𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐙𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐆𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐘 ( 𝐬𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐣𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧 )

Chapter Six

        The Monstrous Nightmare had come out with a furious shriek and burst into flames, covering its entire gigantic body before crawling up the stone wall of the arena, shooting out a column of fire into the audience that had seen enough of these dragon fights to know how to move swiftly to avoid being burnt alive. Everyone immediately tensed, prepared to do whatever they had to, even if they knew the dragon couldn't get to them without its fire, despite the fact that for a Monstrous Nightmare, its heat was its main power. The thing was still trapped, unable to leave, before its dangerous sight turned onto the small figure standing there in the centre of the pit. The fire on its body died out as it dropped to the concrete ground, and if anything, Sage swore it looked even bigger compared to the tiny Hiccup Haddock standing in front of it.
This was it, she thought. She was going to watch her best friend be burned alive, she was going to watch as this dragon killed him, and Stoick would be without a son and Berk without an heir. She didn't want to see it, yet couldn't tear her eyes away, instead tightening her hold on Tryggr's hand and simply watching with baited breath, wondering how Hiccup was going to best this one. Smoke escaped the Monstrous Nightmare's nostrils, its eyes locked on the boy as he moved closer, its approach slow as it eyed its possible prey. People were still cheering, yelling, screaming encouragement for the teenager to kill the beast, but Hiccup only backed up a few steps, a look of determination replacing the nerves that had been there before the dragon was before him. It was as if seeing the monster before him calmed him, enough to do what he decided to do next. She knew she wasn't the only one confused when Hiccup dropped his needed shield and dagger, the two things he'd most definitely need to go against the dragon, before he held his hands out in front of him.
"What in Thor's name is that lad doing?" Ivar asked from beside her, his brows furrowed. "Is he mad?"
"Debatable," Tryggr mumbled.
"What is he doing?" From a few feet away, Stoick sat in the chief's chair, wearing the same expression as everyone else.
"It's okay, it's okay." Hiccup was saying before he took a deep breath and then took off his helmet, throwing it to the ground beside him, keeping his attention locked on the Monstrous Nightmare. "I'm not one of them."
Stoick shook his head, speaking slowly. "Stop the fight."
"No! I need you all to see this!" He insisted and to Sage's shock, watched as he neared the deadly dragon, his hand inches from the snout. The Nightmare was looking at him, but didn't seem to mind his calm approach, trusting him to do so. Sage had never seen anything like it. It had even stopped growling, its eyes beginning to close almost, in preparation to be petted. "They're not what we think they are. We don't have to kill them."
"I said stop the fight!" The hammer Stoick was known to carry with him slammed against the bars surrounding the arena, denting the metal.
Everything fell apart after that.
Startled, the dragon's eyes snapped open and narrowed back into slits, its jaw widening and Hiccup was just able to move away fast enough to avoid having his arm bitten straight off. With a yelp, Hiccup stumbled away from the Monstrous Nightmare without his shield, knife or anything to protect himself with, rushing away as the dragon began to chase him down, screeching as it did. The boy was barely able to avoid the shot of fire the dragon had burst in his direction. Everyone was gasping and standing. With a cry of shock and horror, Sage jumped to her feet and was able to pass a considerable amount of the crowd before she felt a hand grasp around her wrist, stopping her.
"Let me go!"
"Sage!" Her father exclaimed in desperation, refusing to let her go. "You can't go running in there!"
"Hiccup needs help!"
"You'll die right alongside him!"
Still she struggled, even as Astrid was able to get into the arena to try and help Hiccup, who hadn't been able to grab a shield when he ran past the weapon stand, and watched as the girl used her foot to hook an axe off the ground and then throw it with impressive accuracy. It hit the Monstrous Nightmare in the muzzle and it tripped over its own feet, chinning the ground and giving Hiccup enough time to put a little distance between them. But the dragon then shrieked at Astrid, making a run at her and suddenly it wasn't one teenager trapped in the ring with the very dangerous dragon, but two, as Astrid didn't have a weapon or shield on her either.
"No! Do something!" She tried to tell her dad but he kept his arms around her, while Sage struggled against him. She had no idea what she would do if she got into the arena, give them enough time to escape as the dragon ate her probably, but she couldn't just watch them die. She couldn't live with herself if she did. "Dad!" She wept, Astrid barely able to avoid the Nightmare's jaws a second time.
The gates opened with a mighty roar as Stoick revealed himself. "This way!" He told the terrified teens.
Astrid was the first to reach the exit, and Stoick, and Sage felt a stab of relief, knowing she would be safe at his side. Hiccup wasn't as fortunate, as the Nightmare burst a blast of fire towards the gate as the boy neared it and Hiccup had to change direction to avoid being burned. He wasn't able to get away. Sage cried out his name again, but she stopped struggling, simply remaining with her back against her father's chest. She couldn't do anything, even if her dad let her. The dragon was at Hiccup's tail, inches away from killing him, and it seemed as though the boy's years of fleeing from the bullies had finally paid off, as he ran for his life. He was faster than she had ever seen him. Stoick seemed prepared to rush inside once he grabbed onto his hammer.
Then there was a familiar shriek.
Everyone knew what that sound was, even Sage, despite the fact that she had never been allowed to join the raids when the dragons came. After all, that sound was all they knew about the dragon, as nobody had ever seen or known anything about them, just the entrance they would make before they disappeared just as quickly. A high pitched inhale reached their ears and Gobber was the first to cry out. "Night Fury!" He shouted. "Get down!"
The dragon that came with it burst a shot against the metal cage surrounding the arena, the metal that no other dragon could destroy with their flames, and it dented, and with a swift entrance, it disappeared into the smoke within the arena, having ignored the audience it had gone soaring past. All she managed to catch a glimpse of was a form of blackness, and then it was gone. But as her father's hold on her tightened to the point of painful, she watched as the dragon revealed itself again, this time as it fought fiercely against the Monstrous Nightmare, biting and clawing at its back to get it away from where it had been pinning Hiccup to the ground, rolling with it until it revealed itself fully from the smoke, showing itself to the stunned vikings standing amongst the arena seats. The Night Fury kicked the other beast away and moved to stand in front of Hiccup, almost protectively, being a barrier to keep the threat away from the boy, throwing its wings up and screeching at the bigger dragon, as if warning it away. Sage couldn't believe what she was seeing. The Monstrous Nightmare released a pathetic cry before hurrying back into its cage.
That was when Hiccup moved.
"Alright, Toothless, I'm okay!" He hurried to his feet and rushed to the Night Fury, trying to push the dragon away from him. "You have to go! Go, get out of here!"
The village was growing angry, their loud cries of rage surrounding her before Sage felt herself being released and then her father was moving━━━as were so many others. Sage had no idea what to say or do, but it seemed everyone else did, as they jumped down into the ring and made a beeline for the boy and the dragon at his side. Her father was amongst them, but before Sage could make herself move, Tryggr had replaced his brother and had wrapped his arms around her, even if he did jump down into the arena, both standing and watching as bystanders. The Night Fury remained where he was, not leaving Hiccup's side, growling at the villagers as they neared, screaming for its head and others calling for it to be taken alive. Sage had never had any idea about how strong a Night Fury could be, just that it was considered to be one of the most dangerous of the dragons, but even the black beast couldn't take on so many furious people at once.
Amongst the chaos, Sage tried to keep her attention on Hiccup, she really did, but the crowd were soon surrounding them and all she could do was stare, unable to say or do a thing. She wanted to defend her best friend, to insist that whatever had happened had to have been for a reason, but she was too confused to understand what was going through Hiccup's mind. The Night Fury had defended him, protected him, and had saved him against the Monstrous Nightmare. Hiccup would've died otherwise, and she knew that with almost certainty. But that didn't change the fact that if this dragon had saved him, then that must mean he knew him. Hiccup had been hiding this dragon for whatever reason, and she felt a surge of anger at knowing he had betrayed the tribe for it. But it was still Hiccup. She had known him her whole life. The way he changed his opinion on dragons, his display of knowledge in the arena, it just confused her even further. Night Furies didn't protect people, they killed them! It was why vikings had never seen one before, because if you saw one, you died. It was like a bad omen. So what did it mean for Hiccup to have befriended one?
That was when Stoick all but claimed the attention of everyone that was watching the chaos, as within seconds of everyone trying to crowd the Night Fury, their chief had snatched up an oversized axe from the ground and gone charging towards the dragon, with his oversized form making it easy for everyone to get out of the way so he could have his go towards the the black reptile. With narrowed eyes, the Night Fury opened its mouth to screech, but that only fuelled Hiccup's apparent worry for the dragon and his father.
"No, Dad!" Hiccup cried out. "He won't hurt you!"
"Hiccup!" Sage finally managed to call, but she didn't resist Tryggr's hold on her. What would be the point?
The Night Fury had pulled out of the boy's grasp, getting free of him to meet the charging viking head on, knocking aside nearby men and women that were getting too close, knowing who the biggest threat was. Amongst those pushed to the side was Sage's father, who caught himself before he could fall on his own sword.
"No! Don't!" Berk's heir continued to try and stop the fight. "You're only making it worse!" With a battle-cry, Stoick rushed at the Night Fury and the dragon met it with a loud hiss, the two clashing together and they went tumbling back. They rolled for a moment before the dragon ended up on top, pinning Stoick the Vast and growling. "Toothless, stop!" The dragon named Toothless did not immediately listen and Sage swore she could see her chief's face pale in fear as the Night Fury's mouth opened with a purple glow within. "NOOOO!"
To her shock, Toothless stopped and his ears perked up, moving off Stoick as he turned to Hiccup, looking like a scolded pet. He'd done as the boy had wanted. Hiccup stood there, breathless and panting, but that was the moment the vikings took their chance. They moved together, with Spitelout slamming his hammer into the dragon's jaw while Ivar knocked him to the ground with the blunt side of his sword, forcing the Night Fury to the ground, pinning him down. Another man jumped onto the dragon's back to prevent it from getting up, another holding its face and stopping it from being able to move at all. Sage had never felt so bad for a dragon before. She had felt sorry for some of the oversized lizards, even if she knew she shouldn't, but Hiccup's Toothless could have killed Stoick and it didn't. It didn't, and only because it had listened to Hiccup. That didn't seem to matter to their chief, who only got to his feet and glared at the Night Fury with nothing but pure hatred.
"No, no, no!" Hiccup was being held back by Astrid as he cried for his dragon. "Please, don't hurt him! Don't hurt him!"
"Tryggr-" she began, unable to help the tears that filled her eyes at Hiccup's anguish, even Toothless's whimpers.
"I know." Her uncle surprised her as his hold became less of a grip and more of a form of comfort, his arms wrapping around her in a hug. "But we can't do anything, little bird."
No, they couldn't.
"Put it with the others!" Stoick ordered and the Night Fury only made a pathetic sound in Hiccup's direction as the father grabbed his son by the arm, and that seemed to be the end of it.
The second the dragon and the Haddocks were gone, Sage pulled free of her uncle and rushed to Astrid, who was staring at the spot that Hiccup had been in. "You knew, didn't you?" She demanded once she was close enough. She heard Fishlegs gasp from nearby, but fortunately Snotlout and the twins were no longer in the arena, following their parents. Astrid turned around to face her. "That's why you were so worried for Hiccup today."
"I found out yesterday, after he won against the Gronkle." She confessed, sounding defeated. Sage's anger at the secret disappeared. "You have no idea what we found out."
With her father distracted as one of the men guarding the Night Fury, presumably so anyway, Sage wasn't interrupted as Astrid told her and Fishlegs what happened when she discovered Hiccup with Toothless the day before. Astrid had always had a very violent hatred for dragons, just like nearly every other viking in Berk, so the fact that Hiccup changed her mind over one flight told Sage that maybe her instinct to listen to her belief in him was enough. Her heart was telling her that Hiccup was a good person, and the Night Fury seemed to care for him, and Astrid confirmed it. Fishlegs wondered about how Hiccup managed to keep the dragon concealed this whole time, but Toothless, as he was named by the boy, couldn't fly on his own. He had been knocked down by Hiccup, just as he had claimed, and had been hurt and lost his tailfin in the process. Sage was still lost in the revelation that Hiccup befriended a dragon at all, let alone the holy offspring of lightening and death itself, that she didn't hear Snotlout and the twins approach until Astrid was rolling her eyes.
"You knew?!" Snotlout gaped once Fishlegs revealed she was telling them about how she found out.
"Of course! That's why you were being friendly with Hiccup!" Tuffnut laughed. "Ruff said you had a crush on him!"
Astrid punched him in the shoulder and the boy went tumbling, with Ruffnut laughing. "I was shocked at first too, guys, okay? It isn't exactly something you just get over!"
"But you did get over it." Sage spoke up and they turned to her. "There's more to the story, isn't there?"
"What story?" Snotlout scoffed. "I just want to know why you knew and didn't say anything! I'm not surprised Useless betrayed us-"
"He's not useless!" With a growl of frustration, Sage stormed forward and slammed her hands against his chest, causing Snotlout to cry out and he fell backwards into the dirt. She didn't hesitate to climb on top of him and hold him down by gripping the front of his tunic, but not before shaking him, making sure he understood she meant business. "He's a better person than you will ever be! He didn't betray anyone! That Night Fury was protecting him! Do you think a dragon would ever do that for you, huh? Do you? Because I don't!"
"Sage!" Astrid grabbed her by the back of her vest and yanked her up, while the twins laughed. "Now is not the time!"
"Hiccup isn't a traitor." She hissed at Snotlout, who was looking at her with wide eyes, clearly not having expected her to attack him. "He gained a dragon's trust, and even Astrid did! That isn't some small thing!"
"Let alone riding one!" Fishlegs threw in, having been present during Astrid's story.
Ruffnut's eyes widened. "Holy Thor, seriously? He's riding it?"
"That's awesome." Tuffnut gaped with a wide smile. "Wow, is Hiccup....cool?"
"What about what the dragons have done to Berk?" Snotlout snapped.
"They don't have a choice." Astrid still sounded so tired, but there was a firmness to her tone now. "If they don't bring food back to their nest, they'd get eaten themselves."
"The nest?!" The other teens, Sage included, gaped.
"Yes." Astrid knew Hiccup would need their help, in whatever way he decided, so she knew she had to tell them everything. "And you're not going to believe what we saw."
An hour later, Sage was saying goodbye to her father and uncle.
"Don't go," she pleaded, her arms wrapped around her dad's middle, hating herself for begging for also being proud for herself for not crying. There were others saying their farewells at the docks, but they didn't know what she did, what Astrid had told her, and the fear was overpowering this time. She had already lost her mother, she couldn't know her dad was knowingly walking into a death trap. "You can't go, Dad-"
"We have to." He gave his brother a nod and Tryggr pressed a single kiss to his niece's head before heading towards the leading ship, as the men and women of Berk prepared to head to the nest. Her two favourite people were on the main vessel, where Toothless was locked up in the centre, right within sight. It would be the first to be destroyed, she knew that. "The Chief needs us."
"You don't understand. If Astrid and Hiccup are scared of that big dragon-"
"Little bird, Hiccup has told too many lies for me to believe anything he says." Ivar pulled back, pushing some of her hair from her face.
"But Astrid saw it too!"
"We'll be fine. We'll destroy the nest and this war with the dragons will finally be over."
"Or you'll get killed!"
"Then I'd have died for a worthy cause." He shook his head. "Stoick knows what he's doing, little bird. We trust our chief, that's what a good viking does."
Sage's eyes narrowed. "Hiccup will be chief someday. You should trust him too."
"Someday, I hope I can." He heard the docking bell from behind them and gave his daughter a kiss, with the looming presence of their chief passing by telling them that it was time to leave. "I love you, my Sage. I'll see you soon, alright?"
Sage wished she could believe that.
Every capable man and woman in Berk was leaving to go to the nest. They had been searching for it since their village was first built, for generations of their people, and Hiccup and Astrid had found it━━━thanks to Toothless. Only a dragon could find the nest, apparently, and Stoick was bringing the fight to them to prevent anymore raids. She knew Hiccup would've tried to talk his dad out of it, but as long as Stoick was going, then she knew her father and uncle would leave too. Tryggr didn't even believe that they should, she didn't have to say a word to him to know it. He saw the connection between Hiccup and the Night Fury just like she did. While Ivar saw a boy betraying Berk, she and her uncle saw something else. She needed to know that they would be coming back, because if that massive dragon in the volcano was as deadly and huge as Astrid had described, then....she had no idea what they would do. They'd lost people looking for the nest before, but this was something else. Everyone was going that was of age, even Finna and her mother, which meant if they all died then the only ones left on Berk would be the little ones, the old people, and, well, them. The teenagers, the ones that didn't even graduate dragon training. Hiccup would be chief, something he wasn't ready for. Sage had no idea what to do.
Watching the ships leave did nothing to the heavy weight on her shoulders and she swallowed the taste of vile vomit that threatened to come up, closing her eyes for a few moments before turning around and heading in the direction that she had last seen Astrid, hoping that that would be where she would find Hiccup, and sure enough, as she rounded the corner that would lead to the cliff-side overlooking the docks, she caught sight of the two teens, both just turning away from each other. She didn't even care that Astrid was the first person Hiccup told about Toothless (or found out about, as the blonde said she stumbled on them), despite the petty part of her wishing her best friend had confided in her. She couldn't afford to listen to the childish part of her. That didn't matter, because Hiccup had a reason for not telling her, for not wanting anyone to know. What he was afraid would happen, had happened. Toothless was taken from him, his dad didn't trust him, and his people were going to die. But when he and Astrid turned and started heading in her direction, he looked determined, like a man on a mission.
"What's the plan?" Was the first thing she asked. "What are we doing?"
Hiccup beamed at her. "We're going to save our parents."
Without telling the girls his plan, Hiccup told them to gather the other teens and without a word, they did. Sage expected Snotlout to make some rude remark when she told him to follow her, but to her surprise, he did so quietly, and she only had to look at him to know why. He was worried about his parents. Astrid had brought the twins and Fishlegs and they all stood in the arena, where Hiccup stood. Fishlegs nervously made a comment about the Gronkle, but overall it was clear that they all had no idea what was going on, just that Hiccup must have a plan. And that seemed to be enough, as Snotlout's cockiness returned. The twins didn't seem concerned at all, even if their mother and father were amongst the others. Tuffnut stepped forward and got in Hiccup's face.
"You were wise to seek help from the world's most deadly weapon." He leaned closer. "That's me."
"I love this plan!" Snotlout exclaimed, despite Hiccup not telling them what they were doing yet.
"I didn't-"
"You're crazy!" Ruffnut knocked Snotlout aside, purring. "I like that."
Sage rolled her eyes as Astrid grabbed Ruffnut by her braid and yanked her aside, smiling. "So? What is the plan?"
"The dragons." Hiccup shrugged, still smiling before he went to the cage holding the Monstrous Nightmare, opening it alongside the others.
"What is he doing?" His confidence disappeared as Snotlout looked to the dragons being released, the dragons they'd been fighting against days ago. "What is he doing?!"
"Just trust him." Sage scoffed.
"Trust him?!"
"Shut up, Snotlout." To her surprise, it was the twins that echoed this, both looking like Snoggletog had come early.
"Is he saying-?" Fishlegs began, his eyes wide.
"Yes. Yes, he is." Sage breathed out, trying to sound like she didn't think this was crazy.
"This plan is-" Astrid began, despite clearly believing in Hiccup.
"Awesome." Ruff and Tuff both exclaimed, delighted. "This plan is awesome!"
Swallowing thickly, Snotlout looked like he'd rather be anywhere else as Hiccup impressively led the large red dragon out of the pen, his hand on the snout, keeping the beast calm. Snotlout went to reach for the broken head of a spear that was on the ground but was subtly told off by Astrid, forcing him to drop it, and Hiccup reached for his hand. "Wait!" He panicked. "What are you-?"
"Relax." Hiccup insisted, replacing his hand on the Nightmare's snout with Snotlout's. "It's okay."
Snotlout laughed in gleeful shock when the Nightmare seemed content with his touch, but then Hiccup stepped away from him. "Where are you going?!"
"You're going to need something to help you hold on," Hiccup went into the box on the side and pulled out a rope.
The teens gasped as the other dragons revealed themselves. One by one a dragon was led by Hiccup to one of them. The Deadly Nadder was brought over to Astrid, who showed nothing short of trust in both Hiccup and the dragon as she put her own hand above the boy's before smiling and he pulled away, allowing them to have a moment beforehand. Their relationship had taken a very big change in the past twenty-four hours that was for sure. Astrid gave the blue beast a gentle smile as she scratched it beneath the jaw and the Nadder nuzzled into her, as if it held no hard feelings despite the fights they'd had against each other the past week. The Nadder chirped. Fishlegs seemed as if he might pass out as the Gronkle followed after Hiccup but he still held his hand out when he was told to, his eyes closing in terror and releasing high pitched whimpers, but they snapped open when he felt the scales beneath his palm and didn't lose a hand in the process. He gaped when the Gronkle all but smiled at him, its eyes calm, and he looked to the rest of them as if expecting them to be in disbelief as he was. The twins all but insisted that they be next, but Hiccup was already guiding the Hideous Zippleback towards them, with Ruffnut and Tuffnut elbowing each other out of the way in an attempt to get first pick of which head they had. Hiccup reminded them that they had to show the dragon they meant no harm first, but the Zippleback seemed to be fine with their noise and took to the hands offered to them, with the twins still trying to hurt the other even as they chose a head.
Finally, it was her turn.
There was only one dragon left, and she felt like maybe this was meant to happen, that it was inevitable, that the dragon Hiccup chose for her was the Deathwing. She had chose it at random when she was a girl, wanting to kill the little dragon she saw as a child, and she had cursed them every single day since, believing them to be the reason behind her brother's tragedy, behind her own feeling of weakness, needing a symbol for everything that had gone wrong in her life. That just wasn't the case. But as Hiccup led the terrified dragon her way, she realised maybe she was just foolish, because she had attacked first. She had always known that of course, but she had wondered about this Deathwing before, when it didn't immediately kill her during the last raid. How had she been so wrong?
The Deathwing looked smaller as it kept its head low, trusting the boy with its golden eyes with specks of purple, but then his stare moved over to her as Hiccup reached for Sage's hand. She shook her head and stepped forward, raising her own palm and keeping her eyes locked on the dragon. It was still pretty big, even with its look of fear, and she hated that it was there for a reason. A cut was over its neck from where it had been struck, by one of them obviously, and it was borderline trembling. She remembered being amongst the people that made fun of Deathwings, mostly because despite their fast speed on the ground, they weren't that fast in the air, and even with their impressive fire, they couldn't shoot far. They were often easily shot down, and most died because of whatever diseases dragons might get. They weren't known for being massively brave either, often cowering against a viking, and now she understood why. Vikings were the monsters in the dragon's eyes, and that was for a reason. She had been wanting to hunt them for so long, and the shame filled her as she kept her hand inches from the snout of the Deathwing.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, so low that the only person that could hear her was Hiccup, who stood close by. The others were distracted by their dragons anyway; Fishlegs was even giggling as he received a lick to the face. She kept her own stormy gaze on the wide eyes of the Deathwing. "You spared my life, and I've hurt you. I'm sorry for that. I hope you can forgive me." The Deathwing seemed to hesitate but then to her relief, it moved forward and let her palm touch his face, his eyes closing in the process in a moment of absolute trust. She breathed out a laugh of relief. "Oh, thank you." She knew what this meant: he had forgiven her.
"That's everyone." Hiccup announced with a smile. "Now we just have to get more rope for when you ride them."
"Ride." Snotlout breathed out in delighted disbelief, staring at the Monstrous Nightmare. "We're riding dragons!"
"Hel yeah we are!" Ruffnut and Tuffnut whacked their heads together.
"What about you, Hiccup?" Sage wondered, both her hands now on the Deathwing, running her fingers over the deep blue of the scales, touching over the patches of purple that showed. "Who are you going to ride?"
"My dragon's out there." He sighed, thinking of Toothless. "He needs me."
"And we'll get you to him." Astrid stated firmly. "You can ride with me and Stormfly until we reach Toothless."
"Stormfly?"
"Well yeah, she needs a name right?"
"Oh yeah-!"
"Think about names later." Hiccup didn't want to tell them not to get too attached, just in case this went wrong, as even if they managed to pull this off, he had no idea how his father would take to the dragon riding. He already disowned him once. "Let's save our people first."
Oh Odin, she hoped this worked.