Chapter 4: Getting to Know One Another
Viking boats float across the great blue expanse, along the large mass of mist and smoke, a few rocks poking out. The mist is known for Helheim Gate.
Stoic looks down at his map again, saying, "We're close. I can practically smell them." He looks up and turns to the wall of smoke. "Steady."
Everyone waits in suspense as the boat float closer to the wall. Finally, the chief gives the command, "Take us in."
"Hard to port!" calls one Viking. The boats turn left and glide into Helheim Gate. The ships vanish into the think mist and everything is silent as a grave. Until a flash lights up a silhouette of a Nightmare, along with a screech of attack.
In the dragon arena, Gobber has set up the whole place into a maze, and everyone runs through the halls to avoid the dragon, Deadly Nadder. Hiccup looks up at Gobber, who is watching from outside, and asks, "Hey, the Dragon Manual didn't have anything on Night Fury. Is there another book, or a sequel, maybe a Night Fury pamphlet?" A fire ray shoots and torches the axe he has in his hand, leaving behind only the handle.
"Focus Hiccup! You're not even trying!" Gobber shouts.
The auburn turns his head and sees the Nadder chasing after him. He stumbles on which way he should go, then chooses to run right with the dragon on his tail. It hops onto the top of the maze and starts jumping around, looking for the other Vikings.
"Today is all about attack! Nadders are quick and light on their feet. Your job is to be quicker and lighter!"
Just as Gobber finishes, Fishlegs gasps as the Nadder screeches at him and raises his tail. Spikes shoot out and it flings them toward the large man, but he quickly raises his shield and runs away with spikes stuck in his shield. "I'm beginning to question your teaching methods, Gobber!"
"Look for its blind spot. Every dragon has one. Find it, hide in it, and strike!" the blacksmith says in a bored tone.
The twins take a turn and run into the Deadly Nadder, quickly stopping. The dragon moves its head and the twins follow, keeping in the blind spot. Ruffnut makes the mistake of sniffing and creates a disgusted face. "Do you ever bathe?"
"If you don't like it, then get your own blind spot." He says, knocking her back and not noticing the dragon turning its head.
She headbutts him and asks, "How 'bout I give you one?"
The beast snarls at the two, who turn the heads, and Tuffnut quickly pulls his sister away before they get scorched by fire.
Gobber says, "Blind spot, yes. Deaf spot, not so much."
Hiccup stops running and asks, "So, how would one sneak up on a Night Fury?"
"No one's ever met one and lived to tell the tale, Hiccup."
"I know, but hypothetically. A-and, what about hybrid dragons?"
"Come again?" Gobber asks, confused.
"You know. A part dragon and part human hybrid?"
"Hiccup, now you're just talking crazy. There has never been a hybrid as long as anyone could remember. Now GET IN THERE!"
The auburn sighs and hears a whisper. He turns to find Kristal and Snotlout ducking down, and the girl motions him to do the same. Hiccup follows as the brunette looks around the wall, but quickly moves back as the Nadder walks in sight. She checks again and finds it looking away, so the teen makes her move to somersault across the intersection. Snotlout follows suit, and Hiccup tries to, but the shield proves to be too heavy for him as he falls back, making a loud clunk. The dragon turns and strikes, but the boy quickly get up and run for his life. The Deadly Nadder jumps across the walls and falls back down in front of Kristal and Snotlout. She was about to attack when the cousin pushes her back and says, "Don't worry babe, I got this." He throws his mace that flies way off from the dragon and bounces off the wall, and makes the dragon laugh at his impressive failure. He looks sheepishly at Kristal and quickly makes an excuse, "The sun was in my eyes, Kristal." They duck as the dragon shoots another attack and chases the two. "What do you want me to do? Block out the sun? I could do that but I don't have time!"
They split up and the Nadder pursues the brunette, accidentally knocking down one wall that starts a domino of the others. The dragon jumps onto the walls as it continues, and Hiccup asks Gobber, "Are you sure nobody has seen one? I mean, they could be real just very good at hiding."
"Hiccup!"
Kristal starts jumping on top of the wall to avoid the gnashing teeth but then realizes there are no more walls to jump. Hiccup turns and sees the brunette falling toward him with the dragon and destroyed walls.
Dust spreads through the area, and clears to find Kristal and Hiccup tangled and the Nadder buried under walls. To the side, Ruffnut and Tuffnut smile at the two and he says, "Ooh, love on the battlefield."
"She could do better."
The two tangled teens try to unravel their legs, and Hiccup says, "Why don't you…let me…"
Kristal rips her legs off and gets up. The Nadder flings the wood off and turns to the girl in rage. She gasps and picks up her sword only to find it embedded in Hiccup's shield. The teen tries to pry it off and then places her foot on the auburn's chest and pulls the shield free, swinging it into the dragon's head. It jerks its head and starts limping away, squawking in pain from the attack.
"Well done Kristal." Gobber says.
She breathes hard from all the running then turns around toward Hiccup in frustration and yells, "Is this all a joke to you?"
He looks up from his position and watches Kristal take out her anger. "You're just standing around while a dragon is loose in this arena. If you ever want to be a Viking, then I suggest you get your head into the training. With our parents' war becoming ours, try to figure out which side you're on." She walks away, followed by the others, and Hiccup gets up to watch Gobber walk off to his blacksmith. When everyone is gone from sight, the auburn grabs another shield and runs out to the harbor. He secretly grabs a fish from the many barrels of the catch of the day, and runs back into the forest. The teen finds the familiar rock entrance, but then looks down and sees a larger opening closer to the ground. Okay, how did I miss that?
After hopping down the small cliff and over a fallen tree, Hiccup slowly walks through the tunnel with the shield held in front. The teen stops at the exit and looks over to find the limited vision clear. He then throws the fish out to see if he can bait the girl. Nothing happens so, guessing its safe, walks forward only to be stopped by his shield, now stuck between the rocks. Hiccup tries to pull it back but stays stuck, so he hops over and tries on the other side. The shield stays trapped. The auburn sighs and turns to pick up the fish through the gill. The slime really grosses him as it slowly slides down his hand, but he continues walking and searching for the dragon girl. He knows she's here because he has the feeling of being watched from everywhere, and yet the girl's not anywhere.
Unknown to Hiccup, the dragon girl is hiding behind a stack of boulders, keeping her blue eyes trained on him and the fish. Her stomach growls for the fish and the boy freezes on hearing the sound. He turns and spots the dragon girl, who slowly crawls out of her hiding spot and jump down, her blonde hair falling from behind her ear to cover her left eye. Hiccup watches her crawl to him and notices her eyes on the fish he's holding. So the boy holds it up toward the girl, and she sniffs at the aroma wafting. She gets on her legs and walks closer, stretching out a hand. Then she catches a whiff of metal and moves back on all four, growling as her eyes turn to slits. Hiccup flinch his arm back then moves his vest, revealing the dagger tucked in his belt. He reaches for the weapon, but the girl growls again, ready to pounce on him, but the boy just grabs the tip of the handle and stretches his arm out, dropping the dagger. The dragon teen, still suspicious, nods her head toward the lake. The auburn gets the message and picks up the blade with his foot and tosses it into the water with a loud 'ker-plunk'. The girl waits a while then sits down with pupils in circles again, face curious this time.
Hiccup stretches his arm with the fish again, and the girl slowly walks toward him in hesitant, in case he has other secrets up his sleeves. She gets up and extends her hand until its barely touching the raw food, then grabs the fish and starts eating it eagerly. The auburn watches her go at the food, already eating half of it in seconds. "Wow. You must've been starving."
The teen heard him and turns with a full mouth. She swallows her food and gets up, walking toward Hiccup. Startled, he backs up and falls down, backing up onto a rock. The girl walks up to him and leans down, dropping the half-eaten fish in his lap, then sits down on her legs. They stare at each other, waiting for one to make a move. Hiccup wonders what she wants him to do with the fish, until the girl points her head to the fish then to him. The boy wonders what she means, but finally gets it. He sighs, thinking, You've got to be kidding. He does pick it up and bring it to his mouth, biting off a piece. The meat is really bitter, and is multiplied as the slime slides across his tongue, but Hiccup put a happy face, murmuring, "Mmm."
The dragon girl continues to watch him, and he tries to give the fish back. She just continues to gaze, then gulps for him to swallow. Hiccup groans, dropping his arms, not believing what she wants to do. Doing his best to ignore the taste, he tries to get the raw fish down his throat, but it refuses to at first. Finally, it slides down and the boy shivers in distaste as it lands in his stomach. The girl notices the shivers and guesses he doesn't enjoy it, immediately feeling bad for him.
The boy notices her sadness, so he quickly makes a goofy smirk, and the dragon girl chuckles. He smiles wider at the harmony of her laugh, and raises a hand to move her hair back, but the girl quickly snarls, switching her pupils, and flies across the lake unsteadily. She crashes on her feet with a little wobble, but then stables and walks on four, shooting out another patch of warm ground to lie. The teen curls up for the day and wraps her wings around, about to go to sleep. When she feels a presence nearby her, she opens her eyes and sees Hiccup sitting across. He waves a hand, but the girl groans and moves her tail in front of her face, extending the fin. The auburn scoots closer and stretches for the tail, but it then moves up and the girl spies him, and he stiffly walks away. The dragon hybrid, annoyed, gets up and walks toward the tree roots.
A few hours have past, and the orange sun slowly sinks behind the rock wall of the basin. Laying on one of the large roots, the dragon girl slowly opens her eyes and looks around, finding Hiccup near the lake. Why's he still here? Shouldn't the boy be heading back to his village?
She notices his arm moving around, and curious, the teen quietly hops down and walks up behind him.
Hiccup draws on the dirt with a stick he found, slowly revealing the dragon girl's head from the tip of her neck to the flows of her hair. As he finishes, the boy feels the girl looking over his shoulder, but he ignores her and concludes his picture. The hybrid looks at the drawing of her in admiration and gets an idea of her own. She walks back, making Hiccup confused until he hears a sound of a tree unearthed and turns to find the dragon girl holding up a small tree. She digs the end into the ground and starts drawing on the ground, like Hiccup did. He watches her walk around and sketching squiggles in the dirt, going back and forth and side to side, then she finally stops and admires her artwork.
Hiccup looks around and sees that she made squiggly lines everywhere, and is interested on the way she learned. This is really remarkable. He starts walking and steps on one of the lines, and the girl gives off a warning growl at him, spooking the boy. He lifts his foot and the girl quickly calms. An experiment forming in his head, the auburn lowers his foot back on the line, and the teen growls again. Hiccup tries it one more time, making the hybrid take a step. He steps over the line and sees the girl keeping calm. With a smile the boy starts moving across the artwork, careful to step over the lines, and if anyone is watching he would look like he's dancing. Soon, Hiccup stops and turns around to find the dragon girl staring at him with still curious eyes. She tilts her head to the side, making her hair cover more of her beautiful face. The boy reaches to move the hair, but the girl gives a warning growl and moves her head back.
"It's okay. I won't hurt you."
She's still suspicious of the boy, but she looks at his eyes and sees a kind of caring she has never seen before. The girl lets him push her hair back behind her ear, and he says, "There. Isn't that better?"
She smiles, really enjoying the kindness he was giving her. The girl thinks, He's different from the others.
"So, can you talk?"
After the girl nods, Hiccup asks, "So, what's your name?"
She hesitant to answer, but then says, "Astrid."
"Astrid. That's a nice name. Mine's Hiccup."
Astrid chuckles, making the auburn grin. "I know. Funny name."
When she's done, the girl realizes what's happening and flies away from Hiccup. He watches her with a confused look. The boy notices the time of day and makes a reminder, I'll come visit tomorrow, then heads back home.
Astrid watches the boy leave on her tree bed, having mixed feelings for the first time in years. I shouldn't have all these feelings for one boy. He's the one who shot me from the sky and made me unable to fly! But yet, he seems really nice. I'd say caring almost. Or is this all an act to get close to me? She closes her eyes to sleep and, for some odd reason to her, misses the boy's company.
