![]() | No ratings.
Hiccup and Snotlout agree to work more closely. Now they have to convince their dads. |
Hiccup loved flying, and the early morning flight with Toothless was sacrosanct. He wouldnât deny them the freedom of flight; charging tens of thousands of feet above land, making a 180 degree turn, and diving back to skim the frigid water. There was no guarantee with Toothless that their time together would be easy for him. His dragon would spin through sea stacks or splash Hiccup with a wing, then laugh. Hiccup would have to think fast on Toothless, to avoid getting fried by a plasma blast. He needed the time they spent together, and sometimes it was the only time Hiccup could be away from...well, everyone. The past few months had been constant; his dad, Stoick the Vast, was dragging Hiccup all over the island, trying to stuff lessons into him. âA chief protects his own.â âNo job is too small for the chiefâs attention.â âSon, you will be responsible for the entire tribe.â Stoickâs current favorite was âYou must know every inch of Berk, son, and everyone on it.â Hiccup felt as if Stoick would look at him one morning, and announce, âIâm done with being a chieftain. Itâs your job now, son. Donât forget to wear the cape.â The man was driving him insane. § § § âYouâre crazy, Hiccup.â âSnotlout, itâs not crazy.â ââYes. Yes it is, cuz.â Snotlout snorted. âI see you every day, and you always have something you want me to do. âSnotlout, weâre practicing maneuvers. Snotlout, my dad wants us to patrol. Snotlout, stop Hookfang from flaming.â Nag, nag. Now you want me to spend more time with you? No, Hiccup. Itâs not happening.ââ âFirst off, weâre all supposed to patrol, and the maneuvers are every two weeks. You just have to look at a schedule. Second, Hookfang is your dragon, and you left him at the docks while the fishing boats returned.â âI didnât know the eels would bother him.â âEvery dragon is terrified of them, Snotlout. Having Hookfang panic and flame up at wooden docks with wooden boats was a disaster. I had to explain it to Dad, and he made me repair the docks, because âthe riders are your responsibility, son, and the blame lies with you.ââ âYeah, well, not my fault youâre the Chiefâs son.â Hiccup rubbed his forehead. âThatâs what Iâm trying to talk to you about. Dadâs been shoving Chieftain lessons at me for months, and Iâm worried he wants to retire soon. I can hold him off for a while, but heâll stick me with the job at some point, and Iâm not ready.â âYeah, um, not news, cuz. Iâm not sure I want to live on an island run by Chief Hiccup.â He smirked. âThanks for that, Snotlout. I donât have a choice in this, but youâre forgetting something. One day, youâre going to be doing Spiteloutâs work. Eldest Jorgenson son gets to fight for the tribe and advise the Chief, right? â âYâknow, Iâm not sure my dad would want me to take his job.â He looked nervous. âI looked it up. The Jorgensons have always supported the Haddock chiefs, from the first generation. Your dadâs not going to let you refuse, and you wonât anyway; itâs part of the job description.â âYeah...â âNow can you listen?â At his cousinâs nod, he began. âOne of these days, Iâm going to take over from Stoick the Vast, and Iâm going to inherit all his advisors. Iâm going to be Chief over a bunch of stubborn men twice my age who remember when I couldnât stand upright.â Snotlout opened his mouth, and Hiccup said, âNo leg jokes, okay? Make fun of the prosthetic later. But Iâm going to need every advantage I can manage to get. Thatâs,â he grinned, âwhy this is such a great idea.â âMaybe itâs a great idea for you—I mean you get to have me around—but what do I get out of it? Living with your dad is no picnic, and I know you have a bunch of things you probably want from me, so why should I live at your house?â âBecause youâve seen how well our dads get on. Theyâre both stubborn...â âStoickâs worse.â Snotlout interrupted, grinning. âIâve seen him with my dad. Heâs definitely worse.â âYeah, heâs got his own special kind of stubbornness; so does yours. Theyâve always had this thing where they kinda like each other, and definitely trust each other, while fighting all the time. Spiteloutâs always pushing Dad, questioning his authority, and pointing out how to do it better. Dad doesnât listen, and has the impatience with all the hassle Spitelout causes, and keeps trying to shut him up. Both of them have an awful temper.â âAgain, Stoickâs worse.â âI refuse to have that argument; I donât want either of them mad at me.â âI still donât know why this should mean something to me, Hiccup. I want you to tell me whatâs in it for me.â âWell, it gives me a chance to know you better. Weâre going to work together for a long time and it would help us get along. Do you want to always be fighting with me?â âWell, no, not always.â Hiccup rolled his eyes. âIt would be nice to feel good about leaving the island in your charge if I had to go somewhere. The better I know you, the more confidence I can have in you. Youâd know I had that confidence and it would be valid, not just me putting you in charge because weâre family.â âThis is still about whatâs good for you. Do you have anything to offer me? Huh?â âYou would look good in the eyes of the tribe. Because I trust you, theyâll be more likely to listen to you. Youâre a Jorgenson, and that will make the Jorgensens look good. The Jorgenson line has always produced warriors. Youâll be able to fight for the tribe as well as look after it. The senior tribe members will be reassured.â âI know how to fight and itâll make the old farts happy, gotcha.â âYou are a good fighter. Iâve seen you train with your dad. You win Thawfest every year. You fought off two massive outcasts with a piece of rod to rescue me from Outcast Island. I donât say anything about it, but Iâm glad to have you on my side.â âYou have a point there; Iâm much better than you are, cuz.â He struck a pose, and Hiccup snorted. âWhat else?â âIt will get you used to the kind of problems a chief has to solve. And,â Hiccup cut him off, âthat makes you look capable to my dad. If Stoick the Vast has a council meeting, and you have to substitute for Spitelout, he will take you more seriously. Then the rest of them might listen more—no promises, theyâre the council—but itâs worth trying. Thatâs something youâve accomplished on your own, but itâll please your dad. Besides, youâre not going to spend much time with my dad. He has work, we have our own stuff to do, and mostly youâll see each other at breakfast and bed. You and I will spend time together at home, and, yeah, youâll have to learn stuff, but, so will I because,â Hiccupâs face split wide, âIâll be having weapons training with Spitelout.â âWhat? You want my dad to teach you how to fight? Why? I mean, not that itâs not a great idea, but why?â âLook, Spiteloutâs got more proficiency with weapons than almost anyone on Berk. How many weapons can he use, Snotlout? Iâve seen him use an axe, a mace, longbows and crossbows, and a sword. I know heâs at least above average with most weapons in the smithy. Heâs strong, heâs skilled, and heâs spent years training you.â âYou know how to fight. Youâre great with a sword, good with a crossbow, and your longbow is decent. You can defend yourself. You donât need my dad to train you.â âI want to learn from him. Iâm going to be in every battle we have, and I want to be able to fight with more than I can use right now. Iâve already been lured away and held captive by Alvin. My dad was taken by Dagur the Deranged. Iâm valuable because Iâm the Heir, and Iâm valuable when I become Chief.â Snotlout listened; Hiccup never talked about this stuff, but heâd thought about it a lot, and his voice grew passionate. âI canât take the risk of being unprepared. I need to learn things I canât on my own. Iâve grown taller, but Iâm never going to be beefy. So I need to build muscle. If Iâm alone, Iâll need everything Iâve got. If someone swipes my leg, I still need to fight. Iâll learn anything your dad wants. I donât want to fight, but I donât plan to die.â He looked at his cousin, and said in a softer voice, âAnd I donât want to get the people around me killed, either.â âYou might want to tell some of that to my dad. Heâs good at matching skills with people. You know, thereâs going to be a big part of my dad feeling smug âcause heâs teaching Stoickâs son. Scoring a point off your old man will never get old.â âWhile my father will have Spiteloutâs son living in his house, learning from his son, on the duties of a chief. Heâll be thrilled to have that against your dad.â âNow all we have to do is get them to agree to this.â |