A/N: My first Ranger's Apprentice story! Yeah, it's mixed with HTTYD. Anyways...it's all in the summary, I guess...have fun reading!

The black arrow whizzed through the air and smacked into a half-dead pine tree, burying the head entirely and leaving it quivering. The small rump below it disappeared while it's owner yelped in surprise.

Halt lowered his longbow, already nocked with another arrow out of habit. "I warned you, Will," he growled. "Watch that butt of yours or it's going down the hard way."

Will stuck his brown-haired head over the log. "Sorry, Halt."

"Don't tell me. Tell the Hibernian swordsmen." The Ranger replaced the arrow in his quiver. "Come on, it's getting dark. And it's no good sneaking up on anyone on an empty stomach."

The boy, whose belly had just given a particularly loud complaint, blushed and said, "Yes, sir!" Will bounded over to his side. "Want me to get the firewood?"

"Be quick about it." Halt watched his apprentice race off and shook his head. They boy had talent and intuition, but even that couldn't fill the gap in stealth. Halt began making his own silent way back to the cabin as Will's footfalls died away.

Will heaved the load on his back once he was satisfied with the size of it and began walking back. Through the trees, he could just make out the house's outline and two shaggy ponies grazing beside it.

As Will stopped to shift the wood on his back, he heard a crack. Someone was behind him. He fought the urge to whirl around and let them know of his awareness and therefore lose his advantage. Halt had drilled that into him several times now. Instead, Will turned casually around to tug at his boots, pretending that he'd gotten a twig stuck in them, while laying down the dead branches and scanning the surrounding forest. He couldn't see anybody, but someone's presence lurked nearby.

His hand shaking slightly, Will grasped his small throwing knife and pulled it out of the double scabbard. He hid his movements within the gray and green cloak he wore.

By now, the unseen person's movements had helped Will locate him, about ten feet behind the tree to his right. Will walked as quietly as he could, keeping his grip on the knife, and whipped around the trunk and held the weapon up to…a boy's throat! Will fastened his arm around his neck, and that was when he saw them. Two horns screwed into a metal helmet atop the skinny boy's head.

Skandian!

Will tightened his grip. "Well?" he demanded. "Where's the ambush?"

"What?" The boy's trembling hand over his own made Will think forcibly of himself. The young Skandian wore a long-sleeved green tunic, a bearskin vest and dark pants with fur boots. I don't think they wear fur boots… "The rest of you," he said sharply. "Don't you always travel in packs?"

The flat of the blade moved as he swallowed. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said weakly. "It's just me."

Will glanced around suspiciously. There were no bulky figures hiding behind rocks that he could see. Besides, Halt said Skandians didn't use stealth half as much as they did brute force. Most likely, if he didn't see them, they weren't there. He stepped back, and the boy almost fell over with the unexpected removal of support. No, Will realized, it wasn't that. Where the Skandian's left foot should have been was a wood and metal contraption, spring-loaded and weather-worn.

Will looked back up at his face. He stared back defiantly. He's used to people staring at that, Will noted. Out loud, he asked, "What's your name?"

"Hiccup H—" He seemed to catch himself. "Hiccup. Just Hiccup."

Will raised an eyebrow, just like Halt would. "Hiccup." What kind of a name was that? "Weapons?"

He lifted his brown fur aside to show an empty leather belt. Will also noticed that he was wearing a funny-looking sort of harness over his shirt, with two straps crossing his chest and another two dangling from his waist and ending in metal circles.

Will gestured at it. "What's that for?"

Hiccup shrugged. "I use it to hold on while I'm riding my dragon."

The answer was so casual that Will almost missed the last part. He chuckled. "Sorry," he apologized. "I thought you said 'dragon.'"

The boy nodded. "Yeah."

Will stared at him. "But there's no dragons around here."

"But…" Hiccup looked stunned. "Yes, there are! Where are you from?"

"Castle Redmont." Will ruffled his hair. "Where are you from?" He was beginning to feel all point had dropped out of the conversation.

"Berk…I'm still on Berk, aren't I?"

He shook his head. "Nope. Of course, you Skandians might call Araluen Berk, so I don't—"

Hiccup interrupted him. "Skandians?"

Will nodded. "Aren't you Skandian?"

"No…" He looked completely lost.

Will sighed. He's either insane, an amnesiac, or really, really slow. "Look," he decided, "I don't know who you are or where you come from, but I've got to take you to see someone."

"It's not a healer, is it?"

Will snorted. "No."

"Well, all right then."

Before they started walking, Will tested the…well, the "non-Skandian." "So," he said carefully, "do you know what year it is?"

Hiccup looked at him as though he were crazy. "Of course. 381 A.D."

Amnesiac, Will thought.

Halt started as someone knocked loudly on the door. "Halt!" said Will's muffled voice. "You have to see this!"

The Ranger sighed and stood up to open the door. "Will, if this is another raccoon, I—"

He was cut short at the sight at the door.

Two boys of the same age and stature were on the threshold. One was Will, carrying a load of wood on his back. The other was…Halt couldn't believe it. A Skandian boy!

Halt looked at Will in incredulity. "Will," he said in a low voice. "You do know this is a—"

"Skandian." Will nodded. "I know. But he's hit his head or something," he whispered. "Thinks it's 381 A.D. and that dragons are real."

"Goodness." Halt appraised the boy again. "He'd better come in, then." He opened the door wider, and both Will and the young Skandian that had missed the short exchange walked inside.

Halt started a fire. "Have a seat, boy," he said, watching him stand uncomfortably by the door. He sat down on a stool at the table. Will set the wood down next to the hearth and sat down next to him. When the stew was finished, Halt dished it out and for a moment, the cabin was filled with the sounds of spoons against bowls.

"Now then," Halt said, pushing his bowl out and away from him. "Let's get a few things straight." He nodded at the newcomer, who swallowed his broth and watched him cautiously. "Your name is…?"

"Hiccup, sir."

The Ranger's eyebrows traveled up his forehead. "Hiccup?" he repeated. "Odd name."

"I'd say yours are just as strange," the boy replied defensively. "I mean, Halt and Will? Those are everyday words, not names."

And this is coming from someone who was named after a jump in the gut. "Well," Halt mused, "I suppose they are now." He motioned at Will. "Will here told me you had a certain, ah, interest in…dragons, was it?"

Hiccup nodded vigorously.

"Would you mind telling me what kind?"

Will looked at him as though he had lost it, but Halt knew if he could pinpoint the legends this boy had learned, he could figure out which specific part of Araluen he belonged in.

"Oh, all sorts!" He began listing on his fingers. "Gronckles, Deadly Nadders, Zipplebacks, Monstrous Nightmares, Thunderdrums…"

Halt gave Will a blank look. Will shrugged. "I'm afraid…"

"…we don't know what you're talking about," his apprentice finished.

Hiccup looked crestfallen. "Not even Night—" He suddenly choked on the word, looking pale in the firelight.

"Night what?" Will urged him.

Hiccup jumped up and ran for the door. "Night Furies!" he hollered over his shoulder. Then, before either of them could stop him, he ran out the front door into the evening and shouted at the sky.

The door banged shut. Will glanced at his mentor. "Did he say 'toothless?'" he questioned.

Halt had already scooped his longbow from its resting place against the wall. "Skandian or not," he muttered, "the fool's going to get himself killed."

Well? Shall I continue?