Freya: Rider of Berk

The Working Viking ~ Part 1

Everybody needs a place in the world. Some people are born to theirs and build their lives around it. Some people discover theirs and use those skills to make the world a better place. Some people make a place for themselves. But this one is tricky because as the world around them changes the place they may start to disappear.

The Berk Dragon Training Academy is the best clubhouse ever! A whole place on the island for us to hang out, race, and compete. Of course, we do actually train dragons and study the Dragon Manual. We just always end up making a game out of it.

Today it was a battle of knowledge. Hiccup had spent the night combing through The Book of Dragons coming up with trivia questions and now we were divided into teams answering them. Me, Astrid and Fishlegs vs Snotlout and the twins. Hey, I never said the teams were fair.

"Every Dragon has its own unique abilities that give it its special place in the world. Which dragon makes the best welding torch?" Hiccup asked. "Oh! Deadly Nadder!" Astrid called out excitedly. "Its magnesium flame burns with the heat of the sun!" Fishlegs added. "Hottest fire in the dragon world, capable of melting stone." I finished sending the other team a smug grin.

 "Correct! Point to Team Astrid." Hiccup smiled and turned to add up our new score. "Score is now 100 to 10." "And you started with 10." Astrid teased and Fishlegs and I laughed. "Oh, yeah? Well, the game's not over." Tuff said with confidence then stopped to think. "Wait, what team am I on?" He asked.

"Next question." Hiccup moved on. "What is the shot limit of a Hideous Zippleback? Team Snotlout?"

"I don't think they can count that high." Astrid stage whispered. I really should've felt worse about laughing at jokes at someone else expense but in all fairness, Snotlout had been making them all my life. Now he was just getting his comeuppance. "Oh, really? Let's find out! Barf! Belch!" Ruffnut ordered.

The two-headed dragon sat up from where it had been watching the 'competition' (for lack of a better word) and fired six shots at the wall behind our heads. The three of us just barely ducked and came up glairing. "Looks like it's about three." Tuff declared proudly holding up two fingers. "Told you we could count that high!" Ruff boasted. I rolled my eyes.

"It's six. You were half-right. Five points." Hiccup sighed and added their pity points to the scoreboard. "Yes! We're up to 30!" Ruff cheered as the team high-fived. "How on earth did they let these three out of school?" I whispered to Fishlegs. "Maybe the teacher couldn't risk any more fires." He shrugged.

"Alright, it's our turn." Astrid said brushing off her shoulder with a competitive gleam in her eyes. "What happens when you shoot fire at the owner of a Deadly Nadder?" Before they could even think of an answer Astrid whistled for Stormfly, who shot her tail spikes right back at them, pinning them to the wall, but leaving them otherwise unharmed.

"No fair! She didn't give us time to answer!" Tuffnut complained. Snotlout jumped down ready for a fight. "I've got a question. What happens when I sic Hookfang on you?" He challenged. "Okay, guys, that's enough training." Hiccup announced trying to prevent another fight. "So... we did some really good work here today."

"Prepare to face the Monstrous Nightmare!" Snotlout said with gusto and patted his dragon on the jaw. Hookfang, who'd been napping soundly suddenly reared up and set himself on fire, burning Snotlout's butt.

"AH! THAT'S THE THIRD TIME THIS WEEK!" Snotlout screamed as he lept from his dragon in dove into the water trough we'd filled up for this very reason. "Aahhh... sweet relief." he sighed. "Hookfang never flames up when you're riding him. Is he okay?" Hiccup asked a bit concerned.

"Maybe he just realized who his owner is." Astrid quipped sarcastically. "There's room in here for two." Snotlout smiled slyly to which Astrid promptly grabbed him by the helmet and shoved his head underwater.

<~>

We locked up the academy for the afternoon and flew back to the village. Hiccup and I were trading ideas for trivia questions when we found ourselves at the back of a small crowd. "Gather around! Come on, one and all!" I heard Gobber becoming from the front. We wiggled our way through the bodies till we were at the perfect viewing point for a truly saddening sight.

Gobber, the best weapons maker the island had ever known, trying to hawk his overly full stock of dragon killing tools as household products. "You may think these dragon-killing weapons have no more use, but think again!" He called to the assembled crowd and pulled out a nice sword.

"This long sword is now a lovely butter knife!" He tried to demonstrate but only succeeded in slicing the toast to pieces. "Eh. It's also good for making breadcrumbs." He smiled as the plate shattered and fell to the ground. The crowd was not impressed.

"Well, this is a dark day." A creaky old voice said softly. I glanced to the side and saw Mildew far to close to my person. "A great dragon slayer peddling his weapons as kitchen utensils? Hm. Tsk-tsk-tsk-tsk." He sighed in mock sympathy. 'Go away you spiteful old man.' I thought as I turned my attention back to Gobber's next sales pitch.

"Up next, how about this..." He stopped, his eyes darting around as he tried to come up with a plausible use for the mace in his hand. "...handy flyswatter?" he said quickly and tried to squash a fly that had landed on the table. The crowd gasped as the mace turned the table to splinters. "He-he. Also good for getting rid of unwanted tables." He smiled weakly, trying to recover as the fly buzzed off as if he'd merely blown on it.

"Now, for the lady of the house!" Gobber starting in a ditch effort to make at least one sale. "When the hubby's off pillaging, how are you to protect yourself from home invaders? No problem when you have Big Bertha!" Suddenly, the catapult flung the loaded stone across the sky, crashing it right into Silent Sven's house!

The muttering crowd immediately dispersed and Mildew gave Hiccup a taunting smirk. Gobber tried to call them back but it was no use. With no war, there was no use for new weapons. "Ah, it's hard to watch. Especially for you, eh, Hiccup?" Mildew croaned. "The feelings of guilt must be tearing at your insides. I mean, you put him out of business with your little peace pact with the dragons. You ruined his life. Bravo." 

Man, I hated that guy.