(So I know I said this would be out this weekend, but there were a few. . . .complications in my path these last few days and things in my life just kept getting in the way but I AM TRYING, with that said, On With The Show !)
"Allison !, as in Katherine's friend", Astrid said aghast.
"It looks like my reputation proceeds me"
Astrid held the locket to her face, "how are you here ?, Why are you here, inside a locket ?"
The lcoket began to feel colder in Astrid's hands, the voice turned into a sad and depressed timbre. "After I died, instead of my soul being lifted to Vallhala, Katherine trapped it inside her necklace"
Astrid's eyes widened in relation, back in the woods. . . . what was Katherine wearing ? A long silk gray dress, no shoes, and a. . . . . .Astrid gulped, a golden locket . She was wearingKatherine's locket !
In panic, she reached to the back of her neck for the hook of the chain, wanting nothing more than to rid herself of the vile pendant.
"No don't please !" Allison begged, "please don't lock me back in there".
Her hand froze centimeters away from the chain, she thought back, how long had Allison been dead ? For years of course. . . .and to have to spend day after day of that time probably being tortured and hexed, trapped around a witch's throat until death took her as well. Only to be returned to misery by being locked up inside a copper box under the earth like a living corpse in it's grave.
Sensing Astrid had not cut contact and still wore the necklace, Allison spoke again, "I sense you've been touched by dark magic, Katherine's magic, am I wrong ?"
Astrid's thoughts ringed alarm, how could Allison sense something like that ? "No you're right, I came here to find a way to defeat her or protect myself, but there's nothing here" Astrid admitted in defeat.
The locket developed a warmer aura to it, a friendly semblance, "maybe there is ?"
"What do you mean ?"
"Well. . .if it's true that Katherine has lost her mortal body and is now a spirit she is not as powerful as she would be with a constitution, and even though I'm trapped, the presence of my soul should give you a form of protection" she explained.
Astrid found a lifting sensation fill her at Allison's words and immediately bolted off from the cliff-side, running as fast as her legs could carry her, Toothless now following pursuit with her, Astrid's mind fully settled on one destination.
"Where are we going ?"
But Astrid didn't answer, she just kept running, dodging fallen tree limbs and running past circling bushes and trees. Once she reached the village, her heart began beating faster in anticipation. Few people looked back at her curiously but continued on their way a few moments later. Astrid didn't stop until she reached the Haddock house again.
Once she stopped, she had to take deep breaths, to try and gain back a steady amount of oxygen in her lungs, before banging on the door at a rapid hard speed, so loud she was sure someone had to hear her. It was several minutes of hard strikes at the wood, her fist going back and forth at the door until it was opened and she realized she was now only hitting at the air.
"I suppose yer here for eh second visit" A blonde viking man asked.
"Gobber ?, what are you doing here ?"
Gobber chuckled, "now you don't think Stoick would just leave his ailing son alone while he was busying running the village ?"
Astrid mentally kicked herself, like Stoick would leave his only son alone while he was in such a state of health. "May I come in ?"
The elder viking nodded and opened the door wider for her to enter, but when she made her way to the first step of the stair-case, Gobber put a hand on her shoulder. Astrid turned her face to meet his, "something wrong ?"
Gobber rubbed his neck, "well uh actually Astrid, I need to talk to you. . . .I need to ask. . . what exactly happened with Hiccup".
"What do you mean ?"
"Those herbs Gothi gave Hiccup. . those weren't normal healing herbs. . .they were just simple tea leaves, nothing special. . . . .is there something you didn't tell us" Gobber asked suspiciously.
"Oh well I. . . ." Astrid's voice trailed off, not just that Gobber was catching on, but that if Gothi hadn't given Hiccup anything that meant she really didn't have anything to help against Katherine, that meant her life, Hiccup's life, the future of Berk. . . . . . it all depended on her.
"Astrid ?"
"Huh, what ?" Astrid asked, being pulled out of her thoughts, "oh yes" she'd been silent for a few minutes, "yes. . .I MEAN NO. . .no I mean, no, I'm. . I'm fine, he's fine", she stuttered her words together.
"Nice save" Allison said with a coating of sarcasm.
"Are you sure ?" Gobber asked questionable of Astrid's new behavior, she sounded less like Astrid and more like. . . well Hiccup !"
"Yeah. . .yeah I'm fine" she nodded nervously and began backing forward to the stairs, "so I'm just going to see him and *oof* " she hit one of the wooden pillars, "yeah I'm just gonna. . .gonna go bye" she rushed and quickly started running up the stairs, leaving a very, veryconfused Gobber.
"That was close" Astrid breathed.
"So who's that ?"
"Long story", Astrid approached Hiccup's bed with the boy still asleep, she gave a small smile, "you said you can protect someone from Katherine right ?"
"Yeah, but why are we here ?"
Astrid looked at the golden locket and took a deep breath, "he needs protection more than I do".
"No WAIT DON'T" Allison panicked.
"Don't ?, Look. At. Him, this is what Katherine's done to him. . . . .because of me". Astrid defended, her voice trailing down with guilt on the last three words.
"Astrid listen to me, she won't hurt him"
"Won't hurt him ! LOOK at him !"
The necklace started to burn even hotter, hot that it even began to sting her skin slightly. "Ugh"Allison groaned in annoyance, "she's put magic on him, but it was charming not hexing".
"It doesn't matter what kind of magic, the fact is that she's used magic on him, he needs this more than me and I'm going to help him" Astrid stated in utmost certainty.
She could almost image Allison scowling at her, " well you can't help if your dead, and that seems to be Kat's top priority right now, believe me, he's safer than you, protecting yourself is the best way to help him".
Astrid thought this over, before deciding to put her hand away from the locket, now cooling down, allowing it to continue dangling from her neck, she sighed, her eyes lurking down helplessly at her friend. "Then how do I help him", her voice now barely a whisper.
"If I remember correctly, Katherine told me about a potion that could protect someone from dark spirits, there might still be a vile of it in her old lair".
"Her lair ?" Astrid questioned, but immediately mentally kicked herself for, of course she'd have a hiding place to practice magic in, "so where do I find this lair ?"
"The hidden entrance is inside the Berk forest" Allison instructed, "I remember the directions and can lead you there".
"Great, when do we start-
"Astrid ?" came a groan.
Hiccup's eyes opened slightly, still dazed, it was clear he was only half-awake and had just now woken up.
Astrid froze, she hoped Hiccup hadn't heard her talking to Allison, a person only she could hear, he'd probably call her crazy. "Yeah Hiccup. . . .but I was just leaving anyway, sorry to bother you, you can go back to sleep" she made her way to the door.
"No wait !" he slurred, though still not entirely alert, it was clear he wanted her to stay.
She couldn't help but smile, his pleading green eyes, shining bright and clear instead of hazy and empty.
"We need to go !" Allison urged.
"Just a second" Astrid whispered.
"What did you say I couldn't hear you" Hiccup asked.
Astrid smiled, "just saying I could stay for a second or two" she said nonchalantly, though she could already feel the locket reheating itself in Allison's irritation, she pulled up a chair. "How you feeling ?"
"Still tired ?" he chuckled, "I guess you think I'm just being lazy".
Astrid chuckled at his teasing, how laid back he was about this, it made her almost forget that the cause of this was an angry ghost, it almost felt like he was just getting over a cold or something. But that what was so great about Hiccup, he didn't dwell on things like that, even after he lost his leg, HIS LEG, for goodness sakes, the first thing he did when he woke up from a COMA was go FLYING !
"Well I don't know. . . ." she teased, "I'll give. . . um one more day but after that, you still in here, I'll just have to get Stormfly help me drag you to the academy".
The two laughed at their banter, and Toothless gave a strange sound in the back of his throat that Astrid could only assume was the dragon equivalent of a laugh. After a few more chuckles though, Hiccup cleared his throat, signifying he needed to talk and Astrid listened. "Actually I almost forgot, I have something for you. . . for your birthday, it's on my desk, let me just get-
"No, you lay back down" Astrid said firmly, gently pushing him back down as he tried to pull himself up, though he was having a conversation with her, it was clear that talking was taking more than enough energy out of him, energy that he didn't have for getting out of bed.
"I'll get it",she answered, getting out of her chair and towards his desk, littered with sketches and drawings, and charcoal pencils, and on the corner, a small blue box tied with a yellow ribbon on top. Picking up the box, she showed it to him, "this it ?"
He nodded as Astrid sat herself back down, the box in her hands, "open it" Hiccup spoke softly.
Putting her hand on the ribbon, carefully untieing it, Astrid allowed the ribbon to drop down onto the floor and took off the lid.
Astrid gasped in surprise, "Hiccup I. . . . ." she was at lost for words, "thank you" she mouthed.
It was a silver charm bracelet, 14 charms in all and every other charm was the sparkly blue of a nadder scale. Of the 7 individual charms, one of a shiny, miniature ax, one of a harebell flower, one of a lyre, one of the sun, one of the moon, one charm had an actual gem embedded in it in the shape of a star, and the last was of her own family crest, a serpent with it's tail wrapped around a tree with it's branches in ablaze.
The effort put into the piece of jewelry was clear as day, the serpent looked so real that Astrid could almost feel it move around the burning tree, the lyre had actual miniature strings embedded in it, she wouldn't have been surprised if she strummed it, it would actually create a musical tune, even the ax had teeny tiny engravings on it identical to her own ax's designs, Hiccup must have taken a lot of his time to complete this project.
Hiccup, at first warily of Astrid's speechlessness, but then delighted as a smile grew on her as she traced her finger along the charms, he allowed himself to chuckle, "I take it you like it ?"
"I love it" she breathed, "here" she put her wrist out, "help me put it on ?"
Hiccup obliged, putting the silver chain around her wrist and hooked it in place. Astrid raised her hand towards the open window, allowing sunlight to give a pleasant shine to the bracelet, she twisted her wrist, making the charms hit each other, creating a soft chime to echo in the room.
"Uh I hate to break this extremely important visit" Allison said dryly, "but. . . . evil ghost, magic potion, future of Berk in jeopardy, RING A BELL !"
"Ahhh" Hiccup groaned suddenly, putting a hand to his head, this snapping Astrid's attention back to the reality and importance of the situation at hand, "you okay ?" she asked with concern.
"Yeah. . . " Hiccup moaned, "just a small headache, nothing too bad".
Astrid bit her bottom lip, "maybe. . . .maybe you should rest".
Hiccup's eyes widened, "n. . .no, I'm fine, really I am", Astrid sighed, she could tell he was still tired, he just didn't want to admit it.
"Hiccup you need to rest, I'll be back soon enough", but Hiccup still didn't look convinced, so Astrid had to try more to convince him, she took his hand into her own making Hiccup blush shyly, "I promise Hiccup, by tomorrow, everything's going to get straighten out".
Toothless poked his head up to Hiccup, signifying he wanted attention, Hiccup obliged, petting his snout comfortingly while Toothless purred with delight. Satisfied, Hiccup layed back down and close his eyes, allowing his exhaustion to overcome him once again.
"Are you satisfied now, because we're kind of on a deadline here ?"
Astrid nodded in agreement, "Toothless" she said, her voice so soft only Toothless's trained dragon ears could sense it, perking up and turning back to her, "come on, we have work to do".
Toothless went back up to her, allowing her to board onto his back and fly out the window.
Astrid turned her attention to the locket, "where to Allison ?"
"This it ?"
"That's it"
After what felt like hours of nothing but going around tree after tree, Toothless and Astrid finally were stopped by the spirit of the locket. It was a great oak tree, true it indeed was "great", the wood was at least 47 ft. tall and at least 4 ft. in width, but other than it's great size, nothing about it seemed to stand out that made Astrid see how either Katherine or Allison could have identified it as a passageway.
"You sure ?"
"Look to the other side of it" Allison instructed.
Astrid raised an eye-brow but did as she told, putting her hand across the side of it's trunk. All it was was hard, gray, tree bark, until. . . . . the substance changed.
"*gasp*"
Astrid put her hand away from tree, the rough substance she felt had turned softer, smoother, looking at where her hand was, a thin trail was of what Astrid could only describe as a 'black moss'. Toothless sniffed the black substance but quickly hissed at it and turned away.
Looking more closely, she could see the trail of black moss going down to the other side of the tree, leading to a small black knot in the wood, the exact size of the locket.
"So I just need to put it in ?" Astrid asked, gripping the locket, as if to see if it was still there.
"Exactly, you're catching on"
Reluctantly Astrid unclasped the chain, allowing the necklace to slide down off her neck and fall into her palm. Almost instantly an empty and hollow feeling came to her brain, as if someone had made a large hole in the center of her head, a sign that her connection with Allison had been cut off.
Holding the locket itself up with two fingers, she placed the pendent in the small knot on the side of the tree, fitting perfectly.
The locket started to glow inside it's place inside the tree trunk, Astrid took a step back as-
*Creeeeeeeeeeeeak*
A hidden hatch in the base of the tree revealed itself for the blonde.
She walked closer to the hatch, looking down, a staircase came into her view. Toothless looked down it as well, and gave a low growl, sensing the dark magic inside it.
Astrid just now realized she was holding her breath and quickly released it. She leaned her head as far as she could without stepping any closer to the hatch, looking down at the stairs leading down into an chasm of dark shadows she couldn't see pass.
She gulped and took a second step towards the stair-case, Toothless wined in alarm, warning her that she shouldn't go down there. Astrid turned to Toothless, his pleading eyes aware of the danger that hid inside, "Toothless that hatch holds the only thing that can save Hiccup, weneed to go down there".
Toothless gave a small growlish wine, he would do anything for Hiccup, but he didn't feel right about this passageway either. Making up his mind, the night-fury grabbed a fallen tree limb with his mouth and dropped it at Astrid's feet.
Astrid gave a soft smile as Toothless made a small plasma blast at the end of the branch, enlightening it, Astrid grabbed the other end of the wood and stomped at a few blades of grass that Toothless caught fire as well. "Thank you Toothless".
Toothless went down the first few steps and waited for her to follow. Astrid closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, against every thought, every instinct, every feeling in her body to turn back from this. . . . .she released her breath and opened back her eyes. She jerked the locket out of it's socket in the tree and made her way down the steps.
As her footprints echoed down the stairway, she could hear the sound of the hatch closing back in place.
(Love it, hate it, comment ! Next one should be out soon enough, Read and Review and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)