Chapter 5

Sorry it took so long. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.

Astrid woke up the next morning to a roaster's cry. She sat up, confused by her surroundings. Then it all flashed back to her. She got up, put on her boots and strapped on her belt. She didn't like how her belt felt way lighter than usual. She missed her dagger, just like she missed strapping her bat and axe to her back. "Hiccup and the other dragon riders must have taken them and stored them somewhere", she thought, as she stretched her limbs. She needed a walk. She left a note for Gothi, saying that she went out for a stroll to move her legs.

Astrid stood at the edge of a cliff, enjoying the sea in front of her. She always loved the taste of the salty sea spray. It reminded her of home. As a little girl, she had lived with her family near the shore. The beach had been ten meters away from her bedroom window. In the early morning, she would jump through her window and walk along beach for a while, collecting sea shells. The neighbor's kids often joined her. They would have water fights in the end. When she came home, her parents would be awake. Her mother would scowl at her for making her bedroom floor wet, her father would ask about her new treasures, that she had found, and her older siblings would tease her about having a boyfriend, since the neighbors only had sons. She had been the youngest of nine siblings. Now, she was also the only one alive of nine siblings. A tear rolled down Astrid's cheek. Her older sister and brothers had always annoyed her to no end, but she had always loved them. And as each one of them died, one by one, she felt a piece of her heart die along with them.

Hiccup stared at the Astrid's dagger. He hadn't had a look at it until this morning. He admired the engravements on the blade and its handle. It was a piece of art, not like the normal Viking weapon. Sure, some swords had a nicely craved handle, but they didn't compare to this. Hiccup was now in the forge. He had wanted to check, if Astrid's other weapons were also foreign. Her axe was from around here, although one could only see the Viking style, when taking a closer look at the weapon. She had added her own personal touch with light blue cloth, red thread and dark blue feathers. The weirdly shaped stick with burnings was not from around here. He set the dagger next to his legs as he picked up the stick. Burnings were symbols or words in another language. There were both sentences or words. Probably names of people Astrid had encountered. "Recognize any languages, Iceberg?" Hiccup suddenly straightened, his eyes looking up to meet Astrid's. "No," Hiccup replied, "What is this stick for anyways?" "It's a bat," Astrid said, walking over to Hiccup and taking the bat, "The perfect instrument for knocking someone out. You have less of a chance of killing someone with it than with an axe." "But you still kill," Hiccup said, before realizing his mistake. Astrid glared at him. "I didn't kill those two," she growled, "They were both trying to kill me. I ducked and their blades hit each other." There was a pause. "Do you regret it?" Hiccup questioned. Astrid raised an eyebrow, "Regret what?"

"Both their deaths."

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't cry over spilt milk."

Astrid turned her gaze to the other weapons in the black smith. There were some nice shield, axes and swords. She then turned her gaze back to Hiccup, who still had her dagger. "And trust me, those guys wouldn't shed a tear over me either. May I get my weapons back?" Hiccup stared at Astrid for a moment not bugging.

"Have you ever done it?"

"Done what?"

Hiccup took a deep breath. "Have you ever killed someone?"

Astrid took a few steps forward and bent her knees so she was at the same eye-level as Hiccup. Their faces were mere inches away.

She whispered, "In my life there have been moments where the choice was kill or get killed. I think we both know what I chose." She then straightened herself. "I try to avoid blood-baths, I really do. I don't enjoy my opponent's blood on my hands and I'm not proud of the lives I have taken. But I did take them and now I must live with this knowledge for the rest of my life as punishment. My weapons please?"

Hiccup stared at her for a few seconds, then handed over the dagger. "Don't make me regret this," Hiccup warned, his voice a bit darker. He got up, took Astrid's axe off the wall and gave it to her. As Astrid took her axe, she smirked, "You don't try to kill me and I don't try to kill you." "Sounds like a good deal", Hiccup replied, before turning to the weapons needing sharpening. Astrid took this as her queue and left the forge.

Hiccup walked behind the others as they lead Astrid to their table for dinner. Even after last evenings events, the other riders were still determined to get Astrid to open-up. They thought that maybe Astrid didn't want to talk about her past, since she didn't trust them, so they had been bombarding Astrid with memories, stories and all their knowledge about dragons from breakfast to lunch. When lunch was over, they took Astrid on a tour around Berk. They showed her everything from the arena to the cove. It didn't impress Astrid though. In fact, she only got annoyed, but no one seemed to notice except Hiccup. Probably because he was the only one not smothering her with their tales of being a dragon rider. She did smile once. After their tour the riders wanted to go see their dragons. Hiccup watched from behind as her eyes trailed along the dragons. She looked at the dragons lovingly. She seemed to like dragons better than people. Her eyes stopped at Toothless. They were filled with amazement. She slowly walked towards him, her right hand stretched in front of her. Then she touched his nose. Toothless stood still and let Astrid stroke his head. A smile spread over Astrid's face as she looked at the creature with wonder. Hiccup couldn't help but feel a little jealous. His dragon had an easier time getting human girls to like him then Hiccup himself.

Astrid gulped down the last piece of yak meat on her plate as she listened to another prank that the twins had pulled on their fellow villagers. All day she had to listen to the boring stories the young riders had to tell. Sure, she had heard worse, but they were getting on her nerves. She was dying to go to bed and sleep a few hours before taking her stuff and leaving. She had been able to sense Stormfly coming. At 1 am she should reach Berk. Astrid couldn't wait to leave. She knew Stormfly and Valka were worried about her and Astrid couldn't wait to ride on Stormfly's back again. She looked around at her entertainers for the evening. They weren't too bad. Fishlegs was the friendly, but naïve nerd, who would gladly spill all his information if you asked. Luckily, he had a smart, edgy girlfriend, Heather, who could make sure he wouldn't get used by the wrong people. Under other circumstances Astrid would have been Heather's friend. She liked the girl. Then there were the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, who would be funny, but they reminded Astrid too much of some twins she had once known. Both sets were joyous and energetic. They saw the world as a happy place that needed a little mischief to be perfect. Astrid had to blink back tears as she remembered the first twins laying in the mud. Their hair, skin and cloths stained with blood. Their eyes open and dead. They lay next to each other side by side, hand in hand. She and the others buried them that way. It won't have been right if they had separated the twins. Live together, die together they always said. Astrid turned her eyes to Snotlot before the tears could fall. He was arrogant, a bit stupid and a flirt. If she had been from this island she would have probably punched him twice today. And last there was Hiccup. He kept to himself and was way quieter than the others, but he was still their leader. The others did respect him, even though he was quite different from them. He was more on the nerdy side, but not as much as Fishlegs. For some strange reason Hiccup reminded her of Valka. They looked very similar. Astrid shook her head. She'd be gone by morning, which meant she'd probably never see these guys again. She signed as she thought about the Night Fury. Oh, how she wished she could study this magnificent creature. It was probably the last of his kind. He was beautiful and strong with majestic wings. His black scales matched perfectly to his green eyes. She always felt such joy meeting new dragon species, so she let her smile show. She would have asked him to come with her and Stormfly, but she had seen the bond. Toothless saw Hiccup as his rider, his main human companion. In Casad breaking the bond between a dragon and his human is punishable by death. Astrid decided to call it a night and slowly stood up. She was about to announce her departure, when a voice boomed behind her, "Well if it isn't Berk's newest guest." Astrid whirled to see a large man with red hair and beard in braids and green eyes. "I'm Stoick the Vast, Chief of Berk. I'm sorry I haven't had the chance to meet you before. I hope my son and his friends have been warm and welcoming to you." "Yes, they have been very welcoming, Sir." Even if she was leaving soon, Astrid followed her mother's most important rule. Always be polite. Stoick laughed, "Gobber mentioned you talked fancy. Just call me Stoick, lassie." Astrid nodded politely. The only similarity between Hiccup and Stoick were their green eyes, otherwise they were two completely different looking people. "Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but I have some friends waiting for me. Enjoy the evening and we'll talk tomorrow", and with that Stoick left their table. "And that was our dear chief. He might look deadly on the outside, but he's nice a guy, at least when you are on his good side", Snotlot said, before turning back to Ruffnut. "Good to know", Astrid said, "Well, I'm going to bed now. Goodnight everyone." "Already?", Heather exclaimed. "Yeah, I need a lot of sleep you know", Astrid shrugged. "Oh, okay", Heather replied a little disappointed, "Goodnight then." "Goodnight", the rest of the table said, as Astrid turned to leave. She walked out the door, down the steps and along the path to Gothi's. There she doublechecked that everything was ready for her escape in a few hours. Then she kicked off her boots and snuggled in her bed. She had to enjoy the soft wool and sheets. It would be awhile until she would sleep in a normal bed again.

She heard Stormfly's wings heading to the docks. It was a matter of minutes until her dragon would reach the coast. Quickly she pulled on her boots and grabbed her things. She swiftly tip-toed out of Gothi's house and raced to the docks. She made sure she stayed in the shadows. In a matter of minutes, she was at the docks. Luckily no one was to be seen. That's when she heard the soft flapping of wings.

Hiccup stared at the ocean before him. He leaned against the wall of Gobber's forge and enjoyed the salty breeze. He had been working on some sketches for new dragon training contraptions, but decided after a while that a little fresh air would do him good. Toothless lay next to him, loyal at his rider's side. Suddenly Toothless's ears perked up and Hiccup started to see a shape coming closer to Berk. Hiccup squinted and realized that it was a dragon flying towards them, or to be precise towards the docks. Hiccup dashed over to the side with the view of the docks. There he spotted her. Astrid stood at the docks looking up at the dragon. Hiccup then recognized the dragon as the one Astrid had been riding the other day. Astrid wasted no time getting on top her dragon. She jumped and swung herself onto her saddle, before the dragon's feet reach the wooden boards. Astrid steered her dragon back to the ocean and they took off towards the horizon. Hiccup dashed back to the forge. He grabbed his travel satchel and left a note for Gobber and his father. He headed back to Toothless, got onto his saddle and followed the foreign dragon rider into the night.