The dragon riders

Chapt 6

Astrid's pov
                       10 years later

It's been 10 long years since he's died. After his death, we never really got back on track. Stoick doesn't come out unless he has to. Fishlegs became more of a fighter, the twins don't pull as many pranks( which I guess is a good thing), snoutlout is less of a womanizer and is a capable leader but he feels as if he doesn't deserve it, gobber lost a part of himself that day, the jovial and loving blacksmith that we all knew and loved has become a shadow of his former self, bitter and withdrawn. But life keeps moving and we can't dwell on the past.
We hold a celebration every year on the day he passed as a way to remember him, a Cheif who didn't live long enough to rule, a soul who left to early, a child not able to grow up. We were getting the celebration ready, stoick was out of bed and everyone seemed festive, we would tell stories of his kindness, wit and his ability as a blacksmith. It was pitch black outside the only the light was lanterns that were held above. I was walking around not really doing anything just looking, then I hear a villager joke that they needed an offering to stop the dragon raids. It made me angry that they said that, it was true that after hiccup died the dragon raids stopped but we lost a child to those monsters.
This is the one day out of the year that everyone seems happy we are celebrating a life that was taken to soon. It's a night of storytelling, mead-drinking, and - of course - a massive bonfire. It's a perfect night. Fishlegs comes up to me, we bonded through the years as we were the more sane ones of the teens. "I overhead your father talking with spitelout" he says. "Oh no not this again" I said. They have been trying to set me up with snoutlout. They want me to be the chefs wife so that we can move higher up but also so I could live comfortably.
Snoutlout still try's to make his advances but I always reject them. I hated him as a kid, we've grown much since then but I still don't like him. I may have grown to tolerate Snoutlout, but I would never love him. It made me wonder, though - if Hiccup were still with us, would they be trying to set us up instead? It was a strange thought, but not an entirely unpleasant one. Hiccup was always such a gentleman, so kind and sweet. He had a way of bringing people together and mending relationships - I couldn't help but wonder what kind of man he would be now, ten years on. Perhaps he would still be in his workshop, tinkering away at some new invention, his wry humor still intact. He was excellent blacksmith, I bet right now he's Valhalla in Brokkr forge making a new wacky invention being his usual sarcastic self.
The music died down a bit and stoick went up to stand in front of everyone making a toast. "Everyone calm down a bit" he said his voice booming, the chatter died down. "Now Tonight is a night of remembrance of a boy who never got to live but he will not be forgotten, his legacy of kindness, wit and compassion will be remembered for generations" he said and everyone cheered. "Now your raise your cups" he said "to hiccup". And he chugged it down. Everyone soon followed.
Then we heard something. Something we hadn't heard in a long time. A dragons roar. Everyone stopped what they were doing and we brought out the net catapult. We couldn't see anything but we could hear them. We started firing somehow we got all of them. Or at least we thought. We heard a whistle in the sky and that's when we knew. "NIGHTFURY" "GET DOWN". I aimed the catapult in the sky, listening for the damn best and then I saw him, I shot him down.
We all ran towards we're the dragons landed, weapons chains and muzzles in hand ready to capture those beast. We found we're them, they all landed in trees. We acted fast chaining them up and putting the muzzles on. "STOP" someone yelled. We look up to see people in the trees, they wore suits made of dragon scales with patterns that matched the dragons, there masks covered there faces but you could tell they were angry. "Let them go" she said. "Oh yeah why should we" snoutlout taunts "we're not going to listen to some freaks in dragon suits". "We are the dragon riders, deliverance of divine justice and if you don't let them go now we will be forced to take action" she said. We all laughed.
          They jumped down from the trees, there weapons at the ready, "Yield spring" a voice coming from the woods said. A person emerged in chains, he wore a black suit with red accents and his face was covered. "But" she started. "Do you DARE disobey me?" He asked. "No" she said defeated. Tuffnut had captured him and ruffnut had captured his dragon. They all willingly went with us locked in chains. So we know who's the leader now. We take all the dragons to the arena and lock them up.
          The night was filled with tension as the dragon riders were thrown into cells, leaving the village in shock and confusion. With the celebration canceled, everyone awaited the gathering in the great hall the following day with bated breath, eager to uncover the true identities of these mysterious riders. But as we examined them more closely, we were stunned to realize that they were our own imprisoned dragons - the same ones that had somehow managed to escape. Now, the stakes were even higher, as we wondered why these riders had taken our dragons, including the horrendous Night Fury, the very dragon that had slain Hiccup.
.
.
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The next morning we all arrived in the great hall. We were all curious on who these "dragon riders" are. We've heard horror stories of them taking down villages and burning them down. Is that what they we're going to do to us? "Why do you think there here" asked fishlegs. "I don't know" I said. "Maybe there here to enslave us like they do to everyone else" Tuffnut said jokingly. "Now that I've seen them with my own eyes, how could they ever done that" ruffnut said "the leader of there's a little scrawny and the rest of his crew isn't really the picture of the commanders of a army".
"Let's hope none of there henchmen come to retrieve them" I said. "Even if they do I'll protect you" snoutlout said grabbing my hand. I punch him. Suddenly the doors opened to the dragon riders still in their suits and chained walking towards stoick. "Now tell me why are you here" he said trying to intimidate them. "Well we were just cruising through the skies, trying to get to another island in a faster," quipped the leader "But then some joker decided to shoot us out of the sky! Talk about a bad day, am I right?"
Stoick wasn't buying it. "We've heard stories about your type before. Murderous bandits who take over entire villages and enslave their people. What do you have to say for yourselves?" The leader stifled his laughter "Are you seriously accusing me? Look at me, I'm a twig! How could I possibly take over a village and enslave its people? You're giving me way too much credit, my friend." Stoick wasn't convinced, and he pressed on. "Well then, explain to me how you managed to get your hands on our dragons that we've been using for training. They escaped from us a decade ago, and now they're in your possession." It was at this moment that I decided to step in. "And what about the Night Fury? Why do you have one in your crew?" The leader looked in my direction and said "they don't call me the Dragon Master for nothing.
"Why do you even care?" The leader sneered. "It's not like he's done anything to you." "He took the son of the Chief," I replied, my voice shaking with anger. "Hiccup Horrendous Haddock was one of the best people I've ever known, and that monster killed him." You couldn't see it but the leader rolled his eyes. "What do you care? You never even cared about him when he was alive.""You don't know what you're talking about," I spat. "Hiccup was the most compassionate and honest person I've ever met, and your pet killed him!" Snoutlout spoke up next, his voice choked with emotion. "Yeah, he took my cousin. It pains me every day that he's not here with us."The leader just laughed. "Please, You're the reason he's gone in the first place." "I loved my cousin!" Snoutlout insisted. You could see the leaders eyes narrowed. "You're a terrible liar, Snoutlout. Maybe you got knocked on the head or something, but you never showed any love for him." Wait how does he know his name? At that moment, Snoutlout snapped. He ran up to him, tearing off the leader's mask. The entire village gasped in shock at the sight before them. It was Hiccup, but something was different. Hiccup's eyes looked crazed, almost feral, as if he was no longer in control of himself. A scar ran down one of his eyes, and his hair was wild and disheveled, like he'd been through a storm. But the most unsettling thing was the way he looked at Snoutlout. He smirked down at him, and his eyes glittered with a cold, almost manic, light. It was like he was enjoying this, like he was relishing the chaos and the pain he was causing."Oop I guess you caught me" he joked.