Bookworm700: Thank you for your reviews! Since it is a legend, stuff got left out. The giant dragon (Wikipedia says its name is Red Death) is dead, Hiccup flew off on Toothless in the arena, and Toothless brought him to the nest, and well, they killed Red Death. Oh, and the skirt is leather? It looks so much like wood… Thanks though, I will change that. I have been visiting my family, so I have not been able to update… I am very sorry and I will try to update much sooner….
I don't own How to Train Your Dragon.
Day 1
I was lying on my cot, awake before we were supposed to get up. Most of the other girls were still asleep. The only person awake besides me was Bertha. Today we were going over shield use and axe throwing. After that, were going to fish for our lunch. Literally. If you didn't get a fish, you were going to have to eat leftovers from the night before. Once lunch was over, we would be doing archery, catapults, and weighted nets. And the 'highlight' of the day would be raid planning while watching the sheep. Camicazi claimed that we would be picking leaders, hiding flags, and sneaking off to talk about girl stuff.
Groaning, I got up and got dressed. I already knew I wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep. I grabbed my fur boots and yanked them on. Bertha looked up as I was opening and looked at me expectantly, waiting for an explanation.
"Oh, I'm, um, going to the bathroom," I stated, my excuse weak. She stared, and then nodded. Sighing, I walked down the steps to the barren dirt and ash mix that was the ground. Tuffs of grass were sporadically growing around, making it look like a misshapen quilt. I sat down on the wooden steps and looked out at the ocean. Even though the ocean was far below the cliffs, which were ringed in by wet, corroding metal railing, the salty spray of the sea still blew in my face. I don't know how long I sat there, but it wasn't long till Val and Cami were sitting beside me. A couple minutes later, Bertha and Ruffnut joined us. Ruffnut was actually okay, as long as her brother wasn't there. The silence was peaceful, yet slightly awkward. Feeling the need to start talking, Camicazi began talking about random subjects.
"Don't you think the sunrise is so pretty? The mist on the island is so pretty too! Does anyone know any fishing secrets? I don't like fishing! Fish don't like me either! So what are your real names? Personally, I think it's awesome that we get nicknames, but I like to think of them more of codenames! We can be like spies when we get the flags from the other tribes!"
Cami's bright childlike outlook on life was nice, but if only she could be partly serious at times. It was nice to have someone who was optimistic on this miserable island.
"So, should we go get breakfast, or are we just going to sit here," I casually asked my cabin mates.
"That would be a good idea, but my brother and I tried to eat breakfast before everyone else, and Gobber is really cranky in the morning," Ruffnut supplied helpfully.
"Yeah, it was the only thing they could ever agree on. The fact that they were hungry," Valhallarama teased. We all laughed, and even Ruffnut smiled.
"I'm pretty sure that waking up this early isn't normal for teenager," Bertha sighed tiredly.
"Personally, I think its jetlag," I replied, yawning. The others murmured in agreement. We started dozing off when a horn sounded, signaling the time to get up and breakfast.
"Finally!" exclaimed Cami.
"Weapon training," stated Gobber "is something that all Vikings must go through. Now, we will begin with the simple hammer. First step, lift it. We will slowly be lifting it higher and higher." Gobber was teaching my 'tribe' and the tribe younger than us. Only two of us were really having problems. Cami and Hiccup were struggling to lift the hammer. Cami soon got it after she got a good grip, but Hiccup continued to strain.
As we continued on, it got harder and more complex, but I soon realized what the entire point of training with the hammer first before the axe. Axes and hammers are very alike, except for the fact that the axe is sharp and a hammer isn't. It is much safer to train throwing a hammer and hitting the target with the right side than with an axe, which could easily hit someone. After that, we were taught a mix of martial arts and gymnastics. I was surprised that I was actually enjoying it. The shields were round, and had ancient designs on them. The wood and metal grip was covered by leather to protect your arm from splinters, chaffing, and blows to the shield. The hardest part about the shield was moving around with it. It could really make you go off balance because it made one arm heavier than the other. The only way to really balance it out was to hold a hammer or axe in the other hand, and no one, except Gobber, was that strong yet.
I'm not sure if I was ever so happy to go to lunch. Most of us didn't have much luck. The fish weren't really biting, but those of us who did catch fish shared with the others. Smoked fish is really good! Cami began talking again, and I just tuned her out as I ate my portion of fish.
Our consoler, Badbreath brought us to the projectile training. We started off with weighted nets because you could capture anything as long as you had the correct aim. Once you got a hang of the timing required to let go, it was really simple. Once again, Hiccup was the only one who failed miserably. He couldn't throw his net farther than 2 feet. The instructor (not Gobber, he was teaching catapults, because if you aimed wrong, you could take out a cabin) optimistically told him, and the rest of us that we would be able to throw farther with time, as our muscles began to build. The only nice thing about this camp so far besides my cabin mates, was the fact that I would be very fit when I went back home.
After we rotated, we were at the archery station. The instructor (the instructor were counselors) explained that we might not be able to pull the bow string all the way back the first day. Most of us got it halfway, but Snotlout, Val, Alvin, Tuffnut, and I could pull back the string about three-fourths of the way back. Snotlout went first and hit the third ring from the middle. Val went next, and hers sailed barely over the top of the target. Cami went third. Her arrow was just a little short. As she came back, I could see the sweat on her brow. Archery couldn't be that hard, could it? Turns out, it is very tough, and it took all my effort to stop my hands from trembling as I locked them in place so I could aim and shoot. Once I released the arrow, it flew, and barely hit the edge of the large target. After me, everyone else hit the target, except for Hiccup. Somehow, when he released the arrow, his hand jerked back and he punched himself in the eye. His arrow pierced the ground a few feet behind Cami's. He was quickly given an ice pack and was told to sit out of the catapult launching.
"This is so typical of Hiccup," sighed Cami.
"Really? He is always such a klutz?" I asked, shocked.
"Yeah, he is the son of the owner, Stoick, and comes to help his dad every summer, but he seems to do more harm than good. He disappeared once when he was three, and everyone had to stop what they were doing to look for him. Turns out, he was fishing in a lake in the forest. Another time, he was helping Gobber fix things in the blacksmith and forgot to put in all the screws. The catapult broke the minute someone touched it. He also knocked over one of the support beams and an entire cabin fell down. When he was 10-,"
"Thank you, Cami, that's all I wanted to know," I said after I put my hand over her mouth.
"MMMmmmhhhhhmmmHHHH!" growled an unhappy Cami as my hand remained over her mouth.
Several hours later, I groaned as I flopped ungracefully on the grassy hill. Some of the others fell down too. Bertha sat by me, her sweat trickling down her face and making her red hair damp. Cami, for once in her life, wasn't talking while she was awake.
"Look," stated Bertha softly as she pointed down the hill. The hill wasn't that steep, but after all the training and the crowded mess hall that soon became too warm from all the people in it, the cool, gassy ground was the first rest we had all day, not counting mealtimes. Stiffly, I sat up and looked. The entire camp was spread out below us, and the scatterings of white sheep on green grass looked like a designer clothing pattern. The sea glittered from the reflecting sunlight, framing the miniature town.
"Wow," I breathed.
"Most of us see it when we first come to Camp Berk," explained Bertha, "it's beautiful, isn't it?"
"Yeah," I said, not coherent enough to say more than one word.
After twenty minutes of resting, Cami, who now reminds me of the energizer bunny, was ready for anything. She began running around the rest of us, ready to start making raid plans. Grumbling and groaning, the rest of us got up and started to help formulate the plans. We would switch leaders weekly, and if we liked a particular leader, they would continue being the leader. We had a leader for the boys and the girls. Every tribe had two flags, two leaders, and 20 sheep to protect from dragons. There was one girl and one boy leader, and the girls would choose the girl leader, and the boys would choose the boy leader. Each leader would hide one flag in or around their tribe's cabins. When dragon's attacked, we would have to use our dragon training to protect our sheep from the dragons. The girls guard ten sheep; the boys guard the other ten. If one side was having trouble, the other could help. Badbreath explained that we would go one by one to him and vote for our leaders.
Once everyone had voted, Badbreath announced that the boy leader would be Snotlout, and the girl leader was Val. Badbreath handed Val and Snotlout the flags. Our time watching our sheep was over, so he sent us back to the cabins to get ready for bed and to hide the flags. We all ran down the hill, Cami, of course, in front. When we got to the cabins, Val winked at us then left to hide the flag. Slowly, the girls walked up the stairs and spilled in to the cabin. The cabin was soon busy as we unbraided our hair and changed in to pajamas. There would be no lore tonight, because it was every other night. Val soon joined us as we begged her to tell us where she had hidden the flag, but she only laughed at our antics and said that she would only tell the next leader, that is, if we decided to change our leader. After she said that, the only one left bugging her was Cami, in her childish way. Soon, we turned off the lights and went to bed. I didn't stay up long, and neither did the others, but we were all sure we would be sore tomorrow.
Bookworm700: That took me so long to write. This chapter is basically laying the foundation for other chapters. Astrid is going to get better, but you can't just expect her to be perfect right from the start when she's never learned any of this before. Hiccup is still in the shadows, and Astrid hasn't been at the camp long enough to see a dragon raid, so she still doubts the fact that dragons exist. When she sees her first dragon, it will be interesting….. Dragons haven't been seen by the rest of the world, because they tend to live up north, so they haven't been discovered yet by scientists… If you have any questions, review and ask me, or pm me. Oh, and please review. I write faster when I am motivated by reviews.
