(Chapter Seven)
(Tirdas 31st) (With Galaxy)
Galaxy was the first one up, like usual and like usual he uses this time to think of ways on how he's going to wake up his brother. This time he had an idea that he hasn't done yet and it's going to be funny. At least to Galaxy it will be. He crawls over to the to the tent slowly poking his head making sure that Draco was still asleep but instead he saw a wide-awake Draco.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked his scaly brother. Galaxy just gave him his own version of a smile and slowly pulled his head out of the tent. Draco was confused but at the same time knew what he was going to do.
After a couple of minutes Draco left the tent in his usually wears with his katana strapped to his waist and bag on the other side "I'll be heading into the village today, we're out of food and we can't keep eating fish for the next couple of months… well I can't at least" he corrected himself. Draco walks over to the coves exit and begins to climb up 'I'm going to have to find another way up and down besides just constantly climbing up and down.
Once at the top he turns back around to look at Galaxy "I'll be back later so don't do anything that would get you caught" Galaxy sticks out is snake like tongue. Draco turns away and walks into the forest. When Galaxy couldn't see him anymore he tried to raise himself up off the ground.
Not even half way a sharp intense pain shoot throughout his damaged wing. He dropped back to the ground with a thud. Galaxy's been doing this for the past couple days hoping that if he can at least get off the ground he can be able to be of some use to his brother. He slammed his good wing onto the ground angry that he couldn't do it, again.
'Damn the gods, why did it have to be my wing? Why couldn't it have been my leg, even having some of my spines broken would've been better then this' he thought getting angry with himself. Galaxy couldn't help but feel like his nothing but a burden to his brother. He couldn't do anything when that dragon from yesterday attacked him just because it had the sky as an advantage.
They're trapped there because of him getting hurt.
Draco could've gone ahead and gotten a boat to go on ahead and left him here but no, he stayed with him. He stayed with him knowing that he'll have to deal with the vikings for a couple of months, but he still stayed with him. He even turned down a chance to stay at one of the guest homes in the village, but he turned it down and made a camp in the cove with him not leaving his side.
Galaxy couldn't ask for a better brother then that, even though they're two different species. Draco won't ever give up on him, so now he couldn't give up on himself 'I can't give up now' he thought to himself going at it again one more time.
He slowly rose himself up off the ground putting little bit of pressure on the damaged wing. It's not hurting yet 'So far so good' he continued to go slowly but when he reached the half way mark the intense pain came back. He drops back down to the ground.
'Damnit' he cursed.
(With Draco)
Draco stood at the end of the bridge that lead into the village looking around of what's left of the village. Most of the buildings still stand but were badly damaged. He's only been here for about a week and only seen two raids and yesterday was his second raid. The one from yesterday was different from the one before. It was more violent. They didn't even go after the food, only the people.
He continued looking around the village and saw that there were people already up, repairing their homes. He was hesitant to go any closer since he fears that people would ask him to help with the repairs, but he doesn't have much of choice. He could try to go around the back but there is a lot of open space from where he stands to the back of the village.
He sighed "I guess there's no way around this" he began walking down the path entering the village.
As he entered the village he could already feel gazes of the people that's noticed him, but they said nothing. He was somewhat relieved that they haven't asked for his help yet but that won't last for long. As if right on cue, he saw Stoick walking in his direction.
'Not even ten minutes in the village' he thought, keeping his gaze from looking at Stoick hoping that if he didn't look at him he'll be left alone but nope, it didn't work. Stoick called out to Draco "Draco, you're quite early"
"I came to get a few things before heading over to the arena" he knows that his tone isnt the nicest tone right now, but he didn't want to be bothered today since he's still annoyed with the dragon that attacked them in the forest yesterday.
"Then it's a good thing you came early, I have some good news for you" this caught Draco's interest. Stoick continued "You know that trader I told you about remember?" Draco nodded.
"Well, I was informed by one of our scouts and said they saw him heading to the neighboring village yesterday and if it's the village I'm thinking of then he should be here tomorrow later in the day" this was more then good news. It was the best news he's heard yet.
"That's great to hear, thank you for telling me" Stoick held up a hand "Don't mention it, well, I don't want to keep you any longer, see you later, if not then tomorrow" Stoick walks passed Draco not giving him a second glance.
At first, he thought it would've been a bad day, like it has been, but for once something good came out of it but he knows that it won't last long and that something is going to ruin his somewhat good mood. Throughout the rest of the walk through the village no one bothered him, got a couple of threatening glares but that didn't bother him. Other then that he was left alone which somewhat surprised him.
Exiting the village, he crosses over the bridge then taking the other path to the arena. It didn't take it long for it to come into sight as well as the kids that he's seen a couple of times. But if they're here then she'll be right behind them. He turned his attention to the kids that seemed to have noticed him already and were running to him.
"Draco!" a couple of them yelled as they ran to him. He greeted them with a slight smile "Hey kids, you just getting done with class?" they nodded.
"Yes, we did, this time we had to spar against each other to see what everyone's good with"
"Do you mean what weapons are best for you?"
"Yes, and so far, some of us are good with swords but the rest haven't been able to find anything that suits them" said kids seemed disappointed.
"Everyone's good with something, it's just a matter of finding what it is" they looked at his sword.
"Like how you're good with… uh" one of the boys gestured to the katana strapped to his waist. He tapped on the sword softly "Katana, that's what the sword is called and, not really since it's a sword just designed differently"
"It's also how the wielder uses it, everyone has a different style of fighting" he finished. The kids took what he just told them into thought. Draco turned his attention away from the kids for a second and realized that the Hofferson girl isnt here yet.
"Where's your teacher?" he asked the children.
"She said that she had some business with um…"
"Useless" one of the boys finished. Draco got a bad feeling about this "I got to get going, I'll see you kids around" they waved him goodbye as he walked around them. She's becoming a real pain in his side. The first time they met he already had a feeling that she would be trouble but didn't think it would be soon, but they are vikings after all and he's already had bad experience with them in the past, so he shouldn't be surprised.
The arena came into view but as he got closer he began to hear the Hofferson girl's voice. She didn't sound happy. He walked over to the side of the arena looking down to see Hofferson girl cornering Hiccup into the corner with her axe up against his throat.
"… you won't ever become one of us, got it?" Hiccup nodded, hands raised as if he was surrendering to his captor.
"I may hate the guy, but I feel sorry that he's stuck training you and whatever your father did to get him to train you had to be worth training you"
"Was it money?" Hiccup shook his head "Was he given free rein to do whatever he wants?" Hiccup shook his head again. She pushes the axe closer to his throat "Was it that…" she was interrupted by the sound of Draco's voice "What the hell is going on here?" he didn't have any tone in the question. She turned around to see him standing there at the entrance of the arena.
He stood there waiting for her to answer but she said nothing, so he asked again "I'll ask again, what the hell is going on here?" tone still hasn't change. She pulls away from Hiccup, after she pushed him into the wall.
Hiccup lowered his hands feeling relieved that Draco came in before she killed him. Astrid kept her eyes to the ground not wanting to make eye contact knowing that if she does she might have something to say to him. As she walked passed Draco she heard him whisper something to her.
"If you continue to be a thorn in my side I'll cut you down from that pedal of yours and show the people of your village that you're nothing but all bark and no bite" she stopped for a second wanting to say something, but she bit her tongue for now and left without a word.
Draco stood there waiting to hear her footsteps faulter in the distance. He wouldn't really do anything thing like that since he doesn't want to get any more involved with this village even though it seems like that won't be possible since he's already in too deep.
About a minute of listening he couldn't hear her footsteps anymore. He turned his attention to Hiccup which was still up against the wall holding his breath fearing if he breathed she would come back.
"She's gone" Hiccup lets out the breath that he was holding, grabs his sword and shield that he had on him until Astrid threatened him. Then he makes his way over to where Draco was standing.
"Today you're going to learn on how to control your stamina, for the past couple of times you've trained I've noticed that after a couple of swings your stamina runs out and that will get you killed if you don't learn to control it" he explains. Draco continues "First I want you to stand in the center of the arena" Hiccup seemed a little confused.
"Why in the center can't I just…" Draco interrupts him "It's because the sun will be on you at all times until nightfall and it's part of the training since you'll be swinging that sword of yours until I tell you to stop and the sun is to help with tiring you out, if you can handle that then we'll be able to move on, if not then you'll do it again next time" Hiccup nodded understanding the training.
Hiccup walks over to the center of the arena and stood where he was told. Draco was right, the sun was going to be on him at all times. The was no sign of shade anywhere near him expect near the walls of the arena.
"As I said, you'll be swinging that sword until I tell you to stop, got it?" Hiccup nods.
"Great, now start swinging" Hiccup did just that and began to swing. He swung diagonally which wasn't the best choice to start with, but it'll do for now. Not even within a couple of swings he already looks tired and his arms were shaking 'Is he serious' Draco thought. He knows why he ran out so fast, but he hopped that he wouldn't have done that at the start.
"Ok stop, you already failed" Hiccup stopped swinging trying to catch his breath.
"First off you should've chosen an easy swinging pattern for you to start out with, Second, you shouldn't have started out swinging so hard, that's what wears out stamina faster"
"But you said…" Draco interrupts him.
"I didn't say anything about swinging as hard as you can, you can start off at the pace that you see fit" Hiccup thought over his words and he was right, he didn't say anything about how hard he should swing.
"We're going to try it again but since you're already out of stamina go sit in the shade and regain your stamina" he pointed over to the shaded area. Hiccup did as he was told and went over into the shadowed area. He sat down on the ground and took small breaths. Draco looked at Hiccup and walked over to him.
"Do you eat any fruit or anything that's healthy for you, your eating habits is also another factor into controlling your stamina, if you eat healthier you'll have more energy when you fight" Draco went from asking a question into lecturing him.
"We don't have anything like that" Hiccup simply answered. Draco couldn't believe it but at the same time he could believe it. He opened up his bag and took out a red apple and handed it to Hiccup.
"Here, this is an apple, its healthy so eat up and be ready to get back to training when you're done" Draco went back to the center of the arena. For now, he had to find something to do. He looked around the arena and saw a couple of training dummies in the other corner of the arena. He walks over to them "Would it be alright if I use these?" Hiccup nodded but Draco couldn't see it. He turns around and sees that Hiccup was biting down on the apple "I'll take that as a yes" he took the training dummies and places them around the arena.
When he finished placing the dummies he went over to the weapons rack and examined over the weapons that he currently sees. There were two axes, four swords, a mace, and two hammers. Next to them were two shields 'Not much in weapon choice' he thought looking over the weapons. Upon taking a closer look he notices that the weapons look like that they haven't been kept in shape for a long while.
"Will it be ok if I uses these as well?" Hiccup nodded his head again.
He grabs one sword in one hand and in the other an axe. They were light and unbalanced, but he guesses that since they're for training they don't need to be perfect or not. If Frey were here she would've lost it and took everyone of these and re-forged them even if they are just training weapons.
Draco goes and stands in the center of the arena taking one last look at the weapons once again. He looks over to Hiccup and asks, "Would it be a problem if I broke these?" gesturing to the dummies and weapons. Hiccup shook his head.
Knowing that its ok to do what he planned to do he turns his attention back to the dummies in front of him. he takes a couple of seconds to think over some of the ways he wants to about this. Once he chose one he got into a simple stance which wasn't really much of a stance since it just looks like his about to run at them.
He takes one more second to look over the dummies then he runs for the one on his right. At close range he done a horizontal slash cutting it enough to hit the stand inside of it. Next, he turns around and throws the axe at the one to his left, upon impacted the dummy was knocked back a couple of feet before falling to the floor.
He then charges for the one that was behind that one and stabs right through it. A snap could be heard throughout the arena. After pulling it out he runs over to the last one and goes for a headshot cutting the head right off the dummy.
The whole time Hiccup watched as Draco did his 'training' and the whole thing was impressive and scary at the same time. He was fast and deadly showing that he has skills to back him up in a fight. Draco looked at the sword and saw that the tip snapped off.
He looks over to the impressed Hiccup "Are you ready to get back to training?" Hiccup nodded his head, quickly standing up and runs for the center of the arena.
"Begin" Hiccup began to swing his sword again but this time he wasn't putting so much strength in his swings instead it was slow and light.
(5 Hours later)
Five hours have passed and Hiccup was still swinging the sword around. Hiccup looked like he was about to kill over. His arms were shaking along with his legs, he was sweating arrows, and his breathing became shaky. Draco decided that he had enough even though the sun hasn't even began to set just yet "Stop" once Hiccup heard that word he dropped his sword and shield onto the floor, dropping to his knees and laying on the ground. His breathing became heavy.
Draco stood over the breathless boy and said "It was a bad start, but you did well, next time though we're going to do it again, I'll be in the Great Hall if you need me but if I were you I would go home and get some rest" Draco left the arena leaving Hiccup there by himself.
Away from the arena Draco felt like he kind of went over bored with the five hours of none stop swinging but that's how he trained the others and that's also how he was trained but he forgot that Hiccup is different from them.
'Maybe next time I'll shorten the time' He thought.
He couldn't help but think that things are happening to fast here. He arrives to Berk, a dragon raid is happening, next he gets shot down and Galaxy gets badly hurt. Then he ended up having to save a couple of kids and the Hofferson girl. Decides to train Hiccup. Another raid then happens where he had to kill another dragon. Then the dragons attack during the day. None of it is adding up and is happening to fast to make any kind of sense out of it.
'If this is the queen dragons doing then something has to be done about her soon. The only thing that wasn't her doing was Galaxy getting hurt and training Hiccup. Everything else though it's mostly her.
'If Galaxy wasn't hurt we could've gone over there and checked things out then come up with a plan to deal with her but I guess for now all we can do is deal with the raids here until Galaxy is ready to go' he thought. Deep down he wished that he didn't have to help these vikings out, but some aren't so bad and have more brains, then there's the others that remind him why he hates them but if he didn't help out Rias would've been disappointed if she found out.
'This is so troubling' he thought. Eventually he came out of his thoughts then realized that he was already climbing up the stone steps to the Great Hall.
Reaching the doors, he could already hear people talking and it sounded like a lot of people. He pushed the doors open and everyone's attention all turned on him. He stood there for a second before walking over to the empty table in the farthest corner of the hall.
He sat down at the table trying to ignore the gazes of the people around him, so he took out his journal from his bag and laid it onto the table. He opens up his journal to the page where he was holding the letters that he's going to give to the trader when he arrives tomorrow.
One of the letters was already complete and it's the one for the trader now he has to finish the one that needs to reach a certain someone that could possibly be of some help. He took out a charcoal and began to write down the letter.
The whole time he was writing the letter he continuously felt the gazes of the people of the room and it was beginning to bug him, but he doesn't want to start anything that would be a waste of time. So, he just kept his head into the letter and continued to write but his writing was interrupted when he heard Gobber's voice calling his name.
"Aye Draco, I take it that 'iccup's training is over for the day?" Draco nodded not looking away from the letter in front of him.
"How did 'e do?" Gobber asked trying to start a conversation.
"He did terrible at first but once I explained his training better he did ok the second time" Gobber could only nod. Then he thought of something to say, "What was his training this time?"
Draco looked up at the old smith knowing what his trying to do but it probably won't hurt to tell him since this is the man that's been good to the lad for most of his life "I was training him on how to control his stamina"
"Really?" Gobber sounded interested "How did that go?"
"Like I said before, it started out bad since he started out with putting all his strength into his swings"
"Swings, what do you mean by that?"
"I had him swing his sword until I told him to stop, that's how I was trained to be able to control my stamina and that's how I trained my friends into controlling their stamina, so I did it to him since it's been working so far" Draco explains still writing the letter.
"That's um… different, I wouldn't have thought of doing something like that when I use to train"
"It's because not everyone does it since it tires people out to quickly and they give up" Gobber understood what he meant since it does happen even if he didn't train the same way as Draco does but how he used to train wasn't easy either.
"You said that it was ok the second time?"
"Because I explained it that he didn't have to put a lot of strength into his swings for the first time and that he could swing how he wants to swing and at his own pace, even though that may not seem too difficult, that's why I made him stand in the middle where the sun would always be on him and had him do it until the sun fell but he got weak way to fast and had to end it after five hours" Gobber was impressed. If Draco had stopped when he said him doing it at his own pace he didn't think that was going to make any progress but when he finished explaining it sounded more difficult then it first sounded.
Gobber noticed that the lad hasn't looked up once since he's sat down. Gobber thought of something that could probably get this guy to loosen up a little. He stood up from his seat and said "I'll be right back" Gobber hobbled away from the table leaving Draco to his writing 'At least I have a little bit of alone time till he comes back' he thought.
A couple of minutes passed and Gobber was hobbling back over to the table Draco was sitting at. Gobber placed two mugs of mead, one for Draco and one for Gobber. Draco looked up just a little bit "What is this?" he asked looking at the smith.
"It'll help you loosen up a little, you're bringing the room down" Draco's eyebrow rose in a questioning manner "That's not my problem" He simply stated looking back down at the letter. Gobber wasn't going to give up that easily.
"Come on lad, it won't kill ya' to loosen up a bit" Draco's attention went back to Gobber. This was strange and its not that Gobber was talking to him, but it was because the way people were watching them. It felt like they were waiting for something.
"What's your game Gobber?"
"I 'ave no game, I'm just trying to get you to loosen up a little bit and enjoy yourself, you'll be here for a while, right? Well why not enjoy it" Gobber was smiling the whole time he said that. It's not hard for Draco to loosen up but that's only when he's around his friends but he's stuck here until Galaxy is healed and able to fly again. That's one reason, the other reason he can't loosen up because they're stuck on an island of dragon killers. Three because they're vikings and he has bad blood with vikings. Lastly with the raids happening he can't relax.
Draco stopped writing and rose his head to look Gobber in the eyes "Tell me something Gobber, how can you be relaxed when you know you could be attacked at anytime knowing there's a possibility of dying the next day?" he placed his charcoal next to the letter.
"You just said it, it's because we could die tomorrow is how we can be relaxed, you need to enjoy the days that you have left because who knows when you're going to die" Draco couldn't help but think 'Raven would say the same thing' but he can't just relax. With his brother hurt and being a dragon how can he be relaxed. Also, he doesn't want to lower his guard around vikings.
"You may be right Gobber but I'm not someone who can just relax…" he was interrupted by Gobber speaking "Lad, I can tell that you have something against us, vikings I mean, and I may not know the reason why but no one is going to hurt you here, and even if they tried they would be punished, you're a guest here and needs to be treated like such"
He continued "Yes, there may be some people here that doesn't like strangers but they're going to have to get over it" Draco looked down at the mug and thought about what his friends would do if they were in this situation. Most of what he can think of is that they'll take the drink and have fun but that's because they don't have to worry about a dragon living in the forest not to far from here but…
He sighed in defeat and took the mug into his hand "I'm going to just say this once Gobber, I'm not going to get drunk so easily" Gobber couldn't help but smile at his win "Oh, this one will" Draco saw something mischiefs in his eyes but rose the cup up to his lips. Before taking a drink, he took a sniff of it. there was something different but familiar.
He held up his mug "We'll see about that" Gobber accepted it with holding his mug up bumping them together. Draco and Gobber began to chug their mead down like water. They finished their mugs and placed them back onto the table.
"Another round?" Draco pushed his mug to the side accepting it "Bring us another pair!" he yelled across the room. After a couple of minutes passed another pair of mugs with mead were placed in front of them. They took the mugs and chug those down. The challenge has begun.
One pair after another they chugged their mead down and each one Gobber was slowly beginning to feel fuzzy while Draco isnt even feeling a buzz yet. Around their ninth pair Gobber began to slur his words "H-ho' you feelin' laaad?"
"I feel fine, what about you?" Everyone around were cheering them on, most of them were cheering for Draco while the others were thinking that his cheating somehow.
"I-I-I feeeel finnne" he slurred his words.
"Ok, another round over here!" Draco called out since Gobber couldn't. After another three pairs Draco could tell that Gobber was about to pass out and he wasn't even buzzed yet 'At least he tried' Draco thought chugging the rest of his mead down before standing up. Everyone in the hall went quiet and Draco looks down at the swaying smith.
"W-Whaat's wrooonggg' laaad'?" Gobber asked trying to sound like he could keep going but Draco knew that probably one more pair would make him pass out.
"I should've told you this from the start" Draco grabbed his things and placed them in his bag then he continued "I'm immune to alcohol, there's only a couple of alcohols that can affect me but mead isnt one of them even if you spiked it" Gobber was shocked.
"Y-yyyyooouuu kneeeewww?" Draco nodded "I've dealt with that herb before because one of my friend's messes with herbs to make medicine and over time we've become immune to the herb but nice try" he patted the smith on the back and left for the exit. About a couple of seconds after Draco left Gobber passed out on the table.
"Should we- "the random viking was cut off by another one "No, we should leave him be" after the contest was over they all left for their homes to crash for the night.
(With Draco)
He didn't know that it has already become night but he couldn't help but look up at the starry sky above him 'If Raven and Sal were here they would've called out and said that it wasn't fair for me to go against someone that isnt immune to alcohol like us' he thought and couldn't help but smile at the thought but he then realized that he was thinking of a time if they decided to stay here and that's one thing he doesn't want to do.
The walk through the slowly restoring village was quiet and empty. He couldn't help but look around since no one would be around and he doesn't have to worry about anyone… He stopped dead in his tracks and looked at the person in front of him. It was Astrid. The one person he wished he didn't have to see twice in one day.
She was standing there staring him down, Draco did the same, but no words were exchanged. They just stood there until Draco was the first to move. He walked passed the girl not giving her a second glance as he left the village heading to the forest. He can tell that she was walking away as well since he can hear her footprints in the distance until he couldn't hear them anymore.
Making his way down the path that was slowly being made as he continuously walks back and forth from the cove to the village. Very soon there will be a path all the way through the forest if he keeps this up 'I wonder what Galaxy did all day' he wondered, pushing the thought of how annoying Astrid is becoming away.
He could think only a small bit of things a downed dragon can do in its free time. None of it sounded fun.
The sound of the chirping crickets pulled him from his thoughts. He enjoyed nature just as much as his friends but there's times where he can't stand it. It mostly depends on where he's at and what time of year it is. He went back to listening to sounds of the forest and in the distance, he can hear what could be Galaxy messing around in the water.
As he got closer to the cove the quiet the surrounding area got 'I guess it's due to Galaxy being here' he thought. Standing at the edge of the cove he saw Galaxy laying in the water, head barely above the surface. He was still awake from what he can see at least.
"Galaxy" he spoke up gaining his brothers attention.
"Ful, vir drey nii bo?" Galaxy asked watching his brother climb down into the cove. Draco answered, "It went well, I've got good news" Galaxy rose his head up with interest.
"Oo, fos los daar pruzah yunrot?"
"The chief came up to me and informed me that the trader that he mention was going to be arriving tomorrow afternoon" Draco went over to the camp fire and threw a small ball of fire at it igniting the fire.
"Tol los pruzah yunrot" Galaxy couldn't help but feel happy to finally hear some good news ever since they got here. Draco sat down in front of the fire with his katana laying next to him and Galaxy on the other "But it'll be a while before anything happens and if the letters even reach their destinations" that's the one thing that Draco's worried about.
"dreh ni avok lorot nii, it'll kos flogah ahrk we'll kos zek voth un fahdon das" Draco places a hand on his brother's head "You're right but I just can't help it, these waters aren't the safest waters and who knows if the traders ship gets attacked and the letters never reaching their destinations"
"But, you're right, I shouldn't over think it" he laid down on the ground looking up at the stars until they fell asleep.