Chapter 12

Hi everybody! Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Since I didn't update since long, I'm gonna make a summary to recap some things; someone suggested me that in the comments, and it's indeed a good idea.

Astrid is starting to get friends and helps Belda to train the future warriors of the island. One day Kalisha, Eret's fiancée, get attacked by three men. Astrid defends her and is helped by dragons for that, among them a Nadder she started to bond with. Two of the attackers survive the fight, one is interrogated and the second one is maimed and has yet to wake up. They learned that the man who got maimed is a spy from Drago and that he hired the two others to help him murder people close to Eret and Fury in order to raise paranoia among the tribe. Hiccup explains Astrid about the war against Drago Bludvist and she accepts to try training the Nadder. Hiccup decides he will spend some time with her to help her train her dragon. However, we learn that Viggo managed to infiltrate Endris and has some projects for Astrid.

When Astrid and Hiccup entered the arena this morning, only dragons were in here, most of them were eating fishes and cleaning their scales. Toothless wasn't with them, but Hiccup had left him with Lady and their cubs for some needed family time that morning. It wouldn't be so bad for his rider either, Hiccup wanted to have some time alone with Astrid to help her chill out. Obviously, she wasn't distraught or upset after the fight she got in; however everything he explained her about the war coming was a bit hard to swallow like this. In fact, he wouldn't mind having a slight break too before the spy she maimed yesterday would wake up. The Nadder came immediately toward the humans as soon as she saw them.

"Hi, how are you that morning?" Asked Fury while scratching her snout.

The dragon just made a happy gargle, and Astrid extended her hand tentatively. The Nadder rubbed her snout against her palm and the young woman soon found herself at ease to pet and scratch the beast. She didn't feel the same wariness she did at first; after all, the beast came to help her in a fight. It was still so strange to touch a dragon like that, but she had to admit it didn't feel wrong anymore.

"Hey, girl…Do you have a name? Does she have a name?"

"No, if you want to give her one, you're free to do so."

"I'll think about it. What do we do, now?"

"Well, you can continue to pet her for now, to bond with her, and after that, you'll see if she comes at you when you call her."

She just nodded and continued to pet the beast who gladly allowed the human to pamper her a bit. The scaly feeling was still weird, but it wasn't disagreeable and Astrid had to admit it was quite funny to see that big spiky beast react like a kitty or puppy. When she saw the beast's paw moving at times while being scratched or the way her tail happily waved, Astrid decided she was definitely more like a puppy.

"She waves her tails! I didn't think dragons would do that."

"Some does it when they are happy, but with other species, it's not a good sign."

The Nadder suddenly licked Astrid's right cheek, and though it could be touching, Astrid was not that charmed to have the right side of her face covered by sticky dragon saliva. She heard Fury laugh and threw him a deadly look. He handed her a cloth and she wiped the saliva away.

"You'll have to get used to that," he giggled.

She rolled her eyes and grinned in spite of herself. The Nadder nudged her and started to make turns while waving her tail.

"I think she wants to play," Fury explained. "You'll have to understand what kind of games she likes. But maybe we should go outside the arena for that, to have more space. Call her to see if she follows you."

"Hum…Dragon! Dragon!"

She made signs at the Nadder while backing away toward the exit. The dragon just titled her head at first and then started to advance toward Astrid. It took some minutes, but eventually, the beast followed her outside. Astrid thought about what she should do: the beast was behaving quite like a dog, she could try something…She picked up a rod and shook it before the Nadder. The dragon looked at it with interest and sniffed it before Astrid threw it away. The beast immediately went after it to bring it back. Astrid threw it away again, only to have the Nadder happily going after it once more. Fury approached her.

"You're doing well; it's not always easy to spot what a dragon likes."

"So you think she'll let me get on her back soon?" She said while throwing the rod again.

"There are good chances for that. She likes you, but you have to like her too, a bond between a dragon and its rider cannot be one-sided."

"She is starting to grow on me, I have to admit it," Astrid slowly said. "And after what happened, I… I do trust her. She wouldn't have saved me just to kill me right behind it."

"Good. Let's try to have her responding to your call once more."

They trained a bit more, playing with the dragon and observing how she would respond to Astrid. It was going well, Astrid was lucky that this Nadder was friendly and used to humans though, a wild one would have been harder to train. But right now, he aimed for something easy, Astrid already had obstacles in her own mind to overcome, no need to add more. He eventually stopped the training, they had to give the dragon some space so she wouldn't feel overwhelmed.

"How will it go from now on?" Asked she.

"You'll check on her at least every morning, and go to her at other times of the day when you can. You'll take care of her and play with her. If I'm here with you, I'll teach you new things, if something stops me form joining you, you'll simply continue to bond with her. But don't try to take your first flight alone. We're over for now, there are a few things I would like to show you. You might have wondered why we have so much honey? Really good harvests?"

"I did, I can't get why you have so much compared to other tribes."

"You'll understand. And you'll saw beautiful parts of this island as well. Come with me."

They crossed a part of the town, and went toward the hills and he explained her that it was on this part of the island that they would cultivate their food. Astrid followed him as they passed through the huge fields and crossed a river. The water would fall down into a pond which was slightly steaming and in which children were playing along with some dragons. The cascade was surrounded by moss and flowers, it was a lovely sight. She was starting to realize that this place was warmer than the village.

"Even the water isn't cold yet," he declared.

She plunged her hand in the river and was surprised to see that the water was indeed good, not hot but warm enough to swim. They went up, passed a rock formation and Fury told her they were about to reach the first place he wanted to show her. She gaped once she saw it. It was a large meadow covered with flowers of countless colors; she even saw some bushes of wild roses among those. There were flowers on Berk but not so many at one place, especially not at that time of the year.

"You should see it in spring, it's even more beautiful."

"How can it be?!"

"Do you feel the warmth? This part of the island is the hottest, winter always come later here, summer is longer. That's why we have the fields here, with the stream and the warmth it's perfect. That flower meadow has a use, it's not just a nice-looking place."

They crossed the meadow and Astrid couldn't help but admire what she was seeing. It was life defying the usual coldness and roughness of the Norse. As they advanced towards trees at the border of the meadow, a buzzing sound was becoming louder and louder. Soon, Astrid saw numerous honey boxes and people working in there, wearing leather protections. There were also many flowers around the trees. Countless bees were flying and Astrid felt a bit scared: she had never seen so many before! Yet none of those attacked. This place did deserve the name of Honey Island.

They took another path through a future orchard, only a few fruit trees were grown already. He showed her the entrance of a cave on the mountain's flank. They went in, a box of torches was here for whoever would come. They walked in a rock tunnel which was quite damp at first and progressively went dry. Astrid couldn't help but feel some excitement she would feel whenever she would face something mysterious or dangerous. After all she was on an island which was out of ordinary, in a mysterious tunnel with a strange masked man. Eventually, the tunnel was clearer and clearer and Astrid wondered what could be in there.

"Don't be too loud and don't touch the walls."

They continued to walk and the air grew hotter and hotter. Astrid's eyes widened and she felt a cold shiver in spite of the heat when they arrived. Thousands of small fiery forms were moving around in what seemed like a gigantic bee hive. The walls were glowing fiercely and she could see as clearly as in plain day even though the sun had no place here. It was magical, it seemed like she was looking at living fire, for a moment she wondered if this was another world.

"Those are fireworms, minuscule dragons with extremely hot skins, a simple contact can burn you. They are the ones warming this part of the island."

"It's incredible...I never saw anything like this!"

"There is a lot to discover about dragons and also about what's beyond the archipalego. And when you're on a dragon's back, height can't stop you anymore and you can overcome distances easily. If you let me, I can show you places and things you never thought possible or even imagined. We could even discover some together."

Now that was a tempting proposition. Hiccup looked at her with hope, maybe she would want that, Astrid had always been curious and fond of adventure.

"I guess it's worth a try," she simply answered. "…Let's get out, it feels like my skin is burning."

He nodded and once they were out again, Fury proposed her to take a walk through that part of the island and she accepted. The picture formed by the countless trees and plants growing on the hills and descending toward the ocean was lovely. Some of the crops and trees were unknown to her, probably brought on dragons' back from faraway lands. Towering over those peaceful fields, the mountains covered by forests and crowned with snow were impressive. Fury offered her to follow to the Great Hall where the lunch would be served soon.

"Oh, while I think about it, there is something else you have to see. Maybe someone showed you already, but if they didn't, you must see it."

"What is it?"

"I won't tell you, if you don't know about it yet, it will be a surprise. Let's say it's another kind of atmosphere."

When they entered the Great Hall, she noticed how people looked at her, she caught bits of conversation and understood they were talking about what happened yesterday…They got news of Kalisha, she was doing well. Fishlegs and Heather were in here as well and Astrid told him about what she saw. Heather promised she would show him the fireworms and it seemed like he was going to faint out of enthusiasm.

Their meal was short, Astrid was eager to know what Fury had been talking about. She was brought before a stone building and realized it was one of the few, the others would be mostly made of woods. It was also pretty big, it even had a small tower at one side of the building, and it had many windows in comparison to other Nordic buildings. Those windows were made of glass, something which wasn't usual, Vikings wouldn't use that material very much. A big wooden door was opened and Astrid gaped in pure amazement when she saw what was inside: the walls were covered with huge shelves which all contained books and parchments. There were maps hung on the walls, tables and banks in the rooms would allow people to work there, and the many windows allowed the sun to enter. She had never seen so many books in one place!

"We had the best of our architects and builders working on that place. It was finished only recently, and we managed to fill it pretty well. But we can still have more, much more. We want that place to become a sanctuary of knowledge. Only a few people here know how to read and write, once we'll have enough teachers, we'll be able to teach everyone to read and write and everyone will have access to this."

She hardly heard him saying she could come here as much as she wanted. He wouldn't have stopped her from coming here anyway, even if he had wished it. He showed her some books he liked in particular, some pictures in those were impressive. He showed her some maps of country she never heard of, and also showed her a book about dragons.

"We have several books about them, this one is one of the most complete. You can read it if you want. There are also treaties about how to train them, but we don't let anyone have those. Those are in a special room, only the most trusted people have access to it."

"In order to stop guys like Drago's spies to get those."

He nodded and he continued to show her around the library. He showed her the door behind which every book about dragon training and other secrets were locked. She didn't ask to go in, it wasn't useful for now and anyway she wasn't here since long enough for that. This place was a gem, and she couldn't help but shudder at the idea that men like the one she fought yesterday could come here, raid and destroy everything. They stayed until their stomach ached and they quickly got something to eat before Hiccup proposed to take her to another place and she was quite enthusiastic.

"We're growing gardens at the outskirts of the city. Those are getting really marvelous."

"You know, I'm glad you showed me those things, but I was wondering why you would take so much time for that. You could have simply asked Heather or someone else to do it."

"I want you to know the island. You don't like it?"

"It's not that, I was just wondering why you were taking so much time for me."

"It would be a shame if I didn't."

"If it is because of yesterday's fight, I'm okay. It's not the first time for me."

"Oh, I don't doubt that, but…That doesn't mean I should be indifferent. And I still want you to see the island anyway, and it's only courteous of me to show you myself, you have been here for some days, I should have done it earlier."

"I wasn't in the best state of mind when I arrived…Anyway, I guess Kalisha won't work as your…Our maid anymore. I mean, she is still resting and she is gonna marry Eret pretty soon. After that she won't have to work as a maid anymore. She told me once she wanted to learn how to read, and after that she would have liked to teach children."

"We'll have to get someone else indeed, I didn't take care of it yet, though. Look, the gardens are there."

Elevated on a mount at a flank of a hill was a long stone wall, Astrid had noticed it before but she never really bothered about it. Fury explained that artisans who made oil, perfume, soap were living here, because the gardens had many useful plants for them, even though they would often go to other wild places to get what they needed or cultivate it in their own gardens. They reached the garden's door and he let her enter it. She smiled, at what she saw, she didn't usually like closed gardens, because nature should run free, but she had to admit this place looked gorgeous. A part of the garden was naturally enclosed by the rocky flank of the hill which was partly covered by climbing plants, and a part of it also ended at the border of a cliff. Only half of the gardens were closed by walls. A natural little stream was running through the place, sparkling under the sun. The grass was still very green, she saw various bushes and trees, roses were growing on parts of the rocks and the walls. The colors of fall were making the garden radiant. They walked slowly through it and sat under an oak tree.

"That one was already here when we came. Those gardens will be even more beautiful in some years. Just like the rest of the island."

"It's already beautiful. I wished we had that on Berk…"

She looked troubled suddenly. He asked her what was wrong and she murmured:

"I just wonder how they are doing back there, my family and my friends. Spitelout is…Well, Spitelout. They don't have a good chief to lead them. And I pray Drago won't get to them, they don't have dragon like you do to fight back."

"Berk isn't Drago's priority, far from it. Is that all?"

"Well, I guess I still ask myself questions about our future wedding. I know why we have to do this, but it's not like a usual military task or mission. Even if we never get truly intimate, we'll still share our lives for some times."

Hiccup looked at her and dared to take her hand; she looked at it in disbelief but didn't take it away.

"You're not obliged to do this only for your tribe. Is there really so much that displeases you about me?"

"Well...I dislike this stupid mask of yours. And as I told you, I didn't like the way you acted during our encounter. But otherwise, I don't know you enough to say precisely what I dislike about you."

"Then we could learn to know each other and maybe in the end, you'll really want to marry me, or at least like me enough to enjoy your time here."

"Well, it's surely better than marrying a complete stranger. It's still gonna be difficult if you don't even trust me to tell me your real name and hide your face."

"Believe me, I have reasons for that, I would rather not hide it all the time, but I have to, you'll understand once I'll show you."

"It'd better be the case. But what about you?"

"What do you mean?" Asked he.

"You're also in this, you told me that you took this decision to avoid starving or massacring the population. It's all good but if you didn't plan on getting married, you're probably not liking it that much."

"Well I was wary at first, I didn't know who I would end up with. When I saw you, well…I told you how I felt. But, I'm not against marrying you at all, our relationship didn't start on the good side, but it means we do have space to improve it. And you're...You're my type," he murmured, glad that the mask was hiding his reddening cheeks though he couldn't help himself but rub his neck. "So, it's not hopeless on my side."

There was something in the way he looked at her...He had a thing for her! How didn't she see that sooner? She had to say something, because right now, she was feeling incredibly embarrassed. This was stupid, men had already looked at her, so why did it felt like it was new with him? He was still holding her hand, she noticed, and she was still not taking it away.

"Well, if we have to know each other, what do we begin with?"

"What do you like, beside fighting, training and reading?" Asked he.

"I...I like to hang out with friends, I like to swim and play some games. I also like to dance, to explore, take a walk in the forest or the mountain and hunt. What about you?"

"I do like those things too, except for hunting, it had never been my thing. I like to draw and of course I like to fly and play with Toothless. I'm not very fond of dancing, though I don't hate that either, I guess the metal has something to do with it."

She huffed in amusement at this.

"I also like climbing. I also like to hear music, songs and stories. However, I'm not a good singer and I don't play any instrument either," she explained.

"Neither do I. I'm fond of stories too, from what some people said, I'm a good teller."

"I'm a better audience," Astrid admitted. "I liked Tuff's stories, even if a lot were extremely silly."

He almost said that he enjoyed those too, but held himself in time. He used to tell stories too, before leaving Berk, when they were gathering around a campfire.

"Kalisha, Eret and Belda has some good ones too. Heather is a good singer on her side."

"I'll have to hear her sing one day. Fishlegs can play flute..." She had a little laugh and Fury looked at her with questioning eyes. "He tried to teach me, but it was definitely not a success! He also tried to teach me some things about gardening, but I must say it's not my thing."

"Oh, neither it is for me!" Fury exclaimed. "Heather does like that, they could get along. Eret also love fishing, but it bores me to no end, if I have to fish it will be only out of necessity."

"Same with me, what's so great about waiting for a dumb fish to bit your bait?!"

He laughed and she allowed herself to chuckle. They could be friends, it was at least that. They continued to walk in the gardens, allowing her to admire it all; the wind blowing softly livened the place while the two of them chatted about anything came into their minds. She told him some things about her family, and he spoke of his dragons. He explained her that he and Toothless found Lady imprisoned by Drago who had mistreated her in order to break her spirit. The madman wanted to have a Night Fury in his army, probably to mock his enemy, or out of jealousy. He eventually brought her to Toothless and his little family. Since Astrid had moved in, Lady was hardly coming in the house anymore, probably not very happy about having a stranger around her and the cubs. Fury explained Astrid that though she was nice she wouldn't take a rider, and she wouldn't trust humans that easily.

"Come with me, approach gently."

The family of Night Furies was playing in the grass. Toothless warmly greeted his rider and even rubbed himself against Astrid warmly, but the cubs and the mother only went to Fury. Though the cubs were now big enough to go in a fight, they weren't fully grown yet, and their parents were still very protective, and Lady wouldn't let humans approach them easily.

"Hey guys, this is Astrid," he said while taking her hand. "Extend it to them, but don't try to touch them." He turned to the female dragon. "It's alright, Lady, you can trust her."

She cooed softly to him and he petted her gently. Astrid just extended her hand and although Lady sniffed it at distance, she didn't approach. Her cubs seemed more hesitant and Toothless did something surprising then. He slightly pushed one of them toward the girl. She couldn't help but feel incredibly moved by that gesture: that animal trusted her with his offspring. The mother tensed as the cub approached her and sniffed Astrid's skin. Still hesitant, the small dragon rubbed her scaly head against her hand.

"This is Ebony," Fury whispered, "she is probably the most assertive of them."

Astrid petted her a bit, when Lady pushed her daughter out of the way a bit.

"It's alright, Lady, it's alright, she won't hurt your cubs, you know me, I wouldn't let anything bad happen to them." He took Astrid's hand once more. "Maybe you should try with Lady first. If the mother knows you, she'll be more reassured."

He kept his palm on the back of her hand, hoping it would reassure Lady. The female sniffed Astrid's skin and cooed slightly but didn't push her snout against her. Toothless nuzzled his female, and she returned the gesture, but made no further move toward Astrid. Fury got up and she did the same.

"Let's not overwhelm her. She'll need time, the fact she didn't growl at you is a good sign."

"I don't see scars over her body," Astrid pointed out.

"Drago didn't want to take risks. You see, with dragons like Gronkles or Nadders, he allows himself and his men to be brutal, because they are easy to find. If they accidentally kill one, it's not a big deal to them. It was different with her, since Lady was the only Night Fury he ever got, she was a precious specimen. No, instead, Drago muzzled her so she wouldn't be able to spit fire, and he and his men would use things like sticks to fight her and try to get on her back. It couldn't cause permanent damages to a healthy dragon, but it was enough to hurt and scare her. They would all take turn at that so she would hardly be resting, they would scarcely feed her…In the end she was exhausted and distraught, and without Toothless, I would have had a really hard time to get her to come with me."

"That's why she never wanted a rider."

"Maybe. Some dragons accept riders even after rougher treatments, while others simply don't want a human on their back; it's not at their liking. I think Lady was a bit like that, and after what she went through, I don't think she'll even change her mind. Night Furies in general aren't easy to tame. I got lucky."

She was about to ask something else, when a voice suddenly interrupted their conversation.

"Chief!"

They saw a young boy coming toward them, looking panicked. Hiccup immediately went toward him.

"Chief! There is a fight, the Ferston are against the Hornfeet again…"

"Oh gosh! Seriously!"He sighed, the kid probably didn't know that Heather and Cami were in charge today. But after all, a chief never takes vacation. "I'll take care of that," he turned to Astrid, "It's two rival clans, they just keep fighting around. If it doesn't bother you..."

"Of course not. I can handle myself without you, you know," she said with a smile. "I'll go in the arena."

"Well, I'll find you once I'm over. Come, Toothless!"

He left her with some regret, he wanted to spend more time with her, but he had duties. Had they been married already, she would have come with him, but it wasn't the case and she wasn't here since long enough to take care of that kind of duties. The boy led him to the two families; fights were regular in the tribe, between Vikings it was no big deal, people would do that to have fun or to sort out some issues quickly. Those kind of fights would rarely interfere with the good march of the town. However, family feuds could be much more important and cause more damages. When he arrived, Hiccup saw that they were starting to break things around to hut each other and other people were trying to stop them, only worsening the fight in the process. Hiccup had Toothless roar crazily, getting everyone's attention. Though half of the people fighting were twice his size and older, none of them dared to speak back when he gave them a good telling-off. He reminded them that he wouldn't tolerate his best warriors to fight and harm each other when the enemy could attack at any time, that a friendly fight was okay but he didn't want them to put a mess in town and that they'd better keep their energy for Drago's men. He ordered them to repair the damages and pay for whatever couldn't be replaced. As he was about to leave and join Astrid again, he heard Heather's voice:

"Fury! Fury, the guy woke up."

Hiccup knew what she was talking about. The man Astrid wounded yesterday was the leader of the trio who attacked Kalisha. It was time for interrogation.

O o O

After Fury's departure, Astrid walked to the arena while thinking of a possible name for the dragon. For now she had no idea, maybe it would come to her while interacting with the beast. She wouldn't try to ride her of course, but maybe play with her a bit. The arena was a bit away from the houses, in order to give both people and dragons some space. When Astrid walked toward it, she was alone, no one was around but a few dragons. She was about to enter the arena when a hand suddenly grabbed her wrist. Her heart suddenly raced, she turned around and saw an unknown man raising a finger to his lips. She freed herself immediately and seized her axe when the man raised his hand in the air.

"Wow, calm down, I'm not here to attack you."

"Who are you and what do you want?!"

"I'm here to help."

She looked at him with suspicions, her axe still in her hands, but her curiosity was sparkled at this. What did he mean by that? He was staying in the shadow, as if he wanted to make sure no one would see him.

"To help with what, and who are you?!"

"I can't tell you, not as long as I'm not sure I can trust you. I know why Fury keeps you here, and I can help you to regain your freedom."

It left her gaping in surprise: he could set her free? She regained herself.

"I can't just trust someone if I have no idea of who they are."

"Alright…I'm one of Drago's men. Hold on, hold on," he quickly uttered as he saw the look on her face. "I know they probably told you awful things about us."

"They aren't the only ones who told me awful things about Drago Bludvist."

"I know what kind of rumors goes about him, some are true, some are false. I bet Fury told you they were fighting for justice and all, that they were freeing everyone from cruel men?" She gave no answer, and he went on. "I bet he didn't tell you what kind of catastrophic impact his actions have."

"What do you mean?"

"Some tribes lives thanks to dragon hunting, and they live through slavery. It can seem rough, but it's part of the world we live in, and some tribes are getting poorer and poorer because of what Endris does. Mine has been affected by it. Some dragon hunters or slave traders were bringing important amounts of gold, but now they can hardly work and we are reduced to poverty…If this goes on, it could make countless of clans and entire tribe collapses."

She didn't know what to say at this. It was true she didn't see things under that angle. Yet…Yet it was that Drago who sent those men to kill Kalisha! It was he and his warriors who broke the slaves she saw…

"Some of your men tried to kill an innocent woman…"

"I know, and they almost killed you, I heard that. Believe me, I don't want you to die, and neither does Drago. I think those men misunderstood their orders.

"Oh yeah, what were those orders?!"

"They were supposed to kill that woman, yes, but we never ordered them to rape her. It's harsh, but people have to die during war, Fury and his men also caused innocents to die."

She was about to speak of the broken slaves she saw, but stopped herself. She would listen to him instead, she only asked:

"What could you want from me? Why would Drago care whether I die or not?"

"Well, you're Fury's fiancée, you can help us to uncover some of his secrets. Do that for us, and we'll set you free, and we'll also help your tribe to get back on their feet. Better, we'll help the Hooligans to restore their glory, Drago is no ingrate."

"What kind of secrets?"

"I can't tell you everything until I'm sure you're in this…But, I want to know who he is and why he is hiding under that mask."

"I don't know his name and I didn't see his face yet. Maybe he is simply badly disfigured, or maybe he is really half-dragon."

"Oh no, I can assure you his face is perfectly fine," he grinned slightly as he saw her gaping. "I saw him once, only once. I also thought just like you that he could be disfigured, but one day I got a glimpse of him without his mask. Imagine my surprise when I saw a perfectly normal, handsome face, even. But then, I asked myself a question and it keeps nagging me since that day: why would a normal guy hide his face like that to the world?"

Now she had to admit she was pretty confused and overwhelmed by this. That man saw Fury and he was describing him as completely normal…

"I still don't know who he is, and I want that to change. Look, if you want to gain back your freedom and be a hero for your tribe, promise me to come and retrieve me here tomorrow at the sunset alone. Swear on your honor that you'll come here alone and won't talk about meeting me. You'll tell me your answer, if you refuse I won't try to make you change your mind."

"I swear."

With that, he just smiled, left her and went toward the woods. She was confused. She returned back to the village, thinking about everything she heard.

Viggo was pretty satisfied: he had confused her, she had obviously been upset when he had told her about Fury. He had heard that she fought against Camicazi, that she had been called a simple present. If she was as hot-tempered as the rumors pictured her to be, she probably hated that tribe. Yet apparently Fury was beginning to improve his relationship with her. He had to make sure this wouldn't happen. He wasn't sure that he could trust her; she swore but it didn't necessarily mean she would hold up to her oath. But no plan was riskless. He would have to be careful, he knew she could turn against him, maybe she would tell Fury and he would get captured. Yet he was sure he would be able to manage. Fury wouldn't kill him immediately, he was too smart for that, he would probably keep him prisoner and Viggo was enough of an escape artist to find a solution to captivity. He knew his enemy after all, didn't he?

He hoped it would work, this girl could really be the key to the answer he was searching for. Viggo had told her the truth: he had seen Fury's face, but he didn't know who he was. And that was one of the things that haunted him, that kept nagging him at night. He hated Fury for it, and he also loved him in some way. Mysteries and challenges had always attracted Viggo, he loved to put his mind at it, and he would feel the sweetest kind of satisfaction when he could sort those. But here, the mystery was starting to be a bit too hard to break. In spite of everything he had tried, he still couldn't know who Fury was, or why he was hiding his face. It wasn't making him reluctantly start to question his abilities, and it wasn't tolerable. But that wasn't all.

In a lot of ways, Viggo had seen that Fury was like him. The dragon rider couldn't rely that much on physical strength, they both had to use their wits in a world which didn't value intelligence that much. They were both innovative, and they both knew how to play in that game of power. Sure, Fury was naïve on many points, but Viggo couldn't deny he was a good player, and that was the reason why Fury had done something no one else ever did: he had discovered Viggo's existence and who he was. Not only he had seen his face, but he also knew his name and his role in Drago's army. By doing that, it felt like his enemy had gained some sort of superiority, and that was because of one thing: Viggo didn't know Fury's real identity.

That was probably what obsessed him the most: his adversary had discovered him although Viggo hadn't been willing to let him know who he was. No one had been able to do that since he decided to become a shadow, unless he allowed it. No one but Fury. Fury had countered his plans, and not by accident. Fury had made himself his adversary. And as long as he hadn't learned Fury's identity, he couldn't get even with him. The situation was new for Viggo. He loved the challenge, but hated the light Fury had thrown over him. But soon he would do the same. He would get him.

Yeah, I know a lot of people suggested that Viggo would be the one telling Astrid who Fury is, and would have liked to see that, but I planned since long that Viggo would have some sort of obsession over discovering who Fury truly is. I also already know how and when Astrid will learn. Don't hesitate to review, I might forget to answer sometimes, but it's always nice to read those!