Lèse-majesté

Part 16

Chapter 15

"Uhm...." Snotlout fumbled while answering the question as the Nightfury made full use of its body weight to crush and cuddle Hiccup. Gobber meanwhile, casually lit several lamps in the forge as if all of this was a normal occurrence.

"A little help here guys!" Hiccup groaned.

"You reap what you sow Hiccup. This is what ya get when you have a Nightfury and go out on your own," Gobber muttered.

"Yeah, that's right!" Snotlout then said. "If I left Hookfang alone for so many days I'd be barbeque!"

"Snotlout you'd be barbeque either way!" Hiccup said as he finally managed to extricate himself. "Hookfang loves setting you on fire."

"Can't argue with that logic," Gobber hummed as he placed an oil lamp on a rickety wooden table.

"That was one time! ONE TIME!" Snotlout exclaimed as he came down the rest of the steps.

"Snotlout, that was three times on the day I left," Hiccup deadpanned.

"Besides..." Snotlout said, totally ignoring Hiccup's statement. "I just spent an hour clutched to the back of your Nightfury as he was going at an insane speed! How do you even do it?! I couldn't breathe! I think I swallowed a few bugs! We even went right through a freaking storm!"

"That's not so bad," Hiccup mumbled as he sat down.

"NOT SO BAD? NOT SO BAD?! WE NEARLY GOT HIT BY LIGHTNING! TWICE!" Hiccup's cousin uttered frantically. "I now wholly appreciate Hookfang's laziness in stormy weather. YOU AND YOUR DRAGON ARE INSANE!"

"Toothless bud, you shouldn't have come," Hiccup said as he stroked the dragon's head, ignoring his cousin's outburst mostly. Toothless had curled up around the stool Hiccup was using and batted the back of his head with his tail to get some attention.

"The Lightfury isn't exactly why we came here...." Snotlout confessed which caused Hiccup to still in his ministrations and look at him perplexed.

"It's not?"

"Well, you see...." Snotlout nervously chuckled. "Uhm...."

"Snotlout spit it out already!"

"Okay okay! Soooo there might have been a little spat in one of the Nadder colonies." Snotlout uttered. "We went to investigate and found that one of the dragons had left the island. Apparently, they didn't accept the advances of one of the males during breeding season and were chased off."

"Don't tell me it's THAT Nadder..." Hiccup grumbled.

"Uhm..." Snotlout muttered.

"I knew it! I just knew it. Bucket shouldn't have been so hasty with introducing them into the general population." Hiccup frowned.

"I'm a bit confused here." Gobber said as he scratched the back of his head with his prosthetic.

"Remember when I hurt my hand?" Hiccup questioned, holding up his left hand to emphasise, and Gobber nodded. "Right, well that happened when we found a rogue Nadder nest. It was in the territory the Changewings suddenly claimed. Only one of the Nadder babies survived and they were extremely confrontational. Nadders are proud and prim dragons by nature but this was a bit more violent case. So we took her in, intending to release her to one of the colonies once we slowly introduced her to her new environment."

"You're thinking she wasn't adapted enough?" Gobber then asked.

Hiccup nodded and then sighed. "Male Nadders are proud creatures. Especially during mating season. They take pride in being able to snag several mates. If the female doesn't accept any advances violence ensues and they may be chased out."