The Rouge Angel (Book 1) - HTTYD

2| The Chief

|ASTRID|

"Thanks Trader John" I sigh as he hands me an old scroll.

"No problems ma'am! Anything for the chief of Berk."

I smile, dropping a few runes into his worn hands before he walks off. I watch him go, and I try not to stare as I do, but I can't help myself.

He gets to sail. He gets to go from place to place.

But I'm stuck...here. With my nightmares and horrors of the past.

I hold the scroll in my hand, my lips feeling dry. I slowly unravel it, taking a deep breath as I read what has been written.

Three attacks. The Franks...the Alchers...and the Gotharens...

Three tribes that are now nothing but smouldering piles of rubble.

Who would do such a thing?

The Rouge Angel.

He's a murderous psychopath, that takes pleasure in killing people. He has no emotion as he does it. I've never seen the Rouge Angel, but every week, Trader John brings me updates on where he is, and where he has attacked.

You can call me paranoid, because that's exactly what I am.

The Rouge Angel...slays children. The Rouge Angel...is almost unstoppable. If he wants to do something...nothing, and I mean nothing, will stand in his way.

I roll the scroll back up, tucking it under my arm. I turn on my heels, walking to Meade hall.

I hate having to worry all the time. I never had thought that I, Astrid Hofferson, would be chief.

The day that Stoick died...it haunts my nightmares. I remember the look in Hiccups eyes as he plunged the dagger into his head...

I shake my head, not wanting to relive the memories of my past. I've always out what happened that day in the arena behind me, but it always creeps up on me, surprising me nearly every time.

I push open the doors to the mead hall, relishing the warmth that rushes to me as I enter. I close the large doors behind me, striding up to the table that sits "the gang."

Or what's left of it.

Snotlouts spots me, eyeing the scroll in my hands. "How many?"

I walk to the end of the table, sitting down and throwing the scroll to him. He fumbles with it, before unrolling it and staring at its contents.

I grimace. "Three."

Fishlegs quivers, his large shoulders shaking. Snotlout looks down to his hands, sighing.

Ruff just blinks, staring off into space.

It's almost heart breaking, to see Ruffnut without her twin. I want to wrap my arms around her in a bone crushing hug. But most of me just wants to look away from her with pouted lips, arms folded over my chest. I'm not one to show affection, well, not any more.

I changed too on that day.

You could say that I became cold, or maybe even colder. When I met Toothless...and when I flew through the clouds behind Hiccup, something changed in me. I no longer just cared about myself. I cared about Toothless, and even Hiccup. But when Hiccup went spastic...and I saw what he did, it was just another reminder that nothing good is in this world lasts.

The day that Hiccup fell to the darkness, everyone lost something.

Snotlout lost his father...

Fishlegs lost his mother...