Another Nightmare Book 3: Facing Nightmares

Chapter 7

Hiccup had to fight to keep his breath calm as the man first raised his spear, but the first couple of exercise strikes went well. A strike got blocked by his shield, then another. The old warrior shouted instructions on changing Hiccup's hold on the spear and "not playing around." Hiccup's opponent listened and attacked more fiercely. Hiccup, only seeing an armed man coming at him, stumbled back as the other's spear approached. Unable to think anything or attack properly, Hiccup just swung his spear in that general direction. Then something impacted against the top of his shield and whooshed past his head. Something cold touched his cheek and then there was something warm. A loud growl sounded from the side of the training area and rapid steps moved closer to them. Hiccup's opponent jumped back and raised his shield.

"What in the name of Thor is happening there?" The old warrior shouted. Hiccup stared at the approaching man frozen still. A black mass pushed itself between Hiccup and his training partner. The warm scales brushed against Hiccup's arm, jolting him back to the moment. He dropped the spear to place a hand on Toothless' back. Their minds began bonding again without even thinking about it. The old warrior kept shouting at Hiccup.

"Can you keep that beast in line or not?"

'Did THEY forget this was supposed to be training?' Toothless growled under Hiccup's hand, mirroring the warrior before even realizing what the man had said.

'Easy bud,' Hiccup said wordlessly. With the scales under his fingers, he could think more clearly again. He still bit his teeth. This was exactly what wasn't supposed to happen. This was not what he was supposed to do. Actually, it was the opposite.

He felt good though. His fingers flexed, scratching scales between the black ears. Toothless calmed along with Hiccup but kept himself in front of his brother. Hiccup breath in and faced the warrior with dragon supported confidence.

"He is in line." Hiccup brought his finger to his cheek where they were stained in blood. "This isn't training to him."

"You think you can learn to fight without getting a scratch, especially when you are the one who couldn't even keep your shield up? Were you daydreaming or what?"

Even properly bonded Hiccup couldn't' give a good answer to that. The warrior clearly wouldn't care about his personal traumas. The man grunted.

"Send the dragon away and get back to work."

"Not with me. I'm not going to be anywhere near him with that unholy beast anywhere near," the young man said. He backed away, keeping his shield between himself and Toothless. Other trainees looked at them with expressions that told there wouldn't be any volunteers.

"I am not going to deal with this. Lock up your dragon or train alone," the old warrior said.

"I can train with him," a familiar voice said. Hiccup turned around to meet Heather. The girl was holding an axe that was quite large, at least relative to her size, a bit like Astrid's but simpler with only one blade. "Sorry, I'm so late. Had more work than usual."

"That is okay," the old warrior said with a much friendlier and calmer voice than before. "Are you sure you want to train with him? He is just a beginner and you see how that dragon acts."

"Don't worry. I've met it before. Just have to not hurt Hiccup here too much."

The old man shrugged his shoulders.

"Go ahead then, but remember I warned you."

As the man left Toothless relaxed and turned to face Hiccup, who just remembered his wound. He barely had time to close his eyes before a long tongue got pulled across his face. This wasn't a happy friendly lick, but slow and meticulous treatment.