Chapter 4: Fire
A thin, rising whistle pierced Astrid's dreams. Half asleep, she stared up at the roof with a mounting sense of dread, wondering what on Midgard could make that noise. A purple light flared, highlighting the cracks in the wood above her, and an instant later an explosion shattered the night.
In a blink of an eye, Astrid was wide awake and halfway out of bed. "Night Fury" she cursed, scrambling for her clothes.
Several more flashes of light - this time orange - lit the room while she hurriedly dressed, and snatched up her axe from its usual place.
The rest of her family were already in the main room of the house when Astrid rushed down the stairs. Her father was also dressed for battle, carrying his weapons of choice - the sword and shield. Her mother looked between the two of them, a solemn expression on her face. "Be safe out there," she said, kissing her husband on the cheek, and pulling Astrid into a quick hug. "Both of you."
"What about me?"
Astrid turned around to see her younger brother clutching the hand-axe that they used for chopping firewood.
"Not now Orvar," her father growled, "Put that back!"
"But dad!" he complained petulantly, "I'm twelve years old! I want to fight with you and Astrid!"
"Orvar, do what he says." her mother commanded.
His grip on the axe loosened and the head thudded against the floor.
"I know you want to fight, Litla Drekann," Astrid said softly, taking a step towards her brother. She gripped the center of the axe's haft in one hand and his his free hand in the other, guiding him into a basic two-handed ready stance. "But I need you to do something more important." She released her grip. The axe wobbled, but he kept it aloft.
"What?" he asked breathlessly.
She placed a hand on his shoulder, "I need you to stay here and look after mother, so dad and I don't have to worry about her when we're fighting. Okay?"
Orvar nodded and opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by the rising note of a war horn that rang out over the clash and clamour of fighting; the raid alarm.
"Astrid, we need to go"
With one last look at her brother, she turned to the door. "Right behind you, dad."
Astrid followed her father out into the night. The night-vison torches had already been lit, and she could see several monstrous shadows flitting back back and forth in their light. Draconic roars and Viking battle cries rang out through the darkness. The raid horn sounded again; two short bursts in quick succession - the signal for every unengaged warrior to fall back and regroup. Astrid took a deep breath, preparing herself for battle, and took off towards the sound of the horn.
A chill ran down Astrid's spine as she and her father arrived at the village centre; the space before the mead hall's steps was barely half full. She remembered previous raids when the staging area had been packed with defenders. How many warriors did Stoick take on his nest hunt?
"Is this all of us?" Gobber called from partway up the steps - with the chief and Spitelout away on the hunt, the smith was in charge of the village's defence.
"Most of us, sir," a voice replied, "Björn and Friðrik went after a Zippleback in the upper meadows, and Birgit is chasing a Nadder away from the fish warehouses."
"Very well," Gobber replied. "Hoark, What have we got?"
"Nadders, Gronckles, Zipplebacks, Nightmares," the veteran scout hesitated, "and the Night Fury."
A palpable chill went through the crowd of fearless Viking warriors at the mention of the mysterious demon of the night. Astrid heard a man next to her mutter a prayer to Thor.
"Right then you lousy lot!" Gobber yelled. "Are we sheep? Or are we Vikings?!"
The crowd roared back at him.
"That's more like it!" he shouted, and then began barking out orders, dispatching groups to defend different parts of the village. Within a minute, the square had cleared, leaving only Astrid, Gobber and the other teens.
"Where do you want me, sir?" Astrid asked, stepping up to the aging smith. This could be her chance; with half the village gone, she'd finally get an opportunity to show her skills and reclaim her family's honour.
"Fire duty," he replied, glancing at her briefly, then hurrying towards his shop.
"What?" she exclaimed, "You've seen me in the ring, you know what I can do. You need me on the front lines!"
Gobber stopped abruptly and rounded on her. "What I saw in the ring yesterday," he growled, "was somebody who almost got her friends get killed in a in a failed attempt to take down a dragon single-handed."
Astrid took a step back, in all her years she'd never seen the usually jovial smith genuinely angry.
"Glory seekers aren't an asset on the battlefield, Astrid, they're a liability." he continued. "Don't become one. Fire duty. Now."
Astrid stared wordlessly after the smith as he waddled towards his shop.
"What was that about?" Ruffnut asked, coming up behind her.
"Nothing," Astrid growled, angrily slinging her axe across her back. She glanced up at the flickering orange light on the horizon and turned to the rest of the fire crew. "Come on, Let's get moving before half the village burns to the ground."
Hiccup paced the confines of his cove prison agitatedly. He'd felt strangely lethargic all day, he'd assumed it was a consequence of his overexertion the day before, but then, as the sun slipped behind the cliff walls and the sky darkened his body woke up.
Then the dragons had flown over.
The first sign of their approach had been an almost subsonic chattering that made the frills on the sides of his head twitch. The sound was so low he'd almost thought he was imagining it, until he'd heard the whispering of wings and seen the dragons fly over his hideout. Even against the dark sky, his sensitive eyes could pick out their forms from the blackness. It was almost as if his gaze was subconsciously drawn to the the other dragons.
Less than a minute after the flock had flown over, the clash and clamour of combat had started. To his sensitive ears, the shouts and cries of pain sounded like he was right in the middle of the battle, rather than cowering miserably in the forest some distance away. Letting out a subconscious whine, he dropped to the ground and pressed his forepaws to the sides of his head in a vain attempt to block out the noise.
It took him a moment to realise the sound of rushing wings he heard was coming from nearby and not from the distant battle. With a jolt, he scrambled to his paws and spun around to see an emerald green Nadder coming in to land in the cove. It landed a couple paces away and gracefully folded its wings, looking him up and down.
Don't panic! he told himself, if it thinks you're another dragon it might not attack.
"So this is what the Night Fury hid from me" it said. Hiccup shuddered unconsciously at the voice, it wasn't just that it was coming from a dragon - he'd long suspected that they were intelligent and could communicate - there was something about the way the words almost echoed in his head and how his head-frills shifted in time with the sounds that felt wrong. "A full transformation," the dragon continued. The voice was female, he thought. "I'm impressed, she must have been storing up her power for decades, waiting for the right moment."
"Hello?" Hiccup wished his limited instincts included draconic social interaction. "Who are you? What are you talking about?"
The Nadder finally met his gaze, the great reptile's slit-like pupils swelled and it adopted an almost sympathetic expression. "Oh, I'm sorry,"she said, "This is all new to you, this must be very confusing."
"I-I don't know what you're talking about," he said, trying vainly to keep his voice level.
The Nadder's eyes narrowed to slits and her tail-spines bristled. "You shouldn't lie to me," she growled icily. She blinked and suddenly the sympathetic expression was back. "I know what the Night Fury did to you" she crooned "I know that you're human, or at least you used to be."
Hiccup sat back on his haunches with a huff. So much for pretending to be a dragon, he thought. He studied the new arrival curiously, she knew that he was a human, and yet she was still looking at him with that sympathetic expression, like she actually wanted to help him.
"Who are you?" he repeated.
"I am the protector of the dragons" she replied "I protect my flock from harm and guide them to the most prosperous feeding grounds."
Hiccup blinked at the odd reply. "Can you turn me back?" he asked hopefully.
Other dragon bowed her head and crooned softly. "I'm sorry, I cannot," she said regretfully, "My powers cannot help you; only the Night Fury can truly wield the Aür, and she used up all of her power transforming you."
Hiccup's legs gave out and he slumped to the ground. He was stuck in this godsforsaken body. He would never see his father or his home again. He screwed his eyes shut and struggled not to cry.
"Perhaps this was for the best" The Nadder suggested gently.
Hiccup raised his head and glared at her. "Why would you ever say that?!" he hissed.
"You have been given the body of a Night Fury; you have the strength and agility of the most powerful of dragon species, and a lifespan a hundred times that of your human body. What is there to miss?"
"Oh, how about my family and my tribe?" He shot back acidly, "And what use is the body of a Night Fury if I don't even know how to use my wings?"
"I can show you how."
"Oh..." Hiccup went silent. His wings twitched unconsciously. Before that moment he'd only considered flight as an abstract concept - he was a dragon and had wings, he knew that in theory he could fly - now he actually considered the idea of him flying, soaring through the air and feeling the wind beneath his wings. With a shock he realised that there was a part of him - human or dragon, he wasn't sure - that actually wanted to fly. "How is this going to work?" he asked, "You're a Nadder and I'm a Night fury, Our wings aren't even..."
"This isn't my only body" the Nadder explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I am here with you in this cove, but I am also still in the nest, and with every dragon in every raiding party. I possess the combined experiences of hundreds dragons."
"Okay, that makes no sense," he muttered, "but let's do this. What do you need me to do?"
"Close your eyes and relax"
Hiccup thought that was a strange start to a flying lesson, but with a mental shrug he did as he was told. Immediately he felt a comforting warmth spread over him, and a vision of large cavernous space lit from below by a red light sprung into his mind. Distantly, he was aware of himself stepping forwards and bowing his head before the other dragon.
The Nadder bent her neck touched the tip of her beak to his forehead. Suddenly a bolt of red-hot pain shot through him and he jerked backwards. He blinked repeatedly and shook his head to clear the vision.
"What the Hel was that!?" Hiccup exclaimed.
"I apologize, I will be more gentle this time, now relax."
She moved her head to touch him again and Hiccup shied away, "Wait.I'm not-"
The Nadder growled impatiently. "Do you want to fly or not, Night Fury?"
Hiccup took a deep breath, pain or no pain, being able to fly would mean he wasn't reliant on Astrid for food and could escape if his cove was discovered. He nodded his head.
Almost before he closed his eyes he was filled with warmth again and the vision of the cave swam into his head. A draconic cry of agony rang out from the distant village and was abruptly silenced. Hiccup's eyes shot open. The raid! He'd almost forgotten the reason why the other dragon was there. Suddenly a connection between two of her previous sentences dawned on him and his blood turned to ice.
"Wait a minute," he burst out, scrambling backwards. "You said you were 'with' the dragons in the raid, and that you 'guide them' to the best feeding grounds. Are you the reason why they keep attacking us?"
"No, It is simply the way of things that compels them: those with power take what they desire from those without. As Dragons we are infinitely superior to the humans, and therefore they are prey. I merely guide my flock in fulfilling their nature."
"No!" Hiccup snarled. "There has to be a better way! Humans are intelligent, and now I know dragons are too! There doesn't have to be war, If we can communicate..."
"Enough!" The Nadder growled harshly cutting him off. "The raid has is nearly over, and we don't have time to wait for your true nature to assert itself. Come here."
Hiccup felt the strange heat again, but this time it was different; it seemed hotter, more akin to standing next to the open forge than a comforting blanket. His legs twitched and he had to fight to keep himself from padding forwards and curling up at the Nadder's feet.
You have an impressive strength Night Fury, especially for one who has so recently undergone a traumatic experience. It took Hiccup a moment to realise that the Nadder was no longer speaking, but he could somehow still hear her words. Don't fight your nature. Accept what you are, and become the most powerful of dragons.
Hiccup gritted his teeth and sank his claws into the soil, battling to keep himself rooted to the spot.
Let me in, and I'll give you the power to take your revenge on the one who transformed you.
An image of the Night Fury appeared in Hiccup's mind, tied up, helpless, and staring up at him with fearful green eyes. No, he thought. Even if he had the Night Fury before him at that very moment he wouldn't do it. It wasn't very Vikingly, but he just didn't have the capacity to enact bloody retribution.
Fool.
Agony shot through Hiccup and bloody red light flashed before his eyes. He wanted to scream in pain, but he found that he couldn't move his body. His whole body burned like he'd been plunged into the fires of Muspelheim.
You are mine now, Night Fury...
The pain increased, and Hiccup could feel his consciousness being slowly crushed out of existence. No... he thought weakly. Suddenly,The unnatural heat scorching his body seemed to fade, being replaced by a very real warmth growing deep in his chest. He drew on the sensation for strength, pushing back against the suffocating heat. The warmth inside him responded, growing and growing until he felt like he couldn't possibly contain it any longer.
I AM NOT YOURS! He roared mentally.
His jaws opened but no sound came out. Instead, his teeth instinctually retracted and he felt something in his throat shift. There was a flash of purple light, and an explosion. Something hit the ground with a heavy thud.
Hiccup blinked, swaying slightly as his surroundings gradually came back into focus. He took in several gulps of the cool night air, then immediately regretted doing so. The acrid scent of burnt flesh and the metallic odour of blood swamped his senses and he nearly gagged.
It took him a moment to realise that the Nadder was no longer stood in front of him, and was instead lying on her back several feet away, a wisp of smoke rising from a blackened hole in her chest.
"Oh gods," he murmured, stumbling over to her, "I did this... I'm so sorry..."
"No," the Nadder wheezed - the unsettling otherness of it's voice gone. "The Queen ... she uses dark magic to control dragons... she makes us raid to feed her..." she drew in a final rattling breath, forcing air into ruined lungs. "Thank you... for setting me free."
With that, the Nadder laid her head down, set her face in a dignified posture and made the greatest journey of all.
Astrid threw another load of water onto the smoking ruins in front of her, then set the bucket down and rested her hands on her knees, drawing in several large draughts of air. She straightened - wincing as she stretched her strained back muscles - and looked over the rest of the fire crew. All of them were caked in a mixture of mud and soot and utterly exhausted. The Twins didn't even have enough energy left to bicker, instead they just stood side-by-side staring at the wreckage with glazed expressions.
The raid had gone badly, even from the sidelines they could all tell that; they'd had to put out over twice as many fires as usual. There had been so many that by the time they'd extinguished one, the next had already begun to spread to the adjoining buildings.
Far worse than the destruction, however, was the silence. Astrid remembered the aftermaths of previous raids, there had been quiet and mourning, yes, but there had also been celebration of another victory, and battle-brothers congratulating each other on a good fight. The few people Astrid could see in the cold grey light of dawn shuffled quietly down the village pathways, talking to each other in hushed voices.
She took a deep breath and pushed away her pain and exhaustion, she had a job to do. "Come on guys," she said, "This one's done, let's make another round of the east side, the fighting was fiercest over there."
Snotlout didn't even object to her issuing orders, he just grumbled wordlessly and picked up his bucket.
"Hey Astrid!"
She turned around to see Gobber hobbling up the street towards her.
"How is it?" she asked as he approached.
"Better than we'd expected" he replied, but she could see the truth in his eyes; things were bad.
"What can we do for you, sir?"
The smith's gaze traveled over each member of the group before returning to Astrid. "Go home, get cleaned up, find something to eat, then get some rest; you've done enough."
"But-"
"You'll need it; you're facing the Deadly Nadder this afternoon."
"Dragon Training!?" Ruffnut burst out, "Are you insane!? We're dead on our feet here, you'll get us all killed!"
Gobber's gaze hardened. "I'm serious," he said to the blonde twin, "We lost too many warriors tonight, and we were already underhanded. If the beasts attack again, we'll need you five to replace the fighters we've lost."
Astrid swallowed drily. "Of course, sir," she replied.
Astrid nodded at Gobber and then Ruffnut before shuffling slowly towards her house. She muttered a prayer of thanks to the gods when her home came into view, whole and undamaged.
Wearily, she pushed open the door and all but fell into her mother's arms. She allowed herself to be led to a chair, and sat still as her mother wiped the dirt from her face. She graciously accepted the bowl of fish stew pressed into her hands and ate it mechanically.
As soon as she finished her meal she climbed up the stairs to her room. The warm food in her belly had helped revive her, but she still felt like sleeping for a week. She looked longingly at her bed, but turned away, instead heading to her window. Hiccup, she thought. His cove was nicely hidden from the ground, but from the air, to a dragon's eyes... She shook her head and clambered out of the window. She lowered herself until she was hanging from the sill by her fingertips then dropped to the ground.
She rose quickly from her crouch and glanced around; nobody seemed to have noticed her acrobatics. Good, she thought, and darted out of the village into the forest.
She let her mind wander as she trekked through the woods. She quickly realised that she had a problem; her current unspoken arrangement with Hiccup wouldn't work. He'd eaten a week's worth of fish the previous morning, while she hoped that would last him a couple days at least, she couldn't keep stealing fish to feed him. For one, people would start becoming suspicious if too many baskets went missing, and secondly, she had her own reservations about stealing more much-needed food from her village.
A breeze rustled the canopy above her, bringing with it a whiff of smoke. She ignored it at first, then with a heart-stopping chill she realised she was upwind of Berk. Cursing, she broke into a run, covering the remaining distance in a few unbearably long minutes.
Astrid skidded to a halt at the mouth of the fissure that led into the cove. She took several deep breaths, forcing herself to calm down. She unstrapped her axe from her back and silently slipped between the towering walls of stone.
Her eyes were immediately drawn to the body of the Nadder lying on its back in the centre of the cove. She raised her axe cautiously as she approached. The scents of fire and blood were thick in the air around it. She circled around to get a better view and gasped in shock. The lower half of the Nadder's chest had been torn open, its entrails gleaming bloodily in the morning sunlight. She could see jagged white spears of bone poking through the blackened flesh around the edge of the wound.
Astrid looked away, she'd seen battle wounds before, but she still balked at the sight of the visceral destruction before her. Nothing on Midgard could cause wounds like that. Except... A memory of a rising whistle, followed by a purple flash and a glimpse of a similarly mutilated body replayed in her mind.
"Hiccup?" She called, apprehension tightening her grip on her axe. "Where are you?"
She glanced around at the cliff walls, thankful to take her eyes of the corpse of the Nadder. At first there was no response, then she heard a low whine from behind her. She whirled around and studied the void beneath the buttress-roots of a tree growing out the side of the cliff; were the shadows a little too dark and solid?
A green eye blinked open in the darkness, it stared at her for a long moment before Hiccup crawled out from the hollow beneath the pine.
"Thank Odin," she whispered, taking a step towards him.
The dragon shied away with a distressed moan.
"Are you okay Hiccup?" she asked, concerned. "What's wrong?"
She tried another step forwards. The human-turned-dragon jerked backwards.
'DON'T COME NEAR ME' he wrote.
"Why not? What happened here?"
Hiccup let up another moan, his eyes darting to something behind her.
"I don't speak dragon, Hiccup" she added gently.
'I KILLED HER. I DIDN'T MEAN TO, IT JUST HAPPENED.'
Her? Astrid thought. Then she turned, following Hiccup's gaze, and saw the body of the Nadder.
"You mean the Dragon?" she asked.
Hiccup nodded, then slumped to the ground with a soft whine, and realisation slowly dawned on Astrid. She'd heard from some of the veterans that the first kill was the hardest, and that sometimes the memory of it haunted young warriors for many years. Admittedly, they were talking about killing other humans at the time, but this was Hiccup, and she knew he'd felt some sympathy for the Night Fury he'd captured.
"Hiccup," she said firmly. "Don't feel guilty about this. You're a Viking; you kill dragons, it's in your blood."
'AM I? LOOK AT ME.'
"You might not look like one on the outside," she began, "But you're still you on the inside, which means that you're still a viking. Remember that; you need to stay strong until we find a way to turn you back."
'SHE SAID THAT ONLY THE NIGHT FURY CAN CHANGE ME BACK, AND SHE USED UP ALL HER POWER DOING THIS.'
"Wait, you spoke to it?"
This prompted Hiccup to launch into a laborious recount of his conversation with the dragon. Astrid noticed that he was getting quicker at scratching the runes into the dirt, but it still took several minutes for him to write it all out.
'... AND WITH HER LAST BREATH THE NADDER TOLD ME THE DRAGONS ARE CONTROLLED BY "THE QUEEN" AND THAT SHE IS THE REASON THEY RAID BERK'.
Astrid took a step back and read over Hiccup's text again. "Well, It fits the facts," she said. "It might even explain a few things. But if this 'Queen' really exists, she probably never leaves the nest - The thing we've been after since Vikings first sailed here."
'DON'T YOU SEE WHAT THIS MEANS?' he wrote, 'THE DRAGONS ARE INNOCENT, THEY'RE FORCED TO ATTACK US'
Astrid fingered the haft of her axe uneasily, if this was true, it could undermine everything they thought knew about the dragons. If they were wrong about the beasts' nature, what other secrets might they be hiding?
It dosen't matter, part of her whispered, as long as they raid Berk, they're still your enemy.
A soft whimper pulled Astrid from her thoughts. 'SHE DIDN'T WANT TO HURT ME, AND I MURDERED HER' he added with a shaking paw.
Astrid crouched down to his eye-level. "Hiccup," she began in a gentler, but still firm tone. "The Nadder hurt you and you defended yourself; you didn't do anything wrong."
'I KNOW, BUT I DIDN'T MEAN TO KILL HER'
Astrid had an inkling of what was going through Hiccup's head. "Do you know how I killed my first dragon?" she asked.
Hiccup shook his head slowly.
"It was a few years ago," she explained, "I was on fire duty, when a Terror jumped at me from a burning house. I didn't have time to think, I just reacted. I drew my axe and cut the thing in half. To be honest, It slightly scared me, but I got over it, and learned to trust my instincts, and they've saved my life several times since."
Hiccup let out a long breath. Astrid felt it on her face; warm and smelling strongly of fish.
'THANK YOU, ASTRID' he wrote. 'I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE RISKING TO HELP ME; I OWE YOU'
"Don't worry about it," she replied, "Like I said, this is for the good of the village. You can pay me back by staying alive until we find a way to turn you human again."
She stood up and glanced over at his writing from earlier. "I can't believe I'm saying this," she added "But that dragon was onto something."
Hiccup tilted his head at her, as if to say what!?
"You need to learn to fly."
Icelandic:
Litla Drekann - Little Dragon (Astrid's pet name for her brother)
Author's Notes:
Friendly Greetings!
As always, I'm sorry for making you wait so long between updates of this story (I know your pain, trust me). While my exams are now finished (yay!), I've started a job over summer, so I probably have less free time now than I do when I'm at university normally (boo!). I'll try my best to get the next chapter out sometime in July, but I can't promise anything.
A lot of the time writing this chapter was spent on getting the characterisation of the Queen right. The initial plan for the scene was for the Nadder to be acting under her own free will at first, and for the queen to 'take over' part way through the conversation. However as I was writing it, I decided that it didn't fit with how I'd characterised the queen in the prologue, so that idea was scrapped. I particularly wanted my version of the Queen to feel like an intelligent demon or monster, rather than the greedy megalomaniac that she's sometimes portrayed as. I especially tried to avoid her dialogue being "petty" - I wanted her seem 'above' trading insults with a single dragon. I'd be interested to see what you thought of her in the reviews.
Next, a couple of guest review responses: First, to the reviewer who called themselves 'pff': You and I have very different opinions on Doris' importance to the plot of 'Hitchups'. And secondly, to the guest by the name of 'Cathy': That just means that you have exceptionally good taste :P
My fanfic recommendation for you this time is 'A Recipe for Disaster' by 'Arcawolf'. This is a Dragon!Hiccup story with a difference, for one, the story is set around the time of HTTYD2 which I haven't seen done very often. And secondly, rather than a full grown adult, Hiccup is transformed into a baby Night Fury.
Anyway, as always thank you for reading, and please share what you thought of the story so far in a review!
~Superbun
Next time: Stormfly!