"I Do.... NOT!!"

Chapter 7: It's not the Dragons

                       .... Astrid's POV.....

"Hey toothless. The leaves were a great idea! " I told him as he landed beside me on the cliff. He rumbled and smiled at me. "So we going on another flight?" I asked. He cocked his head at me and then sniffed at my leg and began to give it a thorough licking despite my wincing. I rested my head on his as he finished up, trying to keep myself from yanking my leg away. Toothless finished and then rubbed against my side, his signal for me to get on. We started our flight, this time heading out to sea. "Where we going?" I asked, nervousness rising in me. He growled long and low, then used a paw to push my head closed to his back.

I stayed down and watched, my stomach churning as we entered the fog zone far from Berk. Dragons began to emerge out of the mist around me, carrying all manner of prey. Toothless growled low and quickly began evasive maneuvers as dragons became more numerous around us. Growls and roars in the distance filled the air around me, with some sheep and yak sounds mixed in. I gasped at what seemed like a humanoid shape in the claws of a zippleback that passed underneath us. "Toothless!! You gotta get us out of here!" I whispered fiercely, my voice shaking. He shook his head vigorously and rose a little higher in the mist to avoid a pack of nadders.

Eventually we reached what looked like a massive half dormant volcanoe. I could see the hazy red and orange glow of the active side through the smoke, and the colorless, rocky surface of the island it stood on. Smoke on the air was thick enough to tickle my throat and cause the intense urge to cough. I quietly cleared my throat and focused on keeping my hands from shaking. Surely toothless wouldnt kill me. He'd gone through all the trouble to save me! I held on tighter as the night fury began to rise, joining a mob of dragons flying their prey up the volcanoe. I shuddered along with toothless as we passed glimpses of dragon bone among the hardened rocks and lava.

We finally entered the mouth of the volcanoe, where the smoke was thickest. I gasped as toothless flew along the inside and around the massive mouth of the volcano. It made sense now! The dragons didn't eat a single thing they caught. It all got dumped down the volcano... A rumble sent chills down my spine just then, and toothless darted to the side ledge of the volcanoe- one of many surrounding the inside of the volcanoe. The other dragons did the same, and I realized that must steal food because something terrifying in this volcanoe was making them do so. " Oh toothless... I understand now." I whispered, stroking his jaws. He rumbled quietly and then crouched, getting ready for a take off. I held on tight as a massive dragon emerged from the volcanoe smoke. I only saw it's head, easily as large as the entire great hall back at Berk. 12 eyes blinked in creepy synchrony, and massive spines and volcanic ash covered it's blue grey scales. The dragon's nostrils we're massive, I could almost feel the air that rushed in and out of them.

The dragon let out a deafening roar, and then the entire volcanoe exploded with dragons fighting to get out the top. Toothless was shaking violently and making groaning sounds as he pushed with all his might to get through with the first mob of dragons. We made it barely, my heart pounding, my knuckles white and shaking. The snap of the massive dragon's jaws reverberated through my body along with the shrieks of dragons as we blasted through the hole and into the now night sky, which became studded with stars as toothless moved up and away from the volcanoe smoke, closer to Berk.

" Oh Thor. This is huge Toothless!! The dragons don't attack to hurt us- they get eaten if they don't bring back enough kill... I'm guessing that's why that huge dragon got mad. You must be terrified of her." I told toothless. He growled in agreement and nodded his head, then scratched in the dirt in front of me. By the light of the moon I read his message, which told me the massive creature was a queen dragon, one that could exert control to a point over other dragon's muscles and minds.

Apparently this affected all dragons, but some had learned to fight it harder than others. I began to pace and rub my temples. This was bad. Years and years of killing these creatures who wouldn't attack if the choice was up to them. Toothless had learned to fight the Queen dragon's control... but the other dragons weren't nearly as strong as him in that respect. I knew part of my quest to become chieftess included killing a dragon at the final arena fight... I couldn't do that. Not after what I had learned from Toothless about his kind. I sat down and began to cry. I couldn't hold the tears back any longer. How could I go through with this? Why did I have to challenge snotlout just to escape marrying him. I'd shoved off his requests to talk for days now... eventually he would make me talk to him. I couldn't avoid it forever.

I felt warm scales rubbing against my face just then, I looked up to see Toothless' huge green eyes looking at me with great concern. He rumbled in quiet concern, and I turned into his chest to hug him. " I don't know what to do Toothless. I don't know... I-I lost a good friend long ago. Everyone thinks he was eaten by dragons. I wish he was here. Maybe he would know what to do. I won't marry snotlout. And I refuse to kill any dragons. Not after what you have shown me. Oh I don't know what to do! I'm scared." I told him, my voice shaking. Toothless rumbled and ducked his head. I'm so sorry... I lost a dear friends long ago. I know how it feels. But I learned to make new friends... I learned you can never control how people treat you. But you can control how you treat them. You can defend yourself. If you don't want to marry Snotlout please don't. You need to do what you know is right. Not what anyone else thinks you should do Toothless scratched out on the ground with his claw. I leaned into him and sighed. "Why did you lose your friends?" I asked him. I.. lost them to hate and fear. I changed long ago. Into something they did not understand. I knew I would be killed if I ever went near them again. They would never give me the chance to speak. So I found those that would accept me. Toothless rumbled.

He stood and nudged me to get on, and soon we were flying directly over Berk. "If you were brave enough to save the lives of enemies... Vikings who think the only good dragon is a dead dragon... I want to know who you really are. And I want to understand," I told Toothless as we descended behind the village. He cocked his head and stared deeply into my eyes as I slid off his neck and faced him. It's to dangerous for you to know toothless scratched out on the pebbly dirt. "Are you sure? Are you sure I'm not in more danger because you're keeping these secrets?" I asked, feeling some hurt and frustration. "Your secret is safe with me. You saved my life and my little brother. We owe you that at least." I told Toothless. He let out sad, painful rumble and shook his head. Astrid... our world's will not be seperate long. The dragon's are in danger of extinction from humans who don't want to understand and a queen with no compassion. When push comes to shove I will have to reveal myself. I have to fight for both our worlds. Toothless scratched out, along with a series if rumbles. I figured I would learn his rumble language if he kept it up... again I puzzled over how he knew my name and why he felt any allegiance to vikings. "Look. Our world's are in danger. Lots of dragons and lots of vikings are going to keep dying if we don't get rid of that queen. Let me help you Toothless. Please, let me fight with you" I begged.

Toothless rumbled with a oddly human smile and rubbed against my leg one last time before turning and disappearing into the night sky. " Uh, are you talking to yourself? who are you going to fight with!? " snotlouts whiny voice asked behind me. I jumped and whirled around to face him, my heart pounding. Hopefully I could convince Snotlout that's exactly what I was doing... talking and growling to myself.