It was midday when they reached the island at last, the sun hovering high in the sky above. A chorus of excited cheers erupted on deck as the tribe began to weigh anchor.
Stoick fixed Astrid with a meaningful look. "Stay with the dragon," he instructed firmly. His eyes flickered over to his son once, then back to the young woman.
"I want to help!" She argued, realizing with dread that she was about to be left behind.
"You are helping," the chief returned before lowering his voice. "Keep him safe, please. You're the only one I can trust with this task."
Astrid swallowed down her anger. She wanted to fight, but she knew how meaningful it was that the chief was putting his trust in her now.
"I will," she promised, taking a step closer to the chained Night Fury.
Stoick looked around the deck, taking stock of his tribe. It was a flurry of activity as catapults were unloaded, weapons were distributed and passage to the island was coordinated. Each viking knew the value of his or her task, and that tunnel vision meant their attention was not on their captive.
Astrid, sensing that Stoick wanted a moment alone with his son, took a few steps away. She idly watched the warriors begin setting up on the beach, impressed by the speed at which they constructed the line of defense.
"Son, if this goes sideways, I just want you to know…"
Oh, gods.
Not wanting to intrude on a private moment, Astrid went to retrieve a whetstone from below deck. If she was going to be stuck on the ship for the foreseeable future, she was determined to at least have something to do. Plus, if the chief changed his mind and allowed her to fight, she wanted her axe to be sharpened properly.
When she returned to the Haddocks, she took in the scene with a heavy heart. Hiccup's head hung as low as it could in the rig, clearly shaken about something that had been said. Stoick was no longer speaking, his eyes now focused on the foreboding island.
"Good luck, chief," she said, dipping her head in respect.
Stoick walked past her, patting her shoulder once as he did. His expression was troubled, but he carried himself with all the strength and ferocity expected of his position.
Soon it was just Astrid and Hiccup left aboard the ship.
She spent some time at the bow of the ship, watching her tribe finalize the organization of their forces on the shore. She knew enough about battle strategy to recognize what each group was being mobilized to do and mentally cataloged those tasks.
Archers: first line of defense. Auxiliary weapons: ready to step in if archers fail. Catapults: emergency firepower if the threat is greater than expected.
Her fingers itched to grab her axe and join them, but she had her orders and she would follow them. Even if it pained her to do so.
Turning a head back towards the captive dragon, she frowned. The contraption that Gobber had built to hold him was effective and had kept the crew at ease, but it couldn't be comfortable. Spending all day, standing strapped in one spot sounded akin to torture.
Astrid made her way back to him, contemplating his current situation.
"You know," she said, meeting his eyes with a conspiratorial grin. "We're far enough from shore that I'll bet they can't see you too well."
Hiccup grunted, squinting at her as if asking a question. There her confidence in reading his mannerisms in this form had grown, it was still a bit of a guessing game.
Astrid reached out, unbuckling the leather strap around his jaws and letting it fall to the deck. "Does that help at all?"
Hiccup opened his mouth, rolling his jaw to stretch it out. He nodded, warbling what she assumed was thanks.
"You're welcome," she said, eyeing the rest of his bindings. "I think removing the collar would be too obvious, even from shore. It's just too big for them to miss. If I untie your wings, can you keep them low enough to not draw attention?"
The Night Fury nodded, so she got to work undoing the ropes. They were knotted and tangled in places, so it took a few tries to fully remove the bindings. She suspected Gobber had been in a hurry to refasten them at sunrise, knowing it had to be done before any early risers made their way above deck.
Once free of the ropes, Hiccup lowered his wings, stretching them to the deck rather than towards the sky. He shook them out, muscles twitching from disuse.
Clever, she thought. The batlike wings would not show over the rails of the ship at that angle.
Astrid leaned against the side of the ship, filling in the gap between Hiccup and the rail. They watched in silence as Stoick rallied the troops, sending a large projectile into the side of the mountain. The sound of the impact reverberated through the air, and a thick cloud of dust momentarily obscured the view.
When it cleared, dozens of dragons came spilling out of the hole, swarming overhead. Astrid had never seen so many of the creatures all in one place, and she found herself internally warring between fear and awe at the impressive sight.
Hiccup growled, tugging lightly at his restraints.
"You okay?" She asked.
He continued to pull at the chains, looking uneasy.
Astrid put a hand on his neck, hoping the contact would offer some comfort. "Don't worry, if any of them try attacking us, I'll protect you."
Hiccup shook his head, snarling.
Her eyes widened, looking at him more carefully as she felt a swell of concern. Was this aggression a sign that he was being impacted by the queen? She hadn't prepared for that possibility.
"Hiccup?" She asked, cautiously removing her hand and leaning away from him slowly.
The Night Fury rolled his eyes at her, dispelling her fears. The blatant sass in the gesture left little doubt in her mind that Hiccup was fully in control of his movements. Then with a sharp whine, he nodded forcefully back towards the hole that had been blasted in the rock.
Astrid's breath caught as a mammoth beast broke through the mountain, towering over the viking army like they were nothing more than pebbles beneath her feet.
"Thor above," whispered Astrid, terror slicing through her as she beheld the monster. " That's the queen!?"
The massive dragon roared, a sound so loud it left Astrid's ears ringing for several minutes after it stopped. Beside her, Hiccup was pulling frantically at his restraints, managing to snap one of the chains off the platform.
Appearances be damned. Astrid would not leave a friend defenseless against this threat, swiftly getting to work on removing the remaining pieces of the rig.
She'd just dropped the collar to the deck when a blast of boiling heat permeated the air. Looking up, her breath caught at the stream of fire the queen was sending at the shoreline. She scrambled to unhook the chains, grabbing the last one just as the inferno hit their ship.
Astrid was thrown back, head slamming into the deck hard as the ship rocked on impact.
Momentarily dazed, she stared up at the ship's towering mast, which was now splintering in the center. Flames licked at the edges of the sails, sending bits of ash raining down on her.
She struggled to her feet, swaying as she gripped her aching head. The world was a blur, the fiery deck going in and out of focus. She groaned, staggering back towards where she'd left Hiccup. She'd been given a task, and nothing would stop her.
A low moan filled the air, followed by a deafening crack. The mast came crashing down, just a few paces away, taking a sizable chunk of the ship's rail with it. The force of the crash shook the ship violently and Astrid lost balance once more, this time sending her careening through the gap in the rail.
She hit the cold water hard, feeling the sharp sting of it against her bare arms. Her lungs burned as she fought her way towards the surface, but her progress was hindered by a fragment of sail tangled around her leg.
She kicked violently, trying to dislodge the fabric, to little success. It had grown heavy as it absorbed water. As the beam that it was tied to continued to sink, so did she.
She clawed at the cloth desperately, not willing to give up without a fight. She knew she was losing strength with every attempt, but still she forced herself to try . She'd always been taught that giving up in a fight meant a dishonorable death, and she'd be damned before she accepted such a fate.
Astrid began to lose focus, mind drifting as the fight drained out of her. Her eyes began to drift closed, feeling heavy.
Gods, she was so tired…
Something sharp curled around her chest, sending a jolt of adrenaline through her. She found herself being dragged upwards at a startling pace, breaking the surface of the water in a matter of seconds.
It took several minutes of gasping for air and coughing up seawater for her to be able to take stock of her surroundings. She was kneeling on a slab of wood, likely a scrap of the hull from one of the damaged ships.
Beside her, bright green dragon eyes regarded her with concern.
"You saved me," she croaked out.
Hiccup whined, rubbing the side of his head against her shoulder.
A wave of gratitude swept over her and she threw her hands around Hiccup's neck like a lifeline. "Thank you."
He stared back at her as if there was something he wanted to say, but they both knew for the moment, such a thing was not possible. Whatever words he had for her would have to wait.
Desperate shouts from the shoreline grabbed her attention. She released her grip on the Night Fury, twisting to face the ongoing battle with dread.
The queen was prowling the beach, sending streams of fire at different viking battalions. Most of the catapults had been lost, reduced to nothing but ash and splintered wood. A trail of bodies dotted the shore, silent and unmoving.
Berk was losing the fight.
She met Hiccup's eyes once more, seeing her own despair reflected in his gaze. "What do we do?" She asked, feeling helpless.
He tipped his head to the side, thinking for a moment. Then he nudged the axe strapped to her back.
"We go down fighting?" She translated.
Hiccup nodded, growling low.
Astrid nodded with approval. She looked around, noting that they were quite a ways from the shoreline. Swimming was the obvious option, but with all the burning ships it was likely there were dangerous bits of debris scattered beneath the waves. They'd be no help to Berk if they were injured before they even hit the shore.
Hiccup nudged her with his head before twisting his neck and looking meaningfully at his shoulders. He extended his wings, pumping them once.
She gaped. "You want to fly?"
He nodded.
"With me, on your back?"
Another nod.
"Are you crazy!?"
A snort, and then he nudged her again. This time, he seemed a lot more impatient.
Astrid gripped his shoulder to steady herself, slowly rising to her feet. The wood beneath them bobbed in the waves, and she found herself needing to lean all her weight against him to remain upright. With grim determination, she swung a leg across his back.
A viking on dragonback, she mused. Who would ever have thought the day would come?
Hiccup let out a shriek, pumping his wings twice in warning before taking to the air. Astrid screeched, throwing her arms around his neck as they took to the sky.