Chapter 25: New Friends
The Volcanic eruption was a spectacular sight to behold from a distance. All the ships and dragons were far enough way when the mountain blew and the ash cloud spread across the island. All the Vikings watch the spectacular sight, safely away from the island. Most of the Vikings that were flying on the backs of dragons only managed to stay and watch for a few minutes before they headed off for Berk. They didn't want to wear out the dragons before taking the flight home.
Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Fishlegs and Snotlout all were among the Vikings flying on ahead home, having no room for all of their dragons on the boats. The only dragons that was on the boat, for obvious reasons, was Toothless and Stormfly. Hiccup, Astrid, and Bitwolf were all on the leading ship, more than enjoying their relaxation after their ordeal on the island.
Stoick could relate; all he wanted to do now was go home and sleep. Unfortunatly, his only rest was going to come during this voyage home; the moment he stepped foot in Berk, the chaos of trying to find food and shelter for his tribe was going to keep him busy for a very long time.
"Stoick, what are we gonna do with these Outcast Vikings?" Spitelout asked.
"All of Alvin's men have run off. These Vikings were victims of his schemes. They're free to live with us and join our tribe if they so chose."
Astrid overhead the conversation and it got her thinking. She walked to Stormfly, who was talking with Lanell. "How about you, Stormfly? Why don't you come live with us in Berk. It's a great place to live!"
The scales of the Mood Dragon changed colors to a light green. Astid had no idea what mood that color represented, but she knew it wasn't her excited, happy colors. "I—I—I can't," The dragon said mournfully. "Th—this is my home. I can't leave. I have to back."
"But the island's on fire!" Astrid replied, sad to hear that she did not want to come back to Berk with them. After everything that had happened, she thought the two of them worked very well together. "In Berk, you'd be surrounded by friends."
The mood dragon could not look her in the eyes; she looked to the said to avoid her gaze. "I can't. I have to go."
"If you're taking off, then perhaps you'll be kind enough to give me a lift," the old woman asked, placing a hand on Stormfly's neck.
The dragon agreed, albeit hesitantly. Stoick walked up to Lanel, wanting to bid her farewell, but also extend an invitation to her. He didn't want her to go out of the feeling that she wasn't welcomed to Berk. "You can come live with us, in Berk, if you want. It's the least we can do after everything you've done for us."
"Oh, you don't need another old woman to worry about, though I will come for a visit. Right now, though, I have some important errands to attend to."
Stormfly knelt down to aid the elderly woman's attempt to climb onto her back. It was a little challenging for her, but after a few stumbles, she finally made it up. "Well, so long, everyone. I hope you have a safe journey home."
Everyone on board this ship waved farewell as they watched Stormfly take to the sky. As the two of them flew off, Hiccup's attention was more on Astrid. He could sense her heart breaking as she watched them fly away. He couldn't help but wonder about what the two of them were talking about before Astrid asked Stormfly to stay. At first, he paid it no mind; but now, after watching them fly off, he couldn't help but suspect that this departure was planned.
A week had passed since the eruption; now the island began its process of healing. Three quarters of the entire island has been scorched, and about a quarter of that was blankets in hardened lava. The dark clouds had departed, and sunlight was once again allowed to shine down on the island to act like medicine for the sick. Already, some of the scorched trees showed signs of life with little sprouts of green here and there. No, the island wasn't dead by any sense of the word; this was merely the circle of life.
A shadow walked through the fragile forest. He walked with taste of defeat and incompleteness, with a tinge of defiance and determination. This defeat had been a costly one; it cost him his right hand...literately. The loss of his village, his Vikings, and his dragons were nothing to him, but the loss of his limb was an unacceptable loss; it was a loss that demanded retribution.
After everything he had gone through, Alvin should have been glad that was all he had lost. Being gobbled up by a dragon was not pleasant in the least. He should not have survived, and a part of him wishes he hadn't. The whole experience would forever haunt his dreams. He had waited for death to take him, but the blasted dragon had other intentions in mind.
Haven been freed from his spell, the Furious was more soft hearted than he originally believed. Whether it knew what he had to it or not, it saved him from being burnt up by the lava by holding him in his mouth. The moment it found land that would be safe from the eruption, it released him. He should have known that the dragon's gentle nature would cause him problems.
So now, he was a Viking chief without a tribe and a village. How could things possibly get worse?
Fate was determined to prove him wrong, yet again, as multi-colored vortex swirled around him like a small funnel. A pain seared through his whole body as it began to shrink. His whole body began to change. In a magical blink of an eye, he had gone from a husky, muscular Viking man to a scrawny, Viking teenager. This could mean only one thing... his mother had reversed her spell over him; she was abandoning him and his quest.
His first reaction was that of anger, but it didn't take long for that to change. There was a hidden advantage to this. Yes, returning to his natural form, this could be just what he needed to be able to get revenge on Hiccup the Horrendous. Yes, this would do quite nicely, in fact.
Berk was on a slow road to recovery. Construction of the village was well on the way, with several of the buildings nearing completion. The food level was so low, however, that it would not be long until starvation started settling in. The good news was that Ivar the Fearsome had gotten word of Berk's needs, and was on their way to the island, right now, with large amount of food, building materials, and Vikings to help the rebuilding process.
The mood in Berk had greatly improved... for the most part, that was. Since returning to Berk, Astrid had not been her normal self. She had been uncharacteristically down and depressed. Even when Snotlout was being annoying, she wouldn't even raise up a fist. She had become more reclusive than Hiccup had ever seen her; she didn't like hanging out with the gang at all. She spent more time cooped up in her room than anything else. The only reason she was out and about now, was that Stoick had ordered her out.
When Hiccup found her, she was sitting on a giant stone, near the ledge of the mountain, throwing tiny rocks. Hiccup dodged through the hustle and bustle of busy-at-work Vikings to join her. As he arrived, she knew he was there, but she didn't bother looking up. Not knowing what to say or how to start a conversation with her, as of late, he decide just to throw out a useless fact. "Ivar the Fearsome should be here shortly. We'll finally be able to have a decent meal for once."
"Great," she replied with a lack of enthusiasm. She had no interest in hearing good news, or any news for that matter. She was determined to continue to sulk. She had always been the most stubborn young Viking Hiccup had ever known.
Risking in evoking her wrath, he gave one last try to console her. "Listen, it may take some time, but things will return to normal."
"Yea, normal," Astrid muttered as she threw another stone out towards the ocean. She was not going to be cheered up for anything; at least, that's what she though.
Before Hiccup had the chance to try something else to cheer her up, a familiar voice awoken Astrid from the dark cloud that hung over her head. "Caaaaamiiiicaaaaaziiiii!"
"Stormfly?" Astrid jumped to her feet and spun around to see Stormfly landing in the heart of the village. Riding on her back, the old woman that they met in the Outcast Lands, Lanell, waved an enthused greeting to all the Vikings. All the Vikings in the village started to gather around their unexpected visitors; the young Vikings were there quicker than the adults. Astrid ran straight for Stormfly, excited to see the dragon again. As everyone surrounded the visitors, Hiccup took the opportunity to sneak off.
Astrid's gloomy mood had instantly vanished as she greeted the Mood dragon by rubbing her chin. "Stormfly, you came!"
"I couldn't stay away from my Camicazi!" the dragon replied.
"There was a good reason why she couldn't come to Berk with you," Lanell commented. "It appears that when my sister put the spell on her, giving her the ability to speak, there was a limitation on the spell. She would have lost her ability to speak if she left the island."
"Uh, but she's speaking now, ain't she?" Snotlout pointed out, partially to show off for Gertrude, the young Viking girl he had taken a liken too.
"It took a bit longer than I had hoped, but I was able to reverse that limitation. Stormfly now has the permanent ability to speak," the old woman replied.
"Does this mean that you're staying!" Astrid felt her hopes rise.
The Mood didn't have lips, but if she did, Astrid would have sworn that the dragon was smiling. "Where Camicazi goes, I will go." Overflowing with joy, Astrid couldn't contain herself, and she hugged Stormfly's neck.
Stoick pushed his way through the crowd to greet Lanell to Berk. "Welcome to our home. The offer still stands if you want to stay."
"I appreciate the offer, but I'm just visiting. I'm here to report that Ivar the Fearsome and his tribe will be arriving any moment."
Upon the mention of Ivar, Astrid turned and looked for Hiccup who had mysteriously disappeared. "Where'd Hiccup go?"
"Over hear!" his raspy voice called out from somewhere amongst the sea of giant Vikings. It took a few seconds, but the young Viking managed to wither through the massive group of bodies like a snake slithering through a pile of rocks. "I had a feeling that we hadn't seen the last of Stormfly, so I took the liberty and made you this."
Hiccup held up a large, brown, leather saddle, similar to the one he had on Toothless. Astrid lit up at the gift. "A saddle! You made me a... wait a minute! You knew Stormfly was going to come to Berk?"
"When I saw the way Stormfly took off, I had a strong feeling that she wanted to come to Berk with you. I guessed that she had some unresolved issues to take care of, and so I made you this saddle for whenever she did show up."
Astrid smiled as she walked over to Hiccup to accept his gift. She gave him a gift of his own, a soft, gentle kiss which drew a round of snickering and 'Aww's'. "That's the for the saddle." The next part of her gift to him involved a hard jab to his shoulder. "And that's for everything else!"Everyone laughed as Hiccup rubbed his sore elbow, but managed a grin of his own.
Ruffnut and Tuffnut were there and present for everything. Both of them were glad to see Stormfly coming to make her new home at Berk. "It's time to celebrate! We all have dragons again!"
Ruffnut gave her twin brother a hard jab in the shoulder. When he gave her that 'What did I do?' look, she used her head to point towards Bitwolf. "Oh," he grunted, realizing his insensitive mistake.
A dark shadow flew overhead, causing a panic to surge through the gathered Vikings. The situation was so eerily similar, they all knew what was happening. "The Timberjack is back!" Spitelout shouted out an alarm.
"Quick, everyone grab your weapons!" Gobber cried out, stretching out his hammer prosthesis up in the air.
"No wait!" Lanell urged. "The dragon has not come here to cause trouble."
The old woman had earned the respect of this entire tribe... enough so as to trust her judgment and halt any hostile moves that might provoke the large dragon. The Timberjack hovered over the Vikings, causing all of them to spread out. When they had spread out far enough, the dragon landed.
All the Vikings were itching to attack the dragon, after what it had done to their village. When the dragon looked at them with its menacing eyes, that urge nearly became overwhelming. It quickly came apparent that it was looking for someone or something, but what?
The dragon used his nose to sniff the around. He followed the scent in awkward, uncoordinated patterns. Every time it came too close to a Viking, the Viking would back away. His search finally brought him to Bitwolf, and after a quick sniff, he tilted his head and moaned.
"Isn't this one of Alvin's dragons?" Stoick asked. "Did you manage to free this dragon as well?"
"I didn't have to." Lanell turned to look at Bitwolf. "It was your act of kindness on the Island that has earned you his loyalty and respect. Congratulations, young man, you have yourself a dragon."
Bitwolf couldn't believe it; at long last, he had a dragon of his own. He scratched the Timberjack underneath his lower jaw. The dragon stretched out his neck to give him easy access. The scratching felt so good, that the dragon closed its eyes and gurgled in delight.
"What are we waiting for?" Snotlout shouted. "Let's fly!"
It didn't take long for the young Vikings to prepare. Astrid mounted Stormfly with the new saddle, and climbed on top. The young Vikings found their dragons and climbed on their backs. Within a minute, they were soaring high above Berk in a straight-line formation. As they came to the ocean, they descended slightly.
It wasn't taking Bitwolf and the Timberjack very long at all to learn to work together. It was as if they had been together for months. They were able to keep in formation, and all the other dragons took to instantly trusting this new dragon. They welcomed the larger dragon to their little circle, and showed complete trust for one another.
As they flew over the rough waters of the ocean, they saw Ivar's five ships approaching Berk's docking bay. The legendary Viking chief looked up and waved at the young Vikings in the sky. Hiccup, the leader of their group, and the future Viking chief of Berk waved back in response. Things were looking up for them, and as long as they had their dragons by their sides, Hiccup knew that they would be able to weather any storm that was thrown their way.
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON:
THE OUTCAST LANDS
COMING SOON: Read the story of the events that took place before the first movie. It's the story of Toothless' origins and the events that led up to the unlikely, fateful friendship between a Night Fury and an awkward, scrawny Viking.
Be on the Lookout for...
How to Train Your Dragon:
Journey of the Night Fury