3 So Long Astrid Lloyd Wright
"So where did you find this find this handy, off the shelf Dragon Sitter at such short notice?" Sigrid asked Hiccup as they rose up from Staggshund.
"Well this is a short trip so I'll give the short story; her dad was one of the two prisoners we took when Rekkur, the last king of Elydonia invaded our islands.
"Oh... is she Hak's daughter?"
"You had a fifty percent chance there and you still got it wrong" Hiccup smiled.
"Well Hak is the only one who hangs around the castle" Sigrid explained "he wants to be appointed the Elydonian Ambassador to Berk but they keep telling him that it is to high an office for a sailor."
Hiccup could not help but laugh at the way fate had dealt with his friends; Hak had been desperate to return to Berk after the Elydonian civil war but his family did not want to go and he was still officially in the navy anyhow. Gauk, the other former prisoner, was pleased to be able to stay home even though his two children had both wanted to go to Berk and join the Dragon Riders.
"It's almost as if each man had the wrong kids" Sigrid remarked when Hiccup explained it to her.
"You can't mix and match with families" Hiccup noted "and it's just as well too or else dad may have swapped me for Snotlout a few years ago."
"He would not" Sigrid flicked her finger on the back of Hiccups head.
Considering what went on there, the stable in Bolthorn castle was a surprisingly clean place thanks to the eight boys and young men that rushed about cleaning stalls, brushing mounts and assisting the horsemen. Astrid watched with interest as one of the younger boys worked furiously cleaning a leather saddle while being berated by a tall youth in a green satin shirt.
"...and if I'm not satisfied this time you go on dragon duty for a week" the tall boy had sneered.
Astrid sighed and shook her head as she walked on down the centre run past the box stalls looking for the place that Skywolf had called home for the last several days. She eventually found what she was looking for near the end of the building where the side walls of three stalls had been removed to create a larger floor space for a much bigger animal. There could be no doubt as to what kind of animal was housed there because the entire area was covered with scorch marks.
"Hey there gorgeous" the tall young man approached Astrid and slipped one arm around her waist "my names Tor; and who might you be?"
Tor was the senior stable boy; eighteen, handsome (and he knew it) and as confident as Snotlout. Needless to say he had made the most terrible first impression on Astrid who grabbed his middle finger and bent it backwards to almost breaking point until he screamed in pain drawing the full attention of his nearby subordinates.
"Why you little..." he drew back his arm to backhand Astrid across the face but before he could strike, her left fist popped his nose hard and he fell backward in complete surprise.
The older boys laughed uncontrollably while the younger ones did not dare as Tor rose to his feet and stared in disgust at the blood in his hands.
"THUT UP YOU WORMTH" he screamed at them just as one of the horsemen rushed in to see what all the commotion was about.
"Be quiet you boys" he ordered "Tor; what's happened to your face?"
"It'th dith gurl thir" he tried to enunciate "fthee hih me thir."
"What girl you idiot?"
Tor looked around only to find Astrid gone; he rushed about for a few seconds before spotting her over by the castle wall.
"Dair thir... outthide thah bach doha."
"Go and get cleaned up you moron" the horseman strode past Tor and out the large back double doors of the stables.
"Can I help you with anything miss?" he asked the young lady staring at the western side of the castle.
"You're gonna have to take out a large section of this wall north of the portcullis" she informed the startled man.
"We can't do that" he said before he realised what he saying "that would create a weakness that an enemy could exploit."
"But this is the perfect spot" Astrid pointed out "away from the town, on the opposite side to the harbour so it won't be vulnerable to a naval attack and you would have an excellent view all the way to the forest so it's not as if anyone could sneak up on you; plus it's right on top of the stable anyway."
"But why take out a section of wall so close to the... what am I saying? WHO ARE YOU?" he demanded.
"Oh sorry... I'm here to sort out your dragon problem" she smiled sweetly.
"By assaulting the stableboys?" he accused her "and we don't have a dragon problem."
"Hey! He shouldn't have gotten so handsy" she fumed "and you do have a dragon problem."
"Rubbish; that ungrateful beast has three stalls all to himself and..."
"and the whole place is a fire trap and you treat him like dirt! Those boys don't look after Skywolf properly, and that fresh fool in there was using him as a way of punishing the others; HAVING THAT DRAGON HERE IS A PRIVILEGE."
"Well we don't see it that way" the man steamed."
"And that is exactly where your problem lies... now then, you don't have to remove the wall at ground level in fact it would be better about fifteen to twenty feet up at least..."
"WE ARE NOT REMOVING THE WALL..." he took a deep breath and caught his temper "...and you are coming with me."
"Where are we going?" Astrid asked.
"You are leaving and I am getting back to work" he demanded.
"Ummmmm... no" Astrid declared "you can get back to whatever it was you were doing if you wish but have to..."
"ASTRID!" a happy voice called from across the courtyard.
When Astrid turned, she saw two well dressed people exiting the stable behind her.
"KYLAN" Astrid cried out as they rushed into each other's arms.
"The palace guards told us you'd arrived; I know it hasn't even been a week since you left but I've missed you so much" Kylan declared.
"Wait a minute; WHO ARE YOU?" the increasingly frustrated horseman queried Kylan.
"I told you that you should get out of the palace more" came another voice from near the stable door.
"Hello Sigfus" Astrid greeted "I'll bet you've been enjoying yourself giving out all the orders around the castle."
"Hmmm... yes" declared King Jorics right hand man.
"Lord Sigfus" the horseman sprang to attention "is this girl a friend of yours sir?"
"This 'Girl' as you call her is Lady Astrid of Berk..."
"I love that title" Astrid said aside to Kylan.
"...and she has been sent here by His Majesty to get this place sorted out for the Queens dragon and unless the King says otherwise, her orders in this matter carry the same weight as his."
"Understood Sir" the horseman saluted.
"I'm not surprised that you didn't recognise the other lady though" Sigfus continued "Kylan's been holed up in the palace ever since the Dragon Riders left Staggshund."
"Staggshund?" the horseman now looked more confused "are you 'That' Kylan; the one who's shooting started the first main battle of the war?"
"Do you want to see the scar?" Kylan asked him.
"But... you're a man."
"I was... but not anymore."
"But how could you..."
The horseman's confusion was one of the reasons why Kylan had not left the palace very much in the last week. Because she had spent all of her adult life hiding the fact that she was a woman, it had now become very difficult for her get people to believe that she was who she claimed to be.
"Listen closely because it's very simple; I wasn't a man, I just pretended to be one for my entire adult life until Olvor the Viking Doctor found out the truth about me after I was shot with a crossbow bolt. After that, I decided to come clean and tell everyone that I was a woman... and before you ask, I pretended to be a man because nobody here would take my abilities seriously unless they thought I was a man."
"Guilty as charged" Sigfus admitted.
"Wait till the men in the barracks hear about this" the horseman sighed "you're a bit of hero to them after the Staggshund battle because... well... most of us fought on the other side; the side of King Rekkur and when you came out and stood against us totally unarmed and tried to stop the battle from ever starting, well that was one of the bravest things we'd ever witnessed."
"Thank you; does the fact that I'm a woman change anything at all?"
"I... err... I don't know ma'am; I guess it shouldn't but it's... it's all such a surprise."
"Well you go away and think about it and I'll be interested to hear what the men in the barracks say when you tell them.
"Yes ma'am" he saluted again and marched off.
As the horseman strode back through the stables, he noticed some of the stableboys standing with Tor who was still holding his nose with a handkerchief.
"Haven't you boys got any work to do?" he snarled and they all ran off.
"Did you thort dat gurl out thir?" Tor asked.
The horseman looked at Tor (nose to broken nose) and snarled even more.
"If I hear anything more about you getting fresh with Lady Astrid, I'LL SEE TO IT THAT YOU SPEND THE NEXT YEAR ON DRAG..." he stopped as he realised what he was about to say.
The horseman looked back outside to see Astrid gesturing to the upper wall and explaining her plan to Lord Sigfus and Lord Kylan... Lady Kylan (this was going to take a lot of getting used to) but perhaps the young girls ideas would make life easier for all of them - as well as keeping the stable from burning down.
While all these events unfolded in Elydonia, down south in capital of New Loren the scruffy young boy wandered out of the city and into the country side bound for the town of Krundon followed at a distance by the general's men. He was carrying nothing more than a small leather satchel slung over his shoulder containing some oat cookies and a letter for his new master. He had recently begun full time training in the art of espionage and although he had long known that the start of his apprenticeship would eventually come, it had been a long five year wait and he was pleased that this time was now over.
His mother had named him Victor, (after the father that he would never know because of a knife fight at a local tavern) but almost nobody would ever call him that. His mother had died long before the time of his earliest memories and so he had spent most of early life in a foul smelling, disease ridden orphanage where he had the good fortune not to die as many of the other inhabitants had done. A month after his fifth birthday a man had come to his home (for want of a better word for it) accompanied by a lad in his late teens. The boys in the home gathered and watched this man as he had spoken to the matron for a short time before being shown to a private room next to her office. The strange man then waited while the matron fetched one of the young boys who was taken to meet with him. Nobody ever came to adopt a child from this place but it was a source of child workers for the area. A lucky boy may end up learning a trade and the very lucky became servants in a rich household but for most it meant a hard life doing work that was both dull and difficult (and many times dangerous).
As Victor and his friends watched from down the corridor, the man spoke softly to the child in front of him before he simply stood up and left.
"What happened?" one of the others asked when the boy came out.
"I dunno" he answered "sumfing about danger and work; I was glad when he didn't stay."
The boy could not offer much in the way of insight and Victor wondered about the odd happenings as he lay in his bed that night. The people who came to the home for a child would usually just look them over and take the one they wanted and none of the others would ever know what awaited their departed friend.
The following afternoon the man and his companion returned and were shown back into the room before the matron went in search of another boy. Some just hung around as they always did while others ran and hid in fear but Victor was curious and so he quickly put himself in an obvious position where he would be easily seen.
"Come here boy" said the matron who never bothered to learn anyone's name "you come with me."
She led him into the room and sat him in a chair opposite the strange man who looked him up and down.
"I am a man with many skills" he said "and these are the kind of skills that will put you in great danger and yet will also keep you safe. If you will come with me, I will see to it that you are fed and housed and in return I expect you to work for me and do as you are told while you learn the skills that my apprentice and I will teach you" and with that said, he simply stood up and walked out.
Victor thought about what the man had just told him and of how the other boy was pleased to see him go; he soon realised that tomorrow the offer would be made to someone else and so without looking back, Victor ran out into the street after the man but he was nowhere to be seen. He closed his eyes and cursed himself for being so slow when he heard a horse drawn carriage move off down the street and around the corner and so he ran in that direction as fast as he could. He rounded the corner just in time to see the carriage disappear around a bend in the street ahead. Victor ran and ran up the stone covered street until he could at last see the back of the carriage drawing nearer to him but when he got to within a few feet of the rear step, the driver pulled into the main street and brought the horses up to a trot. All Victor could see now was his chance to get out of the horrid orphanage slowly getting further and further away from him with every step he took; his mind told him to give up and his lungs screamed in agreement but his eyes had seen too much sickness and death behind him and so he ran on determined to keep going until he caught up with the carriage or dropped dead in the street.
With the carriage picking up speed and his legs starting to burn it looked like his chance had been squandered when a procession of soldiers came marching down the street towards him. The carriage was forced to stop while the armed men passed by and so Victor was able to finally catch up but as he threw himself onto the rear step the horses started up again so he hung on as tightly as he could while the carriage continued on its journey.
"It appears that we have found your assistant Fotherington" the man declared to the youth seated beside him.
Only a few more days of country trips and then I hope to write a little more each day.
Bye for now, Marty and Moon.