"I don't like this, chief," Eret said.
"You've said that, like, fifteen times. I think she gets it," Ruffnut grumbled.
"Would you please be quiet?" He used 'please', but Astrid could tell that the heat was getting to him as well. None of them were dressed for weather so mild. When they left Berk, the weather was on the cusp of winter. Layers had been shed back at the camp, but there wasn't any time for them to find their summer garb.
"Astrid," Eret said, catching up to her. "We'll need to make camp for the night in a few hours. And I don't like that idea with those men on our tail."
"Have you seen any sign of them?" she asked.
Eret shook his head. She looked to the others. They all made gestures to the negative.
"We'll keep going until we find a good spot," Astrid said. "And we'll post watches." She was surprised not to run into any more trouble from Jarle and his men, but they had gone inland for a bit. Maybe that had been successful at throwing him of their trail. They were headed back to the shoreline now. She could see the golden glow of sand just through the trees.
They were turning parallel to the beach when a long dark line caught her eye.
"Guys." Astrid pointed
It was a mast. Specifically, it was a mast attached to a sail with the Berkian crest. The mast they had lost when they lost Stoick. This was the place. Astrid leapt into a run, crashing through the trees and out on the sand. She scanned the beach, looking for any sign of her son. What if, oh gods, what if he was here, rotting along with the wreckage of their ship?
"Mom?"
Astrid's head snapped to her right.
Kneeling on the ground, up to his small elbows in sand was her son. He scrambled to his feet, covering half the distance between them before Astrid could move. She dropped her battle axe, falling to her knees and opening her arms as her son barreled into her.
"Mom," he sobbed.
"It's okay, baby. I'm here," she said. She thought she might be crying too. "I've got you."
The boy buried his face in her neck, crying even harder.
"Astrid," Ruffnut called.
The shock in her voice chilled Astrid. Pushing her son behind her, Astrid's eyes went to the bluff on the other end of the beach, where a dragon had just appeared.
It was a Night Fury.
The dragon gurgled and jumped down from the ledge, gliding down to the beach before bounding towards them. Before she could stop him, Stoick pulled away from her and got between them.
"No, it's okay, Toothless. It's my mom. You know my mom."
Toothless didn't pay any heed to the boy, jumping around him neatly before tackling Astrid and licking her front thoroughly.
"Toothless." Astrid threw her hands up, trying to shield herself from dragon slobber. Toothless rubbed the side of his face against her chest. "I've missed you too, bud." She scratched beneath his chin, fingers brushing against paper thin leather. Astrid went rigid. Toothless let her shove him aside. Grabbing Stoick's arms, she demanded. "How did you know his name?"
The boy's lower lip trembled.
"Stoick, this is important, who told you the dragon's name?"
Something inside of Astrid released, tension that had been building for ten years lifting. Her eyes sought the ledge where Toothless had appeared.
It wasn't empty.
He was there.
"Astrid," Hiccup cried.
Astrid tried to shout his name as he half-slid, half-jumped down the path to the beach. All that came out was a nameless cry as she pushed off from the sand, running, jumping over the mast, not slowing down until their bodies collided solidly.
Now she knew she was crying.
She was aware of the arm around her waist, the hand digging into her shoulder, the nose pressed just behind her ear as he breathed her in. She was doing the same, smelling the salty-wildness that mingled with the scent she knew. He tried to pull away, but her arms were around his neck like a vice, so all he managed was to gain enough room that their foreheads pressed together.
"Oh, gross," someone, it sounded like Snotlout, said. "C'mon kid, trust me, you don't want to see this."
Part of her wanted to stop whoever was taking her son away. She didn't want him out of her sight, but when she pulled way to say something, Hiccup opened his eyes.
"Hi," he said.
"Hi." She'd forgotten to breathe, so it came out wispy.
His heartbeat thumped against hers, they were already starting to sync.
"I knew," she said. "I always knew."
Hiccup grinned and her heart skipped a beat. "Well, you know us Berkians. Harder to kill than a Monstrous Nightmare."
Astrid laughed.
Toothless butted his head against her shoulder. She let go of Hiccup long enough to kiss the dragon on the nose.
"I probably have you to thank for this, don't I?"
The dragon gurgled and pranced around them, his tail cutting a trail in the sand. His tail. Of course, Stoick would have recognized it instantly.
Stoick. All the tension that had just released Astrid returned tenfold. She glanced away from her husband. How did one break news like this ten years late? Biting her lip, she turned to where her—their son had been.
He was gone.
"Eret, where is he?" she asked. Had she known he was gone? Someone had said something maybe, but anxiety of seeing him gone again was making it hard to think.
Eret jerked a thumb behind them. "He went with Snotlout and the twins. I think they were worried about—overwhelming displays of affection."
"And you're not?" Hiccup quipped.
"Somebody has keep a lookout on the beach," he said. At another time, Astrid might have pointed out that Toothless was a sufficient lookout, but her nerves held her tongue. She hadn't even been this nervous on their wedding night.
Still not looking at Hiccup, Astrid stalked over to her battle axe. Picking it up, she brushed the sand off of the blade. Having the weapon in her hand calmed her somewhat. She was a Viking, after all. Words ran over and over in her mind, all of them discarded because they weren't just right. This had to be right. It was already going to hurt.
"Hiccup…" she said at the same time that he said, "Astrid."
Then Stoick screamed.
Astrid jolted into motion, barely registering that Hiccup was only a second behind her. They crashed through the trees, Eret and Fishlegs behind them.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. They were on a strange island. Jarle and his men were still out there. How could she have let her guard down. Stoick called out for her again as Astrid burst into a clearing. Snotlout and Ruffnut lay on the ground, while Tuffnut struggled with one of the strange men. There was easily double the number that had ambushed them that morning.
"They took the kid," Tuffnut cried. His opponent kicked him away, hurling a knife at him. A blast of blue fire knocked the knife off course. It landed a few feet away from where Tuffnut was picking himself up.
"Ah, ah." Jarle stepped into the clearing, wagging his finger. Another half dozen men behind him. "Quite the chatterbox you have there, chief. He seemed especially excited to have met you, Hiccup. I wonder, do you know why?" Jarle grinned at Astrid. The smile only grew wider as she lunged for him. "I thought I'd hit the jackpot with you, my dear, but this—oh this is so much better."
"Where is he?" she snarled.
"Oh, with the time my men are making? Can't be sure, but I can make sure you don't catch up with them. Watch that Night Fury, won't you, old friend?" Jarle leaned against the tree, inspecting his fingernails. "If I don't make it back, my men have orders to cut the boy's throat."
Hiccup's breath hissed through is teeth. His eyes flicked to Astrid. "What do you want, Jarle?"
"Well, now." Jarle's drawl grated against Astrid's ears. If she had killed him this morning, none of the this would be happening. "I'm not entirely sure about that, but as soon as I've made up my mind, I'll let you both know."
"You bastard," Astrid said. She lunged again, but Hiccup had a tight grip on her arms.
Jarle spun with the grace that so many big Vikings had. His men followed, eyes on Toothless the entire time. As soon as they had faded into the forest, Fishlegs and Eret rushed forward, kneeling next to their fallen friends.
"He's breathing," Fishlegs said.
"Ruffnut's fine too," Eret said. The Viking in question was already stirring. "Easy there, don't sit up too quickly."
"Bah. I'm fine," she said, lurching upright. She swayed, but warded off both Eret and Fishlegs attempts to help. Snotlout was coming around too.
"How could you just stand there?" Astrid smacked Hiccup solidly on the chest. The blow was strong enough to break his hold. Hiccup winced, rubbing hand over the leather across his chest.
"Because I know Jarle. He doesn't make threats lightly."
"Snotlout, get up," Astrid said. "We're going after them."
Hiccup grabbed her hand. "That's not a good idea."
She yanked her hand from his. "He's my son!"
The moment the words were out of her mouth, Astrid regretted them. She braced herself for the shock on Hiccup's face. And the hurt. She only found anger. Just anger. Astrid swallowed, she could could on one hand the number of times Hiccup had been truly furious with her. And she couldn't really blame him.
"He's our son," Hiccup said.
The tense silence was broken in seconds by Fishlegs, "Okay, we're going now." He hauled Snotlout to his feet and half-marched, half-carried him back towards the beach. The twins supported each other as they scurried after him. Eret hovered just in the corner of her vision.
"Am I right?" Hiccup demanded.
"Hiccup…"
"Did you know?"
Astrid couldn't meet his eyes.
Hiccup sighed. "Of course." There it was, the hurt. It was ten times worse than she'd been expecting.
"Hiccup, maybe you should back off. You don't know what the last ten years have been like."
Hiccup glared at Eret and his restraint became abundantly clear. "No offense Eret, but is this any of your business?"
"Well, I, uh…" Despite the fact that he was easily twice Hiccup's size, the Sami man took a step back.
"Then butt out."
Eret looked to her. Astrid nodded. He didn't leave, but he took several more steps back. Another pointed look form her and the big man followed the others. Astrid put a hand on Hiccup's arm. He jumped, realized it was her and relaxed a little. When he finally looked at her, she saw the veil fall back over his anger.
"We should go check on Snotlout and Ruffnut," Hiccup said, running a hand through his hair.
Astrid's grip on his arm tightened, turning him back to her. "We should go after our son, Hiccup."
"Not yet. First we need to…"
"No. I did not spend two days worrying and all day searching to have Stoick taken from me again. He's alone with those men and probably terrified."
"You think I'm not aware of that, Astrid?" He pressed his fingers against his eyelids. "Gods, this is my fault. If I had just taken him with me, he would be with my mom right now and—"
"You left him here alone?" It came out louder than she meant, but all her experience as chief kept it pitched low. How could he have left a nine-year-old alone? Of course, that made sense, the child had been on the beach by himself when she found him.
"Of course not, I left him with Toothless." Hiccup pointed to the black dragon. "I didn't want him anywhere near Jarle's side of the island, how was I to know he'd follow you here. This side of the island is normally safe."
"Stoick is nine-years-old and you left him with a dragon he barely knows."
"He's almost ten," Hiccup spat. "And Gobber left me alone in the forge dozens of times at that age while he dealt with dragon attacks."
"It's not the same. I can't believe…"
"I'm sorry, alright? I don't have ten years of experience. I've known about him for one day, so excuse me if I'm not up to your standard of parenting."
They glared at each other. Hiccup took a deep breath in, turning away from Astrid. He kicked at a tree with his false foot, the metal gouging a divot in the bark. The urge to reach out to him, or slap him, tempted Astrid. She crossed her arms.
"We're wasting time," he said. "Let's look after the others and regroup."
# # #
He lived in a cave.
Astrid didn't know why that surprised her. Why not a cave? His best friend was a dragon after all.
"Toothless," he said as they entered. The Night Fury sent a blast into the center of the room. Fire sprang up from a pit, lighting the low cave. She and Hiccup could walk upright, but Fishlegs and Eret had to stoop. He pointed to Snotlout and Ruffnut. "You two, sit The rest of you, make yourselves at home."
Still not up to talking with her husband, Astrid took a turn about the room.
Hiccup had no bed, just a pile of blankets. She saw a few baskets, obviously hand woven, and a very battered sea chest. There was the fire pit in the middle. And drawings. The ceiling and walls were covered with sketches. Tools, sketches of dragons, Berk and her. Over and over again, she found her face, her figure. There she was holding her battle axe. There was one of her on Stormfly, arms outstretched. In the corner was a rather intimate one, lovingly sketched in smooth, languid lines.
The woman's eyes were closed, hair falling in swirls around her face, but Astrid recognized the scar on the woman's hip and the shape of her body. Casting a glance at the others, she surreptitiously moved one of Hiccup's baskets in front of it.
She kept pacing, unable to sit still. There had to be something she could be doing. Hiccup didn't seem to need any help tending to their friends.
"Good thing your skull is so thick, Snotlout," Hiccup said. "Didn't even dent the skin."
"Well, you know us Jorgensons have always been hard-headed."
"Oh, I remember," Hiccups said, moving to Ruffnut. The side of her face was scraped pretty bad. One long scratch right above the tip of her eyebrow was bleeding badly. Her face was covered in blood. "You weren't so lucky."
"Will it scar?"
"Probably."
"Goody."
Hiccup just shook his head. "This is going to sting."
Ruffnut didn't flinch as he carefully wiped away the blood.
"So, what brought everyone here? What happened to Berk?"
"Dragon Island exploded," Snotlout said.
"Exploded?"
"Yeah, you should have seen it, all red and molten. It looked like a giant forge," Fishlegs said.
"Made ash like a blacksmith's fire, too," Astrid said. "The cloud spread so far there was ash on Berk and over Berk for months. Nothing would grow. We could barely breathe. So we packed up everything we could and went looking for a new home." Some decided to stick it out, but most of the Berkians had jumped at the chance to pack up and sail for somewhere that the sun still shone. Leaving Berk hurt like few other things had. It felt like she'd finally given up on the man kneeling beside Ruffnut. Like, she was forsaking any chance of ever finding him again.
Funny how that worked out.
"Are we just going to sit here chatting?" Eret said. He leaned awkwardly against the wall, his chin bent to his chest. "Or are we going to do something about those blokes that just took Stoick?"
Before Astrid or Hiccup could say anything, Tuffnut said, "We're waiting for a plan."
"Then let's plan," Eret said.
"Hiccup already has a plan," Astrid said.
That got Hiccup's attention. "What makes you say that?"
"Dude," Ruffnut said, "you've got your 'I have a plan' face on."
Astrid nodded.
Eret threw his hands in the air, grumbling when they smacked loudly against the cave wall. Hiccup backed away from Ruffnut, allowing Toothless to lick the side of her face gently.
"Let that dry. It'll stop the bleeding." He placed the bowl and the rag on the floor and sat back on his heels, looking to Astrid. "Attacking right now would be foolhardy. While it's still daylight, they have the advantage. Give them time to get back to the village and get settled. We attack them while they think they're safe."
"But shouldn't we get going?" Fishlegs asked. "It took us hours to get here from there."
"That was then. This is now."
"Astrid, why are you smiling?" Tuffnut asked.
She was smiling. Despite everything, she couldn't help herself. "Do none of you remember why Hiccup left?"
Her friends looked at each other, clearly at a loss. Eret finally spoke, grinning as well.
"The dragons."
Hiccup stood. "Follow me."
He took them down a long tunnel. The only light they saw for several minutes was the torch Hiccup carried and then, they entered the cavern.
"This is amazing," Astrid said. It stretched high above them, like a hive. Rosy evening light lit the hole in the roof, making it glow. The walls were covered in little paths and catacombs. Perfect places for a dragon to nest for the night.
And there were dragons. So many of them. On the floor, flying above them, resting on the little ledges. Without even knowing, her eyes started searching. A loud whistle beside her made her jump. There was a familiar squawk and Astrid looked up in time to see a head pop out of niche.
"Stormfly," Astrid whispered. Her dragon leapt from the ledge, gliding down, landing so close, she nearly knocked Astrid down. Astrid petted the Nadder all over, inspecting her, looking for any differences since the last time she'd seen her. The Nadder was nearly purring. Around her, she could hear her friends calling for their dragons. It sounded like Meatlug had already found Fishlegs.
"I don't see Cloudjumper," Hiccup said. "He's probably still outside. I'm going to go see if I can find him and send him and some others to my mom. Astrid, please, don't do anything until I get back."
Astrid nodded.
Hiccup swung onto Toothless and off they went. She watched as they soared up and through the hole in the cavern ceiling.
"Be safe," she whispered.
In case you were wondering, yes I know I'm evil. I made it better and then I made it worse. Not what I had planned, but then they started fighting and it was good, so I went with it. Well, I'll leave you to imagine what happens until next week.
Thank you to everyone who has favorited, followed or reviewed (especially the reviewers) this story. It may not be as popular as Our Little Moments, it really is my favorite project right now. I think it should be finished soon, but I could be wrong, the story keeps growing.
