"Have fun, you two!" Heather calls as Toothless leaps into the air, his wings beating furiously against the wind. Fun? Seriously?
Once Astrid and Stormfly catch up to us as we level off, I turn around.
"What fun can a patrol flight be, am I right?" I joke, trying to make light conversation.
"Yeah, right," she mumbles. Well, that didn't work. She avoids eye contact with me, but glances at Toothless. He warbles and jerks, forcing me to face forward to keep my balance.
"Dumb reptile," I mutter under my breath. I promptly get slapped by said reptile's ear flap.
We fly in silence for a while, until the pale blue sky turns to bright, vibrant shades of pink and orange. I sigh. "What did I do wrong, bud?" Toothless grumbles in reply. "It's not like I'm trying to be pushy or anything. I just don't want anybody to go out on a mission alone."
He growls indignantly.
"Okay, fine. I do it all the time, but you're always there to save me from certain death." He shoots me another pointed look, which I conveniently ignore. "I know Astrid is perfectly capable of taking care of herself. I just don't want anything to happen to- GAH!"
"Hiccup?" Toothless starts, not expecting her sudden arrival beside us. My foot slips slightly in the stirrup with the movement.
"Astrid! What brings you here?" Toothless chortles as I right myself in the saddle, mentally slapping myself. I had learned long ago how stealthy the pair could be.
"Yeah…" She drags. "Anyway, I wanted to apologize for being so… You know… Me? About you coming along. I know you mean well."
"What? No! You have nothing to be sorry for!"
"I shouldn't have fought back," She argues. I chuckle at the irony.
"It's fine, really. I know you'd be alright on your own. I'm just here for backup, okay?" She smiles and nods, pleased with my reply. "Oh, and sorry for being so insistent on coming along."
"Like I said, I know you meant well." She flashes me a grin, which I return. "So we're good?"
"Were we ever not?" I laugh. She laughs along. Stormfly chirps happily at her rider's good mood. I watch her laugh. It was so nice to see her happy like this.
"What is it?" She asks.
"Huh?"
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Oh, dear Thor. I didn't even realize I was staring at her.
"It's just nice to see you so happy as compared to earlier," I blurt out before I can help myself. Have the gods cursed me to be forever unlucky in the casual conversation department?
I sneak a glance at her expression. Her eyes are slightly wider than usual and her face has taken on a pale shade of pink. I probably look like a tomato compared to her.
I clear my throat. "What happened anyway?"
She stays silent for a minute. "It doesn't matter."
"You sure?" I ask, unsure.
"Yes. Let's just drop it, okay?" I nod and turn back to face forward. I am curious, but I wouldn't want to make her talk if she doesn't want to. Everybody knows it does no good to push a Hofferson over the edge.
The conversation ends there, so I watch as the sky turns deep blue and the stars begin to appear. In the horizon I notice a black formation begin to appear.
"Viggo's base up ahead!" Astrid calls, almost as if she read my thoughts. "Using the clouds as cover?"
"Yup! Toothless, up!" Toothless pulls into a steep climb, Stormfly trailing right below us. He levels off into a steady glide once he reaches the clouds. I can't see further than Toothless' head, but I trust him to see the way for us. We've done this before; fly in through the clouds and emerge directly above the base to search for any new developments.
We dive down just low enough to see the base, but not low enough to be spotted. I pull out my spy glass and look down.
"Anything?" She asks.
"I don't see anything new," I call back. I toss the spy glass towards her and she catches it with practised ease.
"Neither do I," she confirms. "I guess we can head back now."
We both freeze as we hear thunder rumble through the clouds. Great. A storm.
Toothless and Stormfly dive lower to avoid the storm clouds brewing around us. Astrid shoots me a worried glance which I return. As it turns out, we have every reason to worry.
"Dragon riders!"
An arrow whizzes right past me, nearly slicing my arm. "Astrid, we have to go now!"
More arrows follow, and it gets more and more difficult to navigate around them, and with the storm coming, it is just too dangerous to head back into the clouds.
"Hiccup, there's too many!" Astrid shouts as she blocks an arrow from Stormfly with her axe. I scan my surroundings and find an opening in the cloud cover.
"Up there!" I guide Toothless toward it. Stormfly follows but before she can get away from the reach of the arrows, she squawks in pain.
"Stormfly, NO!" Astrid screams and grabs the dragon root arrow, pulling it out of her dragon's leg. Toothless spreads his wings to stop his climb and zips down to catch Stormfly. He maneuvers us out of the range of the arrows and slows down, panting slightly. I look down.
"You guys alright?" I question. Thankfully, Toothless managed to save them both.
"We're fine," Astrid shouts back up, before climbing up to sit behind me on Toothless' saddle. "Thanks."
"We have to land somewhere before the storm worsens. Toothless can't fly like this for too long." I say matter-of-factly. She hums in response.
She remains quiet behind me. I pay no heed to her silence as I search for land to wait out the storm. It seems to be getting worse the further we go, however. The thunder gets louder and lightning follows close behind us. A particularly bright flash of light strikes directly behind us, startling us both. Toothless wails in pain and starts falling.
"Come on, bud!" I try to pull up, but it's no use.
"Umm, Hiccup? His tail!" Astrid screams, turning my head around. His tail was on fire. Could this gods-forsaken day get any worse?
I quickly scan the horizon for anywhere we can land for the night. "There!" I steer Toothless toward the island in the distance. At this point we are so close to the ocean that it's terrifying. One wrong move and we could end up swimming there ourselves. I keep doing my best to pull him up, but it does little to help. Thankfully we make it to the island, but we crash in the forest, falling through the trees. My foot slips out from the stirrup and I am flung away from them as I fall hard on the wet ground, the wind knocked out of me.
I lie there for a while, rain falling on my face, trying to catch my breath, and ignoring the stinging sensation in the multiple cuts from the trees. Why me?
"Hiccup?" Astrid calls.
"Alive," I groan as she walks over and pulls me up into a sitting position. "Where's Toothless?" That question proves unnecessary as my face gets covered in dragon spit. I sputter in disgust as I wipe it away. "Stormfly?"
"She's fine. Landed just a bit away from here."
"You?"
"Small cuts but I'm good."
It starts pouring rain. I groan and stand up. "We need to find shelter."
We help Stormfly up and Toothless trots ahead to search for a cave to spend the night in. He rushes back towards us to lead us there. We work together to support Stormfly and make it to the cave shortly. We set her down in the far end of it, where Toothless has already lit a campfire. I pat his head in thanks and crouch to search through his saddlebags.
"Hiccup, what are you looking for?" Astrid stands up from her position beside Stormfly.
"Spare tail," I mutter. "No. No no no no."
"What's wrong?" She asks, walking over and placing a hand on my shoulder. I continue searching frantically through the bags, finding nothing.
I get up and face her. "We're not going anywhere for a while."
"Yeah, there's a storm raging outside, Hiccup." I shake my head.
"I don't have a spare tailfin."
A/N: Hey people! It's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry. I'm on holiday now so I promise I will update more frequently. Maybe not every week, but I definitely won't make you wait for months again. Thanks for being so patient! Until the next chapter! :)