Don't you do it!
"What on earth are they doing here still? If they have their dragons, why don't they just leave?" Hiccup half-griped half-wondered.
"Well, maybe they're a scouting party, trying to see how we've done since the attack, if we're up to another one yet." Astrid provided. I sat by the fire with Star, watching as my mind went in a thousand directions at once.
"Well, they've found someone to train their dragons, evidently." Hiccup noted.
"Maybe, but not all of them." Astrid guessed.
"Well there's no sense in fussing over it. The best we can do is get them off the island." I offered. They seemed to just remember I was there. I couldn't blame them.
"That's true, but if we don't know why the're here it'll be a whole lot harder to find them." She countered. I nodded, it made sense.
"You're right, but he wants us to stay put and I think we all know what one of us leaving will do." I gave Hiccup a knowing look.
"Chain reaction. She leaves, I leave, you leave, we're all in a huge mess." He agreed grudgingly. Astrid shrugged with a chuckle.
"That's true." She agreed. We didn't really know what to do from there. She settled down on the couch with Stormfly and Hiccup sat on the floor with Toothless. We waited, listening to the mounting crowd outside the home, villagers wanting answers.
"You know, I don't think our place was the best choice." Hiccup directed at me, cringing at the loud/angry/confused hoard of vikings outside. Loud, and getting louder.
"Maybe not." I agreed. I absently scratched Star behind her ear, working around to her jaw before I realized my mistake. She knocked out cold, falling asleep in a position that made her look a lot like a rag-doll. I laughed outright at the sight. Astrid joined me and Hiccup just sat there with his face in his hands in the general gesture for what-the-heck-did-that-just-happen? It wasn't long before the three of us were completely dissolved in giggles.
"Well, at least she's getting some slee-" I started but cut myself off as something wrapped around my throat and torso. The smell of dirt and flop-sweat invaded my nose causing me to wretch. I didn't know what was going on until the stinky thing spoke.
"Well 'ello there, 'iccup. So nice to meet you." An outcast drawled as his ax found the hollow of my throat.
"Where in Odin's name were you hiding and how did you two not see him?" I asked in utter astonishment.
"Fire pit." He provided calmly. Hiccup and Astrid shared a look that told me I wasn't the only one who was confused. I opened my mouth to tell him what I thought of him and his stupid accent but I was stopped short by the door busting open. In hindsight it was probably for the best anyway.
"We found 'em!" Gobber announced cheerily.
"What a coincidence." I provided dryly. The outcast to whom the accent and pungent odor belonged scoffed, standing with me. I was left dangling about a foot off the ground. Luckily for me he had my torso so I wasn't choking. Unluckily for me he had my torso, pinning my arms to my sides. I squirmed to test him and got the ax digging into my skin.
"What in the name of Odin's skivvies is goin' on here?" Gobber asked indignantly. I had to laugh, I couldn't help it.
"Oh, shut it." He hissed, over the novelty of me not being afraid of him.
"Gobber?" Stoic called from his place, explaining to the crowd what was going on. He hadn't heard what was happening yet, evidently.
"Stoic, you aren't gonna like this." He offered. I could practically HEAR Stoic roll his eyes which went wide when he stepped into the room.
"Let her go." Stoic commanded. I waited while the man laughed.
"If only it were that easy." I muttered.
"Shut up already will you?" He griped.
"No." I really wasn't amused and frankly I figured this was how I was going to die, so I may as well enjoy myself.
"Allia, hush." Stoic plead quietly.
"Oh, now look at this. Big bad Stoic 'as grown rather fond of this one, 'asn't he?" He mocked. I marveled at this man's stupidity. You don't egg on an angry viking chief. This man must have had a death wish. To test his point, he pulled on his ax and I felt the metal bite into flesh ever so slightly. I knew there would be a line of scarlet there, and it wasn't long before I felt the liquid drip down my shoulder. It was irritatingly itchy and I had the intense urge to scratch, but there was nothing I could do about it.
I was so happy Stoic couldn't kill with looks as he glared daggers at the man. Stoic looked around carefully and tensed for battle.
"I wouldn't be doin' that if I was you." He warned. To punctuate said threat he shifted his weapon into his holster and wrapped that hand around my throat tightly enough to cause me to choke on the breath I was taking. The action also forced my head back, causing me to be looking up at the ceiling.
After a moment he let go, causing me to have to cough and take in as much air as possible.
"What do you want?" Stoic asked.
"Her." He stated simply, my stomach clenched uncomfortably. This was getting worse and worse in my head. All the sass was gone, I figured I'd let Stoic handle this. "We'll be using her as collateral." He explained. "Kids? Go outside and tell them to send my friends in here."
With a look at Stoic, who nodded, they left. Gobber went with them, knowing the less people in there, the better.
His friends walked in, two of them, and he nodded. He gave a quick shove as he dropped me, I rolled. I wasn't some defenseless little girl, they wanted me they'd have to fight me. Unfortunately a three-on-one, no weapon and little armor, didn't really do much. I tried to slip past them to Stoic but failed. Stoic was kept at bay by the knowledge that he could only get me killed.
I was doing okay for a second but all this earned me was a swift and firm kick to the ribs. Gasping for air I hit the ground and was promptly seized by Ugly and Burly. Ugly looked like someone had hit him in the face with a shovel, which I realized was likely true. He pulled me up, jerking my arms behind me painfully and sweeping my feet out from under me, the end result of which was me basically sitting on my knees. His buddy keeled down, yanking my hair back and placing a blade at my throat. Smelly landed a firm kick to the gut, just for good measure.
All of this took about ten seconds, in which Stoic's face went white, not that I was paying much attention.
"Alright now, here's what we're goinna do. You're gonna step aside and we're gonna leave. You're not gonna follow us, in fact, forget you ever met 'er because you won't be seein' 'er again." He spat. Stoic looked so torn, I screwed my eyes shut and waited.
"No. You're not goin' anywhere, and neither is she." He seemed to have shaken himself out of the shock of the situation. Gobber could be heard yelling from behind me and I felt the blade fall away before I opened my eyes. Gobber had attacked from the back door!
"What the bloody 'ell?" Smelly cursed, taking a hammer in the face.
"Well done you!" Stoic cheered, stepping up to Ugly who still had a firm hold on me, not having moved for shock. He tightened his hold and stood, preparing to threaten once more to get his job done.
Unfortunately for him, I got an idea. I pulled up and kicked back as hard as I could while ducking. Stoic took my cue and clocked him on the side of his head, sending him down. He let go just in time for me to fall but I never got my feet under me. I stumbled forward into Stoic, getting a face-full of beard.
"Are you alright?" He asked, I figured out of instinct. If he was gonna ask, I figured I'd go ahead and give him the one-liner.
"Sunshine and daisies." I huffed. Stoic shook his head.
"You'll be the death of me one day, you know." He teased, helping me right myself before remembering that kick to the ribs and insisting I sit down.
"Here we go...again." I panted with a little smile. He chuckled.
"Gobber?" He called, not looking away from the cut on my throat.
"Yes?" He responded through the door.
"Would you mind taking out the garbage?" He asked nonchalantly.
"My pleasure." He cracked the knuckles on the hand he still had as he approached the three unconscious vikings. I didn't pay attention to what he did.
Adrenaline decided that right then would be the perfect time to leave me high and dry, too. So I pretty much knocked out, falling asleep on the couch as Star woke up, shaking herself awake and looking at Stoic in question before curling up around me.
The next morning I wake up in my bed, Hiccup telling me that they had been kicked off the island...literally. Gobber had punted them into the ocean. My laughter summoned Stoic who insisted I stay home, but with enough puppy eyes he was persuaded to let me go to training if I didn't spar.
I agreed and did the exercises, actually taught a bit of class with/for Gobber while he went to answer the 'call of nature'. I shudder to think of what that might entail.
By the end of the day we were getting back into the swing of things and Hiccup had backed off on the fretting. We ate around the fire and I had been able to work off the twinge in my side from the bruised rib somehow. A small part of me figured I had gotten use to it, and I guess that wasn't far from true. Star was cuddled up to me while I ate but jumped a bit, her head turning to track the sound only she could hear.
"What is it girl?" I asked. She carefully but excitedly nudged me to standing and pushed me toward the village, looking back at Astrid and Hiccup as if asking them to follow her.
"She heard something." Hiccup explained. Stormfly and Toothless looked at the younger dragon and promptly mimicked her. Something was wrong and we needed to see it, evidently.
"Woah, woah, easy girl. I'm goin'." Astrid tried to calm Stormfly.
The dragons pushed us to Hiccup's home, and mine I realized suddenly, where there was a fight happening. Stoic was four men deep and losing steam. Gobber was unconscious and there were dozens more littering the ground, snoring like mad. I wondered what had happened until I saw the whispering death emerge and smash another man against the wall, knocking him out.
"Whispering death." Astrid stood stunned.
"What do we do?" I asked, panic betraying me because Stoic was really in over his head, we couldn't just stand there!
"Wait, we'll get an opening soon. Astrid, let's try to distract the dragon." Hiccup offered as a plan. Astrid's response was to jump into action.
I stayed back with Star as long as I could but eventually I had to cut in. Stoic was fighting wonderfully, but there was someone hidden and I found him just in time to see him ready a throwing knife. Panic and adrenaline caught me all at once and the next thing I knew I was between them. Hiccup and Astrid swooped down from having knocked out the offending dragon just in time to see me knock the knife away.
My world started to spin. I had tried to deflect the blow with my blade but evidently I needed to work on my precision. I had a fifty fifty accuracy rate, which wasn't too bad if I did say so, but it hadn't helped me that time.
I heard someone yelling, vaguely and muffled in the back of my mind.
"Allia! Come on stay with me. Open your eyes." The voice almost plead. I took a breath which burned but cleared up some of the muffling. I set to what he had asked of me. Open my eyes? When did I close them?
I cracked them open and the world was too bright so I shut them again.
"Come on now, open. Get those eyes open, you hear me?" The voice asked again, sounding a bit more worried. I tried again, blinking the brightness away and found that I had been moved inside, on my bed. When? I was so confused that I must have made a face because Stoic's rumbling voice provided an explanation.
"You blacked out, we brought you in here a moment ago. We need to get this out of you, and it's going to hurt. Just stay with me, okay?" I found myself blinking up at him as he pushed my hair out of my eyes. "Hey, big breath, you've got to breathe." He urged. I did and it burned like fire. Worse than before, it caused me to choke. "Easy, I'm sorry, come on, another." I shook my head. He made a sympathetic face. "I know, but just a little one? You've got to breathe." He urged.
I tried again. Shallow breaths didn't hurt so I focused on those. Trying to keep them below the pace of hyperventilating I watched him. He looked over at someone and nodded.
"Alright, good girl. Look right here." I met his eyes as solidly as I could. "Stay with me. This is gonna hurt but it's got to be done. Just look at me. Don't you close those eyes." I nodded. Something was ripped out of me and screwed my eyes shut, letting out the worst shout I could without being able to breath. What would have been a shreik was more of a whimper.
I started to take breaths that were more equalizing pressure that breaths and they bounced like I was hiccuping. I felt like I had to cough and tried to roll or sit but just ended up shaking. I heard Gobber saying that he was done and I felt something get wrapped around my torso, like bandages. At this point the need to cough was too much so I rolled with a groan and started hacking. I wondered briefly if I would be hacking up the lung people were always talking about even though I knew that was silly. Stoic supported me until I could breath.
When he put me back down I felt my eyes getting heavy.
"Hey no, Allia stay with me, no sleeping." He urged.
"But 'm tired." I vaguely remember hearing myself slur out pathetically.
"I know, but just stay awake a little longer, okay?" He asked. I nodded but the motion was like wading through honey. I looked at him and realized something was off. He wasn't wearing his helmet. He always wore his helmet. "
Hiccup stuck his head in and came to sit beside his dad.
The colors started to swirl a bit inside themselves as they sat there. As they did I noticed myself going numb. I couldn't feel it anymore, it was so peaceful. Something was droning on and after a moment I realized that it was them, talking. I have no idea what they said but their voices were soothing.
I felt something nudge me and I turned my head to see it. The motion was difficult, which should have bothered me, but when I saw Star that really didn't register. I opened my mouth to greet her but was met with a cough. I blinked slowly and turned my head back to Stoic and Hiccup. I didn't know why, but something told me I should look at them.
"Come on Allia, don't do this." Hiccup plead. It was muffled again. I wanted to ask him what I was doing but I couldn't make myself make words. It was like I was in a fishbowl full of honey in December.
I blinked another slow blink but this time my eyes stayed closed.
"No, Allia wake up." I could feel Stoic's huge hand on my shoulder and he sounded so sad, so worried that I wanted to do what he was asking so I could figure out why, but I just couldn't.
It all faded out like the end of a movie.
No this is not the last chapter, this is not over! I didn't just leave you hanging on the death of the main character, honest! I'll try to make the next chapter as soon as I possibly can. Thanks for reading, you are wonderful people! :)