NOVEL NEXT Chapter 4: Chapter 5
On my way out of the cove I found my dropped journal and charcoal stick. I picked them up and dusted my journal off before stashing them away in my vest pocket.
The walk back to the village was boring, but what I hated was when it started to pour out just a few minutes after I left the cove.
'Great. Just great. I hope Kala found somewhere dry to hide until this lets up. I didn't really see any caves anywhere in the cove. Doubt she would get sick from getting soaked in this though.'
As I was lost in my thoughts I ended up at the Great Hall. I shook my head to clear it and went inside, with a bit of difficulty with how heavy the door was. When I entered I saw all the other teens and Gobber talking about the training session earlier today.
"Alright. Where did Astrid go wrong in the ring today?" Gobber asked as he walked around the table the teens were sitting at.
I slowly started to make my way over so I could eat the dinner that was left out for us.
"I mistimed my somersault dive. It was sloppy. It threw off my reverse tumble." Astrid replied. She seemed peeved with herself about it.
"Yeah, we noticed." Ruffnut said sarcastically. Snotlout interjected instantly.
"No, no, you were great. That was so 'Astrid'."
It took everything in me to not gag. How does he still have a crush on her? She only cares about herself and pushes everyone else out of her way to get to the top. Not to mention she isn't as pretty as people say she is. Kala beats her by a long shot when it comes to beauty.
"She's right, you have to be tough on yourselves." Gobber said. He saw me walking up to the table and gestured my way. "Where did Hiccup go wrong?"
'Oh come on Gobber! Cut me some slack. I didn't even wanna do this!'
I grabbed my food and tankard off of the table, not allowed to sit there because Snotlout kept moving to take the spaces that I could sit in. I rolled my eyes and sat at the table next to that one, just so I was still able to hear the conversation.
"Uh, he showed up?" Ruffnut asked, but it kinda felt like a statement.
"He didn't get eaten." Tuffnut said a bit disappointed.
"He's never where he should be." Astrid stated while glaring at me. I didn't look at her as I started to eat, trying to think over the events that went down to organize my thoughts.
"Thank you Astrid." Gobber said, I could hear a bit of sarcasm in his tone. I saw that he pulled out a book and dropped it on the table. "You need to live and breathe this stuff. The Dragon Manual. Everything we know about every dragon we know of."
'Maybe not everything we know.' I thought as we all heard thunder roar outside of the hall.
"No attacks tonight. Study up."
And with that, Gobber left the Great Hall.
"Wait, you mean, read ?" Tuffnut asked as Gobber was leaving.
"While we're still alive?" Ruffnut added as she grimaced at the book in front of them.
"Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you stuff about?" Snotlout asked.
'You are such an idiot Snotlout. How are we even cousins?'
"Oh! I've read it like, seven times. There's this water dragon that sprays boiling water at your face. And–and there's this other one that buries itself for like a week–" Fishlegs started to rant, but was cut off by Tuffnut.
"Yeah, that sounds great. See, there was a chance I was going to read that…"
"...But, now…" Ruffnut continued.
"You guys read, I'll go kill stuff." Snotlout stated as he got up and left, the twins right behind him. Fishlegs followed, starting to rant about the book again.
I got up and went over to the table to grab the book, but before I did I looked at Astrid.
"Have you read this yet, or?" I asked politely.
"Read it." She said bluntly and she got up and left.
I shook my head and got a candle to use as lighting then sat down and opened the book.
"Dragon classifications. Strike Class, Fear Class, Mystery Class. Huh..wonder why there are so few categories.."
I flipped through the pages and skimmed over them.
"Thunderdrum: This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools. When startled, the Thunderdrum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight. Timberjack: This gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight. Scauldron: Sprays scalding water at its victim. Extremely dangerous. Changewing: Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight. Gronckle, Zippleback, The Skrill, Boneknapper, Whispering Death. Burns its victims, buries its victims, chokes its victims, turns its victims inside-out. Extremely dangerous, extremely dangerous, kill on sight, kill on sight, kill on sight…"
As I was reading, the images seemed to move as I read through each dragon species. Then I got to the last page.
"Night Fury: Speed, unknown. Size, unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance, hide and pray it does not find you. There's no picture.."
I got my journal out and opened it to the sketch I did of Kala's dragon form then placed it on top of the Dragon Manual.
"Well this advice is dead wrong..Kala is not a killer..if she was then I would be long gone.."
I contemplated drawing in the manual, but decided against it. Don't need my dad to lecture me about adding things into a book I shouldn't be writing in when they get back from the search. I sighed and closed my journal, stowing it away in my vest pocket again. I got up and put the Dragon Manual back where it goes, then I blew out the candle I was using and left to get some sleep.
~~~HTLANF~~~