Sorry for taking so long to get back to update Wheel. I've had a busy week working my two jobs. This week isn't looking much better (for my night job, at least). I'll do my best to keep the updates coming.

Review Replies:

Ferdoos: I know that it sounds illogical in the preview. Hopefully the explanation in this chapter makes sense.

kitty.0: Thank you! I hope you had a wonderful holiday. Yeah, I can't even imagine how Astrid would feel if she had truly been alone in all this.

StorSpeaker: Thank you! I hope you had a wonderful holiday. Here's the next update.

dragonlover17: Time to check in with Hiccup. Mean? Me? Well…Hiccup's still alive, so I'm not that mean. Haha.

XxPinkMustachexX: Thank you! I hope you had a wonderful holiday. Don't worry, Astrid's not just going to give up easily!

aaquater: Yeah, the Riders were not destined to reach that island. At least, not yet… I'll explain in this chapter. Took my time off from updating to really analyze this scenario, but science/anatomy were not my best subjects, so I hope this will be realistic. Great question! Answers will be revealed in the upcoming chapters. Finally, this story takes place between Riders and Defenders. That is where I logically would place it in the timeline (although, I accidentally have the kids aged at "14" instead of "16". My bad.)

Guest (anonymous): I think those are great titles! Though, I think "Knowledgeable" is better than "Honest" for Fishlegs. Here's the next chapter.

Next chapter starts…now!


Chapter 17: Cold
Wheel in the Sky

Four months. That's how long it had been since Hiccup last saw the familiar and welcoming sights of the island known as Berk, his home. Before he had opted to take on this mission, Hiccup had never been away from Berk for more than a day or two. He really missed everything about his home island; he especially missed Astrid.

Thankfully, he had figured out a way to achieve a small supply of fresh water, but it was enough to keep both him and Toothless going for now. When it would rain (which happened often as the season of harsh snows quickly approached), they, not even caring that it soaked them both through to the bone, would drink in the falling fresh water. In between the rainstorms, Hiccup and Toothless would devote days at a time to gathering leaves from the trees in the island's forest. Hiccup, with a boost from Toothless, would scale the trees as best he could while the Night Fury would use his front paws to gather leaves from lower-lying braches. Hiccup could not quite remember when he learned that he could replenish his need for water by eating the leaves, but it seemed to be working well as a temporary solution (and there were plenty of leaves to go around). They did have to be careful when using this method, though. There had been one time when Hiccup and Toothless chose to branch out and try leaves from other trees. This exploration had led to Hiccup becoming violently ill that night. By now, though, both had a fairly good idea which trees to harvest leaves from and which trees to avoid. Hiccup had made note of this on his island map as well, just in case.

There was one upside (in addition to getting the water that they'd so desperately needed) to eating the leaves. Hiccup had found that when he ate the leaves, it would also take the edge off of his gnawing hunger. Though the young Viking was not completely certain that this was also the case for his dragon, Toothless did seem less restless after eating the leaves. It all piqued Hiccup's curiosity. Before this moment, he'd never thought about the leaves on the trees he'd encountered in the forests of Berk. It was just natural for the trees to grow leaves and then to lose them as the season of harsh snows approached. Could the leaves store water and food? he wondered as he and Toothless ate some of the leaves they had collected. Their supplies of leaves were dwindling because the crunchy, discolored, and dead leaves were not worth eating; these leaves had no water and just did not taste all that appealing anyway.

Hiccup looked again to the skies. Since that day three months ago, he had not seen any other riders. He was even starting to wonder about the riders he thought he'd seen that day. Maybe, he thought, it was all just an illusion created from my dehydrated delusion. The clouds were gathering in the skies again. Will it be more rain or is this going to be the first snowstorm of the season? Hiccup wondered. Either would be fine as both would provide more fresh water, something that was definitely welcomed now that the leaves had started to shrivel and fall. His thoughts continued to shift, this time again returning to Berk and wondering how life was back home. How is the academy? Is Astrid able to handle it? What about everyone else? They probably don't even know about what happened to me and Toothless. Would they even care if they do know? Of course they would, but… Picking up a nearby pebble, Hiccup ran his finger over its small surface before tossing it out at the water. It skimmed over the waves before finally stinking down below the water's surface.

The sun was starting to dip down again. Another day had almost come to its close. Hiccup disliked this season most out of all that Berk experienced (which wasn't really all that many). For a few months, about three, the days would be longer and warmer, but the majority, those other nine months, as deemed by his people was considered the "season of harsh snows". During this time, the air was colder and the sun was almost non-existent. There was one thing, only one, which Hiccup really liked about this season and that was the higher chance of seeing the dancing lights in the sky. It truly was a sight and he'd had the privilege to see them with Astrid that night on the back of Toothless. That night was probably his favorite night of all time so far in his short fourteen years of life.

Hiccup smiled at the memory, but the smile did not linger for long. As the sun continued to drop below the horizon and the sky darkened into the black of night, the air temperature also dropped, faster than the sun in fact. He tried to hide the shivers that tore through his body as the cold wind blew right through his thin clothing. Sure, he had removed his flight gear and put back on his fur vest, but even that was not enough to quell the raging wind and the cold air in its wake. It was the horrible truth of it all that had forced the smile from the young Viking's face. The season of harsh snows was just beginning; this was not even the coldest that it would get. Oh, how he wished that he could be home, sitting near a fire started by Toothless. Heck, right now, he'd even take a mug of Astrid's Yak Nog…if it meant that he could be drinking it beside that same fire.

As the air temperature continued to drop, Hiccup curled in on himself, becoming a human ball, in an attempt to keep in the body heat that radiated out into the cold air around him. No matter what, though, he could not keep warm and he continued to shiver, his breath coming out in short hisses as his lungs clenched from the biting cold. Toothless, noticing his rider's distress came over and sat nearby, his wing covering over the boy, blocking in some of the dragon's heat. Hiccup knew that Toothless would be fine. Dragons were made to stay outside and live through this harsh season whereas Vikings were not. Vikings had to adapt by building homes and fires.

The world blackened around Hiccup and he knew it wasn't just from being enclosed by the safety of Toothless; the cold seemed to have zapped all of the boy's energy, most of it going to the shivering that offered little help from the wind. As his vision went black, all Hiccup could think of was Astrid, the girl he could not wait to see again. He knew that he would see her again; he had to see her again! Astrid…please, don't lose faith in me, he thought, his continued shivering creating breaks in his thoughts. Just hold on a little longer. I will make it back home to Berk. I…promise…


Hopefully, that answered some of the questions surrounding our favorite young Viking heir. Next chapter will, most likely, answer more questions about Astrid and what's going on in Berk.

Coming Up Next: Astrid hated to lie. It turned her cold like the biting air that had begun to settle over Berk once again. She could only hope that Hiccup had found shelter from this weather. She had to lie, though. The rest of the village was ready to just accept that Hiccup was gone forever. What kind of girlfriend would she be if she were to also believe that way?

Next Chapter: I'll probably aim for this coming Saturday night after 10 PM US East Coast time. We'll see if that works out.

Thanks for reading and supporting Wheel in the Sky!

Posted: April 28, 2014