So, my internet is still terrible. It goes on and off, but I managed to write this chapter, and hopefully the posting goes through a-okay without the internet blocking me out. -_- Stupid internet. Oh well. :) A writer cannot triumph all the time...
I just finished reading the seventh book in the HTTYD series. Great book. I loved it. Now I can't wait to get the eighth book in the series...all such amazing books! :)
Anyways, enjoy chapter 6!
Hiccup and Toothless soared over Berk, over Raven Point, searching for Astrid. The other riders were checking the village, the old Academy, and the forge, and so far, they had found nothing.
Hiccup looked down, his eyes scanning the trees below. He was just about to tell Toothless to turn around and head back towards the village, when a sudden shout cut him off.
"HELP!" the voice of Astrid shouted, and Hiccup looked closer. One of the trees was swaying, and it wasn't because of the wind.
"There, Toothless!" Hiccup directed, and Toothless tucked in his wings and shot downwards, towards the tree that was moving while the other trees remained still. There was Astrid, clinging to the top branch of the tree, trying to find a grip.
"Astrid!" Hiccup shouted, watching her in confusion. For the longest moment, he didn't know what to say, and when he did find his voice, the only thing he managed to shout was, "You're in a tree!"
"I know that!" Astrid cried. Her fingers scrambled to grab a tighter hold on the branch, but to no avail. She tried kicking her feet up, but that just made the tree sway more violently. "I was trying to find a sheath of some sort, but then, something jumped me, Hiccup!" Astrid shrieked. "And I climbed up here! Unfortunately-!"
"Let me guess!" Hiccup twirled his finger around his head. "You're afraid of heights!"
"YES!" Astrid confirmed. "How did you know!?"
Hiccup shrugged. "Lucky guess!" he said. Toothless soared in underneath her, and Hiccup lifted his arms. "Let go of the branch, Astrid!" Hiccup shouted.
"WHAT!?" Astrid cried. "No! Let go of the branch!? Are you crazy!?"
"I'll catch you!" Hiccup called back. "Just let go of the branch! I promise you, Astrid, I won't let you fall!"
"Hiccup!" Astrid shouted back. "I can't...I can't hold on!"
"I'm not asking you to hold on!" Hiccup said. Really, this was annoying. He was worried for Astrid's sake, and he was also hoping she would let go of that branch so he could get her back to Gothi. Maybe the elderly woman fixed her staff by now. "I'm telling you to let it go!"
Astrid looked down at him, her eyes wide and trusting. Then, she shut her eyes, grit her teeth, and released her grip on the branch.
She fell and screamed. Toothless dove, caught her on his back, and Hiccup instantly grabbed Astrid to stop her thrashing. "Hey, it's okay!" he assured her. "We caught you, see? Just like I promised."
Astrid stopped thrashing. She met his eyes, and looked back down at the forest floor. "You did," she said as if she hadn't expected him to catch her at all (which, in honesty, disappointed Hiccup). "Thank you."
"You're...you're welcome," Hiccup said. "Come on, let's get back to Gothi's."
...
"Are you sure this is safe, Hiccup?" Astrid asked. She stood on Gothi's platform with Hiccup beside her and Gobber standing behind Gothi. Hiccup noticed that the twins, Fishlegs and Snotlout hadn't followed, and in honesty, he was kind of thankful they hadn't. Snotlout, to be precise.
Hiccup was still unbelievably angry with his cousin, although he tried to hide it as best he could. It was Snotlout's fault to begin with, and all Snotlout ever did was make it harder for everyone when he tried to be "helpful" by accidentally scaring Astrid.
Astrid looked uncertain. "I...I mean...I don't...I'm not so sure…" she said shakily.
Gothi paced back and forth, grabbing random herbs as she went and dumping them into a small bowl. She mixed the contents of the bowl, and handed them out to Astrid.
"It's fine, Astrid," Hiccup promised, his hand gently squeezing her shoulder. "I promise, it's fine. Gothi's the best healer around. You can trust her."
Nodding shakily, Astrid took the bowl from Gothi and downed its contents. Afterwards, she slammed the bowl back against the table and clicked her tongue. "Oh, gross," she groaned. "What was that?"
Gothi stepped back and crossed her arms, almost smugly.
"Nothing, actually," Gobber said. "It's supposedly going to calm your nerves, Astrid, but in honesty, I think Gothi's just tryin' to mess with ya. A little payback for breaking her staff."
Astrid's eyes widened. "I didn't mean to do that!" she insisted. "I didn't mean to break it! I'm sorry!"
"Astrid, we get it," Hiccup said. "It's okay." Astrid lowered her head, turned, and walked slowly in the opposite direction, towards the end of the platform. Hiccup looked up at the village healer. "It's great that you're trying to get revenge and all, Gothi," he said; if Gothi had her staff, she would have whacked Hiccup with it, "but what about getting Astrid back?"
Gothi drew in the sand with a stick (really a poor replacement for her staff, but luckily it was only temporary), and Gobber leaned over the runes to translate. "She can't re-hypnotize Astrid without her staff," Gobber said.
"Great, but I already knew that," Hiccup snapped back. Really, he wanted answers to questions he hadn't already answered for himself. "What are we supposed to do now?"
Gothi scribbled more out on the sand. "Bravery," Gobber read. "Only an act of true bravery will shock Astrid back to normal."
"Great," Hiccup rolled his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh yeah, yeah, that's good, because Astrid over here isn't not afraid of anything."
"Hiccup!" Astrid cried from the left, followed by her springing towards her and clutching his arm desperately. "There's-there's this thing! It's...it's coming after me, Hiccup! Get it away!"
Hiccup lifted his head. Ruffnut and Tuffnut slowly walked out of Gothi's hut, wiggling their fingers mysteriously with burlap sacks over their heads. There were faces drawn on the sacks where Ruffnut and Tuffnut's faces would be, and as soon as they were in everyone's view, they cackled and ripped the sacks off their heads.
"LOKI'D!" they cheered in a sing-song voice, their voices full of triumph. They smashed their heads together in celebration.
Hiccup was about to yell at them and scold them for pranking Astrid like that, when all of a sudden, there was a screech of terror. Not just any screech of terror, though.
It was a screech of terror that Hiccup recognized.
He looked up towards the sky and gasped. "Stormfly!?" he shouted. And sure enough, it was Stormfly, flying full speed ahead, straight towards them, roaring frantically.
"Stormfly?" Astrid asked. She released her hold on Hiccup and stepped forward, keeping a large distance between her and the edge of the platform. "Stormfly!" Astrid cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted.
The Deadly Nadder screeched and dove downwards, straight towards the platform. The dragon landed directly in front of Astrid, and Astrid jumped backwards, but just for a moment before she raced forward again towards her dragon.
She didn't cough or sneeze as she neared Stormfly, which relieved Hiccup, but he was still a little nervous about why Stormfly was here, and why she was so...scared. Hiccup was used to seeing Stormfly scared; she was a lot like her rider, in a lot of ways. But then again, Hiccup supposed, times changed.
If something was bothering Stormfly, it must have been pretty serious.
"Hey, hey, Stormfly," Hiccup said calmly, the way he spoke whenever he trained a new species of dragon (or a new dragon at all). "It's okay. Easy, girl, easy…" Stormfly ducked her head, and Hiccup flattened his palms against her muzzle. He knelt down, his eyes looking the dragon over for any sign of injury. "Well, it doesn't look like she's injured…" he mused out loud.
"But she's definitely worried about something," Astrid said. She looked her dragon over, and then, she gasped. "Hiccup, look."
Hiccup jerked in the direction she pointed to, and he noticed a rolled up scroll tied to one of Stormfly's horns. As quickly as possible, Hiccup reached forward and took the piece of paper off. He unrolled it and read it silently to himself.
Oh Thor, oh Thor, oh Thor…he thought over and over again.
"What is it?" Astrid asked from behind him. "What does it say?"
Hiccup gulped. "It says," he said, "'Hello, brother.'"