Symphony of Shadows

39. Boulder

A/N: The next chapter will be posted next Sunday at 8pm ET:) Enjoy this chapter!

Astrid had bit him. She'd threatened him. She'd insulted him. Hiccup should be repulsed, should feel hatred for her because of her anger towards him. But he didn't, he couldn't. No matter how many times she said she hated him, he couldn't bring himself to say the same. When he heard her hoarse screams as she woke up, his soul had nearly crumbled so it was a relief to see the fire back in her beautiful eyes. The prior dullness brought him back to depressing memories from when he'd taken to her Gothi's after the forest fire, a night he'd never forget. But just because her spark was back didn't mean that her words didn't hurt him. It was painful to hear her vitriol. Still, Hiccup reminded himself that he should just be glad that she was alive. His wrist still ached from her bite, but after holding her frozen, unconscious body all the way back to the island, she was welcome to bite him as much as she wanted. Hells, he hoped it scarred to remind him not to take her for granted, that life was a precious gift. If only she thought the same of him.

Toothless growled in alert as Meathead Island came into view. The Meatheads were particularly brutal but not as savage as the Berserkers. They loved to launch boulders at the dragons with their stupid catapults but not for long. Toothless usually blew them up before they ever got a chance to harm a scale on one of his dragons. As soon as the flock became visible when they descended from above the clouds, the vikings lit and raised their torches. How predictable. The dragons were hungry and the sheep were just right in the open for their taking. It would be another routine raid which was a welcome relief from the turbulent past 48 hours. Hiccup signaled Toothless to dive into a barrel roll in order to obliterate the brand new catapults and the Night Fury's infamous whistle echoed through the air. He heard the familiar cries to 'get down' and waited for the familiar glee from the terror he was inflicting. Instead, he felt...empty. He didn't have time to process what it meant because he heard a high pitched wail coming from one of the village huts. At first he dismissed it, thinking it was a sheep that had gotten carried off but when he heard it again, there was no doubt it was a child. It was impossible, he made sure that no children were ever caught in the fray, it was his priority. The dragons never paid attention to the huts, just the sheep pens. Sometimes other structures were collateral damage but even the dragons knew to steer clear of the innocent. Something the vikings themselves often failed to practice.
"Toothless head towards that cry, something's wrong."
His dragon raced towards the sound and sure enough, the source of the distress wasn't due to a rogue dragon. One of the catapults had malfunctioned and crashed through the roof of a house. Those inane meatheads had rushed construction and probably cut the wrong corners. Idiots.

Toothless landed near the back of the hut and Hiccup dashed into the destruction.
"Help us! My mommy can't move! Please, we need help!"
His heart tore right in two as a mother lay unconscious on the floor with a boulder pinning her leg. Her young daughter that couldn't be more than seven years old sat next to her, trying to shake her awake. When the girl looked up at him in alarm, her eyes began to well into tears and her lip quivered in fear.
"Are you-are you the Svikari? Please-please don't kill us."
It pained him that she was so terrified, but he did look pretty threatening with the dragon scale helmet and armor so he didn't blame her. He crouched down to counteract his menacing figure and opened the visor of his helmet slightly ajar so that she could see a sliver of his eyes. She needed to see that he was human, not a monster.
"I'm not here to hurt you, I promise. I can help your mom, you just have to trust me, okay?"
The little girl remained unconvinced yet her confidence grew as she stood defiantly.
"And how do I know you're telling the truth?
He could've chuckled at how much she reminded him of Astrid but now was not the time for humor. Hiccup didn't know what compelled him to bargain with a child but he did so anyways.
"My real name starts with an H. If I lie to you, you can tell everyone else but if I don't, you have to keep it a secret. How does that sound?"
She paused to think about it and then shook her head in agreement, shuffling to the side so he could get to her mother.