The New Dragon Rider

Chapter 22

My ears pierced when I heard the Great Hall's massive doors open. I broke away from my fathers arms to get a good view of what was going on. I could see a Viking figure glancing out the doorway. Suddenly he took his first step forward and began marching our way. An angry expression revealed on his face. It was Stoick.

He stormed right past me and gripped Hiccup's shoulders. Stoick stared him dead in the eyes, Hiccup stared back.

"What did we just go through, son?" Stoick questioned Hiccup. By reading Hiccup's face, I could tell he wasn't really sure what Stoick had just asked him. Stoick squeezed Hiccup's shoulders tighter and his glare got more intense. Hiccup laughed in fear for about a minute. Then abruptly stopped, it was a little sudden.

"Dad, I'm sorry and I know you're mad but we had to help Hadley, we didn't expect Dagur to be there we just wanted to find her dad." Hiccups eyes softened slightly as he spoke. "Did you expect him to just be lying there in the open? You knew that Dagur would be at least somewhere around you ready to attack, and yet you didn't warn me in the slightest." You could hear the rage in Stoick's voice.

Stoick glanced up at us and his eyes caught my father. "Who is that?" His eyes were still glued on my dad even as he spoke. Hiccup quickly peeled free from Stoick's grip and sauntered backwards towards my dad and stood next to him.

"Dad, this is Axel. He's the future chief of Odin. We thought he should come here and meet the ones who saved his daughter's life." Hiccup didn't hesitate on the introduction.

Stoick's eyes then met me. I had no clue why but it sort of frightened me. "This is your father?" Stoick asked, gesturing to him. I nodded slowly. "Is he trustworthy?" Stoick asked. "Yes, he's very trustworthy." I blurted out.

Stoick's eyes once again were glued on Axel. He began to slowly saunter his way. Stoick stopped in front of him and stuck his hand out. My dad pulled out his hand and they shook hands. "My name is Stoick the Vast, Cheif of the Hooligan tribe and all of Berk. This is my boy, Hiccup and his crew. If you hadn't noticed, we've made peace with the dragons and they are now our friends. It's not always easy but I'm always around to help. You are...?" Stoick didn't stop shaking my dads hand as he spoke.

"I'm Axel Adolfsson, future Cheif of Odin. We don't have dragons when they are truly remarkable creatures. I believe you've met my daughter Hadley." My dad glanced down at me with a huge smile on his face. "Indeed I have. Amazing young girl she is." Stoick complimented. My dad pulled me into another embrace.

"Would you like me to show you around? Get to know this place better? Maybe meet a few dragons?" Stoick asked politely. My dad hesitated, he glanced down at me. "I'll be fine, you go see what's waiting for you." I shook loose from his arms and pushed him forward. "Inspirational." My dad teased.

Stoick and Axel walked off while we hopped on our dragons. In no time, we were on our way to the edge.

No one had really said anything while flying. There wasn't much to say. The only sound was the harsh winds rippling past my ears. The sun was beating down on my face and I could feel my checks warming. My bangs were flying in all directions and I kept brushing them back in order to see.

Finally, I broke the silence. "You guys, once again I'm really sorry for everything. I didn't really mean half of the stuff I said and-" "Hadley you've apologized too many times already. Believe me when I say we forgive you." Astrid cut me off. We exchanged grind right before the dragons stepped foot onto the Dragon's Edge.

Gustav instantly sprinted over to Astrid, resting his elbow on her shoulder. He had to go onto the tips of his toes in order to do so.

"Soo, how's my lady been." He puckered his lips and leaned in. Astrid simply stepped to the side an Gustav slipped out of balance. He rested on his chest and Astrid kicked dirt into his face. She groaned and walked away. But Gustav quickly scrambled to his feet.

He attempted once again to rest his elbow on her shoulder but I stepped in front of him. "Hey, lay off alright? Give her a break she wasn't really planning on you being around."

Gustav just stared and began to follow Snotlout wherever he walked.

"Hadley, we never finished training. Wanna do one round of battle?" Hiccup asked. I nodded my head. I patted Windspike's side and latched onto her saddle. Hiccup guided Windspike and I over to the dome, everyone else followed.

The twins pulled the lever and the Dome slowly opened up. Barrels and planks were already stepped up inside.

"This will help with Windspike's agility, as well as your focus." Hiccup explained. I patted Windspike once again.

Gustav leaped down into the Dome and started attempting the obstacle, not knowing what to do or where to go. He ended up slipping and knocking over a few barrels as well as running into planks and snapping them in half.

Hiccup wanted to scream but Astrid forced him to swallow it down. "Oops." Gustav said quietly, picking up a plank. "Oops?! OOPS!" Snotlout shouted. "Gustav it took us a week to set this up." Fishlegs complained. "Why would you do that?" Astrid whined.

I jumped down into the Dome and stood next to Gustav. The gang kept shouting at him. "You guys! Shut up for a second!" I shouted. They quickly softened their voices. "Thank you, now I've messed up and broken a lot of things in my life too. Cut Gustav some slack he's Gustav. He was gonna break something eventually. Besides, I break a lot of things too so I know what it's like. Just, please don't all shout at him okay?" I pleaded.

Hiccup smirked a little. "Look at you, the inspirational speaker of the day. Sorry Gustav, just next time think about what you're doing." "And don't be so stupid." Ruffnut implied.

Snotlout's face had only one expression on it...anger. His blue eyes were bitter with hate and jealously. "Why would you stand up for him? He completely destroyed the Dome! We had it all set up for you and now you are standing up for him after he broke everything?" Snotlout's words were truly hurtful but I tried to not let my sadness show.

"Hey mister macho man, don't you have dinner to be making?" Astrid teased while crossing his arms. "Silverware is in the top drawer, help your self captain muscles." Fishlegs joked, tagging along. Snotlout frowned and stormed off to cook up some food. Meanwhile, we re-set up the Dome back to the way it was.