[A/N: A bit late, but here's today's chapter! Unfortunately, no one guessed the correct answer for what's inside the egg—though someone came close, it was still a bit off. The challenge remains open until the chapter where the egg's contents are finally revealed. Keep the guesses coming!]
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The clang of weapons echoed across the arena. Dust swirled with each blast of dragonfire, every frantic sidestep, every miscalculated swing. Today wasn't about glory or technique.
It was about surviving with your limbs intact.
From above, Gobber's voice bellowed like thunder, his prosthetic hammer pounding the rail. "TODAY IS ALL ABOUT ATTACK! Nadders don't wait for tea and conversation—they strike, fast and flashy! And so should you!"
Down below, chaos ruled.
A Deadly Nadder, its shimmering blue scales flaring in the sun let out a screech and lunged. Hiccup squeaked and fell backward into the floor, narrowly dodging a fireball that scorched the ground beside him.
"AGH! That's hot! That's really hot!" Hiccup scrambled to his feet, patting his smoking tunic.
Astrid, sprinting past him, gritted her teeth. "Would you stop running in circles and actually DO something?!"
"I am doing something! I'm surviving!" Hiccup ducked again as a tail spike lodged itself into the fence post behind him. "Barely!"
Fishlegs, trying to shield himself with a tiny round shield clearly meant for toddlers, shrieked as he backed into Snotlout. "AHH! Sorry! Sorry! Don't trample me—"
"Get out of the way, barrel-boy!" Snotlout barked, tossing his hammer. It whizzed clean over the Nadder… and smacked Ruffnut in the head.
"HEY!" Ruffnut spun around. "WHO THREW THAT?!"
"Not me!" Tuffnut immediately said, pointing at Fishlegs.
"Why would you throw your hammer at ME?" Ruffnut shouted, now swinging wildly at Snoutlout.
"I WAS AIMING FOR THE DRAGON!" Snotlout shouted back. "YOU LOOK LIKE ONE!"
The Nadder flared its wings and roared, annoyed by the lack of attention. It reared back to fire.
"SCATTER!" Gobber yelled.
Everyone bolted. Meanwhile, Hiccup was jogging awkwardly in circles, keeping just far enough from danger while still pretending to be involved.
"You know," he said breathlessly to Gobber "I noticed the book had nothing on Night Furies. Is there another book? Or maybe a sequel? Little Night Fury pamphlet?"
A blast of fire singed the dirt behind him.
"GET IN THERE!" Gobber snapped.
"I know, I know," Hiccup muttered. "But hypothetically, if you did want to sneak up on one—"
"HICCUP!" Astrid's voice sliced through the noise.
He turned to see her bounding across the collapsing training walls, the Nadder hot on her heels. Her braid whipped in the wind as she kicked off one panel, leapt, landed on the next, then sprang again.
CRACK!
The final wall splintered beneath her foot. Astrid twisted midair, landed in a roll, and tumbled near Hiccup just as the Nadder roared behind them.
"Outta the way!" she barked.
"I am! You're the one crashing into me!"
"Oh, this is my fault now?!"
The Nadder's eyes locked on them.
Hiccup's eyes went wide. "Okay, okay—Astrid, MOVE—"
FWOOOM!
The fire blast never hit.
A blur of silver passed as a massive shield slammed into the stone floor in front of Hiccup and Astrid, absorbing the blast in a wash of sparks and smoke.
"You two," Lucian said, voice calm, "don't get distracted in battle."
Astrid blinked. "I wasn't distracted. I had it under control—"
Hiccup coughed. "Sure. Total control. Just… fiery, panicked control."
Lucian turned, offering Astrid a hand. She hesitated just a second before taking it, allowing herself to be pulled to her feet.
"You okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine," she said, glaring at Hiccup.
Lucian didn't wait for more bickering. He pulled the axe from Hiccup's bent shield and handed it to Astrid.
"You lose your temper, you lose the fight," Lucian said simply. "Stay calm. The moment you stop thinking, that's when it ends badly."
Astrid exhaled sharply. "I got it."
Lucian's gaze shifted to Hiccup. "And Hiccup, ask your questions after training. Focus, or you'll be answering them from the afterlife."
"Right! Yep! Focus now, questions later," Hiccup stammered.
They reset into formation. The Nadder staggered back up, still woozy.
Astrid moved right, sweeping her axe in controlled arcs. Tuffnut and Ruffnut launched a bucket of rocks… at each other, mostly, while Snotlout hurled another hammer—this time striking the dragon's tail dead-on.
"BOOM! Nailed it! You saw that, Astrid!" he shouted, grinning.
Astrid rolled her eyes. "Literally no one cares, Snotlout."
"Jealousy doesn't suit you, babe—ugh!"
Snotlout's sentence cut off as Astrid kicked his leg, sending him crashing face-first into the ground.
"I'm okay," Snotlout groaned.
The Nadder reared up again.
Lucian stepped into its blind spot, kicked off a nearby boulder, and brought the shield down on its snout. Then, with one hand, he pushed the dragon's head downward and motioned to Fishlegs.
Fishlegs hurled the net and caught the dragon off guard.
A final shriek and the dragon dropped, stunned and breathing heavily.
The arena went still.
Gobber clapped from the platform. "WELL! That only took four near-deaths and two mental breakdowns! Not bad!"
The teens gathered, sweaty and panting. Astrid crossed her arms, breathing hard. Hiccup collapsed onto a hay bale.
"I think I saw my life flash before my eyes," he muttered.
"Was it boring?" Snotlout asked.
"Mostly running," Hiccup replied.
Lucian stood at the edge of the arena, watching the Nadder recover.
_______
The mead hall was warm and humming with noise, clanking mugs, the occasional belch, and the low thrum of half-tired voices. After the long day of training, the young viking trainees had scattered, but Lucian lingered, seated at the edge of the firepit. A bowl of steaming stew rested in his hands, the scent of roasted meat and root vegetables rising with the smoke.
He didn't speak much during meals. He observed. Watched the way Astrid still kept her axe beside her, how Tuffnut laughed at Ruffnut, how Fishlegs absentmindedly read dragon facts off his arm while eating. How Hiccup—
Lucian narrowed his eyes. Hiccup wasn't there.
Finishing the last of his stew, Lucian placed the empty bowl down and rose without a word. He stepped into the cool night, letting the noise fade behind him as he followed a hunch more than a trail.
Past the forge's outer ring, the blacksmith's shop still glowed. Odd, this late. The hammer wasn't ringing. Instead, the soft scratch of tools and leather greeted his ears.
Lucian stepped inside.
The heat from the forge still pulsed. The usual anvil clanks were absent, but in the back corner, hunched over a workbench littered with tools, hides, and parchment was Hiccup.
"Hiccup?"
Hiccup flinched spun around so fast he nearly knocked over a lamp. "Oh! Uh—hey! Lucian! Didn't hear you! Fancy seeing you here!"
Lucian crossed his arms. "It's a forge. In a village full of warriors. Not exactly rare."
"Right! Right... good point."
Lucian's gaze shifted toward the desk. Rolled-up parchments, bolts of cloth, some framework of leather straps and hinges—one sketch poked out from beneath Hiccup's elbow, rough lines depicting a dragon's tail… but not a whole one.
Lucian walked closer.
Hiccup immediately panicked, attempting to shove the sketches aside.
Lucian's eyes stayed on the drawing, one brow raised. "Why are you making a dragon-like tail?"
"Wha—this? Oh, uh—it's for a… puppet!" Hiccup blurted. "Yeah. A dragon puppet! For the kids. You know, I thought it might be fun. Like a… little show. Rawr. Roar. That sort of thing."
Lucian tilted his head slightly. "Uh-huh," he said flatly. Then, pointing at the diagram "With only one side of the tail?"
"Well, the dragon I want to make is, um… crippled," Hiccup said, trying to stand tall, as if conviction made it more believable. "For realism! For the message! You know, to show kids that even injured dragons can be dangerous."
Lucian didn't say anything and leaned in, studying the sketch, tracing his finger along the hinge lines. "Interesting design. Seems… real sturdy for a puppet."
"Realism!" Hiccup said too quickly. "Kids love realism. And I thought it'd be a good challenge."
Lucian didn't press. He simply gave a small smirk, as if accepting the lie at face value. "You built this on your own?"
"Well, yeah. Mostly. I've been tweaking it. But the materials aren't strong enough or too heavy. I'm still figuring it out."
Lucian rolled up his sleeves, eyes scanning the layout. "This hinge, iron? Or steel?"
"Steel. I tried iron, but it bent on impact."
"What kind of leather?"
"Dragon-hide, stitched with sheep-gut thread. Softer on the underbelly. I tried canvas first, but it tore in... some tests."
Lucian nodded, then gestured to one of the prototype pieces. "The balance is off. Weight distribution needs to shift toward the outer fin. Otherwise, the lift will always tilt left."
Hiccup's eyes lit up. "That's what I thought! But every time I corrected it, it threw off the tail's stability. I couldn't figure out how to stabilize both."
Lucian moved behind the workbench, pulling a scrap sheet of parchment. "Counterweight here," he said, drawing a curved addition to the tail fin. "It'll add just enough drag to keep it balanced. You'll have to test the fabric tension too add cross-stitch support here and here."
Together, they worked through the final hours of dusk. Lucian's knowledge from the system , paired with Hiccup's mechanical creativity, led to a makeshift tail rig by nightfall. It wasn't perfect, but it was close.
The forge was dim now, the coals reduced to a warm glow. Hiccup stood at the doorway, the finished tail tucked under one arm, eyes bright despite the exhaustion on his face.
"Thanks for helping me out," he said genuinely.
Lucian gave a small nod. "Just don't strap that thing to yourself and try to fly."
Hiccup laughed nervously. "No promises."
Lucian turned to leave, but paused in the doorway.
"Oh—and Hiccup," he said, "next time you build a dragon puppet, maybe give it two wings. Unless it's supposed to crash."
Hiccup blinked. "I will."
Lucian smirked faintly. "Goodnight, Hiccup."
And with that, he disappeared into the night, the quiet crunch of his boots the only sound echoing down the empty village road.