Night Rider

Antidotes and Alphas

- Astrid's pov-

"Astrid! Why are you with the enemy?!" Scowled Tuff, his mace raised in a threatening manner towards Heather.

"She isn't the enemy, Tuff, she is with us." I answered. It was the very early hours of the day after Snoggletog and the sky was dark and blunt. The stars seemed to have hidden themselves away from the battle and the moon was clouded with heavy smoke from house fires. It seemed as if we were going to loose this battle: the other side had much more men than us; their weapons seemed stronger; they were stronger and looked like they had trained for battle their whole lives; they had surrounded us on three fronts and we weren't prepared for the attack and they were.

"Then how come I have never seen her before now? Answer me that, Hofferson!" Tuff demanded.

"I don't have time for this..." I mumbled as I attempted to move him out of the way so Heather and I could continue our journey upto storehouse one where the dragons were kept.

"Woah, woah, woah, missy!" Tuff exclaimed addressing me, "I don't trust her, and you know what happens when I don't trust someone?"

"We ignore it?" I asked sarcastically, "Look Tuff, can you just let us through?"

"Where are you going?" He demanded as the battle raged on around us.

"She knows an antidote for Hiccup." I declared, "Now can you let us past?!" I asked, my temper rising.

"Yes. But I must come with you!" Said Tuff urgently, "I have had regrets all my life and if letting you go and save Hiccup with her, who I don't trust, turns out to be one of them, I couldn't live with myself. Because who knows, she might kill you when your back is turned or kill Hiccup like lots of people want too-"

"One, I won't kill Astrid. Two, I won't kill Hiccup. Three, why do loads of people want him killed?" Heather asked.

"Duh." Tuff answered, "Because he's-"

"Guys! We really don't have time for this. Lets go!" I urged them. Tuff glared at Heather one last time, before he hurried after me, and then Heather jogged after us, clipping her double-ended axe back onto her back as she ran.

The people in the surrounding battles mostly ignored us: they were probably so engrossed in their own fights to notice three young adults running away from the battle, one of which was on the opposite side to the other two. I once saw Stoick and Gobber fighting side by side, tackling atleast six men between them; Gothi was running (well, hobbling) around tending to minor wounds while being protected by Magnus and Fishlegs; I saw Dagur (Heather's brother and ex-chief of the Beserker tribe - I must ask why they are ex-chiefs) plowing through our men, and I felt my heart lurch when I saw him shoot an arrow through Martha - the 'nanny' of the village who cared for young children when their parents couldn't - and she fell to the ground, dead. I was brought back to my own reality when Heather jumped infront of me with her axe open, and I heard a slight clink of metal hitting the axe head, and then I saw an arrow drop to the floor.

"Thanks." I said, breathily.

"This doesn't mean that I trust you!" Screamed Tuff at Heather, who just shrugged it off. I continued my run up the hill, the battle growing weaker the further up we went, until it was only us three alone in the immediate vicinity.

"Wait." I mumbled as I stopped running.

"Oh, thank Thor! I need a rest. My, I haven't ran like that for a long time." Tuff panted.

"Be quiet." I said, straining my hearing. I thought that I heard something, but maybe I hadn't because I hadn't heard it since. I gazed up towards the forest, away from the village and slowly walked towards it. Heather and Tuffnut followed me, keeping their voices silent and footsteps barely noticeable.