Ska'i Malamalama
"Boar pits? Boar pits?! You dug boar pits underneath our homes?!" It was rare when Hiccup exploded, but when he did, you could tell he meant it.
That didn't seem to phase the twins, though. "Uh, no. They're boar tunnels and they're in case we need a quick escape," Ruffnut explained, with an obvious tone to her voice.
"Yeah. We thought you'd be a lot happier about this," Tuffnut added.
"Um, tell me how we're supposed to escape through these tunnels, with a bunch of wild boars chasing us?" Astrid was exasperated in trying to understand their reasoning.
"Well, they'd be too busy chasing after our enemies, hello," Ruffnut explained.
"Why, have you been training them?" Fishlegs asked with genuine curiosity.
"That's ridiculous," Snotlout scoffed. "You can't train a boar."
"Actually, they do have an excellent sense of smell," Ska'i brought up. "If we could accumulate them with our scent -."
"Oh, like a dog?!" Snotlout burst out laughing.
"It could work," Hiccup bemused.
"Are you serious?" Astrid asked, dubiousness thick in her voice. "There are so many other things to place our attention on, other than entertaining the idea of keeping murderous boars beneath our houses!"
"You're right," Hiccup acknowledged. "Ruff, Tuffnut, you guys figure out a way to try and . . . train . . . the boars to not kill us if they ever succeed in getting out. And fix that hole Astrid fell in. Why don't you -," he pointed to Astrid. "Organize the rest to help with fortifying defenses?"
She gave a curt nod, then narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Wait, what are you doing?"
He made a gesture for her to follow him, and they exited the Clubhouse.
After shooting Ska'i a warm smile, Tuff and his sister ran off to continue carrying out their chaotic plan, now that they got permission. Well, now that they got caught.
It was technically Astrid who discovered the tunnels.
Fishlegs always preferred to walk with Meatlug on one of the many trails around the island in the morning on their way to break their fast, than flying. Astrid had finished up and was coming back from her daily patrol around the island and caught the two on her way back. Letting Stormfly descend in lazy spirals, she landed a couple of yards away.
"Hey there, Fishlegs!" She greeted jovially.
" 'Morning, Astrid! You're rather chipper," he observed. "Everything good out there?"
"Yup!" She answered, dismounting.
"That's great to hear! Want to come join us?"
"Sure!"
They'd gone two steps when Fishlegs noticed the miniature sinkhole in the trail right in front of them. As Astrid made to take a step, Fishlegs was too late to stop her - tried. "No, wait!"
And her foot went right through the hole. Fishlegs was surprised she didn't fall right through herself, but she'd shot out her arms to stop her from falling completely in. She gave an angry shout that shocked Fishlegs so badly, that he clapped his hands to his mouth.
Unlucky for her, it happened right outside Snotlout's house, and scolded her. "Now, Astrid! Is that any way for a lady to speak?"
Fishlegs was helping her out of the hole, but now he struggled to hold her back from pounding Snotlout into the dirt. Thankfully, her dragon did that for her. Stormfly whipped her tail behind his knees to knock him down, followed by a swift thump to his stomach in the same gesture. "Oof," as his breath left him.
"Thanks, girl," Astrid showed appreciation toward her dragon. Meanwhile, Fishlegs became busy examining the hole.
"Hmm, this doesn't seem like a regular mole hole," he mused.
" 'A mole hole,' " Astrid was irritated. "Are you calling it that because it rhymes?"
"Yeah, a regular hole -. Wait, what? No, I'm not calling it that 'because it rhymes.' A regular hole would be filled with a lot more dirt. Especially considering you just fell into it. And it'd be a lot darker. This has some light coming in from somewhere," and he laid down, sticking his head in the hole. "They're tunnels!" He exclaimed in shock.
"They're what?!" Astrid roared.
"Wait, 'tunnels'? As in Whispering Death tunnels?" Snotlout had managed to stand up by now, and began to shake, cowering behind Hookfang.
But, nope, they turned out to be boar tunnels. If Ska'i was being honest with herself, she couldn't see which animal was more dangerous; a Whispering Death, or a wild boar. One of the coming-of-age tasks the young men had to do on their island, was to hunt and kill a boar on their own. In the shortest amount of time, with the least amount of wounds. Koi, of course, only took three hours and arrived back at the village with not a scratch on him. As for her, it took five and a half and had a bunch of scratches from narrowly missing the tusks. As well as having to dive into thick bramble bushes to avoid the worst of them.
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