A Saga Of Ice And Fire

Chapter Forty-Three - The Song Of The Dragon Island

Dawn had come—the sky was a shy bluish-pink and the air was the coldest it had been yet so far; All the reason to stay indoors by the warmth of a crackling fire or snuggled up under heaps of fur blankets whilst welcoming the seeping sands of slumber to envelop them. But Hiccup hadn't slept a wink the entire night—he couldn't. He'd spent the night pacing his room, tossing around in his bed with eyes wide open and his head in a distant place; a world away.

And so, at the first sign of light, he'd quickly dressed up, flung a fur cloak over his shoulders to brace the cold winds, and had slipped out of the castle and into the deserted muddy streets, heading straight to the empty kill ring where he'd been since he'd arrived over an hour ago, staring at the rusting iron and old, impregnable wood, a million thoughts and more all cascading down on him at once such that none of them stayed put long enough for him to make head or tail of it. He was left with a jumbled, senseless mess bouncing around inside his head.

A nauseating feeling bubbled inside him as his eyes raked over the fresh scorch marks that littered the stone wall and the flooring and unpleasant flashes of his encounter with the Monstrous  Nightmare pricked at him.

Steeling himself, he shifted his gaze over to the pen door behind which the monstrous nightmare that had nearly killed him mere days ago slept, it's deep snores thrumming through the ground and his very bones like a warning to him to just leave it alone. But this was the only plan he had and there really was no going back if he wanted to save Toothless.

His fingers curled subconsciously around the palm-sized black scale scab of the Nightfury that he'd kept with him in his room. He'd originally meant to throw it away when he'd found it sticking to his pants after a night of flying but had forgotten about it amongst other things until he'd found something hard and cold pressing into the side of his leg when lying in his bed during his days confined to his bedroom after what'd happened with the Monstrous  Nightmare and he'd kept it with him since. He wasn't really sure on how to get to the dragon nest but he knew the nadder was a tracker class dragon and it would probably be able to track down Toothless using the scab . At least he hoped it could because he really had nothing else to go off on.

The sound of a distant chatter sneaked it's way into the storm of thoughts thrashing around inside his head and he turned just in time to see Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Fishlegs and Astrid make their way into the kill ring(surprisingly enough, Snotlout was with them as well, bringing the rear).

The group stopped dead in their tracks as their eyes landed on the lone figure in the arena. Hiccup tried to ignore how his insides were squirming and attempted to smile but found his mouth feeling exceptionally dry and it may have come off as far more unpleasant than intended.

"Oh great . You-know-who decided to grace us with his presence." Snotlout remarked scathingly.

"Hey,  get outta here, Skogarmaor! We Berkians are gonna be sparring right now and you better not be around by the time I'm  done picking my hammer!No outsiders allowed!" Snotlout  yelled with cupped hands.

The twins and Fishlegs continued to stare at Hiccup, blinking in unison. Astrid pushed through them and strode forward.

The rest of the group exchanged quiet glances with each other for a moment as Astrid made her way over to Hiccup and joined his side.

Snotlout's brows creased. "Astrid? What're  you. . . ."

His eyes widened. "Oh my . . . . Oh my gods!" Snotlout  exploded ."He  bewitched her !"

"Oh for the love of Thor, nobody's  bewitched anyone, you idiot!" Astrid snapped. "And I didn't  even ask you to tag along !"

" I can come and go wherever the hel  I want! " Snotlout snapped back, his face red. "And if you're not bewitched, why the hel did you invite him here? He blackmailing  you or something ?"