Found again (HTTYD FF)

★18★

A huge wave pushed their boat far from the shore just before the giant dragon could envelop them in flames and mercilessly end their lives. Astrid had to hold onto the railing to keep from falling into the water. She was beginning to think these were her last moments. She braced herself for her inevitable death in the unbearable heat that never came.

When she opened her tightly clenched eyelids again, there were two gigantic dragons standing on the island.

They fought together.

"What in the name of the Gods is this!?" exclaimed Snotlout, his gaze fixed on the huge white monster with its myriad growths on its head and back, not to mention its tusks. Astrid couldn't take her eyes off of him either, to tell the truth.

"I don't know! I've never seen a dragon like this anywhere!" Fishlegs answered him, also with a terrified cry. "There's no such thing in the Book of Dragons!"

"I don't know what it is, but it's awesome!" Tuffnut exclaimed, his eyes full of admiration. Beside him, Ruffnut nodded in agreement.

Astrid looked in his direction. She had never quite understood his and Ruffnut's fondness for destruction (she could sort of understand their fondness for blood and death). The twins were really... strange.

The chieftain was just helping Gobber to his feet when she turned to him, expecting some sort of orders that would get them out of this hellishly confusing situation.

"Hurry back to shore, we need to get to the island or another wave like this could send us straight underwater," Valka ordered promptly. Being the chief's wife, her word was as valid as his own.

Valka was the last person Astrid would have expected such a quick response from, but she appreciated it. At least there was someone who had some sort of grasp on the situation, someone who could lead them out of this mess - and indeed, they were soon on land and everyone had calmed down a bit.

"What now? What now?" freaked out Fishlegs once his feet were on solid ground, his voice in a high, strangled squeak.

One of the giant dragons fell to the ground, dead. Astrid hadn't even noticed that their fight had come to such a quick end. It was the one that had been spewing fire, the one they had seen first, the one whose sky-facing side was now covered by a layer of inexplicably huge icebergs sticking out in all directions. How could she possibly missed the whole fight?

"It's going to kill us all. This is our end, we can't survive this!"

"Relax, Fishlegs," Snotlout told him, trying to look and sound brave as he did so. But Astrid saw the fear written on his face, no matter how hard he tried to hide it, he could never succeed. He wasn't a good enough actor for that - in fact, he was downright terrible.

They continued to talk and argue, but Astrid paid them no mind. She went looking for Hiccup, needing to get clear on what she was really feeling. She needed to make sure he was okay. She needed to find him and talk to him.

~~~

Their moment together was interrupted by loud footsteps of people approaching in their direction. Hiccup let go of Toothless and turned in their direction in a flash, expecting that it must be the remaining hunters coming back for him - the ones who hadn't made a mad dash for the exit after the Bewilderbeast's arrival. Hiccup didn't know if they'd do that now that Viggo and Ryker were both likely dead.

It was just Astrid leading a few more Vikings. He didn't know if he should worry about their intentions. He was seeing many of them - almost all of them - for the first time.