Hiccup & Toothless' Fate

Chapter 18 - Problems on Wings

(Hiccup)

Snotlout was the last one to stumble down the path into the cove, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Here," I called, and tossed the cloth-wrapped package towards him. "An improvement. You'll be able to hang on better this way." Mid yawn, Snotlout only just caught it, immediately unwrapping the cloth and holding up the mess of leather and buckles.

"This is an improvement? For what?" He turned it over in his hands. "What even is it?"

"Saddles," I grinned. "Finally finished them yesterday; took me about half a month to get them all done." I gestured to where the rest of the gang were strapping them to their dragons with varying degrees of success. "How about you put it on Hookfang? Just go in calmly, like we've been doing for the past two weeks."

I had been trying to step back more during training with the dragons, letting the still shaky riders start to do their own thing. It had been a few weeks now since Astrid joined the group, and honestly, I couldn't have made a better decision! She was hardworking, thorough, and willing to learn, showing up at the cove at dawn every morning (though that might just have been her keeping an eye on me). It certainly helped that the group already had respect for her, making my job of attempting to train these guys much easier. She had bonded with her Nadder, now named Stormfly, faster than I expected and had quickly matched her skill level to the rest of the group. It was also a relief to have Stormfly in training as well, as she had started to become restless and argumentative with the other dragons without something to do. Now the blue and yellow dragon excelled, attempting the harder and harder manoeuvres and tricks her rider coaxed her into. I had feared her headstrong nature would have clashed with Astrid's, but that didn't seem to be a problem at all, to both mine and Toothless' relief.

"Alright gang!" I called once Snotlout had secured the last strap on Hookfang's neck. "Wings in the air and talons off the ground in two minutes! We're heading to Boarhead Island!"

Boarhead Island was a small island in the Archipelago, far enough from Berk but also close enough to get back before we were missed. Its rocky terrain and dense sea stacks gave us a clear space for any manoeuvres near to the ground, and the lack of trees offered plenty of airspace to work with. I had scouted it a few days ago and had found no sign of life, making it the perfect island to practice on.

Approaching from the air, I could see nothing had changed. It was as desolate as ever – not even Terrible Terrors had made any nests along the cliffs. I gave the signal to descend onto a flat clearing, the steep cliffs rising from the ground nearby.

"Ok, here's the plan. A few days ago, I set up a course with targets placed at different points. Your task is to fly along the course and shoot at each of the targets."

"That's easy!" Snotlout scoffed.

"Yeah, we did that the other day on Crescent Island." Ruffnut rolled her eyes. "Find some better ideas, Ormy."

"I haven't told you everything yet," I replied, jaw clenched. I didn't want to argue with them, not again, but their constant comments every day were getting tiresome. "Boarhead Island is made up of cliffs, many of them set apart by chasms and valleys wide and deep enough to fly a dragon through. You'll need to navigate through them, but if your entire concentration is on that - and it will be - you'll miss the targets. Instead, you need to trust your dragon to navigate for you as you spot the targets." I played my trump card. "Oh, and it's a competition. Most accurate dragon-rider team wins."

"It'll be me!" Snotlout flexed his biceps. "Hookfang's whole body bursts into fire – we can't miss!"

"Um, if you think about it logically, it's very likely that Meatlug and I will do better," Fishlegs counted. "You see, a Gronkle's smaller wingspan allows for better hovering and therefore better manoeuvrability–"