A/N – I couldn't wait anymore to dive into this new story. I won't tell you anything about it here, but if you have any questions feel free to ask. Happy reading!

Stay Away from Blood Tree Pass

Stay away from Blood Tree Pass

Lest you be taken.

Monsters there have taste for sweets,

especially children.

Witches' stew boils of poison

Their hearth fires do not warm

Their bloodthirsty pets, the beasts,

Lurk in shadows and in still waters.

They wait for little Vikings to go wandering,

To snatch and devour.

Beware, little children,

Stay away from Blood Tree Pass

Lest you be taken.

Chapter 1: Blood Tree Pass

A chilled wind rustled through the forests that surrounded Berk, but Astrid refused to let the shiver show and forced her limbs still. A few steps behind her, the others talked as they walked about the typical boasting nonsense that followed training down at the arena. She's bested all of them, in every category, but she chose not to join in their gloating. She didn't like the feeling of it on her tongue, or the sound it made on theirs.

"Did you see the way I completely obliterated that barrel?" Snotlout bragged. He jogged up the few steps to walk beside Astrid, pointing a stubby finger at his chest broad chest. "Did you see that babe? I did it for you."

Astrid rolled her eyes. "I'd like it better if the barrel obliterated you."

Fishlegs giggled, but at a glare from Snotlout, his smile vanished.

"Piff, you just wait until next time," Snotlout said as he lagged back to walk with the others.

Astrid sighed, the walk back to Berk from the arena was more exhausting than the training itself. Why couldn't they have built it closer to the village? Why had they gone for the other side of the forest? Someone hadn't been thinking, clearly. If she had been in charge, she would have built it much closer.

"I'd give it one of these, and then one of these," Snotlout said as he imitated fighting the stationary barrels, grunting as though his enemy was real.

"Oh, right, those barrels won't stand a chance," Tuffnut snickered, his sister Ruffnut joined in.

Astrid fingered the full blade of her knife. It had been her mother's father's, and her mother wouldn't let her trade it in to Gobber for something newer and sharper. It was an heirloom, she said, even thought it was chipped and stained.

"I would've won, I mean, if I hadn't been tripped," Snotlout started to say, but Astrid cut him off, far sick of his whines.

"I didn't trip you, Snotlout," Astrid snapped. "You were in my way."

Snotlout harrumphed. He laughed it off and said, "Whatever, you were scared that I'd beat you."

"What?" Astrid spun, dull knife in hand, pointing it within an inch of Snotlout's nose. She stood a good three inches taller than him, and gladly looked down at him.

Snotlout's dark brows shot up and his wide mouth froze in a silent gasp. Fishlegs, even though by far the largest teen, yelped and covered his mouth in his usual cowardice while the twins looked on with humored, wicked grins. Snotlout brought his hands up and took several quick steps back, tripping over his own feet and tumbled onto the dirt path.

"Exactly," Astrid said, pointing to him with the blade. "You can't even walk without tripping over yourself. Besides, I'm not afraid of anything. Especially you."

Astrid turned around and put the old blade away. She didn't like how it felt in her hands.

Snotlout stood up. He huffed, "If you're so brave like you say, I dare you to take the shortcut home through Blood Tree Pass."

Astrid spun around and silence settled in around them. Snotlout had crossed his arms, pointing his nose in the air and smirked smugly.

"What?" Astrid spat. She bit back the urge to send him home bleeding, to make him explain to his father had a girl had hit him.

"You heard me, go home through Blood Tree Pass. Or are you too scared?" Snotlout taunted. The twins smirked, but Fishlegs looked as though his eyeballs might pop out of his head. Snotlout took a brave step toward her and spoke in a baby voice, "Are you afraid the monsters might get you?"

"No," Astrid spat. She clenched her fists. "Fine, I'll go through the pass and beat you home. Then, tomorrow you can be my knife throwing target."

Snotlout laughed, "Right, if you live."

The twins snickered. Ruffnut added, "Right if you live."

Tuffnut chimed in, "Which you won't."

"Oh, this is a horrible idea!" Fishlegs said through his hands, his voice several pitches higher. "We're not supposed to go that way!"

"Oh, you scared too Fishlegs?" Snotlout taunted, his eyes bright.

"Yes!" Fishlegs shouted. "I am very afraid of Blood Tree Pass. You should be too! You don't know what kind of evil things are in there!"

"There's nothing in there, Fishlegs," Astrid said firmly.

"What about Gnarck?" Fishlegs trembled. "He didn't believe either and…" His voice dropped to a whisper, "He saw the witch! And he died the next day! He was cursed!"

"Oh, he was not," Astrid said, throwing her arms up.

"Then how did he die?" Snotlout asked. "No wounds, no nothing. The guy was just dead."

Astrid rolled her eyes. "I don't know, but I doubt it was because he saw a witch."

"Prove it then," Snotlout jeered. "If you see a witch and don't die, I'll believe you."

Astrid crossed her arms. This was stupid. She balled her fists, bent on knocking Snotlout's teeth out of his smug face. Snotlout seemed to understand and backed up a safe distance.

"I will prove it," Astrid said calmly, in the best superior tone she could muster. "I'll beat you losers home."

Astrid spun on her feel and continued on the path, toward Blood Tree Pass. She heard their footsteps and whispers as they followed. Blood Tree Pass lay off the beaten path, and wound down the hillside, and directly separating them from the village. The beginning of the path looked none threatening or malicious, and the only thing identifying it so were the few Blood Trees intermingled with the pines.

Astrid stood at the opening off the pass and looked down the thin, winding trail. She could do this. Easy.

Behind her, Snotlout laughed. "Yeah, see you never."

"Because you're going to die," Tuffnut added. Ruffnut mumbled something but it was too low to hear, but the twins both laughed.

"This is such a horrible idea," Fishlegs whined, hands over her eyes, as if he might see something just in passing.

"I'll be fine," Astrid said, and took her first step onto Blood Tree Pass.

She left the others behind quickly, and after the first turn in the path, she glanced back to see if they had followed. They had not. Finally without their glares, she took a firm look at the path before her. The pines grew fewer and far between, as the twisted, black trunks of the Blood Trees increased. Their thin, crooked black limbs reached out like broken fingers in every direction. A sad pine had been taken over by the stretching fingers, choked and squeezed to a gray husk.

They were called Blood Trees for their bright red leaves. Unlike the pines, as winter drew closer the red leaves brightened to a frighteningly bloody color and slowly fell. Astrid took a careful step to a nearby Blood Tree and reached out for a bright, red leaf. The browning stem snapped under her touch and the leaf fluttered to the forest floor.

She sucked in the gasp that nearly escaped. She wouldn't be afraid of leaves or trees.

Still, the legends bore into her mind. Blood Tree Pass was forbidden, especially so when the Blood Leaves began to fall. According to the stories, that is when the magic is strongest and the monsters are the hungriest. Astrid shook her head and continued her trek down the pass. She could still turn back, but she couldn't face Snotlout's taunts. However, if she were caught going through the pass, Stoick would be furious.

She has seen Stoick's anger at the twins and Snotlout more than a few times, and she had no desire to see that cold fury turned on her. That frightened her more the monsters.

With every step on the pass, the pines were less and less, and soon the Blood Trees encroached on both sides, as far as she could see. The bright sun shone above, but the leaves blocked most of it from the forest and left it in a bloody darkness. Astrid kept her eyes sharp, peering between the trees, but saw nothing.

There was no such thing as monsters. There was no such thing as witches.

A wind rustled through the bridle leaves, sliding through the air in a feminine sigh, an out of tune song of a dozen voices. Astrid spun, looking for the source of the sound, but saw no one.

There's no one else here, Astrid told herself. It's just me.

She didn't feel alone, not at all. The gnarled black branches laced together over the path and cut out the late afternoon sunlight, encasing her in a Blood Leaf tunnel. Astrid kept going. The faster she moved the sooner she would get out.

Something scurried just out of sight. Astrid jumped, turned, but kept her pace. She didn't want to, but she looked side to side as she walked, looking for anything. It must have been the lack of sunlight and profuse shadows, but things scurried always just out of sight. Larger things moved, but she never saw them. She heard lumbering bodies shifting through the darkness, heavy footfalls meeting the ground, the snarl of something that she did not want to meet.

Astrid reached around to tighten her grip on the handle of her trusty axe. She kept the edge sharp, unlike the useless knife. If anything came close, it would be halved. With her eyes in the forest, Astrid didn't see the pile of leaves until she stepped on it. At once, a terrible, shrill little cry burst the silence. She jumped back, axe primed to swing down, as a yellow monster darted out of the leaves. She swung the axe, but the thing darted too fast. The blade sank into the dirt as the monster vanished into the underbrush. Bulging, yellow eyes glared back at her from the shadow.

Astrid yanked her axe from the ground and held it to her chest. Her breath ran rampant and her entire body felt like it might shake apart. She stared back at the tiny monster, not wanting to avert her eyes or back down. It blinked and vanished into the forest, out of sight.

When she had struck the ground, she struck fallen Blood Leaves. Several clung to the blade, and as she flicked them off, they left small red stains. She cringed. She would have to clean the blade as soon as possible or someone would notice. Her hands, too. Astrid flicked the last one from the blade when she heard it.

Footsteps. Calm, steady, footfalls, one after the other.

Astrid froze and tightened her hand around the handle. She couldn't see anything in the forest but trees and shadows. Those weren't monster footsteps, but distinctly human. Her heart pounded as she scanned the darkness. Should she run? Should she stay to attack? Should she hide? She stood in the open on the path. Cover. She needed cover.

Astrid backed up slowly to the forest's thicker shade. She contemplated her actions when she heard a low whistle, somewhere not that far off. Pressing her back to a tree, she watched and waited. She wouldn't let a witch sneak up on her. She would kill the witch before they got the chance to curse her, and drag her body home as a trophy.

There. Someone, not something, with two legs. Astrid squinted into the darkness. Whoever it was, they were far too skinny to be Snotlout in disguise, or anyone from the village. It didn't seem as though they walked toward Astrid, but to something else. They came into view between two trees as they stopped. From beneath the cloak came two thin arms that picked up the little monster that Astrid had tried to kill. The yellow thing rested in the someone's arms, quite comfortably.

Astrid caught her breath – a witch.

Those yellow eyes look lazily around the forest as a pale hand scratched his back, until they settle on Astrid and widened at once. The witch holding the monster looked to, as if the creature had told him, and from under the cloak's hood were two very human eyes, green as summer, staring back at her.

At once, fear surged and Astrid dashed from the forest and onto the path, determined to reach home before that damned monster could catch up. They were real, the witches were real, those commanders of monsters and magic, horrible forsaken humans, twisted into abominations. Astrid stumbled a few times but pushed herself back up without stopping. She remembered that day when Gnarck came back from the pass, shaken and sweaty, telling of a woman he had seen in the woods. It had been her father who had found him dead the next morning, without a clue of his death.

Astrid met the end of the pass and kept going until she was racing inside her own home.

"Astrid?" Ingrid, her mother, stood by the hearth were a boiling strew steamed. "What is wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong," Astrid said too quickly.

Ingrid shook her head, "You aren't due back for another thirty minutes."

Astrid shrugged, not wanting to tell her mother the truth, "I was really worked up after training today. I felt like running, so I did."

"Is that why you're out of breath?" Ingrid raised a brow.

"Yes," Astrid said quickly.

"I never knew training to work you over that much," Ingrid said, not taking her eyes off her daughter.

"You know how the Jorgensons can be." Astrid wasn't lying, or so she told herself.

"Aye, that I do," Ingrid sighed. "Like father like son, unfortunately. Still, you look a bit pale. Are you sure you're alright?

Astrid bit into her tongue. "I was feeling a little off today that must be it."

Ingrid nodded, "Oh, alright. It is getting to be the sick time of year. Sit down, I'll make you some tea."

"Thanks, Mom." Astrid gladly took a seat at the familiar table.