Trust No One

Chapter 5

"Wake up Astrid it's nearly nine o'clock! We'll be late for the archery exam, and you know how mad Sergeant Mala gets when you're late!" Heather shouted, shaking me roughly. Had I really slept in? ON THE WORST DAY TOO?! Great. Just great.

Rushedly getting out of bed I completed the world record on fastest shower and then threw on my archery kit. Grabbing our bows, we hurriedly walked across the camp to the shooting ranges.

The archery test is quite hard to complete, but I've passed them all so far. It includes far-shooting, rapid fire and close range target practice. You have to take your own bow but the arrows and target are provided. It was all that was on my mind until I turned the corner into the vast, open field with a thick, green forest at three sides. Then I remembered something.

"Astrid?" Mala read out each name clearly in alphabetical order.
"Yes Sergeant," I replied, nervously remembering yesterday evening.
"Heather?"
"Yes," it got closer to his name...
"Ruffnut?"
"Yeah I'm here, but do we really have to take this test----"
"RUFFNUT THORSTON QUIETEN YOURSELF!" Mala ordered furiously. Calmer, she then said,
"Hiccup?" 'He's dead' is what I thought right after she said it. There'll be no reply and then they'll find out and---
"Here Mala," Hiccup replied slowly. Heather gasped in astonishment and I was just confused. How was he still alive? I managed to quickly glance over to him, and I saw a figure clad in bloodstained leather, and he was staring at the ground so that it looked like he was analysing the dimensions of the grass with the utmost detail.

"Now then everyone, I'm sure you know that this is a serious test in non-ability bow firing. Anyone caught using an ability will be disqualified and their punishment will be severe. There are five of you taking this test who are:
Ruffnut Thorston
Snotlout Yorgenson
Astrid Hofferson
Heather Deranged
Hiccup Haddock
If someone is not present or is here but not supposed to be then please say... Ok then let's begin."

It was the far-shooting, which is the hardest. They targets were about two hundred metres away and we had to get a bullseye. The numbers on the targets were:
0 on the outside
50 after that
100 around the center and then an area of about 2 by 2 centimetres was 200.

Heather fired first.
I fired second.
Ruff fired third.
Snotlout fired fourth.
Hiccup fired last.
Heather seemed pretty worried, she focused harder than anyone else, determined to get it right. She scored a 100. I needed to get this one, otherwise I'd fail, and my reputation would be ruined. But I got a solid 100. Ruffnut barely concentrated, she just randomly fired. She only got a 50. So she was quite disappointed but honestly who could blame her? She didn't even try.

Snotlout was next, arrogant as ever. He picked up his big, iron bow and the arrow and stood up, closed his eyes and let go of the arrow. Obviously he was trying to show off, but he got a 0. He began to sulk, saying how they must've been wrong and,
"The sun was in my eyes. Do you want me to move the Sun? I can do that, just not right now."

Then it was... Hiccup. He walked up to the place where you were supposed to stand when shooting, lifted his bow, and without aiming, he fired. And guess what? WITHOUT AIMING HE GOT A PERFECT 200! How? There's no way he could've done it, especially considering all his injuries.

The other tests went ok, I came second in rapid fire, with five arrows in seven seconds. Hiccup got five arrows in two seconds. Somehow. In close range I scored a perfect 200 and then a 150. Hiccup of course got both as 200. This couldn't be possible.

Hiccup must be training with somebody, I just need to find out who. Maybe this time with a different approach; I have many more questions...