A Trip Through Time

Chapter 4

Alex

Alex's didn't know what to think. Dragons, not draekons? Where were they? She held tight onto Kaiden's hand as the mysterious, one-legged dude, Hiccup, he said his name was, introduced himself and his dragon, Toothless, who was messing around and catching up with Xira. The two seemed to have a past together, but Alex wondered who this friend of Xira's was. She and Kaiden were now in a little wooden guest hut of their own, provided to them by Hiccup Haddock, who was the chief of this Berk island place. The guest hut was next to Hiccup's own house, one he shared with his fiancée, Astrid Hofferson. The pretty blond woman had looked at them with slight suspicion upon their arrival, but once she got the all-clear from Hiccup, she had relaxed a bit, but that didn't make her less scary. Alex could feel her ice-blue eyes following after Kaiden and herself as the trailed after Hiccup to the guest house. They were told by Hiccup to get some rest before dinner, but there was only one bed. Oh well. It wasn't as if Alex and Kaiden hadn't slept together before. She had left Xiraxus outside with his friend Toothless, although Alex puzzled herself over the name. Kaiden also looked confused by the name Toothless, especially when the black dragon had a neat row of white ivory teeth. She guessed they would just have to ask him later.

* * *

Alex and Kaiden were both woken up by heavy pounding on the wooden hut's door. They both sat bolt upright in bed, before Kaiden quickly clambered off it and hurried to see who was at the door. It was Hiccup, who smiled at Kaiden warmly before flashing Alex an amused grin. Was it her bed head? Kaiden looked back at her too and gave himself a quiet chuckle. At this, Alex scowled and quickly ran her fingers through her hair, making herself look more presentable, before joining Kaiden and Hiccup at the door. She arrived just in time to hear Hiccup saying something about "tonight's big feast in honour of the two mysterious guests and their unusual dragon".

Kaiden frowned at this. "But we're some random people visiting. Why are you guys throwing a feast in our honour when you barely know us?" Alex herself was thinking the same thing, but Hiccup answered every question they threw his way.

"Yes, there are some in the village who are a bit wary of strangers, but that's expectable, due to, uh, previous events in the past. Yeah," he trailed off, his vibrant green eyes on the ground, just as Astrid came up behind him, and having heard the last phrase he said, put her hand comfortingly on his shoulder. He looked at her and gave her a distant smile. He sighed, looked up at the sky, to see the position of the now-setting sun, perhaps, and spoke. "Well, we really should get going to the feast," he said, and started walking down a path that led towards a giant hall set into one of the many mountains (remember, it's now New Berk), and Alex and Kaiden followed Hiccup and Astrid as they ascended the steps and into the hall.

Inside the hall was absolute chaos. There was a great clamour of noise- people talking loudly, wooden beer mugs being banged against the wooden tables, the long, wooden benches being dragged across the stone floor. Basically, everything was wood, apart from the actual hall itself. Since the hall was carved into the mountainside, the walls, floor and ceiling were made of stone, and Alex wondered how these people managed to carve out this magnificent hall- wait. They had dragons. And since there were probably different species of dragons that specialised in different things, Alex assumed there were dragons that specialised in carving or tunnelling through rock and stone. Kaiden's hand rested on Alex's elbow, guiding her through the masses of people wearing animal furs and pelts, while following Hiccup and his soon-to-be wife. They were led to a table made of- you guessed it- wood, at the front of the room, that was occupied by nine others: a tall, slim, red-haired woman who was sitting next to a large, bulky man with a long-horned helmet perched on his head, and a long, blond moustache falling from both sides of his face that was tied up at the ends. He was sitting next to another bulky, broad-shouldered man, with a cap of dark hair on his head, whom Hiccup introduced as Valka (his mom), Gobber, and Eret. Across from them sat four young adults: a round guy with blond hair and a moustache, a tall, thin dude with a long, thick beard (upon closer inspection Alex could actually see that it was his hair tied together just below his chin), and next to him, a girl who looked exactly like the female version of himself (twins, Alex concluded), and finally, on the end of the bench, a wide-shouldered young man with brown hair on his face and his head, and they were introduced as Fishlegs, Tuffnut, Ruffnut and Snotlout. Seriously, what was with their names?

Once they were all seated, dinner was served. The meal consisted of mutton stew, chicken, warm breads and... yak chops? Anyways, Alex found the food delicious, and when she looked beside her to Kaiden, his eyes were closed in complete bliss (who knew Viking food could be so good?). She also found that she and Hiccup's friends got along quite well, as she was used to the light banter and occasional pranks being pulled by her own friends, and these people were exactly like them. They told jokes, shared stories and overall had a great time that night. Alex once had a tiny sip of beer back in Freya when she was a few years younger, and now she tried this beer, but it was more like mead? Where was this Berk place, and why did they not have more advanced technology?

Later that night, Alex and Kaiden were back in their guest hut, getting ready for bed, Kaiden tending to the fire roaring in the grate. She decided to mentally talk with Xira, and he responded immediately. Hey, what time we leaving tomorrow? She could almost imagine him squirming in discomfort at her words. Xira, her mental voice warned, what are you not telling me?

She heard him give a small sigh before answering. Well, the thing is, his voice trailed off for a bit before continuing. The thing is, we are a long way from home, and travelling through the abrassa has really tired me out, so... maybe in two weeks if we're lucky?

It took Alex about one minute to process this information, then she sat, as if paralysed by shock, on the edge of the chair, a mug of water halfway raised to her lips. She hadn't heard Xira calling out to her, making sure she was OK. Then, without warning, she banged the mug back onto the table, scaring the life out of poor Kaiden. "WHAT?!"

OK, so first things first: I'm sorry everyone, for not updating for so long. (At least, long by my terms.) I was busy trying to complete some really overdue assignments because I had been putting my writing before my schoolwork. It also didn't help that the assignment were really long, impossible tasks. I'll need to stop procrastinating from my schoolwork and I'll have to learn how to balance writing and homework (ugh). So I kinda made it up to you guys by writing the longest chapter yet (in both my stories). So yeah. Enjoy.