Escaping to You -Book I of the Journey Series

Chapter 20

===Heather===

It took an hour after the airshow to start the first part of the Thawfest games. And in that time frame, I recovered from the fact that Stoick called me his future daughter-in-law. I had this feeling in my gut that he knew I was Oswald's daughter, but I shook it off as paranoia and told myself it was just because I was dating Hiccup.

As the chief's nephew and godsons, Aaron and the boys sat next to Stoick to watch the games. And since I was declared as the future wife to the next chief earlier this morning, I'm sitting with them to watch. Our dragons right next to us.

"This is it, huh?" I nervously asked the boys, having this unsettling feeling about Hiccup in the pits of my stomach.

"Yup." Is the response I got from all three of them, their eyes focused on the arena below.

I think Skylar sensed my unease, since he sat right next to me and I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry. If anything goes wrong, we'll be there." He assured me.

I gave him a thankful smile, but it didn't really help much. That unsettling feeling in my gut is pretty strong that all I can do is pray to the gods.

"Welcome one and all, first up is the sheep lug." Mulch announced a moment later.

And my nervousness just doubled. I think both Skylar and Aaron sensed it, because they held their hands in mine and gave me it a comforting squeeze. For them, I tried steadying my heart beat by taking deep breaths.

Hiccup already had a sheep lugged on his shoulders at the starting line, and he didn't even look like he was having a hard time carrying it. His green eyes were dark with focus and determination. The message written in them was pretty clear, 'I'm gonna win this', which just fueled my uneasiness more.

I'm willing to guess Snotlout gave him a hard time earlier, pissed him off and wants to stick it to him now in the sheep lug. And judging by the annoying smirk plastered on Snotlout's face, I would be right.

The racers took their positions, as they waited for the blare of the bugle to officially start lugging. And as soon as it did, they were off.

Fishlegs managed to trip after the first fee steps, knocking back Astrid in the process. Tuffnut managed to run into Ruffnut, and they just argued instead of continuing the race.

The real competition is between Snotlout and Hiccup. Hiccup was keeping his pace steady but fast. Snotlout, on the other hand, decided a full burst of speed at the start then slow down towards the finish line.

Bad move, he used all his energy on start up and has barely enough to finish the race.

Hiccup remained steady and managed to pass Snotlout, who was starting to lose his breath from his poor strategy. Hiccup's eyes remained focused as he ran towards the finish line. Snotlout didn't want to lose and tried matching Hiccup's pace, but he was only a few steps behind him.

Everyone including me, the boys, the chief and Gobber, were on the edges of our seats as we watched who was gonna cross the finish line first.

And it was.... Hiccup!

The entire arena was silent, you could hear a pin drop, as Hiccup set the sheep down from his shoulders and gave Snotlout a triumphant smirk, who was just behind the finish line when he tripped on his own feet and lost all his air. He looked like he wanted to scream, all red in the face from both anger and exhaustion.

"And for the first time in Thawfest History, Hiccup Haddock wins the Sheep Lug and the first point!" Mulch announced, breaking the silence and erupting cheers from the crowd.