Heir and Pride

Chapter Thirty Four

Time stood still for the boy, his breath hitching in his throat as he stared at the big face over him. His father was looking triumphant, his eyes glittering as if he had captured a prize boar and Hiccup felt all his old fears, his old anxieties rushing back with full force.

"D-dad?" he breathed fearfully. "What-what are you doing here?"

Stoick stared at him in surprise."I am collecting my son and taking him home!" he said simply.

"But Dad-we agreed," he argued gently. "I am not staying in Berk. Please, let Gothi treat me and then I will go." Stoick laughed at him.

"Nonsense!" he said briskly. "You are home now. And you don't need to go anywhere. You don't need to ride that dragon any more, in fact. You just need to attend to your duties."

Oh please Odin, don't let this be happening. Please let this just be the fever. Let this be a hideous nightmare...

"Dad-I love Toothless. He is my best friend and if I can't fly him, I would rather die. I am a dragon rider, Dad."

"No," Stoick said sternly. "You are my son. You will come home and we will forget about this stupidity. I will make you my Heir once more. I will continue with your Chief training and I will have Gobber make you a more suitable leg for your duties..." Hiccup swallowed fearfully.

"So you want to make me a cripple and a prisoner," he said sarcastically though his heart was frozen with despair. "You take away the one thing I love and the one person that means more to me than life and trap me as a one-legged runt once more. I suppose the others will keep their dragons?"

"They are needed to defend the village, son," Stoick told him as if it were obvious.

"And me? I am far the best rider and trainer. They need me..."

"I am sure my nephew can lead them once he is free," Stoick retorted airily. Hiccup stared at him, disgust and despair warring in his chest.

"Snotlout doesn't have a clue," Hiccup told him dryly. "He could ride for a hundred years and he won't be able to do what Toothless and I can do. And where is he, Dad?" Stoick paused and Hiccup felt his breath congeal in his throat, time suspended. Please...not dead...

"I don't know," Stoick said. "Isn't that your responsibility? We caught a Nadder outside Gothi's. It is in the arena." Thank Thor. Twice. Toothless is free and Stormfly should be unharmed. But where is Astrid?

"Dad-you can't just lock her up-it will make her crazy and very frightened!" he protested.

"It's just a dragon, son-it hardly counts..."

"She is a living, breathing creature that feels pain and fear and confusion just like I am right now!" Hiccup shouted, then recoiled as he saw Stoick's face suffused with growing rage. "Dad-please...if you love me...let me go!"

"It's because I love you that I am taking you home, to safety," he stated firmly, though his fists tightened. Hiccup stared up into his face.

"So it was all a lie," he realised, his tone accusing. "All the things you said-nothing was true. You only meant to trick me back and then imprison me." He tried to sit up, to get away but Stoick scooped the boy up in his arms, wrapping the fur around the skinny body. He cast the shocked Gothi a dismissive look.

"Please come and treat his leg tomorrow," he said grimly.

"NO! Let me go!" Hiccup shouted and his father wrapped the blankets tight around the boy, his hand pressed over his mouth, muffling his fearful cries. The Chief cast a glance at the prosthesis and nodded disparagingly to Gothi.