The Forgotten Haddock: Riders of Berk

Chapter 5: In Dragons We Trust

Chapter 5: In Dragons We Trust

We're doing another of my old games for training. The one where I jump off of Vision and he catches me. Hiccup goes and when he gets up, he says,

"Your turn. Jump."

"I don't want to jump. I--"

"You have to believe that Meatlug will catch you. It's a trust exercise." I say gently.

"I like to do my trusting on the ground, thank you very much." Fishlegs says stubbornly.

"Like this, Chicken-legs." Snotlout says and cheers before falling off Hookfang. I don't hear any change in Hookfang's wing beats and I yell,

"Hookfang! Get him!" Toothless roars and Hookfang suddenly dives.

"Not feeling the trust!" Snotlout shouts.

I hear a crash and then another. I then hear someone yell.

"Um, Snotlout. Whose house did you crash into?" I ask as Hookfang rejoins us.

"Mildew's." He says.

"Awww sh--"

"LANGUAGE!" everyone yells at me.

That night, before dinner, Dad places something in front of us.

"Shingle again? Didn't we have roofing materials for dinner last night?" Hiccup says, failing to lighten the mood.

"Dad, it was a training exercise gone wrong. Hookfang caught Snotlout just a little too late and they crashed into the worst person's house to crash into with a dragon." I say.

"Listen to me, kids. I gave you the responsibility of training those dragons. Everyone knows that. All eyes are upon you, kids. Whatever those beasts do, reflects on you and whatever you do, reflects on me."

"We're sorry, Dad. You're right." Hiccup says.

"You and your friends are going to go back to Mildew and fix that roof. Without your dragons." Dad says.

"Um, Dad. I can't do that kinda work. You know, cause I can't see." I say to Dad.

"Well then you can be the one to take my boots out. It is boot night after all." Dad says.

I groan and put Dad's boots outside the door so the air clears the smell. I go back inside and go to sleep. I wake up and I hear shouts from around the village. I come downstairs and hear Mildew say,

"All I know is that they left a mighty big footprint."

"Ugh, Mildew. How did you get here so quickly? If he's blaming a dragon, I bet that he probably caused it and is framing them to get them off the island." I announce.

"Ohhh those are Zippleback tracks. You can tell by the half moon shaped arches, but that's dragon 101 guys, I don't need to fill you in on that." Fishlegs says, ignoring me.

"So a dragon walked through here. A Zippleback, according to Fishlegs, but that doesn't mean he took everyone's boots." Hiccup says.

"Also, why would a Zippleback want everyone's smelly boots?" I ask out loud.

"Well there's only one way to find out." Mildew says. "Follow the footprints."

I get on Vision who starts walking. We finally stop and I hear a snoring Zippleback.

"So there's a pile of boots on a Zippleback. That doesn't mean--" Hiccup starts, but stops. "Yeah, ok fine. It took the boots."

"Wait, the boots are on the Zippleback? How did it manage that? And why?" I ask, but nobody answers.