How To Train Your Dragon 4 - Heirs Of Berk

03 - Into the woods

The sun was high and bright, shining with a blinding light all over the island, just like every summer day. Seeing how was the weather on Berk, vikings always welcomed those sunny days. People always said there were only two seasons on Berk : winter and summer. Winter held on with both hands for the larger part of the year, while summer granted three, sometimes even four months of cold air instead of freezing to death one.

Most vikings like summer, but not Nuffink. He didn't know why, but he had always prefered winter, and the small period of autumn. Autumn was his favorite. It was this time of the year when temperatures cooled down slowly and nature gave out its warmest and brightest colors, then the rain... Well he didn't like to be wet, but he really enjoyed the sound of rain falling on the rooftop, and the smell it left behind in grass, earth and dead leafs.

He sighed in contemplation at the thought, but ended his daydream when he crossed a sunshine. The light and heat on his face instantly wipe out his smile. He opened his eyes again and looked back where he was heading into the forest. He was there for hours now, wandereing almost aimlessly.

He tightened a bit his belt but froze when he saw the carved figure in the buckle. A dragon. A night fury. He slid his fingers upon the cold metal, letting his memory wandering and going back to that night. That night when he saw – or thought he saw – a dragon.

He sighed again, trying to not think about it. But trying not to think about something makes us do it. He didn't know anymore what to think about it. Of course, he remembered this white figure in the distance, even if time blurred it in his mind, but he still didn't know if what he saw was real or just his imagination.

He then recalled something the healer told him once, that if you really really wish something, and if you are enough imagination, you can convince your mind you're seeing it. For as long as he could remember, he had always dreamed of seeing a dragon, maybe his mind just played tricks on him, trying to make his dream come true ?

He didn't know, and he didn't wanted to think about it.

He shook his head and pestered before carrying on his walk. He jumped over a trunk and kicked a small rock on his path. Since he didn't have any pockets on his green tunic, he played with the shoulder strap of his pod.

Nuffink used to be nervous and always needed to do something with his hands, but it surely was because of this 'ghost dragon' story that kept on following him, even two years after the incident.

At the village, he was still made fun of and talked behind his back. Only Zephyr's gang forgot about that. Nuffink felt so much thankful for that, these guys really helped him bearing the gossiping.

All his tought died when a rabbit suddenly crossed his path. The twelve years old viking froze, cautiously eyeing the little beast. It didn't seem to have noticed him since he was just lazily nibbling some grass, so the boy took his chance.

Very slowly, with a lot of cautions, he took his book and charcoal out and draw the rabbit. He was so silent and discreet he could make three sketches before the animal spotted him and fled.

Nuffink was a bit disappointed at his runaway model, but he just shrugged it off before resuming to his stroll. He knew he would find something elsa to draw, this was exaclty why he was out there.

So we walked within the forest, humming soflty and cheerfulness. He whistle the first song that came across his mind, a joyful tavern song which lyrics where all focused on fights and hydromel. Yes, but it was very catchy.

This song kept him company until he found another model, a couple mushrooms in front of which he kneeled down. The sketch took a bit more time, he worked on the shadowing and added a lot of details, to the point of drawing each dot on the fly-agaricus.