Drengskapr
Summary: Astrid is last in line to a family whose honor was stolen by a dragon. She is a Hofferson, an embarrassment to Berk. She fights to regain her clan's honor and maybe, just maybe, gain the approval of a certain russet haired boy from her childhood. But the Gods hate her. Her life is turned upside down when she stumbles upon a curious Nadder in the woods. AU. Hiccstrid.
—
Disclaimer: I do not own How to Train Your Dragon, it's characters, places, folklore, nothing, nada, zip. Also, the world of Norse mythology and Viking culture is so incredibly vast and complex. I do not claim to be a historian, although I do enjoy research and history. I apologize for any historical inaccuracies or incorrectly referenced folklore/language/customs etc. that you may come across. I do try to do my research before including them and explain them how I personally understand them in my footnotes at the bottom of each chapter. That being said, I am human and I can be wrong. If you spot inaccuracies/mistakes kindly(keyword: kindly) PM me about it and I will be happy to fix them.
—
Chapter Eleven
Cold wind rushed against her skin, numbing her hands and her cheeks.
Stormfly chirped in delight as they burst through the last layer of dense cloud cover, bringing the dragon and Viking pair into the endless afternoon sky. But Astrid was not interested in the view before her. No, she was far more interested in what might possibly be down below. She daringly leaned forward to look down past her Nadder's flank. The clouds were thick but somewhat spotty. She could just make out patches of the ocean expanse below. To her disappointment, that was exactly what she found—a mass of uninterrupted ocean with not a single ship in sight. She frowned and urged Stormfly to fly just a bit faster with a gentle nudge of her knee. They did not have much more time before they needed to turn back to Berk. The blue Nadder complied with a squawk.
It had been several weeks since the Chief's ship departed in search of the dragons nest and whispers were beginning to spread through the village. The ships usually were not gone for so long. Two, maybe three weeks tops, but it had been far longer than that since the Chief and his war party set sail. Even Gothi, under her usual deep set wrinkles, appeared more troubled than usual as they days slowly past without any sign of them. Hiccup did not talk about it, but Astrid knew that he was putting on a brave face for the village. He had to remain strong, seemingly unworried by his father's prolonged absence, but in reality, she knew that he shared in his people's worries. If the ships were gone for too much longer, the ice would begin to set in. But at this point, there was little that could be done.
She had overheard gossip in the village that morning that the remaining members of the council had suggested sending out another boat to search of the war party, but apparently Hiccup, as acting chief, was reluctant to do so. She could not fault him for his hesitancy and in fact, she rather admired him for it. Although it was suggested with good intentions in mind, it would be a fool's errand. They had no idea where to begin searching. Sending out another ship so close to would take too long, even with a light load and favorable winds. What would happen if this ship became trapped in the ice or went missing too? Was Berk to loose even more of its warriors? That was when Astrid had an idea of her own. What better way to search for the missing ships than on dragonback? It would be much faster and safer. If she did find the missing ships and they were in need of a rescue boat, she could discretely hint to Hiccup where to send it.
It was an easy, all-around good plan.
Or so she thought.
That was how she found herself in the current situation. She had told no one where she was going—not that she would have told any except for Hiccup and she had deliberately decided not to tell him. Not only had she not seen him that morning, but she knew that he would have tried to stop her if he knew, saying that it was too dangerous for her to fly so far from Berk alone. She had little choice however, as he could not fly Toothless yet and even if he rode with her on Stormfly, his daytime absence was sure to be noticed. Thus, she went alone and told no one.
Dragon and Viking continued flying further north, despite the bitter cold, and in the direction that the ships had originally set sail. But unfortunately, there was no way to know if it was the right direction. Although the weather as of late had been mildly pleasant on Berk, storms on the open sea could appear without warning and have little to no impact on the mainland. Perhaps bad weather had caused the chief's ships to fall off course and that was why it was taking them so long to return. Astrid made sure to maintain a weathered eye on the ocean below for any sight of Berkian vessels. But as the hours passed without any sign of the ships, her initial optimism began to wane.
"Time to go back, girl." She told finally the Nadder as the sun's rays began to take on a pink tone.
Stormfly trilled in reply.
Despite turning back south, the air turned harsher the longer that they remained in the sky. Even the steady heat radiating from Stormfly's scales was not enough to keep Astrid from shivering. She wondered if she could convince Hiccup to fashion her some kind of cloak or hood to shield the wind while flying. He was so talented at making his own armor after all. By the time that Stormfly landed back within the grove, Astrid was so cold that she could barely dismount her dragon properly. She more or less slid off onto the ground on stiff legs.
Suddenly, her view of the forest was constricted by darkness but she was also very, very warm. After a few moments of confusion, she realized that she was tucked against Stormfly's scales with the Nadder's wings enclosed tightly around her to keep out the chill. She felt a touch of gratitude towards her reptilian companion. Stormfly had sensed her rider's distress and acted appropriately. Astrid murmured her thanks to her dragon while snuggling in closer to her flank. She promised herself that she would only stay for a few minutes, just enough to get the feeling back in her fingers and her toes. A small rumble of her stomach ultimately made the decision for her. In her haste to leave that morning after her chores were finish, Astrid had not eaten much for dagmál. A piece of bread and a little bit of dried fruit was not enough to keep her full the entire day. She really hoped that Sebbi, the village cook, had made more of his delicious yak stew for that evening.
After retrieving her axe from its hidden place under an inconspicuous pile of brush, she turned back to her dragon friend. "I will see you tomorrow, Stormfly." She told the dragon while stroking her snout. Stormfly nuzzled her and made a few sad chirping sounds, something Astrid had come to realize was the dragon's way of saying that she would miss her Viking companion. "It will be here before you know it, girl! And we may be going on another adventure. Perhaps more north-east next time? We need to find the Chief's ships."
With one last pat, Astrid shouldered her axe and left the clearing. Weeks of navigating the dense forest had led her to know the quickest way back to the village by heart. Within minutes, the familiar sounds of the village reached her ears. She exited the tree line only to scream when an arrow unexpectedly whizzed by her face. Someone snickered.
"What the Hel!" Astrid turned, her face twisted in anger, to find her best friend standing a good five yards away with another arrow nocked in the bowstring and a mischievous grin on her lips. "RUFFNUT!"
"Think you can cut down an arrow with your axe?"
Astrid balked at the other blonde. "You…are insane!"
Without warning, Ruffnut let the arrow fly. The shot was not directly aimed at the Hofferson girl, Ruffnut had actually aimed her shot at a tree just over Astrid's shoulder, but Astrid herself did not know that. The axe-thrower reacted on instinct as soon as the shot was released and swung her weapon with all her might at the incoming arrow just as one would take a bludgeon to a ball. To both girl's surprise, the blade of the axe cut straight through the shaft and split the arrow cleanly in two.
Ruffnut had the audacity to clap in approval.
Astrid's chest was heaving, not from exertion, but rage. How could Ruffnut do something so reckless? "You could have killed me!" She screeched in fury.
Ruffnut shrugged and lowered her bow. "Nah, I knew you'd hit it."
The nonchalance in which Ruffnut spoke ignited even more anger within the shorter blonde. Ruffnut could be so irresponsible sometimes! Amongst her exasperated thoughts, an idea abruptly came to her. Her rush to get to the Great Hall was quickly forgotten as she thought back to Ruffnut's offer to spar the day before. Although she knew that she probably stood no chance against the more experienced warrior, in her current state she did not care. Ruffnut would never see the offer coming. Even better, it would be impossible for her friend to resist.
"I believe you owe me a sparring session." Astrid said coolly.
As expected, Ruffnut's jaw dropped in surprise.
"Right now?"
Astrid smirked, feeling incredibly confident that her friend would take the bait.
Ruffnut thought over the suggestion for a few moments before nodding in approval. She strapped her bowstring onto her back and retrieved her spear from where it lay in the long grasses by her feet. Once it was in her hand, she twirled the weapon in her hands as if it were a toy.
The attempt to show off her skill was completely unnecessary. Astrid already knew just how much skill her friend had with a spear. Despite the angry adrenalin fueling her, she also felt a bit nervous and wondered if perhaps she had made a rash decision. Sure, she knew the basics of axeplay—it was her mother's weapon of choice and Herleva had tried to teach her daughter how to defend herself after her husband's death—but Ruffnut had far more experience when it came to sparring. Nevertheless, Astrid could not allow herself to back down. Not now. Besides, it did not even matter if she won, just as long as she got some good hits in.
"So, shall we?"
Astrid took a deep breath and met her friend's gaze straight on, hoping that she appeared more confident that she felt. "Ready when you are."
"Okay, we fight until one of us is disarmed. Just…try not to aim for the face."
"What's wrong?" Astrid teased. "Scared that Fishy will not like it if I give you a cool new battle scar?" For all that Ruffnut had teased her about Hiccup recently, it was nice to return the favor.
Ruffnut sneered at her, "I was trying to be nice but if you want to be like that, fine!"
Astrid took another deep breath, held her axe out in front of her in a defensive stance, and waited. She stood very still, absolutely sure that Ruffnut would be the one to strike first. Her assessment was correct as Ruffnut suddenly rushed forward, twirling her spear between her hands, and made a quick stabbing motion towards Astrid's gut. Astrid quickly blocked the attack by twisting her axe so that Ruffnut's spear met metal instead of flesh. Ruffnut nodded in respect at the quick block and backed away.
"You're quick." She commended.
Astrid managed a taut smile in response and tightened her grip on her axe.
A tense silence fell as they circled one another. Calling upon her observation skills, Astrid carefully considered Ruffnut's expressions and body language for signs of her next move. As hard as her opponent tried to school her features, Astrid could see through the façade. Ruffnut was trying to put on an offensive front but she was not going to attack first again. It was a test. Seeing no other option, Astrid gave in. With a fierce battle cry, she lunged forward with her axe raised high. As the weapon swung down, Ruffnut clamped a hand on either side of her iron spear and raised it upwards. When the two weapons made contact, Ruffnut pushed back with all her might and threw off Astrid's balance. The smaller blonde staggered back with a growl.
They continued to exchange blows, neither making any solid hits against the other until the tip of Ruffnut's spear grazed Astrid's cheek. The sting was instant and she could still feel something warm trickle down her cheek. Blood. Her free hand flew to the wound. With some gentle prodding, she decided that the cut was shallow enough and breathed out a sigh of relief.
Ruffnut grinned when she saw that she had gotten a hit on Astrid, ironically on her face. "Do you regret turning down the whole 'no-blows-to-the-face' deal now?"
The wounded Viking had to bite back the true reply that had settled at the end of her tongue. I'm sure I can get Hiccup to patch it up for me later. That would not do. They were far too close to the village and she did not want someone to overhear. She was not sure she was ready for her relationship—if that is even what it was—with Hiccup to be public just yet.
So she settled for, "It's just a scratch."
It was not long before their spar began to attract the attention of some curious bystanders from up in the village. Oh gods, was that her mother up there?! It was the first time she had seen her mother since Hiccup had revealed their betrothal to her. Her mother had already been asleep when she snuck in the night before and had already gone out into the village to do her errands by the time that Astrid had awoken that morning. She had been thankful for the time to herself, as it had given her plenty of time to think over what she was going to say to her mother. As it was, she was not sure that confronting her mother about the betrothal was the smartest option. She was still coming to terms with everything herself. Surely it would be better to keep everything to herself for just a little while longer. They still had so much to do with Toothless and Hiccup's acting-in-chief duties to deal with without the added pressure of announcing their engagement on top of it all. Perhaps it would be better to wait until after the championship—just in case anything went wrong. Besides, in all the excitement the night before, she had forgotten that if she married Hiccup, one day she would be the chief's wife. That was a huge responsibility, a great honor. Was she up to the task?
When Herleva Hofferson suddenly began whooping and hollering for her daughter, the other spectators surprisingly joined in. After all, it was not every day that the villagers saw someone with so little training holding their own against the daughter of Geirdís Thorsten. The cheering was very disruptive. She was trying to focus. Her thoughts she could handle, but the added pressure of knowing that her mother was one of the cheering bystanders was distracting.
It was that very distraction that caused Astrid to make a very crucial mistake. In true Hopeless Hofferson fashion, she stumbled over nothing but air and Ruffnut took advantage of that. Using the full force of her body, the Thorsten daughter whipped her spear around and caught the edge of the opponent's axe. To Astrid's dismay, the strength of Ruffnut's hit was enough to tear her axe from her grasp. It landed on the grassy earth several feet away. She scrambled to retrieve it but stopped when she came face to face with the end of a spear.
"Do you yield?" Ruffnut was less than impressed with her victory.
But then again, so was Astrid.
Thinking quickly, the smaller blonde twisted and swung her right foot forward where it connected with Ruffnut's knee with a sickening crack. Ruffnut howled in pain and dropped her spear, startled by the sudden attack and the pain that followed. With the spear no longer threatening her, Astrid lunged and tackled the still wailing Ruffnut to the ground and quickly pinned her arms and legs down. Feeling quite smug, Astrid leaned down closely to Ruffnut's face and asked, "Do you yield?"
For several moments, Ruffnut said nothing. She merely stared upwards in a daze, making Astrid wonder if her friend had somehow hit her head on the way down. Just as she was about to ask her if she was okay, Ruffnut's chest started to shake violently beneath her. Startled, Astrid quickly scrambled up off of her and watched in alarm as the taller girl curled onto her side.
Astrid almost felt guilty until the idiot started to laugh.
Laugh.
"I—you—tackle!" Those were the only intelligible words that Astrid could positively make out. The rest was a jumbled mesh of gibberish. It took Ruffnut several minutes to recover from her laughing fit. Every time she tried to speak, all that came out was a fit of loud snorts and giggles. "And I d-do yield. This time. N-next time I will not let you win s-so easily."
Astrid laughed at the obvious challenge, thankful that her friend was okay. She had been worried there for a moment but it appeared that Ruffnut was just fine.
"You did not let me win. I won fair and square!"
"We were supposed to be fighting with weapons!"
Ruffnut of course had a point, but Astrid did not let that spoil her glory. She turned to the still growing crowd and thrust her fist in the air in victory with a beaming smile. The twenty or so onlookers' cheers were thunderous. Herleva flew down the hill with a flurry of skirts and captured her daughter in a bone cracking hug. Normally, the motherly show of affection between them would have made Astrid cringe but in her elation, she did not care. She had made her mother proud. The earsplitting grin on Herleva's face was proof of that.
Herleva touched her daughter's forehead with her own. "Yeh have done well, daughter. I couldn't be prouder." Astrid flushed at the praise. Herleva's grin turned wicked as she pulled back from the embrace. "I've got to get to the Great Hall. Geirdís is not going to believe this!"
With one last pat on the shoulder, the Hofferson matron climbed the slope back up the village and broke up the crowd of spectators.
"Shoo! Come now, off with yeh! Nothing more to see here!"
Astrid's chuckled at her mother's brazenness. The group that had assembled grumbled as Herleva shooed them off, but luckily they all seemed to comply easily enough. Astrid's stomach suddenly took that opportunity to remind her of how little she had eaten that day. During the fight she was able to ignore the hunger pains, but now it gurgled ferociously as if a dragon was attempting to crawl out of it. With a sigh, she turned her back on both Ruffnut and the dispersing crowd to retrieve her axe. As she bent down to pick it up from the tall grass, she sensed someone approaching her from behind. Believing it to be Ruffnut coming up to catch her off guard, the blonde whirled her axe around at her attacker.
She was stunned to find that it was not Ruffnut she had caught in between the curves of her double axe head, but a freckled young man with ruffled auburn hair. His green eyes were wide and his freckles stood out harshly against his pallid face. With a jolt, Astrid realized that he was frightened. He was frightened of her—well, he was probably just frightened because of the axe head held to his throat but that was just a technicality. She did not even feel bad about how startled he looked because really, it was his own fault for sneaking up on her like that.
"Don't. Do. That!" Astrid cried, leaving the axe at his throat for good measure.
Twin sets of obnoxious cackling laughter alerted her to the fact that Hiccup had not come alone.
"Holy mother of Thor! We were just coming to tell you girls that you were going to be late to náttmál, you don't have to kill a guy over it." Hiccup said, carefully schooling his features and falling back on his typical sarcastic demeanor. "You should bring your axe by the forge sometime." He added, changing the subject but taking a nervous step back away from the irritated blonde. "I think the blade needs sharpened."
Astrid shouldered the weapon, "Yeah well, it has been getting quite a bit of use lately."
Before Hiccup could respond, Tuffnut came sprinting down the slope towards them. In his hurry, the male twin bumped into Hiccup, sending him sprawling down into the grass on his hands and knees. Tuffnut took a moment to chuckle at Hiccup's predicament before inviting himself far too close into Astrid's personal space. She grimaced as the rank odor of fish oil assaulted her nostrils and could only wonder if Tuffnut really did believe that fish oil attracted women. Her thoughts did not get any further on the matter however, as he started speaking to her, practically vibrating on the spot. "You are my new hero! Anyone that can outsmart my sister is good in my book."
"What book? You don't even read!" Hiccup grumbled from down on the ground.
"Thanks, Tuff." Astrid ignored Hiccup's insult and managed to at least offer Tuffnut a strained smile. He truly was not a bad guy, just dimwitted and smelly at times. But then again, most Viking men were. Nevertheless, Astrid backed away as politely as she could from the fish scented boy. She disguised her retreat as an effort to help Hiccup to his feet but in all actuality, the smell of the Thorston boy was about to make her gag. She now understood why Ruffnut had vomited all over Snotlout's shoes.
As if the blonde knew that Astrid had been thinking of her, Ruffnut hobbled over to the trio.
"Astrid did not outsmart me!" She declared.
Tuffnut rolled his eyes, "Uh yeah, pretty sure she did."
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Did too!"
"Did not!"
Ruffnut removed her helmet and bashed her brother in the head with it. "HA! You are an idiot!"
The male twin rubbed his injured skull with a scowl. "Butt-elf."
Hiccup, having finally regained his footing thanks to Astrid, stepped in between the two squabbling siblings. "Give it a rest, guys. We need to get to the Great Hall." He said irritably.
Tuffnut grunted in response, a mischievous twinkle appearing in his eye.
His twin however, merely rolled her eyes and began to trudge up the slope towards the village. Astrid quickly followed after her. The girls were only about halfway up the small hill when there was a loud commotion behind them. First came the sound of metal hitting metal, then minor struggling, and lastly muffled yelling that sounded an awful lot like Tuffnut. At the last sound, both girls looked back to see Tuffnut flailing on the ground with Hiccup's boot pressing down on the other boy's helmet, forcing his face into the dirt. Astrid and Ruffnut exchanged incredulous grins. For all that Hiccup was around Snotlout and Tuffnut, he was never really one to retaliate to their teasing and wrestling.
"Wow, Hic finally grew a backbone." Ruffnut remarked, leaning casually on her spear and taking in the strange sight. "Step on his face a little bit harder, Hiccup! He loves worms!" She shouted down to them.
Both boys were now laughing. Or at least, Astrid assumed that the strange, garbled sounds coming from Tuffnut was laughter. It was hard to tell with his mouth full of dirt, grass, and possibly worms. Besides, seeing Tuffnut so filthy reminded Astrid of something that she wanted to ask Ruffnut about.
"So, want to explain to me why your brother smells like fish oil?" She nearly gagged just thinking about the raunchy smell.
Ruffnut turned to her friend with a devious grin on her face. "Well, I may or may not have been the one who gave him the idea that girls think that the smell of fish oil is attractive." Astrid's jaw dropped but Ruffnut was not yet finished. "I told him the only reason I puked on Snotlout when he tried it was because I hate fish."
"But you love fish."
"He's a complete moron."
Astrid giggled, "And you're evil."
The two continued to watch Hiccup and Tuffnut wrestle in the grass until Astrid could not ignore the hunger pains any longer. After shouting for the boys to break it up—Hiccup had been the one supposedly in a hurry after all—she grabbed ahold of Ruffnut's wrist and began to drag her up to the village. When they were out of complete earshot of the boys, Ruffnut leaned over and whispered in Astrid's ear as they walked.
"Do you get some kind of satisfaction out of torturing Hiccup? Don't think I didn't see that tough girl routine with your axe to his throat. Is that some kind of creepy foreplay to you guys?"
As much as Astrid tried to fight it, her cheeks still turned beet red. "You should probably start running now." She advised.
Shrieking laughter echoed throughout the village square, all the way to the Great Hall.
—
A bizarre scene awaited Astrid when she arrived in the Kill Ring later that evening.
"Hey! Get back here you overgrown lizard!"
She found it impossible to contain her giggles at the sight of Hiccup chasing after the grounded Night Fury with the leather replacement tailfin held over his head like a bludgeon. Toothless and Hiccup appeared to be getting along splendidly. The Night Fury was bounding around with his tongue lolling out of his mouth and Hiccup was thundering after him, red in the face and shouting some very colorful curses that would have made even Stoick blush. Who knew that Hiccup had such a mouth on him?
For such a smart guy, Astrid could not help but feel as though he had not thought through his plan for attaching the prosthetic on Toothless. For one, he had started without her. Astrid was slightly miffed about that. Secondly, why had he let Toothless out of his cage? Putting the prosthetic on in a confined space would have been more ideal, less room for the temperamental dragon to run. And thirdly, he had forgotten the basket of fish to feed the other dragons with. Now, not only would she have to run to the food storage house—which was completely out of the way mind you—but she would also have to feed the other dragons amongst all the chaos going on between Hiccup and Toothless. Rolling her eyes, Astrid walked down the small slope by the gate and into the arena itself. When Hiccup chanced to run past her, she reached out and grabbed his wrist. The sudden resistance brought him to a screeching halt and the Night Fury abruptly stopped as well, confused as to why the little freckled human had stopped chasing him.
"Did you forget about feeding the other dragons?" She demanded.
Hiccup shook his head, his lips pursed into a thin line. "Already taken care of. I came a little early tonight, wanted to get started right away." He huffed. "It's a good thing I did too! This is going to take until sunrise. The beast won't behave."
"Maybe if you would quit calling him names, he might listen to you." She teased and took the prosthetic tailfin from Hiccup's twitching fingers. He was too cute when he was all flustered. "Let me try."
He did not argue and instead held up his hands as if to say, 'Be my guest.'
Astrid slowly approached the Night Fury whose eyes were glued uncertainly on the leather piece in her hands. As she gradually closed the distance between them, she murmured softly to the agitated dragon. The familiar sound seemed to placate him. By the time she was right next to him, Toothless had plopped down on the ground and was feigning disinterest with his tail covering his face. Astrid plopped down right next to him and held the fake tailfin out for the dragon to see, even going as far as holding it to his nose so that he could curiously sniff at it. The prosthetic was huge, nearly double the size of Astrid's torso, so she could understand why Toothless was wary about it. After a few moments of sniffing, Toothless licked his jaw and lowered his head down on his forepaws, sensing that the piece of leather was of no danger to him.
"See, nothing to be afraid of here. This is going to help you!" She murmured while scratching behind the black dragon's earflaps.
When it appeared as though the Night Fury was not going to run anymore, Astrid beckoned Hiccup over with a wave of her hand and handed the artificial tailfin over to him when he reached her. She continued giving Toothless a soothing rub down while Hiccup snuck around to his backside. The next few minutes were filled with Toothless' contented purrs as Astrid scratched at his scales and Hiccup's occasional mutterings and yelps as he finagled around Toothless' swooshing tail. It was not until Astrid heard the distinct sound of a belt clicking that she stopped pampering Toothless to see what Hiccup was doing. She peered around the dragon's massive wings to see Hiccup sitting backwards on Toothless' tail, admiring his work. In fact, he was so engrossed that he failed to realize that Toothless had noticed the added weight on his tail. A feeling of dread settled in Astrid's stomach when she saw Toothless' wings rise up. But before she could utter a warning to Hiccup, the grounded Night Fury shot up off the ground with Hiccup hanging precariously to his tail.
"HICCUP!" She shouted in alarm.
"NO-NO-NO-NO-NO! TOOTHLESSSSSS!"
It quickly became apparent that there was no danger of Toothless escaping the arena with the iron overhang covering it, but Astrid had other fears. The artificial tailfin worked, but only sort of. Toothless and Hiccup were not in the air for more than a few seconds before Toothless let out a panicky roar and began to plummet back towards the earth below. Hiccup began screaming obscenities and scrambling to figure out how to stop their fall. Astrid too began to panic as she watched them fall. She just did not understand. The tailfin had seemed to be working just fine and then all of a sudden it just…stopped. In that moment she wished that she had Hiccup's knowledge of aerodynamics and air currents and all that other mumbo-jumbo stuff he prattled off that went right over her head.
"Hiccup! Do something!" She cried out.
Toothless and Hiccup were mere feet was plowing into the ground. Her frightened cry was enough to help Hiccup regain his senses enough to crawl down towards the prosthetic and hold it open to mimic the opposite tailfin. She sighed with relief as Toothless shot back up into the air.
"Hey! It's working!" Hiccup cheered.
Astrid grinned so hard that her cheeks hurt.
As long as Hiccup held onto the fake tailfin and moved it to echo the real one, Toothless remained in the air. Everything was going smoothly until the Night Fury suddenly decided that he did not want Hiccup as a passenger anymore. With a flick of his tail, the force caused Hiccup to lose his seat and he tumbled down to the ground below. With Hiccup no longer controlling the tailfin, Toothless fell as well. Fortunately, it was not a long fall for Viking or dragon. Toothless obviously was completely fine. Hiccup would likely walk away with only a few bruises, but Astrid still rushed to his side and checked him over for injuries. She poked around at his ribs but everything seemed normal.
Hiccup pushed away her incessant hands and clamored up off the ground. He dusted his armor off as though nothing happened, all the while muttering about going back to the forge to revise the tail fin. "It needs to be able to adapt to different wind conditions, mimic the other fin in movement. Maybe it needs to be retractable? Or a pulley system controlled by a saddle? But then that means I have to ride him—"
Astrid cut off his jabbering with a solid punch to his bicep, "You could have been seriously hurt, Hiccup!" She hissed, careful to keep her voice down. They had already done enough yelling for one night. They were luckily enough already that they had not woken anyone up.
Hiccup grumbled quietly, surprised that her punch actually hurt but did not want Astrid to know that. She seemed very angry with her arms crossed tightly under her breasts and her mouth set in a firm line. He reached out and grabbed her hands, wanting her to share his excitement. "But Astrid, did you see that?! It worked!"
"I did see." She replied dryly, her lips twitching just so. "I saw you fall too."
"That was, uh, a minor mishap. It won't happen again." He promised.
Finally, Astrid's tense posture relaxed and she smiled shyly at him. "It had better not. I would like to have you whole on our wedding day." She did not know where the boldness of her statement came from but she sure liked the shocked flush that appeared on his face.
"I will keep that in mind." He murmured, before walking over to check on Toothless.
They did not linger in the Kill Ring for much longer. After Hiccup removed the failed prosthetic from Toothless' tail, the two Vikings worked together to corral the Night Fury back into his cage. It turned out to be quite the task because all Toothless wanted to do was run. For a while, he pranced around Hiccup with his tongue hanging out again, as sign Astrid was quickly associating with a desire to play. Unfortunately, they did not have time to do so and after a bit of convincing, Toothless went quietly back into his cage.
Instead of going home straight away after leaving the arena, Hiccup asked Astrid to accompany him to the forge. She accepted immediately, eager to savor whatever time she could get with him. Not that she did not like being with the dragons, because she did. She had a soft spot for the training dragons. Each of them had wormed their way into her heart almost without her even realizing it. She would protect them with every breath she had, even though it went against every Viking law there was. Toothless was growing on her too. The snarky dragon had an attitude problem, yet underneath all that snark was a soft side. But despite her feelings for the dragons, she desperately wanted Hiccup alone.
Much like everything else in her life over the past month, her relationship with the chief's son had changed so quickly. They had gone from bitter acquaintances, to training rivals, to friends, and now—dare she say it—lovers? Lovers who were also secretly betrothed. Their intimate discovery of one another was so new, in the fledging stages still. Their rekindled friendship was not much further along. That was another reason she wanted to keep their betrothal a secret for just a little while longer. Four years was plenty of time for a person to change and already she was learning that nineteen-year-old Hiccup was very different from bumbling fifteen-year-old Hiccup. She wanted to rediscover him, to get to know every part of him like she once did. She wanted to talk with him until the wee hours of the morning about anything and everything as they did when they were children. And, maybe this time those talks would be stifled by the occasional kiss. Wouldn't that be nice…? His lips were dangerous, a heady addiction that had plagued her mind all day long.
But now was not the time for such things.
She fought to push her shameless thoughts aside as they made their made their way through the sleeping village. The night was still and cold. She had worn a thicker, long-sleeved wool tunic that evening but it was not enough to keep out the harsh wind that was steadily growing stronger. She shivered ever so slightly and looked up to the sky. Clouds had begun to creep in from the far north, shadowing much of the moon and stars. Without the cold light to illuminate it, the village looked far more somber.
"I reckon a storm is on its way." Hiccup remarked, noticing her wary eyes on the clouds.
Astrid frowned, "It's still a little early for that, don't you think?"
"The storms came in early last year too. The ice set in not long after that." He could not hide the worry from his voice, no doubt fearing for his father's ship that had yet to return.
They reached the forge just as the wind began to howl ominously. Hiccup quickly ushered her inside and then closed the door tightly behind them. While he busied himself firing up the forge, Astrid sat down on the stool by the worktable and mulled over his words. If what he said was true, there was only a very short window of time left for her to find his father's ship. She would surely have to wake before first light to have enough time to do any real searching. Tomorrow would be rough, it was already well past midnight, but it would be worth it to see at least some of the shadows gone for Hiccup's eyes if she could find out where the ship was.
Hiccup sat the artificial tailfin down on the worktable along with a few improved sketches he had completed over the last few days, but he did not start working right away as Astrid expected. Instead he shuffled in front of her, emerald eyes piercing. "I see that look in your eyes, what are you planning?" He asked suspiciously.
She faked innocence and hoped it was believable. "I don't know what you are talking about, Hiccup."
"Are you sure?" He leaned down closer, his breath fanning her face.
"Quite sure."
"Then why do I not believe you?"
Their argument—if you could call it that—was forgotten the moment that his lips touched hers. But it was not at all what Astrid was expecting. The desperate fire from the previous night was gone, replaced by innocent hesitance, as neither had much experience when it came to kissing. The previous night had been a fluke, fueled by emotion and lust. Tonight, they kissed softly at first and then gradually delved deeper, exploring one another in a more intimate way. She brought her hand up to his face and gently ran her thumb over his barely-there scruff. The feel of his sharp jaw, the smoothness of his lips, the sweet taste of his breath—it was all so intoxicating. She needed more, needed to feel him closer. She instinctively spread her legs on the stool and fisted shaky fingers into his leathers, pulling him into her parted thighs. The action pushed her skirt up dangerously high but she paid it little mind, especially when Hiccup cupped her face with one hand and sucked her bottom lip into his mouth.
He pressed her further back against the worktable and steadied his free hand against the wooden surface as the stool she sat on tilted back unevenly on two legs. They fell flush against one another, not an inch of space between them. Hiccup hummed a low moan deep in his throat before tilting his head and gently nudged his tongue against her supple lips, asking for entrance. Tentatively, she opened for him, only to let out an uncharacteristic girlish giggle when she felt his tongue touch hers. It was warm and wet, but not at all unpleasant. Quite the opposite really. It was somehow even more maddening than the desperate kisses from the night before.
But before they had the chance to fully explore this new kind of kissing, the sound of the forge door creaking open forced both teenagers to freeze in their ministrations. A cold burst of howling wind cut through the cozy warmth that had slowly been forming in the room from the hearth. Someone was coming. Astrid began to panic. Their short-lived romance was about to be exposed and even worse, the prosthetic and Hiccup's designs were out in plain sight on the table behind them. Sure, they were partially hidden in the very back of the forge but it was only a matter of time before they would be discovered. There was no time to hide everything and her presence in the forge at such an hour would not be easily explained away.
Before she even had the chance to fully wrap her head around the consequences that would come from such a scandal, Hiccup looked her determinedly in the eye. "Do you trust me?" He whispered.
Astrid nodded stiffly, afraid to speak.
She let out a squeal of surprise when Hiccup quickly pulled her up from the chair and all but tossed her up onto the worktable. She landed ungracefully, the sketches crumpling and part of the prosthetic digging crudely into her backside. The sounds of a hobbled gait closed in on them and her heart thudded painfully in her chest. What was he doing?!
They were dead.
So dead.
"Hiccup—" Her protest was caught off when he took her face in his hands and pulled her down to meet his waiting lips.
She immediately began to struggle against him.
How was this a plan?
"Shhh, it's just Gobber." He murmured, as if that was supposed to calm her down—it did not. She whimpered at the thought of the blacksmith seeing them in such a compromising position. "Trust me. It is better he see this than Toothless' prosthetic." He assured her before leaning down to capture her rigid lips again.
There was a gasp of surprise and then awkward throat clearing.
"Aye! This here in a smithy, not a lovers hideaway! Yeh and yer lady friend need to take this someplace else!"
Hiccup pulled away and turned his head to look at Gobber sheepishly, but did not appear all that concerned that the old blacksmith had caught them. Astrid on the other hand was praying that the gods would take mercy on her and open up the ground to swallow her whole. She hid behind Hiccup as best as she could and kept her eyes trained on the dirt floor beneath her, absolutely refusing to make eye contact.
"Sorry Gobber, we were just talking—"
Astrid raised her eyes just enough to glare at Hiccup's back.
Idiot.
"Oh were yeh now? Cause that sure didn't look like talking to me!"
Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Yeah, w-well things escalated pretty quickly and—"
"I don't need to know details, boy. Yeh should know better! I know yer curious and all but I can't have yeh defiling the forge, especially when you are—Odin's beard, it's Astrid!" Gobber did not sound angry, only surprised. Knowing she could not hide any longer, Astrid bravely met his dumbfounded gaze and braced herself for the stern lecture that was bound to follow.
So logically, she flinched when instead he began to laugh.
"Well it's about time! Finally won her back with the ol' Haddock charm, eh?"
"Ahhh, wait—what?" Hiccup's brows pulled together in utter confusion.
Gobber reached out and clapped Hiccup's shoulder, making the bewildered Viking's knees buckle from the sheer force of it. "Yer father owes me a yak when he gets back! I told him it was bound to happen sooner or later!" Astrid and Hiccup both stared at him with identical stunned expressions. "Well don't mind me. I just came to check on the door, what with that nasty wind and all. I'll just be…going…now. Lock up when yer…eh, finished." He cheekily grinned from ear to ear and began to clumsily back away from them, knocking over a few broken shields in the process.
"Wait!" Hiccup called out, momentarily coming out of his stupor. "Gobber, please don't breathe a word of this to anyone. We don't want a fuss."
"Yer secret is safe with me." The blacksmith promised with a short nod. "Just be a little more discrete from now on. Yeh know the two of yeh aren't supposed to be alone together."
"I don't know what could be more discrete than the forge in the middle of the night…" Hiccup mumbled under his breath.
Gobber chuckled in response.
And just as suddenly as he appeared, the older peg-legged man was gone. When the door to the forge slammed shut, Astrid wasted little time jumping off the table and marched straight up to Hiccup, giving him a glare that could have made him burst into flames if she had the ability. She was shorter than him, her nose just barely reaching his lips, but with the fury rolling off of her in waves, she was certainly the more intimidating of the two at the moment. Hiccup nervously backed away from her until his back hit the bench and he could go no further. Her hand curled into a tight fist and with all her might, she punched Hiccup in the forearm for the second time that night. Although she knew that he could scarcely feel the blow through his armor, it made her feel better to see that he flinched all the same.
His expression crumpled into that of sheepish remorse as he stuttered out half-hearted apologizes.
"That was for being an idiot!" She snarled over his stammering. "What kind of plan was that?"
Hiccup winced again at her furious tone. "O-okay, okay, I will admit that it was not the smartest of plans…but it was better that he see us kissing than the prosthetic! Dad told Gobber about our betrothal years ago. He is one of the very few that do know about it and he won't say anything since I've asked him not to. Gobber is family, we keep our secrets to our own." The explanation came out in such a rush that Astrid had a hard time distinguishing all the words, but she got the gist of it. When she took a step back without hitting him again, he relaxed his nervous stance and reached back out for her, his long fingers grasping her elbows. "I'm sorry that I embarrassed you, Astrid. I know that is why you're angry."
"You're not wrong." She turned away from him, suddenly finding a broken sword in the corner much more interesting.
"We will be more careful next time." He promised.
The still fuming part of her wanted to bite back that there would not be a next time, but the sensible side of her knew that the callous words were not only false, but completely unwarranted. Hiccup did not deserve her anger. It had been her idea for him to help the Night Fury. Why should she fault him for doing just that? If she had to choose between exposing their courtship or something that could expose Stormfly, she would have made the same decision. There was no contest between which would be the more disastrous option. While they might receive a lot of flack and more scorn from the village for courting, at least no one would die over it. Exposing their friendly relationships with Stormfly, Toothless, or any of the other dragons on the other hand would result in nothing but death. Her ire quickly fizzled out when she came to that realization. So to rectify her anger towards him and show her acceptance of his apology, Astrid reached up and pressed her lips to his cheek.
"What was that for?" He asked softly when she pulled away.
"That's for…everything else."
Embarrassed, Astrid tried to pull away from him but Hiccup was having none of that.
"Come here you." He whispered and captured her eager lips with his own.
—
Sorry about the delay in posting folks. Those of you who reviewed for chapter ten already know this but for those who did not, real life has been increasingly hectic between taking on more hours at my job and trying to make it through my final semester of college as midterms start to creep up. I have decided to start doing biweekly updates instead of weekly ones. I hope you all can bear with me on this decision because I am quickly running out of my pre-written chapter cushion and I am not writing new ones any faster than I was when I first started posting two months ago. The new posting schedule will see me through the end of the school semester with the chapters that I currently have written. So even if I do not find the time to write much in these next couple months, you will not be stuck waiting forever in between updates.
No historical footnotes this time around. I think this may be the only chapter out of the seventeen I've completed thus far that does not have footnotes. This ended up being more a filler chapter, with some important bits and pieces sprinkled in among the silliness and the hormones. Hopefully the sparring scene is not too awkward. I do not have much experience writing fight sequences except in my own personal writing. The last few chapters have been very much Astrid/Hiccup centric as they work on Toothless' prosthetic and their complicated feelings for each other, so I wanted to throw in some comedic relief near the beginning of the chapter in the form of Ruff and Tuff for you guys. In case anyone was wondering, butt-elf is my favorite Thorsten twin insult ever. (Although she-beast is certainly a close second. I am hoping to work that one in at some point.)
For those of you who were hoping Astrid would confront her mother over the marriage contract in this chapter, sorry but it is not going to happen just yet. She still is trying to come to terms with the contract herself and for the moment, it is in her and Hiccup's best interest if they keep everything to themselves and continue sneaking around to the best of their ability for a while longer. The anxiously awaited mother/daughter confrontation will come but as you soon will see, there are going to be other issues that take precedence... *whistles awkwardly*
And on that note—
The response for chapter ten was simply amazing and overwhelmingly positive! I honestly did not think Drengskapr would make it over two hundred reviews but once again, you guys have blown me away. I can't thank you all enough for all the incredible support and encouragement you all have given me thus far. With spacing out the posting schedule, I hope that I am able to continue giving you regular updates. :)
— Mari.