Dragons: Gift Of The Light Fury

Chapter 1: Where did they go?

Where Did They Go?

This is Berk, boasting the balmy fun-in-the-sun climate that'll give you frostbite on your spleen. The one upside is our annual holiday – we call it Snoggletog. Why we chose such a stupid name remains a mystery, but with the war long over and dragons living among us, this year's Snoggletog promises to be one to remember.

A young blonde Viking girl was curled up asleep in her wooden bed. Her peaceful slumber was interrupted by the sound of something jumping on the roof. Groggily opening one eye, the girl pulled the covers over her head, praying that whatever it was making the noise would realise that she needed a few extra hours sleep.

"Astrid!" a muffled voice from the next room grumbled. "Can you shut that dragon up? Some of us are trying to sleep!"

"So am I!" the girl called back sleepily.

BANG!

"Astrid, I swear, if you don't shut that reptile up I'm rearranging your good leg."

"Mmm..."

CRASH!

"ASTRID!"

The noise and the shouting persisted, so the girl finally gave in and fumbled around for a brightly coloured amulet on her bedside table.

"Okay, okay, okay," she yawned. "I'm going...I'm coming." Swinging her...right foot and left prosthetic leg out of bed, Astrid Hofferson trudged outside, half asleep, into the winter morning to see her best friend roosting on the roof. "Well, good morning, Mrs. Bossy," she greeted. Starlight was Astrid's Light Fury. Starlight is the newly found species of dragons or the subspecies of the Night Fury – and she was as much her human – and her best friend ever since she'd shot her down in a dragon raid a month ago and lost her left tail fin...yeah, while it didn't sound like the best foundation of a friendship, that was how it all started for these two.

Starlight made a small rumbling noise with her throat which always made Astrid smile. She imitated her as she walked round the side of the house which she had lived in with Berk's leading family – the Haddocks – ever since her parents were killed in a dragon raid and she'd become betrothed to the heir of the Hooligan tribe, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. She used to hate her life, but since Starlight arrived, she couldn't be happier, especially as the guy to whom she'd been engaged to her whole life actually liked her now.

"You always have to wake me up so early to go fly...ING!" Astrid yelped, skidding on a patch of ice that had formed outside a few days ago and almost doing the splits as she fell. During the battle with the Red Death, Astrid had lost her left leg and it only hindered her walking further than usual in the winter. Thankfully, Starlight shot under Astrid to catch her before she could hit the ground. "Stupid leg..." she muttered. Starlight growled again sympathetically. "No thanks, girl, it's okay. Yeah, we can go flying now," Astrid smiled before Starlight suddenly burped in her face.

"Eww...eww! What?! Eww!" she spluttered as she tried to breathe in some air that didn't stink of fish. "Starlight!"

***

Within minutes, Astrid and Starlight were high in the clouds, practising a new set of tricks they'd been working on.

"Come on! Let's see what you've got today!" Astrid crowed, leading the Light Fury into a nose dive. An outcrop was approaching so Astrid prepared for a trick that she and Starlight had been perfecting for weeks.