Do You Mind? Chapter 4
Hookfang and Stormfly landed hard, still entangled. If they had come down on land, they would have broken some bones, and their riders would also have been much worse for wear. But they landed in a shallow lake, and the worst effect of their landing was a double splash that soaked Astrid and Snotlout to the skin.
Each rider's first reaction was to check on their respective dragons.
"Are you all right, Hookfang?"
"Sure, Snotlout. I'm not hurt. That was almost fun, except for when the female was hanging on my horns. Hey, I get it – she's a horny female! Ha ha!"
"I wish!"
"Should I tell her dragon you think that way?" The dragon made some rumbles and growls.
"NO!"
"Oh. Too late. Sorry."
o
"Stormfly, are you okay, girl?"
"Yes, but I think my feet just got all muddy."
"Rinse them in the water while you walk to shore. You'll be fine."
"What if the rest of me is muddy?"
"We'll deal with that when we get to shore."
"I couldn't stand to be muddy. What if a –"
"Stormfly, we have bigger problems than that! We're lost in a strange place, my sleeping gear is soaking wet, we're stuck here with –"
"Oh, I see. You got a little water on your stuff, and that's a big problem? But if I get mud all over me, that's not a problem at all? I see, I see..."
"Stormfly, you do not have mud all over you!" Astrid was so flustered, she said that last part out loud instead of thinking it.
"Having a little trouble with our dragons, are we?" Snotlout chuckled. "You should have gone with a more sensible kind of dragon!" He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at Hookfang, unaware that his dragon was blowing bubbles with his nose underwater.
"I'll stick with the devil I know," she muttered as she coaxed Stormfly to shore.
"What are you doing?" he asked a few moments later.
"I'm spreading my stuff out in the sun to dry," she answered. "You should, too."
"What sun?" he demanded. "All I see is fog."
She fumed. She hated it when he was right and she was wrong; fortunately, it didn't happen often. "Well, it has to be spread out to dry, no matter what. Our goal was to find a way into this valley, and we've done it, so we should stay here until the others join us. That might take a while, and I'm not sleeping in a wet bedroll."
Snotlout left his dragon and waded ashore to join her. "But how are they going to join us when they can't tell where we are?"
"Obviously, one of us needs to fly straight up through this murk until he comes out on top, and guide the others back down here. And judging by your sensible dragon, you're the best choice for the job." She pointed behind him; he looked to see Hookfang rolling on his back in the water.
"Hey, you overgrown gecko! That's my stuff you're soaking!" He ran back into the water, tripped on a rock, and fell face-first into the lake. When he came up, he had a long piece of water weed hanging from one of his helmet horns, but he didn't notice it. He shouted at the dragon, which ignored him.
"Hookfang, get out of the water!"
"You never let me have any fun!"
"You're ruining all the stuff that's on your back!"
"Why is it on my back and not on shore?"
"Because you didn't give me a chance to –"
"Oooh! Did you see that fish? Look, there's a whole school of them!" The big dragon stuck his head under water, and Snotlout couldn't get through to him until he came up for air.
"Hookfang, if you let me take that stuff off of you, you can splash around all you want!"
"Really? Deal!" The Nightmare flapped up to get clear of the water, glided to the shore, and waited for Snotlout to flounder over to him. It took a minute to untie the ropes, all the sopping-wet gear slid off, and the dragon was back in the water before Snotlout could say, "Go swimming."
"Now what?" he asked.
"Your food is soaked," Astried noted. "We probably ought to eat some of it before it goes bad, or it'll be completely wasted."
"How can you think about food at a time like this?" he wondered.
"Well, it's a sensible thing to do," she retorted.
"Astrid, Astrid, Astrid," he chided her. "Here we are, stuck in this strange valley, just you and me, both of us together with no one else around, and all you can think about is food? What a waste of a romantic opportunity!"
"I'll waste you if you try anything," she growled.
"Oh, you're no fun," he scowled.
"So when were you planning to fly up and bring the others down here?" she demanded.
"No can do," he shrugged. "I just gave Hookfang permission to go swimming, and you don't want me to break my promise to him, do you?"
"You are impossible!" she snapped. "Unbelievable! Inconceivable! And a bunch of other big words you probably don't understand."
"Flattery will get you nowhere, but keep talking, pretty girl," he crooned, and made a kissy face at her. All he got was a mud ball in the kisser.
"Did I deserve that?" he sputtered, wiping mud out of his eyes.
"From what my dragon tells me, you deserve a lot more than that, but I'll be merciful... for now."
"Okay, Stormfly, now I know how you feel, because my hands are all muddy. Let me wash them off, and then we have some flying to do."
"Yes! Where are we going?"
"Straight up. We need to find the others." She rinsed her hands in the lake, climbed onto her dragon, and they spiraled upward in a tight chandelle. She loved the feeling of power and control when she and Stormfly performed precision maneuvers. None of the other dragons could do stuff like this! Except Toothless, of course, and some day she'd figure out how to outfly the Night Fury as well. But she'd have to find a way to do it without giving Hiccup a free show.
When they burst out of the top of the fog a minute later, there were no dragons in sight except Barf and Belch, and Barf's rider was missing. Tuffnut just looked at her and shrugged.
"Where are all the others?" she called.
"Hiccup went after Ruff when she fell off; they went down about the same time you two did," he shouted back. "Legs and I were trying to figure out what should happen next, but his dragon fell asleep and went straight in."
"Where did they go in?"
Tuff looked around helplessly. "Everything looks the same around here," he said lamely.
Astrid threw up her hands in frustration. "Well, bring your dragon down with me. We'll get organized once we're on the ground."
Tuff nodded and gave Belch's horns a nudge. He turned; Barf kept flying straight. The two-headed dragon was jerking around in the sky, unable to settle on a course.
"Belch, can you tell Barf we all have to go in the same direction?"
"Hey, Barf, he says we all have to –"
"Yeah, I heard him. Where are we going?"
"I guess we're going down into the fog to find your rider."
"Okay, you lead and I'll follow. Until I get my rider back, that is."
"Hey, this mind stuff could come in handy!"
"Just remember, Tuffnut, we outnumber you. If we take a vote, you'll lose."
Tuffnut pushed on his head's horns again, and the other head came around smoothly to follow. They all followed Astrid and Stormfly down into the mist, and came out very near the spot where she'd landed the first time. Hookfang was splashing with his wings, hosing Snotlout from head to toe.
"Okay, okay, you can stay in the water a little longer!" he squawked. He glanced at Stormfly and the Zippleback. "Hey, where's everybody else?"
"About the time you two ran into each other, my sister fell off, and Toothless went down after her," Tuff explained. "They went into the fog and we haven't seen them since. Then Meatlug fell asleep in mid-air, and she went down some other place."
"So Fishlegs is all alone in this weird valley?" Lout thought out loud. "That probably isn't good."
"And Hiccup is alone in this valley with Ruffnut?" Astrid said. "That definitely isn't good."
"Hey, not a problem," Tuff said confidently. "She can take care of herself."
"She's not the one I'm worried about," Astrid replied.
"Ooh, do I detect a little jealousy?" Snotlout leered. "Maybe lover-boy might get a little frisky with the other girl in town? Maybe him and her –" He was cut off by another mud ball to the face.
"I hate you," Astrid snarled and walked away.
Tuff was unpacking his and his sister's gear from their dragon. Astrid spoke to him quietly. "You know Ruffnut better than anybody else. Do I have anything to worry about?"
"It's like I said – if he tries anything, she can take care of herself. He didn't even bring his helmet; she could take him out with one hand behind her back."
"That's not what I'm worried about," she answered. "What if... what if she tried something on him? Would she do that?"
Tuffnut thought hard. "I don't know. I was never any good at figuring out girls. She does what she pleases."
"Then please, Ruff, leave my guy alone," she thought. It was more of a prayer than a request.