Summary: Hiccup wasn't much liked by the village, many of them, including Hiccup thought that Snotlout would eventually become heir. But even so, all his life, Hiccup was still the official heir and as such he was still a target.

I don't own How to Train Your Dragon, nor anything associated with it. I simply love whump, torture, assassination attempts, kidnappings, poisonings, ect. (*Ambur covers author's mouth*, *muffled*and thus this idea wouldn't leave me alone, even though I'm not the best at writing any of these things…*muffled*.)

So I present…

Heir to Berk

Chapter 1

Hiccup Haddock III was a scrawny child, thin as a toothpick, and called a nuisance to the majority of the village due to his tendency to be invisibly underfoot, and always, always being clumsy, both in normal actions such as walking, or in other things such as his inventing. For an almost five-year-old he was short, shorter than all the other children his age, especially his older, meaner cousin Snotlout.

Like many tribes with enemies did, after the announcement of Hiccup's birth to their allies there was little said about the young heir. When allies visited the island, he was introduced then sent to play – usually with the single, or in the case of tribes where the chief had multiple children, the most similarly aged, heir from the other tribe. Thus, through this practice the existence of the small boy was concealed from enemy eyes. However, in the archipelago, where death was an accident or a dragon raid away, five was a special number, and one to be celebrated.

And, so, despite the fact that Hiccup was sometimes the person in the village most stressful to his father, he was still heir and Stoick, along with the majority of the village hadn't yet given up hope that he was a growth-spurt and a day away from bulking up and becoming a warrior in training. Thus, for his fifth birthday, there was a celebration. The leaders of other tribes were invited, and Hiccup's birthday was celebrated on the twenty-eighth, since it wasn't a leap year.

"Why are we celebrating his birthday dad?" Snotlout asked his father bratishly, his foot stomping and his chubby arms crossed. Not that it did much for him in the crowded mead hall. "Everyone knows he's a weakling, and that I'm eventually going to be the chief instead of him."

Spitelout, despite the pride at the idea of his son eventually becoming the chief, and showing up his brother-in-law – for now at least Hiccup was the heir, and he and Hiccup were also cousins. "Now Snotlout – five is a big number, especially for the heir to the throne. Perhaps one day he won't be, but for now, he is the chief's son, and the heir. It would do you well to have a little respect."

Snotlout huffed and stomped away from his dad to the twins. "Respect? Humph."

Across the room Hiccup and Fishlegs were sitting on a bench. Both were about as shy as the other which allowed them to overall be perfectly comfortable talking with each other.

"And then the twins got the scolding of a lifetime. I've never heard my dad yell so loud!" Hiccup exclaimed animatedly. Fishlegs laughed at the thought, knowing Stoick had to have been loud considering Hiccup was on the loud end of many scolding's over the years. His father had a difficult time giving him the attention he wanted in the form he needed, but Hiccup never ceased to have a high opinion and admiration of his father. Fishlegs was one of the few who regularly saw this animated, not shy Hiccup.

"Oh yeah, and do you know what they did?" Fishlegs asked, just an animated. Hiccup shook his head.

"I heard something about yaks, sheep, and a raid, but I don't understand." Hiccup explained. The twins were already difficult to deal with in the village, so a majority of the chaos was them, despite only being about five and a half.

"They set half of silent Sven's sheep on fire, making Sven think it was a dragon raid, and then used them as targets for catapulting yaks. I hear Sven silently demanded retribution from the twins and they're going to have to clean the barn for a month." Fish informed.

Hiccup giggled.

"Young Hiccup."

Hiccup turned from Fishlegs, recognizing the voice. It was one he both liked and dreaded.

"Mr. Oswald." Hiccup greeted politely. He liked Oswald The Agreeable, he had always been very kind to Hiccup, and sometimes even brought him a gift or two, he was similar to a grandfather figure for Hiccup. It was his son he couldn't stand. And since it was always his job to keep Dagur out of trouble, it also made dread well up inside him when he saw Oswald. Dagur was worse than Snotty, which was saying something.

"I wanted to wish you a happy birthday and many more to come." Oswald said. Then he knelt in front of Hiccup and brought out a box. It was a simple brown and Hiccup carefully took it. He opened it with Fish leaning meekly over his shoulder. Inside was a dagger, which had a handle made of what had to be dragon bone and a blade that gleamed silver.

"It's got a dragon bone handle, and a blade forged from the spines of a razor whip. Strong, durable, and I hope it will serve you well young one." Oswald said with a smile.

Hiccup stared at it open mouthed. Razor whips were rare, and getting an intact spine, let alone forging it was incredibly difficult. A lot went into this dagger and he was amazed. After a few moments more of staring Hiccup realized Oswald was still waiting. He awkwardly cleared his throat, then smiled.

"Thank you very much Mr. Oswald."

"I'm very glad you like it."

Hiccup looked back at the dagger it gleamed strongly in the fire light and he found he couldn't take his eyes from it as Oswald walked away.

"That's so cool Hiccup." Fish said, looking at it too as Hiccup turned back. Beside them on the table was their dinner. Hiccup put the dagger on the table between them and both boys picked at their dinner.

Over the night Hiccup received several gifts, an axe – which he couldn't lift even an inch, though even Astrid – who was training crazy had trouble lifting it much. He also received a sketchbook from Gobber, and a pencil made from a piece of wood that would hold charcoal. His father had given him a small wooden training sword, and told him he would be apprenticing with Gobber now. He also got a few small toys, a maces and talons game board with figurines that had precious gems around the bases, and a figurine of a yak.

Hiccup went to bed, flattered at the positive attention, and happy with the outcome of the night. In the influx of people entering the village, no one noticed the two men that had snuck in. They had no symbols. The only sign of what had happened was the bloody dagger driven into the headboard with a ransom note, and the flag Stoick found draped across Hiccup's bed when he went to wake him up for breakfast.

Hiccup came to slowly. He remembered masked men standing over him, pushing something against his face.

Hiccup heard the movement of fabric and opened his eyes, assuming it was his father to check on him.

"Da-"

He stopped, as a hard hand nearly smashed his nose shoving a cloth against his face. In a gasp of pain, he smelled something sweet, and suddenly felt dizzy. Frightened Hiccup tried to struggle his terror fueling him that he could barely move one of the hands holding him. There was a second man he finally noticed, who was pushing him down almost painfully against the hard wooden bed.

"Come on boy, breath in and it will all be over. We don't want to hurt you." One of them said, almost soothingly. But Hiccup didn't, instead, thinking fast he bit the hand over his face, and throbbing nose, and in the surprise of the action all three hands left on him loosened just enough for his skinny body to slip away.

"DAD!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. There was a small thud downstairs, likely of his father rolling out of bed – literally. Behind him the man with the cloth grabbed him from behind and shoved it back over his mouth and nose. Hiccup struggled fiercely, and noticed the brown box on his bedside table. One hand lunged for it, and he managed to fumble the dagger out of the box. Downstairs there was the sound of footsteps.

"Knock 'im out! We can't let anyone know yet!" the other guy whispered urgently. Hiccup meanwhile couldn't resist the urge to breath and in a last-ditch effort he tried to stab the guy behind him in the leg. Just a little longer and his daddy would save him. The man squealed nearly silently in pain as the blade went nearly an inch in. Impressive for a five-year-old if he had to say so himself.

The man jerked as Hiccup lost consciousness, and the blade slipped out. It pierced young flesh and as the child fell the dagger dug deep.

The pain managed to jolt him for a moment, before it erased its own effect and his eyes rolled back into his head.

"Take out the knife and put 'im back in bed till the dad's gone. Hurry!"

Thus, he ended up here. Wherever 'here' ended up being. However, it felt like a boat, and he was in some kind of cell, with wooden bars and a single porthole window too high for him to reach. His stomach roiled, and he tried to get up, but the pain in the side of his abdomen stopped him as blood seeped anew from the deep wound. He found that his tunic was gone, and the wound had been wrapped in tight layered bandages. It hurt. Breathing hurt worse, as tears slid down his cheeks.

Shallow breath in, shallow breath out… He thought to himself, trying to calm, to breath, to lessen the pain. He attempted to breath only in his chest and not move his abdomen, but tensing the muscles to stop it from moving was making it hurt too. And it hurt so very badly. He gently and instinctually pressed his tiny left hand against the bandages right over the wound. There were a few pieces under the wrappings, but it didn't do too much. He had seen that after dragon raids, when someone had a wound that bled a lot, pushing on it helped. And maybe, just maybe it would make it hurt less.

Carefully he pushed. Blood squelched from the soaked bandages, pooling around his fingers and staining his tiny hand red. Beads of blood slid down his arm and he sobbed. This was bad, awful. He was so hurt – a lot of blood was gone. He had seen older more Viking like Vikings die like this, laying there bleeding. And Gothi, going through the carnage would just shake her head sadly at some and at others she or her medics would treat the wounded they could save.

He sucked in heavy breaths trying to calm down before he had a full breakdown, and to calm his abdomen which was burning with fierce pain.

Suddenly he was brought out of his panic by the sound of a door slamming somewhere away from where he was. As this happened his stomach announced it's displeasure at the situation again, and unable to do anything else he managed to turn his head as far to one side as he could before anything in his stomach was suddenly out of it. The substance smelled awful and slid down his cheek and pooled beside his head.

Down the hall two men were talking. "You had better not let the boy die. We need him alive. Otherwise his precious father isn't going to pay us the ransom. Not to mention we'd probably end up at war."

"I know sir… The bleedin' had slowed when me and my brother left, we bandaged it. And once we get ta port in a few hours we can 'ave a healer look at 'im."

"I hope you're right, because if something happens and the boy dies I can assure you that you'll be next."

"Yes sir…"

The men came to a stop in front of the cell, and they looked at the tiny heir. The man in charge glared at the damages, and turned away.

"Fix this." He said on the way out.

The man, who Hiccup recognized vaguely as one of the men who kidnapped him stared for a moment before, terrified, he entered the cell, not bothering to close the door. "I wish you hadn't struggled boy." He said as he knelt beside the child and removed the tiny bloodied hand. He put down a satchel that Hiccup hadn't noticed before, and pulled out a fresh roll of bandages. There was no warning as next he swiftly pulled Hiccup into a sitting position.

Hiccup cried out as severe pain shot through his whole middle. Fresh tears pricked his eyes and he wanted to just cry. To let it all out. But if he did he knew his abdomen would hurt more. He couldn't handle it, it already hurt too much. The man removed the old bandages wrapped around his torso and Hiccup risked a glance down at the leftover square bandages. The padding was soaked through with blood and he could see the edge of the hole slowly welling with blood and spilling down. Obviously, it wasn't done bleeding. Worriedly, the man looked at the same thing while Hiccup felt himself going faint at the sight of his injury.

His vision blurred into one multicolored blob of a world, and he felt the bandages being shifted above the wound which hurt so bad. Then the pain multiplied exponentially, and Hiccup squirmed, trying to get away, and accidentally biting his tongue as he fought. The man was shoving the bandage in, shoving it deep into the wound, probably trying to stop the bleeding but it hurt!

"S-s-stop …! P-please! S-stop it!" He cried, weakly trying to shove the hand away, to get away, something. But the attack was easily ignored, and the man shoved it deeper, while Hiccup continued his struggle, weakening as the pain continued to assault him.

Finally, as the man pressed a fresh square over the stuffed wound and wrapped it Hiccup sobbed quietly, his side throbbing something fierce as he was laid back out and left. Half unconscious, sobbing.

It was awful, and the pain wouldn't let him sleep either. He wasn't all the way unconscious and he couldn't find any way to make the pain better. It had to have been at least two hours before he heard a familiar voice.

"By Thor's mighty hammer…GOTHI!" The door to the cell opened and uneven steps hurried to his side, kneeling and placing a soothing hand on his arm. Hiccup couldn't see through the tears and the blur from his pain, but he could hear and recognize Gobber's voice and uneven gait.

"Uncl' Gob'r…I-it… It hurts…"

"Shhhhh, it's okay Hiccup, don't waste your strength talkin'. We brought Gothi and your father's takin' care 'a the men who took you." Gobber said, moving his hand to rub Hiccup's head. Behind him Gothi went around to Hiccup's right side to gain access to the wound. In a flurry of hand signals – which Gothi only used in the most urgent of situations, Gobber understood what he needed to do. "Hiccup, it's going to hurt, but I have to sit you up." He said, then detached the hook on his arm and put it in Hiccup's mouth. "Bite it – it'll keep you from biting your tongue off."

With that Gobber lifted him and Hiccup bit down hard on the hook. It hurt his teeth, but his poor already bitten tongue at least was safe. As Gothi unwrapped the bandages, she glared down at the obvious situation. She peeled back the top bandage carefully, much to Hiccups dismay as it pulled, the amounts of dried blood making it stick. Apparently, the man's job of stuffing the wound had worked, since there was very little flow anymore. Gothi however glared long and hard at the wound and finally with a grim frown signaled to Gobber.

"You have to pull it out?" Gobber asked worriedly. "Won't that make him bleed more?"

Gothi nodded and pulled a small sewing kit specifically meant for sewing wounds. I'll have to close the organs and then the skin wound she motioned. The unsigned part was it's going to hurt a lot.

Gobber nodded and used his most reassuring voice he had. "Hiccup, Gothi has to sew you up… Inside and out…"

"No… Please no…" Hiccup mumbled, almost incoherent as the hook dropped from his mouth. "No more… It hurts."

Gobber felt his heart cracking at those words. He and Hiccup had been close since the child had been born, and since he had proved to be different Gobber had learned to embrace Hiccup's differences – well, most of them anyways – and they were very close. When Stoick was too busy, Gobber and the forge was where Hiccup went, not wanting to be alone, and not much liked in his age group because of his differences. Fact was when he heard Hiccup was missing Gobber had been right with Stoick when he had called out about the rescue mission, and thanks to their combined efforts they had managed to find the ship and intercept it with a port just a ways in the distance.

"Hiccup – please just let Gothi do her job, and I promise it'll feel better after." Gobber said.

Hiccup nodded weakly, and Gobber replaced the hook while Gothi took that as her queue to work.

It took a week before Hiccup was able to move around, and even then, it was only a move from Gothi's hut, to his own home, and he was on bed rest again. In that time, Snotlout had even gone to the lengths to see him. No one with so little as a sneeze was allowed to see him, because he had gotten an infection and the last thing he needed was a head cold. Gothi'd had to sew up a few internal items, and then the skin to keep the blood in and allow him to live long enough to heal.

Things were returning to normal, finally. Though if Snotlout hit softer and complained less, Hiccup wasn't going to kick a gift yak in the mouth.

The tribe that had tried to hold him for ransom had been properly talked to, and overall, they likely wouldn't try something again. At least not for a while. They didn't know when, how, or who would try to hurt or kidnap Hiccup next, but they did know one thing.

Hiccup's name was out there, people other than select allies knew of his existence and as such it was bound to happen again.