Chp. 4

Wedded Bliss and the Viking Tournament

Astrid woke as bright sunlight shone down on her face. She turned to her left to see Hiccup gazing at her dreamily. She smiled at him, feeling her heart skip a beat when he smiled back. It had been two weeks since they had gotten married.

"Hey," was all Hiccup could manage to say. Astrid noticed that the look he was currently wearing on his face was generally associated to a lack of brain function.

She smiled, "Morning Hiccup." She reached forward and brought him closer, pressing his lips to hers. It was a chaste kiss, but they both felt the love behind it. They were about to kiss again when a rapping sound came from their door.

Toothless and Prince had gotten used to their new home. They had understood that this was the way things were going to be for a long time, and had learned to like it. They had also learned, when the newlyweds were sleeping longer than they liked, that scratching at the door, growling, and squawking would get them up. So, shortly after the rapping sound began, a cacophony of other noises issued from the other side of the door.

"Alright, alright! We're up!" The two yelled back at the dragons. Astrid got up and began getting dressed while Hiccup put on his prosthetic leg. He then hobbled over to his dresser while his stub of a leg got used to the attachment.

"When are you going to be back from dragon lessons?" Astrid asked. Since they were now married, her primary job had become to look after the house in addition to being a warrior. Though, in her excitement of being married she didn't mind it, she still found it a little boring and couldn't wait for her husband to come home.

"Probably around noon. Then I'll be free for most of the day, but Dad had something he wanted to tell me after dinner."

"Alright," Astrid said as she came back around the bed to kiss Hiccup again. "I'll have lunch waiting for you. Don't be late, we're going to train after lunch." She then turned and walked toward the door, from which rapping sounds were beginning to emanate again.

The Haddock house was just as big if not bigger than Stoic's own house. It had two floors and a cellar. Most of the first floor was taken up by the living room, which had a table, a few chairs, a desk for Hiccup, and a stone fireplace. There were three other rooms on the first floor were a storage room, dining room/ kitchen, and the front room. The storage room contained anything from spare blankets to weapons. The front room had a huge rug and the shield Astrid gave Hiccup hanging on the wall as well as the stairs to the second floor. The kitchen/dining room had a few cupboards, a counter type area, and a table & chairs. The second floor had the master bedroom, a loft, and two other bedrooms that were currently set up as guestrooms.

Toothless and Prince were waiting for Astrid when she walked into the kitchen. She sighed as she tossed fish to the two hungry reptiles before beginning to make breakfast for herself and Hiccup. Her mother had taught her how to perform the tasks of a Viking wife well, even if Astrid had not always expected to get married, least of all to Hiccup. At first, Hiccup has suggested that he make his own meals, but Astrid had flatly refused. She saw it as a way of expressing her love for the young man.

So, when Hiccup entered the room and sat at the table, Astrid had a meal ready for him. The two ate in silence as they sat across from each other, enjoying each other's company. When Hiccup was done, he got up, kissed his wife goodbye, and walked out to start his day.

It was about an hour left before noon when Astrid heard a commotion outside. When she opened the door, a hilarious site met her eyes. A rather large group of mostly young Vikings were chasing a pack of Terrible Terrors through the streets. It didn't help that Toothless, who Hiccup always took with him when he was teaching, was having the time of his life scattering the tiny dragons.

"Hi honey!" Hiccup stopped to wave before taking off after his class again. Astrid's training regimen had made it so that he could still run pretty well with his prosthetic limb.

Astrid laughed and, after taking one look back at the house, took off after them. She thanked Thor for this chance to be out and about. Prince, who had been admiring himself in a nearby puddle, saw her and gave pursuit, squawking all the way.

They had finally rounded up all of the Terrors in the square in front of the tavern. However, the sun chose that moment and that exact spot to shine down from the clouds overhead. Its light glinted off the helmets of a few of the Vikings, and that was it. The small dragons went berserk. Some chased after the light reflecting off of the helmets, while others took advantage of the chaos to escape into the village once again.

This time, even more villagers decided to aid in the capture of the Terrors, who had spread out all throughout the village. They were everywhere. One was found in a pot in the Tavern. Two more were captured as they terrorized a flock of sheep. Snotlout had to rescue one, because it had found its way onto his roof, which his dragon considered its territory. The Terror hung by its tail from the mouth of the Monstrous Nightmare, which refused to come off the roof.

As Hiccup chased the final dragon through the streets, Astrid guided the others back to the training dome to wait for him. As the dragon ran from him, it looked back and snickered. Suddenly, the Terror shot into the sky. Hiccup stopped as Toothless bound up to him, obviously intending to help in the capture of the illusive reptile. The Terror stopped in midair and looked down to start mocking Hiccup. However, its eyes widened in surprise as it was caught by a black blur.

When Hiccup and the other Vikings left the dome, Astrid had decided that they should just go to the tavern to eat. She soon realized her mistake in this, however, because as soon as they sat down, Vikings pounced on Hiccup like cats. They bombarded him with questions. Once the crowd had finally dispersed, Astrid looked at her husband and shook her head.

"What?"

"You're too kind, Hiccup."

"What makes you say that?"

"The way you let everyone get away with stuff like that all the time," Astrid said as she gestured to the room around them, "You need to be stricter. You need to set some rules and guidelines. You're the son of the Chief for crying out loud."

"But I don't mind," Hiccup protested, "If they need my help, I'm more than happy to give it."

"You need to set some limits," Astrid scolded. "If you don't, then I will," and she gave him a look that clearly said she was serious.

After they had lunch, Astrid and Hiccup returned to their home. As promised, Astrid grabbed her ax while Hiccup grabbed an old, dull sword and a wooden training shield. This had to have been his fourth shield, because of all the training he and Astrid did, she had whittled the shields to uselessness.

"You ready, Hiccup?" Astrid asked as they took up battle positions.

"Ready when you are," Hiccup called back, raising his shield.

"Then, in that case… Aaaarghhh!" Astrid gave her war cry, throwing her ax with all her might at Hiccup. It embedded itself in his shield without any problem, and Hiccup had to take a step back. He was shocked by the force of the throw and stared, wide-eyed, at the ax.

"What are you trying to kill me?"

Astrid charged forward and flipped into the air. "Focus Hiccup!" She cried as she landed on his shield and yanked the ax from it. She rolled away, dodging a swing from Hiccup's sword.

Hiccup charged forward, swinging his sword. Astrid either parried the blow, or she dodged it entirely. Hiccup wasn't fast enough, and that was annoying her. He wasn't giving it his all, and she knew it. She hated doing what she was about to do, but she had to do it. She knocked away another attack, struck the shield, moved around it, hit Hiccup across the side of the face, and kicked his not-so-good leg out from under him. Next thing he knew, Hiccup was lying on the ground with Astrid's ax hovering above his throat.

"You are not giving it your all Hiccup." She stated, pointing out the obvious.

"I'm sorry, but I don't want to hurt you. If something happened to you because of me, I'd never forgive myself."

Astrid kicked him angrily, "That was for making me sound weak," Then she bent down and kissed him, "and that's for caring." She helped him to his feet. Hiccup staggered a bit as he adjusted after the prosthetic was kicked, which made Astrid feel a pang of guilt. "You need to give it everything you've got. An enemy isn't going to feel sorry for your foot, and they'll always go for the kill."

"I know, I know."

"Good, then let's start again."

This time, they both charged, making their Viking blood pound. When they met, there was a flurry of swings and stabs. The two were locked in a magnificent duel, blocking each other's attacks and then countering with their own. The wooden shield received a dozen new scars. Finally, as Hiccup parried one of Astrid's attacks, he knocked the ax away, and lunged forward. He stopped the blade point several inches away from Astrid's throat, but it was clear that the match was decided. Panting, Astrid let her ax fall to the ground as Hiccup sheathed the sword.

"I think that's enough for today," Astrid panted. "See? You can be really good when you try."

"Thanks," Hiccup replied sheepishly.

They found themselves gazing into each other's eyes. Emerald green got lost in bright blue. Without even realizing it, they had walked to each other. Then, Hiccup closed the space between them. The two were locked in a passionate kiss. Hiccup's arms circled Astrid's waist, bringing her closer to him as she threw her arms around his neck in an attempt, a need to deepen the kiss. And then, as if they had been waiting for this to happen, husband and wife heard a purr and a squawk from behind them. The two separated to see the sources of the sounds.

Toothless and Prince were both sitting on the grass, looking at the two expectantly. As if to make their desire clear, Toothless spread his wings. Hiccup and smiled at each other before letting go and approaching their dragons. Together, they took to the skies.

At first, they flew side by side below the clouds. Then, as if to show off, Toothless began to fly in circles around Astrid and her Nadder. As if they read each other's minds, they dived at the same time, soaring just feet above the water. As they headed in the direction of Berk, they passed Fishlegs on his Gronckle. Hiccup and Astrid waved to him as they soared by, passing over the village. The sun was beginning to set by the time they landed next to the house.

Hiccup went about feeding the dragons while Astrid fixed their dinner. When it was ready, they sat at the table, happily conversing about the day's events. However, they both felt that there was one subject that had occupied their minds that they were avoiding. When they had finished, Hiccup kissed Astrid goodbye before departing for the tavern. Night had fallen fully by now, and the lights from the houses lit the streets.

When Hiccup entered the tavern, he spotted Stoic the Vast sitting at a table with Gobber the Belch. Upon seeing his son, the giant Viking motioned him to sit with them.

"Ah, Hiccup! Come have a seat. You're right on time."

Hiccup came and sat next to his father, "What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Well," Stoic put a hand on Hiccup's shoulder, "as you know, the annual Viking tournament is coming up next month and, like last year, you will be in charge of the new dragon events."

"Yeah," Hiccup confirmed, obviously this wasn't what Stoic had summoned him for.

"Well, with you being married and all, having taken another step closer to becoming our future chief, I thought I'd give you some more responsibility. I've decided that, this year, you will be in charge of the entire tournament."

Hiccup's stare was blank, his mouth opened and closed. The entire tournament? He had to be joking. That was a ton of responsibility. Oh, Astrid was not going to like this.

Stoic laughed reassuringly, "Don't worry, Gobber has been in charge of it more than once, so he and I will guide you through it. Now, how is the new Mrs. Haddock?"

Hiccup shook his head to get a hold of himself. Astrid? She's doing great, as tough and energetic as ever."

Stoic could tell that there was something Hiccup hadn't said, but did not press it. "Well, I guess I shouldn't keep you from her too long. Go on home and get some rest. Tomorrow preparation begins."

When Hiccup got home, he found Astrid sharpening one of her battle axes as she waited for him.

"How did it go?" She asked.

Hiccup sighed. "Dad has put me in charge of the entire Viking tournament."

Astrid hesitated for a second, "That would take up a lot of your time and attention."

"I know it will."

The blonde Viking huffed, "That man! Doesn't he understand that you and I have barely been married two weeks?"

"He thinks that our marriage means I'm ready for it. He said he and Gobber would help me through it, but I don't see why you can't come along."

Astrid thought for a second, "Fine, I guess it can't be helped. Here," she reached for Hiccup's hand, "let's go to bed."

As the two were lying next to each other, the unspoken subject entered their minds. Without realizing what the other was doing, they both drew in a deep breath and blurted out at the same time, "I want a baby!"

There was a stunned silence for a few seconds. Then, Hiccup rolled over to look at his wife.

"What?"

"I said that I want a baby," Astrid explained, "I want to start a family with you."

Hiccup smiled and kissed her, "So do I. It's a relief knowing that we both want one."

"Sure is."

Hiccup smiled as he kissed her again, "I love you, Astrid."

She kissed him back, "I love you too, Hiccup."

And so, another typical day of wedded bliss ended for the couple.

*

The next few weeks were spent planning and organizing the tournament. Hiccup was surprised by how similar it was to planning the wedding. They had to figure out how many people would be there, how much food they would need, what supplies would be necessary, etc. Hiccup also had to learn everything he could about the different events so that he could organize a timetable of when what event would be and where. Hiccup and Astrid had agreed to wait until after the tournament to try to have the baby so that Hiccup would be better prepared to take care of Astrid.

As the Vikings were busy planning their tournament, another, darker plan was being constructed. Aries sat upon the throne of the Magus, he had been careful to not alert the Vikings with the sudden change of power. The citizens were to be executed if any of them betrayed this information to the warrior people. In front of him knelt three men wearing black cloaks.

"The Vikings are preparing a tournament," Aries began, "I have no doubt that many of the activities and events will tests of their combat abilities in one way or another. I want you to observe their abilities and report back to me. I want you to keep a special eye on Hiccup, the chief's son."

"Yes, Emperor," the three men droned.

"Go, and bring back the key to our enemies' failure."

*

The day of the tournament, Hiccup was up bright and early to preside over the events. He showed up at the chief's home, only to find Stoic already up. He had been once again talking to Gobber. The two Vikings turned to Hiccup as he entered the house.

"Hiccup reporting for duty sir," Hiccup said jokingly.

Stoic laughed, "Hahaha! Oh no, you're not presiding over this today, Hiccup. You've worked long and hard for this, now you need to go out and enjoy the day with your wife."

Astrid was thrilled to learn that Hiccup would be spending the day with her. After they had fed the dragons and had breakfast themselves, the two left to sign up for the day's activities. Astrid forced Hiccup to sign up with her in the Viking duels, and she signed up for every other physical orientated event. Hiccup signed up for all of the dragon ones, and convinced Astrid to sign up for the dragon race as well.

They were soon joined by Snotlout, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, and Fishlegs. The group headed together to the first event, ax throwing. Astrid and Snotlout were to be competing in this event. Everyone had a laugh as Snotlout threw his ax; it hit the very top of the target, knocking it over. The crowd cheered as Astrid discharged her weapon, hitting the bull's-eye. Hiccup could easily imagine the target being a shield with him standing behind it.

The next event for the group to go to was one in which they all would be participating: the Viking duel. Fishlegs lost his first duel against Hiccup, Tuffnut lost to Ruffnut, and Astrid and Snotlout won their first duels. Ruffnut was then beaten soundly by Astrid while Hiccup proved that, even with his leg, he was far more agile and skilled than Snotlout. The two moved onward, surprising the crowd. Hiccup in particular amazed them, who'd have thought that the boy who wouldn't have lasted more than a few seconds in his first round a few years ago would do so well? About ¾'s of the way through, Hiccup and Astrid faced each other in the ring. The crowd fell silent as they watched the two take up their positions.

Hiccup moved first, charging forward with his sword raised. Astrid raised her shield to block the blow, then she swung downward with her ax. The crowd ooohhed and ahhed at Hiccup as he jumped over the ax head. The two were then locked in a flurry of attacks. To the crowd, in looked almost as if they were dancing with each other. However, Astrid won. She swung forward with such force that it broke Hiccup's blade in two. The extremely dull ax hit Hiccup on the side of the head, immediately showing his defeat.

Astrid advanced onward, making it all the way to the champion, Stoic the Vast. The crowd cheered at Astrid's impressive moves. However, her balance of power and speed couldn't hold against Stoic. He knocked her shield away, and then swung at her with his giant hammer. She ducked beneath it, and came up to launch her own attack. Stoic was too fast for her, and knocked her ax away as well. Before Astrid could think of what to do next, she felt his hammer tap her on the head. The crowd screamed with cheers as Stoic held Astrid's hand into the air. Then he spoke, loud enough for only her to hear.

"I'm proud to call you my daughter-in-law."

Astrid smiled at this and began to search the crowd. When she finally found Hiccup, he was beaming at her. However, no one had noticed a hooded figure watching all of the duels.

And so the day progressed. The group of friends moved on; winning, losing, but always doing their best. Finally, they all came together to compete in the final event of the day, the dragon race. The objective of this event was to be the first to race all the way around the island, to the former dragon nest, and then back to the beach where they started.

With the blow of a giant horn, the contestants were off. Hiccup, who had flown this track many times before, made a plan with Toothless, so they stayed with the group. A Viking riding a Monstrous Nightmare took the lead to start off with. Once they reached the point where they had to fly in and out of the rocks and coves on one side of the island, however, Fishlegs and his Gronckle took the lead. They weaved easily around the huge rocks. Once they were out, Tuffnut and Ruffnut took first on their Hideous Zippleback. Upon reaching the open sea toward the dragon nest, Snotlout on his Nightmare and Astrid on Prince began to pull away from the group.

Astrid was right on Snotlout's tail, when misfortune struck. Prince, possibly the most vain dragon to ever exist, looked down and saw his reflection in the water. The Deadly Nadder just about completely stopped. Dragon after dragon soared by as Astrid yelled furiously at Prince, who just squawked and ignored her. Hiccup and Toothless, who had been in the rear, were soon approaching them.

Hiccup, who was not about to let his wife's pride be hurt because of some dragon's dumb reflection, whispered something in Toothless' ear. The dragon laughed and nodded in response. As they were approaching the blonde and her dragon, Toothless fully extended his wings and turned. The tip of his wing sliced through the water as they sped by, ruining Prince's reflection. The Nadder let out an angry roar and took off after them. It was at this point that the group was beginning to approach the foggy volcanic island.

"Alright Toothless," Hiccup said to his friend, "it's time to disappear." The black dragon purred in response as it vanished into the clouds.

All of the Vikings of Berk stood on the beach, looking toward the distant wall of clouds. Just as the sun set, Snotlout appeared. The crowd cheered as he neared and the rest of the riders appeared.

The space between Snotlout and the group was so big that he knew that they had no chance of overtaking him. "I did it, I've won!" He shouted ecstatically.

The crowd, however, murmured in wonder and fear as they noticed that Hiccup and Astrid were absent from amongst the riders. Then, just as it looked like Snotlout was going to start dancing in victory, a familiar whistling scream reached their ears. "Night Fury!" the crowd began to yell out of sheer habit as Hiccup and Toothless dived out of the clouds a good distance ahead of Snotlout. They were followed closely by an elated Astrid and an angry Prince. Toothless skidded to a halt on the beach, as Prince landed a short ways away. Astrid and Hiccup immediately dismounted and, before Prince could let out his anger on her husband and his dragon, Astrid guided the vain reptile to the water. Soon after, Snotlout and his dragon landed, the Viking loudly voicing his disappointment.

The crowd cheered as Stoic handed medals to the three and guided them to stands. As he did so, Astrid slipped her hand into Hiccups and kissed him before whispering in his ear, "Thank you for the help." Hiccup just smiled in return.

As Stoic began the closing ceremony, three hooded men slipped away into the night. As the Viking chief was giving recognition to those who helped in planning and running the tournament, Astrid once again slipped her hand into Hiccup's and rested her head on his shoulder. Hiccup let out a content sigh as he gazed at the crowd before him. Yep, he thought, life couldn't be much better.

Finally, I'm done with this chapter. Figuring out what to put here was trickier than I expected. Anyway, next chapter we'll get the story rollin'. Please R & R!

Dark Guymelef