==Hello lovelies! I have a new chapter for you! Sorry for such a short chapter last update- hopefully this makes up for it! 3 POVs this time around, so Happy Reading!==

Chapter 14

Merida closed her door and leaned against it. Her cheeks were hot and her lip was quivering. She wasn't upset or sad; in fact she was extremely happy. She could still feel the softness of Hiccup's lips on her own. She could hear his words in her ears, as if he was still there, repeating everything. Merida closed her eyes and let out a light sigh.

Her wounds were throbbing slightly. She was exhausted from dodging Astrid's attacks. It was a lot more work than she had imagined it would be. But now it was over and it was time to sleep. Time to heal, as much as she hated relaxing like that.

Merida stood up and began to gently pull her dress over her head. She let it drop carelessly to the floor. She walked to her wardrobe and opened the door, looking for a fresh pair of bed linens to wear. She wanted something extremely loose and airy. As she slipped into her favorite pair of bedclothes, Merida felt the hair on her neck stand up. Suddenly she felt as if someone were watching her.

Merida turned quickly, her eyes wheeling about for the invisible intruder. There were many shadows in her room tonight. Too many.

"Who's there? Show yourself."

She was met with silence. Something shifted in the corner closest to the window. Glass glittered across the stone sill and across the floor.

The window was broken.

Merida slowly walked to the window, her eyes narrowing in concentration. The glass was completely shattered, from an outside force. On the sill were slight scratches engraved across the stone- where something sharp had scraped across and dug in.

Someone had broken in to her room.

As she thought back, she remembered how Toothless had acted when they had passed her room earlier. Had someone been breaking in then? Or had they already broken in and were waiting?

Merida gasped in realization.

A realization that came too late.

Strong arms grabbed her wrists and a large piece of cloth was jammed into her mouth, stifling the scream that had been building in her throat. Merida began to struggle, squirming and trying to free herself from the hard grasp of her captor. But the shadowed captor had a strong grip on her wrists, and soon Merida's wrists were hot and throbbing in pain. There was a pressure on the back of her neck, it felt like fingers pressing into the base of her skull. She was blacking out, slowly; painfully.

"There, there, sweet girl. If you're calm and good, you might get out of this alive. You see, you are important… an important pawn for me to take out my brother."

What had really happened to Astrid? She wasn't acting like herself at all. Not fighting back, not trying to defend what she obviously felt was hers? She never had had a black-out rage happen before… so what was really going on?

Hiccup limped past Merida's room. He paused briefly. The door was shut tightly, and no light spilled from the crack on the floor. The princess must have already gone to bed. It was something he should have done a few hours before- but after his talk with Astrid, Hiccup found that he couldn't sleep. Instead he found himself wandering the halls of DunBroch castle, mindlessly. His thoughts were a jumbled mess, and his gut was telling him something was wrong- but what it could be, he hadn't the first idea.

Slowly, he made his way to his room. He opened the door and slid inside. The door latched quietly and he crept to his bed. He was too tired to think anymore, too tired to focus.

Too tired to notice that his room had been gone through.

Too tired to see that his journey journal was open.

Too tired to see the last page ripped from the book.

What was he thinking? Hiccup shouldn't have come down here. Her heart was hurting.

Astrid curled tightly into a ball, her shoulders shaking with the tears she so desperately wanted to shed. He had come down, hoping for answers. She had hoped he had come for something else.

And now, she had a hole in her heart.

She promised herself she wouldn't fight for him, if that's what he wanted. Why would you risk getting hurt if you know the outcome before you try, right?

But, as she lay on the cold, hard floor of the dungeon, Astrid realized something.

She wanted to fight for him.

She wanted to prove that she was every bit as good as Merida. She wanted to be his support when Hiccup needed it.

But how could she even think about that, when she had just messed up in possibly the biggest way? She had gone right for the throat… but that only made her the enemy. It was right of Hiccup to punish her, though she would be lying if she said she wasn't hurt by how he had disciplined her.

Poor Stormfly… to be punished so unjustly.

Astrid sighed, the echo reverberating throughout the entire dungeon. Only one lamp was lit now, and soon it would go out. And then she would be consumed in darkness.

Darkness that mirrored her own heart.

She hated Merida. The girl hadn't done anything wrong, but then again… she didn't need to. She had easily ripped apart what Astrid had thought to be a happy, strong, relationship. She was strong, and had lured Hiccup in with her opinion of women's strength.

Hiccup was used to woman's strength- he was a Viking.

But she wasn't.

That is what sucked him in. The redhead had fire not just in her hair and eyes, but also in her spirit- a spirit so unlike the Viking's.

Astrid sighed again.

Tears dripped down her face. She didn't bother to hide them now. Tomorrow she would go home, to Berk. She could be away from Hiccup and his love struck brain. She could put her mind to work on other things around the island.

You know that's not what you want though.

A small voice in her head… whispering to her.

You want to prove that you are good. It was one mistake. You want to make it right- to prove you are a worthy dragon rider.

On and on this voice chanted.

And then her stomach dropped.

The kidnapping of Merida's parents had been a direct provocation. Someone had been flaunting their strength and power… and recklessness. Her parent's hed been meant to be found; they hadn't been in any real danger. At least, not then. Dagur had been making a threat- a challenge.

One that had gone unanswered by both the dragon riders and the Scots.

With the dragons away from their riders, and the riders themselves separated, anyone was an easy target. The castle was easy to guard from the outside, with enough men… but slip even one man past: and the castle and all its inhabitants were in danger.

Toothless had been acting weird in front of one of the doors. Astrid had seen that when she had looked back.

Someone had been in there.

Someone who shouldn't have been.

Would Dagur try something so blatant and deranged as to attack a land stronghold like DunBroch, just to get to Hiccup?

Astrid knew the answer before she had finished her thought.

Yes.

She needed to warn someone.

"Is anyone out there? It's important! Hiccup? Snotlout! Merida? Hey!"

Astrid stood up and pulled at the narrow bars of her cell, rattling it as best she could. If she made enough noise, someone would come- at least to shut her up.

And she was right.

The door opened and a boy walked in. his skin was darker, and he had marks across his face. His mouth was tilted in an awful sneer. In his hands he held a great amount of rope.

"Oh Astrid… Astrid, Astrid, Astrid. You know that no one can hear you down here?"

"Dagur." Astrid breathed his name, hoping now that this was a nightmare.

"Why, were you expecting someone else?" Dagur snickered sickeningly. "Perhaps… her?"

As he spoke, Dagur pulled a piece of rope from his waist. He gave a hard tug and out of the shadows lunged Merida. Her hair was tangled around a large piece of torn cloth that had been shoved into her mouth. Heavy rope was tied around her waist, and her arms were tightly tied behind her back.

Her eyes were full of confusion and fear.

"What are you doing Dagur? I thought you wanted Berk."

"Oh, I do, Astrid. But I also want Hiccup."

"Sorry, his first girlfriend is a dragon. He's not taking applications." She knew egging him on was a bad idea. But if she continued, there would be more of a chance that someone would find him out. Without a weapon, there was nothing else she could do.

"No… I want to make him pay. For humiliating me! Lying to my face!"

"And just how… do you plan to do that?"

"I'm taking this lovely creature here hostage. If he wants her back, he'll come to me. Alone. And when he does…" Dagur snapped the loose end of the rope connected to Merida across the bars of Astrid's cell. His face turned dark.

"But first, I have to take care of you. See, your little fight earlier almost got me caught."

"Aw… that's a shame it didn't work out."

"And now… you pay."

Astrid laughed. She was terrified, but she couldn't let him know that. She needed to be strong. It wasn't just her in danger. As much as she hated it, Merida was in even more danger, and was the one needing protecting.

"And how do you plan to punish me, oh deranged one?"

Dagur smiled viciously. Astrid's blood ran cold. The smile dropped from her face as she watched Dagur lace up the redhead princess so that she could not move. Then he reached for the keys beside the door.

He needed to open the door in order to punish her.

She would have one chance- and one chance only- to get out of the cell and lock him in.

The key slid into the slot.

There was a click.

And before she had a chance to move, Dagur was in the cell and she was up against the wall, his forearm digging into her windpipe as she gasped for breath.

Then there was darkness.