Without Saying

Chapter 12 - The Dragon Master's Playground

I know I probably should have put this picture in the previous chapter, but I'm doing it now anyway. This is more what Astrid looks like now, minus the armor. Thats for a later date.

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I quietly closed the false rock hatch and groaned. Why do I always have to be so dramatic?! And cryptic!!! They could easily take what I said as a threat, and what was I supposed to do if they did?!

"You got a little ahead of yourself this time, didn't you?"

I mumbled. I waited a few seconds as the Smothering Smokebreath smoke that came through the door with me dissipated. Alright, they'll most likely split up into a few parties and start combing the island for me. Regardless of who they thought I was, I was still thought to be a stranger on their island. First thing I had to do was get Toothless out of sight. He might have to hide out here in the tunnels for a while since they were so conveniently forgotten about, at least until the search was over. It would take the vikings a few minutes to split into groups so, wanting to get back in time to see which groups they separated into, I ran as fast as I could to the cove.

"This is a fine mess you've gotten yourself into now, Hiccup. What better way to prove to Berk that you're not a threat than to show up unannounced, interrupt, and speak in riddles before disappearing. Yeah, how else could I have done it?!"

I panted. What kind of a man uses dragons...He's not a man at all, and certainly no viking. That was what Spitelout said earlier, and even though I knew he wasn't talking about me it still left me feeling a little nervous. Berk hasn't really changed in that sense. They still hate dragons and anyone that associates with them in any other way than killing. If that was still how they saw dragons, then I would definitely have to keep Toothless hidden until he could fly again. The question was, how could I get back into the forge to use it now!? The armory was right next to the forge, which means it will be heavily guarded now that they think there is an intruder on the island. What was I going to do? I thought about it the whole way there but didn't get any closer to figuring it out. Before I knew it, I was dashing past the opening into the cavern Toothless and I were staying in and out into the cove through the entrance thag Toothless left ajar. Toothless was in a battle ready stance, wings stretched and plasma blast ready to fire.

"*Where have you been?*"

He questioned after seeing that I wasn't a coming threat.

"*Great Hall, and they're gonna come looking for me, so you'll have to lie low for a little bit.*"

I panted. Toothless gave me a frustrated sigh.

"*Tell me you didn't go over the top dramatic again?!*"

He groaned. I shrugged.

"*I couldn't help it. The timing was too perfect, and I wanted to get my message across about Drago.*"

I grunted back. Toothless rolled his eyes and started heading for the tunnel entrance.

"*You just have an obsessive draw to the dramatic flair, and you know it.*"

I wanted to argue, but the truth is I couldn't. He was right. I did have an extremely dramatic flair, but it was never bad enough to land me in a situation this rough.

"*So what's the plan, Mr. Genius?*"

I groaned again and plopped myself down as I rubbed my eyes.

"*I don't know, Toothless. I really don't...We need to fix your tail, but with everybody searching for me, the forge with be guarded, and I could always try to make a crude forge out here but they'll see the smoke coming from it.*"