The 'Dragon Master'

Secrets Revealed | Part 1

Astrid's POV:

I watch Artemis leave on that Razorwhip of hers. That girl is pretty cool, I'll give her that. "So... girl time?" I suggest to Heather, who nods in agreement. We fly off on Stormfly and Windshear, ready to spend the day having fun without the boys.

We head outside my hut, where I have a few targets set up as always. "What do you think of the Dragon Master now?" I ask her as I pick up an axe. "I'm not sure," she replies, hurling her own one at a target. It hits its mark perfectly. "I mean, we all know she's hiding a lot of stuff, but she doesn't hide that fact or anything. Makes her hard to read. Especially when you can only see half of her face."

"Probably what she was going for," I shrug, copying her. "So how are you and Fishlegs doing?"

"I don't think we're doing too bad, actually," she replied. "He's a lot of fun. What about Hiccup?"

My next throw is off as I turn to look at her. "Um... yeah, I don't think we're um..."

She chuckled and picked up her axe again, dusting it off. "Relax, I'm just kidding. You're obviously in love with Snotlout."

We both laugh at this. "Of course, who wouldn't want Snotlout?" I say sarcastically, then we pause.

"Me!" We both shout in perfect sync, raising one hand. We laugh again at our moment of childishness. "Yeah, he's not getting anyone any time soon," Heather remarked, going back to throwing axes.

"Nope," I agree, collecting my own axe. I look to where Stormfly and Windshear are playing with each other happily and smile a little. "Our girls are having their own fun."

"We should really let them meet up more often. It's good for them." I nod at Heather's suggestion. "And that means more time for us to hang out."

She's about to say something else when a dragon cry is heard and all four of us look up. A Razorwhip is circling, looking around frantically.

It spots us and dives down, landing next to Stormfly, roaring in panic. Suddenly I realise I know this Razorwhip. "Wait, that's Artemis's dragon! Where is she?"

Upon hearing her rider's name, the Razorwhip - Flashwing, I think she's called - ran over to me, eyes wild like an untamed horse. "What is it? Is Artemis in trouble?" I ask her. She nods repeatedly, jabbing her tail out to sea.

"I'll get the others, you calm Flashwing down," I tell Heather. "You're the Razorwhip expert." She nods and I mount Stormfly. "Come on, girl! We need to get the others!" I tell her as we fly off.

Once we reach the Great Hall I spot everyone in there, going through the updated Book of Dragons. They all seem amazed at Artemis's contributions, even Snotlout and the twins.

"Guys! Artemis is in trouble! Her dragon's here but not her!" I shout to them. They all hurry up and mount their dragons. We fly off back to Heather, who is petting Flashwing gently.

Hiccup moves over to her and Flashwing rawks to him desperately. "Easy, girl," he tells her, though she doesn't seem to hear. She must be worried sick for Artemis, meaning the Dragon Master is in danger.

"Guys, the dragon hunters are still out there," Fishlegs reminds us. My eyes widen in realisation. "She must've been captured and Flashwing came for help," Hiccup states. "Don't worry, girl. We'll get her back, just lead the way."

Flashwing nuzzles him thankfully and takes off. We all follow her, wondering what we're getting ourselves into. What could be so bad that the Dragon Master from all the myths asked for us to help when she refused to even stay in our village overnight due to her secrecy?

We fly for an hour or two before we arrive and see a fleet of ships all bearing a crest that only a dragon hunter would care for. A dragon's skull with two daggers penetrating it.

I didn't expect to see the Scauldron that was surfacing near one of the ships... but then again I also didn't expect the hundreds of panicked dragons that suddenly flew out of a specific ship either.

"Artemis must be down there!" Hiccup said, pointing to the ship. "I'll sneak in there, you guys distract them and take care of Flashwing," I say. "Are you sure you want to go in alone?" Hiccup asks, worried.

"Your peg leg will make too much noise, Fishlegs will make nervous squeaks everywhere he goes, Snotlout won't shut his mouth, the twins will bang everything they see and Heather is the best at handling Razorwhips," I reply. "It has to be me."

To be honest, I also really want to get a look at what this girl has done so far. She seems like the kind of person who wouldn't be taken down that easily.

"Okay," Hiccup reluctantly agrees. "But stay careful. I don't want to lose two of you." "You telling me to be careful?" I scoff. "That's rich. Just keep them busy and keep Flashwing out of sight so they don't think that she tipped us off."

Before they can say another word, Stormfly and I dip down behind the ship, keeping hidden from sight. The others start to keep the hunters busy, so I hop onto the deck while the hunters are distracted.

Sneaking below deck wasn't the problem. Not making a gagging noise when I saw two decapitated bodies that reeked of death was the problem. Either these hunters are really bad shots or Artemis had the opportunity to take them out with her sword.

That was a good sign.

I hurried around the ship, knocking out a few hunters every now and then. Unlike Artemis, I would probably think twice about straight-up murder.

I make it to a room filled with cages that are all empty... except for one. It contains a man with an axe raised over a young girl's head. Without thinking twice I hit the blunt end of my own axe over his head, knocking him out.

That was when I got a proper look at the girl.

She was unconscious, bruised and beaten, though she didn't appear to be in too rough a shape aside from that. Her raven black hair had fallen out of its side braid and fanned out across her face, which was pale, the only thing preventing her from looking dead being her cheeks, which were tinted a subtle pink.

It was the Dragon Master. It was Artemis. But her mask was off so for the first time I could see her face clearly.

And she looked slightly familiar...