20 Coming Home
The sun dipped gently below the horizon as the trio of dragons approached the Isle of Berk. Astrid began to feel herself relax at last in the glorious glow of the early evening light. Although most of their journey had been without incident, the memory of the Scauldron and her concern for Hiccups safety had kept her nerves on edge for the entire trip, but he would soon be back inside his own home and out of danger. 'Maybe then he will wake up' she hoped, but had a distinct feeling that the reasons behind his long sleep ran much deeper than simply being far from home. It was the only hope she had to hold on to though, and so she would.
"Okay everyone listen up" Olvors words snapped Astrid back to the present."
"We don't know how the other villagers will react when we approach on dragons, so Snotlout and I will go in first and make sure it's safe for Astrid to bring Stormfly in to land. So you all hang back and keep an eye out just in case because you never know; there may be somebody manning the catapults."
"Gothi knows about the dragons" Astrid called back.
"Yes so everything should be okay, but I'd feel better if we could be sure; we'll send up a flame shot if all is well, and you can come in when you see it."
Olvor gave Snotlout the signal to go and they quickly gained speed as they flew up toward the island, while the other two dragons simply stretched their wings and glided slowly along behind.
"How is Hiccup doing?" Ruffnut called out to Astrid.
"Oh... fine I guess" she replied "but he's very cold so I'll be glad to finally get him home."
"You like him... don't you?" Ruff insinuated with an accusing smile.
'Well' thought Astrid 'here's my chance to finally stop denying everything to everyone.'
"Yes I do" she shouted back feeling somewhat free and liberated by the admission.
"I knew it" Ruffnut punched the air and turned to her brother "a girl can tell."
"So how did you know then?" Tuff remarked sarcastically; Ruffnut hit him of course.
Astrid smiled at the twins; she was almost home and even their fighting seemed right and normal.
"THERE!" she called out as a burst of flame went up from the village "there's the signal, let's go Stormfly."
The blue Nadder beat her wings a little harder, and it was not long before they had crossed the coast and were approaching Chief Stoick's home when with almost no warning, a boleadora struck Stormfly hard from beneath and wrapped itself around her legs; this caused the dragon to turn half over, knocking Astrid and Hiccup so badly that they almost fell off.
"RUFF, TUFF; HELP ME!" she cried out as Stormfly did her best to fly straight and lift them all away from danger.
"We're here Astrid" Ruffnut called back.
"What happened Ruff?"
"Your dragon got hit by one of those three-rocks-on-a-rope thingies; try to fly straight and I'll get it off her legs for you."
Stormfly struggled under the weight of the rocks and her passengers as the Zippleback moved underneath to help the stricken dragon."
"Hold 'em steady" Ruffnut called to her brother as she tried to untie the ropes.
"You got it sis, steady as she goes."
The rope was knotted so tightly, she soon gave up and pulled out her hunting knife cutting off the first rock and letting it fall safely away. The second rope was half cut when Stormflys leg twitched and caught Ruffnut on the side of the head, causing her to drop her knife.
"Damn! I loved that knife" she cursed "TUFF! KNIFE! NOW!"
"Here ya go sis" came the reply as he passed over a very familiar looking blade.
"Hey... this is my hunting knife; so what did I just drop?"
"One of Dad's old ones. I swapped them over cause yours is so cool" Tuffnut declared proudly.
"You miserable son of a Bridge Troll; when we get down from here I'm gonna kick your butt from here to next Snoggletog."
"RUFFNUT HURRY!" came Astrid's desperate cry.
"Oh yeah" Ruffnut realised and returned her task.
The favoured blade made quick work of the last two ropes and she soon had Stormflys legs fully untangled again.
"Thanks you guys" Astrid acknowledged "come on, let's get back to the village... and watch out for more attacks."
"We were safer on Dragon Island" Tuffnut realised as Stormfly and the Zippleback made a sweeping half turn.
"Yeah" Ruffnut agreed "weird huh."
"Totally."
As the dragons returned to the village Astrid could see Olvor at the bottom of the steps that lead to Stoicks house, shacking her fists at a small group of very angry villagers, while Snotlout tried to untangle his dragon from a net nearby.
"I'm going up to the door; make me a fire barrier halfway up the steps."
"You got it" Tuffnut replied "if there's one thing we love, it's making fire."
"Yeah" agreed Ruffnut as they bashed their helmets together.
The twins guided their Hideous Zippleback into a long, fast pass across the face of the hill leading up to the home of the village Chief; as they flew in close, the right head began to release its noxious flammable gas in a forty foot stream along the ground. The gas was set alight by a spark from the left head, causing a huge fiery explosion that totally blocked all access to the stairs. Soon after, Astrid brought Stormfly in as close as she could to the front of the front door of the building and leapt off.
"Down Stormfly" she ordered the dragon and as it sat, she pulled Hiccup off the dragons back as gently as she could manage and lowered him to the ground near the door. Standing up again Astrid held her hands under Stormflys face and looked onto her eyes hoping she would understand."
"Stormfly; guard Hiccup" and she turned the dragons head toward the yak skin covered boy.
"Do you understand?"
Stormfly did not know what the girl was saying but she seemed to be very concerned with fish boy; so the dragon stood and moved over to him before sitting back down with Hiccup between the dragon and the door.
"Good girl Stormfly; Stay"
Astrid drew her knife and pulled the hood of her coat over her head before she ran down the steps toward the still raging line of fire; without hesitation she leapt straight through the flames and landed roughly on the other side. She rolled over once and clambered back onto her feet, quickly taking in the scene around her.
Snotlout was still trying to keep several elderly warriors away from his dragon, while Gothi helped Olvor by hitting some of them on the head with her staff; three more had been trying to get up the steps but were being held back by the flames. They were all now in a slight state of shock as a berserk little blonde came flying through the fire roaring like a wounded bear.
"ANYONE WHO DOESN'T BACK OFF NOW, GETS THIS KNIFE IN HIS GUTS!" she screamed so ferociously that two of them had a little accident in their undies "UNDERSTAND?"
They slowly began to back off as Astrid moved forward with both hands on the knife handle matching every one of their steps, and glaring at them with a look that would haunt their dreams for many years to come.
"B-b-but the dragons..." Mulch stammered.
"Do they look like they're attacking, you morons?" Olvor moaned in frustration.
"Well the Zippleback does." He replied with confidence.
"I HAD TO TELL THEM TO DO THAT BEFORE YOU TROLLS FINALLY SUCCEEDED IN KILLING HICCUP." Astrid was finding it very hard to calm down.
"Where is hiccup? We haven't seen him for days."
Astrid was panting so hard she was starting to hyperventilate; that helped her to calm down a little.
"He's at the top of the stairs being guarded by Stormfly" she tried to explain, but Mulch was still very confused.
"Who's Stormfly?" he wondered out loud.
"MY DRAGON YOU IDIOTS!" Astrid lost it once more; she was getting quite good at it.
With all the commotion going on, the attacking had finally ceased, although the Vikings were still not sure of a few facts; why were Snotlout and Olvor helping a dragon, why was the dragon was letting them help it, and when did Astrid become a Berserker?
Now that Gothi had finished hitting Vikings, she walked passed Mulch's group and approached Astrid who still possessed a crazed look in her eyes, and still exhaled every breath with a snort like an angry bull.
Fortunately Astrids rage was only directed at those whom she considered to be a direct threat to Stormfly, and by association, Hiccup. So Gothi was in absolutely no danger from the wild girl, unless she should decide to throw her staff at them; she did not. Gothi did, however put her hand on Astrids arm causing the young girls eyes to flick back and forth between Gothi, and the former attackers whom she still did not trust as far as she could throw a Gronckle; which was not very far at all.
The fire behind Astrid's eyes began to die as she realised that Gothi was pointing her staff at the Great Hall, and tilting her head in the direction of the Vikings, so all became clear.
"You should all go to the great hall" Astrid declared still panting.
"Now hold on there a moment missy" Mulch was taking his life into his own hands now "a young girl like yourself should not be tellin'..." Mulch would soon regret saying this.
"GET UP TO THE GREAT HALL – NOW!"
Mulch's regret was complete.
"I would go if I were you" Olvor added "just let us take care of the dragons, and we will meet you there within the hour and explain."
"Well it had better be a damn good explanation, is all I can say" Mulch moaned as they all walked away to the Great Hall feeling like they should not have been spoken to like naughty children, by one of their own naughty children.
Astrid dropped the knife and began to shake; burying her face in her hands, she sank to her knees and began to sob uncontrollably as Olvor came over to comfort her.
"It's alright Astrid" she said consolingly "it's not easy to come down from such rage, but you can do it; breath deep and relax."
"I ALMOST DROPPED HIM... WHEN THEY ATTACKED STORMFLY AND... and... and... he could have died... again. WHY WON'T HE WAKE UP?" and she started to cry once more.
Olvor hugged her as she sobbed; the doctor knew it was never easy to stay in total control and to do what needs to be done when you are so stressed and worried about something, or in this case someone and that was the main reason why Olvor was so concerned about Stoick. He was just as worried about his son, as he was for the welfare of the tribe and it was becoming impossible to do either one, without compromising the other; Olvor helped Astrid to her feet.
"Come on; let's go take care of Hiccup."
Snotlout finished untangling his dragon from the net and was following them up the steps when he noticed Astrid's fragile emotional state and decided to help - unfortunately.
"Hey Astrid... don't worry; I'm fine so no need to cry."
"rrrrrrrRRRRRAAARRRRRGGGHHHH!"
Astrid lunged at him with the murderous look back in her eyes, but luck was with Snotlout as Olvor was ready and held the young girl back; although it was not a very easy task.
"If you want keep living" Olvor advised "you should go and take your dragon down to the arena and settle him down for the night... and take the twins with you."
Snotlout backed off with his eyes wide in fear; he decided that his dragon needed his help far more than this wild and ungrateful person, so he trotted off back down the steps. Olvor threw the still snarling Astrid over her shoulder and made for the top, where they found Gothi giving Hiccup a quick once over. As they reached the door step where he lay in his yak skin wrapping, Astrid had given up on her rage once more and hung limply on Olvor's shoulder like a clump of wet seaweed, mumbling in muffled tones as her face rested on Olvors back.
"Let me kill Snotlout. Just this once... please let me kill him. It won't be painless, but it will be quick."
She felt something rough nuzzling her arms and realised it was Stormfly, who was very worried about her little friend. A wide smile crossed Astrid face as she realised that she was once more in the company of those on whom she could rely.
"Hey Stormfly, good to see you girl."
Olvor put Astrid back on her feet and bent down over Hiccup as Gothi listened to his heart. When she was done they lifted Hiccup and took him inside, placing him on a bench away from the door and close to the fireplace. Olvor looked around the dark, cold home and decided it was time for a change in the atmosphere, so she sent Astrid outside with some thick pieces from Stoicks wood pile for Stormfly to set alight. Knowing that a direct Nadder flame would destroy the wood completely, Astrid directed the dragon to throw her flame out away from the house while she held up the wood and set fire to the ends. But as she was about to walk back inside, a warning bell went off inside her head so she stopped and called out to Olvor.
"Wait; won't this make Hiccups leg catch on fire?" she took a few steps back from the door.
"I'm glad you remembered" Olvor chuckled "but there is no alcohol left on his leg any more, it would have evaporated long ago during the long flight back."
Still moving with care, Astrid entered the house and used the burning branches to light up the brazier, and the home was soon lit by a soft warm glow.
"I'm going to get some things from my house Gothi" Olvor walked to the open door "I'll be back soon."
Olvor found Stormfly standing at the entrance to the house, looking in nervously.
"It's alright... you can come in" Olvor invited the dragon.
Greatest jokes on Berk:
What does a Gronckle have that a Nightmare doesn't?
Baby Gronckles.