I Am Dragonblood: Secret Uncovered {Book Three} (HTTYD Fanfic)

Chapter One - The Dragonblood Chief

Being a Chief was hard enough. What with all the petty complaints, huts to fix, training to oversee and the hundreds of dragons and Vikings to keep happy and fed. You'd think that the son of a great Chief would take it all in his stride, and Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third did, to an extent. 
    But then being a chief and a Dragonblood made things a smidgen more complicated. 
    You see, when Hiccup's mother, Valka, told him he had the soul of a dragon, she was right. Hiccup did indeed have soul of a dragon, and he admitted that without hesitation. But what he did not say was that he could take on the form of a Night Fury. 
    He could Shift at will. With a single thought he could instantly become his true, midnight scaled self. But every month at full moon, the pull of his dragon side became too strong to resist, and he escaped from the village into the night to fly free above the clouds. He had almost been caught many times, when he had been overconfident and come too near the village. Most of the time he flew above the clouds, out of sight from prying eyes, with himself, the stars, wild dragons and occasionally his mother to accompany him. 
    Sometimes, they'd play tag, diving in and out the clouds and riding the air currents with the greatest ease. Sometimes, they'd just glide, drifting high above the land. They were happy there, in the starlight, free as a, well, dragon. 
    But then as dawn approached they would have to return to Berk, back to the noise, the moanings, the crowds, the human life. 
    Hiccup wished he could just fly away, shake off his human role and be free as a dragon forever. But there was no chance of that. He had Toothless, Astrid and a whole village to look out for. And still the guilt of events a year ago weighing him down. 
    So yeah, being a Chief could be hard, but being a Dragonblood Chief was harder. 
    Hiccup shook his head to clear those thoughts away. He had a job to do right now, an important one. Reports had come in from the west that Dragon Hunters had been spotted, a whole fleet of them, headed towards an only-just-discovered giant sinkhole. The original mission had been to explore this sinkhole, but it now looked as if it had a bit of fire-at-the-Dragon-Hunters-and-free-any-trapped-dragons on the side. 
    He sighed and went back to packing saddle bags for the journey, while his best bud, Toothless, stood patiently waiting with his green, catlike eyes half closed. Nearby the other riders were doing the same, apart from the twins, who were bludgeoning each other with salted sturgeon while Barf and Belch held Ruff and Tuff in the air. 
    The blonde, blue eyed Viking, Astrid, must have heard his sigh. She came over and patted him on the shoulder. 'It's going to be alright, Hiccup. We've defeated Hunters before, we know what to do now.'
    'It's not that that I'm worried about,' Hiccup sighed again. 'It's the sinkhole. What if, when we go down there, there's another Red Death or Leviathan of some kind. Drago's Bewilderbeast could be down there for all we know! We may not all make it out, I don't want to put you at risk, Astrid, or any of you. What if- what if-'
    'What if we just go down there and see instead of worrying about it,' broke in a chubby, fair haired Viking. Fishlegs peered over from the other side of his Gronckle, Meatlug. 'We're not going to know until we fly in there and find out.'
    'I know,' Hiccup said. By now all the other dragon riders were watching, even the twins had frozen in mid slap to listen. 'I know, it's just... Urgh!' In truth, it wasn't only the sinkhole and Dragon Hunters he was worrying about, it was that it was only a week until full moon. This mission and and the Hunter ships couldn't have come at a worse time. 
    The Chief turned back to the saddle bags, slotting rations, water and other essential stuff into place. 'Go get something to eat,' he said over his shoulder to the waiting Vikings. 'Meet up back here at midday, we'll head out then.'
    His friends filed out from the arena, which had formally been the place where young Vikings were trained to kill dragons. Now it was a dragon training area, with everything from Dragon Nip to saddles neatly stashed in the carved caverns around the edge. 
    Astrid glanced back at him, but didn't say anything to him or stop, she knew he needed time alone. Instead she called to Fishlegs, who was still by Meatlug. 'You coming, Fishlegs?'
    Fishlegs shook his head. 'I'll be over in bit, I'm going to finish up here first.'
    Astrid nodded and hurried after the rest of the gang.
    Hiccup stopped what he was doing and stared at his hands. He knew what was coming. 
    'You can't hide forever, you know,' Fishlegs said from behind him. He half turned towards him. 'They're going to find out eventually, you disappearing every full moon is a bit a suspicious, to my mind. You should just tell them.'
    'It's not that easy, and you know that. I can't just tell my friends that I'm part dragon after all these years, what would they think? That I'm some kind of monster?' Hiccup rubbed his arm, his expression thoughtful and worried. 'I know I've asked this before, but promise me you won't tell them?'
    The Ingerman looked at him steadily. 'It's going to be worse for you in the long run if you keep it locked up.' He sighed, knowing a lecture wouldn't work. 'I promise not to tell them. Yet'
    The Chief nodded sadly, but with a hint of relief too. 'Let it remain a secret. For now.'

1000 words exactly! XD