Key:
Normal speech
Thoughts/emphasis
Dragonese
Telepathic communication
Chapter Seven: Relocation - and an Introduction to Battle Training
Astrid strained her eyes against the fog, trying to see the familiar black shape. It was well after midnight and Hiccup still wasn't back. Stoick was snoring rather loudly in the house next to her and it would have been extremely easy for Hiccup to sneak into the village relatively unnoticed. A small flash of blue-white flame gave her the signal she had been waiting for.
"What took you so long?" she whispered.
"Toothless, thankfully, decided to give Kyra a smoother ride this time. Gave her a small tour of the area," Hiccup shrugged. "She deserved it after what she's been through...OW!"
"That's for making me worried," Astrid growled, kicking her boyfriend's right leg (she had to be careful to aim for this one). Hiccup smirked. Oh, man... Thankfully, she went back to her normal routine. "That's for everything else."
"Seriously, I'm never going to get used to that!" Hiccup grinned.
"Glad to hear it," Astrid smiled. "Now get some sleep - we'll break the news about the patrol in the morning."
"Got it. Night!"
Hiccup and Toothless leapt up to Hiccup's bedroom and settled down as if nothing had happened. Tucking himself into his thin woollen blanket, Hiccup sighed. Toothless had no trouble getting to sleep - dragons had the ability to shut off their senses completely so falling asleep was a fly in the sky (as opposed to a walk in the park). Humans were... less so.
"What I wouldn't give to have that sleeping ability, bud," he moaned. Toothless ignored him. "Don't wake me up... oh, never mind. You'll do it anyway, through habit." With difficulty, Hiccup eventually managed to get some sleep.
Dream Begins:
Hiccup hooted as he flew through the air. He loved flying - it truly was the best feeling in the world. He looked down at the dragon he was riding and almost lost his grip. It was true that he was riding a Night Fury but this Night Fury wasn't Toothless. This dragon seemed more majestic and had white markings decorating its black body, glittering like stars. Looking back, Hiccup noticed that the tail was slightly forked and was emitting sparks. He also realised that he was free-riding - there was no saddle.
"Toothless is so gonna kill me!" he exclaimed. To his surprise, the dragon spoke!
"He'll thank me later, Hiccup!"
Kyra?
Hiccup didn't have time to think as the next moment, an arrow spun through the air and hit the Night Fury in the face.
Dream Ends
"ARGH!"
Turns out that Toothless did not need to wake Hiccup up after all. More likely, Hiccup woke Toothless up. Toothless nuzzled his rider and gave a quizzing look.
"Bad dream again, bud," Hiccup moaned, strapping on his prosthetic leg. It was getting easier to walk with it but he still needed help with the first few steps.
"HICCUP!"
"Coming, Astrid!" Hiccup shouted. Although Astrid had absolutely perfect hearing, Hiccup doubted whether he was going to in the near future, considering how much he was yelled at. Yanking a boot onto his right leg, he hopped out of the window (it was quicker than the stairs and he was already late) and nearly crippled himself again.
"Why didn't you get Toothless out before you jumped?" Snotlout jeered. Hiccup retaliated by chucking the nearest stone at his cousin. "Ouch! Okay, cool it, cous!"
"Can't tell you how long I've wanted to do that," Hiccup grinned. Astrid, Fishlegs and the twins burst into fits of laughter - it was high time Snotlout had a taste of his own medicine. "Next time, it'll be Camicaze hitting your eye." Camicaze was Hiccup's pet Terrible Terror. She, Stormfly and Toothless were best dragon-friends and it was common to find them having a game of tag around the village. Camicaze, due to her size and ability to fly naturally, would always be just beyond the Nadder's and Night Fury's reach. Still, Toothless had the element of surprise had, in the end, would catch her. Camicaze was, conveniently, the very same Terrible Terror that had nearly bitten off Tuffnut's nose during Dragon Training last winter ago and had a talent for aiming for places where it hurt - like facial features, for instance. Snotlout grimaced.
"Right, Hiccup's got some news about the patrols," Astrid announced, clapping her hands together. "Hiccup, tell them."
"Okay," Hiccup muttered, trying to sound as much as a leader as possible. "Because of the war going on, I've decided to extend the morning patrols..."
"WHAT?!" the twins shrieked.
"You're kidding!" Snotlout moaned.
"We already search up to the furthest rock-outcrops," Fishlegs pointed out.
"Hey, shut it!" Astrid snapped at the four protesting teens.
"Yeah... what she said," Hiccup stammered. "Now... you do what I say otherwise I'll make sure you don't leave the house for at least a fortnight."
This basically meant 'Camicaze will bite a large chunk out of your butt if you're not careful'. The teenagers shut up. Hiccup was actually quite pleased with himself.
"Right. So I want patrols up to at least Helhiem's Gate. You never know where those Outcasts are hiding. This will only take place once a week so don't get too shorty," he continued. This, at least, will keep them happier. "Any questions?"
"How long is this going to go on?" Tuffnut moaned.
"Until the war is over and because of that, you and Ruffnut search the farthest!" Astrid snapped. Hiccup silently thanked her for saving his back. The twins instantly broke into a fight and Barf and Belch had to intervene once again.
"Okay," Hiccup muttered. "Legs, Lout, you search to the West. Twins, North to Helhiem's Gate. Astrid, you cover the East. Toothless and I will cover the South end of Berk territory."
With that, the patrols left. Hiccup grimaced. Hopefully, the twins will actually be looking and will spot Kyra - he didn't like the idea of leaving her there for too long.
A few hours into the search and the twins were not having the best of times. They were still squabbling, even though Barf and Belch had whacked their heads with their tails about fifty times that morning.
"If you hadn't spoken up we wouldn't be in this mess," Ruffnut smirked, after Barf whipped her back again.
"He asked if there were any questions - I didn't see you speak up," Tuffnut snapped. Belch turned him upside down and left the guy hanging there for a good minute and a half before righting itself.
"Oh, man. This is worse than the Boneknapper mission!" Ruffnut moaned. "That was, at least, a bit fun!"
"You call listening to Gobber droning on about such and such fun?"
"At least we were doing something!"
"Oh, come on...whoa!"
All of a sudden, just as the twins reached Helhiem's Gate, the Zippleback suddenly turned towards the ground. Result: another argument.
"Hey! What are you doing?"
"What am I doing? What are YOU doing?"
"What's that?" Ruffnut pointed, trying her best to hold on to Barf's head.
"What's what? Barf's eyes?" Tuffnut asked.
"Belch's too!" Ruffnut replied. Like Toothless and Stormfly yesterday, Barf and Belch's eyes were glowing an eerie yellow colour. "But I meant what's that?"
Tuffnut looked where his sister was pointing and spotted a small glow of orange. It looked like a campfire. And sleeping next too it...
"Looks a shipwreck victim!" he shouted, hanging on to Belch's head for dear life.
"Do you think we should check it out?"
"I don't think we have much choice... argh!"
Without warning, the Zippleback levelled out and soared gently down towards the small islet. Shaking slightly, the twins dismounted and went over to the campfire. Next to it, seemingly oblivious to the commotion that just took place above her head, was a girl snoozing with her head on a small rock. She definitely looked Viking - she was wearing furs and rough wool - and there was a Viking gem necklace hanging around her neck but the twins were still wary. What if she was an Outcast spy? The Zippleback wacked them both on the head when they voiced this out loud.
"OW!" Tuffnut groaned.
"Man, when were dragons this trusting?" Ruffnut smirked in an undertone. Still, if the dragons thought that this girl was okay, she must be. At the cry of pain given by Tuffnut, the girl's eyes fluttered open. Walking up to her and trying not to scare her, Ruffnut realised that the girl had no food - just a sheep-skin, staff and the clothes she was wearing. "Help me out, bro."
"What?"
"Hey, this girl can't survive out here - no Viking can," Ruffnut snapped. "Now get over here and help me get her onto Barf-Belch!"
Tuffnut helped his sister lift the girl onto Barf-Belch. She didn't say anything but seemed rather wary of the Hideous Zippleback, obviously having never seen them like this before. Noticing that the sun was well above the horizon, the twins headed back to Berk. Maybe the patrol had some usage after all.
Back in Berk, Hiccup grinned as he spotted the Hideous Zippleback return with the twins. Craning his neck a little, he spotted Kyra on the dragon's back. Operation: New Girl, Phase: One - Relocation; success.
"You guys took a while," he called, pretending not to have seen anything.
"You would not believe what happened out there," Tuffnut grunted.
"Yeah, Barf-Belch's eyes started glowing and the next thing we knew..." Ruffnut panted. It was obviously fake.
"...they just dived down towards this islet outside Helhiem's Gate and..." Tuffnut cut across when Ruffnut punched him in the face.
"Hey! I was talking!" she snapped.
"I was first!" Tuffnut retaliated. Astrid grabbed their helmet horns and pulled them apart before any more damage could be done.
"You were saying?" Hiccup asked. Deciding to be polite about things, he let Ruffnut talk.
"Yeah. So, we arrived at the islet that we just happened to be passing..." she explained. "...and check out what we found!"
The twins brought the others round to Barf and Belch where Valkyra became visible to the rest of the gang. Hiccup made a mock face of surprise. Kyra shrank a little and gave a small smile and wave.
"A girl? You just... found her on this islet?" he asked. Tuffnut shrugged.
"Eh, we reckon she's a survivor from a shipwreck from around that area. Wouldn't be surprising."
There was a small silence. Hiccup discreetly elbowed Astrid - her turn.
"Wait, you found this girl and brought her along because you reckon she's a shipwreck victim?" she pressed sternly. "We don't even know who she is! She could be... I don't know... a spy or something!"
Stormfly gave Astrid a mock, but convincing, thwack on the head with his wing. Kyra also gave a mock scowl.
"Yeah - we got the same reaction from these guys," Ruffnut shrugged as Astrid 'nursed' her head. "If the dragons trust her, she must be okay."
"But that is rather strange," Fishlegs spoke up. "Dragons don't normally trust on sight."
"For once, I'm agreeing with Fish-guy," Snotlout put in. "I mean, how do we know we can really trust her? She is a stranger, after all."
"Lout, we're Vikings," Hiccup reminded him. "It's an occupational hazard. Where's Dad? He should know about this." With that, he ran off to find Stoick.
"Tell him everything you just told us," Astrid instructed the twins, before turning to look at the girl sitting on the Zippleback's back. Astrid grinned slightly before turning back - Hiccup was back, Stoick in tow.
A brief explanation later and Stoick agreed to allow the girl to stay in the village until someone took her back or if she was exiled within the week. Hiccup and Astrid secretly hoped neither would happen. As Stoick took the girl back to the house, Gobber suddenly waltzed in.
"Alright. I've decided to start up a new training regime," he announced. Hiccup and Astrid exchanged looks (Hiccup looked worried, Astrid looked interested). "Tomorrow, we start Battle Training. You kids need to be up on your game if this war is going to continue for the rest of the year." Battle Training? This was new, Astrid grinned. Oh, great, Hiccup moaned. "We adults have experience and some of you are already pretty talented. But we need to perfect your skills if we are to have a chance of defeating the Treacherous himself. We start in the morning."
"Wow, this is gonna be great!" Astrid smiled as she and Hiccup walked to his house to check on Kyra. "We're finally... are you alright?"
"Just can't wait for another chance to humiliate myself," Hiccup groaned.
"Oh, please," Astrid rolled her eyes. "You've trained a Night Fury! Nothing can show you up."
"Unless you count the fact that I can barely hold a shield correctly!" Hiccup snapped, stopping in his tracks. "Face it, Astrid. I'm as rubbish at fighting as Fishlegs is with keeping quiet about dragon statistics. It's going to be Dragon Training all over again - only this time I won't get any better."
"Okay, so you're pretty hopeless in the weapons department," Astrid shrugged. "Just stick close to me and you'll be fine."
"Cheers, Astrid," Hiccup sighed. "Come on. My dad's probably given Kyra a bit of a questioning in there - we'd best rescue her."
Astrid grinned and rolled her eyes. Even the simplest of tasks seemed to become rescue missions nowadays. But Hiccup did have a point. As the chief of the tribe, Stoick had to be harsh on newcomers so Kyra was probably under a lot of pressure right now.
Ducking behind the side of the house as Stoick left to get on with Chief business (Hiccup never showed much interest, despite his heritage), the duo entered the house to see Kyra curled up by the fire.
I looked up from my crouched position to see the kids hovering by me.
"How'd it go?" Hiccup asked.
"Looks like you've got a new sister," I grinned. Hiccup gave a small hoot and high-fived Astrid. "But, seriously, Hiccup. Your dad is tough!"
"And you didn't figure that out, before?" Astrid grinned, teasingly. Although I'd known her for about a day and a half, something told me that we were going to become great friends - we all were.
"Then again, I'm your new sister unofficially," I added. "I've got to last a week, remember?"
"Fair point," Hiccup replied. "I'm sure Dad will explain things at dinner tonight."
"Hope he does," Astrid shrugged. "We just want you to get settled down here - life's not too bad once you're used to dragons running around the village 24/7."
I burst out laughing. It wasn't the dragons I was worried about - it was Stoick that I was going to have to watch my step around.
"So, how about a tour of the village?" Hiccup offered. "You might as well know your way around."
"Sounds good to me," I grinned, picking myself up.
And so the tour started. I was shown the Mead Hall where dinner was held every night; the docks; the training grounds; the forest; the village square; the shops... just about everything I could see in the village I did. Then we bumped into the others.
"Hey, Hiccup!" Ruffnut called. Hiccup waved back. Astrid rolled her eyes and yanked us over to the others. "So, showing the new girl around?"
"Could say that," Astrid shrugged. I noticed that Hiccup was trying to position himself as far away from Ruffnut as possible.
"What's your name, at any rate?" Fishlegs asked me. Well, I guessed I could tell them that, at least.
"Valkyra," I answered. "Please, call me Kyra."
"Nice name," Tuffnut nodded. "Gets my seal of approval."
"You have a seal of approval for names?" Ruffnut glared.
"Yeah," Tuffnut glared back. "If I don't like it, I call them something else."
"That's dumb!"
"Says who?"
"Says me!"
"You'll get used to this," Hiccup murmured to me as the twins got into another punch up. I snorted slightly.
"So, where do you come from?" Snotlout asked, rather menacingly, as if he was trying to intimidate me.
"Island outside the Archipelago. Why?" I replied.
"We don't get a lot of shipwrecks around Helhiem's Gate anymore," Snotlout shrugged. "How come you were found there?"
"My village are mainly traders - pacifists," I explained. "We don't do conflict..."
"Call yourselves Vikings?"
"...unless necessary," I growled. Snotlout lost the attitude when he saw my face. I guess either my marks put him off or I looked as if I weren't to be messed with.
"Okay, keep your hair on."
"Yeah, so we ventured into the Archipelago to find new places to trade with," I continued. "We thought there might be a hidden tribe in the fog wall... Helhiem's Gate, did you call it?" They nodded. "So, basically, we went in there and the ship hit a rock. I was the only one who made it out alive."
"But why didn't we find any bodies or stuff like that?" Ruffnut grunted, holding her brother in a headlock. Wow, fighting, talking and listening to a conversation at the same time? That girl had serious multitasking skills.
"Somehow I managed to swim to an islet just outside - we didn't go that far in," I shrugged. Man, it was a good thing I'd practised the story in my head beforehand.
We spent the rest of the day watching the twins, Astrid and Snotlout brushing up on their various weapon skills. Astrid clearly favoured the axe; Snotlout opted for a mace and the twins were big fans of the spear. I asked Fishlegs what he normally used.
"Me? Oh, I go for the hammer most of the time," he replied shyly. I turned to Hiccup.
"I don't do weapons, to be honest," he shrugged. "Most of the time I rely on Toothless for the fighting part of things - he's way better at it than I am."
"You do realise that there's always a chance of someone downing him during a battle," I whispered. I had to keep my knowledge of dragons a secret - they weren't seen outside the Archipelago apparently. "You managed it when he was without a rider - there no certainty that someone else can't do the same."
"About that..." Hiccup groaned before I gave him a look. "Okay, maybe I'll try for the sword. We Haddocks are supposed to be legends at it - my great-great-grandfather was a sword fighting master! Who knows, maybe it's in the blood."
I hid a grimace. Hiccup had said exactly the same thing in the books and, in the end, he had turned out to be great but this Hiccup... well, I hoped that my knowledge of both worlds would help him. Before long, the horn sounded for dinner. Stoick was announcing my arrival to the entire village and I was not looking forward to that. Before we left for the Mead Hall, I overheard Snotlout say something to Hiccup.
"Tell her to get her eyes tested," he whispered. "I swear I saw something happen to them."
"Maybe you need to get your eyes tested, Lout," Hiccup replied. "And she's right behind you, you know." Snotlout whipped around to see me standing, arms folded, right where Hiccup had said I was. I raised an eyebrow and the stocky Viking skidded off to the Hall. "Let's go, Kyra."
/
AN: This story was originally written back in 2010 but I have made some name edits since then to fit the series a bit more - the Twins' dragon was called something else until I found out their real name. Other than this, I won't be changing much else so charatcers introduced in the series won't be making appearances. As always, reviews and constructive criticism welcome! No flames please...hope you enjoyed!
