For Milady

EIGHT: The Invisible Rival

EIGHT: The Invisible Rival

If she said she wasn't the least bit interested in the dragons, she would be lying-and Camicazi never lied to herself. Everyone across the Archipelago knew of Berk's peace with the dragons-though opinions of the pact varied. For some traditional Tribes-such as the Murderous and the Visithugs-it was a betrayal beyond all imagining and immediately negated all Treaties, isolating the Hooligans from them. But others-the Bog Burglars, the Peaceables and astonishingly, the Berserkers-had reaffirmed their friendship with the Hooligans of Berk. Of course, her arrangement with Hiccup predated the destruction of the giant Red Death dragon and the end of the dragon raids.

She walked thoughtfully up the village. Superficially, it looked any typical Archipelago Viking village, with longhouses decorated with wooden dragon's heads and painted in typical red and green colours. The scents of fire and hot metal wafted from the forge and mixed with the tempting smells of bread baking from the bakery. Hooligans walked back and forth, driving animals or transporting tools, food or wood around the Plaza and they nodded to the stranger, though their faces were wary and not as welcoming as she would have expected as their future Chieftess. She folded her arms ands watched as a small orange and yellow dragon flittered down to land on an ordinary Viking's shoulder and his face instantly lit with delight.

"Ah-there you are Eyelicker!" he said cheerfully as the dragon improbably licked its own left eyeball and chirruped. "Have you been annoying No-Longer-Silent Sven's sheep again? You know he gets upset when you guys set their wool on fire!"

If possible, the creature looked embarrassed and gave a small chitter. The man petted it with a sigh.

"No doubt I'll end up hearing about it from him-well, you've got that little heart shaped mark on your wing, haven't you so everyone knows it's you! Okay...well, I've got a nice cod there for you back at the house..." And he turned and walked back towards his home, still chatting happily. Cami watched him thoughtfully: as a young girl, she had been taught even the small dragons were dangerous and that they had to be avoided or killed. Yet here, most people had one-even children. And as she looked, the evidence of dragons became more obvious-sleeping dragons on the roofs or behind houses and people interacting with them as if they were pets or any other animal.

Which they were. Just flying, fire-breathing ones. I guess they just need more careful handling...

Then an orange Monstrous Nightmare flew low over the Plaza, seemingly on fire. A voice echoed down.

"ARGH! Hookfang-you're doing this on purpose!" As she watched, the dragon landed and a stocky young man leapt from the dragon, racing to the nearest water trough and leaping in backwards to douse the seat of his pants-which to Cami's eye appeared very singed. He gave a long sigh of relief as the dragon extinguished itself and settled down by the trough, a very playful look o his hideous face. It was only when the rider opened his blue eyes that he realised the Bog Burglar Heir was watching him. He gave a very cheesy smile and waggled his eyebrows at the young woman.

"Well hello gorgeous," he said conceitedly, clambering out of the trough, his pants dripping. "Impressed?" Amused at his overconfidence, she folded her arms and obviously looked him up and down.

"Should I be?" she asked him and he visibly preened.

"Of course," he said brashly and grinned. "I'm Snotlout Jorgensen and I ride a Monstrous Nightmare-the most powerful dragon in the Archipelago!" She raised a blonde eyebrow and tried hard not to laugh.

"Really? I though the Night Fury was far the most powerful?" she asked him innocently. He scowled.

"Well, Hiccup likes to tell you that but..."