Dragon's Hope, Part 1

Chapter 4:

Always Dragon Days

-o0o-

The trip back to Berk was fairly uneventful, though in the most agonizing way.

First off, no one would stop talking. Every minute of the long ship-ride home was filled with chatting and bragging to no end. The boys especially, that being Snotlout, Tuffnut, and Fishlegs, continued on and on about how many dragons they captured, injuries they sustained, and near-death experiences they managed, making Astrid wish that they hadn't been only near-death experiences. At first Ruffnut added in her own bits, but by the time they parted ways with Drago Bludvist and the majority of his forces – so they could no doubt begin searching for another island of dragons to waste – the twin's expression was beginning to match Astrid's.

For what it was worth, Astrid couldn't really find the energy to make them shut up. In a weird sort of way, their constant talking was comforting, if only slightly. It reminded her of Berk's eating hall where she would often go to get away from the terrifying, ever-present silence that was her house.

Astrid hated silence. She wasn't a huge fan of constant chatter either, but she hated silence.

Suddenly, the ship rocked to the right, and a startled Snotlout was flung rather inelegantly onto her lap, hitting his head against the wall Astrid was currently leaning against. "Oh, hey babe," he grinned, just before she shoved him to the floor with a painful ooff.

"Ugh, why does it have to be so cramped in here?" she complained, crossing her arms. "This isn't the way viking ships are supposed to be, even if this vessel was made to accommodate dragons."

"Yeah," Ruffnut agreed, plugging her nose. "It's bad enough being stuck in a wormhole for days, but with boys? ick!"

"Hey!" Snotlout said, still sitting on the floor. "We bathed before we left!…um, I think. Right guys?" Fishlegs and Tuffnut looked at each other, then shrugged. They were boys, of course they didn't know.

"Whatever," Astrid sighed, getting to her feet. "I'm going to walk around for a bit."

"If you want," said Fishlegs, that ever-present babyish expression on his face, "you could check on the dragons. It's our day to watch them, and no one's been in there yet."

"Maybe," she muttered, opening the door to their tiny cabin and slipping through.

As soon as the door creaked shut, everyone rounded on Snotlout. "Okay, spill," growled Ruffnut. "What did you do to Astrid?"

Snotlout looked offended. "Me? I haven't done anything!"

"Well, it's someone's fault."

"Yeah," Tuffnut added. "Probably yours."

"Look," said Snotlout, holding up his hands, "I admit that I haven't been the bestest friend in the past-" someone coughed, "-but I swear, this time it wasn't me!"

"He's right," Fishlegs supplied. "Astrid's been pretty down ever since Stoick was forced to give over his leadership to Drago and wasn't allowed to join the fighting. She has a lot of faith in our village, and that must have been a pretty bad blow to her pride."

Everyone quieted at that, looking at their hands. No one was happy about the state of the things right now, but neither did they have any say in the matter. It was either let Drago take charge, or watch as he trampled them underfoot. Be led or be crushed – their choice.

Ruffnut sighed. "Let's just hope we get home soon."

Even though they were all vikings to the core, no one could argue with that.

-o0o-

Despite telling herself that she most defiantly wasn't going to spend her time in the company of dragons, Astrid found herself inside their hold, not really knowing what she was doing there. Most of the dragons here were Drago's rejects; either they weren't strong enough for his army, or they were just too violent to handle. And so they came home with the Harry Hooligans, where they were kept in cages until someone could find something useful to do with them.

Astrid sighed – a bad habit she was starting to develop – and slumped onto a stool. At least in here I have room to spread out, she thought, wincing when one of the burns she had sustained during the recent battle pressed against the back wall. In front of her were two long rows of cages, fitted with iron bars in the front. The dragons strong enough to break the wooden walls were bound in heavy shackles, and every mouth within the large enclosure was muzzled shut.

Leaning her head back, Astrid closed her eyes and tried to relax. After spending days in that tiny room with the chatty boys, the hold seemed rather peaceful, and she just let her mind wander.

Not a minute later, Astrid was jerked upright by a loud clang. One of the dragons – closer to the back – had starting banging its head against the iron bars. Astrid gritted her teeth at the sound, but when it continued she got to her feet, grabbed a club from a bin near her feet, and stalked over to the cage, intent on bashing in some dragon brains.

When she reached the appropriate enclose, what she found was one bound nadder laying on the ground, banging its head against the metal bars where the hard iron muzzle rested. The dragon looked blue, though it was hard to tell through dim lantern-light. As Astrid approached, the monster lifted its head and cocked it. The motion reminded her of a bird.

"Shut up, would you?" she asked, lifting the club threateningly. "I'm trying to at least get a little rest before we reach Berk."

The dragon only continued to stare at her, giving no sign that it understood anything she said.

"Of course it didn't, stupid," she muttered, giving her forehead a good smack with the palm of her hand. "I'm talking to a dragon."

She turned around, but as soon as she began to walk away the sound of the dragon hitting its head against the bars started up again, and Astrid sighed. She went back to the cage, glaring at the beast. "You're not going to let me sleep, are you?"

The nadder stared up at her with one glowing, yellow eye and hummed. Astrid sighed again. "Fine then, I'll just stay here."

She dropped the club onto the floor, then sat down and leaned her back against the metal bars. The dragon laid its head back down, but the humming continued until Astrid found herself drifting off to the pleasant melody. She was tired, and just wanted this entire adventure to end.

She just wanted to go home.

-o0o-

The sounds of pounding feet and boisterous voices woke Astrid, and she blinked open her eyes. The light flittering through the cracks in the ceiling had grown dimmer, meaning that several hours had already passed. She stretched, wondering when she had fallen over and started sleeping on the floor.

Astrid suddenly scrambled to her feet, realizing she had been resting with her back pressed against the nadder's cheek through the cage bars. The bird-like dragon woke up at her sudden startle, cocking its head at her and humming questioningly. "Stupid dragon," she growled, kicking the bars of the cage as embarrassment flooding over her. Odin's ghost, I hope no one saw that.

The dragon jerked back and the humming ceased, though Astrid hardly noticed. She turned around in a huff and stalked toward the door, yanking it open just in time to catch Ratface as he walked past.

"What's all the commotion about?" she asked him.

The viking stopped and sniffed, peering at her with those little eyes of his. "Don't you know? Corse you don't, stupid kids. We've nearly reached Berk!"

"Oh," Astrid said, still trying to blink the sleep from her eyes. "Thanks."

Ratface staked away, muttering something about lazy, good-for-nothing kids. Astrid chose to ignore the comment as she ran up to the top deck, exited at the prospect of being home. The rest of her class – along with most of the ship – was already there, looking out over the sea as Berk slowly grew larger. Snotlout waved at her casually when he noticed her presence and tried to look cool, to which Astrid promptly ignored him. Stoick was also on deck, talking to several vikings, though his gaze rested on the small village as they approached.

Ruffnut was leaning against the side of the ship, her chin in one hand. Astrid fought her way through the (rather foul-smelling) crowd and joined the twin, gripping the gunwale and leaning into the wind. Closing her eyes, she breathed in deeply, letting the sea wind bring her scents of home.

"Where have you been?" asked Ruffnut, looking over at her. "Snotlout almost drove everyone crazy, looking for you."

"I was just inside the dragon hold."

Shrugging, Ruffnut went back to looking out over the ocean. "Whatever. We didn't see you in there when we looked."

Astrid blinked. They didn't see me? Oh yeah, I must have been hard to notice, sleeping all the way in the back. The memory of her sleeping soundly next to a dragon flashed through her head, and she winced, trying to push it away. That was not something a viking should be thinking about.

It didn't take much longer to reach the docks, and their ship – the dragon carrier – was the last to be unloaded. Gobber was waiting on the docks, a hook attacked to his stubbed hand so that he could help reel in the boats.

"Doesn't look to bad," said Gobber as he grasped Stoick's hand, pulling the chief onto the dock. He then turned and looked over the crowd of vikings. "Lose any heads?"

"Well," someone said, "we lost old Blabbermouth."

"Now, ain't that a terrible shame. Alright, ya lazy bunch of sealegs! Time to get those dragons unloaded. Let's go."

Everyone groaned, but swiftly went to do their respective jobs – handing things to the men on shore or going below to start unloading the dragons. Astrid knew that her group was supposed to be helping in the hold, but she decided to take a moment and stretch while on dry ground. Gobber and the chief were talking to each other not two yards away, and Astrid couldn't help but overhear a little of what they were saying.

"So, everything went well, I take it?" said Gobber.

Stoick nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face. "We had a little trouble with a couple of dragon-defenders, though Drago took care of them right enough. It was a large nest, and we caught a healthy amount of them devils."

Astrid almost snorted, but controlled herself. Those dragon-defenders nearly made them lose the battle, and if it wasn't for Drago's giant pet, then they would probably all be dragon chow by now.

"Oh, now that's not what I meant, Stoick." Gobber poked the chief in the chest with his hook-hand. "I was talkin' bout you."

Stoick crossed his arms – though he was barely able to – and scowled. "Drago Bludvist has nerve, I'll say that much. Said I should watch and learn, as if he had something to prove to me. I tell you Gobber, if that man didn't have an army behind his words, they would be the last thing to ever leave his mouth."

Gobber laughed. "Ha! That'll be the day. Wait just a moment, you two! Carful with that dragon!"

The one-legged man jumped onto the boat where a couple of vikings were trying to drag something from under the deck. Whatever it was on the other side of those chains didn't appear to be in a very good mood, and it was giving the men quite a bit of trouble.

"Someone give us a hand here!" one of them called, just as the dragon let out a piercing shriek. Astrid started to rush forward to help, but suddenly the dragon realized that the men wanted to drag it outside instead of back into the dark hold, and so it decided to make a dash for freedom. With the abrupt change of direction came a wave of confusion as half a dozen men suddenly found themselves sitting on their rumps; the chains jerked rather painfully from their hands.

Astrid watched as her nadder – for it was the nadder that had slept beside her earlier – burst through the thick ranks of vikings as if they were pins in a game of Cone-Bowling, and effortlessly jumped onto the docks. The dragon was indeed very blue, and covered in so many restraints and chains that Astrid wondered how it even managed to stand. Its tail was covered in an iron net so as to keep it from throwing thorns, and the weight made the limb drag noisily across the wooden planks.

Stoick made an admirable dive toward the escapee, only for it to sidestep him with obvious ease. Then the bird-like dragon sprinted forward unhindered, right up the cliff and toward the village.

"Oh , Thor," muttered Gobber, "Drago wouldn't be happy 'bout this."

"Go after it!" Stoick commanded, but Astrid was already running. She dashed up the planks and into the village, following the dragon's trail of destruction. Several wives and elders stood outside their houses, looking shocked by the rampaging beast that had just stormed through.

"Which way?" she panted. The villagers, not needing to ask what she meant, all pointed in the same direction.

It's going for the forest!

Immediately Astrid starting sprinting again. She could hear numerous vikings following behind her, but she couldn't spare any time waiting for assistance. Things got trickier when she reached the trees, and Astrid was forced to slow down as she tried to pick up the dragon's trail. Good thing too, because, viking or no, she wasn't make to run down escaping dragons, and the chance to catch her breath was gratefully accepted.

For some time Astrid felt that she had lost the trail. Despite all those chains dangling off the dragon, there were no obvious marks on the ground that she could follow. Finally, right when she was about to give up, she spotted three odd-looking marks on a tree. They were vertical and perfectly lined, as if someone had hit a metal barrel ring against the trunk with enough force to cause dents.

Then it came to her. The dragon's iron muzzle! The beast must have stopped here and hit its head against the tree in a vain attempt to break the bond. Feeling triumphant, Astrid continued on the trail.

When she at last reached the dragon, she was tired and winded. The devil was lying on the ground, clawing at the muzzle with the only thing it had that wasn't chained: its feet. The nadder raised its head when she approached, looking at her with that bird-like head tilt. Nearly three yards away from the nadder, Astrid stopped, afraid that it might once again flee if she got any closer. She needed to find a way to secure the beast without startling it, and preferably, without getting a nasty whelp in the process.

Calling for help was out of the question. She could hear other vikings traipsing around the forest in noisy groups, and every time one of them made a loud enough sound, the dragon would jerked in that direction, looking as if it were about to jump up and run. Astrid took a tentative step forward, and instantly the dragon's head snapped toward her position.

"Come on," Astrid muttered. She could see one of the long chains sitting by the nadder's right foot. If she could just grab it, then she could make a noose around a tree strong enough to hold it until help arrived. But that was only if she could reach it.

The dragon tensed, moving its feet into a good jump-and-run position and glaring at her like a hawk. "No, no, no," she whispered to the dragon. "It's ok. I won't hurt you…"

Regardless of her calming tone, the nadder didn't look particularly convinced, and she was forced to stop.

Astrid felt like stomping her foot in utter frustration, but controlled herself. How was she supposed to make this work? How could she get this...this animal to listen to her? The chain looked so far away now, and unless she could speak dragon, it would probably take a miracle to reach it.

Then, like a pebble sinking into a small pond, an idea hit her. She remembered sitting in the dragon hold, listening to the nadder make those strange, clicking hums, and how it had stopped when she had kicked the cage.

And so Astrid, out of pure exasperation, did something against everything she had been taught.

She hummed to the dragon.

This is insane, she growled to herself, embarrassed by the sounds she was making. But it appeared to work. Instantly, the dragon relaxed, cocking its head like it did when it was curious.

Great, now you even know how the dragon feels. Next thing you know, you'll be riding it.

She took another step. Nothing happened. The dragon only stared at her.

Ok, so maybe this would work after all. She took a couple more steps. Again, nothing. Reaching forward, she slid her hand across the ground, still humming to the huge beast. This close, Astrid could see every one of its spines, all shinny and as sharp as daggers. She had to keep telling herself to move as slowly as possible, instead of just grabbing the chain and getting away from the armored devil as fast as she could.

Her hand wrapped around the chain, and she began backing away. The nadder's pupils contracted at the sound, and it looked down at her hand.

Slowly…slowly…

At last, Astrid got far enough away to stand up straight again. The dragon looked as if her humming had put it to sleep, and she could hardly blame it. Running through the forest with several, huge iron clasps around its body, tail, and face couldn't have been very easy.

After tying the chain to a sturdy-looking tree, Astrid called out to the vikings searching the forest. It only took a minute from them to find her, and this time the nadder wasn't so lucky. A group of five men tackled it, wrapping the beast with even more chains and dragging it off to the holding pens.

The nadder shrieked in misery, and for a second Astrid felt a pang of guilt. Had it really been the right thing to do, re-catching the dragon? But then she shook her head and pushed the thought away. Of course it was. She was a viking, wasn't she? Catching and killing dragons were what vikings lived for.

"You did good today," said Gobber, clapping her on the shoulder. He had been one of the men combing forest, though she didn't imagine it had been very easy for him, with that peg leg and all. "Why don't you take the rest of the night off? Get some sleep. We'll take care of the rest here."

Astrid nodded, too tired to argue. Now that everything had died down, she suddenly realized how little sleep she had been getting lately, and fatigue etched dark lines under her eyes.

The setting sun cast long shadows across the ground as she made her way home, collapsing onto the bed as soon as she walked inside. Yet despite being so exhausted, Astrid's mind kept drifting to the light blue dragon, now sitting in a dark cell all alone. She couldn't stop thinking about how easily she had fallen asleep next to it, and now the eerie silence of her house was making her miss the dragon's soothing hum.

Just shut up and go to sleep, she told herself firmly. You're tried. Tomorrow everything will go back to normal.

And so Astrid continued to tell herself that over and over again until she finally drifted off – dreaming of little blue dragons that sat on her shoulder like birds and ate from her hands.

-o0o-

Thank you all for reading! I hope no one hates me from the last chapter, but, like I said before, things will get better!

Please review (its helps, believe me, it really does ;) and I hope to see you all next time!