Heir and Pride

Chapter Thirty Nine

Hiccup was nervous as he limped into the small Viking village on the remote Peaceable island of Snori. The dragons had been left safely outside the village because, to his knowledge, Berk was the only island to officially make peace with the dragons. Everywhere had benefited from the defeat of the Red Death but only Berk knew the whole truth-and had the skills and knowledge to befriend the dragons...for now. Astrid was walking at his side, her cloak wound around her against the damp cold. It was sleeting and the mist was hanging over the small thatched houses. Hiccup was wrapped in two tunics (to apparently bulk him up) and had a cap and cloak and hood  to disguise his shorn auburn hair. There wasn't much he could do about his lack of inches or his sparkling forest green eyes. At least his bruises had largely faded in the almost two weeks since they had escaped Berk.

The place was a typical Viking settlement-muddy streets, wooden shops mixed in with homes, a tavern and a few freestanding stalls selling their wares. Hiccup interestedly peered at the wares: if they were to survive, they may need to find things to barter and it would be helpful to see what other places had on offer. But his main interest was the forge and he followed the smell of hot iron and burning wood until he reached his goal. It didn't take long for him to engage the local smith in conversation and his face animated as he swapped tips on working metal with the relatively young smith who was on duty.

Hiccup's ears pricked up at the news that the old smith had recently retired due to ill death and a persistent and very painful knuckle disease that had finally beaten him. The man in the forge was a local farmer who was able to offer a couple of days a week-but the village was seeking someone else to work a couple more days each week and Hiccup promptly offered his services. The man frowned and looked cynical-until Hiccup explained he had been Gobber the Belch's apprentice. Gobber was renowned across the entire Archipelago as one of the finest smiths-despite his lack of limbs-and Hiccup demonstrated his prowess by rapidly and accurately mending an axe in front of the sceptical young smith. The man had watched in shock, seeing in the scrawny teen skill that already surpassed his own. He promptly offered Hiccup the job.

When Astrid had rejoined him, she had been part impressed and part surprised that he had taken the job until he explained that he really wanted to keep up his smithing and a regular income would help them prepare to leave-and enable Hiccup to get the any weapons they needed and upgrade Toothless's tail and saddle. She had admitted she had managed to get a post in the town armoury-very small and badly organised but easy for her to reorganise and upgrade so there were a few weapons that were usable in case of an attack.

Hiccup had stayed for much of the afternoon and managed to make enough for some bread, fruit and soap which they had gratefully taken back to their 'shelter' outside town-where they rejoined the dragons and flew back to Dragon Island. Hiccup had paced back and forth in their chamber, considering his options and realising that they needed to work until they had all the weapons, clothes, armour and provisions they needed for a long journey. Astrid was still worried about his words-that Stoick would be looking for them-and was more nervous about spending prolonged time in the little village but she couldn't fault his reasoning. And then he had sat down with her and had set to improving her reading and writing.

Traditionally, all the children of Berk were taught their runes but though Astrid could read, she didn't really practice and her vocabulary was limited. Hiccup wrote swiftly and easily, read anything and everything and spoke Norse and a couple of other languages that he had learned when he was very small from his grandfather. Hiccup was immeasurably patient as he took her through one of the books he had stuffed among his pathetic basket of provisions he had gathered when he had originally planned to leave Berk. Astrid wrestled hard with the task-she didn't have an especially abstract mind-but by the end of the lesson, her speed and vocabulary was improved.