DRAGONBORN [httyd]

Chapter 8

again, there is not much mention of the "dragon born" in this chapter, but it will be re-introduced in the next few, probably with some changes.

The village square was crowded with people by dawn. The clouds from the previous evening had sank down towards the sea, Hiccup observed, as a thick and merciless cloud of fog blanketed the island. How fitting. The boy thought sarcastically. In the midst of the land-dwelling cloud, a crowd had surrounded the square in eagerness to see the face of the betrayed and his beast. The village chief was nowhere to be found, and the young fugitive knew better than everyone that he had probably stayed home, to spare the humiliation. He would have been informed, after all.

Pinned between a house and two men, Hiccup's little body couldn't squeeze out of this one. He didn't want to speak to Toothless in fear of being caught, as he would probably serve another strange punishment once they've figured out what he was doing. But wasn't he already caught? He thought, What the hell does it matter if I make my situation worse anyways, it's not like they can re-arrest me.

"Toothless, what do I do!" The nervous teen mumbled to his dragon. The young viking had never been in a position of such treason before. Sure, he had made his fair share or muck-ups and mistakes - provoking a dragon into burning a house down in annoyance, injuring a few vikings here and there - but never once had he put himself or any of his friends in this close amount of danger.

"Nothing." His dragon said with a lack of expression.

"I have to do something." The human hatchling said with weak determination. He had no idea what he could do to save his reptilian friend, but he still had to try.

"I think you have done enough, Hiccup."

Suddenly plagued by deep guilt, Hiccup felt his emotions close in,"I know; this is my fault, I shouldnt hav-"

"-Its both of our faults." The dragon reassured him, but Hiccup knew that it was solely the fault of his own.

"But it's so unfair: your the only one being punished."

Hiccup awaited his dragon's answer, and hoped he wouldn't hate his rider forever. Flying was the most vital feature to a dragon, and the lanky teenager wondered what would happen when they chose a wing to clip.

"You get to watch." Toothless said, later for affect. Hiccup took a moment to let his answer sink in: it was true. Even though he was serving no physical punishment like his companion, he had to watch. He had to watch both of their punishments be laid upon the dragon. It was a wrenching thought, one which would haunt the rider forever and into eternity.

"What wings will they clip?" Toothless asked.

"I'm not sure bud; I have never seen them clip your species, and so far I have been the only one stupid enough to fly on the back of a dragon since I was a toddler." Most of the incidences caught were accidental rather than deliberate, but the punishment still served the same. Hearing the rider's chorus of indecipherable verbs, one of the vikings to his sides kicked his ankle, a rather silent way of telling him to shut up.

"Toddler?" Toothless wondered, confused at the Human's term.

"Oh, I guess you would call it a hatchling or something, right?"

Another kick.

"Yeah, sorry. Not too many human terms I'm familiar with yet."

A third kick. Hiccup's shin now burned and he grimaced through the new pain.

"Ow," He said in dragonese, "Well, I'll make sure you learn them all."

"What wings will they clip?" Hiccup said to the viking who decided kicking him was more polite than telling him to be quiet.

"I thought I already told you to shut your mouth." The viking said in annoyance. The emotion was so clearly expressed that it might as well have been written on his forehead.

"I wasn't even talking!" Hiccup protested.

Giving in to the kid's point and curiosity, the viking told him the bare truth: "I've never seen them clip a beast like yours before, so I have no idea." He gave the small viking between him and his partner a stern look, "They clip spinal and tail frills off of Nightmares, they'll put patches over one pair of eyes on a Zippleback, so the one has a harder time following the other, or they will gouge the eyes out; but not likely." Hiccup's own eyes began to water at the thought of his tribesmen removing the eyes of his companion. His stomach churned with nausea as he pictured himself staring into empty eye sockets, "Nadder's dont have much to clip, so they usually manacle their tail so that it is heavy enough so that they cannot fly off, and the same goes for Gronkles, though they have it attached to one of their feet instead. Other dragons of many kinds will follow these simple ideas, so one will likely happen to your dragon."

Hiccup thought about it: they couldn't clip frills, Toothless has none. (That aided in takeoff and flight atleast) Blinding patches were out of the question because the dragon could still easily fly, and easily, the dragon could remove it over the flat of his muzzle. Gouging was obviously still an option, but the young teen prayed to all the gods he knew that it would not be thought of. It was the manacle Hiccup could deal with, as he could just forge something to unlock the clasp. He worried they would cage him for the rest of his life, or even kill him perhaps.

Hiccup watched suddenly as two men made their way around the black dragon. Toothless' eyes were narrowed and he did not want to look both friendly or scared. The two vikings circled the beast, mapping out what they were either going to clip, or where they were going to attach the manacle. They ended up at his tail.

"Two?" Hiccup heard the one say. Well at least it it not four, He thought.

The other shook his head and held out a finger. One. Hiccup let out a sigh of relief, he really did not want to deal with two manacles.

"Knock the dragon out?" the one guy said, "Or give 'em some of Gothi's narcotics?"

"Too much hassle, he'll be fine."

Why would they need his dragon asleep for this? Hiccup pondered, still wondering how they were going to get Gobber to forge a manacle clasp so quickly. He figured the smith probably had some pre-forged, and they would fit one accordingly. Judging by the girth of Toothless' tail, Hiccup assumed that the clasp wouldn't need to be too large, and if possible, he even could melt it with Toothless' knowledge of dragon fire. But it wasn't until they brought out a large battle axe - decorated in viking runes and intricately engraved designs - and severed the left tail fin of his best friend when Hiccup realized that it was no manacle he was going to have to deal with. It was going to be the blood curdling screech that rattled the earth which would be burned into the back of the young teenager's mind instead.

hello everyone, i hope you are all doing okay! i just managed to finish this chapter in the heat of exams, in which i will finish my last one on monday. not much progress has been made on any other story, other than small editing of Heir Of Dragons, and copying out my 91+ science terms and 7 page booklet of questions for review.

this summer also is hopefully going to be the time i publish Heir of Dragons, so stay tuned?

thanks for your patience and be sure to follow my Tumblr: SacreddSouls for future updates, art and other such things :)