Ok first I shall extend my deepest apologies for the horribly long time interval between this update and my last. Tech problems were the biggest issue there, but I think that everything is working again. I'd like to announce that once I have completed this story, I'm going to go back and re edit the whole thing because as we all know it's riddled with grammatical errors. Once it's done it will be uploaded to DeviatArt.

Now then, I beg feed back as usual as it helps me write, and oh yes, since Salacune isn't a registered user I'm leaving this thanks in the A/N. Your review was a great source of inspiration to me in past days. Thank you so very much!

Please R&R everyone!

Chapter 22

Astrid

It was quite a while before the thuds against the door ceased. I really couldn't understand why the beasts didn't just burn their way through the door. It would have been easier. But for some reason, they continued to apply nothing more than brute force. And that door was built for brute force. What remained of the village huddled together in small groups, with long shadows slung across the room by the sputtering light of fireplace and torch. After the dragon's attempts to gain access to the hall had subsided, I was fairly certain that it was just one Gronkle beating its head against the door, I stood from the bench that had supported me through my watch.

I turned and strode deeper into the dark of the hall. It had never seemed this dark on any of the other evenings that I had spent here. Every corner had always seemed well lit and the mood was always happy and cheerful. Now the shadows had grown, and become deep, as if they fed on the despair that was apparent in every Viking's face. My destination soon emerged from the gloom, the table that held the other children my age. Each of them clutched at a tankard as if it were a dear friend. Before I sat, I passed the table and took my own tankard from the counter at the back of the hall, and filled it with generous measure of mead. Then, drink in hand, I went back and collapsed into a seat next to Ruffnut. I took a long draft from the tankard, and it wasn't until I set it back down that I noticed that they were all looking at me. Fishlegs' eyes were wide with awe. Ruffnut looked incredulous. And Tuffnut, his eyes looked dead. It was as if the life had been sucked out of his body, leaving it a starring, empty husk. And a glance to the side told me why. Next to Tuff was a blank space. A gaping hole where Snotlout used to sit.

"What?" My voice lacked emotion. I just didn't seem able to muster any kind of emotion.

Ruffnut was the first to speak, and her voice held all the despair and grief that saturated the room. "That was horrible. That was worse and the last raid. And the last raid wiped away half of the village. Now what? There's barely anyone left."

I tried to say something positive. "We don't know that. No one has tallied the survivors."

"They were dying by the dozens out there." Fishlegs' voice trembled slightly. "I saw someone being eaten alive by Terrors. I can't even remember the last time anyone was killed by a Terror."

This was no good. We can't just all sit here and baste in our own fear. I stood abruptly.

"Where are you going?" Fishlegs' voice still quavered nervously.

"To find out what's to be done." I turned and strode toward the large counsel fire pit. A small fire had been lit in the center, but its flame was small and weak. It barely lit the faces of the elder Vikings standing around it. At the head, where Stoic usually stood, was Gobber. He leaned heavily on the stone table before him, and he gazed into the fire with hooded eyes. He looked as if the world had dropped onto his shoulders. His lips were moving, muttering to the group. It took a moment for me to get within hearing distance.

"How many survivors?" It was the closest Viking on his left that answered, muttering back through a heavy gray beard. It was the eldest male in the village, Vergan. A man of great age and wisdom. He had suffered an injury to his spine in his fifties, cutting off control of his body below the waist. He got around now by supporting his weight and balancing on a pair of crutches that he held in his hands, and he now acted as a voice of great reason and experience.

"About eighty Gobber." His voice was low and raspy, and the words it spoke sent ripples of silence outward around the counsel and beyond. What little color that remained in Gobber's face drained away entirely. I felt chills run first up, and then down my spine.

"Eighty?" he whispered. "Eighty total? That is all that remains? How can that be?" Vergan answered in the same low rasping voice. The tone did not change at all. It sounded oddly monotone, almost bored.

"It was unlike any previous dragon attack. As near as I have been able to tell, you see I've spoken with a good number of the survivors, it seems that all of the night watch were targeted and killed before the attack even began. No alarm was sounded. There was no warning whatsoever. Furthermore, they did not touch our food. I was watching most of the battle from my chair outside of my house next to the mead hall. None of the flock were carried away. In fact, they never even as much as came near the flock. I got the tenders to drive a large number of them in here along with a very decent amount of feed."

Gobber scratched his head with his hook. "Well, we won't starve any time soon at the very least. And the spring will supply water as well." That was true. The mead hall housed the mountain spring that acted as a supply of fresh water for the brewers. Gobber was silent for a little while longer before he raised his voice. "Alright! We have food, and we have water. What we need, is information. We will wait until tomorrow at noon and at that point we will crack the doors, and see what there is to be seen. The dragons seem to have gone mad with bloodlust. If they are gone, then we go out and acquire as many resources as we can, to sustain sheltered life here in the hall. If they are still out there, then we shall have to make do with what we have, and think of something else."

All of the surrounding Vikings muttered ascent, and started to disperse. I made my way over to Gobber who was now rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. After a while of standing there in front of him, he finally looked up, and raised an eyebrow at me, silently asking me what I wanted.

"How is Stoic?" Gobber let out an immense sigh.

"The Elder is with him. She refused to tell me anything and just said to keep everyone away until she is finished with whatever it is she does. I don't know Astrid, some of those burns were pretty severe. I'm not sure if even Stoic could survive them."

I wasn't sure what else to say. Stoic was a monster of a man. Surely he could overcome any physical ailment. But who knew? Maybe even the great chief had a limit to the amount of punishment his body could take.

"Get some sleep Astrid. I want you with any scouting party that we send out tomorrow." That came as a bit of a surprise. My adulthood ceremonies had not taken place yet. I wasn't a true member of the village population yet. It seemed that Gobber could read my thoughts on my face, because he said, "I saw you run into a burning building and pull out a man three times your size, and I also saw you kill more dragons in one night than most of the villagers could kill in a month. I don't care about formalities, you're a true Viking in my eyes." And with that, he turned and limped off toward the flock and its tenders. Something about his words, stuck and nagged at the back of my mind, leaving my lips creased by a frown.

XXX

Ryshkaa

I thought I was fine. I was the fastest flier in Home Cave. No one could catch me. I gained a decent amount of height, and pointed my nose directly north, towards home. I called my fire through my veins to my claw, and made the swishing line across my chest, that would complete the rune of speed that Alda had drawn on my chest weeks before. I felt the power being pulled out of my veins, to twist and spiral over my body, and ahead of me, a ring in the sky discolored and started to wave. I could get no closer to the ring; it stayed at the exact same distance in front of me. The blue sky within the ring faded and darkened. Instead, there was an image of a mighty mountain peak, surrounded by ice and framed against a starry sky. Home. But just before I could relax and pass through, I felt icy pain lance into my tail. I knew that deviating my attention could get me killed, so I ignored the pain and let the fire lines peak. Around me, the world distorted and blurred as I accelerated to speeds that no living thing could possibly achieve. Air and smell disappeared. But an enormous weight dragged at my tail. The mad Shade! It must have caught up to me!

The lines were burning hotter, too hot. With my own resources, I did not have enough energy to carry both myself, and him all the way to Home Cave. If my furnace went out… No. I would not let that happen. I pulled what tiny amount of fire was left into my claw and pulled the claw to my chest. I deftly inscribed the rune of nullify over that of speed.I felt the rune's cold power reach out, and extinguish the fire lines of traveling. I felt myself begin to slow.

Then, we were snapped back into reality and the air of the Earth, returned and hit me in the face. The beautiful image of the starlit mountain disappeared as my course skewed and warped. I had little energy left now, my wings felt as though they were made of ice. I dropped from the sky. The darkness surrounded me as I fell to the white covered Earth below. Just before I fell asleep, a voice shouted in my head.

"DAMN IT ALL!"

XXX

Hiccup

It was extremely disorienting. I couldn't see, I couldn't smell, and I couldn't hear. I could only feel the fiery warmth of Toothless beneath me. I thought that perhaps we might be dead. But then, ahead of me, there was light. Blue. The color of exceedingly hot flames. Patterns swirled in the empty space ahead, lines of blue fire twisted and swirled before me. They traced the outlines of a Night Fury. The lines were beautiful. Mesmerizing.

And as I watched, a new line started to appear. A crossing of two straight lines, with a curved swoop running around the center, all set within a circle. When it was complete the center of that crossing radiated darkness. Slowly, all of the lines started to disappear. They were dulled, and then faded into nothing. I felt a pit open in my stomach. I had to know that those lines were.

Before us, far in the distance, a single point of light pierced the darkness. For a moment, absolutely nothing happened. Then the light exploded. The world expanded outwards from that point and surrounded Toothless and I, snapping into place on all sides and the air slapped me in the face. My grip on Toothless' back was overpowered and I was wrenched backwards. With that, we were tumbling down through the sky above a land completely alien to us. The most disturbing thing was the lack of water. There was absolutely no ocean anywhere between the visible horizons. The land below was completely blanketed in snow. The sun seemed to have shifted slightly in the sky. It was farther south than it had been moments before. Toothless and the Stranger tumbled through the air below me. Toothless jerked and woke, but Ryshkaa continued to fall towards earth. Toothless looked up towards me.

"DAMN IT ALL!" I snapped my arms to my sides and my legs together and dove towards them. Toothless beat his wings, pushing himself downwards toward the female. I managed to position myself above his back, just as he grabbed Ryshkaa around the middle with all four legs. My feet slid into place, and our tailfin flew open. We took the weight of the seemingly unconscious dragon and our wings burned as we angled. We could not support this much weight. The best we were going to be able to do was make the fall nonfatal.

The white landscape below was ridged, small white hills that rose and fell in a totally smooth, white rolling landscape. At first, we tried to beat our wings hard enough to slow our fall, but the pain in our second pair of shoulders was too great. We angled for a collision with the very apex of one of the snow banks. Since Ryshkaa was hanging below us, she hit first. It was a very dull thud, and the snow erupted around us. Unfortunately, we were still holding her at the time. As Ryshkaa stopped suddenly, we were slung straight downwards on the other side of the drift. We tumbled for a ways, and then eventually came to a stop.

XXX

Toothless

My body wasn't moving, but the world still spun around me. I couldn't remember ever being this.. dizzy? Yes Hiccup would use the word dizzy. Whatever Ryshkaa had done, my head had not been ready to deal with it. Furthermore, having landed in a snow drift with absolutely no idea where I was, I was feeling somewhat less than pleased. I had just about had it with all of the danger and rescues. Sure we were in the wild, and in the wild, there was always danger, but it seemed as if I had been saving someone or another every day, for the entirety of the last week! I staggered to my feet. Hiccup was rolling around in the snow at my side, laughing uproariously. I smile crossed my face, he was so easily amused.

Ryshkaa on the other hand lay on her back, wings splayed out to either side with her tongue hanging out, near the top of the drift we had crashed into. She was going to be answering a lot of questions when she woke up.

A shiver passed through my body. It felt wrong. Very, very wrong. How could I be cold with my internal furnace blazing merrily in my chest? I whipped around and stared at Hiccup. He had stopped rolling, and now sat bolt upright, eyes wide. As I watched, a shiver passed through his body. I leapt to his side and drew him against my chest with my wings. It seemed that we had discovered his temperature limit. This place was cold. Very, very cold. And Hiccup would not be able to stand it long without that second skin that his people called clothing.

I would have to figure out where the nearest human settlement was. Hiccup could no doubt acquire clothes there.

"Hey, it's not nice to think about me as if I'm not here." A finger tickled the side of my neck. The feathery sensation made my back arch and a thrum left my throat before I could stop it. And just like that I was on my side. Without exhibiting a single bit of his greater than usual physical strength, Hiccup had put me on the ground.

"Well, I could argue that it's not very nice to incapacitate those that are just trying to keep you warm." Hiccup pushed gently against my side, and again my body acted without my command, folding my wings and rolling sideways onto my back. The boy hopped agilely onto my stomach and crouched there with an impish grin.

"Exercise is an excellent way to get warm." And with that he delivered a poke to my side that caused my entire body to jerk. And with that he had leapt away, and was racing through the ankle deep snow. I rolled, and felt the white powder fly up and out behind me as I launched myself after him.

XXX

Hiccup was right. By the time we had come to a rolling, chuckling, and in a moment's case, flaming stop, there was steam rising from Hiccup's hair. I knew that it was just his mammalian perspiration reacting with the cold air, but it still fascinated me. How often do you get to see something's head actually steam? I felt more laughter rock me. We had slid to a stop, not very far away from the hill where Ryshkaa lay sleeping, with both of us on our stomachs, though Hiccup was on top of my head. I snorted.

"How did you end up on my head?"

"Probably the same way you wound up serving my every whim."

"Excuse me?" An impish little face appeared upside-down before me.

"Oh come now, you couldn't refuse me anything could you?" I thought for a moment. Then I tossed my head upwards. Hiccup was thrown into the air, twisting and twirling, trying to right himself to land on his feet. Before he could however, I threw myself forward, intercepting his falling body. I got the claws of one paw over his middle, and threw him down into the snow. He was effectively pinned. He was also gasping for breath and struggling rather weakly. Hmm, perhaps I'd hit him a little hard.

"Let's test that. Would you perhaps like to get up?"

"…Maybe." Hiccup did his best to make his thoughts quavery and pathetic.

"Well, too bad." And with that I settled myself comfortably, with my paws and head resting directly on his stomach. His eyes got huge and he stared up at me. "No. It so happens that I am quite comfortable and I have no interest in getting up." A small smile cracked Hiccup's face.

"I said maybe. I didn't give any confirmation." I felt as though my head were becoming heavier. It was becoming harder and harder for my neck to support its weight. But of course, there was no problem with my neck. Hiccup's eyes were the problem. Their pupils were pitch, but the iris around it was vibrant green, the color of summer leaves and new pine needles. I noticed that his eyes were not the slitted copies of a Shade's eyes that I had seen on the cliffs of Berk. They were round like a human's, and yet, they were not entirely human. The shade of green in his iris, was not uniform. It was flickering, changing in patches between shades of lighter, and darker green. It reminded me of the light and shadows cast by a fire. It was completely mesmerizing. I didn't even notice when Hiccup pulled one of his hands free until he reached up and brushed it against my face, tracing the scar under my left eye.

I was unable to stop my head's descent, and warmth blossomed up from the place where the tip of my nose touched my Hiccup's forehead. It was a strange, tingly sensation the likes of which I had never felt. And it quickly spread upwards past my nose and down through my neck. Hiccup's hand slid across my face around to my neck, leaving a trail of liquid warmth where it passed. I pulled back slightly, wondering exactly what I was feeling. What I saw made my breath catch. Hiccup lay beneath me just as he had been before smiling up at me. But the flickering in his eyes, the fluctuations of the colors were moving faster. And the portions of darkness were becoming less distinctive. His irises were steadily becoming brighter. I was just trying to figure out what to say, when there was a rustling somewhere to our right. Simultaneously, our heads snapped up and to the side, searching for the source. Our breath stopped and my ears leapt high.

A few small pieces of snow came rolling down the drift to our right, and our eyes both jerked upwards, to lock on the stirring figure of Ryshkaa.

XXX

Ryshkaa

"Remember, you cannot expend more energy than you have."

"I know Alda."

"And make sure there aren't any mistakes or wavers in your line."

"I know Alda."

"Did you eat a decent breakfast?"

"Alda! Could you please just let me get on with it? If you keep worrying at me you'll probably cause me to make a mistake. Then how would you feel?"

"Child, please just be careful. I'd never forgive myself if you hurt yourself."

"You are so absurd."

My eyes jerked open, and the sun blinded me. As they snapped shut, I checked on the rest of my body. Nothing felt broken, which in and of itself was shocking, and it seemed that the only ailment that afflicted me was a horrible crushing weariness. My entire body was stiff and I couldn't move very fast. I was completely stationary and for some reason, my pulse was thundering in my ears. I finally realized that the blood had all run into my head. I must be on my back.

I squinted my eyes and let them slowly acclimatize to the excessive light of the sun. The feeling of the snow against my back was unnatural. It was a horrible feeling. My kind were lords of the night and sky! On my back is one thing that I never am. I threw my weight to the side and slowly began to tilt. Snow was dislodged and went tumbling down the drift as I struggled to shift my feet around and under me. Just as I managed to roll onto my side, there was a shushing sound as snow was sent flying and a tremendous force smacked into my back. I was sent tumbling and rolling down the drift.

I landed in a heap about twenty feet below at the foot of the snow pile. My reflexes kicked in before I could even think, and I was on my feet, low to the ground with my teeth bared. The blood began to drain quickly from my head in a disorienting rush, and so I was not able to react quickly enough when the sky was obscured above me. A Shade's folded tailfin slapped across my face. The distraction prevented me from seeing the swinging paw. My head was whipped to the side and the Shade's threw its weight against my shoulder in the same direction. I was rolled on the ground again! This mad beast had immobilized me twice in one day! I lost my temper. Strength flooded my muscles, fueled by my anger. Before the Shade could pin me, I shoved upwards with all four of my legs, releasing a howling snarl as I did.

The male went flying off to the side, and I was after him in a heartbeat. He was the one rolling across the snow now. All seven of his limbs were flailing desperately, trying to push himself back onto his feet. I couldn't have that. As I barreled into him again, he was set once more on his back and I settled with all of my legs pinning his out at his sides. A snarl dripped from his jaw that had no indication of stopping. I returned it in earnest.

"There you two go again growling in each other's faces." The tone of the tone was so amused and nonchalant, that I glanced around, trying to find who had thought. But there was nobody there. There was no one here but me, the mad, and now quite angry, male Shade. And that strange deformed human child sitting calmly in the snow. But who cared about him? "You know, Toothless, this is just a hunch, but I think that she would be a lot more open to talk if you stopped attacking her. She doesn't seem to like it."

That thought was followed by silence. The Shade beneath me had turned its head away from me, and it was glaring up at the human. "Hiccup, will you please just let me handle this?" The creature may be insane, but I felt supremely insulted for his utter disregard of my position of power. I could tear his throat out right now if I wished to! And yet he insisted on maintaining the charade of an intelligent human! I reared my head back in preparation for the death blow. And stopped dead.

Somehow, in the time it took to complete the upward action of my head, the human had moved. He now lay on his back, on top of the mad Shade, below me with his arms behind his head and a half smile on his face. "Really Toothless why is she so angry? It's not as though we've injured her."

"Though we did knock her over a couple of times."

The human gave a short snort. 'Well what's a couple rolls on the ground among friends?"

My nostrils flared. The human had called me a friend. No! Not the human, the mad Shade's false voice. Whatever! It had called me friend. I whipped my head downwards to crush the offensive mammal's skull.

XXX

Astrid

The scouting party was assembling next to the door. Soon it would be opened and the situation appraised. And I was going with them. I was making the necessary preparations, sharpening the blades of my knife and my sword. A new ax was yet to be found that suited me. Thoughts of my old ax spun about my head. That weapon had been like a friend. A true companion. It had never let me down. Until the day that it struck a human. The moment I had tried to vanquish the horrible beast, Hiccup had stopped the ax, and both it, and the world's normality had been destroyed. At that exact moment, madness had been unleashed. I can remember now, the horrible wave that had coursed through me, as I heard the wet thud of my ax burying itself in Hiccup's shoulder. It had felt as if something had broken. Something intangible and unseen. Something had shattered. And my life had shattered with it.

I sheathed my blades and leapt to my feet. The past was the past. Now all that mattered was the present and future. I stepped to the rear of the group, as the mighty doors swung open, and the light of the noonday sun fell across my face.