Chapter 17

Hiccup raced through the narrow tunnels, frantically trying to get away from the horde of growling dragons chasing after him. He released another echolocation wave, and the outline of the cave appeared in his mind's eye. In and out he weaved between the tunnels, taking tight turns to get the dragons off his tail. 

"Come on, little Dragonborn," a wicked voice behind him laughed, "We're here to fight you, not chase you." 

The sound of the approaching dragons filled his ears, and he risked a glance back to see how close they were. Alarmed, he saw the Shining Slicer quickly approaching, the Acid Blender and Vapor Spark flanking him on each side. 

Hiccup quickened his movements, trying his hardest to get out into the open sky before they caught him. Moon Sweepers may be one of the fastest and most agile dragon species, but this was the other dragons' home, and Hiccup didn't fully trust his instincts to not let him slam head first into a wall. 

Over the past two weeks, Hiccup had been visiting his mother every few days since the first visit, but he was slowly starting to regret that decision as her training methods got more difficult. It seemed as though she truly wanted Hiccup to be in constant pain, as his body was always sore when he returned to his island the next day. 

At first, she only had him spar with Toothless to see what he could do. But after she had begun to realize that Toothless's teaching methods weren't very helpful, she began having random dragons around the nest try to kill him. Well, she didn't tell them to kill him, but she did say to make it seem as though they wanted to. 

"All dragons are born with the instincts to survive," she had explained to him. "But the only way to unlock instincts is to put yourself in a situation where those instincts are needed." 

Hiccup sighed, speeding up faster and faster as the light at the end of the tunnel began to grow. All he needed to do was get out of the tunnels, then he would be safe. Hopefully. The other dragons couldn't catch up to him. Maybe. 

Closer and closer the exit approached, and he heard the dragons that were chasing him start to speed up as well. 

"It's now or never," Hiccup whispered to himself, and released the high pitched noise he had become familiar with. The sound ricocheted back to him, and Hiccup closed his eyes as the image of the tunnel washed over him. Toothless had told him that he needed to trust his dragon abilities, and though he really didn't want to trust them yet, Hiccup really didn't feel like getting beaten up by three mean dragons that day. With a new burst of speed, Hiccup launched forwards, zooming through the tunnel so fast that he could hear the dragons chasing him gasp in astonishment. 

As sunlight graced his scales, Hiccup opened his eyes and flicked down his tail, moving into a steep climb. The clouds above seemed to welcome him as he floated into their misty embrace, and Hiccup couldn't help but chuckle when he heard the dragons below groan as they exited the tunnels after him. At this point, all the dragons in the nest had learned about Hiccup's hide in the clouds tactic, and how horrible he was in hand to hand combat. Or would it be claw to claw combat? Who knows, but the point was, Hiccup was awful at it. 

Sure, the point of having a bunch of dragons chase him around the nest was so that he could learn how to do claw to claw combat, but Hiccup really didn't feel like going home with a bunch of bruises again. So Hiccup watched with interest as the dragons below began discussing amongst themselves, trying to figure out a plan that would come out with Hiccup covered in dried blood and not them. 

"What if we surround the cloud and attack him at all sides?" the Acid Blender whispered, but the sound still reached Hiccup's keen ears. 

"He's a Moon Sweeper, there's no way we would catch him," the Vapor Spark responded. 

"Then we'll just have to push him out of the sky," the Shining Slicer said, and the other two reluctantly nodded in agreement. 

Hiccup watched curiously as the three of them flew up into the sky, above from where he was hovering in the clouds and out of his sight. So they were going to lead him towards the ground by attacking him from above. But how were they going to find him in the cloud? Sure, his scales were all black, and the cloud was very white, but that didn't mean that it didn't conceal him pretty dang well. 

A hissing sound filled the air, answering Hiccup's questions. Of course, the Vapor Spark was going to make the entire cloud explode. Very sensible. 

Sighing, Hiccup decided that it was time to go on offense. At least fighting in the sky made him go home with less lost blood and banged up scales. 

With a mighty flap of his wings, Hiccup launched out of the top of the cloud, making the three dragons scatter in surprise as he climbed high above them. He quickly marked their positions, and smirked slightly when he noticed how close they were to the giant mass of Vapor Spark gas. Rearing his head back, Hiccup began to collect his fire in his throat, and he saw the split second of horror in each of the dragons eyes before he launched his plasma into the gas cloud. 

The dragons all let out roars as the Vapor Spark gas exploded, engulfing them all. Hiccup scrambled to get out of the way as the fire bloomed upwards, and he felt the licking of the fire sweep across his scales as he soared upwards. He stayed hovering in the sky for a couple minutes, admiring the beauty of the explosion as it slowly died down. Wow, look at him, admiring destruction. The twins would be so proud. 

Once the fire was only embers floating through the wind, he let himself fall into a dive, swooping down over the cold ocean as he searched for the charred dragons. Hiccup hoped they weren't hurt too bad. But at the same time, he didn't. He had been bombarded by dragon fire every day since his mother first started training him. 

"It's about time they got a taste of their own medicine," he grumbled. 

Hiccup stopped abruptly in the air, processing what he had just said. A month ago, he could barely watch Vikings hurting dragons during raids. Now, he had felt satisfaction because he hurt other dragons himself. Sure, maybe he fantasized every now and then about Snotlout getting squished under a falling tower, but he'd never actually done anything about it. He wasn't the type of person going around getting revenge on all those who had hurt him. But then Hiccup thought back to when Toothless had said that if one dragon hurts another, then that dragon would have full right to hurt the dragon back. So was it really so bad that Hiccup was hurting those dragons and finding glee in it?

A roar of greeting broke him out of his thoughts, and Hiccup whirled around to see Toothless and his mother approaching him. 

"That was one of the most amazing explosions I have ever seen," Toothless gushed. 

"Yes, your strategy was quite good," his mother agreed. "Well done, son. Though, in the future I would prefer if you worked more on ground combat. It is clear that you are more than adept at flight combat, so it would be beneficial to work on ground combat." 

Hiccup sighed, having heard this about twenty times before, and nodded, "I'll try to do that next time." 

"We'll work on it at home," Toothless agreed.

"Oh, come on," Hiccup groaned. "This is the first time in weeks I haven't gotten extremely hurt during these training sessions, and now I have to go home and get all beat up?" 

"Well, how else do you suppose you'll become trained enough to fight the Queen?" his mother inquired.

Hiccup humphed, "I think I've been doing just fine. Besides, what are the chances that I fight the Queen herself on the ground? Toothless has told me what she looks like, and I doubt that I'd be big enough to fight her one on one on the ground." 

"You never can be fully certain of what's to come, Hiccup," she responded. "It's best to be as prepared as possible." 

"Okay," Hiccup relented. 

"Now, come," his mother said, starting to lead him towards the nest. "I believe that it's time you learned how to spar as a human." 

"What?" Hiccup said, surprised. 

Toothless laughed mockingly, "Oh, this is sure to be entertaining." 

* * * 

Hiccup let his body fall to the rocky floor of their cave with a large thud, every single one of his scales screaming in pain. His mother had spent the evening battering him with her staff as he tried to block her blows with the only puny knife he had brought with him. 

"Next time, why don't you bring a different weapon for us to practice with," his mother had said at the end of their torture session. "You did create a forge for yourself, did you not?" 

They had managed to get all the things he needed to make the forge. After Stormfly had managed to track down Johann, and after thoroughly scaring away the trader's wits, Hiccup had managed to strike a deal with him. Hiccup had presented the lump of Lava Grubber iron to him-though he called it Gronckle iron-and sure enough, Johann was impressed by the metal's lightness and durability. Johann had offered everything that Hiccup would need for his forge and more, only by the requirement that Hiccup would then give the trader in return ten axes, seven swords, twelve maces, and five shields, as well as continuing to trade Lava Grubber iron weapons and tools with him for the foreseeable future.  

Honestly, Hiccup thought the deal was amazing, as he was able to make everything Johann requested in a matter of days before he gave them to the trader. But now he would have to make a design for a weapon he could use himself, and though he was bitter about being so sore, his mind was already churning with ideas at what he could create. 

Of course, he could just forge himself a new sword and leave it at that, but that didn't seem like it was enough. Almost every Viking he had ever met wielded a sword, and though he might have used to want to fit in with everybody else, now he just wanted a way to separate himself from them. 

"So, Captain," Sharpshot spoke, making Hiccup jump, "how'd the day with your mom go?" 

Hiccup glared up at the Singeing Singer, who was once again perched on his ledge, "Oh, it went great. Just great." 

Toothless laughed, "He actually had quite an impressive fight with a Shining Slicer, an Acid Blender, and a Vapor Spark. Then he had a training session with his mother in human form." 

"Ooh, How'd that go?" Sharpshot snickered. 

Hiccup groaned, covering his face with his paws. 

"Oh, it went wonderfully," Toothless said. "It was like watching a hatchling trying to fight a Great dragon." 

Sharpshot cackled, "So that explains why our Captain trodded in here groaning with each step." 

A snarl shot out of Hiccup's throat at the words, an overwhelming anger coming over him as he snapped his head up and pierced the Singeing Singer with a ferocious gaze. Sharpshot let out a squeak, and seemed to shrink away from the Dragonborn.

"Sorry, Captain," the small dragon spoke quickly, a twinge of fear in his voice. "I spoke out of turn." 

Hiccup blinked, his body's sudden tenseness melting away as he shook himself out of the anger,"Uh, yeah, you're fine, Sharpshot." 

Toothless gave Hiccup a curious look, but Hiccup shook it off. 

"So what should I do with the assignment my mother gave me?" Hiccup asked, the air starting to become comfortable again. 

"I don't know," Toothless said thoughtfully. "I'm not quite sure how you humans make your weapons, so I'm probably not the best dragon to ask." 

"Ooh, you're making weapons?" Belch's voice asked excitedly as the Vapor Spark entered the cave. 

"Yeah, my mother decided I needed to start learning how to fight as a human, so I need to get a better weapon than my knife," Hiccup responded. 

"What's a knife, again?" Barf asked. 

Hiccup shifted into his half dragon form, grabbing his knife and holding it up the dragon in response.

"Oh, that's tiny," Barf observed. "Why not make it bigger?" 

"Because then it'd just be a sword," Hiccup said. "I'd prefer to make something a little bit more unique." 

"Oh! You should make it bigger and then set it on fire!" Belch exclaimed. 

"Yeah! That'd be awesome!" Barf said enthusiastically.

Hiccup sighed, "Well, that's not exactly how it works." 

"Why not?" the two heads asked at the same time. 

"For one, iron isn't flammable. Two, I can't think of a way to make a flame sustainable. And three-" 

Pausing, Hiccup started to actually consider it. It was already established that Lava Grubber iron was lightweight but durable, so it would probably be easy to make intricate things out of. And Hiccup already had access to a material that easily lit on fire: Blaze Builder gel. 

"Actually," Hiccup said, the gears still turning in his head, "that could work." 

"Uhh, Hiccup?" Toothless said confusedly as Hiccup began darting towards the tunnel that lead towards the forge. 

"Come find me when it's time to visit my mom again," Hiccup called back as he launched himself down and into the tunnel. 

"But that's in three days!?" 

Hiccup ignored Toothless's objections, and shifted in mid air into his dragon form. Hiccup had spent a long time exploring the tunnels in order to find the perfect place to put his forge, so he had them all perfectly mapped at in his head. 

Toothless had informed Hiccup that their cave system was most likely made by a group of Spinning Tunnelers-also known as Whispering Deaths to Vikings-that lived on the island a long time ago. Because of this, the tunnels are organized in a very smart matter. The four largest tunnels branched off from the main cave are all evenly spaced apart, and after a medium sized drop, they opened up into another room, which was a bit smaller than the main cave. Inside the layer of caves below the main cave, smaller tunnels connected all of the rooms together, making it easy to travel between them. And then inside each of those caves, another tunnel branched out of them and then down once more, repeating the format of the first layer of caves above. 

This layout of caves and tunnels went all the way to the bottom of the mountain, the caves and tunnels fluctuating in size as they fanned outwards like a pyramid. So the cave system was set up sort of like a waterfall, with seven different layers of caves that all had their own unique aspects to them. But then at the lowermost layer, all the caves had an extra tunnel that led into a ginormous center cavern that lay in the middle of it all. This cave somewhat resembled the Nest of Spikes, as it was filled with tons of different ledges and nooks that Hiccup had yet to explore. 

Hiccup had brought up the idea of changing their main cave to the large cavern below them, but they had ultimately decided against it; it would take far too much time to get in and out of it because the only way to enter it was to go all the way to the lowest layer of caves. 

For the forge, Hiccup wanted it to be close enough to the main cave so he didn't have to fly very far, but he also didn't want it to be so close that the sound of the other dragons above would be distracting to him. So he chose the largest cave in the fourth layer of caves, which resided on the farthest right branch leading out of the main cave. 

Hiccup quickly arrived in the forge's cave, using his echolocation and keen eyes to get there faster. He pulled out of his descent in a quick movement, his paws barely touching the floor before he shifted into his half dragon form and sitting down at his desk. The desk was one of the things he requested from Johann, along with a suitable pair of bellows, an anvil, a whole lot of smithing tools, and a couple of different odds and ends such as leather and rope. 

Sitting down in his chair, Hiccup quickly brought out a piece of paper before beginning to sketch.  An array of possibilities flooded in and out of Hiccup's mind as the invention began to take shape on the paper. What it all boiled down to was how it would light aflame. He pondered it for a while before finally deciding that having a hollow blade would be the most sensible first prototype. 

After he determined how the sword would light, he began to build up what the weapon would look like on the outside. He sketched out design after design, some with intricate handles, others with different lengths of blades, before he finally settled on one he liked. At the base of the handle would be a rounded dragon-like head, covered with intricate scales and small fins that protruded from the top of it. At the lowest part of the grip, there would be a small indent that would allow Hiccup to open up the handle and insert the Blaze Builder gel. The handle itself would be wrapped in leather that Hiccup would score designs of different dragon scales and wings into, also making the leather bumpy in certain places so that it would mold into his hand. The blade itself was going to be quite simple, just an average medium sized blade made of Lava Grubber Iron. The only difference being that the Blaze Builder gel inside the handle would be able to flow out into the hollow center of the blade, and when he pressed a button at the top of the hilt, the sword would be lit on fire. 

Hiccup placed down his pencil, gazing at his work approvingly. 

"Alright," he said to himself, "let's get to work."