Hail to the King
"Come on!" Hiccup barked, "stop trying to hit me and hit me!"
Astrid increased the strength of her enhancement magic twofold, fueled by her anger, increasing her speed even farther than it already was. She was a blur of movement to the onlooking dwarves, her magic giving her a speed their bodies could not possess by nature. Hiccup moved even faster still, a whirl of motion and chaos as he dodged each punch with practiced ease, evading every one of Astrid's blows, and retaliating with some of his own. The dwarves chanted and cheered for the riders, urging them to go faster.
Sigrid sat on the lip of the training arena, her legs swinging, as she counted gold coins, tossing them into a sack. It had only been several days since Astrid had began her training with enhancement magic but she was already a natural at it's usage and she quickly managed to fight on par with herself, which irritated Sigrid to no end. On several occasions, Hiccup stepped in to be her sparring partner, forcing Astrid to her limits just to not embarrass herself. This, it seemed, was one of those times. A vein in Astrid's forehead bulged as she increased her speed even farther, until it appeared as if she teleported to and fro instead of manually moving. In a swift movement, she darted under Hiccup's guard, catching him by surprise, before landing a hard uppercut to his chin, sending him skyward several feet.
Astrid smirked in victory, the first time she had ever beaten Hiccup in a spar. Her smirk didn't last long as the Hiccup soaring in the air above her dissipated into emerald smoke. Hiccup reappeared behind her and, in a single vicious kick, sent her flying bodily across the length of the arena. The dwarves hooted and hollered, unaware of what magic Hiccup had used, but impressed all the same. Sigrid smirked and pocketed a fair amount of gold coins before distributing the rest to the winners of the bet. The dwarves of the King's Hammer clan had quickly adopted Astrid, unofficially, as one of their own following the discovery that she had become good friends with Sigrid, and a fair number of them had placed their bets on her. "Oh, how foolish they are," Sigrid thought as her coinpurse became laden with her own earnings. She knew Hiccup wouldn't be beaten, couldn't be beaten, by anyone on the realm currently.
Astrid sputtered as she spat sand from her mouth, her anger not dissipating any, and pulled herself to her feet. "That's cheating," she said with a sour tone.
Hiccup wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. "You'll face opponents more underhanded than me eventually, you'll have to get used to it. Illusion magic is especially dangerous to those who focus on melee combat, you need to learn how to deal with magic that obstructs the senses," Hiccup lectured.
Astrid grumbled but accepted the lesson. Despite having personally experienced Hiccup's magic several times, she couldn't discern when the illusion began and when it ended. Everything seemed as real as reality, and when he wasn't being overt with it's activation like in the grand hall during his first demonstration, the casting was undetectable.
"That's enough for today," Hiccup said, leaping out of the training arena and mounting Toothless, going for their afternoon flight together. The dwarves had dispersed and returned to their duties, scurrying to and fro mining and smithing for the clan.
Astrid approached Sigrid who was thumbing her coinpurse. "So, who did you bet on?" she asked with a less than pleasant expression.
Sigrid smiled sheepishly and shrugged her shoulders, opting to remain silent. "That's what I thought," Astrid deadpanned.
"Come on, don't be upset. Did you really think you would beat him?" Sigrid asked with her best polite voice.
Astrid gave her a cross look. "No," she said after a few moments.
"Cheer up, we'll surprise him tonight with a name day celebration and you'll forget all about losing to him in the ring," Sigrid said, continuing to count her coin.
Astrid smiled at the thought of the celebration they had planned tonight in his honor. It was small, only a few people, all friends. Despite Hiccup's aversion for crowds, Astrid thought he would enjoy the celebration. Although he didn't show it, she thought he enjoyed the small meals they shared on Berk with Fish, Ruff, Tuff, and Snot. Astrid and Sigrid made their way to Sigrid's study, as was their normal meeting spot, and going over their plans for their secret training. Due to the increased intensity of her training, Hiccup had been giving Astrid more free time each day to recover. They had planned to use some of that time to sneak off and go to the nest Astrid's test was at, in order for Sigrid to meet other dragons.
They had several hours until nightfall and it was unlikely Hiccup and Toothless would be back from their flight by then, which left them plenty of time to plan their training and prepare for the celebrations.
Hail to the King
It was many hours later when Hiccup returned, his hair windswept and unkempt, his eyes sparkled with the joy only flight brought. Astrid has been assigned to guard the doors of the palace, to prevent him from wandering in on them before they were ready. The surprise celebration was small, consisting of only Ragnarr's family, a few of the more tenured servants and cooks whom Hiccup was friendly with, Askatla, and her mother, Ljufa. Askatla's mother had finished crafting Hiccup's ring earlier that morning, and it was an astonishing recreation of the one Hiccup had, in Astrid's opinion. Preparations were made so that the dragons could join them in the grand hall, furniture and rugs removed for the night, much to the servants distress.
"Astrid?" Hiccup asked, "is something wrong?"
Astrid smirked. "Nope, was just waiting for you. Ragnarr wanted to speak with you, something about the king asking after your progress," Astrid lied, distracting him from the obvious that it was his name day with his duties as a rider.
Hiccup's face grew stern. "Alright, lead the way," he said. Hook, line, and sinker. Astrid smirked again.
She led him through winding halls, going in circles to distract him, until she finally made her way to the great hall where everyone was waiting. Stormfly fetched Toothless, filling him in on the plan, and both dragons made their way inside the great hall. Hiccup never questioned her as she opened the door to the great hall and ushered him inside.
"Congratulations!" the assembled dwarves roared loudly, the dragons adding their own voices to the mix, nearly deafening Hiccup and Astrid. Astrid noticed the slight way Hiccup shifted into a fighting stance on instinct, into an easier form to draw his sword, and making his body a smaller target for enemies to hit.
"Congratulations for what exactly?" Hiccup asked, recovering from his surprise and suppressing the urge to massage his sensitive ears.
"Well," Sigrid said, slightly slurring her words, "it's not just your congratulations. It's a congratulations for the both of you. Happy name day, Hiccup, Astrid."
Astrid's eye twitched in annoyance. She was not made aware of that particular nuance in their plan, this was supposed to be a celebration for Hiccup, not herself. Not wanting to ruin the mood, she said nothing and instead opted to gauge Hiccup's reaction. Hiccup struggled to minimize his growing blush, which was difficult to do with his alabaster skin which magnified even the tiniest tinge of red. Astrid had never seen him show such an emotion, and she firmly decided to try and draw it out more often.
"You shouldn't have," Hiccup said lightly.
"Ah, come off it," Sigrid said, taking a sip of putrid dwarven mead, "you're too caught up with your duties. You need to relax and enjoy life a little."
One of the cooks bustled up to Hiccup and Astrid, two golden tankards of their own mead poured. They both accepted them gratefully and took a sip. The group of dwarves broke into their revelry at the first sip, some servants playing instruments, others singing songs to accompany the tune. The cooks brought out platter after platter, stacked high with food. Half was composed of the most normal looking dwarven food Astrid had seen during her stay on the world, and the other half was various fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and breads, no doubt for Hiccup. Astrid had tried explaining his strange eating habits, stating that it was the traditional diet of the elves, but neither of them could understand conforming to it.
Food and mead flowed freely as they celebrated the night away. Hiccup had been tense at first but eased into the celebrations until he too took part. He was currently sipping on his tankard, regaling the servants with tales of his exploits on an expedition into Svartalfheim to repel the dark elves back from the World Gate. The dwarves sat, listening with rapt attention, devouring their food slowly so as to not miss a single word. Even Sigrid was listening in, her drink forgotten momentarily.
Astrid took a moment to memorize the look on Hiccup's face. He was always so serious, so aloof. He looked… peaceful, almost, like the burdens he carried were temporarily forgotten. She couldn't help but grin at the success of her plan tonight. Maybe the boy in the forge was still in there somewhere, under all the magic, duties, and dragons. Eventually Hiccup's tale winded down, he and his comrades having successfully driven the dark elves from the World Gate on their own world, giving the elves the first foothold in the war in nearly three thousand years. The dwarves erupted into applause and began singing and dancing in earnest, musicians picking back up their instruments to accompany them.
Sigrid retrieved her drink and wandered over to Astrid. "Hey, you should probably give him that ring now, don't ya think?" she said, her words becoming more and more slurred by the moment.
Astrid nodded, fingering the ring in her pocket, making sure it was still there. She looked around, trying to find where Hiccup was, and found him missing. Her eyebrows narrowed as she scanned the room, looking for the only occupant other than herself who stood above five feet in height. Eventually she looked to the dragons, and found him there, fiddling with Toothless' saddle. Concerned that something was bothering Toothless, she made his way over to see if she could help in any way.
"Hiccup? Is something wrong?" she asked as she approached, expecting Toothless to have been annoyed by his saddle rubbing his scales in the wrong way, causing them to itch unbearably. It was a common problem among bonded dragons.
"Ah, Astrid," Hiccup said, turning around and trying his best to hide a wooden box larger than his body was wide behind his back, "I was, uh, just grabbing something."
Hiccup's face was tinged with red, whether from embarrassment or the liquor, Astrid didn't know. Probably a bit of both, she decided. She assumed that the wooden box behind him was her own name day gift, so she swallowed her nerves and decided to present hers first. "I was 'just grabbing something' too," she said sarcastically, before withdrawing the ring from her pocket and holding it out to him.
"Happy name day," she said fondly, "I tried to recreate it as best I could, but it was from memory. Sigrid is friends with the clan who crafts jewellery, so I had them craft it. It seems like a lifetime ago since we left Berk, doesn't it?"
Hiccup had an odd look on his face that she couldn't place. He gingerly picked up the ring, twirling it in his fingers, examining the fine details. "I'm sorry if it's not very good," Astrid said shyly.
"No, no," Hiccup apologized, shaken from his reverie, "it's very nice, thank you. I just didn't expect to receive a gift, it's my first one. I'll treasure it."
Astrid gave him a skeptical look, quirking an eyebrow. "It's your first what? Name day gift? No way," Astrid exclaimed.
Hiccup scratched at his pointed ears playfully, a nervous tick of his. "Well, you know me, I didn't exactly have the best family life before I left. I guess Stoick just didn't think I was worthy of receiving gifts," he responded.
Astrid immediately regretted questioning him, and despite Hiccup's best efforts, the pain of his childhood still shone through his facade. Hiccup, seeing Astrid's pained look, chose to give his own gift, thinking he had offended her in some way.
"Here, I made you something," Hiccup said, moving the large wooden box out from behind him.
"What is it?" Astrid asked, despite Sigrid's jeers she had been excited that Hiccup had deemed her worthy enough to craft a gift for her himself.
Hiccup just grinned. "Open it and find out," he said simply.
Astrid tried maneuvering the box but found that it was too heavy to lift. Astrid gave Hiccup a questioning look but his grin just grew wider. Astrid tapped into her strength enhancement magic, giving her the strength needed to move the heavy object. Laying the box down on it's back, Astrid pulled the lid of the box off, revealing it's contents. What she beheld took her breath away.
Laying inside the box was an axe. But not just any axe, an axe of peerless beauty. It was the color of the purest silver, so finely polished that it appeared as if it was a mirror. Etched into the blade was patterns of clouds and runes of good fortune. The haft was entirely metal, and was coiled with thick metal wire of the same metal the rest of the weapon was made from. The butt of the axe was unique, in that it had a moderate sized ring acting as a pommel. Attached to the ring was a length of sky blue silk. The weapon seemed to be almost ethereal, and it glowed with arcane power.
Astrid was speechless. Her current axe was the one she had received for completing dragon training. At the time, it was the best axe she had ever laid eyes upon and it had served her well during the battle of Berk and their training on Nidavellir. But, despite the wards placed upon it, it had slowly begun deteriorating. Astrid knew that this axe would never dull and never break.
"Do you like it?" Hiccup asked shyly.
Astrid stared at Hiccup, trying to process the sounds that had just came out of his mouth. "It's forged from adamantite, the strongest metal the dwarves have, and I enchanted it myself. It has several unique properties, it won't rust, won't dull, and won't break unless under the most extreme conditions. It also can't be lost, you can cast a short spell and the axe will return to you. The fabric on the pommel is actually woven from fine wires of adamantite, you can use it as a way to extend your reach by swinging it with the fabric as the haft," he said, explaining the technical details of the axe to Astrid.
It took her several seconds to react before she embraced Hiccup in a fierce hug, her enhancement magic activated of it's own will, nearly crushing him in her embrace. So powerful was her joy that Stormfly had to distance herself from their bond, lest she begin to feel the same. "It's wonderful Hiccup, thank you," she squealed.
Astrid released him and activated her magic again, on purpose this time, and drew the weapon from it's box. Hiccup slipped on the ring, eyeing it fondly. Astrid weighed the weapon in her hands, swinging it back and forth. The air hummed in it's wake despite not having any force behind her strikes. "It's not a match for a legendary weapon like Mjolnir, but anything short of that it is the finest weapon you'll find in the realms," Hiccup complimented himself.
"It's perfect," Astrid said with awe. It was like the axe was built specifically for her. Despite it's immense weight, it felt comfortable in her hands, like it was supposed to be there. Although she had never wielded it before, she found that she knew exactly how it handled. No doubt it was one of the enchantments Hiccup had woven into the weapon, but it was endearing all the same.
Hiccup's grin grew and Astrid couldn't contain her own smile. "And thank you, for the ring, I mean. It means a lot to me," Hiccup added.
Toothless and Stormfly cooed in happiness at their rider's happiness, their feeling bleeding into each other from rider to dragon and back again. Stormfly pranced over to Astrid, nuzzling her with her snout. "I don't see why you two-legs make such a fuss over mating rituals, you should just mate and be done with it," Stormfly commented in the privacy of their minds.
Astrid balked at her dragon's crudeness and punched her in the thigh, her magic allowing the blow to actually be felt. Stormfly squawked in amusement and pranced away to see if she could convince the cooks to give her more of the delicious four-winged birds they served earlier.
Across the room, nobody noticed Askatla's mother, Ljufa, carefully scrutinizing Hiccup and Astrid as they exchanged gifts. She watched them over the rim of her tankard as the took a sip, her gaze never straying from the two riders the entire night.
The celebrations continued throughout the night and only increased in intensity until dwarves began falling from exhaustion, sleeping on the floor, tables, or benches in the grand hall. Hiccup, Astrid, Toothless, and Stormfly had long since retired to their rooms for the evening, but the dwarves continued their celebrations until morn. Their clan was blessed indeed to have a friend in Hiccup and Astrid.
Hail to the King
The next day, every resident of the King's Hammer palace was late in rising in the morn. Hiccup slept until his usual time, waking in the afternoon. Astrid, in a rarity, slept a similar length of time. The dwarves even more so, especially the ones who had drunk themselves to sleep the previous night.
Astrid sat up in her bed and stretched, and smiled as she beheld her new axe laying against her desk. It's beauty never grew old to her, she felt like she could stare at it for hours and not grow bored. Her eyes traced the cloud patterns on the blade, flowing seamlessly from one into the next without end. It was enthralling. Stormfly, in particular, liked to examine herself in the reflection of the blade.
Astrid threw her legs over the side of her bed and stood, stretching to her full height, wringing the sleep from her body. She stepped out onto the balcony and found Hiccup playfully scratching Toothless, his large mass rolling about on the balcony. "Ah, good, you're up," Hiccup commented, taking notice of her presence.
Astrid just nodded and moved to stand next to the railing, gazing down on the city far below, the lamps fully blazing, lighting the city. "We'll resume training today. I got word that a prisoner has been prepared for us, finally, and I can teach you the more advanced concepts of mental combat. We've been focussing mainly on attacking and defending, but you don't know what to do once you have control of someones mind," Hiccup said, explaining their agenda for the day.
"The dwarves are immune to being damaged by magic, but your enhancement magic increases your strength and speed. They aren't immune to that, and if you can master the basics of breaking someones mind you will find that there are few in this realm who can challenge you," he continued on.
Astrid just nodded again. "When do we leave?" she asked. Although she understood the necessity of the training, she did not enjoy mental combat, nor was she proficient in the art. Hiccup, on the other hand, was a prodigy. Through her time training under Hiccup she had come to realize that is skill set was not that of a warrior, although he was unbeatable in melee combat, his real talent was for magic, mental combat, and surprise attacks. She supposed that was why he was an apprentice to the spymaster of the Order, or perhaps it was the result of being her apprentice. Either way, Astrid was well suited to the complete opposite.
"As soon as you're ready," Hiccup answered her as he scratched under Toothless' chin.
Astrid went back to her room and readied herself for the day. Instead of using her old axe, she opted to carry her new one with her. It would take some getting used to, as she was required to have her enhancement magic activated constantly in order to wield the weapon. It was a small, but constant, drain on her reserves of arcane energy. Ten minutes later she reemerged onto the balcony and mounted Stormfly, Hiccup and Toothless already mounted and waiting for her. The flight was a quick, taking only several minutes. Stormfly had grown larger and larger since the months they had left Berk, until she was larger than any Nadder she had seen before. Her strength and speed had increased with her size, and although she still wasn't a match for Toothless' speed, he and Hiccup no longer needed to lag and wait for them to keep up.
The golden doors of the royal palace quickly came into view and Hiccup led them to the entrance of the dungeons, a small, nearly hidden door of stone near the main entrance. It was the same door that Astrid had watched the prisoners be filed into several weeks before, never to be seen again. Hiccup and Astrid left their dragons outside to guard the entrance, the dwarven guardsmen shifting back and forth on their feet nervously in the presence of the two alpha predators. A small staircase wound round and round as they descended deeper and deeper into the dungeons. Every several tens of feet a shaft ran out from the stairs, torches lining the length. Astrid could see heavy metal bars with arms hanging loosely out of them, assuming they were the prisoners.
She knew very little of the failed revolution that Hiccup and his master, Agvior, helped to quell, but she knew that Nidavellir had a lot of prisoners. Eventually, perhaps several hundred feet underground, Hiccup stopped their descent and headed through one of the shafts. The cells here we larger and more secure. Astrid figured that this must be where their prisoner was being held. A small guard of dwarves guarded one of the cells, armed and waiting. As they heard footfalls in the twilight of the torches, one of their own hailed the approaching riders.
"Ah, Vrangr, we've been expecting you. Prisoner number six has been prepared as you requested. Good hunting, my lord," their captain said, saluting Hiccup as he stalked past, with a feral grin on his face. Astrid followed closely on his heels, interested in seeing who they would be interrogating.
What she found was not what she was expecting. Inside the cell, laying on a table, strapped down with heavy chains of mithril, bound and gagged, was a strange looking creature. It was humanoid, tall even, clearly not a dwarf. It was pale, paler than even Hiccup's own alabaster skin. It was like it had never seen the light of day. It had long, pointed ears, that were shaped oddly, not in the fashion of man, but more in the fashion of a beast, almost bat-like in appearance. His eyes were blood red and he gazed at them with such intense hatred that if looks could kill, Astrid thought she and Hiccup would have fallen dead on the spot.
"Now, now, no need to be so rude number six," Hiccup tutted, "Astrid, meat number six. Number six, meet Astrid. Number six was one of the leaders of the rebellion several years ago, he is a dark elf. They had sought to place a puppet on the throne that would ally themselves with Svartalfheim, but they failed in the end."
All sympathy Astrid had for the prisoners on the floors above her vanished at the thought of someone manipulating the dwarves to join Loki's alliance. "He's been drugged with a special poison that makes it difficult to manipulate arcane energy, but all the same, keep your guard up," Hiccup whispered to Astrid in the privacy of their minds.
"I'm afraid," Hiccup said as he approached the table, "today is the day of your execution. The king has tried to parlay with you and you have refused every offer he has made. Now, we will get the chance to pick at your mind before the executioner can collect your head. I hope it was worth it."
Outside the cell Astrid could hear the snicker of the dwarven guards, snickering about the bane of the dark elves. Hiccup reached out and touched Astrid's mind, drawing her out. "I'll help you, guide you, show you what to do. But this is a learning experience for you, it's your job to find his secrets. Or try to," Hiccup explained. Astrid shook her head, signifying she had heard her.
Hiccup led the way, his mind slowly approaching the mind of number six. Astrid followed closely behind him, like two arrows lined directly behind each other. Hiccup encountered the first defenses of the dark elves' mind and instead of attacking them immediately, gave him time to bolster his defenses. Hiccup mentally gestured for Astrid to take her best try at demolishing the walls he had built, and Astrid obliged him. The dark elf was proficient in the art of defending his mind, but Astrid had one of the best teachers in the realms as her master. Every move he made to block her probing attacks was countered by Astrid, and little by little, she began to eat away at the walls of his defense. All the while, Hiccup waited and watched, poised to strike at any moment in case he needed to defend Astrid's own mind from a retaliatory attack.
There was none. The dark elf had no chance to launch an attack of his own, and instead opted on defending his mind as best he could. Eventually it became clear to prisoner number six that he was fighting a losing battle, he was trying to defend too much of his mind to put up and effective defense. He had underestimated Astrid, all those many hundreds of hours of mental sparring with Hiccup over the past year had put her in excellent form.
He let his walls remain but retreated further into his own mind, erecting more defenses as he retreated. By the time Astrid had finished destroying the outer walls, the dark elf had already fallen back and fully constructed his new defenses. Astrid made no move to move forward but instead looked back for Hiccup. "Good job," Hiccup said, moving forward, leading the way deeper into the dark elf's mind, "notice how different it feels. Outside his first defense we knew nothing, felt nothing. Now look, we can sense faint emotions, barely recognizable this far from the center of his consciousness. Skilled interrogators can question a prisoner at this stage an extract information based on what they sense."
Hiccup led Astrid even deeper, until they encountered more defenses. The barriers were taller, stronger, thicker. They wouldn't fall like the first ones, not easily. "You can give up small portions of your mind to focus on defending more important infrastructure," Hiccup lectured, "it's a basic tactic. One that you should never rely on. If an enemy can penetrate your first line of defense, run."
Hiccup again gave Astrid the go ahead to begin taking down the prisoner's next line of defense. Astrid could feel waves of hate emanate from the dark elf, he clearly did not like Hiccup, not at all. She began her work slowly, probing the walls for weaknesses or cracks, testing their strength. She couldn't simply tear these walls down like she had the previous ones. Instead, she opted for a trick Hiccup had used on her, go under. Astrid picked and probed at the foundation of his defenses, not attacking the thick walls. Her goal was to undermine their integrity and weaken them so that she could destroy them at her leisure.
The dark elf panicked as he realized his mistake, and though her progress was slow, Astrid chiseled away at the walls little by little. Despite her progress, the walls held fast, their strength unfaltering. "You're too spread out," Hiccup said, somewhere behind her, "you need to pick a target and focus on it. Force them to put all their defense towards that one point, and then change to another and destroy it."
Astrid mentally nodded and returned to dismantling the dark elf's defenses. Instead of chipping away at the walls she focused all her power into swings of a pickaxe, striking at the foundations of his defense until the dark elf was forced to allocate more resources to defending the spot, lest it be lost. Even the smallest increase in defense prompted Astrid to quickly move to another spot and begin attacking there instead. It was a game of cat and mouse and Astrid was beginning to win.
Eventually the dark elf realized he was not going to win this game unless he could force Astrid to retreat or erect defenses of her own. He spread his defenses thin, trying to guard everything at once, and launched a vicious attack against Astrid's own mind in retaliation. Astrid immediately halted her own attack and created the strongest barriers she could muster, but for naught. Hiccup was ready and waiting for the dark elf to strike and immediately cut through his defenses, shredding them to pieces and sending him retreating even farther into the depths of his mind. His attack was swift and strong, it left no room for defense, only offense, and there was nothing the dark elf could do to stop it.
"Your defense is good, but don't let up pressure entirely when you retreat. Keep your enemy focussed on himself, not you. If he fears he will be broken by your weak attack he will hesitate to put his all into attacking you," Hiccup said, before stalking forward, deeper into the mind of the dark elf.
The prisoner's mind turned dark as they entered the next area of his mind. Shadows writhed and danced and Astrid could hear a faint, but disturbing, melody echo from somewhere far away. "We're close now," Hiccup said, "maybe two more levels until we're at the center."
Astrid nodded and waited for Hiccup to lead the way again, taking a small break to organize her thoughts for the next attack. The dark elf prisoner knew it was futile to struggle against Hiccup's apprentice and instead focused on defending only the core of his mind, saving his strength incase he had to fend off the master himself. He focused the entirety of his defense into a sphere around his core, but instead of trying to resist the damage that would inevitably follow, he instead opted to absorb it. He crafted the sphere in the fashion of a liquid, one that would bend but not break under an attack.
Hiccup led them deeper into the prisoner's mind, the emotions becoming clear, and simple thoughts became readable. How he loathed Vrangr, how he would kill every dwarf on this miserable planet if he should ever escape, how, in the end, even if he died, Ragnarok would succeed and destroy everything they ever loved. The emotions weren't dulled this far in, hatred dominated the dark elf's mind. He hated the dwarves, hated the elves, hated the Aesir, but above all, he hated Vrangr. Pain was the next strongest emotion, he had survived countless tortures under the dwarves and had not, would not, spill his race's secrets. From what Astrid could sense, there was no good in this man, no redeeming quality. She felt no guilt over her training.
Astrid beheld the strange defense mechanism and marvelled at it's oddity. She never would have thought to organize her defense in such a way, it reminded her of the way Hiccup liked to imitate smoke when hiding his mind, and made a not to remember it for future training. For the next hour, try as she might, Astrid could not breach the dark elf's defenses. Every attack she tried was repelled, blocked, or parried by the sphere of liquid guarding the dark elf's inner core. She had tried squeezing the sphere, tried breaking it with overwhelming force, tried whittling away at it little by little, tried scooping away the liquid in small cups to reduce it, all to no avail. At last, she decided to ask Hiccup for help.
"Hiccup, I-" before she could ask, he cut her off.
"Don't worry, I didn't expect you to be able to break this. You did better than I expected in the first place, getting this far. You're not suited for this kind of tactic, but it's important to learn none the less. Let me show you," Hiccup said, trailing off as he tapped into his reserves of arcane energy. Astrid took a step back and allowed Hiccup to work his magic.
She felt a subtle shift in the dark elf's mind, thoughts and emotions came to the forefront of his being, more so than his defenses. Pain overwhelmed hate temporarily, but not the pain of tortures, the pain of fire, of heat, of cooking flesh. Thoughts erupted into the space of the dark elf's mind they occupied, jumbled, incoherent, and screaming. They were the thoughts of the dying, the mind's panic before it is extinguished. Astrid beheld the dark elf's defenses and found them crumbling, the sphere of liquid bubbling and boiling. Inside she could make out the faint form of the dark elf, aflame and writhing in hellfire, roaring in agony.
"There is always a weakness you can exploit," Hiccup said to her, "if he makes a shield of water, then it's simple, you just boil it away with fire. Illusion magic is especially helpful in this endeavor."
Astrid felt the mind of the dark elf breaking, falling to pieces, but he held his defenses still. If he did not submit to Hiccup only his body would survive, an empty shell devoid of a personality. Just when Astrid thought the dark elf would break she heard a voice. "My lord!" it cried, and then again when it received no answer. "My lord! Vrangr!" it cried again. Hiccup scowled and released his magic, the dark elf practically thanking what gods may be for his reprieve.
"Come on, let's see what they want," Hiccup said, before leading Astrid back out of the dark elf's mind. The prisoner didn't even bother erecting defenses as they left his mind, too damaged from Hiccup's attack to defend himself. Astrid's eyes fluttered open and she beheld a small contingent of dwarves crowded in the small cell, the guards looking in from behind them, slight frowns on their faces at the interruption of the interrogation.
"My lord, Vrangr," one of the new dwarves said, "you have been summoned by the king. Please report to the throne room immediately."
Hiccup rolled his eyes in annoyance before moving to exit the cell, the dwarves leading the way, escorting them back up through the winding staircase to the surface. Astrid followed behind Hiccup, wondering why he was being summoned by the king again. The climb to the surface was shorter than Astrid thought and she was surprised to find that the lights of the city had begun to dim in preparation for night.
The dwarves continued to escort them, which Astrid found strange. They were also armed, but not in the traditional arms of the royal guardsmen. Their weapons were varied and customized, this was not a normal group of guards. The throne room was as it was the first time they were summoned, just the king and the chiefs that acted as his advisors. The lords and ladies of the dwarven court were absent, and their guards stood at attention outside the doors of the throne room.
Hiccup stalked up to the base of the throne and kneeled once more, Astrid copying him with perfect grace. She had developed a sort of sixth sense which allowed her to guess what Hiccup would do before he did it, a result of their spars and copying his mannerisms during political engagements. "Yes, your majesty?" Hiccup asked tersely, slightly offended that he had been escorted to the throne room.
The king hummed in thought for several minutes, not giving them permission to stand like their first summons. Astrid could tell the king was quickly wearing through Hiccup's limited supply of patience. "Vrangr, tell me, how far have you come in finding my missing people?" the king asked after some time.
"I have been tracking down leads and searching the city every day, your majesty," Hiccup answered, still kneeling.
"And yet you have produced no results, despite being here for quite some time," the king commented.
Hiccup frowned slightly. "I produced plenty of results, were I allowed to interrogate the prisoners I had captured, I could have found the missing dwarves already," he replied.
Ginnar snickered under his breath from his spot among the chiefs. "And yet you still have not made any expeditions into the underground seas to negotiate with the blockade," the king observed.
"I have not yet had the time to devise a plan for dealing with a small army," Hiccup responded.
"You seem to have plenty of time to train your young apprentice, hmm?" the king quipped.
At this, Hiccup and Astrid both frowned. Hiccup was about to respond but the king cut him off, speaking first. "More of my people have gone missing, I can sit idle no longer. I order you to investigate the underground seas and at least meet with the captain of the blockade," he commanded.
"How dare this half-two-legs command you," Toothless snarled in Hiccup's mind, listening in on the conversation in case he was needed.
"Easy bud, this is what we came here to do, remember," Hiccup said, calming his dragon. Slightly.
"By your will, your majesty," Hiccup said, rudely excusing himself and giving a overly grand mock-bow in response before turning and making for the door. Astrid picked up on the cue and simply stood and followed him, not giving the king any proper partings. She was not a rider, not yet, she owed him nothing.
"That was a little rude of him, don't you think?" Astrid said, shifting from dwarvish to Norse.
"He's just worried about his people, that's all," Hiccup said, also shifting from dwarvish to Norse. Astrid gave him a small look. "Alright, it was a little rude too," he added.
Hiccup and Astrid walked at a brisk pace as they made their way to their dragons waiting outside the golden doors of the royal palace. "It was quite rude," Toothless added, for Hiccup's ears only. Hiccup just chuckled at his dragon's mood and gave him a little scratch.
"Come on, let's go. We need to prepare if we are to meet with the blockade in the underground seas," Hiccup said, mounting Toothless. Astrid mounted Stormfly and followed after them, it was a quick flight back to Ragnarr's estate.
Hail to the King
Hiccup spent the next three days instructing Astrid on the finer art of negotiations. It was one of the most common roles a rider was expected to perform, and it was one of vital importance. More blood has been spilt by words than blades in the history of man, the same went doubly true for the words of riders. There were also other, more unpleasant lessons, such as how to survive in behind enemy lines, how to escape capture after failed negotiations, how to resist torture should you be captured by the enemy. It was a large amount of information to take in and her life would be dependent on how well she could memorize it.
On the fourth day, Hiccup and Astrid awoke early, suited up themselves and their dragons in their armor, Hiccup wearing his black dragonscale armor with the tabard of the Order, and Astrid in a fine set of dwarven armor with her new axe strapped to her back. They took flight before the lamps of the city had even been lit for the day and headed for the entrance to the underground seas on the far side of the cavern. The entrance was a titanic tunnel shaft hewn through the stone of the world in a perfect square. A system of pulleys allowed for transport to the seas many miles below the surface. Even by dragonback, it took several tens of minutes, almost an hour, to travel to the bottom. Hiccup kept their pace slow, to keep their approach quiet, and also so that they had enough time to pull up from their dive to avoid crashing into the water. There was a small rocky outcrop at the bottom of the shaft that acted as a port, with many long wooden docks stretching out onto the seas. The seas themselves stretched out to the horizon in every direction and Astrid had a difficult time reminding herself that they were underground right now. Darkness was the most prevalent aspect of the underground seas, no light filtered in from the city above, and there were no lamps to light the sky.
Hiccup touched Astrid's mind and she allowed him entrance. "Cast this spell," he said, before passing her a short spell with words she did not recognize. She performed the spell without fumbling her words and her vision cleared, and in the distance she could make out the waves far below.
"It's a simple night vision spell based on illusion magic, it's drain should be minimal but if you begin to feel it draw more energy than necessary sever the spell. Stormfly will be able to navigate even in the darkness," Hiccup explained over the roar of the wind and water.
Toothless and Stormfly took their riders high above the waters, stealthily navigating the cavern, looking for their destination. The blockade was somewhere in the underground seas, on the far eastern front. It's function was to prevent any dwarven vessels from passing from the entrance of the underground seas through a small hole in the cavern wall that led into another, much larger, underground sea, where the fishing was best. The blockade had turned the passageway into their stronghold, carving tunnels into the stone to form a makeshift port.
"We'll hopefully at the blockade in the next few hours. The plan is for me to board, alone, with you, Stormfly, and Toothless on standby. If they are hostile, I'll call for Toothless and it will be up to you to rescue me. For my sake, please be quick about it. I have no desire to fight off a horde of thousands of angry dwarven pirates," Hiccup said, explaining their plan.
"And what if things do go wrong?" Astrid asked, with a hint of worry in her voice.
"I won't be captured easily and Toothless would lay waste to the entire area if I was so much as scratched, wouldn't ya bud?" Hiccup said, patting Toothless' neck.
"I'm tempted to just leave you there," Toothless said, embarrassed, rolling his eyes in a disturbingly human manner.
Astrid swallowed her objections to Hiccup going in alone and said nothing. Hiccup was far from helpless and herself, Toothless, and Stormfly would be more than enough to stage a rescue. "Don't worry, hatchling. I won't let anything befall our master," Stormfly said, comforting her rider with her own feelings of confidence.
"Thanks, girl," Astrid said, choosing to believe in her dragon, if not herself.
"Hiccup," Toothless said in the privacy of his and Hiccup's mind, "how are you going to accomplish your mission? I assume you have a plan."
"There is two options. One, the blockade leader, this Agmundr, agrees to meet with me. I convince him to talk to me alone, I assassinate him, and then stealthily make my way back to you guys, swimming if I have to. Two, he refuses to meet me and I am attacked on sight, in which case, you fly down and turn everything to ash," Hiccup explained to Toothless.
Toothless just laughed in his unique dragon way, causing Astrid and Stormfly to look at them slightly funny. "What could they possibly find humorous about our situation?" Astrid asked Stormfly.
"I'm not sure, hatchling. He is your mate, not mine," she answered.
Astrid rolled her eyes at her dragon. Hiccup had gone from two-legs-bonded-dark-one to Hiccup to mate-of-Astrid in the mind of Stormfly, all in the matter of months. No amount of reasoning, no amount of explaining, convinced her otherwise.
The flight passed slowly, even despite their impressive speed. Astrid's mind began to wander and she passed the time by examining the underground seas. Here and there tall rocky seastacks extended from the water, likely an underwater mountain just barely rearing it's head. Abandoned shipwrecks floated in the waters near them and Astrid would have considered stopping and exploring them had they not been on a vital mission to save lives.
Eventually, far off on the horizon, Astrid could make out raging fires. The night vision spell amplified the light of the fire to the point where it hurt her eyes to stare in their general direction so she released the magic. Hiccup was right, the drain on her energy was minimal, but still a drain nonetheless. Hiccup and Toothless contacted her and Stormfly in a four way conversation. "Remember the plan, stay high, stay out of sight, but close enough that you can readily come if I'm in trouble," Hiccup said. Astrid and Stormfly gave the equivalent of a mental nod and Toothless seemed to meld into the shadows as he darted towards a rocky outcrop.
Toothless was in his element. Under the cover of the black of night and with lightning speed he zoomed past the dock Hiccup had direct him towards. In a perfectly timed maneuver, Hiccup leapt from Toothless and landed eerily silently on the dock, the wooden beams barely creaking at his presence. Toothless was gone as fast as he had arrived, rejoining Astrid and Stormfly far above the dock, hiding in the safety of the darkness of the cavern. Hiccup gave the spot where he knew them to be one last look before stepping forward.
Several tens of feet in front of him was a large metal barrel, inside of which was several large beams of wood. Eight dwarves surrounded it, warming their hands against the cold of the underground seas. Hiccup made sure to make plenty of noise, so as not to surprise them. The dwarves attention immediately snapped from the fire and their aching limbs to the presence coming from the darkness of the dock, their hands gripping the hilts of their swords.
Hiccup walked into the light of the fire, his hands held in the air in a gesture of surrender. His rose red tabard swished forward from the winds sweeping across the underground seas, and the dwarves took notice of the garment immediately. "I am a rider," Hiccup said as confidently as he could, "and a friend. I've come here to speak with your leader, if he would see me."
The dwarves eyes him suspiciously, picking him apart, trying to discern if his words were the truth or lies. None dared draw their weapons, if he was as he claimed, they would surely die. Eventually one of them stepped forward, their leader. "If you're a rider then where's your dragon, elf?" the dwarf practically spat.
Hiccup frowned slightly. "Toothless?" he called to his dragon.
Toothless took a small but quick detour away from their hiding spot before firing a powerful blast of fire at the water of the underground seas, causing an explosion. The dwarves visibly recoiled at the sudden burst of fire and water. "He's here, make no mistake," Hiccup said, smiling coyly.
The dwarves shared short looks with each other before removing their hands from their weapons. "This way," their leader said, gesturing for Hiccup to fall in line behind him as he lead him through a small path hewn into the stone. The other dwarves followed behind Hiccup, effectively blocking him in. The path wound precariously around sharp drop-offs to the water below, and hunks of rock crumbled away from the path as they walked.
Eventually the path ended at another small dock, with another contingent of dwarves guarding it. Dozens of ships filled the canal in front of them and Hiccup guessed that they were currently looking out into the passageway between one cavern and the next. "Oi, who's he?" one of them barked as their comrades approached with Hiccup.
"Rider, here to speak with the Captain," the leader of the first group answered. The other dwarves seemed to relax at the revelation. The leader secured a small rowboat from the new guards before gesturing for Hiccup to get on. Hiccup obliged, and the leader and one other dwarf rowed the small rowboat out into the canal, towards a brightly lit ship, covered in lanterns and torches. Hiccup glanced out over the water, into the cavern that was blocked off by the blockade. Hundreds upon hundreds of ships floated in the darkness, only visible by the small lanterns aboard.
The ride to the vessel they were heading for was quick, the dwarves were obviously used to rowing. The leader called up to the deck and a rope ladder was tossed over for them to climb up. The leader went first, followed by Hiccup, and then the last dwarf. The leader quickly explained the situation to the dwarven crew, who had drawn weapons instantly at the sight of Hiccup, and tried to calm them as best he could. He was doing a poor job, as none had sheathed their weapons.
"What in the blazes is going on up here?" a voice roared, practically kicking down a door somewhere to Hiccup's right.
"Captain! This elf has boarded our ship, claims he is a rider here to speak with you," one of the crew answered the Captain's call.
The Captain examined Hiccup with narrowed eyes. "Alright lads, everyone put your swords away before you get yourselves killed," he commanded.
A dwarf with a wooden leg and no arms approached the captain, hobbling over slowly. "Agmundr, are you sure we should be so trusting?" he asked.
"Our enemies would not dare pretend to be a rider of the Order, and the serjeant says he saw the elf's dragon. This is what we've been waiting for after all this time," Agmundr answered his first mate.
The crippled dwarf scowled but made no more objections as Hiccup lowered his arms to his sides, deeming it safe to no longer appear nonaggressive. "Greetings, I am Vrangr, Knight Master of the Order of Dragon Knights. I have come to you on behalf of his majesty, the king, to negotiate peace and the disbandment of this blockade. I assume you are the captain of this armada?" Hiccup said, holding out his hand in greetings to the dwarf he knew to be Agmundr.
"Indeed I am. I am captain Agmundr, and I speak for every man here worth his salt," Agmundr replied, shaking Hiccup's hand vigorously.
"We are well met, then, captain," Hiccup affirmed, "is there someplace we could speak in private?"
"We'll not have you and our captain alone, elf," the crippled first mate snapped at Hiccup.
"Certainly, please, this way," Agmundr said, ignoring the warnings of his first mate. Hiccup grinned as he followed Agmundr through the door he had came from and into a large room that served as the helm.
Agmundr scurried across the room to his desk, placing a chair on the opposite side for Hiccup. It was small, made for a dwarf's body, but Hiccup wasn't one to deny the pleasantry. Hiccup truly took notice of the captain for the first time. He wore a vicious curved sword, but his body did not look as if it could wield it. What was once a mighty dwarven physique had deteriorated to weakness, a shadow of his race. His beard was long and unkempt, and dark bags hung under his eyes as if he had not slept soundly in a great many moons.
Both men took a seat before beginning negotiations. "Earlier you said you were waiting for me, what did you mean by that?" Hiccup asked.
Agmundr fidgeted in his seat before answering. "We've been trapped here, by duty, and the blockade was our means of calling for help. We knew that the king wouldn't send the army to deal with us, and that he would call upon the Order. We've been waiting for a rider, not necessarily you specifically, to come and save us," the captain explained.
"Trapped by what? Save you from what?" Hiccup asked.
At his question Agmundr become visible frightened, a far cry from the facade he had worn on deck. "The corrupted ones, of course. They pour forth from the gates of Hel itself, in the cavern we guard. It is our duty as dwarves to protect our kin from them, from falling to their sickness. Their power is great and terrible, they have lost all sense of who they were," he explained, fear dripping from his tone.
"And what are these corrupted ones, exactly?" Hiccup asked again.
"They were once our kin, but no more. They have been corrupted and twisted, bent to the will of darkness. Their skin is cracked and gray as ash, and flames lick their flesh. Their eyes smolder with the fires of Muspelheim, the very face of evil, they are. They know only death, only blood, only destruction. We have lost many keeping them at bay, but the cold and the water are our allies. It weakens them greatly to be exposed as such to the elements," Agmundr said, rocking in fear in his chair.
"What could the Order do for you, then?" Hiccup said.
Agmundr looked shocked. "You are the most powerful beings in the realms, certainly you could muster your forces to exterminate their evil," he said with almost a reverence, "many of us have perished so that we could bring this information to you. Please, rider, banish this scourge from our lands."
"Do you have any way to get to the location of these corrupted ones?" Hiccup asked, looking around the cabin.
An expression of relief crossed Agmundr's face as he jumped out of his chair with more energy than Hiccup thought he could muster. He scurried over to a large desk in the corner of the cabin and fished out a medium sized scroll before returning to the desk at which Hiccup sat. "This," Agmundr said, gesturing at the scroll as he spread it out, "is a map of the cavern beyond us. We have mapped it as best we could, it shows the way to their location, where they are born."
"And this," he said, pointing at a small drawing on the corner of the map, "is the inside of their stronghold. One of my own crew perished to personally map and send this back to us, so that we may defeat them when the time comes."
Hiccup stood and hummed in thought as he examined the map. "Do you have any copies of this? Any at all, one that I could have?" he requested of the captain.
"No, no, this is the only copy. I have spare parchment here, though, I could draw you a second one in no time at all-" Agmundr said before his eyes caught sight of a strange occurrence. Fire. Fire on his desk. Fire eating away at the map countless lives had been used to draw. He looked up at Hiccup, eyes wide in shock and anger, and it was the last thing he ever did. The blade of All-slayer glided through the air, whistling, before sinking it's fangs into the throat of Agmundr. The slash was so powerful that it nearly decapitated the dwarf, his head clinging to his body by only scraps of flesh.
Hiccup stilled his breathing, focussing on hearing if anyone had heard the struggle. None did. Hiccup made his way over to the far side of the cabin where a large stained glass window was. "You have made powerful enemies, captain. May your soul find it's way to the Realm Eternal," Hiccup commented.
"No one could outrun the flames. It was all reduced to rubble, and then again to ash," Hiccup commanded and a small wisp of crimson hellfire flickered into existence in the center of the cabin. Hiccup took a deep breath and jumped through the window, into the sea below, before he released his control of the magic.
The resulting explosion rocked the foundation of the canal, sending tremors through the stone. The seawater parted, sending giant waves towards both of the caverns, which sped Hiccup's escape. A large cloud of fire spewed forth from both ends of the passageway, consuming all the ships moored in it's path. Large boulders fell from the roof of the passageway, piling up and blocking any passage forward.
From their hiding spot in the darkness, which was now clearly illuminated, Astrid, Toothless, and Stormfly saw only death come forth from the canal. "Hiccup!" Astrid screamed, her panic so immense and profound that Stormfly was forced to almost completely withdraw from her rider's mind lest she succumb to it as well. Beside them, Toothless immediately dived at the water below, soundlessly entering the waves. It took Stormfly only a second to spring into action, heading for the canal, braving the fire that spilled forth.
"Treacherous half-two-legs, burn!" she roared before unleashing her own fire on any ships that remained afloat. Astrid couldn't act, couldn't think. She sat lifelessly, just observing Stormfly's rescue attempt with unseeing eyes.
"Stormfly!" Toothless roared, erupting from the water below, "retreat! Our mission here is finished!" On his back sat a very soaked, yet very scorched, and very alive, Hiccup.
Stormfly thundered out of the maelstrom of fire and smoke, chasing after Toothless in their retreat. "Hatchling!" she roared in her and Astrid's mind, "Hatching! Snap out of it, he's alive!" Behind them immense boulders fell from the cavern ceiling and the passageway between the underground seas, sending large waves chasing after them.
Astrid stared at Toothless with unseeing eyes for several minutes before blinking and finally realizing Hiccup was safely mounted in the saddle on his back. She released a shuddering breath, one that she wasn't aware that she was holding, before forcing herself to calm down.
"Perhaps you should have used a less powerful spell," Toothless commented, speaking in his and his rider's mind.
Hiccup just smirked. "Maybe," he replied, staring at a long lock of charred hair covering his face, before laying forward and falling into unconsciousness.
Hail to the King
Hiccup healed his wounds when he recovered, minor cuts and burns, the worst of which were long wooden splinters that had bypassed his armor and sunken into his flesh. Astrid had cut his hair, cutting away the large clumps of charred hair which clung together. She ended up giving him a short cut in order for him to not appear odd in appearance. His shorter hair accentuated his pointed ears, making them more prominent.
Several days passed before Hiccup was summoned before the king once more. Astrid accompanied Hiccup again, and their summons were similar to the first again. The king sat on his throne, with his advisors standing next to him. "Vrangr," the king greeted, his mood much more pleasant than when they had visited before their expedition into the underground seas.
"Your majesty," Hiccup responded, falling to one knee.
"I take it your recovery has gone well?" the king asked.
"It has, your majesty," Hiccup answered.
"Good, good. I'm interested in hearing what happened during your journey into the underground seas. From your injuries, I assume it went poorly?" the king asked, getting straight to the point. Astrid herself had been wondering what had happened during the negotiations, but Hiccup had refused to speak a word, instead opting to wait until he told the king first.
"It indeed went poorly, your majesty. I arrived at the port and was welcomed by the guardsmen there who brought me before their captain, Agmundr. Our information was accurate in that regard. I was taken aboard a ship, where their captain spoke with me. I laid out the terms of negotiations, that your majesty wished the blockade undone, so that you may send your armies to search for your missing people. The captain then flew into a rage and attacked me, along with his crew. I fought them off, and in the end, bested them. Their captain retreated below the deck of the ship, and rather than be captured, chose to end his own life. He ignited a large cache of black powder in an attempt to take me with him," Hiccup said, explaining what happened during the negotiations.
The king and his advisors listened with rapt attention. "I escaped by jumping through the window of a cabin, and used magic to shield myself from the blast of the explosion. The resulting explosion, however, also destroyed the tunnel connecting one underground sea to the other, where I believe your people may be held. It will take some time, but it will be possible for your armies to make their way to the underground sea where they are being held. In the mean time, no more of your people should go missing," Hiccup said.
The king hummed in thought for a moment, choosing his words carefully. "Is there not more that you can do for us? It will take many weeks for my armies to make their way through such a tunnel collapse, and in the meantime, my people suffer," the king asked, as politely as he could.
"The Order is not the sword of the crown, your majesty. I have accomplished the mission that has been tasked of me, there is little more I can do without official orders. I also do not believe that those who went missing will be found in good health, the extra time it will take you to investigate the matter personally is of little consequence," Hiccup responded, surprising Astrid at his refusal to help more.
The king nodded sadly, as if he had expected as much. "I thank you for your service then, Vrangr. You're dismissed, I apologize for summoning you so soon despite being wounded," the king said.
Hiccup and Astrid stood, left the throne room, and headed back to Ragnarr's estate. The king listened to his advisors give their opinion on the matter at hand for several minutes before holding up his hand. "Leave me, and send in the next visitor on your way out," he commanded of his advisors. The chiefs shared a small look between each other but did as they were asked.
Outside the doors of the throne room stood a female dwarf, Ljufa, mother of Askatla, and close friends with the King's Hammer clan. The advisors informed her that the king would see her and went on their way. Ljufa entered the throne room and kneeled before her king.
"I have received your report, Ljufa, and your accusations are most heinous," the king said darkly.
"They are no accusations, they are the truth," she responded.
"How can you be so certain? Perhaps the girl made a mistake?" the king asked.
Ljufa raised her head, her eyes narrowed. "It was our family's greatest shame. My grandmother crafted the original; a black serpent, devouring its own tail. Two emeralds, in the color of his eyes. The girl would have had to have seen the real thing first hand in order to describe it in such detail as she had. I would never mistake such a ring anywhere, it is the crest of the Betrayer," Ljufa answered her king.
The king's expression darkened.
"Loki…" he cursed.
Hail to the King
A/N:
I've received a large amount of requests for fanart for this story recently following the previous two chapters and, unfortunately, I'm a poor artist. If anyone would like to try their hand at drawing characters or a scene from my story, or know an artist who would be interested in taking requests, please feel free to send me a message. I'm more than happy to feature any fanart on my profile and A/N. Details not given in the story can be provided upon request.
Before I can start writing the next chapter, I need to know, should Sigrid become a rider or not? You can leave a review or message me to chime in. Either way, her role in the end of the Nidavellir story will be pivotal, but what happens to her in the end is up to you. If she is to become a rider, she will travel with Hiccup and Astrid when they leave for Alfheim. If not, well, she has her incredibly poor life as a princess of the royal family to look forward to.
So we saw some progress in the story here. Hiccup and Astrid will remain on Nidavellir for some time more, continuing their training, as was planned before Hiccup was ordered to help the dwarves. Astrid's new axe is not a legendary weapon, but it is very close. This axe will function as her main weapon for the majority of the story, until, or if, she can find a legendary weapon. I'm still toying with the idea.
Ljufa - "dear, beloved, gentle, kind."
See you next chapter, and thanks for reading!
- Musica