How to Train Your Dragon: Journey Beyond Berk

Chapter Fifteen - Rage Growing From Within

Hiccup's POV:

It's been months since Drago and his men attacked Berk, taking our dragons and Astrid with them. We've held several search parties, searched far distances with no luck. Many lands we've come across stated they were attacked as well; they were only spared if they joined him and his men. He was growing his army, taking over each land one by one either by adding more to his army or by instilling fear of what was to come to those who refused to join. I looked out into the ocean as our men steered the ships into more unknown seas, we started seeing less dragons in the wild as time went on. It was as if all the dragons have already been captured or the ones who did flea decided to hide away to never be seen again.

"We need to head back Hiccup." Gobber called out to me, taking me out of my train of thought.

"We still have time before the ice sets in..." I called back to him.

"We've been out for two weeks," He continued, "We need to come up with a plan on what's next for Berk Hiccup."

"Like selecting a new Chief?!" I turned back to him, my face steaming in anger.

Gobber stepped back before taking a deep breath, "It's been months Hiccup, we haven't a clue of where they went or if they're even still out there. They could've fallen off the edge of the world by now!" He made his way towards me, the men on the ship looking at me exhausted as Gobber continued to speak, "We're all tired here Hiccup, we can continue the search if you'd like but we need to wait till after the snow melts."

I took a deep breath and looked out at the men who stood behind him, all tired from exhaustion. "Very well." I responded, "but we aren't done with this. When the snow starts to melt, we shall start another search."

And with that the mean cheered, Gobber looked at me with a half-smile. I nodded at him before turning back at the edge of the ship looking out into the quiet sea. We haven't stopped since they've left, going out on searches that lasted weeks and then returning for a few days before heading back out. I knew Gobber was right in a sense, we'd never return if we continued to set out during the winter plus it'd make it near impossible to search in the snow if we needed to go up on lands. These searches felt useless without the use of dragons, our search time has been doubled due to the speed difference on a ship versus a dragon. I let out a sigh as I thought of Astrid, of Toothless. I should've asked Astrid to stay with Valka and I when we were still at the Sanctuary, we could've run off and explored the world together. Instead, I'm out here searching the world for her, holding onto the little hope I still have that she may still be out there. Why must the gods hate me?

Astrid's POV:

I awoke to the sound of mean yelling and singing above the ship. It's been months since I've seen Hiccup and the rest of Berk, I've kept track of the days by making a scratch on the floorboards of the dungeon upon the ship as each day passes. They used to let me out more as something to look at for the men but now I'm not much of a sight at this time. I slowly sat up, bringing my legs closer to my chest to keep warm while I waited for one of them to bring me breakfast. It was dark down here; the only light being brought in by the metal caged door up above on the other side of the room. Footsteps started to emerge closer to the door followed by a loud crank as the gate began to open. The same man who came by daily made his way towards me with a plate of food before sitting down in front of me handing me the plate that I refused to grab.

"You need to eat," he said softly, "It's not good for the babe if you don't eat."

It was only a few weeks after I was captured that I realized I may be pregnant, and after a few months it was confirmed by the growing size of my belly. Once I started to show the men kept me down below, I don't know if it was because I wasn't much to look at any more or if a part of them felt some sort of remorse for the situation they put me in. Eret, who sat in front of me, was the nicest of the men who visited me as he was more humane than most of them. He'd make a fine warrior, which is why Drago took him in. It's unfortunate his skills were used for bad instead of good.