How to Train Your Dragon 1. Prologue

Back with a new story. And with new, I mean, a whole lot different then my usual repertoire. This story will have a dark and more mature edge to it, as you'll read in the following prologue. However, I'll consider this story more as a side-project, while I work on 'Dragon Rider's Journey'. So I hope you'll enjoy it and please review.

* * *

"Tell us what we need to know, Captain, and you'll get your reward." The hooded man rasped. Said captain, about the size and weight of a small Gronckle, was dangling a few inches of his deck, the clawed appendages of the the thin hooded man's hand dug into his thick neck.

"W-why should I t-tell you anything, M-monster?" whimpered the fat captain. "You butchered my crew the moment you stepped on deck."

A chuckle crept out the man's throat as he glanced over his shoulders, where two other hooded men were minding their own business. One was watching the other, who was hunched over one dead body, repeatedly stabbing him, madly cackling while he did.

"Yesss, but you still can get a reward." The man hissed. "A reward suitable for your services."

"Y-you won't kill me?" the captain asked.

"Tell us ...what we need ...to know..." the hooded man repeated.

The captain licked his lips, his eyes darting back and forward. "I ...I don't know."

The man brought the captain closer to his hooded face. "You. Know. Tell. Me." he whispered.

Those eyes. Those yellow eyes. Piercing. Hurting. The captain felt ….weak. He felt words creeping from his mouth, not knowing if he really wanted to say them.

"There is ...an island ...in the Archipelago . Twelve days north from an area, roughly translated, called "_Hopeless_" and a few degrees south of "_Freezing to Death_"." The Captain began, voice monotonous and low. "the entire area is inhabited by Vikings and Dragons."

The hooded man growled softly and tightened his grip around the captains throat. "This we know."

"U-usually the Dragons and Vikings just fight each other. Has been like this for 300 or so years." The Captain stuttered. "B-but ..but there is talk ...among the Traders, that there is an island where the Vikings and Dragons ...don't fight anymore."

The cackling man stopped stabbing and moved his shoulders in excitement. "Good, good, good start." he whispered in the ear of the dead man.

The man gulped and continued. "They say the Chief's son did it. Made a dragon his pet. Killed the big dragon that controlled the nest." he said, a bit more confidence in his voice. "I don't know everything. Only the Trader called Johan dares to go into the Archipelago."

"Name ...the ...island." the Hooded man whispered eerily.

"Berk." the captain finished.

A smile crept on the man's face. "Your services were ...invaluable to us." With that said, he began to squeeze the man's throat shut."

The man went pale and clawed his fingers into the attackers hand, fruitlessly trying to free himself. "You said ...you said."

"I said I'd give you a reward suitable to your services." the man said. "There is no greater reward than the honor I'll bestow onto you. You'll feed us." With a flick of his wrist the hooded man broke the captain's neck. The body went limb and after a few twitches ...went still.

A mad cackle showed the approval of one of the remaining men.

Their leader turned to the others. "Give the rest to the sea." he announced, stepping forward, still lifting the dead captain in the air. "This one ..."

He threw the man to the deck, who landed with a squished thud. "On this one we'll feast."

* * *

REVIEW PLEASE!


	2. Chapter 1

Not much too say. The story is starting. hope you like it. REVIEW AFTER READING.

PS: ONLY REVIEWS ABOUT **THIS** **STORY.** Questions, reviews and 'update requests' about '**A Dragon Rider's journey**' are not allowed.

Once again: review after reading.

* * *

An early evening in Berk is like any early evening anywhere in the world. The last of the people are shuffling back into their houses, some kids are quickly finishing games before being called in, bird settling in the trees. The only differnce with anywhere in the world, is that Dragons are also finding a spot to rest and sleep for the evening. One said dragon is now in his owner's room, watching him sketching.

"What do you think of this, Bud?" Hiccup said, turning to his dragon. In his hand he held a sketch of a new prosthetic, version 3,8 or something.

Toothless cocked his head and gave a short rumble.

"And I'm also working on a new tail for you." Hiccup said, grabbing the other sketch of his desk and showing it to the dragon. "In theory, you should be able to fly on your own."

At the words 'in theory', Toothless' ears went flat against his head and gave a low growl.

"Don't be like that, Bud." Hiccup said, rolling his eyes. "We're gonna test it first, off course."

"I hope that you'll do that another time, son." A voice said.

Hiccup turned to the visitor and smiled. "What's up, Dad?" Hiccup asked.

"Bucket and Mulch came back from their fishing trip." Stoick began. "A few more of those and we'll have enough fish to last through the winter."

"And where do I come in?" Hiccup asked.

"Mulch says that they saw a Trader Ship just floating around the sea." Stoick said.

"Trader Johann?" Hiccup asked.

"'Not his ship' they said." Stoick said as he started pacing around. "There seemed to be no one on board, no activity on the ship, no singing of crew members. Bucket and Mulch would have checked it out themselves, hadn't the sea started getting too rough to be on it for much longer."

Hiccup jumped up and started toward his saddle. "And I guess you want me to go there, see what's with the ship, see if they need help ..."

"Or dispose of it, if it is a danger." Stoick finished. "Do you think you'll need the other Riders?"

Hiccup shook his head. "Nah, By this time, they'll all be getting ready for the evening." He said, throwing the saddle on Toothless' back, who waited patiently. "Besides, we had a long and tiring training today. I guess that their dragons won't have the energy to fly for very long."

"And toothless will?" Stoick asked, patting the beast on the head.

"Toothless? Toothless has too much energy." Hiccup laughed as he jumped on Toothless back. Toothless moved toward the enlarged window, ready to take off.

"Where is this ship?" Hiccup asked.

"A few hours south of Boar Teeth Island." Stoick said. "But who know

"Let's go, Bud." Hiccup said. Toothless ran forward and flew of into the sky. "See you in bit, dad!" Hiccup managed to yell before Stoick couldn't hear him anymore.

Stock shook his head with a smile. That boy of his.

* * *

After an hour flying, with the sun starting to set, Hiccup still hadn't found the mystery ship.

"We'd better start heading back before it gets too dark to see." Hiccup said, patting Toothless on the head. But just as he turned, he saw the ship, in the shadow of a mountain. "Scratch that, we're going in."

Toothless glided to the ship and landed on deck.

"This is definitely a Trader Ship. Hiccup said as he hopped of Toothless. The ship looked abandoned. But the combination of the setting sun and the shadow cast by the mountain made it hard to see.

"This must be the darkest shadow I've ever seen." Hiccup muttered, resulting in a rumbling laugh Toothless.

Hiccup managed to find signs of battle. Old blood stains, cuts in the woodwork, left behind weapons.

"I guess this crew saw battle and had to abandon ship afterwards." Hiccup guessed. A low rumble of Toothless gained his attention. "What's wrong, bud."

Toothless was on the ready, eyes narrow and growling to a corner of the ship. Hiccup's gaze followed the line of Toothless sight and gasped when he saw what Toothless was growling at. A pile of bones, picked clean and scattered over the deck.

"Must have been long ago, for the bones being that clean." Hiccup said, leaning on a barrel. He looked around. Whatever this Trader was hauling, the crew had left it behind after abandoning ship. "Let's take a look." He said, more to himself than anyone else. "Maybe we find something useful."

Hiccup walked over to one of the crates scattered over the deck and opened it up. His heart stopped. In the crate were vegetables. Fresh, unspoiled vegetables. Hiccup's mind started to work overtime as he quickly evaluated the situation. The vegetables were fresh, but the bones on deck looked like this battle had happened long ago.

"Be one guard, bud." Hiccup said as he took one of the bones of the deck and inspected them. The bones were picked clean, but not by birds or any other animals. Hiccup saw teethmarks. Human Teethmarks.

"We need to leave, bud." Hiccup said, slowly walking backwards, keeping his back toward Toothless. "Now."

A rustle above him made him look up and he gasped in shock. On the mast of the ship, nails dug into the wood and hanging upside down, was a creature, covered in a black cloak and hood. It's eyes locked unto Hiccup.

With a screech it lunged from the mast towards Hiccup, who ducked, rolled and quickly grabbed a leftover weapon from the deck. The creature landed on two feet and stood up, taking a short sword out of his cloak. It hissed violently as it approached Hiccup; hunched over, almost like he was going to walk on all four.

Toothless growled as another hooded figure appeared from the shadows right of them, seemingly out of nowhere. A large, bulky figure. It growled low and harsh.

"A third one, on the left." Hiccuc said as a third, tall, lean figure walked toward them. His eyes, which almost seemed to glow yellow, staring directly into Hiccup's.

Toothless quickly jumped in front of Hiccup, who immediately jumped in the saddle. "NOW, TOOTHLESS!"

Toothless fired a series plasma blasts into the deck, covering them in smoke and debris and prepared to take off. But just as Toothless managed to get away from deck, the third figure lunged forward and grabbed Hiccup by the shoulder.

Hiccup gave a yell as it's fingers seemed to cut through leather, cloth and flesh. Upon hearing his Rider's yell, Toothless flew faster, leaving the ship in no time as a spot on the horizon.

Hiccup felt his shoulder and winced. He brought a trembling hand toward his face, which was covered in blood. He suddenly began to feel woozy, something, he reckoned, had nothing to do with the would.

"Hurry, bud." Hiccup said weakly, as his sight blurred a bit. Toothless growled and picked up the pace even more, flying faster than he'd ever done in his life.

* * *

"Was that him?" The bulky figure asked. "A boy, one leg, flying a black dragon."

The second, skinny one jumped excitedly from one leg to the other, giggling madly. "One Leg, one leg Replaced the other with a peg." he sang.

"Silent, Brother." the third one said, his eyes still aimed on the figure flying on the horizon.

The large hooded man looked at Yellow-Eyes' clawed hand which, besides blood, was dripping a thick yellowish liquid, which smelt like rotten eggs.

"Won't the poison kill him?" he asked.

"No." the tall man said. "he'll get sick. He'll get weak. He won't be able to fight back."

"Easy prey, easy prey." The thin, hunched man giggled.

"Turn the ship toward where he is flying." Yellow-Eyes ordered.

The two others bowed and went to work.

Yellow-Eyes gave a grin, showing his sharpened teeth. "It's him." He whispered. "He's the one."

* * *

Astrid paced nervously on the docks, watching the horizon. After Stoick had instructed her to wait for Hiccup, who had gone on an errand for him, she had done as asked from her. But she felt something was amiss.

"They ran into trouble, Stormfly." She said to her dragon, who was resting not to far away, watching her rider pace around. "I just feel it."

Astrid started fiddling with her necklace, a gift Hiccup had given her last year, after they officially became a couple.

Stormfly's head perked up and she croaked in the direction of the sky. Astrid turned expectedly, but saw nothing. Off course, spotting a Night Fury in the dark isn't as easy as one would think. She saw him when a cloud passed. But she immediately noticed that something was wrong, very wrong. Toothless' flight was unsteady. And she saw that hiccup sat slumped in the saddle, hardly moving.

"Hiccup." she whispered, color vanishing from her cheeks.

Toothless unsteady flight reached the docks. That's when Hiccup slid of the saddle and both of them came down, crashing into the ground. Hiccup felt face front on the hard ground. Toothless immediately jumped up and started roaring and nudging his rider. No movement.

"Help! I need help over here." Astrid screamed, running over to him.

As knelt down, turned him over and gasped at the sight of him. All the color had vanished from his face. He was as white as fresh snow, barely breathing, just concious enough to manage a sheepish, weak smile.

"Astrid." he croaked.

Astrid grabbed him by the shoulders and he winced and groaned. Astrid felt something wet, looked at her hand and felt her heart stop. Blood. She gently helped him up and looked at his shoulder. A large chunk of his flesh was ripped away. Looked like the work of a claw.

"Astrid." Hiccup croaked, grabbing her wrist.

"E-easy, Hiccup." she managed to say. "You need to rest. You lost a lot of blood."

"No. P-poisoned. Poisoned." Hiccup croaked. "Get ...it ..ou... " He fell silent and his eyes closed.

"Hiccup?" she asked, tears welling up in her eyes. "I NEED HELP!"

Villagers started pouring out their houses and running in the direction of the yelling. Gobber was one of the first to arrive. He turned pale as he saw Hiccup, unmoving in Astrid arms. He rushed towards them and snatched Hiccup from her arms.

"I'll get him to the healer." he reassured her. "Go to Stoick and tell him what's happened."

Astrid jumped up, jumped on Stormfly and flew towards Hiccup's house. She couldn't bare to look backwards. She swore, whoever did this to Hiccup, would pay.


End file.

How to Train Your Dragon, Adventure, Angst