I've recently re-watched "Night of the Hunters Part 1" in Race to the Edge Season 2. At the beginning of that episode, Fishlegs mentioned a time when Astrid went into the woods at night to practice her axe throwing only to frighten Silent Sven by mistake. I thought that incident would make a hilarious fanfic. And here it is!
Title: Silent Sven and the "Maniac"
Takes Place: A year before the events of Race to the Edge
Summary: On a dark autumn night, Astrid feels like it's the perfect time to practice with her axe throwing in the woods only to give Silent Sven the scare of his life.
…
It was the middle of a fall night in Berk and everyone, Viking and dragon was fast asleep…well, everyone except Silent Sven and Astrid Hofferson…
…
(Astrid PoV)
Astrid rolled onto her side and groaned. She had just spent the last two hours tossing and turning. No matter how hard she tried she just couldn't get to sleep. She was just too restless, too full of spark.
She eyed her axe which was leaning against the wall beside her bed. She smiled proudly at that axe. It had once belonged to her mother, Ingrid Hofferson. But on Astrid's tenth birthday, she had passed the axe down to her and Astrid had been carrying and using that axe ever since.
Then she had an idea.
Since she was unable to sleep, she decided to practice her axe throwing instead.
Throwing off the sheets, Astrid leapt out of bed, grabbed her axe and tiptoed out of her bedroom. As quietly as she could, she opened the front door and closed it.
A soft squawk from behind her slightly startled her.
Looking around, she saw Stormfly lying on her side against the wall of the small shelter next to her house. Her head was lifted up and her bright yellow eyes glowed in the darkness. She tilted her head curiously at her Rider and started to get to her feet.
"No, no, Stormfly," Astrid whispered, patting the Nadder's snout. "I don't need for you to come this time. I'm just gonna go into the woods for a while and then I'll be right back. In the meantime, you just stay here and rest, okay."
Stormfly squawked softly again before laying her head back down on the ground. Astrid smiled as she watched her blue dragon drift off to sleep again before making a run for the woods.
She definitely didn't need her dragon following into the woods where she would practice her axe throwing. She might hit her instead of a tree. This got her thinking about the time when she and the other teens were recruited into learning how to fight dragons. A wave of guilt came upon her as she thought about the days when Gobber taught them how to fight the then-nameless and feral Stormfly and the times she had almost striked the Nadder with her axe. She probably would have succeeded had Hiccup not used his dragon training skills he had learned from Toothless on her.
Astrid shook her head trying to get rid of the guilt. Now was not the time to be dwelling over regretful decisions and thoughts from the past. It was more important to focus on the now. And right now she wanted to practice with her axe.
As soon as she entered the woods, she stopped and looked around. Some of the trees were still heavy with leaves. Even in the moonlight, she could still see that the leaves were sporting their autumn colors from red to gold. Then there were trees that had already lost their leaves and with their bare branches, they almost resembled tall, black skeletons reaching out to grab anyone that stood in their path. Astrid couldn't help but feel a little nervous around their presence. But again, she shook her head, trying not to be scared. After all, she had been in the woods many times in her life in both the day and night. So she continued her search for the perfect spot to practice with her axe.
After about fifteen minutes, Astrid found herself a perfect clearing. The clearing was round and covered with soft, green grass. And all around it were tall, sturdy trees. These were perfect for her axe throwing.
Astrid set down her axe and held out her hands in a square shape and moved them at the trees in front of her. She was trying to decide which one she should practice on first. She moved her hands towards the tallest, oldest looking tree in the ring.
That one looks good enough, she thought.
She picked up her axe and leaned her arm back.
"Yah!" she yelled as she threw her axe.
THUNK!
The axe's blade hit the tree dead in its center. Astrid smiled proudly. Even as a Dragon Rider, she was still the best axe-thrower on the island.
She walked over to the tree and without much trouble, pulled the axe out of the bark. Then she looked over at the tree opposite of her…and threw her axe right at it.
THUNK!
Another perfect hit!
For the next half hour, Astrid threw her axe many times at every single tree surrounding the clearing. When she noticed her eyelids starting to feel heavy, she decided it was time to go home. As she pulled her axe off one of the trees, she suddenly heard a rustling sound nearby.
Astrid looked around, trying not to look scared. She walked around in a circle, keeping her eyes open and trying to find the source of the rustling. Then she saw it – a tall, dark shape making its way through the trees and into the clearing. Whatever or whoever it was, Astrid knew just how to deal with them.
"YAH!" Astrid yelled holding out her axe its blade shining under the moonlight.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
The figure turned around and bolted from the clearing and back into the woods.
Astrid lowered her axe and smiled. Whoever had been coming toward her was gone now. But she had to admit, she thought that scream sounded very familiar. Then her smile faded as she realized…
The scream had belonged one of the locals of Berk: Silent Sven.
…
(Silent Sven PoV)
Silent Sven (or at least that what he was called when he was mute) just couldn't sleep. He drank warm yak milk but it didn't do any good. Then he tried counting sheep but it just got him thinking about his own sheep. So he decided to go outside and check on them.
Even in the dead of night, the sheep were wide awake and grazing the green grass which made Sven very happy. What with winter fast approaching, he wanted his flock to be all fattened up for the long, cold weather. He carefully counted them and that's when he realized that one of them was missing. And he knew very well which one: a small lamb he named Cotton.
"Cotton?" Sven called.
No answer.
"Here, Cotton!" Sven called again.
He looked into the forest opposite of the village. It looked so dark in there, you couldn't see what might be out there.
"Oh, I hope he didn't wander off into the forest," Sven muttered. "No telling what he might run into out there – boars, wolves, foxes. I'd better go in there and make sure."
So Sven entered the dark woods with the moon as his only source of light. The trees that had already lost their autumn leaves looked like they were about to grab hold of him with their bare branches at any minute. Sven shivered at the sight of those leafless trees then he puffed up his chest with pride. After all, he shouldn't be scared of a few leafless trees. He was a Viking after all! So off he went.
Sven spent the several minutes taking a different route through the trees and whispering, "Cotton! Cotton!" as quietly as he could.
Suddenly he heard a loud THUNK!
Startled, Sven looked up trying to see where it was coming from and what had made it.
"Cotton, is that you?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
He tiptoed threw a grove of ferns which made a rustling sound. Soon he was entering what looked like a clearing.
Maybe Cotton was hiding in there.
But if it wasn't Cotton, then who or what was it?
Only one way to find out.
Slowly, Silent Sven made his way through the trees and into the clearing.
"YAH!"
A tall, dark figure stood opposite of him holding out an axe, its blade shining under the moonlight.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
Sven turned and bolted from the clearing and through the woods again. Whoever it was that scared him, he wanted to get as far away from them as possible.
….
(Astrid PoV)
Astrid felt terrible. Of all nights for her to be going into the woods to practice her axe-throwing, Silent Sven had to be out as well. Why he was out in the woods in the middle of the night was a mystery. But now was not the time to be wondering why he was out here. What was important was that Astrid owed him an apology. So hanging the handle of her axe over her shoulder, Astrid started to make her way back to town.
….
(Hiccup PoV)
"STOICK!"
Hiccup sat upright in his bed in a flash the minute he heard that. Across from him, Toothless was standing up straight on his stone bed. He resembled a startled black cat complete with arched back and constricted pupils. Any other time, the sight of his surprised dragon would have made Hiccup laugh, but right now he was feeling a little surprised himself.
"STOICK! STOICK!"
Hiccup recognized that voice: Silent Sven's!
Luckily, there was a lit candle right on the bedside table so he was able to see. He walked over to the edge of his loft room with Toothless trotting behind him. Looking down, he saw Sven standing over the threshold, looking scared half to death. His father, Stoick was approaching him.
"Sven, what is it? What's the matter?" Stoick asked.
"Cotton…axe…yelling…woods," was all Sven managed to say.
"Uh, Dad, maybe I'd better fetch Sven some water," Hiccup suggested as he and Toothless came down the stairs.
"Good idea, son," Stoick agreed. He put an arm around Sven and led him inside. "All right, Sven, just breathe and have a seat."
Hiccup poured water from the pitcher into a cup as his father helped the hyperventilating shepherd into a chair. Bedside him, Toothless stuck his head into a barrel of pickled fish and fished one out with his teeth. Hiccup handed Sven the cup which he sipped from gratefully and Toothless placed the fish on his lap.
"Thank you, Hiccup, Stoick," he said. Then he looked down awkwardly down at the fish in his lap. "And thank you, Toothless."
"No problem, Sven," Hiccup said kindly.
Toothless grunted in reply.
"Now what seems to be the problem, Sven?" Stoick asked importantly.
"There's a maniac in the woods!" Sven whispered.
"A maniac?" Hiccup echoed, his green eyes growing wide.
"What do you mean "a maniac in the woods", Sven?" Stoick asked.
"Well, I couldn't sleep so I decided to check on my flock instead," Sven explained. "And that was when I noticed that my lamb, Cotton was missing. I was afraid he might've gotten lost in the woods so I went in there too find him. And that's where I heard a strange thunking sound. So I went to go see what it was and that's when I saw him – the maniac. He was holding out an axe ready to slice me to pieces. Oh, it was horrible."
Stoick stroked his beard thoughtfully. "How could someone have come onto the island without being spotted?"
"He could've entered any parts of the island is my guess," Sven said, shaking.
"Indeed," Stoick nodded. He helped Sven out of his chair. "All right, Sven, you come with me. We're going to warn everybody on the island and then we'll go see about this…maniac. Hiccup, I'll be back in a few minutes. You and Toothless stay in the house and don't open the door for anyone."
"All right, Dad," Hiccup said as he watched Stoick and Sven exit out the door.
As soon as they were gone, Hiccup turned to Toothless.
"It is a smart idea to stay inside at times like this," he said.
Toothless nodded in agreement.
"And it could be nothing," Hiccup added. "It may just be the twins or Snotlout playing one of their usual pranks." Then he frowned. "But if there really is a maniac out there, then we should help with checking on everyone and making sure said maniac hasn't left the woods and entered the village."
By the look on Toothless' face, Hiccup could tell he wasn't crazy about the idea of looking for trouble, but the Night Fury nodded anyway.
"We can't go out the door though since Dad said not to open it for anyone," Hiccup said. Then he looked up the upstairs loft. "But we can go out through the window. Come on, bud."
Hiccup raced up the stairs with Toothless right behind. Then he climbed onto the black dragon's back, latched his prosthetic leg onto the pedal to open Toothless' prosthetic tail fin and Toothless took flight through the window and out into the open.
The Rider and the dragon glided towards the village and hovered over the heart of it. Hiccup looked around at the houses. So far, no one seemed to be outside. The only figures that were active so far were those of Stoick and Sven. Luckily the two men couldn't see them what with Toothless being a Night Fury with scales dark enough to camouflage against the night sky.
"Huh, so far so good," Hiccup muttered.
Suddenly Toothless turned away from the village square and headed somewhere else.
"What? Hey, Toothless, where are you taking me?" Hiccup asked.
It was then that Hiccup saw that Toothless was heading towards a bunch of bushes on the west side of the village. Hiccup knew all about those bushes for they were heavy with sweet, round, berries. And people and dragons often stopped by the bushes to munch on the small, juicy fruits. And it seemed like Toothless wanted to do the same thing. But there were more important matters to be done first.
"Sorry, Toothless, but this is no time for eating berries," Hiccup said as he tried with a little difficulty to pull Toothless away from the bushes. "We've got to warn everyone about this maniac that Sven claimed he saw."
Toothless groaned sadly as he looked towards the berry bushes but he obediently headed back towards the village square.
"We'd better check on Astrid and her family first," Hiccup suggested.
Hiccup steered Toothless all the way to the Hofferson house. Toothless landed in front of the shelter next to the house where Stormfly was resting. The blue Nadder lifted her head, got to her feet and squawked a greeting to her two friends.
"Hi, Stormfly," Hiccup said, patting Stormfly's snout.
Toothless greeted her right back.
"Your friend, Astrid wouldn't happen to be home, would she?" Hiccup asked.
Stormfly tilted her head and looked over her shoulder as if to see if Astrid were standing right behind her.
"Well, I'd better make sure she is," Hiccup said.
He approached the door and knocked on it. After about a minute, the door opened and Ingrid Hofferson stepped out, her thick blonde hair tied in two braids hanging by her shoulders.
"Hiccup, what are doing here at this hour?" she asked.
"I'll explain in a minute, Ingrid," Hiccup answered. "Would you go wake up Astrid please? She needs to hear this too."
"Uh, yes, yes, come on in and we'll wake her together," Ingrid said, gesturing for her visitors to come inside.
"Thanks, Ingrid," Hiccup said as he and Toothless stepped into the house.
Stormfly remained by her shelter.
"Her bedroom's just to the right," Ingrid said, pointing to the door. Then she called, "Astrid?"
"Astrid, are you there?" Hiccup called. "It's Hiccup."
But as Hiccup opened the door, he was greeted to the sight of an empty bed.
"She's not here," Hiccup said to Ingrid, worry etched on his face.
"And her axe is gone too," Ingrid added.
Ingrid was right. Not only was there no sign of Astrid but none of her treasured weapon either.
"Do you have any idea where she might be?" Hiccup asked.
"Well, on some nights when she's having trouble sleeping, she often takes her axe out into the woods to practice throwing it against the trees," Ingrid replied. "Perhaps that's where she might've gone."
"Yeah," Hiccup said thoughtfully. "I've often seen her go into the woods to practice with her axe during the day and sometimes during the night."
Then his eyes lit up.
"Wait a minute," he said out loud.
"What is it, Hiccup?" Ingrid asked curiously.
Even Toothless seemed anxious to know what his Rider was thinking about.
"Astrid going into the woods at night…Sven seeing a maniac with an axe in the woods," Hiccup muttered. Then he snapped his fingers and said out loud, "That's it!"
Toothless tilted his head questioningly.
"What's it, Hiccup?" Ingrid asked. "What's going on?"
"I'm going to find her, Ingrid," Hiccup announced. "If my dad and Silent Sven come here, tell them to wait here for me until I come back and we'll explain everything then."
"What?" Ingrid said, still confused.
Hiccup didn't stick around to explain himself. He and Toothless headed out the door.
"Stormfly, you better come with us," Hiccup said.
Stormfly straightened up and squawked importantly. Climbing onto Toothless' back again, he and his friend along with Stormfly were up in the air in no time.
"All right, guys, to the woods," Hiccup ordered.
But instead of heading towards the woods, Toothless turned around into the exact opposite direction of the woods. Even Stormfly was turning away from the woods.
"Hey, where you guys going? The wood is that way," Hiccup said, confused.
It was then he realized that Toothless was heading back towards the berry bushes they had just passed by earlier.
"Again with the berries?" Hiccup asked, surprised. "Toothless, I told you, we can't stop for berries. We gotta find Astrid first."
And with all his strength, Hiccup steered Toothless away from the bushes once again.
"Come on, Stormfly, you too," Hiccup called to the Nadder who looked just as interested in those berry bushes as Toothless was.
Both Toothless and Stormfly groaned disappointedly and obeyed the teen boy's orders. Within a short time, the two dragons and the Rider were flying over the trees. Stormfly lifted her snout, sniffing the air for Astrid's scent.
"Okay, bud, I think you better help track her down too," Hiccup said, patting Toothless' head.
Toothless nodded and let out a high-pitched sound as purple rings streamed from his mouth and glided over the trees. Toothless arched his neck as though trying to listen for something, then his eyes lit up and his ears perked up.
"You got something?" Hiccup asked.
Toothless growled in response.
"All right, let's go!"
…
(Astrid PoV)
Astrid was heading down the path she had taken back to the village when she heard the sound of wings flapping towards her.
She wasn't so sure if it was one of Berk's dragons or a stray one so she held up her axe but a little lower this time. After the recent scare she had unintentionally given Sven, she didn't want to scare anyone else especially if it was someone she might know.
As a matter of fact, coming right towards her were a few somebodies she knew: Toothless the Night Fury was flying towards her with Hiccup on his back and right beside them was her very own Stormfly.
"Astrid?" she heard Hiccup calling out.
"Hiccup!" Astrid called back.
"It's a little late to be out in the woods isn't it?" Hiccup asked with a smile.
Astrid couldn't help but laugh. "I couldn't sleep so I decided to give my axe a little practice."
"I figured," Hiccup said, still smiling. "But I'm afraid your practicing gave Silent Sven the scare of his life."
Astrid's eyes widened. "How did you know?"
"He just came to my house and told my dad there was a maniac with an axe in the woods," Hiccup said matter-of-factly.
"Ohhh," Astrid muttered, putting a hand to her forehead.
"And now my dad's warning everyone in the village and warned me and Toothless to stay in the house," Hiccup continued.
"Which you're not doing," Astrid pointing out, now smiling.
Hiccup blushed and put a hand behind his neck. "Well, I figured I should help him make sure everyone were safe and sound so I stopped at your place first. When I saw that you weren't there, your mom told me where you might be and after putting the two and two together, I grabbed Stormfly here, went into the woods…"
"And now here we are," Astrid concluded.
"Exactly."
"Well, I guess I owe Sven an apology," Astrid said. "I was on my way back to the village to find him."
"He and Dad might already be at your place," Hiccup said. "I told your mom to tell them to wait for me until I came back."
"Well, we'd better get going then," Astrid said, mounting Stormfly. "All right, Stormfly, you know the way home."
"Follow her back, bud," Hiccup told Toothless.
So the two Riders and their dragons flew through the woods until they had reached the village. As they neared her house, Astrid could see her Mom standing outside the door along with Stoick, Sven and Gobber.
"Mom!" Astrid called as Stormfly landed by the house and she slid off her dragon.
"Dad!" Hiccup called as he and Toothless landed beside them.
"Astrid, there you are," Ingrid said.
"Hiccup, I thought I said for you and Toothless to stay in the house," Stoick said disapprovingly.
"Yeah, especially with an axe-carrying maniac on the loose according to Sven here," Gobber added, gesturing to Sven.
"Mmm-hmm," Sven murmured, shaking like a leaf.
"I was in the house but then I decided to help warn the villagers," Hiccup said.
Stoick sighed and shook his head and Astrid could tell it was in a good-naturedly sort of way.
"Well, I suspected you might do that so who am I to stop you?" the Chief said.
"And there is no maniac in the woods," Astrid announced.
"What do you mean there's no maniac in the woods?" Gobber asked.
"Yes, I saw him with my own eyes," Sven pointed out, still nervous.
"It was so dark out you thought you saw a maniac," Astrid said. "That was me in the woods, Sven. That was me you saw."
"Y-Y-You?" Sven said, surprised.
Even Stoick and Gobber looked surprised. Ingrid looked like she had been expecting this.
"Yeah, I couldn't sleep so I decided to practice with my axe," Astrid explained.
"Oh, he, he, oh, of course," Sven chuckled but he still looked nervous.
"And that's when I ran into you," Astrid continued.
"And scared me," Sven pointed out, now looking slightly annoyed.
"Sorry about that," Astrid said guiltily.
Sven's face softened. "Oh, quite all right, Astrid."
"By the way, what were you doing out in the woods in the middle of the night anyway?" Astrid asked.
"I was looking for Cotton," Sven answered.
"Cotton?" Astrid asked, confused.
"His lost lamb," Gobber replied.
"Oh."
"We still got to find him!" Sven said, suddenly frantic again.
"Calm down, Sven," Stoick said, putting a hand on the shepherd's shoulder. "I'm sure we'll find him in the morning."
"No! We've got to find him now!" Sven insisted. "Maniac or no maniac, it's still dangerous for him to be out here on his own! He's just a baby!"
Suddenly, Toothless and Stormfly began to growl and squawk urgently.
"What's up, girl?" Astrid asked.
Toothless tilted his head in a "follow me" sort of way and ran off with Stormfly close behind him.
"I think they want us to follow them," Hiccup said. "Come on!"
Astrid, Hiccup, Sven, Stoick, Gobber and Ingrid all ran after the dragons until they stopped in front of a bunch of berry bushes.
"Why are they in front of those berry bushes?" Astrid asked.
"Oh, Toothless had a craving for berries all night and Stormfly also wanted some," Hiccup explained. He turned to the dragons who were poking their snouts at the bush branches. "All right, bud, you can have your berries now."
"How can your dragons be thinking of food when my Cotton is still missing?!" Sven asked frantically.
"Because food is all animals think about, Sven, that's why," Gobber replied.
"No, wait, look!" Astrid said, pointing to the dragons.
Stormfly and Toothless didn't seem to be eating the berries. They were poking their heads deep within the branches and that's when Astrid saw a hint of white in the darkness and heard a small baaa!
Toothless pulled his head out from the bushes. Hanging from his teeth was a small lamb. Twigs and leaves stuck to its fleece and its face was smeared with berry juice.
Baaa!
"Cotton!" Sven cried, running over to Toothless and taking the lamb his arms. "Thank Thor you're safe!"
"He must've been hiding in those berry bushes this whole time, Sven," Astrid said. She patted Stormfly's snout. "Good girl, Stormfly."
"Yeah, good work, Toothless," Hiccup added, also petting Toothless' head. "I should've known you didn't want any berries. You just sensed something was hiding in there and it was Cotton all along."
Gobber stretched his arms – good and hook and yawned. "Well, now that that's all settled. Why don't we all go get back to sleep?"
"That's a very good idea, Gobber," Stoick said, not hiding his own fatigue.
"Oh, yes, yes, a very good idea indeed," Sven said, walking away and picking off the leaves off Cotton's fleece. "I'm going to get you all cleaned up, Cotton and then you're sleeping right next to my bed where you'll be safe from foxes and boars and maniacs."
Everyone couldn't help but laugh at Sven's jumpiness even after finding out that there was no maniac.
"I think I'd better cut back on the night-throwing axe practices if I were you, Astrid," Hiccup suggested.
"I must say I agree with Hiccup, honey," Ingrid added.
"Okay, I guess you're right," Astrid agreed.
Toothless crooned and Stormfly squawked as if in agreement.
…
The Next Day
(Astrid PoV)
The next morning, Astrid and the rest of the Dragon Riders were taking the dragons for a few laps around the island as morning exercise.
"Oh, don't you just love the fall colors, girl?" Fishlegs asked his Gronckle, Meatlug. "They're so pretty. Though not as pretty as you."
Meatlug gurgled affectionately.
Astrid also nodded. The fall leaves were very pretty indeed. And even the bare trees didn't seem so ominous anymore now that it was the daytime. Suddenly, she saw Silent Sven's house and all of his flock grazing in the field. And Sven himself was standing not too far from the flock keeping a close eye on them.
"Hey, look, we're flying over Silent Sven's farm!" Astrid pointed out. "Hey, Sven! Good morning!" she called, waving.
Sven looked up and the minute he saw Astrid, he yelped and ran back into his house.
"What's wrong with Sven today?" Tuffnut asked.
"Yeah, he looks like he just seen a ghost," Ruffnut added.
"Or did he?" Tuff said, looking at his sister, both of their eyes lighting up.
Hiccup laughed. "No, he didn't see any ghosts but Astrid did give him a bit of a scare last night."
"Astrid?" Fishlegs said surprised.
"Yeah," Astrid said, blushing. "Let's head over to the academy and I'll tell you all about it."
….
Hope you enjoyed that! And double hope that you'll enjoy November's drabble!
