Thousand Miles Ch. 4

Dreams of Astrid and dreams of talking dragons often filled Hiccup's sleep. Sometimes the two overlapped. His dreams that night had been such.

Hiccup had just entered his home, and had seen the rocking chair by the fire. He felt joy surge through his body as he slowly walked over to the rocking chair. Astrid was there, he felt it and knew it in his heart. Slowly, she stood from the chair, holding a light-blue cloth-wrapped bundle in her arms, feeding him with a bottle.

'Want to see your son?' she asked. He extended his arms, cradling the wrapped baby. He slowly unwrapped the cloth, and found a dragon staring back at him.

'Jack?' he asked confused.

'Dada!' the baby dragon cooed.

Hiccup sat bolt upright. "Ouch!"

The baby dragon had bit him on his big toe, and was slinking away out of the tent, long tail lingering behind him.

"Jack!" Hiccup cried.

"Oh, leave him alone. He just wants to play." Astrid called from outside. The smell of frying fish caught Hiccups attention, and he dragged himself outside. The baby dragon was lounging beside Astrid. Toothless and Bluebell were nowhere to be seen. He assumed that they had gone off to hunt.

It was the fourth day they had been at the camp since the bear attack. On the second, Toothless had led them to a valley in which two full grown Timberjacks dwelled. Hiccup had a hard time convincing the beasts that he was a friend to be trusted. The pair was wary, seeing as they had an egg to protect. After they met Jack however, it wasn't long before they trusted Hiccup enough that he could introduce Astrid and Bluebell.

On the third day, he had drawn out full sketches of both male and female. In an odd turn of events, the females were the more colorful of the sexes, a mottled green and brown, while the males were just brown. Another thing Hiccup had noticed was how the Timberjacks marked their territory. On the outskirts of the pair of Timberjack's territory the trees had been cut down in a circle all the way around them. As Hiccup explored even farther on the evening of the third day, he discovered twelve circles within ten miles. Today, he was going to the closest one.

Astrid handed Hiccup several strips of fried fish with a side of eggs. He had no clue where she got them, but it was guaranteed to be good. He could go meet more dragons after they ate.

Toothless soon returned, with Bluebell not long after, giving him an indignant look at being left behind. Toothless ignored her, and sat down on his haunches behind Hiccup, who was finishing his breakfast. Jack slowly began to sneak towards Hiccup, intent on stealing the last strip of fish. Hiccup hadn't seen the dragon, and threw the last strip back to Toothless, who caught it in his mouth. The baby dragon stopped and began to make a wailing sound.

"Hiccup!" Astrid yelled, suspecting he did something.

"What?!" Hiccup jumped, shocked. He heard Toothless giving a throaty laugh behind him, and realized the dragon must have done something. "No! Bad Toothless! Bad dragon!"

Toothless looked abashed by the treatment he was receiving. He had done nothing wrong!

"Now give him a piece of your fish." Hiccup ordered. Toothless flattened his ears back and turned away from Hiccup, nearly swiping him with his tail. The bawling baby dragon continued his wailing.

Then, much to the humans' surprise, Bluebell stood at stepped towards the little dragon. Hiccup watched, slightly on edge. He didn't think she'd try and hurt Jack, but she had largely ignored him when he'd first arrived.

Jack stopped wailing and stared up at the Nadder. A gagging sound of sorts came from her throat as her eyes rolled up, and seconds later, an undigested fish head lay by his paws. He gurgled happily and began to chew on it. Hiccup looked over to Astrid as her dragon retreated. She looked just as shocked as he was, and just shrugged when he caught her eye.

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It really did surprise Hiccup just how fast news could spread. The three Timberjack colonies he visited that day seemed to be expecting him. The first, a lone, male dragon, had greeted the group with a roar that reminded Hiccup of the Nightmares greeting their riders. A roar of happiness or joy. When Hiccup had looked utterly puzzled, Toothless had stood up on his hind legs and pawed the air in front on him, before setting back down and nosing Hiccups bandaged arm.

"The bear?" Hiccup asked. Toothless grumbled a sound that Hiccup took to be 'Yes.'

The second colony was a family of three dragons. The male was much larger than the female, indicating his age. He also bore a scar across his right eye, and was missing about a foot from his tail. He constantly nosed Hiccup about, seemingly eager to show him everything about his home. The female with him was about the size of Jack's mother, and seemed indifferent to the visitors, though she did grumble occasionally when the younger dragon in her care wandered out of sight. The younger dragon was about twice the size of Jack, and was female. Jack seemed fascinated by her, and followed her everywhere when they'd visited.

The third 'territory' they visited that day was a dwelling of two elder dragons. They were even older than the scarred dragon they had met previously. Toothless sat attentive, seeming to listen to the old Timberjack, as he growled and grumbled. The elder female that lived there was happily playing with Jack, who chased her tail back and forth as she swished it. Bluebell and Astrid had long since went back to camp. Bluebell hadn't seemed happy with all these strange dragons being around Astrid, which the Viking took to mean she was being protective. Hiccup just thought she was jealous.

When they flew back to camp at dusk, with Jack curled up on the saddle in front of Hiccup, Hiccup began to ponder what it would be like to be able to speak to dragons. Toothless had seemed to be fascinated by the speaking elder, and Hiccup wanted to know the stories he was telling. He sighed, knowing that it would likely never happen.

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Two weeks of learning, two weeks of meeting new dragons, and two weeks of making notes. Two weeks, and Hiccup was satisfied with the amount of information he had gathered. Surprised was actually more like it. He'd discovered things about the Timberjack's colorings, their habits, their lifestyles, mating rituals, territorial aspects…he'd learned a lot in such a short time. He also had added new member to his…well, he didn't have a word for it yet. His…gathering…maybe…family?

The very last day, the group journeyed to every one of the 'territories' they had visited to give their goodbyes and thanks. Then, after everything had been packed, before they left, Hiccup and Toothless went out to give their individual goodbye. This consisted of the duo climbing as high as they could into the air and diving straight down, pulling up right before the trees as they screamed over the territories, the legendary Night Fury screech echoing behind them.

As they returned to the campsite, they heard the roars of several of the resident Timberjacks.

"Showoff." Astrid had called him when they landed.

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When the last vestiges of the sun faded from the air, they landed along the coastline they had been following. They were going to turn inland tomorrow, following a river back to it's source in the mountains. There, they hopped to meet some of the Skrill. By the fire they had set up for the evening, Hiccup read the KOS Dragon Manual's entry on the Skrill aloud.

"The Skrill. Size: Medium. Firepower: Medium. Temper: Horrible. Medium sized dragon  known for it's continuous stream of fire. These dragons can also be very vengeful. Beware if you anger one and don't kill it. Extremely dangerous…blah blah. So it's a dragon with bad breath and a bad temper. Reminds me of the twins."

"They have been know for their tempers, huh." Astrid said, sleepily.

"Yep." Hiccup said. "Lets hit the hay. We've got a long journey tomorrow."

Jack followed Astrid into her tent as Hiccup tied the flaps together on his. Despite his best efforts, he couldn't help but think while everything was going according to plan, not all things were right. Especially with his Viking-ess. He'd have to talk to her tomorrow.