Chapter 10

That night Astrid could be seen in the forge once more, wiping down a large piece of leather. She laid it on the floor and smiled at the saddle she made and proudly held it up to the dragon the next morning, and despite her obvious excitement the dragon wasn't all to happy with it and ran away from Astrid at top speeds.

"Hey! You come back here!"

Once she had finally managed to get the saddle on the nightfury they took off once more, this time she had brought a long wire with her. She connected one end of the long wire to Toothless's prosthetic tail fin and held the other end in one hand. They began flying and they were doing pretty well. As they flew Astrid tugged on the wire, but it threw off the dragons tail and the both fell into the lake.

The next day Astrid tried a different technique. She tied the wire around her foot, leaving her hands free, and used a flexible string that she tied to the saddle and then attached to her belt loop, securing her place in the saddle. Unfortunately her leg was flying everywhere as she tried to control his tail find, and soon they crashed into a patch of tall grass.

Astrid flew off her friend's saddle and rushed around in the grass looking for him. She heard a low growling and rushed towards it.

She raised an eyebrow in confusion when she finally found the large, black dragon. Toothless was on his back and was rolling around in the grass, in love with its scent. Astrid picked up a few stray blades and smiled.

Toothless meanwhile was rolling around in ecstasy this stuff was fantastic! It smelled simply divine and it made his entire body feel like it was floating on the world's softest pillow. It was the closest thing he had ever felt to Valhalla.

The next day at dragon training Astrid was gripping the strange grass in her hand and watched in fear, as Snotlout was head butted out of the arena by a pissed off Gronckle. Seeing that she was the only one left, the Gronckle charged at the small Hofferson girl.

She gulped loudly, held up her fistful of grass and shoved it by the Gronkle's nose. It's heavenly scent danced in his large nostrils and his eyes widened in glee.

Happy with her success she rubbed it against his snout and he fell sideways in ecstasy, "good dragon." She whispered before throwing it the rest of the grass.

A few feet above the elder watched her with growing interest. 'There may be hope for this one yet.' She thought.

As the teens were walking out of training they were all surrounding Astrid in excitement. Fishleggs, the twins, and Snotlout were all huddled around Astrid, Hiccup hung in the back, his mind far away.

"How did you do that?" Asked Fishleggs, completely amazed.

Tuffnut pushed past him, "I know! I've never seen a Gronckle do that. You have to teach me what you-"

"Oh, I left my axe at the ring! Clumsy me, I'll just go get it." She quickly turned on her heel; "I'll see you guys tonight." She called over her shoulder.

Astrid slipped away and crashed right into Hiccup, they both grunted at the sudden contact.

"Sorry." They both muttered before quickly walking off in different directions.

The other teenagers looked at each other strangely before following after Hiccup's retreating form.

Astrid ran into the clearing and waved at the waiting Night Fury. He wagged his tail happily at the sight of her and she laughed. He pranced over to her and sniffed her torso. She scratched his head and laughed again.

"Sorry buddy, no fish today, but I bet you like being scratched right?" She asked, scratching his sides.

Toothless purred as a response. Astrid moved her hands up and down the reptile's body, scratching at every open space. Her hands fell to his neck and the dragon dropped to the floor, fast asleep. The girl stared at her hands in amazement.

The next day in training, Hiccup lunged at a Deadly Nadder only to be knocked to the side by it's snout. The beautiful dragon looked to the side and ran at quickly towards Astrid.

Suddenly terrified, the girl backed away, dropping her weapon in the process. Seeing her distress Hiccup scrambled to his feet picked up his sword and rushed towards the creature with a loud battle cry.

Scared about the dragon's safety Astrid quickly scratched its neck and it hit the ground, out cold. Hiccup screeched to a halt in front of the dragon, dropped his sword in shock and stared at her dumbly.

She waved shyly, but he just continued to stare in disbelief. Finally he spun on his heel and angrily walked home.

When night fell Astrid walked into the Meade hall, grabbed her food and sat at an empty table. Seeing her walk in, a large group of Vikings flocked to her side and immediately began praising her. The twins pushed past Hiccup as they scrambled to be first to talk to Astrid.

He rubbed his shoulder, and stared at the giant crowd gathered around Astrid. Jealousy was quickly building in him, he knew he shouldn't be jealous, it was childish, and he didn't like acting like a giant baby. He found this new attitude greatly confusing, he never gave in to things as pitiful as jealousy, but it just couldn't be helped.

Dark thoughts swirled in his head; suspicion rose in him like a giant tidal wave, Astrid was terrible in training! So why was she suddenly the best? It defied all logic!

'There's something going on.'

He slammed his cup down in frustration before stalking out of the building, the building shook as he slammed the door.

Astrid shivered as Hiccup slammed the giant door. She would have chased after him, but she was trapped in a crowd, and she couldn't get out.

The next day Astrid had brought her hammer with her, hoping to adjust Toothless's saddle, but when the light glinted off the shiny tool a tiny spot of light was reflected onto the grass. Like a giant cat Toothless leapt after it.

Amused at her friend's antics Astrid began turning the hammer this way and that, making him chase the beam of light around.

She was rewarded with an excited night fury running around the entire clearing.

Come noon Astrid was standing in a line with the other teenagers. They were all watching Gobber expectantly as he marched back and forth.

"All right! I want you all to meet the Terrible Terror!" A small door flipped open and a very tiny dragon popped out.

It was had a green body, dark brown horns that were bent this way and that, and large eyes that never ceased roaming. It looked up at that teens, stuck out its tongue, and licked its eyeball a seemingly impossible move, but somehow the Terror pulled it off.

Tuffnut threw his head back and laughed, "Look at it! It's the size of my-"

The other teens never heard exactly what part of Tuffnut's body was the same size as a Terror, because the said dragon lunged at his face, knocked him to the ground, and began biting the boy's nose.

Remembering what Toothless had done earlier that same day, Astrid moved into the sunlight. The light reflected off her shield and, seeing the beam of light on the ground, the Terror leaped off of Tuffnut and chased after the light.

"Oh, I am hurt! I am very much hurt!" The twin shouted, clutching his nose in pain.

Astrid moved the beam closer towards the door. Still entranced by the light, the Terror followed it without doubt until eventually it was back in it's cage. Realizing it had been tricked, the Terror clawed at the tiny door in anger, but Astrid had already locked him inside, and he couldn't get out.

Getting back on his feet Tuffnut walked up behind Hiccup, "Wow man, she's better than you ever were."

Anger flared inside the small teen and he whirled around in anger. He stomped towards the blonde male and Tuff backed away in fear.

"You're asking for it aren't you?" Hiccup asked, glaring daggers at Tuffnut.

"Hey man, come on! I was only kidding! Not the face!"

After the others had pried a kicking and screaming Hiccup off of Tuffnut they had stood their ground and pointed in the woods.

"Go cool off!" They had all screamed as one.

Glaring at them, he grabbed his sword and began practicing his sword moves on a tree.

He was feeling more relaxed now and was actually glad his friends had told him to go into the forest. He drove his sword into a tree and gave a victorious smirk, "dead as a door nail."

"So this is what you do in your free time."

Hiccup spun on his heel and came face to face with Astrid, who was carrying a small brown bundle under her arm.

"Where are you going?"

Immediately Astrid went into the defense, "oh you know, somewhere."

"Well I've never been to somewhere. Mind if I come with you?" He asked, tugging his sword out of the tree.

"Sure! If you can follow me, you can come with me." Then without another word she took off into the woods.

Hiccup only took a second to admire her speed before taking off after her. He rounded a corner, looked around and saw no sign of Astrid.

He slammed his sword back into the ground, his anger and jealousy rebuilding.

"How the hell is she faster than me?" He swore loudly, turned around, and then stomped back to the village.

Behind a nearby tree Astrid giggled, "I'm not faster, just smarter!" Then she took off towards the clearing.

As soon as she reached her dragon she gave him his dinner, and while he was eating she hooked up a wire from his prosthetic tail, ran it up the side of his body, and attached it to the stirrups for her feet.

It was her new invention; she had created two feet holders that were able to control his tail fin. When her foot moved, his tail fin moved.

She pulled him out of the canyon and tethered him to a pole she had set up on a large hill. The wind was pretty strong here, so she was confident she could test out her invention here. Toothless spread his wings and they were lifted off the floor.

She flicked her ankle into a certain position, and as she did so the tail fin moved into a different position. Smiling at their success Toothless landed and Astrid quickly sketched down the position of the tail, then the position her feet were in.

Suddenly, and without warning, the wind picked up and the two were blown away. They landed in a thorn bush and Astrid painfully picked a thorn out of her arm.

Toothless shook himself off and stood up, dragging Astrid with him. The girl yelped in surprise and saw that her belt was stuck to the saddle. She tugged at the rope but it refused to budge.

"Perfect." She replied sarcastically.

She looked up at the sky and saw that dark was approaching fast. The only solution would be for her to run back to the village, dragon in tow, and cut the string.

Astrid groaned in annoyance before she began tugging on the his saddle, "come on, I need to get out of this thing."

When they had finally reached the Village it was dark out, and there were only a few villagers out. A Viking on guard noticed Astrid leaning against a house. He thought she was simply relaxing, when in reality she was hiding a giant Night Fury behind her back.

"Get some sleep Astrid. It's getting late." He said kindly, and then began walking away.

She smiled and nodded respectfully, "of course!"

As soon as he was out of sight she slipped away from the house and pulled a confused Toothless out of the shadows. "Come on boy, almost there!"

Toothless had never been so close to the village before, so everything around him was very distracting, and Astrid wasn't too happy about it. She tugged at his saddle and they began jogging towards the forge. Astrid quietly swung open the doors and the dragon silently crept into the small smithy.

Astrid quickly grabbed a knife and began sawing away at the stubborn rope. As she did this, Toothless stuck his head in a bucket and flipped it over in curiosity, it fell off his snout and clatter noisily to the floor.

Hiccup, who had been passing by at the time, heard the noise and quickly began walking towards the shop.

"Astrid? Are you okay?"

The blonde stopped her sawing and began to panic. She quickly tied on her apron to hide the belt connected to her dragon before quickly rushing out the door and slamming it behind her.

She smiled shyly and nervously brushed a strand of hair away from her face, "hey Hiccup! What's up? Is something wrong? What are you doing here? Is that a new vest?"

He raised an eyebrow at her strange attitude.

"Okay, as son of the chief it's my job to notice when people do strange things!"

Astrid blushed, "do you find me strange Hiccup?"

At that moment Toothless saw a sheep eating a grass a few feet away. He took a step forward and Astrid was pulled back.

Hiccup jumped at the sudden movement, "yeah. I do find you strange. Especially this past week, you're not acting like yourself, and I'm starting to get suspicious."

Toothless moved closer to the sheep once more and Astrid was yanked towards the door once more. She giggled nervously, crossed her arms and tapped her chin.

"Suspicious?" She asked as she was once again pulled to the door, "Why would you be suspicious?"

He was just about to mention the fact that something was pulling her towards the shop, but as soon as he opened his mouth Astrid was suddenly pulled into the room.

He rushed forward, threw open the doors and found it empty.

"Astrid?"

As he searched around in the shop, he failed to notice Astrid sitting atop Toothless as they both slipped away into the night.

Early the next morning the ships returned. Most, if not all, the ships were ruined beyond repair, the sails were ripped, there were holes in the wooden body, and the Vikings on board were beaten and exhausted.

Stoic steered his boat to the dock and was greeted by Gobber, who helped his friend onto solid land.

Stoic angrily began walking forward, "I trust ye' found the nest at least?" Gobber asked hopefully.

The chief growled, "not even close."

Gobber sighed, "of course."

As they walked down the harbor Stoic turned to his friend, still slightly angry, "I hope you had more luck than I did."

"Well, I guess you could say that."

At that moment a line of Vikings ran towards the chief, all shouting in excitement.

"Congratulations Stoic, we're all so relieved!" A woman said.

"Out with the old, in with the new right?"

"No one will miss that old klutz!"

"The Village is throwing a village to celebrate!"

The chief turned to his friend, confusion and shock written across his face. "Astrid. She's gone?"

Gobber gave his friend and equally confused face, "well, yeah. Most afternoons, but I mean who can blame her? She can't even pass through the village without Vikings swarming after her in admiration!"

Stoic stopped in his tracks, grabbed Gobber's shoulder and made his friend look him in the eye. "Astrid? Astrid Hofferson? Blonde girl, scrawny, this tall, blue eyes?"

The black smith nodded, "Who would have guessed she'd end up as good as her mother? Oh Stoic, you should have seen her with that Nadder! It passed out in front of her, and the way she terrified that Zippleback. Her parents would have been so proud of her!"

Shock and disbelief washed over Stoic and he turned towards the village.

"Tonight, I think I'll pay her a visit. For now, I think I'll go visit my son."