Chapter 2
"I'm freezing my butt off out here, people! Can't we just turn around and call it a day?" Hiccup rolled his eyes and Toothless snorted. As usual Snotlot was being a real pain in the ass, always complaining. And to his dismay others were joining Snotlot's side. "Yeah," said Tuff, "I'm getting really bored. Do you know many things I could have destroyed in the amount of time we spent on patrolling these waters?" "I'd rather not think about that," Hiccup signed. It had been four years since they had defeated the queen, but somethings never change. There had been rumors of dragon hunters sailing up to the northern part of the Barbaric Archipelago to capture dragons. And now it was their job to find out if it was true. "Okay, let's all take a break and restore some of our strength," Hiccup compromised. The other riders nodded in agreement. So, they landed on the next small island. There were some very sturdy icebergs around them, where they could have also rested, but real land was always safer. Heather, who had been spending more time on dragon's edge, was talking to Fishlegs about some new feature she had discovered by Windshear, Snotlot was flirting with Ruffnut and though she was making fun of him, she seemed to like the attention. And last, but not least, Tuffnut was busy talking to Macey, his mace. Hiccup signed. All his friends had someone in their life, just not him. Even after being the first to train a dragon, be the best dragon rider of Berk, and defeating Alvin, Dagur and of course the mighty Red Death, he was just a one-legged fishbone, who everyone liked, but would never love. Toothless noticed how depressed his master was and gave him a little nudge. Hiccup looked down to his dragon. "Don't worry, bud," he said stroking the dragon's head, "I'll be fine."
Astrid pulled her scarf higher up her nose and rubbed her hands together. "Thor, is it cold up here!" she thought and suddenly jolted. "Did I just think that?" Thor, Valka must have rubbed on her. Valka was one of the kindest women she had ever met. She respected Valka, even idolized her at times. She and Valka had formed a certain bond over the one year and Astrid had felt very much at home in Valka's dragon's nest. At the beginning Astrid had planned on staying for a year at Valka's, moving on at the beginning of next summer. But she couldn't leave yet. There was still so much more to study about these dragons. She and Stormfly had decided to stay another year. Valka had seemed very happy and somehow relieved at the change of plans. Right now, she and Stormfly were flying a little south. They were planning on trading some items at a market, a 14-hour flight from the nest. Astrid was going alone, since her Norwegian had got much better and she was now very fluent. There was still an accent, but no one seemed to care if they could understand her. It was only a few hours away now, but she was planning to camp on one of the uninhabited islands for the following night. She thought about the treasures she had been able to find the last time. A set of beautiful, but very sharp, daggers, new boots, a fine belt and a bronze bracelet. She dreamed of finding the perfect axe, that matched her current one. Two axes are better than one. Suddenly she heard a pained roar coming from down below. She looked and saw a Snow Wraith struggling in a massive cage. There were people moving towards it with spears and swords. "Dragon hunters!" Astrid whispered angrily. Stormfly growled dangerously. Astrid scanned the area quickly. Twenty men, each with a least two weapons, a ship, a huge cage on a huge iceberg with one Snow Wraith. Astrid smiled. This would be fun. "Come on, girl, let's show these guys what happens when you mess with dragons in our territory." Then they soared down at great speed.
Hiccup got up and was about to announce the break was over, when "BANG!". Everyone jumped up. Not too far away smoke rose into the sky. "Everyone get on your dragons and fly towards the smoke!" Hiccup shouted, jumping onto Toothless and soared into the sky.
Astrid added some of her own fire to Stormfly's magnesium blast, making an even more devastating blow for the ship. It directly split into two pieces, both ends on fire. Astrid jumped off Stormfly, pulled out her bat and knocked out six men, before they registered what was happening. Then the next two men pulled out their swords. Astrid switched her bat for her axe and swung it. The men swung their own swords trying to hit her arm or leg. But Astrid was quicker, dodging the blows or having them meet her axe. Suddenly she was between them and both men shot their swords toward her head. Astrid ducked and the men plunged their swords into each other's chests. Astrid run off towards Stormfly, who was closer to the Snow Wraith. Stormfly had already knocked out eight men. Four more were left. They were busy with Stormfly, so they didn't notice Astrid coming at first. One of the men turned, probably to check on the others, and spotted Astrid heading towards them. He ran towards her, lifting his axe aiming for her head. He was on higher ground, which would be great disadvantage for most opponents, but not an ex-soldier as Astrid herself. When they were close enough to each other the man dipped down his axe for Astrid's head. Astrid blocked the blow with her axe in one hand, her other hand grabbing a long dagger and plunging it into the man's leg. The man screamed, his legs buckling and his grip loosening. Astrid used her chance, pushing the man's axe out of his hand with her own axe. The other hand let go of the dagger, hit the ice and she swung her body over the higher piece of ice, her feet hitting the man in the face, knocking him out. Another heard his friend's cry and ran towards her. Astrid ran, then let herself fall and slide over the ice on her back. The other man barely registered her legs hitting his, before he tumbled down. Astrid jumped up and hit the man's head with the hilt of her axe. Stormfly had now defeated the other two hunters. "You stay on the lookout, I'll free the Snow Wraith!" Astrid commanded, running over to the cage. She pulled out a contraption, that could really open any lock. She stuck it into the key hole and softly turned it back and forth until…click. She swung the door open and made way. Just as she had expected, the Snow Wraith wasted no time rushing out into the open. Once it was out, Astrid ran to the man, who still had her dagger stuck in his leg and pulled it out. What? It was quite expensive and made in China. She quickly wiped the blood off with a cloth, when Stormfly screeched. Astrid turned to see five dragons above them. A Gronckle, a Hideous Zippleback, A Monstrous Nightmare, a Razorwhip and…a Night fury. Astrid's eyes widened. Valka had told stories, even shown a picture of the beautiful black creature. And Astrid had been so upset, when Valka said they were extinct. That's when she noticed the dragons had riders on their backs. Astrid quickly got to Stormfly, jumped into her saddle and they soared into the sky. Astrid stirred Stormfly towards the maze of ice, that lay before them. She wasn't sure if those riders were dragon-friendly or hunters, who had stepped up their game, but she wasn't going to stay and find out. "Never trust a stranger" was her motto and she stuck by it. Valka had been the only exception in eight years. Astrid nudged Stormfly and they both dove down into the tunnels of ice.
Hiccup and the other riders hurried towards the smoke. They spotted a Snow Wraith flying away from the site, which startled them. When they finally reached their destination, they saw a burning ship-wreck, about twenty still bodies, two were staining the ice with blood, a dragon that looked like a Deadly Nadder and a standing person. Their face was half covered in a blue scarf, matched their long-sleeved blue top and their hair was hidden in a brown hood. "Oh, my Thor," Fishlegs said, "We found another dragon rider." "Yeah, and they really know how to kick ass," Ruffnut said grinning. The dragon rider looked up at them, before running to their dragon, jumping on its back, flying up into the sky and then zoomed down into the ice tunnels. "Their getting away," Hiccup exclaimed, "Fishlegs, you and the twins find out who these people are! Snotlot, Heather, find the exists of the tunnels! Me and Toothless are going in." He gave Toothless a nudge and they swooped into the tunnels.
Astrid used her sensing abilities to determine where the riders were. She sensed the Night fury coming from behind. The Monstrous Nightmare and Razorwhip were heading forward to two of the three exists. Astrid grinned. She had discovered exist 3 by accident once. She nudged Stormfly to the right, stirring them into a tunnel of narrow turns. Luckily, Stormfly was very swift. Then they finally, it felt like a life-time, reached the entrance to a huge cave. To the left was a lake. One dives through the lake and the short underwater tunnel and one is in the ocean. Suddenly Astrid heard a cry.
Hiccup pressed himself on Toothless to make sure he didn't hit one of the walls. They had already explored these tunnels, so he knew the stranger was going down a dead end. This would be easy. When Hiccup and Toothless flew into the cave, they heard a cry. To the left, near the lake, a windstriker was helplessly trying to free it's wing from under a huge chunk of ice. He saw a thick rope tied around the ice. The nadder-like dragon and the stranger were tugging the rope, successfully pulling the chunk off the other dragon's wing. The windstriker stood up and tried moving it's wing. It wasn't too damaged, it could probably fly, but not for long without any medical attention. The stranger was stilled very focused on the windstriker, their eyes examining the movements with concern. Hiccup was about to suggest bringing the windstriker to his village, when the stranger turned their eyes to him. They widened at the sight of him and Toothless. Before he could say anything, the stranger jumped onto their dragon again, let out a cry and dove into the lake. The windstriker quickly followed them. Hiccup cursed and nudged Toothless to follow them and they sprang into the water. The water was ice cold. And to Hiccups surprise and shock there was an underwater tunnel. Toothless quickly swam through and soon they were at the surface. There was a third entrance to the tunnels! He then spotted the other two dragons flying away. "Come on, Toothless we can catch up with them!"
Astrid stared frustrated in front of her. Speedy, the windstriker, just had to explore those tunnels and get hurt, when Astrid was trying to escape some potential dragon-hunters. Speedy was one of the many dragons, who lived in Valka's nest and Astrid was quite fond of the energetic lass. Suddenly Speedy started to sway and bumped right into Stormfly. This shoved Astrid right out of her saddle into the air. Stormfly seemed ready to save her, but Astrid showed her a quick hand signal, that indicated that Stormfly should bring Speedy back to Valka's nest. Stormfly followed her orders and flew away carrying Speedy. Astrid rushed down to the water, as she closed her eyes and waited for impact. But it never came. Instead she felt a tug at her foot. She opened her eyes to see what had grabbed her, only to see a huge iceberg. That impact knocked her out cold.