I know I gave a… Uhm, loose promise that I would at least, attempt to write on my holiday, but almost all intentions to honour that promise ended up with me staring at my pen for an hour before eventually calling it a night.

Insert Obligatory Disclaimer Here

Nevertheless, here's chapter 16.

Once realising that the adolescents were well out of earshot, Hiccup slowly began backing up behind the cover of the house. Now, how would this work? Hiccup wondered. If he was led through the cave by the others, how would Toothless follo- Hiccup froze. There was something prodding against his back. From what he could feel, the end was small, but blunt? He couldn't tell for sure. The end of a spear…? He brought a hesitant hand back in the attempt to reveal the identity the unknown object. A warm puff of hot air streamed over the contours of his hand. Hiccup froze as the object began to slide across his back before coming to a rest on the palm of his hand. Hiccup heaved a sigh of relief.

"Toothless! You gotta stop sneaking up on me like that… You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

The Night Fury rubbed his snout on the young Viking's back, crooning in apology. Hiccup's anger quickly dissipated and he turned around to give his dragon a quick scratch behind his ear. He knew he could never get angry at Toothless, especially when he's acting so damn cute and affectionate.

The dragon purred.

Hiccup sighed. "Alright. I'm going to go with them, so just follow me and keep out of sight."

An emphasis on 'out of sight.'

"We're not getting any younger here!" A voiced screamed in distance.

The young Viking peered past the corner where a distinct figure was eagerly waving at him from the top of a nearby foothill. Hiccup was about to get going but his left arm was gripped and jerked backwards, sending him stumbling to regain balance. He glanced back and on his left sleeve was, of course, Toothless, with his teeth showing and clamped firmly with a clear intent.

The Night Fury shot him an anxious look.

Hiccup let out a second sigh. "It's just like Mary and Oliver; we need them."

The dragon snorted.

He was starting to get irritated. "Okay, how about this. If you see me in any kind of life-threatening danger, you can get in there, ignoring the importance of stealth and pull me out. Sounds good?"

The dragon gazed off into space consider the deal before shrugging in agreement. A flash of black and the Night Fury was already back on the roof, the only trace of him being the two enormous green eyes that were watchfully observing him.

Around the corner came to him yet another, but an even more impatient wave from one of the village youths. Hiccup stepped forward with a normal every-person step, before immediately changing into limping gait, mimicking what walking motion he had seen from Gobber with the mentality that he was supposed to be having a 'hard time' with his prosthetic.

While hobbling his way towards the others, he looked back in retrospect of having said what he had agreed to his Night Fury. Disquieting thoughts and doubts began propagating in his mind. What would constitute for a life-threatening danger in the eyes of his dragon? A single mouse squeaking at his foot would probably result in a thousand pound Night Fury bounding out of the nearest shade of cover to protect his rider from the immediate 'threat'. But, Toothless was clearly smarter than that right…? Thinking back to the time when that incident actually happened made his stomach churn.

"You know, I've seen people who've lost both legs limp faster than you." The largest youth said bluntly.

"Sorry, sorry. Won't happen again!" Hiccup shifted uncomfortably, purposely placing more weight on the right side of his body to seem as though he needed to favour his good leg to stand.

The bigger Viking rolled his eyes at Hiccup before stomping off, grumbling under his breath.

"Ah, don't mind him. He just hates waiting. Especially on other people" One of the guys came up beside him. He had pale grey eyes with a single rope of braided hair hanging from the back of his head. The auburn teen stuck out his hand. "We haven't properly met; Viccus is your na-"

"Hiccup."

"Hiccup, sorry. Well, mine is Kase, and the big guy over there who I'm sure you'll easily remember is Greft."

Hiccup accepted the pleasantry and returned the other boy's handshake. As soon as their hands parted, a lanky blond girl sprung up in front of the him with an overly enthusiastic smile stamped on her face. "Hello Hiccup!"

Hiccup yelped and stepped back in complete alarm.

"Sorry I scared you. My name's Kayta, how are you?"

"Umm, Good…?"

"I heard you said you're a dragon slayer, mind telling me your tricks and secrets? " Kayta said, grinning brightly.

"I don't know anything about that…"

"Please?"

Her seemingly unbreakable smile dug into Hiccup until he broke eye contact, letting his gaze fall upon some of the other male teens who purposely distanced themselves from him. They returned his glance with a hateful glare before turning off and following Greft.

"You might want to get a move on Hiccup, before everyone else leaves you behind!" The upbeat lass snapped Hiccup's attention forward. "You can tell me those secrets later." She then turned, jogging off for the majority of the group.

The young Viking again noticed the loner, standing nearby with his head tilted upwards and attention dreamily fixed on the puffy white clouds that strolled by on the orangey background.

"So, what's his name?" The young Viking asked, curiously.

"Oh him? That's Davin. Nice guy he is, but the others never really seemed to warm up to him." Kase said, looking little perturbed when mentioning Davin. Almost looking… pitiful. The expression was quickly swept away and a well-meant smile was put on instead. "Well, come on Hiccup, let's get going before we lose sight of the others in the dark."

Kase's mentioning of the darkening sky made the young Viking wonder about his Night Fury, and how long before his stealth would be uncovered. But looking around, he noticed how the fine details of nearby and distant vegetation were progressively blurring, and up above, how the stars were already beginning to shine past the dimming light of the evening sky. Nothing to worry about, he thought. Toothless will have no problems concealing himself. He himself would probably be invisible if he just stood behind a bush.

From within a close distance to rest of the adolescents, Hiccup noticed a distinct silhouette, standing like a statue atop a foothill. The tall, plump outline was Greft, and he appeared to be facing them. "Hmm. It's not like Greft to be standing around waiting this many times." Kase mused. Though they closed the gap to the larger boy, Greft's attention didn't shift an inch. His blank expression was still focused in the direction of where they just came. The other teens seemed to be preoccupied in the same way as well. In intense curiosity, Hiccup turned around.

His heart skipped a beat.

A massive ball of light shone in the distance and in the ball of light, Hiccup could make out tiny specs that were going forward in a three file line, staying on the edge of the town. All bearing clearly visible torches in one hand, and long poles that could've either been bows or spears in the other. Hiccup's head pounded with apprehension. Would the group decide to go back or would they begin to suspect that the mob was somehow linked with hi-

"Eh, probably just another dragon hunt." One said, breaking Hiccup's train of thought.

"Yeah, they're probably just chasing some poor old woman's cat that had some guy stick trimmed leaves onto it." Greft joked.

A teen came up to him, looking a little unsettled. "But, should we go back and see what's going on?"

The large Viking scoffed. "Four months. Four months of the same old, smashing through doors, breaking shop displays, and raiding homes just to find a dragon that doesn't even probably exist. Sure it was fun at first, but after all the shop keepers stopped selling you goods, it kind of made you rethink."

"Onwards then."

A burst of relief went through Hiccup. All of a sudden, a hand bumped the back of his shoulder, pushing him forward. It was Kase. "For a dragon killer, you seem to be awfully slow." The teen playfully joked.

Hiccup could feel the piercing green eyes watchfully observing him through the bushes. He sure hoped Toothless could contain himself for just long enough so they could show him the caves. But the Night Fury was fuming, Hiccup could assure that.

The murky skylight surely was a benefit for his Night Fury in the regards to stealth, but it wasn't that amazingly great for his leg. More often than not, Hiccup failed to see the various rocks that jutted out of the ground and this usually resulted in him sprawling to not fall flat on his face. This was made even worse as they entered the thick cover of the forest canopy. If he brought his arm up, his hand would probably look like a barely visibly blurry grey mess. Amazing how the others manage their way around, Hiccup thought.

The young Vikings went on, with the chirps of crickets, the rustling of leaves, and the ambience of the wind overhead acting as their entertainment. This went on for quite some time before Greft suddenly halted, as followed by everyone else. He stepped forward, letting out a sigh and propping his fists on his hips. "Well, here we are."

A massive, nearly vertical rock face stood in front.

Hiccup scanned around and all he could see was the solid wall of rock, many trees, and clusters of undergrowth popping up on the base of rocks and slithering up the mountainside. No entrance. "Uh. Are you sure this is where we're suppose to be?"

Greft overlooked the comment and turned to face the cliff. A thick layer of vines and growth laid on the rock face, effectively creating a wall of green with miniscule spots of grey peaking through. "Been quite a while since the last time we came here." The larger Viking dug his nails in and swept apart the wall of overhang, revealing a pitch black opening. Clearly finding no fear in such a place, he nodded to Hiccup along with everyone else before stepping in. The others followed suit with Hiccup trailing behind.

The first step the young Viking took onto the stony floor with his prosthetic shot a ricochet of sound, bouncing throughout the passage, cutting past the drips and patters and back in the form of an eerie whine. Subsequently behind came a whispering ambience. His hand trailed the sides of the cavern, trying to at least have a guess at what direction he was going. But within a few steps, the wall took a sharp turn away from the noise of the others and Hiccup decided instead, to use the shuffling of feet as his guide, rather than the physical feel of the wall, lest he venture off and get lost in the potentially winding cavern.

The young Viking drew his focus downwards, using what little light in addition to the noise to not trip and impale himself on the uneven surface.

The light flickered as a whoosh of air spat into the cave. Everyone spun around, hearts beating and breathing rapid.

"Davin is that you?"

"No, I'm right here."

A morbid chuckle was forced out from Greft. "Just a bird, right guys?" He seemed unconvinced, even to his own words.

"Umm, so tell me again Hiccup." Kayta began, her enthusiasm dropping to pure timidness in what seemed like a split-second. "Why did you want to come here again? It's damp, cold, and to be honest, spooky as hell."

"Pure curiosity."

Hiccup took smaller and smaller paces, each one with less illumination than the last. But oddly enough, the ground seemed to get… mushier as he went further in. Mud? Not enough light to see the fellow next to him, much less the floor.

"What the hell am I stepping on?" Kale's voice boomed from the darkness along with what sounded like the crunching of eggshells with the soft mush of feet pressing against mud. "My damn boots are covered in this stuff now."

"Shut up about your footwear. We're walking through the same crap."

"Anyone got a torch?"

"Yeah, I do." One responded from further into the cave. Shortly after, a rustling sound arose from the same direction. Presumably, the boy was rummaging through his rucksack. A small 'splap' of a hard object hitting against the oddly textured ground echoed throughout the cave.

"Tch." The boy remarked.

Small, sudden bursts of light bounced around on the passage walls, coupled with the unmistakable sound of metal striking against flint.

Come on Toothless, you better hide well.

"Damnit, I can't get it lit."

"Let me have a go." Kale went up.

In the bear minimal flashes of light, an object shuffled past the corner of his eye. He couldn't exactly see it, but he could definitely hear it.

"No, no, you're doing it wrong."

"Give it here!"

"You've had your chance!"

Hiccup could hear the other youths lurching further into the cave to crowd around the unlit torch, each spouting their input until the simple 'let me have a go' turned into a mess of unintelligible prattle with insults being thrown in the toss-up. The shuffling of the unknown thing began again; quiet enough to slip past the ears of everyone else, but yet still distinguishable enough for Hiccup to hear. It was probably his Night Fury, using his natural inbred stealth to pass the whole group undetected, but still, what was his dragon thinking? Did he want to get caught? What point was it to get ahead of everyone…? A very reserved cat-like hiss sounded from behind him. Now, that was Toothless. But then, what was…

Why was his Night Fury hissing?

"There!" One of the boys cheered. "Told ya I knew how." The torch further caught, illuminating his self-satisfied smirk.

A deathly silence ensued the cave. The boy glanced around, receiving nothing but blank stares and fully dropped jaws.

Scales of dim red to dark brown gleamed in the flickering light as the creature drew its head towards the boy in front. A puff of air lifted the locks of his hair, tensing his muscles as well as his mind. And, to make matters worse, around his feet were shield sized objects, white, some broken and scattered in pieces, others, lying as wholes.

Eggs. Dragon eggs.

An ear shattering roar blasted through the cave, sending hands snapping up to the side of heads in a feeble attempt for defence against the ear splitting cry.

School + writing = Doesn't work out too well.

Sorry for the delay guys, life kind of just craps on you whenever it feels like it. And I'm also sorry for the cliffhanger and the end, I know how much that can annoy people…

(Well, not really sorry, it helps keep your attention)

And. Don't forget to review.