In a panicked jerk, Tuffnut immediately rose his arm that was braced to his shield when Hiccup swung at him. A thunk! boomed once before his face, darkened by the shadow of the old wood. Tuffnut's platoons shuffled backward on the arena floor and he felt like he was balancing on rubber feet from the adrenaline spiking through his veins.
I thought we weren't going to kill each other!, Tuffnut's thoughts raced in a panic.
Hiccup's voice fused with uproarious power at every blow he directed at Tuffnut. Over the cheering of the Hooligans, Tuffnut could hear his toes scuffle the gravel of the large rock bed of the arena in frenzied squeaks as he desperately tried to create a starting distance from Hiccup so that it was easier to think of his next move. Tuffnut grunted and threw his shield outward to guard himself from an incoming spurn by Hiccup's weapon. His body rattled with the force he met. Tuffnut succesfully spun from Hiccup's weapon, and the axe gonged on the ground. Hiccup growled and Tuffnut heard the iron of his opponent's weapon whistle towards his shield again. Tuffnut yelped and ducked from Hiccup's attack, upholding his shield again before his jaw would be shattered.
Dunk! Thwack! Bam!
"Hah!" Hiccup yelled as he launched his heel in the air and twirled his body once. The landing would double the force and speed of his weapon's blow. His axe sawed the air where Tuffnut's shield had narrowly missed.
The rules of the duel were straightforward: whoever submitted was the winner. From the way that Hiccup was swinging his axe, it seemed to Tuffnut that Hiccup would pin him after he was diced into firewood.
"Hugh!"
Tuffnut jerked his shield before his body again and raced to meet Hiccup's downswing towards his kneecaps to topple him over. Tuffnut clenched his sword's handle with white knuckles. Tuffnut's palms had started to condense with the heat of his grip and his panicked sweat, and he feared he would soon drop the sword from the speed that Hiccup sliced the air with his axe. When did he even get this good?!, Tuffnut questioned himself frantically. He and Hiccup had both attended the same lessons when they were much younger that progressed from an ordinary crossbow to spears and then to the coveted swords and axes. Hiccup, apparently, had been modest to a lethal fault at his proficiency with basic weaponry and tact. It dawned on Tuffnut suddenly that he was battling one-on-one with a chief from a bloodline of legends. No matter how much more of a dragon nerd Hiccup was than Fishlegs, Stoick's priorities for his son to be a battleram in any war that came the tribe's way had clearly been set first in his upbringing.
Get a grip, Thorston!, Tuffnut said to himself. His frustration at his body's refusal to stop reacting in survival-mode came out in a gritty cry that blurted from him when Hiccup's axe striked his shield again. Tuffnut clamored for an idea to create an opening to dominate Hiccup. One thought that kept on his mind from his elementary teachings on swordwielding was to never lose his form, at any cost. He kept the angle of his wrist in mind and was careful to not let his sword's apex point south. If he let it, his natural reflexes would cause his fingers to release the sword at his opponent's front. He instead kept his wrist directly in his line of sight, and when he was affronted, he rose his blade laterally in front of his eyes and imagined his sword was lined on an imaginary horizon from his left to his right.
"Ungh! Hagh!" Hiccup voice barraged as he kept trying with his axeswings, unsuccessfully, to overwhelm Tuffnut by quickly overpowering his sense of balance. Flaming hell!, Hiccup said in outrage to himself. Tuffnut had still managed all that time to stay on his toes, and he was being stubborn about keeping his hilt forward so that it wouldn't be kicked from his grip.
"This-!" Hiccup shouted as he went still and zeroed in on Tuffnut, who had slipped away several feet and brought their confrontation to a standstill. "-is going to be way too easy!" He snarled again and used a stealthy spin to backhand the axe towards Tuffnut's helmet, where Tuffnut's immediate action to speed to his haunches would surely knock him off balance, and that was exactly when Hiccup planned to stump his heel on Tuffnut's breastplate.
Instead, metal rang out against Hiccup's axe in a shriek.
The axe in Hiccup's hand started to tremble against Tuffnut's sword as his eyes flamed inside of his helmet. The sun had shadowed Tuffnut's eyes and made him appear like a soulless enemy clad in dreamscape scales.
"You...bird-brained...bandit-!" Hiccup's trembling voice whispered to himself. He whimpered only for a moment to Tuffnut's ears as he braced against the edge of Tuffnut's sword in the middle of his axe, forcing his hands closer in-between his knees and groin and threatening his stance to weaken.
Hiccup was intimidated that Tuffnut had chosen not to stick to defensive moves, but he was prepared for a real fight if Tuffnut dared to bring him one. Hiccup felt a hot rush of sweat slither from his forehead and rim his lips with a wet taste of salt.
In a raw burst of power, Hiccup surged Tuffnut from him in an uproarious shout and repositioned. Noise from his tribe watching him from above swelled joyously.
Tuffnut watched Hiccup lunge forward at him at full force.
Hiccup reemerged from their standoff with hefty bats from his dominant left hand and an unexpected amount from his right. Tuffnut resolved to use less of his shield if he was ever going to find an advantage against Hiccup. His thumb flattened to press against Ruffnut's sword-halter in a hammer grip to deliver hard blows against Hiccup's axe.
Tuffnut tried to find a spot to land a strike to Hiccup's wrist with the pane of his sword to stun Hiccup's hands and make Hiccup lose grip on his axe. Hiccup, however, was keen to Tuffnut's plot and barely gave Tuffnut time to visibly see his wrists.
Every swing of Hiccup's axe was two-handed, and Hiccup's hooks with one hand were too fast for Tuffnut to pinpoint the location of his wrist. Tuffnut gasped when Hiccup's dual-blade scooped the metal of his sword and threatened to plume it from his hands.
Tuffnut thrusted his foot to Hiccup's ribcage and yanked his sword from Hiccup's maneuver.
The move earned him some space and he shuffled backward with his eyes on Hiccup. For only a second, he glanced at Ruffnut's sword that she had lent him and saw that it hadn't been chipped.
"Oh, thank the gods-!" Tuffnut exclaimed aloud with thin lungs. Ruffnut would kill him if he got a scratch on her weapons. He had none of his own personal weapons except a spear that was useless, for it was in the same class as a hunting knife.
In the slim second Tuffnut risked to review the sword's damage, Tuffnut scarcely avoided Hiccup's attack to his shin. Tuffnut met Hiccup's low strike with his blade. Tuffnut hurried to shield himself with his armguard from Hiccup's sudden knee-jab to fend him off center, and he forced Hiccup's middle away by his own strength. He realized his mistake of moving his shield too late and cursed, "damnit-!"
In a vertical swing, Hiccup swooped the wooden blunt of his axe on the side of Tuffnut's helmet.
Tuffnut felt a punch of force spin him to the ground and he saw white. He hadn't been hurt, as he quickly understood, but he had been dizzied, and his hands were planted on the stone of the arena.
Tuffnut heard a loud skating sound, and saw in panic that it was Ruffnut's sword twirling like a spinner on the ground and zooming past his forehead. Tuffnut crawled fast and snatched the first glint of his sword's handle that faded in sight, and then he scrambled to stand. His shield had disced too far for him to even try to recover.
Hiccup shuffled side-to-side as Tuffnut's sword flaunted in front of him. He bounced on the balls of his feet and squeezed his axe's handle in ready to defend himself and bring Tuffnut to the ground- -for good that time.
Tuffnut had a difficult time finding an opening to thrust forward. He wasn't skilled at swordfighting. He had only a capabale understanding of basic forward attacks and knowledge of a handful of exits and leads from sparring with partners, whom had mainly been Ruffnut over the years, and occasionally Snoutlout. They had been fun opponents, and had never attacked with ferocity like Hiccup. With his friends, Tuffnut had chances all of the time to not be accurate, but now with one wrong move with Hiccup, Tuffnut knew that the fight was over. Although there was only so much to be taken from basic training, he used what he could remember to find another way to knock down Hiccup who was getting angrier at Tuffnut's will to stay afoot by the minute, and it showed in his increasingly brutal attacks.
Then, Tuffnut saw the clouds sailing by in the blue and heard the people shouting around the arena like static.
Hiccup huffed inside of his helmet and limply held onto his axe. His green eyes came close to Tuffnut's face and judged that he was still conscious and he wasn't hurt. Hiccup's voice sounded muffled in Tuffnut's ears when Hiccup spoke to the overcasted space under the cleft of Tuffnut's helmet.
"Give it up and let's call it a day, Tuff." Hiccup said cockily. "I'm a little exhausted here."
Astrid stilled from the stands. She focused fearfully on the tiny multicolored figure on the ground and the black figure standing over him with an axe in his hand. Tuffnut wasn't moving and she feared he would lie there and let Hiccup win.
Gobber was almost to the count of seven and Hiccup could already see Astrid's face when she would congratulate him as her true suitor and apologize for making the biggest mistake of her life for believing she would ever fall in love with anyone else.
Tuffnut heaved breath on the burning, stone ground and felt pins-and-needles in his head. His armor saved him from a knockout but his pride was a bit bruised. He was running out of willpower to continue the fight any longer. Hiccup's foot rested lightly on Tuffnut's chest as Gobber's voice began to count down for the end of the duel as long as Tuffnut remained motionless. Tuffnut saw Hiccup above him as a big shadow of black armor and glittering scales. He gripped his sword-and his fingers curled into a fist. There was nothing to be held. Tuffnut experienced a crushing dread when he knew his weapon was lost. Well, he thought, fists it is.
Hiccup chuckled breathlessly at the puppet on Tuffnut's helmet and he added close to his face, "you're embarrassing." What does she even see in you?, Hiccup thought.
"You finished talking yet?!" Tuffnut shouted.
Hiccup's eyes widened just before a dragon-head glove punched his helmet in the nose.
Tuffnut hurried away.
Hiccup's nose bridge throbbed. His glove came to his his face by instinct, but only met metal. He could taste a gooey and metallic substance on his tongue and he knew it was blood. Hiccup was enraged that he would have to exert more energy than he wished to. Hiccup's arms pulled in exertion when he approached Tuffnut with his axe again. It felt pounds heavier in his hands that had overworked in their initial battle.
Tuffnut ran to a corner that Hiccup had resorted him. He then zipped behind a colossal, empty barrel in the corner of the arena that was used to store the lunch of dragons-in-training. Hiccup was charging at him fast and Tuffnut didn't know what else to do except use the barrel as a bodyshield; it was more than big enough to serve as one. Tuffnut held onto it and he bucked from behind the barrel as Hiccup's axe hacked it to draw him from the brief hiding place he had slithered to. Tuffnut had no idea if it was full, for barrels were heavy when they were empty, but he knew no other option to slow Hiccup down except to empty its contents, if any, onto the arena. With the last strength of his arms and legs, Tuffnut strained to overturn the barrel.
"Cripes!" Hiccup shouted as a sludge of fat, live fish spilled from the barrel with seawater, fishguts, and ice. He ran for cover on the other side of the arena, but slipped forward on a fish. Hiccup's axe flew in a cartwheel, nearly missing Gothi's head in the stands. She fainted.
Hiccup, ankle deep in an enormous spill and plastered with slimy dregs of old glacier and bloody sludge on his armor, spat out a flapping fish from his mouth. His axe, he knew in stunned horror, had disappeared in the wave or down the underdrains where most of the water was quickly funneling out and back into the sea that surrounded the arena.
Tuffnut realized Hiccup wasn't charging any more and advanced to him to take his advantage to pin him.
Hiccup used his feet to launch Tuffnut away.
Tuffnut slammed on his ribs onto the damp ground. The breath from his lungs poofed from his mouth and made his insides shrivel. He dealt with a greater struggle to stand than he had when he had first began to fight Hiccup. The fight was wearing on his muscles and many were pulling like they had been sewn on too tight. His limbs were lagging in time to his mind's intentions.
Wrestling was slightly unfamiliar territory for Hiccup, but since Hiccup had lost his axe and shield he had no choice but to use his bare hands. With his nose still stinging and trickling, he bolted over the slippery rock and the piles of wriggling fish to overpower Tuffnut and end their scuffle once and for all. From fatigue and rage at the kiss Tuffnut had stolen from Astrid, Hiccup yelled and outstretched his gloves.
Tuffnut, with a clever idea inspired by his many tussles with Ruffnut, smirked and didn't make a move to escape. He geared himself to brace against Hiccup. Tuffnut watched the chief charge towards him and tackle his shoulders. Like a practiced rhythm, Tuffnut used Hiccup's energy to roll onto his own spine, and on the ground, he planted his boot on Hiccup's thigh. The momentum hoisted Hiccup over and up into the air and he went flying past Tuffnut's vision from the ground.
What in Thor's name?!, Hiccup thought uselessly as every part of his body lost weight.
Time seemed to slow as the faces of the crowd under the sun surged past his eyes in a blur and the wind whistled by Hiccup's eardrums. He heard felt his stomach clenching and realized that a yell had been barreling from his throat the whole time.
He landed, hard.
There was an audible "ugh!" sound and Tuffnut looked to see Hiccup, winded, far away.
Gobber winced, but commenced a count of seven.
Tuffnut stood in disbelief that he had a real chance of winning.
"Go pin 'im, you ogre booger!"
Tuffnut heard Ruffnut's throaty voice scream above all else's. He rushed hand over foot to pin Hiccup before Hiccup could waver to his feet. He spotted Ruffnut's sword, and he nearly sheared his glove grabbing it on the way to secure his victory.
Hiccup's panted, out of breath and in delirium of not knowing how he had went from both of his feet on solid ground to feeling like he was freeflying for miles. Gobber's countdown continued in Hiccup's ears. The numbers kept getting smaller. Gobber had reached "four". Hiccup struggled to regain his footing, but then his knee ached in protest.
"Ungh!" Hiccup released pitifully when he twitched his arm to hoist him upright. He fell flat on his breastplate. Everything felt too heavy. Moving was impossible. It felt like Toothless was sitting on him. He turned his helmet barely an inch, and heard Tuffnut's boots coming near. He saw them just once, and then one was pressing into his back. Gobber had ended the count, and then it was too late.
The crowd booed.
Tuffnut tried to help up Hiccup as Gobber and Stoick approached from the sidelines, to no avail.
"Well, shine my boots and call me a lass." Gobber said to Tuffnut as the low coos of disapproval continued from the stands. His crooked and greyed teeth stuck out when a smile uplifted his long and braided, blonde mustache. "You've won."
Tuffnut felt Gobber slap his back, and he laughed in nervous realization that Gobber wasn't kidding.
Stoick went to Hiccup to see if he was dead.
Gobber presented the victor for a second time, then to much more jovial shouts.
Tuffnut felt immense pride at seeing his tribe cheer for him. There was one face that he looked for that would cement the reality of his win for sure.
"Tuff!"
Tuffnut spotted Astrid, who was smiling grandly as she and Ruffnut were nearly halfway over the banister from their engagement in the duel.
Astrid could see Tuffnut's blue eyes from a strip of sunlight that lit up the dark part of his helmet. Astrid's grin gleamed in a special way for Tuffnut to know that she had been amazed by his victory. Astrid moved to meet Tuffnut first, and Tuffnut rushed to the first flight of stone steps he could muster to. Hiccup was declared alive, and the Hooligans cheered. The sound of the audience muffled in Tuffnut's hearing as he moved his boots up the steps to meet Ruffnut and Astrid.
"Hey, are you gonna gimmie my sword back or what?" Ruffnut demanded. Tuffnut obediently returned Ruffnut's sword. She inspected it and hummed in satisfaction when she returned it to her scabbard. She decided she would let her little brother try out more of her weapons whenever he was ready to learn them. His performance wasn't as terrible as she hoped it was going to be. To Tuffnut's surprise, Ruffnut hugged him tenderly and left him smiling in confusion.
"What was that for?", Tuffnut chuckled inside of his armor.
"For winning." Ruffnut said brightly with a serene look in her eye. Tuffnut knew what the look meant. There was only a few times he had seen it. Ruffnut was proud of him. He embraced her again, a little longer.
Astrid was too hesitant to wrap him in her arms as she felt she wanted to after Ruffnut had her turn. She gasped when Tuffnut pressed her close, laughing brightly and happily with Ruffnut.
Astrid felt content to be held in his arms as he hugged her strongly. His hair under his helmet felt like a pillow on her chest. She wanted to stay there forever smothered by his armor and feeling protected by him alone.
Astrid's chortle close to Tuffnut's ear tingled his heartstrings. They continued to embrace and enjoy the feeling of being held by each other. Tuffnut wished to ask her if she would accept him as a suitor, but something told him not to spoil the moment and to be patient when they were alone to speak again and not being ogled by the whole village. He squeezed her tighter and felt her stiffen only slightly.
She knew what he was waiting for, an approval of some sorts, but she stayed silent. Tuffnut didn't know why.
"Astrid," Tuffnut started gently.
Astrid unraveled from Tuffnut and exited from the stands, drawing the attention from a few villagers who were not paying attention to Hiccup. Ruffnut looked to Tuffnut in concern. She quickly called for Astrid and ran after her while Tuffnut stood in reservation and faded conquest.