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"So, you're saying it wasn't a spirit dragon after all?" Ruffnut's hand was supporting her chin as she slumped at the table, looking slightly bored of being so confused. She hated it when Fishlegs and Hiccup began to talk in riddles about new species of dragons. Beside her, her brother looked equally as lost and disgruntled, if a little more ruffled. His hair was sticking up at odd angles and lines had formed under his eyes. She cast a sideways glance at him, realising he was almost asleep on his feet.
"Well, yes, that's exactly what we've been saying. What you guys found is certainly not a spirit dragon. They don't exist!" Fishlegs scoffed, pouring all of his attention into the book of dragons. He was hunched over on the opposite side of the table, the light from the feeble fire behind them glinting off the fur of his yak-skin coat, illuminating him in a halo of light. Ruffnut scowled darkly at the tone of his answer, turning to her brother to make a sarcastic comment and finding his head slowly sliding off the hand he was using to support it, fast asleep. She smirked smugly, awaiting the inevitable.
Tuffnut's head fell straight down and hit the table with an almighty smack, the boy himself jolting awake with a grunt and the other two teens starting at the loud sound. Ruffnut laughed so hard, she doubled up and almost fall backwards off the bench. She thumped the table with her fist and snorted loudly, looking up at her brother's scowl through a haze of tears. Having had enough, Tuffnut deftly gave her a rough shove back onto the floor, huffing moodily as she continued to chortle.
Hiccup was on the other side of the room, stroking his chin thoughtfully. He wandered slowly over to where Fishlegs was still flipping rapidly through the pages of the book.
"Anything yet?" He asked softly. The boy shook his head.
"It... might possibly be a new species," he muttered, scanning a page.
"Or a spirit dragon!" Ruffnut called out, clambering back up into her seat. Both boys gave her unimpressed looks, silencing her. She looked over at her brother, who was now face down on the hard wooden table, snoring quietly. "Hey, do you guys think Tuff and I could go? We didn't sleep that well last night and... well, you can probably see that we're pretty tired..."
Hiccup looked up from the book and smiled. "Sure," He said gently, "Go ahead. We'll see you in the morning."
"Wait..." Fishlegs' finger snapped to the centre of his latest page, stopping Ruff dead as she was about to prod her brother awake. Hiccup looked over at him. "Look! Look at this one! Pale, pearly eyes, white scales, bony body... this one fits your description!" Even Tuffnut was now awake and staring at the plump Viking. "Look, right here!" Hiccup followed his finger. Sure enough, the illustration closely resembled the dragon that had come so close to killing them that day. His breath caught in his throat. It even described perfectly the columns of electric blue fire that it breathed.
"That's it..." He whispered. "It's called a Burrow Barrow."
Tuffnut snorted. "That's a stupid name."
"Yeah," His sister backed him up, "I thought it would be way more ferocious than that."
Hiccup shot them a look to silence them. "Apparently it gets its name from its habit of burying itself and sleeping for... centuries..." The chief's son's voice trailed away. "It wasn't a grave... it was a Burrow Barrow barrow..."
"Mhm!" Fishlegs grinned proudly. "You guys have caught sight of one of the most rarely seen dragons of the archipelagos. It says here that they're much more comment than they seem, but they stay so well hidden in their burrows that we never really see them. This is awesome!"
"It's not awesome, Fishlegs. This thing is after us, I'm sure of it. If it gets to Berk..."
"What are you guys doing up?" The door suddenly crashed back on its hinges, and a figure was silhouetted against the moonlight. Fairly tall and slim, she straightened up and strode into the firelight, her trusty battle-axe clasped in her hand. The four teens looked like startled rats in a nest, unsure whether to run or to stay and face the intruder.
"Oh, h-hey Astrid!" Hiccup greeted nervously. "Wh-what are you doing here? If I'd known you were coming I would have made a seat..."
"The question is, what are all you guys doing here?" Her eyes were narrowed to suspicious slits as she pointed the weapon offensively at the group leader. Her other hand rose to her hip. She was expecting an answer.
When none came, and the group began to look sheepishly between one another, she simply strode across the room and stood over Fishlegs, reading the information on the pages of the book spread out in front of him. He quickly shuffled aside to make her a seat, but the blonde wouldn't take it. She glared at him from the corners of her eyes.
"What are you all reading about the Burrow Barrow for?" She snorted incredulously. "No-one's seen one of those since Stoick became chief. They all say they're too scared of him to come back since he lopped one's head off."
"Okay, one, I'm quite willing to believe that, and two, what you just said? That's not strictly true..." Hiccup decided that, however much trouble and hurt it might put him in, coming clean to Astrid was much better than to try to keep her in the dark and let her find out later.
"Yeah, I know, it's a load of rubbish." She snorted, startling them. "Of course they're not afraid of Stoick, he loves dragons as much as we do."
Hiccup squirmed slightly as she pushed her long, blonde fringe back behind her ear. "No, it's the other thing you said, about no-one seeing one... well..." He swallowed, meeting her rapidly narrowing eyes. "We have..."
"What?!" She cried, lifting her axe once again. "Where? When?"
"We saw one. In the forest. This afternoon." He answered slowly and quietly, his hands up by his chest in surrender. Astrid took a second to contemplate this. She remained silent for a good few seconds, lips pursed, thinking of her next move.
"How?" She hissed, low and deadly. Hiccup glanced at the twins, begging them to get him off the hook. Tuffnut stayed in a fearful silence, but Ruffnut slowly stood up wrapped her long, delicate fingers around the shaft of the axe.
"Snotlout, Tuffnut and I dug it up."
Ooh, dear! What's Astrid gonna do next? Find out next chapter! If you have any ideas or theories as to what will happen next, please don't hesitate to ask me questions on my new blog! If you haven't seen it already, the link is up above. Follow me! Please?
