Author's Notes:

I don't own any of the characters or Worlds, this is purely for fun and not profit.

Thank you for the reviews! Good guesses on the dragon from last chapter. : )

Merida lay still. She was lying on a wooden floor, judging by the rocking; it was a ship. She remembered the other vessel she was on burning, her father on the other end reaching out as the ship broke apart.

Light flooded her vision as she slowly opened her eyes. Her head was pounding, but not so much that she couldn't attempt to get up. A coarse woven sheet covered her, the ones they used to cover supplies and she was resting on the floor of an unbroken ship. There were strange men around her, they had long beards and wore patched clothing. She stared wide-eyed as she recognized that she was on a Viking ship.

Fear took root in her stomach. She tried not to call too much attention to herself as she searched for who was in charge of the boat, dreading that she already knew the answer. However, it wasn't the grey beard of Yngvild that caught her attention, but the tall imposing figure of Peadar. She felt relief: at least she wasn't alone.

Peadar was standing next to a shorter, plump man with straw coloured hair and a stone in place of one of his teeth. She noticed he was missing a hand and a leg. Both he and Peadar were in deep conversation, she tried to listen, but realized that they were talking in Norse; the language of Vikings; and she wasn't familiar enough with it. She could make out only the gist of their conversation; they were talking about land and her.

She was so busy trying to decipher what they were saying that she didn't see a woman come stand next to her. Merida looked up when she waved her hand in front of her. The woman had golden hair, plaited in a single braid behind her back and a leather band around her forehead. She wore a sleeveless shirt of various shades of blue and a short leather skirt with dark breeches. Merida realized that she was asking her a question, but she spoke too fast for her to decipher what the woman was saying.

Peadar turned his head in their direction and walked towards them. He said something to the blond girl, miming with his hands at his throat. He was implying that she was mute and gave her a quick glance that read: "follow along."

Merida was confused for a moment; she tried to piece everything together. They were on a Viking ship, not being held hostage, and Peadar was speaking fluent Norse. She realized at that moment that Peadar was probably trying to pass them off as Vikings. If she opened her mouth and spoke Gaelic it would give them away.

She glanced at the blond girl, who was giving her a look of pity. Merida lowered her gaze so that her hair hid her face. She inwardly cursed herself for not paying as much attention when Peadar had been trying to teach her Norse. With only the barebones she could barely understand what they were saying, it was even worse when they spoke quickly. She knew that she was going to have to play at being slow in the head as well if this was going to work.

She saw the boots; belonging to the blond woman; walk away from her. Peadar knelt down, keeping his voice low he leaned next to her ear with the pretext of adjusting his boots.

"I canna speak long. We were found driftin' on some debris. I don't know if yer father is alive or not. I told them a creature from the sky attacked us and that we were traveling towards a village near the Orkney Isles. There is a Viking settlement there, so they believed me. Yer are my sister in-law, I'm married te yer eldest sister. I told them ye could communicate through hand gestures."

He spoke quickly; Merida kept her face impassive as she took this all in. She made a subtle gesture to her head, implying daftness.

Peadar gave a quick nod as he stood up. He looked down at her and spoke slowly to in Norse. Merida made out the words "rest" and "break" or "Berk," but she wasn't sure about the last one. She nodded her head.

At the helm of the ship she saw the man and the woman looking at them as this transgression passed. She expected mistrust, but both carried sympathetic expressions on their face. She wondered if the fates had been kind enough to place them in the hands of nice Vikings. She snorted at the thought, and then quickly turned her head so they couldn't see her expression. She realized that she was going to have to be careful about how she acted from now on.

She rested her back against the mast and wrapped herself in the sheet. She didn't know where they were headed, but she knew it wasn't towards home. She hoped her mother would be okay, that Elinor wouldn't hear the bad news about her father and her being attacked at sea and possible dead. Thinking of her father Merida pulled the cloth over her head and tried very hard to keep her sadness buried.

In a short while the crew of the ship began to call out, there was an answer from a distance. Merida stood up and saw they were approaching a dock. A great hillside village took shape before her, rows of wooden houses wound their way up, with a slightly larger house resting at the top. Each house had elaborate wooden carvings of beasts and sported muted hues, giving a certain character to each dwelling.

The ship rocked as it lined up with the dock. Merida took a careful step over the rail and onto the wooden deck; turning she searched for Peadar; who jumped off the ship and gave his breeches a brief pat down before giving her a smile of reassurance.

A shadow passed suddenly, Merida looked up and saw a large beast descending from the skies. She made to let out a yell, but stopped when she remember where she was. Peadar jumped in front of her and readied himself for battle, but the blond man called out to him; said something about "friend" and Peadar relaxed slightly.

They both stared in wonder as a large blue creature landed in front of the blond woman from the ship. It had a large head and its arms sported two great wings. Along its tail were needles that expanded and retracted slightly as it swished back and forth. The woman from the ship hugged the head of the beast with affection and Merida heard her call it "Stormfly."

Frustration built within her; Merida was getting tired of not understanding what was going on and the issue of Vikings having such creatures as "friends" bothered her greatly. These people attacked the shores of Alba, although she had never heard mention of such creatures, it made her nervous for the coming raiding season.

Peadar was staring at the beast and began talking with the one-armed man again; he was talking too quickly for Merida to catch anything. She stood aside as the other Vikings hauled food and other goods from the ship.

Life moved on around her and for the first time since she could remember, she felt isolated. In her world things had revolved around her and her family. Her father's status, being the king, had always insured that people would notice her. But here she was nobody; just a woman who was mute, dumb and ship wrecked.

Thoughts of her father brought her out of her self-pity and grounded her to the task at hand. They had to make their way back home, wherever it was from here, and she had to find out what had happened to her father. Her mother wouldn't be able to hold the castle alone and heartbroken. Merida's brothers were too young to take over as well, which meant the mantle fell to her.

She took a deep, shaky breath and stood a bit straighter, new determination flowing and giving her strength. She met the eyes of the woman with the dragon who seemed to be studying her.

Panicking slightly Merida fell back into her role and reached out to touch the beast. She was nervous about what would happen; but she figured it was the best way to act the part; only a fool would reach for an animal it didn't know without fear.

The scales felt warm and surprisingly smooth. Stormfly didn't react giving Merida courage to step closer to it. The blond woman walked next to her and waved her hand in front of Merida's face. She guided Merida's hand to the creature's jaw, making a scratching motion. Merida scratched gently, unsure what was going to happen. She jumped when the animal let out a growl of happiness and dropped down onto the dock.

Her hand still in the air where she had been scratching the creature: she looked at the blond woman in a panic. The woman was laughing at her expression, brushing a tear from her eye. She looked up at Merida after a moment and placed a hand on her chest.

"Astrid" she said. Merida nodded, reminding herself to bite her tongue. She was tempted to try saying the woman's name out loud, to hear the sound. It was a pretty name. Astrid motioned to the creature and said "Dragon, Stormfly."

Astrid spoke to her slowly; Merida understood, at best, that she was questioning her about her knowledge of dragons. Merida shook her head to show that she had none and hoped that she had interpreted the question correctly. Astrid seemed confused for a moment, but then nodded and gestured that she could continue to pet Stormfly.

They were interrupted when the other men from the ship called out for the dragon to make room. Astrid smiled at Merida and waved as she climbed onto Stormfly. She made a sound and the dragon responded, outstretching its wings and flexing its tail. Merida ducked as the wings began to beat, lifting both itself and Astrid into the air.

Peadar walked up to her, a hand cupped over his eyes to block out the sun as they watched the dragon fly away.

The one armed man smiled and clapped his good hand against Peadar's shoulder. He gestured for them to follow him as he began climbing the path up to the village.

The man, named Gobber, as Merida learned during their walk, led them to a lone hut near a cliff side facing the ocean. The inside was sparsely decorated; there were three simple pallets, a fire pit in the center of the room and two shuttered windows: one on the east wall and the other on the west. A large hanging sheet was in the back to provide some privacy for changing and bathing. Gobber had told Peadar that it was a guest hut for when others visited the island. He left them shortly after to settle into their temporary home.

"We have te find a way off this island Peadar" Merida whispered. She didn't want to speak too loud in case someone heard. Peadar dropped a sack, filled an assortment of clothing. Gobber had offered it to them, hoping that some of it would fit them. He had also provided some materials for adjusting the clothing if they needed to.

"Believe me lass, I know. I asked Gobber about it, I told 'im we wanted to reach our home before our loved ones began to worry. However, he told me their ships aren't powerful enough for the long voyage to the Orkney Isles. All of their larger vessels are being used for a trading expedition to their homeland, and on top o'that there is a wild dragon attack'n ships on that stretch o'the ocean. Most like it was the self-same creature that attacked us."

Merida sighed in frustration and fell, dejected, onto the mat on the right side of the hut.

"I have a bit o'good news though: there is a trader, goes by the name Johan, who is due to arrive in a months' time. Gobber told me that he makes trips to the Orkney Isles safely by going west around the other side of the islands. The journey will take us a few weeks due to the detour, but it means we can be close enough to home that we can send a messenger to yer mother." He said as he tested a shirt on.

Merida sat up and took a look into the bag of clothing. She noticed that there were no dresses in the bag. She pulled out some brown breeches and a long blue shirt. Walking behind the sheet she tried on the new clothing. The breeches were tighter than she was used to, but she found her movements less hindered by the lack of dress. The top was a bit larger on her and fell just above her knees. She took a spare belt and wrapped it around her waist so that it wasn't as loose.

Running her fingers through her hair she tried to detangle it as best she could. She tore a strip of fabric from her ruined shift and tied her wild locks back.

"How do I look?" she asked Peadar as she emerged from behind the curtain. He was just buckling a belt around his pants; they were looser than hers, but similar in colour. He was tugging at the collar of an off white sleeveless tunic when he glanced at her he made a face.

"Ye look like a boy, maybe I should've said ye are mah wee brother-in-law instead of sister?" he said laughing as she growled at him.

"I happen to like 'em! I can move a lot easier in these, firing ma bow would be easier too" she muttered as she tested a pair of boots on.

"I'd love te see Elinor's face if ye walked in look'n like that" he commented smiling, but dropped it when he saw Merida's face fall. Thinking of her mother reminded her of her father.

Peadar walked up to her and placed an arm around her shoulders. He lifted her chin so she looked at him. Merida stared back into his brown eyes; she noticed his hair was sporting more silver than it had when they had left on their journey.

"Ye listen to this old man wee one, we'll find out what happened te yer father. We survived; there is a chance Fergus did too. Keep your chin up fer now."

Merida clenched her fist and, blinking back tears, nodded in understanding. They would find her father, but first they had to make it off this gods forsaken island.

End note: You may note that I use some people or events from the television show, but this is a warning, I am not caught up on the show completely, so I am only using bits from it.

I promise we are getting to Hiccup, just gotta set things up. : )