A/N: Hey guys!
I'm terribly sorry for the late upload.
I've been really busy with my schedule lately and I hardly have any time to write this chapter. And aside from the fact that I had it done a few days back, I still didn't feel that it was ready to publication yet.
Anyways, please do enjoy the chapter! =D
P.S I will be changing the upload date from 5 days to about one week. The chapter's content will also lengthen to twice the normal size. And I will be taking a one week break every 10 chapters being uploaded.
Chapter 10: Faith
Beads of sweat silently dripped from the determined faces of the young Vikings, well, all except one.
The cove was filled with loud noises of brutal hammering, pounding each nail into the hard, blank faces of wood. Human voices could be heard, commanding one another to pass a tool, or a piece of the large puzzle, which was going to be a large, sturdy boat.
But amongst the loud, husky voices of immature Vikings, was a calm and much softer tone that broke into the clump of harsh ones. It was a tone that was expecting rejection, and most commonly used by no other than…
"Uhm, Tuff…" Fishlegs spoke to Tuffnut, who was bent over.
"What is it now, Fishlegs?" Tuffnut rasped back, not even turning to face him, disgusted and annoyed as he hammered another nail to the side of a wooden plank, causing the ground to stir.
A few more whacks and Fishlegs finally spoke again, this time with a blank tone. "You're doing it wrong." He turned around to face the other portion of the cove, by which Astrid and Snotlout were working on the mast of the ship.
Insecurity washed over Tuffnut's face, forcing him to examine the wooden plank with extreme caution, his eyes widening. "I don't see anything wrong!" He yelled back, turning back to look at a back-faced Fishlegs. His face grew red with anger when he discovered that Fishlegs was in fact, not listening to him.
Tuffnut could have run up to him, a punched him but… he knew he had much more important things to do than to deal with an ignorant baboon so, the boy let the thought drop, slumping and returning into his previous working state. "Whatever…" He said, bending down to continue his hammering.
"Look," Fishlegs said calmly, reappearing out of nowhere, like magic to Tuffnut's side. Tuffnut gave him a disgusted look, a turned around to continue hammering the wood. Fishlegs put a hand on his shoulder, turning Tuffnut over to look at him.
"You missed the hole that I placed" Fishlegs said, pointing to the small hole in the middle of the plank. "It would make your life so much easier."
"Oh," Tuffnut replied back, relaxing his enraged mood, and slowly coming to realize his mistake. "Thanks, Fish."
"No problem." Fishlegs flashed him a well polished smile, and took off in the other direction towards where Astrid and Snotlout had been working.
Fishlegs took careful steps, as large pieces of wood and fabric dotted the cove's land. The disorganized method of building resulted in him taking longer than what was expected to reach Astrid.
"Astrid," Fishlegs said, his stony face peering into her. "Would you mind cleaning this up?" He said with a slightly annoyed tone.
"Ugh," Astrid sighed, turning around to face her long time friend, who she had newly recruited to be the head of the expedition. "Remind me why you came to help again, Fish?"
"First of all, you need me." Fishlegs stated, his face remaining blank. "Second of all, I just accepted your offer to build this ship." He said, slowly raising his voice but not to the point of anger, of course.
"And third, I want to find Hiccup."
"Right," Astrid said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Except you need to find him for a whole different purpose."
"Stay out of my personal reasons, please." Fishlegs had grown a backbone over the last few weeks but, it was one that only revealed itself when they were talking about touchy matters…like Hiccup for example.
'He was probably inspired by the way Hiccup acted' Astrid thought, returning to her work.
Snotlout, who had been silent throughout the whole conversation, finally turned around and spoke up. "Stop messing with Astrid, you moron." He said, standing up from where he was working on the mast.
Fishlegs merely looked at him, not feeling the need to do anything rash, and walked away.
"You should not have done that." Astrid said to him, turning back to face the once helplessly annoying Viking.
"But he was being a jerk." Snotlout countered back, raising his eyebrow at Astrid, who wasn't in her usual way of acting.
"No." Astrid said sternly, moving closer to Snotlout. "I was the jerk." She said, as their faces were almost touching. "He was just trying to help." She said, noticing that Fishlegs had took a quick glance and coincidently, turned away.
"Now, come on." She said to her ever so loyal partner. "Let's finish the mast."
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"Astrid!" Fishlegs called out to her, waving his hand in the air. "We'll be back tomorrow!" He said, grinning from ear to ear. He then turned around, and ran towards the dense mass of trees.
"Guess that's all for today, huh?" She said to herself, turning away to look at the sun, which was now setting, giving the cove and the surrounding areas, a luminous, orange glow.
Astrid had purposely climbed up her cove just to say goodbye to everyone… for all their efforts in helping out with her little project.
And yet, surprisingly, Fishlegs was the last to leave, promising her that he would be back tomorrow to help. Even though she had snubbed him earlier, he still had the heart to keep a smiling face.
'What a guy…' She thought, as a tiny small vision popped into her head.
She stood there, deep in thought, staring at the sky and all its wonders as the sounds of crickets and bugs started to fill her ears. The night was coming back, and she had to get ready, snapping herself out of the trance she just put herself into.
"What if…just what if." She murmured, heading in the direction of the opening to the cove, and not quite paying attention to her surroundings, which had become awfully dark.
Her once careful attitude when approaching the wall had disappeared, all because of the thoughts that were flowing in her head. "What if…" She said softly, her voice weakening by the word, causing her visions to stir once more.
As she approached the wall, she slowly lowered herself down, still not paying much attention to anything. Step by step, she got lower, until that one rock where she managed to slip upon; causing an avalanche of pebbles that accompanied her fall.
The sound of the breaking of rocks was also accompanied by an unpleasant crack, one which Astrid had never heard of in her entire life…and it did not seem good.
"Ugh…" She moaned, silently flexing her right arm, which she had used as a landing pad. The soft grass may have prevented some major faults with the bone but, it did not prevent sprains or bruises. And Astrid was pretty badly hurt, as she had assumed so.
"Damn it, Astrid." She scolded herself, grimacing at the pain that crawled up her shoulder. It caused her pain.
It was pain that was just responding to her carelessness.
The bitter air blew over her, sending frightful chills down her spine, and causing the trees to whisper eerie sounds of dread.
She needed to get to a fire or something warm at least…but the pain was just too much for young Astrid to handle.
The cold, night air blew over her once more, making Astrid shiver. The cove offered her no protection from the winds, although it was supposed to be. 'Something is definitely up' she thought, her eyes straining to adjust to the dim light.
'There was never any wind here.'
She looked around, carefully scanning the cove once more, and unsurprisingly, found nothing that tickled her interest. And more importantly, the cove was littered with small wooden planks and shards, which posed a threat to her walking blindly once more.
'I really should have listened to Fishlegs'
She peered through the darkness, ignoring the pain bestowed upon her, and trying to pinpoint the exact locations of the materials that lined the ground.
She saw a large piece of cloth by the lake, which was being dancing with the mysterious wind. The small planks of wood, which Tuff was working on, was by her camp site. The equipment, particularly the hammers and nails, were by the large tree in the corner.
And in the middle was a sea of endless, wooden debris that most probably came from Snotlout's careless sawing of wood.
"Great, just great." She said sarcastically, rolling her eyes in the fashion that Hiccup would use to roll them. She turned over, back walled against the soft grass, and gazed upon the shining moon.
'At least I've got something to look at' she thought, closing her eyes as if every second dealt her pain. 'Guess I'm waiting it out till…'
And before she could finish the thought, the young Viking fell into the grasps of unconsciousness.
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A/N:
Remember guys, please do review! It brings me great joy to see that you take at least one minute out of your day to give this story a little appreciation. Criticism is welcome too, though.
See you all in two weeks! (or less if I am not packed with this hectic schedule. -_-)
Ravenblack