The mercenary Chapter 3

After Astrid had gone looking for the leader of the group of the syndicate she then went back to the bar to look for the people that she had met. when she got there they had vanished.

"No no dammit fuck where are they! goddamit I had them, I fucking talked to them and they offered to help and I refused them, fuck!." When Astrid went to the boat she told her friends what had happened and they were in shock.

"Astrid calm down"

"I can't calm down Fishlegs!" yelled Astrid as she looked at her friends "I had him and I let him go, I failed!"

Ruffnut looked up "Um Astrid we still have gold im sure we can find another mercenary on the island. "

"Your right...all is not lost im sure there is someone here who can help us."

Eret looked at Heather as they were walking away from the bar "we could help her, I mean she may have gold"

"meh, she refused our help, she only wants us for our dragons."

Eret raised an eyebrow." what got you so cynical? Your the one who is usually with Hiccup trying to tell me its good to do charity work. And plus don't they all only want us for our dragons?"

"I know but It just seems that if they only want us for our dragons and not for our skills as expert fighters"

Eret stoped and grabbed Heather's shoulders with his hands. " didn't we agree that doing this was the best way to get the word out that dragons and humans don't have to kill each other and plus, they are dragon killers this could be our chance to educate them "

She looked at him but realized that he was right. Eret had always been like a big brother to her. when she was a slave on Drago's ship Eret always stepped in when she would get tormented by the crew members, when the crew members would get a little too drunk and try to attack her he would always put them back inline and when Hiccup and her where caught planing there escape one night, he had helped her rather than turn them in. "You know he might not like the fact the job is in berk," she said looking up at him.

Eret looked at her and seemed to sigh " I talked to him about berk and we flew over berk once and I asked him if he wanted to go down and see for himself but he just said no. I think he's just too nervous to go back so we just flew over and... Well... don't tell him I told you this but when we landed at a peak somewhere and after he just started to cry. I told him he can go when he is ready. Do you know what he said?"

Heather looked at Eret with concerned eyes, Hiccup never told her about this. " no what?"

"He killed my family. Drago, he killed them all. I hugged him as tightly as I could while he sobbed in my shoulder and said to him not all of your family. And when he looked at me I said again to him, not all of your family. Heather and I aren't going anywhere"

Heather looked at Eret and hugged him " we have all been throw so much but he's been through some of the most, I can't even think of some of the stuff Drago did to him without wanting to just hug him. Hiccup puts on that tuff guy act around other people but you and I know that funny little kid in there who will spend hours in the air just to spend time with the dragons"

Eret pulled away " come on we at least owe it to him to tell him about it and then he can make up his own mind"

After Hiccup woke up he and toothless went out for a ride and when they landed at a small cliff top Hiccup and toothless fell asleep under a tree.

When they woke up Hiccup was having a nightmare. This was normal, Hiccup had a lot of memories that he could not forget. Memories of when Drago would beat him but also when he would force Hiccup to do horrible things. When he woke up screaming, Toothless started licking his face.

"Thanks, bud"

Toothless looked at him licking him all over in a second,

"Oh come on you know that doesn't wash out"

Toothless stood up and got into a playful (come and get me) stance

"Do you know what you need? BELLY RUBS!"

As Hiccup and toothless started running around Heather and Eret came and floe down riding windshear and Bonecrusher.

"Hiccup you're finally up," Heather said While getting off of wind shear

Hiccup looked up with a smirk on his face "ah yes nothing that a tree nap in the forest couldn't fix"

" Eret and I may have found a job," she said while walking over to Hiccup

Hiccup looked at her intrigued "Really what is it protection, training, destruction, defense, bounty?

Heather and Eret came closer and they walked towards the edge of the cliff "defense maybe some training, but that's not the problem"

"Uh care to explain," he said in a sarcastic voice.

"The jobs from berk," said Eret

Hiccup went from looking down to looking straight up, he soon spoke "What did you say"

" nothing she just wanted to hired us and our dragons to defend berk from raiders," Heather said quickly

"I don't know berk is kind of a touchy subject for me, im not sure I can just go back" Hiccup exclaimed

Heather made Hiccup turn to her "but this way you're doing it for a job, just think about it"

"I will, common toothless let's go for a ride"

Toothless came and Hiccup put on his mask and flew toward the town

"What do you mean this is not enough, im telling you that there is more at my village!" Astrid yelled while staring at a man.

The man looked at Astrid "Sorry but if you want me and my men's help that sack needs to get a lot bigger.

Fishlegs pulled Astrid aside " come on we can find other people"

Before they left Astrid turned to the man she had to tried to hire. "Do you know where I can find the dragon guild syndicate?"

The men looked at each other than at Astrid.

"You can't afford them" Astrid was immediately told to leave.

When they were outside Astride turned to Fishlegs "let's face it I failed, no skilled mercenary is going to help us"

Fishlegs looked at Astrid with determination "we haven't failed yet, there is still time"

Astrid was frustrated but was glad to have a good friend like Fishlegs with her in these difficult times. As they were walking they saw Ruffnut walking towards them.

Astrid soon asked, "Ruff did you find anyone who we could hire or who knows where the syndicate is."

"You know it's weird it's like they're all afraid. When I walked in to bar I asked some guys if they knew the dragon guild syndicate and they looked at me as though they'd seen a ghost."

Fishlegs soon interjected, " that's weird if their leader got his ass kicked then why do they fear them?"

Astrid paused and then spoke, "I saw the fight he had with 15 guys I have been going over it in my head and I have to admit he was not bad for being drunk out of his mind and with only a knife ."

"Can't imagine him sobber," ruff said jokingly.

They started walking and talking to more people having the same result.

The finally stopped to take a break from looking and started toward an alleyway when Fishlegs notice two men were following them. "Uh Astrid, don't look behind but I think where being followed."

Astrid eyes widen suddenly "Fishlegs, RUFF RUN!"

Fishlegs and ruffnut ran behind Astrid as they ran threw the streets while other people ran after them, they made a turn trying to getaway. They turned down an alleyway hoping to lose them. She could see the end of the alleyway when they saw men coming out of the other end

Astrid stopped dead in her tracks " shit we're boxed in. ruff, fish protect my back."

The men who where fallowing them showed up behind them with 4 more guys. 4 in front 4 behind, Fishlegs pulled out a hammer while Astrid and Ruffnut pulled out axes.

The men started to walk toward them they had them boxed in when one of the men spoke: "I thought I recognized you."

Astrid realized the man was talking to her "you're going to recognize me real soon if you come any closer" she said angrily.

The men laughed "your that girl from that island we raided awhile back, ya I remember you, we fought once. Well, consider this payback bitch!"

Astrid was soon charged by the men and she swung her ax the first man went to stab but she parried and hit him in his back with her ax, the next man used his hammer to knock her over but ruff slashed the man's arm before he could finish her. She then looked over to Fishlegs who had two people on the ground as he was hitting them with his hammer when suddenly she saw a man behind him about to stab him. She grabbed her ax and charged the man before he could hurt her friend and she tackled the man to the ground. Like a berserker with a bloodthirst, she used the butt of her ax to bludgeon the man's face. she turned around to see Ruff get thrown to the side and then hit the floor. her body unconscious.

Her and Fishlegs watched in horror as their friend was not moving as 2 raiders stepped over her. they Both let out an angry scream and charged at the remaining raiders, Astrid and Fishlegs hit the men as hard as they could but one of the raiders matched Fishlegs attacks and another countered and struck at his side. Fishlegs grabbed his side as he hugged the side of the wall and then passed out. Astrid's eyes widened as she saw her friend go limp after grabbing his side. She could only think the worst. She then saw 6 more raiders appear behind her. She clutched her ax saying a small prayer.

"Odin give me strength"

she turned to her attackers as she saw one of them bring ruffs limp body to where she was, holding her by the hair. Astrid's eyes filled with rage.

"I WILL KILL YOU FOR THAT!" the men rushed her. As one ax came down she dodged and then she countered swinging hers into the side of the man's face, another person behind her swung a sword but she duct under while three more men with shields tried to ram her. She killed another when he tried to stab her and she deflected it into another person. As she was using her ax to block attacks and then counter she didn't realize a man behind her. He got up and grabbed a broken shield to hit her over the head. As she fell to the ground things where blurry and everything sounded muffled but she could see the raiders dragging her friends and laying them near her as if they where dead bodies. She could hear them speak a few words but things sounded muffled. she realized they were robbing them. She tried to regain conciseness but she could only see blurred outlines of the people.

Suddenly she could hear a high whistling noise, she could not make it out but the people around her suddenly dropped what they took and grabbed their weapons. She saw an explosion and a boom. then a dark blur in the corner of her eye was walking to the men who had attacked her. She didn't see what the person was wearing but she could see that the person was holding in his right arm a flaming object. When he made their way to them she could only hear them say "Dragos champion". they charged at him but she could only see the flaming object move fast cutting throw the men quickly and deadly. Eventual there was one man left standing and he ran away, she could see that the man was running in her direction but in an instant, the fire object being thrust threw the center of the man. The last thing she saw before she passed out was the fire object disappearing and the thing that killed those men slowly walk towards her and she could only see the resemblance of a hand reaching for her.

Hiccup was flying over the town he then started talking to toothless could talk back.

" I don't know bud what should I do"

toothless made a slight grunting noise

" I don't want to leave people who need our help you know that but this is berk were talking about, I mean I'm just not sure I'm ready"

toothless shook his head " yeah I know if I don't intervene now then there may not be a berk, to begin with, but that's where my father died, the only thing Drago told me about him was that he was a great warrior from that village what am I supposed to do with that"

toothless made a turn to the right and Hiccup said out loud

" maybe if I go back I'll be able to find more information about who my father really was"

toothless made another grunting noise "maybe my mom is there maybe she's still alive. no, I doubt it the way Drago talked he seemed pretty sure of himself that he killed them all."

Suddenly Hiccup heard a yell. he toled toothless to double-time it. when they reach the sound of the scream. he could hear raiders that he recognized from a bandit group surrounding a girl who was holding an ax she was covered in some blood and two people were next to her.

Hiccup leaned into toothless is ear

" that doesn't seem like a fair fight 8 on 1 what do you say we get in there and even the odds"

toothless made a grunting noise and immediately they started to go up higher into the sky and grab altitude as they were doing this he saw the girl get knocked to the ground he then yelled to toothless

"Come on bud we got to go"

They then went for a straight nose dive and aimed to the side where most of the men were huddled up Hiccup yelled to toothless to throw a plasma blast at them and toothless complied sending one right in the center of their location sending some of the men flying. He then jumped off of toothless and made a turn to avoid hitting the ground. he put on his mask and proceeded to hit the ground.

"... good evening, gentlemen, I'm sorry but these people are friends of mine and I cannot let you hurt them. also, you cannot have their stuff so if you could just give that back to me then great"

All the men looked at him. most of them we're still in shock eventually one of the attackers spoke "You're him...you're Dragos champion"

Hiccup looked up and then started to slowly walk over in a casual way "listen, you don't need to die, just walk away"

One of the men spoke quickly "we not afraid of Dragos champion"

Hiccup was still walking and was near the girl who was there laying on the ground he could see her eyes were still kind of open when he then made a startling discovery.

it was the girl from the bar. the one who had to try to help him but Heather told her not to

" Listen, guys, I'm feeling generous today how about you guys go give me back the money that you stole and I'll let you leave in one piece or I can have my night fury stand down and you can deal with me personally"

None of the attackers said anything but one man immediately went to stab at Hiccup, he pulled out his sword and ignited it. he had built his flaming sword himself, he was very proud of it and it had become a part of him, it was hot and it was terrifying to the enemy. He dodged the enemy's attack slicing off his arm quickly running at the other attackers. one of the men hid behind a shield moving in with an ax Hiccup quickly jumped next to the wall and then use the wall to get above the attacker jumping on the shield pushing the man down.

using the momentum from jumping on the shield he then went and stabbed the man behind him. He then saw the rest of the attackers start to move towards him. he put out his sword and grabbed three knives from behind his back that he had and threw them at the attackers two of the attackers were killed the last one went into a shield that one of the attackers were holding.

two more swordsmen came at him he parried one of them stabbing him in the head and the other one he was able to block and then slice through his leg his sword he had sharpened to a razor's edge chopping through legs was no hard feet. the man with the shield in front of him charged at him with a smaller ax and Hiccup took out a knife from underneath his wrist and threw it at the man's ankle tripping him he then stepped on the man's skull and struck through the center of the back with his sword he turned around to see the man who he had used to gain all this momentum trying to run away. he couldn't let this happen, if he had escaped word would get out.

he quickly used as much speed as he could use but he realized he probably couldn't catch him so he threw his flaming sword and to Hiccup surprise it went in the dead center through the man's sternum as he fell to the ground Hiccup removed it and then unlit it.

he then looked over to the girl who was laying down. she was really badly hurt. her head was bleeding and he reached down to pick her up he then made a whistling noise. Toothless came down from the air and he loaded the girl with blonde hair on to Toothless back, then he loaded the other larger man into toothless claws very gently. the man had received a slash to his stomach it wasn't too deep and Hiccup didn't think that it was life-threatening he had received wounds similar to this before and he was a lot skinnier, a wound like this on him would be much more serious but this person was very large and had a lot more skin to cut through. he then loaded the third person on the toothless's back and he then said to toothless

" We got to get these people home so Heather can help stitch them up"

As they made their way to their home he looked at the sack of gold that he found on the floor when he was lifting the girls up onto toothless. It wasn't very much he had received much larger pays for jobs that required less work. as he reached his home he yelled to Heather to help him bring the wounded people inside. Heather rushed out and immediately and dragged the larger person inside Eret came rushing out as soon as he understood what was happening and grabbed one of the girls. they brought them inside and laid them down and Heather grabbed her medicine and other supplies and immediately started to patch them up. Hiccup and Eret backed away letting her work.

One of Heather's responsibilities on Drago's ship was taking care of Hiccup when he came back each day from training with cuts and bruises or when Drago had sent him on missions and he would come back had learned from the elders before she became a slave on Drago's ship and due to all the experience she had treating Hiccups very numerous wounds she knew what she was doing.