Another Nightmare book 1

Chapter 6

Hiccup hadn't counted on Gobber ordering new training session. He would have much rather just ran out to the cove and spend time with Toothless than in the village. It was kind of sad, but all the boy cared about was that he actually had a friend now, black scaly fire breathing lizard but still a friend. Thankfully Gobber left the forge to take care of some errands in Stoick's absence. That meant Hiccup could work on getting Toothless to fly again.

The artificial tailfin that he had made seemed to fit and Toothless liked it. The problem was that the artificial fin should stay open and adjust according to Toothless' flight. Only way Hiccup could think of doing that was if he could control it. That meant he would have to ride on dragon's back. Would Toothless let him.

Hiccup would only know if he tried. He promised to make Toothless fly again and would do everything he could. If he had to ride on dragon he would at least offer Toothless the option. That meant he would need something to help him stay on his friend's back, something he could make in the forge. He would also need something to adjust the fin without hanging from Toothless tail. He ended up spending most of the afternoon working on a saddle. The zippleback had expended plenty of gas during the earlier training, so the training was only bit before sundown, to allow it gather up more gas.

He almost got caught, when Gobber returned to pick up something before training, but Hiccup had prepared for that. It only took few seconds to toss the crude saddle into his small backroom and pick up a sword he was supposedly sharpening.

"Okay Hiccup. Get to the ring."

"Do I really have to It's not like I actually get to do anything."

"Maybe, but it still does good for ya to see how it is done and second pair of eyes helps me teach that lot."

"You mean, how you make me point out when they screw up. Yeah all good that's going to do to me." Hiccup stated remembering other's less than welcoming looks when Gobber asked for his opinions.

"Listen Hiccup. I know it ain't what you wanted, but your father told me to make sure you follow every training. It is better than nothing", Gobber stated misunderstanding Hiccup's worry.

Second round against the two-headed dragon went somewhat better than the first one. The dragon managed to catch Snotlout and Tuffnut by surprise. Hiccup had a hard time holding a laugh when Snotlout hit the ground followed by his own bucket falling on his head. While the dragon was tossing them around, the other team, mainly Astrid, managed to attack it from the side. This time she succeeded in soaking the correct head. The zippleback responded by spewing large cloud of smelly green gas, but couldn't create the spark to light it.

After confirming this, Astrid attempted to charge the dragon through the gas but was stopped when she hit someone larger than herself.

"What the... Fishlegs! Get out of my way", Astrid pushed the large boy out of her way but it was already too late.

The dragon flicked its tail sweeping both of them to the ground, much like in the morning. Also this time Gobber interfered attacking the dragon, that again gave up surprisingly easily. This wasn't something that interested fuming Astrid.

"You're really useless you know that Fishlegs. Can't do anything right. You babble ton of yak dung about how much you know about dragons, but can't do anything right when it's the real thing. We'd be better of fighting with Hiccup. At least that fishbone is easier to punch out of the way than your fat ass."

"Ookay that's enough for today. Go home." Gobber interrupted Astrid's less than friendly rant.

Hiccup found it hard to believe what he was hearing. Well, not really, but it was still not good. He had had kind of a crush on Astrid for a long time, even though she mainly ignored him and could have a violent temper. Listening her verbally attack Fishlegs, again, and remembering beating Astrid had given him the previous day, Hiccup started seeing the girl in new light. He couldn't help but be depressed. He might have had a crush on her but the truth was Hiccup had gotten more love from a dragon in few days than from Astrid in his whole live.