How to Tame Wild Dragons (How to Train Your Dragon Fan Fiction)

Chapter 8

The dragon riders returned, bleary eyed, but ready to work. Their dragons all watched from the sidelines as they went about their business. Toothless growled in disappointment each time a garlic bulb was buried.

The riders planted in silence, more because of the smell than anything else. Dragons had been visiting the latrine all day, leaving a pile of dung almost as tall as Hiccup himself! 

“I think we’re going to need a bigger field,” Hiccup muttered to himself dryly. 

Finally, after a liberal sprinkling of tomato seeds, they left the fields and headed into the forest, back to their original campsite. Despite the day’s success and the added time pressure of fixing the wood problem by morning, the group were in a contemplative mood. In the subdued atmosphere, the hush settled over them like a cloak, broken only by the soft crackle of their flickering campfire. Astrid was first to speak.

“So, what if we chopped down some trees and dragged them back to Berk? At least with our dragons that shouldn’t be too hard.” 

“Yeah, we’re warriors,” Tuffnut agreed, brandishing his axe. “Now that the dragons are our friends, I haven’t swung an axe in ages. We’ll chop some of these down in no time!”

“It won’t work,” Snotlout said dully, staring into the flames. “Why do you think we chop down the Sawtooth oaks that pop up around the village, instead of the ones here? These trees are ironwood oak. It takes days to chop down just one of them. We’d be up all night and wouldn’t even make a dent.”

“Yeah right.” Tuffnut retorted, “Watch this!” 

He ran towards the nearest tree, whooping like a mad man. He swung his axe at it with all his might, thrumming the air with the force of his blow. The axe bounced off the bark and smacked into his helmet with a loud clang.

“I’m hurt, I am very much hurt!” he lamented, clutching his head.

“See,” Snotlout sighed, ignoring the wailing viking. “It’s no use. There’s other trees in the forest that might do for repairing houses, but its ironwood we need for our ships. Thick, strong logs that won’t break in a storm.”

“We could be up all night chopping down the weaker trees to replenish the stores, but that doesn’t fix our bigger problem,” Hiccup said, thinking out loud. “Still, if nobody comes up with any better ideas, we’d better do that. It buys us a bit more time!” 

Astrid shook her head grimly.

“Yes, but we’d have to do it all over again tomorrow night, won’t we. They’ll use all the lumber we gather tonight for tomorrow’s fires. We’ll be right in the same boat, so to speak. I don’t think we can manage more than two sleepless nights in a row.” 

Hiccup’s heart sank as he realised she was right. There had to be another solution. “Maybe if we…” 

But Hiccup never got to finish his thought. An object came plummeting from the sky and splattered in the centre of the camp, extinguishing the campfire with a sizzle. 

“Urghhh!” Ruffnut yelled, covering her face with her sleeve. “It reeks!” 

“It’s even worse when you burn it,” Snoutlout choked, stuffing grass up his nose.

Even in the dim light, Hiccup could see what it was. An enormous, steaming pile of dragon dung. 

“I have had it up to here with dragon dung today!” Tuffnut bellowed. 

Hiccup quickly struck a flint against his metal leg, lighting a torch. He held it high, but he couldn’t see any dragons above them. 

“The dragon latrine is right around the corner! Why would they do this? This is just spiteful,” Hiccup grumbled, the frustration of the day filling him with angry energy.