IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!
Okay, now that I have your attention. An important announcement. A few days after I uploaded the previous chapter I heard that I got an apartment. So I am going to move out of my parents house (at last!). I finished most of the packing by now. Just desk items, minor things and my clothes to go. However, it will mean I do not know when I have time to write. Especially once I get the key I will be very busy with painting and the like.
Dog Lover 120
You are totally right. I forgot a very crucial part in the previous chapter. I feel so stupid now OTL. I hope I fixed it a little in this chapter
Chapter 2: Leader of the dragon raid
Hiccup crawled out from under the protective wings of his partner who was already in a deep sleep. Carefully, so not to wake him or any other dragon around, he made his way through the many tunnels to the deeps of the mountain. Stepping over tails or any other limb every so often. At last he had arrived at his destination, the centre of the mountain where they would feed their queen.
With a sigh Hiccup sat down on a nearby rock and peered down the pit. He really wanted to call out to the queen to ask for her guidance, but he was afraid he would wake her. Something he really didn't want, also he felt bad about bothering the queen with his problems, so he remained silent and just sat there, trying to forget about these confusing thoughts he kept on having. For two years he had been serving his queen and these stupid thought were getting to him badly. More and more each day.
As if she had felt his discomfort, the queen's head suddenly appeared before him. With wide eyes he stared at her, hoping he had not waken her, though he was certain he didn't make a noise that could have woken her up.
"What brings you here, my dear human skinned?"
For a moment Hiccup did not know what to say, which was mostly because he didn't know where to start. It had been bothering him for so long.
Before he even opened his mouth, he stood up and bowed for her.
"Forgive me for bothering you at such an hour, my queen."
"Human skinned, it is still early in the evening. The dragon of the sun barely left us. Now tell me, what's bothering you? I know that something has been bothering you for the longest time, I can feel that, but you never came to me. I trusted you would if you find it was becoming too much and couldn't find the answer on your own. And now here you are. So tell me," she said with a sweet voice.
Hiccup could not believe his ears, but smiled a little. The queen was so good to him.
"Why am I the only human skinned around?" he then formed his question.
In the beginning it did not bother him much, but now it certainly did. He knew he was a dragon, just as much as every dragon around, but he looked different. He looked like a human. Sure it helped a lot during raids, not only because he would have easier access to buildings, but also because he could speak their language. Though he didn't use it often.
When he came here for the first time, the queen actually thought he was a human. And the human outside the mountain made him think so as well. Yet, he did not feel like a human at all. He didn't like being on the ground for starters.
The queen smiled at him.
"You are a rare kind of dragon, because you were born in the wrong body. It does not happen often. You might even be a rarer kind than the shadow of the night, he too is the only one of his kind here."
He hadn't thought about that.
"Why am I born in the wrong body? I… I don't like this body," he mumbled looking at his feet.
He didn't want to be disrespectful to his queen, but he just felt so confused.
"That I do not know. But know this, my dear human skinned, you are just as much a dragon as every other dragon around, no matter what you look like. And I really appreciate you coming here, to my nest. You and your other half."
Hiccup knew she was referring to the shadow of the night, his partner. The shadow of the night could not fly without him and he wouldn't have the ability of flight without the shadow of the night.
"So don't worry yourself over what body you are born in. And if other dragons feel like bothering you about it, they shall be punished."
"No dragon is bothering me about it, my queen. They all accepted me the way I am… I guess I just didn't accept the way I am myself, because… I just want to fit in. Be like the others…" his voice trailed off.
"You are so much more than the average dragon, my human skinned one. You do not stand out by what you look like, but by your skills as does the shadow of the night. Which is why I made you two the leaders of the raids. Never have the raids been so successful with less deaths too. All because of you, human skinned, your planning, your understanding of humans and your ability to get what you need from them."
Hiccup had to blush, being praised like that by the queen wasn't something that happened often. Although he still had questions, he felt much better now.
The queen softly nudged him with her snout, being ever so careful not to hurt him.
"Thank you, my queen," he whispered as he placed a hand on her scales, feeling honoured to be allowed to touch her.
"Anytime, human skinned, now off you go. You need plenty of rest for the raid tomorrow."
She gave him another nudge that he should leave, which he did after bowing to her. He went back through the tunnels, but didn't feel like sleeping yet. So instead went outside the mountain. He knew his other half was going to complain, especially if he stayed outside for most of the night. They had to wake up early for the raid after all. Yet, it didn't care him that much right now.
He let himself slide down the mountain and remained seated once he was at the pebble beach. Watching the stars appear in the sky. He had been so focussed on looking up and enjoying that view, he hadn't heard someone coming closer.
"Hiccup, is Toothless around?"
The boy looked to his side and saw a woman there. She had been at the island longer than he had been. Unlike him, she was truly a human, not human skinned, and she was terrified of dragons. Even the four winged one that was looking after her, although she did not know that he assumed. It was because of the four winged she had something like a house at the other side of the beach, somewhere between rocks. It was build out of scrap material of boats of Vikings.
She referred to him as Hiccup and often told him it was his name and she was in fact his mother. Neither he believed. Especially now after his conversation with the queen he felt more like a dragon than a human. So this woman could not be his mother.
Toothless was the name she gave to his other half, the shadow of the night. When he had asked her why she was calling him that, calling it a weird name since clearly the shadow of the night was not toothless, she had told he himself had given the dragon that name. When he had told that story to his other half, it needed ten minutes to stop laughing.
Often he had told her his name was not Hiccup and the dragon's name was not Toothless and then she would get a sad expression on her face and sigh miserably. Sometimes whispering I'm sorry. He really had no idea what that was sorry about or why she would say that to him, though he never asked.
The woman was a slave basically. Hiccup often ordered her to make medicines of herbs he brought with him at times when dragons got hurt during battle. Before, when he hadn't been part of the nest, those dragons would die in pain, but with him, more dragons managed to survive. Although it would have gone quicker if she would help out treating the wounds as well.
"His name is not Toothless," Hiccup replied in his human tongue, "and he's asleep."
He continued to watch the stars again, while she sat down beside him. Giving him that same worried face she would always give him.
"What is it?" he eventually asked getting annoyed by her staring.
"I want you to leave this island, go as far as possible and don't come back."
"And leave the queen?" he replied offended she would even suggest such a thing.
"You are not a dragon, you are a human. You're my son and if this is the only way I can protect you then so be it. Please Hiccup, I don't know how, but she is controlling you," she said sounding desperate, trying to touch him, but he slammed her hand away.
"I'm not a human, I'm a dragon. And everything I do is out of my own free will."
With tears in her eyes she shook her head. She whispered her usual I'm sorry, stood up and left. Leaving Hiccup in a pissed off state.
Not much later and also not very surprising the four winged landed near the human skinned. He would always shadow the woman, after all she was his. Hiccup was certain he had heard the entire conversation.
"Perhaps I should just bring you there. Unlike her, you're not afraid of dragons," the four winged stated looking at him with some threatening expression that would chase away other dragons, but not him.
"Ha!" Hiccup laughed and threw the four winged a smirk, "you really think you can? The shadow of the night will kill before you have the change of doing so."
"I won against him before," the four winged roared grinning at him.
Hiccup jumped up as threw the four winged death glares.
"The only reason you won is because he was fatigued. He had been flying for a full day," he snapped at him. Of course he knew about the battle between the shadow of the night and the four winged, that is, everything the shadow of the night told him. Apparently he had been part of it too, but he couldn't remember that part or even the fight.
"There is no way you can win from him and you know it. Every dragon knows it, which is why we are leaders of the raid. You were just damn lucky last time."
The four winged looked at him and it made the human skinned smirk, knowing the four winged knew he wouldn't stand a chance against the shadow of the night. It turned his back to him.
"Do know she is telling the truth. If you ever look for answers, don't ask the queen but me or her. You are not a dragon, no matter how hard the queen is trying to make you believe you are."
The four winged flew away, probably off to watch his human pet. Hiccup only got more annoyed with this conversation.
Frustrated he decided to go back inside and get some sleep, forgetting everything about the woman and the four winged, so he crawled back up the mountain.
Carefully he made his way to the shadow of the night, only stepping on a tail once. As he arrived and wanted to crawl under the wing of his partner, the shadow of the night opened one eye and looked at him.
"Where have you been?"
"Outside," he answered with a mumble, "I couldn't sleep."
The shadow of the night then lifted his wing so Hiccup could easily crawl close. It then enveloped the boy with its wing so to keep him warm.
A few miles away was the village of Berk. Being closest to the dragon nest, it was often raided. Especially the last two years the raids got terrible. It was as if the dragons had gotten smarter. Every time they thought they defeated their mortal enemy, they would find out more food was stolen than they thought. The food storage started changing places, yet the dragons found it every time. The most confusing part about it was that doors were open and nothing was burned. The first time this happened, the one that was supposed to close the doors and lock them got shouted at for not doing a good job. However, soon it was discovered that the doors were fully locked.
Currently the Berk was rather quiet, not because it was early, but because most Vikings were on another hunt to the dragon nest. With recent raid activity more and more understood how necessary it was to find it. The few that left behind were in charge of finding food and defending Berk… and the food. Since Stoick was leading the search, Snotlout was put in charge until his return. Ever since Hiccup had disappeared, he was next in line of chieftainship. Not exactly something everyone liked.
The sun wasn't even up yet, when a shout of one of the lookouts echoed through the village.
"Dragons!" it sounded.
Astrid, who was slumbering, was suddenly wide awake and threw her blanket away. She only needed seconds to get dressed properly and getting her axe. Not soon after she stepped outside the first dragons arrived. The first one coming on her path got an axe right on top of its head and flew off whimpering in pain. She hadn't even seen what kind of dragon it was and simply moved on the next one. Further ahead Snotlout was giving orders to anyone who would listen to him, which actually was only Tuffnut.
Astrid slashed her way around, looking for people who needed help. A nightmare thought sneaking up on her from behind would give him an advantage, but Astrid had felt the heat of his flaming body and twirled around. With one swing with her axe she chopped of his head and moved on to the next dragon. Leaving the limp body.
"Morning, lass," the voice of Gobber sounded way too cheerful according to Astrid.
He used his nifty hammer to slam a terrible terror on its head as Astrid focussed on a gronckle she was fighting.
"Morning. Who is checking on the storage?" Astrid asked.
"Good question. Ask Snotlout."
Astrid let out a frustrated sigh and knocked some dragons down as she search for the annoying chief replacement. Eventually she found him fighting a deadly nadder and was clearly in need for help. Astrid rushed over, jumping over some other fights and chopped of the nadders tail. It let out a loud roar of pain and turned his attention to her. Astrid kept it busy for a short moment, then it fell down.
"Thanks, although I could have done that myself of course," Snotlout smiled at her.
"Sure," Astrid said, not believing it one bit, "who is in charge of checking the food storage is safe?"
"Uh…" Snotlout started.
Astrid knew enough and rushed over to a barn further back in the village. On her way she passed Gobber's cart stocked with weapons ready to grab, she got herself some bolas so she had something to fling at any dragon close to the barn. Throwing her axe was out of the question.
The barn came into view. At first she thought no dragon had come there yet, but then she spotted something dark moving around and flung the bolas right at it. It screaked and fell down. Astrid saw she had hit its tail, which looked strange. The left side had a different colour. Then she noticed something she never thought would see. A human jumped of the dragon's back and gave the bolas a look. Quickly Astrid hid behind some crates, hoping the human hadn't seen her.
What was a human doing on the back of a dragon? Curiously she carefully looked around the crates and saw the person cutting the ropes of the bolas. Then some dragons appeared and the human started talking to them in the same language as the dragons.
Astrid gasped when she realised this. She almost jumped and gave away her location when she heard someone whisper 'by Thor'.
"Gobber," she hissed looking around.
When did he get there? He had his eyes locked on the scene behind the crates. Astrid changed her attention back to it as well and saw the human jumping back on the dragon and dashing off into the woods.
"Well… that explains a lot," Gobber said, "Now I understand why you weren't attacking."
"I was caught off guard," Astrid defended herself with a scoff, "it's not every day you find a human riding a dragon. It's unheard off!"
Gobber agreed with a nod and looked around. Astrid did the same, looking for another dragon to fight, but they all left.
"That guy… he leads those raids," she then whispered as she recalled the human saying something to the dragons.
"How are you so sure its male?"
"I heard him talk… in the dragon language. It definitely sounded male," Astrid said as she put away her axe on her back and made her way back to the centre of the town. She was quickly greeted by Snotlout who had a big grin plastered on his face.
"Hey Astrid, I chased them away," he said, "So let's start fixing up. You help me and- hey!"
Astrid completely ignored Snotlout and walked around to scold some Vikings they had to get their wounds treated first before starting on fixing things. She even saw Ruffnut dragging her brother by his hair to Gothi's place. Astrid pushed some Vikings into the same direction and eventually followed them herself. Not that she was wounded, she was completely fine. She was going to help Gothi out with treating the wounded.
When she entered the building, she greeted Ruffnut who had just finished treating her brother and moved on to the next. Astrid waved the next one in line had to come to her.
It took quite some time. Mostly because none really wanted to sit and wait and had to be called back by either of the three women. Gothi had a very interesting method, she would whack them on the head with her stick. Something that amused others. Astrid simply glared at them, which always made people gulp. Ruffnut would grab them by the hair and drag back. Most Vikings found it funny when she would grab someone's beard for some reason.
Once the wounded were treated, Astrid and Ruffnut left Gothi behind at her home and joined others with fixing buildings. It was boring, but mostly tiring task. The worst part was that they knew in a few days it once again would need fixing.
At sundown, they stopped for the day and Astrid made her way to the great hall to fetch herself some food. Everyone else seemed to have done the same, the line for the food was too long for her taste. With a sigh she waited and when she finally got some food, she walked to the nearest table to sit down and eat. Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Fishlegs were already sitting at it, eating their dinner. Ruffnut looked up when Astrid sat down, she had a grin plastered on her face.
"Have you heard? Gobber said he saw a black dragon which he thinks is a night fury and it had a human riding on its back! Can you believe that," the girl started.
"I think he drank too much, there is no way he could have seen a night fury. Especially not one with a rider. The whole idea of riding a dragon is absurd," Fishlegs commented.
"Actually it sounds rather cool," Tuffnut grinned.
"Ya right, like riding dragons would ever happen," his sister laughed at him.
Astrid remained silent. So it had been a night fury? How did Gobber know? No-one knew what a night fury looked like. She knew it was around somewhere since she heard it destroy quite a few buildings, but still.
"Earth to Astrid!" Ruffnut called her out of her thoughts, "What are you spacing out for?"
"I'm not spacing out, I was thinking and what Gobber said is right."
All three of them stopped eating and stared at her with shocked faces. Everyone knew Gobber liked story telling so you shouldn't take everything he says seriously. But when Astrid says it was true, that was a complete different story.
"It was a black dragon, as dark as the night itself, which is why I didn't see it at first. Though there was something off with its tail… A guy was riding it. He also ordered the other dragons around."
Now they all just gaped at her.
"A guy?" Ruffnut eventually said.
Astrid nodded and took a bite from her food as she tried to recall what the dragon looked like.
"Was he handsome?"
Astrid choked on her food and gave her friend a deadly glare, while Ruff only laughed at her.
"I was too busy thinking about why a human was riding a dragon to take a good look at his looks!" she snapped at her after she was done coughing.
"Oh come on, I know you're a shield maiden and all, but you can at least look at guys thinking they are hot or handsome. You know you can combine the two," Ruffnut grinned.
Tuffnut and Fishlegs carefully retreated, not willing to listen to any more of this conversation and Astrid really wanted to do the same, but knew Ruff would just follow her. So she kept on eating her dinner in silence as Ruff tried all sorts of methods to get her to speak.
"You're no fun at all, you know that," Ruffnut eventually sighed.
Astrid shrugged, "I am just not willing to devote my life to a guy, okay. If my parents think I am willing to marry any man, I'm gonna end up with Snotlout."
Ruffnut stared at her for a moment before she burst into laughter.
"You and Snotlout, that is impossible."
"Exactly," Astrid now grinned as well.
At least Ruffnut agreed with her. They talked for another half hour, mostly making fun of Snotlout and his terrible decisions, before they said their goodbyes to each other. Astrid made her way to the smithy. She wanted to get her axe sharpened and ask about the night fury. To her luck Gobber was still hammering away. Next to him was a pile of weapons that were either bend or broken.
"Hey, Gobber," Astrid greeted.
The man stopped and looked up, "Oh hello, Astrid. What can I do fur ya?"
Astrid gave a look at the pile of weapons he still had left to fix as she got her own from her back.
"It only need sharpening," she said as she handed over her favourite axe.
Gobber sighed, nodded and took it from her.
"At days like these I miss my right hand," commented.
"Uhm… I think the hammer is rather useful, though it's your left hand," Astrid said in an attempt to cheer him up a little.
He gave her a weak smile and started on sharpening her axe.
"I meant Hiccup."
Astrid said nothing. She watch the man sharpening her axe. She knew the disappearance of Hiccup had hurt Gobber the most. The boy had left a note to him and him only. Not his father, no Gobber. No-one knew what had happened to the boy, which made it harder to coop with. Not just for Gobber, but also for the Chief. Everyone thought that Hiccup was either eaten by a dragon, which was the most tragic option since his mother had died that way as well, or he had fallen off a cliff somewhere. Astrid felt somewhat guilty over Hiccup's disappearance, because of what Tuffnut had said and because of what her mother had said. Now that she was older she felt ashamed of her stupid younger self. These days it would have been nice to have someone who could easily take down dragons as Hiccup could. She was sure the only reason he hadn't been able to knock them down that time was because they weren't trained for dealing with more than one dragon yet.
When dragon training had continued it was Astrid who got the honour of killing a dragon, but not in the dragon training arena. Just when that ritual was about to start, there was another raid. She got to kill two dragons that night and even more ever since. She had lost count over the years.
"Here ya go, all sharpened," Gobber said and gave her her axe back.
Astrid studied it, swung it around a little and then placed it back on her back.
"How did you know it was a night fury," she then asked, not going around it.
Again Gobber stopped his work again and signed her to follow him. He let her to the small backroom where Hiccup used to work. Astrid knew he had drawn his crazy ideas there. The one time she had entered it when Hiccup was still around the place was filled with drawings everywhere. Now the walls were empty as was the desk. Gobber opened the drawer of the desk and took a piece of paper.
"Remember that night Hiccup said he shot down a night fury?"
Astrid nodded, but wasn't sure where he was going with this.
"Well he actually did. I found this last year when I… well… uh here."
Gobber handed the piece of paper to Astrid. Astrid looked from Gobber to the paper and saw it had several drawings. It was clearly Hiccup's doing and it was very well drawn. Detailed too. The dragon she had seen earlier that day indeed looked like this.
"You're right. This looks like the dragon we saw this morning."
She gave the paper back and Gobber put it back in the drawer.
"Perhaps that night fury is the reason he is gone," Gobber sighed.
"Gobber, he left a note to you, he planned on leaving."
"Yes, I know that, lass. But he could have met up with that dragon again and it took revenge. Who knows?"
"The rider might know?" Astrid mumbled.
Gobber rapidly looked around to her.
"Don't ya dare going after that thing."
"It's dangerous having a night fury around. Right now it's wounded. Neither of them can leave the island. Not taking this opportunity would be a waist. Stoick would go after it."
"Aye, he would, but then all the warriors are back on the island and he goes with a big group of Vikings. Right now we have limited people and to be honest Snotlout isn't the best dragon killer around. We need you."
Astrid let out a snort when he mentioned Snotlout and could only agree on that point.
"Well thanks for sharpening my axe and showing me that picture," Astrid said and left the small room.
"Don't ya go after them!" Gobber shouted at her.
Astrid waved at him that she heard him. Although she wasn't sure if she would follow his advice. For now she had to think about it, so she went her way home.
The house was silent, since both her parents joined the search. With a sigh she dropped on her bed and closed her eyes. Soon sleep enveloped her.
Hiccup looked down with a smile. The raid was going according to plan, as always. He saw how the Vikings focussed on the first attack, giving him and his other half an opportunity to destroy some of the buildings, while some snappers were searching for the stocked food.
One snapper soon came back and told them about a barn further ahead. So the human skinned and shadow of the night flew to it, not being noticed by anyone at all.
"There it is," Hiccup said with a grin.
Just when the shadow of the night wanted to make a dive and land, something hit his tail and it hurt him greatly. He let out a loud screech of pain as he tumbled down. Hiccup tried his best to at least make it somewhat descent landing. He jumped of the back of his other half and studied the damage for a second before looking around, though he could not find any human nearby.
"Whoever did this, is to be killed," the shadow of the night growled.
Hiccup nodded agreeing as he got a knife and started cutting the ropes of the bolas that had wrapped around the shadow of the night's tail fins. Some of the dragons had seen what had happened and rushed over.
"Are you two alright?" a worried female flaming body asked.
She had been the same flaming body who had joined them during their first raid and it shocked her to see that they were taken down. It never happened before.
"Ya, but he can't fly like this," Hiccup replied.
"We can carry you?" another dragon replied.
"Over my dead body I am going to be carried!" the shadow of the night growled back at them.
"Grab what you can grab and retreat," Hiccup ordered and then turned his attention to one of the snappers, "Tell the queen we can't fly for now, but will soon be back. I'm fixing this problem, but it might take a few days."
The snapper nodded, but like all dragons remained there.
"Retreat! That's an order!" Hiccup then shouted.
With that the dragons left as Hiccup quickly jumped back on his other half, who then dashed into the woods. They were forced to run instead of fly.
"Use your tail to wipe out our tracks," Hiccup told his dragon partner.
"Do you realize how painful that is?!" the shadow of the night snapped at him.
"Yes, but do you want to be found by humans?"
The shadow of the night let out some grumbles that he didn't want to be found but didn't like the plan at all. Nonetheless, he swiped his tail around over the leafs and scattered them as much as he could so not to make them look stepped on.
After ten minutes of running he slowed down and they started searching for a place they could spend the day. It had to have water, food and protection.
"How about that over there," the human skinned dragon said as he looked to the left.
The shadow of the night walked in the direction his partner was looking at and stopped at the edge of a cove. Below was water and plenty of hiding spots so humans wouldn't spot them. Food was a question, but the human skinned could always hunt for some boar. Entering it wasn't easy though.
"I'll glide in," the shadow of the night said.
Hiccup agreed and got of him so it was easier for him. As his other half took of gliding, he climbed down the rocks. The landing was rather unprofessional. Hiccup walked up to his other half who was studying his tail.
"Please tell me I'm not going to loose my other tail-fin now as well," asked Hiccup with a desperate and panicking tone.
Hiccup carefully studied the tail-fin. It was had some scratches, but other than that it was fine. The same couldn't be said about the prostatic one. It was ripped in several places. Then again, the bolas had been mostly around the prostatic tailfin, so they were in luck. It would take a while to fix it though.
"You'll be fine. I'll gather some herbs so we can heal the few wounds properly. The prostatic one needs fixing though. I guess I can steal some material from the village."
The shadow of the night didn't like that idea, but knew they had no other choice. The human skinned left to gather the right herbs. As he walked around the forest, he made sure not to be spotted by any human, although they would easily mistake him for one of them, he wasn't in the mood of meeting one. He soon found some comfrey that would improve healing and took a few leafs from it. Digging out the roots would show that he had been there, taking some leafs would not be seen so easily. He continued walking and suddenly a shudder ran over his spine. He stood still as he looked around, but finding anyone. Then he heard the queen's dismay, though very soft and realized they were in big trouble once they got back. It gave him another shudder and he quickly searched around for some other plant that could help heal the wounds on his other half.
He located a plantain and once again got some leafs of it as well and then made his way back to the shadow of the night. He found the dragon licking his wounds, which improved the healing process as well on top of it infections were less likely to appear.
Hiccup search around for some good stone to crush the leaves with. It took some time before the leafs were perfectly crushed and mixed with some of the shadow of the night his salvia. The human skinned got some cloth from the bag that was tied to the saddle on the black dragon. It always had useful items in it.
"Now sit still," he told the shadow of the night, who glared at him offended that he was being treated like a small hatchling.
Hiccup applied the paste of herbs and salvia and wounded the cloth around it. After that he started to unhook the prostatic tail-fin and started drawing in the sand with a stick, making calculations in his head to find out what he was going to need to fix this. It wasn't something his other half was overly interested in so he took a nap.
It took him about an hour to figure out what he had to do, but he definitely needed to enter the village for it. Luckily he knew exactly where he could find everything, since he raided the place so often.
He dropped the stick and walked over to his other half, where he sat down against, half waking the dragon. It was still day, so it was too dangerous to enter the village. The human skinned would wait until it was night. For now he could use a nap as well.
Astrid sat up straight and looked around only to find herself in her own bedroom. With a sigh she let herself fall back on her pillow. It was just a nightmare, but a horrible one too. For a moment she thought she was killed by a night fury and his rider. She completely hated the idea of that creature walking around somewhere on the island, to the point that it gave her nightmares even.
She rolled around and tried to get some more sleep, but couldn't really. After thirty minutes of trying she decided to get up and just get breakfast and be done with her chores for the day so she could go hunt after that darn devil. Then it wouldn't haunt her in her dreams anymore.
When outside, she let out a sigh, it was still dark. Way too early to get breakfast. Just when she was about to go back in and give sleep yet another try, she saw something move in the shadows. First she thought her mind was playing with her, but then she saw a figure heading to the forge. Not trusting it she followed it carefully. Once close to the forge, she made sure she made no sound as she approached the building. She listened as well as she could, but heard nothing. Then someone exited the building and stood right in front of her. He had noticed her too and dashed away quickly. Astrid, a little surprised she got a glimpse of the guy, quickly pursued. He left the village and entered the forest, but Astrid knew the forest by heart, after all she had been living here her whole life. However, it was as if this guy knew the forest just as well as she did. All of a sudden she had lost him, panting a little she stood still and looked around in the hope she would find some trace of him. Branches misplaced, stepped on leafs, anything would do, yet she found nothing. Cursing to herself she went back home.
Hiccup looked down and made sure to make no noise. He hadn't expected a human to be up at this hour. They wouldn't wake until another two hours he thought. He heard her curse to herself. It made him smile. He waited another five minutes before climbing out of the tree and making his way back to the cove.
"Where are you going?"
Astrid looked around to find Ruffnut, looking curiously at her. She wasn't sure if she should tell her friend what she was up to. Ever since that morning where she chased that guy, her mind had been set on finding him for sure. And kill him and the night furry. She could use some help with that, yes, but she didn't want Ruffnut to get hurt. Eventually she decided she needed at least someone to know where she was headed and what her plan was, in case things went wrong.
"I'm going to look for the night fury and the rider," she stated, "but don't tell anyone."
"What? I can't come with you?" Ruffnut asked sounded a bit disappointed.
Astrid shook her head, "If I stay away too long, come find me."
"How unfair," Ruffnut scoffed, "but fine. I hope you end up in trouble."
Astrid gave her a weak smile and set off to the forest. She went back to place where she lost the guy and started her search from there. Since she wasn't pursuing she had to rely on tracks this time. Hopefully she could find them easier now that it was lighter.
She studied every leaf, branch, stone, tree and plant, but had to give up when it started to get too dark. Disappointed she returned back to the village and went to the great hall to fetch herself something to eat. She joined Ruffnut who was almost done with her dinner and looked at her when she sat down.
"Any luck?"
Astrid shook her head.
"Any luck with what?" Snotlout asked and dropped himself next to Astrid.
"Nothing of your concern acting chief. Just looking for some plants. You know, for medicine."
Snotlout immediately lost interest and started talking to Tuffnut about some food supply. Ruffnut gave Astrid a grin and finished the last of her food.
The next day late in the afternoon Astrid set out once more. After an hour of searching she found something, a scale. Searching around more she found another one and now knew what direction they went in. While walking, searching for more tracks and keeping her guard up, she thought of where they could be. They needed a place with water, food and perhaps shelter. A place where they wouldn't be spotted easily. Looking around she knew everywhere around here they could be spotted easily. Perhaps a cave or a ravine.
"Wait a second… there should be a cove around here somewhere," she whispered to herself.
Increasing her speed she set of to the cove and couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it before. As she neared, she slowed down and watched her step. Making no sound she approached the cove and peered inside as soon as she could. A grin appeared on her face when she spotted the black dragon. Two steps closer and she saw the guy, but what was he doing? She stepped closer, trying to see, but quickly hid behind a tree when she saw the slightest movement of looking into her direction.
The human skinned rubbed some sweat from his forehead as he looked at his work. He was nearly done, so hopefully they could go back today. It depended on the tail-fin of his other half, who was currently sniffing the air. Hiccup got on guard, though did not give this away. He simply looked at his companion.
"There is a human here," the shadow of the night said in a calm matter, "it's alone."
"I'll go take care of that then. Can't have it tell anyone where we are."
Hiccup placed his work away and looked around, to see if he could spot the human, but it was no-where to be seen. The black dragon told him where to find it as he quickly climbed out of the cove. Once out he pulled a knife and went into the direction he could find the human, making no noise as he walked the path. He decided to ambush it from behind, like he usually does. One quick stab with his dagger would be enough to kill it in a few minutes. It didn't take long to find his prey, it was female and she was peering into the cove, as she hid partly behind a tree. Her movements told him she was looking for him. With his knife ready he slowly approached her as he focused on her. He raised his arm to do the dirty work, but found his hand shaking. It confused him, since that never happened before. She stepped closer to the cove, not noticing his presence.
Now his arm started shaking a little as if his body was telling him he would regret killing her. Why, he wondered. This never happened before. Why couldn't he kill her? He had to in order to protect himself and his other half. What was wrong with him?
Hiccup started to panic a little as he realized he had to do something and quickly, before she would turn around and see him. With a swift movement he then turned around the blade and hit the haft against the side of her head. He watched her fall down unconscious and let out a sigh. Now he had time to think of what to do. Well, at least some time. He turned his knife again so he was holding it correctly again and stared at it for a moment before looking at her again. With his foot he rolled her to her back and kneeled down, holding the dagger near her throat. His hand was shaking as everything in him told him not to continue with this. Annoyed and confused he put his knife away and picked up the woman, carrying her into the cove.
The shadow of the night looked at him with a questioning expression.
"What are you planning on doing with her?"
"I don't know yet," Hiccup answered with a mumble as he searched the back for a rope.
"Why didn't you kill her?"
"I… I couldn't… every time I tried my body started shaking. Everything in me is telling me not to kill her," Hiccup blurted as he looked at the shadow of the night with a helpless face, hoping the dragon would know what was wrong with him.
"This never happened before," he continued with a trembling voice.
"Should I kill her then?"
"No!" Hiccup said quickly, too quickly for even his own taste.
Something was definitely wrong with him, why did he want to spare this human's life? Frustrated he went with both his hand through his hair as he walked around a bit.
"No… just… I'll tie her up for now. Maybe we can use her," he ended up mumbling.
The shadow of the night watched the human skinned tying up the female. He then placed her in a sitting position against a rock and started gathering wood for a fire. The black dragon watched the woman for a while, not understanding what was so different about her that it made his other half unable to kill her. There had to be something, but what?