Okay, so this is a bit of a short chapter, and I apologize. I had to tie some loose ends up before I got on to the good stuff, which will begin its steep climax in the next chapter :)
Note: Two of my reviewers brought this up, and I figured I might as well clear this up for you guys as well. I know that in the movie, Stoic says something about leaving before the ice sets in, leading us all to believe that the ocean is going to freeze over. NOT TRUE. The reasons why the Vikings thrived during 900-1300 AD was because of the "Medieval Warming Period". This means that the oceans didn't freeze over at all, which is why the Vikings were able to colonize in Greenland and Newfoundland. It was like El Nino and major warm air currents from the south combined, which made for balmy summers and moderate winters (by Scandinavian standards). Thus, evil snakes of doom could pop up at anytime! Yay!
Also, my beta has been MIA so if you see any mistakes (I am a frenchwoman, have mercy), please leave me some sort of message so I can fix it!
HORIZONS
Arc 2: Verðandi and the End of All Things
Chapter VIII
In the months since Hiccup had irrefutably saved the village of Berk from starving to death and eventually burning to the ground, Astrid had learnt a thing or two about her Deadly Nadder. They were, of course, demanding and compulsively narcissistic, but they were also a resilient and hardy species. Their endurance could not be matched by any other dragon she had come across in the village since the battle of the Red Death, even by the illustrious Night Fury. Where the ebony dragon excelled in nimble acrobatics and vertical take-offs, the Nadder surpassed their flying capacity twice over without having to stop for food or rest. This, Astrid thought to herself as she soared over the ocean, would give her an explicit advantage over her prey.
They were flying into the outer reaches of a storm cell and Astrid tugged the goggles that had been resting on her head over her eyes. The air was getting progressively colder and colder as they made their way further west, and she was fighting to keep herself alert as they flew amidst the clouds. It had grown dark a long time ago and she was completely exhausted, but she knew that they had to continue to fly through the night. She was thirsty and hungry too, but starving herself was essentially the only way they were going to make up the lost time without having to stop.
She banded her hands to the saddle with strips of leather, just in case she nodded off against her will while they were flying. Her fingers were numb with cold but she forced herself to make them work, despite the shooting pains that volleyed up and down her arms every time she moved. She took the leather in her teeth as she battled to tie her dominant hand to the saddle's handle, groaning when she breathed the glacial, icy clouds through her mouth. It hurt her lungs as the frozen water scraped her from the inside, and finishing the knot on her hands with a painful tug was all that she could do to keep from screaming.
She fell asleep a little before dawn and woke up a few hours later, starving and desperate for water. The snow storm had waned for the moment and Astrid could see bits and pieces of the ocean beneath them through the clouds, but Astrid frantically needed to get down. She urged her dragon towards the seas and the Nadder respectfully complied, dipping her azure body through the arctic clouds towards the choppy, frothing surface. Within minutes, there was a small island within their line of sight.
The Nadder landed gently on the closest of the snow covered slopes and Astrid raced to untie her frozen hands. Once freed, she leapt off of the dragon and tore her water bottle from the basket on her back, tossing the cap behind her. She drowned it in one go, gulping madly, as water spurted down her face and onto her jacket. She tossed it to the side when she was finished and started stuffing sheep jerky and dried fruits into her mouth, frantic to quell the aching in her stomach.
She collapsed against the fallen trunk of a tree, feeling strangely at odds with herself. This 'chasing after Hiccup' thing was becoming decidedly more difficult than she had anticipated. She sighed and cupped her chin in her palms, lifting the goggles off of her eyes.
She just wasn't cut out for this.
She lifted herself back onto her feet and whisked her axe from the leather straps on her back, hating how much the simple movements were proving to be excruciating. Her muscles were on fire as she whipped the edge of the freshly minted axe into the closest tree, succeeding in felling it with only a few swipes of the blade. She made quick work of sectioning the pieces she needed, and bent down to arrange them in order to start a fire.
All it took was a nod in the dragon's direction for the Nadder to take the hint, and within seconds the logs were ablaze. Astrid dragged another stump towards the inferno and sat down on top of it with a grunt, burying her face in her palms.
Love is stupid.
That dreadful word ran through her mind for the hundredth time since she had taken off from the coasts of Berk, and she inwardly chastised herself for it. She wanted to just kick herself in the head if she could, if only to get herself to stop thinking about the very reason she was out here, chasing a boy she wasn't even sure she could find. Astrid was a stubborn as a mule, of that she was well aware of, but she was also a realist; how in Midgard was she going to be able to track him down?
She considered herself an expert hunter, and she knew that this would prove to be beneficial on her part. Searching the islands for signs of his recent occupation might be her best bet, provided that he left any sort of signs in his wake. The snow from the most recent storm would make things difficult, but Astrid would make do. She was good at tracking, and even better at stalking down her prey.
But why did he have to make things so damn difficult?
Here she was, practically risking life and limb to find this boy…and why was she out here again? Right, because she loved him. That stupid, stupid word. She just wanted to strangle it, and then tie it down and bring her axe to it, and then chop it up and be done with it!
But, these sentiments were turning out to be more difficult to deal with then she had previously assessed, especially concerning the fact that she had never had any experience with this kind of….feeling before.
Sometimes it felt like her stomach was flipping like a fish on deck when she got lost in her thoughts of him. It was annoying, but she couldn't attribute the nausea to anything but him. It was like some sort of debilitating sickness, in that she simply couldn't stop thinking about him, which was becoming more and more irritating. It was maddening, infuriating, downright frustrating! She just wanted to drop kick him halfway across the ocean in her aggravation but he had already beaten her to it!
Gods! Why did she have to fall in love?
She contemplated throwing herself off of the stump she was sitting on in sheer exasperation, but she was just starting to feel the warmth of the fire seep back into her fingers and toes. That would have been a stupid thing to do anyways, and she was already feeling stupid enough. She'd never felt this ridiculous in her entire life, and it would have been laughable if she hadn't been sitting there, alone, chasing a stupid boy that was the cause of all of this anyway.
She pulled herself to her feet and started kicking snow over top of the dying fire, finally satisfied with the lack of numbness in her limbs. She swept her axe over her footsteps as she backpedalled towards her Nadder, pausing only to fill her water skin with snow before packing everything away and climbing up onto the dragon's back. She latched her safety harness onto the saddle and tucked her boots into the stirrups, already missing the warmth of the fire.
She nudged the dragon in the ribs with her heel and within moments they were off of the ground, making quick work of the distance between the ocean and the clouds. She braced herself against the onslaught of the icy slivers that made up the clouds, hating the way they scraped against the exposed skin on her cheeks. Once they had levelled out some hundreds of feet above the ocean, Astrid pulled the goggles over her eyes and her scarf further overtop of her cheeks.
The clouds were dissipating in patches, and through the holes Astrid could see a myriad of little islands dotting the northern seas. She glanced at them, wondering if he had ever set foot on any of them. She wondered suddenly if they were going in the right direction at all.
She settled herself in the saddle, attempting to get as comfortable as she could manage. If they were ever going to catch up to them, she was going to be in for a long ride.
When Hiccup awoke the next morning, he still felt groggy but it was a considerable improvement to the way he remembered feeling the day before. Or the night before – there was no telling what time it was at the heart of a mountain.
He ran his fingers through his messy hair, mussing it in an attempt to shake the sleepy haze from his mind. He pushed himself upright and immediately regretted it, hissing in pain. His side felt like it had all but caught on fire, burning and aching and throbbing to the hurried rhythm of his heart. His hands instinctively grasped the source of his pain and he screwed his eyes shut, remembering with a fair amount of mind fog what had happened to him. He had fallen on his desperate way to safety, driving a shard of igneous rock straight between his ribs.
He started peeling the layers of clothes off of his body, grimly noting as the bloody stains grew larger and larger the closer he came to his bare skin. Once he finally reached his green tunic, he wasn't quite sure whether he wanted to thank the gods or throw up. How had he managed to live? The entire lower half of the shirt was soaked in dried blood.
He peeled the shirt up above his chest and barely held back the bile that had started to rise in his throat. The gash was nearly the length of his hand – the serrated skin was bowing out the sides and the bruised skin around it was caked with flecks of clotted blood. He dry retched and tried to compose himself, battling between the pain in his side and the nausea in his stomach.
With a great amount of difficulty, Hiccup pulled the rest of his tunic over his head and sat bare chested, staring down at the gash as if it were alive. It needed to be washed, but he was too stricken to look away, engrossed in the sigh of his massacred side. How the Hel had he survived that?
Something rustled in the space behind him and Hiccup finally tore his eyes away, seeking out the source of the noise. He turned his head and peered over his shoulder, trying to find the cause of the racket over the hump of the baby dragon's snoozing back.
Toothless pulled his body from the warm stones by the spring in the mountain, roused from his slumber by the tang of copper that mottled the mountain air. He'd smelt it before, but it had grown immeasurably stronger, alerting him to his hatchling's waking.
The dragon walked over to the human, his face expressionless as he eyed the wound on the boy's side. He was afraid he had only made it worse when he had pulled the somnolent boy into a spontaneous embrace a few hours ago, but chose to let him fall back asleep rather than harass him into pulling off his clothes for the dragon to take a look.
Hiccup sat still as the dragon approached him, watching warily as Toothless eyed the gaping wound. He sniffed it, keeping a fair distance way, before bringing his gaze to his hatchling with a silent request.
Hiccup reeled; he knew what was coming.
And before he could stop it, Toothless had slathered his tongue over the skin of his ribs, covering his body in a thick film of drool. He was torn between wanting to shove the slimy, overprotective reptile off of him and laughing out loud at how much the slobbery soaked tongue was tickling his skin.
Once the dragon was satisfied, he stepped away and lay down on his haunches a few feet away. He stared off towards the mouth of the cave, unable to keep the draconic grin from spreading across his features as his hatchling griped and grumbled behind him. He kept his eyes peeled for the dragoness to return, but kept his ears perked back, just waiting for the boy to gasp.
"What the Hel!"
Toothless didn't have to turn around to see that the gash in his side was slowly knitting itself together at a rate he was sure his hatchling had never seen before. Hiccup grazed his fingers against the offending wound as the less damaged corners began to seal themselves, sending tingling sensations across his skin. He sat back against the still slumbering baby dragon and watched as the fibres plaited together at the pace of a blooming flower, barely noticeable until you looked away.
Toothless observed as the dragoness strode through the mouth of the cave, her kill hanging limply between her jaws. Toothless rose to his feet and helped her with the game, sharing the load as they made their way towards the far side of the grotto. Hiccup was too engrossed in his own miraculous healing process to hear the grisly cracking of the bones and tendons, and for that Toothless was glad.
The dragoness nudged her young awake and the baby cheerfully followed its adoptive mother, squealing in delight as he filled his empty belly. Hiccup took a moment to dig some of the preserved jerky from his pack and snacked on it, pleased to stare in the other direction now that his backrest was gone.
He raised himself off of the floor of the cave and sat down on a flat sheet of rock, lying back onto the warm, hard surface. He stared up at the stalactites as the hot stones all but melted the tension from his muscles and allowed his mind to wander, drifting back through his recent memories and his past. He wondered what his father was doing right now back on the island; he wondered how Gobber was faring without the extra help in the shop.
He wondered how Astrid was.
He let his eyes close at the thought, picturing her in his mind's eye. Blonde hair, blue eyes as deep as the sea…he sighed, remembering that bittersweet moment when he had kissed her like a madman. His lip quirked slightly – maybe being a madman was a bit of an understatement…
He was crazy for leaving at the brink of winter, but by the gods, what a Hel of a ride! Hiccup tucked his palms behind his head and gazed back up towards the ceiling of the cave. He couldn't help but feel at ease in the huge cavern, tucked away from all of the chaos that reigned outside. He had thought that the storm would have been the end of both of them, especially after almost getting drowned and strangled at the same time by whatever the Hel in Midgard had tried to kill them across the ocean.
He wished fruitlessly that somehow, there could be a way that he could communicate with Toothless, if only for a minute. He had a feeling that the dragon knew a lot more about the tidal wave attack than he did, and he only hoped that Toothless knew enough to keep them both safe.
He closed his eyes again and let his thoughts dip in and out of focus. He thought about his old bedroom, and how the baseboards were splintered in the far corner by his desk. He thought about his last moments on the island when he had grazed his fingertips against the statues of the Norns, carved from the volcanic rock that made up most of his homeland. He made a silent prayer, asking Verðandi to let this moment of relaxation last forever. He was content to spend a lifetime envisioning the woman of his dreams, surrounded by a blanket of tepid air…
Completely and utterly free.
The clouds parted in front of her, revealing the disk of the northern moon reflecting brilliantly in the seas. The winds had calmed to a gentle breeze, aiding them in their passage as they soared westward across the skies. She had a clear view of the ocean below them, illuminated by the light of the celestial body that sat low in the sky. It was bright enough that she could see the details of the waves beneath her, opaque navy ripples amidst a canvas of cerulean blue.
She fastened her non-dominant hand to the saddle and let the other one hang free for a while, content to watch the seas rolling endlessly beneath her. The flight had been remarkably peaceful in comparison to the night before, and the waning of the winter storm had provided her with a chance to enjoy the view of the seas from above.
Her Nadder bobbed rhythmically as her wings swept them across the sky, lulling Astrid into a daze. The stars in the sky blended together with the waves of the ocean, fitting seamlessly together in a tranquil reverie. A sense of peace enveloped her body and she slowly began to nod off, lying over the neck of her dragon.
She suddenly jerked awake, fighting against the precipitous feeling of drowsiness. The beats of her Nadder's wings had slowed as well, and they were gradually sinking towards the whitecaps on the ocean. Astrid tried to rouse the dragon from its sudden lethargy but she was having a hard enough time keeping herself awake; it was as if something had poisoned the air.
She squinted her eyes towards the horizon, making out some sort of blurry object floating on the surface of the sea. She leant over and slapped her Nadder on the nose as hard as she could, taking advantage of the extra height to try and get a glimpse of whatever was adrift on the waves. The dragon shook its head in annoyance and started struggling against the unexpected sensation of sleep as well, fighting to obtain the height she had lost in her momentary doze.
Astrid peeled the goggles off of her eyes and strained to see what the object was, urging the Nadder to fly faster. The dragon groaned in reluctant compliance and started to pick up the pace, her nostrils picking up a scent she hadn't smelt in a century.
The Nadder's pupils contracted into slits as her eyes started to distinguish the strange shape in the water, writhing like an eel on the crashing waves. The dragon spooked and tried to gain even more altitude, still fighting against the sickly sweet scent in the air that made her want to fall asleep.
Astrid's eyes fought to focus, but it didn't take long for her to figure out what the object was. As they flew over the first part of it, Astrid realized that it stretched out for as far as her eye could see, even past the oncoming horizon. She wrinkled her nose in anxiety and wrestled to keep the feeling of dread from taking hold of her insides, suddenly afraid of what would lie at the end.
They soared over it for what seemed like hours, and it was just nearing dawn when she finally saw the end of the enormous object lolling in the seas. She slowed her Nadder down as they reached the end, eyes wide as she stared in horror at the gigantic mould of a snakehead, easily the size of an island. The decaying, moulted skin of a snake bobbed up and down as if it were mocking her, and Astrid quickly urged her Nadder to fly away.
Astrid shivered, but whether it was because of the chill or the huge snake skin, she couldn't tell. There was no doubt in her mind as to what could have created such a thing, not with the stories of her childhood ringing in her ears. She just prayed to every god she could think of that it wasn't after her.
She shuddered, not even wanting to say its name.
Jormundgadr.
The harbinger of death.
She made a silent prayer, begging Freya to keep them, and him, safe.
Jormungandr was known to spew poisonous gases from his maw in order to kill his prey without too much effort. He was a prickly, lazy bastard. Silly snake-ums!
Please review and let me know what you think! Honestly, the speed in which I write will reflect on the amount of response I get...I'm starting to get sucked into a new fandom (my dA page is proof!) and I seriously need some inspiration here.
Brontë