Defying The Rules

Caught

          Thalos ended up staying awake all night. He couldn't sleep. He was in the state of hardly being able to breathe pretty much all night. But, he never shed a tear. He kept his Viking-hood. That was all that mattered, right?

          Today was the day where Hiccup and Astrid would fight a dragon. Afterwards, Gothi, the elder of the village, would pick the better one and that one would kill the Monstrous Nightmare.

          Thalos was betting on Astrid. Clearly it wasn't going to be himself. You know, Thalos had been kind of happy he wasn't picked to be in the running for the Monstrous Nightmare. Now though, after his father's "pep talk" of shame, he felt horrible for it. He felt like he was weak, and he felt like he dishonored his family.

          He felt like a failure. That's what he was, wasn't he? He couldn't kill a dragon, and now he didn't make the best in dragon killing training. Was there nothing he could do right? He probably couldn't even tip a yak over right. He'd probably mess up walking.

          He was going to become a Hiccup, wasn't he? No offense to Hiccup, Thalos liked the guy, but Hiccup is not the kind of Viking Thalos wanted to be! He wanted to be a strong and smart fighter. He wanted to be unstoppable in the battlefeild. That's what he had trained all his life to do, and now what? He was going to become like Hiccup!

          Thalos looked down at his arm. His father didn't even notice his wounded arm, did he? He never even asked about it. Thalos took a breath and shook his head.

          He allowed himself to get wounded. He allowed himself to get a hindering wound. He couldn't fight as well with this arm still in a sling. Gothi said he should be able to take his arm out of the sling in a week or so, but it still hurt if you put too much pressure on it.

          He sighed and sat up out of bed. His bad arm was a bit sore from yesterday. Even though most of his weight had gone to his other arm, he couldn't do 100 with just the one, and he eventually had to start putting pressure on his injured one.

          He got dressed and wiped his eyes. He probably wasn't going to watch Hiccup and Astrid's dragon fight. Maybe he should, to support his friend, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. His father would likely be there, and he wouldn't be able to handle any stink-eyes from him right now.

          Maybe he could go visit Starclaw instead? Starclaw never let him feel like a looser. Starclaw was a better friend than his father ever was.

          It really didn't take him long to come up with a decision. He was going to spend time with Starclaw for the day. That was the infinantly better option.

          He grabbed a couple apples and left the hut. His father wasn't home, but that didn't surprise him. He was probably waiting at the ring to watch the fight.

          He stopped by the butcher and grabbed a slab of meat. It wasn't very big, because he couldn't carry too much with an injured arm and still eat his apples. He made his usual trek to the cavern, eating his food along the way.

          When he grabbed the raft to paddle into the cavern itself, he saw Starclaw, waiting in the water for him. When the dragon saw him, he got out of the water and greeted him. Thalos was confused by Starclaw's actions, mainly because he had never done that before. Starclaw had never waited outside the cavern before.

          "Hey.." Thalos said, looking at his dragon. He handed the meat to him, and the dragon quickly ate it. "What are you doing out?"

          Starclaw only cooed and gently rubbed his nose against Thalos's chest. Thalos grinned and pet his head. He wasn't sure why he was out, but he was kind of glad anyway.

          Suddenly, Starclaw's head shot up. Thalos quickly looked to where he was looking, but all he saw was shrub and trees. Starclaw gave a low growl as rustling in the brush could be heard.

          Pretty soon, a young boy fell out of the bushes. He had dark brown hair and grayish-green eyes. Thalos recognized him immediately. He was only about twelve years old. His name was Gustav.

          Starclaw roared and stood in front of Thalos protectively. He stood up tall and looked down at the young Viking. Gustav screamed and started running.

          "No, no, no, no!" Thalos darted passed Starclaw and chased after Gustav. "Hey, hey! Come back!" He shouted, quickly gaining up on the boy.

          "I'm telling Snotlout!" Gustav cried out, running as fast as he could. "You're conspiring against the Tribe!" Gustav's idol was Snotlout, the rude and arrogant Viking. Thalos hadn't any idea why the kid would look up to him.

          "No! No I'm not you little twerk!" Thalos said, grabbing Gustav and picking him up.

          "Put me down!" Gustav shrieked, kicking and thrashing in Thalos's grip. "Thalos is going to feed me to his pet dra-"

          Thalos quickly put his hand over the kid's mouth. "Shush!" He said, a mixture of annoyance and worry.

          The Xeno'jiiva burst through the trees and roared, expecting Thalos to be in trouble. Thalos looked at the dragon and slightly held his bad arm at him, while holding Gustav and having his other hand over his mouth, trying to keep Starclaw from attacking.

          "Hey, hey, hey, hey! It's okay! Shhhh! Calm down!" He quickly said, stressing himself out. Everyone just needed to be quiet! What if someone was nearby and heard them?!

          Starclaw snarled and flapped his wings. Gustav was squealing under Thalos's hand as Thalos tried to calm the dragon. He even licked it.

          "Shhh shhh. It's okay! It's okay!" He repeated, holding his arm out as much as he could. The dragon stopped and snorted, eyeing the Viking that Thalos had in his grip.

           Starclaw breathed deeply, and after a few moments, placed his nose on Thalos's hand. Thalos took a deep breath. The dragon pulled his face away and watched him, still not exactly trusting of Gustav.

          Gustav was holding Thalos's arm with both his hands, squeaking, trying to get sound out. He continued thrashing and struggling.

          "You have got to listen to me." Thalos said, keeping a firm grip on Gustav's face. "I'm not going to hurt you, and neither is this dragon." He said carefully. "You cannot go back to Berk and tell everyone what you have seen, understand?"

          Gustav squealed and grunted in respond. Thalos sighed. "If you promise not to scream and run, I'll let go of you." He wasn't thinking it was a good idea, but it's not like he could hold him there forever.

          "Mhm!" Gustav grunted. Thalos bit his lip and slowly released his hand from Gustav's face and let go of him. Gustav quickly stumbled forward, turned around, and looked at Thalos.

          "Now, promise me you won't tell anyone, not even Snotlout." Thalos demanded.

          Gustav eyed the Xeno'jiiva and crossed his arms, slightly gaining his composure. "Only on one condition."

          Thalos groaned. "Gustav! My dragon could literally eat you alive!"

          Gustav shrugged and cautiously looked at the beast. "But you wouldn't let him do that. You would get into a lot of trouble if someone found out. Now, you didn't think I would do something for you, and not get anything back, did you?" He said in a challenging tone.

          Thalos glared at Gustav. One would think he would do what the guy with his own dragon said, in fear of getting eaten or barbecued. Wait.. his own dragon? Did he just think that? He told Gustav it was his dragon...

          Thalos shook his head to get his thoughts back on the situation at hand. He looked at Gustav and sighed, irritated. "What do you want?"