SECOND update today guys. Those who have missed the first, go back and read it, it's important.

So I used a certain bit from HTTYD 2... those who have seen it will most likely recognize it. I just liked that bit so much! It really shows the bond between Hiccup and Toothless.

Thank you guys for all the reviews, fav's and follows!

Enjoy!

Chapter 14 Observe

As she made her way through the forest while at the same time trying to follow the tracks and not lighting the underbrush on fire, she had wondered why the dragons hadn't simply flown off, but then something Gobber said had popped in her mind.

"It's the wings and tails you really want. If it can't fly, it can't get away. A downed dragon is a dead dragon."

Did that also count for a dragon with a rider to protect him?

As far as she could remember, the dragon's wings had looked just fine, but she hadn't been paying attention to it's tail. She sighed. Tracking two dragons through the forest at night was no easy task. Especially when on of those dragons was just as black as the shadows surrounding her.

Scratching her head she looked around. Either the dragons had fooled her and had taken of as soon as they were out of sight, or she had lost the trail, again. Which meant she had to turn back to where she last saw it. She had only been in the forest for a few hours but she had lost the trail at least a dozen times. She had bumped her head, scraped her knees and elbows and she was sure half the forest stuck in her hair.

About an hour ago she had fallen down a slope and she had had a hard time getting back up. It had been steep, slippery and completely void of any vegetation. She had to use her axe and by the time she was back up, she was covered in mud.

She had never been so happy to see the sunrise as she was now. Gradually the light filled the forest and it was easier to follow the tracks. Still not easy as there were voids between paw prints, sometimes rather long distances, as if the dragons had been gliding. It was near noon when she suddenly found herself at the rocks that concealed the entrance to the cove. The tracks led right to it.

They wouldn't... would they?

Carefully, she slid down the rocks towards the cove. She had no idea she was sitting on the exact same rock Hiccup had been sitting on when he first sketched Toothless. As soon as she had a clear view of the place, she saw two small tents and knew they were here. She looked around.

A figure was crouched down at the edge of the lake, his hands in the water. From what she could see he was the one they shot down, she could see his prosthetic. He was no longer wearing the helmet, but she couldn't see his face from this distance.

The black dragon slinked up behind him, low to the ground and ready to pounce. When it did, it was met with a splash of water. The man had jumped aside just in time, throwing water at the dragon. The creature growled and shook it's head, before jumping the man. This time, he wasn't fast enough and was soon pinned to the ground.

To her surprise, the creature didn't open it's mouth to blast the man to bits, but instead tapped the man's head, playing with him like a cat would play with a mouse, before laying it's head down on the man's chest. She heard a few words in that strange language and then the dragon started licking him.

It licked him.

It licked his face like a puppy would!

The man managed to get away from the dragon, wiping the dragon's spit from his face. There was a low rumble coming from the dragons throat. Was it laughing? Could dragons laugh? She had no other explanation for the sound. The man looked at the dragon before flicking some of it's own saliva on it's nose. The dragon growled before licking it's paw and rubbing it over it's nose.

She couldn't believe her eyes. She was looking at the most dangerous dragons know to vikings, and it was playing with the man.

Playing!

After the man had washed all the dragon spit from his face, he started to collect firewood. He sat down in front of the tents and after stacking the wood, waved to the dragon. A small version of the fireballs that had destroyed almost every one of Hiccup's catapults, lit the stack of wood in an instant.

A shadow flew over her head and she saw the white dragon come down. The man mounted on her back shook his hair as soon as he took of the helmet and jumped on the ground. She saw that the dragon was carrying a net, filled with fish. The black dragon bounded over to him, tongue hanging out of it's mouth, but the man just pushed him away. After he had taken a few fish out of the net, he stepped aside to let the dragons have their food.

Astrid watched them with her mouth practically on the rock. The men seemed completely at ease with the dragons, eventhough those beasts could kill them with just one bite. They treated the dragons like they were human themselves. She watched the dragons gulp down the fish until there were none left. Then they sauntered over to a scorched patch of grass and the black one lit it up with blue fire. After it was smoking, both dragons settled down, completely entangled, only told apart by their colour.

She looked back at the men. They had skewered the fish and were roasting them above the fire. The one with the prosthetic was using a stick to draw in the sand at his feet. They were talking, but once again she couldn't understand what they were saying.

Then she suddenly remembered they could speak Norse. At least one of them spoke it, but the other understood it as well. She frowned. How would someone...

she nearly screamed when the rock was suddenly hit by blue fire and she scrambled back. She heard the dragons hiss and growl, some shouts from the men, but she didn't stick arounf to find out what they were saying.

She ran.

She ran the entire way back to the village and she hated herself for it. She was a Hofferson, Hoffersons didn't run!

But she did.

She was completely out of breath by the time she reached the village and as she sat on the steps of the Great Hall, trying to catch her breath, she saw the sun had already begun to set. She had been watching them for almost half a day! It had only felt like a few minutes.

As she sat there she couldn't wrap her mind around what she had seen. The Night Fury, the deadliest, most dangerous dragon she had ever encountered, acting like an overgrown lapdog. And the men, acting like the dragons weren't some sort of dangerous animal that could take their head of at any given time.

She just couldn't understand.