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Ever since Hiccup let that Arabian go, he’d been nothing but intrigued. Berk wasn’t exactly known for having Arabian horses. This horse, black as the night, had somehow made it to Berk and avoided the village as best as possible. Did it attack the village sometimes with the rest of Berk’s wild horses? Yes, absolutely. But it only ever attacked at night. It was like the Arabian knew how to stay hidden to keep out of human’s hands.
That was the only conclusion Hiccup seemed to come to. He had tried asking Gobber about the horse, but even Gobber didn’t know. He looked in the horse books they carried around Berk, unable to find any mention of Arabians on Berk. This black horse must’ve been brought by ship here. Recently, too.
Releasing it, no him, from the bolas Hiccup had created himself was an act of luck. He was lucky to get out of that alive and not trampled to death. He knew most horses on the island were inherently avoidant, not violent. This was a giant change of pace, which led Hiccup to the hypothesis that this horse was part of the herd that lay farther from Berk and closer to Hysteria. Why he was all the way out near Raven’s Point was a mystery. Hiccup had managed to find the cove where the horse was stuck in, unable to jump over the rocks blocking the opening because of a bad leg. With Hiccup hiding on a higher ledge and jotting down the horse, he was able to plan for the future on how to help the horse, rather than turning him over to his father. The horse was still violent, and the last thing Hiccup wanted was for Stoick to break the spirit out of him. He deserved to stay wild as much as any of the horses on the island did.
Hiccup puffed out a breath, clutching the carrot in his hand and a shield in the other. If he could avoid getting trampled with it, he’d take that chance. He tossed out the carrot as he peeked over the top of the shield, but when no horse came, he went to walk on. Wedging the shield past the rocks was futile though. He hit against it once and it did not budge. Hiccup took a deep breath in and settled his nerves, ducking under the shield and into the clearing, picking up the carrot. He took calculated steps forwards, looking for the stallion but unable to see the sleek black coat.
He turned, now stepping sideways to look across the pond, his footsteps quiet as to not send the horse into a fiery rage. He turned his body back again and found himself locking eyes with the stallion, who stood on a ledge a few yards away.
The stallion’s eyes widened but the nostrils barely flared. He was curious, not angry. His ears were perked forwards and his neck was arched out, almost trying to sniff the boy. Hiccup gasped and took a few steps back, pulling the carrot to his chest for a moment as they stared each other down. The stallion then moved down from the ledge, his neck still arched, trying to sniff what Hiccup had in his hand. As the horse advanced, the boy retreated, still facing the stallion. His steps backward were more clumsy and were from fear, rather than respect.
Hiccup and the horse both stopped for a moment before Hiccup stretched out his hand with the carrot in it as an offering. The horse came closer, sniffing the air, and just as he was about to yank the carrot from Hiccup’s hand, he saw the glint of a dagger on Hiccup’s belt. Ears flattened and harsh stops and loud neighs sent Hiccup fumbling for the dagger, having to show the horse that he was tossing it away. He dropped it onto the ground next to him and the horse nodded his head towards the pond, gesturing for Hiccup to throw it in there. Hiccup kept his eyes locked on the horse as his foot wedged under the handle and tossed it up into the air into the pond. The weapon made a small splashing noise and the stallion’s ears immediately perked back up, looking at Hiccup with the same curiosity from before.
Hiccup glanced at the stallion again, offering the carrot back out to him. The stallion inched closer, step by step, arching out his neck to sniff at the carrot so close to his snout. Hiccup stared on, trying to determine whether or not this horse would even accept the offering.
“It’s not like you’re toothless-“ Whatever Hiccup was going to continue saying got cut off when the stallion bared its teeth and snatched the carrot from Hiccup’s hand. Hiccup jerked back on impulse, giving a quick yelp as he stared wide-eyed at this horse who basically swallowed this carrot whole.
The stallion, Toothless as Hiccup would now call him, glanced back at Hiccup, rapidly walking forwards and trying to sniff out Hiccup’s pockets. Hiccup began backing up swiftly, eventually falling on his butt and pushing himself up against a rock as Toothless pursued him, sniffing right around the pockets of his fur vest.
Hiccup yelped, trying to press himself closer to the rock. “No, no, no! I don’t- I don’t have anymore!” Hiccup’s chin tilted up as Toothless’ sniffed him up, trying to avoid the teeth of a horse.
Hiccup and Toothless then locked eyes before Toothless glanced up, his upper throat working before he opened his mouth and spit out half a carrot onto Hiccup’s lap. Hiccup made a noise of disgust, looking at the, now, slimy vegetable. Toothless then pulled his head away, tilting it to keep looking at Hiccup with interest. Hiccup glanced up at the horse and then back down at the gross carrot, gasping for breaths he didn’t know he needed to take.
Toothless nodded his head ever so slightly at the carrot and then back up to Hiccup, who caught on immediately. Hiccup glanced down at the carrot himself, sitting awkwardly for a moment before making an ‘uh’ noise and bringing the carrot up to his mouth. He bit down, a large crunching noise echoing through the cove, and did his best to keep the carrot off his tongue with his teeth.
Hiccup made the best ‘mmm!’ sound he could muster, nodding his head and gesturing the carrot out for Toothless to eat the rest of. Toothless just opened his mouth to make a chewing sound and then swallowed, causing a small noise of protest from Hiccup as this hands dropped back to his lap in defeat. This horse wanted him to swallow this nasty carrot?
He tried to swallow it back, only to gag it back up. He tried again, this time with success, and once swallowed, made a small shuddering noise. Toothless simply tried to mimic Hiccup as best he could without breaking the gentle eye contact. Hiccup gave his best smile, a little shaky and nervous and Toothless’s ears flicked all the way forward, eyes widening, and seemingly smiling in the way a horse could.
Hiccup’s eyes widened, watching Toothless doing his best to copy him, and quietly set the carrot aside to move forward and reach a hand out to touch the Arabian. Toothless noticed the hand right away and his ears flattered immediately, snorting and baring his teeth only for a moment before half cantering and half trotting to the other side of the cove, keeping his back firmly facing the boy. Hiccup noticed the lameness in Toothless’ back leg, getting up all the way and walking forwards a few steps, to try to get a better look.
Later, Toothless had laid down, sunbathing and enjoying the patches of grass around the cove when his ears perked up at the sound of the human boy taking a seat a few feet away from his hooves. He didn’t necessarily do anything, almost too lazy to do so, but then the boy reached out his hand to touch him. Toothless moved his neck up, half glaring at Hiccup as Hiccup jerked his hand away and jolted to standing up. He whistled and walked away a little awkwardly, trying to pretend as if he wasn’t trying to pet Toothless. Toothless huffed in annoyance and pulled himself up, limping all the way over to another patch of grass under a covering of the rocks. He began grazing, actively ignoring this weird human who let him go so willingly and yet so hesitantly.
Hiccup watched Toothless for a bit, just sitting on a rock and observing the horse’s behavior. The stallion wasn’t a fan of Hiccup, that much he could tell. But the stallion still seemed interested in some human nature, albeit very little of it. Hiccup sighed and reached over a bit to grab a lone stick on the ground, shaking off the excess dirt and beginning to draw the horse in the dirt.
This caught the attention of Toothless, who lifted his head from grazing to watch the boy move his left hand about. Slowly, he crept over to watch over Hiccup’s shoulder, seeing a picture that reflected him. Hiccup tensed up for a moment, radiating anxiety that Toothless would probably feel a mile away, but the boy kept drawing. Toothless than had the genius idea (well at least to a horse) to go off and find a branch of his own to draw Hiccup. So, he trotted off, finding a bigger, broken off branch himself and grabbing it in his mouth.
Hiccup paused from drawing, trying to look over his shoulder to see what the stallion was doing. What he saw was something he had never seen a horse do before. Toothless began dragging this giant branch around Hiccup, having to stop to adjust his grip every so often. Hiccup watched in amazement, astounded by what he was seeing. This horse took such a human approach to connect that Hiccup could barely believe his own eyes. Toothless eventually came to a stopping point, at the other side of his drawing. He dropped the branch and flicked an ear, bobbing his head for a moment to gesture for Hiccup to attempt to come close.
Hiccup stood up, looking around him, still in awe, and stepping forward. The moment his foot stepped on a line, Toothless’ flattened his ears and let out a quick warning snort, causing Hiccup to pull his foot up. The moment his foot was off the line, the horse’s demeanor became friendly again. Interesting. Hiccup did it twice more, gaining the same reaction each time, and the. He stepped over the line to the next empty space. Toothless’ friendly look didn’t change this time.
And so began this awkward and clumsy dance of avoiding these lines that Toothless’ drew. Hiccup twirled and stayed careful with every step he took, eyes locked onto the ground and the lines. He heard reassuring nickers from Toothless time to time and his heart continued to race.
He took his last two steps back, finishing this weird maze, and feeling the warm breath of a horse behind him, huffing and sniffing at his hair. Hiccup froze, unable to process what had just happened. He turned around, staring in awe and fear at Toothless, as Toothless stared back. Hiccup raised his hand to rest against the muzzle but Toothless began to flatten his ears. Hiccup pulled back ever so slightly, trying to understand the signal the stallion was giving him. Hiccup took a deep breath and lowered his head, eyes closing and reaching out his hand towards the stallion’s face.
Toothless was hesitant, just staring at this human’s hand and watching the boy put full trust into him. He sniffed for a moment before pressing his nose to the boy’s hand.
Hiccup gasped quietly and squeezed his eyes, expecting his hand to be bitten off, but instead found his palm on the soft fur of a horse’s muzzle. Hiccup glanced up slowly, with wide eyes as Toothless pulled away, staring straight at Hiccup and flaring his nostrils for a moment before flattening his ears and bolting off, leaving HIccup to stare at his palm in wonder.