Dark Valkyrie

Nineteen: Departures

Nineteen: Departures

A chill wind blew through the small market on the rather isolated island of Boring. The larger Northern Markets were a preferable choice with a better selection of wares and larger crowds to get lost in but as Astrid moved carefully through the Boring stalls, she knew she couldn't risk running into Johann or any of his men. She had just survived one encounter and though she had warned Berk, she guessed the man would have sent Bounty Hunters after her in the same way that Viggo had after Hiccup. She was very certain, however, that his orders for the bounty would demand delivery of her head and that her body was nowhere near it.

Every sense was on alert as she moved gracefully through the stalls, her eyes scanning for necessities amid the wares. She and Stormfly could hunt and catch fish and meat but she needed bread, salt and other dried stores. Carefully, she bought her items, haggling hard and securing the best prices. The Traders were wary because she was an outsider, a pretty blonde in a hood and cloak, her shape poised and confident but they respected her politeness and skills in haggling. Within an hour, she had got all she needed and with a sigh, she looked around one last time. A large portion of her-the girl raised on Berk, firmly in the small but friendly and welcoming village surrounded by family-wanted to stay, craved company and people. But the pragmatic portion of Astrid the warrior reminded her that she had a target painted firmly on her back and that if she was anywhere near anyone she cared for, they would be in danger. She was better on her own.

As she was heading out, she suddenly found a pair of arms wrapped around her and a voice in her ear growling 'Keep still and this will go easy on you!' She felt the arms lift her off the ground, removing her leverage but the man who had her forgot to cover her mouth. She slammed her head back and heard the satisfying crunch of a nose breaking and as the arms loosened, she bellowed "STORMFLY!"

Eyes turned onto her as she slammed her head back again and the man bellowed, unable to breathe for the blood running from his smashed nose. Squirming free, she managed to get her feet on the ground, instantly using the leverage to hammer her elbow back into the man's gut and then spin free, slamming her boot into his knee, hearing another bellow as he stumbled.

She turned-and a second man grabbed at her, snaring her arm and attempting to pin it across her back. But before he could immobilise her, she flipped round and her feet cracked into his bearded jaw. He staggered and in the moment, she was able to snatch her axe and swung it round, the ferociously keen edge slicing deep into his crotch and splitting him open all the way up to his sternum. His urgent scream coincided with the release of pressure on her arm and a frantic scrabbling to try to stop the fat pink coils of his guts spewing all over the ground. Rolling away, Astrid's eyes locked on the man first with the mashed nose and face coated in blood as she expertly carved the axe round again, brutally decapitating him. And then she stood, breathing hard, her cloak askew and hood knocked back, the blood-smeared axe clamped in her hand as she glared over the corpses of her attackers.

People were standing back and pointing as she approached the closest corpse and searched him, finding a scroll with a terribly unflattering picture of her on above the description bounty of a thousand gold pieces. The Bounty demanded that she was brought dead to the rendez-vous with Viggo Grimborn on Huntersport Island...an island that Astrid had decimated and cleared of the Hunter Tribe. And she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this bounty was not set by Viggo but by Johann...using the dead Dragon Hunter's name as a shield to preserve his carefully cultivated anonymity. She snatched the dead Bounty Hunter's belt pouch and his knife then checked the other one out, using her foot to move aside his spilled guts before she relieved him of any money or weapons she could use. And then she looked up-to see a tentative crowd gathering, clasping what weapons they could muster. She rolled her eyes.