Chapter 7: First Flight,

The Next day, when Hiccup arrived, he seemed out of breath. I found that odd. Normally I watched for when Hiccup came around, but this time when he showed up things seemed different. He came in from a different way today, and his little (although not so little anymore) dragon body was panting so heavily that his whole body moved up and down. His eyes were wide with alarm, and I had the feeling he had been chased.

He might've come across another dragon crossing his path and they chased him down. Even though Hiccup was big enough for me to ride on now he still seemed small compared to other dragons. They might've saw him as prey, or a youngster to keep in line, or possibly, from his new size they distinguished him as a threat.

There was also the chance that one of the other dragons was curious and followed them to our spot, which would explain why he was out of breath from trying to lose them. I almost didn't want to go out today with that thought. Then, I considered the idea that the little dragon might've run into some human hunters. They might've been looking for me, or just returning for food, either way, the sooner I got my leg fixed or left the sooner I could reunite with my tribe.

Then I wondered, did I actually want to leave. This little cove wasn't such a bad place to live. There was food, water, sunshine and soft grass. Plus, Hiccup was always so much nicer to me than my own people. This place was so peaceful, I wouldn't have to fight for my life or struggle to survive again.

Whatever the case, I still wanted to walk again. So I climbed upon Hiccup's back, and fastened the harness onto us, and we took off. Once we were out where I could have some walking room, I tethered us to a tree so I would have a set walking space. With Hiccup being chased earlier I didn't want to wander too far and be seen by someone.

We walked for awhile, so I could regain my footing, and I had to say that my feet were getting far better than earlier. I probably still couldn't make it out of that ravine that Hiccup was no doubt going to put me back in when this was all over, but I was strong enough to not rely on Hiccup so much, and actually decide the direction we were going to walk.

When that was done, Hiccup had another idea. I climbed back onto his back, but we stayed tethered to the tree. Then, Hiccup pushed off and flapped his wings in the breeze. After a little bit I started to understand what he was doing. We were practicing flying together! If we could work out a system and signals for when we flew together, then he could fly me back home.

So, I started working with him. I started inventing signals I would use for him to stop, climb upwards, and lunge, and so on. After a little time, we started to grow more in sync. However, there was a little glitch in the practice, one of the times when we were practicing the rope snapped (of course dragon rope would be low quality), and we flew backward into the woods.

We both got up fine, but I noticed that I was now tethered to Hiccup's side. Now, we were stuck together, which was fine by me I didn't have anywhere to go. I just assumed that Hiccup would be staying with me at the cove tonight. However, it would seem that Hiccup did have places to go, since instead of flying me back to the cove he took me back to the dragon rookery.

I only recognized the place from the times my tribe raided it, but I knew that he was taking me back to his home. I knew how dangerous this was, did he? Did he realize that I was still tethered to his side? Luckily for me, I had my black armor to camouflage me, but Hiccup was a big green dragon! We were sure to be spotted.

I kept my eyes close upon descent, but I knew when we were there when the smell of brimstone filled my nose. I hid in the shadows, my feet firmly planted in the ground, afraid of being spotted. Yet, Hiccup was pretty good at being stealthy himself. He kept me in the back while the dragons passed him, making sounds of greeting, and then checked both ways before dragging us both forward.

He probably could've carried me all the way where we going, but instead I followed him on foot, treading closer due to the tether. Hiccup led us to a dark cave. There were glowing embers of burning rock all over the cave, and wherever there wasn't burning brimstone there were sharp and pointy objects, like dull axes, and bent swords among the stalagmites.

I then understood why Hiccup had brought me here. He was intending of removing the tether, one way or another. Hiccup walked us over to a pile of embers. He set the tether on the pile of burning embers. The rope began to glow as each strand began to heat up, soon to ignite and catch flame. I was afraid of the rope's flame moving and lighting my clothes of fire. Hiccup wasn't scared, he was fire proof.

Still, I wasn't, so without thinking I grabbed the nearest pointy thing I could find (which happened to be a mangled sword) and started trying to break the tether. Yet, no matter what I tried the tried the tether wouldn't snap! It was a good thing we were working double time, because even if dragon rope was low quality this thing certainly wasn't.

Suddenly, there was a high-pitched growl coming from outside of the cave. I suddenly became very stiff. All of the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stood up on end. There was another dragon on the outside of the cave, a female one by the sounds of things...and it was looking to come in.

Hiccup switched places with me and nudged me to keep going. However, when Hiccup left the cave to entertain the female dragon, I was pulled away from the ember pile. I made sure to stay in the shadows as Hiccup talked to the female dragon, meanwhile I kept trying to work away at the tether with my knife.

The tether wasn't budging, yet I could feel the binds loosening. However, I wasn't near close to being done when I spotted a dragon outside the cave. I stood in fear of it entering, and it was almost as if it could read my mind, because it started coming over to the cave. I couldn't stay hidden anymore. With surprising strength I started to run in the opposite direction. As I did, I actually managed to drag Hiccup along with me. It got to the point where I dragged inside the cave, and he threw me onto his back so quick that I hardly had time to think before we flew out of there.

When we made it back to the cove, I finished loosening the binds on our tether. They were pretty loose after my tug of war contest with Hiccup, when I got there I managed to snap them apart pretty easily. After that was done we slipped the harness off, and then Hiccup went back home.

I now knew that Hiccup had a life on this island. He knew the other dragons, and he talked to them. It seemed a lot better than the life I had. No matter how bad it was though, I still wanted to get back. Now that I could walk by myself again, I was one step closer to doing so.

The next day was a really special day for me. I didn't know what we were doing at first, but that day when I got on Hiccup's back and he took me away from the cove he took me farther than expected. I expected him to set down somewhere in the woods, but he flew out past the woods and out to the sea stacks.

I was really happy to be flying again, but I was a little upset that we were flying so low to the ocean level, and at such a slow speed. "Can't we go a little faster?" I asked Hiccup, Hiccup shook his head and growled. I rolled my eyes at him with irritation. I guess he had an excuse for going slow. This might've been the first time flying off the island, and he didn't want to rush things, or possibly he didn't want me getting hurt. Yet, I had flown before. I was used to going higher and faster than this. Flying like this was annoying to me.

I looked at some birds flying overhead long fully. Hiccup looked up as if to notice my longing. He didn't act on it though; he just continued to fly low. He tried dodging some sea stacks next, with few successful results. As he tried to dodge, he kept flying too close to the edge. He managed to move out of the way just in time, but I ended up crashing into the sides of them. Each time we crashed Hiccup whimpered a growl as if sorry for what he was doing. By the second time we hit the rocks I slapped his scaly face telling him to knock it off!

Then Hiccup decided to change the setting of the situation. He jerked his upward towards the sky and started escalating. As we skyrocketed upwards, I felt a smile spread across my face as I shouted with glee. "Wooo Hooo, yeah!" Hiccup also roared with anticipation, he seemed to be enjoying it too. Then when we made to the highest point, for some reason Hiccup roared with panic and stopped mid air.

All of sudden, time seemed to slow down. In that moment, the connecting cord disconnected, and we both, separately, fell to our deaths. Well, our reactions were pretty similar, which is to say, we both started freaking out. However, Hiccup kept trying to tell me something as we were falling. I didn't hear him for two reasons; 1, I didn't speak dragon, and 2, I was too busy panicking! I greeted his frantic growls with a (n accidental) kick to the face.

Meanwhile, while I was busy thrashing around wildly, Hiccup was busy slowly working his way over to me. With absolutely no help from me whatsoever, he managed to get me back on his back, reconnect the fastening cord, and straighten our flight pattern out. Then, he effortlessly dodged the remaining sea stacks without much of a second thought. By the time I opened my eyes we were flying quickly and level across the ocean and out to sea. Hiccup let out a triumphant roar, and I grabbed one of my flammable oil sacks and threw it out of excitement. Hiccup blasted it, and as it combusted he let out a little whimper as I laughed.

Hiccup dropped us off on a nearby rocky island where we spent the rest of the afternoon fishing. I caught a lot of fish, and Hiccup only caught one, but I was willing to share with him. He, once again, insisted he was fine with what he had, quietly nibbling his one fish that he caught (now slightly roasted) by himself.

What I was thinking was going to be a nice relaxing meal overlooking the sunset was suddenly interrupted. Just then, a group of small Vikings rowed up to the shore of our island and came towards us. I recognized these warriors by their rank. They were from my island, and according to their brightly coloured armored uniforms, they were first rank, and rookies. They weren't really respected where I came from due to their young age and inexperience. I knew that they mostly got by using group attacks and stealing, and I put a protective stance over my fish.

When the group approached us, they didn't seem to notice Hiccup much at all, or possibly they saw him and knew if I was there they were fine. The group was small, made up of about four kids maybe a little younger than me. They first approached me hoping to take some of my fish, but then they noticed my glare and protective stance over it, and moved on to something else.

"Oh boy, food! It's been a lifetime!" one shouted going after the fish I offered to Hiccup, (although it was more like a half of a fish). All the guys lunged for it, two of them grabbing it at once and tugging it between the two of them. The one in the orange armor managed to yank it away from one of the green armored ones, and laughed triumphantly. "Ha ha, nah nah ne nah nah!" he sneered waving the fish in front of him. He was about to eat it when two of his other team members wrestled him to the ground.

Then I noticed, that one was missing from the group. I turned back to my fish pile to see one of the kids walking away with a bunch of fish from my pile in his arms. I grabbed at the fish and pulled them back into my pile, taking one and eating it raw for good measure. I laughed at him,

"Maybe next time, young warrior." I laughed; the little guy picked himself off the ground and grunted with frustration.

"That's not fair! You have tons of fish, why can't you share just one!?" he asked angrily,

"Cause I caught it, pint size!" I told him angrily. He steamed, pulled out a dagger and got himself into fighting stance. "You want to go?" he said angrily,

"Bring it on." I said casually. Then, he got ready to charge at me. I would've been intimidated, if I wasn't two feet taller than him and looking down at him the entire time. By the time he took one step I threw and oil sack at him and covered his face in oil. He glumly wiped off his face as I continued to laugh at him. He knew he was no match for me, and walked away sadly. Even Hiccup laughed along with me.

Then, he did something I didn't expect. Hiccup, the dragon I knew to only want one fish, his fish, decided to give his fish to the rookie. Perhaps he knew I would give him another, perhaps he didn't. Either way, he gave up his food to a human. Unlike what I've known, where he would catch food especially for me, and then some for him, he gave some of his food to someone else!

Then, the rookies seemed to notice he was there. They turned and looked a bit shocked at first, but then they took the fish Hiccup had offered. Then, they stood and stared at the green dragon for a moment. Hiccup wasn't huge, but he was big enough for me to ride. He had to be a little intimidating. The rookie walked towards him slowly, and put his hand against his hide, before curling against his chest. His fellow team members followed suit.

I stared at this dragon in awe and amazement. First, he shared his food, and now he was actually allowing them to sleep against him. I thought that I might be a special case with this guy, but maybe I was wrong. Maybe we were all wrong, and maybe dragons weren't so bad after all.

A/N: Hey everyone, sorry I haven't updated in awhile. I just am a huge procrastinator, and I have a boyfriend, and a super hard math class, and I'm applying for university, and I'm looking for jobs, and spending time with my family, and my friends, and Christmas shopping, and sleeping and eating and a bunch of other things under the term "excuses". Anyway, I don't always write in a timely fashion. Just know, that your reviews and PMs telling me to update got my butt in gear.

Thanks for reminding me.

Tell me what you think!

Signed, Love