Here is the next chapter. I would like to thank my new Beta Reader Cke1st for helping me make this chapter as good as possible. So go ahead and read chapter four.
We flew around until well after sundown, looking for a safe place to make camp. It couldn't be somewhere easy to stumble upon and it had to be hidden well. After scouting out a few places, we finally found a spot far enough away from the others and secluded enough to hopefully keep us hidden.
"You set up camp and I'll go find some firewood." I said as I started off to hunt for wood dry enough to actually catch flame.
"No! No fires. Remember how easy it was to find Tuff and Fishlegs because of their fire? Of course it was a trap, but it was also in the middle of the day. It will be even more obvious for us to light one right now when it's dark," Astrid pointed out.
"We're far enough away from them for it to not be seen. Anyway, it's really cold and I'm hungry. Raw fish doesn't really agree with me." I started walking again. I hadn't gotten more than a few feet before I heard something go flying by my head and hit the tree in front of me. It was a knife. I've never seen Astrid with a knife; she always uses her axe. "Wow! If we fight because we care, you must really love me."
"No fire! End of subject." she steamed.
"Ahh. So you don't deny it." I said jokingly. I grabbed the knife and tried to pull it out of the trunk of the tree. It wouldn't budge. " You did not go easy with this did you? Really, Astrid, what did this tree do to you that made you want to hurl a knife at it?"
"Hiccup, be serious. Now come help me set up camp so we can come up with a plan."
"Fine, fine, no fire." I surrendered.
After looking around our campsite for a few minutes, Astrid spoke. "How exactly are we supposed to set up camp?"
"I thought you would know."
"Well, I don't, so come up with a plan." That's when I remembered that Astrid was about as much of a home maker as my father.
"Uhh, ok. Well, we need somewhere to sit."
"Sit! Yes! We need somewhere to sit," she said with a relieved tone. "How about that?" she asked, pointing at a fallen tree laying nearby.
"That will do." I said. "Hey, Bud, mind bringing that tree over here?" I asked Toothless, who had been watching us from on top of a rock near the tree. He picked the end up with his mouth and dragged it to the middle of the campsite. "Thanks."
"Ok, what's next?"
"So, now that we have the seating covered, we need ..." I thought, then said out loud, "We need somewhere to sleep."
"Oh, right, sleep is good." Why is it whenever the subject of sleep comes up between a guy and a girl, it gets awkward? "Maybe we could make mattresses out of leaves...or something?"
"Yeah, sounds good." We headed deeper into the woods to gather leaves and soon were heading back and forth to the campsite with armfuls of leaves. We spread them out until we both had our own makeshift mattresses. We stepped back to admire our handiwork.
"Not too shabby." Astrid said. I had to agree, they looked pretty comfortable, for a pile of leaves. But then I noticed something.
"Um, aren't they a little close together?" I hadn't thought about this while we were building them, but they where only about two feet in the dark with only the moonlight to see by, I could see her blush as I pointed this out.
"Let's not worry about that right now. We need to concentrate on coming up with a plan," she said, still blushing. " We also need to eat. Didn't you say you were hungry?"
We sat down on the log and grabbed the bag of fish we had brought along. While planning this game, we had discussed the whole finding-food-in-the-wild thing. Gobber had chimed in with a new invention he had been working on to try to double the amount of fish we catch in the village. He had created a net that you strap around the dragon's legs. Then they drag it behind them through the water as they fly. We agreed to test it for him this week, and so far, it had been very effective. We had to throw the majority of the fish Toothless had caught back because there were way too many to carry around with us. Gobber would get rave reviews when we got back.
"Well, how are we supposed to eat these if we can't cook them over a fire?" I said, just trying to annoy her.
She looked at me with a mischievous smile and a fish in her hand. This would be interesting. "Toothless!" she shouted as she threw the fish high into the air. From where he was dozing, Toothless sent a ball of fire right into the path of the flying fish, turning it into a frying fish. It fell back down and she caught it and handed it to me.
"Impressive." I said. Then " HOT, HOT,HOT!" It was scorching hot! I juggled it for a second, then just dropped it on the ground.
Astrid was laughing harder than I have ever seen her laugh. "What, do you not appreciate me cooking for you?"
"Yeah, that wasn't funny." I picked the fish up by its tail and threw it to Toothless. He swallowed it in one gulp. "I think you ruined my hands."
"You'll get over it," she said as she and Toothless roasted two more. This time she caught them and quickly placed them on plate-sized leaves . She handed me one. "I'm sorry. I saw my chance and I took it."
"Yeah, whatever," I said as I took a bit of my fish. I had to admit it was good. "So, what's the plan?"
"I say we wait to attack by night. Because of Toothless's ability to blend in with the night sky, we will go almost undetected. We can hide out during the day and outsmart them at night when they are tired from hunting all day."
"It kinda sounds a little cowardly. You know, hit them while they're down and all."
"Do you want to spend the next year cleaning up after dragons or not?"
"Of course I don't."
"Well then, my plan is how we will make sure we don't lose. It might be a low move, but I don't want to take any chances."
"It does sound like a good strategy. I guess I'm okay with it."
"Good," she said. "We start tomorrow night. Now, I'm tired and I am going to bed." She got up. "I suggest you do too. We've got to keep our strength up." I got up and followed her.
She really must have been tired because as soon as she lay down on her leaf mattress, she was asleep. Once I lay down, though, I was instantly reminded of how close we had put our beds together. We were so close that I could feel her breathing. But I figured that if it didn't bother her,it wouldn't bother me.
It would be a lie if I said I didn't enjoy it.
I hoped you liked it. If you did, please review. If you didn't, still review. Tell me what you didn't like so I can make future chapters better.
