(Chapter Twenty-Five)
(Turdas 16th) (With Astrid)
The sun was just only rising and everyone was already getting ready to head out for the nest. Astrid and her parents were already leaving their home to see that others were leaving their homes as well. Astrid followed her parents down the road heading for the docks.
While they walked Astrid began to hear someone call her name. She turns around to see that it was Ruffnut along with Tuffnut, Fishlegs, and Snotlout. She stops so that her friends can catch up with here.
"Hold up Astrid" Ruffnut calls out.
"You're in such a rush, what's up with that?"
"Nothing, its not like we're going on a raid or anything like that"
"I thougth we were?" Astrid rolls her eyes at Tuffnut's stupidity.
"Oh come on Astrid, you don't have to worry, I'll be there to protect you" Snotlout tries to flirt with her but fails even though he should remember that he's not suppose to be messing with her after the whole fight with Draco.
"That's what worries me" she says aloud picking up her pace.
"Come on babe you know you'd feel more—" she shuts him up.
"Don't ever call me babe again, I'm not your babe and never will be, get that through your thick skull" she snaps at him.
Her friends just look at her taken aback. They know how much she can't stand the guy but it seems like he's pushing it a little to much and ever since the duel for her hand she's been very different lately.
They were silent for a while not sure if it would be a good idea to say anything but when the other girls that Astrid and Ruffnut hung out with came around and began to talk it seemed to get her mind off of things and Snotlout's other buddies came around as well pulling him away and Tuffnut joined them leaving Fishlegs with the girls.
"You know, I'm nervous as well as excited at the same time" Philia says gripping onto her swords handle tightly.
I am too, who would've thought that today was already going to come this soon" this was the first time for a lot these people. It could also be their last if they aren't careful.
"You know, I just remembered something, if they couldn't find the nest before why does this time matter?" Rivia asks.
This made Astrid think realizing that she had a point. How would they get to the nest if they have no way of knowing how to get there. She might have to ask Stoick about that when they reach the boats.
"Do you think we'll actually end this war?"
"I don't know but we're all hoping, this war has gone for far to long and…" her words die down when her eyes landed on Draco and his friends that were all the way down at the docks.
Their clothing had a little bit more armor then usual and they had their choice of weapons ready. They sat around near one of the boats talking about something but she couldn't hear since she was pretty far still.
"Man, you're one lucky girl Astrid" her head snaps around so quick it could've come off.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you got a guy like that, you're a lucky one"
A blush grows on Astrid cheeks "He's not mine and never will be so will you shut it" she defends herself.
"Who's not yours?" her head snaps around to see that she was already in ear shot of Draco and his friends. They were all looking at her but her friends were smiling.
"No-Nothing, don't worry about it" she really didn't want to talk about it.
Draco looks at his friends and they just shrugged their shoulders. Hana on the other hand was staring at Astrid and her friends but they didn't seem to have noticed it "I wonder how long she'll realize that she's fallen for the guy, can't blame the girl but still" Hana thought turning her attention to the sound of the other people.
"Hey Draco?" Draco looks at Astrid.
"Yes?"
"Do you know how we'll be reaching the nest, if Stoick's told you anything"
"Not sure if he has a way to get there but I have an idea that he'll just wing it and try like he's been doing, probably" he wasn't really sure.
"I just hope that this guy doesn't get us killed" Raven whispers. Draco heard her and smacked her in the back of the head lightly.
"Hey!" Draco looks at her but says nothing. Raven must have understood what that meant.
"How long is this nest that we're heading too?" Triss asks.
"Only a couple of hours" Fihslegs replies.
"I could just transport us there" she whispers for only her friends too hear.
Draco turns to her "Not as long as we're here" he whispers back.
"What are you guys talking about?" Ruffnut asks.
"Don't worry about it, besides, where's Stoick?"
"He should be coming"
"He's on his way" Hiccups voice caught everyones attention.
"Come on, is he really coming too?" Ruffnut wines but she gets a lot of glares from Draco and his friends mostly Draco. She backs off.
"You know something Ruffnut, I get that he might not be stronger then you or anyone here but don't put someone down because you don't know the extremes that those kind of people will go through to get stronger, we were the same" he's talking him and his friends.
Those around look at Hiccup whom was backed up but then she looks at Draco and his friends "So you're saying that weakling will get stronger, yea as if" Draco walks up to her. she backs up a little trying no to back down.
"If he continues training with me with the help of my friends he'll be stronger then most of you or maybe all of you" he whispers to her.
"Yea, we may not be as strong as him but compare to you vikings we're pretty strong" Raven says trying to boast butSal smacks her in the back of the head.
"Hey! Why did you—" Sal speaks cutting her off "Shut up, we don't need to cause any trouble"
"I'm just saying the truth" she whispers.
"Well the truth—" Stoicks voice cuts him off.
"Now that everyone's here I have a few things to say, first off I would like to thank Draco and his friends again for coming along with us on this raid, next we have something that I need to make clear" he looks up which everyone follows looking over to see that a crane was lowing something.
What the crane was carrying was a Gronkle that was locked inside the pens back at the arena. Everyone quickly drew their swords but Stoick spoke up "We'll be using this dragon to lead us to the nest, Draco has given me the idea to use a dragon to reach the nest" Draco looks at him clearly not remembering that he mentioned this at some point.
"When did you tell him that?" Geralt whispers to Draco. He shrugs his shoulders.
"No one is aloud to kill this beast not until we reached the nest" everyone sheathed their weapons understanding his words.
"Now then, since everyone understands we'll be splitting up everyone among the ships, the first ship will be Draco and his friends, Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, the twins, Hiccup, Philia, Rivia, Mr. and Mrs Hoffersons and the Ingermans" those who were called bored their appointed ships.
The splitting up took about thirty minutes or more before everyone was on their ships. The dragon was already lowered onto a ship that Stoick was going to be on. When everything was ready to go the ships sailed off towards the nest.
The trip to the nest was going to be a long one but during the time they had most of the people were talking about what's probably going to happen when they reach the nest or what might happen once this war is over.
Draco and his friends sat the the front of the boat listening to most of the conversations that were scattered throughout the boat but that didn't keep them from having their own conversation.
"So, what's the plan?" Raven whispers.
"Can't really make up one since we haven't even seen what we're up against"
"But didn't—" Draco speaks up "He doesn't know how big she is, he just said that its big" Draco whispers.
"H-Hey Draco, is it really alright for me to be here?" Hiccup asks walking up to Draco and his friends.
"It's fine, if you don't ever experience a real fight then you won't ever get any stronger"
"At least that's his philosophy" Raven chuckles.
Draco doesn't say anything and continues on with speaking "Just use your head and listen to your gut, you should be fine and remember the training that you've been tought so far" Hiccup nods his head.
"You'll be fine" Hiccup nods again leaving them.
"He's a nice kid but he's so pathetic" Raven whispers the last part.
"That may be true but at least he's willing to learn"
"When do you think youll put him into the same training as you put us?" Draco shrugs his shoulders.
"Not sure yet, probably after this raid maybe I'll put him through some of our training but that means you'll be helping out as well"
"That's fine"
"Tetsudatte mo ī?" Hana asks.
"If you can be careful then yes" she bows her head.
"Are we really ready for something like this, it might come down to us using magic" Geralt whispers.
"If it does then it does, it won't matter, we'll use it" they all nod understanding that it might come down to using their magic.
"Everyone should get some rest since it'll be a couple of hours before we reached the nest!" Stoick yells from the other ship.
No one say anything against it. Everyone decided to take turns in resting on the way there just in case they get attacked on the way there. The trip was going to take a couple of hours but depeneding on what happens on the way there could make it take longer.
Hours passes and nothing really happens to them on the way to the nest. To everyones surprise there was a giant wall of fog covering a huge wide spread of the ocean. It's big enough to not be able to see the end of it.
"So this is the nest?" Draco wonders looking down the wall.
"Everyone! you will follow close behind and don't go off from the others!" Stoick yells from his ship.
His ship was the first to enter the fog and one by one the ships entered the fog. The ship Draco and his friends were the second to last to enter the fog. While in the fog everyone was whispering to one another but what made a lot of people nervous was how quiet the fog was.
Draco heard some people say that it wasn't usually this quiet in here. There was sounds of dragons everywhere and some even getting closer but they weren't moving in on the kill. The dragon that was on the ship that Stoick was on was now acting weird which could have helped out with this as well.
"Hey Draco?" Astrid whispers. Draco looks at her.
"Why aren't the dragons moving in" she was looking in the direction of some rocks and Draco did the same and saw that there were some dragons trying to hide themselves but didn't seem to do to well.
"I'm not sure but keep your guard up (looks at friends) same goes for all of you" his friends did as he said and took out their weapons getting ready to defend if they have too.
While they slowly moved through the fog Draco was starting to get a headach from all of the voices of the dragons that were around them but there was too much for him to hear what they were saying. His friends seem to have noticed his distress.
"Are you ok?" Raven asks in a whisper.
"Yes, just too much noise" she seemed confuse but she knows that he's possibly hearing the dragons speaking while they're just hearing noise.
Astrid seemed to have notice this too as well as Hiccup but they didn't come up to him to see if he was ok, they were sure that his friends had it handled even though Astrid didn't feel right seeing how he looked like something was bothering him 'What's wrong with me?' she wondered.
No one else seemed to have noticed which is a good thing since hewouldnt want to explain to anybody what's happening to him.
About a couple of minutes the sounds that surrounded them stopped. Draco's head stopped hurting as well. They looked to see what was going on and they saw that they have reached the island and that Stoick was on said island.
"Who knew that it was a volcano" Raven says looking up at the smoking top.
"Got a plan?" Geralt asks walking up to Draco.
"For now just keep an eye out" Geralt nods.
Their ship was last to land on the island and while they were leaving the ship Stoick has called out for them to get the trebuchets in place and ready. Not sure what Stoick's thinking Draco walks over to Stoick who seems to be walking closer to the wall of the mountain.
"Stoick" Draco calls walking up to the chief.
"Yes lad?"
"What's happening?"
"One of the demons snuck through an openining right up there" points up to a little opening in the wall.
"So you're going to knock it open?" Stoick nods.
Stoick turns to the wall and signals with his sword to use the trebuchets on where they're standing. A couple of rocks were thrown at the wall breaking it down little by little until it fell open revealing a massive hole leading down to who knows where.
Stoick, Draco and friends climbed up the pile of rocks to look down into the massive hole to not be able to see anything. Stoick then signals them to light a rock then throw it into the hole. When the rock was lit and thrown it flew over their heads hauling down into the hole revealing dozen probably even thousands of dragons cluttering the wall.
Draco backs up, his friends followed "Get ready, Raven I want you, Triss, and Hana to back up a little further while the rest stay up here with me" they nodded not arguing with his orders.
"Stoick you—" before he could say anything Stoick lets out a war cry running into the hole 'How dumb can this guy be?' he wonders with a opened mouth.
The dragons flew out in hordes and everyone began to attack the running dragons but they slowly began to stop attacking due to noticing that the dragons weren't attacking back. About a minute all of the dragons flew off into the distance leaving the vikings confused.
"Was that it?" Gobbers asks.
"We did it!" yells Spitelout.
The crowd began to cheer but Draco and friends were sure that it wasn't the end of it. They stayed ready and backed up a little further. Stoick looked at them confused but before he could get a word in a loud roar.
The cheers quickly died, the ground began to shake and Stoick along with everyone near the hole took off running to the boats. Everyone was running back to the boats except for Draco and friends.
The ground busted open revealing a mountain sized dragon with red spikes all over it's body with greyish black scales. Draco looks at his friends and tells them to move back. They did but Stoick yells "Don't run back to the ships!" but it was too late and the massive dragon lets out a huge stream of fire buring the ships and the trebuchets along with those who were on them including the dragon that was on it.
The screams from those on the ships were horrifying even the dragons scream could give some of them nightmares. Stoick looked back up to the huge dragon with horror "Thor help us" he whispers.
Seeing that Stoick was frozen Draco yells at him "Stoick, get your people out of here!" Stoick snaps his head towards Draco.
"What about ya?"
"Don't worry about us, we'll handle ourselves!" Draco and friends scattered when the dragons foot came crashing down.
Stoick was going to say something but when he saw what his people was doing he listen to what Draco said and took off in the direction of his people. Gobber came running up to his side and yells "What are ya doin'!?"
"We need to get the people out of here, I'll stay with Draco and help out" Gobber holds up his hand and Stoick took it knowing what he was going to say "I can double that time" the two took off to order everyone to head to the other side of the island while they stayed and distracted that thing.
Draco watched as the two men got everyone out of the way but came back "What are you doing!?"
"We're helping you!" Draco could only sigh.
"No, your people need you, if you die here who we'll watch over them!?" Stoick was going to protest but Draco had a point.
"Once our people are safe then we'll leave but until then we're staying!"
"Fine but stay out of the way and be careful!"
The two men smiled nodding. The two then began to yell at the dragon "Here!
"No here!" the dragon were distracted with the two while Draco began to give his friends orders.
"Raven, shoot at the eyes and try to blind that thing, Hana and Triss stay back and keep her safe, Triss get ready to use some spells just in case" the three nodded.
Draco runs back to the others that were attacking the feet. He looks over to Sal and Geralt "You two gain its attention, Ciri get ready to blink!" they nodded.
Draco then looks at Gobber and Stoick whom were still avoiding the dragons attacks "Stoick, Gobber! The people are gone, you can leave now!" the two men nodded leaving Draco and his friends behind to fight the thing but deep down they both felt that it was wrong.
Once they were out of sight Draco turns to Ciri "Now Ciri!" she nods disappearing in a blink of an eye attacking the dragons legs and even its wings. Raven began to bombard the dragons head with countless arrows while Triss was throwing fireballs at it.
"Triss, transport me, Sal and Geralt on the dragons head!" she nods quickly opening a portal in front of them while the other one opened at the top of the dragon.
The three men ran through the portal ending up ontop of the dragons head. Draco looks at the two behind him "You two, go for the wings!" the two split up one going for one of the wings while he stayed at the head.
"I guess it's time Kami" he whispers to his sword.
He puts a strong grip on the handle and with a blink of an eye he pulls the sword out. When pulling the sword out the sword lets out a huge electrical wave that shook the dragons head and causing a little bit of damage.
The sword he's using is special since the sword was perfectly crafted by Frey using daedric and dwarven metal along with a light diamond outer shell for the blade while the handle was made out of daedric. The blade itself was enchanted with dragon tounge giving it the Fus Ro Da shout (which he still doesn't know how she pulled it off) along with the electrical effect.
The Dragon lets out a loud roar and was going to try to know them off but Draco was going to let it do that he turns to see Geralt and Salhave done some good damage to the wings and yells "Move!" the two move then he swings his sword which releases an electrical slash that he hurls at the wounds doing the rest for them. The wings were unusable now.
The dragon lets out another but painfilled roar. This time he jams his sword into the soft part of the dragons neck then using a chain lighting channeling it through the sword into the dragon. The other two that were with Draco could see that this might be the time to leave so they stabbed their swords into the dragon sliding down its side hurting the dragon.
The chain lightning began to cause the gas inside of the dragon to spark causing it to explode inside of the dragon "Not so fire proof inside huh?"
The dragon couldn't roar anymore instead blood started to leak out of its mouth while it tried to roar. When his magika ran out he pulls the sword out of the dragons neck then quickly sheathing it before jumping off the collapsing dragon. When it landed it shook the earth beneath them shooting up a cloud of smoke blinding them from the dragon.
Draco and his friends stayed on high alert until the smoke cleared. Once the smoke cleared they saw that the dragon has stopped breathing. They lowered their guard letting out the breath most of them were holding.
"Did we do it?" Raven asks.
"I believe we did" Triss answers looking around for Geralt.
Geralt and Sal came out from behind the dragon over to Draco. Triss let out a sigh of relief "Thank goodness" she whispered but Raven heard her, won't say anything though.
During this whole fight no one knew that three people just watched the whole thing. Due to what they saw they now know that they can't say anything to anyone about what they just saw.
Draco and his friends gathered together beside the dead beast "That was a little bit harder then I thought" Triss says making it sound like it was going to be easy.
"It wasn't going to be easy in the first place"
"Yea but I didn't think it would be that hard either"
"Hey guys?" Raven gestures over to the upcoming crowd of people.
Everyone that was standing there couldn't believe their eyes. These seven people took down a mountain size dragon with ease and none of them looked hurt, probably some scratches but not badly hurt.
"What?" Draco asks to the surprised crowd.
Stoick couldn't help smile. He turns to his people "The beast is dead! The war is over!" everyone cheered to the loudest they could patting or hugging everyone around them. Stoick and Gobber walk over to Draco and his friends.
"How were you able to pull it off?"
They looked aat one another "We just used its size against it" Stoick couldn't help but laugh Gobber on the other hand just stared at them.
"'ave ya fought somethin' like this before?" they shook their heads.
"No, we've just been in a lot of fights in the past" Gobber only nodded.
"Well, however you pulled it off, I'm just glad you did" he looks at each and everyone of them "Thank you, you helped me and my people end this war and now hopefully we'll have peace"
"No problem" Draco took a step back feeling a little dizzy. They all saw this and Raven and Ciri came to his side holding him up.
"What's wrong?" Stoick asks.
"Just tired" that's all his says.
"'ey Stoick, what are we going to do about the trip home?"
"We'll have to scavenge off from any remaining ships and hopefully get some of them to be sea worthy" Gobber nods.
"I'm on it" he walks off towards the destroyed ships that were still burning. Gobber calls over some people to help out.
"Until we find a sea worthy ship you should take a rest, you all earned it" Stoick then walks away to help out too.
Draco then collapses passing out onto the floor the last thing he heard was his name being called. They all knew what happened, he over did it with his magic. They let their brother rest while they waited until otherwise.
"Hey Triss, did you see that thing that hit the dragon?" Raven asks looking down at Dracos sleeping face.
"Yea, I saw it but I couldn't tell where it came from, all I know is that it came right after the whistling sound ended"
"Do you think it could be someone like you?"
"Hardly but its not impossible"
"Could it be a dragon?"
"That could be the better case, I remember seeing a blast like that when the village got raided"
"Well if it was a dragon, I wonder why it did it"
While they continued to talk Astrid couldn't help but stare at them 'Are they really that powerful?'
(Time Skip)
Draco woke up to the sounds of someone speaking to him. He fluttered his eyes open to see Ciri staring at him and feeling of the boat rocking a little as if people were moving around. He sat up slowly to see that they have returned to Berk. He looks up and around to see that it was just Ciri.
"How long was I out?"
"For six hours, it's already the afternoon"
"Where is the others?"
"They're on the docks helping those that are injured"
He tries to get up but he quickly became dizzy again. Ciri quickly grabs him "Why aren't you helping them?" he asks.
"Because they wanted me to help you once you woke up"
"I'm fine I just need something to drink" she lets go of him.
"Then lets head to the hall" he nods.
The two leave the boat once it was completely docked and on said dock was the others he was looking for along with Astrid who was talking to Raven. Raven looks passed Astrid who had her back to Draco and Ciri. When Astrid noticed that she wasn't paying attention to her she turned to see what she was looking at.
When Astrid's eyes landed on him she ran up to him "Draco, are you ok?" she asks.
"Yes, I'm fine, just need something to drink"
"Then we should head to the hall to get a drink, also Stoick says that he wants to talk to you"
"Where is he?" he asks.
"He should be at the hall with Gobber"
Draco nods passing her with now Raven and Ciri following behind him. Astrid quickly followed them as well. On the way to the hall Draco's friends followed him to the hall but bombarded him if he was alright or not. He ignored them of course but what caught his attention was the many laid out sheets of what could be bodies of the fallen.
"What are those?" Draco asks.
"Those who were killed by the dragon back at the nest"
"Was anyone important in that pile?"
"Not that I saw but they're extremely burnt to where its hard to tell" Astrid explains.
"How about those who survived?"
"What do you mean?"
"How many are injured?"
"A good bit but none of them are fatal" Triss jumps in.
"That's good" Draco looks at Astrid.
"Are you ok?" she nods.
"Yes, just a light burn but other then that I'm fine" she smiles.
"That's good" everyone behind them couldn't help but smile except for Raven who held her chest but faked a smile.
Walking through the village was quiet and this made Draco question "Where is everyone?"
"In the hall, most likely eating"
Draco didn't think anything different so he didn't question it right away but the closer they got to the hall the louder the people were getting. That's when he was getting curious. They stood at the door of the hall.
"Whats wrong?" Raven asks.
"Nothing" he places his hands on the doors pushing them open. Once open he was greeted with everyone staring at them.
Stoick stands up "Here are our heros now!" the room went into an uproar with cheers. This made Draco back up a little bit but Raven pushes him in with a smile. Astrid couldn't help but chuckle.
The group make there way through the huge crowd of people making their way through until they reached Stoicks table. Once at his table Stoick wrapped his arm around his shoulders.
"I would like to be the first to thank you and your friends for joining us in the battle with the dragons and ending the war that took a lot of family and friends from us years ago, and now with it over we can finally have peace" the room went into another roar.
"Stoick, there will never be true peace in this world"
"Lad, we know that but for now we're at peace and we're going to enjoy it so take a seat and enjoy yourself, you earned it, all of you"
"Thank you Stoick but I'm not a—" Raven jumps in.
"We will, thank you Stoick" she then pulls him away.
"Why did you tell him that, I thought we were coming here to get something to drink?"
"We are but he insisted that we attend this little party for us since we did destroy that massive dragon" she hands him a mug which he takes.
"Raven, I'm not going to stay here, I'm going to go home and sleep, you can stay and enjoy yourself" she gives him a sad face.
"Come on, just stay a little bit at least"
"No, remember, I've used too much magicka and I'm tired" he takes a quick swig of his drink before handing it back to her.
"Stay and enjoy yourself" she pouts as she watches him walk out but that quickly changes when she saw Astrid go after him.
"What's his problem?" Ciri asks taking a drink of her own mug.
"Tired, remember he just woke up after all" she didn't sound happy.
"What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing, I'm going to go over there and sit, want to join?" Ciri nods "Sure" the two girls walk over to take a seat.
Gobber on the other hand watched Draco walk out then watched the lass follow behind. He couldn't help but think that they have people like them on their side 'Johann was right, we do have to watch out' he thought to himself.
"Hey Gobber, where did Draco go?" Stoick asks taking a seat next to his friend.
"Out, it looked like 'e didn't want ta stay"
"What about the Hofferson lass?"
"She followed 'im"
"Do ya think those two really do have a thing goin'?"
Gobber shrugs his shoulder "Don't know but it wouldn't surprise me if there was" the two laugh.
Outside of the hall Draco was walking down the steps but stops when he heard his name get called out "Draco!" he turns to see Astrid standing not to far from him but stood a couple of steps higher then him making her look down at him.
"Want something?" he asks.
"Not really, I wanted to say thank you, for ending the war"
"I didn't end the war alone, everyone had help in it so it's not just me"
"That may be the case" she slowly walks down the steps closer to him "But you and your friends killed that thing while all we did was run" she stops a couple of inches from him.
"No one knew that we would've gone up against a thing like that so that's understandable, it's just we've fought a lot of things in our past"
"Still, we ran and you stayed, you could've been killed"
"It'll take a lot to kill me and with my friends by my side that just makes it harder, now is that all you needed?" he asks turning to look at her.
"Yes" without another wood she grabs his collar pulls him in for a kiss. This shocked him.
After she pulls away she smiles "That was for everything else" she quickly runs back into the hall leaving a confused Draco standing there. He eventually came back and started to question on what just happen but he went back to head on home.
What the two didn't know was that someone was watching the whole scene and they weren't happy about it and had a plan to do something about it.
As the night came everyone slowly left one by one leaving the hall until it was completely empty by midnight. Draco was already home and asleep which the others quickly followed once they got home as well. Everyone back at the village did the same going straight to bed after a long day.
The only one up was a very flustered Astrid. She was sitting on her bed faced red as a tomato "What in thors name did I do" she didn't know what to do or think. She just kissed Draco Ryder for no reason.
"What does he think of me?" she wonders fearing that he might not like her now that she did that.
"Why did I do that?" she began to panic.
"I have to talk to him" she stands up but sat right back down.
"He might already be asleep and I don't even know where they stay" at this point she just talked to herself. This little panic session went on for another hour until she finally calmed down and fell asleep after telling herself that everything will be fine and that she'll just clear it all up tomorrow.