First Friends

Chapter 18

A few years later, Hiccup and I were scrambling around in near-panicked states. I'd been dozing with him brushing me when dragons began attacking. He opened the door, hesitated, then slammed it shut again, pressing against it to hold it closed. As flames licked the edges of the wood he said one single word: "Dragons."

I rolled my eyes and darted out after him. I leapt on a few sheep and snarled at the dragons who were going for them. I noticed the scaly beasts avoiding the long, slipperies, that Hiccup called "eels", so I picked a few up and wrapped them around some of the sheeps necks. The result was spectacularly instantaneous.

"EEEEELSSS!!!" one of them shrieked. I spotted a Zippleback coming in for a landing to grab some chickens and ran over, causing the chickens to flock to me. I hissed and spat at the dragon. The whisper of wind over wings reached my ears and my hair stood up on end even more than it already was. I burbled to the chickens when the Zippleback flew off, herding them under a house that was full of eels. I laid a barrel across the hole I had used to hide them, and dashed off when the Night Fury struck.

"You won't get away this time, you devil!" I roared. Tonight the dragons had set on us without warning.

"Oh? And you're going to do something? I'd like to see tha-AT!" he yelped when Hiccup shot something at him. He'd rushed by me with a large, rickety, wooden contraption a few moments before.

"Oh, I hit it? Yes, I hit it!" I heard Hiccup cry. "Did anybody see that?" A Monstrous Nightmare climbed over the side of the cliff that he was at the top of and crushed his machine. "Except for you." I darted over to where Stoick was and nudged his hip when I heard Hiccup yell in fright. He looked over and sighed in annoyance before getting to his feet, ordering some of his men to keep the Nadders they had captured in the net.

"C'mon, Tiger. We'd best get him out of trouble," he growled to me, almost speaking Jaguar.

We hurried to intercept the dragon but got there too late as it had Hiccup cornered behind a large torch. It spat a stream of fire that was somehow more intense than any other attack. I darted forward, but Stoick beat me to it when the dragon's head poked around the side of the post, mouth agape as it tried to eat Hiccup. My hackles raised, and I growled menacingly as I stalked forward. Hiccup grabbed my harness and I rubbed against his legs, never taking my glare off the dragon. I'd sworn to protect him, and protect him I would until my dying breath.

Little did I know that the dragon he'd shot down would change both of our lives forever.