The Night Rider

Chapter 9: The Warning

HICCUPS POV.
2 days later

Hiccups eyelids were heavy but they felt like they were made of jello at the same time which made them almost impossible to open. Hiccups hands were bound together and attached to a wooden post above his head.

He still had his helmet on and his pants but he could feel a cool breeze on his chest from an open window to his left. Hiccup slowly raised his head to observe his surroundings which seemed oddly familiar. He tried to think back through his memory but everything after the crash seemed foggy.

He thought back to seeing his father and Astrid and others that used to be his friends and acquaintances. He frowned at the memory of his father holding a axe over his throat, but smiled at the thought of Gobber trying to save him. Even though they both had no idea who he truly was.

Hiccup raised his head and he realized where he was. Goathy's hut. He remembered all those years ago when Goathy would give him medical lesson to treat dragon wounds, he recalled those days fondly. Hiccup glanced down at himself and noticed how bad he was injured.

His torso was covered with bandages and of the parts that weren't there were new bruises forming. 'Where was Toothless?' The thought worried him and he tried to snap the ropes pushing through the constant pain in his body through all the movement.

Hiccup gritted his teeth and pulled on the ropes, he needed to go get Toothless. The dagger appeared out of nowhere and it was pressed tightly against his throat. "Stop moving, or else I'll send you to Valhalla myself." It was Astrid, she had been sitting behind him the entire time.

Hiccup dropped his head back down to the table and Astrid lowered her blade. She walked over into his sight lines in front of him. "Do you know where Toothless is? My dragon." Astrid glared back at home. "I'd be more worried about yourself if I were you."

"Please, please I need to know if he's okay." He pleaded with the Viking that stood in front twirling a knife in her fingers. Astrid rolled her eyes. "It's fine, they locked it in a cage." Astrid spat out, her voice cold. She turned away from him.

"He." Hiccup said correcting her. "What?" She turned around the face him. "You said it, its he." Astrid rolled her eyes and scoffed taking a seat in a chair on the opposite side of the hut.

After moments of silence she asked a question. "How did you get your scars?" The question caught Hiccup off guard. "My what?" He asked back as if he hadn't heard her right. 'Why in Thor's name is she curious about my scars?' He wondered to himself.

"Your scars, you have dozens of them. And you only look like twenty so I was just curious about how you got them." She rose from her chair. "It was a stupid question." She began to walk towards the door of the house. "The long one in the center of my chest was from a razor whip. I wouldn't have gotten away without Toothless."

"And the one over my heart, speed-stinger. The thing paralyzed me and it's pack tried to eat me. Once again I wouldn't have made it out of there without Toothless." Hiccup tried to give examples of how caring Toothless was whenever he told her about a scar. "And I'm eighteen." Astrid walked up to his side.

"And this one." She pointed at the one on his chin. "What about that one." Hiccup jolted his head forward and his helmet slid back over the scar. "That happened when I was a baby, a Stromcutter did it." The next few wounds were difficult to say. "Then it killed my mother."

It looked like for a moment Astrid was going to touch his shoulder and say something but she stopped herself and backed up. "If a dragon killed your mother then why do you help them?" She asked coldly. "Dragons are like humans, there are ones that don't want to do harm. And then there are ones that do. Perhaps maybe it was just ones that wanted to do harm." He explained.

Neither of them spoke for a while until Astrid broke the silence. "I'm sorry about your mother." She said quietly and it made Hiccup smile. The door to the house opened and Hiccups father walked in. "Leave us." Astrid quickly left without a word and his father took a seat next to him.

"So you are the Night Rider. I have to say your not what I was expecting." Hiccup was in no mood for small talk and got straight to the point. "You have to let me and Toothless go or else you and all you people will die." He may have said it to aggressive and Stoick took it as a threat.

His axe was once again to Hiccups throat and he spoke quietly. "You threaten me again and you'll never see your dragon again." Hiccup gulped. "I'm not threatening you! I'm warning you! I have been gone for days and the dragons at my home will come looking for me. And when they find me here they will burn this place to the ground to get me back!"

Stoick rose from the seat. "I'd like to see them try." Hiccup rolled his eyes from annoyance with his father. "No you don't understand! I'm talking about dozens upon dozens of dragons! More than a hundred and fifty! Berk won't survive!" Hiccups father started walking to the door.

"I'd like to see those flying lizards try." He walked out of the hut. "No you have to listen to me! You have to!" Astrid looked into the hut to see his pleads and then looked back to Stoick. "You don't understand! They'll kill you all! They'll kill you all!"