Tales of the Dragon Riders

Leaving

"Leaving. So leaving." Hiccup says, entering the cove while carrying a basket of everything he'll need to leave Berk forever. He didn't really mean to be the best at the dragon training, or earn the right to kill one. He was just testing to see if the things that he did with Toothless affected other type of dragons the same way.

Like how if you scratch under his chin, he became disoriented, how the grass made him act like a puppy, and they affect the dragons all the same way. It just works a little too well.

He never had any intention on actually winning the honor of killing a dragon. The only way he could see as an out, leave Berk for good with Toothless. It may be a bit drastic, but the village never understood him either way. So leaving seemed the best of the options for everyone.

"We're leaving." He says again, calling out for Toothless who seemed to be absent all of a sudden.

"Looks like you and I will be taking a little vacation. Forever." Hiccup puts his basket down and makes sure he didn't forget anything.

"Hey, Toothless! Come on. I'd like to get going before somebody gets suspicious to where I run off to." Hiccup calls his dragon as Toothless makes his way to him and he wraps the basket for a few days worth of food and water for the both of them.

"Come on, bud." Hiccup says as he states then mounts Toothless.

"It's not like anyone will miss me anyway." He says as they fly off into the sky.

Seconds after he takes off, Astrid comes into the cove and just misses him and sees nothing and doesn't notice the fading figure in the air.

-

In the sky, Hiccup and Toothless start flying away from Berk, when they see a shipwreck off the coast on the opposite side of the island. "Hey, that's not one of ours." Hiccup tells himself and he tells Toothless to land near the boat.

Hiccup leans inside and sees a teenager around his age, long dark hair, short and skinny, nothing like the other people from his village. She looks more lHe leans in and shakes her, "Hey there." He shakes her, trying to wake her and trying not to frighten her, which failed.

She wakes up and sees him and moves back. "Hey, it's okay. I'm a friend." Hiccup tells her, trying to assure her.

"Do you have any water?" She asks Hiccup, and he goes to his basket and grabs one of his containers of water for her and goes back to hand it to her. "Thank you." She tells him and drinks some and hands it back. "Where am I?" She asks Hiccup. "This is Berk." Hiccup tells her.

Toothless pushed past Hiccup to see her and she freaks out. "Hey, it's okay. Don't be afraid. He won't hurt you." Hiccup tells her and helps her out of the wreckage. "How did you do that?" She asks him.

"I earned his trust. It took some doing and some regrettable decisions." Hiccup tells her, regarding the fact he ate fish Toothless has spat out, but he wasn't gonna tell her that. "I'm Hiccup." He introduces himself. "Heather." She says introducing herself to him.

"So, how did you end up here?" Hiccup asks Heather. "My family and I were on a boat, heading to our island when we were attacked by some other village. They took over the boat and took us back to our island, it was a massacre...I was able to escape. But my mother and father...they weren't so lucky." She explained, sadly. "I think they were called the Beserker tribe."

Hiccup knows the exact tribe, and seeing Oswald the Agreeable would never do something like this, he has to guess it was his son Dagur the Deranged. "I'm sorry to hear that. So what happened to your boat?" Hiccup asks.

"I was caught up in a storm, got knocked unconscious." She explains.

"Oh yeah, that thunderstorm a few days back." Hiccup thinks back to when he first read the Book of Dragons and there was that curvier thunder storm they had that night.

"You've been here ever since?" He asks her. "You got nowhere to go? Maybe I can take you back to my village." Hiccup offers. "I...don't know. It looks like you were heading somewhere." Heather says, referring to the pack on Toothless' back.

"Yeah, I was kinda...leaving." Hiccup states honestly, since it's not like she was going to tell anyone he knows. "Why?" She asks curiously, she didn't know the guy, but saw he was torn about something.

"My entire village hunts and kills dragons. And I'm the only one of them to see the truth behind them." Hiccup explains to her.

"Why protect him? Everyone fears dragons." She wonders, never meeting someone who would willingly spend time with one of them. "I could show you." Hiccup offers as Toothless gets angry.

"You know, I don't think he likes me." Heather says watching the dragons react to her .

"No, he's harmless. Here." Hiccup says, mounting Toothless. He holds his hand out to Heather as she takes it and mounts up behind him. "Toothless, gently." Hiccup says as Toothless spreads his wings to take off. "See?" Hiccup tells her as Toothless is actually complying. "He's nothing to be afraid of." He states as they get ready to take off.

Toothless slowly lifts off into the skies and Heather gets scared as Toothless takes them high up into the clouds. He then dives down and starts to slowly glide across the sky. Heather slowly let's go of Hiccup and raises her hands as they fly through the clouds and out into the ocean. Heather has never seen anything as beautiful as this in her life.

"Wow, you were right. This is incredible." Heather says to Hiccup enjoying everything. "He's incredible. And I think I'd like to learn how." She says, as she petting Toothless' head and he purrs. Hiccup wonders if she does want to learn. "So, where are you guys headed?" Heather asks him.

"We're...not entirely sure." Hiccup admits. "I planed on just roaming-" he gets interrupted as Toothless starts taking control and flies them away. "Toothless, where are we going?" Hiccup asks as they fly into a fog.

They keep flying and see a Monsterous Nightmare. "Get down." Hiccup tells Heather and they duck down and Toothless keeps flying and the riders see more dragons of different species coming from the fog. "What's going on?" Heather asks.

"I don't know. Toothless, you gotta get us out of here, bud." Hiccup tells him. They look and see the dragons have food. "Looks like they're hauling in their kill." Hiccup says. "And what does that make us?" Heather asks as they keep flying. After a while, they enter a side of a volcano. Toothless comes in and they see its Dragon Island.

"What my dad wouldn't give to find this." Hiccup states as Toothless lands and they see all the dragons dropping the food into a pit. "Well, it's satisfying to learn all the raiding for our food is just to have it thrown into a hole." Hiccup says to Heather remembering the thousands of raids over the years seem to be for nothing.

"How come they're not eating any of it?" Heather asks him as they see a Groncle come in and drop a small fish into the hole.

They hear a growl coming from underneath the fog and a gigantic dragon eats the Groncle. Heather and Hiccup look in shock. "What...is that?" Heather asks. "Toothless, you gotta get us out of here." Hiccup says as the giant dragon starts sniffing and smells them. "Now!" Hiccup says as they take off before the dragon can get them as they all fly off.

Toothless flies them to the closest island. "It makes so much sense now. That's why dragons are constantly attacking villages. It's that dragon. It's like a hive. They're the workers and that's their queen, and it controls them." Heather says as they land.

"That means, if we take her down, the dragon raids would stop." Hiccup says, putting the pieces together. "Wait...you're not thinking of taking that thing on, are you?" Heather asks. "...maybe. I mean, I've done stupider." Hiccup admits and Heather knows she's not letting him do something this crazy alone. "Okay, what's our plan?" Heather asks. "Our?" Hiccup asks her, confused.

"Well, it's not like I've got anywhere to be. Besides, where else am I gonna go?" Heather says. "Well...If you're gonna stay with us, you're gonna need a dragon." Hiccup states remembering how she said she wanted to learn.

"Where can we find one not under that queens control and won't just kill us?" Heather asks. "...Berk." Hiccup says, knowing that if Heather's gonna travel with them, she's gonna need her own dragon. Especially if they're gonna take down the Red Death.

So Hiccup seew he has to visit his home one last time.