Another Nightmare book 1

Chapter 24

Hiccup still felt a bit tired as he awoke, his face covered in saliva, as usual. Nights had been mostly restful since he started sleeping in the cove: Usually the warm darkness that could only be provided by dragon scales was enough to guarantee that he would wake up completely refreshed. They both had just wasted their last change at that by spending the night sulking about the next one. Stoick could return anytime during the day and that would make everything in Hiccup's life harder. He had been lying awake between Toothless' wings thinking about that for good part of the night. The dragon around him hadn't done any better. If anything, their restlessness was amplified by each other's feelings.

'So you too bud?'

'You need to ask? Just focus on waking up yourself. The sun is already up. It's later than usual. I'm not used to waking up in the morning.'

'I should still be able to make it,' Hiccup estimated now that Toothless' wing wasn't blocking the sun anymore. He got up. 'Though I have to hurry. No time for breakfast.'

'You will eat something after the others finish their training.'

'You are still acting like a mother hen.'

'Clearly someone has to, and none of the Vikings on this island do. Maybe there is a positive side of your father returning.'

'I wouldn't count on it.'

No more explanation was needed. Hiccup was already walking towards the hidden exit from the cove with Toothless next to him. The dragon understood not to press on the topic. Sensing the feelings his comment had surfaced in Hiccup explained everything necessary. Deep in his mind Toothless added Stoick to his blacklist of people to be burned, thinking Hiccup wouldn't notice.

Hiccup did. He was just better at hiding it.

He had also been correct with his earlier estimate. He had to run all the way, to be on time, but he made it to the ring just when the others were entering it. Out of breath, Hiccup found a spot at the edge of the ring. The number of people that came to follow the training sessions had been growing day by day as the dragon training progressed and there was more decent fighting to be seen. Hiccup found a vacant spot near the entrance, with a sea view.

The training session itself wasn't anything special. Gobber let Stormfly out almost as soon as the main gate was closed. He used the nadder more often than rest of the dragons since she almost always gave the hardest fight. Stormfly understood not to kill anyone, but restrained herself the least out of all of the dragons used for training.

It was and had always been oblivious that Astrid was the best fighter of the teens, but Hiccup was constantly surprised by how well Snotlout had been doing against the dragons. He had always been a good fighter, though not as fanatic as Astrid. He was a lot stronger than any of the others. Strong enough to distract a Nadder with a punch to the face. The rest of the trainees couldn't match the two. Fishlegs didn't have the nature of a fighter, and he hadn't used Hiccup's teachings since they were exposed and ridiculed by everyone else. The twins... were too busy being the twins to learn anything. Hiccup tried to keep an eye on how they fought, but couldn't really focus on it. Techniques of fighting dragons barely interested him anymore; their minds were much more interesting.

Looking around uninterested, Hiccup started noticing that he wasn't the only one whose full attention wasn't on the battle. Everyone on that side of the ring seemed to be looking toward the sea. Although Hiccup couldn't immediately see what others had noticed, he knew all too well what it would be.

"Ships."

"The nest expedition?"

"Who else could it be?"