Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons

Chapter 6-Something Different

(Continued from chapter 4)

“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.”

~Ernest Hemingway

“How did you…?” Merida questioned, her eyes widening in wonder.

“Merida, it’s me. Hiccup,” He Tried to make his voice as assuring as possible. It was getting darker by the second, and he was sure that Merida couldn’t see him. In fact, the girl was becoming less visible herself.

“Hiccup?” her voice trembled.

Merida really couldn’t see the person in front of her; all she saw was a hazy silhouette. She didn’t know if the boy was Hiccup, but all she could do was trust him.

Merida yawned, and a wave of sleep washed over her.

Hiccup heard he expression of drowsiness.

“Merida? What are you doing here? What possessed you to-“

She yawned again.

Hiccup sighed. He could tell how exhausted the girl was and he knew that she would be awake enough to comprehend what he was saying. 

“Merida, I-” Hiccup exhaled once again “It might just be best if we go to sleep. We’ll talk about… well about whatever this is in the morning.”

Merida was pretty sure she heard him say something else after that, but his voice was muffled by the haze of sleep that overcame her.

Merida awoke to the sounds of bird chirping. She yawned, stretched out her arms, and rubbed her eyes on the back of her dainty hands. Once her eyes were cleared from the morning grog, she took view of her surroundings. She was in the middle of what seemed to be a cove. Merida looked around, taking everything in. The night before had been so dark she couldn’t see… Hiccup!

Merida’s head darted around, in search for the boy.

“Hiccup?” she called out.

She was sure she had seen him last night. Had the adrenaline of her freedom caused her to hallucinate?

“Hiccup?!?” she yelled out, whipping her head to the other side.

Then, Merida saw something, but it wasn’t Hiccup.

Her eyes enlarged and she started gripping the ground beneath her, causing the earth to get caught underneath her fingernails. She began stumbling backwards.

The being flapped its midnight wings, causing Merida to gasp in fear. The creatures great eyes stared at her intently as it took a cautious step closer.

Merida’s fingers fumbled around in search for her weapon. Of course, at a time like this, she didn’t have it!

The beast took another step closer, causing Merida to muster up the minimal voice she had and scream in fear.

Her screams were cut off by a voice in the distance.

“Toothless? Bud, where are you?”

“Hi-H-Hicc-cup!” she yelped in fear.

Hiccup emerged from a group of trees. He ran over, a look of terror and embarrassment showed on his freckled face.

Much to Merida’s surprise, he didn’t run over to her, but he went to comfort the animal.

He stroked it’s forehead a few times and mumbled something to it before he focused on Merida, who looked absolutely petrified.

“Toothless,” he gestured his hand to the dragon. Then he walked over to Merida and hoisted her up. “This is Merida. Merida, this is Toothless.”

Merida couldn’t believe it. The creature was a dragon, a night fury. And Hiccup had… tamed it.

She stared at Hiccup; confused and bewildered.

“Wha-what? How?” she stammered, unable to express what she was thinking.

Hiccup smirked nervously. She glanced at the night fury, then back at Hiccup, then to the night fury again.

Merida’s courage overtook her. She stood, as if she put under a trance by the dragon. She slowly reached out her hand. Before she could touch the creature, it leaned its nose into her palm, the retreated.

Merida was frozen, her hand now cupping air and her jaw was slightly gaping.

“A night fury?” she finally spoke “but how did you…”

“Train it?” Hiccup interjected. He was so used to that question being asked, it was almost a second nature.

Merida shook her head ‘no’.

“How did you meet it? I mean, what were you thinking when you saw it?”

Hiccup was taken aback by her question.

“Well,” his cheeks began to flush, he looked down in embarrassment. He had never been asked that question before, and he wasn’t sure he knew the answer.

 He looked back up at Merida, her blue eyes gazing at him. Suddenly, he knew what to say. He took a breath, and then continued.

“I’m a Viking, and you know how Vikings are. See a dragon. Kill it. That’s it. Same thing goes for the undiscovered night fury.”

“Well, how come you didn’t kill him?” Merida asked, gesturing over to the dragon that was now standing behind Hiccup.

“I wouldn't kill him, because he looked as frightened as I was. I looked at him... and I saw myself.”

Merida grinned. She walked closer to Hiccup. Almost too close. Hiccup gulped and he felt his chest tighten.

They were now chest to chest. Merida looked up at Hiccup’s stunned face.

“You did the right thing,” she whispered.

Hiccup grinned at her. Then, he felt Toothless nudging him in the back with his head.

“Hey!”

Both he and Merida chuckled, and then turned to the dragon.

Hiccup looked at Merida and took her hand. He could feel his heart speed rapidly as a response to her touch. He placed her pale fingers on the scaly nose of his pet dragon.

“Hello, Toothless. I’m Merida.”

Every other person Hiccup had introduced Toothless too had run away in fear, but Merida, she stayed. She trusted him. She was something different.