I AM SO DARN FRUSTRATED THAT WORD WON'T DOWNLOAD ANYMORE, SO NOW I HAVE SIXTY DAYS TO FINISH THIS STORY AND FIRE FLUTE!
Astrid rolled and dived on her Nadderhead, trying to throw off Hiccup and Toothless. They were playing Air Tag on their dragons, and Hiccup was it. Astrid looked around and, seeing that Hiccup and Toothless were a distance away, smiled. She had been waiting to do a barrel roll the whole time they were in the air. Her hair was whipped around her face like a fan (she didn't have it in a braid that day) as her Nadderhead dove toward the ocean, pulling up at the last second. She would never get used to the excitement involved in riding a dragon, especially her Nadderhead. In her opinion, Nadderheads were the best dragons, except maybe Night Furies. Little did she know that the series of events to come would change her opinion on Nadderheads forever.
Camicazi ran toward her cabin. It was on the northernmost part of the island she lived on (it was not Berk). The island was big. Huge, in fact. Some of it was taken up by the village, and the fields of Potato plants (Vorpents lived on the island, so they couldn't be too careful; potatoes were also a staple of their diet). The rest of it was dense, mostly unexplored forest. As the daughter of the chief of the Bog-Burglar tribe, Camicazi had the biggest cabin, and it wasn't hard to recognize either. Her mother, Bertha, was busy making dinner, Camicazi knew by the delicious smells coming from the direction of her cabin. She was almost at the door when there was a screech, and a flash of light, and a scraping sound. Camicazi turned around to see at least a hundred fully grown Timberjacks coming toward the village. She looked off of the cliff face to find, to her horror, that all of their potato fields had been burnt to crisps. All of them. She looked up to the sky and saw the one thing she wouldn't have been worried about, if it weren't for their current crisis. Vorpents.
"Camicazi, look out! They're Vorpents!" Bertha opened the cabin door. "We have to leave, now! These Timberjacks are getting out of control!"
Camicazi agreed. The entire village had packed their musical instruments (The Bog-Burglars loved music) and other belongings and were filing into the ships. Camicazi and Bertha joined them, Bertha wielding her golden-bladed battleaxe, the one thing, according to legend, that could kill a Vorpent. Camicazi was glad that the Rogue Dragon had not come. There was an old Bog-Burglar legend about an evil dragon that was bent on the destruction of all man, but was trapped in the forest, guarding something. What it was guarding, nobody knew. The ships sailed off, going west, as Camicazi had foretold. Luckily, no Vorpents had boarded….or so they thought. Camicazi got that foreboding feeling again, and more words swirled around her head. The Dragontamer girl will lose the most… The Nightdragon will need guidance, so that it may fly again. Camicazi had received two ominous prophecies in one day. That did not bode well, for anyone…
Obviously, the Dragontamer girl is Astrid, and the Nightdragon is Toothless. You start to get the idea of what the 'more blood spilled' mentioned in the last chapter is going to be...
Here's the rest of the story.
"Hey, Astrid, what's that? It looks like some ships are docking here! Oh yeah, you're it!" Hiccup tagged Astrid, then went down to the harbor to investigate. Astrid followed, thinking, Why would anyone want to come to Berk? How did they find us? They landed to see Stoick talking to a woman who appeared to be the chieftess of the foreign tribe. She had a slight British accent, Astrid noticed. Behind her stood a girl with long, tangled blonde hair. When the girl saw Astrid, Hiccup, and Toothless, her eyes widened—it appeared to be in fear—and she looked back and forth from Astrid to Toothless as if she had seen a ghost. Astrid walked up to her, being careful not to scare her.
"Hi," she said. "I'm Astrid. You are?"
"Camicazi," the girl said. "Pleasure to meet you, Astrid Dragontamer."
"Umm…I've never heard anyone call me that before…" Astrid said, shaking Camicazi's hand.
"What brought you here?" Hiccup asked.
"Timberjacks," Camicazi said, dropping her hand to her side. She looked at Hiccup, then at Astrid, then at Hiccup again. "You two…. You are in a relationship, aren't you?" She spoke to Astrid, who had put her arm around hiccup. "He… he seems to mean a lot to you, and you to him." Her face fell.
"Yeah," Astrid said. "How'd you know?"
"I read the signs—" Camicazi started to say, then seemed to catch herself. Stoick was still talking to the woman, and you could see in his eyes that he had fallen in love.
"Who's that lady?" Hiccup asked.
"That is my mother, Bertha," Camicazi said. "She is a master musician, chef, and artist, and a master thief. That is why we chose her as chieftess. She has already passed down most of her skills to me, though without meaning to. I watch, I listen, I learn."
"OK…" Astrid said, thinking more and more that this girl was weird. Really weird. And why had she looked so downcast when she had talked about Hiccup? Did she have a crush on him? It didn't look like it.
Camicazi was panicking inside. She is a Dragontamer! And that black dragon….Nightdragon. The Dragontamer girl will lose the most... the Nightdragon will need guidance so that he may fly again… Someone was going to die. And Camicazi had an idea of who it was going to be. She didn't want to be thrown into this. She didn't want to be...
In the next chapter thingy, there is a funny quote, and if you can guess what movie it's from, you get a cookie! I am going to keep it on Camicazi's POV-except for one scene coming up (Qille, you know what that is), and a little chapter after this one, which is from nobody's POV-because doing it from Astrid's POV is so darn irritating, as she's kind of boring.
Camicazi dangled her legs off of the cliff face. She looked up to see Astrid sitting beside her.
"Why the down look, Camicazi?" Astrid asked. Camicazi knew she had to lie. She couldn't tell anyone about her gift, or that Hiccup was going to die. Especially not Astrid... Good thing Camicazi was a good liar.
"No reason. It's just... We had a fun tradition back on our island. We held a ball on the night of a meteor shower, and I always enjoyed it. Now... It was so much fun..." Camicazi sighed.
"Well..." Astrid said. "We could do it here!"
"But the meteor shower's in two days, and none of you know how to dance..."
"I can handle anything!" Camicazi didn't hear that last bit, she was running excitedly to go tell Bertha.
Here's the quote (of course, I adjusted it to fit with the story...) It's funny! This is from Bertha's POV.
Bertha paced back and forth between the excited groups of Vikings on either side of her, boys and men on one side, girls and women on the other.
"The Meteor Ball has been a tradition of the Bog-Burglars since we began," she said. "We-and in this case, you-gather in an outdoor clearing with a clear view of the stars for a night of well-mannered frivolity! Now, I expect each and every one of you..." she pointed to every Viking in turn, "...to put your best foot forward, and I mean this literally because the Meteor ball is first, and foremost, a dance." At this, the vikings began to whisper-some excitedly, some boredly-and a few rolled their eyes. Bertha continued to explain. "Now, as I've heard, the Vikings have been respected by all for the past century at least, so I don't want you in the course of a single evening to besmirch that name by behaving like a babbling, bumbling band of baboons!"
"Try saying it five times fast," Snotlout whispered to Tuffnut, and they began to say it rapidly over and over, until they were silenced by Bertha's stare.
"Now, to dance," Bertha said, and the Vikings realized they were having a dance lesson at that very moment. "To dance is to let the body breathe. Inside every girl..." she stepped toward the female Vikings. "...a secret swan slumbers, longing to burst forth into flight!" Gobber the Belch giggled. "And inside every boy..." Bertha continued, stepping toward the male Vikings, "...A lordly lion prepares to prance! Stoick,"
"Yes," Stoick said.
"Will you join me, please?" Bertha gestured with her hand, and Stoick blushed. "Now, put your right hand on my waist, like so." Bertha grabbed Stoick's arm and placed it on her waist. He glanced around warily, and Gobber whistled. Then several Bog-Burglars began to play music, and Bertha led Stoick in a dance.
HA HA! I just HAD to do that! Anywho, if you can guess what those quotes are from, please say so in a review, and I will give you a cookie! Onward to the next chapter: preparations and another weird ability of Camicazi!
Camicazi jumped up and down in excitement. The meteor ball would be that night, and she still needed to prepare! The previous day's dance lessons had been, well, awkward for all of the vikings. Camicazi pulled her needle in and out of the rough-woven fabric. She had left her ballgown at the other island, and she had to make Astrid one too. Busy, busy, busy! She was glad, though. It kept her mind off of the Dragonkey Prophecy, and the other one. She knotted the thread, and, having finished the dress, ran to Astrid's hut to give it to her. It was blue on the top, red on the bottom, with a black belt dividing the two colors. The skirt was long and flowy, and spread out when you twirled. It was, all in all, the best dress Camicazi had ever made. Camicazi knocked on Astrid's door, and, seeing she was not home, left the dress by the doorstep with a note. She'll get it when she gets back, she thought, and skipped back to the hut where she was staying to finish her dress, which would be light green, with a skirt that went down to her ankles. She smelled food cooking.
"Eek!" Camicazi yelped in surprise as she was lifted into the air. She looked up to see Astrid and Hiccup riding Toothless, who had grasped her by the arm and was, by then, carrying her over the forest. "Please let me down."
"First, we have to show you something!" Hiccup said, and pointed to a spot not far off. It was a large dent in the ground, in which there was a small pond and tall, green grass. "That is the Crater Clearing."
Camicazi couldn't help but open her mouth. The Crater Clearing was beautiful! Toothless gently set Camicazi on the ground, then landed himself. Hiccup and Astrid dismounted. Camicazi swayed back and forth, feeling slightly woozy.
"Camicazi, is everything alright?" Astrid asked.
"I'm fine," Camicazi said, and fainted on the spot. Her head was flooded by images of a pond surrounded by boulders. Signs of Timberjack activity surrounded it; the trees on one side had all been chopped in half. Camicazi didn't see any Timberjacks, though, which was strange. She knew what she was seeing, though. She was seeing what was happening, at that moment, at the pond where she had recieved the Dragonkey Prophecy.
Camicazi jerked awake in the Crater Clearing, to see Hiccup and Astrid bent over her worriedly.
"What happened?" they asked in unison.
"I don't know, I..." Camicazi decided to tell them everything. "I saw what was happening at a pond on the island I came from."
"What?" Hiccup and Astrid stared at her puzzledly.
"I have psychic abilities."
"You do? Really?" Toothless sent a telepathic message to Camicazi. Her eyes widened; she had never had this happen before. Maybe it was just Night Furies.
"I can speak with Toothless through our minds. I can see the future. At that pond, the one I was seeing images of, I had seen a prophecy. Two, to be exact. I knew there would be blood spilled there, then I recieved these words." She told Hiccup and Astrid the Dragonkey Prophecy.
"Then, when I was on one of our ships, I heard 'The Dragontamer girl will lose the most, and the Nightdragon will need guidance, so that he may fly again.'" At this, it seemed to dawn on both Hiccup and Astrid what these prophecies together meant.
"Camicazi, this ability...it isn't real, right?" Astrid had genuine fear in her eyes, as did Hiccup.
"I'm afraid it is." Camicazi stood up. The sun was setting. She abruptly changed the subject. "We should be getting back to the village now. The ball is about to start."
"Ok," Hiccup said. "You can ride on Toothless with us."
At this, Camicazi shuddered. She was really really afraid of heights.
"No thanks, I'll walk," she said.
"Suit yourself." Hiccup boarded Toothless, followed by Astrid, and they flew back to the village, Camicazi running through the forest.
Stormfly comes into this story a bit later, for all of you who are wondering. She is a female Night Fury in this story (She retains her mood-scales, she's just a Night Fury). I am kind of adjusting things a little bit. Dragons cannot speak in this story, except, of course, Stormfly, though Night Furies can mind-communicate to Camicazi.
The Meteor Ball was a blast. The Vikings had been taught to play various simple instruments (recorder, tambourine, etc.) by the Bog-Burglars, and those who weren't dancing were either eating or playing music. Stoick was talking with Bertha, and Gobber was examining one of the fancier foods, wondering what it was and if it would taste good. Camicazi twirled and kicked, doing a dance of her own making. Hiccup and Astrid stood several feet apart, their expressions saying, "Should I dance? Maybe." Camicazi smiled a half-hearted smile. She felt a tap on her shoulder, and looked to see Bertha behind her.
"Go up and sing, Camicazi," Bertha said. "You know, that song you made up."
"Oh, alright." Camicazi had made up a song right when they had arrived on Berk. She stepped up onto the improvised stage, and sang. (These lyrics actually go to the main theme music of the HTTYD movie.)
"Running through the night,
Keeping the river in sight.
I feel like slowing down,
But I keep moving on.
Soaring through the sky
And twirling by and by.
Higher and higher I fly
Zig-zagging low and high.
The wind around me seems to sing
As I ride on a dragon's wings.
Ride on a dragon's wings.
I'm looking here, I'm looking there
But all I see is empty air.
My dragon's wings supporting me,
I soar above the deep blue sea.
Soaring through the sky
And twirling by and by.
Higher and higher I fly
Zig-zagging low and high.
The wind around me seems to sing,
As I ride on a dragon's wings.
Ride on a dragon's wings."
Camicazi looked down to see Hiccup and Astrid dancing. And, to her surprise, so were Stoick and Bertha. A shriek sounded through the air. Camicazi turned her head to see, to her horror, a Venomous Vorpent coming straight towards Astrid. She leapt between the Vorpent and Astrid, then felt the sting in her arm. (I'm aware that in the books the Vorpents' stings are tiny and you can't feel them. I'm adjusting some things.) She saw Bertha swing her golden battleaxe down, killing the Vorpent, then all went black as Camicazi fell unconscious.
DA DA DA! The quest for the Potato that Hiccup and Astrid go on does NOT GO WELL. The enemy (the Rogue Dragon) is fully introduced in this next part, as is Stormfly! It's in Hiccup's POV, which gets a bit weird. This is going to be difficult to write. Very difficult...
Hiccup had heard of the Venomous Vorpent. The world's most deadly dragon, it's sting could only be cured by the Potato, which didn't grow on Berk.
"Camicazi!" cried Bertha worriedly. She turned toward Hiccup. "You have to find the Potato. It should be on our island, to the east. All of our fields have been burnt, but there may still be some wild populations on our island. The leaves are large, and dark green."
"We'll leave immediately," Astrid said, stepping behind Hiccup. "Right, Hiccup?"
"Yeah. We will." Hiccup called Toothless. He and Astrid boarded the eager dragon, and Toothless took off in an eastern direction.
"WATCH OUT FOR TIMBERJACKS!" Bertha called after them.
Hiccup and Astrid trudged through the thick forest on the island. Toothless was having even more trouble, due to his size. Hiccup wondered where all of the Timberjacks were. Then he found something disgusting and smelly. A dead Timberjack was on the ground in front of them. Toothless came up and began to sniff it. He looked at Hiccup as if to say "Why is it dead?" Then the answer came in the form of another Night Fury. This one was golden, and shone in the sunlight. She was obviously a female.
"What brings you here? This is the territory of the Rogue Dragon," the Night Fury said. Hiccup gasped. A dragon had just spoken to him!
"We're looking for the Potato." He spoke slowly. Astrid was behind him, eyes wide.
"Well, the only patch of Potato bushes I know of on this whole island is over that way. Oh yeah, my name's Stormfly," the female Night fury said, gesturing with her head toward the other side of the island. Toothless stared at her, wide-eyed. She looked at him, and their mint-green eyes met. Stormfly turned bright scarlet, and if a Night Fury could blush, Toothless did. Hiccup stifled a giggle. Toothless had a crush on Stormfly! And Stormfly was a Mood Dragon! No wonder Toothless thought she was beautiful. Mood dragons were extremely rare dragons (they could be any species) whose scales were golden and changed color with their mood.
"Um, Stormfly?" Astrid asked. "Do you know why this Timberjack is dead?"
"Yes. It was impaled by the Rogue Dragon's tail spikes." Stormfly casually licked her paw and washed her ear, just like a cat. "The Rogue Dragon, if you were wondering, looks like a Nadderhead, but it's deep black in color with bloodred eyes and wing membranes. Oh yeah, if you want to get to the Potato, you'd better fly."
Hiccup and Astrid did just that, Hiccup on Toothless, Astrid on Stormfly, who had agreed (begrudgingly) to stay and guide them. "You shouldn't go this way," Stormfly had said. "The Rogue Dragon will try to kill you!" Hiccup and Astrid had gone anyway. Toothless began to grunt, and gestured to Hiccup to turn his head around. Hiccup did, to see the Rogue Dragon preparing to shoot its tail spikes directly at Astrid and Stormfly.
"Toothless, can you fly long enough for me to jump?" Hiccup asked Toothless. Toothless was shaking in fear, but he nodded. Hiccup stood on Toothless's back, and leapt in front of Astrid just as the Rogue Dragon's tail spikes whizzed through the air, directly toward them.
"NOOOOOOO!" Hiccup heard Astrid cry. He fell through the sky, landing in a small pond, surrounded by boulders. He weakly pushed himself to shore, then slumped limply on the rocks, staring at the four-inch-long tail spike embedded in his chest. His senses were flooded with pain. His vision began to cloud, but he saw one of the bushes directly in front of him. He reached up and picked a leaf. It fit Bertha's description of the potato plant perfectly. Large, dark green... Hiccup smiled weakly. He knew it had not been for nothing. He knew Astrid would find him, and in turn, find the Potato. A heavy feeling came over him, and he let himself be engulfed in it. The pain of his wound grew further and further away, until it finally disappeared altogether, and all went black.
For those of you who don't quite understand what just happened, Hiccup died. AYEE! It's hard to write a death scene from the POV of the dying character, but I've seen it done before (in Swordbird), so I did it now. Continuing, in Astrid's POV.
Astrid dodged the tail spikes until the Rogue Dragon gave up and flew away. Then she, riding Stormfly, dove down to the clearing where Hiccup had fallen. She dismounted and ran over to where Hiccup lay limp against one of the many boulders surrounding the pond. He was not breathing.
"No, no, no... Hiccup, wake up. Please." She knew he wouldn't. Hiccup was dead. Astrid noticed there was something crumpled in his hand. She pulled it out. It was a Potato leaf. She looked around to see that they were surrounded by potato bushes. "We... we did it. We found the Potato. Oh, Hiccup..." Astrid wept. Toothless came over and looked at her as if to say "He's going to wake up. He has to wake up. He has to wake up, now." But Hiccup didn't wake up. Stormfly came up next to Toothless. She had turned a blue-ish black color, and they almost looked like twins.
"I can fly you both back to Berk," she said, noticing Toothless's prosthetic tail fin.
"Are you sure?" Astrid asked.
"Yes," Stormfly replied, nodding. "I've carried heavier loads than this. Just make sure you bring one of those." She nudged a potato plant. Astrid dug up a potato, wrapped it in a piece of cloth, and put it in her pocket. Tears continued to roll down her face. She lifted Hiccup's body and mounted Stormfly. Toothless mounted behind her. Stormfly took off with slight difficulty and headed back West, to Berk.
Ok, now I can't say "I have the hiccups" normally. Next paragraph, ho! Camicazi's weird abilities come in handy, and everybody thinks it's their fault. You know, 'it'.
Camicazi awoke to find herself in a dark room. She stared at her bandaged arm (she had been stung by a Vorpent) then looked up to see Stoick the Vast looking down at her.
"What are you doing here?" she asked him.
"I wanted to tell you that Hiccup and his friends have already gone on a quest to find the Potato."
"What? Where? I have to stop them!" Camicazi panicked. The Dragonkey Prophecy was on the verge of realization. She got up and, before Stoick could stop her, ran out the door and to the platform overlooking the ocean. They had already left. She softly whispered, knowing only she could hear.
"Please don't go." She realized what she said as she said it. She had to get to the crater clearing. A strange phoenomenon took place there; she was able to see back to the pond where she had been chased by the Timberjack, and had recieved the Dragonkey Prophecy. She ran through the woods, which were verdant in the heat of summer. Upon reaching the crater clearing, she immediately fainted. But that was only expected, as she was seeing in a completely different place. What she did see was Hiccup lying limply against a rock, the water around him stained red. Camicazi heard a rustle in the bushes, then Astrid emerged with Toothless. Camicazi saw Hiccup's death unfold. There was so much blood... Camicazi jerked back awake in the crater clearing, sprawled spread-eagle on the soft grass. She sat down on a rock-the very same rock that Hiccup had sat on when he had first befriended Toothless-and wept.
Stormfly's POV!
Stormfly could feel the wet of Hiccup's blood on her back. She could feel the cold of Toothless's scales, the softness of the leather of Astrid's boots. She could feel many things, but she was glad she could not see them.
"We're here," she said, matter-of-factly. Astrid nodded, eyes closed against the outside world. Stormfly landed on the dock. Stoick, Gobber, Bertha, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut ran forward, then hesitated when they saw Hiccup's body. That is, all except Stoick. He ran forward and picked up his son's body, sobbing. Astrid reached into her pocket and took out the Potato. At that moment, Camicazi came running over the hill behind them.
