To The End - A Tuffnut Love Story (HTTYD)

6. Cast Out

First it was his middle, which felt just like a high belt. Then Tuff felt the material wrap around his neck. Lastly, Iris stood infront of him and took his left hand; this made his stomach flutter. He watched her small hands tie the thin rope around his wrist delicately. She then took his right hand and did the same. Again, Tuff found himself uncharacteristicly speechless, even shy.

"There," Iris stated and looked back up to him. Their faces were much closer than either of them had expected. With a nervous smile, Iris took a step back. She cleared her thoat and began to explain, "now, this shouldn't be too hard for you since you've flown before on a dragon. This is just, being the dragon."

Tuff nodded and lifted his arms slightly. Wings exactly like sand wraith wings spread out behind him. "Oh yeah, this is gonna be epic," he exclaimed. He then looked back at Iris with a sly grin, "race you down?"

"Thought you'd never ask," Iris responded competitively. The two jumped in unison and began to glide. They dodged ridged mountain ledges and tall trees, but in the end, Iris landed first. She stood with her hands on her hips when Tuff made his messy landing at her feet, "looks like I won."

Tuff got up from the ground and brushed the dirt and sand from his clothes. Iris laughed as she plucked a few twigs from his dreds, "I have to say, that was pretty good for a first time flier."

Smiling down at her, Tuff had made a decision. This girl was amazing, talented, fun, and beautiful; he wanted to stay with her. The only problem was that he belonged on Berk.

***

The sun had gone down and fires had been lit. Just as Iris had promised, there seemed to be some sort of party going on. Torches were everywhere, flooding the entire village in orange and red light.

"What's going on?" Astrid asked as she stood with the other riders.

"Iris told me it's a party," Tuff announced, proud that he knew something that they didn't for once.

Hiccup then piped in, "he's not wrong; it's a coming-of-age ceremony for Mora's daughter. She told me that that's what the first pair of wings is, it's a welcome into the tribe as a full dragon."

"These people are so unique," Fishlegs couldn't contain his awe.

"Eh, I think it's pretty weird," Snotlout commented, which only earning him an elbow in the ribs from Astrid.

Iris joined the group just as it began. All attention was placed on a young girl with red lines painted all over her face and shoulder length dark chocolate hair. Ruff squinted her eyes and muttered, "she doesn't look any older than Gustav."

"Ariel is fifteen," Iris input.

"Wow, that's so young," Astrid observed.

Iris raised an eyebrow and corrected, "she's actually quite a late comer. Her dragon sibling is small for his age, so it took a little longer to get enough shed to make her wings."

"That's how you measure the coming-of-age of your people?" Hiccup questioned.

Iris nodded and added, "I became a full dragon four years ago, at thirteen."

The ceremony was over quickly, but the celebration went long into the night. At least, it was supposed to. A lot of things happened that night that shouldn't have happened. People and dragons died, and a peaceful civilization was forced into battle. It started with a scream that made everyone's stomachs twist, "we're under attack!"

Hiccup immediately got down to business, "everyone, to your dragons."

Within seconds, they were in the sky. A huge ship with an unfamiliar flag was launching catapults into the village. A small army of pirates flooded onto the sandy beaches and began pillaging. The fight was long, tiring, and ruthless. But in the end, the remaining pirates fled.

But the damage was done.

The riders landed back down by the village to a gruesome sight. Homes were destroyed, dragons were downed with boulders on their wings, fires had broken out in nearby woods.

And this much destruction couldn't just be overlooked and forgiven. Someone had to be to blame; someone had to be punished, but the pirates were already gone.

"You!" One of the tribal women shouted, pointing a finger at a younger tribal girl, "you told us those vikings were friends."

A man jumped in now, "they lead the pirates right to us!"

The girl at fault turned around in panic; it was Iris. Sand wraiths began to close in around her, growling, hissing, and bearing their teeth. "You've betrayed the dragons; you've betrayed us all," another tribesmen yelled.

But just as the dragons were about to attack, Iris felt something grab her, and her feet left the ground. She let out a scream and looked up. To her surprise, she had been lifted away from the violent mob by one of the riders' dragons, Stormfly.