Defying The Rules

Preparing for Doom

"Hey hey hey, calm down." Thalos said, putting his hands on his shoulders. "What nest?"

Hiccup breathed heavily, panic and fear evident on his face. "The island! The dragons' island! It's where their nest is! Dad is going to lead ships there!"

"Hold on... You know where the dragons' nest is? Hiccup, why wouldn't you tell anyone about that?"

The dragons' nest was what Vikings have been searching for for generations. All of the raiding dragons had to have been coming from somewhere, and it was believed that there was a nest. There was no way there wasn't. Thalos's father had gone on the recent search to find that nest. How in Thor's name did Hiccup find it? Why wouldn't he have told anyone? If you get rid of the nest, then the raids would stop and many Viking lives would be spared.

Although, there was a part of Thalos that was bothered by the fact that the Vikings would be trying to kill as many dragons as they could in that nest. Hanging around Starclaw had really softened him up with dragons. Heck, before Stoick startled it, the Monstrous Nightmare didn't look like it was going to attack Hiccup at all.

"You don't understand, Thalos." Hiccup said, shaking his head. "There's this massive dragon on the island. It's bigger than anything you've ever seen! It's bigger than your dragon!"

Thalos tensed up when he said "your dragon" a little too loudly. Part of him wanted to put a hand over Hiccup's mouth. Like, can he quiet down a bit? Thalos didn't want to get into trouble too. He looked around to make sure no one was around. Hopefully no one heard him.

"Have you been there? Have you seen it? How do you know all of this?" Thalos asked.

"I've been there. When I was flying on Toothless, he brought me there." Hiccup replied. "It's massive! The dragons, they bring all the food from the raids to it. They dump it in its mouth, and if they don't bring enough, it eats them whole! You don't understand how huge this thing is, Thalos. My father, and the entire tribe is going to get killed! They don't stand a chance!"

"Just calm down. I'm sure everything will be fine."

"No, it won't! Thalos, you don't get it!" Hiccup shouted as he ran out of the building.

"Hey, come back!" Thalos called after him. He groaned and watched him run off. "Hiccup..." he mumbled.

Hopefully he wouldn't do anything stupid... He thought about what he said, though. What if the dragon was actually bigger than Starclaw? Starclaw was a big dragon. Anything bigger than that? Well, that would be immediate doom for the tribe. That realization slowly hit him, and fear soon attacked his chest.

He needed to do something. Thalos breathed deeply and started making his way down to the docks where the ships would be getting ready to load. Stoick no doubt told everybody what Hiccup had told him, so Thalos knew that ships would be getting ready to set sail.

His father would no doubt be one of the ones going to this dragon island, so maybe if he could convince him to stay, his father could convince Stoick to stay? Thalos really didn't have any other option. Honestly, Thalos wasn't very convinced that he would keep his dad from going. His father wasn't exactly happy with him at the moment, and he was very stubborn.

Thalos shook his head and moved quicker. It didn't take him very long to get to the dock. Sure enough, the whole fleet of ships, or at least most of them, were waiting. People were loading catapults, nets, and handheld weapons. They were even loading barrier sticks.

His eyes widened when he saw Toothless tied and chained up. The black dragon was completely constricted. He was on a wooden plank that was raised off the ground and lowered onto a ship. The poor dragon shook and moved, trying to get out of its chains, but it was no use. There was no way he was getting out of that.

He made his way down the steps and looked around for his father. It didn't take too long to find him. He was helping push a catapult onto one of the ships.

"Dad." Thalos spoke, "you can't go to this island. There is a massive dragon that will kill you. You guys don't stand a chance." If Thalos was honest, he didn't want his dad going. Sure, he didn't have a very good relationship with him, but that didn't mean he wanted him dead.

"What are you talking about, boy?" The man asked roughly.

"You can't go to that island!" Thalos said firmly.

"And what makes you think there is a big dragon? Have you been there?" His father challenged.

"No, I haven't, but Hiccup said-"

"You are going off of what Hiccup said? You are going of the word of the boy who disrespected the entire tribe, has a pet dragon, and lied to everyone about the nest?"

"Dad, he-"

"He's a liar, and you can't trust him." The man scoffed. "I can't believe you let a liar of a Viking beat you in the ring." He shook his head. "Get out of my sight, Thalos. I'm busy."

"But dad, you-"

"Go!" The man snapped, pushing the catapult onto the boat.

Thalos grit his teeth and stared at his father. "Why are you so stubborn?!" He said angrily.

The man quickly turned around. "You watch your tone with me." He said sternly, pointing at him.

"You are going to get yourself killed, and you don't care! You don't care about anything but pride and honor! The entire village is going to get killed by that massive dragon, and you don't care! You're a stubborn, ignorant, hard-headed, self serving ha-"

In anger, the larger man slapped Thalos across the face. Thalos stubbled back and held his fists. The boy clenched his jaw and slowly looked up at his father. Even he was angry.

"I said watch your tone, you ungrateful boy! You don't get to speak that way to me!" The man looked absolutely furious. It was hard to tell who was more angry-Thalos or his father?

Thalos inhaled deeply. He and his father stared at each other a good five minutes before Thalos finally turned and walked away. Thalos didn't even know what to do. He couldn't do anything to his father. The man would destroy him.

His father was going to get himself killed! If what Hiccup said was true, then none of the Vikings would survive. What was he supposed to do? He shook his head. "Forget it." He mumbled. "Let them get themselves killed. They won't listen to me."

Thalos ran his hand across his face. Was it possible for one's blood to boil? That's exactly what it felt like. He needed to go visit Starclaw. Starclaw was the only thing that seemed to relax him. Yeah, pathetic that he sought his comfort from a dragon, but he didn't even care at this point.

Thalos stared at the ground angrily as he walked, kicking away dirt and rocks. He knew the ships would be leaving soon. His gut was taring him apart for not doing anything, but the rest of him knew there was nothing he could do. He couldn't do a single thing.

Thalos rubbed his head when he bumped into something hard and his head bounced off another object. He grunted in annoyance and looked up to see Hiccup, who was looking at him with a determined face.

Thalos really didn't want to talk to anyone at the moment. However, he realized that Hiccup was probably more upset than he was. He knew he shouldn't be taking his anger out in his friend...especially the one who was about to lose his father and dragon.

"Sorry, Hiccup. I didn't see you there." He said.

"Thalos!" Hiccup said quickly, his eyes wide. "I have an idea to save everyone, but you need to go get Starclaw."