Night Fury's Venom

Part 6: Lesson One

Gobber always thought of mead as a happy drink. A happy drink for happy people, who sing out of tune and dance their pride away, then get into a brawl over who was the best dancer.

Not this time.

Gobber sighed as he stared into his thrice emptied tankard, sitting in one corner of the great hall, and blocking out the sounds of the argument around him. An argument over what to do with his annoying-but-helpful-blacksmithing-apprentice-turned-Night-Fury. So far, there were two options: kill him now, or parade him around to the other tribes, then kill him. He sighed again as he tuned into the crowd.

"It's too dangerous to keep alive! Kill it now!"

"Wait for Stoick to return and let him kill the thing!"

"Tie it up and throw it into the ocean!"

"Give it a new bucket! Happy Snoggletog, everyone!"

"Bring the other chiefs here and kill it in front of them!"

Gobber wasn't ready to give up on his former apprentice just yet but was too depressed about the situation to do anything about it. He saw Hiccup's body change into that of a dragon, but did the dragon take over his mind too? It certainly didn't act like a dragon in the arena, no snarling or struggling. And it wrote! Not every Viking knows how to read or write, but Hiccup knew how to, and so did that dragon. But could it be using Hiccup's memories to deceive us? It did embarrass him with that secret, but would a dragon rather fight its way out instead? Even if it knew it would fail?

Waving his drinking arm, he signaled for another round to banish these confusing thoughts. Three wasn't nearly enough to get him happily drunk. Doing so, he didn't notice as Gothi hobbled her way next to him. He certainly noticed when she gave him a good whack round the head with her stick. Gobber nearly fell off the bench in his surprise, his peg leg getting lodged in the floor being the only reason he stayed off the floor.

"Wha' was tha' for? I'm busy working here!" He had to shout to be heard over the fighting Vikings. Turning around to see who the offender was, he came face to face with a very unimpressed looking Gothi. "Oh, Gothi. What can I do fer ye?" He asked a bit more calmly.

Gothi simply stood there, glaring at the bigger man. Gobber stared back dumbly until he received another whack. "OW, what?!"

Gothi rolled her eyes and sketched out the outline of a Night Fury. She then tapped the image and waved her staff to encompass the entire hall, where everyone was still fighting over what to do. Gobber knew what to do; he knew what Gothi wanted too. Grumbling under his breath, Gobber climbed onto the top of the table unsteadily, pushing a brawling pair of Vikings clumsily onto the floor, took a deep breath, and shouted.

"QUUUIIIEEETTT!"

When the shouting had finally subsided, Gobber continued, "now ah know that ye want ta kill the Night Fury. But can ye be sure it's not still Hiccup inside?"

"Does it really matter?" A random villager shouted.

"We'll be doing the village a favor!" Another yelled, starting an avalanche of similar shouts.

"Do ye want ta be the one who tells chief Stoick ye killed his son?" Gobber's shout quieted the village again. "Do any of yeh know how ta kill a Night Fury anyway?"

"Stab it through the heart," someone called, causing a ripple of chuckles in the crowd.

Gobber rolled his eyes. "Look, we've got a perfect chance ta finally learn how ta fight the things. Ah will watch it, and when the trainees are ready, they will learn how ta fight it." That seemed to please the village, except Mildew, who thankfully kept his mouth shut.