Hiccup woke up to a subtle noise. He sat up, alert and then stood, quietly enough not to wake the students downstairs, and rushed to the window. He could see Astrid, tip-toeing across the arena; the noise was the front door closing. The figure slipped across the grey stone heading towards the dragon cages.
Hiccup was surprised to see her stop at her dragon's cage, and not just look in but also sit down, criss-cross, in front of the bared gates. She must have been talking to her dragon since he could hear a faint churl of response, followed by the girl's laughter. Hiccup wasn't sure if he should go out, but he had a good excuse; The dragons' morning exercise.
He changed quickly and walked down the stairs, past the snoring students and out into the frosty morning air. His breath formed a cloud in front of his face, the chill settling into him as soon as his feet hit the ground. He closed the door quickly, to preserve the heat in the barracks. Astrid didn't seem to hear him as he approached.
"Good morning Astrid." He finally spoke when he was right beside her. She didn't react.
"Good morning Major."
Hiccup sighed, even after he had told all the students to stop with the title a few kept it up inconsistently. He didn't bother to say anything about it though, which might be the reason that they didn't stop. Instead of replying, he began to crank the cage door open.
"You're letting her out?!" Astrid squealed, jumping up off the ground as the cage began to open.
"Yeah just to let them stretch their wings, do you mind?"
"Of course, I… I mean go ahead," She stuttered, breaking sentence and staring at the ground. Hiccup broke out with a huge grin as the door swung open. Stormfly sprung out, happily greeting her rider. Astrid's embarrassment was forgotten and she reached out, rubbing the dragon on the snout gently. As she did, Hiccup started to let out the other dragons, who walked out of their cages, stretching as he had said they would. Toothless nosed opened his own cage which Hiccup still refused to lock, and stretched his back, arcing it low and wagging his tail slightly when he caught Hiccups eye.
Hiccup smiled and walked over to his dragon, who had come out of his stretch bouncing excitedly. "No buddy we're not flying yet." Hiccup said with a smile of familiarity to the dragon.
"It's like you understand him; it's amazing actually." Astrid said, causing him to jump at her sudden appearance by his side. He caught her slight revenge smirk.
"We spent most of our lives together, but we have always had a strong connection. This big ball of night can't get enough of me, can he?" Hiccup chuckled as he rubbed Toothless' head roughly. The dragon lolled it tongue and pushed up against Hiccups side.
"Do you have any siblings Major?" Astrid asked, reaching out to Toothless, who gladly accepted the petting she offered.
"No, I don't have any," he started, "Neither do you, I've heard."
Astrid sighed, "of course you have, I guess not many people haven't. It doesn't help that my family is one of the only noble families in Berk, everyone was expecting a male heir to be born." Astrid explained with a somber expression as her hand moved to scratch at Toothless' jaw, "My parents say that they don't even have a female heir, their joking sure but I think that they know that I want to do other things... They're great. As for siblings though, Berk isn't that big, everyone here grew up really close to each other, the other cadets are like my cousins at least. I never lacked in companionship." she continued, her words silenced for a moment as her hand fell by her side. "But with you I can't tell, you are good at talking sure but, you always seem to be lying." Hiccup stiffened at her words, his petting halted for only a second. He doesn't like where this is going...
"There is something up with you. You chose your words carefully; you chose your jokes carefully. I think your hiding something... and I think your past has something to do with it." Astrid finished, her voice low and casual, as if she weren't really accusing him of dishonesty.
"I don't know what your talking about." Hiccup stated with a clipped tone as he took a step back, composure was key in this. "You can't seem to stop saying it so I'm surprised I have to remind you." Hiccups shoulders tensed as he spoke, choosing his words carefully. "I am a Major, I have secrets, military secrets, secrets that could turn the tides of war. You learn to watch your words in this kind of business." He was angry now; frightened and uneasy. he tried to relax his muscles and pull the frown from the corner of his mouth.
"I. Am. A. Spy, I know how to lie, I can trust in my lies, I rank over her. Lying may rhyme with spying but that doesn't mean she knows." He bit his lip in an attempt to hide his smile at his last comforting thought.
"What?" Astrid snapped, put of balance by his sudden attack. He let the smile form on his mouth and his eyes wonder back to toothless from their fixed gaze on her face.
"Sorry, it's just that it's nice to see someone so naive every once in awhile." Astrid scrunched her face in either disgust, embarrassment or anger, or a mixture of the three. Hiccup noticed her look our of the corner of his eyes and immediately panicked. "Not like that!" He blurted out and then chuckled nervously, springing to his own defense.
Her face seemed to not want to change from her irritated and confused look so Hiccup continued to explain himself. "In court you learn to expect lies, you expect people to tell you only the truths they want you to know. It's all confusing and I stay out of it the best I can, but a Major doesn't rise through the ranks without a little sweet talking and poisonous honeyed words. Habits that can get you places stick fast and stay put. I don't mean it in a bad way when I say that your naivety is refreshing, it really is to me. It's like, like, I'm interacting with real people again when I'm with you guys."
Astrid just stared at him, watching as he spoke listening to the words. Her next sentence slipped out before she could stop it, "That sounded real."
"Haha it did, didn't it? Quite unlike me." Hiccup said with a lilt of playful sarcasm. Beneath the hand resting on his dragons back he could feel Toothless settle, the flight or fight melting from his body as soon as it did from Hiccups own.
Astrid turned away from Hiccup, the conversation reaching its end and instead watched as the dragons lumbered around, chirping at each other and playfully fighting. The beasts had started wrestling while they had talked and were now just settling down again. "They're so different from what I imagined," she finally commented.
"Not the killing beasts they've been portrayed as are they." Hiccup replied.
"It hard to imagine that in the past they were slaughtering us by the hundreds." Astrid murmured as her own dragon sauntered up to her and she started to stroked its head.
"We were slaughtering them by the thousands."
"Yeah, I guess we were. It's sad to think about..." Astrid resigned, looking slightly shameful before she perked up again. "Though you must have heard about that clan, right? The one that protects the dragons." Hiccups previous tension rise against he looked to her. Yes, he knew this clan... much more personally than she would ever even imagine.
"There are even stories that the man who first rode the dragons was the founder of that clan! The uuh- Bewilderbeast Clan, I think, formed in the time of Vikings. We're trying to get their alliance, aren't we?" she asked casually. "because they could supply dragons. Have you heard about them? Certainly you must have, if only a little?"
A lump formed in Hiccups throat, he knew how to formally discuss the clan, but informally... How much should he say when it comes to this?
"Hiccup?"
"I- uh…"
A booming voice echoed from out the arena, drawing the attention of every occupant. "Major Hiccup!"
"Ah Iris! Has the letter arrived?" Hiccup turned from his conversation with Astrid, infinitely relieved to draw away from that potentially treacherous subject, and started walking to the edge of the arena nearest to the messenger. Astrid glared daggers in the back of his head before shuffling after him.
"Yes sir, sealed, signed and hand delivered." Hiccup held out his hand and gestured for the messenger to drop it down. He didn't feel like ushering the dragons to their cages just so the messenger could enter. Iris complied, he was quite subservient by nature. The letter was heavy enough to have a straight descent, and Hiccup caught it and drew it to his chest easily.
"Thank you for the hard work. Stop by the academy later and I'll have your pay and a little something extra for the speedy delivery."
The mans smile brightened instantly, "Thank you Major!" He nodded to Astrid, a weird nostalgia flickering across his face, before hurrying of to complete the rest of his early bird delivery.
Hiccup hurriedly opened the letter, leaving Astrid to stay quiet out of respect. She watched as his green eyes skimmed across the page, darting back and forth and saw his eyes become dark. He looked furious, his hand clutching the edge of the paper and the snarl that hid beneath his soft features becoming pronounced.
"Toothless," he snapped, "get the dragons in their cages. Astrid the lessons for today are cancelled, tell the other cadets."
Toothless and Hiccup worked quickly, in sync with each other as the dragons were herded and subsequently locked into their cages. Astrid listened as they rushed about, taking slow steps back to the barracks. She wanted to know what was on that letter that had such an affect on him...
She heard his footsteps approach, and turned around to speak to him. To her shock he just stepped around her, still reading the letter and walking fast. He threw open the door to the barracks, it slammed against the outside wall and surprised yelps from her formerly sleeping peers could be heard from where she stood. She hurried to catch up to Hiccup, but only managed to watch as an angry stomp completed his journey up the steps and his private door slammed behind him. The 'do not disturb' was implied by the sliding of it's heavy lock clicking soundly into place.
Hiccup read the letter, written in the choppy writing of his superior with a sense of hate and dread. For who he wasn't yet sure. But the words resounded in his head like someone was screaming in his ear, constant and grating.
'17 missing dragon rider pairs', 'evidence of violence', 'they chances of any living diminishes everyday', 'we believe that the Bewilderbeast clan may be involved', 'You would not be safe here'.
'It was impossible' Hiccup thought, the council took some liberties in his absences but surly something as criminal as this would not even be considered under his command or any other. The clan supported the idea of peace between humans and dragons, they didn't degrade humans, even those who misused the dragons. Everyone was ignorant without the proper teachings.
There was one name that stood out from the others: 1st Lieutenant Orri, a long time friend of Hiccups, one of the few soldiers that respected dragons. She and Hiccup had served in a smaller unit for awhile, even though Hiccup was quickly promoted they stayed in touch. He had visited her and her wife for dinner many times, he had watched their children when they wanted to spend a special day together before Orri's next deployment.
She was one of the few soldiers that he truly admired, an honorable woman. She had done nothing more to her enemy then they had done to her allies. She did not deserve this, that he knew. The others on the list brought back no memory, but didn't hurt any less. They were all mostly low ranking but every single one rode dragons.
Why? Why were they considering the clan's involvement? Had the clan made a mistake and been spotted near the military zones during a scouting mission? Had they been taking the dragons? It just didn't make sense for the clan to do it, from any perspective. Right now they were a possible ally to both armies, they wouldn't be harmed. But even if their powers with dragons were feared who was to say that if they were defined as enemies, both sides would not play their part in eradicating them.
Hiccup was pacing, reading over the letter, which was three pages thick. This was why they had sent him away. They were afraid that he may be lost if the people doing this started to become braver. Or that if it was the clan they may want to free the honoured Nightfury.
They weren't going to transfer him back. But on the tiny upside he knew why the court was stressed anyway. Yet the letter still spoke to him, had his clan done this? He felt guilty to even consider it, but he knew that he should follow his gut, quell his worries before it interfered with his work. He picked out the important information that the letter contained and jotted it down in code in his journal. He slid open his lock and opened the door marching down the stairs. The students stood at their beds, looking nervous. He felt bad for acting out but he didn't have time to apologize.
He carried the letter to the fireplace and knelt before it, lying the papers on the hot embers, the flames had all but died without supervision, he wondered if the cadets had been waiting for him. The letter started to burn slowly, and remembering the previous mail reading offense as he stood and stomped on the letters, burying them in the embers and soot, dirtying his boot while he was at it, and sending out a flare of sparks. One of the students stepped forward to quickly stomp out the tiny embers spreading to the carpet.
"M-major?" Questioned Fishlegs, who stood cautiously across the room. "Did they not accept the transfer?"
"Uh yes -no, no they didn't." He stuttered, feeing light headed after the sudden news. "I'm leaving for the day, maybe unto the next as well. Lessons are cancelled until my return. That's it, uh… you're all dismissed from duties, so go visit family or something. Though you have to come back here to do your daily chores, of course."
"And where do you think your going?" Barked Astrid, finally at the end of her wits with the upset Major. He wasn't acting like himself.
"I'm going home." And as he called back leaving the barracks quickly, his confusion and anger being wrongly taken out on the others. Toothless was already outside, looking as somber as his master. Toothless was saddled in record time and Hiccup wasted no precious seconds with pleasantries and goodbyes to his students. He was stopped only for a second when Astrid handed something to him; a satchel filled with food.
"Be safe okay? Come back soon... I hope that what ever happened gets sorted out quickly."
"Thanks Astrid... and I'm sorry that I must leave during your lessons. Just feed the dragons in their cages. I should be back before they get too restless. Don't throw litter in their cages, and keep the children away." He joked half-heartedly.
Astrid nodded and gave him a sad smile. He smiled back and at the same time tutted Toothless into action. Soon they were out of the arena and zipping through the sky. They flew as fast as they could, so that the dark thoughts couldn't keep up.
We will save them bud."