Of Dragons and Hoards

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'Book Entries'

'Hiccup's Additions to Said Book Entries'

'Additions Made by Others to Hiccup's Additions'

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"Dragons are creatures of greed. The Völsunga saga spoke of the dwarf Fáfnir who became a dragon after the greed of wanting his father's fortune overwhelmed him. Fáfnir is often used as a warning to those who might tread in his steps. The warnings carried in the Völsunga has become ever more apparent since the dragons return to Berk and the attacks that had been all but forgotten returned with an ever increasing frequency and viciousness. To us the raids do nothing but prove to us that our ancestors were right in saying that dragons were creatures driven by their greed. It is because of Fáfnir hoarding his slain father's gold that we were left with the image of a dragon hoarding treasure to itself. It is because of Fáfnir's death at the hands of Sigurd that we have learned how to kill the creatures."

—Until Hiccup found a Night Fury and managed to convince everyone that they weren't all that bad—

"I thought you weren't supposed to write in that book anymore, Hiccup." Astrid said dryly as she watched Hiccup scrub frantically at the errant line made through the center of the page. Lowering her hand from where it had been lifted to smack him lightly along the back of his head she leaned over his shoulder to read the page that the book was still open to. "You know that if Gobber sees you doing that he'll tell your dad and then your dad'll—."

In the corner of the room vibrant yellow eyes blinked open sleepily with a mouth opening in a large yawn with tongue lolling out contentedly before abruptly snapping closed with yellow eyes narrowing as they focused on the blonde leaning entirely too close to the boy seated on the bench of the worktable. Yellow gaze flicking to the side sharp teeth flashed in a feral grin as a long tail began to snake out across the floor before wrapping tightly around one fur-covered ankle. "Aaah!" Jumping up and over to the worktable in one agile movement, he nudged his head against the boy's side while ignoring the girl who was now pulling herself to her feet while muttering darkly under her breath. Flicking his tail along the floor happily as he leaned against the boy he noted with satisfaction the distance now kept between the girl and his human.

"The first thing to be wary of when encountering a dragon in its territory is to find out what specifically it considers to be its hoard. While we might think of a hoard as being gems, gold or something that holds a monetary value one must remember that these creatures are not human and therefore cannot be expected to hoard the same things that we ourselves might."

—Dragons don't have hoards. This is just a myth.

Only if your name isn't Hiccup and/or if you give cluelessness a whole new meaning. Plus dragons aren't the only ones who have hoards.—

In retrospect it all could have gone worse. If the… Well maybe if… Or if….

Okay. So there was no way that it could have possibly gotten worse unless one considered the possibility of Sigurd himself trying to kill Toothless while the Night Fury was in the middle of the worse display of fury that any of the town of Berk had witnessed. Of course it could have all been avoided had the son of the Chief from the nearby village of Canberk had just listened to the message that Stoick the Vast had sent over 3 months before Canberk's idiot Chief with idiot son in tow even arrived at Berk.

"Do you really allow your women to fight? Wouldn't they be better kept here at the village where they can watch after the children?" If his smile was a little strained Hiccup felt that he was more than justified because of the way that holding onto the hilt of Astrid's dagger was beginning to hurt muscles in his arms that he didn't know he had. "How many dragons did you say that your village kept?"

"Thirty-seven with four new ones to be born in the summer." Hiccup said proudly before wincing as Astrid's elbow collided sharply with his stomach. "We'll have to build a new enclosure for them with the new ones—."

"Do you use their blood in the Old Ways? Odin himself showed Sigurd how to bathe in the blood of dragons."

"Do we what? No!"

"Why do you bother keeping them around for?" Back turned to Astrid and Hiccup he missed the red head's face darkening as the blonde grabbed his arm in a warning gesture. "Oh well I'm sure my father will get us a few to use before a raid."

For the few minutes that it took everyone to run up the hill where Hiccup was shouting in a manner his father had thought he'd never hear Astrid was the only one to bear witness as the red head's easy going nature disappeared in a flash at the perceived threat to his dragon. Reaching the top of the hill Stoick's eyes bulged at the sight of his son merrily banging the head of his fellow Chief's son against the hard packed dirt with Astrid standing to the side occasionally sinking one booted foot into the side of the pinned teen. From there it all went downhill as the Chief of Canberk began shouting about attempts to murder his son while Stoick was forced to defend his own offspring.

A sharp-eyed Astrid was quick enough to pull Hiccup away from where he was still seated in time to avoid the axe swung at his head. Stumbling backwards as he spun his arms in an attempt to regain his balance he fell to the ground as Astrid shoved him to the side to intercept another axe swing with the broadside of her own axe pulled hastily from the straps on her back. Hiccup was scrambling about in the dirt for his dagger where it had been dropped from his fall when a large shadow passed overhead soon followed by others while a loud rumbling growl echoed from behind him. He sighed in relief as a soft wing pushed him away and behind the dark body crouched low to the ground with sharp teeth bared threateningly at the villagers from Canberk. The growl grew louder as the braver of the villagers of Canberk attempted edging around the unhappy dragon who was careful to keep his body between the villagers and his rider.

"Leave," Hiccup's voice was quiet but firm as he leaned heavily against Toothless with his dagger held loosely in one hand. "We don't want you here and I don't think Toothless likes you either. They're dragons but they're our dragons. If you can't respect that then you don't belong here."

This, Stoick thought proudly, was his son. This was the son that his wife had given him as a memory of her and this was the son that would one day guide the village when it was time. A movement from the corner of his eye caught his attention when the Chief from Canberk pulled a dagger from his belt the muscles in his arm flexing as the man threw the dagger at his son, his Hiccup. Roaring in anger as he backhanded the Chief of Canberk's guards away his hands were itching to close around the coward's throat with his mind already imagining the pleasing feeling of tender flesh giving way under the crushing force of his hands. His mental images were forcibly dispelled by the long ingrained instincts that screamed at him to move and move quickly as a sharp, piercing noise screeched through the air above him.

"Night Fury!" He bellowed as he threw himself away from the coward in a tight roll before rising to his feet to see the charred earth with wisps of black smoke rising into the air from the pile of ash and bone fragments that marked the dragon's possessive nature towards his rider. Listening to his son tell the villagers of Canberk that they were in no way welcome within the borders of Berk unless war was their goal his gaze settled on the dragon that was still bristling with a barely leashed fury that was controlled only by the pale hand resting gently against the warm scales of the beast's throat. His expression turned pensive as he realized that the dragon had given him the warning he needed to move to safety before attacking. For a moment his eyes were distant as he watched his son before he began to laugh until tears leaked from his eyes as he remembered his wife telling him that Hiccup was never meant to be a descendent of Sigurd and that Odin didn't see fit to change that then Loki would.

TBC…

A/N : This is a relatively new fandom for me but please enjoy! Also this is for Rena1 who asked for Hiccup and Toothless.