How to train your Dragon Rider

~Chapter two: the Night Fury~ (Hiccup)

Frustrated, Stoick pointed over to somewhere in the slight distance "Concentrate fire over the lower bank!" he ordered

"Fire!" Boulders catapulted at the corralling Nadders... Just as a huge red dragon whips past, spraying the base of the catapult with sticky fire.

And then there's the Monstrous Nightmare. Only the best Vikings go after those. They have this nasty habit of setting themselves on fire. It emerges from the flames, climbing the catapult with a leering, toothy grin.

"Reload!" said Stoick, then turned to the dragon "I'll take care of this." Stoick takes on the Nightmare, hitting its face with a hammer. Suddenly, a loud ballistic moaning streaks overhead. The catapult crew ducks. looking up from my work, reacting to the same sound, I peered over the counter to get a better look.

But the ultimate prize is the dragon no one has ever seen. We call it the--

"Night Fury! Get down!" Vikings everywhere take shelter. The moaning sound builds, The Monstrous Nightmare suddenly stops fighting and takes flight. Stoick looks skyward.

KABOOM!

The Catapult explodes as though hit by an artillery shell... sending Stoick and the crew leaping for their lives. This thing never steals food, never shows itself, and... The sound recedes, leaving the crippled catapult in flames. Never misses. No one has ever killed a Night Fury. That's why I'm going to be the first. I nodded to myself, a determined gleam in my eyes.

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In the stall, Gobber trades his hammer for an ax. "Man the fort, Hiccup, they need me out there!" Gobber pauses, then turns with a threatening glare. "Stay. Put. There." rolling his eyes at my confused face, he went on, "You know what I mean." Gobber charges into the fray, hollering his battle cry, just as a smirk crosses my face.

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I pushed my wheeled contraption through a wall of clustered Vikings. I weaved through the ongoing mayhem, as fast as my legs could carry me.

"Hiccup, where are you going? Come back here!" yelled a man who was pushing a cart to Thor knows where.

"I know. Be right back!"

I eventually arrived on a small plain behind someone's hut. Without waiting a moment, I reached a cliff overlooking the smoking catapult and dropped the handles to the ground. I cranked several levers, unfolding and then cocking the bowed arms of my contraption. I dropped a bola onto a chamber and then pivoted the weapon on a gimbal head toward the dark sky. I listened, with my eye pressed to the scope, hand poised on the trigger. Suddenly, I heard the night fury approaching... and turned my aim to the defense tower. It closes in for the final strike, completely camouflaged in the night.

"Come on. Give me something to shoot at, give me something to shoot at." I muttered to himself.

KABLAM!

The tower topples. The blast of fire illuminates the dragon for a split second. I pulled the trigger. KERTHUNK! The flexed arms snap forward, springing the weapon off the ground. The bola disappears into the sky, followed by a whack and a SCREECH.

"Oh I hit it! Yes, I hit it!" I cheered in triumph "Did anybody see that?" unfortunately, my victory was short-lived, as a Monstrous Nightmare appeared, slithering up over the lip of the cliff. "Except for you..."

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holding down the netted Nadders, Stoick calls a few men over, pointing to another loose dragon. He then hears a familiar holler and looks up to see... Hiccup... running through the plaza, screaming, with the nightmare fast on his heels. Alarmed, Stoick abandons the Nadders and runs off.