Without Saying

Chapter 4 - He's Gone

The old wooden ship sailed, or more like, drifted into the harbor. Stoic glanced at Berk's shores with a slight scowl, but it soon turned into a guilty frown. Another fail. Another failed attempt to stop those monsters from attacking his village. Another failed attempted to get revenge for his poorly departed wife Valka and to ensure a brighter, safer future for Hiccup and the younger generation. The guilt he held was incredibly heavy but still paled in comparison to the worry he felt. This mysterious dragon rider had him had him worried. So much so that for once in his life, Stoic the Vast was actually looking over his shoulder. He never got a good look at the man, but he recognized the Night Fury, even if he had never seen one. He could recognize the sound it made. What kind of a man could overpower and control a dragon so completely that the beast allowed one to ride on its back. It seemed impossible, and yet here it was at his front door. He could only hope that this mystery man wasn't an enemy. Because there was no way they could take on a lone Night Fury, let alone one with a rider calling the shots. 

"They're back!"

He heard someone shout from the village. He smiled. Regardless of his current worries, it felt good to be home, but he still couldn't shake the feeling of guilt that weighed on him. It felt like he was always failing them. Even his son seemed like a failure to some. So imagine his surprise when he was suddenly overwhelmed with compliments and stories of his son's exploits in the arena during his absence. He couldn't believe it. In fact, it took some serious confirmation on Gobbers' part to make him finally believe it. For the rest of the afternoon, all he heard were stories of what his son did in the arena, each one more "glorious" than the last, although later Gobber confirmed that no one but the teens and himself actually saw it. Even Astrid had good things to say about the lad's exploits. Needless to say, Stoic was more than looking forward to coming home that night so he could talk to Hiccup himself about the matter. Finally, they would have something in common to talk about, like a real father and son should. It seemed, however, that the boy was nowhere to be found. Knowing this wasn't uncommon for the lad, Stoic decided he would just wait till he came home, being that Hiccup was almost always off in the woods or doing something by himself till late anyway. But he waited a long time, and the minutes bleed into hours, his thoughts returned to the dragon rider. It seemed no matter what Stoic tried, his thoughts kept returning to it, and he had this aching feeling deep in his gut that said their paths would cross again. The question was, when? Eventually, however, it got too late. He would see Hiccup in the morning, nothing out of the ordinary for that boy to stay out late. He was probably working on another one of those darned contraptions of his. So, Stoic went to bed with the hope of catching Hiccup before the day started tomorrow. Unfortunately, Stoic was mistaken because early the next morning, he went up to wake Hiccup and found his bed still made and not slept in. He didn't come home last night. Slightly worried, the Chief started asking around town to see if anyone had seen him, but no one had seen him since he left the forge the morning before, heading into the woods. Stoic's worry grew ever so slightly, and the thought of the dragon rider entered his mind more than once. What if Hiccup encountered the rider in the forest and...

By the afternoon, still no one had seen any sign of Hiccup, and Stoic was more than worried. Sure, Hiccup would go out to the woods by himself, but never for this long. So, he gathered a few volunteers together to help him search the forest. Even if he was safe, he didn't feel comfortable with the boy being out there all alone with that rider and his dragon around. They searched the forest for hours and eventually found a small cove hidden away in the trees just off the coast of raven point, or Snotlout found it. He was helping search for his cousin because his father was for appearances. He was beginning to regret that stupid decision when he fell down into the cove by accident, and what he found shook him to his core. At first, the cove seemed like such a peaceful and beautiful place, but it didn't take long to recognize the claw marks, blood stains, and scorch marks covering the rock edges and surfaces A few things of Hiccup also lay scattered across the ground, some bloody, some not. Snotlout was absolutely mortified. He just stood there, unable to rip his gaze away.