Chapter 8: Questions

Hiccup and Toothless soon got out of the forest. They started walking on a dirt path leading him towards the centre of the island. Behind them Astrid and her friends soon caught up.

"Hey you can't just leave us after telling us you are Hiccup! Our Hiccup!" Tuffnut yelled at him.

"Yeah! We have some questions. Like where were you? What have ya been doing?" Ruffnut asked, but didn't get any answer from Hiccup.

"Everyone back at Berk thought that you're dead Hiccup. Do you have any idea what I have done only to find you?" Astrid breathlessly said as she and her friends were having trouble keeping up with the Dragon rider.

As for Hiccup he stayed silent during the whole thing. Astrid proceeded to say something but stopped in her tracks along with her friends. There was a group of Dragons standing a few metres away from them. The Dragons were aggressively growling and started walking towards Astrid and her friends. But before anything bad happened Hiccup stepped between the Dragons and Astrid.

The Dragons came to a halt at that. A Nadder growled and crooned like it was talking.

"They're friends." Hiccup said. This made the Dragons stop growling.

They apologetically crooned and flew away. "Sorry about that. They aren't used to seeing new people on the island." Hiccup told the gang and started walking again, followed by Toothless and the gang.

After a few minutes of walking they reached a place which looked like a crossroads in the middle of a small town. There were Dragons, who were freely roaming around. Some looked at Astrid and her friends suspiciously but didn't mind them. There were many varieties of Dragons. Nadders, Nightmares, Gronkles, Zipplebacks. Even some extremely rare dragons like Rumblehorns, Hobblegrunts, etc. The gang was in complete awe as they watched everything.

"So this is what you've been doing for the past 5 years." Astrid said in awe as she looked back at Hiccup. Hiccup smiled and nodded.

"Take this path. It would lead you to my house. It has multiple rooms so I hope you won't have any problem getting settled." Hiccup said, pointing towards a dirt path. He then whistled in a special tune. A few Terrible terrors came flying and hovered in front of Hiccup. Hiccup let out some low growls and clicks and the Terrors nodded. "They will help you get settled. Just don't touch anything. And don't provoke the Dragons. I will be in the forge. It's not far from here. If you need me you can come there. The Terrors will show you the way." Hiccup told the gang as he turned back towards them and then left with Toothless.

Astrid and her friends were too shocked to comprehend what just happened. They broke out of their trance when the Terrors started chirping loudly. Astrid and her friends soon walked down the dirt path and after a few minutes they reached their destination. Their jaws dropped when they saw Hiccup's house. It was a two storey mansion, built out of wood and stone. It was decorated with plants and the walls were painted with beautiful designs. They looked at the mansion in awe as they entered it.

"Damn. My house looks like a hut compared to this." Snotlout said as they entered the living room.

The Terrors split up and guided them towards their rooms. Ruffnut and Tuffnut had to share one room, while others got their own separate rooms. The rooms were quite big. Each room had a bed, a Cupboard filled with some towels and some other essential stuff, a writing desk along with a chair and a shelf containing some books.

In the case of the Thorston twins, they had two beds in their room. Astrid looked out of the window in her room and saw the beautiful view outside. The mansion was on high ground near a mountain. There was a small stream flowing behind the mansion. The scenery was beautiful.

Astrid turned towards the door of her room when she heard a light banging on the door. She walked over to the door and opened it. On the other side of the door there were two Terrible terrors who were carrying a double headed battle axe. They flew inside the room and dropped it on the desk. Astrid walked over to the desk and checked the axe. It was hers.

"Thank you." She told the Terrors.

The Terrors happily chirped and left. After a few minutes of settling down, they left the mansion to look for Hiccup.

"So where shall we find Hiccup?" Tuffnut asked.

"He said he was in the forge and it's not far from his house." Astrid replied.

"Okay, but where is this ''forge" ? It can be anywhere." Snotlout asked air quoting the word forge.

Astrid noticed some Terrors flying nearby. She walked over to them.

"Hey, do you know where the forge is?" Astrid asked them.

"Astrid this stupid. They are Dragons. They can't understand you babe." Snotlout said.

Astrid glared at the raven haired Viking. Snotlout whimpered under her glaire. Astrid let out a frustrated sigh and returned her attention towards the Terrors.

"I need to see Hiccup." Astrid told them.

The Terrors peaked up when she mentioned Hiccup. They excitedly nodded and gestured her to follow them. Astrid obeyed and followed the flying Terrible terrors as they led her towards Hiccup. Her friends followed after her. After a minute or two of walking they finally found the forge. It was a big square shaped building. The front of the building only consisted of a waist long stone wall with a wooden fence door on the right side, which separated the forge from the outside world.

There was a chimney on the roof which was releasing black smoke. The gang could hear the sound of something heavy hitting metal from inside the forge. They entered the building. The environment inside the forge was quite hot. The whole building was supported by multiple big wooden pillars. There were shelves containing various equipment, tables filled with designs and notes. There were other shelves and cupboards containing various items like coal, scrap metal, wood, etc.

On the other side of the room there was a big furnace beside a fire pit. Hiccup was standing near the fire pit. His back was facing them. He had an anvil in front of him. He was banging a red hot sword into the right shape with a hammer. The girls blushed and the males gaped as they saw Hiccup. Hiccup was shirtless and covered in sweat. They could easily see his toned back and muscular arms. He also had a Nightfury tattoo on his back. The wings of the Nightfury were reaching upto his shoulder blades while the tail reached to the middle of his lower back. He wasn't too buffy but he was toned. bandages were wrapped around his sides and right shoulder. Ruffnut was drooling over Hiccup as she stared at his working figure. As for Astrid, she was madly blushing as she imagined all the stuff she could do with Hiccup.

Hiccup sensed their presence and turned to face them. The girls blushed even more when they saw Hiccup from the front. He had six-pack abs and V-shaped chest. He had ring shaped tattoos on his left bicep, the part of his right arm from shoulder to elbow was covered in tattoos. Both of his arms had bindings wrapped around them, which covered his wrists, and two-third of his arms.

"Oh! I didn't notice you there." Hiccup said as he took a piece of cloth and wiped away some of the sweat from his body and walked over to them.

"So, you guys are comfortable here?" Hiccup asked them.

"Yeah. The rooms you provided us were quite comfortable." Astrid said, trying not to stutter or blush. She noticed that the tattoo on Hiccup's left bicep included multiple ancient Nordic runes and quotes, while the tattoo on his right arm included designs of different Dragons.

"Let me guess, you have some questions." Hiccup said.

"Yeah. I do." Astrid admitted.

"So what do you want to know?" Hiccup asked.

"Well, first, what have you been doing for the past 5 years? We have heard rumours and stories about you." Astrid asked.

"Well in short, I have been trying to make peace between humans and Dragons." Hiccup said.

"By massacring people?" Snotlout spat.

Hiccup looked at him angrily and said,"By stopping the fights between Dragons and Viking tribes. The only people I ever killed were those filthy Dragon hunters."

"Wait, Dragon hunters?" Fishlegs asked.

"Yes! Those filthy people. They hunt down Dragons and mercilessly kill them so that they can salvage Dragon's wings, Claws, wings, fangs and other things like poison or any special organs and sell those." Hiccup growled.

The gang didn't dare to say anything. They could easily understand that Hiccup didn't like the Dragon hunters at all. After a few seconds Hiccup let out a sigh. Sensing he has calmed down Astrid decided to ask another question.

"So, how did you end up living here?" Astrid asked.

"Oh this? I found this island a few weeks after I ran away. So I Toothless began living here. At first it was a little hard, but with the help of my Dragon friends I managed to make it through." Hiccup said.

"Well, you sure did." Ruffnut said while staring at Hiccup's abs.

Hiccup felt a bit uncomfortable as he felt her gaze and decided to change the subject.

"So what happened to Berk? Why are you guys trying to find a new island? I thought the Dragon raids were over at Berk." Hiccup asked.

"About that," Astrid began. "Berk was getting overpopulated but it wasn't the main problem. Many of the lands in Berk became infertile and we had used too much of the island's resources. So Berk slowly started to become uninhabitable. We only have a couple more years until it becomes completely uninhabitable."

Hiccup listened carefully. Although he hated Berk, he was saddened by the fate of his once home. He sighed and turned away, running his left hand through his hair.

"This is a mess." Hiccup said. "I really wish I could help."

"Like someone as useless as you can help." Snotlout arrogantly said.

"What did you say?" Hiccup asked with an edge in his voice.

"You didn't hear me? Or do you want me to repeat, useless!" Snotlout mocked.

Hiccup glared at him but didn't say anything and turned away from the raven haired Viking. He took deep breaths to calm down. Snotlout, who was completely oblivious of what he's getting himself into, decided to try his luck again.

"What? Running away like a coward? You really are your mother's son! She was as pathetic as you are!" Snotlout said.

This was the final straw for Hiccup. He turned towards Snotlout, who had a smug grin on his face. Hiccup was beyond angry. He marched towards Snotlout at an incredible speed and grabbed him by his throat. The others were too surprised and scared to do anything. They just watched as Hiccup dragged Snotlout to a nearby wooden pillar. Hiccup slammed his cousin on the pillar and lifted him up from the ground with one hand. Snotlout was struggling to breathe. He tried his best to get out of Hiccup's grasp but it was of no use. Hiccup forced Snotlout to look at him in the eyes as Hiccup leaned closer to him.

"Now listen here, Snotlout. Insult me as much as you want. But never, ever dare to say anything foul about my mother." Hiccup coldly told Snotlout, who whimpered and nodded as fast as possible.

Hiccup let go of Snotlout. Snotlout dropped on the floor and started coughing as he tried to regain his breath. Hiccup gave him one last glare and went to the other side of the forge. He picked up a tunic and proceeded to leave the forge.

"I am going for a walk. Don't touch anything in the forge." Hiccup told them as he hastily put on his tunic and left.