Chapter 5
"I thought you said you weren't going to help,"
Astrid sat in a wooden chair beside Hiccup's bed.
"I changed my mind," Snotlout said from his place across the room, leaning against a wall. They were in Hiccup's room with Toothless. He paced back and forth across the room silently.
"Why?" She turned to face him. "Why did you change your mind?"
Snotlout shrugged.
Him and his ridiculous tough guy act, Astrid shook her head. She sighed and looked up at the ceiling.
The girl from the pit stared back at her with her big green eyes.
Why was her deal? Hiccup drug her out of the pit behind him, so she must have already been in the tunnels. But for how long? Why?
Astrid growled in frustration. Hopefully Hiccup could shed some light on the situation if and when he woke up.
But she still couldn't shake the feeling that she knew the girl, somehow she seem familiar...
Astrid pushed the thought out of her mind and went back to Hiccup. She hoped he was okay and the bite wasn't too severe. Whatever that girl did seemed to be working... Oh, for the love of Thor! Why couldn't she think of something other than that girl?
She angrily blew her blonde hair out of her face.
Hiccup slowly opened his eyes. He was greeted with a large pain in the shoulder. Hiccup turned his head to see his shirt bloody and torn, exposing a large bite wound. Hiccup vaguely remembered what happened.
They were traveling through the tunnels underground, he and the girl, when Toothless caught up with him. He had growled and took a long look at the girl, eyeing her dangerously.
"Toothless, I-"
The girl held up her arm, stopping him from stepping forward. Instead she approached the Night Fury, as if seeing a ghost.
For a spilt second, Toothless relaxed.
A hiss of a roar filled the tunnel. Hiccup turned to see a very angry looking Whispering Death far behind them. It spotted him and charged.
Toothless gave the girl a look that plainly said, "This isn't over," and bolted down the tunnel. She followed without hesitation and Hiccup had no choice but to do the same.
Toothless suddenly stopped ahead.
He stood before a huge tunnel stretching up to the sky and plunged deeper into the earth.
Hiccup quickly climbed on to Toothlesse's back.
"Come with me," Hiccup extended a hand to the girl. "Please."
She slowly reached out grasped his hand. He pulled her on to the dragon and Toothless took off.
He shot up the tunnel, but so did the Whispering Death. Reaching the top revealed more tunnels. Light shone bright from the right.
They made it to the opening, but Hiccup didn't remember anything after that. The entire thing seemed surreal and dreamlike.
Was it just a dream?
Something moved above him. Hiccup squinted at the ceiling and the girl dropped down in front of him.
Nope.
She stared intently at him with bright, emerald eyes, dark red hair spilling over her shoulders.
The girl smiled. Hiccup smiled back. She was so cute.
The sun shone in through the high window on the wall across from him. It was warm and welcoming, unlike the damp darkness of the caves he had been through not so long ago.
"Hiccup!"
He turned to the right to see Astrid rise to her feet.
Oh no, I'm in trouble, Hiccup thought.
"What were you thinking? In the middle of the night to that pit, of all places!" She said angrily. "Where were you? And who is she?"
Astrid gestured to the girl crouching in front of him.
"I have no idea," He replied honestly. He truly did not why. It just felt like he was compelled to investigate the pit, couldn't stand the uncertainty of it anymore.
Hiccup looked Astrid in the eyes.
"I'm sorry,"
She slowly relaxed and sighed as she sat down on the edge of the bed.
"I was just worried..." Her voice trailed off.
Hiccup put a hand on her shoulder, she turned and he smiled.
She reached out and gently wrapped her arms around Hiccup's waist. He hugged her back and winced. She released him.
"We should get this wound covered up," Astrid inspected his shoulder.
"How did that..?"
"Hmm?" Astrid looked up.
"N-nevermind," He shook his head.
The chief came up the stairs into Hiccup's room, carrying a cloth and a length of bandage.
"Glad to see your finally awake," Stoick said flatly, setting what he was holding down on the nightstand.
Hiccup knew he was not impressed, as always.
"I..." He fell silent.
He had no explanation. No reasonable explanation, that is. None that a reasonable person would understand and reasonable agree with then forgive him reasonably.
His father sighed and left the room once again.
"That went well," Astrid said when Stoick was out of earshot.
"I had nothing reasonable to say," Hiccup replied bitterly.
The outside of the forest was sunny and a breeze blew freely. It was dark and still in the woods though, the crooked trees blocked out the sun, shadowing the ground and provided shelter from the wind.
After Astrid dressed his wounds, Hiccup somehow convinced her to let him go for a walk alone. It was just a matter of precise persuasion and insisting he would not return to the pit.
So here he was, back at the woods that housed that wretched hole in the ground.
Hiccup sat in the grass, against a tree, watching birds and, occasionally dragons, fly far above his head. He turned a small, pale green rock over and over in his hands. Big, fluffy, white clouds sauntered lazily across the sky, the blue waters far off the island reflected and shone in the midday sun. No matter what Hiccup thought about, he could not shake the feeling that he was missing something. Something important, very important, in fact. He was missing something very important.
But what?
Hiccup sighed and rose to his feet. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and turned to look into the forest. He relevantly stepped into the shade of the trees. They were gnarled and huge in size, casting shadows that stuck out at odd angles. No official path existed in the woods, merely a large empty space between trees. Well, large compared to the rest of the trees, that were tightly packed otherwise.
He had not made it far when something rustled in the shadows and Hiccup jumped. He squinted in to the woods, searching for the source of the sound. Turning in a full circle, Hiccup realized he was holding his breath. Two green eyes glowed in the dark of the great trees.
"Oh... It's just you. You startled me," Hiccup breathed out.
The girl slowly slinked out from somewhere between trees. She joined Hiccup along the path and deeper into the woods.
For a while they walked, or in the girl's case what passed for a walk, down the sunless trail. Then she gestured for Hiccup to follow her, and sped off into the trees. He let her lead the way to a clearing. Flowers of countless hues blossomed in between the blades of crisp, green grass that blanketed the ground. Sparkling, blue water flowed swiftly from a small pond surrounded by round, white rocks into a lovely little stream. Nimble, sliver fish swam around the little pond. The tree that stood beside it, however, was very different from the forest that surrounded it. The bark of the tree was pale and the branches, delicate. Thin vines hung from the limbs, sprouting tiny, pointed leaves that trembled in the breeze. Odd looking plants sprung from it's roots. Hiccup recognized the old tree as a weeping willow. He had never seen a real one, just pictures in storybooks.
Hiccup knew this place. He had been here before.
Sometimes, he would dream of a place just like this. The only difference was the sky would be filled with countless sliver stars, blinking and twinkling so very far away. He lay on his back in the meadow, plucking petals from a violet flower one by one.
"Hiccup," The soft, sweet voice of a child said beside him. But when he turned his head, the dream ended and he would wake up.
He sat down in the soft grass. The girl stretched out on the grass beside him, yawning. He stared up at the clouds, then lay down in the grass. His eyelids became heavy and they closed as he drifted off to sleep.