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

Four: Scowl

FYI 

When I write . . . . . . . .  that means i'm changing a third person point of view, and the I put the character who's 3rd person POV name underneath it, instead of stopping the chapter there. Also, I will mostly only be doing Astrid and Heather's pov, because... i don't even WANT to know what's going through Snotlout's head during the story, Fishlegs would be boring, the twins would be pointless (not to mention hopeless), and Hiccup... it's easy to know what he's thinking even when you aren't reading his thoughts and intentions. Anyhow...               

                                                      Heather

The glow of the morning sun cast a cheery light over Berk. 

A Terrible Terror screeched distantly, setting a flock of Nadders squawking like upset chickens. Heather yawned, then remembered everything and bolted fully awake. Below, metal clanked and the light breeze whistled through the village. The dark haired girl threw the thin blanket aside and scrambled down the the stairs, pausing only to throw a sideways glance at Stoick. The chief grunted in acknowledgement and resumed reaching into a wooden chest.

The metal clanging continued and Heather followed the sound to find Hiccup hammering away at a thin red hot metal rod.

"You're up early," she commented as she stepped into the room full of hanging weapons. 

"Me and Toothless wanted to get a head start on Astrid and Stormfly for the dragon racing," he said, setting the hot metal down with a clank.

"Speaking of Astrid, sorry about what happened last night," he added, patting the top of Toothless's head.

 "No problem, besides, it was my fault. I shouldn't have wandered so far from your hut," Heather said, stepping cautiously into the room. Hundreds of swords, crossbows, bows, bolas, daggers, clubs, axes, maces, and many other weapons hung from the walls. The walls were mostly made of loosely stacked logs held together with nails, rope, and metal bits. The roof was made of thatched grass and wood shingles.

Then she walked over to the chunk of leather that was stretched over a log propped between two sticks tied together with rope in an x shape. After examining the dragon saddle for a minute, she frowned as she saw an obvious mistake. 

"You know, with a shorter connecting rod, it'll push you back in the saddle and make you more streamlined," Heather suggested after a moment. 

"Which would increase our speed," he said, slowly catching on. "Yeah! That's it!" Hiccup placed the metal back in the fire and pressed the foot petal, making the flames flare bright white and shoot a shower of sparks. 

"Oh, you hear that, bud? Stormfly'll be seeing a lot more of your tail." Toothless flopped his one real fin up and down, smiling with his gums showing. Hiccup walked over to the saddle and fiddled with it for a moment, finally slicing off a chunk of leather and placing it on an empty shelf. 

"So... when can we try it out?" Heather asked after a moment. I wonder if my idea will work.

"Why not right now?" hiccup took the metal from the fire and cooled it quickly in a bucket of water. The water fizzled and bubbled as Hiccup fastened the saddle on Toothless's back, and then he quickly added the new metal rods to Toothless's red tail fin. He hopped on the Night Fury's back and gestured towards the saddle. Heather quickly climbed on and grabbed Hiccup's shoulders as the dragon leaped unsteadily into the air. Toothless wobbled for a minute as Hiccup struggled to control the new tail and then the black dragon caught the wind and rose into the sky with a few flaps. 

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                                                         Astrid