Secret of a Dragon (An HTTYD Story)

Chapter Three: Stranger

"Hiccup."

"Dad!" Hiccup yelps, jumping. He takes a hesitant step back as his father turns away from the fire to look at him. He made it back home safely, but his father must have stayed up waiting for him. Obviously, his attempt at stealth had failed: his father had heard him. He had been hoping to avoid this conversation, though he might as well make use of it. "Uh -- uh, I have to talk to you, Dad."

"I need to speak with you, too, son."

They take a deep breath and speak as one.

"I've decided I don't want to fight dragons," says Hiccup.

"I think it's time you learned to fight dragons," says his father.

"What?" they say in unison.

"Uh -- you go first," says Stoick.

"No, no, you go first," Hiccup insists, his stomach slowly twisting with dread.

"Alright. You get your wish. Dragon training. You start in the morning."

"Oh, man, I should've gone first." Hiccup struggles to find the right words. "Because, I was thinking, you know, we have a surplus, of dragon-fighting Vikings, but do we have enough... bread-making Vikings, or small home-repair Vikings--"

"You'll need this," Stoick grunts, dropping a large battle axe into Hiccup's arms, sounding as if he hadn't heard a word his son said. The boy yelps, almost dropping it.

"I don't wanna fight dragons!" Hiccup cries helplessly.

"Oh, come on, yes, you do," Stoick chuckles, turning away. He isn't taking me seriously, Hiccup realizes. But then again, what else is new?

"Rephrase: Dad, I can't kill dragons!"

"But you will kill dragons!" beams Stoick, turning back.

"No, I really, very extra sure that I won't!" The axe almost falls out of Hiccup's hands, but he balances it just in time.

"It's time, Hiccup--"

"Can you not hear me?!" Hiccup demands desperately.

"This is serious, son!" Stoick interrupts. "When you carry this axe --" he takes it from Hiccup, then gently lays it back in his arms "-- you carry all of us, with you. Which means you walk like us, you talk like us, you think like us. No more of -- this." He gestures broadly at Hiccup.

"But you just gestured to all of me!" Hiccup cries furiously.

"Deal?"

"This conversation is feeling very one-sided!"

"Deal?!"

Hiccup sighs. There is no room for argument, and he knows it. "Deal," he mutters, barely audible.

"Good," says Stoick, hefting a large pack over his shoulder. "Train hard. I'll be --"

The rest of his sentence is drowned out by a scream outside. The axe slips out of Hiccup's hands unnoticed, and the two hardly spare each other a glance before they're outside. 

*/*\*

My flight away from Hiccup is a total failure. I can't fly without my tail wing: I keep veering uncontrollably to the right and slamming into trees and rocks. It doesn't take long for me to crash-land in a cove, leaving a deep trench behind me. My entire right side aches, my eyes begging to close again. I force them to stay open, trying to take in my surroundings and think.

The cove is relatively small, with a lake taking up the majority of it. I only have to look at the smooth stone walls to realize that I won't be able to escape by flying. So instead, I look for platforms or exits. I can only see one, and it sits too high up for me to reach. Luckily, there is a small ground-level tunnel leading outside, too small for my Night Fury form to fit through but seemingly adequate for a human.