And another chapter, of which there will (hopefully) be many more after I take the PSAT.

Woohoo! 21 followers on my first fanfic!

As for the plot: I'm sure you all saw this coming, but...

Hiccup looked back at her one last time with a smile. Astrid smiled back and he slowly shut the door behind him. She listened to the familiar step-click-step-click down the stairs. Then she sighed. Not an annoyed sigh or – Thor forbid – a lovesick sigh, but a tired one.

4 days and she would be a married woman. She should be enjoying her last days of freedom, and therefore couldn't afford to spend a moment more in bed than was absolutely necessary, which is why Astrid spent the next several hours getting hydrated and stretching. Finally, around mid-morning, she tried to walk again.

She slid to the end of the bed and brought her feet within an inch of the ground before she stopped. What if Gothi was right? She put such a thought out of her head. Just because something is possible doesn't keep it from being extremely unlikely, and for a shield maiden like Astrid? Never.

She took a deep breath before standing up. She silently thanked the gods when she found she was no longer dizzy. Neither were her limbs exhausted like they were the last three times she had tried to leave her room. Which meant…

Astrid changed into her clothes and then her armor, putting her axe on her back and grabbing her helmet/mask with one hand before leaving the room. She kept her free hand near the wall just in case.

She managed to make it out of the house at last, and let Stormfly out of the stables. Her dragon nearly tackled her in excitement that her rider was up and about once more. And because she hated being cooped up and unable to go flying; she had tried to barge into Astrid's room the day before sensing something was wrong, so the Hoffersons had to latch the stable door.

Astrid figured that a late morning flight was in order, as long as she stayed close enough to the ground. If anyone tried to stop her, they would end up with a black eye.

She quickly had Stormfly's saddle on and her dragon swooped up into the air. Her rider sighed as she laid back, one hand beneath her head. Stormfly let out a concerned squawk and turned her head to look at her. Astrid placed her other hand on her dragon's back, soothing her scales. "I'm alright girl. I was just sick for a few days, and now I'm fine. Nothing to be concerned about," she said with a laugh. "Even my dragon is concerned!"

Astrid saw Sleuther a while later, deciding then to land. Hiccup seemed annoyed to see her up and about, but she just wanted to forget about it all. She was better now, and there was nothing to be concerned about. She hated feeling dependent.

And then the cannon shots rang out.

She did not see that Fishlegs had fallen until the two dragons went down. Hiccup signaled for her to stay back as he went for the main ship. Instead of protesting, she went to help the dragons.

One of them had landed, but the other hit the water. "Stormfly, dive!" she commanded. The nadder had a bit of trouble getting the monstrous nightmare to shore, so when they landed Astrid jumped off allowing her a bit of rest. The nightmare was groaning loudly and tried to scorch her when she drew close, so it helped that her suit was fireproof. She rolled out of the way of the blast and held out her hand gently as she crept forward. Finally the dragon settled and pressed its snout to her hand.

Astrid immediately ran to its wing to see two holes and a tear. It looked painful, but it could wait. So, she ran to the second dragon, a gronckle, the one who had hit the land. It wasn't even trying to resist. There was blood seeping from a spot in its neck.

It was dead.

The cannons sounded again, as did an explosion not far away. Astrid turned to see a hut blown to shreds. Immediately she ran to it, ducking under a dragon's tail as it rushed past. She heard screaming from inside, so she leaped through the flaming window. A small boy was crying in a basket in the corner across from the fireplace, which was probably the cause of the fire as bits of debris were lit. She took him in her arms but the wall the window was on was already too ablaze to risk going through with the boy in her arms, and the door used to be a part of the wall that had been blown apart, and the ceiling had collapsed over the hole. She quickly looked around, and the only way out was up the stairs. Astrid held him closer as she began to cough on her way up, probably from the fact that smoke rises; she could hardly see the steps in front of her. Finally she saw sunlight from a window and jumped, tucking into a roll and set the lad onto the grass, which had started to grow back after the last freeze. Astrid laid beside him after coughing several times, attempting to fill her lungs with cleaner air.

A woman ran to embrace her son, lifting him up into her arms. After realizing he was alright, she offered Astrid a hand up. She shook her head, so the woman sat down next to her. "Thank you Astrid, I am indebted to you."

"No problem," she managed to say.

"Astrid, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, just out of breath." The woman did not understand why Astrid would be out of breath, but turned to her son again to settle his tears.

The dragon master landed on the deck of the ship and unsheathed his sword. He ran towards the captain and saw him flinch as he held inferno to his neck. "Tell your men to stand down!"

There was no response. He could see confusion on the man's face. "I said to stand down!"

"Alright" he breathed, and he could just make out a tear as it fell down the side of the captain's face. "Stand down men!"

There was the thud of the crew's weapons as they hit the wooden deck, and he gestured for the man to get onto his knees. At this he refused. He sighed. How stubborn can these pirates be? But then the man spoke. "Parley!"

The dragon master tilted his head to the side a bit in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"Parley!" yelled the man, a bit jolted when he heard his opponent's voice. "I invoke the right of parley! As a pirate, you must follow the code! You must take me to the man in charge."

At this Hiccup laughed. "I am the man in charge. I am Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Chief of Berk, the island you just unwisely attacked. And if anyone is a pirate, it is you." At this moment Eret son of Eret landed Skullcrusher on the deck.

"The other ships have been disarmed, Mi'lord. Is this one giving you any trouble?" Only Hiccup could pick out the concern in his voice.

"As a matter of fact, he is." He turned back to his prisoner. "Who are you, and why are you here?"

"I am Captain Alexander Ainsworth of England, and I have come to barter for my daughter's freedom."