How to Train Your Dragon - Traitor Among Them

Chapter 5 - Fitting In

Lyra did not wake up with the others. In fact, she slept so late that it began to concern Astrid, who had left her alone for the most part. Finally, Astrid shook Lyra's shoulders so suddenly that Lyra couldn't help but flinch and sit up quickly, eyes still half-open and a confused frown forming on her face. She had never slept so late or felt so comfortable in years. Even with Viggo, she would sleep on the hardest of beds and fall into a restless sleep, waking as early as she could to end it.

"Well, at least you're not screaming this time," Astrid said. "Come on, we have work to do... and Hiccup wants to keep you within eyesight."

"I thought he trusted me," Lyra mumbled, pulling the pelts off of her.

"He certainly trusts you more than you deserve, but the rest of us had some words of caution."

"One can never be too cautious," Lyra added, and Astrid nodded in approval.

Lyra followed Astrid out the door, only to be nearly tackled to the ground by a charging dragon. It was Enya, nuzzling her. She hummed deeply, clearly pleased to see her. Lyra laughed and wrapped her arms around Enya's face.

"Good morning, girl."

Stormfly landed on the platform, and Astrid hopped on.

"Come on, I'll take you to the others."

Later...

Lyra was distracted. She barely heard the twins shout a warning before they swerved in front of her, and Enya growled angrily. Lyra patted her neck, shooting the twins a disapproving look that quickly cut their laugh short. The rest of them were in the air, getting their dragons to lift and carry nets of wood and other materials. Toothless and Hookfang dropped a large net, listening to Hiccup's instructions. Hiccup noticed her and waved but was too busy with his tasks to fly over. The twins, however, wasted no time dumping several wooden beams rather roughly and flying back over, both of them giving her a very skeptical look.

"You may be new around here," Ruffnut started to say, nodding to her brother.

"We just wanted to let you know, despite what everyone says, we're in charge," Tuffnut finished, drawing himself up.

"Really?" Lyra pretended to sound genuinely shocked, resting her chin on her fist.

She nodded slowly as the twins elaborated.

"Hiccup may act like he has it all together, but he comes to us more often than he'd like to admit for advice, encouragement –"

"Ha! The only thing you twins are good for is making things twice as frustrating," Snotlout laughed, soaring above them.

"You will need our council one of these days, Snotlout, you just watch!" Ruffnut yelled.

"Are you two going to get to work or not? Everyone has a job to do, and while you've been goofing off, the rest of us have nearly finished –" Fishlegs motioned behind him "– that."

It was an unfinished wall with catapults on top, spread out in order to handle more ground and ocean. Lyra frowned, ignored the twin's defensive response, and guided Enya forward. She came to a stop in front of Toothless, and Hiccup couldn't help but pause his work.

"Why are we building a defense?"

"We're always trying to make the Edge a more... safe place." Hiccup answered.

"You get attacked that often?" Lyra asked, wondering if the reason Viggo talked about them so much was because he had tried to catch them by surprise more than once.

"You could say that, but it's also good to be prepared," Hiccup responded.

Lyra nodded, and she knew Viggo was planning to attack, as long as she was still on the island. She could warn them right now, but what good would it do? They were clearly experienced fighters already, and the remark would only reveal things of the past she preferred to keep bottled up. However, she wasn't going to fly idly around. She was sympathetic to Hiccup's preparations. If Viggo saw an island not worth approaching, Lyra planned to help them make it as unwelcoming as possible.