A New World, Complicated

Chapter 22: The Iron Gronckle (Hiccup)

"As much as I hate to admit it, I say we call it a loss for the day and head back to Berk. That ship is either too far away for us to catch now, or on its way back to Outcast Island."

She patted the top of Shriek's head twice to get her to turn back toward home. The others hesitated for a second before following her, leaving Toothless and I to fly behind the rest of the group. Reign had a tremendous amount of empathy, sometimes more than was good for her. But, I could feel the weight she carried on this one. She and Fishlegs had always been close, coming to share a love of dragons. Even before, when she had a fear of them, she and Fishlegs were the sweethearts of the group, and that'd always made them closer. He taught her everything she knew about dragons, and before she'd met Toothless, he helped her with her fear of dragons a little bit.

"Hiccup!"

Toothless suddenly jerked to the left, nearly throwing me off his back to avoid a large sea spire. I got so lost in thought, I'd forgotten I had to try and steer my dragon. He grunted in annoyance and shook his head as I turned to face Reign, who was trying her best to hide her laughter. Her hands pressed harder into the back of her dragon as her body shook with giggles, her eyes darting between me and the horizon.

"Don't think I don't see you laughing at me, Reign," I teased.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She shrugged nonchalantly, not meeting my eyes. "I wasn't laughing, I had a chest spasm, and needed to cough."

"Mmhmm, yeah. Sure..."

I went back to scanning the water as we made our way back home. At any point, the boat could have turned around and headed toward Berk, or been used to create some sort of diversion for a greater threat heading toward my home island. The Outcasts could strike at any moment-- maybe they already struck. Everyone had been on edge, or at least, that's how it felt; all anticipating the next move, waiting to counter or fight back. It wasn't really a way to live, but it's what we had to do for now, to protect Berk.

The sun had begun to set, creating purple, golden, and pink patterns across the cloudy sky. Our dragons circled once before landing on Berk. Fishlegs had returned, and was currently cleaning Meatlug with a wide, elated smile on his face. Quite a change from his attitude earlier. As we disembarked, he started to make his way over to us, causing us all to meet in the middle.

"Did you, uh-- did you find your Outcast ship?" he asked, clearly trying to contain some sort of excitement.

"Do you see an Outcast ship?" Snotlout seethed, following a fit of babbling.

"No, we didn't find them," I clarified.

"Fishlegs!"

All of us turned to see Gobber starting our way, his eyes fixed on the sudden subject of interest. He held a sword in one hand, made of a metal with a strange sort of color. The light bounced off it in a way that almost made it appear a hot white, thin as a blade of grass. I nudged Reign, and when she looked at me curiously, I nodded my head toward it.

"Yeah..." she whispered.

"Do you know what this is?" Gobber insisted.

"No, don't tell me!" Tuffnut interjected.

"Uh... a sword," his sister answered. Tuff suddenly lunged at Ruff and started to wail on her.

"I said don't tell me!"

We all watched as they fought for a moment, before turning out attentions back to Gobber, reminded that fights were a normal, everyday occurrence for them.