The Outcast Lands (COMPLETED)

[MozartMeerkitten]

Please post more! Pleeeeeaaasee!

[mrjop2]

A new chapter coming this weekend. Sorry for the delay, getting ready for vacation. I will be gone from Monday this coming week to Sunday. The following monday, I will continue writting. This next chapter, is almost done, and will have it up this weekend.

And the results are in: Thanks for all the supports. These are the awards that I have won in this years fan fiction awards: (On another fan fiction sight, they acknowledge fan fiction stories with 'awards'. This year, I've done very well.

Best Action 2011: Trial By Fire (aka Flight of the Shadow Lord)(Three-way Tie)
Best Fantasy 2011: Trial By Fire (aka Flight of the Shadow Lord)
Most Underrateed 2011: Superman: The Last Son of Krypton (Two-way tie)
Best Ensemble Cast 2011: Superman: The Man of Steel

So that's two awards for Flight of the Shadow Lord, and one award for both of my Superman storys. What a year!

[Varðr]

kewl!!

Congrats!! : >

[mrjop2]

I'm going on a vacation this week. Will return this Sunday. Will commence writting the next chapter a week from tomorrow. How long it takes will depend on how fast I can get back into my writting grove!

Chapter 9

“I’m totally freaking out now,” Fishlegs exclaimed, now more convinced than ever that Gobber’s stories about the island were true.

“How is this possible?” Stoick asked, baffled by this development. He could not imagine how it was possible that a dragon was capable ofspeaking their language. It was almost enough to shake his nerves and begin taking his friend’s warnings with a little more hedence.

“You saved me. Why?” Astrid asked.

“I was just roaming around when I saw you in danger,” Stormfly replied, but no longer were those words out of the dragon’s mouth when her skin and scales turned to violate.

Everyone gasped in awe when they saw the dragon change color. It was rare to see a dragon with the capability to change colors, especially one that can talk. As for Astrid, she found it odder that the dragon changed color right after that comment. What kind of emotion was behind those words? She already saw Stormfly turn dark blue when displaying anger or aggression, so she knew that the dragon was not angry. She acknowledged that she knew nothing about the dragon, but she began to wonder if the dragon’s negative feelings made the dragon change to a dark color. Was the dragon lying? Deception was the only emotion she could think of, which made sense after being given a response like that.

Stormfly noticed her look of disbelief and then looked down at the scales of her front right leg. When she saw that her color had changed, she shook her body and focused on changing back to her normal color.

“You were following us, weren’t you?” Astrid eyes her suspiciously.

“Me? No, I wasn’t,” She defended, but the dragon again turned purple.

“You’re lying!” Astrid said, not in an accusing manner, but more of a surprised, revelatory manner. “You turn violate every time you tell a lie.”

The golden dragon drooped her head, as her skin and scales slowly turned pink. “I was curious about you, Camicazi!”

“Wait… what?” Snotlout interrupted. “You’re that creepy voice that’s been hounding us?”

“Who’s Camicazi?” Hiccup asked.

Stormfly returned to her normal golden color as she looked in Astrid’s direction. “She’s Camicazi!”

“Me? I think you’ve got me mixed up with somebody else; my name’s not Camicazi.”

“I want to help you, Camicazi, and your friends. This island is full of danger.”

“Are there any humans on this island? We’re stranded here with no way to get back home.” Stoick asked. If this dragon was capable of speaking in Norse, then there had to be other humans on this island from whom she had learned from.

Stormfly hesitated for a second before answering the question. “I will bring you to someone who could possibly help.”

The Viking’s nerves were eased when the dragon kept her natural color; but that did not mean that they could trust the dragon. That was why all eyes went towards Hiccup for the final decision. “I guess it couldn’t hurt, since she does know the island better than we do.”

* * * *

As their journey continued deeper into the island, Stormfly seemed to tag behind Astrid intensely. For some reason, the Mood dragon was taking much more interest in her than anyone else. It appeared that she was completely sold on Astrid being this Camicazi person. Hiccup could not help but wonder if this dragon belonged to Camicazi, and if Astrid was a splitting image of her. It would explain the dragon’s infatuation with her.

The mood dragon was not the only curious dragon among them. Toothless took an interest into Stormfly. Frequently, he would take a look over at the other dragon. Hiccup could not help but notice how many times his dragon stole glances in her direction. He also noticed that the Night Fury was casually falling more and more behind. If he didn’t know better, he would have sworn that Toothless was slyly trying to wind up walking next to her.

He finally accomplished just that, and was now walking beside Stormfly. She looked curiously at him as he let out a series of moans and grunts. She smiled at the Night Fury and let out a flirtatious laugh. “You’re cute.”

Upon hearing those words, Toothless’ legs failed him and he began to wobble around. His tongue flapped outside of his mouth as he acted like a Viking who had indulged in too much ale. Hiccup could not help but smile at his love-struck dragon.

Stormfly laughed as she watched the Night Furies reaction. Their moment of light-hearted fun came to an end, though, when they both smelled danger approaching. “Stop!” She yelled as her skin and scales turned to dark blue.

Toothless attitude quickly changed, as he also sensed the danger that was coming. He was growling by the time Hiccup got to him. “What’s out there?”

Out of nowhere, a thin dart-like object flew past Hiccup’s face and impaled itself into the ground.

“Poison Darters!” Stormfly growled.

“Raise your shields!” Stoick ordered.

The order came just in time, as ten more darts came flying at them from withint the forests. All the darts were reflected, successfully, by their shields as ten small dragons came flying towards them. They were dark green in color and were about the size of a Gronkle. They almost looked like miniature Monstrous Nightmares in body structure.

“Keep your backs to the trees!” Stormfly instructed the Vikings. That would protect the Vikings from behind, and give the small dragons less opportunity for accomplishing a sneak attack. “Whatever you do, do not let one of those darts hit you; their poisonous! They may be less harmful to you larger Vikings; but to you little ones, they can be deadly!”

That last warning was for Hiccup, and he knew it, but he was not about to sit out and stay on the defense this time. He was determined to do something to help out. He quickly climbed up onto the saddle on Toothless’ back.

“What are you doing?” Astrid asked in alarm. If those darts were as poison as the Mood dragon made it out, then Hiccup could easily be killed by one of them. He was the last one to be trying to take on these dragons.

“Toothless and I’ll keep them distracted. You guys get ready if any of them decides not to follow.”

“I’m going with you, little Viking,” Stormfly replied, and then looked over towards Astrid. The golden dragon bent forward until her long neck touched the ground. “Care to ride with me, Camicazi?”

“My name is Astrid, not Camicazi!” she replied, finding being called ‘Camicazi’ very annoying. She took the dragon up on her offer, not willing to let Hiccup risk his life alone. He and Toothless would have a better chance with their help.

As she climbed onto Stormfly’s back, Bitwolf ran out to join them. “I’m coming too. You’ll need as much help taking those beasts down as you can get.”

Stormfly did not object. While she had nothing against the other Vikings, she was more concerned for the female Viking’s safety. The only way she could assure her safety while fighting off the Poison Darters were to have her on her back. She was willing for the taller young Viking to also ride with her, mostly because it would protect Camicazi from the rear. The dragon had no doubt that the male Viking would not be as at-risk from a poison dart as the girl.

With his ax in hand, Bitwolf climbed onto Stormfly’s back, sitting right behind Astrid. “Are you sure about this?” He asked Astrid. “This dragon’s still wild, after all.”

“Of course I’m wild,” Stormfly said with a little annoyance behind her voice. “And don't you forget it!”

The two dragons took to the sky, with Toothless leading the way. They pushed through the thick forest towards the open sky above. Bitwolf looked behind them to see a couple of the small dragons in pursuit. As they continued to fly upwards, others came out of hiding to join them.

The lead Darter opened its mouth and fired a poisonous dart. Bitwolf was barely able to get the head of his ax in front of his face to reflect it away. “That was close!”

“Let’s see if we can get some of them to follow us,” Astrid said, leaning forward in anticipation of some slick flying.

“You read my mind,” Stormfly replied with a grin.

The dragon took a sharp right before reaching the open sky. Astrid looked back to see if they had succeeded in getting some of them to follow. From a quick look back, it looked like they had gotten the attention of three or four of them.

“Hold on tightly!” Stormfly warned.

Astrid leaned forward and held firmly to the dragon’s neck. Bitwolf had no choice but to hold on tightly onto her as the dragon began her speedily swerves around trees. The pursuing Poison Darters dodged all the trees as well, keeping up with the Mood dragon with incredible speed and swiftness.

The small dragons fired a series of poison darts at them, but Stormfly avoided them by dodging around a large tree. The Darters continued their chase, firing darts as they did.

The Mood dragon tried a new tactic to cause confusion among the small dragons. She retracted her wings as far as she could and spun rapidly in mid-air. She was able to narrowly avoid a few darts thanks to her spinning and twisting around.

“I think I’m gonna throw up!” Bitwolf complained. Astrid may be used to flying on the back of dragons, but he wasn’t. His eyes could not hold a single image in all the blur, and his body was starting to protest.

Stormfly ceased her spinning and spread out her wings before gravity was able to pull them back towards the ground. Gliding through the forest, it took a minute for the world to stop spinning for Bitwolf. Once his head did clear, he looked back to see the angry Darters still on their tail. He looked straight ahead, and an idea formed in his mind. “Fly as close as you can to that branch, up ahead.”

Stormfly grunted an affirmative response, and positioned herself to swoop right underneath the branch that the male Viking pointed out. Bitwolf raised his ax, hoping he could muster enough strength in his arms without having a steady foothold.

The dragon raced towards the branch, and flew dangerously close to it. She was almost scared that the girl would crash into it. Bitwolf threw his ax and bent forward, in anticipation of the branch break from the tree.

The blade of the ax cut through the branch, just as Stormfly flew underneath it. The Poisonous Darters could not avoid flying into the branch. The branch, itself, was not enough to take out the dragons, but it disoriented the dragons enough to have one to crash into the tree trunks, and the others to crash into each other.

The dragons struggled to recollect themselves. Seeing the disarray among them, Stormfly decided to take advantage of it. She flew around the large tree and sped right towards the dragons. Unleashing a breath of flames, she scattered the treacherous little dragons.

* * * *

There were more Poisonous Darters than it first appeared. Stoick, Gobber, and the young Vikings were fending off three more dragons. Gobber used his shield to save himself from a dart, while using his hammer prosthesis to attack one of the dragons. Stoick was in the middle of a wrestling match with one of them. He used one of his giant hands to keep the dragon’s mouth shut while he used the other one to deliver some body blows. “Wretched little dragons!

“Just like the good ol’ days, ain’t it!” Gobber said after another swing of his hammer.

Stoick did not reply. It had been a long time since he had wrestled with a dragon, but it was not as enjoyable as it once was. He no longer saw these beasts as a menace than needed to be exterminated. He saw them as normal animals who share the world they lived in. They were not the blood-thirsty demons from Helheim as and his people once supposed, but creatures who could reason, for the most part.

He looked up through the tree tops to see shadows flying in the sky. Hiccup was taking on a group of those Poisonous Darters up there. He could not help and worry about his son. Yes, he’s taken on more ferocious beasts before, but that did not stop him being concerned.

* * * *

Once Toothless was above the trees, the advantage was solely theirs. Toothless was the master of blending into his environment and coming out of nowhere for a sneak attack. Hiccup did not even have to give any commands; the Night Fury was in his element, or so he thought.

The Poison Darters proved to be very stubborn animals. Even though Toothless was clearly faster than them, they were not going to give up their pursuit. “They’re not getting the hint. Let’s try to scare them off.”

Toothless grunted and nodded his head. With the press of the pedal, they made sharp turnaround, with the dragaon’s wing-tips slicing the air currents with swift precisian. Now gliding straight for the group of darters, Toothless coughed out blue flames, which took the shape of a shockwave. The point was not to kill the animals, just to scare them off.

The burning shockwave disrupted the darter’s flight pattern and caused disarray among them. Toothless flying though them made the dragons even more disoriented.

Up ahead, he could see Stormfly, with Astrid and Bitwolf, rising above the trees and on their way up to where the action was. Hiccup was glad to see that they were alright. He saw them fly off in a different direction, taking a few of the dragons with them. It was great to know that Stormfly was a great flyer; he had his reservation about Astrid riding on a strange and wild dragon, whom they had just met.

“Hiccup, behind you!” Astrid shouted, still from a long distance away.

Barley loud enough for him to hear, Hiccup did as warned, only to find a twig-like poisonous dart fly across his line of site. A couple darters had started to chase after him again. “Let’s see how fast they can go!”

Hiccup leaned forward, and pressed his prosthetic foot down on the pedal. Toothless put more strength into each flap of his wings, and pushed himself to go as fast as he could. Slowly, the Poisonous Darters were starting to fall behind. He was surprised that they had not left them in the dust. Those darters were proving to be very speedy dragons after all.

Stormfly flew upwards, heading straight for the darters that were chasing Hiccup and Toothless. As soon as they were in reach, she unleashed her fiery breath, and scattered the last remaining dragons away. The Poison Darters all retreated from the battle; two speedy dragons were more than a match for them.

“Well, that was close,” Hiccup said, relieved that this threat was now over. He rolled his right shoulder around to get the stiffness out, but the strange sensation that he was feeling was only increasing.

He reached across his own chest with his left arm, and used his hand to rub the back of his right shoulder. That was when he felt something out of the ordinary. Something was sticking out of his brown-fur vest. He used two fingers to grab hold of it and gave it a gentle yank. It was only after he pulled it out when he realized that it had punctured through his clothes and his skin. There was a quick flash of pain as if a large splinter was quickly pulled out of his skin. He looked at what he had pulled out, and was shocked to see one of the darts from the Poisonous Darters in his hand. “Oh, this is not g—“

Everything began to grow blurry and every part of his body began to go numb. It felt like millions of pins and needles pricking every spare inch of his body at the same time. His motor functions started to go as he became too weak to sit up. He fell forward, onto Toothless’ neck, which unintentionally caused his prosthesis to lighten up on the pedal.

Toothless grunted in alarm, as his ability to stay in flight became seriously hampered. His artificial tail-fin was open just enough to soften their out-of-control descent; instead of taking a sharp nose dive, they were gliding down towards the treetop.

“Hiccup!” It took her almost a minute to realized what was happening. “They’re in trouble. We’ve got to go help them!” She said, patting Stormfly on the neck.

“Hold on, Toothless!” Stormfly shouted making a sudden stop in mid-air, and a quick spin-around. She raced as fast as she could to catch up to Toothless.

The Night Fury was crying in alarm, unable to do anything to save himself; Hiccup’s foot was positioned on the pedal making it near impossible for the dragon to safely land on his own. Stormfly glided beside Toothless. “Hiccup, wake up!” Astrid shouted.

“It’s no use, he’s been hit by a poisonous dart!” Stormfly replied. “Someone's gonna have to jump onto Toothless’ back and fly them down to safety.”

“I guess that’s gonna have to be me,” Astrid replied

“No, I’ll do it!” Bitwolf replied. “Hold my ax for me.”

“Someone do something quick! The little Viking is slipping off!”

Stormfly did her beast to steady herself as Bitwolf awkwardly positioned himself to leap off the back of the dragon. It proved to be a very difficult and daunting task; he never imagined himself ever doing anything this insane in his lfe.

Toothless tried his best to keep Hiccup from sliding off, but a sudden gust of wind caused him to lose his balance. Hiccup’s body slid off the saddle, with his artificial foot still locked into the pedal. The strain from gravity proved too much for the already weak wooden leg, and the wood snapped.

“Hiccup!” Astrid screamed, helpless only to watch him plummet towards the tree tops.

“You’ve got to jump now!” Stormfly told the tall young Viking preparing to jump off her back.

Finding the nerves to throw caution to the wind, he leaped off her back and landed onto the saddle on Toothless’ back. He quickly settled in, but found that a very big problem; the metal portion of Hiccup’s prosthesis was still stuck in the pedal. He had to find a way to get it out before they crashed into the ground.

With Bitwolf safely on the Night Fury’s back, Stormfly was free to go. “Hold on tightly, Camicazi!”

“My name is not Camicaaaa—” Before she could finish her protest, the dragon began a nose dive in an attempt to save the little Viking. She grunted as she pushed herself as hard as she could. Just before reaching the tree tops, she pulled her neck back and reached out with her right claw and narrowly and gently grasped the Viking boy. She glided skillfully through the trees, and until she could land on her three remaining claws.

Bitwolf tried to kick the prosthesis fragment out of the pedal latch. “Okay, I know you don’t like me any, but if you want to live, you’re gonna have to trust me!”

Toothless reluctantly agreed, seeing that he had no other choice. Giving him the nod of approval, Bitwolf pulled out a pocket knife from his belt and carefully studied the design. He looked for the leather strap that connected the pedal to the artificial tail-fin. Holding the strap with one hand, he cut the strap between his hand and the pedal.

The strap snapped free, and with a hard pull on it, the tail-fin opened completely, giving the Night Fury back full control of his flight ability. He flew down through the tree tops and flew through the woods until he found Astrid and Stormfly. He swooped in, and made a perfectly smooth landing.

“Whew, that was close,” Bitwolf said, breathing heavily.

He climbed off of the saddle and joined Astrid, who was trying everything in her power to get Hiccup to wake up. They were soon joined by Stoick and the rest of the gang.

“Hiccup!” Having seen what happened to his son up in the sky, he led Gobber and the rest of the young Vikings as fast as he could to where he saw the Mood dragon land. As soon as he got there, Astrid had to jump away to avoid Stoick, who swooped his son into arms. He placed an ear to his chest, hoping to still hear a heartbeat. “He’s still alive, but his breathing is erratic.”

“Is there something we can do for him?” Astrid turned to Stormfly.

“He’s a small Viking. I don’t know if he’ll survive this or not, but there is something that we can try.”

The crackle of thunder echoed all around them as a new wave of storm clouds started to make their way towards them. “Night is falling and a storm is approaching. There’s a cave up ahead where we can take shelter. Then, I’ll go find some berries that might help with the poison.”

[Varðr]

This island is more dangerous than I thought!!

Hopefully Hiccup survive!

[MozartMeerkitten]

This is not good, this is not good at all.
Still, small people can have more strength in them than it seems.....

AND WHERE THE HECK DOES CAMICAZI COME INTO THIS?!?

[mrjop2]

Stormfly calling Astrid Camicazi serves as a nod of respect to the book series, where a young Viking girl named Camicazi owns Stormfly. In the movie, they got rid of Camicazi, but modeled Astrid Hofferson after her instead.

As the story progresses, I think you'll be satisfied how I handle the dragon calling Astrid by this name.

[Varðr]

here’s a cave up ahead where we can take shelter.

Yeah right..... Let me guess.... the cave isn't empty!!

Like in haunted house...

"Hey, lets go to the basement!!! Surely there isn't any scary s*1t down there"

: D

[mrjop2]

Sorry for the long wait. Had a family medical emergency right after coming back from vacation. As for the 'ax' or 'axe' I live in America. Ax is the proper American English spelling of the word while Axe is the proper Brittish English spelling of the word. The Brittish version is often used by writters in Canada and Australia as well. So both spellings are correct, depending on where you live. Crazy, I know.

Chapter 10

The clouds let loose just as they reached the cave. As they hunkered down in the shelter, Astrid and Stormfly went off to find some wild berries that would be used to make some medicine for Hiccup. By the time they were ready to leave, Hiccup had developed a fever, further complicating the situation. While the rest of the Vikings were setting up fire pits for them to keep warm for the night, she and the Mood dragon were scavenging through the forest in the pouring rain.

The rain was of no concern to her; she would brave any element to find these berries that would cure Hiccup. At first, she was surprised that she was allowed to go alone with the talking dragon. Did Stoick trust the dragon that much to allow her to go unaccompanied by another Viking? She surmised that he was too distracted with the situation of his son to consider all the options. Anyway, this lack of concentration erred in her favor; they had no one to slow them down. She only had to put up with the strange Mood dragon which seemed to have latched onto her.

Lightning streaked across the sky, seemingly trying to frighten them from their task. Stormfly acted as if she could hardly hear the storm all around them; even Astrid had to admit that the strength of this storm was unnerving. Berk had its fair share of thunderstorms, but nothing of this magnitude.

“How much farther is it? This isn’t a trick, right?”

“We don’t have much farther to go,” Stormfly replied, her scales remaining the same color as she did. “We’ll find your berries, Camicazi!”

“I’ve said it before, my name is not Camicazi,” She replied.

The dragon either did not hear her response, or she was ignoring her. Either way, she had a feeling that trying to convince the dragon of her real name was going to be a pain in her neck. Just hearing that name was already starting to get her blood boiling. She had no idea why the dragon insisted in calling her this name, or what it meant, but she did not like it.

“Tell me the truth, is Hiccup going to die?”

“There’s no telling. He's a small Viking; I’ve seen dragons his size killed by one of those darts, but he still lives. What he lacks in mass, he makes up for in spirit. The juice from these wild berries should aid him, but in the end, the fight to live is still his.”

In a strange way, she found that a little encouraging. As they continued through the downpour, she decided to try to distract herself with different thoughts. “So, are there any other Mood dragons on the island?”

“Oh yeah, there’s a whole heard of us here,” the dragon replied. Her body immediately turned purple.

“Care to tell me the truth, now?” Astrid frowned.

The dragon sighed. “I’m the only one on the Island.”

“How is that possible? You have to have a mother.”

Stormfly changed colors once again, this time to a light green. The Dragon was trapped; that was a question she did not want to answer. She should have anticipated these types of questions when she decided to reveal herself to these Vikings. This question was only going to lead to more questions which she was just not ready to answer.

“Over there! The berries are over there!”

To the right, there was a single bush with bright-red berries growing from its branches. It was the only bush of its kind in the area. Astrid rushed over and ripped a large branch from the bush. “This should be enough. Let’s get this branch back to the cave.”

* * * *

Hiccup was running through the forest. With night fallen, the moon light provided barely enough light for his eyes to see any obstacles in his way. His heart raced in his chest, as his lungs worked hard to keep up with the strenuous labor of his running.

He had no idea where he was running to, but he knew, perfectly well, what he was running from. Behind him, the forest was catching fire. The flames reached high above the tree tops. It took everything he had to outrun the flames that were doing everything in their power to reach out and grab hold of him.

As he ran, he came across an open field with a large open view of the night sky. After reaching the center of the field, he dared to take a breather and take a glance back. The burning trees were pushed aside by a large fiery hand, and stepping out from the forest was a giant made of firet. He stood as tall as the tallest tree in the forest, and stared down at him with his devilish black eyes. On the top of his head were two demonic horns, also made of fire.

All the signs around him warned him to run, but his brain was unable to communicate with his legs; fear had taken control of all of his senses. To say that the sight of this creature was horrific would be an understatement. A part of him believed in the gods and all the stories he learned over the years, but the more pragmatic side of him did not actually believe that the stories were real. Hearing Gobber’s story of how Thor, himself, come to his aid during one of his earlier battles with the Boneknapper, was almost laughable. Seeing a Fire Giant right from his childhood stories made those stories not so funny anymore.

From the burning forest, now behind the Fire Giant, the familiar looking Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus stepped out and stood beside the giant. Like before, this one was bigger and uglier than Green Death and there was nothing left of its wings but the skeletal structure. It looked towards Hiccup with all six of its eyes. The fire giant treated the dragon as his pet, almost petting the dragon with his hand of flames.

Another giant stepped out of the part of the forest that had yet to catch fire. This second giant was of another breed. He was nearly see-through, with streaks of lightning flowing inside of him. If Hiccup remembered his stories correctly, he guessed that this new being was a Storm Giant.

He looked up in sheer terror at the two giants and the large dragon, which looked at him as if he was a piece of meat. The fire giant waved his hand to his right, urging the boy to look in that direction. When he did, he saw his father, Astrid, and everyone else that had journeyed across the island. All of them stood there, frozen in place like statues.

The dragon by the giant’s side turned his focus on the group of Vikings, and without warning, it unleashed a devastating flow of flames. The flames roared like thunder, as they engulfed everything standing in its way. The billowy flames raced towards the Viking statues and quickly swallowed them up.

The storm giant pointed to his left, drawing Hiccup’s attention towards that direction. He could see a giant map-like drawing of Berk. The entire village was swarming with over a hundred of dragons, of various species, as it was burning to the ground. The image of the map disappeared, and he found himself surrounded by a legion of dragons.

There was something familiar about these dragons; all of them were breeds that were found at Berk. In fact, these were the dragons from Berk, and all of them were staring down at him. It appeared that the giants were able to get the dragons to start a rebellion.

Standing in front of the giant’s feet was the same strange-looking old woman. She held a hand-crafted walking stick at her side, as her pale, wrinkled face continued to show no sign of emotions. Somehow, she seemed to be the one responsible for everything he was seeing. That gut feeling changed, however, when he heard the sound of a deep laughter from the woods. A hefty, male figure was walking from the shadows of the trees. The manner that this man walked exhibited dignity and leadership.

Hiccup’s nervous was so frayed that his stomach started to turn. He could not help to feel that it was important to see who this man was. He waited and watched as the man made his way into the light.

* * * *

Hiccup’s eyes fluttered open, and found himself lying beside a fire pit. It was the last thing that he wanted right then; he was so hot as it was, that the heat from the fire was almost suffocating. His face was drenched with sweat that he would have sworn was boiling upon his burning forehead.

His mind was reeling from the dream that he had just experienced. It felt very different from the nightmares that he had been experiencing lately. This one felt more like a warning, rather than a scary dream. It was unfortunate that he was awakened before he had the chance to see the face of the man. He had no idea what the dream meant, if anything, but he could not shake the feeling that it, and all the subsequent nightmares had some sort of meaning to them.

His head was spinning, making it impossible for his eyes to focus on anything. Through the mental fog, he thought he saw his friends surrounding another fire pit, boiling some kind of liquid. It looked like Stormfly were watching them intently… or was she instructing them? Before he could determine, everything went dark once again.

* * * *

Somehow, he had known something had gone awry, and why wouldn’t he? He was her son after all. “Tell me what happened, Witch?”

“My sister's getting involved now,” the old woman said, looking down the hill at the red glow coming from the entrance of the cave which was underneath them. “She was trying to warn the boy about you. Luckily, I intervened before that could happen.”

“That woman is going to ruin everything!” The Viking barked bitterly. “I’ve done everything in my power to find her, but she’s too good at hiding. What can you do to fix this?”

“I will plant another nightmare in him, and enforce what I’ve already started. He will sweep the dream away with all the other nightmares.”

“Good. I think it’s time to accelerate the plan to the next level. The boy will survive, won’t he?”

“Yes, the boy is very resilient. The Mood dragon is instructing the Vikings of Berk on how to make the healing berry tea. The boy should be fine by the morning.”

“Good,” The Viking replied. “Of course, this rain is not helping matters any.”

“You worry too much,” The woman replied. “I have the ears of Byleist.”

The Viking shrugged upon the last statement she made. “Byleist, Surtur, Odin, Thor… I don’t believe in these superstitious myths. The only reason I tolerate such talk is that use of those names helps get me what I want.”

“Don’t mock the giants. I worship both Byleist the Storm Giant and Surtur the Fire Giant. Who’s not to say that Surtur was not locked away in this very mountain by the gods?” She responded, pointing to the volcano with her staff. “How else do you think that I am able to control Furious, Surtur’s pet dragon?”

Her son started to get frustrated with this discussion. “You 'claim' that the dragon belongs to this Fire Giant of yours. Just because you’re my mother doesn’t mean I will so openly accept your superstitious ways as fact. As long as I get what I want, that’s all I care about.”

[Varðr]

So, I is Hiccup bewitched or something??

hmm, A Viking, who doesn't believe in gods? Very interesting...

Eagerly waiting for another chapter!!! :>

[MozartMeerkitten]

Sept 30, 2011 21:33:44 GMT -5 mrjop2 said:

“Tell me the truth, is Hiccup going to die?”

“There’s no telling. He's a small Viking; I’ve seen dragons his size killed by one of those darts, but he still lives. What he lacks in mass, he makes up for in spirit. The juice from these wild berries should aid him, but in the end, the fight to live is still his.”

Ah, the wonderful resilience of small people. xD

Sept 30, 2011 21:33:44 GMT -5 mrjop2 said:

As he ran, he came across an open field with a large open view of the night sky. After reaching the center of the field, he dared to take a breather and take a glance back. The burning trees were pushed aside by a large fiery hand, and stepping out from the forest was a giant made of firet. He stood as tall as the tallest tree in the forest, and stared down at him with his devilish black eyes. On the top of his head were two demonic horns, also made of fire.

I'm sorry but all I could think of when I read this the first time was, "Its a Balrog!" lol

[mrjop2]

Chapter 11

As the night progressed, Astrid was comforted to find that Hiccup’s fever broke. Unluckily, after a few nightmares throughout the night, his father began to ask questions. Hiccup had still been too groggy to answer them and that left her being the one having to answer them. She had to tell him everything she knew.

It was late at night, and everyone was sleeping throughout the cave. Taking advantage of it, Astrid quietly slipped out of the cave. The storm had long passed, leaving a perfect view of the starry sky. Astrid was astonished how quickly the weather seemed to change on this island.

Astrid explored through the forest, but not too far away from the cave. The last thing she needed was to get lost, but she also needed some privacy. She walked as far away as she dared to, without losing sight of the cave through the trees. She found a large rock sticking up in the ground, and it was in a perfect spot for her to sit and gaze up at the stars. And that was what she did, feeling the need to calm her mind.

She wished to the gods that she was back there rather than on this forsaken island. This adventure was quickly becoming distasteful to say in the least. Never in her life had she felt so… helpless. They were stuck on this island with no signs of human life anywhere, and with no way to leave. Yes, they had another ship racing to find help, but who’s to say that something did not happen to them?

Ever since they left on this journey, it felt like everything that could go wrong did. It was as if the gods were against them. Stormfly said that she was taking them to find help, but Astrid was not sure if the dragon could be trusted. She was already proving to have a reputation of lying. The dragon was hiding something, and the young Viking warrior was going to find a way to find out what it was.

“Watcha doing, Camicazi?” Stormfly’s abrupt interruption of her meditation caused her to scream and fall off from the rock. She found herself sitting in a small patch of mud, which only infuriated more than being startled back into reality. Enraging her even more was that the dragon had again called her ‘Camicazi’.

Astrid muttered a few choice words as she pulled herself unto her feet. “What are you doing, sneaking up on me like that? Also, will you stop calling me ‘Camicazi’ already? My name is Astrid!”

The dragon inquisitively tilted her head, unsure why she protested. “But you look more like a ‘Camicazi’.”

Astrid growled with frustration as she brushed herself off. The dragon remained curious about her reaction. “Whatcha doing?”

It took some effort to calm herself after the scare the dragon gave her. “I couldn’t sleep, so I came out here to think.”

“About what?”

Astrid was not in the mood to talk, especially to a talking dragon, yet she found herself treating the dragon as human. She had no idea why she even bothered doing so; it may have the ability to talk, but it was still just an animal. Who knew a talking dragon could challenge everything she knew about dragons. “I was wishing I was back at home rather than on this stupid island.”

“There may be evil on this island, but I promised to take you to help.”

Astrid looked at the dragon with leery eyes. “What kind of evil are you talking about?”

Stormfly changed color; but to what shade, she could not tell. There was not enough light for her to see clearly, but she was certain that it was not violet. “At sunrise, we must continue our journey. We can’t afford to stay in one play for too long.”

“Why? What’s out there that we need to be aware of?” Astrid pushed, feeling as if she was intentionally trying to hide the truth.

“Don’t worry, Camicazi. I’ll lead you away from harm.”

Before Astrid had a chance to respond, the dragon turned around and made her way back into the cave. Stormfly knew perfectly well what the evil was, and it terrified her. She wanted to tell Viking girl, but the dragon was too scared. She had been severely traumatized; just thinking about it was more than she could bare. With any luck, she could lead the Vikings away from the evil.

* * * *

When Hiccup awakened, he had more energy than he’s had in weeks. It had been a very long times since he felt this well rested, despite a few nightmares that, he now only vaguely remembered. Until now, he was beginning to wonder if these nightmares were some kind of warning; but now, he wasn’t so sure. Perhaps they were nothing more than frightening dreams.

Feeling the stiffness of his body, he stretched out his extremities to loosen his muscles up. As he did, his father sat beside him in behind the the burnt out fire pit which was still smoking. “You gave us quite a scare last night. How are you feeling?”

“Eh, I could go for some breakfast right about now.”

“We’ll see what we can do about that,” Stoick chuckled before his mood became more serious. “So, are you going to tell me about these dreams you’ve been having.”

“Sorry, I had to tell him,” Astrid said, joining the conversation and taking a seat on the other side of Hiccup.

Hiccup had no doubt that his father forced it out of her; perhaps it WAS time that the truth had come out. “It’s nothing, really. It’s only a few bad dreams… eeeeevery day for a few weeks.”

Stoick shook his head, blaming himself for this. The boy was barely a man, and he’s already been given a title. Ivar The Fearsome gave him the name ‘Hiccup the Horrendous’ when he paid Berk an unexpected visit a few months earlier. To earn such a frightening sounding title was the greatest honor bestowed on only those Vikings whose accomplishments are worthy to be told for generations to come. Hiccup had forever changed the way Vikings related with Dragons, and defeated two very deadly beasts on top of that. One of those beasts was the deadly Shadow Lord, the very dragon that Ivar the Fearsome was hunting. Ivar bestowed the title to Hiccup, knowing that his mark on Viking history had only just begun.

With such an honor given to him, more responsibility was thrust upon Hiccup, even at his young age. Stoick never thought twice about placing such a heavy burden on his son, but maybe he should have. “Perhaps I’ve overloaded you with responsibility?”

“No, Dad! That’s not it at all!” Hiccup urged. “I—I can handle the authority, Dad! That’s not the problem. I—I—I can’t explain what’s going on, but from what I remember of my dreams, the one thing that’s been constant in all of them is this strange old native woman. It can’t be a coincidence.”

This conversation was quickly involving the whole group. All of his friends and even Gobber had wondered over to them. Gobber overheard his description of the old woman, and he could hold his tongue no longer. “You’ve been bewitched boy! I’d bet my one good leg that your dreams are coming from a witch.”

“Gobber, not now!” Stoick was getting tired of these talks about witches and spooks. This was a particular inappropriate time to start that nonsense again.

Hiccup had no desire to get involved in that discussion again. Gobber was convinced that unnatural powers were behind all their misfortune. As wise and experienced of a warrior as he was, he did have a tendency to let his imagination get the better of him. Hiccup tended to believe that the past few days were just a string of bad luck, but these dreams of this elder woman, over the past few weeks, did give him some pause on his skepticism.

In excitement, Toothless pushed through the Vikings to get to Hiccup, who was quick to hover over Hiccup. All the Vikings laughed as Hiccup had to try to push the exuberant dragon off and get him to stop licking him. “Okay, okay!”

When the dragon finally calmed down and backed away, Hiccup decided it was time to stand up. He looked down at his artificial leg to see that the spring-loaded clamp, his prosthetic foot, was gone. All he had left was a shortened wooden stump.

“Here, let me help you,” Astrid said.

With Stoick’s aide, she helped him up. Standing with a wooden stump did not prove too hard. When Astrid and Stoick backed away, Hiccup tried to take a few steps, but without the metal clamp, walking proved to be quite difficult. Astrid stepped in and caught him before he fell to the face. “I think I’m gonna have to help for a while.”

“I think we should pack up and head back to the shore. Who knows what’s still out there on this island,” Bitwolf suggested. The Young Vikings nodded their heads; all of them were starting to feel as if that was the best course of action.

Stoick surprised them all with his response. “I think we’ve seen enough of this Island. We’re heading back to the main camp ‘til help arrives.”

Astrid looked around for Stormfly, wondering what she had to say about this decision, but the dragon was nowhere to be seen. “Has anyone seen the Mood Dragon this morning?”

All the young Vikings looked at each other with blank looks on their faces. “I’ve been up before everyone else; the dragon was long gone when I got up.” Tuffnut replied.

“No you weren’t! At sunrise, you were still fast asleep in your own drool!” Ruffnut replied, punching her twin brother in the shoulder.

“Hey!”

“The dragon left while we were all asleep?” Snotlout asked the question that everyone was mulling over. The dragon seemed almost inseparable to Astrid since they met; now, Stormfly was nowhere to be seen.

“Uh, there’s something lurking through the bushes outside!” Fishlegs announced nervously.

Everyone’s attention went to the bushes near the entrance of the cave. The sound of twigs snapping and leaves crunching from a distance alerted them that something was indeed approaching. Anyone who had a weapon and was capable of wielding them quickly pulled them out.

Stoick and Gobber stepped in front of the young Vikings, serving as a line of defense for the young Vikings. Stoick knew that it was an overreaction; the young Vikings were very capable in defending themselves. With Hiccup unable to ride Toothless and lead his friends, however, they were severely handicapped.

Stoick held his hammer high, ready to attack any dragon that attacked them. If it was Stormfly, everyone’s nerves would quickly subside, but up to this point, the Mood Dragon had never resorted to sneaking around. Viking instinct told him that this was not Stormfly who was approaching.

Stepping out of the brushes were three bulky Vikings who nearly dropped their weapons when they saw their group at the mouth of the cave. The one of the middle had the largest horned helmet and was dressed as a Viking chief. As a chief, himself, he could recognize another instantly.

“I knew I heard voices,” the chief said as he lowered his giant ax. “I don’t recognize any of you, though.”

Stoick lowered his hammer, overjoyed to, finally, run into another human for once. His first reaction to seeing them almost had himself pinching his arm to make sure he was still awake. At last, the gods had finally decided to give them a break for once. “Thank Odin we’re not the only Vikings here. We were stranded here by a giant storm. We were unaware that a Viking tribe inhabited this island.”

The Viking chief laughed. “We don’t get many visitors to our island due to these silly superstitious rumors out there.”

“So—so the island is not haunted?” Fishlegs found the courage to speak, especially if what he was hearing was true.

“Those rumors are nothing but children tales run amuck, I assure you. This island maybe called the Outcast Lands, but there is nothing haunted about it.”

“That’s good to hear. These stories were starting to play havoc on our moral,” Stoick chuckled. “I’m Stoick the Vast, chief of the tribe of Berk.

“Welcome, Stoick the Vast. The Outcast tribe welcomes you all to come to our village in your time of need. I’m the chief of this small, but mighty tribe; they call me Alvin the Treacherous!”

[MozartMeerkitten]

Oh frack, oh frack, oh frack.

RUN FOR YOUR LIVES IN THE OTHER DIRECTION YOU FOOLS! FLEE IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIFE! ITS ALVIN THE TREACHEROUS!

*cough* No really I'm serious; run. Build a bunch of rafts and sail away. NOW.

[mrjop2]

Chapter 12

Everyone followed Alvin and his Vikings as they led them to the village. Nearly everyone was overjoyed to see other Vikings on this island; it made it feel a little less wild. Astrid, on the other hand, seemed more distracted by Stormfly’s sudden disappearance. With Hiccup’s arm wrapped around her shoulders, she provided him balance and strength when walking on the stump which used to be his artificial foot. As she guided him, she remained silent, but Hiccup knew that the disappearance of the dragon was still on her mind. He was not as concerned as she was; he assumed that this was the help that the dragon was talking about, and that the Mood Dragon was probably waiting for them back at the village.

“Did I hear you correctly, that you’re from Berk?” Alvin asked Stoick, who was invited to walk next to him.

“Aye, it’s a tiny island on the south-eastern edge of the Barbaric Archipelago.

“By any chance, do you know the Viking by the name of Hiccup?”

Stoick could not hide the shock on his face. “Yes, he’s my son.”

He waved for Hiccup to join him up at front. Astrid helped Hiccup walk up to his father’s side; he was still having trouble walking on his broken prosthesis. He waved sheepishly, almost afraid of Alvin’s reaction to seeing how un-Viking-like he was.

“This is my son: Hiccup the Horrendous.”

The look on his face said everything; he was expecting a full-sized adult, not a tooth-pick of a kid. “You? You’re responsible for killing the dragon queen and the Shadow Lord?”

Snoutlout ran up and pushed Astrid out of the way so Hiccup could lean on him instead. “Hey!” Astrid protested!

“He sure is, and I’m his older cousin!” Snotlout grinned in pride.

Astrid pulled Snotlout away from Hiccup by the ear, nearly causing Hiccup to trip. She gave Snotlout a hard jab in the shoulder before rushing back by Hiccup’s aide.

“Ow!”

“Yeah, only by a season,” she grumbled.

Alvin looked at the back of the group to see the Night Fury following them. “By the gods, it is you!”

“Ah, and how do you know me, If I may ask?”

Alvin let out a hefty chuckle. Hiccup notice how close it was to his father’s; it had that same powerful and authoritative tint to it. “The stories of your heroism have spread across the Barbaric Archipelago. Our village is a big fan of yours.”

“Really? Fans?” Hiccup eyes lit up at thought of actually being popular for once. It was a nice change of paces to be liked from the beginning, after almost a lifetime of being scoffed at.

“Yes, our children love to hear the tales of the brave warrior who rides on the back of a Night Fury. We’ve also adopted the dragons of our island as our friends; of course, there are a few mindless, carnivorous species which can’t be reasoned with.”

“That’s to be expected. We’ve had our share of dragons like that,” Stoick replied. “In fact, our village was just recently attacked by a couple of them, thus the reason for our journey. We were on our way to the Visitnug Territory to request help and supplies so we can rebuild.”

“And then the strange weather marooned you here instead,” Alvin put the last piece of the puzzle in place.

“More or less.”

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Gobber could not hold in his question any longer. “How came we’ve never heard of you? Everyone has thinks your island is forbidden.”

“I wish I knew who started those rumors. I’d make them get pretty friendly with my ax!” Alvin replied. “We keep to ourselves, for the most part; this island provides us with everything we need, though we would prefer it if we had more visitors every now or then.”

As they continued their journey through the forest, Alvin had stolen a few glances towards Hiccups cracked wooden stump of a leg. “It looks like you’re in need of new leg.”

“Yeah, uh, we kind of had a run in with some hostile poison darters, and in all the commotion, I—I kindda had a mishap!”

Alvin laughed. “Those beasts may be stupid, but they’re good at being a nuisance. I’ll tell you one thing, they do make great cooking!”

The eyes of Stoick, Astrid, and Hiccup peered towards him, accompanied by looks of disgust. Alvin could not help but laugh at the expressions that they were giving him. “Relax, I’m joking!”

Alvin laughed as they lighten up after realizing that they had fallen for his joke. “We have a blacksmith shop at our village and a Viking who is probably the best blacksmith on this side of the globe.”

“Next to Hiccup and me, of course,” Gobber responded. He waved his artificial hand, which had his hammer attachment connected into it. “This, here, is my handy work. Just show us where the shop is, and Hiccup and I will build him a new leg that’ll make even a pirate jealous.”

“I’ll let you and Viggor work that out,” Alvin replied. “Well, here we are; welcome to the Outcast Tribe!”

The forest surrendered to a small, but healthy village that had a very similar feel to it as Berk. It was built at the foot of a giant volcano; it towered over them as a peaceful, sleeping giant. Though it looked like a small village, Hiccup was surprised by the number of Vikings he saw walking about.

As they entered the village, people started to take instant notice of them. Curiosity of the new Vikings caused many to stop at whatever they were doing. They were not used to having visitors come to their village, so they had no idea what to make of this.

“Listen up everyone!” Alvin spoke with such a thunderous voice that Hiccup sure that everyone in every part of the village could hear him. “We have visitors from another tribe among us today. Even more importantly… we have, in our midst, the one and only Hiccup the Horrendous!” Alvin pointed towards Hiccup, pointing him out to everyone in the village.

Hiccup could feel the growing number of eyes on him. The expressions on everybody’s faces were as if they were seeing a ghost. When they saw Toothless enter the village with them, the realization hit them that this was for real.

The Outcast Vikings started to gather around them, but most of them were more interested in meeting Hiccup. Young children, seemingly coming from nowhere, were gathering around Astrid and Hiccup, making it very difficult to walk. A large crowd of children had also gathered around Toothless. They were excited about seeing their very first Night Fury. Showing no fear of the dragon, the kids were excited to touch the dragon; a few even started to play around with his wings. The poor Night Fury had no idea what to make of these children. The dragon gave Hiccup a look as if to cry, “Please make ‘em stop.”

“Like your village, we, too, have come to embrace the dragons as our friends. Because of you, young Hiccup, we get along with the beasts, and we no longer have to fear for our lives.”

Hiccup was overwhelmed; he had no idea how befriending a dragon would change Viking traditions everywhere. He had been happy enough just to change Berk. Now, here he was on a strange island, surrounded by vibrant young children, who were not even afraid of a Night Fury. It was almost too good to believe.

“I see you brought company,” A Viking said, walking up to his closest friend, Alvin.

“Aye, that I did, Viggor!”

All the young Vikings stared at Viggor in disbelief. “Can you believe this?” Astrid whispered to Hiccup.

Hiccup could not reply; he was so stunned. Viggor was the splitting image of Gobber, except for the black hair. He even had peg leg and an interchangeable, prosthetic hand. The resemblance was uncanny.

“I want you to meet Hiccup the Horrendous, the one and only,” Alvin stepped aside and guided his friend towards Hiccup and Astrid.

“What this? You’re just a boy! From all the stories I’ve heard, I thought you’d be a wee bit bigger.”

“Y—you’d be surprised how many times I’ve heard that.”

“You’re just a toothpick… a twig even!”

“Aaaand, I’ve been called that quite a bit too.”

“You’re pulling my leg!” Viggor said, looking back at his friend to try to read his face and see if this was a joke.

“Here is his Night Fury to prove it!” Alvin directed his attention to the dragon at the back of the group. The number of children gathered around the dragon had increased. Some were playing with his wings. A young child, barely at the age to walk, came right up to Toothless’ face and stuck her tiny hands into one of his nostrils. The dragon did not like that too much; he raised his head out of the young child’s reach and shook his head as he bellowed out with a sneeze.

“Well I’ll be… I’ve never seen a Night Fury before.”

“Viggor, the boy’s in need of a new leg. Maybe you can fit him with a temporary replacement until you can create a new one.”

“Hmm, let me take a look at what we have here,” Viggor said. He scratched his chin as he looked down at what remained of Hiccups prosthesis. “I think I can whip something up.”

“Just get him with a temporary one, and I’ll do the rest,” Gobber stepped up to Viggor, determined not to be outdone. “I built the last one, and I can very much do it again.”

The two identical looking men inspected each other, and an instant competitive nature began to form in both of them. “Oh, you mean this is your work?” Viggor pointed to the broken prosthesis. “Better let the younger, more experienced blacksmith, like myself, handle it.”

“More Experience? Ah, that’s a joke!” Gobber snarled.

“Gobber, be polite!” Stoick ordered firmly, placing a hand on his shoulder. “We’re visitors to their home.”

“Well, between the two of you, I’m confident something will be done. Right now, let’s make our guess feel welcomed. Tonight, we honor you to our village by throwing you a giant feast!”

The Outcast villagers all cheered upon the announcement. Even Fishlegs joined in the celebration. He enjoyed the news so much, he could not hold back a tear. “I’m the happiest Viking in the world!”

[mrjop2]

Chapter 13

“Okay, son, tell me how this feels,” Viggor said as he took a step back.

He had finished with Hiccup’s temporary prosthesis, as crude as it was. He took two thick branches and tied them to his wooden leg to strengthen the rotting wood. With a few nails, he attached a block of wood at the bottom, which would serve as his foot. The wood was carefully carved in a curve to match Hiccups natural walking stride. He could not ride Toothless with this arrangement, but again, this was only a temporary fix until his new prosthesis was complete.

Hiccup stood up from his stool, a task now made easier with that block of wood; it was a promising start. Next, came the more difficult part. He prayed to the gods that it would work well enough that he would not have to depend on anyone to help him walk from place to place.

Taking a deep breath, he took a step forward onto his prosthesis and managed to stay on his feet. He continued the test by walking across the shop as Viggor and Gobber watched. He walked with a slight limp, but this little fix of Viggor’s seemed good enough for now. “I think this will do.”

“Keep in mind, this is only temporary,” Viggor assured him. “By tomorrow, I’ll have an artificial leg that’s fit for a hero.”

“Well…” Gobber stepped forward. “This may be a very primitive shop, but I think I can whip something up that should be somewhat up to my standards.”

“Primitive? I’ve seen your work, and it’s anything but impressive.”

What was it with these two? From the very beginning, it was hate at first sight. Hiccup had never seen Gobber this competitive before. There was nothing in the world worst than two hard-headed Vikings going at it, so while they were arguing, Hiccup sneaked out of the shop.

Astrid and Bitwolf had been sitting outside the hut talking while Hiccup was getting his prosthesis made. When they saw him come out, they were immediately at his side. “I see you’re walking on your own again.”

“It’ll do,” Hiccup replied with very little enthusiasm. As long as he was grounded from flying on the back of his Night Fury, he would not be very happy with any type of prosthesis given to him.

Hiccup looked at the expressions on his friend’s faces and could tell that he had interrupted a deep conversation. They wore unease on their faces as if it was naturally painted onto them. “What’s up, guys?”

Astrid looked at Bitwolf, using her eyes to tell him that he had better start the discussion. Bitwolf understood the message. “Something is not right here; we’re both very uneasy about all of this.”

“All of what?”

“This village… Alvin… all of it!” Astrid replied. “Something is seriously outta whack here!”

“Our island is only a day from the western shore of this island. As far as I know, no one from my tribe has ever heard of these people.”

“Let’s not forget that they ‘claim’ that they’ve adopted the dragons on this island as their friends. There’s not a single docile dragon anywhere to be seen in this village; I don’t count the wild beasts that’ve tried to kill us since we’ve been here.”

“How about Stormfly?” Hiccup pointed out. The mood dragon was the one responsible for bringing them here in the first place.

“Where is she? We haven’t seen her since the cave.” Bitwolf replied

“I—I don’t trust her, Hiccup? That dragon has a nasty tendency to lie, and when she wasn’t, she was very vague about everything. Stormfly is where my unease began,” Astrid replied. She felt bad that she had such a distrust for the dragon, but she could not shake her gut feelings on the matter; something was amiss.

“Pardon me!” Alvin came out of nowhere to startling all three of the young adults. “Forgive me for intruding, but did you say something about Stormfly? Have you seen her?”

Hiccup’s friends turned their eyes towards him. They were leaving it up to him whether or not to tell the Viking chief the truth. He could read it on their faces; they were against the idea. He was taking their concerns to heart, and had to admit… they did bring up some very valid points. Thinking about it carefully, he did not see the harm in telling him the truth; perhaps it will shed some light on some of their fears. “Y—yes, she led us to the cave where you found us. She’s disappeared since.”

Bitwolf did not try to hide the disappointing scowl he gave towards him. Astrid hid it much better, but Hiccup knew her well enough to be able to read it in her eyes; she thought this was a mistake, as well.

“You know about her?”

Alvin frowned and let out a soft sigh. “Aye. I’ve raised that dragon since just a hatchling. I thought she was a gift from the gods; who would have ever thought a dragon that can speak our language?”

“What happened?” Astrid asked.

“The dragon is young, and like all young children, she acquired a rebellious streak. We got in a fight, and she threw a temper tantrum. She flew off, and has not been back since.”

“That could explain why she disappeared on us?” Hiccup stated. Looking over at Astrid and Bitwolf; neither was really buying his story. He had no idea why; it made perfect sense to him. The dragon was running away from home. She helped them just enough so they could be found and then took off, still not ready to resolve the issue.

“If I may ask, sir, what was the fight about?” Astrid asked.

“Think about it. She’s the first dragon that can speak our language; Imagine what we could learn from them. I wanted to train her to communicate with the wild, more aggressive dragons. Instead, she spewed some nonsense about violating the dragon’s privacy.”

Without any warning, the earth moaned as the ground shook violently underneath their feet. The three young Vikings fought to stay on their feet as fear took hold of them. None of them have even been through an earthquake before, and it turned out to be more terrifying than they thought. The huts waved with the ground; the wood that they were made of was sturdy enough to remain intact.

Alvin had no problems standing on his feet. From his reaction, Hiccup could tell that these quakes were common place here on this island. The look on his face seemed to suggest that this was nothing more than a minor inconvenience. He merely looked back at the volcano until the shaking ended as quickly as it started.

The Vikings of the Outcast tribe acted as if nothing had happened and went on with everyday life. The reaction from Hiccup’s tribe was another story all together. All of his friends came running out of different huts. When they saw him with Astrid and Bitwolf, they ran to join them. “Can you believe that? That was absolutely wild!” Snotlout laughed.

“Yeah, it was like a mega monster came out of nowhere and took a giant step to shake…” He stopped himself when he noticed everyone was giving him an annoyed look. “Or, maybe not.”

“Alvin, are you sure your village is safe?” Stoick asked as he came walking up to them. He was on his way to check up on his son and Gobber until the quake hit. “That volcano seems awfully angry.”

Alvin bellowed out a hardy laugh. “There’s nothing to fear. That mountain’s nothing more than a kitten, though there’s an interesting story behind it.”

“Story?”

“Aye, passed down from generation to generation. You see, this tribe is a very religious tribe. Legend has it that before this land was inhabited, Odin and Thor, themselves, came here to do war against the fire giants and the weather giants.

“As the story goes, Surtur, of the fire giants, and Byleist of the weather giants formed an alliance to try to destroy Odin. It was the first and only time that two different fractions of giants worked together for a common goal; the destruction of Odin and the conquest of Asgard. They lured Odin and his army here to this island. The giants nearly won, but what the giants didn’t know, was that Odin KNEW that this battle was a trap.”

“What happened next!” Tuffnut said excitedly.

“Really?” Ruffnut rolled her eyes, “These children stories still excite you this much? Grow up!”

“You like them too and you know it. You have a children’s book stashed underneath you pillow that you read every night when you’re alone.”

Her return response was a fist cracking him in the nose and lips. “Shut up, troll!”

“Ow, that hurt! That very much hurt!”

Alvin disregarded the bickering of the twins and continued his story. “Knowing that this was a trap, he went into battle with the giants until it APPEARED that all was lost. That was when Odin sprung his own trap.

“Odin and his army vanished out of thin air, taking the giants by surprise. What the Giants failed to realize, was that they’ve been fighting illusions created by Loki. Odin and his army reappeared surrounding the giants along with Thor and an army of his own. Together, they decimated the giants.

“No one knows, for sure what happed to Byleist, but this tribe believes that Surtur, and his pet dragon, Furious, are imprisoned here in this mountain. To this day, our tribe believes that it’s the will of the gods for us to stand guard over this prison, and make sure the fire giant never escapes.”

“That was an awesome story! I can just imagine Thor taking Mjölnir and knocking some giant’s heads with it,” Snotlot swung an imaginary hammer in his imaginary battle with the giants. “What I wouldn’t give to have a hammer like that!”

“Well, that’s enough excitement for one day; our feast, in your honor, will start at sundown. It’ll not be much longer now.”