Ok so, here be's another chapter. Actually it's the biggest chunk of the story I've posted so far, and I'm so happy to have it done that I'm posting it this very moment without combing it thoroughly for grammatical errors. If there is some kind of crushing error that completely derails understanding of what's happening, feel free to PM me with questions. R&R if you please! Onward!
Chapter 23
Astrid
For a moment, the crack between the doors was lit solid white, and then my eyes adjusted. The door was only opened wide enough for one Viking to step through. We ran through in single file, and the sound of tramping boots filled my ears. Then I was surrounded by the outdoors. My training took over. The entire group had a weapon each and those that had retained them, carried shields. The group fanned out in an arc, shields out to the front. Those on the borders all looked in the direction they were pointed, while those on the inside lifted their eyes to the sky. I was on the outer right edge of the formation. My position faced me directly into the forest. For a moment, there was absolute stillness and silence. Then, in unison, the formation called: "Clear." I remained silent. The trees were differently shaped.
"Hold." The word was my signal that something was out of the ordinary. The entire formation froze again into silence. The trees had odd shapes throughout, and it only took me a moment to confirm and count.
"Twenty plus targets, all not moving, treeline." There was a subtle rustling as the formation shifted slightly. Those on my side turned to face my direction, while Vikings from the interior shifted outwards to cover their vacated lines of vision. One of the adults beside me spoke.
"I see 'em. I'd estimate about twenny five. Looks to me like we've caught them sleeping. North side, keep your eyes on the forest. If you see movement we want to hear about it." Grunts of ascent from the north side Vikings. Without another word, the whole formation started out to begin a search of the village ruins. I kept my eyes fixed on those shapes. I had been surprised by a dragon once, and I intended that to be the last time. But of course, that brought thoughts of Hiccup flooding into my mind. Where was he? Was he still with the Night Fury? Why didn't the dragon kill him? What was the basis of this… love, that he had spoken of?
I shook my head. Why was I thinking about it? Hiccup was a traitor to his own race! He didn't deserve thinking of. We had entered the ruins now. The smells of charred wood and death lay heavy on the air. The bodies of fallen Vikings lay everywhere in varying states of horrible violence. Some were so charred that they were unrecognizable. Others lay with expressions of agony on their immobile faces, surrounded by their own blood and vitals. It was a gruesome sight. All of the houses lay in ruins, most were still smoking. The Viking at point spoke quietly.
"Alright lads, three north side lookouts to keep an eye on the snoozers, three in the center of town to watch the skies for ambush, everyone else, spread out and search the village for anything useful. And if I catch anyone goin for personal trophies from their own houses they'll feel the bite of my blade." The formation broke and spread outwards from the center of the village. There were already three guards watching the forest, so I began combing through the ruins. It was quite amazing how thorough the dragons had been in their destruction. Except for the large pieces of wood that had made the houses framework, everything else had become ash so fine it was barely more than dust.
A good twenty minutes of searching brought up nothing useful except more ash. Just as I was about to turn back and make my way back to the center of the village, a large burnt out beam beside me shifted slightly. A tiny whimpering sound came from beneath it. I froze. The beam shifted sideways. I looked down at what it had revealed. Beneath the beam was a depression in the ash, like a little bowl. In this bowl was curled a Terrible Terror. Adrenaline shot through my veins and my eye took in the entire scene in an instant. The Terror was slightly undersized, and its curled body was quivering violently. Its eyes were huge with fear and its left foreleg was bent at a horrible angle, dislocated at the shoulder. Its breathing was rapid and blood dripped from a gash in its chest, most likely from a knife, pooling in the depression's bottom.
I reacted instinctively. My knife seemed to leap into my hand. One quick strike to the base of the skull, instant death. My arm whipped back.
"You're better than this."
Hiccup's voice. I heard Hiccup's voice echoing in my head. What had he meant? Then I looked down at the Terror again, and gasped. I couldn't see it as a dragon any more. It was helpless. It had no capacity to harm me. My knife fell from my hand. What was this? Hiccup. He had thought I was beneath him. At first, I'd thought he had been referring to his besting of me in the ring. But now, new thoughts sprung into my head, thick and fast. Hiccup had befriended a dragon. Hiccup had never killed a single dragon. Had he thought.. that he was better because of it? Why was it affecting me so deeply? I should care less!
But try as I might, I could not bring myself to pick up my knife. I looked back to the Terror.
"I know that there is a person somewhere deep inside you Astrid."
The Terror's eyes were still filled with fear. And as it tried to shift away from me, it accidentally moved its injured leg. It hissed with pain and curled tighter around itself.
"Find the person within you."
I acted seemingly without thought. I dropped to one knee and grabbed the Terror's jaw, sealing it closed with one hand. I felt it whimper. Then with one swift movement, I grabbed the injured leg, twisted, and shoved upwards. There was a very loud click. The Terror jerked and froze. I could not believe what had just happened. Here I was, holding I live Terror in my hands, with not a single weapon drawn. I instinctively lifted my hands away and leapt back. The tiny dragon just sat there, staring up at me, with its head cocked to one side. Still not knowing what in the name of Odin I was doing, I pulled on the beam so that it fell and concealed the dragon again.
I picked up my knife, turned, and marched back to the center of town with my back straight as an elder fir.
XXX
Hiccup
For just a moment, I felt fear at the sight of those enormous fangs. Then I remembered myself. My hand lifted automatically and met the oncoming face. I brushed that special spot and pushed against the right shoulder with my other hand. The body first froze, and then dropped away to the left. I rolled at the same time as Toothless and lifted myself to my feet, while he spun around and bared his teeth at the female. After a moment, she recovered and tried to jump to her feet. She stumbled on the first attempt, but managed it on the second. She stood defensively, staring at us. Toothless began to snarl, and Ryshkaa quickly returned it. The dance was about to start over again.
"Hold up!" I jumped between them, my hands outstretched towards both of them. Ryshkaa recoiled and hissed. Toothless' head on the other hand pushed against my palm. His raging snarl swiftly morphed into a purr. I smiled, and Toothless pushed upwards and nuzzled into my side. As he did, I was turned back towards Ryshkaa so that we both faced her again. My hand shifted from his forehead, back and down around his neck, it ended in that special spot. Toothless' body twitched and writhed behind me, racked with pleasure.
"You know… I.. think that.. from now on… you're only allowed… to touch ME like this." I laughed.
"Tell you what, I won't touch another dragon, unless your life is in danger." Toothless thrummed deeply. "Or maybe just when I want to tease you."
"What!" I jumped away as a paw went to swat at my legs.
"WILL YOU STOP DOING THAT!" The thoughts thundered through my head. We both turned towards the female who looked absolutely livid. Our response came in unison.
"Doing what?" Ryshkaa was trembling with anger.
"Stop pretending that the human can speak. Stop pretending that it's intelligent! The fact that it is comfortable standing there beside you is a mark of its own insanity!" Toothless and I slowly turned to each other. She really thought that Toothless was generating my voice. "It cannot hear either of us! No human has ever gained our level of intelligence! It's a dunce! A dolt! A mindless creature." I decided to speak up and crossed my arms.
"You know it's not very nice to insult people without even acknowledging their presence."
"I swear if you continue with this, I will kill you." She addressed Toothless, still totally ignoring me. Her voice was low and dripping menace.
"He's correct Ryshkaa, you're not being very polite." For a moment, it seemed that the female was going to explode with her anger. Her lips were twitching back, flashing glimpses of her fully extended teeth. Her tail twitched from side to side, and her glare could have curdled yak's milk. Then, she took a deep breath, and blew it all out at once.
"There is absolutely no way, that you could convince me, that the human is intelligent." For a moment, there was silence. Then the air was filled with the gurgling sound of Toothless' laughter. I couldn't hear that sound without breaking instantly into a smile. For a moment, Ryshkaa appeared as though steam might fly from her ears. But before she could, Toothless interrupted her rage.
"There is absolutely no possible way that you could convince me that he doesn't understand every word we say. And replies in kind."
"Fine! Watch this! Human!" She barked that last word at me as though I were some kind of dog. "Do a back flip."
For just a moment, it was silent again. Then, a smile slowly spread itself across my face, I slowly began to bend my knees…
XXX
Unknown
The waters of the sea were quiet and flat, far from its regular temperament. The waves that normally stretched halfway up the cliff face, barely touched the rock ledge that ran a mere ten feet above the surface. That was how I decided that I was dreaming. The sea was never that calm. I spilled air from my wings, and dived for the mountainside. I took a moment to pick out the small opening of Home Cave. It was no more than two wingspans across and half a wingspan high. It took prime echo targeting and flying skills to make it through without killing yourself. Poor Skuru. It had been a freak accident when he'd broken his wing. Once within the comforting space, I made my downwards. Without really any knowledge of how I came there, I found myself in the Ancient Hall. Its walls were strangely blank and empty. Then, I came to the far wall.
This wall had for some reason become extremely reflective, and I stood there, staring at the mirror image of myself. I couldn't help but think, "My.. You look terrible my friend." But it seems the dream had other plans for me. The image of my body was contorting. Crunching. Folding inwards . It looked as though I were being compressed down to something tiny. I wanted to look down at myself, but I found that I couldn't move. I stared as my mirror self was compacted into a single point. For a moment, the black speck floated there before me. In the mirror wall, where my body had obscured him, stood a human male. His eyes were round with shock and disbelief. But those eyes were strange. They were full of light, which could not have been a reflection, because there was no other light source. Then, I was blinded by a flash of white fire.
XXX
Toothless
Hiccup hung suspended in the air. I could see each and every one of his hairs swirling and waving around his enormously grinning face. Beyond him, Ryshkaa was frozen. She had been so taken by surprise, that she seemed completely immobile. As Hiccup's legs came back around to catch him, a shudder ran through his body. It would have been invisible to any other being, but I knew more of my Hiccup than any other creature in the world, including myself. This place was still far too cold for Hiccup to live without clothing. As Hiccup landed, he gave a private thought. "Toothless, I'm fine. It's just a little nippy here that's all." I glared at him. But I wasn't angry at Hiccup. I switched the target of my glare, and centered my attention on Ryshkaa, who still hadn't moved. With a small shift of my body, I made as imposing of a figure as I could. My wings were slightly unfurled and my stance square. My voice was a lance with which I threw my anger at the female, low and commanding.
"You will no longer deny my mate's intelligence nor will you speak to him as a lesser being. You will address us both with the respect due a fellow sentient creature. You will help us to hunt a meal for the three of us, and then you will direct us to the nearest human settlement. With that accomplished, or sometime during travel, you will tell us what you did to bring us to this forsaken place, and in general, who you are and what in the name of reality is going on. Sound good? Ryshkaa?"
The female swallowed. Then nodded.
Hiccup gave a very short laugh.
"And all I had to do was a trick and all of our problems are solved. Toothless next time we're threatened remind me to do a backflip." I could not prevent my own chuckle, but the sound was drowned by the gurgling of hunger that rose from my belly.
"Hiccup, when was the last time we ate?" My mate's face morphed into an expression of perplexity.
"I can't even remember. I'm pretty sure it was sometime after we escaped."
"In other words, too long as far your body's needs are concerned.
"I could do with a bite."
"Well then hurry it up." Hiccup gave that smile that never failed to tug on my heart. And his single leap landed him square on my back. I saw Ryshkaa's eyes widen. She lost control for a moment, and I felt her thoughts of utter disbelief buffeting against me. In her mind, there was no possible way that a creature of her species, could allow something as fetid and repulsive as a human to sit astride its back.
As soon as Hiccup was astride me, and his foot secure in the stirrup, I leapt giving a call back to the ground. "So now I guess we find out if you can keep up with us!" Her response was about as intelligent and respectful as I could have expected.
"You have let yourself become nothing more than a mount! Don't you dare compare yourself to me!" And she was after us.
XXX
Hiccup
"You know, I think she might start to like us after you get done baiting each other. Can we at least hunt in peace without turning it into an angry competition?"
"I'll do my best to be civil Love, but I'm afraid that others of our kind aren't very social creatures. If you put two together of the opposite gender, they tend to try to kill each other." We made a wide banking turn as Ryshkaa drew level with us.
"So how does the species even survive?"
"Well, mating season is a thoroughly violent affair. I only know of it from my mother's teachings."
"Our mating wasn't exactly traditional for either of our peoples was it? Hey, maybe our like gender is the reason we don't try to tear each other's throats out?" We were high in the cloudless sky, though it was hard to tell with the rolling fields of white below us that seemed to stretch on forever.
"You just might be right. Say, that looks like some kind of rabbit don't you think?"
"Yes, but this meal is going to be very small if that's all that's available. Maybe we should ask her if there's anything bigger around. She might know this territory." Toothless wasn't happy about it, but he put forth the question anyway.
"Ryshkaa! Do you know these lands? Is there anything around larger than a rabbit?" The response was disbelieving and questioning.
"How long did you spend in the south? This is our species' home. Surely you.. I guess you don't. Wow. Yes, there is larger fare than hares. We hunt caribou!" And with that, she tipped into a slanted dive that didn't send her too quickly towards land. It still gradually increased her speed though, and she pulled ahead.
Toothless was about to lift his wings and give chase angrily, but I intervened. "We have no experience of this land. She does. So long as she doesn't try to leave us, there is no reason for us not to let her lead." Toothless grumbled, but otherwise remained silent.
"Hey Toothless?"
"Hiccup?"
"If your mother taught you how to live as a Shade, why didn't she teach you about finding food here in your home?" I felt a painful pang resound through our mind. And I sensed that Toothless was reliving a memory that was hidden from me. "Toothless, I'm sorry. You don't have to tell me anything. We can just forget the whole thing." The dragon beneath me let out a sigh.
"Hiccup, in terms of mind, there is no distinction between us. Why should I keep things hidden from you?" And with that, my surroundings fell away.
Warmth engulfs me. Mother's scent saturates the air, full, deep and comforting. Happiness. That is the only emotion known to me. Mother says that my mind is ready now. I can start to learn about the world. Predators and prey. Snow and ocean. I will know all there is to know soon. Mother says she'll be very proud when we strike out on our own. Both me and my sister will be all grown up. But we can't explore yet. Mother says that winter is still raging outside. But we can go out in a few weeks. Just a few more weeks. Something brushed against my mind and I opened my eyes. I was curled snuggly against my Mother's belly, her tale securing me and keeping me from all danger. Farther up, towards Mother's head, lay my sister. Her scent was in the air too, though not as powerful as mother's. It was hard and sharp, familiar and comforting, and yet not all that appealing. She was about my size, though obviously a bit smaller. But as I looked at her, that strange feeling brushed against my mind again. Mother was still sleeping.
"Hey." Sister twitched. "Hey!" I could feel her little mind now, it wasn't tucked snuggly inside the den as it should be. It was ranged out far and wide, outside of Mothers protection. "What are you doing? Mother said it's dangerous to go outside before we know more!" Sister's mind retreated into the den.
"Shut up! You'll wake her!" she hissed.
"She should be woken!" I shouted back.
"Look it's alright! I didn't go very far and I didn't find anything living!"
"Who cares? Mother said it was extremely dangerous for anything to range outside the den!" It was then that mother finally started to awaken. My loud mind voice had penetrated her exhausted sleep.
"What's going on little ones? Who's shouting? I need my rest if we're to get out of here when summer finally comes."
"Ryshkaa extended her mind outside!"
"You little sneak! I'm gonna.." Mother cut her off.
"Is this true? Ryshkaa! You tell me right now. Did you go outside?"
Sister hung her head. "Yes."
With an almighty surge, Mother was on her feet. Both me and my sister were sent tumbling to the ground. Mother's voice was now tense and full of concern. "We must leave. Now!"
"But Mother! You said that to leave the den before you got your strength back.."
"I know what I said! But staying here now would achieve the same result, only faster."
Mother had just started to rise slowly to her feet, when there was the sound of snuffling above us. She froze, and instinctually, we froze along with her, huddled in the small space beneath her legs. The den's walls were all close; there was barely any room between Mother's back and the ceiling while she was crouched like this. Directly ahead and above, the snow was shifting, shaking. Mother's tail lifted and whipped backwards. Cold air whipped across my back, and the shock almost caused me to cry out. Then mother was yelling in my head.
"Go! Out that opening! See if you can find shelter and stay together!" Mother's jaws opened and an explosion of blue fire nearly blinded me. Both Ryshkaa and I turned and ran through the break in our home. Icy wind blasted my face as we staggered through a passage that seemed to have been formed long ago. The snow was stiff beneath our feet, firm with the freezing of time. Mother must have made this tunnel long ago. Possibly for just this purpose. Behind us Mother's anger exploded in thoughts and sound. And over top of her angry snarling, was a stranger, lilting cry. High pitched and completely unknown to me. I kept running. Ryshkaa was thoroughly distressed and her running path was wild and lumbering, as if she wasn't seeing what was directly in front of her. She almost ran straight into the wall when the passage curved. Finally, before us stretched a gash through which loose snow was flying. Mother had said something like this, that snow actually fell from the sky. But I had never seen a sky before, much less snow falling from it.
We careened through the gash and into a giant mound of cold, fluffy snow. It was most disorienting, and at first I just stood there. Above us was empty space, completely devoid of any kind of ceiling. The black fabric of emptiness was dotted with tiny points of light, too numerous to count. The air moved quickly freezing and full of snow. Far off behind us, I could hear those weird high pitched chirping noises and they made my blood cold. I ran forward, away from that noise. But I stopped, because I realized that Ryshkaa was not beside me. Turning, I saw her standing on top of the hill above the place where we had come out of the tunnel, staring off towards the source of the sounds.
"What are you doing! Mother told us to stay together!" I kept my mind confined within my own body. Extending the mind had gotten us into this mess. I could feel Ryshkaa's mind spreading out rapidly, especially in the direction of the sounds.
"I can still feel her! I have to help her! It's my fault!"
"You can't do anything!" But she ignored me, and leapt off into the darkness. An enormous, yawning pit of sorrow opened in my gut and as I fell, I heard Ryshkaa scream.
…
…
…..
….
There was a downward jerk and I was falling. The ground vanished and I landed on Toothless' back. My mind was reeling, and I leaned over and retched over Toothless' shoulder.
"Are you ok?" My breathing was labored and ragged, and a sheen of sweat was rapidly freezing on my skin.
"T- Toothless, I'm so sorry!"
"It's fine Hiccup. I layed the memory to rest long ago."
"B- But, Ryshkaa! Isn't that.."
"I'm fairly certain that it's an extremely unlikely coincidence. She smells nothing like my sister did, and the eye color is slightly different."
"That's some coincidence." We both fell silent.
"Hey you two!" We both started and stared at the female flying beside us. Her demeanor had changed completely, her eyes were twinkling with excitement and the control fins at the base of her tale were flicking rapidly, causing her to shake slightly in flight. I decided to test her new good mood.
"What's gotten into you?" She eyed me.
"Human, if that is you speaking then I suggest you hold on! The heard is in sight!" And indeed she was correct. Just inside the horizon, the ground was marked by many, many dark smudges. "Last one with dinner digs the next shelter!" And she closed her wings, and dived. We were not going to let her think us soft southerners. We closed our wings and were immediately on her tail.
Ryshkaa opened the slits along her sides. The wind howeled and let out that peeling shriek that was signature to the Shade. Before the heard of massive mammals below could even react, she impacted one of the large females, directly at the base of the neck where it joined with the spine. The creature dropped on the spot. As the mammal fell to the ground with a very wet crunch, the entire heard made loud bugling sounds and bolted in a generally northward direction. Toothless and I had to make a quick course correction so that we were traveling in the same direction. We leveled out over the heard at about the same speed. I locked the tailfin in the gliding position and leapt. Landing on the back of another large female. The beast panicked and started running back and forth in an attempt to shake me off. The rest of the heard pulled ahead whilst I tried to subdue my new mount. Failing in my attempts to find the weak point at the base of the spine that Ryshkaa had used, I instead grabbed a handful of shaggy fur on the shoulder and leapt, swinging myself around to cling to the mammals chest. I bit into its throat and tore outwards. Thick, hot, heavy gouts of blood sprayed everywhere. I had severed the windpipe as far as I could tell.
But it took the better part of ten minutes for the beast to collapse. It's blood smearing the snow everywhere it ran. It wasn't the prettiest of sights. As I looked up, Toothless rolled to a stop beside me in a heap.
"Ok, in the future, I kill dinner, and you can land." My laughter was interrupted by the arrival of Ryshkaa, dragging her bloodless kill behind her.
"Not the cleanest hunt I've ever seen." I grinned.
"Well hey, it's our first time on one of these things. At least we got one." I could feel the female's mental smile.
"That you did." Toothless shoved his way between us, shielding me from Ryshkaa's view. He lay there and curled around me and the kill.
"You need to eat Hiccup. It's too cold here. Drink as much of the blood as you can. It will help." I smiled at his annoyed expression. His last statement had been public, so I did not hide mine.
"Of course Love, but I insist you have the first bite." Toothless tore into the carcass. Ryshkaa dragged her meal around so that she could see us, then settled down and started to dig in. Throughout the meal, I obeyed Toothless' instruction and drank as much of the beast's blood as I could. It was rich and filling, and it sent warmth tingling down through my core. My teeth were not strong enough to cope with the bones, so I left those for Toothless. The muscles of the creature were thick and full. I could taste the vitality flowing out of them and into me as I swallowed. Ryshkaa stayed silent for the most part, and all I saw her do was chew, and stare at us with wide eyes. Those eyes were empty of the anger that had filled them for all the time I'd known her, now all I could see there was an intense curiosity.
Toothless grabbed a bone from the foreleg and swallowed it whole. "You know Hiccup, you really should eat the bones. They strengthen your own, as well as your teeth."
"Um Toothless? I really think that I would shatter my teeth before I broke one of this thing's bones." And Toothless gave me a dragon grin.
"I know, so I've done the chewing for you." My eyebrow quirked.
"Is that so?" Toothless' grin widened.
"It's a common practice to predigest the bits that hatchlings can't handle, so that they can one day be strong enough to digest them on their own." Well really how bad could it be? I'd already eaten a fish that he'd regurgitated. Who knew how this would taste?
"Alright, hit me." Toothless lifted himself, and reared back onto his haunches. I scooted so that my back was to his stomach. He curled over me.
"Open your mouth." I did as he requested. Toothless face descended and his jaw opened. His delicious scent with its fishy overtone washed over me. The same gurgling sound from that day weeks ago emanated from his chest. What dropped from his throat this time was not a fish, but rather, a paste that was rather thick and off-white. It fell very precisely into my mouth, with barely any spill. It had the taste of the Caribou, but I could also detect Toothless' unique flavor. All in all, it was delicious. I swallowed every last drop. Toothless' head lifted away and he regarded me with extreme amusement glinting in his eye.
"Good?"
"It's very.. Gulp. ..bracing. But I'm pretty sure that bones regurgitated by any other dragon would just taste nasty." The dragon's eyeridge rose.
"Are you trying to flatter me?"
"I am merely trying.. I rose to my feet so that Toothless' face was within a centimeter of mine. ..to state the truth." I extended my tongue, and ran it along his lower jaw, removing a small drop of bone that had fallen upon it. "It's extremely tasty." My tongue continued over his lipless mouth, reaching the other side and descending down his neck, following the large vein that continuously pumped his life to his head. "Though, I think you are still the tastiest thing I know of." His body was shaking slightly and his breathing had deepened. I was just placing my hand against one of the sensitive places on his torso, when Toothless suddenly froze and ceased breathing. I froze too, and listened hard. Behind me was the sound of something else breathing, very lightly, as though trying not to be heard.
As I turned slowly, Toothless unfolded his wings and brought them forward at the same pace. By the time I was facing the same direction as Toothless, there was a protective screen of scaled leathery skin between me and the creature. There sat Ryshkaa, with her head on her paws. Her eyes were large, as if she were trying not to miss a single detail.
"You know, I think you are definitely the strangest human I have ever observed."
Toothless sunk back down to his stomach, his left wing folding back while the right wing pulled me backwards and down with him. He turned to curl and lie on his side, which left me nestled into the crook between his leg and neck. It was extremely warm and I could barely feel the cold of the snow and ice. I felt a half smile dance across my face.
"Hiccup, she's starting to sound like you. I assure you Ryshkaa, you won't meet another human quite like Hiccup."
"Care to explain why you are physically intimate with a human of all things?" A snort emanated from above me.
"Not a chance. I'm holding you to your agreement. You're explaining who you are, why we're here, and where the hell the nearest place we can procure clothes from."
"Could you at least tell me why your human doesn't have clothes?"
"Actually Toothless I was wondering that myself."
"You lost your clothing without even noticing? Isn't that something that humans are very aware of?" That statement filled my head with an image. I saw Astrid and the other teenagers of Berk, running screaming with no clothes on. I started laughing. Toothless gurgled his amusement at exactly the same time. Ryshkaa's eyes widened slightly in puzzlement.
"Humans are normally, very, protective of their clothing. I happen to not care in the slightest."
"Hiccup was soaked through and freezing. I had to warm him up. Wet clothing saps heat from the human body. I flamed him, destroying the clothing, evaporating the water, and warming him up in the process. Now if you could please tell us where we are."
The female considered for a moment, then spoke.
"I was trying to get home, but with you heavy lugs holding on to me, I didn't have the energy. I barely managed to stop before the expenditure killed me. We've crash-landed in the tundra between the Nordic seas, and my home. I won't be able to tell exactly where we are until this evening. When the stars come out, I'll guide you to the nearest human settlement and we can part ways as pleasantly friendly acquaintances." I smiled.
"Sounds wonderful."
XXX
Astrid
The scouting party hurried back through the door in single file. I was part of the rear guard, watching all directions for attack. It seemed that the dragons were still asleep, or at least they hadn't moved. I was the last in and the crack before me shrunk disappeared with a thud. I turned and was greeted with the sight of Gobber consulting with the leader of the group. We had not managed to find much of use, a few tools and some firewood that had escaped from the dragon's fury, buried under ash.
"Alright, we will discuss this further this evening." Gobber gave me a nod before turning and walking away.
I was just about to go for a drink, when I saw a distinctive hunched figure heading towards me. The wizened, old, hunched figure of the Elder stepped from the shadows and stopped before me, leaning heavily on her staff. She lifted one hand and crooked her finger at me, then turned and proceeded to walk back the way she came. What did the Elder want with me? I followed.
We passed the other children at their table, speaking in hushed voices among themselves. As we passed, they all looked up and stared at me. All except for Tuffnut. He continued to stare emptily into space. I gave them a nod.
At the very back of the hall, we came to a large skin that separated a small area from the rest. The Elder pulled it aside, and pointed to the opening. I stepped passed the skin. There lay Stoic. Most of his mighty form was swathed in bandages, and his lower half was covered in a piece of light fabric. His eyes seemed to be sunken, and all I could see of them was a glimmer that shown out of the deep shadowed sockets. His chest rose as he took a deep breath; the expansion in his breath caused him pain and he winced.
I had never, ever seen Stoic the Vast, wince.
When he spoke, his voice grated and rasped, as though he were older than the Elder. I knew that his throat must have been destroyed by all of the smoke he inhaled.
"Astrid." And he gasped as I watched pain and tension shoot through his body. "Astrid, please. I might not last." Another deep, painful breath. "If I don't live long enough.." Gasp "..you must promise me something."
I placed my right fist over my heart. "Anything sir."
"When you next see… Hiccup, please.. Tell him I'm sorry. And.. Beg him.. On my behalf.. For.. Forgiveness."
My eyes widened. How could Hiccup possibly have this degree of power over people? I nodded. Stoic subsided and his eyes closed. I turned, threw the skin aside, and stormed from the makeshift healers post. As I stomped toward the mead casks, the image of the Terror's face flashed before my eyes. What the hell had I done? I had assisted the enemy. I was a traitor. I was as bad as Hiccup! No, Hiccup had twisted me in this way. This was his fault! It was all his fault! If I ever saw him again, I would deliver Stoic's plea, then I would try to wring his neck.
