Chapter Two: Over My Shoulder and Through the Cave to Dagur's Place We Go

*Beep beep *Beep beep *Beep beep

Matt's phone alarm went off, to which he quickly silenced the annoying sound. Even though he agreed with Astrid to get some rest before they went to the cave and eventually back to Berk, he had barely slept at all. Sleep was the last thing on Matt's mind. With Astrid in his world and hearing that Hiccup was in trouble, he couldn't help but feel anxious. Not to mention the fact that he might be able to get back to Berk and ultimately fly dragons again.

Getting up, he looked at the phone with a bright 4:00 a.m. on it. "That gave her 5 hours of needed rest…" Matt thought as he rolled up onto his feet. Stretching a little, Matt heard his back pop. The floor wasn't as comfy as he tried to make it be. Walking to the futon, Matt gently shook the sleeping body. Stirring, Astrid looked up at him.

"Already time?" She whispered extending her hand out.

"Yeah, come on." Matt urged, grabbing her hand and helping her up "We got a lot of ground to cover."

"Don't worry about me. I feel refreshed and ready to kick Dagur's butt." Astrid said with a smile, putting on her fur coat.

"I'll let you do that." Matt smiled back, shouldering his backpack and started limping towards the stairs. Hanging on the door handle that led downstairs was his goggles. Grabbing them, he quickly slid them on his head.

"Is your leg worse?" Astrid asked, following closely "I didn't notice your limp as much last night…"

"It bugs me when I wake up, but if I walk on it for little bit I'll be fine." Matt said, brushing off the comment. Finally getting downstairs and near the door, Matt reached at the counter and pulled a few Clif Bars. Handing one to Astrid, Matt pocketed the rest to save for later. "Good for quick energy" He said smiling.

"Great! I'll definitely take that then." Astrid said, trying to open the wrapper.

After relocking the door, Matt turned to see Astrid furiously attacking the wrapper that wouldn't come off. Laughing, Matt grabbed the bar and tore the corner off. Handing it back to her he said "There…that way you'll have something left to eat."

Scowling at him, Astrid took the open wrapper and began to snack on the bar.

Walking up the mountain wasn't as difficult as he remembered, but Matt then thought maybe this time it was because he had a more intense reason to get to the cave. His black snowboard coat and pants made him almost invisible in the dark. If it wasn't for his snowboard which was colored green and white, he was sure he could lose Astrid if he got far enough.

"So…how old are you now?" Astrid asked, walking next to Matt.

"22." Matt replied "Still feel like I'm 16 though…"

"Still a kid then huh?" Astrid teased.

"Yup!" Matt smiled. Turning to Astrid he asked "How about you? How old are you and Hiccup?"

"He's 21, I'm almost 21." Astrid said returning a look back. "Two more weeks and it's my birthday."

"No kidding?" Matt said with a wider smile "Well…if we end up saving Berk, consider it your birthday present."

"Gee. Thanks." Astrid said rolling her eyes, trying to hide the smile.

"Oh hey!" Matt asked excitedly "Is Snotlout still hitting on you?"

The reply was a punch to the arm and deadly glare from Astrid. "Not anymore, and I plan on keeping it that way. Don't give him ANY ideas…" She warned.

"Got it! Got it…" Matt quickly said, returning his attention to what was ahead of him.

Getting to the top of the mountain was relatively quick. Having someone to talk to made it a lot easier to hike and passed the time. As they neared the top, Matt stopped and pointed to a direction that they needed to go. Whispering, Matt said: "Ok, it's only ten minutes from here, we should tread lightly in case anyone did follow you here or us on the way up."

Nodding, Astrid crouched to sneak around a little better. Following suit, Matt also pulled up his hood to make him less visible. As they made their way to the cave, he couldn't help but go into flashbacks of when he was snowboarding down this side of the mountain. It was impossible to forget the feeling he had when he took shelter from a storm in that cave.

Even though they took their time, Matt and Astrid got there relatively quick and had no events. Walking into the cave made Matt close his eyes for a second to reminisce. After standing there, he opened his eyes and saw the cave had indeed opened up. Astrid was already heading in, pulling something from behind a rock as she did so. As Matt moved closer, he saw that it was her battle-axe. "Ah. I was wondering where you put that…" Matt said sarcastically.

"Well, I did come from a battle didn't I?" Astrid smiled, shouldering the axe.

Returning the smile, Matt pulled out his flashlight and shone it into the cave. It was just like how he remembered it, rocky and almost impassable. Guiding Astrid over the rocky course, he asked "How did you get through here? Did you have a torch?"

"A lot of tripping and some crawling." Astrid replied, sliding over a rock. "Felt like ages before I got to the other end."

Laughing, Matt teased "Well, technically it was 'ages'. You showed up a 1000 years later!"

"Oh you're so funny." Astrid replied, visibly rolling her eyes.

Seeing the exit, Matt shut off his light. Crouched, he silently walked to the edge and felt the cold wind blow past him as he emerged out of the mouth of the cave. Below he could see the village lights of Berk and the massive ocean that expanded past all eyesight. It reminded him of when he said goodbye to Wasatch and all his friends.

"Beautiful isn't it." Astrid whispered, looking at the view.

"It is…just like last time I was here." Matt whispered. Chuckling, he added "And this time I'm not going to be chased off a cliff!"

"We'll see about that." Astrid grinned mischievously, making Matt have second thoughts.

Turning around, Matt was shocked to see two massive eyes staring at him. "What the!?" he said loudly, falling onto his back.

"Toothless!" Astrid shouted, running to him and grabbing the dragon's neck.

"Good crap!" Matt breathed loudly in relief "I forgot you said he was up here too…" Picking himself up, Matt walked over to the black dragon. "Remember me bud?" Matt whispered, holding out his hand.

Sniffing the extended hand, Toothless immediately licked it and then tackled Matt.

"Oooofff!" Matt groaned as Toothless licked his face "It's good to see you too bud!"

Getting the dragon off of him Matt stood up and saw that the wall was closed in the cave again. "Oh come on…for the love of…" Matt whined "Already? It's closed already!?"

"Well…it's a good thing we came when we did." Astrid said, staring at the wall. Turning to the village, she said "It might be better to keep moving, the sun is going to be up and I have a feeling Dagur isn't going to be patient with anyone when he learns that his men didn't get Toothless."

"Great…we're on a time table, and we still don't have a plan." Matt said, walking to the edge.

"Well…maybe it'll be good to do a little scouting work. If we can see where they're keeping our dragons, we might be able to get them out before they know we're here." Astrid said, starting to slide down the mountain. Matt quickly followed, with Toothless behind him.

After an hour of crawling in the snow, the three appeared above Berk. Sitting next to a boulder, they scanned the village. After a few moments of silence, Astrid whispered "I don't see anything! Other than guards patrolling everywhere."

The sun was starting to crest over the ocean, giving a brilliant glow to the mountain behind them. Matt was staring at the snow covered village, whispering "I really wish I could see this place in the summer. I mean really, I keep on coming during the bad months."

"And bad times." Astrid added, still scanning the village.

Toothless moaned a little and fidgeted towards a direction. Matt and Astrid quickly looked to see where Toothless was facing. Walking up the main road of the village was Dagur and Hiccup with his hand's tied behind his back. Following them were all the other dragon riders, tied in a similar fashion and being escorted by Berserker guards.

"Well…" Matt muttered "Hiccup has gotten bigger!" Looking at the line of prisoners "I guess we know where they are now."

"And we know that Hiccup and the others are alive! But where are our dragons!?" Astrid asked angrily, frantically scanning the village again.

Pulling Astrid down a little, Matt whispered "Think Astrid…where would you put the dragons that were trained by all of the best trainers?"

"Not the hangar…" Astrid replied, staring at the ground "That would be too easy to infiltrate and really tough to defend specific dragons. It would have to be the arena then…It's easy to defend and incredibly hard to sneak in or out."

Satisfied with Astrid's thought, Matt looked at where Hiccup and Dagur were going. "I'd guess that they're going to be there as well."

"Great" Astrid huffed, sliding behind the boulder and gripping her axe "Even if I could fly Toothless and you had Wasatch, we could never get to them without letting the Berserkers know we were coming."

Looking at the arena, then to Hiccup, and then the guards; Matt had a plan evolve in his head. Sliding behind the rock with Astrid, he began to say "I'm not much of a strategist, but we do have one advantage."

"And that is?" Astrid said, rolling her eyes.

"Me." Matt replied simply "They don't know about me…do they?"

"Oh great… we have someone that doesn't know how to swing a sword. Yep Matt, you're right on! They're definitely at a disadvantage. They have armies, armadas, and now hostages; but we have you." Astrid breathed loudly.

Brushing aside some of the things that stung a little, Matt grinned "Yup. And more importantly, I have you."

Curiously, Astrid looked at Matt which turned into a grin. "You have a plan don't you; Matt Haddock, you came up with a plan!"

"Give me some credit!" Matt said defensively, sounding hurt "I came up with a few of them last time I was here!" then turning his head a little, he added "Some did fail I'll admit." Returning to the task at hand, Matt pointed to a lone guard about 400 yards away. "All I need is help getting that guys armor. More importantly the helmet."

"Already on it." Astrid said, crawling in the snow.

As Matt laid down in the snow to follow, he whispered to Toothless "Stay here boy…get ready to come help us when we walk into the arena."

Almost nodding, Toothless laid down even lower to conceal himself. Matt was amazed at the intelligence of the dragon, able to understand what he was saying and more importantly obey what he asked. "Guess I need to get re-exposed to them…" he muttered.

Astrid quickly made her way to another boulder next to the village, and then peered around the corner to see if there were any guards. Matt quickly slid next to her, trusting in her call to move to the building that was closest.

"Ok, we move on three…" Astrid whispered. Matt nodded to let her know he was with her. The butterflies were coming back again, been awhile since Matt had that feeling. Astrid then started to count off: "One…Two…Three!" She immediately sprinted across the small opening and slid behind the building. Matt was shortly with her, also sliding.

Checking to make sure they weren't spotted, Astrid then went to the other corner of the building. "There's your guard." Astrid said, peering barely out of the corner "Tell you what, you be a distraction in getting him over here, and I'll take care of the rest."

"Doesn't sound like I have much choice do I" Matt whispered back. The butterflies were flying in his stomach like crazy, he hated having a plan depend on him.

Astrid didn't even respond, because she was busy climbing the side of the house. When she reached a point to where she was hanging from a window; she nodded to Matt, telling him to get the guard to come.

Breathing loudly, trying to slow down his heart, Matt laid in the snow and began to moan loudly. "Oh…my leg! Someone help!"

"Who's there?" a voice sounded.

"Please help!" Matt moaned. Sweat was dripping off his face. He hoped that only one guard would come.

"Hold on I'm coming!" The guard's voice sounded as he neared the corner "How did you get out of your hou-" The guard froze when he rounded the corner of the house, not quite under Astrid. "What the…Who are you? What are you wearing?" he demanded.

Thinking fast, Matt quickly replied "Well…funny thing." Matt began to scoot away from him to draw him closer to Astrid. "I'm supposed to be you and I'm going to be wearing your armor."

Confused, the guard stepped closer to Matt only to have Astrid jump on his back; bringing the flat side of her axe on top of the guards head.

Matt flinched as he watched the guard fall almost lifeless to the ground. "Wow…I'd almost feel bad for him if I didn't know that he invaded Berk.

"Quit talking!" Astrid hissed as she started to strip the armor off of the fallen guard "Quick put these on!"

Matt immediately dropped his backpack and threw on the shoulder plates. Since he was significantly smaller than the guard, he had to keep his snowboard coat and pants on to fill the extra space.

"Here, these too!" Astrid said, throwing him a heavy studded vest and chaps "They'll at least cover most of your equipment." Staring at the chaps, Matt quickly started to rush putting on the vest first.

While Matt was changing, Astrid kept watch in case other guards came. Just as Matt finished strapping on the chaps, Astrid asked "So…how are you going to get the dragons?"

Matt looked up in shock and then slightly chuckled "I'm not getting the dragons. You are."

Astrid stared at Matt as he finished clicking the belt on. "Well do I pass?" he asked, showing himself off.

"Good enough, but what do you mean I'm getting the dragons?" Astrid asked with concern on her face "I can't even show my face past this building without being spotted!"

"You're totally missing the point Astrid!" Matt said a little impatiently "We need everyone to see you. I won't be able to get into the arena unless I have a reason!"

Astrid looked at Matt still confused. "What do you mean we need everyone to see me!? We need to free Hiccup and the others!"

"I know!" Matt said frustrated "Honestly Astrid, do I need to tell you everything?"

"Yes!" Astrid hissed back "With a plan like this, I do need to know everything!"

Sighing, Matt shook his head and put his goggles in his coat pocket. Making sure that they wouldn't fall out, he looked back at Astrid and asked: "Got any rope?"

"What? Why?" Astrid said, and then it hit her. Nodding very slowly she began to say "So your taking me in as a prisoner…your using me as bait."

"As a pass." Matt corrected "I need to have a reason to get to, and ultimately into, the dragon arena."

Astrid still nodding, slowly let her axe drop in the snow. "And you can't get into the arena unless you have something that Dagur wants."

"Nailed it." Matt said quietly.

Kneeling down, Astrid picked up a coil of rope off the Berserker guard and handed it to Matt. "Just to let you know, this is incredibly risky."

"I know. But it guarantees us a spot in the arena right? Besides if I try to help the dragons, they'll see me as…well a Berserker, not a friend." Matt said, grabbing the rope. Pausing for a second, Matt then asked "Astrid. If you really don't want to do this, I totally understand."

"Oh shut up!" Astrid replied with a jest in her voice "You knew that I'd do it, that's why you came up with this plan. Nope, I'm in. I haven't come up with a better plan anyways."

Smiling sheepishly Matt kneeled down and had Astrid turn around, pulling her wrists together and behind her. Winding the rope tightly around her wrists, Matt cut the remaining rope with a dagger he pulled off of the guard. He then used what was left of the coil and tied Astrid's ankles together. Letting her lean against the building for balance, Matt grabbed the helmet of the Berserker and slid it over his head.

"Now you look like a Berserker." Astrid said "Can barely tell who you are with that on, and I even know you."

"Thanks." Matt said, double checking the helmet was on straight "Ready to go?"

Astrid looked at him like he was stupid, saying "I don't know, I'm tied up and leaning against a wall. You tell me if I'm ready to go."

Laughing lightly, Matt picked up Astrid's axe and sheathed the dagger he took in the belt he had strapped on. Holding the axe in one hand, he picked up Astrid with the other and slung her over his shoulder. Walking out into the open, Matt took a deep breath and prayed that this plan would work.