(DISCONTINUED) Legacy of the Thunder and Fury--Book 1--Shock of Betrayal

Three: Intruder

                                                       Astrid

She laid in bed, staring up at the ceiling. She couldn't seem to be able to sleep. Something wasn't right. Astrid sat up, shoving her blanket in the corner. She slipped on her boots and grabbed her axe from the wall. 

Then she heard a noise. It sounded like a door opening and closing. Distant, but unmistakeable. She quietly snuck down the hall, holding her gleaming weapon at ready. Stormfly slept peacefully, red and blue wings tented around her soft cream colored belly. The dragon stirred and cracked her orange eyes open, purring at the sight of her rider. Astrid reached into a nearby barrel and fed the Nadder a few pieces of cooked chicken. Chittering softly, Stormfly rolled over and stood up, fluffing her wings majestically. Then her head bolted upright and her nostrils and crown of horns flared as there was a thump of wood on wood.

"What is it, girl?" Astrid whispered and her dragon hissed. "Stay here," Astrid instructed and she crept around her house, where she saw a dark haired girl, maybe a smidgen older than herself. 

Who. Is. THAT? Astrid thought, holding up her axe. The girl didn't notice her at first, but then she swiveled her head and her gaze met Astrid's. The stranger jumped and turned to run, but Astrid shouted, "Stop!"

The other girl, cornered against a big hut, cast a guilty look at her pursuer. Astrid walked up to her, holding her axe to block a possible escape route. To Astrid's surprise, the intruder made no move to run again, and she didn't look like she would try to fight. 

"Who're you?" Astrid demanded.

The stranger hesitated for a moment and then answered, "I'm Heather." Astrid studied her closely. Her clothes were shabby and ragged, her eyes where yellowish green, and she had a belt with a bull horn with some kind of symbol carved into it.

"What are you doing here, and where did you come from?" Something bothered Astrid about this new girl. She seemed strange. Like someone else was hiding in her guise. Heather hesitated again.

"My fishing boat was attacked and raided by pirates, and they took us back to our island and laid siege to it. I escaped... and washed up here." Astrid doubted the story a little, pirates were only in a sea far from Berk, and it would take more than a week to sail to Berk from there. With each word, Heather edged away from the blonde, eyes locked on Astrid's weapon. 

"Stay," Astrid said sharply and Heather stopped moving, going as still as a statue.

"Why were you sneaking around my house?" Astrid asked. Heather stiffened even more.

"I couldn't sleep," Heather said. "I kept having terrible nightmares." Astrid lowered her axe.

"Hiccup said I could stay in Berk until they find me a new home," Heather explained.

"Hiccup? He knows you're here?" Astrid said, a little hurt. He's supposed to tell me about that kind of thing. How did he forget to tell me about a stranger that washed up on the beaches of Berk? That's definitely the kind of thing he should tell me first.

Astrid regarded the newcomer suspiciously for a few tense moments. For each second that passed, Heather looked even more worried and upset. 

She should be upset if she's really telling the truth about the pirates.

"You can go," Astrid finally said with one final searching glance. Heather nodded, looked warily at Astrid's axe again, then asked, "What's your name?" but something in Heather's eyes suggested she already knew. 

"Astrid," the blonde answered. Heather then took of in a trot towards Hiccup's hut. Heather quickened her pace, walked around the base of the house, and vanished behind it. Why did she take the sky light instead of the door? Astrid stared at the hut. Maybe she didn't want to wake Hiccup and Toothless.

Well, I'd better get some sleep. Fuming silently about earlier, she stalked to her hut. Stupid Snotlout. He could have gotten Hookfang, Stormfly, me or himself killed. 

I'll yell at Hiccup tomorrow about this whole stranger-arrives-an-no-one-tells-me-about-it thing, she thought with genuine lack of enthusiasm. 

She focused her thoughts back on the intruder. Heather. We haven't had anyone wash up on Berk for a while. For some reason, Heather doesn't seem like the average stowaway. She's different, and not in a good way. As far as I can tell. Maybe I'm just being paranoid.

Stormfly jostled her from her thoughts by growling suddenly as Astrid fed her another piece of chicken. The blue dragon flexed her spines and her slitted eyes slid back and forth, scanning the night. A twig snapped and Astrid strained her ears. She didn't hear anything else, but had a sudden distinct feeling that someone was nearby. Stormfly relaxed a moment later and nuzzled her back. Astrid gave Stormfly another piece of chicken. She stared into the darkness and then finally gave up. It was impossible to hear anything through the Deadly Nadder's munching and purring. Stormfly settled back on her stony nest, rumbling as she fell asleep. 

Astrid sighed and covered the barrel of chicken. She tightened her grip on the axe and started to walk into her hut, unaware of the fact that a pair of leaf green eyes had been watching their every move.

--note--

My sincerest apologies if you are not very happy with my short chapters (the next few may be relatively short and/or uninteresting) Sometimes they might seem boring and pointless but all of my chapters will have some little details that are crucial to the plot.