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| For the Thrilling and the Scheming | |
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| Topic Started: 15 Nov 2015, 13:24 (1089 Views) | |
| DragonbackVoyager | 15 Nov 2015, 13:24 Post #1 |
Hideous Zippleback
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Happy Snoggletog, Rider ranger47! I hope that your holidays are absolutely wonderful.  Here is my gift to you! I have to admit, when I signed up for Secret Odin, I had no idea that the two weeks between when we received our assignments and when the gifting day was would be the two busiest weeks of my year so far, but, for whatever reason (that, honestly, I don't understand), they were. And today has turned out to be no exception. I stayed up extremely late and got up extremely early to try and finish before the deadline, but I'm so sorry to say that this post is only half of the story. These first two parts are entirely complete, but there are two more parts to expect, and they WILL be given just as soon as I can write them. I really hope you enjoy! Prologue The breath of the gods rose and fell in steady gusts, flipping the long bangs of the dragon rider towards the sun and sending her blonde braid flying behind her back like a banner. She circled the scene on the saddle of her graceful nadder with pursed lips, ready reflexes, and sharp blue eyes that reflected the glow of the glaciers below her. Small specks of color- her tribesman- scurried around the ice as they worked almost tirelessly to rid their proud island of the thorns the bewilderbeast had planted in it. In the sky, with the breeze whistling through her ears and leagues of fluffy clouds surrounding her, it was possible to allow the war with Drago to slip her mind. If only for a moment, she could pretend that it was any other day of her life with Stormfly. They were chasing after Hiccup, scouring the skies for the silly boy with his head in the clouds and his gaze upon the unexplored horizon. But she knew better. Her heart pulled her back to the ground where her "silly boy" was buried up to the tip of his scruffy hair in the responsibility of being a noble young leader. She should be down there; if not for Hiccup, then for the tribe that she loved so well. Part One: Inception Stormfly cautiously flapped to a landing and her rider's feet briskly met the grass in one long, elegant motion. No more girlish, whimsical daydreams. There were people missing and houses trapped in ice, a brutal reality that required a warrior's dedication. Astrid held her axe to her side with one hand and grabbed the chief's shoulder with the other as he jogged by. "The skies are clear, 'Chief'." Hiccup barely pulled to a stop in front of his scout, skidding for a few extra inches as his momentum carried him forward on his metal leg. His favorite reptilian friend skittered beside him and held a wing out to prevent his fall. "Good- and, uh, thanks, bud. Because the last thing we need right now is unwanted dragons. Or unwanted visitors on dragons. Or unwanted visitors in ships." Astrid sympathetically moved her hand from his shoulder to his armored chest as she studied his expression. It was taut with stress and worry. "We're safe, Hiccup." The chief's face momentarily showed a weak smile as he took her hand from his breast and tenderly squeezed it. "Are we? I can't help but wonder what happened to Drago, if him just- just disappearing means that he's gone for good, or..." "Or?" They began to saunter down the street in equal stride. "If he's still out there, gathering his army for another attack. And what if this- all of this destruction and havoc- what if it's ultimately my fault?" Astrid remained quiet for a few steps, studying the ground with a thoughtful expression while truly pondering the situation. "Drago was so power hungry, he would have ended up finding Berk at one point or another. He was looking for an army, and here, every single person has at least one dragon. When the attack happened isn't important. What matters is that you're working hard to bring everyone together and repair the island. And you're doing a really good job. Hiccup, not only has everyone been working hard together, but you've actually helped them enjoy themselves, too, by continuing the dragon races. That's amazing leadership." The original dragon rider of Berk absentmindedly rubbed the nape of his neck. "That 'amazing leadership' feels like it's comprised of a little bit of me bumbling around and a lot of sympathetic tolerance." "Oi! 'iccup!" Hiccup turned his attention to the man who hollered to him, a roundish Viking that had a hand on his harnessed thunderdrum. "The ice 's ready to be removed!" "Great! That's the second block today!" The chief quickly kissed Astrid's cheek, shooting her an apologetic look for the sudden end to their conversation. "Keep up the good work, dragon scout," he fondly called to her as he jogged away to one group of many working against the destruction. Toothless skipped along after Hiccup, excited to guide his dragons in the removal flight ahead. Astrid smirked and waved to the chief as he was called away to external problems. She could tell he was unhappy- not with his new position, but with the untimeliness of it all. Staying loyal to her task, the warrior girl shouldered her axe and began to peruse the streets, which were surprisingly barren of activity. The majority of the population was working to remove the glaciers that had encased homes and tribesman, and those that couldn't assist with the taxing job were doing small but necessary tasks indoors, including baking and caring for the wounded. The exceptions were Gobber and Valka, who were both deeply engrossed in their work as Astrid came upon them on one edge of the island. The dragon vigilante glanced up and greeted her son's lover warmly as she pried a shackle from the leg of a gronckle and threw it into a pile of disarmed traps and chains. "Hello, Astrid! How are you?" "I'm doing fine, Valka. And yourself?" "Oh, I'm as busy as I've ever been, helping these poor dragons out of the nasty armor Drago trapped them in. But it's quite rewarding work." She smiled as she scratched the gronckle under the chin, and it tottered away squeaking, overjoyed to be free. "Have you seen Hiccup today?" "Yeah! I just talked to him, actually. They're making some real progress on the ice." "How wonderful! I think I might have to make dinner for him to celebrate the success of his work so far. He's tired, I can tell, but he's doing so well as Chief." Gobber made a show of silently gagging behind Valka at the mention of her cooking, but he stopped and grinned at the thought of her son's progress. "Yup! Y'know, Stoick is a tough act to follow, but the boy's doing just fine. His father would be proud." A small, melancholy silence filled the air between the three as their hearts awakened and mourned their lost chief and husband. The wife sniffed and sighed into a slight smile. "They are both truly great men," she said, weakly but proudly. "They are," Gobber agreed. "Truly." The warrior girl nodded. "Astrid," Valka addressed, suddenly breaking from her sad spell, "would you mind checking the stables for me? There's a hobblegrunt there that can't walk, and I'm terribly worried about it getting food and water, but there are still more dragons here that need help!" "I'm glad to," the girl replied with a grin, quickly parting with her solemn face. She took a step back as she began her departure. "Just make sure he has something to nibble on- it won't keep you too long. Thank you, dear." "Sure thing!" Astrid flashed her hand as a goodbye and strode off toward the stables. The walk was another barren one, but, as the warrior continued inland, the trees that lined island's peaks with flaming, falling leaves came into view and allowed her to admire them. She could hear saws and picks hacking away at the ice and the shouts of men issuing warnings or giving instructions to one another. A part of her wished she working to remove the glaciers as well, just to be equal to her tribesmen, but she knew that she held a greater position as she was entrusted to patrol the island and watch its inhabitants- sheep, dragons, and people alike. The girl paused in the entrance of the wooden lair and allowed her eyes to adjust to the shade of the roof above her. Some tired reptiles snored in their hay-lined beds, while others stirred, shook, and squawked at the entrance of a stranger. Stormfly had retreated here for a nap, and she lazily opened an eye and nipped at Astrid's skirt as the warrior walked by. "Hey, girl," the human greeted quietly, trying not to disturb the resting dragons with a commotion. "Where's that injured hobblegrunt?" A low, dreary coo answered her question. In the stall next to Stormfly, a sad-looking dragon moaned as it shuffled around and attempted to change its lying position, but its foot gave out from under it as it tried to get to its feet, and it collapsed back into the straw with a dejected sigh. Despite its pain, Valka had clearly been there and helped it significantly. The space had double the hay of the other nests, a large bowl of water lay close to the dragon, and its injury was tightly padded and bandaged with careful expertise. Hiccup's mother had been correct, though, in worrying that it needed food. "Hey there!" Astrid whispered cheerfully, crawling into the stall and stroking the hobblegrunt's snout. "Are you hungry? I'll get you some supper. Fish, chicken, and sheep- do you have a favorite?" Of course, there was no response in human words, but the dragon nuzzled its nose into the warrior girl's hand and curled its tail around itself tightly while it purred. "Hm...you look like a 'chicken' kind of hobblegrunt. Is that right? I guess I could get you a little bit of everything. I'll be right back, I promise!" With another affectionate pat, Astrid stood and made her way over to the alcove with the dragons' supply of food, all tightly sealed in barrels to prevent any midnight snacking (though the effectiveness of this practice was questionable). She busied herself with prying open a container of haddock- she knew it by the smell- when she noticed the shadow of a human on the wall in front of her. It...it didn't match her shadow. "Shh," the figure whispered to something- maybe a dragon or the creaking floorboards. "No one needs to know that we were here." Whoever they were, they hadn't seen Astrid yet! The warrior quickly ducked behind the barrel she had been opening and became silent apart from her focused breathing, gripping her axe with both hands as she furrowed her brow. No person would mess with Berk's dragons on her watch! The figure's footsteps trod away from where the girl hid, then quickly padded toward her. Had she been spotted? "No one will miss a barrel of fish...or two or three..." the figure said, a little meekly. The container Astrid had her back to began to move. She shouted a terrifying cry, vaulted over the barrel, and, using the blunt end of her axe, pinned- "ERET?!" "Astrid! Would you mind...um...letting me up now?" The girl's position didn't change. "Why are you here? What do you need fish for?" "Well, I don't think that the dragon of the late chief should starve." "But...why take it from the stables?" "I...I didn't know if Skullcrusher would fit through the door." "Eret!" Astrid grinned and chuckled a little. "This place is designed for all sorts of dragons! Of course Skullcrusher can fit inside!" "Okay, so I know that now. Will you please let me stand up?" "I don't know..." The former dragon catcher looked dismayed by her joke. With a slightly amused smirk, the girl removed her weapon from Eret's neck and took her knee off of his stomach. Keeping a wary eye on his assailant, he cupped his hands to his mouth and gave a weak dragon call. It was...unimpressive. On top of the underperformance, no dragons responded to it. "What was that?" "Was it not Skullcrusher's dragon call?" "It sounded more like a dying yak." "Oh, really?" Eret asked, placing his hands on his hips and cocking a competitive eyebrow. "Well, how about you give it a try?" "If you insist..." Astrid executed a perfect rumblehorn call. Skullcrusher promptly ambled into the stables- apparently he hadn't been very far away. The foreigner tried not to appear frustrated by his defeat. "He was...he was just late responding to me." "Keep telling yourself that, Eret." The warrior rolled her eyes and returned the the barrels, taking a handful of fish and a large piece of chicken before returning to her business with the hobblegrunt. She could get it lamb if it was still hungry after the first course. The injured dragon snorted as if to say, "What took you so long?" "Sorry, sorry. Here, I brought you some lunch." The winged lizard gratefully slurped up the haddock and gnawed the chicken to the bone. Entirely contented, it nuzzled into Astrid's lap again and muttered little dragon noises until she began to stroke its scaly nose. "I think you were hungrier for attention than you were for food! Isn't that right?" But the hobblegrunt had begun to doze in the comfort of a friend's company. The girl tried to think up a cheesy saying for the moment. "Human and dragon companionship is the best medicine" just didn't have a nice ring to it. Eret stared at Astrid as she skillfully worked her dragon mastery magic- and as Skullcrusher lapped up two full barrels of fish and started on a third. His focused look said that there was something on his mind. "Astrid..." "Yes?" She glanced over at the tall-ish, handsome-ish trapper. The tattoo on his chin made him look stupid, and his hair was too long. She noticed it every time she looked at him and his upside-down-pear-shaped face, but, like a classy young Viking, she didn't let him in on her thoughts. "I was wondering...do you- I mean, does Berk as a whole- celebrate any winter holidays?" "Winter holidays?" "Well, I've done a fair bit of traveling in my time, and most of the people I've come across participate in some kind of festivities to celebrate the season or their gods around this time of year. Does Berk have anything like that?" "Of course we do. It's called Snoggletog, and-" The warrior stopped and gasped mid-sentence. "Oh my gods! What's today?! What month is it?! Have we missed it entirely?!?" "Missed what?!" "Snoggletog! The celebration! The presents! The festival! Oh, Thor! Did we just forget about it in all the chaos?" Astrid slapped a hand to her forehead in alarmed chagrin. "I-I don't know. When do you celebrate Snoggletog?" She took a deep breath, calmed her thoughts, and found a response for Eret, though her eyes were still very wide when she spoke again. "...In two days. Snoggletog is in two days." "Oh..." A mischievous gleam began to twinkle in her eyes. "That's just enough time." "What?" "Eret, how would you like to help me with a little project?" Part Two- Disobeying Orders "But why can't we bring anyone else in to help?" "This needs to be a surprise! Besides, I've done this before, and, um- it didn't have much success. We probably wouldn't have any volunteers." "How often does everyone on Berk forget about Snoggletog?!" "Never, before now. That year was just the first holiday with dragons. They disappeared right before the celebration, and I tried to come up with new traditions to fill the gap that they so rudely left as they flew away. At the same time, Hiccup followed them and discovered that they leave to have babies, and, really, the dragons were looking out for us because their eggs explode. Anyway, this year will NOT be like that year. This year, we're just going to follow tradition and do a job meant for an entire tribe as two people in two days." "...Look, Astrid- I do hate to say this, but there are several extremely obvious flaws in your plan." The warrior girl and the retired dragon trapper had retreated into the forest. There, they sat on a damp bed of browning leaves as they bickered, shaded by an evergreen whose tip seemed to compete with the clouds for space in the sky. Eret crossed his legs in front of himself, and, as he talked, he used his hands to add a word here or there. Astrid listened with something a little more desperate than patience while she rested with her feet placed to one side. "You don't think it's possible?" "Well...honestly, no, I don't. With what we would have to do-" "Eret, all we need is decorations and some food. As much as I'd like to give gifts to everyone, I realize that it probably won't be- it isn't-" "It can't be done in two days." "Right." They paused for a moment. Eret considered his options. He also considered how his relationship with the chief's girl would be affected if he chose to walk away. Not desirable. "...So," he said, "what do we need to do to get the decorations ready?" Astrid tried to hide her surprise as she smiled at him, but she couldn't disguise the fact that she was absolutely delighted to have his help. "Okay- there are baubles and specially decorated shields to collect, and there's lots of garland that will have to be made- oh! But I guess we can't waltz around hanging things up two days before, so the actual decorating needs to be done the preceding night. We also have a tree in the middle of the town made of painted planks, but that's going to be very hard for the two of us to do alone. I think focusing on collecting decorations today and preparing food tomorrow will be a solid plan of action." "Yeah. That actually sounds relatively manageable." The girl snorted. "It was never not manageable, Eret." "Oh, I don't know about that." ---------- A glacier of a problem stood before them. Eret had his hands on his hips. "The baubles and shields are in there?" Astrid also had her hands on her hips. "Yup." The small storehouse had been engulfed in solid ice. Though the barrier was slick from sweating water, it was nowhere near the point of cracking or miraculously getting out of the way. "And I suppose that you know where we can find spare picks?" the dragon trapper asked. "I'm pretty sure the people excavating houses need those. We can just use firepower." "That could burn down the building!" "Not if we're careful. We only need to reach the door. Besides, these places are built to take a few scorch marks. Stormfly?" Eret cowered a respectable distance away from the storehouse as Astrid directed her friend. Stormfly didn't need much help, though, while she cautiously emitted white-hot flame and burned though the ice in the rough shape of a door, mimicking the real entrance that was trapped behind the frozen water. She stopped just before the building could catch flame- and, yes, there was a blackened mark on the wood. "Good job, girl!" the warrior commended, rubbing Stormfly's neck to give the dragon a reward for a well-completed task. She turned to Eret. "Well? We're wasting daylight here!" The inside of the storehouse was slightly darker, slightly damper, and slightly colder than Astrid remembered it to be. Even so, the rows and rows of wooden crates remained intact on the rows and rows of shelves that lined the side walls. Along the back of the shed, bright shields giggled at the newcomers from where they neatly hung. "Looks good to me." The former dragon trapper seemed keen to move on to the more involved tasks. "Wait! We have to see if all the baubles are alright!" "All the baubles?!" "No, stupid. Just a few crates on each wall. The water could have seeped through and begun to rot some of them." And the game began! Eret took the left wall, Astrid took the right, and the two began to pry the lids off of boxes and peer inside, checking for broken or soaked decorations. Eret created an opportunity to announce his progress. "That's three for me!" "I've done five." "...And...that's....six..." "Nine. Stop at ten. We don't want to waste our time." Defeated, the foreigner finished looking through his crates- which were all filled with colorful, intricate designs that could have been admired for a longer period of time- in silence. "Everything looks intact," he sighed. "Same on my side. It's such a relief to know that the decorations are okay. Now, we can focus on the live stuff." "Oh, terrific..." The two left the drafty storehouse, secured the door, and began to weave their way back to the forest. Just as they started to cross the last open street between themselves and the trees, a Viking emerged in their path. "Hello, my good sirs! Well, a sir and a lad-ay. Hello, my good sir- and an equally fair lady!" Astrid applied a death grip to her axe and allowed any cheerfulness she had to drain from her face. "What do you want, Tuffnut?" He manically waved his hands in front of her face. "Nothing, nothing! I was just walking my chicken, taking him on a leisurely stroll through the town so that he may experience the pinnacle of life as a chicken-y chicken, when, all of a sudden, I realized: 'There! Up ahead! It's two of my comrades in arms! I must know what they're doing!'" Eret appeared dumbfounded. "You- you don't have a chicken with you." Tuffnut flailed in all directions. "OH MY THOR! I DON'T! Chicken! Oh, chicken, where did you go?!" He tripped away down the lane, calling and making complicated hand signals for his lost bird. "Is there really a chicken?" "Unfortunately, yes." "Wow. I mean- he and his sister both-" "Could be considered absolutely insane? Yes, I know. Let's get going before he actually finds the chicken or gets distracted and starts looking for us again." "On it!" Astrid and Eret sped across the opening and into the forest behind the village, Stormfly in tow. Once a small army of trees separated the warrior from her young fellow tribesman, she halted. "Okay. Item one of today: Done. Check. All of the old decorations are good to go. Now for item two: garland." Eret spent an extra moment with his hands on his knees as he huffed and puffed and gasped for air. "And- how do we- do that?" he asked as he returned to an upright position, continuing to pant. "Well...I need you to nick a little something for me. I'll be preparing the pine branches while you do it." The girl gave a tiny, (hopefully) innocent and persuasive smile to the former dragon trapper. "No way! I'm already an outsider here, and you want me to steal- wait, what do you want me to steal?" "Just rope. As much of it as you can find." "Isn't that kind of necessary for ice removal like the picks were?" Astrid sighed. Eret clearly liked to have every possible question imaginable answered before taking action. "Yes, but there's a lot more rope on the island than there are picks. We have enough to do this, I promise." ---------- And so it came to pass that Eret, the poor soul unwittingly dragged into preparing Astrid's great surprise, was nonchalantly but very obviously sneaking around the back of the blacksmith's shop to find rope. He knew where it was kept- he had seen it there before, lying in a great winding coil on the ground- and it was only a matter of securing it for his own purposes. The dragon trapper flattened himself against the rough outer wall and peeked around the corner. "What are you doing?" "AGH!" Eret emitted a rather undignified yelp as a voice materialized in his ear. "Um- hello, Snotlout." "Answer my question, punk! What are you sneaking around here for?" Snotlout was not amused. His arms remained crossed as he stared down his opponent. Hookfang growled menacingly behind him. They were both taking the job Hiccup had assigned them as the tribe's internal watchdogs extremely seriously. "I need some rope." "What for?" "Does- does it matter?" "Yeah, it matters! Berk is having a crisis here! You can't just take stuff without having a need for it- that's stealing!" "Well, I do need it, so I think I'll just take it and go with my very good reas-" "No! You tell me that reason, and then you can take the rope. If not, we'll have to do this the hard way." He cracked his knuckles. "Hey, hey! I said it was a very good reason, not a secret one. Even though she might actually murder me for telling you this: Astrid is planning to surprise everyone with a Snoggletog celebration in two days, and we need rope to make the garland to decorate with." This made the rather bullheaded Berkian pause. "Why is she planning a Snoggletog celebration?" "Because Snoggletog is actually in two days." Snotlout started and stared at Eret with a piercing look as he thought. "My gods! It IS in two days!" "Yes, and we're trying to keep it a surprise, so may I please take the rope now and trust that you won't tell anyone?" "Uh, hello?! You need EVERYone! In case you haven't noticed, Astrid is a little loco when it comes to her and her massive plans. Without help, you're screwed!" "...Thank you?" "I'll see if I can go round up Fish-face and- hm, maybe not the twins. I'll definitely bring Fish-face, though. Where are you guys set up?" "Just inside the forest. Toward the dragon stables." Snotlout clicked his tongue and pointed to Eret with a sickeningly narcissistic grin. "I'll show with reinforcements. Hang in there, man." ---------- "YOU DID WHAT?!" "I told him what we were doing and where we were meeting so that he could come help. We really, really need help." Astrid had lined the forest floor with pine sprigs in carefully formed bunches, all laid end to end in a path that stretched from her feet to the woods' horizon. It was a rather impressive accomplishment for the time she had, but her focus was fully on the tragic event that had only just reached her ears. "Please, please tell me you're joking." "I'm not! Why are you denying assistance with this impossible task? Is it something to do with me? My gods, are you using this whole scheme to lure me in and be unfaithful to Hiccup?!" The warrior froze in her place, burning Eret with unmoving, blue-flaming eyes that asked him to repeat what he had said so she would have an excuse to pummel him. She flinched. He took a step back. She leapt forward and hit him straight across the jaw with an infuriated shout. His head hit the discolored, rotting leaves on the floor, and he barely moved for fear of being punched again. "HOW DARE YOU!!!" Astrid screamed, her voice cracking with grieved frustration. "How- dare- you- accuse me of being disloyal to Hiccup. I would never. I couldn't even think about doing something so horrible to him. I don't find you attractive in the slightest, Eret, and even though I would REALLY like to know why you felt inclined to ask that question, I'll go ahead and tell you that I don't want anyone else here because, especially if it's the dragon academy group, they are eighty times more likely to go and drop a 'little hint' about the surprise to Hiccup or Gobber or someone that would spill the news to the entire village and ruin the work we've done. Or they might just do that damage themselves. But THAT, Eret, is why I don't want Snotlout or Fishlegs or the twins 'helping'." The dragon trapper apprehensively watched Astrid pace around him, shrinking when she suddenly turned in his direction or put a hand on her axe. Stormfly squawked to punctuate her friend's point. The late afternoon sun penetrating the leaves in the trees cast intricate patterns of light and shadow across the prowling figure, disguising her expression. Was she entirely angry? Or did he see a hint of pain in her eyes that he could gain mercy from? "Astrid, I'm- I'm so sor-" |
 The best Secret Odin GIF(t) ever, made for me by DeWhite! Thank you!
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| Theotherunknown | 15 Nov 2015, 13:42 Post #2 |
There were dragons, when I was a boy...
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Great fic! Thanks, and happy Snoggletog! |
How many times must I fix my signature over the years?
 
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| Team Astrid | 05 Mar 2016, 01:23 Post #3 |
Deadly Nadder
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Finish it? Please? 
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