Hey guys! Here's Chapter 12!
HTTYD belongs to dreamworks!
Aislinbelongs to Ahoykailee!
Astrid's mind and heart stopped. Standing on the stone pedestal was Aldal Hofferson, her father. She couldn't breath, couldn't move and she stared. He wasn't whole; his form was that of a spectre, ghostly, but he radiated warmth. Astrid whipped her head around, looking to see if there was anyone else in the graveyard. It was late, so it seemed that she was the only one there.
"Astrid?" Aldal asked, dipping his head to look into her eyes.
"d-dad? But, how can you be here?" she stammered.
"Because you wanted me to be here, silly girl." Aldal answered, smiling. When he was alive, very few people could tell when he was smiling because of his beard, but Astrid knew exactly what it looked like because she missed that look, even in death.
"I hear that you're thinking about marrying that Haddock boy. I guess you were never into muscle and heroism and the like," her father snickered.
"Oh dad, stop being mean to her!" Said another voice from Astrid's childhood that she missed dearly.
"A-Aislin!" Astrid cried. What the hell was going on?
"Hello, little sister!" Aislin said excitedly and threw Astrid in a hug. It felt eerie because Aislin's form was the same as that of her father: ghostly.
"Dad! Hiccup is a wonderful young boy! He's learning to be a blacksmith so he can make the weapons that you use!"
Aldal rolled his eyes, "Yeah, fine, I get it. Sorry, Astrid. I'm sure you two will be happy together."
Astrid nodded her head, looking at her father with tear soaked eyes, "Thanks dad...listen, I'm not sure if you guys are aware, but a lot has changed since...well, y'know..."
"We died? It's ok Astrid. We've both come to terms with the fact that we're no longer among the living. How much has changed?" Aislin said, rubbing Astrid's back.
Astrid suddenly got the urge to settle something, "OK, if you guys are the spirits of my ancestors, how can you touch me? Aren't you like, ghosts?" she asked, casting a wary glance at Aislin, who was actually touching her.
"I'll explain that. Astrid. You see, we are not exactly spirits. Think of us like draugr. Except we have minds and personalities and we don't want to kill you. We are a physical appearance of those long dead." Aldal said
Astrid processed this information for a moment. "So others can see you right now?"
"Only those who share our blood can see us, and still they may not. See, Astrid, you spoke openly to us, you wished in your heart to speak to us, and here we are. You have need to speak to us. Others may not." Her father said, his face keeping its kind look.
Astrid considered his words and decided that it was a good enough explanation for right now.
Aldal sat down on the edge of the stone pedestal and eyed his daughter, "So, how much has changed on this island?"
The next two or three hours were spent relating stories, news and general information to Aldal and Aislin about Berk and the changes on this island. Her father had been undeniably flabbergasted when she told them of how the vikings didn't kill dragons anymore, but rather rode them. Aislin had been mainly concerned with Astrid's love life and home life than anything else, and inquired about Ingrid and Astrid's little brother Hodr.
"Yeah, and me and Hiccup are 'secretly' engaged. Nothing has been announced yet, but we think soon."
Aldal smiled about that, but his face darkened a bit, "This fellow Tyr...has he been, hostile or anything? Any funny business with the boy?" he asked.
When he wasn't yelling or being generally unpleasant in his life, Astrid's father had always been protective. Whether it be protective of the Hofferson family or protective of Berk, it was protective. So it was natural that when he had heard about Tyr and his sudden appearance, he had been concerned.
"No, not really. He was a bit distant and mysterious at first, but he's just one of the group now," Astrid replied.
About ten minutes later, while she had been speaking avidly to Aislin about what to wear for her wedding, Astrid felt...something. It was weird, but she felt someone approaching, and somewhere in her mind, she knew that it was Tyr.
She hushed her father and sister and just listen. It was weird, because she was listening to the feeling of Tyr. He walked at a decent pace past the graveyard and further into the darkening woods.
Astrid was about to rekindle conversation, but Aldal stopped her.
"Listen, Astrid. This was wonderful, but we can only remain for a limited time and then we must go. Should you require us, just call and we will come," he said quickly, eying the woods.
Astrid bid farewell to them and watched as the dispersed into mist that then disappeared. A single tear fell from her eyes as she watched them go.
She was on her way back to the village when she got that weird feeling again. The feeling that Tyr was around. She decided to follow the the pull.
Walking into the dark woods, she easily found the path that he had been walking along earlier, and she followed it to a lake that had been worked on into a camp. At one end, logs had been cut and stacked into a small hut with a chimney on it. It was on the shore of the small lake, and near it was a large fire pit. The fire in it was large and young, burning high. Astrid followed her twitch and soon located Tyr, wading in the shallows of the lake. Her face flushed red as she discovered that he was bathing when she found his clothes stacked in a neat pile.
His chest and face were facing her, but she guessed that he didn't know she was there. His hands slid along a scar in his left arm that looked somewhat new, but he fingered it mildly before turning around.
Astrid had to clap her hand over her mouth as his back came into view. Across it were three giant tattoos. They looked like he had been attacked by a three clawed dragon and been slashed on his back. But the colors told otherwise. The top streak was blood red, the middle was green, and the last was black and white.
Interesting color choice she thought to herself. She watched for a few more moments before retreating back into the trees. He had come out of the water, so she assumed he would be getting dressed. She made a plan to emerge from the trees, curious about the light to discourage any suspicion.
About ten minutes later, she made some deliberate noise through the trees, and emerged into the clearing.
"Astrid?" Tyr called from next to the fire.
"Oh hey Tyr? I came to see what the light was," she quipped cheerfully.
"You came to see what the light was? Do you know how late it is? Why are you even out here? Come and have some fish while you're here" he said, beckoning her over.
Sitting down next to him, she gratefully accepted the steaming hot fish and bit into it. It was absolutely delicious and warm in her empty stomach.
"I was at the graveyard laying flowers for my father and sister," she replied through bites on the fish.
"To commemorate something?" Tyr probed.
"Well, you know...just being nice to them is all," she replied awkwardly.
"Don't forget Astrid, I know about you and Hiccup. Or it was just coincidence that I found you two sleeping together at your house this morning. I do believe that tradition here states that two people cannot share a bed until they are to be married." Tyr said happily.
"Well, if you knew about Hiccups disregard for tradition, you might think that it was a coincidence." She replied curtly.
"By the way, what did you say to him at the fighting ring earlier? It was like magic. One minute, he can barely punch, next minute he's knocking a kid like Vrack around like a doll." She asked, gesturing for effect.
"Hiccups entire problem is not that he's weak; he just doesn't know how to fight is all. Take today for example. His first punch was swung around like a sword cut, and his knuckles faced outward, resulting in little more than a close fisted slap. What I told him to do was instead of swinging around like that, punch straight and curl the knuckles so the large knuckles hit first." Tyr analyzed. He knew a lot about fighting then.
"See Astrid, I believe that out of all of you, Hiccup's arms may be the strongest and fastest. His constant work with ore and metal have given his arms what my people called applicable strength. Working by themselves, his arms are extremely strong and durable, but alas, fighting is not a battle of one arm. That is where you are strongest. You have developed the ability to use your entire body to deliver blows, instead of just your arms or legs. You have mastered the use of momentum in combat." He finished and took another fish off the fire, biting into it hungrily.
"So, could you teach Hiccup?" she asked, thinking about how sexy a combat savvy Hiccup would be.
"Why do you need me? You look like you could do it just as well." he replied, giving her a questioning look.
Astrid blushed and looked away, "Well, whenever I tried, we'd end up wrestling, and then that would lead to other things, and in the end, nothing would get done." she said quickly.
He stared at her, his straight lips slowly curling up in a grin and a laugh emerged from deep in his chest, "Seriously? You guys can't control yourselves at all can you?" he sputtered out through laughs.
Astrid punched him on the shoulder, as she would Hiccup, except she was met with packed muscle, "Shut up! What we do with our personal lives is none of your business!" she said sharply.
"Calm down, grumpy. I will train him. Maybe you should come too, that punch was pathetic." he jeered, give her a sidelong look.
She snapped her eyes at him, searching for a hint of a challenge, "What makes you think I can't hit harder?" she growled.
He put down the skewered fish he had been eating, "Prove it."
She took another bite of her fish before whipping the wooden stick at Tyr, who rolled backwards off the log and jumped to his feet.
Astrid stood on the log and got a running start before launching herself feet first at him. Tyr backed up and let her fall onto both feet, then jumped at her, swinging in a low sweep followed by a high clearout.
Dodging those were easy, and Astrid rolled to the side before firing two punches at Tyr's left side, hoping to take some of the air out of him.
He grunted as the the first punch slammed into his ribs, but twisted his body so that the second only grazed him. As he twisted, he caught Astrid's lead leg with his left hand, then his right curled around her waist and she met hard ground as he tossed her a few feet away.
"Pulling no punches with me, huh?" she panted, taking a stance once more.
"No rest for the wicked!" He yelled, and charged once more. He feinted left and threw a jab with his right, which Astrid easily brushed aside followed by her firing a kick at his left knee. He caught her ankle with his right hand and dragged her past him, kicking her in the side as she slid by.
She grunted as the air flew out of her but still managed to whip her left leg around and kicked the back of his knee.
She winced while trying to get up. He'd landed a very solid hit on her, but when she glanced over, she had landed a good hit too. Tyr had crumpled after the kick, and was laboring trying to get up.
She raced him to their feet and before he could get all the way up, she rolled towards him, curling up like a ball. As she rolled, her feet ended up against his chest, and she kicked out with all her strength, sending him flying in the lake.
She quickly got back to her feet, expecting to block or dodge a flurry of attacks, but when she rounded, he hadn't surfaced yet.
The water of the lake rippled for moments, but grew still. "Tyr?" Astrid called nervously, wading into the dark shallows, worrying that she may have injured him in some way that was preventing him from surfacing. She waded deeper but stopped when a thought struck her.
She had made two critical errors. First off, she had thrown Tyr into the water of the lake, which was usually clear, but being nighttime and with a flame flickering off it, the water was dark. Second, she had waded into the shallows. Oh shit she thought, but it was too late.
The water to her right exploded as Tyr launched himself from underneath the surface into her legs. She barely saw him before she was under water, struggling to get to the surface. Once she did, she felt a hand grab her shoulderpad and pull her up to her feet, followed by a sharp pain in her side as his left fist smashed home.
She lashed out with her right hand and landed a solid hit in the soft tissue in Tyr's armpit, sending him reeling. As she was let go, she took a moment to catch her breath before rolling at him once again. He thought he knew what was coming and knelt down to block her feet, but instead she twisted and kicked him in the face.
She watched with a feeling of triumph as he stared back at her, wiping blood from his lip. His silver eyes looked like a hungry hawks, his piercing vision assessing her.
They began to circle, the momentum of before having worn off. She kept her eyes trained on his chest, watching its every twitch. The circling continued until Astrid saw her opening: Tyr's path would take him over the thick root of a nearby tree. She checked his eyes again, and she was glad to find that they were still set on her. She played dumb and timed her attack. Two more steps. As his foot brushed the root, she launched at him.
Her mind had a split second to cry out when she realized that he had planned the whole thing. As his foot had brushed the root, he redirected it and charged her at the same time. She gasped when his knee collided with her chest, sending her rolling.
She willed herself to take the pain in stride and before he had a chance to press his advantage, she was up and moving. She charging sidelong at him and feinted a slide before ramming her heel into his gut. He spewed blood and spittle and collapsed, gasping.
Placing her hands on her hips, feeling the rush she got from victory. Laughing she walked up beside him, "Good fight there, Tyr."
She couldn't decide why his eyes hadn't calmed or softened, "No..rest for...the wicked!" he exclaimed.
A moment later, Astrid felt an incredible crushing pain in her right side as Tyr's foot smashed in. All her breath flew out of her and she crumbled. She waved her arms around, trying desperately to signal to Tyr that she was done. She was legitimately afraid that he would continue, but to her relief, nothing else hit her.
"You lost focus," Tyr panted, sitting down beside her. He was breathing just as hard as she; he had taken his fair share of shots in their short fight. His lip was swollen terribly, and a gash above his eye bled continuously. Yet, he was the one who was able to continue. It was painful, but she admitted to herself that Tyr had won their bout.
"You...you don't take it easy do you?" she gasped.
"What are you talking about? Is someone who want's to kill you going to take it easy?" he replied, laying down on the grass.
She rolled her head to the side and gazed at him, "I have to get back, Hiccup will be worried," she said, and went to get up, but a horrible pain in her side set her flat, "Oh! Dear Odin..." she gasped, gripping her right ribs.
Tyr jumped to her side, and with a look asked for her permission. She nodded, and he lifted her shirt enough to see her ribs.
"You have a cracked rib. You're not going anywhere tonight." he said, analyzing the wound. Having had the same injury before, she knew he was right, "What about Hiccup?" she choked out through the pain..
"Once I set you up, I'll go and get him," Tyr replied as he went about setting up a cot with furs. He lifted her carefully and set her in the soft furs, giving her a small vial.
"Drink that, it'll make the pain stop for a few hours. I'll be back in about thirty minutes."
Hiccup sat in the bed and pondered over a new design he was working on. The design included somehow making a bed that was filled with water. It baffled him because in order to do that, one needed a mattress with no holes in it, but then he was trounced by the need to fill it with water. He wracked his brain to discover a way, but he was distracted by tapping on the window. Getting out of bed, he opened the shutters and almost yelped when he was face to face with Tyr, "Good evening!" he said cheerily.
"Uh, hey Tyr...can I help you?" Hiccup stammered.
Tyr looked around the room behind Hiccup, "Missing something?"
Hiccup recoiled. What had Tyr so worked up? Why was he breathing hard, his lip looked like a balloon, and why on earth was there a large gash on his forehead?
"Well, Astrid isn't back form the graveyard yet, but other than tha-"
"Your wife is with me. Get dressed." he commanded.
Hiccup turned to get ready, more for the fact that Tyr had said that Astrid was with him than anything else, "She's not my wife yet," he called humorously.
Tyr chuckled, "Close enough."
As they walked through the woods, Hiccup had been chomping at the bit to ask even though he was afraid of the answer, "How did Astrid get to be with you? She said she was going to the graveyard and then coming back."
"She was at the graveyard. She must've been wandering around and found my camp. We talked for a bit, and then had a little sparring match," Tyr said curtly.
"Sparring match? So why am I being dragged out here?" Hiccup inquired.
"I might have cracked her ribs," Tyr said reluctantly. The man yelled when a small log hit him in the back, "What the fuck you do that for?" he growled.
Hiccup was livid. Tyr had gone and cracked Astrid's ribs? In a sparring match? He had been a bit annoyed and angry that she had gone to find Tyr after her graveyard trip, but he forgot all about that real quick, "You cracked her ribs!? What kind of moron are you?" Hiccup yelled furiously. He usually stayed calm about things like this, but he was angry. Hel had nothing on him right then.
They came into the clearing where Tyr had obviously been living for the past month. In a cot by a large fire lay Astrid, covered in furs with a small vial in her hands.
"Astrid!" Hiccup exclaimed, and he ran to her side. She was sound asleep and warm by the feel of her skin. Hiccup planted a light kiss on her cheek and took the vial in his hands. "Tyr, what is this?" he demanded, holding it up.
Tyr clamored over, "Oh no! She wasn't supposed to drink the whole thing all at once! Dammit, this was my last one too." he said, tossing his hands in the air.
"What was in it?" Hiccup asked, taking a seat next to the fire that Tyr was re-stoking.
"A combination of herbs and grains. Essentially, really strong alcohol. I told her that it would dull the pain, but if she drank this whole vial, then basically she's passed out from being too drunk." he laughed.
Hiccup, although still angry found a bit of amusement at the notion that Astrid had drank herself to sleep unknowingly.
Looking around, Hiccup noticed a good deal of vials and stills, herbs and spices. Inside the hut, he saw a large table with depressions on it and a heating vent on the outside.
"Tyr, what's with all this stuff? Where did you get it all?" he asked.
Tyr, who was changing around the back of the hut called back around, "I found them in your market. Traded for them and did jobs for them. People here are incredibly generous and polite."
"Yeah, but what are they for?" Hiccup asked, changing his question.
"Back home, my parents were apothecaries. I learned the trade and have been working to master it."
Tyr came back around the hut and walked over to the cot. He shifted the furs and lifted Astrid's shirt, and even though he jumped to stop him, Hiccup neglected to do so when he saw the purple mark that had spread across her ribs.
Hiccup came to her side and stroked her hair, wishing that he could tell her that he was there.
Tyr ran inside his hut and came out with a package. Upon opening, Hiccup caught the horrible stench that wafted from it, "By Thor, what is that?" he asked, his eyes watering.
Tyr chuckled, "It's a herb that comes from far away, called tobacco. It will slow any internal bleeding," he said. Hiccup cringed as he pulled a small, white knife from the sack that he had brought out. Tyr made the tiniest of cuts in Astrid's skin, and covered it in this herb, wiping away any blood that dripped from the cut.
"I'm going to sleep now, Hiccup. She should be fine for the night." Tyr said after cleaning his hands.
"Uh...can I sleep with her?" Hiccup stuttered.
Tyr gave him a smile, "Well of course. I'm sure you two have done worse than sleeping with each other. Seen it, in fact." he chuckled.
"Well obviously, Tyr, but is it going to hurt her at all if I move her?" Hiccup wondered.
Tyr shook his head, "No, she would only feel a bit of discomfort, that's all. The worst will be tomorrow night. By the way, I would highly recommend against her leaving for a few days. You should tell the village that you and Astrid are coming with me to train for about a week or two. That will give her plenty of time to heal."
With that, Tyr retired into the makeshift hut, leaving Hiccup with Astrid and the fire. He lifted the furs and slid in next to her. He felt the warmth of whatever that tobacco stuff Tyr had spread on her was, and fell into a sleep soon after, holding Astrid as delicately as he could.
"What are you doing?" his father asked from the table. Hiccup had gone back to the village early the next morning to gather supplies and clothes for both he and Astrid.
"Astrid and I are going on a little training trip with Tyr. He's going to show me how to be a bit more...Viking." Hiccup said convincingly.
Stoick looked at his son, wide eyed, but shrugged, "Alright, have fun. Don't die, would you?"
Hiccup laughed his father off and retrieved what he needed from his supplies. He had much the same conversation with Ingrid before getting a huge sack with the things Astrid would need. He was plenty content to switch off between two sets of clothes for a two week period, but she would have none of that. She would want as many sets of clothes as he could manage to bring and he knew it well.
He trudged down the path that led to Tyr's lakeside camp, and he noticed that it was well out of the way. When anybody from the village went into the woods for whatever reason, they used paths that were a good twenty minute walk away from this one.
How did Astrid find Tyr all the way out here? He thought. He shrugged it off and resolved to ask her later. He strolled back into the camp to find Tyr sitting on the lakeside, and the cot had been turned around to face it.
Hiccup silently let down the packs and walked over, looking over the top of the cot to find Astrid watching Tyr do whatever. He placed his hands on her shoulders and pressed down, expecting her to jump. She did, but didn't move much as he was pressing down.
"Hiccup! Let me explain..." She said quickly.
"It's alright, Tyr explained it to me last night. He probably has a bruise to show for it too." He snickered. He heard Tyr growl from where he was sitting, confirming the bruise. He came around the cot and their lips locked passionately, Hiccup savoring every last bit of her warm and silky lips. As they broke the kiss, he noticed that she was not wearing anything that she normally does. In fact, the tunic she was wearing was Tyr's.
"So, when did you change?" Hiccup asked, flashing his eye at Tyr.
"Oh, Tyr helped me when I woke up," She said cheerfully. His face drooped. Tyr had helped Astrid change, what the hel. The silver eyed bastard had cracked her ribs and changed her clothes all in about fifteen hours. Just the changing of the clothes part took him a year and a half!
Astrid must have noticed his face, "Don't worry! I blindfolded him and had him stand there so I could hold onto something." she added. He relaxed. It was only recently that he had gotten this kind of possessive obsession with her. He found himself getting ticked off if someone looked at her too long in the market, getting mad if someone else gave her a drink at Meade Hall, the works. Even when his father, of all people, bought her a new fur dress to commemorate their impending engagement, he found himself a little mad that it hadn't been him to buy the dress.
"Her clothes are drying in the sun over there," Tyr called, pointing over to a pool of sun where Astrid's blue shirt and and leggings lay. Her token spiked shoulder pads and skirt sat next to the drying clothes.
"Well Astrid, we're staying here until you're good enough to walk. I brought you a decent amount of clothes to wear from home. The village thinks were spending two weeks training with Tyr, so there's no suspicions about where we are," Hiccup reassured her, reading her concerned face like a book. He had grown accustomed to her facial expressions and what they meant.
"Well, now that we are all awake, how did you get your ribs cracked? Last I checked, sparring matches didn't include such injuries." Hiccup asked. He had been horrendously curious about how it happened. Unless Tyr beat down on her with a club, which was unlikely, she had to have sustained several hard hits.
Astrid related the story to him, telling him of the no holds barred sparring style of their silent friend. Hiccup stared at Tyr as he listened to Astrid's interpretation of the sparring. He silently cheered whenever she spoke of her landing a good hit and cursed when she rationalized which hit had cracked her ribs. Anger would do him nothing though; if Tyr could beat Astrid, no way Hiccup could even hold a candle to him. Not that he would ever think about fighting for revenge, because he knew that Astrid hated that.
"Hiccup! Time to begin my friend," Tyr said, turning around. Hiccup gulped, noticing the determined look in the silver eyes.
So we found out more about Tyr and the next two weeks will be spent with Hiccup, Astrid and Tyr alone! What may happen?
The last chapters lack of review feedback was disappointing to the highest degree. Please read and review!
