The Twins
Chapter 4
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
We returned to the cove as the sun was setting.
"What's the plan?" Misty asked.
"Finish Dragon Training." I replied.
"Then what?" My sister asked.
"Still working on that part." I replied.
Misty thought for a second, then nodded. "Better plan then I would have."
"That's for fuckin' sure." I mumbled to myself.
"What?"
"Nothin'!" I replied quickly.
'What do we do?' Stailc asked.
"Hang around." I answered as I exited the cove following Misty.
*Astrid POV*
I checked over Misty, the Nadder spine in her left shoulder was non-lethal, though the toxin had knocked her out cold. I glared at the Nadder, hefted my axe, and charged. Unfortunately the Nadder collapsed like the Gronckle from two days ago, to reveal Stiff standing there, his new helmet, a similar style to his father's, on his head.
"No!" I shouted swinging my axe around in frustration while grumbling in frustration.
"Can you calm down?" Misty asked, standing up with the help of Gobber.
"That was MY-" I began.
"If you really want to know how we do it so well, stop by the cove on the far side of Raven point, just bring an open mind, and I'd suggest coming unarmed." Misty said as she limped over to lean on the stone wall of the arena.
*Stailc POV*
I observed the small blonde human, I recognized her from the memories Stiff had shared with me on our way to the Sanctuary…while I did not approach her due to the weapon she carried, I also did not move to attack her, if Stiff wanted her as a mate, then he is most likely trying to get her in on our little…plan.
I judged Freeze Wing to wake her, she slowly uncurled from her resting position, and just as she went to yawn, I pressed her head to the ground to keep her from opening her maw. 'Shhhh…Astrid.'
'Oh, gotcha.' Freeze Wing replied as I let her raise her head.
'Brother can you hear me?' I asked over our link.
'Yes.' Stiff replied.
'The girl, Astrid, is in the cove.' I informed him.
'Well Misty's ploy worked.' Stiff replied.
'How is Misty? She is out of my range.' Freeze Wing asked.
'Took a Nadder spike to the shoulder…she's getting harped over by Gothi back at the village.' Stiff replied. 'Nothing too serious though…play along, Freeze Wing stay there, if I know Astrid, things might get physical if she gets pissed enough, intervene whenever you feel it would be dramatic enough, I'll "save her" from you, introduce you, then go from there.'
Then Stiff walked in, carrying a basket full of stuff that wasn't fish.
"Alright bud, looks like we're taking a little vacation…forever." Stiff said aloud, intentionally not looking towards Astrid. Then when he set down the basket and went trough the contents for a bit, he looked up to see the attractive, for a human, female.
The girls simply finished her last stroke with the stone on her axe before speaking. "I wanna know what's going on." She threw the stone aside. And aggressively approached Stiff. "No one gets THAT good, not alone they don't, are you and Misty training? 'Cause it better not involve THIS." She said pushing him and shoving him a few times for effect before grabbing his flight harness.
"Alright! You caught me! I've been making…outfits! So, y'know, drag me back, take me in, here we go." Stiff said, acting unlike himself…only for the female to grab his hand and I could here popping before she kicked him to the ground.
"That's for the lies." She then dropped her axe on his stomach causing it to bounce back up into her hand. "THAT'S for everything ELSE." She growled, before stepping on him and approaching my hiding spot.
I took that as my que and started charging at her, only for Stiff to drag her to the ground and throw her axe a few feet away.
"Stailc, she's a friend!" He announced standing between me and the girl. "You just scared him."
'As if.' I projected to Stiff.
'Play along And be a nice suspicious dragon…maybe act like you're holding a grudge or something.' He sent back.
'Fine.'
"I scared him!? WHO is HIM?" Astrid said.
"Astrid, Stailc, Stailc, Astrid."
After a moment of shock Astrid ran.
"Du, du, du-da, we're dead." Stiff announced before waiting a second till she was a fair ways away and jumping in my saddle.
And we took off, we gained on her rapidly, grabbed her and took her up to the top of a tall tree and dumped her on one of the uppermost branches.
"Stiff! Get me DOWN from here!" Astrid shouted in fear.
"Fine, just, let me show you something." Stiff replied.
"Fine!" She replied, starting to climb to get into the saddle with Stiff, I faked a snarl at her as she tried to get on and slapped Stiff's offered hand away.
'Let's have fun.' Stiff projected. "Stailc, down…GENTLY." Stiff commanded.
I spread my wings, and linked he both of us, not to the extent of our first flight, he still needed to pay attention to Astrid after all…that wink was implied by the way.
*Astrid POV*
All I could feel was fear, all I could hear was a VERY loud extended, almost constant, scream, everything was a blur…and where was up. I vaguely registered wrapping myself around Stiff's torso.
Until I realized that that scream was from me, not only that, but I couldn't feel any real pain, and I was still alive…I decided to suck it up.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" I shouted, causing the world to stop spinning.
I then opened my eyes and saw the world…from the sky. Berk and all it's lights were beautiful, and the clouds were so close. I unwrapped myself from Stiff and reached out and touched them.
"This is amazing!" I exclaimed, I then reached down to pet Stailc. "He's amazing."
Stiff grunted in amusement.
"Wait! What about your finals!?" I asked. "You know you're gonna have to-"
*Stailc POV*
So…these Vikings made the best of their spawn kill a dragon to prove their worth…interesting.
Wait…that noise…THE QUEEN.
I snarled audibly.
"What is it bud?" Stiff asked.
'The queen is attempting to call me in…I will follow the signal…stay low and stay quiet, we are approaching a pack of returning dragons.' I said over our link.
"What's going on?" Astrid asked.
"The nest…their queen calls to them all." Stiff replied.
"THE NEST?!" Astrid exclaimed.
"Yes." Stiff replied grimly.
"Why?" Astrid asked.
I reached out to Astrid's mind, to simply communicate, as most Dragons did, there, her mind did not shine as much as Stiff, but it was still bright in its own right…possibly due to her lack of the bond Stiff and Misty shared.
So I sent her a thought, it would not form a connection, I would let the Dragon she chose do that for her.
'She controls the dragons, we must destroy her, but first, you people must know of her location.' I sent.
"Did you just say something?" Astrid asked.
"Stailc! I thought you could only bond with me and Misty because of-!" Stiff began.
'It was a working hypothesis! Not a definite explanation!' I replied defensively in both of their minds.
"He can speak though our minds?!" Astrid asked.
I snorted. 'Yes…HE can…as can any dragon…so long as they try hard enough.'
"Good to know." Astrid said as I pulled into a flock of dragons.
After about an hour of flight we finally reached that dreaded mountain.
'Here we are.' I sent.
"No wonder you guys are so cranky." Stiff quipped.
'Ha-fucking-ha.' I replied dryly.
Soon enough we were in the actual nest, and we landed on an outcropping of rock, outside of the Queen's sight. Together we watched a sight I had seen a million times before.
'She's seen us!' I sent before fleeing the nest narrowly avoiding the Queen's massive jaws.
*Freeze Wing POV*
'Ready sis?' I asked Misty.
"You bet." She replied as we landed in the Sactuary.
"Hello Misty, Freeze Wing." Valka said as we approached.
"Mother, we need your aid." Misty said.
"I cannot bring myself to kill the Queen…" Valka replied.
"It's not that, it's about Dad, we'll need your help with our plan for tomorrow." Misty said.
"What is your plan?" Valka asked.
"We used the knowledge we gained from our two dragons and Stiff made it to the final exam of Dragon Training…" Misty said.
"And he plans to try to tame the Monstrous Nightmare?" Valka asked.
"Yes." Misty replied.
"In front of the entire village…" Valka continued.
"Yes." Misty replied.
Valka gave an almost musical laugh. "That's not going to work like you think it will." Valka said.
"What?" Misty said, surprised.
"Forming a bond with a dragon for the first time, is relatively easy, any more than your first will get increasingly difficult, unless under strenuous circumstances…which won't be met unless Stiff plans have the Nightmare maimed first." Valka said.
"Oh…that's not good." Misty observed.
"You were planning to have me keep Stoick calm during the whole thing?" Valka asked.
"Yes…" Misty said.
"Well, Maybe I can convince Stoick to another thing." Valka said, thoughtfully.
Cloudjumper approached. 'Amazing creatures humans, they think of some of the craziest yet plausible things.' The StormCutter said.
"What?" Misty asked.
'Indeed, the very human that shot me down and grounded me for life, gave me my tail-fin back.' I replied pulling my tail forward for him to see.
'Interesting…remarkable!'
"Do you have anyone going through training that is stubborn and prideful?" Valka asked. "A Jorgenson perhaps?"
"Snotlout." Misty replied.
"Perfect!" Valka replied. "Since his disposition is the closest to a Nightmare's, we shall have him bond with it in front of the entire Village!"
'That might actually work!' I sent to Misty.
"Sounds great!" Misty said. "Let's go!"
Together the mother and daughter duo mounted their dragons and flew off towards home.
*Stiff POV*
As myself and Stailc landed I spoke to Astrid.
"Astrid, what would you say if I were to get you to bond with another Dragon?" I asked.
"Why?" Astrid asked.
"In case things go wrong in the ring tomorrow." I answered.
"But-" Astrid began before being cut off by a statement from Stailc.
'I will not be able to get there in time, if at all, I would ask that you accept Stiff's offer, besides, I think that Nadder you Humans are keeping and yourself will get along well.' The Dragon stated.
"Please Astrid." I pleaded. "I may be perceived as fearless, but I do fear two things now."
"What?" Astrid asked, sorry in her voice.
"The first is leaving my family, Misty, Stailc, Freeze Wing, Stoick, alone." I said.
"And the second?" Astrid asked.
"Leaving YOU." I said, grabbing her hand.
Astrid's eyes widened, and before I could react, she wrapped her arms around me and gave me a fierce, passionate kiss. She pulled away when both our lungs were burning.
"Well, at least we know where we stand with eachother." I joked.
Astrid blushed…hard.
"Alright, what's this about a Nadder?" She asked with a smile on her face.
After about half an hour we stood before the Nadder cage.
I took Astrid's axe and leaned it against the wall, before resting my hand on the lever.
"Keep your hands where they can be seen, stay out of it's blind spot and try to appear as unthreatening as possible." I said, Astrid nodded looking at the cage door with apprehension. I activated the lever, letting the dragon free…it slowly stalked towards Astrid as I backed away from it slowly.
It gave Astrid a once over, then squawked in alarm as it sensed Astrid's dagger. Astrid realized her folly, and before the Nadder could kill her, she held her hands out in front of her and slowly reached down to the dagger in the small of her back, slowly pulled it out, and tossed it as far off to the side as she could without appearing hostile. The Nadder quickly calmed. Then, as I had demonstrated to her Astrid held up a hand as she whispered calming words and compliments, as explained by Stailc to be the best way to gain the friendship of a Nadder, the species being rather vain and proud.
The Nadder was the hand and put her snout up against Astrid's palm almost immediately.
*Astrid POV*
My eyes widened as the Nadder nuzzled into my hand, after a moment I started to scratch at the underside of her jaw.
"You need a name don't you girl?" I questioned as the Nadder was chirping happily.
I stopped for a moment and stared at her for a moment as she stared back. "How does…Stormfly sound?"
Stormfly squawked in happiness before nuzzling her snout into my chest, soon after I heard a voice in my head.
'Oh boy! New sister!'
I laughed.
'You gave me my name…what's yours?' Stormfly asked.
"Astrid." I replied, stroking the dragon's snout.
'Nice to meet you Astrid!' Stormfly said as I started scratching at her jaw. 'Ohhh…that's the spot.' Stormfly purred.
I saw Stiff out of He corner of my eye approach.
'Oh! Who's this? He smells like…NIGHT FURY!' Stormfly began before before Stiff got close enough for the, apparent, stench of Stailc to be smelled, she started to scramble away as fast as she could.
"Easy girl! I ain't gonna hurt you." Stiff said calmly as he held his hands out in a non-threatening manner while he approached.
'GO AWAY! YOUR KIND CAUSE ONLY SUFFERING!' Stormfly shouted at him.
"Stormfly, He's human, just like me." I said, barring Stiff from getting any closer and approaching her myself.
'But…he smells like a Night Fury! They are DANGEROUS!' Stormfly replied.
"He has bonded with one yes, but he is only human, and Stailc is not here." I said softly to her as I got close enough to start stroking her snout again.
'B-bonded? Like we did?' Stormfly asked as she sniffed me. 'Though now hat I think about it you smell almost exactly like me…'
"Yes, he taught me how to bond with Dragons…without him, I would never have met you." I reassured her.
'Well…I thought that Shield was a nice greeting.' Stormfly joked.
"You know what I mean!" I exclaimed.
"Astrid, what's up with Stormfly?" Stiff asked.
"She's scared of Night Furies." I answered. "And apparently you smell almost exactly like one."
"Have you told her that I'm actually human?" Stiff asked.
Stormfly wordlessly walked up to Stiff, sniffed him up and down, then gave him a good lick from shin to face.
*Stiff POV*
Eugh…dragon slobber!
Then I heard a female voice. 'I can smell the mutual attraction between you two now that I'm thinking clearly…but, if you hurt my Astrid, I will cut you open and watch you bleed out into the dirt.' The Nadder sent.
I smirked. 'I would NEVER hurt her willingly…besides, Stailc might do that for ya…he quite like Astrid actually.' I sent back to her.
The Nadder looked surprised for a second, before she walked back over to Astrid and lowered herself gesturing for Astrid to get on.
"Uhhh…" Astrid looked at me.
"Go ahead, go for a few laps around the arena then tell her about her plan." I said, as I noticed a streak of white and a StormCutter to flyby over head. "I gotta go talk to my sister."
"Woohoo!"