This chapter contains minor swearing, bullying and physical abuse.
Stoick the Vast looms over the familiar map that haunts his dreams and reality. He drags his eyes to the corner of the map where there is a drawn illustration of what could be depicted of mist or fog, the illustration even has some drawn dragons in it as well, this is their destination.
"I can almost smell them. They're close. Steady." He declares for the men on his ship.
He looks up to see a large expanse of fog. It spans as far as the eye can see both ways and touches the water lightly only to not see the sky. It's as if there is some kind of mystical force keeping it held back and in place.
The ships that are all part of this expedition skirt along the edge with just the power of the current in the area. They try with all their might to cut the thick fog with their eyes just to find a way in without immediately crashing into a rocky formation and sending them to their watery graves.
All the crewmen wander about, nervously. They know what the chief is hoping to accomplish, but they also know how terrible it has gone every other time. They would never find the nest and would lose too many men and women who came along, hoping to have songs sung about them of their great victory against their greatest enemy, the dragon nest. Even some of the men here today were still hoping for that. Some people were nowhere near optimistic about how this trip would turn out.
Who would die today? Would they make it back to their families? Or, would they find the nest today? Would they be rid of their fiercest foe?
"Take us in." Stoick sees their chance and commands his helmsman, his voice low and tone full of authority.
No one would dare question him.
As the ships enter the whiteout of fog and mist, they become more ansty. Their attention heightens and they all draw their weapons, preparing for the worst possible scenario. A viking on another ship shouts out a command for the other ships to follow Stoick's lead ship.
The fog is suddenly lit up with the orange-yellow glow of fire. The light is enough to make all the dragons flying above them become silhouettes. Many of the vikings start yelling out. Some scream in fear, others with their war cry. The loud popping and cracking of aged wood splintering and shattering echo clear through the fog. There are many sounds of water being breached as some vikings try desperately just to get to a safer ship, one not sinking, they want to see their families again. Once more the area is lit up with the same cursed light followed by more sounds of carnage and screams as the dragons find their targets.
Hicca had worked her way through the maze to make it over to where Gobber was perched high above and safely outside the arena.
"Hey, uh, Gobber? I just so happened to notice that our dragon book has absolutely nothing recorded in it about Night Furies. Why is that? We wouldn't happen to have another, hidden maybe, small book dedicated to them? A sequel? Oh! What about a pamphlet?" She raises her axe, the one she made for herself because it was lighter.
All of the sudden the metallic head of her axe comes clean off in an explosion, a result of the Nadder finding her. She stumbles a bit, dazed and no longer hearing correctly, before she has the right state of mind to shriek and dash back through the maze, faster than her legs have ever carried her before.
"Foccus, Hicca!" Gobber already sounds exasperated by her antics. "You're not even trying!"
Gobber notices the Deadly Nadder trying to find one of the teens through the maze.
"Today is all about attack." He calls down to the teens as the dragon hops from wall to wall.
"Nadders are quick on their feet. Today, your task for surviving, is to be faster and lighter on your feet."
A portion of the teens run past Hicca, stumbling on their way, as she stops again to try to talk to Gobber from in the ring.
The Nadder find Fishlegs and doesn't hesitate to fire it's tail spikes. He panics and before he can think to raise his shield, he picks up one of the various walls in the maze and uses that to shield himself, enough that he blocks the blow from the dragon. He looks at his arm, down at his shield, and sighs calling himself stupid. His action garners the attention of a few of the teens who didn't know the amount of strength the Fishlegs possessed.
"You know, Gobber... I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods." Fishlegs calls out, setting the wall down and running again.
Gobber completely ignores the young man.
"Look for its blind spot. Every dragon has one. Find it, hide in it, and strike. The beastie will never know what's to come!"
Ruff and Tuff rush in, diving and rolling up to the Nadder's nose. The Nadder sniffs the air - it can't see them. Tuff and Ruff are smashed together - too close for comfort as Ruff mistimed her own roll and smacked into her brother's back.
"Fuck Tuff. Do you ever bathe? You smell like you fell is a barrel of fish oil."
"Actually, it's dried herbs. It does not smell bad what-so-ever so if you don't like it, then just get your own blind spot."
"Yeah? How about I give you one!"
Ruff gets progressively louder and decides to shove Tuff which in turn he shoves back, trying to stay in the Nadders blindspot. Eventually, their movement and noise gives them away, right as the horns on their helmets became tangled.
The Nadder lunges forward, snapping and attacking at both of them. It almost catches Tuff with it's deadly, razor sharp teeth, but just misses.
"Blind spot? Yes. Deaf spot? Not so much." Gobber states, already fed up with the twins.
"Hey, so, Gobber, how would one sneak up on a Night Fury?" Hicca calls up to her mentor.
"No one's ever met one and lived to tell the tale. Now get in there!" Gobber yells at her.
"I know, I know, but hypothetically..."
"Hicca!" Astrid whisper-yells.
She puts her finger to her lips and gestures for her to hide. A moment later, the Nadder leaps over the walls, surprising them by landing in front of her. Astrid somersaults into its blind spot, confusing it. She rears back to strike, just as Snotlout leaps in, protectively pushing Astrid behind him.
"Watch out babe. I'll take care of this." Astrid looks torn between mortification and wanting to tear off this boy's head.
Astrid shouts in annoyance."Hey!"
Snotlout throws his large hammer in the direction of the dragon but misses horribly. Astrid glares daggers at him, both out of his stupidity, and that he took her shot from her.
"The sun was in my eyes, Astrid. What do you want me to do, block out the sun? I could do that, but I don't have time right now!" Snotlout makes pathetic excuses to try to tame the blonde's anger.
The Nadder tears off after Astrid, knocking down walls in pursuit. She leaps and dives like a highly trained gymnast. She has to switch her axe from hand to hand several times to try and escape the beast. Every moment she looks for a chance to fight it, but no opportunity presents itself.
Hicca wanders up to Gobber yet again, completely distracted.
"They probably take the daytime off. You know, like a cat. Has anyone ever seen one napping?" Hicca jokes while asking yet another question.
Both Gobber and Astrid scream at Hicca, each with their own worries.
"Hicca!"
Hicca spins around to see the maze walls collapsing like dominos towards her. Astrid comes flying through the dust, falling from the tip of the last wall where she jumped from and crash-lands on top of her, laying her out in a limb-tangled mess.
"Oooh! Love on the battlefield!" Ruffnut all but screeches at the two young women.
"She could do better." Tuffnut adds, not being clear just on which girl he ment.
The Nadder closes in, emerging through the cloud of dust. It shakes its head and takes a look around, seemingly to have lost the young viking it was chasing.
"Az... Just... let me... oh gods... why don't you..." Hicca struggles to get her words out, both from the crushing weight of Astrid knocking the air clear out of her lungs and from trying to untangle herself from Astrid.
The Nadder spins around and races back toward them like a Raptor. Astrid quickly finishes untangling herself and tries to pull her axe from Hicca's shield... which is attached to her limp, gangly arm. She harshly stomps her foot on the other girls chest in her haste to free her axe. She manages to do so by ripping the whole shield off her friend's arm.
Hicca tries her best to muffle her scream.
Astrid spins and swings her axe with the shield still attached, getting a direct hit on the oncoming Nadder's snout. It yelps and scurries off as fast as it's too large, bird-like legs will carry it.
"Well done, Astrid." Gobber praises the young girl before he hobbles off to wrestle the Nadder back into it's cave.
Hicca manages to push herself up and gets to her feet holding her arm as close to herself as she can meanwhile all the teens are watching her. She turns away from them only to find Astrid glaring at her, winded.
"Is this some kind of a joke to you? Our parents' war is about to become ours. Figure out which side you're on." Astrid screams at her before she grabs her axe and stomps off.
Hicca watches, stung. She knows Astrid will probably apologize later but it's always terrible to be on the receiving end of her anger. She pulls her arm a little closer to herself before slowly trudging out of the arena.
It's a bit before she runs into Tuffnut. She had time to go down to the fishery, grab a fish, make her way to the armory, grab a shield, and walk to the woods behind her house.
"Hicca, wait up." Tuff's hushed voice reaches her ears.
"Tuffnut? What are you doing here?" She asks, confused.
"You said you'd show me your dragon." He states like it was obvious the whole time.
"Oh. Right. Not my dragon by the way."
"You shot it down, right? So technically yours. At least the way I see it."
"Huh. Are you always going to be strange now?"
"Wait. What do you mean?" He sounds a little offended as he skips ahead of Hicca to try to look her in the face. "This is me being normal."
"Okay! Okay. Sorry." There's a beat of silence between the two.
"I could get used to this Tuffnut, you know?"
"How I am? Or the current situation?"
"Both I suppose."
They continue walking down the path that Hicca is slowly becoming familiar with.
"How is your arm? I noticed how you held it after Astrid yanked that shield off your arm. Speaking of..."
Hicca goes to respond but stops when Tuffnut takes the current shield from her, gently. She scrunched up her face a little at the contact with her arm.
"Tender, I suppose. Nothing I won't survive from. Had worse." She chuckles quietly.
Tuffnut gives her a glare, that she completely misses, at the topic she so clearly wants to avoid, but always brings up. It's like she doesn't even realize she is doing it.
He heaves an inaudible sigh.
"Just call me Tuff. It's easier, and sounds cooler." He gives a quick shrug at her questioning looks and walks ahead of her again.
"Okay, Tuff, you are heading in the wrong direction now." Hicca snickers.
"...Right. Lead the way m'lady." He gestures with flare in many directions earning a quiet laugh from the small girl.
She quickly takes off in a direction and before long they are at a path of clear destruction. They walk up over the small ridge that is slowly becoming a permanent part of the landscape towards the first place Hicca found the beast.
She slows down some as she passes the ruined remains of the bola and the dried blood on the ground. She heaves an inaudible sigh and Tuffnut notices the way she slightly hesitates, looking at the scene for a moment too long, before she takes a somewhat sturdy step away.
"So, uh. The shield. What's it for?" Tuff asks to break whatever train of thoughts are plaguing her.
"I'm going to go down into the cove with it." She states it so simply and obviously, as if it is a normal everyday occourance.
Actually, for Hicca, who knows what's truly normal. Still, Tuff couldn't hide his concern.
"Wait. What do you mean with it? It would kill you in a heartbeat! You heard Gobber."
"Yes, and that's why I'm doing this. He said they would always go for the kill. Well, he didn't. He had me pinned, right against that large boulder we passed, but all he did was scream in my face. Tuff, I don't think they're what we-vikings, believe them to be. He spared me." Hicca says reaching the edge of an enormous cavern.
She begins to look for the spot she went to last time she was here. Maybe there would be a way to get further down. Maybe she may even find her lost pencil. She pulls the slimy fish closer to her as she jumps down to a spot to go further.
Looking back she sees Tuff motionless with the shield being held limply at his side.
"You coming?" There's a small smile to her voice.
Tuff shakes his head and looks for the source of the soft voice. He finds Hicca disappearing further down a narrow tunnel.
"Oi! Wait up! What's good is the shield gonna do you if it's behind you?" He runs after her chuckling form and slips past her holding the shield in the direction they're walking while he faces her more.
Due to him not paying attention to both his step and the tunnel, he is jolted to a stop when he accidentally jams the shield between the two walls.
"Oh fuck... Oops. Heh... Sorry, Hicca."
Hicca just moves closer to try and budge the shield. No luck. She tosses the fish out into the open in the hopes of luring the dragon into the open. Again, no luck. She sighs and slips under the shield, not really listening to Tuff's protests.
Tuff hops over the top of the shield and starts to walk after her as she picks up the fish again with her good hand.
Both of them are looking around for the dragon but don't find anything. They hear a snort and each slowly turn to look behind them.
There, in all it's glory, is the fearsome Night Fury. It slowly descends from the rock it was perched on towards the two small human Vikings, curious at the first and confused at the second.
Tuff stands closer to Hicca so she is partially behind him acting as the shield that got stuck. From around him a fish appears.
Is she completely insane...?
The dragon stops and cocks its head a little, sniffing around at the air. It suddenly tenses and looks ready to attack. Tuff pushes Hicca behind him fully and pulls out his trusty mace. The dragon becomes more aggravated.
"Wait, Tuff!" Hicca hisses a little as she snatches the mace from his hand and throws it to the side, landing back behind the shield, before doing the same with her small dagger.
The dragon instantly calms down again and works it's way closer, sniffing about the two. It pushes Tuff out of the way and he's too shocked to really do anything. It gets closer to Hicca, opening it's mouth and revealing no teeth in sight as it reaches for the fish.
"Huh. Toothless. I could've sworn you had..." She stifles a scream as a set of razor sharp teeth emerge from its gums to grab the fish.
Toothless snatches and gnashes it up, swallowing it. She calms down from her panic attack some before continuing.
"... teeth." The teeth retract again. Toothless presses closer with an expectant look, making Hicca retreat nervously.
"Uh, no. No, I don't have any more." The Fury backs Hicca against a rock, placing them in a very familiar position.
The dragon closes in over her, staring blankly. A tense moment passes... then Toothless regurgitates a half of the previously chewed and swallowed fish onto Hicca's lap. They exchange stares. Hicca realizes what Toothless wants her to do. She reaches down slowly and squeamishly picks up the lagest chunk she can find in the pile. The dragon waits expectantly. Hicca gags and gnaws off a bite of the slimy fish and she forces a smile.
Toothless mimics her. Tuff almost looses his own lunch at the scene. Unsure of how he could possibly help or anything he could do he slowly lowers himself to the ground close by.
Hicca sits up more, setting down the slimy chunk of fish, and tries to touch the dragon. Toothless let's out a low grumble and flaps off to a crash on the other side of the cove. He uses his plasma blast to heat the mossy ground to a red-hot temperature before he curls up on it, absorbing the heat.
He turns to find the first, female, viking seated beside him and the second, male, a little ways behind her. Toothless tolerates the female's persistent presence until she tries to touch his damaged tail.
Toothless reacts as any wounded dragon would, he snaps his mighty jaws at the small viking.
Hicca gets up and twists her body away as quickly as she can, holding her one arm and walks back past Tuff. She heads directly to the spring and tries to wash the dragon sick off of her tunic. She looks back at Tuff to see if he followed her.
He was staring right at her.
"Can you turn away for a moment? I need to get my tunic off to wash it. I can still be easily covered by my vest so that will be fine. So...?" She asks hesitantly.
"Huh? Oh. Oh, yeah! Sorry!" He immediately turns away and continues to talk with her while she washes her tunic.
"How could you have that much trust that it wouldn't kill you?"
"I just, I guess it's instinct. He's just protecting himself right now. I don't think he wants to kill me."
"I guess he had many opportunities. I still can't believe you did it though. That's amazing, Hicca."
"...You really mean that? Not some prank or some shit?"
"No. Hel, I can't imagine doing half the stuff you do. Some of the ideas you have are super cool too. Like your fire prevention system."
"You actually heard about that?"
"Of course! You sounded so enthusiastic about it. You were so happy as you tried to explain it. I just wish that happiness wasn't so easily vanquished when the Chief turns an idea down..."
"Ahhh. You were there for the whole thing then..."
"Maybe you should build one anyway. I could help if you wanted?"
"You would help me with an idea I had?"
"I don't see why not."
Huh...
Later in the day, when Hicca is wearing her clean, now dried tunic, the dragon wakes slowly from the spot that it ran off to earlier, hanging upside down off a sturdy tree branch. He looks over to the opposite side where the two humans sit in companionable silence. The dragon lumbers over and watches over the shoulder of the small female, observing every little detail.
Tuff stares at the dragon behind Hicca, aware that if he were to make a sudden move, he may just get her killed.
Hicca tenses a little when she realizes that Toothless is behind her, but relaxes again and continues her sketch, the dragon himself. Not just a head, no. Hicca started there but decided she had all the time she could want and started drawing the body.
The dragon behind her walks off and not long after returns with a sapling clutched in his jaws. He drags it across the ground as he watched the female do moments before. He rushes around as quickly as he can drawing lines everywhere. He looks to the small female as she looks at him amazed. He pokes a dot in the ground with his sapling before discarding it and admiring his work.
Tuff remains seated where he is, in the middle of the dragons drawing, and watches as Hicca stands up to properly take in the dragon's rushed scribbles. She accidentally steps on a line as she starts to walk about it. The dragon growls at her until she lifts her foot.
Hicca thinks she understands, but she just has to test her theory. She lightly places her foot on the line again, only to elicit the same reaction from Toothless. She does it a couple more times before carefully stepping over it.
Tuff notices how the dragon seems to instantly relax at Hicca's gesture. He absently watches as she moves as fluid as water over each line, making sure to not step on them. Her body working in an intricate dance and he gets lost watching her. He only manages to snap out of his daze when she is right in front of the giant, but the dragon doesn't seem to mind.
Hicca slowly turns around when she feels the hot air from the dragon's snort. Dragon and girl, face to face. She once again reaches out to try and touch him only to have him bare his teeth at her. She pulls her hand back slightly before extending it again with determination. She turns her head away from the dragon and closes her eyes.
This moment may very well define my life... or end it...
She flinches only slightly when she feels a brush of warm scales against her hand. The moment was quick, probably over as soon as it started, but it felt like it lasted forever. It felt like something within her changed.
When she looks at her hand again she notices the dragon's absence. A strange feeling of sadness washes over her before she feels a warm feeling radiating from a spot on her shoulder. She looks there to find a hand and follows it back to Tuffnut.
"That was incredible, Hicca. How did you do that?" He asks quietly, still not removing his hand.
Much to her astonishment, she found she didn't mind his hand on her. At all. She actually found it calming and relaxing her muscles.
"I just... trusted him."
Tuffnut was back in the village after he and Hicca returned and split ways. How could he ever look at his classes the same again, let alone a dragon?
When they came back it was still fairly early in the day. Even now there was still a few hours left before they had to meet up with the blacksmith for a "bonding night" between the recruits. He said it was mandatory that everyone be there.
At least I might be able to talk with Hicca...
"Hey bro." Ruff walks up to him.
"Sup sis?" He turns slightly.
"Nothin'. Just wondering where you were today. You know, since we were supposed to prank SNOTLOUT!" She pulls on his ear as her voice raises.
"Ow ow ow! Wait. That was today? I thought that was tomorrow?" Playing dumb usually got him out of shit with his sister.
"Ugh! No stupid! That was today. I bombed the prank because you weren't there to have my back!" She complains walking over to a rock and ploping down.
"And the worst part is, he swore to get revenge. Onme!"
"Oh... why didn't you just blame it on me then?"
"Because-! Ugh!" She stands abruptly. "Boys are so stupid! I'm going to see Astrid."
And just like that, the storm cleared up.
Boy, Ruff. What's up her ass today...?
Tuff and I parted at the woods after agreeing to meet up at the cove to see Toothless tomorrow. I want to see if Toothless will let Tuff as close as he let me. I mean, we were both there today. Maybe it won't be that hard?
I realize since I still have a few hours before we have to meet up again I might be able to make it to a hot spring to soak for a little bit, take a bath with hot water.
I continue walking through the village.
Ahhh. That sounds like a great idea...
Just as a sigh to myself, I struggle to take in a breath as I feel gravity take place and the ground quickly coming up to meet my face. I don't even have a moment to scream before I hit the ground, or time to groan as I feel myself getting dragged by the leg. Only time to realize just how screwed I am.
I kick out as the realization dawns on me. They're back.
Why can't they leave me alone...?
I feel my foot connect with something hard, before I get flipped over and someone is on top of me, pulling my hair and shoving my head back to the ground. I swing my arms up to at least try to defend myself when a voice calls out,
"Enough!"
The body over mine stills at the demanding voice. I feel them reluctantly slide off before they give me a sharp kick to the side.
"Slice, that's enough. Remember the last time this bitch had the nerve to snitch on us? Want that to happen again?"
"No, Bones. I'd really prefer not."
I look up to notice the whole group is assembled.
Oh goodie...
"What's the special occasion guys? Didn't think it was my birthday so soon." I manage to push myself into a sitting position before my sarcastic comment has Mace pulling me up uncomfortably by my hair.
"Now, now, Hicca. You best watch that vile tongue of yours before you have an accident and lose it." There's a sadistic grin in Bones' voice as she picks at her nails with her small knife.
"Well, you know me. The lot of you never gather around me unless it's a special reason. I've never seen so much stup-"
Her remark gets cut off by a sharp yanking of her hair by Mace and a swift jab to the stomach by Trap, effectively cutting off a scream before it could really escape.
"Hicca, seriously. Do you really think insulting us will help you in any way?" Hunter could be heard asking from somewhere behind the pinned viking, his voice full of fake sweetness.
Hicca struggles to turn some to glare at the boy only for a sharp yank on her hair to turn her direction back to face Bones again.
"The reason we're here should be plainly obvious, Hicca.Youare the village screw up. Nothing more, maybe less, but you willneverbe more. This little stunt you've got going on right now? Being good in training? It's the biggest fucking lie I've seen my entire life."
"I mean how would you know, Bones? Maybe I've found my true calling-"
"That's fucking bullshit!" She grabs the front of the smaller girl's tunic, harshly pulling her forward.
Mace never lets go of Hicca's hair, effectively keeping the poor girls head in the same position. Both actions cause tears to spring to to her eyes, refusing to let them fall, and a yelp to escape tightly clenched teeth and lips screwed shut. These actions just gain laughs and snickers from the group.
Mace suddenly pulls down on Hicca's hair and lets go, the force causing the stunned girl to drop back to the floor again and land more on her previously injured arm. Hicca forces herself to stifle yet another cry.
"Listen to her, Hicca. Bones knows what she's talking about. You are worth nothing. You could leave or get banished and no one would bat an eye, let alone miss you." Hunter speaks lowly in her ear after crouching to just above her level, never on it.
He slowly straights his spine as he stands back up again.
"Fucking kiss ass." Hicca mutters.
"What did you just say?"
He is immediately back in her face.
"I said that bitch wouldn't know how to use a dagger, let alone a damn sword. Of course I could be better than her at something."
The words barely finish leaving her mouth before she gets harshly tackled fully to the ground. The punches she receives are more felt than seen. To the face, the neck, the chest. She couldn't even raise her arms for any kind of defence because Hunter had them pinned with his knees.
"Hunter, that is enough! This bitch got what she deserved today. Keep talking like that and I'll make sure you know how good I am with a blade, Hicca. I'll cut your tounge out and shove it down your throat as we tie you to a mast and send you to drift off the edge of the world like the proper outcast you are. I'm sure even the Chief would agree, you pathetic excuse of a viking."
Bones hisses and spits in her face before pulling Hunter off Hicca. The group slowly dissipated, each member kicking the smaller viking anywhere they could while she cowered on the ground in a ball.
It takes a while after the group leaves for Hicca to finally unfurl herself from the tight ball she was in. It takes even longer to crawl over to the side of a hut and assess how bad her injuries might be.
Hicca rests a bit before on the sturdy building before reluctantly using it to pull herself to her feet. She continues on the same path she was taking before she was attacked, trudging her weary body back to the Haddock family home. Once there she resists the urge to sit or lay down, grabs a wash rag and leaves back out the door. She takes her time to make her way to the most secluded hot spring she knows.
When she finally arrives, she immediately strips down and eases herself into the hot pool. Eventually she manages to get all the way in and lean her head back on the edge and close her eyes.
Ugh..! Where is she...?
Astrid vaults over another fallen tree through the forest as she searches for her friend.
First I injure her, then I snap at her in front of everyone... it's no wonder I can't find her...
"Come on... think." Astrid mutters to herself as she slows down to a walk.
"If I were Hicca, if I were hurt, where would I hide?"
There's a pregnant pause as she comes to a complete standstill, thinking hard.
"Hot springs!"
She suddenly dashes off like a sheep running from a dragon. She runs as fast as she can then pushes her legs to go faster, still thinking hard to try and pin-point where her friend might be.
As she is so distracted, she loses her footing almost going off the side of one of Berk's sheer cliffs. She would have if it wasn't for the two hands fisted in the back of her tunic pulling her back, the person throwing all their weight down.
Astrid lands in a heap on the person who saved her. She turns, ready to give them either a piece of her mind, or to thank them, she's not sure yet. What she is sure of, is the groan of pain below her sounds familiar. Eerily familiar.
Hicca...! Oh Gods...
"Hicca! Are you crazy!? I've been looking for you for hours! Where the Hel have you been?" Astrid exclaims.
"Woah, calm down, Astrid. I'm still alive." Hicca bites out the last of her statement as though it's a curse.
Perhaps it is.
"Why are you out here?" Hicca asks suddenly, almost defensively.
"What...?" Astrid begins, confused.
"Why are you out here? Isn't it almost time for the group meet up?" Hicca states more than asks with a slight glare at the blonde.
"Look here, Hicca-!"
"Gonna stop you right there. I honestly don't care, Astrid."
"Wow. Really? You're going to act like this? Just because I took your shield and yelled at you a little? That shouldn't bother you! You're supposed to be a viking!"
Hicca's glare slowly turns lethal as Astrid goes on her little rant. By the time Astrid takes notice in her friend's demeanor, Hicca had smacked her square on her cheek and started walking away with a slight limp.
Astrid stood in stunned silence staring at the back of her best friend.
What the Hel just happened...?
Before Astrid could snap out of her thoughts and stunned state, Hicca had already managed to disappear in the direction of the village. Astrid suddenly gives chase, determined to figure out what all that was about.
She never did catch up.