Heir and Pride

Chapter Thirteen

His days settled into a sort of routine: up at dawn to fetch fish and feed Toothless, Dragon Training in the morning, afternoon with Toothless in flight practice and-basically-play with his new friend and evening in the forge, upgrading the saddle and tail and earning his keep with the blacksmith and village. The only new thing was lunch in the Hall, insisted upon by Gobber after training before the teens went off to do their own things in the afternoon.

    

Lunch was getting awkward because he was no longer a pariah. He usually sat alone at a table by the class, because the few times he had tried to sit with them had ended in being pushed away, blocked or-once-sprawling on the floor with his stew all over him and Snotlout laughing loudly at his humiliation. Now, the class wanted to sit with him-except Astrid, who just scowled and slammed her mug down in anger-and he began to feel claustrophobic and very uncomfortable. To put it bluntly, the only time he was surrounded by people was usually when he was being beaten, shouted at or humiliated in some other way. No one associated with Useless voluntarily! And it wasn't just the class as the villagers began to sit with him, firing questions at him about his skills at Dragon Training.

    

He had begun to feel immensely awkward. Not only was he cheating because he wasn't fighting dragons but he had to be careful about what he said because he didn't want to betray Toothless. He stammered and fidgeted but his father had taught him that he should always try to answer his people's questions and though he was stripped of the Heirdom, he had all his lessons drummed into him hard and did his best. So he was polite, calm and generous in answering all the random and repetitive questions they put to the boy they had all sneered at, spat at and taunted until a few days earlier. Hiccup found it exhausting.

    

But he was making excellent progress with the saddle. His leather flight vest was pretty perfect, lightweight, warmish and supportive and he was happy with the security of the safety lines. He had finished the tail assembly and threaded a finer rope along the intricate system of gears than ran over Toothless's left shoulder. A pedal allowed him to change the fin position and he had six possible options: he just needed to learn the positions himself. Hiccup was really worried that he would prove the weak link in the system, that his inexperience or error would be what caused them to crash.

    

He had just evaded Astrid as he had carried the new tail assembly through the forest. She had looked really angry, practising with her axe. Admittedly, Astrid always looked angry as she was killing trees but she had stopped and scowled really hatefully at him and he had cringed, offering a weak little smile and ducking out of sight. He heard her crashing around, looking for him and her snort of frustration as he sneaked away and made it safely to the cove.

    

He had found a perfect spot to dry test the tail and had Toothless tied by a rope to a hefty boulder, allowing the dragon to glide in the strong prevailing wind while Hiccup tried the different pedal positions and scribbled notes on his 'cheat sheet'. Toothless was getting restless but Hiccup was carefully perfecting his diagram when the rope snapped and boy and dragon went tumbling backwards into a stand of trees.

    

It took a few minutes to catch his breath and scramble up. Toothless was grumbling and shaking his head as the boy searched for his charcoal pencil and found it had been snapped by the impact. He sighed and made to move-only to find himself yanked back by the bulk of Toothless. He frowned and stared into the wide green eyes-and the dragon made a laughing noise. Hiccup turned to see his safety line stuck, the hook crushed by the impact. He had left his knife in the cove and it wouldn't cut anyway because Hiccup-being Hiccup-had run a fine iron wire through the lines to add strength.

    

Oh well, he could just take his vest off and... He groaned. The buckle was utterly distorted from the impact as well and there was no way he could wrestle that open either. He could take the whole saddle and tail assembly off-they were all connected-but the chance of him getting the equipment back in one piece was negligible. He had needed to bring it up in sections because it was too bulky for him to carry. And he really didn't want to cut his vest up because it had taken so long to make and he doubted he could sneak that much leather away again without Gobber starting to ask some very awkward questions. There was only one option-and it was stupid. And crazy.

    

So, after dark, he was sneaking into he village attached to Toothless. The dragon was ideally camouflaged for this trip except he was insatiably curious: after all, he had never seen a Viking village from he ground. There were so many interesting smells and sounds and he could  really pick up on a fresh catch of cod...

    

Hiccup had to use all his strength, persuasion and pleading to keep the dragon heading in the direction he wanted. Toothless's nose twitched and the dragon stiffened: he could smell one of the scents from Hiccup's wounds. He sniffed and headed towards Snotlout's home. Hiccup strained with all his might and managed to stop the dragon.

    

"Where are you going, you useless reptile?" he hissed. "You go there and he'll kill you then me then both of us together!" he warned, panicking. The dragon was pulling really hard. "Not that I wouldn't like to see Snotlout lightly toasted but NOT NOW!" Reluctantly, the dragon allowed himself to be led away. His agile nose found the other three scents and he memorised the houses: he knew where to go. Then Hiccup led him into the forge, seeking a suitable tool for pry the hook open. He had just found a pair of heavy pliers and a short knife when Toothless turned, seeing a sheep and clattering half the weapons to the floor. He heard a voice outside.

    

"Hello?"

    

He cringed. It was Astrid-the last person he wanted to see. But if he didn't come out, she would come in so he threw his leather apron on and ducked through the forge door, pulling the shutters down behind him.

    

"Oh, hi Astrid, hi Astrid, hi Astrid!" he babbled, his eyes wild. She eyed him suspiciously. She was on duty today to check he was still alive and unbeaten and the teens had learned finding Hiccup at home was almost impossible. Evening meant forge and they all caught him there on their way to the supper that he never seemed to eat. She frowned: while Hiccup certainly was alive and intact, he was acting even more weirdly than usual.

    

"Are you okay?" she asked, narrowing her eyes. He nodded wildly.

    

"Erm, yeah?" he answered. There was a jerk on his line: unbeknown to him, Toothless had seen a sheep and was thinking mutton. The dragon jerked again and Hiccup found himself slammed back against the shutters. He was just grateful he had stuffed the tools he needed into a satchel on Toothless's saddle.

    

"You're acting weirdly," Astrid accused him. "EVEN for you." He gave a weak smile, feeling his middle pulled painfully as Toothless lurched forward.

    

"Er..." he managed before Toothless pounced through the side window and Hiccup was dragged through the forge and out after him. Lightly bruised and breathless, he dragged on the line and threw himself into the saddle. They were galloping up the hill and back to Raven Point forest as Astrid peered into the deserted forge. She frowned: something wasn't right with Hiccup and if she could find it out, then maybe she could still win Dragon Training.