The Runaway Dragon Rider

attacks all around

No longer than a few hours later, the riders were back on the edge with a very wounded little girl.

The dragons were led to the inside pens as they seemed exhausted, and the girl was brought into the infirmary. 

Hiccup and Heather ushered in small voices as they tended to the girls wounds. She had severe burns all over her body, but Heather had washed off most of the black ash using a wet cloth. 

"Hiccup, you can't blame yourself for what happened. The terror arrived with the note mere seconds as you stepped back onto the Edge with Toothless from your flight." She told him, knowing that he'd feel terrible for what happened to the girls family

"Yeah, I know, even if we flew faster than normal. I thought we'd at least be able to find the ones who did this to her and her entire village"

"We know who did it" Eret said, entering the building with Valka trailing behind him with their dragons. 

"I guess we do" Hiccup said back, applying some ointment to the girls left arm. Thankfully she is still alive, but badly injured. 

Hiccup and Heather finished cleaning the girl up, and everyone left the room to give her some privacy for when she woke up.

The day had gone by fast, and everyone was too tired to eat something, guts full from the disgusting show they saw earlier. They all agreed to talk about the events tomorrow morning with every dragon rider to form a plan to the dilemma. 

Everyone went off their separate ways to their own huts and rooms, with Heather going to Hiccups to spend the night. 

Heather and Hiccup haven't done much with each other, sure they've know one another for 3 years but they didn't properly start dating until 2 years ago. Their relationship progressed slowly, awkward hugs at first to constant snogging in their rooms late at night. They're older and more mature now, so they tend to sleep in the other's rooms every so often, not many of the riders caring much. 

Valka gave Hiccup a quick kiss on the cheek and bud her goodnight before retiring to he own room. 

Neither spoke as they entered Hiccup's hut. It was located at the very top of the edge, with fire proof walls and 2 stories. On the bottom story was a small dining area, living room and bathroom. The entire 2nd story was his room that he shared with Toothless. Toothless' big rock bed was on one opposite end of the room, and Hiccup's double bed at the other. He had his table near his bed, and it was cluttered with pencils and papers. There was not much decoration in his room other than some pictures of maps he drew. He had an oil lamp hung up on either side of his bed, and a small potted plant next to the entering of the staircase. 

Heather yawned and stretched her arms out, taking her shoulder pads off and throwing them on the table. Hiccup began to throw the thin covers off the bed and laid on the right side. Toothless entered the room, smiling as Heather patted his head. He purred.

Toothless walked over to his own bed, blasting l;ow heat as he walked around on it to douse it out, and curled up into a ball, wrapping his tail over his body. 

Heather laughed and proceeded to the left side of the bed, laying down facing Hiccup. 

This has become a thing they did without speaking about it first. The first time was during a thunderstorm when Heather's roof of her hut got lit by a small fire. Hiccup being the gentleman that he is, offered her to sleep in his bed for the night while he stayed with his mum. Heather felt bad and told him he could sleep with her. And since then they would occasionally sleep in each other's rooms, not doing anything more but make out, talk and sleep. 

As they nestled into each others arms, their breathing slowing down, Heather said, 

"I love you, Hiccup" and even though that wasn't the first time she's said it to him, he was still surprised. 15 years of isolation on Berk had made him skeptical of any real love, and when Heather first reciprocated her feelings, he didn't believe her. Nor did he believe his mother when she said those exact three words to him too. But over time, his trust were each person deepened, and he finally said the words back to them without feeling like it was all part of some big trick

"I love you too, Heather. Goodnight" he said back, kissing her forehead softly and pulling her closer to his chest. 

Berk (Same day, a few hours after the first attack of the other island)

Astrid hadn't talked to her parents since they announced her marriage, and with all the anger still burning inside of her, she spent most of her time angry in the forest. Throwing her axe carelessly at trees. 

Ruffnut had joined her for a few minutes before getting bored and went to find her brother. 

As she continued to hit the tree, she heard some screams back from the village. Worried, she ran as fast as her legs could take her, for the day was slowly beginning to turn into night.  

When she arrived, she was welcomed to chaos. Drago was here on Berk, and wast setting everything on fire. With him, his minions and dragons who bid their commands. 

Mothers and children hid in panic, while the men fought but didn't get far. She ran up to one of the people setting a hut on fire, and swung her axe at him. He saw her coming and ducked, but she was quicker and punched him square in the jaw. Falling to the ground, she stepped over him and ran to find Stoick, her parents or Snotlout.

The fires grew bigger and bigger as the fight got worse. She ran to her parent's house and found no one in there. Panic filled her veins as she went to the forge. On her way she stopped at the center of the town, where Drago and Stoick were in a brawl. Stoick swung his arms at Drago, but Drago stabbed Stoick in his right calf with a long spear. Stoick screamed in agony but managed to punch him in the stomach. Drago felt no pain and pushed Stoick onto the ground.

Astrid ran to help Stoick but was also pushed to the ground by a heavy man. She fell to her knees beside Stoick, and the rest of the gang including Gobber were beside them in a hurry.

"This is the legendary Berk, where your people have fought dragons and won battles that should be passe on to future generations" Drago's voice boomed

Astrid saw her friends faces and looked at the bruises all over their body, blood staining their clothes.  

Drago laughed as he watched Stoick struggle to get up.

"I have come to warn you all, a war is coming. You can either join my side or, you can join the dragon riders. I expect your answer in a weeks time" And with that Drago and his crew hopped onto the not so willing dragons and some ships, and went away from Berk.

Astrid let his voice echo in her head, dragon riders? There were people who liked dragons??

She got up from the ground, hardly injured and went to help Stoick. She still didn't know where her parents were, and she would go look for them right after she helped her friends. 

Snotlout was the first to speak as the villagers surrounded them, scared to their wits. 

"Is everyone okay?" He asked, coughing up some ashes

Everyone nodded yes, but were awaiting answers from what to do now. But neither Snotlout nor Stoick had any answers to give, and they helped each other up, the questions building.