Sorry if this chapter upsets anyone, but it starts off a bit weird and gory (just a bit)... did I mention weird? That may be a bit of an understatement.

39 I Will Win Your Heart
(or die trying)

It was not every day that she was visited by a suitor, but having recently reached sexual maturity it was something she had been expecting; it was just a little surprising that there was more than one of them.

The first of the suitors approached her in a very normal and usual way. He made his presence known, as well as his intentions, when he started to dance. Even though she had no experience with the movements he made, she did find them quite impressive; they showed him to be strong, fit and healthy as well as very intelligent and coordinated. As the dance went on she began to feel quite impressed and had almost decided to allow him to approach her, when suddenly a second suitor appeared.

At first she was not pleased by this unwelcome interruption, particularly because this new arrival looked so scruffy, and did not act in the prescribed manor at all. He was not naked, like the impressive dancer, but was wearing what appeared to be armour made from the shell of a beetle, with a dragonfly skull for a helmet. Secondly, he did not try to impress her at all but simply marched onto her web and went up to the first suitor. The impressive dancer was not very pleased by the intruder either, and showed his displeasure by raising his front legs and extending his fangs. What the brash second suitor did next truly surprised her, but not as much as it surprised the impressive dancer; he reached inside his armour, and pulled out a small metal pin that he brandished like a sword... and killed the first suitor.

"WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR" she yelled "I WAS GOING TO MATE WITH HIM!"

"Then what?" Dylan asked; his question threw her a bit.

"Err... huh? Well... I was going to eat him I guess" she replied.

"Here you go" Dylan threw the dead spider over to her before he replaced his sword "chow down with my compliments."

Not knowing what the etiquette was in this strange circumstance, she began to wrap the first suitor in silk for later consumption.

"So after you had mated and eaten him, what were you going to do next?"

"Oh... you know... the usual stuff; make an egg sac, fill it with eggs and then just sit here growing weaker till the kids hatched and devoured me."

"Doesn't sound like much fun to me" Dylan declared.

"What do you mean fun?" she sneered (I'll bet you didn't know spiders could sneer) "We're spiders; we don't have fun. We hatch, we feed, we grow, we procreate and we die; that's it!"

"Not for me" Dylan smiled and she was surprised to see his eyebrows going up and down.

"Why... what have you been up too; and where did you get those eyebrows?"

"I have been travelling far and wide on my dragon, for I am more than just a spider; I... am a Viking."

"And I'm the Queen of Elydonia" the lady spider huffed.

"No you're not; Sigrid is... and she is a member of my tribe too."

"You're serious aren't you?"

"Very! I grew up in this very tower; my dragon would occasionally visit to show those... non-Vikings down there, who was the boss. That was until about eight months ago when Astrid, Chief Stoicks daughter in law... almost, was locked up here. She was the first person I had ever come across who was not afraid of the dragon and so I decided to go with her. It was plain to see that this was my destiny; I was to join the Dragon Riders and be a Viking.

"So where is this dragon then?" she asked suspiciously.

"Snotlout borrowed him and didn't bring him back... the rotten little turkey."

"A turkey named Snot-lot borrowed you dragon?" her doubts about this weirdo were growing by the minute.

"No... he's a Viking... and his name was Snotlout; he just acts like a turkey sometimes."

"What do you mean... he runs around a farm, flapping his wings and shouting 'Gobble gobble gobble'?"

"NO! I mean he can be... a bit of a selfish idiot... sometimes."

"I don't know about the selfish part, but I'm beginning to suspect that you might be a bit like this Snot-snot yourself.

"Snotlout" Dylan corrected.

"Whatever."

"WE STAND HERE TODAY... ENJOYING THIS FEAST" King Joric declared to all present "LARGELY BECAUSE OF THE SACRIFICE MADE BY THOSE WHO WILL NEVER PARTAKE OF THIS KIND OF CELEBRATION... EVER AGAIN."

With the help of Toki and some of his shipmates, Sigrid had compiled a list of every one of the allies, who had lost their life, from the time of the first surprise night attack from General Karoc, to their final exit from New Loan and at the end of the Kings speech, Stoick read out each one. Viking, dragon, sailor and spy were all included and as each one was read, a single roaring cheer was given by the crowd as their beer mugs were raised.

"Far too many brave souls have been taken from us" Stoick concluded after he had finished the list "May we all live lives worthy of the sacrifices they have made, so their deaths would not be in vain."

"HERE HERE!" the crowd declared emphatically.

Later in the evening as the feast wound down, Joric stepped over another Viking who had passed out in the middle of the field, and managed to fall down without spilling a drop of his drink. He made his way to where his beloved wife sat with some of her friends reminiscing of all their adventures, as well as discussing the future.

"Do you mind if I interrupt" he asked with a smile "I need to talk to the most beautiful Viking who ever lived."

"I'll try not to take that personally" Kara noted as Astrid nodded in agreement; needless to say when Hiccup smirked, she hit him."

"Well alright then" Gobber declared as he rose "let's take a walk Joric, so we can have some privacy."

"I think he was talking to me Gobber" Sigrid giggled.

"Well well well; don't we have a high opinion of ourselves" the blacksmith huffed.

"I was thinking about something I said earlier today; about banning you from riding your dragon till the baby is born" Joric admitted as he sat next to his expectant wife."

"You weren't serious were you?" Sigrid asked suspiciously.

"As if I could stop you doing anything" Joric smiled "especially something you love so much, but I am worried, so I couldn't think of anything better to do than to ask the people who have all the experience and the answers. What is it like when a Dragon Rider is having a baby? I know some of your friends have children so I assume nothing would change after the birth, but what about..."

He stopped suddenly when he noticed some of the Berkian women looking at each other, almost guiltily.

"Do you think I said something wrong?" he whispered to Kylan.

"How should I know; I'm not a Dragon Rider... and besides... if you hadn't asked, I was certainly going to."

"You didn't say anything wrong Pumpkin" Sigrid admitted as the others tried to hold back their laughter... and failed.

"Please don't call me Pumpkin in front of the Vikings" Joric asked as he turned bright red.

"Well... the fact is" Big Freya admitted "that Sigrid is the first pregnancy we've had since the end of the Dragon War so... it's rather new to us too."

"But we've got three hundred years of experience having children while being attacked by dragons, so this should... be..." Kara suddenly wondered if she was saying the wrong thing for the situation.

"Listen Joric, try not to worry too much" Astrid comforted the concerned father "Everything will work out okay and besides, Hiccup and I are taking a little trip west in the morning to get someone who can help Sigrid with her dragon, after we have all gone back home to Berk."

"We are?" Hiccup asked.

"Yes!" Astrid declared adamantly.

Hiccup looked at Joric and nodded "We are" he nodded.

With her morning farm chores almost done, Dianta was beginning to think about how good breakfast was going to taste this morning. While her father had been on leave from the Royal Elydonian Navy, he had been doing a lot of work on the farm so her mother had decided that it was time Dianta got in some practice with her cooking. But yesterday Gauk had departed for Bolthorn Castle to report for duty once more; this meant that Dianta had to spend more of her time helping her uncle Horry on the farm so her mother, who was a much better cook, would have to prepare the morning meal. As she closed the gate of the west valley field behind her, the excited voice of Rowan her younger brother, drifted into her ears from the direction of the farmhouse. Like most girls in their mid teens, Dianta found her younger brother to be more than just a little annoying. He was always underfoot, occasionally played tricks on her, and was generally a pain. During the time she had spent with the Dragon Riders the previous year, Dianta had come to learn that the world did not revolve around her as she had once believed. She had come to understand all the things her family had done for her; things that in the past had seemed so trivial. She still longed for the day when she could leave the farm, but now she waited patiently and got on with her work, instead of making it her life goal to make everyone else suffer for all the things she wanted, but did not have.

"Hello Rowan" she smiled at the exhausted boy as he ran up to her "What's got you all worked up this morning?"

"Dragons... are here..." he panted.

Dianta's smile broadened at the thought of seeing her friends again, but she resisted the urge to run off and leave Rowan gasping for air.

"That's wonderful news" she beamed "Come on then; I'll give you a lift."

She knelt down onto one knee as her brother climbed on her back.

"Not so tight" she protested "you're chocking me."

"Sorry Dianta" Rowan declared sincerely as he released the death grip he had on her neck.

"And I know what you're like after you've run yourself ragged; so if you feel sick, for heaven's sake give me some warning."

Seeing Toothless and Stormfly resting under a tree after the long walk back, made her feel like the butterflies in her stomach were doing acrobatics, while dancing the Macarena. She knew Rowan had been telling the truth about their arrival because if he had been trying to trick her as a joke, he would not have exhausted himself running to find her; he would have sauntered along before pretending to be excited later. None the less, the sight of the two dragons made her drop her brother back onto his feet, and run.

"Race you to the door" she laughed.

"HEY; that's not fair" he whined before realising that he was now rested, whereas his sister had just walked over half a mile with his dead weight on her back.

He managed to catch up with her (she let him win) and they burst through the front door almost simultaneously, finding two familiar faces sitting with Karin, their mother.

"Astrid; Hiccup!" she continued beaming as she rushed into their arms and kissed each one on the cheek.

"I was beginning to think you weren't coming to visit me this time."

"We almost didn't" Astrid admitted.

"Not because we didn't want to" Hiccup added "but because we've just gotten back from another little adventure in New Loran."

"LITTLE?" Astrid glanced at Hiccup sideways "I'd hate to see what you think is a major incident then."

I'm beginning to wonder if it was such a good idea to do such a big part of this chapter from a spider's point of view (by the way... 41 is all spider).