Dragonriders of Berk: The Legend of Atgeirr and Moon-Dancer

by Neoraichu

The Characters and intellectual property of Dreamworks: Dragonriders of Berk are not my own, although I hope that Atgeirr Oddvar and Moon-Dancer are my own OCs. This includes, but is not limited to Hiccup Haddock (and Toothless), Astrid Hofferson (and Stormfly), Fishlegs Ingerman (and Meatlug), Snotlout Jorgenson (and Hookfang), Tuffnut and Ruffnut Thorston (and Barf Belch), Stoick the Vast (and Tornado), Gobber the Belch, Mulch, Bucket, and Trader Johan.

Part 21: Out in the Woods

Hiccup sighed as he followed Tuffnut and Ruffnit through the woods. For some reason, they insisted that both dragons remain behind even though they were hiking to a place miles away from Hooligan Village. It was also going to be dark by the time they got back. He hoped it wasn't some of the twin's usual foolishness. After all, he had a meeting to set up with the man who had been hunting Atgeirr for months if not years.

"Are we there yet?" asked Hiccup in mild annoyance.

"For the third time," replied Tuffnut, "I said it's over the next ridge."

"That was two ridges ago."

"So we can't exactly remember which ridge it was," replied Ruffnut, "They kinda look alike from the air."

"So... why again are we on foot?"

"You'll see when we get there," answered Tuffnut.

"If this is about a dragon with a hangnail again..." he muttered under his breath.

However, Hiccup stopped talking when he smelled something. Something old and familiar. The scent of death hanging in the air ahead of them.

He began to think that the twins had an actual issue that needed to be looked into.

"There's one!" said Ruffnut.

He squinted through the tree trunks to see what she was pointing at. It was most likely a fairly small dead beast of some sort, but the shadows in the woods made it impossible to tell from a distance.

"Yeah," said Tuffnut, "This is like so gross and disturbing."

"And we normally like gross and disturbing!" agreed Tuffnut.

Soon he realized what he saw was the corpse of a small dragon. Most likely a Terrible Terror. It kind of bothered him why the twins would suddenly care about one dead dragon. It wasn't like death was unknown to the species. Hiking closer, he spotted another body. Then a third. Seeing so many dead dragons so close together was very unusual.

"I have to agree this is unusual," said Hiccup as they approached the closest body, "but what's so disturbing?"

"You'll see in just a few seconds," replied Ruffnut.

He noticed as they came around the body that there was an arrow through the left eye. It took him but a second to realize it was the same style of arrow that pierced the shoulder of Atgierr.

"Okay," he said, "The visitors on this island must have done this. Perhaps they saw the dragons as some kind of threat. We already know that..."

"There's seven dead Terrible Terrors out here," chided Ruffnut, "and every one of them were slain by a single arrow though their left eye!"

"What?!"

"My sister said..." offered Tuffnut.

"I heard her!" he snapped, "I just don't believe what she said! Why would the hunters do something... something... so needlessly violent?!"

"I have a theory about that," replied Ruffnut.

'This should be good,' thought Hiccup.

"This guy chasing Atgierr. He wants to hurt her, right?"

"And he comes from a place that hunts dragons, right?" added her brother.

"WAIT!" he yelled as it suddenly dawned on him, "You think he wants to kill Moon-Dancer just to get revenge of Atgierr?!"

"If he thinks you're shacking up with her, he may wanna kill Toothless too!"

"And you couldn't just tell me this back in the village... because?!"

"If we just walked up to you in Hooligan Village and said all of this right to your face," said Tuffnut, "Would you have believed us?"

He became pale because the twins were right. With their reputation, he most likely would have dismissed this at first. He was very busy arranging the meeting between Atgierr and the man hunting her. The twins were know to both exaggerate and misinterpret many things, after all.

"WE HAVE TO GET BACK TO THE VILLAGE RIGHT NOW!" he called as he turned to run back, "WHO KNOWS HOW MANY OF OUR DRAGONS ARE AT RISK BECAUSE OF THIS!"

"Told you he'd take us seriously if we showed him the bodies," said Tuffnut as he elbowed Ruffnut.

"No!" she responded as she punched him in the side of his helmet, "I said that! You just wanted to spill the beans back in the Village and take our chances!"

"Oh... I guess I did," he replied as the two of them began running after Hiccup.

'If they've been spying on us,' he thought as he ran, 'Then they know which house the Night Furies are living in! They know which house Stoick is living in!' He couldn't bear to think about what could happen if his house came under attack while he was away in the woods.