The Blacksmith's Apprentice

Thirty Nine: Land of the Hooligans

Thirty-Nine: Land of the Hooligans.

The arrival back in the Cove was met with cheers as Astrid and Hiccup carefully dismounted from Toothless. The other Riders were treated like heroes while Stoick hugged his son fiercely and then included Astrid in the embrace.

"I'm so glad you're safe, son," the Chief said genuinely, his voice gruff with emotion.

"Not the usual definition of safe," Hiccup managed painfully. "Injured, cold, being crushed..."

"What? Oh, sorry, son..." the Chief managed sheepishly, though he maintained a steady grasp on the one-legged young man. Astrid wrapped an arm around him and he leaned heavily against her as Toothless crooned anxiously.

"S'okay, bud," he sighed, managing a wan smile before lowering himself to his knees and hugging the Night Fury. "Thor, I was so worried when I woke up and you weren't there and Astrid wasn't there and I feared..." He screwed his eyes closed. "I thought I'd lost you...I thought when I woke and you weren't there...that I had lost you when the Chief Dragon exploded. And even though Gothi said you were safe..." His arms tightened and Astrid watched him as the Night Fury gave a little croon and nudged Hiccup's aching body, his tongue licking the battered face tenderly. "Eurgh! That doesn't wash out..."

"Son-are you alright?" Stoick asked as he leaned hard on the dragon and Toothless gave his toothless smile, eyes wide and butt waggling in relief that his friend was back. Managing to get to his foot, Hiccup sighed.

"Dagur's dead," he confessed. "He was never going to give up..." Stiffening at the bald words, Stoick looked at the drooping shape of his son, seeing his wife wrap an arm around him again. It was possibly the most unexpected news he could have received-because his son was no killer. Hiccup had insisted Thuggory yield and had spared Snotlout as well...but Dagur was making an ongoing threat against Hiccup, his wife and his dragon. There was no way to restrain the Berserker Chief who had shattered his Treaty with the Hooligans, making him an enemy of Berk. And from the looks of things, he had been torturing Hiccup.

Stoick nodded.

"I hope he bothers Hela for millennia to come," he growled and nodded. "He was an enemy."

"Toothless killed him," Hiccup admitted softly. "I'm trying to persuade you all that dragons are gentle and kind and then I use my dragon to kill a man..."

"A man who had captured you, hurt you, threatened to kill you, me, Toothless and the Tribe," Astrid corrected him, leaning close. "You gave him every possible chance. He was firing arrows and bolas at you, babe. His men almost got you with a catapult!"

"He got you instead," he murmured, leaning close to her, pressing a small kiss onto her cheek and tasting the salt from her dunk in the ocean. Her head turned and she kissed him softly, his hand sliding over his bruised cheek.

"I can't leave you for a few hours without you getting yourself captured by enemies," she scolded him, her nose rubbing gently against his.

"Me? Milady, all I was doing was having a quiet sleep...when I ended up handed over to Dagur..." he murmured, nuzzling against her gently.

"Now we need to get you sorted, Hiccup," she said carefully, nodding to Marta. "Have we got a spare shelter?" The woman nodded and led them towards a neat lean-to that had been prepared and they eased him onto a bed that consisted of carefully picked foliage and small fir branches covered with a tough blanket. The other mothers brought water and home-made pastes up as Fishlegs stared at his friend, seeing the blood on his skin and his grubby bandages-and then he leapt onto Meatlug and shook his head.