The first thing Hiccup did the next morning was go to his father to tell about the attack that Briral was planning on Berk. After he had successfully sneaked Toothless through the kingdom grounds and handed it to Fishlegs who had known to wait for their return, he sprinted towards the castle and made his way through the corridors and past a bunch of guards, who received a simple 'good morning' from the prince as he rushed by them.
The doors to the Throne Room were opened and Hiccup was relieved to see Stoick there. Not that he wasn't expecting to see him sitting on his throne – it really did seem like he even slept on it.
Stoick was reading a lengthy piece of parchment that had fresh ink on it, but the sound of the wooden doors opening distracted him and he shot his head up to meet his son.
"Hiccup, what–"
"Briral is planning an attack on Berk," the prince cut the king off as he came to a halt in front of Stoick.
They looked at each other. Hiccup saw Stoick's confused face and Stoick saw Hiccup's alerted face. The moment was accompanied by silence. A long, pressing silence.
"When is it happening?" the king finally asked, putting a lot of emphasis on the first word.
"I don't know," the prince replied.
"Where are they attacking? From the ground or air?"
"I don't know that either."
Stoick frowned. "Where did you hear about this?"
Hiccup didn't answer immediately. How was he supposed to answer that question without revealing the fact that he was committing treason almost every other night? On his way back to Berk, all he had been able to think about was Astrid and how she had once again proved to be so different and so…interesting. Now he was just annoyed by the fact that he had wasted a full six hours on thinking about her.
By Odin, what was happening to him? He had always been praised for his tendency to be a good planner, and now mostly everything he did went downhill faster than he could say 'what an idiot you are'.
"Well?" the king pressed on, looking at his son very intently now.
Hiccup wasn't sure how long he had been just standing there, looking dumbfounded and wearing all his thoughts on his facial expression.
The prince cleared his throat to allow himself one more second before answering. "I have a reliable source who wants to remain unknown."
"And this source of yours lives in Berk?" Stoick asked, rubbing his beard in thought, the piece of parchment securely clutched in his other hand.
"Oh, yes."
There was another silence, but this time the king looked thoughtful and slightly troubled. During the silence Hiccup pictured himself standing next to his father and hearing this piece of news from someone else. How would he react? What would the Hiccup with a working brain make of it?
He'd probably be surprised that there was a Berkian who knew about Briral's plans. Then he'd suspect the reliability of the source – why would a Berkian know about Briral's plans? If the person wanted to remain nameless, it could've only meant that there would be something bigger going down and Briral would want to make them blind to it.
Wait, was that why Astrid had told him about it? To make the whole of Berk alerted and blind to the real threat, whatever that could be?
"Do you really trust this source?" his father asked out of the blue and Hiccup wasn't expecting to hear that question.
The prince hesitated for a moment. "I – yes," he then said. He didn't know what made him say that as he was currently fighting solo in his inner battle about whether to trust Astrid's words or not.
Not trusting her would definitely be the most logical thing to do, but he couldn't fill his head with that thought no matter how hard he tried. For some odd reason he knew that her words could be trusted.
"What is the reason why they want to stay anonymous? If what they say is true, a reward is awaiting them and there shouldn't be any need for them to hide."
Hiccup had a sudden urge to laugh but he barely managed to hold it in. If only his father knew. "Does it matter? As far as I can remember, we haven't gone this long without one of us setting the other kingdom on fire. Isn't it obvious that Briral will be on us soon? I mean, I've been thinking about it for some time now and I was more surprised that they didn't already come for us last week."
"I won't deny that this silence has made me suspicious, too. Perhaps you're right. Whether or not it is true, we should still be prepared for every possible situation. I still advise you to order this person to come and see his king, for this secrecy makes me doubt where his loyalties lay," Stoick said in that authoritative voice that he often used in hearings. "To me it sounds unusual that someone in Berk possesses such information. He might be a spy for Briral."
Hiccup nodded, trying his best to look sanguinary.
When he finally left the Throne Room, his head was filled with one, massive thought.
He really had to try to look like he wanted to shoot down as many Briralians as possible. True, he had never been big on killing – he could do it, he didn't even want to think how many had lost their lives because of him and Toothless – but if doing it meant that Berk was safer, he had never had problem with it before. Not until now.
He didn't know how long he had been able to think of Briral without hateful thoughts filling his mind. Was it a day? A week? He had completely lost track of time, thanks to all the sleepless nights he had lived through lately. Even if he couldn't tell the specific time, he knew that he didn't feel hatred towards that kingdom anymore. For a split second, Hiccup wondered how it was possible for him to have such a drastic change of heart in a very short amount of time when for 20 years he had been served hatred as a side dish for breakfast and dinner.
Was it because there was no real reason behind the grudge which was why it was easier to replace his despising thoughts with something else?
Even if he couldn't make sense of all his thoughts for now, the undeniable fact was that a war was about to dawn on them and it was his responsibility to make sure that all knights and dragon trainers would know what was waiting for Berk. And he also needed to go to Gothi to tell her to make more of those potions that they gave to the Timberjack last night.
The following days Hiccup couldn't help but notice that his mind had been more consumed by the thought of seeing Astrid Hofferson than that of helping the dragon. Whenever he let his mind travel to the upcoming night, the first thing he thought of was the princess and her outlines in the dark and everything she had revealed about herself so far.
Hiccup had even made a mental list of that. The list included the most basic things, such as 'she is a princess' and 'she lives in Briral', but it also contained everything else.
So far, the prince knew that Astrid was living a very strict life that she wasn't seemingly enjoying. As a princess she wasn't allowed to do almost anything that could be described with the word 'fun'. That made her sneak out with her Deadly Nadder, Stormfly, and she was a very skilful dragon rider just like Hiccup. Astrid was also good at handling swords – or axes according to her – and she apparently had a friend called Heather who had trained her in secret. She also very much wanted peace between Berk and Briral.
Hiccup often found him repeating that list in his head, and he just didn't really understand why. He also found it odd that he wanted to see Astrid more than he wanted to see the dragon.
"Maybe it is because you want more information about the attack? Astrid's your only source for that, and the dragon cannot help you there," Fishlegs had suggested when Hiccup had opened up about this. He knew that he could always trust Fishlegs to pour some sense into his brain when he wasn't able to do it himself.
And that was what he kept on telling himself because it made the most sense. Of course he'd want more information out of Astrid; knowing more would mean that Berk was going to be safer. But why did his brain need to keep on telling him that she wasn't enjoying her life in Briral when that didn't have anything to do with the attack?
So when they finally met that evening, three days since their previous meeting, Hiccup tried to find out more about the plans while they took care of the dragon. However, the short moments he had spent with the princess had taught him something about her – she wasn't stupid.
"So, anything new?" he started, already aware of the fact that his attempt would be no use.
Even though the prince didn't mention what he was talking about, Astrid guessed it immediately. "They've had a great deal of meetings about it, at least two every day. Some are shorter, others last several hours."
Hiccup remained silent for a moment, hoping for the princess to go on. When that didn't happen, he said: "So you still don't know any details?"
"No, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you. Just knowing that there's going to be an attack soon should be enough for you."
"Yeah, okay," he said as he checked one of the wounds. It had healed slightly, but if the rest of the wounds looked like this, the dragon would have no chance at flying for at least a week.
There was a pause.
"Well, that certainly was easy," the princess finally commented with a hint of surprise in her voice.
Hiccup didn't look up. "I wasn't expecting you to turn your back on your own kingdom, so it was obvious you wouldn't tell me anything."
"But yet you asked."
The prince just shrugged. "I guess it was worth a try."
As Hiccup was carefully studying the wounds, Astrid looked up and stared at him with a questioning look. This was completely missed by Hiccup though, and when the prince raised up his head, she was already busying herself with the Timberjack.
"So, are your knights excited to face Briralians?" Astrid asked after a long silence during which they had been treating the dragon's injuries. She asked it in a conversational tone as if they were discussing the weather which was getting chillier and chillier each day.
"Some of them don't actually believe that the attack is going to happen," Hiccup said.
"Why?" the princess asked in a surprised tone. Hiccup looked up and saw that in Astrid's hand there was an opened vial that she was about to give to the dragon but had stopped the motion midway through. She had her eyes fixed on him and she was looking at him with a deep frown. "How do you know that? Can knights be this open to the royals in Berk?"
"No," the prince answered. "I have other ways of getting such information. They don't believe it because they don't think it's normal for us to know about it before Briralians are on their way. I also have fighting practice with them every single day, and it's obvious that they have their doubts about it."
"You practise fighting every day?" she repeated, clearly interested.
"Yes, of course. It's really ironic though, as when I become King, there will be no use for my skills as I'll be sitting all day on the throne. Or at least that's what my father does."
"It must feel great to have such responsibilities, though," the princess stated with a hint of sadness in her voice. She dropped her gaze back on the dragon and moved the vial towards its mouth. "You get to do something important for your kingdom all the time."
"It's definitely something," Hiccup admitted. "Sometimes I just feel it's impossible to please my father, I always feel like he expects more from me. I also don't think it's helping that I am frien– I mean, on speaking terms with my worst enemy."
The word almost slipped. It didn't go unnoticed by Astrid though, as she instantly looked up at him. She smiled at him weakly and Hiccup's mouth automatically started reflecting that smile. He didn't know what they were at this point. Acquaintances? Friends? Two royals that just happened to see each other weirdly often? Whatever it was, something had certainly changed between them.
It took them a while longer to take care of all the wounds, after which they got out of the cave and just stood by the entrance. Neither of them was looking at anything in general. There really was nothing left for them to do and the most reasonable thing to do was leave back for their kingdoms, but neither was taking that first step towards their dragons.
The night was chilly and it would only be a matter of time that frost began to cover the ground. Winter always came early around these lands as they were very far in the north, but that was something Hiccup was used to. In fact, in comparison to other winters, this year it was delayed by a week or two.
"You know, I sort of envy you," Astrid said with a sigh, breaking the silence.
Hiccup looked down at her with drawn eyebrows. "Why? There's really nothing glorious about my life."
"There is. You don't have rules. You may have to follow some right now because of your father, but once you're the king of Berk, you could tell that the moon is yours and that would be the new law in your kingdom."
"There's much more to being a king than claiming the moon. You alone have to make important decisions every day that could seriously affect the future of your kingdom."
They still weren't looking at each other, but Hiccup could see from the corner of his eyes how Astrid crossed her arms across her chest. "But that's the thing. Alone. You think it's that way, but kings don't need to do it alone. They have their queens by their side, if only they let them help."
Hiccup thought on her words. He wished he were more familiar with Berk's customs when it came to queens and princesses. His father seemed to have love Mother with all his heart, so the prince didn't want to believe that Stoick had never listened to Valka's opinion on important matters because of some stupid laws. Hiccup supposed it was easier to do that if there was no love between the royal couple, which more often than not was the case.
"I think you're right. I don't see why a queen's opinion would matter less than that of a king. Two minds is better than one anyway, isn't that right?"
"I wish everybody else would see it that way," the princess said bitterly. "Imagine sitting around while being totally useless."
Hiccup wanted to say that he understood her, but the thing was he didn't. He couldn't put himself in her shoes as a prince, and he would never know what it was like to be a princess. Just as she didn't know what his life was like as a prince.
So, he said: "Those rules are absurd. I hope they will be changed for you one day" and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze without thinking much about it.
Astrid's eyes moved from the forest to Hiccup's hand that was now placed on her shoulder. They then exchanged a look and Astrid smiled at him, but it didn't seem to reach her eyes.
"Princess Arleigh will be lucky to have you as her king."
Hiccup blinked in shock and he slowly dropped his hand from Astrid's shoulder. That was one of the last sentences he had expected to come out of her mouth. He had no clue that other kingdoms were aware of the agreement between Berk and Olissa that was made several years ago, let alone Briral who was supposed to be kept in the dark about anything that had something to do with Berk.
It wasn't even that. The prince had completely forgotten that he was practically engaged, had been since he was 13 years old. Whenever Princess Arleigh was brought up in a conversation, Hiccup felt nothing. He had always treated it as one of his duties to the kingdom, because that was precisely what it was – a bond with the kingdom of Olissa would be crucial for Berk's future because of its location and wealth.
But now, instead of feeling no emotions at all, the mere mention of Arleigh's made him slightly annoyed and he didn't like the sudden turn of this conversation at all. He didn't understand where that strong emotion was emerging from and why it was surfacing only now and not earlier when it had had seven years to do so.
"I've never even met her," Hiccup felt the need to say before he could stop himself. "I don't even know if I will like her."
The princess standing next to the prince gave him a very small smile that radiated sadness.
Their dragons let out some loud noises at the edge of the clearing. The royals turned to look in their direction, and to their surprise they saw Toothless and Stormfly getting along really well. It really seemed like they were communicating in some dragon way and having a friendly rivalry.
Astrid chuckled at the sight. "Looks like they're past that 'being on speaking terms' stage."
Hiccup bit his lip to stop himself from chuckling out loud. He couldn't believe he had actually said that, it sounded so ridiculous now.
Were they friends? That wasn't something that could be asked, but Hiccup found himself not minding if they were. The thought actually made him smile a bit.
So much had changed during the past weeks.
Hiccup really hoped the change was for the better.
There was a voice resonating within him that told him that it was, and he chose to believe it.
Hehehee I hope you liked this chapter where Hiccup is in a bit of denial x) I hope that at least some of you remembers the brief mention of Arleigh in the first chapter!
All your feedback is greatly appreciated! I would so love to hear your thoughts on this chapter or the story in general. Your comments motivate me to write a lot!