Howdy ya'll! Here's the long awaited, tell-all chapter! Just a warning: this is where the rating starts to go up a little bit, so watch out. No violence in this chapter, but some descriptions/mentions of things. You'll see! Enjoy!

Chapter 9:

Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset. A week has gone by on the island of Berk and Astrid was nowhere to be found. Hiccup checked her house after the test and her parents said they haven't seen her. He checked all over Berk for her, but couldn't find her anywhere. Hiccup was beginning to get worried. What if she was kidnapped, stolen, forced into something she didn't want to be? Hiccup searched for her everyday, and even assembled search parties to look for her but to no avail. Hiccup couldn't shake the feeling that something bad happened to her. Stoick tried to help as much as he could, but there really wasn't much he could do. He had no solid evidence of a kidnapping, so he couldn't go accusing another tribe. But Hiccup stayed strong, and brushed it off as much as he could. Erika was always there to help him, to comfort him. She reassured him that Astrid would come back and that she would come back fine. She also told Hiccup to forget about it and concentrate on his teaching and the wedding. But something inside Hiccup, some tiny little flame, told him that she was wrong. It was the first time he had ever felt something like that.

Smog, death, and absolute desolation filled the island of Borg. It was like that 24/7. Dark, damp, and dreary. Lining the island were wooden stakes with what appeared to be human skulls impaled on them. Three large, pointy rocks stuck out in the middle of the Island with an occasional Monstrous Nightmare flying circles around the largest one. Haze and smog collected in a thick cloud above the island, creating an aura of darkness and despair. Small grey houses were scattered throughout the rocky terrain, with the exception of a few large, even more ghastly looking buildings. If death were a location, Borg would be it. It's hard to believe that a girl as beautiful as Erika came from a place is rotten as this. The entire island just oozed depression.

Held in a makeshift prison was Astrid the furious, untamable Viking. She was sitting in the corner of her cell whittling away at a piece of stray wood with her fingernails. She has been in this cell for about a week, rotting away with the rest of the island. She hadn't seen a human face, or the light of day for that matter, since then. It had been deathly quiet for the longest time, with the occasional moan or groan from another prisoner. While she whittled away, she heard the squeaking of a door. Startled, she looked up. It was dark in her cell, yet she could still make out a face. It was an unfamiliar face, but it looked like all the others on the island. Stern, serious, and disgusted. He looked at Astrid and she looked back. They two showed no emotion, but connected in a way.
"Girl." He said, roughly.
"Man." She replied sarcastically.
"You are the one from Berk, are you not?"
"Who wants to know?"
"Bjorn. Ruler and leader of this island." As if on cue, the man stepped aside to reveal an even larger man. He was large, buff, strong, and bulky. He was shroud in morbid decorations, like a necklace made of teeth and armor clad with human bones. His helmet didn't reveal too much of his face, but his ghastly yellow eyes shined like the moonlight. They were nowhere and everywhere at the same time. In his hand, he help scepter a with a shrunken head atop it. He rested his palm on the top of the head, his index and middle finger resting where the now sewn-shut eyes would be. He moved his fingers up and down upon the head, making a small pitter sound each time. It was the only audible thing in the room. That was, until, he broke the silence.
"Like her?" He asked Astrid, who had been staring at the head.
"She looks...a little... little." She replied.
"That's me third wife. Great girl. Unfortunately, she failed to produce a suitable heir. And, well..."
"I see." Astrid gaged a little at the thought of someone being beheaded, then having their head used as a sickly memento.
"I like to keep bits of all me wives with me," He grabbed at his necklace with his free hand and singled out a tooth. "That was me first. I didn't really get along too well with her," He put it back and pulled a little cloth from his pocket, opening it to reveal a glassy blue eyeball "Second. Long story behind this one." The eye looked vaguely familiar, but Astrid couldn't put her finger on it. Instead, she gaged a little again and turned away. She's seen a lot of fighting and dismembered Vikings in her day, but nothing like this. It was completely grotesque.
"Do I want to know who the fourth one is... er ... was?"
"Haven't gotten to her yet."
"I can see why." Astrid muttered under her breath, but the leader heard. He sniffed and inched a little closer to her cell.
"You ought to watch what you say, missy. This could be you." He pointed to one of the bones on his armor. Astrid tensed up a little bit. She didn't want to admit it, but she was scared.
"What business do you have here?"
"I hear you're familiar with Hoccup. You know, Stoick's son?"
"Hiccup."
"Ta-may-to, ta-ma-to."
"What about him?"
"Do you know him?"
"I..I do." Thinking about Hiccup made Astrid's stomach turn a bit. She missed him, and longed to be with him. Not so much for the love anymore, but to warn him about the girl he was marrying.
"Well, that settles it."
"Settles what?"
"Guards," The unfamiliar man appeared again with another one. "Set up for a blood eagle, we're having an execution tomorrow."
"Excuse me!?" Execution? Astrid? This couldn't possibly be happening.
"We can't have you escaping and putting holes in our plan, now can we? I only see it fit to execute you." Bjorn was very adamant about having his plans carried out. Any holes in them would immediately be filled back up again. Even if that filling up was with the blood of another human.
"I... but... please don't kill me," Astrid was tired. She was tired of fighting, tired of crying, of being weak, and upset. It wasn't okay to beg in her book. Please was not part of her vocabulary. But now, she was so tired. Every moral she had before was gone with the wind, and she begged. For the first time in a long time, she begged. "Please don't kill me." She said again, quieter.
"I have to."
"But... why? Why did you bring me here? What does Erika have to do with all this? What is she doing with Hiccup?"
"Do you really want to know?"
"Yes."
"Well, since you're going to die tomorrow, I'll tell you." Before Bjorn told Astrid of everything, he once again pulled out the blue eyeball. It seemed to stare at everything and nothing pretty intently, and looked like it was crying. Bjorn sighed, and filled Astrid in on everything. Who Erika was, why she was in Bark, and why she was marrying Hiccup. Astrid was utterly shocked and disgusted by what she was told, but it all made sense now. Everything, every single detail made perfect sense to her. She had to sit down for a while and process it all. How could she have not known? She should have taken action sooner. Now, what was she going to do?

Erika was the daughter of a coy and flirtatious young woman who lived on the island of Borg. She was the result of an accident, a one-night stand for lack of a better term. All her life, she felt like she had some sort of higher calling, something she was meant to do. But for most of her early years, she was a dress up doll and a show and a tell object. She took comfort in her small pet dragon that was given to her by a family friend. The two hit it off immediately, and were instantly best friends. They were both gawked at and cooed at. They were nothing more than a walking, or flying, piece of artwork. Then again, almost every dragon on the island was. The bigger and more ferocious your pet dragon was, the richer and more ferocious you were.

It wasn't until she was 10 when Erika realized what she was meant to do. While going about their business, Erika's mother caught the eye of Borg's brash new chief. Word around town was that he had his first wife killed because she got on his nerves. Nonetheless, the two fell in love and were soon married. Life at that monstrous monument of a house was a living Hell for Erika. Her stepfather was cruel and abusive, but it was during one of his fits of rage where she found her true calling. She saw how aggressive he was, and how bold he was. He used force to get what he wanted. Erika was amazed that he was able to pull it off with such ease, which such... Power. That was what Erika wanted most. Power. She wanted to control people, to make them do her bidding. She wanted to rule over land and sea, and would do anything to achieve it. She wanted people to bow down to her, to obey her every whim. She had found her life calling, and found what she wanted to do.

Months later, Erika's mother and her wondering eyes were caught with another man. The chief had her eyes gauged out as punishment, claiming that she was no longer allowed to look at anything but the eternal darkness. Erika saw this as her prime opportunity to gain some power. At only ten, Erika, who was never fond of her mother to begin with, mixed a little something special into her drink at dinner. Later that night, she was found dead. Word was she poisoned herself. The chief felt bad for little Erika, and took her under his tutelage. She learned the makings of a good chief, and was even promised the throne once Bjorn had passed on. Erika wasn't going to kill Bjorn to achieve the throne. That was too easy. She did have some morals, and a whole lot more to learn from Bjorn. Erika had to charm her way in to the throne, almost like her mother did.

Finally, at the age of seventeen, Erika was given the assignment that she had been waiting for. Borg has been feuding with Berk since the beginning of time, and Borg has always looked for a way to gain control of Berk. Once word reached Borg that Hiccup was of marrying age, Bjorn had an idea. He called for Erika and told her his plan. Erika was the sail to Berk on a fishing boat and "crash" due to a "dragon attack". She was to make up a lie about who she was and where she was from. Using her charm and appeal, she had to make Hiccup fall in love with her so he would marry her, and she would be in line for the throne. Once Stoick passed, Erika was going to kill Hiccup, take the throne, take over Berk, and gain more power for Borg. Bjorn promised her complete control over the island of Berk, and all of Borg once he died. Bjorn's trusted servant, Welch, was to check up on Erika every so often about her progress with the plan. Erika eagerly accepted and put the plan in to action immediately. Power was all she ever wanted, and she was just about it get it.

Hiccup awoke with a start. He had just had a nightmare, and was completely petrified. He imagined Astrid, captured, tortured, beaten, and bruised. He couldn't stand the thought that she may be out there, hurting and begging for help. Hiccup wondered downstairs to try and get some air.
"Hiccup, is everything okay?" Erika asked, awoken by the brisk air that swept into the room when the door was opened.
"Yea. I just need some air." He replied.
"She'll be alright." Erika got up and grabbed Hiccup's hand.
"I hope so."
"I know so." She lightly pecked him on the lips and retreated to her makeshift bed. Hiccup stood outside, staring at the moon, wondering, wishing, wanting, and hoping.

Yikes, this was the longest chapter so far! Shocking wasn't it? Well, now you all know what's happening. The story is almost over actually. I'm planning on having about 15/16 chapters including an epilogue. So stay tuned! :D