Stoick at the top of the wooden ramps, watching over the rest of the docks. Ships were slowly sailing out of the port, heading out to catch fresh supplies of fish for the village. It was a stunning sight, the bright sails in the light of the sun, it were these days that he was extra proud of his village.
His eyes followed the walkways of the docks, where Vikings were carrying materials to the yards. There, damaged ships were repaired to be able to sail again. Most ships could continue with their regular tasks, but it was often that some ships were so damaged that they were converted to barges or fishing boats, or taken apart and reduced to firewood. Luckily this wasn't necessary this year. Thanks to the fact that they had taken their ships out of the water early, few had suffered damage, and the damage was minor. A broken mast could be fixed with a few sturdy boards of wood, and a hole in a ship's hull was no different. Everything could be fixed with nails and planks, and if it couldn't be fixed, they weren't using enough nails and wooden planks.
He turned around, starting the walk back to his house. And the proud smile on his face grew bigger as he saw his son approach, clad in his armour.
"Hey dad." Hiccup greeted his father. "I wanted to"
"Hello son!" Stoick exclaimed as he gave his son a 'gentle' pat on his shoulder. "What brings you here?"
"Well, I wanted to tell you about something we discovered." Hiccup said. "I figured it would be best if you heard it from me."
"Do tell son." Stoick said as the two walked towards the Haddock household.
"We discovered a map." Hiccup said. "And it contains some"
"You didn't burn it did you?" Stoick asked with a laugh, cutting him off again.
"No, but it had some marked locations on it." Hiccup explains. "Locations that we'd like to see for ourselves."
Stoick's expression now grew serious, and he looked at his son. "You want to leave?"
"Only for a few days." Hiccup quickly added. "So you don't send out a search party or send someone to drag us back."
Stoick chuckled, the chuckle turning into a laugh. "I wouldn't send someone to drag you back here." Stoick said as he continued towards the house. "I don't think that's necessary."
"Wow, thanks." Hiccup said, even though he was a master at his work, and unmatched in combat by most foes, it still felt good that his father trusted him like that.
"I mean, Astrid will be after you lot if you're gone for a day." Stoick continued calmly. "Ooh, she'll drag you back to Berk by your hair."
"Right." Hiccup said as he imagined the painful image, sure, as a boy he had loved the idea of Astrid chasing him, but not this kind of chasing. "Anyway, as I was"
"I want you to take the riders with you." Stoick interrupted him. "It'll be good for them to take a trip after being grounded for the winter."
"We were already kind of forced to do that." Hiccup muttered as his father continued.
"And I want to know what you found and why it's so important." He then added, stopping and looking at his son with a stern expression. A hand on his shoulder.
"Listen Hiccup, I don't know what kind of fight you are fighting. And I'm sure it's yours to fight." Stoick said softly. "But do know, that even though it might not be our fight or battle, Berk is right behind you."
Hiccup was silent, surprised by his father. "Thanks." He said genuinely. "I'll remember that."
"Now, when did you want to leave?" Stoick asked as he continued walking. "Just out of curiosity."
"Probably tomorrow morning." Hiccup said, following his father towards his house. "That way we arrive on time."
"Sounds like a good plan to me." Stoick said as he stopped at the stairs of the house. "You better tell the others so they can prepare."
"Yea, I will." Hiccup said as he headed towards the old arena, where the rest was bound to wait for him. He was surprised by how calm and helpful his father was on the matter of leaving for a few days. He must realise that he couldn't lock him on Berk, and the part about being dragged back wasn't exactly false either.
The arena was cold and damp, but was slowly being warmed by the gentle spring sun. Astrid was feeding fish to Stormfly, who was happily accepting the meal she was given. The dragon loved this kind of feeding, since it was both delicious and fun to catch the fish that Astrid would throw to her. And it somehow tasted better when something was hand fed to you.
Astrid tossed another fish, it went to the side of Stormfly. But the large Nadder had no difficulty in quickly grabbing it, swallowing it whole. The playful Nadder quickly jumped from one foot to the other, signalling that she wanted more.
"Easy girl." Astrid said as she grabbed another fish from the basket. Tossing it to the impatient dragon. "Here you go."
"You are treating her too much." Heather said as she watched Astrid throw another fish towards her dragon. This time a bit higher, making it more challenging for Stormfly. "Aren't they supposed to earn a treat?"
"She needs the energy." Astrid said as she searched in the barrel with fish for a tasty one. "And besides, what did shimmer do to earn that?"
Heather looked in front of her. Where her fearsome and deadly Shockjaw lay sprawled out on the floor, kicking the air with its feet and her tongue hanging from its mouth. Heather had spent the part of the day scrubbing and scratching her dragon to the point where the beast was in a state of total bliss.
"Eerm, well, this an important and necessary part of a regular routine." Heather quickly said, defending herself. "It's not a treat, it's an important thing, like grooming."
"And why is it so important?" Astrid asked with disbelief. "Does she otherwise get grumpy?"
"NO!" Heather quickly answered, too fast for it to be a truthful answer. Astrid looked at her with a stern expression, and Heather's defence was broken. "Alright, she does get grumpy."
"Sounds a bit spoiled." Astrid said trying to impersonate Heather. "Maybe you treat her too much."
"Hey, this is delicate and very challenging work that I'm doing here." Heather said matter-of-factly. "It requires full concentration, you need to keep a constant eye on her."
"And why is that?" Astrid asked, knowing what was to come. "Please explain."
"Well, the Shockjaw produces Bio-electricity from these tendrils here." Heather said, pointing at the chin of her dragon without looking at her. "If she gets too excited they start to produce small sparks between the two, and soon afterwards a small shock will run across her body."
"So you need to pay constant attention." Astrid added as she watched the Shockjaw. In its current state it would soon have an unpleasant surprise for Heather. "How does it produce the Bio-electricity?"
Heather was now completely distracted. She turned around to face Astrid while one hand still gently scratched Shimmer on her belly. "Well, I don't know what exactly happens inside the dragon." Heather explained as Astrid was trying to keep a plain face, since she could see the small sparks from the corner of her eye. "But I think it has something to do with MY GRANDMOTHERS BEARD." Heather yelled as the electric shock went through her arm, sending a strange but painful feeling through her muscles.
She turned around to look at Astrid, finding her bend over with her hands on her stomach, laughing loudly. "It worked." She said between laughs. "It actually worked."
"Oh, I see how it is." Heather softly said as Astrid stopped laughing, a mischievous grin on her face. "Do you think this is funny?"
"Quite." Astrid responded. Still producing a small giggle now and then. "I find it quite amusing."
"Alright, good to know." Heather said dryly. "I think I know something that Hiccup will find quite amusing too."
Astrid's giggles stopped at an instant. Her face now stern and serious. "You wouldn't"
The two were interrupted when Hiccup and Ragnar walked in. "What would I find amusing?" Hiccup asked curiously, one eyebrow lifted.
"Nothing." Astrid quickly said. "I was just apologising to Heather for a prank I did." Astrid lied, turning to Heather. "Again, I'm truly sorry."
"Apology accepted." Heather said with a smug smile. "Although I don't feel like it's genuine."
Hiccup looked confused at Ragnar, who looked back with a confused expression. The catfight, if you could call it that, was subtle. But there was definitely a small form of tension between the two. Heather knew something and she was annoying Astrid with it. Ragnar had a pretty good idea about the subject of the conversation. But Hiccup was clueless as ever.
"Anyway." Hiccup continued. "My dad doesn't mind you guys being gone for a while. So we're leaving tomorrow morning."
"We rise with the sun." Ragnar said sternly. "And with rise I mean leave, not wake up."
Astrid looked at Heather. Even for her standards that was early. "Why are we leaving so early?" She asked curiously. "It's not so long of a flight."
"Well, normally we would be able to go faster." Ragnar began. "But with the added dragons."
"And we want to have a full day to set up camp and scout the area." Hiccup explained. "We might not be the only ones to head there."
Astrid quickly hid a small smile as Hiccup said that. She hoped to be able to observe his way of fighting a bit more, since that might allow her to win from him in a battle. But she quickly hid the smile to change it into an intrigued look. "Who else do you think might be headed there?" She asked.
"If we knew that we could stop that." Ragnar replied with a smile, not willing to let them in on all the details.
Morning came soon, too soon. The tired riders stood at the arena, ready to leave as the first rays of sunshine came over the land behind them. The dragons were more awake then their respective drivers, which was good since they had to do most of the work during the flight. Tuffnut sat impatiently on his dragon, waiting to leave. Next to him Ruffnut was calmly sleeping on top of her head. Gently snoring as she lay in her saddle. The male twin was watching his sister, thinking that it might not be the worst idea to get some shut eye.
Fishlegs was excited, and not as tired as the rest of the riders. He had gone to sleep early, eager to learn about the new location that the assassins had discovered. He had packed his bags. He had taken everything that he would need. A tent, some supplies, a spyglass and a lens to study detailed objects. As well as a couple of notebooks and pieces of charcoal to record his findings.
Heather yawned on the back of Shimmer, the dragon impatiently waiting for the group to leave. Sometimes she would almost slip away into the land of dreams, but luckily Shimmer would be so helpful as to give her a small and gentle shock when Heather's leg touched her body, what a helpful and nice dragon she was.
Astrid was wide awake, sitting ready in the saddle of Stormfly. It wouldn't surprise her if the two boys played some kind of trick on them, and she would be ready for it. Sure, she trusted them alright. They would defend them with their lives, not that it would be necessary. But they still weren't sharing the full story with her. She had also packed supplies. Just a bit different though. She had her axe, a sharpening stone, and a large net. Useful for fishing for food, hunting for animals, or trapping other things, hooded things. She also had brought another surprise with her.
She looked around, Heather shot up as she received another gentle shock from her dragon. She cursed lightly, rubbing the spot where her leg had hit her dragon. Behind her stood Barf and Belch, their riders now both sleeping on their back. Next to them stood Fishlegs, who was observing the two assassins that were discussing their plan of actions.
She sighed, they we're only waiting for one person and that was Snotlout, the idiot had slept in and was late. The group had decided that if he didn't show up soon they would just leave. Astrid wouldn't mind not having him with her. He would probably do something like not bringing a tent and then asking if he could sleep with her, and she hadn't brought a bucket with her.
Luckily, or unfortunately, he arrived, Hookfang running and flying through the village to get to the arena. "I'm here!" He yelled as he crossed the bridge, panting and breathing in heavy breaths.
"Good." Hiccup said as he adjusted Toothless' taifin, the dragon understanding and flapping its large black wings, taking off from the ground and flying off. Ragnar quickly followed him, as well as the other riders.
"Not even a good morning?" Snotlout asked himself as he sat on the back of Hookfang. "Did I not deserve a good morning?" He asked his dragon, who simply huffed in reply, taking off and following the other dragons.
The group flew quickly, well, as quickly as Meatlug allowed them to go. The Gronkle wasn't the fastest dragon, so they had to compensate. This meant that they kind of flew in smaller groups. The assassins flew in front, discussing some things they the rest couldn't hear. Astrid and Heather flew close behind them, trying to pick up parts of the conversation. It seemed like they were discussing the likelihood of encountering enemies.
Then came the Twins, they kept each other company as they slept on their Dragon, Barf and Belch calmly keeping the two upright. They had stretched their necks out and held them next to each other. Providing a good place for the two sleeping twins to sleep and not fall from the dragon.
Meatlug and Fishlegs flew on the back, together with Snotlout and Hookfang. Fishlegs was already drawing out their flight path on a chart, while Snotlout was calmly snoring on the back of Hookfang.
The flight wasn't too long indeed, and they arrived as the sun was just beginning to feel warm. The island was in sight, and it was smaller than they had thought. It was basically a group of seastacks, differentiating in height. The tallest one reached as high as a tall pine tree, while others were only as high as the average house. Luckily for them, the seastack like rock towers stood on an island, and they could land on a grass-filled opening on the middle of the main island.
"Alright." Astrid said as she stretched. "What now."
"Straight to busyness." Ragnar muttered softly, looking at Hiccup. "I see why you like her."
Hiccup gave a look that immediately shut Ragnar up. "We need a camp." Hiccup said. "I suggest the broadest stack."
"Good view and inaccessible without a dragon." Astrid said, understanding the choice. "Sounds like a plan." She turned around, wanting to instruct the rest of the riders with different tasks. But she was disappointed with the sight she saw.
She couldn't say that she was surprised. The twins were still sleeping, but now on the ground. Barf and Belch had dropped them off and had directly joined them in their slumber. The same went for Snotlout and Hookfang, the two gently sleeping on the grass opening. Even Heather was sleeping, curled up on the back of Shimmers shoulder, careful not to touch the skin of the dragon. Astrid was surprised that the Shockjaw would allow this, but quickly discovered that the dragons was also sleeping. Only Fishlegs was awake, already writing busily, drawing maps of the island and looking at local plants.
Astrid sighed heavily, sometimes she felt ashamed for the group that she flew with. She walked over to the unsuspecting Fishlegs and pulled him back by his the hem of his vest. The startled boy look at the irritated blonde, not saying anything in the hopes of not provoking her.
"Tell them, that our base will be here." She said as she grabbed the notebook he was holding and drew a fat cross on the top right stack. Hiccup winced as he saw this happening, knowing what it felt like when someone ruined a good map or drawing. Fishlegs nodded slowly and quickly went back to his plants.
She then turned back to the assassins. "So, why are we here?" She asked in a calmer voice.
"I'm afraid we know as much as you guys on that part." Ragnar said. "The map only gave the location, not a detailed description of what is here."
"They never do." Hiccup silently muttered.
"I'll set up a camp on the top of the stack." Astrid said. "And I'll keep a lookout."
"Alright, we'll go see what we can find on the island." Hiccup said as he slid of the back of Toothless. "But keep down, we don't want everyone to know we're here."
"Understood." Astrid said as she climbed back on Stormfly, letting the dragon fly up towards the broadest stack.
"Alright, If you were something on an island." Ragnar began. "What and where would you be?"
"Something small." Hiccup said to answer the first part of the question. He looked up towards the stacks. "And properly hidden."
"So a needle in a haystack." Ragnar confirmed with a sigh. "Great."
They started searching on the main island. Looking for entrances in the rocks, secret passages, strange cracks, and fake foliage, anything that could lead to a hiding place. The only thing they found were dirt, a few pinecones and the nibble of a curious Terrible Terror that had hid itself in a small crack.
"Hello fellow." Ragnar said as he removed his hand from the crack. The small dragon hanging from his sleeve. He bit hard enough to support his weight, but not hard enough to tear the fabric. He scratched the little dragon underneath the chin, which immediately forced it to let go of the strange object he had suddenly found in his hiding spot. Because he let go, the little dragon fell down, falling on his back. He quickly regained himself and fluttered off, flying up the rock wall and crawling in a large crack that was there a bit above them.
They looked at it together, another dragon hearable inside. It didn't take long for a small Thunderdrum to emerge from the hole and quickly fly off, diving into the cold sea. Hiccup looked at Ragnar, who looked back with a dedicated expression. "That hole seems big enough." Ragnar said calmly, looking at the crack in the rock wall.
"Here." Hiccup said as he placed his back against the rock wall. Linking his hands together to help Ragnar up. Ragnar place his foot in Hiccup hands and he quickly and effectively lifted him up the side of the rocks. Ragnar quickly grabbed the edge of the rock, pulling himself up. Hiccup followed quickly, scaling the wall with his hook and his hands. Ragnar helped him up the last part and the two stood at the entrance of the small cave.
"It's certainly bigger than it looks from down there." Ragnar said as he looked at inside the dark cave. Hiccup grabbed his sword, extending the blade and lighting it to use it as a torch. The saliva burned fiercely and effectively lit up the cave. They could now see that it was only raw stone for a little bit. After a while the raw and jagged stone of the cave turned to clean and smooth slabs of some kind of material, which looked like stone.
"Wow." Hiccup breathed as he led. In the stone were some strange lines of a dark blue colour, he kneeled and held his sword close to inspect it. It was like the blue lines absorbed the light of his sword, the flames dies out and the lines began to glow with a light blue colour. It lit the insides of the smooth part perfectly. Hiccup stepped back as it happened, startled by the sudden change. "It's like Sicily."
"Indeed it is." Ragnar said slowly as he observed the clean lines and strange construction that were still a mystery to them. "We're on the right track."
It didn't take long for the two assassins to decide to delve deeper into the mysterious temple. The floor was made like a staircase, a small edge separating the different height. It winded downwards, and they explored deeper into the stack. At the bottom was a small room, only a few meters broad and as long in depth. In the middle stood a small pedestal, lit up with the blue lines that had followed them down.
They looked at the pedestal. It was a straight piece of stone that rose from the ground to the height of their hip. On top of it lay a small disc, perfectly centred in the middle of the pedestal.
"It's a lens for the Dragon Eye." Ragnar softly said. He recognised the pattern of the little disc. "Should we grab it?"
"It could be dangerous." Hiccup replied, thinking about the best idea. "But we can't leave it here for Templars to find."
"Then what do we do?" Ragnar asked. A part of him wanted to grab it and just walk out, but another part of him thought that something bad could happen. Another part of him felt something strange near his foot. The small Terrible Terror from earlier had decided to venture deeper into his cavern now that it was lit up, and was again intrigued with Ragnar's clothes. "Damn it." Ragnar said as he shook his foot, the little dragon keeping a firm grip on his pants. He scratched him underneath the chin again, the dragon turning to a heap of jelly in an instant. "Good" He said as he lifted the little beast from the ground and found a good place for him. "Now go find something else to play with."
And he did. The small dragon quickly made its way through the small room, smelling everything and licking the blue lines a few times. Then his eye felt on the small shiny circle in the middle of the room. And he made a straight way to it.
"NO." Ragnar butted out, seeing what the dragon was going for. But it was too late. The small dragon dived down and grabbed the small disc. But Ragnar's outburst did startle him, and he quickly flew away.
Heather stretched, she had finally made up for the few hours of sleep that she had lacked that night and she felt well rested. And nothing was better than waking up with some kind of yelling.
Wait, yelling?
She looked behind her, where a tall stack stood, and she was looking straight at a rock wall. Although the yelling definitely came from there. Underneath the wall Toothless was waiting, looking up at a small hole that she could see.
"What is going on?" She asked herself, and then she saw a Terrible Terror crawl out of the hole, something shiny in its mouth. It didn't take long for the origin of the yelling to come around the corner of the cave, as Hiccup ran out of it, forgetting that they were a few meters above the ground.
Astrid also came looking at this point, seeing the young heir fall straight down and land on his dragon with a groan. "I thought they were supposed to be professional?" Astrid asked Heather as she looked at the young adult slowly getting off his dragon. Ragnar also stood at the top of the cliff, making sure Hiccup was okay. As soon as he was satisfied that he was, he jumped off, landing with a graceful roll and continuing the pursuit for the little dragon.
"Mine is." Heather said with a smug smile. Earning an annoyed look from Astrid.
Hiccup rolled of Toothless, slowly getting up, and looking for the small terror. He soon found Ragnar chasing the little beast. And also joined in the chase.
It was horrible, the little dragon was way too fast and way too manoeuvrable. It was almost like he deliberately tried to make them run into each other. After a twig had caught Hiccups prosthetic and a branch had made short work of Ragnar the small dragon disappeared in the foliage.
"Shit." Ragnar muttered as he got up and dusted himself off. "We'll never find him now."
"Tell me about it." Hiccup added. "Terrors in the foliage are impossible."
Astrid grinned, little did the two assassins know that the Terror wasn't a wild dragon. "I'm heading up to the camp." She said to Heather. "Care to join me?"
"Sure." Heather said, feeling like Astrid was planning something. The two mounted their dragons and quickly climbed to the stack where their camp was, leaving the two assassins to search for the small dragon.
They landed softly on the stack where their camp was, Astrid had already set up her tent, which she shared with Heather. She had made a small fire pit, but hadn't lit a fire, since it could warn others about their presence. A few logs lay around the pit, which could be used to sit on. Heather sat down, petting Shimmer who lay down beside her. Astrid sat on the other side of the fire, grinning.
"Alright, spit it out." Heather said as she watched the blonde smile. "What did you do?"
"Well, I was just thinking." Astrid began with a smile, pulling a small metal disc from her pocket. "Maybe it's time we get to see things first."
"What is that?" Heather asked as she looked at the object in Astrid's hands, it was a small metal ring with a cut stone in the centre.
"I don't know." Astrid said, observing the small disc. "I think it's a lens for that tube they have."
"The Dragon Eye?" Heather asked curiously. "Maybe it'll give a new map."
"It could." Astrid said as she observed the small item. "But I'm planning on trading it for information."
"Aah, clever." Heather said as she scratched Shimmer a bit more, quickly pulling her hand back when she saw the sparks between his tendrils. "So what did you want to know from them?"
Astrid fell silent, thinking heavily. "I'm still working on that." She said.
Meanwhile, a couple of meters lower, the two assassins were still chasing a small dragon. Who was now calmly sitting halfway into a bag, eating some food that they had brought. Hiccup and Ragnar were standing a few feet away from it, waiting in a few bushes.
"Alright, we grab it together." Ragnar said softly, not wanting the little dragon to hear them.
"Sounds like a plan." Hiccup replied as he observed the wiggling tail of the dragon, who was probably starting on his second piece of fruit by now. "We go on three."
"One." Ragnar began, readying himself to catch the dragon. "Two."
"Oh hey Sneaky." Fishlegs said as he hurried to the bag, grabbing the little Terrible Terror and lifting it up. The little dragon wriggles in his grasp, and apple in his mouth. "Don't eat our supplies."
The two assassins looked at each other, sharing a look of disbelief and shock. They came out from the bushes where they were hiding, approaching Fishlegs.
"You know this dragon?" Hiccup asked while Ragnar searched through the bag, hoping to find the lens. He held it upside down, a few fruits falling out, but nothing more.
"Yea, this is Sneaky." Fishlegs explained. "It's a Terror that Astrid trained."
"Astrid." Hiccup muttered softly. Ragnar beside him threw the bag on the ground, now empty.
"Then we know where to find it." Ragnar said as he got stood up. Inspecting the small Terror. "This little bastard gave us quite a hassle."
"How come?" Fishlegs asked as he scratched the dragon, the little beast relaxing and finding a place in his neck. "He's one of the best trained dragons we have."
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Ragnar muttered softly. He was annoyed, they had been chasing the little dragon for a while now, and he'd probably already given the lens to Astrid a while ago. But he was also able to see the humour in the situation. They had been fooled, something that didn't happen often. A small smile came on his face, he turned to Hiccup as Fishlegs walked off, still petting Sneaky. Ragnar lowered his voice even more, to the point where Hiccup could just hear it. "Mine would never do something like that." He said softly, annoying his partner to an extend that he knew very well.
"Let's just get the damn lens." Hiccup said annoyed. Ever since they had set foot on Berk Ragnar had been teasing him. And it didn't help that he was now more or less officially courting with Heather, because that left him with nothing to tease about.
They mounted their dragons and headed towards the camp. The twins were still sleeping, as was Snotlout. And Fishlegs had probably seen every leaf of every plant at the moment, but that didn't stop him from looking at even more.
Astrid quickly hid the disc when she heard the two pairs of wings beating. It didn't take long for the two assassins to rise above the edge of the island, dismounting their dragons and joining the two girls at the camp. Hiccup sat down on one of the logs that lay around the fire pit. Ragnar remained near the dragons, leaning against a tree.
"Hey guys." Astrid said innocently as Heather was trying to keep her laugh. "Found anything?"
"Yea, another small disc for the Dragon Eye." Ragnar explained sarcastically. "I'm sure you know all about it."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Astrid said calmly, twisting the disc between her fingers behind her back.
"Sure." Hiccup began. "And the Terrible Terror down there isn't yours? Sneaky was its name?"
"I don't know of a Dragon named Sneaky." Astrid said with a straight face. Unfortunately for her, said dragon had heard his name when Hiccup said it, and now heard his trainer say it. It ran from the bushes, jumping on her lap and rolling on his back to get petted.
It was silent. Astrid looked down at the purring dragon on her lap, silently cursing herself. No matter how well you trained them, they were still Terrible Terrors, and they did have the attention span of a squirrel. She looked up to see Hiccup and Ragnar, both having satisfied grins on their faces.
The silence was broken by Heather laughter. She found it extremely amusing to see Astrid like that, caught red handed with her accomplice on her lap. The way she looked was amazing, like a little kid that was caught trying to get a cookie from the jar. Her eyes were open wide, staring at the dragon in her lap and at the two assassins in front of her.
Hiccup looked at her with pity, he had been in that position many a times, often when he had destroyed something in the village and he could hear his father approaching.
"Can we please have the lens now?" Hiccup asked softly.
"No." Astrid said with a smile, she might have been officially caught, but she still had the lens.
"Aah, Astrid." Heather whined with a sad tone. "He said please."
"Whose side are you on?" Astrid asked with a frown.
"I guess you'll have to find out." Heather said with a smile. "It's a mystery."
"Please tell me if you do." Ragnar joked. Earning him an annoyed look from Heather, which shut him up.
"Alright." Hiccup said when it was silent again. "Why not?"
"Because it's mine." Astrid said childishly. "And you already have a bunch."
"But we really need it." Hiccup said slowly, talking to Astrid like she was a little girl, which he could quickly see she didn't like.
"I want to be involved." Astrid then simply said. "You still have the next locations to check, I'm making sure you don't discover something new without me."
Hiccup froze, looking back at Ragnar for backup. He shrugged, he had already accepted the fact that they weren't going to lose them, so they'd better play nice. "Fine." Hiccup sighed, seeing Heather and Astrid sit up straight in their victory. "But do keep it safe."
"Do you promise?" Astrid asked sternly. "Do you."
"Yes, I do." Hiccup said in defeat. "We'll let you tag along some more."
"Excellent." She said as she tossed the lens to Hiccup. She trusted him enough that he would keep his word and she was knew that she'd have to loosen up a bit on him if she wanted him to get closer to him. It wouldn't help if he saw her as some kind of angry nanny. "I guess that's the safest place for it." She said as he caught it.
"Thanks." Hiccup said with a smile as he observed the lens. A part was made from three parts, each with a different colour. One was green, probably emerald. The other was red, ruby, and the last one was purple, amethyst. It split the lens perfectly, and would probably make a strange and unreadable map. They would need more lenses to make it clearer.
"Looks like we're done here for the time being." Ragnar said as he sat down on a stump. "Where are the next locations?"
Hiccup grabbed his notebook, where he had made a quick and simple map with the locations that the Dragon Eye had provided. They were currently on the most right location on the map, which lay to the east of Berk. There were two more locations, one to the northeast and one in the far north.
He gulped, but it was soft enough that no one noticed, the most North location was close to where he had last encountered the rouge dragon rider. And he didn't look forward to returning there and explaining that to Astrid and Heather.
AN:
Another one down. What will the strange and curious lenses lead to? Who knows?
Anyway, so far for my vacations, now it's time for study and work again. Woohoo! I wanted to thank everyone for your patience these last three weeks. I'll try to update every two weeks again and I might try to do it weekly, but that will depend on how busy my study will be.
Also, the poll on my profile page has again been reset, I've taken note of the likes and dislikes and have reduced the ideas to a mere few. There are now only three. You can only choose one per vote, so choose wisely.
Just kidding, it really doesn't matter that much, but do vote. It gives me an idea what kind of stories everyone is waiting for and what you guys want to read. It also allows me to already start writing, which will mean that I have a head-start and can probably update every week, if not more often.
Anyway, thanks for reviewing, liking, following, all that sweet stuff. Thanks, and I'll see you.
Take care!
Ray