Soul of a Dragon

Chapter Eight; Encounters

Encounter

Two weeks later, days into the spring season, the duo was flying over the water. Hiccup and Toothless were outpacing Dawn and Dusk by a long shot. Hiccup felt a slight pang of guilt for Dusk and his still sore shoulder joint. Toothless seemed to be holding the opinion that the only way for it to get better, is movement and exercise. The duo were practically skimming over the water as Toothless was flying as close to the sea as possible. The wind kept blowing Hiccup's hood back, so he eventually gave up. He had thoughts of a helmet or mask to help with the wind or simply to keep his face from freezing over. He could see it now, coming up fast was the wall of fog. Toothless grunted something,

"Okay bud, we should rest on one of the rock formations. Try to stay as low to the water as possible." Hiccup only earned a growl in response; as if to say 'I already knew that'.

Moments after breaching the fog, Toothless settles down on a rock formation. It was indented at the bottom, giving enough space to land, and walk around the structure, and provide cover. Hiccup dismounted, and Toothless stretched. Hiccup grabbed a fish out of his saddle bag,

"Fish" He mocked as he tossed it to Toothless, who caught it with ease. Hiccup inspected the rock formation, this was the only break they were going to get before the plan started. Hiccup wasn't the type to willingly engage in combat, he knew he wasn't a hero or anything like that; but this was something he felt like he had to do. He saw that the path led all the way around the rock; so Hiccup followed it around. The first thing he saw was a familiar sail; a boat from Berk looked to be shipwrecked here. Hiccup recalled all the boats he saw the first time they came here; and all the past memories of fruitless voyages. He stepped closer, unchecked curiosity guiding him. The boat was still in good condition, it could probably still sail. Maybe this could be a backup route if something happened or he found any wounded dragons while fighting the-

"BUCKET! How many times to I haf ta tell ya; you can't row, when we are stuck, on rocks!"

Dread and paralysing fear seized Hiccup; he knew that voice, he also recognised that name.

"S'rry Mulch... was just tryin' ta help." A deeper voice quietly responded.

Hiccup forced his feet to move, turning his back and edging all the way up to the bottom wall of the ship. He heard a deep sigh,

"I know Bucket, I know... Stoick ain't gunna be happy 'bout this."

"Is the chief here? I thou't he was back on Berk." Another deep sigh followed the deeper man's voice.

Hiccup's breathing was getting panicked. Why on earth were Bucket and Mulch here?! They usually manned the fishing and farm animals, how'd they get here?! If they saw him, oh gods if they saw him or Toothless. 'Yak Dung!' He mentally cursed, trying to come up with a solution.

If they saw him, they would recognise him. They would either try and kill him or try and capture him.

Toothless was on the other side of the formation, he could fly fine but he didn't want to deny him the rest before the battle.

Something tugged at his heart.

He didn't want to leave them both here, he didn't know if they would get out safely before all hell broke loose. It was the same pang he felt when he saw dragons in pain, the same one that stopped him from hurting Toothless.

Could he resolve this on his own.

Hiccup must have spent at least ten minutes hiding below the ship, thinking. He could hear Bucket and Mulch arguing about what to do; Bucket still voted on rowing out of the rocks. Hiccup studied the boat's position; the bow of the ship was raised up, nestled in a pile of boulders, as it probably crashed into the rocks pretty fast. But it was mostly undamaged. He overheard Mulch tell Bucket that there was no damage to the ship's interior; no holes means it could still sail. Hiccup noticed the rocks that held the bow of the ship in place. There was no way to push the boat back into the water as is, but if he could shift that pile of rocks, the boat could be moved. He wondered if Mulch knew this. Hiccup concluded, that when the boat crashed, it pulled up some rocks and got caught among the pile up.