CHAPTER ONE
It was stormy sea's around a lone island in the middle of nowhere it would have been deserted if it wasn't for dragons that roamed the land, unfazed by Viking influence making them wild and pure.
Though it would have been inhabited by only dragons if the two new arrivals hadn't shown up.
A small girl with dark brown hair woven into a simple braid and held together by a single leather strap, she was probably in her early teens judging by size, and wore a light purple tunic which had probably been dyed with some sort of berries to achieve the colour of purple, a light fur sleeveless jacket which was probable made of yak fur and simple brown slacks.
And to make matters stranger she was sat utop a dragon, a blue bodied Raincutter to be exact, a large dragon, sails on its back and different shades of blue on its wings.
This dragon seemed in tune with its riders emotions and let of a loud but sad whine mixed with a rumble from its belly as it turned it head to look up at its rider.
The girl was crying and shaking from the cold of the bitter wind that drowned out the echo's of her sobs, she looked over at her dragon and petted the side of its neck, "It's okay boy...We're safe" She said with uncertantly as she then looked down at her clothes.
On closer inspection her clothes where tattered, torn and frayed like she had been attacked by somebody or something, and that was just the start, her clothes where stained with a dark lquid...far too much to be from a human it more likely from a dragon...dragon blood.
It was the whole reason she had been driven out from Berk, her home and where her family was, Murder...she had murdered a dragon or at least that had been what the people of Berk had charged her with.
In a small run down cabin on an unknown island a young woman awoke with a start a cold sweat making her body glisten in the early winters sun and making her shiver slightly, not as much as it used to when she was young but the cold still hit her early morning.
She looked around her home shaking off the last remains of sleep that clung to her she pushed back the heavy winter blanket and sat up, rubbing her eyes before pulling on her heavy winter coat she stood.
The cold still clinging to her bones, she spied the ash covered fire pit in the center of the one roomed house. That would have been why it was so cold...the once warm fire had been reduced to cold ash practicly useless at the moment as in winter nothing grew.
She sighed and moved over towards the fire pit and started cleaning it out, unknown to her that a pair of eyes looked down at her from a dusty rafter watching as the woman with short brown hair cleaned the fire place before...Thud.
"Ahh!" exclaimed the woman in shock as she landed face first into the half empty fire place, "Beatlejuice, C'mon" She grumbled angerly her slightly tanned skin now a ashy grey, "Now I gotta go wash out in the freezing cold" She said with a sigh and got up before heading towards the door.
Opening the door the poor woman was blasted in the face with the icy chill of winter, "For the love of Thor!" She shouted causing the terror to give a belly rumble that sounded like a chuckle, "Shut up" She said sarcastic.
She stepped out and closed the door, keeping what little heat was in the house inside before trudging through the ankle deep snow and looking around before continuing to trudge through further before rolling her eyes in irritation then turning back around before opening the door and grabbing her bow and arrows and trudging back out.
It was about time to go hunting again, she was low on meat and if she was or her two dragons where going to survive this harsh winter then she needed to hunt while Beatlejuice and OceanThorn had to fish, that was the way it had been for years now.
In winter it because all about survival for the three of them while in the harsh grasp of the long winter.
But in the late spring was when it changed for all three of them, The woman and beatleJuice would often spend the afternoon lazing about under the shade of a tree after all their chores had been done of course and OceanThorn would often be swimming in the lake which would have thawed and the water temperature tolerable, it was a lonely life for the woman who in years had cut herself off from human interaction.
She hadn't felt the touch of another human since she arrived on that stormy even, not a hug, holding hands, somebody brushing her hair back or even a simple handshake.
She missed those interactions most, the simple ones the ones most people took for granted as it had become an everyday part of their lives.
She sighed and trudged forward, starting to see the distant shadows of trees, standing out in the whiteness of the snow. The lake shouldn't be too far from here all at all it men't she could hunt and wash her face...when she had broken through the ice that was and then put up with the ice cold temperature.
Sighing she pulled the heavy winter jacket further around her and trying the strap, the cold was already seeping into her bones so she would have to keep moving before she froze to death and the years surviving on this island would of come to nothing.
The woman slowed her speed, listening to the sounds of the forest,a skill she honed away from the bustling village of Berk which was always noisy, always people shouting or something getting broken with a crash or even worse the sounds of dragons fighting.
Though Berk was nice in its on way at times all the sounds could be overwhelming to the senses.
She sighed pushing the memories of home away before looking towards the left and lowering herself closer to the snow, she had heard something moving and the snow crunching under its feet.
She slowly moved to the cover of a tree and just listened by the sounds of the crunching snow it was coming closer and from the left of her current position.
Taking a deep breath the woman readied her bow and notched an arrow causing the bow string to creak under protest.
Daring to peer round the trunk of the tree and her blue eyes widened to the size of dinner plate, what stood in the snow just a head of her was a Deadly Nadder one with a rather familiar blue hue to it's scales.
She ducked back behind her tree as it snapped its head towards her, she held her breath listening to the Nadder inhale trying to catch a scent. What on earth was it looking for.
The woman continued to hold her breath, feeling her heart pounding in her ears as she just waited and waited until, 'crunch...crunch...Swoosh'
The woman let out a breath hearing her the Nadder's powerful wings powerful wings beat against the snow causing a chilling blast to swish through the tree's along with the tiny icy shards to dance through the tree's some cutting into her skin.
"Ow that hurt" She stated and watched the Nadder fly away before stepping out and looking around before breathing in relief and brushing a few stray brown hair strands behind her ear and looking around again, glad that Nadder had gone, now she could get back to breaking that ice to wash her face.
Picked up a twisted branch the woman set to work braking the ice, using one end of the stick to crack the ice through pure blunt force causing quiet a bit noise almost enough to miss the sound of crashing from the clouds which caused her to look up and taking notice of the dark,angry storm above her that threatened to burst at a moments notice.
Forgetting her personal quest for personal hygiene the isolated woman picked up her bow and ventured further into the forest, she needed food tonight she hoped OceanThorn had brought in a good catch for her and Beatlejuice.
A blonde woman who had her hair tied back in a simple braid trudged through the snow with her arms wrapped tightly around herself, she really wasn't dressed for this cold but she had gotten lost in the storm clouds and unfortunately brought it with but but as fortune would have it she then found this island and decided to take shelter.
Though it was cold and she was reluctant to unwrap her bare arms from her body but did so as a blue coloured Nadder landed in front of her and gave smile and her laugh, "Stormfly!" She called trudging up to her dragon at a quickened pace before throwing her arms round the dragon.
The dragon squawked happily at the sight of its rider and moved its head downwards to rest on her shoulder before lowering it's self for its rider to climb onto it back, who did so with well practice grace just as Stormfly took off.
She noted that Stormfly kept closer to the ground, meaning the storm would be upon them soon, she guessed Stormfly had found shelter as they needed to wait out the storm, looking upon the desolate island it looked just like a frozen icecube.
"I wonder if anybody lives here?" She questioned and held on tight to Stormfly but couldn't help squeal in excitement at the sight of a shack in the distance.
"Good girl Stormfly, this is perfect, maybe a little run down...but it will keep out the storm" She said as her dragon came into land.
Climbing off Stormfly the woman slowly pushed open the door and peered inside, "Looks like nobody's home" She stated and opened the door even wider to let Stormfly in, who gladly trotted in out of the cold.
Looking around the blonde raised an eyebrow, a used firepit sat in in the middle along with some smoked fish strung up above it and it was freshly cooked too.
And a bed sat just out of reach of the fires grasp.
The woman busied herself with looking around the one room house that seemed big enough to hold a larger type of dragon, "Somebody lives here Stormfly but how this island is nearly barren" She stated and spied a small chest in the corner. "Might give us a clue to who lives here" She stated and headed towards it.
She missed the pair of gleaming eyes from a rafter above her and just as she was about to reach for it before...
CRASH!
A weight pinned her down and looking over Stormfly seemed frozen in place a mix or shock and slight fear of who ever had opened the door.
"Astrid?" Came a voice filled with with the shock that equalled Stormfly face but instead of fear came hostility, "What are you doing MY Island?" She asked.
"Freydis?...your Alive?"...