Snowfall on Berk

Chapter 15

~Hiccup~

It's been a few weeks since the snowstorm and Snoggletog. Our anniversary has come and gone. There was a party in the village and that was it. Nothing big really.

I'm the only one awake in our house, and it's just before sunrise. Without waking Astrid I climb out of bed, pull on warm clothes, and creep out of the room, and up the stairs. From there I carefully climb out the window and make my way to the top of the roof. I sit and watch the village from here. Slowly but surely the sun rises, and the village comes to life. It takes a while before Astrid comes up he stairs. I can hear her call my name.

She goes outside and calls my name once more. "Up here!" I shout back down at her.

She turns around and sees me on the roof. "Hiccup Haddock. How in the world did you get up there?"

"I climbed."

She smiles, and walks back into the house. I hear her footsteps inside the house and near the window. She leans her head out and looks up at me. She begins to climb up. Once she reaches me I wrap my arm around her and she leans into me. We watch as the village mills about.

It isn't long before I see ships flying unknown colors come into the horizon line. Gobber comes running the path to our house. "Hiccup! Hiccup! They're here!" He shouts.

Astrid and I slide off of the roof of our house. "Who's here?" She asked.

"I don't know," is all I say. "Gobber. Who's here?"

"Drago," is all he has to say.

Astrid and I look at each other. "Get the Dragon Riders ready. We hit them head on before they can pull into the harbor and start an attack on the village," I say.

"What if they expect that? You tend to do that a lot."

"That's what I'm hoping for. Now get all of the children and elders to a safe place. The rest of us get prepared to fight."

Gobber nods his head and hurries off. Astrid and I run to our dragons and mount up. We reach the sky to be greeted by Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruff and Tuff.

"Okay Dragon Riders let's kick Drago's butt one last time," I say before taking off to the ships.

Only two ships escape our attack, and they started to attack on land. Astrid, Ruff, and Tuff went and took care of it. We sink the last ship and head onto land. I watch as Astrid swoops through the sky avoiding nets and arrows. Then out of nowhere a net crashes into Stormfly making her fall to the ground. Astrid catches onto the edge of a roof just before she hits the ground. I circle above her. I reach my hand out for her to grab, but she looses her grip and falls to the ground.

Hunters are on her in an instant. She fights through most of them. I hear her cry out as she struggles.

I get there too late. They have Astrid pinned down. I land Toothless not too far away from the hunters that have Astrid. They pull her up so hard I thought they dislocated her shoulder. I see the pain on her face confirming my suspicion.

"What do you want?" I ask the hunter.

"Oh, it's not what I want. It's what Drago wants," the hunter says.

"And what does Drago want exactly?"

"Why shouldn't it be obvious? He wants your dragons."

"Is that all?"

"Of course not. But what else he wants is classified information."

"Then you should have no problem of letting her go."

"Wait? Does the great Hiccup Haddock have feelings for a girl?" I don't say anything. "Or is it more then that?" The hunter asks. He looks down at Astrid's hands pinned behind her back. Because of the look on his face I can see he saw the ring on Astrid's finger. "Oh. It's much more then Drago thought. A girlfriend maybe. But a wife? Drago wasn't sure how far a weak link like you could get."

"Hiccup. Don't let him get under your skin," Astrid said.

"Quiet girl," the hunter says yanking on Astrid's arm, making her cry out.

"So what will it be Hiccup? You can hand over the alpha, or I can take the girl?"

"How about you take neither. Now Toothless!"

Toothless fires at a piece of wood hanging above the hunter's head hoping he would shove Astrid forward. But he ran backwards taking Astrid with him. After the smoke clears the hunter and Astrid are standing right where I left them. But this time, the hunter had a knife to Astrid's throat.

"Let her go," I growl.

"Give us the alpha," the hunter said.

"Never."

"I guess then I have no choice. But instead of killing your girl Drago wanted me to give you a special gift."

Just when I thought the hunter was going slit Astrid's throat, he takes the knife and stabs her in the back.

"Astrid!" I scream. "Toothless! Now!"

Toothless shoots a plasma blast at the hunter forcing him to retreat back to his ship. I rush over to Astrid, my mom not too far behind.

"Hiccup go get him. I've got Astrid. We'll be right here," my mother says.

So I mount Toothless, and we're off. We meet up with the gang, and we fly down to the harbor. Together as a group we blow the ships to pieces, and any survivors were taken.

I rush back to Astrid, jumping off Toothless before he even landed, and running over to Astrid. She was pale, and growing paler. Crimson is bleeding through the front of her shirt. I cradle her head in my lap.

"You'll be okay. You're going to be fine," I tell Astrid. Probably to reassure me then her.

I find her wound on her back and apply a little pressure. She winces and I back off.

"We need to get help before it's too late," I tell my mom.

"I got it. Just keep her comfortable until I get back," my mom says.

She gets on Cloud Jumper and flies off to Gothi's hut.

I raise Astrid's head so that it's in the crook of my elbow. I take her hand in mine, and I just look in her eyes. How could I let this happen to my Astrid? But why did Drago want his hunter to stab Astrid instead of slitting her throat? Unless something else was at play.

The gang land their dragons and rush over.

"Hiccup," Astrid groans.

"I'm here. I'm right here Astrid. Just hang in there," I say.

"M-my shoulder. I can't feel it," Astrid cries out. Tears are threatening to spill out any second.

I shift so that I'm not giving direct pressure on her arm. "It's okay. It's still there. You'll be fine."

Her skin is growing paler by the second. Finally my mom gets back with a wrap.

"Here wrap this around her shoulder and wound, and we'll get her to Gothi," my mom said.

So I sit up Astrid and I carefully wrap the cloth around her wound and shoulder. I lift her up and she cries out in pain.

"It's okay. We're getting you to Gothi," I say.

I mount Toothless and we ride up to Gothi. She's standing out on her little deck, and I land right in front of her. I kneel down so Gothi can see Astrid. It's then that I see that Astrid has already bled through the wrap. She motions me to follow her, so I follow her into her hut, and I lay her down on the cot in the room. She shoos me out, and closes the door.

From outside I can hear Astrid whimper a little, then it becomes silent.