Another Nightmare book 1

Chapter 11

Hiccup arrived at the cove early that afternoon after finishing his work at the forge. He had only needed to remake a few small pieces of the stirrups that hadn't quite fitted earlier, so it hadn't taken long. When he placed the normal basket of fish on the ground and looked around, his eyes instantly found the black dragon lying on the ground some distance away. Toothless was still sleeping which explained why he hadn't been already waiting at the entrance. He had even split the shield between the rocks in two so Hiccup wouldn't have to duck under it.

Hiccup walked closer to his friend but accidentally stepped on a branch a few meters from his friend. The long black ears bounced up. At first Hiccup sensed alarm and could tell that the dragon's muscles stiffened but this changed almost instantly when Toothless sniffed the air. His large green eyes opened partially, though he was still half asleep. Hiccup crouched next to black head, placing his hand gently on the scaled face.

'Hiccup, you are here early.'

'Yeah, I didn't have much to do in the village. Sorry to wake you up.'

'I don't mind. I can lose some sleep, if I can spend that time with you.' Toothless tried to lift his head up but Hiccup pushed it back down.

'No, you need your rest too after guarding me the whole night. Go back to sleep. I'll be here when you are ready to wake up.'

Toothless crooned softly and lowered his head back to the ground. The dragon was smiling as his eyes closed again. Hiccup scratched behind Toothless' ears for a moment until he sensed the dragon's mind drifting into unconsciousness. He walked to a small depression in the stone cliff he used to hide the gear. If Toothless was smiling already, Hiccup couldn't wait to see the look on his face when he saw the finished flight gear. Toothless hadn't complained about it, but Hiccup had noticed how he often stretched his wings and he could sense the dragon was feeling actual pain from his stiff unused muscles. Hiccup himself felt a sting in his heart every time his dragon friend looked longingly at birds that flew over the cove. Dragons belonged in the sky, not in a hole in the ground.

Soon, Hiccup could fix what he had done. He spread the gear on the grass checking every single part to be absolutely sure that everything was okay. He didn't want to get Toothless excited just to find out something didn't work. He worked slowly trying to avoid making sounds that could disturb his friend's sleep. When Hiccup was finally sure everything was there he returned carefully to Toothless' side and sat cross-legged barely a meter from the black scaled head. He had nothing left to do but wait for the dragon to wake up, and that was what he intended to do. Although, it was getting a bit colder with clouds blocking the sun and Hiccup could feel the humidity which warned of coming rain. Toothless didn't seem to mind but that was of limited help to Hiccup. He didn't have thick scales and inner fire.

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Something was wrong. Toothless had slept perfectly happy after learning that Hiccup was there with him, but something had changed. The drowsy dragon opened his eyes to see what was going on and saw that the weather had gotten worse, but he had slept in snow so a little rain shouldn't be a problem. It had to be something else.

The large green eyes sprang open from understanding. They instantly knew where to look and found Hiccup sitting next to him looking worriedly at the sky. Toothless might not mind a bit of rain, but his hatchling could become ill if he got wet when air was this cool. Toothless wasn't about to let that happen. His worried croon got Hiccup's attention. The hatchling bent forward to reach Toothless' snout with his hand.

'Did you get enough sleep already?' Even when Hiccup was the one getting cold, the hatchling still worried about him first.

'I don't think so, but how could I sleep if you're suffering from being wet and cold.'