"Do you even know how to track?" Hiccup asked her as she examined the ground, peering over her shoulder. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, and instead continued to study the soft, moist earth before her—trying to discern where the beasts may have gone.
"I found you, didn't I?" she asked, straightening. She started forward again, eyes focused on the details displayed in the fresh earth. The torrential rain of last night was both a hindrance and a blessing. Most of the older tracks had been washed away, but the newer ones should be startlingly obvious.
"I'm not the beast—and neither is Toothless, less you start harping on that again," Hiccup said, sounding amused. His amusement only served to irritate her, as if he were those men in Berk who doubted her skills with the sword just because she was a woman. "The beast didn't go that way."
"And how do you know that?" she asked, turning to give him a dubious look.
"I used to do this for a living," he replied. He said it so nonchalantly that she could not resist a quip.
"You tracked monsters?"
"No," he said, patiently, as he turned away. "I was technically a blacksmith—but I also worked for the tanner. I would go hunt and bring him animals. A way to make some extra money. I suppose the concept is lost on you."
"I understand the concept," she said drily, walking after him. She almost had difficulty keeping up with him—he moved so fluidly through the underbrush and through the trees. She supposed it was years of tracking and hunting that gave him those skills. "Where is your dragon?"
"Scouting out. Another reason I know the beast went this way. Toothless is never wrong about these things."
"Is that so," she said, walking a few steps behind him. She wished he had mentioned this before she made a fool of herself trying to do the tracking herself. She examined him as they walked, watching the way his body moved through the landscape. Seamlessly, silently, and effortlessly. His clothes disguised that he was well built. He had the appearance of a skinny, gangly boy, but she knew from last night he must be quite strong for his size, and she had felt well defined muscles when he had steadied her.
"We could ride Toothless, but I doubt you'd enjoy that very much," Hiccup said, turning his head to give her a wry smile.
"No, I wouldn't," she replied, not returning the smile. "And I doubt Toothless would either."
She still could not quite believe that Hiccup had named his dragon Toothless. The irony was not lost on her—she was very aware that the dragon was very much not toothless. She chalked it up to the man's poor sense of humor.
Hiccup gave her an amused glance. "Have you ever flown?"
"No, can't say I have."
"Are you always this glum?"
She glared at him. "No," she said, her voice tight and tart. "I used to laugh all the time."
"What happened?"
She was surprised to find that the question was genuine. She looked away, concentrating on the path they were following.
"Don't want to talk about it?" Hiccup asked, his voice not unkind.
"It doesn't matter anymore," she said. "All I have now is this quest. If I don't complete it…" she trailed off. The mere thought was too much to bear. It was better to focus on the task at hand and put such thoughts out of her mind.
She shivered, pulling her cloak closer around her, wishing its warmth would combat the chill that plagued her.
"Are you cold?" Hiccup asked.
"No," she lied.
He eyed her suspiciously, before suddenly stopping and crouching down, gazing at the ground.
"What is it?" she asked, stepping up beside him, peering down at where his eyes were trained.
At his feet were large claw marks, imbedded in the soft earth, not unlike Toothless'. "Toothless?" she asked, straightening.
"No, these aren't his," he said, looking thoughtful. "It's definitely the beast."
She peered down. It was true, whatever this beast was it was not as heavy as a full grown dragon. And the shape seemed more… dare she say it… man-like than Toothless'. "What do you suppose it looks like?"
"Not sure," he said. "I caught a glimpse of it once—it looked almost like a skeleton. Not quite human, not quite beast—with grayish dying skin pulled tight over bones… not a pretty sight. Couldn't sleep for a week."
She said nothing as Hiccup stood and continued down the path.
"Any idea how to defeat it?"
"Oh I have lots of ideas," Hiccup said, "Although I'm sure you'll toss them out the window."
She smirked at him.
"Aha, you smiled," he said, pointing at her and grinning. "Although I would have preferred a genuine, happy one."
"Well, this is all you get," she said. "Wait—look at that!" she grabbed his shoulder, stopping him, and pointed up ahead. Hiccup halted, then hurried forward, kneeling down to the ground. She quickly followed, but stayed back a little ways, looking around the clearing for any signs of the best.
"Huh," he said, "These tracks… they're definitely… human-like."
She stepped forward so she was standing to his side, gazing down in shock. "It looks like the beast tracks turned into human tracks," she said, her eyes wide. "At least somewhat."
Hiccup looked behind him and back at the marks in the ground. "It seems that way. I've seen this before," he said. "This just confirms my suspicions."
"Suspicion of what?" she asked, already dreading the answer she knew was coming.
"That whatever this creature is, it can turn into a human."
She shivered, and for once, not from the cold. "This will make it harder to track down," she said.
"Indeed," Hiccup agreed.
He gave a loud whistle, and after a few minutes Astrid was blasted with a gust of wind as Toothless landed before them. She had the feeling the dragon could not fly properly on his own, but could jump and glide far distances, as he had been in the treetops, observing where the beast may have gone. "Hey, Bud," Hiccup said, "Looks like we've got some difficult tracking to do. Got any ideas where it went?"
Toothless gave a small growl and turned, sniffing the ground, and led the way, careful not to tread on the creature—man—beast's tracks. Astrid and Hiccup followed, and Astrid once more had difficulty keeping up. Her head was still swimming from Hiccup's assault the other night, and she found herself swaying more than once.
"At least it should be easier to kill now," she said.
"True," Hiccup agreed. "Although we can't be sure it won't turn back into its beastly form. How are you holding up?"
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Your head—I hit you pretty hard. You seem to have a slight concussion. You feeling okay?"
"I'm fine," she said firmly. "I'm as good as new."
He narrowed his eyes. "I've seen you swaying now and then. And you're pale as a ghost. Are you sure you don't need to stop and rest?"
"I'm fine," she said earnestly, though not truthfully. "It's you I'm worried about."
"Why is that?" he asked, sounding somewhat amused by this.
"How are you going to kill this creature?" she asked. "You clearly have no military or fighting experience."
"I'm a hunter," he said, lifting up the bow in his hand for emphasis. "I'll be fine."
"A bow won't help you at short distances," she said. "What if the creature gets to you before you can get in a good shot?"
"Have you ever used a bow?" he returned, his eyebrows quirking with both hilarity and irritation. "It'll be fine at short distance. And I'm pretty handy with a knife. It's you I'm worried about. You look like you're going to pass out."
"I'm fine," she repeated, ignoring the nagging pain at the back of her head and the buzzing in her ears. She really should rest. She wanted to curl up on the ground in the sunlight and take a long nap. But she also knew she needed to get this small side quest of sorts settled, so as to not take up too much time from her true purpose.
He eyed her, clearly not believing her, but thankfully dropped the subject.
While she was thankful to have a friendly presence nearby—to converse with and socialize with, she was almost looking forward to when they would part ways. Almost. In a small way, she was also dreading it. There was something about this boy—man, she supposed, he couldn't be much older than she—that she liked. Even if he was just a commoner.
"Wait!"
She came to a quick halt at the sound of his urgent whisper.
"Did you hear that?" he asked, his hand up, palm facing her direction as if to stop her from moving.
"Hear what?" she asked.
A twig snapped in the brush, and she quickly drew her sword as Hiccup nocked an arrow. Toothless crouched, ready to pounce. Footsteps, then… a figure emerged from behind a large brush. A skinny, hungry looking man with icy blue eyes.
"You!" Astrid exclaimed in surprise.
The man narrowed his eyes, taking a step forward in her direction.
"You know this man?" Hiccup asked, looking between them with a confused expression on his face.
"Yes, he's…" she frowned. This was the same man who had tried to approach her, for whatever nefarious reason, when she was at the tavern. Did he follow her into the night? Track her down? She daren't to think for what reason.
"You…" the man began, his speech slightly slurred, taking another step towards Astrid.
"He's got blood on his hands," she said, her eyes flickering to the man's hands before returning to his face. "He must be the beast."
"The beast?" Hiccup asked, glancing at her, perturbed. "Are you sure?"
The man looked between them, seeming to only barely register what they were saying.
"Just trust me on this," she said, stepping forward and raising her sword up, ready to smite the man where he stood.
Suddenly, something grabbed her from behind. Her cloak caught in Toothless' teeth, he dragged her backwards as something sprang from the bushes and tore into the man's body.
She felt a small scream escape her lips as she crashed into the ground, and heard the sound of an arrow being released. She looked up just in time to see a creature howl in pain as the arrow embedded itself in its shoulder, the man dropping from its jaws. It was so gaunt, this creature, that she could not fathom how she thought the man from the tavern could have been it. Merely bones and dying skin pulled tightly over them. Just as Hiccup had described: the creature emanated hunger.
It turned, looking at her with sunken, dark eyes, blood dripping from its mouth.
She struggled to her feet, as Hiccup released another arrow, but the creature caught his one with a long fingered hand. It roared, turned, and fled.
Astrid gripped her sword tighter, her breathing labored. "You okay?" Hiccup asked, hurrying over to her. "It didn't get you, did it?"
"I'm fine," she said, breathlessly. "That was… I've never seen anything like that before."
"Neither have I," he said. "I have no idea what it could be."
Her breathing was calming, as was her heart, but her nerves were still rattled. She turned to look at Toothless. "Thank you," she whispered earnestly. "You saved my life."
The dragon merely blinked at her, but she could have sworn he looked happy.
"Well, if you're fine, we should investigate what that man was getting into," Hiccup said. "And then we should go after the beast."
"Good idea," she agreed, walking with shaky steps towards the place where the man had emerged from. She walked around a bush, closing her eyes, the stench overpowering her. "Found it," she said, her voice strained.
Hiccup founded the corner behind her, his hand to his nose. "Looks like this creature has a habit of eating humans," he said, stating the obvious.
"We should bury them," she replied quietly.
"I'd love to, but we don't have the time," Hiccup said. "And we don't need the distraction. The best could be back at any moment. It didn't get a chance to eat these properly, or the man back there."
"Which means it might be back," Astrid said, "To finish the meal."
"And to get dessert," Hiccup said grimly. "I know just the thing."
"Oh?' she asked, looking at him in surprise.
"Yeah," he grinned at her. "I caught animals for a living, remember? Monsters can't be that different."
Third chapter finished! Thank you all SO much for reading this far! Next chapter: Hiccup and Astrid capture the beast… and make an ally?
So sorry I wasn't able to respond to any reviews for last chapter… been swamped with life. I'll hopefully be able to keep up with a regular update schedule, but I'm afraid at this time I cannot promise a response to every review. I wish I could respond to everyone every time, but it takes so much time that I would rather spend getting my stories ready to post, so I'm actually able to.
Regardless of this, I encourage you to review anyway. I read every review I get, and they really help motivate me to keep writing and posting! If I have the chance I'll try to respond :)
Thanks so much!
See you next time!
