Astrid walked towards the village. She had just finished practicing in the woods with her axe. As she walked towards her house she saw with annoyance that Merida was in Berk again. And as usual she was talking and laughing with Hiccup.
It was obvious that she liked him and Astrid could tell that he liked her back. She really hated Merida. She wasn't even sure why. Her and Hiccup had broken up months before Merida even started coming to Berk so why should she care!?
Astrid approached with an annoyed look on her face "Hiccup what are you doing!? You should be training!"
"Well actually me and Merida were just about to go train and..." Hiccup started to answer but was cut off quickly by Astrid "Wait a second! Her? Train? Isn't she afraid of getting her dress dirty!?" Astrid said sarcastically.
Merida who was known for her quick temper, did not like when people assumed she was not tough. She walked towards Astrid angrily "What's your problem? I could beat you any time!"
"Ok then." Astrid said slowly "Well see about that. Meet me at the arena this afternoon, i'll invite the whole village so that everyone will get to watch me beat you!" and with that she turned and walked away.
Merida walked through the door into the arena. As she walked towards the center were Astrid was standing she looked around at all the faces staring down at her.
What had she gotten herself into!? She had seen Astrid fight before, she was tough. Merida really hoped she would get to use a bow.
She glared at Astrid as they stood across from each other.
"Ok then" gobber said "There are no rules, just try not to make a mess because i am the one who will have to clean it up. Go over to the weapon racks and grab your weapon of choice."
They both walked over to the racks. Astrid grabbed an axe and walked back to the center of the arena. Merida looked over her choices. Hammer, sword, daggers, whip... no bow!?
She chose the daggers, she had been practicing with them lately and was already pretty good. She walked back towards where Astrid was.
"Hey princess be careful not to get any blood on your dress!" Astrid taunted.
Merida looked down at her green dress, if she was going to win this fight she couldn't have anything holding her back.
She grabbed a dagger and cut her dress to thigh length revealing the solid brown tights she always wore underneath. She dug through the pile of what used to be the skirt of her dress and grabbed a thin long strip of fabric which she used to tie back her hair.
Astrid and Merida stood across from each other, waiting for the signal that they should start fighting.
Hiccup stood in the crowd of spectators silently praying that they wouldn't kill each other. He had seen Meridas skills with the bow and knew how strong and fast she was, but he had also witnessed Astrid in the heat of battle many times fighting all kinds of dangerous foes.
The bell rung and both girls sprung into action. Astrid charged towards merida, axe in hand.
Merida ducked just as the axe reached the area were her head had been seconds ago. A knot grew in her stomach when she realized that Astrid didn't know she would be able to dodge an attack like ran for the far side of the arena as Astrid chased after her. Suddenly she turned around and flung a sharp dagger in Astrids direction.
Astrid lunged to the side trying to avoid the blade but wasn't fast enough and still got a cut on her arm. She looked up, a smirk on her face, and she dove for Meridas feet knocking her to the ground. Astrid quickly got up and kicked her in the stomach.
Merida groaned in pain, she couldn't let it end like this. She swung her legs to the side knocking Astrids feet out from under her, and quickly scrambled to her feet ignoring the pain in her stomach. She had to be fast, she only had seconds before Astrid would be on her feet again.
Astrid threw her axe towards Merida and she dropped to the ground narrowly avoiding it. Astrid might be fast but she was faster. Astrid ran for her weapon and Merida pulled out her daggers. She took one and threw it towards Astrid with deadly accuracy. It hit its target, and pinned Astrids sleeve to the wall.
She threw another as she ran towards her, pinning Astrids other sleeve. As she reached Astrid she drew a dagger and held it to Astrids throat.
Astrid glared at her, but Merida could see something else in her eyes. Fear.
Merida leaned forward and whispered "I win" then removed the knife.
Astrid looked at her in confusion, why hadn't she finished the job? Up until that moment Astrid had been impressed with everything Merida had done, even she had to admit that the girl had skill. But mercy? Mercy was weak.
Merida removed the daggers that pinned Astrid to the wall and began to walk away.
Astrid fell to the ground her knees weak, and watched as Hiccup lifted Merida into the air and spun her around both of them smiling.
She grinned as she remembered what she had been told about Hiccup and Toothlesses first meeting, she of course would have killed the dragon but Hiccup never had the stomach for that kind of thing.
Maybe Merida was a better match for him than she had ever been. Maybe she wasn't so bad after all.