Lots of excitement after that last chapter. Let's keep it going! (Also, as the chapter suggests, no spoilers in the reviews, just to make people wonder!) :)
Chapter Forty-Five: The Secret
Astrid could hear the faint echoes of battle outside. Sun Sap blowing from cannons and catapults, screaming dragons, men and women yelling out as they clashed together, in the water and in the sky.
My children… are fighting, the queen rumbled.
The queen under her sighed and tugged against her chains to no avail.
Astrid looked up to the nearest chain and tried to crawl to it, but pain stabbed her in the belly. She cried out and curled into a ball.
Do not sacrifice your strength for me, the queen growled. Once the sap has warmed me once more, I will have my full power. These chains will not keep me.
Astrid struggled for air, and she banged her head against the dragon in blind, painful frustration. She gasped again, her vision fading in and out of darkness.
"I shouldn't have done it…" Astrid told herself, tears forming in her eyes as the Sun Sap surrounded her. "I was so fucking stupid, I should have just stabbed him."
You would have died for it, a small, unfamiliar voice gently whispered. If you didn't do it, he would have killed you.
Astrid lifted her head, looking around herself. There were no other dragons around her save for the queen, but this voice was new, young and pure, small and gentle.
Harbinger? Can you hear my voice?
Astrid swallowed, her tongue dry as she stared at the destruction above her, resting her head back down. Her eyes scoped the tall walls surrounding her, trying to place the voice to a dragon nearby.
You cannot see me. Not yet, it told her.
"Who are you?" Astrid asked hoarsely.
I am the Valkyrie.
"A valkyrie? You mean like the stories?" Astrid chuckled, coughing again, a hand on her stiff stomach. "The choosers of life and death?"
The voice giggled, filling Astrid with a strange warm feeling. The pain dissipated for a short moment as the female inside her head filled her mind with sing-song laughter.
Well… I wouldn't go that far… I'm no creature.
Astrid smiled weakly. "I wouldn't be surprised if you were a valkyrie… if I died now –"
I am not here to bring you to Valhalla. Quite the contrary. I'm here to get you back on your feet.
Rubble fell around them again, landing on the queen and spewing pebbles up the walls, spattering Sun Sap in every direction.
Come… it's time you met me…
Darkness clouded Astrid's eyes, dragging her into an envelope of black. Her body felt light as she drifted off. Her eyes relaxed, as if a hand had guided her eyes to shut. She felt herself sink, weightless, as the noise around her quieted.
She awoke in the dreamland a moment later. The sun's rays danced through the branches of the evergreens above her, which lined the cove. The light brushed against her tired eyes and she sucked in a breath through her chapped lips. She forced her eyed open, squinting at the sun above her. How did she get here? Only in deep sleep could she travel to the dreamland, and the notion of her sleeping atop the queen dragon with her body riddled with pain and anguish seemed ridiculous, impossible.
Astrid sat up slowly. She looked around herself, and the first thing she noticed was the cove was entirely deserted. In slumber, she would see the drifting shadows of her loved ones wandering another plane, but here, it was as if she were really in the cove. No figures, no shifting light. She moved her legs and cautiously stood on them, slowly bearing weight down. They felt uninjured, as if she had never hurt them in her life, but her hair was still caked in blood. She pressed her hand against her head, but again, felt no pain.
She stumbled towards the lake, hoping to grab a handful of lake water to wet her dry mouth, but as she turned around to face the water, she realized it had disappeared. The lake was dry, nothing but rotten logs and dead fish and rocks remained. A huge, wide crack in the earth criss-crossed its way across the lake bed.
"The dreamland is broken," the voice said behind her.
Astrid jumped and turned around, twisting to find the source of the voice. Her eyes fell upon a young woman, eyes of green and hair of reddish-brown, with a soft round face. She smiled with a pair of perfect, soft lips. Her cheekbones were sharp, and when she smiled, they created a radiating beauty about her. She had a woven rope tied around her waist for a belt, cinching her white gown at her tiny waist. They were the same height, and Astrid stared across at her, eyebrows furrowed.
"You… you're the weaver," she said.
Every time Astrid visited the dreamland, the weaver would be sitting against the wall, weaving a basket, a blanket, a rope – but never looked up. Astrid lost her words, trying to piece everything together.
"I am," Valkyrie replied with a soft smile. She sighed and beamed across at Astrid, who looked her up and down, confused. "You seem surprised."
"I – I saw you!" Astrid breathed in disbelief. "You were there, always weaving."
"When you were here in sleep, and when you left to wake, yes," Valkyrie echoed. "I have always been here, watching you. Watching Rose, watching Hiccup. Weaving."
"But I don't even know you," Astrid said, a hitch in her voice. "Only people I know can come to my dreamland…"
Valkyrie raised her delicate eyebrows, another laugh on her tongue. "If this were your dreamland… then you would be right. But this place never manifested around you. Nor did it around Hiccup or Rose."
Astrid pursed her lips and wrapped an arm around herself. "I… I don't understand."
"I created this place," Valkyrie murmured. Astrid looked up, lips parted. "I created it many moons ago."
"But… this is the cove," Astrid retorted, her voice picking up pace and pitch as she became more and more confounded. "This is a place Hiccup and I have been to, we've kept it a secret from most people for six years. How would you know about it?"
Valkyrie looked to the sky and smiled again. She shrugged a shoulder and glided towards the lake bed past Astrid on light feet.
"This is a safe place," she sighed. "A place you could come to, to escape your misery when you and Hiccup became separated. The shadows, the people who come here… are just as important to me as they are to you."
Astrid watched Valkyrie in astonishment and bewilderment as she picked up the trailing end of her woven rope, which snaked across the ground all the way to the centre tree, the same tree Astrid had carved her message into. It was tied around a branch within the tree. Valkyrie ran a hand up the rope, looking at the tree.
"You were about to give up," she said, her smile gone. "You were fading, the night you were poisoned. Do you remember?"
Astrid shifted nervously, uncomfortable with the memory of that night. The night she had gained everything, yet lost so much.
"But something stopped you. Something pulled you back."
One of Astrid's hands trailed to her lower back, the faint memory of her being tugged away from Valhalla's gate, the endless sky of stars, fading in and out of her mind. Valkyrie sighed again, dropping the rope at her waist.
"And you want to give up again? When you are so close to freedom?"
Astrid caught her breath, dropping her arm. She flicked her eyes back up to Valkyrie's. She looked away again, guilty.
"The bond with Dagur wasn't supposed to work," Astrid muttered. "I… I thought if Thorvane's venom wasn't willing, it would kill him instead, but… and Mikhael…"
"You think you thrusting a knife into his heart would have prevented the onslaught?" Valkyrie asked gently. She didn't expect an answer, but she nodded understandingly. "Maybe. Dagur's men would have leapt on you, destroyed you, and you both would have ceased to remain. But Dagur brought everyone out of their cells to watch you die. And you convinced them to run. If you had killed Dagur, they would be trapped."
Astrid shifted her weight to her other leg, her eyes still down. Valkyrie stepped around her again, slowly drifting across the mossy ground. "This fight… needs to happen, Astrid."
Astrid looked up again, turning and frowning. "What do you mean? My mother died, she –"
"Sigourney died, yes," Valkyrie interjected, raising a hand. "But she reunited with your father. She helped reveal the Sun Sap to you, which you used to destroy a place of terror and torture. You found the Mother."
"The Mother?" Astrid asked. Valkyrie looked over her shoulder, her face blank.
"The queen of this nest. The queen of all. Do you think she would give up so easily?"
"I'm not giving up," Astrid stated sharply.
"You have." Valkyrie closed the distance between them, refusing to tear away from Astrid's face as she approached. "You would rather die."
Astrid sneered. "What can I do?" she asked shakily, hot tears filling her eyes again. "I created a monster. My body is broken in a pit, on top of a queen where no one can reach me."
"Why would anyone have to reach you?" Valkyrie asked. "Why can't you fight for yourself?"
"I never said I couldn't, I just –" Astrid dug her fists in her eyes, growling, trying to find the right words. "I'm… not worth it."
Valkyrie gingerly grabbed Astrid's wrists, pulling her hands from her face. Astrid didn't look at her, but her red eyes explained themselves to Valkyrie without the need for words.
"You… are worth more than you could imagine," she whispered to Astrid. Astrid huffed shakily, sniffling back her sorrow, her wrists still in Valkyrie's hands. Valkyrie let them go and ran her hand down Astrid's shoulders. She raised a hand and cupped her cheek, lifting her face to face her.
"What can I do?" Astrid repeated hoarsely.
"You have to fight," Valkyrie replied.
Astrid shook her head. "I – I – For what?" she asked desperately. "What reason do I have anymore?"
Valkyrie smiled. "For Hiccup?"
She nodded a small nod, biting her lower lip.
"You saw those shadows in the dreamland. All those people, people who are important to you. Past, present, future… all of them, who would have fought for you as you should fight for them."
Astrid pulled away. She wiped a tear from her eye stubbornly as she walked towards the large boulder by the tree, too upset to talk anymore. She felt empty inside, and felt worthless. She stopped, glaring at the boulder in front of her. The same place she took away her own purity, five years ago. Back when she was naïve, too defiant of a simple wish.
"I know it's easier to feel hopeless." Valkyrie stared at the back of Astrid's head as she remained fixed on the boulder. "I know it's easier to blame yourself for everything that happened."
"If I fought harder, I wouldn't have been taken. If I was less trusting, I wouldn't have been poisoned. If I was more… stubborn, arrogant, harsh, I wouldn't have taken a knife to myself. I wouldn't have lost my chances at a family."
"If you didn't jump to conclusions so often, you would be surprised."
Astrid blinked. Valkyrie walked around her, facing her once more. Astrid glared at her, tears drying on her cheeks. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Valkyrie shrugged a shoulder, smiling to herself as her long hair blew gently around her face. "I find it interesting you think your actions five years ago still hinder you today. That everything is set in stone, that impossibilities sprout around you like grass."
"Don't," Astrid spat. "Don't – do not – lecture me if it has anything to do with that."
"With what? With the child you lost?"
Astrid lashed out, throwing her arms in front of her to shove Valkyrie away. But Valkyrie vanished, reappearing behind Astrid. Astrid spun around, her face in misery, as Valkyrie stared at her with an unwavering glance.
"So… there is something you're still willing to fight for," she murmured.
Astrid clenched her hands into fists as Valkyrie smiled across at her. She swung a fist towards Valkyrie's head, but the ground lurched under her. She stumbled and fell, grabbing her gut again, screaming as the cove shuddered and twisted. Valkyrie stared at the sky above her nonchalantly as Astrid struggled for air, squirming as her insides convulsed and ground against each other. The dreamland halted, returning to normal as Astrid fell to the ground exhausted, shuddering gasps whistling through her teeth.
"What – is happening – to me?!" she choked.
"Nothing your bond can help you with," Valkyrie replied. "That pain… is not healable."
"What?" Astrid hissed.
Valkyrie crouched in front of her shaking frame. She placed a finger under Astrid's chin. She lifted her face, and Astrid stared up at her for answers.
"You are my entire world," she whispered lovingly.
"I don't even know you," Astrid whimpered.
Valkyrie sighed, sending echoes throughout the cove as she smiled once more. She pulled Astrid to her feet and held her hands, looking at the blood upon her knuckles, the callouses, the broken fingernails.
"You will," she murmured.
"It's like the eggs…" Astrid's eyes filled with tears as her heart skipped a beat, her mother's voice surrounding her once more as if she were still alive. She couldn't look away from Valkyrie as she listened her her mother's words.
"It's hard to explain, but…"
Valkyrie reached between them, placing the back of her hand against Astrid's belly.
"Babies have this very magical way of emerging when they're supposed to. They may be born earlier than usual, or later."
A tear rolled down Astrid's cheek as Valkyrie smiled at her, her own eyes filling with glassy water.
"But if it's not safe…"
Astrid placed one of her own hands over Valkyrie's, squeezing it, pressing it to herself, her breaths uneven.
"I tried," Valkyrie struggled to say without breaking her voice. "The bond held me towards your back, where no one would see, where I would be safe." She sucked in a breath as Astrid's body began to tremble. Her knees were weak, her jaw open in disbelief, tears pooling and flowing like waterfalls.
"You – you –"
Astrid looked at herself, staring at her belly. Valkyrie smiled, flicked a tear away with her finger, and she pulled her hand away from Astrid's belly. She grabbed Astrid's hand and held it to her.
"If… you push… gently…"
Valkyrie gently pressed Astrid's hand into herself, watching Astrid's face as she did so.
"And… if I move…"
Astrid forgot to breathe as Valkyrie willed her tiny body, hidden within Astrid, tucked under her lower ribs against her spine, to stretch a tiny foot against the wall of her womb. She barely felt it, the leg reaching out to push against Astrid's palm. Her body cramped again, and she gasped, almost falling over. Valkyrie held her upright as Astrid clutched her belly. Her heart raced within her chest, and warmth filled her belly where she thought emptiness reigned. The weeks of backache, nausea, all came rushing back to her as she fell to her knees, curled around herself, a hand over her belly and another covering her face.
"Oh my gods!" Astrid sobbed. "No – this – this can't be – I – I felt –"
"I've been here, always," Valkyrie whispered, tears reflecting sunlight off her magical face.
"I thought you were dead, I thought I'd never get to – I can't breathe – oh gods, I thought –"
Astrid sobbed loudly, holding herself in pure joy, love and relief and disbelief washing over her as she rocked back and forth. Valkyrie wrapped her arms around her, rocking with her, mother and daughter weeping together under the endless sky above, the wind lightly kissing their wet faces.
Astrid wiped her face with the back of a shaking hand and she pulled away. "Wait – wait – if I – if I can feel you, if you're why I'm in so much pain –"
Valkyrie nodded, sighing nervously. "It means I'm on my way. It means you have one chance, one small window before I can't hold on anymore."
She looked up to the tree where she had tied her rope.
"I'll try to hold off for as long as I can," she whispered. "But you don't have much time. I'll try to keep the pain at a minimum, but you have to try. I know you may feel there's no point, but –"
Astrid wrapped an arm around Valkyrie, crushing her to her chest. She pulled away and smiled. "There is a point, now. You are my reason. You always have been."
Astrid startled awake, her hand lingering over her stomach, her eyes focussing on the fire above. She sat up, cringing against the stiffness in her gut, but she managed to make it to her feet. She swung her arms around as she tried to keep her balance as the queen below her struggled against her chains.
You wake, the dragon said to her.
Astrid gritted her teeth and looked to the opening above her. Sun Sap had surrounded the dragon, warming her frigid hide, and Astrid looked to the chains surrounding the beast, pinning her to the floor. Rubble had fallen all around her, and Astrid snapped her head this way and that, trying to find something – anything – to help. She reached down and grabbed the chain. It hissed as it seared her palms, and she jumped back, screaming. She clamped her mouth shut, hissing in and out through her teeth before she swallowed and regrouped. She wouldn't be able to break those chains with her hands, she knew.
And for some odd reason, she remembered her Dragonling teachings, how to keep an eye out for anything that would be useful in a fight. Hiccup's prosthetic leg at this point would have been useful, she thought sourly, to jimmy the chains until they snapped. But she didn't have that. The chains were growing red hot at the edges, where they disappeared into the Sun Sap around her. She thought for a moment, gulping in a breath as her womb cramped again. But Valkyrie was in the tree in the dreamland, trying to prevent her body from moving too much as Astrid worked.
She looked down at herself and she gazed at her singed shirt. She licked her lips and grabbed her sleeve in a fist. She tore it free after a few sharp tugs. She bit the bitter fabric and tore away with her teeth, fraying the ragged edge. Astrid looked up. No flame fell towards them to ignite the Sun Sap. There was no timber, only stone, and the flames licked up the Sun Sap in the arena.
Astrid crouched and pressed the fabric onto the chain, wincing as the heat scorched through it into her blistered palms.
"C'mon," she growled.
More debris fell from above, and she ducked as another large rock crashed around her. She heard a clang and snapped her head to face it. The short-sword, the weapon thrown to her along with the axe and the spear by Dagur, glinted next to her. She looked away as the fabric began to smoulder, smoke wafting up around Astrid's face. She knelt next to it and blew on it, trying to encourage a little flame, anything, just a glow of orange. The shirt ignited on the hot iron, surrounding Astrid's hands in fire. She didn't care. She looked to the queen under her, sweat dripping down her neck and over her naked arm.
I can't break these chains, the queen growled.
"I can." She tossed the flames over the dragon's edge and ducked, covering her ears and head with one arm and grabbing the short-sword with the other. She stabbed the sword into the queen between the scales a single second before another bright light and searing heat surrounded her.
Another explosion startled the soldiers and riders, halting the fight for a moment. Eret watched as the fire billowed into the air, twisting in a cloud of orange and yellow and black. Another boom rocked into them, and Hiccup quickly slapped his arms around Toothless' head to protect his sensitive ears.
Dagur stumbled and regained his balance as his gaze was torn from Thorvane. He stared at the fiery mountain and laughed. Thoughts of Astrid burning in the flames brought him immeasurable joy, and Thorvane chortled and hissed along with him.
But when another tremor rocked the earth, Dagur stopped laughing. Rose flew next to Hiccup, her eyes wide as the island began to shiver and shake back and forth. A deafening roar tore through everyone, leaving them terrified and frozen. The entire battle went silent as another shriek bellowed from the mouth of the mountain. Alvin stood next to Cauli, both of them staring up at the mountain, paralyzed in fear.
The side of the mountain burst forth, sending huge chunks of rock, ice, and tree soaring in every direction.
"Look out!" Rose cried. They dove and banked left and right to avoid the rubble at it soared past them.
WHO DARES TRESPASS ON MY SACRED GROUND?!
The queen reached up with a glittering wing, a wing covered in precious jewels and metals and dripping Sun Sap. She stretched it high into the sky. When Hiccup had aggravated the Red Death, trying to urge her to fly after him, he thought it was the largest wing to have ever existed. But this wing made the Red Death look like a Terrible Terror in comparison. The wing fanned out, revealing thousands of glittering jewels, as it covered the entire horizon. Rose didn't dare blink, another memory in the back of her mind:
"She used to be the messenger between Valhalla and our world, the only one who could travel the rainbow bridge. She was the only one who could fly there with her massive wings made of precious stones and silks and godly goods that every man craved. They say that at night, you could see the jewels of the webbing of her wings."
The entire battle became shrouded in shadow before the wing crashed down into the field next to the Underground. A claw the size of the Great Hall dug deep into the icy earth, and the dragon pulled against it to free herself from the stone concealing her.
Valka and Stoick watched in horror as the gigantic beast pulled herself from the ground. Ruffnut and Tuffnut reached for each other as they watched her scaly, sparkling head smash the stone around her like bread crumbs. Teeth the size of Berkian beacons drenched in drool were framed in trembling lips, a crown of crystal spikes protruding from her inconceivably massive head. They reflected the sunlight as she roared again, thrashing her head about to free her body.
"I thought that was a myth," Hiccup breathed to Rose. "Maybe that's just… a really, really big queen. Or a – a king?"
"And where do you think those kings and queens come from?" Rose stammered.
That's the Mother Dragon, Toothless said nervously. And I think she's upset.