Battle Scars | Book 1 (DISCONTINUED)

Ch. 7: Consequences

A week. That was how long Alice had stayed on Berk. Not once had she left Gothi's house, she stepped outside every morning to watch the sunrise with Flash but she never went into the village or anywhere outside of it. She kept to her promise; she stayed with Flash wherever he went. Which, he never went anywhere, he had to stay at Gothi's until he fully recovered. To say the least, it was driving Flash crazy. He seemed eager to go outside, and always kept his eyes turned towards the sky. But he couldn't return to it just yet, and seeing him longing to fly freely again made Alice feel bad for him, and even a bit guilty for what got him in that situation in the first place. She felt if she'd done something different that night then Flash would've gotten away and she would've never got into the emotionally conflicting mess she couldn't get out of now.

She sat on the edge of the platform in front of Gothi's house, the sun rising from the ocean in the distance. Next to her, Flash was lying down and watching the sunrise longingly. Seeing the misery in his eyes, Alice gently stroked his head to comfort him.

"Don't worry bud, in a few months you'll be all better and you can go wherever you want." she said, a soft and hopeful smile forming on her lips. Flash crooned sadly, his head tipping to the side. The smile faded and Alice sighed, turning her sight back towards the horizon. It was obvious she had her own conflicts as well; she still had yet to decide whether or not to tell the chief about Alryne's plan. If she just left Berk unnoticed, then Gael would tell Hiccup and Alryne would be in danger. And if she told Hiccup, then Alryne would still be in danger. Either way, she'd be putting a huge threat on her village. Sure, it was inevitable that the two tribes would clash anyway, whether Alryne's plan worked out or if it was foiled, but they'd have a better advantage if Alice kept their intentions a secret.

There would be less of a chance that her family could get hurt.

Deep down, she didn't want the two tribes to go to war. Alryne was absolute crap but was still her home, obviously she didn't want it to get destroyed. But she also saw the bond the dragon riders had formed with their dragons; and she wouldn't be lying when she said she wanted this tribe to be safe as well. However, once Brendan the Battlewinner had his sights set on something, there was no stopping him. He'd achieve his goals no matter how many lives it cost him; not even the life of his own daughter or wife.

Sighing, Alice got up, walking back into the house. Flash groaned and got to his feet tiredly, and once he was back inside he flopped down on the carpet he used as a bed, covering his face with his working wing. Alice knelt down and patted his neck comfortingly, but the only response the Flightmare gave was a huff. The girl looked away sadly and went back into her room. Grabbing a completely random book out of one of the crates, she sat down and began reading whatever she'd picked up.

Alice was a tiny bit surprised when she opened the book: it wasn't one of Gothi's medicine guide books she'd read occasionally out of boredom, it was a small journal with messy handwriting inside. But it wasn't as bad as the handwriting in the other journal she found, she could actually read it. Curious, she examined the first page, where an introduction and a name were written.

"This journal belongs to Ellith Arenburg. DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU ARE HER!...or if you're someone she trusts enough to read this."

Alice couldn't help but chuckle. However, after reading the humorous entry to the journal, she wondered who exactly this "Ellith" was. Gothi's daughter, maybe? I should ask her just in case if the owner of this wants it back...

She went into the main room of the house, where she saw Flash on the floor sleeping but no sign of Gothi. Alice shrugged and was about to go back in her room to put the book away, until as if on cue Gothi came down the small set of stairs.