Arne: The Scalding Rider

Chapter 3

Ever since the Scauldron incident, I have had amazing luck fishing. Waking up and going out early in the morning, catching a big haul, and selling it to my customers. Looks like that pesky scauldron was the problem. I was feeling a bit more confident in life and I couldn't wait for dragon training as it was going to start again the next week. If I were being honest, however, I just wanted to see Signe... In action! Not just because I had a crush on her. While in my free time, I went into the arena and trained a bit with the wooden swords and spears they had on hand. Unfortunately, I never saw Signe come in, perhaps she came in at other times or went through some sort of ritual to prepare for another round of dragon training.

A few days before dragon training, I remembered that Hiccup had visited me, wanting to hang out, so I went to repay the favor. Maybe we could look for trolls, I had been missing a few left socks and was meaning to get them back.

I knocked on his door and instead of Hiccup, I was looking at the stoic chief who probably hadn't had his breakfast.

"Hello Chief Stoick, is Hiccup around?"

"He was, though not anymore. He told me he was going to the shop to work on something, but he never clarified."

"Alright, thanks Chief!" I smiled and as I began to walk off his porch, he called to me.

"Arne?"

"Yes, Chief?"

"That smile suits you, you should wear it more often,"

I kept my smile and happily walked to Gobber's shop, to my surprise, the peg-legged viking wasn't in there. I suppose he was out preparing for the training sessions.

"Hiccup?" I called out.

"Be with you in a minute!" He answered like I was just a customer. Almost immediately a grapple was flying to my face, barely giving me time to duck for cover.

"Hey, watch it!" I warned him.

"So sorry about that." He apologized as he walked up to the service table "Oh, hey Arne, finally taking in the sun's rays? What can come through anyway."

"Yeah maybe a bit- wait a minute, did you throw that!?"

"Not me, no, I had something else to throw it for me."

I gave him a blank stare "Huh?"

"Come in, I'll show you." He opened the door to the shop and gestured to the back. The whole contraption looked like a small catapult on a cart. "The calibrations are extremely sensitive, I must have touched it in the wrong way and it shot out a grapple."

"I see.. May want to point that in a different direction, away from your potential customer. You could knock someone out, what if that happens in a raid?"

"Hopefully it doesn't. Maybe you can help me work on it?"

"Sure, what do you need me to do?"

"First of all, pass me that wrench," he gestured to the wall of tools. "There's a screw that's gotten loose, that could be the problem with it."

As I passed him the tool I began to ask questions, away from the front of the catapult. Who knows if he put in an extra surprise there. "What do you plan on catching with that thing anyway?"

"Oh, pretty much anything, even a terrible terror. As long as it gets me a date, preferably Astrid."

"With all the wrong marks you made, you really think Astrid would be into you? I think even Snotlout would have a better shot." I joked.