DVP – VII – The Investigation

"Hey Astrid!" Snotlout called out over the wind and the beat of their dragons' wings. Astrid rolled her eyes, here it comes… "You look like you've been working out! We should work out together sometime!"

Apparently, Snotlout still harbored the hope that they could be a couple.

Astrid grinned where Snotlout couldn't see it and rolled her eyes again. He didn't stand a chance next to Hiccup. Getting to know Hiccup had opened her eyes to being more than just a Viking. Now she had Twitch and Astrid loved her to pieces. Hiccup had shown her how dragons really were and she had seen Hiccup as he was, a dragon tamer.

Sensing her human's amusement, Twitch twitched her head to the side to glance over her shoulder and make an inquisitive noise. She wanted in on the joke too. Astrid grinned in reply and ran a hand down the side of the Nadder's neck in an affectionate gesture that told the dragon not to worry.

"I've been working out with Hiccup!" Astrid called back to Snotlout. It was partly true, they worked out in the air together flying all the time. It wasn't what Snotlout meant and Astrid knew it, but the look of utter disbelief on his face was well worth the statement.

Hiccup might have not looked like it, but he was fast and had a decent amount of stamina. Not as much as she did of course, but definitely more than Snotlout did. He worked on building up his strength and it showed in his top heavy build and muscled arms.

"Oh… Uh… Well… Maybe me and you could work out sometime!" Snotlout called back hopefully.

Astrid rolled her eyes, he just never quit.

Focusing on the clearing they were approaching, Astrid's amused grin faded into a frown. Something was wrong. She could see Riley's Monstrous Nightmare readily enough, but it looked wrong. He wasn't moving and his body was laid out in an awkward position and…

That was blood.

Astrid could see it. All around the dragon was the dark, nearly black red of dragon's blood. It was darker than human blood, the fact that it still had a red tint rather than being completely black told Astrid that it probably wasn't even dry. Riley's dragon had been killed very recently.

Twitch squawked and banked sideways sharply as the scent of dragon blood hit her nose. Flapping rapidly, the Deadly Nadder circled the clearing without Astrid's direction rather than land. She knew the scent of death when she smelled it.

Snotmare followed Twitch's lead, a rippling snarl sounding from between his bared teeth. He knew one of his kin had been slain here. Snotlout yelped and grabbed hold of the saddle in front of him at Snotmare's sudden change of direction.

"What was that for!?" He called out, both to Astrid and Snotmare.

"Look!" Astrid snapped back, pointing down into the clearing. How could Snotlout not have seen the blood? Astrid knew he wasn't the brightest Viking in the village, but she hadn't thought he was a complete idiot. Apparently she could be proved wrong.

"Is that… blood?" Snotlout's shocked voice called out over the wind.

Astrid shot an irritated glare, glad she had chosen Hiccup who had both a brain and excellent observation skills. Twitch balked when Astrid tried to urge her down to land. The dragon squawked and back-winged to try to twist away from landing, there was death down there and she knew it.

Snotmare had no such reservations and went down willingly at Snotlout's direction. The Monstrous Nightmare was angry about his kin being slain and he wanted blood for blood. He landed heavily, uttering an angry snarl and made his way towards Killer without even waiting for Snotlout to get down.

"Hey!" Snotlout yelped, "At least wait for me to get down!"

"Don't!" Astrid called out to him as Twitch reluctantly followed Snotmare to the ground. She kept her wings half spread and her movements were sharp in preparation to spring into the air at a moment's notice. "Stay on your dragon! We need to be ready to leave in a hurry!"

Astrid had her axe drawn and held at the ready. They had only just begun to practice combat from a dragon's back very recently as the threat of attack from less dragon-loving Vikings became more apparent. While Berk didn't want to fight with any one-time allies, they would do so to defend their home and their new allies they had found in the dragons.

The living Monstrous Nightmare crooned softly to Killer, nudging the other dragon sadly. There had been losses when the dragons and Vikings fought each other of course, but this was different. Against the Vikings, they had fought against them. Killer's death… There wasn't even any blood or battle wounds on his hide.

"Do you see Riley anywhere?" Astrid asked, her voice quiet as she took notice that the forest around them was silent. Something was wrong.

"No," Snotlout answered after a moment, his eyes scanning the clearing the same way Astrid's were, "Is that patch of blood brighter over there?" He pointed to a place to the side of them.

"Yeah," Astrid's eyebrows knit together in confusion, "What is that green stuff there?" Her voice was puzzled and she urged Twitch towards the spot on foot, not willing to get off the dragon and lose her escape route into the air.

Twitch's hiss said very clearly that she did not like this idea, but went anyway. Her steps were slow and her legs stiff as she swung her head from side to side to get a good look at everything, even the blind spot directly in front of her. Sliding slowly closer, Twitch lived up to her name with frequent muscle twitches and her head jerking towards any slight scent, sound, or glint in the grass.

The hair on the back of Astrid's neck was standing up at Twitch's behavior. Dragons weren't scared of much. The fact that Twitch was very afraid of whatever was going on told Astrid that there was something very, very wrong.

Astrid squinted at the strange splash of green on the grass. It looked like a blood splatter, but it was green, it couldn't be blood. Astrid scowled at the weird splatter, wondering briefly if it was something the Elder had concocted for a potion.

Twitch had noticed the patch of bright green then and balked at going any closer, uttering a squawk of fear. She refused to get any closer to the patch of bright green and instead veered to the side, twitching worse than before with only Astrid's firm hand on the dragon's neck keeping her from flinging herself back into the sky.

"Snotlout!" Astrid called out to get the boy's attention, "Come and look at this!" On top of wanting to know what, if anything Snotlout knew, Astrid also wanted to see how Snotmare would react. Twitch's reaction was unnerving to say the least, Snotmare was steadier than Twitch was and Astrid wanted to see if he spooked at the weird green patch too.

Snotlout frowned, but urged his angry, snarling dragon over towards Astrid. Snotmare was watchful, but angry where Twitch had been nervous. The big dragon's lips were pealed back from his teeth and a steady, rumbling growl coming from his chest as he prowled forward. He caught the sight and scent of the patch of brighter green before Snotlout did and let loose a snarl of fury as he lunged forward towards the spot.

An undignified yelp of surprise came from Snotlout as he grabbed for the front of the saddle yet again as Snotmare crouched over the splash of green. Deep, furious breaths of the Nightmare scenting the strange green substance was the only sound that could be heard in the clearing before his head swung around to the side and he snarled at the empty air.

A rippling growl answered Snotmare's snarl, causing both Snotlout and Astrid to tense at the alien sound. It didn't sound like anything they'd ever heard before and they had heard their dragons make some odd sounds since they had come to live in Berk.

"What is it boy?" Snotlout asked unnecessarily, his voice belaying his nerves.

"Shh!" Astrid hissed angrily as she tightened her hold on her axe. Only the firm grip Astrid had with her knees kept Twitch from springing into the air as she practically shook with fear. Astrid's heart was racing as well, though she kept her own fear of the unknown threat squashed firmly down. It wouldn't do for Twitch to pick up on Astrid's fear, that would send the dragon into flight without a doubt.

Snotmare was not waiting for his human or Twitch's human to decide what to do, he knew danger and death. Much to his human's surprise, Snotmare opened his mouth and loosened a gout of clinging flame. He swung his head in an arc to encompass several of the tree and not risk missing the death he could smell, but not see.

Snotlout once again uttered a yelp of surprise, "What are you doing?!" He demanded of his dragon over the roar of the flames, "We can't just set trees on fire!"

Astrid, on the other hand, had no complaints of Snotmare setting a few trees on fire. Trees grew back, there was a good chance that the dragon had gotten whatever was there, and nothing said something was wrong and brought people running faster than a pillar of smoke. Being as the village's dragons no longer did nefarious things such as lighting things on fire, this would be a beacon to the whole island.

Twitch jerked violently to the side with a squawk of fear and saved both herself and Astrid from a double ended spear that buried itself into the ground. Years of training took over as Astrid determined where the spear had come from and hurled her axe at the spot without thinking.

Bright green sprayed forth as the axe buried itself in something that gave a pained snarl. Astrid's eyes widened as what looked to be hundreds of tiny lightning strikes flashed to expose what appeared to be a strangely armored, strangely colored man. This was no man like Astrid had ever seen though, it bled green for one and it was huge, bigger than most of the Vikings she had ever seen.

The axe she had thrown was buried in its gut, just barely missing a plate that was obviously meant to protect the heart. It shook its head and uttered a very unhuman-like snarl as it grasped and pulled her axe from its belly with a spray of bright green blood, bringing a wave of stink that told Astrid that the wound was likely a fatal one. Belly wounds were like that, this thing might try to fight on still, but it was done for.

Snotmare had noticed the monster by then and snarled angrily as it appeared that he had missed it. He flared his wings out and rattled his spines for intimidation and loosened another gout of flame. The death monster just barely managed to leap out of the way, then staggered as it landed a safe distance away.

"Whoa! What it that thing!?" Snotlout asked, making Astrid vow to punch him in the face for unnecessary talking during battle of all things.

She didn't bother to answered, having thrown her axe she was now concerned with her lack of weapon. Astrid's eyes then lit on the monster's own weapon it had thrown at her and immediately urged Twitch within grabbing distance. The dragon hissed and sidled over so Astrid could grab the pointy stick, making sure she stayed facing the monster.

Astrid wrenched the spear out of the ground, wishing for an instant that she had trained with more of a variety of weapons. The monster was attempting to stagger to its feet as Astrid drew back and let the spear fly. Her aim was true and her arm strong as it impaled it between the shoulders.

The second wound was enough and it toppled forward bonelessly. Dead.

"All right!" Snotlout cheered, "You got it!"

Astrid breathed a sigh of relief and slouched slightly, before urging Twitch towards the thing. The dragon hissed, not liking the order, but obeying her human anyway. Twitch didn't get too close though and stopped her tail length away and refused to move any further.

"Alright," Astrid murmured and swung down from her back, "You watch my back the girl." She whispered, using a bit of humor to ease her own nerves. Her hand still shook slightly when she brushed it affectionately against the side of Twitch's neck. The dragon made a worried sound in reply, remaining watchful for other danger around the clearing.

Snotmare was not nearly so cautious, he stalked forward with heavy steps and bared teeth. All of his attention was on the dead killer of his kin and on making sure that it was really and truly dead. His human shifted where he still sat on his back, nerves probably, before speaking, "What is that thing?"

"I don't know," Astrid answered, "I'm getting my axe, then we're going back down to tell the village and get people up here." She didn't know what was going to happen. This was bad; really, really, bad. Astrid didn't know who they would go to for advice or information on what to do. They would have asked the Elder, but she was likely as dead as Riley and Killer. Astrid wasn't going to waste time checking though, there would be time for that when they got more of the villagers up here.

Astrid's hand closed around the handle of her axe when an ear-splitting screech had her whirling around just in time to get sprayed with Twitch's blood. The point of a spear sprouted from the dragon's chest as she fell and didn't move. Astrid could only stand there in shock, staring at the lifeless form of her dragon.

What should have been a teeth rattling roar from Snotmare was oddly muted as she felt a sting of pain at her throat, then nothing…


Yep. It's a cliffhanger.

I really did that.

I'm even laughing about it even while I know some of you are probably foaming at the mouth or tearing your hair out to know what happens.

I'm laughing even more now.

How I'm writing the Predators, as a big Unknown to the Vikings, is influenced from the Jaws movie from 1975. A big part of the success of that movie was how little the mean ole shark actually appeared which unintentionally played on humans' fear of the unknown. Spielburg's shark for Jaws actually suffered several problems during filming and the reason we see so little of it is because it didn't do too well in the sea. Today a computer model would be made and put in, but Spielburg actually had life sized shark models on location on the Atlantic rather than be in a Hollywood tank.

Jaws is one of my favorite movies if you can't tell. Along with How to Train Your Dragon, Predators, Avatar, Reign of Fire, Secondhand Lions, Avengers, Shrek, and a whole hoard of others.

Okay, I'm done rambling now.

Thanks for reading! Leave any questions/comments/reviews/short stories/tall tales/cookies/secrets/cheat codes/ice cream and I'll get to it soon!