Whew its still hot here. I often wonder if millions of years ago, the political leaders of Mars also said the Martian people should not worry about global warming?

Chapter 16

The moon shone through a gap in the clouds, illuminating the forest in scattered light. Tree tops swayed back and forth in the wind, making each shadow appear to be alive as Hiccup carefully followed the tracks made by Astrid in her new form. At first the trail never wavered as the werewolf tried to put some distance between itself and the trap it had encountered back in the village.

Eventually Hiccup noticed the tracks getting closer together, indicating the wolf had ceased running and now walked along the path. Every now and then Hiccup would see the path veer to the left or right as the beast investigated the various scents it discovered along the way; this was a pleasing discovery for Hiccup because now he may have a chance to catch up. Holding his torch out before him, the young man walked as quickly as he could along the wolves trail. Every now and then he would come across a sign Astrid had been digging in the snow, meaning she had paused there for maybe a minute or more.

Hiccup wasn't sure if his eyes were telling him the truth or if it were just wishful thinking, but the trail appeared to be getting fresher every few steps. He had not gone much further when he heard a deep growl onlya few trees away, so he stopped and held the torch out to his side.

"Astrid... Astrid it's me Hiccup. You know me Astrid... you know you can trust me."

The growling continued but moved around to Hiccup's left side.

"There's no need to be scared Astrid" he said even though he was terrified.

"Just think about it... that lady you met on Discworld, Captain von Uberwald... she lives with this every day... and she could control it..."

The torchlight reflected back from two bright yellow eyes as the werewolf continued to stalk Hiccup. As he watched her circle around him, he silently hoped she didn't see him as prey.

"You can learn to control it too... I want to help you... Astrid... I love you... you know that too."

Hiccup held out his hand to the wolf as it drew nearer. He would have felt much better if the growling had stopped.

"Come on... I promise to stay with you until all this is done."

He did not know if the wolf could understand him and if it did, he couldn't be sure it would believe him. Unfortunately Hiccup would not yet get the chance to find out for at that very moment, the wolf looked passed the young man just as he heard the sound of a rapidly approaching dragon.

"TOOTHLESS... NO!" Hiccup cried out as he spun around.

The dragon had only one goal on his mind, so Hiccup had to dive at his best friend and try to hold his mouth shut to prevent the wolf from receiving a fatal plasma blast.

"Toothless... its Astrid... don't shoot Bud... its Astrid, I swear it's her."

The wolf bared its huge teeth and threatened to attack, as the black dragon finally began to listen to Hiccups pleading.

"Harrumm?" Toothless vocalised.

"Yes Bud, it really is her."

Even a werewolf knows when the odds are not in its favour; and if it had any of Astrid's memories, it would know taking on a protective Night Fury would be an extremely bad decision to make. Believing discretion would indeed be the better part of valor, the wolf ran off deeper into the forest.

"Come on Bud, we gotta follow her."

'

'

A photograph! All that trouble and I only managed to get a damn photograph of me sitting on mister beardy's lap. True everyone thought I was cute and I got lots of petting and chin scratches, but some food would have been nice.

Of course you know, this means war; Boo Cat