"Thor help us." Astrid repeated under her breath, over and over like a mantra. "Thor help us."

"A little help over here, please, great chief?" Snotlout called dryly from where he was sidestepping another attack from three eels at once. Astrid ran over, distracting two eels while Snotlout wrestled the third.

Everything seemed to go in slow motion. Astrid sidestepped a well placed attack from one eel, but that took her directly in front of the second. She screamed as she felt fangs sink into her side, and began to feel groggy as she felt the burning venom spread through her system.

This is the end.

Those four doomed words slipped into her poison-clouded brain as she lost consciousness and fell to the wooden deck in a heap.

------🦅------

"My name... Is that my name?" Raven murmured to Sharpshot, the latter having calmed down. "I don't know anything." He continued. He closed his eyes, breathing deeply.

"Aargh!" He suddenly shouted to the sky, forest green eyes snapping open. "Who am I, Sharpshot? Wh- What am I?" He took a deep breath, calming himself.

"Remember. Remember. Remember." He intoned. "I have to remember." But his efforts reaped no reward. "This was stupid." But he felt inside, deep, deep down that Hiccup Haddock was his name.

"I am Hiccup Haddock the Third." He muttered to Sharpshot. Sharpshot payed no attention and sat on his kneecap, licking eye.

"Save the applause. Oh, you did." Hiccup said dryly, smirking. And he set to thinking about the black dragon. Thinking hard...

Sharpshot leapt into the air and streaked off at the bright flash of pure energy, but didn't abandon Hiccup completely, for Terrors were renowned for their insatiable curiosity, flying a way and then hovering at a safe distance.

Hiccup blinked. His eyes hurt. Everything hurt. He was in a strange posture, but it felt natural. He swished his tail round, looking at it with mild curiosity.

Wait a minute.

HIS TAIL???????

------🦅------

Astrid didn't open her eyes. She ached far too much. Everything ached. Even her lungs. She heard a familiar chirping beside her, and opened her eyes, ever so slowly, to see Stormfly peering at her. She tried to smile, but regretted it. She gasped involuntarily, and had to restrain herself from doing it again, for her side erupted into foul aches.

"AstridAtPhewFinallyYou'veLastYou'reYou'veRegainedAwake! Consciousness!Woken Up!" A positive cacophony of sound greeted her aching ears, and Fishlegs, Brigitta and Valka hustled to the end of her bed, looking at her in concern.

Astrid steeled herself, and mumbled painfully,

"Un a' a 'ime 'ease."

Valka started. "Astrid, finally you're awake!"

Then Fishlegs. "Phew, you've regained consciousness!"

Then Brigitta. "At last you've woken up! Thank the Goddess."

Ugh. This strange 'Goddess' again. Brigitta wasn't a Viking, and she never explained about this mysterious Goddess, but she seemed like the main deity in Brigitta's pantheon.

Astrid mumbled something indistinct.

Brigitta was the first to speak up. "Look, Astrid, you don't have to talk. We know it's painful. You took a nasty bite. Sleep, and we will return later." She smiled. "Come, let us leave her to recover." And she whisked gracefully round on her heel, striding briskly to the door.

"Nnn! Nnn!"

The three turned back.

"'Ow-" Astrid grimaced. "'Ow 'id 'ee 'ur'ive?" Seeing the confused looks on the small group's faces, she could have scowled.

"'M 'live? Eels? 'Ow 'id 'ee 'ur'ive?" She repeated. She could have tapped her foot, had she been in better health.

"Ooooh!" Fishlegs' eyes glinted with understanding. "Well, after you got bitten, the eels pressed their attacks harder. It looked like all was lost. When Snotlout- Yes Snotlout," He gave a small smile at Astrid's incredulous hum, "had the incredible idea of retreating down into the hatch. The rest was simple. I had Iggy my Terrible Terror with me, so I sent him with a message to Berk asking for reinforcements. And while we were down there, we explored."

He broke off, putting a hand on his left upper arm, and ruefully rubbing it. Astrid saw bandages.

"And we found, along with a lot of traps and cages..." he fished around in a pocket of his belt, "this."

He lifted up a large cylinder. It was beautifully carved of iron with leather coverings over the middle. A dragon's head carved at one end had a lens in it's mouth and the other end had many rotatable dials and a hole, presumably a key hole, with a dragon's tooth in.

"We thought we would call it 'The Dragon Eye'. What do you think? You can blink once for yes, twice for no." Valka looked concerned.

Astrid looked hard at it for a minute, then blinked twice with determination.

"That," said Brigitta, "Makes a unanimous vote. And now you need rest." Brigitta firmly marched Fishlegs and Valka out. Valka was least happy to go. Since Hiccup had... Well, she had treated Astrid like the daughter she never had. It seemed to serve as a shell for her, to shield her from the horrible reality that her husband and son were both gone.

But Astrid always saw, deep in here eyes, that rooted sadness. It never left her. And Astrid knew, it was haunting her. She behaved like she had moved on, but Astrid knew she never would. And Astrid wouldn't either.

Valka and Astrid never forgot for one second of one minute of one day.

Aquila out.

🦅—Aquila