Tempered Flames Chapter 4 (Patreon)

The fog that surrounded their ship clung to each of the teens thicker than any woolen blanket. They could see nothing save the waves washing against the side of their ship. In the world of gray, time seemed to have no purpose, no real meaning. Just a thick coat of gray.

“Fishlegs,” Hiccup called as he marched down the way. “Adjust to port. We’re losing the wind.”

“I don’t think that matters out here,” the large teen replied. “The wind could just change direction. What if we go off course?”

“We’re already off course.” Hiccup moved toward the bow, squinting through the surrounding mist. He could see nothing. Gods, he missed his dragon. If he were with Toothless, they could just fly over this fog.

The weight of the sword on his belt brought him down from the clouds. He wasn’t on his dragon, he was on a ship, and it was up to him to get them out. 

“We need to break through the fog. We can adjust ourselves from there.”

He heard a snort behind him and turned to see Snotlout leaning against the bulkhead, shaking his head. “You’re quick to start giving orders for someone who’s never around,” he said.

“Oh, please.” From the other side of the ship Astrid tossed piece of salted meat from one of the provisions barrels at him. He caught it in his lap. “Like you know the first thing about boats. If you were sailing, we’d smack back into Berk. Here, Hiccup.” She handed him a slab before taking one for herself.

“No way!” he shot back. “We’d probably already be there by now. I’m an expert on maps.”

“You’ve never left the island.”

“Well, no, but Vikings know these things! It’s the power of my raw instinct.”

Fishlegs hopped in. “If you had so much instinct, you wouldn’t always be training.”

Tuffnut suddenly appeared above them, hanging upside down from the ropes of the mast. “Yeah, your instinct must suck. My instinct’s the best, cause I never train.”

Astrid hit the boy in the chest with his own slab of salted meat. He awkwardly fumbled to catch it before pulling himself back up by his legs. Snotlout took a swipe at him, batting his long blonde hair. “You train too!” he called.

Astrid laughed. “Yeah, I think the only one who doesn’t is… huh. Where is Ruffnut?”

Hiccup instinctively looked up to the top of the ship, past the fluttering mast and into the gray above. 

Astrid noticed, her eyes following his. “But there’s nowhere to lay around up there?”

Hiccup shrugged before looking back down to the map.

“Hey Tuff! Is Ruffnut up at the top of the ship?” Astrid asked. “Tell her it’s lunchtime!”

“Uhhhhhhhhhh… I dunno lemme check.” He turned up, cupping his hands. “Hey Ruff! You up there?”

By way of response, an empty boot suddenly appeared from the fog, flinging toward Tuffnut at an incredibly high speed. He only barely dodged it, leaving it to strike Snotlout in the cheek. “Yow!!” he yelped.

“Yeah, she’s up there,” Tuffnut announced.

Astrid scowled. “Hey! Ruff, come get some food, or we’ll eat it all without you!”

Slowly, a bare foot and a single boot one began to descend from the mast. Ruffnut’s normally braided hair was down, and most of her leather clothing had been removed. She wore only a light-yellow gown, with a belt around her waist to keep the wind from blowing up her dress. She looked pudgy and soft as she descended, her movements unsure around the ropes. Hiccup could hear her muttering about interrupted sleep.

“Come on,” Astrid said, helping her down and handing her a bit of beef. “What happened to your gear?”

Ruffnut chewed her food as if she were one of their sheep, her jaw working up and down numbly. “Sctowd it,” she mumbled sleepily.

“You stowed it? Well, what if we’re attacked? You should be ready.”

“Ugh,” Ruff groaned before yawning, scratching one of her doughy arms before going for another piece of meat. “We’re not,” she said surely. “The dragons are dead. This whole trip is just us wasting our time.”

Astrid watched her with a confused expression as she munched on her fatty beef. She shook her head, trying to gather her sense. “If they’re all dead, then why did you come?”

Ruffnut shrugged. “Didn’t really have a choice. Besides, it’s something to do, I guess.”

“Heads up!”

“Huh?” she twisted dumbly to catch her discarded boot on her belly. It toppled her onto her backside, smacking roughly against the barrel of meat and then the side of the ship.

Tuffnut and Snotlout roared with laughter. Instead of the hot, Viking response Hiccup was expecting, Ruffnut just yawned, continued nibbling on her beef, before she appeared to pass out while leaning on the sloped bulkhead.

Astrid looked at him before shrugging. He sighed, twisting his neck and stretching his arms, looking up at the top. “I’m gonna go up there. Might get a sight of something above the fog. Fishlegs, keep us in the wind.”

He didn’t realize it, but Hiccup had fallen into what had become a natural role for him over the last few years. Just as he worked together with Toothless, guiding his dragon with a small movement against his scales, or with little more than a gesture and a word, so too was he guiding the ship. Where at breakfast he had felt like he had hardly existed, they all saw him now.

Astrid watched him go. He still kept the shield on his back, and she turned away with a simple smile and a small blush, feeling a rewarded sense of pride. 

It was easy. The ropes, the climbing, it was nothing he hadn’t done before, despite having never sailed out further from Berk than a simple fishing boat. Hiccup had no sense of vertigo, no ache in his muscles from carrying his weight, and it showed.

Up and up he climbed, losing sight of the longboat when he reached the beam at the top of the sails and rose into the fog.

“Ohhh boy,” he muttered, glancing around. It was no good, he still couldn’t see anything. He had to get higher. “Alright.”

Using his arms for balance, Hiccup walked along the poll to the mast. He passed by a bit of untied rope, assumedly what Ruffnut had been using to keep herself secure, before reaching the long wooden pillar. It offered him an extra couple of feet, but even standing precariously on that gave no real improvement.

“Wonderful. Just wonderful,” he told nobody.

“Arooo,” nobody responded.

Hiccup spun towards the noise, nearly tumbling as the midnight black dragon had appeared from behind him. Toothless was gliding at a pace with the ship, his wings turned against the wind to keep him slow.

The young man stammered, putting a hand to his chest. “Woah! Oh, woah, you scared th-” 

He was interrupted as the dragon flew closer, poking him with its muzzle. 

“Yeah, hey, hey boy,” Hiccup reached out and scratched the dragon’s ear. “You doing okay? Getting tired?” 

Toothless didn’t really respond, but there was something in his movements and especially in his eyes that looked patient. Hiccup supposed he’d been gliding along with them, using the saddle and the retractable fin to control his flight and keeping his energy up. He seemed alright.

“Yeah, you’re good.” Hiccup reached out and patted him on the cheek. Then, with short alarm, he looked beneath them and felt instant relief. There weren’t any screaming Vikings, so nobody seemed to be able to see them up there.

Which then gave Hiccup an idea.

******************************************************************************

“So are you, like, crushing on him or something?” Snotlout asked.

“What? Who? Me? I crush anyone, I swear.” Tuffnut raised an oathed hand before pointing toward his snoozing sister. “It was her fault.”

“He’s not talking to you, Tuff,” Astrid rolled her bright blue eyes. She faced away from the two boys, inspired by the slothful Ruffnut to keep limber. They had no idea what they might run into out here, so she spent the time straightening her tight armor, uncomfortably aware that it no longer fit as well as it used to, even accounting for the last rolls of puberty she’d endured since she last really needed to use it. 

“Oh. Well, good. Cause I don’t do crushes. Mostly just bashes. Those are more fun.”

“You still didn’t answer the question,” Snotlout noted.

“Yeah I did, I just sa-”

There was the solid and familiar clang of a Viking fist being dropped on top of an iron helmet.

Astrid tightened the skull belt on her waist, locking the studded skirt into place. Long blue cloth covered her legs, with leather braces set over her knees. She’d been sure to pack extra, in case she needed to use anything to cover her arms… and was actively considering using it, given how the knotted ropes cut delicately into her biceps, making them look soft and bothering her intensely.

The other thing that was bothering her spoke up again. “Hey, I don’t mind. You can have a little crush, all the rest just make me look better.”

Astrid eyed him with a smirk, her eyebrow hiked. “Yeah, Snot. You’re invaluable. That’s why Fishlegs is steering and Hiccup is up there.”

“I could be up there if I wanted!” Snotlout replied hotly. “Like I said, I know maps.”

Astrid raised her arms over her head, stretching and checking her maneuverability while also cracking each of her wrists. “Yeah? How do you know maps?”

The fire seemed to die as quick as it had started. Snotlout sank back in his chair and just looked at her before shrugging. “Just something I picked up, I don’t know.”

Astrid hadn’t expected that. She’d thought he’d fire back at her, or more likely, say something boorishly stupid. But this withdrawn response was new, and more than a bit unsettling. “Oh… uh… okay,” she nodded uncomfortably.

Snotlout shrugged. “Want to get away from home sometimes. Kinda just picked it up. Not like it’s hard, just reading paper.”

Astrid tried a different approach. Crossing over the drooling corpse with a concussion that was Ruffnut, she went to the bench across from him, sitting down. “I’m surprised you could read,” she teased.

The Viking chuckled. “That was harder, yeah. I asked my old man but he wasn’t having that. Said without dragons, all I needed to worry about was learning which color stone was best from the mines… Can’t be a hero without anything to fight.”

Astrid felt a pang of remorse for him. Spitelout didn’t seem like the friendliest father in the best of times, and she felt like she could guess his reason for wanting to get away.

A tight grin found its way onto his face, returning that challenging confidence and bit of extra swagger to the short, stocky Viking. “But hey, that’s all done now.” He hefted his hand axe onto his lap before raising it over the side. “First dragon I see, I’m gonna bury this thing between it’s eyes, just like we practiced. Then I can take it’s horns back to my old man.”

Astrid felt herself grinning. “Not if I get to it first,” she winked. Then, looking around at each of their companions she said, “I think each of us has something they need to prove.”

“Heh,” Snotlout breathed lightly, “yeah. I’ll bet even he loses that cool when we see one. But we’ll see when we get there, eh?”

Astrid felt herself looking up the mast. She didn’t see anything, and so her mind wandered back a few years, remembering the awkward young teen scrambling about and tripping over his limbs. He had been skinnier then than she was now, and for some reason that thought made her smile. “I don’t think so,” she replied honestly.

“Yeah… probably not,” Snotlout relented, “but I can hope.” He laughed, sounding almost bitter to Astrid. 

“Why do you say that?” she asked.

Snotlout smirked. “I need to pay him back for teaching me how to read.”

“Fishlegs!” Hiccups’ voice called from up above. His voice was faint as he ordered, “Turn us port. We’re near the edge of the fog, and on the south side. Looks like we got spun around somehow, but we’re nearly where we need to be.”

“Alright!” Fishlegs obeyed before grumbling, “I said the wind could change direction, didn’t I? Probably just moving in circles.”

Snotlout rose up from his spot, cracking his neck before heading to Fishlegs. “Come on, switch out with me. Give you a break.”

“I-I got it,” the larger boy replied.

“Yeah, I know man. But if I don’t start doing something, I’m gonna toss myself over the railing. Bored out of my mind.”

“Oh… uh, sure,” Fishlegs relented, giving control of the steering to Snotlout. 

“Thanks. Can you go make sure Tuff’s not dead? I think I knocked him harder than I meant to.”

A flurry of coughs came up from the deck. Tuffnut’s pasty arm rose into the air before he choked out, “I’m… I’m o-” The hand dropped.

******************************************************************************

They passed out of the shadow and into open sea as the sun began to descend. When they could finally see, Astrid was surprised to see Hiccup standing defiantly against gravity on the top of the mast. The ship was bucking in the waves, rising and falling along slight crests, but he seemed not even to notice before climbing back down to the support beam and unfurling the map.

He directed them south, though Astrid noticed there weren’t any real landmarks that she could see out here. Just the vast, empty blue ahead, and behind them the swirling wall of mist. She reasoned that he must have seen something from inside the fog and let it drop.

After a time, Astrid rose off her seat and went to their provisions. She began counting through, reasoning they had a few days supplies in case anything happened, but their destination shouldn’t be too far away. She called Hiccup down as the sun began to set and passed out dinner and water to everyone, including a sip from a flask she’d secretly gotten from Gobber before they had left.

Snotlout had drank alcohol before, so his reaction wasn’t any fun.

Fishlegs only scrunched his face up, not enjoying the woody taste, and asked if she had something sweet. She told him she did, then gave him water. He hadn’t been amused.

Tuffnut had drank a lot of alcohol before, so Astrid reasoned that she shouldn’t let him know about the flask unless she wanted it to disappear. She had his sip for him, knocking back the bitter but warming mouthful. Hints of honey were mixed into the taste, making it flow down smoothly into her belly.

And then having a second when she saw that Ruffnut was still sleeping, then chewed cheerfully on the meat and bread she’d gotten for the other girl.

The third drink was for her, but already she was having issues tasting it. Whatever Gobber had used, it was strong, and more than a bit yummy. She thought she might be able to feel the sloshing in her tum as the waves rocked her footing, snapping up her own portion of meat before deciding to have a little extra.

It made her giggle to herself. “No wonder you’re getting soft,” she poked at her bicep, squeezing the lack of muscle there. But she didn’t care, not really. 

They were finally heading out, finally going to complete their training. She’d slay her first dragon and come home a hero. Maybe she’d be allowed to skin it and could fashion herself a cloak from its scales. Something to remind her own children of the threat they would one day be forced to face.

Another laugh, another whisper. “No cloak’s gonna fit if you keep eating triple portions and midnight snacks,” she sighed happily before heading over to Hiccup at the bow.

He looked over his shoulder as she approached, holding her with those bright green eyes. He thanked her for the food and, after a bit of prompting, had a swig of the drink. The way that his face crunched up and how he turned over the side, coughing up his lung, made Astrid giggle like a delighted young girl. 

It was only when she walked away from him that she realized, she had no idea what they’d said to one another. Her cheeks burned with her smile.

Nightfall finally came and the group rolled up the sail and settled down along the benches. They were surrounded by the endless blue, slowly moving south as the current clung to their ship and pushed them along. Fishlegs determined that they could just let the ship continue on the pace without danger, and so they didn’t drop anchor before laying down to rest.

Ruffnut, who had spent most of the day sleeping, somehow found the energy to crawl over to the meat barrel. She had had four strips and nearly a whole loaf of bread before Astrid had to herd the yak away from their provisions and set up a protective spot nearby the food.

The moon was bright that night, casting a long white glow through the starry sky. This was a sight that Astrid never got tired of, and she found herself watching it for a time. Listening to the swell of the waves and watching the stars. It was remarkably peaceful.

She wondered what it must be like to fly. To pass through the clouds, to see up into the heavens above. To move about freely, hop from island to island without any worry. And she even imagined a shape flying overhead, circling around like a watchful Valkyrie. It comforted her tipsy mind, but she closed her eyes and remembered reality.

She would love to fly, yes. But more than that, Astrid wanted to settle down. To have someone else in her empty home. To share her space with another person, to be with them and be able to roll over and talk to them in the middle of the night.

Astrid saw his shadow as he ascended the ropes. He stood out against the stars, pale face glowing in the moon, and his green eyes did glow in the darkness. Just watching for the moment as he went to the beam, crossing toward the mast and sitting down at the center.

It took more energy than it should have for Astrid to get up and follow him, but she did. She hopped from bench to bench over the sleeping others, trying not to wake them but unable to move as quietly as he had. He’d noticed her when she began climbing the ropes, watched as she followed much-less sure footed across the beam, and then sat at his side at the center point.

Neither one of them spoke. Just listened to the waves and the wind and watched up in the sky.

Hiccup was the first to say something. “Do you think he’ll want us to kill a dragon?” he asked. He was talking about the dragon slayer, the man who would be their trainer.

“Yeah, probably,” Astrid replied. “That’s the whole point, isn’t it?”

Hiccup sighed. “Can’t we learn… like, self-defensive? In case we’re ever attacked?”

This conversation was not going where Astrid had thought it would. But he seemed to be serious about it. “Well we’re not hunting them down or anything. Unless your Dad starts organizing raiding parties once we’re back.”

“Oh…” he tilted back far enough that she worried he might fall. “That’s a whole new level of anxiety, thank you.”

“You… don’t have to go,” Astrid suggested.

He snorted. “Yes I would. I had to come here, didn’t I?”

“Hiccup…” she frowned. “We need to be prepared. You know that. Think of everything, everyone, the dragons took from us.”

“They were invading to survive,” Hiccup shook his head. “The moment they didn’t have to try and steal food, they avoided our island, because they know they’d get killed for it.”

Astrid cocked an eyebrow. “There’s no way that’s true. Dragons are too stupid to think like that. The… Adoramus, your father said, he must have killed them all.”

Hiccup turned to her and gave her a rather diminishing look that honestly upset Astrid before turning back to the front. “No,” was his blunt reply.

She felt herself getting angry. “No?”

“One man couldn’t kill all of those dragons. They are so much stronger than we know. Even what we do know, most of it’s wrong.”

Astrid puffed, feeling her chest blow out indignantly. She didn’t like this false-know-it-all demeanor he was putting on. How could he possibly know any of this?! “So, what are you saying?” Astrid asked hotly. “That we just let them run rampant? Infesting everywhere they go?”

Hiccup shook his head. He looked tired, and that made Astrid more frustrated. “Dragons are around us all the time. They’re a part of this world, a natural part. We… we can at least try to communicate with them. There’s got to be something there.”

Astrid scowled. She remembered what Snotlout had said, wondered if he had been right. “You just don’t want to fight them, do you?” she asked quietly.

“No. I don’t.”

Her head tilted, and she glared at the moon in the sky. “We haven’t seen dragons in years, and now you’re… what? Going to run away? What happens when we come across one, huh? Or if one attacks our ship?”

“Astrid,” Hiccup sighed.

“Don’t,” she held her hand up, moving away from him. “I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I mean-” 

“Astrid, would you just look down?”

“What?!” she asked, rounding on him. She saw his eyes gazing down, beneath the ship, and turned.

Astrid stared. 

Her mind had gone entirely blank. Her long eyelashes fluttered, trying to banish the sight from her mind, but it remained. Glowing lights, dancing shadows, swam in a synchronized pattern beneath the ship. They were all around them. Far, far down in the depths of the sea, but Astrid could see the faint outlines of heads, of wings, of horns. The swirling lights trailed their ship in an enchanting, horrific dance.

She was dimly aware that she was stuttering but could hear little over the sudden rush in her ears and the hammering in her heart. She lifted her legs up over the support beam, tucking them up towards her chest as panic suddenly found her.

It was the squeezing on her hand that brought her back, caused her to realize the hammering in her heart and rush of blood in her ears. She looked away from the dragons swimming in the midnight sea and to Hiccup.

She was trying to say something, to warn him of the very creatures he’d just pointed out to her. Her mind had been clogged, swirling and unprepared for the exposure to sight. She’d expected the first dragon she’d see in years to be small, like the Terrible Terrors, or even something medium-sized like the Gronckle. The beasts… the leviathans that now swam beneath them, some were even bigger than the ship! And they glowed, without a care, without any need to be hidden, they were glowing far down in the ocean, showing themselves to any who looked down.

“W-w-what are,” she began but had nowhere to go with it.

He squeezed her hand again, drawing her attention. He was smiling. She was on the verge of freaking out, and he was smiling.

But the glow of his green eyes, the easy confidence. He began pointing and she followed his finger.

“Those over there are Tide Gliders. See the glowing teal on their wings? They follow along the currents each night, sort of like a dance. I think it’s for mating. Then, do you see those flat ones, that look like they’re sort of… sparking? Those are Seashockers. They follow along behind ships, thinking they might be fishing boats that are dropping fish.”

Astrid followed as he explained each, losing herself in the glow of their dance just as she had with the stars up above.

“I don’t seen any Scauldrons…” Hiccup continued. “There were some Sliquifiers earlier, but they swam up ahead. And that massive one there? He’s not glowing, but you can see him above all the others.”

Astrid saw it. With a bulky, fat body and a wingspan so large that even deep down it looked more than intimidating. 

“That’s one’s called a Thunderdrum. He only just got here, and is moving faster than the others. Might be chasing the Sliquifiers, and could probably eat them whole. Do you see the fog?”

Astrid had issues pulling her sight away from the dragons. She looked up to see another approaching wall of gray mist, but this one was far shorter. Though something was wrong in her head, something about the stars the now muggy sky that she couldn’t place.

The moon vanished behind a layer of black clouds, creating a stronger glow from the dragons below. “There’s no land around here, but the map has that marked as a no-go zone. I think it’s an underwater nest, but we should be fine since we’re not fishing or disturbing it.”

“H-how do you… how can you be… where,” Astrid’s mind spun with questions.

“You were right when you said I never stopped training,” Hiccup admitted. “There’s still so much I don’t know about them yet, but I’m learning more all the time. Dragons aren’t our enemies, Astrid. I won’t kill them.”

She breathed in deeply, about to shout something in response. It came away as a hacking cough as a lungful of burning smoke set her chest on fire.