Annnd we're back

Of Snakes and Fish

I struggled and writhed in my covers as inescapable nightmares claimed my mind. I was trapped by the unending coils of a colossal serpent. It's scaly hide slowly tightened around me constricting my ability to breathe. The snake's forked tongue lashed the air in front of me as it continued to hiss menacingly. As the pressure on my sides reached it's peak, the pointed head moved in close and the tongue once again flashed from it's mouth, this time however it collided with my face. I felt the unsettling warmth of saliva as my vision faded to black. Please let it be over.

Everything was dark but, I was still here. I could still feel a horrible tightness wrapped around me. Yet the texture had changed, no longer something smooth and slimy but rough instead. I tried to struggle free of my prison until I felt a familiar wet hotness across my face. I stopped my attempt to escape and froze in place feeling my hope of freedom draining away.

All of a sudden I was jerked to one side. The constricting feeling lifted. I gasped, appreciating the rush of air that filled my lungs. My eyes flew open only to be filled with more darkness. They darted around until they found the only objects in the endless sea of black. A pair of large, luminous, green eyes. I jumped back surprised by their closeness.

For a second my mind whirled, still half asleep, and still on edge. The world righted itself and I remembered who those piercing green eyes belonged to. The tension left my body and a small warmth crept into my heart. "Hey bud, I see you're feeling better now." I whispered softly. As my eyes adjusted more I saw that the dragon had my bed sheets in his mouth. "Was that you who freed me?"

The Night Fury crooned quietly in response and I couldn't help but break a smile. "Come on then," I motioned to the door, "Wouldn't want to wake Astrid." It was barely the crack of dawn but it wasn't likely I would get back to sleep after that nightmare.

Once upstairs I made myself comfortable and gazed towards the dawn-light, entranced by the shimmering of said light on the waves. Toothless settled down close to me laying his head on my lap. I absent mindedly scratched his head making sure to hit all his favourite spots. The moment was nice, I could sit, empty my mind, and let the purrs of the obsidian dragon erode my worries away.

After a few, much needed, minutes spent listening to the wind and sea I was feeling much more relaxed and calm. I grinned. "I have no idea what I did to deserve you."

A moment after hearing this Toothless launched himself at me. Without any time to prepare I was flattened to the deck and my face was quickly covered in dragon slobber. I threw my hands up to try and stop the onslaught. "Oh Thor, Toothless, that's disgusting." I spluttered and laughed in-between licks.

With a bit of heavy persuasion, that might have involved scratching a certain sweet spot, I managed to escape from Toothless' clutches. I was covered in saliva but gave the dragon a hug around the neck nonetheless. I just made sure to wipe some back on him on my way out. The look the Night Fury shot me once I'd pulled back sent me into another fit of laughing.

"Don't give what you can't take." I teased, sitting back in my favourite spot on the edge of the deck.

Toothless joined me a moment later and we both stared out into the cloudless sky which was slowly brightening as dawn began to fade. Glancing over at him I noticed his gaze seemed almost longing. I couldn't help but feel sorry for my best friend, he had been through a lot. I wondered if flying helped wash his worries away, much like it did with mine. It was probably worth a shot.

"Up for a quick lap of the island?" The effect was almost instantaneous, his ears perked up and his head shot around to look at me. I chuckled. "I'll take that as a yes." I ran back below deck, trying my best to stay quiet, and searched for where I had left Toothless' flying gear.

By the time I had returned with the gear under my arms, the Night Fury had worked himself up. He was bounding in excited circles, in a far from quiet manner. I dropped what I was carrying and tried to stop him from causing too much havoc. "You gotta calm down Bud, Astrid is still sleeping." Or at least she was, I thought to myself.

Much to my surprise he managed to keep his composure as I attached the saddle, excluding the occasional excited twitch. But as I found I quickly it was not going to be so simple to get the tail fin fixed in place.

"You've... gotta... sit still." I complained as I wrestled the over-enthusiastic mass in front of me. As it turned out getting the dragon to 'sit still' was a much harder task in practice. I was starting to think that he was quite enjoying watching me struggle.

Several laps around the deck and an intense fight with a tail later, I finally emerged victorious. After I had pinned it between my legs he seemed to admit defeat, although I was sure it wasn't because I had won, it was definitely because he wanted to be airborne again. That was an idea I could get behind.

I jumped into the saddle, hooked myself in, and we were off. The speed of the launch almost unseated me. Once I got breath back, I couldn't help but whoop with joy. It was still such a new, incredible feeling, and I hoped it would never lose its wonder. We managed a few thrill seeking dives, soaring up to the clouds before plummeting down to just above the ocean's surface. In a rare case we would build up enough speed to create the unmistakeable Night Fury whistle that I had spent so many years fearing.

As the Sun slowly rose, 'a few' turned into 'too many' and Toothless' excess energy had mostly dissipated. With an almost permanent grin plastered on my face, I clicked the tail open wide and set us into a graceful glide. My hair was completely blown back and was showed no sign of coming down anytime soon.

I lay forwards resting my head atop Toothless', feeling simultaneously exhausted and refreshed. My body ached in places I didn't know could ache but in return I felt re-motivated and less scared of what was to come.

"Thanks Bud... I-I needed this." I gave the dragon an appreciative scratch.

As we slowly made our banked turn around the island something slid into my slumped forward view that I hadn't noticed when we had been challenging the sea to a game of chicken. I pushed myself back up and squinted ahead. Just before sky met ocean there was island, however this wasn't what caught my attention, I had seen enough small islands to last a lifetime.

"Do you see that too?"

Toothless yapped in agreement. Rising up from the otherwise forgettable lump of rock in the ocean was a thin strand of wispy grey. If it wasn't for the vibrant colours of sunrise contrasting the smoke I would have completely missed the obvious sign of life.

"I guess we've found what we were looking for. Bring us back in Bud." We swooped around the far side of our island and shot back towards the Ambition. This was the first sign we were heading in the right direction and I was justifiably excited.

A minute later we skidded to a halt back on the deck of our ship. I was about to run and get Astrid when I heard a small growl then a croon from behind me. I spun on the spot to see the dragon tugging at his saddle.

"Oh, sorry! How could I forgot." I ran back over and quickly started unbuckling the rig. When I got to the fin realised it was bent in an odd direction. "Huh, must've been from all those dives. I'll see what I can work up in the forge."

Quickly distracted by the contorted fin I didn't notice as Astrid climbed the stairs behind me. "So it was you who caused all that noise." I jumped in surprise and promptly fell over.

"W-what, oh, yeah..." I pulled myself to my feet with the help of Toothless. "You heard did you?" I finished sheepishly.

She rubbed her eyes tiredly. "As it turns out, I'm not blessed with the ability to sleep through anything." It appeared as if she had just rolled out of bed.

My own eyes sunk to my boots. "Sorry."

"Nothing we can do about it now." She said, stifling a yawn. "At least one of us had some fun this morning."

"A little too much I think." I raised the slightly bent fin, having just picked it up.

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Trust you to break something important."

"Hey! It's only broken temporarily."

She sighed. "Only you would say that."

"Yeah yeah," I batted a hand in her direction, "We have more important things to attend to. While I was up there I'm pretty sure I saw some smoke from an island west of here. That's gotta be worth checking out, right?"

"Right."

"Well then, I'll get us breakfast, and... you might want to dress yourself some more."

Upon looking down her tired mind managed to realise she'd come up only in her nightwear. Before I could get in another word the underdressed Viking had disappeared from sight.

I shrugged at Toothless who was giving me a confused look from across the deck. He quickly changed that look when I went to fetch a basket of fish. I was only just capable of pulling a pair out before the dragon dove head-first into the container. Chuckling to myself I made my way below deck to cook the rescued cod over the only fire that burned on this ship, or at least the only fire that burned safely that is.

By the time Astrid joined me, our breakfast was slightly charred and definitely ready. "One forge-cooked cod." I offered one of the fish on a wooden plate that I had found when wasting time whilst they cooked.

She took it, shooting daggers at me as she did. "If you tell anyone, your dead."

"I don't doubt it." I said absentmindedly. I was playing with fire acting so casual but, you've got to poke the occasional bear.

"Promise me." She growled.

"I Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third solemnly swear that I will not tell a single soul that I saw Astrid in her underwear."

This comment earned me a hard punch to the gut. I was instantly winded and doubled over in pain. "Point taken." I wheezed. Before I had even recovered the infuriated blonde had stormed out of the room.

Once I could stand again I decided it'd be a good idea to start the preparations to leave. I knew that was the last I'd see of Astrid for awhile, and thought it best to leave her alone. I did quite like living.

Back on deck Stormfly had returned with what seemed to be her catch. Since she was occupied and Toothless had finished his breakfast I approached him.

"Think you can jump us down to the island?"

The dragon motioned for me to get on. I clambered up and settled myself as comfortably as I could without a saddle. Toothless backed up across the deck and waited for a second so I could get a good grip. He then bounded forwards and launched himself, and me, off the ship.

We glided for a shaky moment before landing roughly on the beach, sliding to a halt in the sand. "Not a bad landing for a dragon missing a tail fin." I hopped off the Night Fury, giving him a gentle pat on the side. I ran over to the tree that the boat was tied to and began fiddling with the knot in its end.

"This might be a lost cause." I thought aloud as I struggled with the rope. "Couldn't give me a hand Bud?" I asked, looking over my shoulder for my accomplice. He waddled next to me, glanced at the now fraying knot, and bit through it in one bite.

I stepped back in surprise. "I guess that works."

The freed rope started trailing along the beach as the ship was slowly pulled out to sea. "Time to go." I quickly jumped on Toothless' back as his walk turned into a run, and before I knew it we were back on the deck of the Ambition and ready to set sail.

It took the better part of the day but we finally reached this new island. Fortunately 'the better part of the day' was long enough for Astrid to cool off. From our distance, just off shore, the signs of life were undeniable. Pulled a few metres up the beach sat a small boat, much like Astrid's, although this one was still intact. And despite the fact the smoke had disappeared well over an hour ago it's source was clear to see. A small stone circle lay in the sand filled with the dark ash of a fire long put out. This was the place.

The four of us made our way down to the island, making sure to tie the ship up to a nearby tree. Now we just had to find ourselves a Viking, and I was more glad than ever that I had Astrid with me.

I offered a hand to help her off Stormfly. "So where do we start?"

"I'll have to get a closer look at what we have to work with." She said, batting my hand to the side.

While Astrid went to do whatever it was she does, I turned to the dragons. "You two have got to stay here while we search. I have a feeling a couple dragons turning up on Fishlegs' doorstep might be too much for him."

"That won't matter if he turns up here once we've gone!" Astrid shouted over from next to his boat.

"Fair point." I turned to Toothless, "If you see him coming this way, hide and send us a signal. We'll do the same if we find him first." I wasn't entirely convinced the Night Fury understood but, I had full confidence in the dragon.

Astrid pushed herself to her feet. "Right, we should get going."

I ran over to her side, waving a farewell to our draconic friends. I could've sworn I saw Astrid roll her eyes as I turned back around. We set off inland following a trail that, for all intensive purposes, was invisible to me. My faith was fully in the Viking girl ahead of me.

Occasionally she would hold out a hand for me to stop. Whatever trail she was looking for was clearly becoming harder to read the further we went away from the shore. It was still going straight over my head, even after spending a good many minutes trying to follow her gaze.

Not long later she came to a halt again, except this time she turned to face me. "I think this is it." She said gesturing behind herself. Having lost focus awhile back I hadn't noticed as we broke into this small clearing, the bad news was what sat in front of us.

"Oh boy another cave." I deadpanned. "Have I ever told you how much I love caves."

Astrid raised an eyebrow.

I conceded to her gaze. "Alright alright, we can check it out."

The cave had the strong smell of smoke, it was evident that someone had recently lit a fire inside. It's inside was just visible with the afternoon's Sun beaming through the leaves above. As it turned out, I had nothing to fear about this cave. It dead-ended not too far from its entrance.

"Your in luck it ends here." Astrid said gesturing to the pile of rocks blocking our way forwards. Judging by the moss growing on some of the larger boulders it was evident the cave-in had happened long ago. At least this recruitment mission was not yet a rescue one.

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Thor."

As my eyes adjusted to the darkness I noticed the floor was littered with tools and supplies. It was a miracle neither of us tripped over any of the odd items on our way in. I let my spelunking companion know with a small nudge to her side.

She steered her gaze towards the floor and scooped up a few close tools for a closer look. "Well... They're definitely of Berkian origin. And with as many as there are, that only points to one..." She trailed off.

I had noticed it too, the faint light entering the cave had suddenly dimmed further. We simultaneously glanced towards the entrance. Silhouetted in the bright afternoon Sun was a familiar figure. A short-legged, well-built figure.

"H-hello?" Came a shaky voice.

"Fishlegs?"

"Hiccup? Hiccup! You have no idea how glad I am to hear your voice."

I climbed out of the cave to meet the stocky Viking. "It's nice to see another old face after all this time."

"Another?" Realisation dawned on his face as Astrid left the shadows. "Oh. Hey Astrid. For a moment I really thought I had found Hiccup first. I guess if it was going to be anyone it was going to be you. Well at least we can go home now." He rambled.

"Slow down there." I placed a hand on his shoulder. "We also came here for your help, we need your unrivalled dragon knowledge to help with a big dragon problem we might have picked up."

"A big dragon problem or a big dragon problem?" He asked sceptically.

"I don't think you'd like the answer to that."

Fishlegs scrutinised me for a second. "What do you want me to do?"

"I'll show you when we get back to the ship-" I paused as he looked about to interrupt.

"It's a long story." Astrid chipped in before I had the chance.

"We'll fill you in on the way but first I need to show you something important." He frowned. "You have to promise not to run." His worried expression flickered with a hint of curiosity, it was definitely not something he was expecting me to say.

"I'm not sure I like where this is going Hiccup."

"Well they won't hurt you if don't threaten them." I said matter-of-factly.

"Who is 'them'?"

I put my fingers in my mouth and blew. I was happy with the resulting whistle that resonated through the trees and was confidence it would be received by the intended audience.

A complete silence fell over the small clearing, Fishlegs was the more confused of the two stood in front of me, Astrid must have figured out what I was doing. I held up a finger as a sign for them to have patience.

For a long minute we faced one another and waited. The only thing to be heard was the wind rustling the leaves above. Slowly the direction of this noise changed, once directly above, now very clearly coming from behind me. Except this time it was definitely not the wind and was undeniably heading towards us.

As the crunching of leaves drew closer Fishlegs began to fidget nervously with the hem of his tunic. He would occasionally glance back to see what the other blonde was making of the situation. She was, in fact, not paying any attention and instead fiddling with the head of her axe. And I honestly couldn't tell if this was helping to calm or worry the Viking stealing the glances.

I didn't have time to put much thought into it as a moment later Toothless burst from the foliage and skidded to a halt next to me. As I could have predicted, Fishlegs yelled and ran behind a tree.

When neither me nor Astrid moved he poked his head out from his hiding spot a completely bewildered look on his face.

"Y-you're ok with this?!" He asked Astrid as if he thought she'd lost her mind. Apparently it wasn't necessary to check if I had lost mine. Maybe I had. It had certainly felt that way when I had first approached Toothless.

She shrugged. "It took me awhile to warm up to the idea."

"Come on out." I beckoned a hand. "It's alright, you'll be fine."

"Oh nonono, that's a N-night Fury. I am staying right here where it's safe." He said as Astrid reached towards him.

"Fishlegs," I started, thinking on the fly. "...aren't you just a little bit curious? Never wanted to fill in that one empty page in the book of dragons?" I knew I had caught him here. He may not have been the most competent dragon fighter but, no one on Berk knew more about them then he did. And I knew he couldn't resist the temptation to study the most elusive one out there.

He groaned. "I hate that you're right."

Cautiously he stepped out from behind the tree. His tentative steps towards the obsidian dragon even managed to pull Astrid's attention away from her blade again.

I smiled reassuringly and stretched a hand out to guide his arm towards Toothless. He flinched as we got closer and threatened to pull his hand away. As I kept going he shut his eyes tightly, and froze on the spot. I gave the dragon a pleading expression and motioned my head in the direction of Fishlegs. He seemed to understand and closed the final small gap, pressing his nose into the despairing Viking's palm.

His eyes shot open. "Whoa..." He said in surprise, completely forgetting to be scared. "I was expecting it to feel-"

"Cold? I know right." I finished his thought for him. "Meet Toothless." The dragon blinked a couple times

"H-how? How did you manage all... this?" He gestured with his free hand towards the dragon.

"Well... I guess we put our trust in each other. I helped him, he helped me."

"And, uh, it-he understands you?"

"Hasn't got anything wrong yet." I said, giving the night fury an affectionate scratch behind the ears.

Fishlegs pulled back. "So why do you need my help if you've got a dragon?"

"Dragons." Astrid corrected causally. "Don't forget Stormfly."

"There's another one?" He seemed anxious again.

I waved off his concern. "Yeah. Astrid picked up a friendly Nadder along the way. I'm sure she'll be along at some point."

"This day keeps getting better and better." He mumbled sarcastically to himself.

Checking the Sun revealed it was getting low in the sky. "We need to get going." I wanted to get some sailing time in before we had to sleep. "Need some help with your things?"

Within a few minutes we all had armfuls of odd items and were making our way towards the beach with both dragons in tow. It turned out Stormfly had been waiting just outside the clearing. The sight of each other gave both dragon and newly acquainted Viking a scare. Subsequently costing us more time as Fishlegs had to pickup everything he had just dropped.

Finally, after not too much struggle, we made it back to the sands of the shoreline. From somewhere behind me I heard a quiet, 'Wow' as Fishlegs caught sight of our ship. It was lucky the island had been just right so that we could build a make-shift gangplank with the supplies on board, or we would have never been able to carry all his things on.

"Welcome aboard." I said, opening my arms wide to the ship.

"Your island had all the cool things. I was stuck looking and trees and rocks for days." Fishlegs complained.

I laughed. "Yeah... It just had the minor disadvantage of being the nest of the dragon Queen."

"Oh?" He said, at a loss for words.

"Remember that big dragon problem I mentioned?"

"Oh." Realisation appeared to hit him.

"Well the good news is, whoever owned this ship made some sketches of it."

"A-and the bad news?"

It was Astrid's turn to chime in. "It's unrecognisable to either one of us."

"And that's why you need me?"

I nodded. "Your dragon knowledge is unrivalled."

"Do you still have the picture?"

I made my way to the one room above deck and pushed open the door. "In here."

The others passed me, leaving the dragons to their own devices outside. I followed after once both were inside and shuffled through the papers on the table until I found the right ones. I handed them to Fishlegs and waited. His eyes slid from left to right as he read.

Flipping over a couple pages he reached the drawing and studied it, his brow furrowing. "Hmm. It can't be." He mumbled to himself.

I looked up. "You recognise it?"

"Well it's not in the book of dragons, which explains why you two didn't know of it." He paused. "It does seem all too familiar from a old book, but that book was full of tales made to scare kids. However it's unquestionable that the description matches that of the mythical Red Death."

Astrid and I shared a concerned glance.

After a moment Fishlegs spoke up again. "I really hope I'm wrong Hiccup. But if that-" He pointed to the sketch, "-is what you saw, then this is very very bad."

Well I wasn't wrong when I said it'd be awhile until the next chapter. Sorry about that, hope I haven't lost your interest too much, love you all. Let me know what you thought of the chapter :) We're approaching the end times now, next time Snotlout and the Twins. Until then, have a good one.