The Black Sphere Chapter 6

Hiccup had had a night and a few hours of morning to adjust to the fact that he had become human again. Now, ready or not, he had to face his first trial of the day... and it wasn't a minor one. A ship from the Lava-Louts was approaching the docks. It surely bore Chief Lunklunk on a mission of threats and aggravation, and he would want to talk to the chief of Berk about his list of non-negotiable demands. Two dragons, sent out by Full-of-surprises to keep human ships away from the island, belatedly saw the ship and flew up behind it, but saw no panic on the shore and didn't fire.

"I think I could use a little intimidation power," Hiccup thought out loud. "I kind of got used to being intimidating all by myself. Can you guys come to the docks with me?" He was speaking to the four Night Furies – Toothless, Lady-night-fury, Night-fury-cave-flyer, and his daughter Night-fury-six-shooter – who were making sure he was getting through his new existence as a human without either hurting himself or getting hurt by someone bigger than him, which meant nearly every Viking on the island of Berk.

THIS CHIEF LUNKLUNK IS
A TYPICAL VIKING?

That was Lady-night-fury writing in the dirt. "Yeah, he's typical," Hiccup sighed in reply. "He's stubborn, he's arrogant, he always has to be right, and he'd rather bluster and make threats than disgrace himself by carrying on a polite conversation."

She translated his words for her mate. Toothless rolled his eyes and growled, "Sometimes I wonder how a group like the Vikings ever produced an individual like Hiccup."

"They produced me, too," she reminded him.

"Yes, they did, didn't they?" he smiled. "But you learned humility from the injuries you endured. What kept Hiccup from turning out like all the other Vikings?"

"I was about to say it was his own sheer stubbornness," Lady-night-fury answered, "but that would be a contradiction, wouldn't it?"

"Humanity is full of contradictions," Toothless decided. "Maybe you're right. Anyway, let's go act threatening so this Viking chief won't run roughshod over our friend in his time of need."

Cave-flyer was puzzled. "I thought the dragons from our nest didn't like to get involved in Berk's problems."

"The two of us will always get involved in Hiccup's problems, no matter what the rest of the nest does," Toothless said firmly. "We're always there for each other. That's what friends do." The four Night Furies followed the human down the ramps to the docks, where they waited for the Lava-Lout ship to tie up.

Chief Lunklunk climbed over the gunwales in the middle of being grandly introduced by a subordinate. He stared at the welcoming committee. "Four of you this time? You all look alike to me. Which one of you is the chief?" he demanded.

"I am," Hiccup said bravely.

"No, not you, boy! I know you translate the dragon noises, but which dragon is the real chief?"

In Forge, Hiccup growled, "He not remember what Rangi look like, he not remember what chief-dragon look like."

"You remind him, Dad," Six suggested firmly.

"What if he not believe you?" Lady-night-fury asked.

"That his problem, not ours," Hiccup decided. In Norse, he said, "I'm telling you, I am Hiccup, son of Stoick and the rightful chief of Berk Island. What can I do for you?"

"You're Hiccup?" the Lava-Lout chief demanded. "You look like a hiccup, but you don't look a bit like a chief. How am I supposed to know if you're telling me the truth? What happened to the dragon chief?"

Hiccup threw up his hands. "There's no pleasing you, Lunklunk! When I was a dragon, you didn't like it. Now that I'm human again, you don't like that, either. What am I supposed to be? Maybe I should turn into a codfish so you'll finally approve of me!"

Cave-flyer started to say, "I approve of codfish; they're delicious," but her father silenced her with a quick tail-slap on her flank.

"Speaking of turning into things," Lunklunk went on, "I have a complaint against you, assuming that you're really the chief. I want my black sphere back! One of your people stole it from my island, so you're responsible for helping me get it back."

"I tell you truthfully," Hiccup said, "I have no idea where it is, and I don't know where the alleged thief is, either."

"What a useless chief you are!" Lunklunk burst out. "To me, being chief means nothing happens on my island without me finding out about it."

"Yeah, well, I had a rough night last night," Hiccup shot back, "and I'm still playing catch-up. Anyway, I don't know where your magic s–"

"Shh!" the Lava-Lout chief hissed. "Don't say the 'm' word! I don't want my ship's crew to know what that black sphere is for!"

"Then you'd better turn around and go home," Hiccup decided, "or I'll say the 'm' word three ways: loud, long, and repeatedly!"

"You wouldn't dare!" Lunklunk roared. "I forbid it!"

"My island, my rules," Hiccup answered mildly. "You can't forbid me anything when we're on Berk. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't tell your men what that black sphere is used for."

"Return my stolen property, so-called Chief," Lunklunk threatened, "or I'll take this matter straight to the Law-Speaker! What do you think he'll say about you hiding stolen property?"

"I think he'll want to know more about why you're practicing seidr on your thralls," Hiccup said easily. "So go ahead! Take it to the Law-Speaker and see what happens. I think it might be very entertaining." Six mumbled something in Forge, which inspired Hiccup to add, "In fact, I might take this matter to the other tribes myself! The Berserkers didn't like the idea of Berk using dragons to do our fighting; what do you think they'll say about your black sphere?"

"Okay, forget about that for the moment." Lunklunk quickly changed the subject. "I'm also here to reclaim my thrall, who got taken away by a dragon that must have come from this island. I want him back... again. I've got the law and tradition on my side when it comes to runaway thralls, and you know it."

"I do know it," Hiccup said mildly. "What I don't know is where your thrall is. I haven't seen him since I returned to Berk. I have no way of knowing where he is, or if he's even here."

"Of course he's here!" Lunklunk roared. "Where else would he be?"

"If he was smart," Hiccup countered, "then he'd run away to some other tribe so he'd stay one step ahead of you. He'd know that Berk is the first place you'd come looking for him, so Berk is the last place he'd want to stay."

"Fine," Lunklunk grunted. "If you don't know where he is, but you admit that he's my property, then you'll have no objections if I bring out Little Sniffer again?" He gestured toward the box in his ship that held the orange Terrible Terror.

"I have no objections at all," Hiccup said. Lunklunk stared; he wasn't expecting that answer. Hiccup went on, "Of course, if your dragon is going to track down your thrall, then he'll need a scent trail to follow."

"Duh!" the Lava-Lout chief scoffed. "Tell me something I don't know!"

"I could tell you lots of things you don't know," Hiccup smiled, "but the most important thing is where your thrall's scent trail starts. He was carried off by a dragon, so that dragon could have put him down anywhere on this island, or on some other island. The chances that he landed on these docks are pretty slim, wouldn't you agree?"

"It's a place to start," Lunklunk scowled.

"All you'll find here is the scent trail he left the last time, when he came by boat," Hiccup continued. "That will lead you straight to the hiding place he used last time."

"He might have gone back there again," Lunklunk said defensively.

"Want to bet a few silver coins on that?" Hiccup grinned. "No, make that gold coins. If you're foolish enough to take a bet like that, then you deserve to lose a fortune."

Chief Lunklunk snapped. "I have had it with your insolence, boy!" he bellowed, balled up his fists, took three strides toward Hiccup... then took five steps back as Toothless and Six stepped up next to the human chief, teeth bared and claws spread. Toothless added a vicious-sounding snarl to the mix. Lady-night-fury and Cave-flyer couldn't fit next to the others because the docks were too narrow, so they reared up on their hind legs so Lunklunk could see their bared teeth too.

"Dragons are the bodyguard of a coward," the Lava-Lout chief trembled, trying to sound brave as he cowered behind one of his guards. "If you were a real Viking like me, you'd keep Vikings by your side."

"I prefer to deal with dragons," Hiccup shrugged. "They're a lot more reasonable than Vikings are. As long as they don't get too hungry, of course." Lady-night-fury licked her chops upon hearing that, which didn't help Lunklunk relax at all.

"I'm going to ask you one more time, boy: where is my sphere, and where is my thrall?" he demanded, staying close to his ship for security.

"I'm going to answer you one more time: I don't know, and I don't know," Hiccup replied mildly.

"As a chief, you're useless," Lunklunk snapped.

"They used to call me that all the time around here," Hiccup said, stifling a yawn. "Can't you think of something original to call me?"

"I'm amazed that this tribe hasn't deposed you and replaced you with a real Viking," the Lava-Lout went on.

"To be honest, you're probably going to get your wish tonight," Hiccup shrugged. "If you come back tomorrow, you'll most likely have to deal with Spitelout instead of me. Of course, he has even less of a clue where your thrall is hiding, he hates seidr a lot more than I do, and he'll probably challenge you to a hólmgang duel if you insult him the way you keep insulting me. Maybe you should be glad I'm in charge, at least for today."

"One thing is for sure: I have had enough of you!" Lunklunk retorted as he climbed back into his ship. "I probably won't be back tomorrow; I have work to do and a tribe to run. But this matter isn't over, Hiccup of Berk! I will have my black sphere back, I will have my thrall back, and I will have my revenge for your disrespectful attitude!" He turned to the Vikings in his ship and ordered, "Cast off! Take us home!" His men hastened to obey.

Hiccup turned to his black-scaled companions. "I guess he doesn't like my attitude."

Toothless let out an angry triple snarl, which Lady-night-fury translated as, "I would tear his attitude to pieces and feed it to fish if I could!"

Six added her own comment. "After he is miles at sea, can I burn his sail?"

"I want burn his rudder," Cave-flyer added viciously.

"I want burn his afturendi," Lady-night-fury said. Both Hiccup and Cave-flyer did double-takes at her uncharacteristically violent threat. She went on, "But no one burn anything. Most Night Furies live on Berk, so Lunklunk will blame Hiccup if any Night Fury harms him."

"Yeah, you're right," Hiccup nodded. "Thanks for thinking of me, though." Then he grinned wickedly. "Of course, if one of you dove on his ship at night without firing, he'd hear you coming and panic, but he'd have nothing real to complain about."

Lady-night-fury translated that to Toothless, who grinned even more wickedly. "We'll get all the Night Furies together," Toothless decided. "We'll make dry dives on that Viking's ship, one at a time, every fifteen minutes or so, all night long! If Hiccup had a bad night, this Chief Lunklunk is going to have an even worse one." They didn't translate this for Hiccup. If he didn't know about it, then he could honestly plead ignorance and stay out of trouble. They jumped up and flew toward the Nest so they could get Full-of-surprises on board with their plan, leaving Hiccup alone on the docks. He watched to make sure that the Lava-Louts didn't turn and come back to those docks, then made his way up the ramps to the town. Climbing those steep ramps was hard for someone who hadn't done much walking on his hind legs in the past six years; his leg muscles were aching and he was puffing by the time he reached ground level. He found Faithful-brother waiting for him there.

"Is it your turn to help keep me out of trouble?" Hiccup asked amiably. The Night Fury nodded "yes."

"Great. I don't have any special plans for today, aside from waiting until my twelve hours are up, to see if I'll turn back into a dragon without any help. But the village always comes up with stuff for me to do and decisions for me to make, so I can't sit around all day looking impressive." The dragon tried vainly to stifle a snort. "Yeah, that does sound ridiculous, doesn't it? Me, as a human? Impressive? Maybe I'll ask you to take me flying if the Vikings make too many demands on me. It'll be weird, relying on someone else's wings instead of my own, but I have a feeling I'm going to have to get off the ground or I'll go crazy." Faithful-brother nodded in agreement.

The morning passed far too slowly for Hiccup. They had used the black sphere on the Lava-Lout thralls at about one o'clock in the morning, so the spell, if it was temporary, should wear off around one o'clock in the afternoon, according to the thrall named Leiðtoga. Hiccup did everything he could think of to keep busy and keep his mind off the slow passage of time. He visited the docks as the late-returning fishing boats arrived, and asked their captains how the fish were running and if they'd seen any ships from other tribes. He made sure that the Mead Hall had enough food for the day's meals. He checked on the tribe's young people and made sure they were either doing chores or playing a game that wasn't likely to destroy anything. He ate his first meals as a human in six years, and carefully relearned how to chew his food without biting his tongue. He slowly became more comfortable with walking on two legs and speaking a language that was light on overtones, but heavy on consonants. And, in accordance with his own prediction, he rode Faithful-brother into the sky for a few minutes. It felt good to get off the ground. But it felt totally wrong that he couldn't do it without help.

At one point, he decided that he ought to look more like a chief. He couldn't do much about his build, but his clothing could certainly be improved. He found the silver cloak clasps he'd worn to the Thing, and dug through his late father's things until he found a fur cape. But it was a Stoick-sized cape, not a Hiccup-sized cape. If he tried to wear it normally, it dragged on the ground behind him. That did nothing for his dignity. If he doubled it, it was far too heavy; the weight of the cape behind him pulled up the front of his tunic. That was even worse. He didn't feel right about cutting it in half; after all, it had belonged to his father. He finally resorted to using his childhood fur blanket as a cape, and hoping that no one recognized it for what it was.

At last, he glanced at the position of the sun in the sky, glanced at his hands, shrugged his shoulders to see if wings were there, and forced himself to admit that he wasn't going to turn back into a dragon. At that point, he just wandered away and disappeared. No one knew where their chief had gone. At last, Varinn resorted to asking the Night Furies to look for him.

"We spread out, we find him," Full-of-surprises promised. All the adults spread out, some flying low to see him more easily, some flying high to locate him faster. Astrid didn't have to search; she knew exactly where to look for him. As she flew, she noticed Toothless headed in the same direction.

"The cove?" she asked.

"Where else?" Toothless responded.

"Would it be all right if I handled him?" she asked him. "After all, he's my mate."

"Yes, he is, but he's also the closest friend I've ever had, and I'm very worried about him," Toothless replied. "Even if I can't talk to him, I need to be sure he's all right."

She shrugged. "Together, then." They spiraled down and found him right where they'd expected, in the cove. He was squatting beside the water, looking at nothing, looking very dejected. He barely glanced at them as they landed beside him.

"What am I going to do?" he asked without looking at either of them.

"You still better chief for Berk than anyone else," she told him. "Just because you human now, does not mean you useless, no matter what useless Lava-Lout chief says."

"But what good is that if I can't fly?" he burst out. "What good is it if I can't talk to Toothless anymore? What good is it if you and I can't fly together and make baby Night Furies together? If you gave me a tail-smack now, you'd send me flying right out of this cove!"

"If I do that, at least you fly again, sort of," she tried to comfort him.

"I'd also have to deal with multiple fractures," he sighed. "Your little love taps could literally kill me." He skipped a rock across the water.

Toothless snarled and groaned; Astrid translated. "He says, 'Didn't you ever wonder what it would be like to turn human again?' "

"No, I didn't," Hiccup said firmly. "I was completely comfortable in my scaly skin. Ever since I learned how to fly, the one thing I feared the most was becoming human again. Now that I'm relearning what it's like to be human, am I supposed to like it this way? After all those years of being a dragon, I've got my old body back... and I hate every inch of it! And I seem to be stuck in it." He paused. "Maybe Thing One or Thing Two would be willing to use their Power to change me back."

Toothless crooned and grunted. "Bad idea," Astrid translated. "We not understand how black-ball magic works against dragon Power. Maybe they change you back, maybe they make you explode. We not let you risk that."

"Do I have any say in my own destiny?" he demanded. "Compared to being Hiccup the Useless again, maybe exploding wouldn't be so bad."

"No! I not want lose you!"

"But you already have lost me, Astrid! I can't fly with you, I can't wrap a wing around you, I can't go fishing early in the morning when it's just you and me, I can't... I can't do any of the things we love to do together! I can't do anything with you at all!" For the first time, he stared straight at her. "Look me in the eye, Astrid, and tell me that you could love this face."

"I love Hiccup. Your face not matter."

For a moment, he just stared at her. Then he flung his arms around her thick black neck, and the tears burst out and he couldn't stop them. They stood silently and let him cry; they knew he was going through something they couldn't personally understand. Was his hatred of his human body comparable to Astrid's own hatred of her Night Fury body when she'd first been transformed? If so, what would it take to help him adjust? After a minute, Toothless nudged him with his nose and let out a soft, sad croon. It was all he could do.

At last, Hiccup let go, dried his eyes with his sleeve, and asked, "Astrid, Toothless, I can't live like this. What am I going to do?"

"I not know," she admitted. "But maybe there is something I can do. Should I ask Rangi to use black ball, make me human so I can stay with you?"