Behind the Mask

The Stranger In the Shadows - Part II

And we're back for part two of our 'Stranger in the Shadows' chapters and yet to find what is become of our main characters. Enjoy yourselves......I know I am!

Astrid's POV: After the whole thing with Snotlout

"I. HATE. IT. HERE!!" I mark each word with the thunk of my axe into a new tree trunk, taking my rage and expressing it through my weapon of mass destruction..........tree destruction. I send my axe flying more times than I can count, the trees crackling and splintering each time.

"You did this to me, Hiccup!" I shout at the top of my lungs. "Why did you have to do it! Why did you do something so stupid! Why did you have to win that training! Why did you have to walk through that gate! Why did you have to try to tame that Nightmare! It was supposed to be me! I was supposed to be in that ring! I would've just killed the stupid dragon and you'd still be here! We'd still have a chief, and maybe we'd have a real village!" I tear my axe from the most recent trunk, full of sorrow and rage and I flung it blindly beside me. A loud thunk and clang sounded and I turned to see what I had hit. I groan. I had thrown it so hard my axe sunk into a rock, cracking it slightly. I trudge over to retrieve it from the stone and wrap my fingers around the handle, tugging it once and expecting it to come free immediately. It didn't. I tug once more.......nothing. I grab it with both hands and pull harder, still nothing. I struggled fore several more minutes, putting a foot against the rock to add more force and jerked harder and harder........It didn't come loose, but it only seemed to get more stuck. I give up, turning around to lean against the stone and sliding down to sit on the forest floor. I placed my head in my hands and let my steam out, ready to cry and release all these bottled up emotions. I can't take another day of this, there was no way. I would have to leave this island, but it would be nearly impossible to without detection unless I could just up and sprout wings. When Hiccup left, he'd taken most of me with him. I was barely holding on today, let alone having to hold on for the rest of my life. I pound the ground with my clenched fist, the tears starting to fall and my face heating.

"Hiccup......." I start. "Why did you have to die." I bury my face into my knees, not bothering to wipe away my worst enemy.

"You shouldn't be out here." A voice said out of nowhere. It was deep, but soothing.

My head shoots up, scanning the surroundings and furiously wiping at my face. "Who's there?" I ask.

"No one you need concern yourself with."

I hear the voice behind me and with lightning speed I send a dagger flying to where the voice emanated. I hear no cry of pain or curse, but instead I hear a soft thud as if it had hit the dirt I stood on.

"There's no need to throw things." He says, and I see his shadow emerge from the forest, pulling the dagger from his arm unscathed. "That is just a little rude, if you ask me."

With that statement he threw the dagger straight at me. I jump back out of reflex, but it doesn't hit me. It only sinks into the dirt at my feet. I retrieve it carefully.

"Who are you?" I ask. He is still hidden well in the shadows of the large trees.

"It does not matter. I come to warn you, that is all. A large storm is rolling in shortly and it is no trifle. You should go home and stay inside for the night."

"Pfft." I say. "Like I'd listen to a complete stranger."

"I am not a complete stranger to you though you do not know me."

He steps further from the shadows and into the light and I see him clearly. It is the man who saved me from the Zippleback flames only a few hours ago. He is tall, chest broad and defined muscles pushing out his armour in bulges. His armour is leather from what I can tell and there are things on it I can't quite describe. Symbols, insignias and other items that grabbed my attention. I look down and stop at what I see. He is missing his leg about eight inches below the knee and a complicated peg leg rested in its place. On his face is the same mask, dark and only revealing his eyes. Auburn hair poked out around and behind the covering. It looked familiar, that shade of hair did, but I pushed the thought from my mind. His caped draped over his shoulders in almost a royal manner and made him look bigger than he actually was as it fell to the ground.