On My Heart

Chapter 7

Dagur's steps faltered as he heard Hiccup shouting at him. He wanted to yell back, I have a plan! I didn't betray you! but he couldn't. He needed the element of surprise for this to work, and he would have to deal with Hiccup's hatred for him later. He had to admit, hearing that hurt. His stomach churned, and his chest felt heavier than before upon hearing Hiccup's angry shouts. He tried to shake off the feeling, because he had to keep going if he wanted to change what Hiccup thought of him.

Dagur raced to the bottom of cliff Hiccup tackled him off of. It wouldn't be easy to climb the cliff. Dagur had to find imperfections, dips, and stones jutting out of the cliffside, and use the tips of his fingers to grab at them. Some were unstable or slipery, and judging which ones were safe was difficult. The actual climbing was grueling; every muscle in his body was protesting his decision to do this. He thought his arms were going to fall off. He pressed on despite all of that. It would have been easier to go around, but it would have taken twice the amount of time. Once he got to there, he could see that Toothless was pacing along the walls of the cave. He seemed to be doing much better, compared to when Dagur was tackled out of the cave. Hiccup was pretty strong for his small stature. Dagur knew that his plan would take some convincing on the Night Fury's part too. Dagur wasn't the friendliest in the past, and he knew dragons held massive grudges.

"I know you're not going to like this, but we have to do this to help Hiccup."

Toothless tilted his head, raising one of his ear flaps. The dragon roared and shook his body after Dagur climbed onto the saddle. He tried to buck the viking off, turning his head to give Dagur a nasty look when he wasn't able to. Dagur let out a sigh. He knew that Toothless would be difficult.

"Come on, what did I just say?"

The dragon didn't seem happy with Dagur's plan, but he went along with it anyways. Dagur had some difficulty fitting his foot in the pedal that controlled the Dragon's tail. He could hear clicking sounds whenever he pushed down, or gave the tail some rest. He was taking too long by dragon standards to figure out the controls, and Toothless was getting frustrated. The dragon jumped out of the cave, forcing Dagur to improvise. Luckily, he was able to fly Toothless, however bad he was at it. Toothless insisted in foing a few loops and spins in the air for a bit of revenge. Dagur was extremely nauseous, but he did his best to fly the dragon anyway. He could see Hiccup on shore, and let Toothless take the lead. Well, he didn't have a choice in the matter, the dragon took charge despite him. Dagur had to help out deflecting the arrows being shot at them, and even caught one before it could hit the black dragon. He could feel Toothless climbing higher and got nervous, knowing it would make his stomach swim. 

"Easy, dragon!"

Toothless dived, sending a ball of purple fury towards two hunters, and landing in front of the one with a sword pointed at Hiccup. He bucked Dagur off of the saddle, and let out an earsplitting roar. The hunter ran off like the coward he was.

"I don't know how you stomach that," Dagur commented. He cut the ropes off of Hiccup's hands with the tipped arrow he was still holding with one swift movement.

Hiccup smiled at him, then turned to the dragon. "Atta boy, Toothless! Now, why don't we show him how it's done?"

Dagur watched as Hiccup and his majestic dragon took down a ship with only a few blasts. He could see them doing a victory lap as he considered his options. There was an empty ship sitting not too far from shore. He could take that free ship, or he could go with Hiccup. He thought, maybe the other riders wouldn't be happy with that idea, unless it was Hiccup's idea to bring him along. Dagur took a deep breath. There was no choice, really. Dagur knew he was better off alone, where he trusted himself not to hurt anyone. He chose the ship. After a bit of sailing, he could see the shadow of Hiccup's dragon on the water.