Chapter Two: Starvation and the Rescue
Hey guys! Thanks again for reading my fanfic! I hope to get you chapters on a semi regular basis, I'm aiming for every two or three days.
It had been weeks since the young girl escaped from her country. The storm that allowed her to flee successfully was but a distant memory. She had been doing her best to distill fresh water out of the ocean water. The fisherman who owned the boat had some items on board that allowed her to do just that, though it never gave her much. The beating sun however was an excellent opportunity for her luggage to warm. She kept it fairly in the middle of the boat in the bright rays. This will do for now… she thought. Fishing didn't give her much, especially since she didn't really have a way to cook them. At some points in the day, the boat would get so hot that she could somewhat sear the sides on a plank of wood, if not, then the fish would dry into a semi flaking jerky. The mud that covered the whole front of her body had dried and flaked off a long time ago, though, her skin was still greyed by the left over dirt particles.
She had no one to talk to for the three weeks she was at sea so she sang a lot, just whatever came to mind, mostly of a lullaby her grandmother used to sing to her. She didn't know where she was going to end up, on clear nights, she would row the boat using the stars for navigation. As far as she knew, she was heading north. At times the ocean would be shrouded in bits of mist, and she noticed that the weather slowly became chillier, and thus, the ability to catch fish dwindled into nothing. She felt herself slowly starving, though managed to keep a little bit of drinkable water distilled, but even that was running out. When it got chilly, she moved into the tiny little cabin with her luggage and curled up, almost too weak to move.
"Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Fishlegs. You will be patrolling to the east. Astrid, Hiccup, Snotlout, you three will be patrolling the south today. You all know the drill. Make sure both groups have a Terror with you." Stoic explained as he gave the late teens their assignments. The terrors were small and quick, though not as quick as a Night Fury, but they made good message carriers. A lot of the village were frankly too large to fly the dragons on a regular basis, so patrolling by sky was often left to the younger generation who hadn't grown into that buff Viking size yet, though Fishlegs was a little iffy. Sometimes it seemed like his Bronkle had a tough time carrying him. This was one of Hiccups favourite assignments, it gave him some semi alone time with Astrid, the only buzz kill was that Snotlout was with them, and he still seemed to be trying to win Astrid to his side. "Alright, lets go Toothless." He muttered as he hopped onto the saddle that was strapped to the back of his best friend, the Night Fury he bonded with those few years ago when the war between Dragons and Vikings still raged.
"So, Astrid." Snotlout began once they were well on their patrol. The sky was fairly clear, it was perhaps about mid-late summer. There were however, patches of fog about and the clouds hung a little low. Astrid glanced his was apathetically. "What." She sternly replied. "Well, uh, so there's this party happening over at the twins house tomorrow night, even though you're with Hiccup, I still think we should go together anyways." Hiccup rolled his eyes and Astrid scoffed. "Sorry, no, I'm already going with Hiccup." she replied with a cool attitude. "Drat" Snotlout mumbled to himself. An alarming grumble came from Toothless which had caught Hiccup's attention immediately. "What is it bud?" And he watched as Toothless turned his head towards a small dark object floating on top the water.
"Lets go check it out." the strong voice that belonged to Astrid chimed and the others followed. As they got closer, the details of the object came into view. "It's a boat of some kind, a very strange boat." Snotlout observed as they began to circle around. "It's too small for you boys to land, go scope the area, see if there are any more boats." Astrid called as she landed on top the cabin part of the boat. Luckily, her dragon was a breed that was very light and didn't weigh the boat down too much further. She tread carefully, hearing creaks with each step. It felt like this rickety wooden boat could spring a leak at any moment or just outright fall apart. She hopped down examining the front. It definitely looked like someone had recently been using some of the tools. She took note of a few piles of rope shoved to either side. Her attention turned to the cabin, and with her battle axe in hand and ready, she slowly opened the door, ready for anything.
Astrid's eyes widened when she saw what was in front of her. It was a girl that looked to be about the same age as her. Her hair was long, falling down to her mid back, and seemingly black. It was hard to tell from all the dirt that covered her. Her clothes looked like they used to be a white or cream color of some kind, and somewhat thin. Her glance continued downwards to the girls bare feet. They too were blackened by dirt, and red, filled with cuts scratches where some were most likely infected, it was obvious with the swelling in some areas. Within the girls weak arms were wrapped around her luggage that she had strapped to her back previously, clutching it, protecting it. Astrid scooted down to kneel beside the girl, gently nudging her shoulder.
At first it didn't seem to work, until her head came up, her eyes struggling to stay open. "P….please…" The girl mumbled. Her lips were dry and chapped and her throat sounded full of sand. Astrid shot up and looked around for something to help her. There was a tiny bit of distilled water left in a tiny basin. She held it up to the girls lips and let the water seep into her mouth. The girl coughed as she tried to keep up with how fast she was being fed. "Thank you…" the girl muttered. "Please… don't let anything happen to the egg. It must stay warm, it must stay safe…" Astrid wasn't sure as to what she was referring to, but she kneeled forward to try to pull the cloth bag away from her. A piece fell open, and Astrid caught the glimpse of something that looked like a giant pearl that was perfectly spherical and partially transparent only in the slightest. But the only thing was that it was bigger than her head! "Please protect the egg…" The girl muttered again before losing consciousness.
A few deep breaths and Astrid was to her feet. However, the moment she reopened the door, a blast of chilly air nipped violently at her face. "We can't transport her on dragon back…it's too cold." She thought out loud. Her eyes darted about, trying to think of something. That's when the idea sprung to mind and her face lit up. Upon leaving the cabin area, she made sure to keep the door closed. The rope on either side of the boat will be perfect! She had to act quickly though, who knows how much longer the girl had. She looked like she was on the verge of death already. It was only seconds before the rope was in her arms and she was tying it to the boat. Four long pieces. This was perfect. She needn't the fourth, but the three will work. Taking the middle rope she tied to the front of the boat, she wrapped it around the base of her dragon's neck. She was moving so fast that she almost forgot about the chirping terror at her feet. "Oh right!"
"There's nothing else out here!" Hiccup called down to Astrid as they returned, circling around. Hiccup took notice to the Terror flying off back to Berk with a message. "We gotta haul this boat back! And fast!" Astrid hollered towards her friends. Hiccup and Snotlout nodded to each other and circled around like the shape of a pretzel. As each of them passed by the boat, Astrid threw them the rope. As soon as she could confirm that both boys had a firm handle on their ends, she jumped up onto her dragon and joined them. Toothless scoffed, obviously convinced he could do this on his own with Hiccup. The waves around the boat grew, no longer being carried by the current as it picked up tremendous momentum. The girl inside shuttered ever so slightly from sleep at the motion and wrapped herself tightly around the egg in her arms. Was she rescued?
Alright! So that's the end of Chapter Two! This time it was a bit longer. If my chapters seem too long, please let me know. I'm still experimenting with the lengths as this is my first fanfic!
See you at Chapter Three!
