My little Flower (HiccupxOC, part 1 of Grimborn Family AU)

Chapter 66 - Sapphire island

Astrid's POV

The air around us was laden with moisture and a heavy scent of foreign flowers and herbs drew to my nose as we carefully made our way through the ocean of green that surrounded us. Everywhere lay water, water in pools and water caught on leaves so large like I had never seen before. Still there was something strange, something creepy about this forest. Where you would expect to hear the song of birds or even the hums and chirps of insects there was nothing. Not a sound aside from the dropping of water and the rustling of leaves in the wind that sounded strangely like mourning voices. Our footsteps seemed unbearably loud in comparison to it. I felt a shiver run down my spine. This forest, this island, it seemed to be dead.

Our dragons sensed it too, they stayed unusually close to us, their heads slightly bowed in distress.

"It's okay girl. We'll be fine." I petted Stormfly's snout as we continued walking. Every now and then we called out for Hiccup and Toothless but got no response and I slowly started to wonder if he was even here or what would be worse, that something happened to him.

"Woah guys look at these!" Tuffnut called and held out two hand full of dark purple berries that reminded me a lot of blackberries but they were slightly bigger and they smelt very sweet. "Finally something to eat!"

Ruffnut appeared at his side, carrying the same amount of berries and Snotlout joined their side in obvious interest. I rolled my eyes and intervened just as Snotlout was about to shove a hand full of berries into his mouth. "Guys, do you even know what these are? The berries could be poisonous! We shouldn't touch anything here."

Snotlout stopped dead in his movements and glared at the twins before he let the berries drop to the ground.

"I see your point, my friend and I think someone of us should act as a taster." Tuffnut mused, tapping his chin with a finger and stepped closer to his sister. "Thanks for taking the part, sis. If you die, I promise you the Thorston family will remember you died as a hero."

"Hey!" Ruff exclaimed and soon they were fighting quite audibly. I brought my hand in front of my face. Why do I have to deal with those muttonheads?

"Uhm...guys? You should have a look at this." Fishlegs called a few feet away from us.

Eventually the twins stopped their arguing and we walked up to Fishlegs and Meatlug. The forest cleared and soon we stepped out onto a large clearing. My eyes felt like they didn't know how to blink at that moment as I was struck by what my eyes witnessed. In the distance shimmered the crystal blue water of a big lake that marked the center of the clearing. The clearing was surrounded by stony hills covered with trees higher than any I had seen before and all kinds of colorful exotic flowers growing among bushes. But what caught my eyes the most was the ruins of houses that seemingly were built around the lake. Most of the buildings were completely burned down to the base, a few were not that badly damaged. I could still see parts of wooden bridges that connected the different buildings with each other and the ornate decorations that garnished the remaining wooden archways and pillars. The trees closest to the buildings were broken down.

Carefully we made our way further into the destroyed village. None of us was speaking a word, even the twins were caught in some kind of reverent silence. People's belongings and pieces of the buildings were scattered everywhere, already overgrown by weeds but that was not the worst part. I stepped back when I heard a cracking sound from underneath my feet and gasped in shock as I realized what it was. "Oh by Odin."

My stomach twisted slightly as my eyes fell on a small human skull, obviously from a child, covered by the growing weeds. It was not the only one.