Early update today! Why? Because reasons and you guys are awesome. I'm really happy with the response this story has received - thank you so much for your support, guys!
One Search Begins, Another Ends
Back in Berk, the situation was anything but optimistic. The Wild Zone forest was a blazing mass of fire and it took round trips to the edge of the Archipelago and back for the Fire Brigade dragons to fetch enough water to keep it under control. It was a miracle that houses were still standing and evacuations to the islands just outside the Archipelago had been arranged for the smaller kids – already the Dragon Riders were going back and forth between the destinations and the bonfire that Berk had become. Eret was overseeing the whole thing, wanting to do his best to make sure Berk stayed alive until Astrid returned, hopefully with a way to end this heat-wave. He'd even dug into Berk's supplies of dragon hide and had crafted fireproof cloaks out of them for those who remained on the island.
"Who needs a cloak?" he asked when he bumped into Gothi, the elder. "Here, ma'am. This should help." The mute old woman glanced up at the man with a thankful look in her eyes. Snotlout and Hookfang landed nearby.
"That's the last of the kids," the man announced. Eret nodded in understanding.
"We'll let the dragons rest and then, if you can, I need you to start getting the elderly off this island as well," he instructed. Snotlout huffed but nodded nonetheless...just because Astrid had left the guy in charge, he didn't need to act like he ran the place. "For now, I need you to hand out these cloaks," Eret added, handing a pile to the short dark-haired Viking before heading off to keep an eye on everything else. "Stay inside out of the worst of the heat as much as possible!" he called out.
"Eret!" Dagur snapped just behind Eret who spun around to listen. "Do you really expect us to sit around doing nothing whilst our butts get roasted?" he growled. Eret remained calm – he didn't have time to put up with Dagur's nonsense.
"Lady Astrid has given her orders..." he began but the Berserker chief cut across him.
"And that's another thing, twit!" Dagur huffed. "Has it not even occurred to you that your 'Lady' is on the same side as Mr Dragon Man and planning to destroy us all?" he pointed out. At the accusation, Eret's warm brown eyes hardened into a cold glare that made Dagur shiver despite the heat.
"Do not question Lady Hofferson!" Eret snarled. "She left me in charge and I will stop at nothing to make sure that Berk is protected from treason!" he added, his face as dark as thunder. Dagur was clearly offended by the remark but any protest he could make was cut short by a loud squawking noise...a noise that only came from one kind of dragon.
"It's Stormfly!" Fishlegs exclaimed from nearby.
"Astrid's dragon?" someone gasped in shock. Eret ran forward to calm down the panicking Nadder, being sure to stay out of her blind spot. However, there was something missing...when Eret looked at Stormfly's back, the saddle was there as it should have been but it was empty.
Astrid herself was missing.
"This isn't right," Eret muttered before turning to the crowd of people, Hooligans and guests alike, that had gathered nervously around him and the skittish blue dragon. "Lady Astrid is missing and I fear she may be in danger," he announced. "I need volunteers to help me find her!"
There came a rush of 'I'll come' and other such cries from the Vikings of Berk and from other tribes. They had seen how close Eret and Astrid were and knew that they were both incredibly important to each other. If Eret was worried about Astrid, the greatest warrior that Berk had known in living memory, then there was possibly some cause for concern.
"I volunteer two men, Eret, Son of Eret," Dagur offered, turning to his two henchmen whilst taking his silent sister by the arm. "Be prepared for anything and should you come across Chief Hiccup, you are to put an end to this heat-wave. Understand?"
Dagur's two thugs, along with Dagur himself and Bola, sneered maniacally. Yes, they understood.
/\
Back in Helheim's Gate, Astrid, Heather, Nix, Hic and Toothy were still trekking their way through the flames and lava veins nearing Dragon Mountain. Hic and Toothy, clearly relatively used to the surroundings in comparison to the girls, flew a short distance ahead whilst Astrid and Heather focused their attentions on not burning their boots through.
"So, uh, how exactly are you planning to stop this heat-wave?" Heather asked, hopping over a small lava vein. "It just occurred to me – you said you knew but you never elaborated..."
"Oh, I am going to talk to Hiccup," Astrid replied confidently, side stepping a crag of rock. Heather was less than impressed.
"Seriously? That's your plan?" she huffed in disbelief. "My rock harvesting business is riding on you talking to Hiccup?"
"Yep," came the plain answer. Heather was so stunned by her friend's casual plan and way of doing things that she nearly stepped into a geyser that burst open right in front of her.
"WHOA!" the raven haired woman yelped, nearly toppling over if it hadn't been for Nix's timely intervention by stepping just behind her so that she didn't fall. "So...umm...you're not at all scared of him?" she asked nervously.
"Why would I be?" Astrid shrugged. "It's not like I've got a reason to think that Hiccup would hurt me," she pointed out. Heather admired her friend's pluck but she was still worried – the last time Astrid had tried approaching Hiccup when he'd gotten his powers she'd ended up with a cursed spark in her brain.
"Yeah, Miss Viking's right!" Hic chuckled from a happily hovering Toothy. "Hiccup's not dangerous! He's just a guy having an identity crisis, that's all."
"Where'd you pick up on that?" Astrid chuckled. She couldn't help but like the kid.
"Simple – the guy didn't know whether chief-ing or adventuring was for him when he got into that whole island kerfuffle," Hic replied. "It's more than being a klutz that I got from the guy."
Astrid giggled as the boy shot off a little distance ahead with the Night Fury hatchling and Heather took the opportunity to catch up.
"Was...Hiccup actually like that as a kid?" she asked.
"Reckless? Playful? Sarcastic?" Astrid reeled off as Heather nodded to each one. "He was pretty much like that until the day he shut me out," she replied sadly. "The next time I saw him he was..."
"Different?" Heather asked gently. Astrid nodded. "Guess having a secret like that changes a person..."
"He's still there," Astrid insisted. "Somewhere...he's there." Heather couldn't help but wonder if there was something somewhere in Astrid that was a remainder of who she used to be...the girl that still felt something more than friendship for the person she was trying to find...the girl that didn't believe in 'true love'...Heather could only hope.
Soon enough, the team had rounded the final outcrops and began walking off the crusted over ocean and onto the pebbly beach of Dragon Island. Meeting them as soon as they arrived was a giant cliff – from where the team was, there didn't appear to be a way around it.
"What now?" Astrid grimaced. Heather examined the cliff face and frowned.
"Too steep," she huffed, rummaging in her bag and taking out the only rope and pickaxe she had left. "I've only got enough rope for one person to climb and you don't know how to climb mountains without Stormfly..."
"Says who?" Astrid's voice remarked. Heather blinked a few times before making a face – Astrid was climbing the cliff unaided but looked incredibly awkward doing so.
"What are you doing?" Heather asked in a deadpan voice.
"I...am going...to see...my best friend," Astrid grunted in reply, searching for a handhold.
"Correction, you're gonna kill yourself!" Heather retorted. Astrid ignored the woman and continued climbing. "I wouldn't put my foot there," Heather noted.
"Shut up. You're distracting me..." Astrid snapped dryly, slipping slightly.
"Or there," Heather smirked. Astrid continued searching for foot and hand holds so Heather decided to ask the question that had been on her mind for a while. "Astrid, how do you even know Hiccup wants to see you?"
"Okay, Miss Innocent, I'm just blocking you out here 'cos I've gotta concentrate," Astrid grumbled. Heather chuckled smugly to herself. Now Astrid was just avoiding the question.
"You know, a lot of people who run away from their home island want to be alone," Heather pointed out. Astrid huffed and spat in disdain.
"Nobody wants to be alone," she protested irritably. "Except perhaps you..." she added under her breath but it was just loud enough for Heather to hear.
"I'm not alone," Heather pointed out with a smug smirk on her face. "I've got friends, remember?" she added, casting a side glance at Nix. Astrid still wasn't buying it.
"Your friends the love experts?" she snorted dryly.
"Yeah," Heather shrugged. "And you guys as well – I consider you 'friends'." Astrid kicked a foot up so that it was at right angles to her waist and suddenly realised that she was stuck.
"Please tell me I'm almost there..." she panted. Heather had to hide a snort – Astrid was less than six feet above the bottom of the cliff. "Does the air seem a bit heavy to you, here?" she added, struggling to breathe properly in the sweltering heat.
"Hang on," Heather sighed, reaching for her rope to help Astrid out when Hic and Toothy reappeared from around a corner.
"Hey, Nix!" the boy shouted. Heather turned her head to listen. "Not entirely sure if this is gonna help in any way, shape or form, but Toothy and I just found a staircase leading exactly where you wanna go." Astrid's eyes lit up.
"Oh, thank the gods!" she exclaimed cheerily. "Look out below!" she shouted, swinging her leg down before kicking herself off the side of the cliff into a somersault away from it. Heather yelped and backed off a few steps before the Nordic Blonde landed perfectly on two feet exactly where she'd been standing about five seconds ago. "Right," Astrid grinned, following the hyperactive Night Fury hatchling and his five-year-old rider. "Time to pay someone a visit." Heather stared after her friend – still as reckless as any other Viking.
Astrid was prepared to arrive at the island and find the foreboding mountain she remembered from previous visits, as was Heather, but what no one was expecting to see was the mountain transformed into an elegant palace that appeared to have been formed out of the mountain itself. The once cragged rock had now shifted into a sculpted appearance and Heather was struck silent by the beauty of the place – the building itself was made up of one piece of solid granite, shining and glittering in the orange light of the fires surrounding the island. Not to mention the staircase that Hic and Toothy had found was of equal elegance, the rails twisting into swirling patterns that almost looked like flames except they weren't aggressive like a wildfire but warm and almost beautiful, like the welcoming torches in the Great Hall on a cold winter's evening.
"Wow..." Astrid breathed in amazement.
"Now that's granite..." Heather murmured beside her friend, tears prickling her pale green eyes. Never, in all of her time as a Rock Harvester, had she ever seen the precious rock so perfectly formed and used in such a way. "I might cry," she added shamelessly.
"Go ahead. I won't judge," Astrid muttered, starting to make her way up the stair case – Hic and Toothy were already bounding their way up with large grins plastered onto their faces. Heather stood staring at the staircase and the palace for a moment before Nix tried squeezing her way up the stairs – unfortunately, the rails were just narrow enough to not allow a Changewing through.
"Hold on, girl, hold on," Heather chuckled, pulling her friend out of her predicament. "I've got you," she grunted. "Why don't you stay here for a bit? We'll be right back," she suggested. Nix, disgruntled at not being allowed to fly up, pouted but sat down nonetheless. She could see her rider's point – too many visitors and Hiccup might get a bit too nervous and given how unstable his powers were, Heather couldn't afford to take risks.
"Good girl," Heather smiled before walking up the stairs, her hands brushing against the polished stone in admiration. "It's flawless..." she mumbled.
At the top of the staircase, Astrid walked through the grand promenade that was the corridor leading to the main door of the palace. Before long, she was standing right outside the door to the ornate building that the mountain had been shaped into, her hand poised to knock. She went to tap her fist on the door but as she did, a whole array of thoughts came rushing into her head at once.
"Knock," Hic urged just behind her.
But what if no one answered?
"Just knock!" Hic whispered again.
But what if the doors didn't open?
"Why isn't she knocking?" Hic whispered to Heather who had just caught up with them.
Astrid couldn't bring herself to knock...for once, she was scared.
"Do you think she even knows how to knock?" Hic muttered. The quip from the boy enraged Astrid slightly, just as any similar comment from a five-year-old Smart Alec would do. She wasn't stupid! Of course she knew how to knock! Clenching her fist so hard that her knuckles turned white, Astrid hammered the door three times and the knocking sound echoed through the palace in front of her to be replaced by the creaking sound of the doors themselves opening. Astrid's eyes widened in amazement...well, that happened.
"Wow! It opened!" she exclaimed in shock. "That's a first for a while..." she muttered before turning to face Heather. "Uh...you know, it might be best for you to wait here," she suggested.
"What?" Heather squeaked.
"Just that the last time I spoke to him and brought another person Hiccup kind of burnt everything to a crisp," Astrid pointed out with an awkward smile. Heather sagged.
"Okay, first off – the guy knows me!" she protested. "Second – it is a palace made of solid granite!" she added, her voice going up a couple of octaves as she threw her arms into the air. "This stuff if my life!"
"See ya, Nix!" Hic waved cheerily, about to bound off into the palace on Toothy before Astrid quickly knelt down and stopped the young Night Fury and his rider in their tracks.
"You too, Hic," she said simply. "I don't know how Hiccup would take seeing another version of himself..."
"But..." Hic protested almost to the point of pleading. It wasn't a stroppy five-year-old pout...there was a genuine sense of begging behind those green eyes.
"Just...give us a minute," Astrid requested, leaving Heather, Hic and Toothy at the top of the stairs as she entered the palace. She didn't hear them start to count...
"One...two...three...four..."
And so they arrive at the Dragon Chief's domain...*ahem* anyway, October is going to be mad in terms of school stuff for me seeing as I've got mocks coming up. I'll try to update if I can but if I can't then I'll be sure to let you guys know. Anyways, prepare for a pretty intense chapter feels-wise next Wednesday - stuff's about to hit the fan! See you guys on Wednesday!
