Rise of the Dragon Master

Chapter Five

Back on Berk:
It had been six months since Hiccup's funeral and Berk was a completely different place. A few weeks after the funeral the dragons stopped raiding the village. At first many vikings were wary of the eventual attack to come but later relaxed as it never did. Things had gotten back into a normal routine. Stoick returned to his chiefing duties after about two weeks. Despite being much more irritable and quick to start a fight Stoick had gotten the village back on track. Stoick never talked about Hiccup although he always had a pained expression on his face as he often thought about him. Gobber also faced the loss of Hiccup with difficulty. He had been like a second father to the boy and after spending years with him the loss of his apprentice hit him hard. Nobody was allowed to touch Hiccup's stuff that had been left in the shop. Despite all of his hardships Gobber still did his job well and right above his work station pinned against a beam was a familiar black dragon scale stuck there by a dagger with the letters H.H. carved into the handle. Gobber still trained the young teens who had once been Hiccup's friends. Snotlout was being groomed to be the next chief by his father and would eventually go to work with Stoick. Ruffnut and Tuffnut had turned to mischief to fill their lives as they played reckless and often dangerous pranks on the people of the village. Fishlegs spent most of his time reading about the dragons that once plagued the village searching tirelessly for the cause of their disappearance. Astrid was the worst of those left on Berk. Despite many discussions with Stoick, Gobber, and the others she still blamed herself for what happened to Hiccup. She spent most of her time training both physically and mentally. She worked for hours upon hours on maintaining peak physical condition and then worked with Fishlegs for hours learning all she could about dragons. Astrid vowed to never be helpless again no matter what opponent she faced because Astrid knew the dragons would be back and when they came she would be ready and she would avenge Hiccup and kill the Night Fury.