Chapter 18: Peace, Almost
Astrid's POV
As we flew over the seemingly endless expanse of turquoise waves as fast as the dragons dared, I glanced over my shoulder at the unconscious figure swinging and bouncing slightly from the jostling of the dragons' movements. Every couple of minutes a soft moan would sound from the pale face of the boy who turned our world, my world, upside down. The far end of the sheet was stained red with blood; I guessed the wound hadn't been cauterized completely, leaving part of it open and flowing.
I still wasn't quite sure what to think about it all; Hiccup finally killed a dragon, but not in the way I or anyone else expected, and now he'd have to learn how to walk on a prosthetic like Gobber's. Assuming he woke up, anyway.
I shook my head. He will wake up, I think to myself, and turn my attention back to the horizon in front of us.
He has to wake up.
We reached Berk just after sundown. Luckily, there was enough cloud cover to block any moonlight that would reveal the dragons, so we reached Gothi's hut without incident.
The dragons carefully lowered the board onto the platform in front of her hut, hovering as best they could; the platform was much too small for them all to land on. I patted my Nadder's head in thanks, receiving a trill in return, and hopped off, pulling out my knife and cutting the ropes attached to the dragons.
"Go hide the dragons somewhere," I called to the other teens as I carefully cut the ropes holding Hiccup to the board, "I'll stay here with Hiccup."
Fishlegs looked uncertain as he replied, "And how are we going to explain where we were or how we got there?"
I paused; I hadn't thought of that.
Before I could make up my mind, however, the door to the hut opened and Gothi limped out, grumbling nonsense. She didn't even blink when she noticed the dragons, but one look at Hiccup made her eyes widen in shock. Gothi gently moved the sheet off of Hiccup and looked at his leg. She gestured at me to pick him up and bring him into her hut. I carefully slid my arms under him and lifted him up as gently as I could, but he still moaned in pain as his leg was jostled. I followed Gothi into her hut and placed Hiccup onto the bed she was standing beside. Gothi gestured for me to leave as she began gathering various herbs from jars scattered around the room. I cast one last glance at the boy on the bed before turning and leaving, closing the door behind me.
The other teens were still there, but the dragons weren't. "We just told them to hide in the forest for now," Fishlegs spoke up, seeing my questioning look, "but did you see how Gothi reacted? She seemed to acknowledge their presence, but didn't say anything!"
"Uh, Fishface, Gothi never says anything," Snotlout pointed out.
Fishlegs rolled his eyes in annoyance. I sighed heavily.
"She was probably more concerned about Hiccup," I stated, "We've done all we can for him. We should probably get some rest."
The other teens nodded and started heading down the steep path towards the main square. I glanced back at the hut for a moment before following.
I didn't have anywhere else to go, so I went to the house that, up until the day before, I called home. As I walked in, I glanced around at the familiar objects lining the walls, as if nothing had changed. The house was dark; I assumed my 'parents' had gone with the rest of the village to Dragon Island.
I grabbed a bit of bread from the kitchen before heading up the stairs to my room. I blinked in surprise as I opened the door and found that everything looked as if someone had gone through the place and tidied it up. The bed was made, the desk was cleared and orderly, and I assumed my clothes were all put away in the dresser.
I walked over to my bed and leaned my axe against the wall next to it. As I was undoing my braid, I noticed a note on my pillow. I picked it up, already guessing what it said.
Astrid,
We know we parted ways on a sour note yesterday, but after seeing the disaster the Haddock boy caused, we think you still have a chance at claiming your rightful place as heir to Berk. Hopefully you've calmed down some and returned home to find this note, meaning you can have a level head when you challenge the boy. We've gone with the rest of the village to destroy the dragons once and for all, and when we return everything will be as it should, with the Hoffersons claiming the throne and the Haddock boy exiled for treason.
When all is said and done, we'll just pretend that the episode yesterday never happened and we can be a happy family again.
Love,
Mom and Dad
By the time I'd finished reading the letter, my hands were shaking with rage. Instead of apologizing for their behavior, my parents decided to seize control of my life again. I growled in frustration and crumpled the paper into a ball, throwing it at my desk. It bounced off and landed on the floor, but I didn't care. The thought briefly crossed my mind that the letter was written before the battle with the dragon queen, but I was too angry to really recognize that fact.
With a groan of dismay, I took off my armor and changed into more comfortable clothes. As I climbed into bed and pulled the blanket over me, I was sure it would be ages before I fell asleep. All the adrenalin from the fight in the ring to the battle with the queen must have worn me out more than I thought, because my eyes closed almost immediately, sending me into recurring dreams of a limp form falling into an explosion with a black Night Fury desperately diving towards it.
"Astrid?! ASTRID!"
I was woken up the next morning by a shrill scream, followed closely by a crushing hug that nearly cracked a rib.
"Mom…can't…breathe," I gasped.
My mother immediately released me and held me at arm's length, tears in her eyes. Once the fog of sleep wore off, I glared at her and turned my gaze away, wrenching my arms out of her grasp. I looked around the room, and realized someone was missing.
"Where's Dad?" I asked sharply.
Mom flinched slightly at my actions, but replied, "He's in the Great Hall talking with Stoick and the council about Dragon Training."
I frowned and stared at her. "Why? Hiccup won fair and square," I grumbled, "And did you forget the part where he fought a dragon bigger than Berk and won?"
The older woman scowled at me. "Technically, he didn't do anything special. Anyone could've made a dragon shoot into the beast's mouth. If the dragon you were on were stronger, you would've been the one to kill it, and without losing a limb in the process."
"So you're telling me," I started, standing up and pacing about the room agitatedly, "that Hiccup Haddock trained a dragon on his own without knowing what he was doing, used what he knew to help me and the other teens get to Dragon Island, saved the entire village from destruction single-handedly, without holding a grudge against us for treating him like yak dung his whole life, loses a leg, and all you care about is that it wasn't me who did it?!" My voice rose with each sentence until I was shouting across the room.
Mom opened her mouth to speak, probably to shout back at me for raising my voice against her, but I cut her off before she could say anything. "No, I'm done. Hiccup doesn't deserve the crap that you - we - have given him all these years. He is the bravest, most stubborn knucklehead I know; last name be damned. If you're too blind and proud to see that, then find yourself a new daughter."
"Astrid, please," Mom begged, but I had already changed into my regular blue shirt and armor, grabbed my axe, and stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind me.
I turned and found the Nadder from yesterday sitting in front of my house, preening. The dragon looked up at the noise from the door and chirped what I assumed was a greeting at me.
"Hey there…uh…girl?" I asked. The dragon hopped up to its feet and squawked happily, nuzzling my side with its head. I blinked in surprise, then cautiously stroked her snout, receiving a content trill in return.
Then I took a good look around the area, and noticed there were dragons everywhere. Brightly-colored Nadders were preening their wings in the shade of tree and houses, vibrant Nightmares were snoozing in various places, children were playing with some Zippleback heads, bulky Gronkles were casually eating small stones, and Terrible Terrors were screeching at each other and perching on rooftops. I wondered if the entire nest had followed us back.
I spotted Fishlegs with his Gronkle a little way away and jogged over to him, my Nadder following excitedly. "Fishlegs, what happened?" I asked, a little in awe of the sight of so many dragons peacefully roaming the village.
Fishlegs just shrugged with a small grin. "According to my dad, they all just decided to follow the ships home. Amazing, isn't it? It's like they know now we were defending ourselves from them as much as they were defending themselves from us!"
I winced at little at that, knowing full well how many Vikings took pride in slaying the creatures. Before I could say anything though, a couple villagers came up to us and asked if we could help them find dragon companions.
Glancing at Fishlegs, who looked very excited at the prospect, I grinned, but knew I didn't even know half of what Hiccup did about dragons. Even so, we walked over to a group of dragons that were looking at us curiously and got to work.
UPDATE 3/29/2020: I've rewritten/added quite a bit to almost every chapter, so I would encourage those that have read up to this point to go back and reread. Hopefully the whole story makes a little more sense and has a bit more meaning now.
