Venomous Veins

Chapter 7

Once the coast was clear, Hiccup was back at the blacksmiths, creating a saddle for Toothless. He took small sharp objects and a hammer to the leather strap, poking small holes along it. As soon as he was done, he showed it to Toothless. Venom instantly found amusement to this.

"You can not be serious. Are you seriously gonna let him put that on you?" Venom asked his brother, trying to hold in his laughter. Toothless lowered his head to the ground and wagged his tail. It looked like he was considering it. Then he said, "Too slow," and ran away with Hiccup running after him, holding the saddle above his head.

Venom actually laughed at the scene taking place before him, sitting down on a nearby boulder. It's been a while since he's seen something as funny as this.

It took a while, but Hiccup eventually got the saddle on Toothless. Up in the air, he had a rope tied to the prosthetic tail of his dragon to pull it open when needed. He pulled the ropes, and the tail pulled the opposite way as intended, sending the teen off the dragon.

"Aaaaaaand, another failed attempt." Venom sighed to himself as the two crash landed. Venom thought it was quite clear that they need to work together if they wanted to make this work, man and dragon to become one.

To make some improvements, Hiccup removed his vest himself with cross traps. He then added straps to his hip so that he wouldn't fall off Toothless.

Next flight, Hiccup tied the rope to his feet. It had too much slack, though. He pulled but the tail didn't open. Toothless lost balance in the air and fell to the ground, the momentum sending the Hiccup flying off. He stumbled a few steps forward in the tall, light green grass to catch his balance. They fell right passed Venom, who was eating held fish that he caught in his paws moments ago. He had an emotionalist look on his face as he stared at the fish.

"You guys are doing great." Venom said before he threw the fish into his mouth. However, his eyes widened and sniffed the air. "Hey, is that dragon-nip? Save me some!"

Hiccup turned to see both Toothless and Venom rolling in the dragon like overgrown dogs. Hiccup picked up a piece of the grass with a smile on his face.

A Gronkle knocked Astrid across the arena. The dragon caught a glimpse of Hiccup and charged at him. Hiccup's eyes grew wide, and he shut them tightly, thrusting out his hand, holding the dragon-nip in it. Suddenly, the dragon skidded to a stop, sniffing at the dragon-nip happily. It then rolled over on its side as Hiccup stroked the grass close to its nose.

After training, the others gathered around Hiccup while crossing, smiling and curious. Each of them asked question after question. Hiccup stepped back, pointing behind himself. "I left my axe back in the ring," he lied. "You guys go on ahead. I'll catch up with you," he called back at them before leaving, nearly running into Astrid.

Hiccup scratched Toothless and Venom around their heads. As he came to their chins, they both fell to the ground instantly with a single breath. Hiccup held up his hands, smiling at them. Hiccup turned around and began to step forward, still smiling at his hands.

In the arena, a Nadder fired at one of the teens, then came running at Hiccup. He hesitated a moment, then dropped his sword. The dragon stopped and looked at it. He heard Astrid yelling and saw her running with her axe at the ready. Quickly, Hiccup scratched the side of the Nadder's head, then under its chin. Just as expected, it fell to the ground instantly, leaving a surprised Astrid with her axe still raised in the air.

That night at dinner, Hiccup sat at his regular, distant table, his usual spot, but when Hiccup sat down, everyone immediately swarmed around him to get a seat near him. Except for Astrid of course. She slammed her cup on the table, looking away from them with a furious look on her face.

At the cove, Toothless and Venom pouncing on a small dot. It came from Hiccup, who was using the sunlight to shine on a small glass object. He smiled seeing the two of the most feared dragons chasing a small light like two giant cats.

"Meet the Terrible Terror," Gobber announced as a small, green dragon crawled out of its cage.

Tuffnut only laughed. "That thing's the size of my—" The Terror dove at him, taking him down to the ground as it began chewing on his nose. Hiccup angled his shield so the light reflected off the center onto the dragon's face.

Once it caught sight of the shimmering dot, it followed it off Tuffnut, who crawled away crying, "Oh, I'm hurt! I am very much hurt!" Hiccup led it away back through its door and into its cage. "Wow, he's better than you ever were," Tuff said to Astrid, which earned him a sharp glare from her, as Hiccup closed the door with his foot.

Back to the woods, Astrid threw her axe from tree to tree, practicing to be better. She stopped when she was getting ready to toss her weapon at another poor defenseless tree and saw Hiccup with equipment in his arms. He was shocked at first before continuing on as if she wasn't there. Astrid climbed on top of a boulder, spotting for Hiccup, but found nothing but trees. Frowning, she pounded her fist on the boulder in frustration.

As Hiccup came to the cove, Hiccup added pedals to either side of Toothless' saddle, the corresponding sides attaching to their prosthetic tails. Venom looked over it, smiling at his brother.

"This guy just doesn't know when to quit, does he? Ow!" Toothless whacked him on the head with his tail in response. Venom glared at him as he rubbed his head.

Hiccup took his little flying lesson up to the top of a hill where the wind blew strong. It picked Toothless up off the floor, but he was still tied to the ground, where the wind had only lifted them a few feet. Hiccup pushed the pedals down, opening the tail, and the wind stopped. He drew down the position on a cheat sheet. Another gust of wind picked Toothless up once more, except this one was strong enough to snap the rope tying them to the ground. Venom dodged just in time to the side with no effort as they passed him. Thankfully, one of Hiccup's straps had kept hold this time. Or more, it had gotten stuck. Toothless rolled over, picking Hiccup up as he did. Venom stood over them with his height and bellowed a chuckle.

"I could watch this all day." Venom said.

As the night rolled around, Hiccup snuck Toothless into Berk. Venom stayed behind as he thought he might create too much noise to be spotted easily due to his massive size. Sure he blended into the night very well, but noise was a dead giveaway. As Hiccup snuck through, a man walked by, and Hiccup leaned against a wall casually. He greeted him with a simple, "Hiccup."

Hiccup waved and waited for the light to get at a comfortable distance before letting Toothless step out of the shadows. He pulled Hiccup to turn, and he pulled Toothless in the right direction. He took him inside the blacksmiths, and Toothless sniffed at a bucket, then flung it off his nose when it got stuck.

"Hiccup?" Astrid's voice came from outside. The duo froze. "Are you in there?"

Instantly, Hiccup bursted from the blacksmiths. On his way out, Hiccup covered his cross straps with his apron and climbed out a window, closing it behind him. "Hey, hi, Astrid," he greeted nervously.

"I normally don't care what people do, but you're acting weird," she said. At that moment, Toothless chose to pull at Hiccup.

"Well, weirder," Astrid corrected herself. Before she could say anything else, Toothless pulled Hiccup up through the closed window and back inside. Astrid quickly opened the windows to see no one. Hiccup rode off on Toothless' back, and he jumped just in time before anyone saw.