Chapter 31: Looking for Hiccup
Berk
November 1
BLAAAAAAARRRRRRREEEEEEE!
"Hmmmmm," Hiccup hummed in his sleep.
The boy was sitting, half-asleep, with his back pressed against the pole of the Cata-bow-shot. Now for some reasons he was hearing the sounds of horns blaring in his mind.
BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRREEEEEE!
"Hmmmmmmm," Hiccup hummed, imitating the strange blaring sounds and opening his eyes half-way.
They almost sounded real.
BLLLLLLAAAAAAAAARRRRRREEEEE!
"Hmmmmmm," Hiccup hummed again, opening his eyes more.
Then his eyes opened all the way practically close to his forehead and he realized.
"The horns!" he exclaimed. "The dragons!"
Hiccup scrambled to his feet, remembering where he was and what he was about to do.
Hiding behind the not-so-thick pole of his invention, Hiccup peeked and squinted his eyes through the darkness. From high on the cliff he was standing, he could just make out the silhouettes of different dragons – Gronckles, Nightmares, Nadders and Zipplebacks flying over the village. Soon the air was filled with the sounds of yelling Vikings and roaring dragons. In the center of town, the remaining large torch was lit and elevated giving off enough light to properly see the commotion.
"Wow," Hiccup breathed in awe.
All his life, he had watched the dragon raids from the windows of his own house or Gobber's forge. Now here he was out in the open with a new weapon and even from afar, the dragons seemed really close. It was almost like being in an actual Viking battle for the first time. And if he was successful in catching a dragon with his Cata-bow-shot tonight, then he would be allowed to participate in future battles – and at such a young age too!
"Now hopefully that Night Fury or those Night Furies will be back again tonight," Hiccup said to himself. "I've got three swords and hopefully one of them will shoot that night monster down. But if there are more Furies out there, maybe I'll shoot down three if I'm lucky. One sword for each dragon. Then no one will ever call me weird again. Now I just have to wait."
With newfound determination, Hiccup placed a hand on the hilt of one of the swords resting on the weapon's board, ready to launch it from the Cata-bow-shot's straps when the time was right.
….
As the humans' island came closer and closer into view, Toothless flew down away from the dragon herds and perched himself on top of a sea stack.
As he watched the dragons swarm over the clifftop laden with the humans' woodpile shelters, he could hear the blaring sounds from the island – signaling the dragons' arrival.
Moments later, he could hear the cries of both humans and dragons carrying into the night air. And the single tall burning branch in the middle of the strange land was lifted giving off enough light to see the commotion.
Just like with last night, Toothless would wait until the time was right before he would surprise those two-legged animals a thing or two about attacking his fellow dragons.
Even though they were all different species of dragons and he had only known them for two days, Toothless had developed a bit of an attachment to these particular dragons and he wanted to do his best to protect them.
He admitted that he might not be able to protect every single dragon of the Queen's Nest but still, he couldn't bear the thought of any of those dragons suffering the same fate as his family.
…..
Placing his hand over his forehead, Stoick squinted through the darkness and could make out the silhouettes of Nadders, Zipplebacks, Nightmares and Gronckles.
The horns continued to blare into the night sky and were soon combined with the cries of the people in the village as they emerged from their houses to help each other drive away the beasts.
Stoick began to run down the hill from his house towards the other houses in order to help his people fight the dragons and maybe even find Hiccup along the way.
Fortunately, some of the men lit one of the large torches and elevated it up into air. At first Stoick was confused about why they were only lighting one torch and not both when he saw that one was missing and realized it might have been knocked down from last night's raid. Well, at least there was some light illuminating the commotion. Hopefully it was enough to help him see Hiccup, wherever he was.
Once he made his way into the town square, some villagers began surrounding him.
"Stoick, thank Thor you have returned!" a woman cried out in relief.
"Two raids in a row! Can you believe it?" one man added.
"Not to worry, everyone, I'm back now and I'll help you fight off the devils," Stoick assured the crowd. "Have any of you seen Hiccup by the way?"
"I haven't seen him since last night," another man replied. "He tried to talk me into using one of those what-cha-ma-call-its he builds against the dragons."
"Did you see what it looked like?" Stoick asked.
"I don't remember," the man replied. "I only saw it for one second."
Stoick sighed exasperatedly, trying to keep his panic under control.
"You all head for the catapults," he ordered. "I'll meet you there."
"Yes, sir!" the group around him replied.
As the small group headed for the catapults, Stoick headed for the forge. By the time he got there, he saw Gobber pressing the bellows hard in front of the fireplace.
"Gobber! Hiccup's missing!" Stoick called.
Gobber stopped pressing and looked up in alarm. "What do you mean missin?!"
"I went back to the house and he's not there," Stoick explained.
"He's not?!" Gobber asked. "Well, where could he be?"
"That's what I'm trying to find out," Stoick said. "I'm on my way to the catapults to help with some of the villagers. Maybe I'll be able to see him from higher ground."
"I'll come with you, Stoick," Gobber offered, putting an axe handle into his stumpy left arm. "You won't be able to find the lad without help."
"Thanks, Gobber. Now come on."
The two friends left the forge and headed for the catapults. On their way, they looked all around hoping to find any sign of Hiccup.
"Wherever he is, he must have that big new weapon of his," Gobber said.
"Do you remember what it looked like?" Stoick asked.
"I think it looked like a giant slingshot."
"You think or you know?"
"All right, all right! I know it looked like a giant slingshot."
…..
In his house, Fishlegs was fervently nailing wooden planks on all the windows in his house. He knew they wouldn't be sturdy enough to prevent dragons from crashing into his house but he had to do something to keep dragons from entering…especially Night Furies.
…
Toothless remained perched on the sea stack watching the battle on the humans island for a long time but he was beginning to get restless.
He decided he had waited long enough.
Standing up, he spread his wings and flew straight up into the air, his nose pointing its way into the night sky. The scent of smoke from the flames coming from the tall branch and some of the woodpile shelters filled the air but smoke didn't bother Toothless and he wouldn't let that distract him from what he was about to do.
Deciding he'd gone high enough, Toothless dove down towards the humans island and headed for a clifftop where the large stone-throwing contraptions stood. Opening his mouth wide, he let out a high-pitched call as violet sparks emitted in his throat.
Even over the sound of his own high cry, he could hear the panicked cries of the two-legged creatures.
"NIGHT FURY!"
"GET DOWN!"
"RUN FOR IT!"
"FIRE!"
Toothless made sure he still flew very high in the sky so as not to get too close to the two-legged humans and risk having them see him up close. He carefully aimed at one of the stone throwers and released his plasma blast at it. The violet fireball exploded against the stone-thrower knocking it down backwards and down into the water.
As he flew far from the cliffs, Toothless looked back and watched as the remains of the stone-thrower splashed into the water below and the humans that had surrounded it run away. He could see that none of the humans had been hit by his blast but he didn't mind. After all, he only wanted to destroy their sharp killing sticks and contraptions not the humans themselves.
He had to admit these human creatures could run quite fast on their hind legs…though not nearly as fast as Deadly Nadders do.
…
Hiccup stayed right behind his Cata-bow-shot and kept his grip on the sword's hilt, still determined to shoot down his first dragon. He had been watching the battle for a long time but now he was getting nervous.
The raiding dragons down in the village were looking too close for comfort and he had to admit he felt unsafe not having a sturdy roof over his head to keep him safe from a dragon's flames, whipping tails and sharp teeth and claws. And if anything went wrong, a streaming jet of flames could head in his direction and disintegrate him.
Something inside was telling him to go back to his house or into some other shelter and stay there until the dragons were gone. Hiccup still wanted to try and use his weapon but he knew that going back home would be the right thing to do.
But before he could walk away and head back to his house, something rang out into the air: a spine-tingling, high-pitched cry.
He knew that sound!
"NIGHT FURY!"
"GET DOWN!"
"RUN FOR IT!"
"FIRE!"
The Night Fury!
Hiccup grabbed the sword, placed it against the strap and pulled it towards his chest. He looked frantically around trying to find which direction the Night Fury's sound was headed.
He saw a violet fireball blast into the catapults, knocking down one of them. But before he could release the sword, he saw something fly away from the fallen catapult and heading in his direction.
A STONE!
Releasing his grip on the sword and strap, Hiccup ran away from the Cata-bow-shot and the hurling stone as fast as he could. As he ran, he could hear the stone crashing into his axe-throwing weapon and he put his arms over his head as some of the splinters fell around him. Still running, he looked around and saw the stone lying on top of the remains of his shattered contraption.
Hiccup saw a small grove of trees and bushes. That looked like a good place to hide until the raid was over. He got behind the biggest bush there was and crouched down, hoping against hope that no dragon would find him.
…
On top of one of the platforms, Stoick and Gobber helped the group of villagers Stoick had ran into earlier launch stones at some random dragons. The stones missed of course but at least they made the dragons fly away in fright. The whole time he was helping, Stoick looked all around the village but there was still no sign of Hiccup or any contraption that looked like a giant slingshot according to Gobber.
"Do you see anything, Gobber?" Stoick asked for his friend was also keeping an eye out.
"Not yet but I'll keep looking," Gobber replied, with his good hand over his eyes as he scanned the ground below them.
"Stoick, there's some Gronckles chasing the sheep in the west fields," a woman called out.
"Let's place another stone in the bucket and aim it at them," Stoick ordered.
"Yes, sir!" said the woman.
Stoick helped the woman carry another large stone and placed it in the bucket of the catapult they were using.
But just as they were about to launch the stone, Stoick heard a sound ring out from the sky. It was a sound he had never heard before. The new sound was high-pitched and to his surprise, it sent a shiver down his spine. He turned to Gobber whose face had been completely drained of all color.
"Gobber," Stoick said, his voice uncharacteristically above a whisper, "is that a…"
"NIGHT FURY!" screamed one man beside them.
"GET DOWN!" cried another man.
"RUN FOR IT!" Stoick shouted, pushing his group away from the platform.
"FIRE!" the woman cried, pulling the lever of the catapult which launched the stone into the air.
Despite the fact that a new creature was heading towards them, she was still pretty determined to strike down those pesky Gronckles.
Stoick forcefully grabbed the woman by the arm and dragged her along as he and his group ran off the platform. They had just managed to escape just moments before a violet fireball blasted from out of the sky and blasted against the catapult, causing the remains to fall down towards the ocean below.
Stoick watched as something flew as fast as lightning speed over the ruined catapult and the dissipating purple flames and smoke. It flew so fast and it blended in with the night sky so perfectly he didn't even get a good look at it. But there was no mistaking what that creature had to have been.
"So that's a Night Fury," he murmured in a voice mixed with amazement, horror and disgust.
…..
Fishlegs pounded a hammer against the nails of a plank he was boarding on the last of his windows.
Just one more plank to go.
But just as he picked up the last plank, he heard something over the cries of the people and dragons - something high-pitched and spine-tingling.
Just like with last night, he practically froze with horror as he recognized that new but familiar sound.
"NIGHT FURY!"
"GET DOWN!"
"RUN FOR IT!"
"FIRE!"
Moments after the people's panicked screams, there was an explosion sound as though that horrible Night Fury was striking something or someone.
"Oh no, not again!" he moaned.
He looked around frantically for a place to hide. The kitchen table was closest. He instantly ducked under it and tried to pull down the corners of the tablecloth as close to the ground as possible so that he would stay hidden.
"Oh, mighty Thor, please, please, please don't let that Night Fury find me under here," he whimpered. "Let him have had a big meal before he arrived. And if he hadn't don't let it be me…or any of the other people. Let it be a sheep, a deer, a pig, anything!"
…
By the time his group had reached lower ground, Stoick looked back up at the platform they had come from. A catapult was ruined but at least nobody was hurt.
Also, the noise was quieting down a bit. The dragon herds were flying away now. Some were carrying fish and meat, others were empty-clawed. Some of the people were cheering, others were looking up at the sky in fright in case there were dragons hiding and waiting to terrorize them.
"Well, looks like we've frightened them off once again," Gobber said, satisfied.
"Let's not celebrate just yet, Gobber," Stoick reminded his friend. "We still need to find Hiccup."
"Oh, yeah, right," Gobber said, remembering. "Let's go check the Ingermans' place. Maybe they've seen him."
"Good idea," Stoick said. "Let's go."
…..
From her window, Astrid watched Stoick and Gobber head for the Ingermans' house. She knew they were never gonna find Hiccup there.
She looked up at the sky just to make sure there weren't any more dragons. She also kept her ears open for any stray growls and roars.
The skies looked empty enough and she couldn't hear a thing other than the murmurs of some villagers still walking about the village. So she left her bedroom, walked down the stairs and out the door after Stoick and Gobber.
Hiccup may be an oddball and a klutz but he was still the Chief's son and she felt it was her responsibility to tell him just where he was.
She only hoped for Hiccup's sake that he hadn't gotten into any scrapes at his attempt to shoot down a Night Fury.
…
Stoick and Gobber approached the Ingermans' house and knocked on the door.
"Is anyone home?" Stoick called.
Inside, Fishlegs remained under the table with the tablecloth hanging all the way to the floor.
"Fishlegs is home," he responded nervously. "May I ask who it is?"
"It's Chief Stoick," Stoick replied.
"And Gobber the Blacksmith," Gobber added.
Fishlegs smiled in relief and was just about to crawl out from under the table to let in his visitors when a horrible thought occurred to him.
What if it wasn't Gobber and Stoick?
What if it was someone pretending to be Stoick and Gobber?
Or worse…what if it was…the Night Fury?!
What if Night Furies had the ability to change voices to fool people and lure them to their deaths like how a Snaptrapper would lure its prey with its sweet, chocolate-like breath?
"Uh, I lied," Fishlegs called hastily. "There's no Fishlegs here. In fact, there's nobody home."
"Fishlegs, open up!" Stoick called impatiently.
"No! You can't fool me!"
"Fishlegs, I'm coming in!" Stoick declared. "Come on, Gobber."
"NO, DON'T!" Fishlegs shouted.
Stoick opened the door and entered the house with Gobber right behind him.
"Fishlegs, where are you?!" Stoick shouted.
"Uh, I'm not under the table."
Sighing impatiently, Stoick walked over to the table and pulled up the tablecloth to find the chubby, blonde boy sitting with his skinny knees up to his chest.
"Oh, Chief, it is you!" Fishlegs cried out in relief. "And you too, Gobber. I thought you guys were the Night Furies."
"Do we look like Night Furies to you?" Stoick asked exasperatedly.
"No, but for some reason, I did have this crazy thought about Night Furies having the ability to imitate voices," Fishlegs admitted.
"Huh, I've seen a lot of dragons with unusual abilities but I've never heard of one with the ability to imitate voices," Gobber said.
"Well, you never know," Fishlegs said.
"Never mind that now," Stoick said impatiently. "Fishlegs, we're looking for Hiccup. Have you seen him?"
"I'm afraid I haven't," Fishlegs replied.
"I think I know where he is," came a voice from the doorway.
Stoick, Gobber and Fishlegs looked up.
Astrid Hofferson was standing over the threshold.
"Astrid, what are you doing here?" Gobber scolded gently. "You shouldn't be outside on a night like this. Suppose there were still some dragons around? You'd have ended up like your poor uncle."
"I doubt it," Astrid said stubbornly.
"You said you know where Hiccup might be?" Stoick asked.
"He was heading for one of the high cliffs with another one of his inventions claiming he was gonna use it to catch a Night Fury," Astrid answered.
"What?!" cried Fishlegs, horrified. "He'll get himself killed!"
"Precisely," Stoick said. "Astrid, you head home. Gobber, you come with me to the high cliffs."
….
Hiccup remained crouched down behind the large bush for a long time. All was quiet now. The dragons were probably gone now…even the Night Fury/Furies. Maybe it was safe to come out now.
But what if it wasn't? What if not all the dragons were gone? What if there were some hiding in the woods? Maybe even the Night Fury?
Maybe he'd better stay put. It looks like he would have to spend the night right here and wait until morning to go back to the village.
Then again, if there were dragons out in the forest, they'd probably track him down.
Speaking of which, he could hear some footsteps heading closer and closer.
Hiccup crouched down a little more.
"HICCUP!"
"HICCUP!"
Two familiar voices accompanied the footsteps. He recognized the first one as Gobber's and the second one as…
"Dad?" Hiccup murmured.
His dad was back!
"DAD!" Hiccup called, standing up straight.
"HICCUP?!" Stoick called.
"WHERE ARE YOU, LAD?!" Gobber called.
"RIGHT HERE!" Hiccup called, coming out from behind the bushes.
Through the darkness, he could see two tall, bulky figures a few feet away from him.
"HICCUP!"
Stoick ran over to his son and grasped his shoulders. He looked angry and terrified at the same time but mostly terrified.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING OUT HERE?! SUPPOSE YOU'VE GOTTEN HURT OR KIDNAPPED OR…OR…SOMETHING?!"
Hiccup stared at his father not knowing what to say. After a moment he asked, "How did you find me?"
"Astrid told us," Gobber replied. "We've been looking all over the village for you and then she came along and told us you came all the way up here to shoot down a Night Fury."
"I did try to shoot one down but I didn't," Hiccup admitted. "I only wanted to show everyone that I'm not weird."
Gobber shook his head. "There are safer ways to prove you're not weird than risking your life and going out into the open when dragons are flying over your head."
Stoick released his grip on Hiccup's shoulders and gave him a hard look.
"You've done a lot of foolish things in your life, Hiccup, but what you did tonight was probably the most foolish of all," Stoick said in his firmest voice. "From now on when there's a dragon attack, you are to stay indoors where you'll be safe and I don't want to see you taking so much as one step outside until all the dragons are gone."
"But, Dad…!" Hiccup started to protest.
Stoick cut him off. "No buts! I already lost your mother and I am not going to lose you too."
Gobber sent him a listen-to-your-dad-if-you-know-what's-good-for-you-look.
Hiccup slumped his shoulders and bowed his head ashamedly. As much as he wanted so much to catch a Night Fury, he knew that it was a foolish thing to do and his dad as well as the hurling stone from the catapult made their point.
"Okay," he whispered.
The two men and the boy were quiet for a good long minute before Gobber broke the silence.
"Uh, let's all go home now."
Hiccup, Stoick and Gobber made their way down from the cliffs, through the trees and all the way back to the Haddock house. Stoick opened the front door and he, Hiccup and Gobber stepped inside. The men remained where they stood as Hiccup made his way to the stairs. He stepped on the first step, then looked back at his dad.
"Dad, did you really think something awful happened to me?" he asked.
Stoick's face softened slightly as though feeling a little bad for being hard on him earlier.
"No," he replied, his voice also softer than before. "I know you well enough that as much as you might get yourself into trouble once in a while, you always find your way out of trouble. Still, it's my job as your father to worry about you. Do you understand?"
"Yeah," Hiccup replied. "Well, uh, good night."
"Good night," Stoick and Gobber said together.
Hiccup took a few more steps. Halfway up the stairs, he turned back to his dad.
"One more thing, please?"
"What's that?" Stoick asked.
"Uh, how did your meeting with the other chiefs go? Did you all think of a solution of what to do with the dragons?"
But instead of answering, Stoick just stared at him and to Hiccup's surprise, he almost looked as horrified as he was when he found him on the cliffs.
"Uh, the meeting went fine, Hiccup," Gobber piped up. "Your dad told me so himself. And he also told me that…the chiefs couldn't think of anything so I guess we're stuck fighting raiding dragons for the rest of our lives. Now, you head on up to bed while I take your dad for a drink at the forge. Go on, laddie, hippity-hop with you. We'll see you in the morning."
And with that, Gobber dragged Stoick out of the house and shut the door behind them leaving Hiccup standing halfway up the stairs with a baffled look.
Shrugging, Hiccup climbed the rest of the stairs, approached his bed and crawled under the sheets and quilt.
As he waited for sleep to take over his body, he thought about tonight's events.
One of the things he thought about was that frightened look his dad gave him when he asked how the chieftain's meeting went and what Gobber told him about how they weren't able to think of a simple solution to their dragon problems. He had a distinct feeling there was more to what happened at his dad's meeting something that neither his dad nor Gobber would tell him. But he wouldn't pry. He would wait for his dad to tell him the truth when the time was right…whenever that would be.
Another thing he thought about was the Night Fury/Night Furies.
He had failed to catch one tonight but he would not fail again.
And his first kill didn't have to be a Night Fury. It could be any dragon: a Gronckle, a Nightmare, even a tiny little Terrible Terror.
Unfortunately, Stoick had forbade him to go out into the open during a dragon raid until the beasts were gone and he knew it would be too dangerous to leave the safety of his home and risk getting killed via slashing and burning. And he also knew it was wrong to disobey his father and he had disobeyed him too many times already.
But something was filling his heart – a deep desire, an obsession. A desire and obsession to prove himself worthy to his people and and help them fight the dragons.
Now he was beginning to feel just how his father felt as he made plans to find the Hidden Dragon World at the edge of the world. How Fearless Finn Hofferson felt when he wanted to finish the Flightmare off himself before it took his life. How Astrid felt as she trained herself endlessly day and night to restore her family's honor.
…..
After Gobber had shut the door to his house and as he led him down towards the town, Stoick looked at his friend with a slightly annoyed look.
"Gobber, I don't feel like having a drink at your place."
"Maybe, but I feel we should head there anyways," Gobber replied. "I want to talk to you about some things."
Stoick shook his head. He had no idea what Gobber wanted to say and he wasn't sure he felt like hearing what he had to say.
"Stoick!"
Stoick looked up. A small group of men lead by Spitelout ran up to him and Gobber.
"Welcome back, Chief," Spitelout greeted. "I've heard Miss Ida saying that you've returned from your journey and that you've helped out with the catapults before that tedious Night Fury interfered."
"Yes, Spitelout, I am back, obviously," Stoick said tiredly. "Now what is it that you want?"
One of the men, named Rafe, replied, "We shot down about four dragons and they landed somewhere near Hrungnir's Slope. When we got word that you were back, we came looking for you."
"Thought you might have the right to know about that," Spitelout added.
"Four downed dragons near Hrungnir's Slope?" Gobber said. "Boy, this sure brings back memories. Talk about history repeating itself."
Stoick knew that Gobber was talking about the night Hiccup was born when he and his party fought some Monstrous Nighmares near Hrungnir's Slope.
"I'm glad you told me, Spitelout, Rafe," Stoick said. "Come on, let's head towards the slope and find those dragons you've shot down."
"And we'll make sure you don't go falling down the slope again just like you did last time we were there," Gobber joked.
Stoick glared at his friend.
"Okay, okay, no more jokes," Gobber said, holding up his hand and axe sheepishly.
Stoick and Gobber followed Spitelout and his party all the way through the woods.
As they neared the slope, Stoick saw some broken branches scattered all over the ground. Looking above, he noticed that there were four large freshly-made holes in the canopy. He stopped and held up a hand in front of his party, motioning them to stop too and they did.
"Shh," Stoick whispered, putting a finger to his lips. "Slowly and quietly now."
Stoick and the others stepped quietly and slowly around the fallen branches and debris. They peered through the darkness and right there a few feet away from them were four dragons lying motionless on the ground.
"Stay where you are, I'll check them out," Stoick whispered to the men.
Stoick tip-toped towards the four motionless dragons. As he got closer to them, he could see them a little more clearly.
There was a blue Deadly Nadder, a red Monstrous Nightmare, a green Zippleback and a brown Gronckle.
Each one was tangled up in bola ropes and topped with more broken branches from the treetops they had crashed through. Their eyes were closed but Stoick could see signs of life from them.
One of the Gronckle's hind legs twitched like a dog's when it was having its belly rubbed. The Nightmare's nostrils flared as it breathed heavily. The Nadder let out an audible groan and one of the Zippleback's heads rolled limply, its cheek pressing against the dirt.
"They're still alive," Stoick told his men. "They're only unconscious."
"Well, my dear Chief, just give us the word and we'll gladly finish them off," Spitelout said gleefully, tapping the handle of his mace against his palm.
Stoick looked from Spitelout to the unconscious dragons. It would be a good idea to kill these dragons before they woke up. But then he thought about all the chieftains that had suffered from Drago Bludvist's attack. He thought about their people now left defenseless without a leader. Whether or not they had trained some recruits to continue their battles after they had gone in advance, he had no idea. He had been too busy escaping to even think about that.
But he was still alive as were most of his people. But who knew how much longer they would stay alive especially with the way things were doing with the dragons. And there were some children in the village that would soon be turning fifteen within a few years. Once, they had reached that age, they would be expected to start their training and learn the ways of fighting other Vikings and dragons and help defend the village.
But if they were to learn to fight dragons, they would have to be around live dragons in order to learn and fight. And now, there were four live dragons right here.
"No," Stoick said firmly.
"No?" Gobber and Spitelout said together, both looking surprised.
Rafe and the other men looked surprised as well.
"Don't tell me you're going soft on the beasts like your missus?" Spitelout said.
"I'm not going soft on them!" Stoick insisted. "I just have a different plan for them, that's all."
"And what's' the different plan?" Rafe asked.
"As long as they're still unconscious, we'll drag them back to the ring and lock them up," Stoick explained. "We'll keep them alive by giving them a weekly amount of water and scraps and when some of the children in the village turn fifteen, Gobber here will teach them how to fight the devils and eventually have them kill them themselves."
The men looked at each other, murmuring their opinions on Stoick's plan.
"Now, that's a better idea, Stoick," Spitelout said. "Once my Snotlout's old enough, he could kill off every one of those rascals if he had to."
"Well, let's not just stand here," Gobber announced. "Let's all get dragging before they wake up."
…..
It took about an hour or two, but Stoick and the other men had succeeded in dragging the four dragons all the way to the ring. The dragons were still unconscious as the men had cut the bola ropes from their bodies and locked them up in four separate cages around the stone walls of the ring.
After the dragons had been locked up, Gobber dragged Stoick to the forge like he intended to. Stoick would rather have been back at his house but he patiently sat down and waited to hear what Gobber had to say as the blacksmith prepared some drinks for them.
"All right, Gobber, what is it you desperately want to talk to me about?" Stoick asked tiredly as Gobber handed him his drink.
"I desperately want to talk to you about Hiccup," Gobber said seriously as he sat down.
"What about Hiccup?" Stoick asked.
"I've never told you this before but I think it's time you knew," Gobber started. "Over the last few years, I've noticed you've been treating Hiccup a lot differently than you used to when he was a baby."
"How so?"
"Before and even after he was born, you've been boasting to Valka and me and pretty much the entire village about how he would grow up to be the strongest of them all and all the incredible things he will someday do. Now here he is at ten years old and you treat him like an invalid. You hardly give him a chance to do something he would very much like to do or give him permission to go where he would like to go. And I doubt you're going to let him fight those dragons we dragged all the way to the ring when he turns fifteen."
"No," Stoick said. "I mean, yes, I mean…(sigh) Maybe I am treating him a lot differently than I did when he was a baby. But he's the only family I have left and if keeping him sheltered is my only way to protect him from any danger, then so be it."
Stoick stared down into his mug. All he could think about was his poor, beautiful Valka being carried off by that rouge dragon and most recently Colbert and all those poor, innocent Chieftains brutally slaughtered by Drago and his dragons.
"I can't lose him too, Gobber," he whispered, leaking out of his eyes. "I just can't."
Then Gobber did what he wanted to do when Stoick told him about Drago – put his hand on his friend's shoulder and rubbed it comfortingly. And he was glad to see that Stoick didn't seem to mind his friend's reassuring touch at all.
"I know, old friend," Gobber said softly, tears also pouring down his face. "I don't want to lose him either."
…
Dragon's Nest
November 1
Toothless sat on his haunches at the foothills as he watched the dragons with the meat and fish they had stolen from the humans' island clutched in their claws enter the great cave's entrances. Hopefully that was enough to satisfy the Queen's hunger.
Toothless couldn't help but notice that some of the dragons were missing. Maybe some of them ended up being killed by the humans during the fight.
He felt a little guilty for not being able to protect all the dragons even if he was aware that he wouldn't be able to do it. After all, despite his strength and powers, a single Night Fury was no match against hundreds of two-legged humans.
Confident that the Queen would sleep soundly tonight, Toothless walked in a circle, exhaling flames on the ground. Batting the sparks under his feet, he laid down and closed his eyes.