How to Be a Dragon Star 1

Chapter Sixteen - The Decision

"Well, I can finally show my face in public again!" Stoick exclaimed. The watching crowd roared with delight and excitement. Everyone was restless and chattering. There was T minus two minutes until the final began. Hiccup hadn't been able to escape his father, so now he was waiting, just behind the gate of the arena. No one was watching him. He listened to his father's speech, his stomach full of squirming worms and fluttering dragon wings.

"Now," Stoick continued. "If someone had told me that in a few short weeks, Hiccup would go from, well, being Hiccup—" He had to pause here as the crowd cheered again— "to placing first in Dragon Training...? I would have tied him to a mast and shipped him off, for fear he'd gone mad!"

Quite the pep talk, Hiccup thought, squeezing the horns of his helmet so tight his knuckles bleached white.

"And you know it!" Stoick cried, pausing again while the crowd died down.

"But here we are," Stoick said, much quieter now. "And no one is more surprised or more proud than I am." With passion and strength, he continued, "Today my boy becomes a viking. Today he becomes one of us!"

Hiccup squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the excited cheering of the crowd.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up. Estrella stood in front of him, in human form. Her green eyes were wet and scared. He tried to smile reassuringly but it came out as a grimace.

She didn't speak, just stood with him, her hand now by her side. Hiccup realized they had never had physical contact before today. He watched his hand rise up and take hers, but didn't feel it until their skin touched.

"Estrella," he whispered. "Thank you."

She shook her head. "No, thank you, Hiccup."

"For what?" Hiccup asked. "What have I done to make your life better?"

"You gave me hope," she answered simply. "You gave me hope of a better world. Of a better tomorrow; a better relationship between humans and dragons."

"I just have to show them that," Hiccup said, looking over at the vikings filling into the stands outside the arena's protective covering.

Hiccup heard footsteps. He turned back to see Astrid, whose eyes flicked to Hiccup, to Estrella, to their hands, and back to Estrella. "Gobber's coming," the girl said, her tone guarded.

Estrella nodded. She gave one last meaningful look at Hiccup; a look that held a thousand words. Then, she morphed, and flapped into the sky to take her perch on top of the arena.

Astrid approached Hiccup. "Be careful with that dragon, Hiccup," she warned, like he would walk straight up to it and give himself over.

"It's not the dragon I'm worried about," Hiccup said. "I can handle whatever it does, in theory." He watched Stoick take a seat in the chief's throne. "I'm worried about my dad's reaction."

Astrid didn't answer for a moment. Finally she asked, "What are you going to do?"

"Put an end to this," Hiccup said, gesturing to the arena. To the claw scratches and dried blood lining its walls. To the untold pain and long-forgotten deaths of countless dragons. "I have to try." Before she could speak, he pressed onward. "Astrid, if something... goes wrong... promise me they won't find Toothless and Estrella."

"I promise," Astrid vowed, "but in return... promise me it won't go wrong."

Before Hiccup could answer, Gobber clapped a hand on Hiccup's shoulder. "It's time, Hiccup."

Astrid backed away a few steps, but didn't go to take a seat in the stands. Gobber eyed her for a second before turning back. He flung the gate upward and it recoiled into its holder. "Knock 'im dead," Gobber said with relish as Hiccup entered the arena, placing his helmet tentatively on his head as he did so. He heard Gobber yank the gate back down, sealing him inside.