Hiccup's Secret

Part 25~Shadow

Heather laughed as she switched her axe from one hand to the next. "Do you even know how to throw an axe?"

Snotlout gave her a glare while pulling his axe from the tree it embedded itself in. "That's not my fault, you keep moving the target when I'm throwing."

"You should expect the target to move, the enemy isn't just going to stand there and die," Astrid said, high fiving Heather.

I could hear Eret snickering from the side, sharpening his sword with a rock.

Ave was laying on the ground, playing with a twig like a cat with a string. I was cooking some fish while explaining a few of the dragons to Fishlegs. Fish seemed very interested in the dragons and kept finding things to ask and stuff to learn.

Mum gave me a disapproving look when she noticed I was cooking fish but sighed. The only other thing she could catch without getting noticed this early in the day was chicken and we did not eat chicken. It upset Ave.

Gobber wasn't here, he was off in the forge working on something or another while Ruff and Tuff were in a bore pit. And we still hadn't heard anything from Dagger.

I was starting to get worried about him but I had the riders to keep me occupied. And they were a lot of effort. Keeping Ruff and Tuff out of trouble and stopping Heather and Astrid planning world domination, all while keeping Ave from accidentally blowing up the village.

I pulled the fish off the fire and called over the riders, giving everyone their food. Avery ate his food quickly which made me laugh. Astrid and Snotlout seemed to eat a little awkwardly as they had never eaten un-prepared fish and kept choking on the bones.

Everything seemed pretty peaceful. Of course that wouldn't stay long.

"Hiccup!" Coming crashing to the ground was a green Gronkle with a familiar rider on.

"Dagger!" I smiled at his appearance, he wasn't dead.

"Hiccup! Trappers! Coming this way."

My smile faded as I ran to his side, I could now see the arrow sticking out of his side and the layers of bruises, dirt and grime that covered his body. Shadow Master was also in a bad state, arrows and cuts littered his skin. Oh what have they done to you?

"Mum! Get over here!" I helped Dagger off and laid him on the ground. I put pressure on the arrow wound, breaking off half the shaft and throwing it to the side. "Avery, put pressure on the wounds on Shadow, Heather, you do the same. If the arrow is obscuring your ability, snap it in half but do not pull it out," I instructed as they followed what I was saying.

The blood was staining my hands as Mum brought over the herbs and started to help. She focused on Dagger first. Humans were more fragile than dragons. She gently removed the arrow head, after checking that it hadn't hit an artery and got out a needle. She started to sow together the skin before giving me some bandages to wrap him in.

She turned to Shadow, doing the same as I gently wrapped my brother in white bandages. By the time everyone was done, the fire had gone out and the fish was cold.

"Hiccup!" Eret landed in the cove, fear painted over his face. "You need to see this."

Running forward, I turned into my full Night Fury form, Avery changing into his Screaming Death form and following me. Mum jumped onto Cloud Jumper's back and took off after us. We landed on the cliff side, looking over at the sea.

Ships covered every bit of the sea, coming to us and baring the flag of the dragon trappers. But it wasn't just that, there were Outcast flags.

"We need to get to Dad." I took off, heading back to the village. I landed behind my house and turned back into human form. I ran past the houses, Ave trailing behind me. "Dad! Dad, where are you, this is not the time to go running off!"

I spotted Gobber walking out of the forge and towards me. "Hiccup, what are you doing?" He looked at Mum and Ave, slight panic coming across his face.

"There are ships coming to Berk. Trappers and Outcasts," I explained quickly slightly out of breath. "I need to find Dad and warn him."

Gobber nodded, pointing us in the direction of the great hall. I ran forward and burst through the doors. Everyone turned to look at me as I froze.

"Val?"

"Well... this isn't awkward at all," Ave whispered into my ear as I nodded.

"Hiccup? What's going on?" Dad walked towards us as mum looked at him, almost brokenly.

"I know what you're gonna say, Stoick. How could I have done this? Stayed away all of those years, and why didn't I come back to you? To our son? Well... What sign did I have, that you could change, Stoick? That anyone on Berk could? I pleaded so many times, to stop the fighting, to find another answer, but did any of you listen? I know that I left you to raise Hiccup alone, but I thought he'd be better off without me, and I was wrong. I see that now, but... Stop being so stoic, Stoick. Go on, shout, scream, say something!" Mum was crying as Dad walked up to her, cupping her face.

"You're as beautiful as the day I lost you." Dad pulled Mum into a kiss.

I rolled my eyes, running around the hall as they continued to make up. "Listen, as lovely as this is and I'm, super glad you aren't killing each other, but we have an armada bearing down on us with our greatest enemy on board and probably about thirty minutes left to live, so can you continue this later," I ranted quickly as Mum nodded.

"Right, what should we do?"

"Fight."