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She would never admit it to anyone, but Astrid had wondered, not for the first time, whether the centuries-long conflict between Vikings and dragons was worth it. If there was a way for the fighting to end. Where the dragons would finally surrender and she no longer had to hear the constant sounds of the signal horn almost every night. Where newly built homes could remain for more than a week. Where no one had to deal with a lack of food for the winter, or suffered from serious injuries, lost limps or even death. Astrid wondered if there ever could be a future like that. A future of peace.
But as the sound of that exact horn erupted throughout Berk, the third time that month, rudely disrupting her slumber and immediately hearing the mixture of Viking yells and dragon roars raging outside, she realised she was a fool for thinking so optimistically.
With a groan, Astrid jumped out of bed and quickly got changed, just as she heard a loud crash coming from downstairs. She saw a bright orange glow pecking through the floorboards, feeling the heat radiating through. After securing her boots, she rushed down to find the front door of her home completely blown off, the entrance scorched and in flames. Her mother was there, dousing them with buckets of water.
“Mum?” Astrid exclaimed, worry clear on her face and voice.
“I’m not hurt, Astrid. Don’t worry.” Her mother spoke over her shoulder, focused on the fire. Astrid let out a relieved sigh, walking closer to the burnt door to get a better look at the scorched marks left behind. It was the fifth time their door was destroyed over the past two months.
“Looks like a Monstrous Nightmare did this.” She examined, muttering under her breath. As her mother threw another bucket of water at the fire, Astrid couldn’t help but turn her attention to her, in particular her right arm. It was hard to ignore the claw marks that stretched across the length of it.
“I’ll be alright, Astrid.” Astrid pulled her eyes away from it, shaking her head before facing her mother, who had a reassuring smile. “You should go and help the others.”
“Right. Just be careful.” Her mother nodded in response, walking up to the big barrel of water to continue her job. Astrid knew she could handle herself, but she couldn’t help the worry towards her after the attack four months ago. Alas, she steeled herself, carefully stepping through the burning doorway, and ran towards the village.
The battle was in full swing. All kinds of dragons flew overhead, spewing heaps of fire below and crashing into building. She witnessed her people going head-to-head with the beasts on the ground, brandishing their weapons with pride as they fought to protect their crops and farm animals. One such Viking even attempted to jump onto a Gronkle but was thrown off before he had the chance to attack.
Astrid kept her speed, dodging the commotion, as she headed towards the blacksmith shop. There was already a crowd huddled around the entrance, but she pushed through them to get to the front.
“Gobber! I need my axe!” She exclaimed. Even in the midst of hammering a sword and all the shouting, her voice still caught Gobber’s attention.
“Ah, Astrid! Yes, give me one moment.” He finished straightening the weapon, ducking it in water to cool it, before handing it to the Viking next to her. He then headed back inside and returned with a newly sharpened double-sided axe. Astrid flipped the axe around, impressed with how light it felt, despite how old it was, having been passed down from her mother.
“Thanks, Gobber. Almost feels like new.” She smiled.
“Why, thank you, Astrid. My proudest work, if I say so myself.” Gobber smiled back, proudly raising his prosthetic hammer.
“Can I also get a bola? Just one will do.”
“Way ahead of you, lass.” He presented a medium-sized bola in hand to her. “Hope to score a dragon this time around?”
“That’s the plan. Can never be too careful.” Astrid gave a quick salute before rushing back into the battlefield. Large catapults were now being rolled out, shooting rocks at the dragons to throw them off guard, and the roofs of homes were already in flames. She didn’t pay much attention as she kept her focus on her destination – the farm on the west side of Berk.
As much as she wanted to be on the frontlines, she and her other friends were assigned to protect the farm animals from getting eaten. As she arrived, she found Fishlegs carrying a sheep into a stable whilst Ruffnut and Tuffnut were chasing three more.
“Looks like the sheep are feistier today.” She proclaimed as she approached Fishlegs. He turned around and the brief look of fear in his face quickly transformed to one of relief.
“Oh, Astrid! Thank Thor you’re here.” He struggled to shove the panicked sheep into the stable before quickly closing the doors. He let out a few deep breaths as he leaned against the door. “Yeah. Unfortunately, I can’t blame them. The dragons have already taken four of our sheep, including Norman.”
“Damn it.” Astrid gritted her teeth. “If they keep this up, we won’t have enough wool or mutton for winter.” She looked around, furrowing her eyes when she noticed something was off. “Wait, where’s Snotlout?”
“I-I don’t know. He was here a moment ago.” Fishlegs explained nervously.
“Ha! I bet a Hideous Zippleback took him away.”
“Yeah! I bet he was screaming like a girl.” Ruffnut and Tuffnut cackled as they walked towards the two, having caught one sheep, with each holding a pair of legs to secure it. Astrid sighed, taking the sheep of their hands and handing it to Fishlegs.
“Let’s not worry about Snotlout right now. If he comes around, then…”
“Ah! Oh no, Bertha!” Fishleg’s exclamation of fear caused them all to spin around and find a Deadly Nadder had snuck into the farm, claimed a sheep in its claws, and took flight.
“I told you we should have carried the sheep on your stupid head.”
“Maybe I should’ve carried her on your head!” Astrid ignored the squabbling of the twins as she sprinted towards the flying dragon, her feet slamming against the ground as she listened to Bertha bleating in terror. Without slowing down her speed, she grabbed her bola, previously attached to her belt behind, and spun it around rapidly, feeling the heavy metal balls cutting through the wind. With one last spin, she launched it into the air, throwing it with all her might towards the creature. She held her breath as the bola travelled through the sky, reaching the dragon and colliding with its wings.
Upon impact, the Deadly Nadder released the sheep as it plummeted to the ground, bouncing off the edge of the cliff they were on and fell below. Astrid increased her running speed, sliding on her knees to just barely catch the surprisingly heavy sheep.
“Wow! Nice catch, Astrid.” Ruffnut complimented, with the others catching up. “You even caught the dragon.”
“It isn’t over yet.” Even though she was out of breath, Astrid could still feel the adrenaline pumping through her. She passed the frightened sheep over to Fishlegs before getting up, her axe gripped tightly in hand. “Quickly gather the other sheep. I’ll be back.”
“W-Wait, where are you going?” He asked panickily, but she didn’t respond as she ran in the direction the Deadly Nadder fell. Injuring, or even killing dragons, was not something she wasn’t accustomed to, but she hadn’t partaken in such for a long time. The sudden urge to at least damage the dragon’s wings was too much for her to ignore. After all, it was a Deadly Nadder that injured her mother.
She used the wooden walkway to head down the cliffside and reach the beach below. She decreased her pace as she arrived at the place, only to find the dragon was somehow no longer there. However, she knew it was, finding a dent in the sand that stretched across to the other side. Like someone had dragged it away.
A sudden thought crossed her mind, and as she inspected the dent, her suspicious were confirmed upon finding footsteps next to it.
“It can’t be…” Astrid gasped. She gripped her axe with both her hands, slowly following the direction of the dented path. As she tiptoed around the cliff-face, she began to hear growling. A mixture of sorts. One she identified was the Deadly Nadder, but she couldn’t identify another different dragon. She then noticed an orange glow emitting nearby, similar to a campsite.
The light grew brighter and the growling was louder, prompting Astrid to station herself behind a protruding cliffside. She tried to listen in closely to try and hear anything. That was when she was rewarded with the sound of shushing. A Viking shushing.
She gasped quietly. Her breathing grew slightly, and her grip tightened. With motivation increasing within her, she slowly emerged from her hiding spot and walked around the rock. And in that moment, her thoughts were answered.
The Deadly Nadder laid still on the ground, its wings tangled in the ropes of the bola and crouched next to it was a man, donned in a black-scaled full-body armour. He held out a flaming sword, twisting it around near the dragon’s face, shushing it as he did. Eventually, it seemed to calm down, no longer growling at him as it closed its eyes.
Astrid’s eyes widened in shock as she approached the man, whose back was turned, from behind.
Fabled tales of this man spread far and wide throughout the archipelago over the past 4 years. No one knew if they were real or just a sailor’s tale, made to scare and make others tread carefully. But he was real. He was right in front of her, petting the creature in some form of comfort. And as she raised her axe above her head, one word screamed at her.
Traitor.
Suddenly, a roar echoed in the distance, causing Astrid to falter briefly as she dropped her axe towards him. However, that stutter and the roar was enough to warn the man, causing him to spin around and clashed his fire sword against her axe. She stared fiercely into his eyes, through the scaled helmet he wore, which widened in shock for a brief second. There was something uncanny about his eyes, how dull yet bright green they were, despite his left one being scared and more milky coloured.
As she stared down at him, she couldn’t help but chuckle in disbelief. “I finally found you, Night Fury Rider.”
The Night Fury Rider didn’t hesitate in pushing Astrid away from him with his foot, causing her to tumble backwards, but she managed to gather her footing quickly. The space created gave him time to stand up, his flaming sword gripped around his black gloved hand. He purposely walked away from the Deadly Nadder and began to circle around Astrid, to which she did the same.
There was something awe-stricken about bearing witness to someone who was just a myth to her all this time. Apart from his eyes, his entire body was covered in armour. Not a single part of his skin or a piece of his hair, if he had any, peaked through. Like he fully transformed into a dragon. He stood a few inches taller than her, where she noticed a metal peg leg on his left foot. And at closer inspection, the flaming sword was more of a hollowed-out sword.
Astrid scoffed, raising her axe slightly. “Where’s your Night Fury? I thought he never leaves your side.” The Night Fury Rider remained silent, only furrowing his eyes at her. She suddenly had a feeling of deja vu as she kept looking straight at his eyes, but chose to ignore it. “Guess you really aren’t much of a talker. Well, I don’t care. I just want you to pay, you traitor!”
Without warning, she lunged toward, swinging her axe in a wide angle that just barely missed him. She used that momentum to swing around again, colliding with his sword again, though he swiped it off, stepping back and getting into a defensive position.
“I don’t know what your plan is, but you’re not taking this dragon with you.” Astrid exclaimed, running forward and engaging in clashes against him. It was clear to her that he wasn’t much of fighter, always deflecting her attacks and never throwing his own. For a moment, he became wide open, prompting her to flip her axe around and use the hilt to attack his stomach. He staggered back, grunting at the expected sharp pain.
“I’ve heard what you do. Releasing dragons from their prisons. Just so they can come and attack us again.” Astrid turned the weapon the right side up. “Causing more chaos than there already is. You think you’re doing a favour? No, you’re only making it worst.” She threw a couple more hits and The Night Fury Rider once again defenced. “And I won’t let you.” She suddenly raised her legs and kicked him up against the wall of the cliffside, knocking most of the wind out of him.
“I’ll stop you, right here and now!” As Astrid poised herself for another attack, preparing to incapacitate him, he suddenly let out a long, continuous whistle and in a flash, she was thrown onto the ground, loosing her hold on her axe. Before she could get up, large claws pinned her down, tightly around her abdomen. Her breathing accelerated as she laid on her back, staring at narrow, deadly green eyes. The dragon that gave the man his namesake.
The Night Fury bowed its head towards her and snarled at her, causing the volume of her panting to increase. She instantly realised it was the second sound she heard, the one she didn’t recognise. The Night Fury Rider just hid it for backup. Her mind flashed back to 4 years ago, staring at the same dragon, that stood next to a boy long gone. The last time she saw him. She didn’t even know if it was the same dragon, but its glare was just as frightening.
Astrid shut her eyes, expecting to be burnt alive when she heard two loud, but quick whistle in succession. Daring to peak through her eyelids, the beast huffed at her before letting her go and walking away.
She gasped for air, like she was just strangled, before sluggishly getting up onto her feet. The previous adrenaline was long gone and now she felt drained. But that didn’t stop the feeling of anger as she witnessed The Night Fury Rider freeing the Deadly Nadder and watching it fly out into the dead of night.
“No…!” She went to collect her axe on the ground, almost falling as she did, and marched towards the traitor. “You can’t do this…!”
Her steps were halted by the unsheathing of his fire sword, retracting from the handle as he pointed the tip right at her. The flicker of the flame reflecting against his green eyes. She couldn’t miss the glare he gave her. Though he spoke little, if at all, it told her all he needed to say – stay back and don’t follow.
An image of the same scrawny teen her age 4 years ago flashed in her mind. His green eyes looking at her, almost pleading, as he introduced her to the dark beast. Suddenly, she remained stuck in place, realisation stirring around her.
Still pointing his weapon at her, The Night Fury Rider walked towards his dragon and hopped on top of it, keeping his eyes on her. Seemingly satisfied that his message was understood, the sword retracted back into the handle, placed it in a holder on his leg, and within seconds, the man and his dragon flew up to the sky, vanishing into the thick clouds.
It broke Astrid out of her trance, all her shock and frustration withering away, leaving her with one thought as she stared at the sky they disappeared to.
Why did his eyes look so much like his?
Because it wasn't him. It couldn't be. He died 4 years ago.