Noblesse oblige

Part 12

Chapter 12

"Toothless!" Hiccup called early in the morning, the day after his mother's garden party. He saw a black tail sticking out of a large mountain of hay but the Nightfury showed no indication of waking up.

"I have food!" Hiccup then called which caused the tail to twitch and wag a bit but still, the dragon did not budge from within the hay. "Playing hard to get huh?" Hiccup asked aloud to no one in particular. He was in the dragon stables and several other dragons were looking excitingly at the huge woven basket of fish Hiccup had with him. Cloudjumper, his mother's dragon, was on one of the higher rafters overlooking the scene with indifference while Skullkrusher, his father's dragon, was still snoring loudly. Stormfly had perked up and was now sniffing around Hiccup and the basket. He had to keep the basket close or else the Nadder would have snatched a fish or three. It was then that Hiccup got a wicked idea.

People knew that dragons were intelligent, but how intelligent depended solely on the type of species. Nadders, for instance, were one of several species that could understand human speech. "Say Stormfly...." Hiccup began, catching the dragon's attention. "I'll give you the biggest fish in here if you drag Toothless out."

Stormfly gave a squawk as if to say she agreed before diving into the large pile of hay that the Nightfury used to cuddle when sleeping. Hiccup could hear Toothless' surprised yowl before Stormfly came back out, this time dragging Toothless by the tail. Hiccup laughed as he noticed Toothless pouting and set about dividing the fish between the four dragons, giving Stormfly the biggest fish. Skullcrusher had woken up at the commotion and was now eating with the rest of them.

"And here I thought I was the only one who bribed dragons," Came the laugh from behind Hiccup. He turned to see Astrid leaning against one of the posts in the stable. He hadn't even heard her come in but she was clearly amused at the antics of the dragons.

"Milady," Hiccup greeted her and then proceeded to give her hand a kiss causing Astrid to blush. She never could get used to that. After the events yesterday the couple had decided to be better safe than sorry and had given Stoick and Gobber the green light to announce the engagement. Of course those two went all out and before the night was through the Ministers, Governours, Palace staff, knights and even the squires all knew of the new engagement. News traveled fast in the Kingdom and Hiccup had no doubt that it had already made its way through the taverns, merchant guilds and other establishments. Hiccup had felt sad when hearing about the probable schemes of his uncle but with this announcement it would put a bit of an obstacle in Spitelout's way. He was however glad that Snotlout actually had nothing to do with the schemes and surprised to find out he had another cousin as well. Astrid however had been wearing a certain wicked grin all throughout dinner yesterday as Hiccup noticed the Ministers shooting glances at their future Crown Princess. 'She must have been imagining certain individuals choking on their wine as the news hit,' He had concluded.

"So what is the plan for today?" Astrid asked as she gave Stormfly a scratch.

"Well I was hoping you would accompany me to the morning market." Hiccup said. "Dad asked the dragon groomers to come in today so Toothless and the others will be...... TOOTHLESS!!!!" Hiccup shouted as he was bowled over as the Nightfury freaked out and ran out of the stables with such urgency.

"Hiccup are you alright?!" Astrid asked as she bent down to give the trampled prince a hand. Hiccup was surprisingly sturdy and once he stood up he muttered something under his breath.

"What was that?" Astrid asked as she hadn't been able to catch that.

"I forgot Toothless hates the dragon groomers," Hiccup sighed. "Now he's going to be hiding the entire day,"