright took a different turn as Hiccup went up a hill and opened his bola launcher.
Bright heard wings flapping as he saw the Monstrous Nightmare glare at him. "Are you betraying us, hatchling?" it spoke in a dark, threatening voice.
"Wait, hear me out!" Bright said, stepping back. "I was caught up in this mess. I didn't mean to work with the Vikings!"
"Such words are meaningless if you choose to attack us," the Monstrous Nightmare growled dangerously.
Bright felt sweat falling from his forehead. "You're not budging an inch, are you?"
The only answer he got was the Monstrous Nightmare gave chase after he turned and ran away from it.
"No hatchling who works with the Vikings will get out alive!" the Monstrous Nightmare roared to Bright.
Why should I have tried to reason with it? Monstrous Nightmares are stubborn! Bright thought to himself, dodging dragon fire and barely side jumped from potential death.
"Help that kid!" called a Viking who pointed to where Bright was running.
Stoick sighed deeply before running up to the path of the hill. He saw the new kid dash past him and stopped.
"What are you doing?" Bright asked.
"Finishing what we've started," Stoick replied sternly. "Get to safety. Now!"
It was an order, and one Bright realized he had to follow before the Monstrous Nightmare caught him. He nodded to the chieftain of the tribe and ran away.
"You are not getting away," Stoick said, closing a hand into a fist before punching the Monstrous Nightmare in the face.
"That hurt!" grunted the Monstrous Nightmare, but all Stoick heard was a whine.
"Whine all you want, dragon, but you won't run from here alive," Stoick said. He punched the Dragon with his fist again. And again, before he finally kicked it under the chin.
The Monstrous Nightmare took flight from the area.
Stoick huffed, and then looked at Bright. "You are a troublesome kid."
"I am no kid; I have a name," he retorted.
"Then tell me your name."
"Bright Lightwalker."
"What a strange name," Stoick commented. "What does 'Lightwalker' mean?"
Bright was silent.
Stoick sighed, and then turned to Gobber. "Make sure he gets home safe."
"That won't be necessary." They heard from Bright. "I have no home here."
"Oh?" Stoick looked interested for a moment, before hearing another scream from Hiccup. He sighed in frustration and ran off.
"What's with him?" Bright asked Gobber.
"That teenager—Hiccup is…his son," Gobber replied.
Bright blinked. They're related? I never knew that.
"So, where are ya going?" Gobber asked, noticing Bright turn and about to walk off.
"To my sister. She might be worried for me," Bright answered carefully.
"Ah," Gobber nodded understandingly. "Be safe out there. Don't let the small baby dragons bite you."
Bright gave a small smile and walked away from the area and into the forest.