Moon Fire

Chapter 1

Thirteen years later . . .

Hiccup woke up shivering under the thin blanket on the cold stone floor. Clenching his jaw to keep his teeth from chattering, he moved around quietly in the cellar, pulling on his boots and running his frozen fingers through his mop of hair in front of the cracked glass in the corner. He stared at his reflection for a moment, then jumped as he heard a voice bark downstairs, "Boy, get up here now!" He ran up the steps and almost tripped his way into the main room. At the table, glaring at him with cold, beady eyes, was Magnus. Physically, he was like everyone else. Large in height and width, with a long beard and a typical Viking helmet. But whereas everyone else had a soft spot that they exposed at least once a day, there was nothing soft about Magnus at all. His voice was hard, his face was hard, and his head was even harder. So were his fists.

"You're late again," he snapped. Hiccup looked down at the floor, having no excuse, though his mind quickly conjured up a few things to shoot right back at him that he didn't dare say.

"Look at me!" Magnus ordered. "Make my breakfast and get on to the smithy."

"But I haven't had anything to eat yet," Hiccup protested before he could stop himself, and Magnus immediately rose from his seat, shooting across the room faster than Hiccup would have thought possible for such a large man. In the blink of an eye, he'd grabbed Hiccup's ear and given it a painful upwards yank. "In case it's unclear, you are being punished. Maybe a few hours of going hungry will teach you not to neglect your duties." What Magnus didn't know was that the blacksmith, Gobber, whom Hiccup was apprenticed to, always kept several snacks handy in his pantry exclusively for this purpose, so the prospect of not having breakfast wasn't that big of an issue for him. But it wouldn't do to let certain parties know about that.

Once released, Hiccup went to the stove and prepared the food the way he always did: four eggs, an entire roasted fish, three strips of bacon, and a tankard of mead. As he neared the table where Magnus sat scowling, he noticed his hands were starting to shake, and it wasn't from being cold. Magnus was the terror of the village now and, unfortunately, the regent as well. He was highly critical of everything and had never once offered Hiccup any sort of affection. Quite the contrary, in fact, as he had a heck of a temper and liked to take out the day's frustrations on Hiccup. He didn't even use his name, instead called him "boy" and treated him more like a slave than the chief's son he ought to be.

Hiccup gripped the plate unnecessarily hard to hide how badly his hands trembled as he put it down in front of Magnus, who started eating immediately. As much as he hated the man, he was more afraid of him and did everything in his power to avoid a beating. And yet there was a part of him that was stupid in the ways of survival and refused to be bullied and demanded he stand up to Magnus. And then you add in human imperfections and mistakes and forgetfulness and things just kind of spiral downward from there. This was how he got into trouble most times. His only form of escape was the smithy, right in the center of the village, where Magnus would ignore him for ten whole hours—sometimes more, if he was lucky—and he could relax a bit and actually talk to people without the constant fear of being taken to with a belt. Gobber often commented on how the other villagers liked him so much, not just because of his friendly disposition, but because they, too, despised Magnus and Hiccup was the closest thing they had to their real chief, who'd disappeared when Hiccup was little. They missed him.

Magnus stopped eating suddenly and whirled around to a standing position, all but dropping his fork on the table. Hiccup froze, his fingers poised on the door handle, mere inches away from freedom yet unable to run. If he did, Magnus would surely make the punishment much worse. He wouldn't care if it happened outside for everyone to see. Anyone who tried to help Hiccup, at least that Magnus was aware of, ran a serious risk of jail time, or worse.