The Big Four and The Prophecy (Book 1)

15 - The One When Gobber Almost Died

The One When Gobber Almost Died

HICCUP

All of the students were in murmurs as they all went out of the Divination room together. Some were confused, some were amused; but the most confused of them all, was him, Jack, Rapunzel and Merida. However, he knew that the three had already suspected the witch's words to be somewhat true. By Odin's name, Hiccup prayed it wouldn't be true. No one can know about Toothless, and Merida will not find out about his dirty little secret. Yesterday was close, but that was a different story.

Hiccup had all his things prepared, the dragon saddle and the prosthetic dragon tail was all finished, and he is very much pleased with his masterpiece. He didn't forget to take some of the fish Gobber had fished out from the lake (he found out about it when he saw Gobber carrying a huge basket of fish one afternoon). The keeper of keys keeps it outside, beside the kitchen door.

The dragon wasn't easy to dress up, but it was a lot harder than he thought. And, he shouldn't have started placing the tail first. Despite the dragon eating the pile of fish from Hiccup's basket, it still felt the prosthetic tail beside his real one, next thing Hiccup knew, Toothless had flown away and dragged him up with its tail.

Toothless wasn't able to fly far though, so they both fell in the water. He couldn't be seen wet by Gobber so after pulling himself out of the water, he pulled out his wand and gave it a complicated little wave so that hot air streamed out of the tip; he then pointed this at his pants, which began to steam as they dried out.

However, that was not the worst thing that happened that day. Just as he thought everything was going along fine while planning an excuse in his mind, he sees Merida standing creepily among the bushes. Startled by this, he dropped all his stuff down.

"Ah!! Gods, Merida, what are you doing here?"

Merida's expression didn't change, but her eyes trailed down to the saddle and prosthetic dragon tail he dropped. "What're those?"

"Uh, these? Oh, don't mind them...why did you say you're here again?"

"What are ye doing here, Hiccup?" It was more like a statement than a question. She was a meter closer now.

"Uh...I was...working on my new invention!" He said, picking up the saddle first, then the tail, "A-a saddle and a...a fake tail. It's for a dragon at our sanctuary, yeah, it had a broken tail. You know how I am helping Gobber with weapons and all?"

She nodded, pouting her lips, "...And you're doing it in the forbidden forest?" Her arms were crossed.

Hiccup swallowed a huge gulp of saliva, "Yeah, I don't want anyone to see me."

"Even Gobber?"

He blinked twice, "How–how did you know I'd be here?"

"Gobber was in his hut, told me ye'd be here. Said ye had an 'important business to attend to' so I guess this was it. Here Aye thought ye were having a very difficult time in detention when all ye do is this." she pointed at the stuff he was carrying. "Why would ye give a dragon a tail if it's caged though. I mean, ye don't capture the dragons to let them fly away, do you?"

Hiccup's lips were in a straight line, "That's a good question...uh..."

"But if you had to, why won't ye leave it to the blacksmiths in yer sanctuary to do those?"

He fought the urge to release a sigh of relief, "I am one of the blacksmiths, Mer. In fact, I'm the best, according to Gobber. Just had to...well, upgrade all this," he said, referring to his nonexistent biceps.