15 Much to Do
The sun was high overhead when the Stormfly's eyes flickered open; even though she had slept away the morning, the latent effects of the previous night's long and wild journey made her feel like an absolute wreck on legs and so she decided it was time to freshen up a little.
It was a pleasant stroll down to the pebble covered beach past all the Vikings who were seeing to their important tasks and the day was bright and joyous. But although the sun was warm, the air was still quite fresh and she knew that the water would be almost as cold as ice. With virtually every step someone would call out and wave to her and in return she would simply nod her head in return as she approached the shore; the dragon fearlessly braced herself against the cold and dove in with a huge splash and instantly she felt more awake and alive as the near freezing water enveloped her completely. Turning back toward the shore, the dragon stood in the shallows and began to duck her head under the surface and then lifted it to the sky. Over and over she did this, letting the water wash over her till she felt fully refreshed and ready to face the rest of the day.
A small crowd of Vikings had gathered to watch her bathe as they had never seen a dragon acting in this manner before, but they were not the people Stormfly wanted to be with; if only Fish Boy and the blonde girl were here, then she would be one happy dragon indeed.
"Hey there girl" Fishlegs greeted Stormfly as she walked back into the camp wet to await the return of her rider and friend.
Fishlegs and his Gronckle had returned from their short trip around the headland over an hour ago. They received a much better reception from the second camp Vikings than Snotlout did the previous evening. A Gronckle is a deadly foe and a formidable ally, but does not look anywhere near as imposing as a Monstrous Nightmare with its long claws and fiery visage; the Gronckle even looks friendly with its circular shape and natural smile so it was not surprising to Fishlegs that many Vikings wanted to get closer and even touch it, so he took the time to show them where dragons liked to be scratched and it wasn't long before they were all so comfortable together that many were even wanting to ride the beast.
"Olaf looked terrified when young Snotlout had taken off. We could hear him yellin' all the way to the point, but it looked like fun to me" Odd surmised.
"I'm sorry everyone but Chief Stoick told me to go straight back for more orders" Fishlegs informed them. "We've got five trained dragons but two are grounded at the moment, and one is ridden by Ruff and Tuff leaving only me and Snotlout so I'd better get back. I do hope to start training more dragons as soon as Stoick gives the okay, so you should be able to ride one then."
As Fishlegs and his Gronckle lifted off, Odd watched them sombrely.
"It's amazing" he pondered out loud "I bin a killin' dragons all my life and now I actually feel sorry for the one being ridden by the Thorston twins."
A general murmur of agreement filled the air and everyone nodded as they went to pack up their camp.
The tempting aroma of fish cooking on a hot rock wafted back into the cave making Astrid's mouth water as she slowly awoke; four more hours sleep had done wonders and now her head was clear enough to feel the pain in her body and the stiffness in her limbs. As her mind snapped back into consciousness, her thoughts instantly turned to Hiccup so she jumped up and checked the nearby rock only to find it bare with no Yak skin covering and no Hiccup. Astrid inhaled sharply at the thought that Hiccup had awoken and she had slept right through it, so she rushed to the cave entrance and 'THUMP' she ran straight into Olvor who was coming the other way.
"WHOA THERE! What's the hurry Astrid?" asked Olvor as the much shorter girl bounced off her.
"Where's Hiccup, is he okay?" the young girl blurted out.
Olvor grabbed Astrid's shoulders and turned her back around to the opposite side to the cave where a roughly built, three plank bed had been placed with some faintly glowing rocks beneath it.
"I needed to get him off the rock when the cave began to get cool down" the surgeon explained.
"I'll get Stormfly in here to heat up more rocks..." Astrid began.
"Oh no you won't" Olvor was adamant "Hiccup will explode if you bring a flame near him with his dressing soaked in alcohol."
Astrid panicked "Won't the rocks set him off?"
"Don't worry we tested them first, and we did it well away from the cave. It turns out that when pour the alcohol on a red hot rock, it just boils away but when it gets near a flame, WOOF up she goes. So now we simply bring in warm rocks from outside and put them under this wonderful bed that Gobber knocked up and 'Odd's your uncle' one nice warm convalescing hero. I must admit though that I would feel much better if he were out of this cave and back in a warm house on Berk."
Astrid moved over and sat on the edge of the bed putting her hand on Hiccups arm; she could feel the warmth of the rocks on her ankles, but she was beginning to wonder if he would ever wake up at all. Shaking off such maudlin thoughts, she arose once more.
"Well I suppose I had better go and see what Stoick needs me to do" and she made for the exit.
"Wouldn't you like to clean up a little first?" Olvor remarked casually.
Astrid stopped dead in her tracks and looked down at herself; she was by no means a vain person but she did like to keep herself neat and clean. As she felt her wild and unkempt hair, Astrid began to see the doctor's point and sighed as she sat back down on the bed.
Olvor picked up a bowl and a cloth with a keg of water and knelt down next to Astrid; she filled the bowl, wet the cloth and began to clean up the pretty but filthy little face. The water was cold but refreshing and it helped Astrid to feel more awake, just as it had done for Stormfly during her recent swim.
As Olvor wiped around her neck and down her arms, Astrid sighed. "Thank you, I'm glad you stopped me from going out there looking like this."
"Oh... so you don't remember the meeting outside the cave this morning; you made quite an impression."
Astrids eyes slowly widened with the realisation and memory of the mornings event "Oh no! What did I do?"
"As I said, you made quite an impression when you emerged from the cave looking like baby Yak."
Astrid let her head fall back as she moaned.
"But you made a much bigger impression with your announcement of your water find, and support for Fishlegs."
"I supported Fishlegs?" Astrid looked puzzled "what for?"
"With his idea about feeding the wild dragons to gain their trust and moreover, everybody was stunned into silence when they were told about your little trip to Berk last night. Oh... and nice name Stormfly; strong and invokes feelings of sturdiness and reliability."
"Rrrrrrrmmmmmm" Astrid moaned "I'll never live this down" but Olvor was quite annoyed at this comment.
"You won't need too; you came across to those Vikings as a force to be reckoned with, and as somebody who will go to any lengths to get the job done no matter what the personal cost to you AND... without bragging about it afterwards like a certain Nightmare rider... now take off your boots."
Astrid began to feel ashamed of her vanity; she had always managed to keep it in check in the past. Then suddenly, Olvor hit her with a blindsider.
"So then, how long have you and Hiccup been um...friends?" she smiled knowingly and raised her eyebrows.
Fishlegs came up with the idea of Gronckle fishing when he noticed several wild dragons diving into the water out near the sea stacks; they caught some very large fish while the Vikings close to shore could only catch some smaller ones. It had happened like this.
When the boy had returned from his trip around the headland, Stoick had given permission for a trial in feeding and training the wild dragons, but only when enough fish had been caught to feed the tribe for the rest of the day so Fishlegs had wandered down to the shore to lend a hand with the fishing. Fjori was sympathetic with his desire to get started on the dragon training, but the catch was low.
"Sorry lad but with all the fishing boats back on Berk, we can't get out to the big schools."
Fishlegs had his first brainstorm "The fishing boats! Snotlout and I could fly back to Berk and sail one here."
"Nice thought lad" Fjori replied "but they're not as fast as a longship so it would take you three days at least to sail one here; also they're not built for the open ocean, just for offshore fishing trips near Berk."
A genuine look of disappointment came over Fishlegs face as he helped Fjori and the others pull in another catch of six fish only eight to ten inches long; they looked so small in such a large net and although he knew that both the Viking and their dragons would have plenty to eat today, the wild dragon training would have to wait. But that was when he noticed a wild Monstrous Nightmare standing on a rock sea stack with a fish in its mouth that must have been over two and a half feet long. It tossed the fish up in the air and swallowed it whole just as another idea began to form in Fishlegs mind.
"Mr. Fjori sir, can you tell me what you think of this idea please?"
"What idea is that son?"
"Well, we can't throw the net out far enough to get the big fish so why don't I carry the net out on my dragon, and throw it right on top of a large school? It should be better than having a boat because I could see exactly where the fish were before I drop the net."
Fjori wondered if it could indeed work.
"Your dragon is strong, but you'd never lift a net full of fish."
"I wouldn't need to; I could tie a line to the Gronckles collar rope and pull the net to the shore while it was still in the water and then I would land the dragon and we could all pull up the net together."
Fjori's eyes grew wider.
"That is worth a try; and besides if it don't work, we'll soon be back bringing in the small ones, so let's do it."
The large net was heavy on the Gronckle's back but fortunately it did not have to fly very far with the load. Fishlegs urged the dragon to lift off and fly out to sea about fifteen feet up as he guided it to where the wild Nightmare had caught its lunch. Looking down, he could see a dark mass moving around below the surface of the water so he positioned himself near the centre of the blobbish mass and heaved the net from the Gronckle; as it sank into the water Fishlegs turned his dragon toward the shore, but the weight of the full net was far greater than he had anticipated, and the Gronckle strained against the rope with its feet touching the surface of the water. Fishlegs changed his strategy a little by pulling back on the rope collar and slowing the Gronckles forward movement therefore allowing it to gain a few feet in altitude while still progressing slowly toward the shore.
From up on the beach Fjori could see the dragon straining with the load and he instantly knew that they would require much more help, so while Fishlegs continued to make steady progress towards the shore, Fjori fetched Spitelout and eight others to stand ready.
The Gronckle flew over the men and landed behind them; they grabbed the rope and began to pull as Fishlegs jumped off the dragon and ran to help while urging the Gronckle to keep walking up the beach. The Vikings began to cheer as the top of the net broke the surface and size of the catch became apparent, but then all progress halted when the base of the net struck the shore so Fjori called to the other Vikings preparing the ship salvage operation to come running, for there were far more fish than they could handle. The cheering crowd even ran into the water to pull on the net when no more space for them could be found for them along the rope.
As the load moved up the beach, a part of the net was caught on the side of a sharp rock and tore a hole the size of Fishlegs in the side. Fjori walked over to where the biggest pile of fish he had ever seen was pouring out of the net and onto the beach. Making an obvious gesture, he picked up a fine looking cod and lifted it over his head to the roar of the crowd and then made his way up the beach to the Gronckle and offered it the fish. A hush fell over them as the round dragon sniffed the fresh meal and then another cheer erupted when it took the fish with delight.
Spitelout slapped Fjori on the back and gave an order for all the dragons that were helping them to be fed and for fish to be taken to Toothless and Stormfly up at the cave. A few Vikings began cleaning and gutting some of the fish for lunch while the rest of the crowd returned to their work. Fjori thought for a moment before going over to talk with Thorfinn.
"How are the things looking for the ship raising?" he asked.
"Not bad, we've knocked up a low ramp with some of the salvaged wood and placed it over the submerged rocks so we don't do any more damage to the hull, but we have to take care not to rip the bow off when we start to pull; it's probably stuck in the sand don't ya know" Thorfinn informed his friend.
"Well... I'll tell you what I do know; young Fishlegs has come up with an idea that just may help you out too" Fjori grinned knowingly.
I've been looking for another series of book or films to be CATorised and stumbled across some teenage vampire books called The Twilight Saga. I thought they would be good because with my impressive fangs; I do look a bit vampirish but then I noticed that the second book is called... wait for it... NEW MOON! WHAT THE HEY! Is Stephenie Meyer trying to get me replaced? I can tell you now I am not a happy kitty and I am planning to write my own new book series. Volume 1 will be called 'New Stephenie' to be followed by the sequel Breaking Down (Marty's car into tiny bits with my mighty claws).
With love, Moon =^..^= (cats rule).