The preparations were quick and efficient, everyone focused on building a specific part of the hut. The group loaded everything on a ship with the help of the village. They couldn't bring heavy weapons such as catapults or ballista with them without raising suspicions. to the rest of the village. Officially, they were delivering the news of Stoick death to the Berserker and them restoring some scrap material and weapons from the Ice dent that was previously home to Valka. Some villagers tried to question Hiccup about his trip, but they were promptly dismissed by the authoritative chief. After every small detail has been taken care of, Hiccup and his friend set course North, dragons carrying the ship that contained all the building parts.
•—0—•
Flying at a constant pace and with clear weather, the riders flew in relaxed silence. Hiccup with his Night fury was at the leading position, breaking the airflow to alleviate the effort the rest of them, two on either side of the ship. Astrid was mindlessly listening to the conversation about whatever the twins were having in front of her. She turned her head to look at the other rider.
At her side, Fishleg was already scouring through the notes Hiccup gave him, using the Gronckle stability to read midflight. Occasionally, when the wind blew right, she could hear his babble and gasps when he discovered something. Looking at a Snotlout mindlessly staring into the air, her mind quickly decided that there nothing much interesting.
Her gaze bounced to Hiccup, whom she can only see the back covered in his flying armor. She noticed that the leather was a little bit too tight, sculpting out his shoulder and back, wind dancing through a couple of braids that were not covered by the helmet. In his half-bent position on his saddle, she could also tell that something's eerie with him. He lacked something, something he always had, but something she couldn't put a name on yet. When she was playing her memories to figure out what was wrong with her boyfriend, the boy in question left a hesitant arm and scratch his back tiredly, before saying in a sore voice.
"Alright, we're almost there, let's start by lowering our altitude. "
'Yep, definitely something wrong. He never had this tone before, especially not when flying. His voice lacked the confidence, the joyous, the freedom that the young chief of Berk always had when flying on Toothless." Astrid thought to herself. Resisting the urge to ask him, knowing that it will put the whole team in danger, she made a mental note to talk with him as soon as they settle down on outpost island.
They left when the sun was at its height, they landed when the moon replaced it. Tired of the long-distance flying, the riders immobilized the ship and after a quick meal, they lied comfortably against their dragon. Head against the neck of her Nadder, cold breeze in her hair, Astrid waited for the fresh scent of wild nature to doze her to sleep. In the corner of her eye, she saw a tall shadow who the silver moonlight reflected auburn walked past them and retrieved a crate from the ship.
Pushing herself up to her elbow, she asked "Hiccup?" The shadow froze "What are you doing?" He turned towards her and said softly "Nothing, I'm just going to lay some trap, go back to sleep. There will be a lot of work tomorrow."
"Is it not safe here?"
"Of course it is, you really think I will put all of you in unnecessary danger? No, just some trap to catch food, we didn't bring many supplies, nor livestock" Hiccup's green eyes shined with a strange spark that she couldn't figure it out. Was it guilt?
Before she got to ask what's wrong, he approached her and press a gentle kiss on her forehead. She purred at the gentle gesture but before she got to return it, Hiccup pulled himself apart. When she will think about it when she woke up, kissing her forehead also hid his eyes from her.
Hiccup mounted Toothless, who groaned unhappily at him. "you'll finish your night later bud, we have something to do" before they took off, disappearing in the midst of the northern stars.
•—0—•
The next day, the riders all woke up with the chirp of birds. Even though their Viking constitution made them able to sleep everywhere, the soil of the island was still no match for a soft bed. After rubbing his eyes and twisting his articulation to erase the soreness, Fishleg noticed something was off in his surroundings.
"Where's Hiccup?" He asked, caring about his best friend.
"I don't know, maybe he left for a morning flight, Toothless isn't here" pointed out Snotlout.
"But" Astrid repressed a yawn, "last night he told me that he was going to lay some traps. But again, he did leave carrying a crate."
"Hum", Tuffnut cleared his throat, grabbing everyone's attention, "I just went ship and, unless our tyrannical leader and genius Hiccup planned to build a whole new type of traps, I gonna guess he's lying." He held out small pieces of L shaped wood, the basic holder that assure the tension in any kind of traps.
"Grrrh, son of a Yak troll" Astrid gritted between her teeth. 'So that was she saw in his eyes last night, Guilt of lying to her' The young Viking then pat the muzzle of her Nadder, who cooed happily "I have a pretty good idea of where he went, you guys continue to set up camp, I'll go find him" before mounting Stormfly and taking off.
In the air, she oriented the dragon in the directions of the three islands. "Can you pick up the scent of Toothless?" She asked. Stormfly chirped happily, eager to see her Night Fury friend.
After some flying, Astrid and Stormfly arrived above the middle island. The Nadder spike crown raised when she picked up the location of Toothless on a small piece of grass, pinched between the edging of the wood and the cliff edge, and signaled her rider with a soft squawk.
"Let's get down quietly," said Astrid while directing Stormfly to land in the wood, before slowly creeping up behind. Luckily the wind was blowing against them, and thus, they were able to sneak up just behind an unlucky Viking, kneel on the ground, working underneath a wooden cylinder placed horizontally at chest height, with his Night Fury. Toothless turned back just in time to see Astrid making him a quiet gesture, but the motion still alerted Hiccup. "What's wrong bud?"
Before he got to finish, he felt something cold, thin, and sharp against his throat. An axe blade. A soft but mischievous voice rose behind him.
"well, well, well, what do we have here, Hiccup Haddock, The Dragon Master, and now acting chief of Berk. Your head is surely gonna bring me a handsome reward"
"Good morning to you too, milady" Hiccup grunted difficultly, the axe still pressed against his throat. But his lips were starting to tug upwards.
" You really should work on your situational awareness, especially in these unknown territories, if I was an enemy, you would already be dead" continued Astrid, axe still on Hiccup's throat, but she shifted a step left, now standing almost at the side of Hiccup.
"An enemy" Hiccup swallowed, his eyes trailed quickly to the ground, spotting that Astrid left foot was in a specific on the ground. A small grim tugged his lips, turning his little smile from soft to half- evil. His green eyes trailed back up and stared at her face intensely, locking eyes with her. "I will happily die to"
His words did the effects, just as he expected. The surprised face on Astrid triggered a series of events, all happening in a blink. Hiccup grabbed Astrid's left hand, the one holding the axe, with his own; and with strength un proportional to his frame, twisted her wrist and yanked the weapon out of her grip. Her right hand gripped his shoulder in an attempt of pushing him to the ground, but Hiccup's right hand already pressed a button on the side of the cylinder. Astrid felt something tighten around her left ankle, and a huge force pulling her back, her finger scraping off the leather on Hiccup's shoulder.
In a 'zwiiiiiiip' sound, she found herself upside down, tangle by the left foot in a rope trap. She was so high above the ground that she could barely reach Stormfly's spike. The dragon, amused by the situation, poked her with her tail, making Astrid swing upside down.
"Stormfly, get me down, Spineshot! "she ordered her dragon. Stormfly lowered herself into the attack stance, spines on her tail bristling, but before she could fire, Hiccup raised a hand to pat her muzzle, saying softly, " easy girl, I got this" The dragon gave him an interrogative squawk but obeying. She settled herself at the side of Toothless, and the two dragons started warbling and chirping.
Hiccup turned around and raised his head towards Astrid, only to have her yelling insult to his smirked face.
"Hiccup, you're a dead man, you yak face, you get me down or I'll have you regret it!"
"What? Always check your surroundings, and always prepare for the worst. "He raised a hand to play with her hanging braid" You taught me these lessons. Milady" His smile getting bigger by the words.
"Arrrr" yelled Astrid in frustration and anger. Hiccup is one of the smartest Vikings she knows, but sometimes this quality can backfire, just like now. "If you don't get me off this thing, I'll make sure that there will be no Heir to the throne of Berk, at least not in the Haddock line."
Finally, fearing for the legacy of his family, at least, that would be the only version that he will acknowledge, Hiccup positioned himself underneath her and raised her axe. Leg apart, he aimed carefully and threw the axe, cutting the rope clean off. He managed to catch Astrid in his arm before she could fall to the ground, her anger disappeared like startled Terrible Terrors in the way he held her: one hand supporting her upper back, one below her knees, the weight of her leaned into his torso.
Astrid still punched him the shoulder, just for good measure "That's for lying to me" before placing a soft peck on his cheek, "that's for catching me." Hiccup put her down and she went to retrieve her axe, as he was rearming the trap, he showed her why he couldn't let her fall on the ground, well, another reason. On the ground was a cage trap connected to a barrel of Nightmare gel as a signal.
"The second trap would only activate when the rope trap has been set off, to prevent animals from triggering it." He explained
"The twins would be proud" she commentated, pointing to the cylinders, that were, in fact, spy glasses "So, if this is a trap, where are the real ones?"
"Follow me," said him as he mounted Toothless.
The two Viking traveled all three islands, Astrid memorized the location of the real's spyglass and the fakes one. But when they were reaching for their dragons on the last island, she finally noticed something odd on Hiccup. his eyes were injected with Blood, the green in his pupils tarnished and below, two big sacs, so purple that it was almost black.
"Hiccup, when was the last time you had a good night's sleep?" She called him
"Don't worry, I'm fine" he said evasively.
"Hiccup looked at me and answer my question," she said more firmly.
"About, two weeks, I needed to finish the reparations back on Berk quickly because we feared a storm would hit, and after that, all this happened."
"That's it, Hiccup, we are going back to outpost island and you will rest."
"But we have patrols to do. We have three islands to cover."
"And there are five of us, well six but you know what I mean, "she said, referring to the inseparable twins. "And I will take your shift."
"But Astrid, these are half-day shifts. You can't take mine; you'll be too tired." Hiccup replied
"And how do you intend to place us? There are three islands, but we are five."
"Well, the original plan is that I'll cover one island on my..." Hiccup realized that he said exactly what she wished him to say. "own."
"See? Astrid grinned, "If you can spend a whole day on lookout, I can too. Besides, it's not like that it's an exhausting task, is just sitting somewhere watching the horizon, and signal the other islands as well as the Outpost when we spot something. "
"Astrid, please, I assure you that "Hiccup leaned towards her, spoking with a serious tone"
But Astrid pushed him back and interrupted him "Hiccup, this actually reminded me of something "
"What?" Hiccup questioned unhappily.
"Remember that times, back at the edge, where I was momentarily blinded by the storm? I wanted to help with the triple strike, and even when I assured you that I was fine, you still didn't let me fight. You asked me to hide, not because I was incapable, but because you feared that I would get hurt. You cared for me. And until now, you still do. You care for all of us, but you omitted yourself."
"No, I "
"Let me finish. "She cut his complain off "And how can you continue caring for us if you die of exhaustion? So, let me care for you this time." She finished by pressing a hand to his chest. Shorter than him, she looked with an intense glare, blue eyes turned from ocean to fire.
Hiccup looked down, sighed, but his heart jumping at this mark of affection. "I don't really have a choice, do I? Fine, I'll take some rest."
"Great. See? it wasn't that hard. Now shall we head back to the Outpost?"
"After you, milady."
After landing back on outpost island, where Astrid made sure to regularly check on Hiccup, the two riders found fives huts, big enough for one man and dragon, in a shape of half a circle in a small clearing in the wood. After they landed, Astrid gathered all of them except Hiccup, trailing back in a hut, Toothless on his feet, under the gaze of surprised riders. When the door closed, Fishleg asked
"What's wrong with him?"
"You all noticed that Hiccup seemed a bit off these last few days. Right?" Said Astrid, receiving 'yes' from everyone. "Well, it happened that Hiccup overload himself with work, and this whole Headless thing didn't help. So, I suggest that we let him rest for today."
"Alright, how can I help?" Said Fishleg
"And why should we listen to you?" asked Snotlout in typical Snotlout fashion
"Because I'm Hiccup's second in command since the foundation of the Academy, I'm Berk's general because your father retired and I'm your Chieftess to be. But with anyone of you repeat the last part, my axe doesn't recognize friendship, nor apologies." She replied harshly.
"So, what's the plan, my tyrannical general, second in command, and Chieftess to be?" Asked Tuffnut sarcastically.
"I'll cover the middle island for the day. You guys split yourself for the left and right island. And will also cover tonight's shift, Hiccup said that at night, we need only one person on lookout, if they try to hit Berk at night, they should arrive here by day, since they don't know we are here. Alright, mount up, I will show you where the spots are localized"
After showing to the rest of the group where the real spyglass and informed them about the trapped one, the day went without incident after Snotlout reluctantly accepted to cover the night shift.
•—0—•
The next day, Hiccup insisted to take the morning, and since nothing on outpost island was done, the whole group split up among the three islands. But when the sun was high in the sky, three black spots appeared on the horizon. Snotlout and Hiccup spotted them first on the spyglass of the left island. The riders left hastily, different destinations, same message.
'Incoming'
This is a scene that I split into two chapters.
Sorry for the wait, real life is seriously overrated and not entirely necessary
