Chapter
I have to thank EquinoxKnight again for the last chapter because without him, I would have not gotten this next chapter.
Also, I have a future for this story that goes into a great storyline. If you can find it and point it out correctly, I will PM you and show you a preview of the next part of the story. And to clear something up, Calder will not be just going into Berk, the ring is more special than anyone can imagine.
ENJOY!
Hiccup and I were walking to the Kill Ring; Hiccup was wearing his helmet and was carrying the axe his dad gave him. I had my sword in hand as well, I didn't know if Astrid would try and finish our 'duel' before the last match.
Astrid was already waiting for us, her axe slung over her shoulder. She scowled at me, "What happened last night isn't over Stormleg."
After that she headed into the Ring, I shared a worried look with Hiccup that was misperceived by the rest of the teens.
"Wait, you and Astrid? What were you doing last night?" Tuffnut asked with his eyes wide.
"No way, Astrid can do so much better than him." Ruffnut says, shoving Tuffnut in the face.
"Am I that bad a catch?" I wonder, now I know how Hiccup felt when Ruffnut said that when we were fighting the Nadder the first time.
Snotlout didn't say anything, just glared at me. I held up my hands in a defensive position, but as Hiccup and I walk into the arena Gobber holds his hook out in front of me.
"Sorry Stormleg, this time you're not part of the match." Gobber stated before shutting the gate behind Hiccup.
Hiccup turned, sensing I wasn't there and saw me behind the closed gate. His eyes widened and looked very scared, his thoughts must have been turbulent, and I hold up my hand in a thumbs-up and gave him a confident smile at him. Hiccup took a few deep breaths before he stepped forward next to Astrid and adjusting his helmet, the people quieted when Gobber moved to the gates.
I stayed where I was, not moving from the gate and watched the whole match; all the while I was watching Astrid's tactics. I should have been watching Hiccup but I knew that Astrid didn't handle her rage well and that the moment the match was over, she would want to finish our duel.
She was currently fighting against the Gronckle; she would lunge and swing her axe using both of her hands before darting back, away from the Gronckles head smash. When the Gronckle blasted a fireball, Astrid would dive behind a wall and would roll away when the wall would explode. Also, she tried to stay out of the Gronckles way, hiding behind the wood walls before snaking her way to the Gronckle and attacking. She then ducked behind another wall, hiding her from my sight, after watching her for so long I concluded that Astrid could wield her axe in her right and both of her hands.
She was great using the weapon, but wielding the axe in her right hand would slow down the attacks she gave but gave her a wider swing range. However using both of her hands would speed up her blows but would lower the range she had in her swing, leaving her open for attacks. Rage though seemed to really mess up her technique, it made her sloppy but even more dangerous, I learned that last night.
A loud cheer broke me from my thoughts. I blink, looking around and see Hiccup standing there, gesturing at the Gronckle at a stunned Astrid.
"No! Son of a Half-Troll, Rat eating, Munge-Bucket!" she shouted, swinging her axe around, "Astrid the Rage Yeti" came to mind and I stifled a laugh.
The gate lifted and the teens and I moved inside the Ring. Hiccup stayed where he was, I could tell though that he wanted to bolt, to go and fly Toothless but he still had to wait and-
"So later," Hiccup said, trying to sneak off.
I slap my forehead, the point was not to try and attention, to wait and make sure Astrid won before running away.
"No so fast." Gobber said, pulling Hiccup back by the collar.
"Look I'm kinda late for-"
"WHAT?! Late for what exactly?!" Astrid asked, her eye twitching and her axe against Hiccups throat again.
OK, I've had enough of this girl, time to get my point across to her. I dart forward and push Astrid away from Hiccup, causing her to stumble but she turned around with fury in her eyes.
"That's IT! I've had enough of you!" she shouted.
I turn to Gobber and whisper, "In a duel, do we have to fight to the death?"
Gobber looks taken a back before saying "No, another way is to submit. You must state your name and admit that your opponent is a better warrior than you and throw down your weapon at their feet."
I nod my head before stepping forward.
"Lad-" Gobber is cut off by Astrid saying "So you finally decided to grow a pair and face me instead of running away like a coward?"
I sneer at her before saying "At least I don't stalk and kidnap other Vikings and chase them through the woods to get answers that are staring at them right to the face." I was ready for the fight. More than ready. It was time to take what I learned from Metal Gear Rising Revengence. (Great game but I don't own it at all)
All the Vikings get quiet, even Hiccup. I had just spoken for the first time, in front of everybody, even Astrid seems to be taken aback before I take off my scabbard and slowly drawing my sword with a flourish and hold it in both of my hands.
Astrid shakes her head before adjusting the grip of her axe and we circled each other around the ring. The people were quiet as we moved; I felt a slight wind blow at my legs.
"Too scared to fight?" Astrid taunted.
"No, you started this duel; so ladies first." I say, gesturing to the girl. Then I gasp, putting a hand over my mouth, "Oh, sorry, I shouldn't presume such things. 'God' forbid that, of course."
After an irked twitch of her eye, Astrid shouted before charging forward, swinging her axe. I rolled underneath her attack before slashing at her back, cutting through her shirt and leaving a long cut on her back. She spun around before she slashed again with her axe, using both of her hands in the handle. I had to dodge and parry the blows the best I could before she kicked me square in the chest, knocking the air from my lungs and I went sliding across the floor. I barely had a second to roll before she jumped at me, her axe raised high in the air, the weapon clanged with stone as I quickly got to my feet.
I was breathing heavily, not from fatigue but from the adrenaline and rush of things,
"Tired already?" Astrid taunted.
I smiled, "No, I'm just getting warmed up." I lunged forward, feinting to her right before quickly slashing at her left side. She dodged before taking her axe in one hand and began to slash diagonally at my chest, driving my back against the wall. She smirked before driving her axe at my face, in an attempt to stop the axe I grabbed the handle, just above her hands, stopping the axe inches from my face. I then kick her in the chest, causing her to loosen her grip on the weapon; I then pull the axe from her grasp and back away, her axe in my left hand and my sword in my right. My left arm soon started to tremble because it didn't have the muscle to hold the axe, frankly holding it was useless because I needed to hold it in both hands, causing me to have both of Astrid's weaknesses.
I toss the axe back at Astrid; it hit the ground right between us.
"Your axe, Astrid," I say, motioning for her to get it.
It was then a standoff, she knew that the moment she bolted for the weapon, I would lunge in and kill her. That's what she thought anyway, I was going to wait a few seconds before rushing in and give her time to get her axe back. She took a deep breath before making a dash to the weapon.
'One one-thousand…Two one-thousand…Now.'
I race in at her, her fingers wrapped around the leather hilt of her axe before I diver over her and smack the flat of my blade against her backside. She rolled before she got into a kneeling position and swung the battle axe at my right arm, it hit its target but the metal bracer took most of the damage.
Unfortunately it didn't stop my arm from going numb, causing me to drop my sword; I skip backwards keeping myself away from Astrid, who was very furious. My mind raced, trying to think of a way to pin Astrid and get her to submit, then I remembered something that may not work but it was my best shot. I waited for her to get close before lunging forward. Astrid raised her axe to strike but I quickly snaked behind her, putting her in a headlock and wrapping my legs around hers, causing her to fall backwards and onto the floor.
The crowd gasped at this. "Submit." I mutter in her ear.
It was as if I had awakened an angry Nightmare, who just set itself ablaze.
"So this was your plan, humiliate me in front of the whole village and shame my family name. Never." She growl before slamming her head onto my chest.
"Submit!" I repeated, but she kept slamming her head into my chest as I carefully tightened my arms around her neck. I had thought I had got her, but she than slammed her elbow in a place very close to the family jewels. All the men made the familiar 'Oooooo' my legs loosened, giving Astrid time to break free and was about to pound my face into the ground but I brought my legs together and kicked her chest. Causing her to fall back, I rolled backwards, getting on my knees and seeing my sword in arms reach.
Astrid was panting in front of me; she blew her bangs out of her eyes as I picked up my sword, still in the kneeling position. I thought for a moment while we we're at this stalemate, she was too stubborn and prideful to submit to me. Honestly it was a good trait but right now we were at an even standing, even with my bad arm I still could knock her out by a possible juke but it wouldn't fix the problem. She would fight me again and again until one of us died, or…submitted.
Hopefully this plan would fix this, I knew it probably wasn't the best idea for dealing with this problem but it would work. I stand up, walking slowly to Astrid, who raised her axe defensively but her eyes showed confusion. I walk up to her before holding out my sword horizontally to us. "I Stormleg submit to you Astrid Hofferson. I should not have challenged you in the first place and admit you are a better warrior than I." I then drop my sword at her feet and take two steps back.
The crowd gasps and Astrid looks at me with confusion, I stand there awkwardly before saying "So are we done here?"
Astrid seems to snap out of it before her face getting angry. "You challenged me, only to submit?! Coward! I will not stand for this, we will fight until one of us is dead!" she shouts, kicking the sword back at me.
I scoop down and pick up the sword by the blade and walk away.
"Hey, get back here! Coward!" she shouts again.
"No, I'm not. I didn't 'challenge' you." I say, fingers air-quoting Astrid's trigger word. "You took it as one when I merely was standing up for a friend. You were too prideful to admit defeat when I had you pinned, instead drawing out the fight. I submitted, not because I am a coward, I submitted because I would not kill you, if you had been knocked out or fallen with exhaustion, I would walk away believing that this was over. BUT you would want to continue it, insisting it would only be over when one of us died. If I had been knocked out or collapsed from exhaustion, Gobber, Stoick, even Hiccup would stop you, insisting the same thing. We would have fought until Ragnarok came, that's why I submitted, because this whole thing is pointless."
I pick up my scabbard and sheathed my sword, "Whatever quarrel you had with me, over this 'duel' is now over, it time for the Elder to decide." I say before standing by the gate.
A few moments passed before the Elder spoke- could've been because she would speak when she wished and not on command of the teenager- to those below in the Kill Ring. "I will not announce at this moment. Instead, we will meet at the Mead Hall tonight for the victor. My long-coming decision has been altered by the youths this afternoon. They've all shown their true colors this day," the Elder made a point of making eye contact with Astrid and me, "some more than others..." And with that last fleeting sentence, she walked away, silently dismissing all surrounding parties.
Noting Gothi's words, I nodded at Gobber for the gate. As it opened, Astrid appeared next to me and also waited. The tenseness between us was evident to anyone, but the next words seemed calm. I was still coming to terms of what awaited me after tonight while Astrid was probably doing the same. Whatever happened to me couldn't be a great as what would happen to Astrid if she isn't chosen.
I'd either win and be forced into fighting a dragon that could set itself on fire, or lose and my temporary life here on Berk goes on. But Astrid has more riding on the events transpiring in a few hours, she'd either win, secure her family's name and my life still go on, or she'd lose to me and I'd have a fire-smothered dragon and a rage Yeti after me in the remaining time of my visitation. I hate to say it, but I'm screwed seven ways from Sunday.
"I'll see you at the Mead Hall tonight." Neither a question or demand. Astrid didn't wait for me to decide. As soon as the gate climbed high enough for her height, she shuffled out to 'Odin' knows where.
The gate was up, but I didn't move a muscle for the longest minute. It wasn't until Stoick the Vast came up and towered over me.
"Follow me, Stormleg. It's been long overdue for a talk." Stoick's massive bear paw of a hand rested on my shoulder as I was guided out of the Kill Ring. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gobber standing with Hiccup. Expressions of warning and despair for me, respectively, I look at Hiccup before taking my hand and made swooping gestures, he nodded his head, I wasn't focused right now on what was to come, for the life of me, I couldn't figure out where was Stoick taking me.
"Do you know why I brought you here?"
"No, 'sir'." I added that last part when Stoick tore away from the sight ahead of him to peer over his shoulder at me.
We were currently on a boat, a ways in front of the port, facing the orange-purple sunset. The fact that I wasn't completely pissed off with Stoick for making me row the huge ship all the way out here and stand with him until the sun gracefully fell from its spot was this: Stoick was Chief for a reason. His power, I had seen him throw that wagon at the Nadder, how he took on that Nightmare and saved Hiccup and my life, he could practically throw me to Berk and back only to kick me there again if I disrespected him.
"We're here because the trouble you've found yourself in these past couple of days that has affected my village, Berk." Stoick crossed his barrel arms across his chest and closed his eyes.
He's either just thinking about what he's going to do about my situation or he only brought me all the way out here so there's no witnesses when he beat the snot outta me. I jumped when he spoke again.
"Now here's where your nonsense has come to my attention. I've let you, a perfect stranger, into my tribe, gave you my house to sleep, and have allowed you to train with the future generation of Berk's dragon-killers. You could've been a spy from Alvin's ranks for all the Council knows, but all I saw was a potential to straighten my son out. Alas, you've disappointed both the Council and I, Stormleg. You seem to be an agent of Loki, damning Berk to the ground."
I blink, looking at Stoick in surprise as he slammed his hands into the railing of the ship.
"You humor Hiccup and his 'inventions', you agitate the Hofferson's heir and her peers and you continue to sabotage dragon training. On top of all of this, I've yet to find the blasted Dragons' Nest. My stress cannot hold any room for nonsense. So tell me why I shouldn't port the docks alone. I'm giving you the question that needs answering. Think wisely."
"Uh, ok, I know that you are under a ton of stress as chief. I understand, but I have some questions for you, are you ready?"
Stoick looked at me confused; he slowly nodded his head before saying "What are you getting at?"
"I have in no way intentionally, agitated Astrid Hofferson. She was insulting your son, claiming that this was all big joke, I thought she was going to hurt him, that's why I put my sword at her throat and moved her axe. Ask Gobber he saw the whole thing. Now I don't 'humor' Hiccup, his 'inventions' are pure genius, I have never seen anyone this intelligent."
"Yes but he constantly blows stuff up and destroys half the houses we rebuild." Stoick interrupts, getting frustrated.
"Sir, how long did it take to make those torches?" I ask.
"What?" Stoick asks.
"The torches that are hoisted into the sky to ward off the dragon, how long did it take?"
Stoick looks at me puzzled before saying "A month to make, and Hiccup-"
"Tries to test his inventions, hoping that they would work on the first try, I'm guessing it took years to think of those giant torches and even more to construct the first one. Hiccup can't test the inventions, therefore they fail and everyone thinks that he's useless." I interrupt, saying it all very fast.
Stoick looks at me stunned, no one probably explained it like that before, I take that as an indication to continue.
"Work like that needs time and trial and error. I am sorry to say that I have failed to keep Hiccup out of trouble, but one thing is for sure, he is far from useless. Then when we started to do well at training, everyone now thinks that Hiccup is truly becoming a Viking. But years of loneliness don't vanish in a couple days sir."
Stoick suddenly gets angry, "Don't lecture me on my own son, I know what he wants and I know he wants this. You pretend to know more about my son that I, if you ever do that again you will regret it." He says before he walks to the front of the ship, his hands clasped behind his back before saying "Row us back to port."
The trepidation I felt at that very moment was the worst I've ever felt in my life. Worse than procrastinating on studying for a big test, failing said test and awaiting the report card, and facing his step-father's fury combined. Screw what I thought earlier about having nothing on the line, my life is at stake here, I had nothing to think on but my nerves as we sailed back to Berk.
I raced down to the cove, hoping that Hiccup was there with Toothless, I was still rattled from my little chat with Stoick. Soon I was at the top of the cliff where I saw an angry Astrid with her axe in hand, ganging up on Hiccup.
I leapt from the cliff and slid down the steep rocky hill, once I had hit the ground, I snuck my way over to Astrid, who had her back turned on me.
"…Start talking, are you training with someone?" she asked as Hiccup began to stammer.
"It better not involve this!" she says as she grabbed Hiccups harness.
I then came up with an idea, "He's been teaching me how to speak."
Astrid whirled around; shock flitted on her face before disbelief overtook it.
"That's what we've been doing here, he's been teaching how to speak properly, that's how I was able to speak to Gobber and address you in front of the crowd at the Ring."
I probably shouldn't have said that. Astrid was getting closer to me as I spoke and when I said that she snarled before swiftly swinging the butt of her axe against my temple. I crumpled to the ground, clutching my head as my vision went blurry; I saw two fuzzy images of Astrid and Hiccup.
"Uh you're right, you're right I-I-I'm through with the lies, I've been making…outfits."
'Really Hiccup, outfits? If I hit my head without puking I would.'
Then I heard a cracking sound and Hiccup shout "Ow, why would you do that?"
"That's for the lies, and that's…" I hear a thud and Hiccup cries out "for everything else."
Just then a growl is heard, the growl made me scared.
"Oh man." Hiccup exclaimed.
Big time Hiccup.
I try to get up, using my knee as support and the world begin to sway. I hear Astrid gasp and shouting "Get down!"
Toothless screeched and I see a black blur advancing on a blond figure.
"Run! RUN!" She screamed, raising something in the air.
"NO!" Then a green figure jumps at the blond and the black blur dives over the figures.
I try to stand up again, only for a ringing to start on my ears; did Astrid realize how much of a psychotic Rage Yeti she was? Then my vision began to clear and I see a shocked Astrid, a nervous Hiccup and a pissed Night Fury who appeared to be growling at the girl.
Astrid shakes her head before running away, the ringing slowly tunes down and I can hear Hiccup say "Duh, duh, duh we're dead." Toothless snorts before trotting away,
"Hiccup you got to go after her." I say.
"Yeah but-" he starts.
"But nothing, we need to convince her now, take her on a flight, kidnap her and take her to an abandoned island I don't care, we have to do something." I say to Hiccup.
He nods his head and turns to say something to Toothless only to see Toothlesses tail sliding away.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa where do you think you're going, you got us into this, now we gotta fix it." He says, going after Toothless.
Toothless groans before turning around and letting Hiccup on his back, they soon take off and I see them dip down in the forest, then they come back up carrying something in Toothlesses claws.
I sit down on a rock and begin to twirl the ring on my finger. There wasn't anything for me to do but dwell on things, which was the one thing I did not want to do. I not only had to deal with an angry Nightmare, I had to apologize for revealing the truth about Hiccup to his dad, a fifty-fifty chance of Astrid telling on us, and I still had no clue how to get home.
"Why me huh?" I say, looking at the ring. "Why did you take me here, does this have to do with my sister?!" I began to shout before I take off the ring and throw it away.
"SHOW ME HOW TO GET HOME!"
I kick a rock and face away from the ring, only to see a red light on the ground. I turn and see the ring near my face floating in the air, with a red aura, I reach out to touch it but it then darts off toward the entrance of the cove, it slowed and stopped as it got to the crack.
I realized that it was waiting for me and dashed after it, soon I was moving through the forest. I never once lost sight of the ring, it was hard to lose a floating ring that was glowing like a hot coal.
Soon I was panting near a cliff that gave me a clear view of the island, the ring got faster as I got closer, making me double my speed. I look and see it floating over a column that was covered in vines, I get closer and the ring doesn't move, I finally get close enough and carefully grab the ring.
When I do, it stops glowing and falls into my hand, I look at it confused. Why was I here in the middle of nowhere? I take a closer look at the column; it was four-sided and reached up to my waist. I examine it closer and see that under the vines and dirt, the column was black.
Wait…
No way.
I began to rip the vines off the column and see that it was actually a pedestal, the same pedestal from my dream. As I rip the vines off the top of the pedestal I see a small, round niche in the black stone it looked like something small fit inside it. I stick my finger in the niche feel the sides and notice the grooves inside, it feels exactly like a jewel.
The ring, I place the ring into the niche and only the jewel goes inside it, the band was sticking out. Nothing happened, then I wondered if it was like a crank, I slip my middle finger into the band and began to twist to the left. Nothing. I tried and right and it slowly began to turn, I could hear gears turning until I heard a crack and the pedestal started to vibrate.
Soon, I noticed that it was getting dark out, even when I saw the sun was not yet setting; I thought I saw small dot gliding into the clouds. Then I heard thunder crackle, looking up I see storm clouds gathering and bright while light flashing, in a second I dive away from the pedestal just in time to see lightning strike the pedestal. My hair stood up as a thunderous 'BOOM' sounded throughout the forest, I look back and see the ring standing on two thin legs, the jewel appeared to be glowing.
I carefully poke the ring, making sure it didn't have any electricity running through it before gingerly taking it and placing it back on my finger. I look at the sun, which had almost set, I needed to get back to the cove and hope that Hiccup and Astrid hade made up and we could work together now.
Thus, I began to make my long trip back to the cove, as I went I wondered what had happened between them. Did Astrid understand now? Or was she still going to tattle on us? Then another thought occurred to me, was that dot in the clouds them? Was Hiccup taking Astrid on a romantic flight?
"Hiccup you sly raccoon," I think with a smile as I make my way down the rocky slope.
Then I hear voices coming from the cove, I hurry down to hear Astrid say "…so what are we going to do."
Deciding to let my presence be known, I say "About what?"
I hop down and see Astrid looking at me while Hiccup is facing away from her, he immediately turns when he sees me and a smile breaks out on his face. Toothless was drinking from the lake, shooting glares at Astrid.
"We were discussing how to tell the village about dragons," Hiccup said calmly.
"What?" I say, didn't Hiccup know why we shouldn't tell the village, which was the whole purpose he took Astrid on a flight.
Hiccup saw my confused face before saying "I know the reason why the dragons raid Berk. There is a huge dragon that forces them to raid us because if they do not, then it will eat them instead and destroy everything to get the food it desires. We discovered it while we," Hiccup gestures to him an d Astrid, "were flying. If we don't share this with the village and they do find the nest-"
"The whole village will be destroyed, Berk won't stand a chance." Astrid finished.
"So, what now?" I ask.
"Well, we have Gothis announcement and then tomorrow we have the final exam with the Nightmare, now because of the circumstances, either you or I need to go into the ring." Hiccup says.
"Why can't I? I want to help." Astrid says, wait…was she blushing while looking at Hiccup.
"Because you have no experience with dealing with dragons, only how to…remove them. No offense Astrid." I add when she glares at me.
"We'll wait and see, then figure out something later tonight. After the meeting, we meet at the forge, got it?" Hiccup says.
When Astrid and I nod our heads, he says "Good, now get going. The village understands me hanging out in the forest but with the announcement you need to get going."
"Ok,"
As I walk away, I hear something hard hitting something, I turn and see Hiccup rubbing his shoulder and Astrid says "That's for kidnapping me."
Then she pushes her bangs out of her eyes and I'm stunned, not because she kisses Hiccup on the cheek, but she perfectly resembles the picture he sketched of her.
"That's for…everything else," Astrid says lamely before running away.
I smile at Hiccup before saying "Nice moves Hiccup; you might have scored big time."
I don't think he heard me, he still had a blank look as I ran after Astrid, but I did hear him say "W-wh-what are you looking at?"
Soon I catch up with Astrid who was pink in the face,
"So I guess you like Hiccup then?" I say.
Astrid blinks for grabbing me by the collar and pushing me against the wall, "You tell anyone and I will kill you."
I couldn't help it, I started to laugh, "Don't let Hiccup see us or he'll get jealous. If he does though, I wonder if he will get me eaten by that Nightmare."
"Speaking of which," Astrid then punches me hard on the arm which causes me to wince and stop laughing.
"That's for saying I'm a burden."
I hold up my hands in defense before saying "At least when we get back, we can say we made up." Then a thought occurs to me "We have made up, haven't we?"
"Yes, when Hiccup took me on the flight, he explained everything to me; he was very serious on the topic about dragons. I'd never thought I'd say that." Astrid says.
"What, the flight or Hiccup serious?" I ask.
"Both."
We were soon at the Mead Hall, I open the door for Astrid.
"Ladies first." I say, "It's chivalrous where I come from." I add when Astrid fixes a glare on me.
She shrugs before moving inside with me close behind her.
Well this is great to end. It took me forever to write this and next chapter will be the Nightmare.
Peace, have a good day and God Bless.
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