I'm sorry for making you wait for so long, but I'm afraid it will happen a few more times. By now I have the key, got most my things packed and am really busy with my apartment. It needs new paint and one ceiling needs to be redone and the list can go on like that, but I'm not gonna bother you with that. I work on this story whenever I have time. Please bear with it, I'll make the chapters worth waiting for... at least I hope so.
I thank MegaShark for beta reading. This chapter already got the beta reading and he fixed my mistakes. The previous chapters will also be done. So from now on, before it gets uploaded here, it will be read by him first.
TadashiHamada4ev:
You got quite a few right. Although I will try to make these things clear later in the story, here's a list:
Sting tail: deadly nadder
Flaming body: monstrous nightmare
Rock body: gronckle
Snapper: terrible terror
Shadow of the night: night fury
Chapter 3: Human-skinned dragon
Astrid tried opening her eyes as she wondered what had happened. She remembered looking into the cove finding the night fury and its rider. She remembered hiding behind a tree so not to be spotted, hoping that the wind wouldn't carry her scent to the two. She remembered she couldn't find the rider when looking again. Right, that's where she'd made a mistake. She had been scanning the cove intensely in the hopes of finding the rider and then… blackness. Her head throbbed a bit so she could guess what happened. A smack to the head most likely. How could she have been so stupid to not keep her guard up? It was such a beginner's mistake. She had been so focussed on the dragon and thinking the rider wouldn't leave the cove unless she saw him do so, that she completely forgot about him sneaking out when she wasn't looking for a short moment. Actually, she was lucky. He could have killed her.
She blinked a few times and saw a pair of big green eyes staring at her. If she hadn't been tied up, which she hadn't noticed till just now, she would have jumped or backed away. Or better yet, swing her axe if she had it. The pair of eyes belonged to the night fury. He was studying her with some sort of sceptical look. It gave her shivers and she wiggled around to see if she could get rid of the rope, but found herself in a tight situation. The rope wouldn't budge at all, in fact it was getting tighter and the dragon in front of her lifted its lips, showing its teeth as he let out a soft growl. She stopped her attempt and saw the night fury look over to his tail. Astrid followed his gaze and found the rider. The night fury growled something to him and the rider replied with the same roaring and clacking language.
Astrid was certain the dragon just told him that she was awake, but the rider continued his business and didn't even give her a look. She looked at what he was doing and saw him fumbling with something that looked like a dragon's tailfin. Studying the dragon, she found out that he was in fact missing one tailfin. The one in the rider's hands must be a prosthetic one, it explained why she thought the tail looked odd.
She looked around some more, but kept an eye on the rider and the night fury. Apparently she was in the cove. It was already night, so a small fire not far away from them cast dancing shadows around the cove's walls. She wondered how long she had been out and worried that maybe Ruffnut was already looking for her. Please let her not stumble upon this scene. That girl would never let her forget this.
Her eyes fell upon scribbles in the sand. It had runes, drawings, and calculations she didn't understand. So this guy knew runes, then perhaps she could communicate with him. She looked back at him, he seemed to be done with the prosthetic as he closed it and climbed over the night fury's tail. Now for the first time she could properly see his face. Sure she had seen a flash of him when she busted him at the forge, but not long enough to really see what he looked like.
He brushed his reddish hair back as he started attaching the leather tailfin to the night fury. His face lit up in the faint firelight and Astrid noticed freckles. He had a determined and focussed look on his face as he worked and softly spoke to himself in nonsense Astrid could not understand. She wasn't even sure if it was dragon language either. She sat there silently watching him work. Somehow she wasn't even scared anymore, even with the night fury right in front of her.
Once the prosthetic tailfin was attached, he started connecting wires and once done with that he tested his work. He seemed satisfied because he gave the dragon a big bright smile as he said something to him. The dragon roared something back and then looked over to Astrid again. This time the rider did too. Now that he was done with his work, he could focus on her and Astrid wasn't sure if she liked that. Two pairs of green eyes were looking at her.
"Uhm… so… uh who are you?" Astrid asked as an attempt to start a conversation.
She wasn't really good in the talking part, she would rather smash her axe into any problem for an easy solution, but that obviously wasn't going to work here. She was tied up and had no clue where her axe was, to start off with.
"We don't have names," he answered, crawling over his partner and sitting against the side of the black dragon.
Now that he talked a human language, thankfully he spoke her language too, she had the feeling she knew that voice.
"Are you going to eat me?" she carefully asked as she tried to figure out why she recognized the voice.
He gave her a grin, "I don't exactly like the taste of human flesh. What about you bud?"
He looked over to the night fury who huffed, better known as a no, and then dropped his head on the ground.
"Nope, we don't eat humans," he grinned.
Astrid let out a sigh of relieve.
"Perhaps the queen eats humans," he then mumbled.
She looked at him with wide eyes and some newfound fear coming over her. She tried getting the knots loose again, not liking the situation she was in. She could do absolutely nothing. Her only possible escape from being food for some dragon queen would be talking him out of it. Her life was in his hands and she really didn't like that thought.
"So uh… what queen?" Astrid asked to keep him talking.
"Yes, the queen we work for, she's at our nest. She looks after the dragons and all we have to do is bring food in return."
She stopped fumbling with the rope, since it was hopeless and looked at him again.
"You mean you steal food from us," she stated slightly pissed.
"Piling up food in some building, very smart," the dragon rider snorted sarcastically.
"Exactly! In a building, our building. It's not yours to just take as you please!"
"You Vikings trespassed on our lands, that land wasn't yours to take either!" he shouted back.
Astrid bit her lip, he had a good point.
"And then you think you can simply chase us away. Then look for our home, losing plenty of people every time you try to find our nest. Best idea ever!" he continued.
It was then it hit Astrid like a brick. She suddenly could connect everything together. The runes and calculations in the sand, the way he was so focused on his work, the work he was doing in itself, his appearance, his voice and most of all the way he was talking. The undertone of sarcasm and taunt. He was throwing her an annoyed face, but soon turning somewhat afraid and questioning as she stared at him with disbelief. It only confirmed her thoughts more, though she could barely believe it.
"Hiccup?"
His eyes grew wide as he stared at her.
"W-why are y-you calling me that?" he sounded confused, with a hint of fear.
His characteristic stutter, or at least he used to stutter a lot whenever she was around him as far as she could remember. She had heard it plenty of times and it sounded the same now as it did then. This really was Hiccup. After all those years he was actually alive! He grew up which made him almost unrecognizable. He…
She looked over at the dragon who was once again watching her, but with curious eyes this time. It was then she once again realized he was the rider of that dragon. Next to that he could communicate with it in its own language. Hiccup had joined the dragons, their enemy. Would that mean he too was now her enemy? Why would he join the enemy? Wait, he just said they didn't have names, what did that mean?
He looked at her with questioning eyes, still waiting for her to reply. She sighed as she came to the conclusion that he must have lost his memories somewhere along the way. Maybe even four years ago, shortly after running away. All those years she had told herself if he were to return alive, she would apologize to him. She never expected him to come back, but here he was. However, an apology would have no meaning if he did not remember the event she was apologizing for.
"You used to live here," she then told him, noticing herself how sad that actually sounded.
"Impossible," he deadpanned, "I'm a dragon. Dragon's don't live amongst humans."
Now she gaped at him. He actually thought he was a dragon? This was way worse than she thought.
"You're a human, not a dragon."
"I'm a human-skinned dragon. Just looking like a human, but I am a dragon. I'm even a rarer kind of species than the shadow of the night," he told her with a frown.
"Shadow of the night?" she repeated, not understanding what kind of dragon he was talking about.
He pointed to the dragon behind him. Ah, he meant a night fury… so dragons have other names for their species. In a way that actually made sense.
He was staring at her again, it made her feel uncomfortable, but she could see she wasn't the only one. He seemed not to really know what to do with the situation he was in. He had looked rather… scared when she said his name.
"Why did me saying that name scare you?"
Suddenly he looked offended and gave her a glare.
"I'm not scared of anything," he protested, "I was just curious why you, also, would call me that. We have never met before."
"Also? Who else has called you Hiccup?"
"A human slave, back at our nest. She calls the shadow of the night Toothless and if you ask me he is clearly not toothless. She even said that's what I called him, talk about weird. Why would I call him Toothless? Every dragon knows only the holy ones have names."
Astrid gave the night fury another look. It had its eyes closed, but surely wasn't sleeping. When he was mentioned Astrid had seen his… ears? Was that what they were? They moved. She had seen his teeth when he growled at her. She had to agree it was a silly name to give a dragon and wondered how he got to that. Clearly asking wasn't going to give her an answer.
"So why call me Hiccup?" he asked again, getting her out of her thoughts.
She turned to look back at him.
"Like I said, you used to live here on Berk. You're the son of the chief, Stoick the Vast. Your mother was killed by dragons when you were only a baby. If I remember the story correctly it was a stormcutter… wait you don't know the human names for dragons."
Astrid started thinking about what she could remember about stormcutters and then realized stormcutters hadn't been seen ever since. She couldn't recall many details because of that, just one.
"It has four wings… I don't know anymore details," she mumbled.
Hiccup looked at her with a sceptical face.
"Again, dragons don't live among humans. You've got me mixed up with someone else."
Astrid sighed and wondered how she could get him to understand she wasn't mixing him up with anyone. Once again she studied him, as to make sure for herself as well. Her eyes widened a little in surprise when she found a small badge stitched to his belt. It had the crest of the Hairy Hooligans; a curled up monstrous nightmare. One of the most stubborn dragons known.
"I'm not mistaken. You are Hiccup Horrendous Haddock and the proof is on your belt. It's the crest of the Hairy Hooligan tribe. You must have seen the flags earlier on when raiding this place."
The human-skinned one looked at his belt or better said, he looked at the small badge attached to it. It indeed looked like the image on the many flags around the island. Next to the fact that she had just mentioned the four-winged one who carried off his mother, according to her, had matched with what the female slave at the nest had told him. She also had called to him with the same name, told him she was his mother. It confused and annoyed him. He wasn't a human, he was a dragon, but he started to believe that less and less and he hated that. He didn't want to be human, he wanted to be a dragon.
His partner must have noticed his confusion, because he felt a nudge against his arm.
"You are not who she claims you to be," the shadow of the night hummed.
"But… the badge… the four-winged story… even the name… it all matches," he blurted back in his dragon tongue so the human would not understand and not know about his confusion.
"That doesn't mean you are this Hiccup she is claiming you to be."
Hiccup grumbled as he rapidly went through his hair with both his hands, letting out some sounds of frustration. Well so far for keeping his confusion a secret from the human. He didn't care about it anymore though. He just wanted to understand, to get rid of these questions once for all. Not even the queen and her words of yesterday were helping to soothe this confusion.
"Then where was I before I came to the nest? I don't even remember coming to the nest. I don't even remember who I was before I spoke with the queen!" he growled in anger at his partner.
From the corner of his eyes, he could see the human watching him with a questioning and somewhat terrified look. It was probably because she couldn't understand a word he was saying. Her fear increased when the shadow of the night stood up, but he paid the tied up human no mind and only focussed on his human-skinned partner.
"Even I do not remember what I did before I served the queen."
"Why? Why don't you remember?! Back when I first entered the center of the nest, when I stood before our queen for the first time, you said you need me to help you fly! You even said I made that prosthetic tail!"
He jabbed in the direction of the shadow of night's tail who gave him a deadpanned look in return.
"You just fixed it, like a few minutes ago," he said in a low growl.
"Yes! Yes I did, but I don't remember making the thing. I don't even understand why I know all these weird fact things!"
He glared at the shadow of the night, who glared back at him.
"When did we meet? How did we meet? How did I make the prosthetic tail fin? Why did I? Where was I before? How do I know how to use tools? Why do I look like a human, but feel more like a dragon? Why do these humans keep on calling me Hiccup? JUST WHO AM I!"
The black dragon's glare started to falter. There was some truth in his questions. Things were confusing. The difference between the shadow of the night and the human-skinned was that the shadow of the night never gave it any thought. Never even questioned a thing, he simply followed the orders of the queen and got a home in return. Now, with the human-skinned's questions, he started to question himself why he never asked these questions. Why did he not even have any memories of before. He closed his eyes and tried to remember that night they first walked up to the queen together. He tried to fixate on the pieces of memories he could remember back then.
His eyes snapped open in agony and he shook his head wildly, remembering pain. It hurt so very much, the moment he thought he had grasped even the tiniest bit, a shot of pain was going through his brain. Why?
His partner gave him a questioning look.
"I… I don't know. I can't remember," he gave as answer to his questions, "It hurts to remember."
"It hurts?" the human-skinned repeated confused, "when I try to remember all I get is nothingness… blank thoughts… okay, I remember things such as runes or strange calculations which I understand for some reason. I remember the names of buildings, of Vikings, of names of trees or fruits or fish… simple facts."
Defeated, the human-skinned sat down and stared at the ground with a frown. He pulled out his knife and started drawing random lines in the sand. Next to him he heard his partner sigh. The next moment a black tail smudged the human-skinned's random lines, much to his annoyance.
"It does not matter who you were before, or even who I was before," the black dragon then stared with a serious tone, "Maybe you were this person these humans are claiming you to be, maybe you are not. It doesn't matter, because it is in the past. It's not who you are now. You are a dragon now, a leader of raids and a very skillful one at that. Skills unknown to any other dragon, which makes you very valuable and high of ranks. Now you have two options; wallowing in your questions and asking her who she thinks you are or ask that slave who she thinks you are, trying to be who you used to be. The other option being to decide for yourself who you are. So I ask you, are you human or are you dragon?"
The human-skinned blinked as he stared at his partner. He hadn't ever expected those words from him, but suddenly felt so much lighter. He could choose who he wanted to be? He never thought of it that way. He had been too caught up in his questions to see such a possibility. And his partner was right, he was a valuable addition to the nest. He possessed knowledge beyond any other dragon. It didn't matter where that knowledge had come from.
"What do you choose to do now?" his other half asked.
The boy remained silent for a while and grinned a bit. He played with his knife.
"Dragon. I choose to be a dragon and therefor…"
He turned to look at the woman who had been watching them as he stopped playing with his knife, now holding it firmly. Her eyes grew wide in terror as he stood up and stepped towards the girl. She managed to crawl back a little, but soon hit a rock and she cursed under her breath.
"Hiccup, no wait," she pleaded.
He was not Hiccup. If he once was, he was no longer that person. It somehow felt freeing to let go of those questions that had been haunting him. He never thought he could just pick what he wanted to be.
She paled as he kneeled down in front of her and closed her eyes when he came closer with the knife. But instead of going to her throat as he intended, he cut her cheek. Blood dripped down from his knife as he looked at her with a frown. He still could not kill this person. His hand was shaking and his heart was racing and he could feel it was not because of the excitement of killing. So perhaps there was some truth in her words, he once was a person who lived on this island. Yet, that was no longer the case and he wouldn't want to live among them either. Dragon killing, Viking scum was what they all were.
Angry with himself and her, he threw the knife away letting out a growl. She looked at him with a pale face and big terrified eyes. Her mouth opened for a moment, but she quickly closed it.
The human-skinned got back to his feet and got his knife as he reasoned that somewhere in the back of his mind his old self was stopping him from killing this woman. Very well, then he had to do this another way. He was not letting his human life, if he ever had one, get in the way of serving his queen. He won't risk letting her go back to the village and tell about him and the queen. His partner could easily do the killing, but his pride was hurt because he couldn't do so. No, he would kill this human himself.
I was watching him ruffle his hair. It ended up looking like he just got out of bed. Clearly my words had confused him, maybe he remembered something? I could only hope for that. I watched him as he argued with his dragon. His growling shouts in the dragon tongue made me shudder in fear at points. It's that I knew this was Hiccup that I wouldn't be outright terrified at this point. Any other Viking would, especially when being tied up and a dragon giving you a glare every now and then. No, I was certain I would get myself out of here by talking to him. I mean, this was Hiccup… he wouldn't even hurt a fly. He had to at least remember something of being human, right?
I completely forgot about that thought when the dragon stood up. For a terrifying moment I thought he had ordered his night fury to blast me. But it focused on Hiccup only and completely seemed to ignore me now. Their talk went on and I started to feel nervous. I wasn't much of a talker myself, but at least I would like to understand what was being said. Right now I was in the dark. For all I knew they could be discussing on how to get rid of me. The thought made me shudder once more and I pushed it away, though they seemed to be arguing over something. No-one would believe me if I ever told this back home. I wouldn't believe it myself, I was barely believing it even when seeing this. Then they both went silent and I gulped when I saw Hiccup grab his pocket knife. It also confused me once again how he was thinking he was a dragon while he could speak a human language and use items like that dagger. It didn't make any sense to me.
Their talk suddenly became calm and I still had no idea what it had been about. I stopped breathing for a moment when their gazes suddenly turned to me. Oh gods, they had been planning on how to kill me for real!
As any normal person would do in this situation, I kicked with my feet to back away, that was until I felt something hard behind me. I gave a quick glance over my shoulder and found a rock there, just my luck. Silently I cursed at it and brought my focus back to Hiccup who was nearing me with his dagger in hand. He was really planning to kill me?
"Hiccup, no wait," I tried. I could hear my own voice tremble.
He didn't stop and I would be lying if said I wasn't afraid. In fact I was downright terrified and one hundred percent sure I was going to die at that moment. I stopped breathing and closed my eyes to not watch what he was going to do, it was some sort of reflex. The sheer fear was taking control over my body. Something that never happened to me before and it only added to my fear. I could move nothing, even while I was mentally telling my legs to just kick him away, my legs just wouldn't move. Then I felt something sharp and thought I was done for, but realized he hadn't gone to my throat but my… cheek? Why did he cut my cheek? I dared to breathe again and opened my eyes just in time to see him look frustrated with himself and throwing his dagger away. I opened my mouth, trying to say something, trying to plead him to not do this. I wanted to tell him I wouldn't tell the others, I wouldn't even try to hurt him when he came again. But not a single word left my lips.
Confused and still shaking I watched him go to the knife. He pulled it out of the sand and looked back at me over his shoulder. His wild, raw look made shivers run through my body. This was no longer the Hiccup I knew. He indeed was a dragon, I could see it in those eyes. There was absolutely nothing human about him anymore but his looks. And this Hiccup… no this human-skinned dragon as he had called himself, was going to kill me one way or another.
I looked away from him, trying to accept my fate. Trying to accept that the real Hiccup was gone and was replaced with some dragon speaking… thing. The issue was, I couldn't. I didn't like giving up, no matter how bad the situation looked I always fought my way out. However, the situation I was in now was so absolutely terrifying that I didn't know a way out. Hiccup was willing to kill me and the night fury would kill me if I did something to Hiccup, I was certain of that. Also my body still wouldn't listen to me.
So when Hiccup came near once more, mostly likely to kill me since he was trying to a moment ago, I simply sat there. Terrified, with a shaking body, but kept my eyes open this time. At least I would die with some honour. It surprised me when he pulled me to my feet, mumbling the words "Get up," to me and then continued speaking in grunts and growls to the night fury who seemed just as confused as I was. After some chatting between the two they seemed to agree on something. Then, with a quick swipe of his knife he cut the ropes that had been keeping my arms on my back.
For a moment I couldn't do a thing, too surprised to do so. He used that moment to grab me by my chin and made me look at him.
"Run as fast as you can and pray to your gods we won't find you," he whispered with a dangerous tone.
I had no clue what game he was suddenly playing, but got all control back over my body and punched him hard in his stomach, making him collapse to his knees before making a run for it as he had suggested. Praying the night fury wouldn't fire one of those plasma blasts at me.
Clumsy, for I was still shaking with fear, I made my way out of the cove and ran as fast as I could into the direction of the village. If they followed and I managed to get there in time, then I would just shout out loud and people would come help me. At least I would stand a chance then.
I almost fell over some roots of trees and tried to focus on what was in front of me instead of what was following me. The sound of leaves being stepped on startled me, especially since it was in front of me. I immediately slowed down, until I could make out the figure of Ruffnut in the dim starlight.
"Astrid?" she asked.
I dashed towards her, grasped her wrist and kept on running.
"What's going on?" she asked confused, but I didn't bother to answer.
Then I heard it, the distinct whistling sound of the night fury and it was close. I scanned the area I was at to find something to hide under and found some rock formations that seemed perfect for just that. Without explaining to Ruff what I was doing, I pushed her under the rock and followed after her. To make sure she wouldn't make a noise I pressed my hand on her mouth to shut her up and used my other hand to shut myself up.
The sound of branches breaking nearby made me stop breathing. Please don't let them find us, I begged in silence. I heard nothing aside from the usual sound you hear in a forest at night.
"We'll be back," he suddenly called out, making me jump a little.
After the sounds of branches creaking in a tree, Ruffnut felt Astrid's hand slip from her mouth. At first, when the girl had started to drag her along, she had wanted to know what was going on, but with that whistling sound her question was pretty much answered. They had barely escaped from a dragon. Probably the night fury Astrid had been so determined to find. Not to forget its rider, who just had spoken their language and clearly stated he would come back. Something about the rider's voice sounded familiar, but Ruffnut couldn't place it and wasn't going to dwell on that either. Not with how Astrid suddenly relaxed and sank down, letting out a sigh of relief.
"What… just happened?" Ruffnut asked, only partly understanding the situation.
She glanced at Astrid and could not believe what she was seeing the dim light provided by the stars. Astrid was panting and as she crawled out from their hiding place, Ruffnut swore she looked as pale as a sheet. Terror combined with relief was written all over her face as well. It was an expression she had never seen on her friend's face. After all Astrid Hofferson was not afraid of anything. Yet Ruffnut couldn't see the normally fearless Hofferson as the girl that clumsily made her way to the village. Every so often Astrid had to grab hold on a tree to keep her footing. It was an unreal sight to Ruffnut and though she was tempted to make a mocking comment to make fun of her friend, she did not. Instead she followed in silence and closed the door of Astrid's house when they were there.
Astrid shivered and walked over to the fireplace, throwing some new wood in the dying flames. It soon was a roaring fire again, filling the room with warmth and light. Yet, Ruffnut found Astrid still shaking even when close to the fire.
"Okay enough, Spit it out. What happened out there?" Ruffnut demanded to know.
Astrid looked over to her friend, trying to find what to say to her, but at a loss of words. Eventually she shook her head.
"I don't even know where to start," she mumbled.
Ruffnut simply stared at her and studied the girl from head to toe, then promptly stepped forward and grabbed the arms of her friend.
"How about you start with explaining how you got these burns?"
Astrid looked down with surprise. She hadn't known about the burns until Ruffnut pointed them out.
"Ropes," was all she said as she stared at her red hot skin.
Ruffnut let go of her arms and started gathering things as Astrid carefully touched the red hot skin and then winced. Ruffnut came back with a wet cloth which she placed over both Astrid wrists to cool the burns. Then she pushed Astrid to one of the chairs and ordered her to sit down.
"So, ropes?" Ruffnut said and started mixing an ointment for Astrid's burns.
Astrid let out a sigh.
"Yes, he knocked me out and tied me up."
"I presume you're talking about the dragon rider?" Ruffnut asked as she got the cloth from around her friend's wrists.
She got a nod in return, but Astrid couldn't say a word for a moment as she was gritting her teeth while Ruffnut applied the ointment to her burns. Once that was done she gave her wrists a scowl.
"So what happened next?"
Astrid looked thoughtful and Ruffnut waited for her to answer the question as she wrapped a bandage around the burn marks.
"We… talked. He told me he raids to feed a queen, back at his nest. He believed he was a dragon too. Called himself a human-skinned one."
Ruffnut snorted at this, "That guy clearly hit his head. That or he was raised amongst the dragons, which I highly doubt, they would have eaten him."
Her snorting soon ceased when she saw Astrid glaring at her.
"He was carrying the crest of the Hairy Hooligans," Astrid said.
"Okay… definitely a hit on the head… Did you see who it was?"
Astrid nodded and looked away from her friend. Staring at her bandaged arms instead.
"Who was it?"
The thought of who it was and what he had done, made Astrid shiver.
"Astrid!" Ruffnut said impatiently, "would you for Thor's sake tell me who it was if you knew who it was."
"It was Hiccup, okay!" Astrid snapped at her.
Ruffnut just looked at her. Her expression clearly one of not believing of what she just heard. It was the last thing she expected to hear.
"Are you sure?" she asked after a minute of silence.
"Yes, Ruff. It was Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third," Astrid stated somewhat annoyed and then sighed before she continued in a calmer manner, "I didn't recognize him at first. But the drawings in the sand, the calculations described there, his voice… His appearance has changed, of course, he grew up, but it was clearly Hiccup."
She looked at Ruffnut for a moment before she continued her story.
"He… he tried killing me, actually," she mumbled with a trembling voice, something that wasn't unnoticed by Ruffnut.
"But you stopped him from that of course," Ruffnut said with a smile, which soon faltered as she saw Astrid's face.
"How could I? I was tied up, remember? He surely knows his knots. I couldn't move at all. You have no idea how terrifying that is… not being able to defend yourself."
Another shudder ran down her spine.
"Then what happened, you're clearly still alive."
"I'm not entirely sure," Astrid mumbled as she shook her head, "he cut my cheek, I thought he was going to slice my throat. Then he threw his knife away with some frustrated dragonish growl and the next thing I know he starts this… game of hunting. He cut the ropes and let me go, with him chasing after me a minute later. Then I met you, got us into hiding and he announces that he's coming back. Next time I'm surely dead, he could just let that night fury fire at me or cut my throat after-"
Astrid was stopped with a slap on her cheek. The cheek Hiccup had cut. It had snapped her out of her rambling and she blinked a few times as her eyes were locked on her friend.
"You said he cut you there, better treat that," Ruffnut said and smeared the paste over the cut.
Astrid knew better than that, Ruffnut clearly wanted her to snap out of it.
"To think Hiccup is still alive," Ruffnut sighed, "you better not tell anyone else about this."
"Why not? Stoick would be overjoyed to find out his son is alive. You know how much he has changed ever since Hiccup disappeared," Astrid said not understanding why Ruffnut would want to keep this news a secret.
Ruffnut raised one eyebrow and watched her.
"Please think it over, Astrid. I'm sure you know what I mean. You're not as stupid as someone like Snotlout."
Astrid frowned and thought it over. It soon dawned on her what Ruffnut meant. Yes, Hiccup may be alive, but he had joined the dragons. Not only that, but he thought he was one of them. It was even worse than him being dead. She had realised this when she found out it was Hiccup, how could she forget that. So she nodded and saw Ruffnut stand up.
"I'm going home, it's late. Just forget about tonight."
Astrid let her friend out of the house and closed the door to stop the cold wind from coming in. Then she made her way up the stairs to her small room as she frowned. Forgetting about Hiccup wasn't going to be easy.
The human-skinned scanned the forest as he tried to listen to the sound of footsteps hitting leaves or twigs. He had to admit the human girl was pretty good at staying silent.
"You really want to kill her in a game of chase?" the shadow of the night asked as he was flying over the treetops.
"I was hoping it would make it easier for me to kill her. Problem is, I still know it's her and for some reason my body won't listen to me," he told his partner, sounding annoyed, but he was mostly annoyed with himself.
Finally he made out some figure, no two in fact, but they passed over them. The human-skinned let the shadow of the night turn, who then landed on some branches of a tree, making it bend with crackling noises.
"Two humans?" the black dragon whispered.
The human-skinned did not reply as he was pondering over his next move. It was impossible for him to kill that human and he didn't understand why. Well he sort of understood. If he really had been an actual human at some point, then that part of him was stopping him from killing this woman. Point was, he didn't feel like a human.
He let out an irritated growl.
"We're leaving," he announced to his companion.
"Why? I thought you wanted to kill her."
"I just told you I cannot," he spoke in Dragonese and then looked in the a general direction he suspected the woman to be to and continued speaking in the human's language, "We'll be back."
The shadow of the night hesitated, but flew up.
"Once I get rid of this human part inside me I will kill her," the human-skinned vowed.
"Perhaps you can ask the queen for advice?" the shadow of the night suggested as they made their way home. Soon they left the island far behind them.
"Are you out of your mind? She'll eat us for betraying her like this. No human should be left alive when engaged like this, you know that."
The shadow of the night agreed in silence and made his way to the nest. On their way there they made sure to catch some boar to offer the queen.
Hours later they arrived and flew inside the giant mountain with caution. The two knew very well they were going to be scolded at. While they were not proud to be scolded at, it was their privilege. The queen wasn't so forgiving. She clearly stated that point every time a dragon didn't follow her order well, she would eat them. That very thought of possibly being eaten ran through the minds of both the human-skinned and the shadow of the night. They hoped they were only going to be scolded.
The shadow of the night flew over the sinkhole in the center and dropped the boar he was holding. The human-skinned on top of him did so too. When they heard the queen moving, the shadow of the night landed on a nearby rock and the two waited for their punishment.
The magnificent head of their queen appeared and she looked down on her two subjects as other dragons around retreated into the shadows, knowing what was about to come.
"You two fools!" she roared angrily.
It seemed like it was going to be scolding. The shadow of the night and human-skinned were a little relieved, but nonetheless didn't like to be scolded. They remained on guard, because she could still decide to eat them. It all depended on how they were going to play their cards.
"How could you let yourselves get caught like that?!"
The words echoed around, making other dragons retreat further into the shadows, while the two spoken to winced and tried to make themselves seem smaller than they already were compared to the queen.
"Normally I would eat you, but since you have been good with leading the raids, perhaps I should take your ranks away and make you start from zero!"
The two cringed, not liking to give up their ranks, but understanding it nonetheless.
"Well? What do you have to say for yourselves?"
This was another privilege they had, unlike the lowly servants, they got to speak before she would declare her final verdict.
"We grew too confident," the shadow of the night said humbly.
"Humans are not to be taken lightly!" the queen snarled back at him, "they already captured that land and many more lands, chasing dragons away from their homes. Claiming the land as theirs. Not to mention killing us for the fun of killing, they have a kill on sight policy!"
"Perhaps we should do the same to them," the human-skinned said, "we know the dangers of the humans now, my queen. We never got so close to these dangers, that is why we grew too confident. It will not happen again."
It got eerily silent as the queen looked down at the human-skinned.
"Are you trying to talk your way out of punishment?"
The human-skinned bowed deeply, "No my queen, I wouldn't dare. I merely wanted you to know the entire truth. If you eat us or take our rank away it is none of my concern. I will be happy with whatever my queen decides, for I know you decide it based on what is best for the nest."
The other dragons curiously emerged a little from their hiding spots. All knowing how well the human-skinned one could bring his words so it would please the queen. She clearly seemed to have calmed and had a smile on her face. Something you could only see from a distance. Though humans wouldn't call it a smile.
"Yes, exactly, I decide what is best for the nest. So my decision will be a test."
"A test, my queen?" the shadow of the night said confused as he dared to look up a little.
"Yes, a test, since the human-skinned said we should go with the kill on sight policy you are going to kill humans. You are to bring those humans to me. I haven't had human meat in years. Also, I don't you want to come back with a mere group of ten, give me a fleet of hundreds even thousands. There are plenty of their boats trying to enter our nest. Find them, kill them, and bring them to me. Take the flock along with you and lead them into victory. Only when you succeed, will you keep your ranks."
The human-skinned and shadow of the night bowed in agreement as the queen started to go back to her chamber far down below.
"Before you get too lazy, I'll give you until sundown."
After that, she disappeared. The two scolded ones retreated as well still somewhat shaken. The shadow of the night had to walk and glide, as far as gliding worked, to the exit to calm down. The two looked at the sunset, knowing that their time was limited.
"That was close," the human-skinned said as he slid off the shadow of the night's back.
"Thanks to your words. You shouldn't be leading raids, you should be her advisor," the shadow of night grinned at him and dropped down.
"No thanks, I like leading the raids too much, besides you wouldn't be able to fly without me."
The human-skinned gestured to the prosthetic tailfin.
"Thank Odin, you're alright! Where have you been all this time?"
The two dragons looked around to find the human slave walking up to them. She stopped, keeping a certain distance from the shadow of the night who glared at her, while the human-skinned rolled his eyes. He ignored her and the four winged one not far behind her and tried to focus on which direction they should fly to find Viking ships. A sudden idea popped into his head and he looked straight at the woman, while talking to his partner in Dragonese.
"We should bring her to the queen," the human-skinned stated.
The words were carried all the way to the four winged who flew up and landed between them and the human slave.
"Don't you dare think to use her as food!" he roared angrily as he stepped closer with a threatening look. It didn't intimidate the human-skinned or shadow of the night, but the human-skinned got a smirk on his face.
"The queen wants human meat. If you don't want your slave to be one of her meals then go search for Viking ships and report back with their location. We want a fleet, not some single fishing ship."
"And if I refuse?" the four winged glared.
"Then she," the human-skinned pointed at the woman who had distanced herself from the group of dragons and was watching the scene with fear, "will be food for the queen, followed by the crime you committed."
The four winged stepped back a little as he looked from the human-skinned to the human and back to the human-skinned.
"What crime?" he asked carefully.
"Not following the queen's orders, keeping food away from her, keeping a human, who is highly dangerous as a pet; I could go on."
"Alright, I'll go."
The four winged opened his wings as the human-skinned told him to hurry, the queen expected her food before sundown. With that in the back of his mind, the four winged went up in the air in search for a fleet of human ships.
"Smart," the shadow of the night said, watching the four winged until he was no longer visible due to the fog, "letting others do the dirty work."
The human-skinned grinned as he walked to the beach to catch some fish to eat, the shadow of the night trotting after him. After their meal, they waited for the four winged to return.
The human-skinned had a frown on his face as he thought of his last encounter with a human, the one he couldn't kill. He decided this was a great opportunity to test his skills in killing humans. Promptly he stood up and walked around the beach until he found the items that had been in the saddlebag. He had taken them out shortly after he had found out about the many useless objects that had been in there. He looked around to see if he could find something useful. Amongst the clutter were quite a few human weapons. The only thing he ever took with him was a small dagger. This time he decided to just take everything with him, literally. Perhaps he could throw something at a human, or make them choke on whatever those small round things were.
The shadow of the night had come after him, curious about what he was planning.
"What are you doing with that sword?" he asked when he saw the human-skinned attach it to his belt.
"I'm going to use their own weapons against them. Come here, I want to throw these things in that bag. Who knows when it could come in handy."
The shadow of the night came closer and the human-skinned filled the saddlebag until no item was left in the small carved out opening in the rocks. He was done just in time, because the four winged landed before them.
"There is a huge fleet, I can guide you to it," he said.
"Gather the flocks," the shadow of the night commanded the four winged, who flew away after a nod.
The human-skinned climbed on the shadow of the night.
"Let's go," he said determined.
A few minutes later a flock of dragons was on their way to yet another raid, but different than any others they had done before.
Just a little side note. Hiccup can remember details like names of items and such. These things are stored in a different part of your brain than your memories. I got this from a documentary I watched some time ago. I man lost his memories but he still knew what a banana was.