The Gift Of Power | Wattys 2020 (Dance of Power Trilogy: Book 1)

Magic

Looking back at that day, Hiccup realized that had he not chosen to free the terrible terror, his life would be completely different. His future had just seemed like a winding path with no clear end in sight. Now he felt pulled in many directions by forces he could barely comprehend. He still hadn't decided if having an ordained destiny was even something he wanted. It felt like a lot of responsibility to place on the shoulders of the village failure. Bríghid and the rest of her order had taken him under their wing as a sort of apprentice. The high priestess had not revealed the full contents of her vision to anyone, but she had been firm that he was to have a very important place in the world and required proper training if he was to survive.

Most days now he was with the Order. Studying meditation, politics, and learning to interpret the flow of the natural world around him. It was very fascinating and his intelligent mind picked everything up extremely quickly. Though he was finding meditation a difficult practice to learn as he had never been good at sitting still and quiet for extended periods of time. This seemed to amuse Bríghid greatly.

After he was released from his studies, he would return to Toothless and they would fly to the coast and talk about all that Hiccup had learned that day. Then he would return to the village to put in a few hours at the forge with Eret senior. He enjoyed helping the older man to complete the busy work that was needed to keep the village running smoothly.

During these hours, Eret senior had been teaching Hiccup the local dialect. It was a strange language, but he was beginning to grasp it. He could manage simple requests and conversations now. By the end of the day though, his brain felt like a wrung sponge and he was mentally exhausted. He was barely able to stay awake long enough to eat dinner with Toothless before passing out on the ground where he sat. Only to wake up and do it all again the next day.

Eret the younger had also begun to open up to Hiccup. He had taken it upon himself to train the scrawny boy in self defence and weapons use. They had started out with sticks, but now practiced with the short sword that Hiccup had made, as well as with daggers and hand-to-hand combat. At first Hiccup was afraid of the muscular warrior, but Eret turned out to be a patient and knowledgeable teacher. Never before had Hiccup done so well during a spar. He doubted he would ever be able to beat Eret, but he was getting stronger. His arms did not shake as much when he held his sword, and his movements were becoming more coordinated. You could never call him graceful exactly, but he had stopped tripping over his own feet or falling down every time he went to parry or attack.

Yet, he still had not told anyone about Toothless. He was sure that Bríghid knew, but she had never said a word to him or anyone else. The others in the village had taken to calling him by a shortened, local version of the name she had given him though. After he had been referred to as Scáth on more than one occasion, Hiccup had inquired about it. Eret senior had explained to him that Scáth Rothaí meant Shadow Rider in the native tongue.

Hiccup found that he actually liked this new name. It sounded mystical and heroic. Two things that he certainly wasn't, but hoped to become one day. He never let on to Eret that he knew why Bríghid had called him this though. Conveniently, the villagers had long since given up on questioning the mystics.

Still, it had become increasingly difficult to divide his time between all of his duties and his friend, while still keeping the dragon a secret. He stayed on his guard around everyone, afraid to let something slip about Toothless. Careful to also not give away who he was and that he was on the run. He never shared a meal with Eret and his family, despite being invited many times. He just didn't know what to do about this situation though. Toothless was unable to fly without Hiccup and he was unsure of who he could trust enough to not put his friend in danger.

He had also been expending a great deal of effort to convince the Eret men to give up dragon trapping. Though as much as he tried to explain to them about the true nature of dragons, he had to admit that he had not offered them any proof. Without it, they were unlikely to give up their livelihood at the words of a strange boy from unknown lands with no past. One night hope arrived in the form of the small green and red terror that he had freed. It flew into the campsite and came right over to Hiccup. Toothless growled at it, but quickly changed it to a grunt of acceptance when he realized it was the same terror from Hiccup's memory.