Two Birds

Chapter 4

A/N: Sorry for the wait. I've been dying because of school work, and trying to get a job, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Not to mention my last copy of this file disappeared, so I had to rewrite the entire chapter, which was not fun.

But I'm back! With a new chapter! It's unbeta-ed as always! If any of you'd like to be a beta reader, hit me up! I'd appreciate it!

I hope you like this chapter, and I'm so sorry for the wait!

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It was storming, making it almost impossible for anyone to leave their house, and Astrid was no different. She had to be very careful when she had left her house, lest she was swept away by the squall coming from the sea. She had to stick near the houses which broke up the wind and made it a little less harsh.

She wasn't scared. This is what it was like in the summer. At least it wasn't hailing- yet. Astrid wiped her wet bangs from her eyes and squinted against the lashing rain, gritting her teeth. She saw a couple of vikings dashing towards the Mead Hall, and a couple of others tying up a ship that had come loose.

At any given moment, half of Berk was in the Mead Hall. It was warm, free food, and protection from the elements. Astrid couldn't blame them. She had the temptation to hide there, too, and she did for a while, slipping in after spending almost an hour in the rain. But, she eventually had to go back out into the storm and brave the weather. She had a job to do as the Chief's heir, and she couldn't slack off.

Her next job was to check the Kill Ring. She had to make sure the ring was still standing, though she doubted anything would be out of place. It had been standing for generations, the one structure that wasn't constantly rebuilt, and one little storm couldn't hurt it, right? Astrid decided to bring her axe with her, anyway. Just in case, she reasoned, just in case. I won't need it, but I can never be too safe.

Astrid was glad she had her axe. As she neared the Ring, she heard the the sounds of dragons. At first, she didn't think anything of it. The beasts were probably just agitated from the storm. But as she neared, she realized the noises were too loud, not muffled by the doors like they should be. Her grip tightened on the handle of her axe, and her steps grew lighter, more precise. Her breath barely stirred in her chest as she crept over the last hill.

Chapter 4 - Escape

The Kill Ring rose into view, and Astrid silently cursed. The storm had busted the mechanics holding the doors closed-she wasn't sure how it worked, that was Gobber's job, but she knew when they weren't working- and all the dragons were free to roam the dome. Thankfully the chains were holding fast, and the Dragons weren't trying to escape-yet. But only the Gods knew how the metal would hold up under the attacks from all the Gods Damned Dragons.

Astrid had two options. Either of which could go very, very wrong.

The first was that she could go down there and try to wrangle them back up by herself. It could work, she could possibly just scare them with her presence. But the Dragons could get out, could attack her. They could refuse to obey, and ignore her.

The second was that she could go back to the village to get help. More vikings would mean an easier time getting them back. But it could take too long, and by the time they got back, the Dragons could be gone. Or there could be more casualties, if a fight did break out.

The blonde girl impatiently tapped her fingers against the hilt of her axe, and she glanced back behind her, towards the village, before she clenched her teeth and marched her way down to the ring.

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Okay. Bad idea. Bad idea. Very bad and stupid and dangerous idea. Astrid dodged another stream of fire, but barely. She sprung to her feet and yelled, "You DAMN beasts! Don't think you won!" Turning on her heel, she dashed away back towards the village, axe forgotten in the pit of the Ring.