How to be a Pirate's Dragon (Hiccup) Read Online Free PDF Page B

Alvin. "I think I even fight better now than I did before the accident. ..." He twirled his mustache and demonstrated the Grapple himself.
    "You see," said Alvin, "the weight should be kept on the left foot."
    Hiccup followed him carefully ... and fell over again.
    "BRAVO!" clapped Alvin, to Hiccup's surprise.
    "But I fell over again," said Hiccup.
    "But with such STYLE," said Alvin. "You can't teach that, it's in the blood."
    Alvin replaced the sword with the claw and picked up his helmet. He made a grimace as he put
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    it back on his head. He took it off again and peered inside. "There seems to be some sort of MUD in here, some sort of very SMELLY mud. ..."
    "It's all over your hair, I'm afraid, sir," said Hiccup.
    Alvin looked horrified. He was very particular about his personal appearance. He hurried away to wash it off.
    [Image: A dragon.]
    Toothless, who had been hunting rats through
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    the ferns, came and perched on Hiccup's shoulder. He had the giggles.
    Eventually, when he got his breath back, he choked out, "P-p-pooed in his helmet.... "
    "TOOTHLESS!" scolded Hiccup. "That's revolting and unkind. Why did you poo inpoor Alvin's helmet?"
    "H-h-he's a BAD MAN," replied Toothless.
    "Who, Alvin the Poor-but-Honest Farmer?" asked Hiccup in surprise. "Don't be so prejudiced, Toothless. Just because he's not from round these parts doesn't make him a bad man...."
    "S-s-suit yourself," shrugged Toothless, checking out his wings for dragonfleas. "Toothless thinks he's an O-O-Outcast."
    Hiccup started nervously.
    Outcasts were Vikings who were so vicious, so terrible and sneaking and burglarous, that they had been cast out of regular Viking society, and had formed an extraordinarily ferocious Tribe of their own. It was even rumored that some Outcasts ate their enemies.
    "Oh, come ON," protested Hiccup. "He doesn't look anything LIKE an Outcast."
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    "Y-y-you ever seen one?" asked Toothless.
    "Well, no," admitted Hiccup, "but neither have you, and y ou haven't a shred of evidence. Let's go and get some lunch and forget this rubbish."
    That conversation sowed a little seed of doubt in Hiccup's mind.
    He was already feeling uneasy because he knew that he and all the other boys were going to have to join in this suicidal quest to the Isle of the Skullions, which would set out just as soon as Stoick and Alvin had worked out a Plan to avoid the Tiny Problem of everybody being eaten alive the moment they landed on the island.
    [Image: A dragon.]
    And he knew that he, Hiccup, as the Heir to the Hairy Hooligans, was supposed to be the one
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    to find the treasure. So when he wasn't doing his swordfighting, or being shouted at by Gobber on the Training Program, he was bustling Toothless out of the door to practice sniffing for treasure.
    The first morning was typical. Fishlegs turned up with his dragon Horrorcow, and they stood watching in polite astonishment as Hiccup went through the elaborate game of getting Toothless out of the front door.
    Firstly, Hiccup went through the house shouting Toothless's name.
    No answer.
    Next, Hiccup stole a mackerel from the pantry.
    "Ohhhhh, Toothless," he sang craftily, waving the fishy stench around a bit to get Toothless's interest. "I've got a lovely piece of mackerel for you."
    A very muffled but thoughtful voice replied, "T-t-toothless sick. T-t-toothless can't come out 'cos he's V-V-VERY VERY sick."
    "Then you won't want this mackerel then," sang Hiccup.
    Another pause.
    "M-m-mackerel good for the sick. Have mackerel but NO GO OUT."
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    Hiccup had worked out where the voice was coming from. He peered up the chimney, and there was Toothless, hanging upside down in a cloud of smoke.
    "NO, Toothless," said Hiccup in his firmest voice. "You have the mackerel , you have to go out, THAT'S the deal. And you have to PROMISE."
    "Okay, then," said Toothless, flapping out of the chimney, "Toothless p-p-promise."
    Hiccup held out the mackerel.
    With a shriek of "T-T-TOOTHLESS CROSSED HIS CLAWS!"