The Mystery of the Dragon Riders

Chapter 13

"Good morning, Tracy. How are you? " Astrid said wearing a smile on her face.

"I'm good as long as you didn't give me my worst nightmare... " Tracy mumbled. She knew better than angered Astrid. Ryder or Hiccup maybe just a guy for her but Astrid was not just a girl. She maybe did not have the detail between the couple but she knew more than enough about her business with the chief and elves.

Romans invested money to help the elves and chief to build houses and machines, elves invested magic to help Romans build a strong barrier to defend themselves from the enemies while the chief invested knowledge to unite both of them stragically. Tracy was just a messenger and right now, her job was to discuss with the chief about Shadow.

"So what you gonna do about Shadow?" Tracy asked. Before Hiccup could reply to her question, Gobber cutted him off.

"Woah. Woah. Woah. Just wait a minute, what is going on around here?! A minute ago, we found out dragons lived together with human. Second we found out our long lost heir of the Berk, my long lost adopted blacksmith! And suddenly, we were attacked by a loonatic named Shadow! And then, a Roman princess appeared. And now Astrid! " Gobber shouted irritatedly.

"I think we need some explanations before we could carried on with all this. " Stoick said narrowed his eyes onto the dragon riders. He hated it when he was the only one who could not get into the discussion not to mention the whole vikings were puzzled together with him.

"I thought you just gestured all of it to me... " Hiccup snickered devilishly. A wickedly mischievous glimpse beyond his eyes as a smirk formed at the edge of his face. Stoick was started to boil with anger, steamed released from both of his ears, eyes were ready to explode. A sigh in reply, Hiccup slumped down his shoulders taking Astrid's hand and walked away. Astrid was confused by his sudden action, neither the dragon riders.

Then, Hiccup turned around.

"You want the truth. You will get the truth. There's no stopping you anyway. Considered that vikings had some stubborn issues. After that, leave or stay, your choice. " Hiccup exclaimed, as he looked into Stoick's eyes. His green gaze flanking onto Stoick like a watch dog, sending a mystical aura to Stoick causing him to slightly shrink away from him. The vikings watched their chief's action in surprise as the chief flinched by the glare.

Tracy interrupted Hiccup, not happy about his decision. "We don't have time to tell them a silly, long story. And when I say long story, I mean really long story. It's going to take days. And the next thing we knew, Shadow ambushes us. Boom. Game over! " Hiccup could not help but to feel conflict and turned to the dragon riders.

"I gotta admit the princess is right. " Thuggary said. "Your story is more than just a story, chief. I don't think the vikings will take it lightly though. " Eret added. The girls agreed as well. Hiccup blinked, clearly not expecting the result. "Why I become the chief?" Hiccup groaned not wanting to say it out loud. Astrid put her hand into Hiccup's pocket and took it out with something on her palm.

A Rome coin with a gold flared on it.

"Flipped the coin. " Astrid said blankly. "Both of you would speak out head or tail. The one who guess it correctly, win. Simple, right?" Astrid pointed towards Hiccup and Tracy as she carried on her statement. Everyone just shared glances with each other and shrugged. It left them no choice anyway. However, Tracy was aimed to win it, not really satisfied with the discussion though. After all, they didn't really have the time anymore as the whole world might be on stake now that Shadow approached again, and yet Hiccup did not make any usefully action and she wondered why. As Astrid started to flip the coin, both of them spoke at the same time.

"Heads. "

"Tails. "

As the coin continued to spin at the air, Tracy could see her victory already. Little did they know, Tracy the sneaky princess have a trick on her sleeves. Tracy may not have magic but her calculation was her greatest proud. Her marvelous calculation gave her the respect from every soldier in Rome. People believed in luck or chance, all except her. Her calculations in numbers, tricks, percentage, the whole package was more than just a special edition. However, that was before she met Astrid and Hiccup.

The moment she done calculating the numbers, the gravity, the momentum as the coin continue to spin, she had known the result. And yet, the coin was landed upright between the gaps of two block stone tiles on the floor. An unusual feeling fell onto her.

"I don't understand... Did you guys do something?! " Tracy snapped. She felt so angry towards them. She felt like she was trapped in a small space with walls pressing against her. She felt like she wanted to hit something or someone... Preferably Hiccup when she saw the smug look mixed with a fake confusing look on his face. Hiccup put himself in a defense and said "I didn't do anything, kity... " The rest of the dragon riders also shrugged in an agreement. Then, her gaze landed on the lady Astrid. Again, a mischievous glint appeared beyond her eyeframe but this time with a slight combination of innocent.

Tracy's snarled.

"Care to explained? " Tracy snarled as she gritted her teeth in anger. Oblivious to her anger, Astrid pointed downwards sending them a signal to look at the floor closely. And she did. She landed her gaze onto the floor but nothing peculiarities in sight.

It was just an unfortunately, plain old stony floor.

Impatiently, Tracy and the rest raised their eyebrow. Groaned in reply, Astrid stepped the stone tiles where the coin was located in between and slidded. The stone was slidded away from the coin and the coin was floated upwards as if there was an invisible force surrounding the coin. "It was just a technical thing. " Astrid explained. The dragon riders was laughing inside them, truly impressed by her action.

"That was sneaky. " Tracy mumbled. "Thank you. I accept the compliment. "

Tracy was a bit taken aback by her answer, opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. She took a deep breathe and shook her head. "Fine... Make it quick. " Tracy went out of the hall to signal the guards who located outside waiting patiently to retreat and stay at the ship for a night.

After she vanished, the dragon riders wasted no time but to extend their arms and hug Astrid from all directions. Hiccup watched them in shock as Astrid was stunned by their action and the next thing she knew, she lost her stability and collapsed onto the floor with few dragon riders landing on top of her. Hiccup could see that Astrid was suffocating and waved them away from Astrid with his magic. Hiccup rushed to Astrid and to his dismay, Astrid's head was spinning with stars above it. He hung his head, glared daggers at them, sending an aggressive aura to them.

However, his tense attitude stop instantly when Astrid hit him upon his shoulder. Her forehead wrinkled with disapprove as she pouted, it wasn't a nice attitude to treat friends though. Hiccup immediately shrunk into a boy when he found himself face to face with Astrid. Astrid jerked away from his embrace and gave them a gentle wave. "Hey everyone. "

The greet was enough to put them in tears as it's been so long since they met lady Astrid. Camicazi and Heather was the first to answer and reached her. "Welcome back, Astrid. We miss you so so much!!!" The girls were literally leaped in delight when they saw their long term best girlfriend in flesh and bone. Their heart raced as they reached out for her hand, feeling the warmth inside her body. The boys were in joy too as they made a fist bump with Hiccup as a congratulations which Hiccup gladly accepted it. The laughter had erased the feeling anxiety and gloom inside them in the twinkle of an eye. However, the laughter was cutted shortly the moment someone coughed.

They turned around and saw the vikings were still there staring at them. They keep talking until they almost forgot the presence of the vikings. Hiccup cleared his throat and spun to meet their gaze.