In this narrated excerpt from How to Train Your Dragon (Part 23), a chaotic dragon battle erupts during the tribe’s initiation ceremony. Toothless, Fireworm, Killer, and several other dragons clash wildly while the boys attempt to intervene, resulting in massive destruction and a terrifying roar that silences the crowd. The elders—Stoick, Mogadon, Gobber the Belch, and others—convene in a tense huddle, debating the tribe’s strict law that mandates exile for any novice who fails the final test. Stoick delivers a solemn proclamation: the boys must be cast out, but because of the raging storm, they are granted one night of shelter before being set adrift. Hiccup, Stoick’s son, erupts in anger, accusing his father of valuing law over family, and vows revenge. The storm intensifies, the dragons are swept away, and finally the great wave carries the exhausted dragons and boys onto a distant beach where they lie asleep, awaiting an uncertain future. The passage highlights themes of law versus compassion, familial conflict, and the harshness of Viking life.
Chapters
Toothless streaked off as quick as lightning, and Fireworm's massive jaws snapped together with a sickening crunch on nothing but thin air. Chaos ensued. Fireworm completely lost control. She plunged wildly through the air, claws out, biting anything that moved and letting out great bursts of flame. Unfortunately, in this process, she accidentally scratched Killer, a dragon with a very short temper. Killer then attacked any hooligan dragon within biting distance. Soon the dragons were involved in a full-scale rip-roaring dragon fight, with the boys running around shouting at them to stop and trying to pull them apart without getting themselves Killed! The dragon took absolutely no notice whatsoever, however hard the boys yelled, and Thuggery and Snotlout were very red in the face after some pretty impressive yelling. Gobber the Belch went ballistic on the Sidewinds. Can someone tell me about what is happening, in Thorin Wunder's name, is happening here? Toothless was in his element in this kind of chaos, dodging Fireworm's angry lunges with ease, nipping in with a lively bite at Alligator here and a scratch on Brightclaw there, obviously enjoying the fight enormously. Even Horrorkrow showed a great deal of spirit for a dragon who was supposedly vegetarian. She managed to give Fireworm a truly Impressive bite on the bottom as Fireworm and Killer rolled through the air, biting chunks out of one another. Gobba the Belch entered the fray, grabbing hold of Fireworm's tail. Fireworm gave a howl of outrage, squirmed around, and set Gobba's beard on fire! With one massive hand, Gobba swatted out the fire, and with the other, He clamped Fire Worm's jaws together so she could neither bite nor burn. He tucked the furiously enraged animal under one arm, still holding her mouth closed. S-stop! screamed Gobba the Belch with an ear-raising, skin-crawling, fang-dropping yell that reverberated off the cliffs, bounced off the sea, and whose faint echoes could be heard on the mainland. The boys stopped their useless screaming. The dragons stopped in mid-air. There was an awful silence. Even the watching crowd went quiet. This had never happened before. All 20 boys had shown themselves to be completely out of control of their dragons. During the initiation test. Technically, this meant that all of them should be thrown out of their tribes into exile, and exile in this horrible climate could mean death. Food was scarce, the sea was dangerous, and there were certain wild tribes in the Isles were rumoured to be cannibals. Gobba the Belch stood, lost for words, his beard still smoking. When he eventually spoke, his voice was deep with horror at the situation. I will have to speak with the elders of the tribe, was all he said. He dropped Fireworm on the ground. She had come to her senses and now slunk towards Snotnout, her tail between her legs. The elders of the tribe were Mogadon and Stoick, Gobba himself, and a few more of the more fearsome warriors, such as Terrible Toughnut and Vicious Twins and Hairy Scary Librarian from the Meathead Public The crowd and the boys stood absolutely still as the Elders consulted in the traditional Elder huddle, which looked a bit like a rugby scrum. Meanwhile, the storm was getting worse. Huge claps of thunder burst over their heads. The rain poured down, and they couldn't have been much wetter if they had all jumped into the sea. The Elders consulted for a long time. Mogadon got angry at one point and swung a fist at Tuffnut. A twin held on each of his arms until he calmed down again. Eventually Stoick came out of the huddle and stood before the boys, who were hanging their heads in shame, their dragons at their feet. If Hiccup had been able to look at his father, he would have seen that Stoick was not his normal merry violent self. He looked very solemn indeed. Novices of the tribes! he bellowed grimly. This is a very bad day for you all. You have failed the final test of By the fierce law of the Inner Isles, this means that you should be cast out from the tribes into exile forever. I do not want to do this, not only because my own son is among you, But also because it will mean that a whole generation of warriors is lost from the tribes. But we cannot ignore our law. Only the strong can belong. In the case the blood of our tribe should be weakened, only heroes can be hooligans and Meat haggis! Stoick jabbed a fat finger at the heavens. Furthermore, he carried on, the god Thor is very angry. This is not the moment to weaken our laws. Thor let out a great crash of thunder as if to underline this point. Under normal circumstances, said Stoick, The ceremony of exile would start now, but going to sea in weather like this would mean certain death for all concerned. As an act of mercy, I will allow you one more night of shelter under my roof, and first thing tomorrow morning you will be set ashore. On the mainland to fend for yourself. From this moment forth, you are all banished and may not talk to any other member of your tribe. The thunder crashed all around the boys as they stood head bowed in the rain. Pity me for this This is the saddest thing I have ever had to do, to banish my own son, said Stoick sadly. The crowd murmured sympathetically, applauding the nobility of their leader. A chief cannot live like other people, said Stoick, looking almost pleadingly at Ikka. He has to decide what is good for the tribe. Suddenly Hiccup was very angry. Well, don't expect me to pity you, said Hiccup. What kind of father thinks his stupid laws are more important than his own son? And what kind of stupid tribe is this anyway, that it can't just have Stoick stood looking down at his son in surprise and shock for a moment. Then he turned around and trudged off. The tribes were already running off the beach and scrambling up the hillside toward the shelter of the village, lightning coming down all around them. I'm gonna kill you! hissed Snotlout to Hiccup. Fireworm! snarled menacingly from his shoulder. First thing after we're banished, I'm going to kill you! He ran off after the others. I've lost my tooth! Toothless complained wildly. It came out when I bit that Fireworm dragon! Hiccup took no notice. He looked up at the heavens. Beside himself with fury as the wind scooped up seawater in handfuls and flung it straight into his face. Just once! yelled Hiccup. Why couldn't you let me be a hero just once? I didn't want anything amazing, just to pass this stupid test so I could become a proper Viking like Thor's thunder boomed and cracked above him blandly. Okay then! screamed Hiccup. Hit me with your stupid lightning! Just do something to show you're thinking about me at all! But there were no bolts of lightning for Hiccup. Thor clearly didn't think he was important enough for an answer. The storm moved on. And out to sea. For the past 6 centuries or so, the one who had recently been drifting into a lighter sleep The great storm lifted both dragons gently from the seabeds, like a couple of sleeping babies, and washed them on the swell of one indescribably enormous wave onto the long beach outside Hiccup's village. And there they stayed, sleeping peacefully, while the wind shrieked horribly all around them like wild Viking ghosts.
