Night Fury's Venom

The Good and the Bad

-Hello! This chapter will be a bit of a buffer between the bad times of "Trials and Tribulations" and the portion of the story that actually goes to the Queen herself! There will be some bits in this that reveal more about the past. Very soon one more minorly bad thing will happen, but it is a culmination of the past. Most likely next chapter.

Also, I TOTALLY forgot about updating, so this is going out late Monday... Sorry!

Enjoy!

-NFD

~~~

"Come on, Hiccup!" Stormfly growled, "you may have recently died, but that doesn't mean we'll go easy on you!"

Training has gotten... difficult. That's not to say I can't handle it on my own, that isn't really the issue. The problem is that Astrid is a part of it now.

We all agreed—reluctantly from my end—that Astrid would need to join my training. The reason being that she will be in the line of fire, thanks to her needing to be on my back so I can fly. Apparently, while I was unconscious in the cave Toothless died in, she was making an ax for herself with metal taken from Gobber. The question of how was answered pretty quickly when Stormfly mentioned Toothless adding his fire, likely due to boredom.

Who needs a full-blown forge when you can use a bored firebreathing reptile?

Though lots of charades, frustration, and a headache from reading lips, I managed to get Astrid to understand what we decided. Without a second thought, she agreed, pulling out an ax that almost looked like her old one, it had been buried under an inconspicuous pile of dirt in the den. Every dragon but me freaked out. I had to explain that said 'ax-claw' was not a threat without sharpening it. Of course, they didn't understand, so I got Astrid to swing it into my leg. Ow.

It may not have cut into me, but damn can she swing that thing!

After being laughed at for a few minutes, they decided that I was right about it not being lethal, and I reluctantly agreed it could still be a threat. Still, they allowed the use of it in training, as long as she held back a bit more on her strikes. I told them she was already used to training, so we didn't need to start from the basics. So, leaving our egg in the care of Star, we decided to begin a few tail lengths outside the den where the morning dew was still present, they then started a little harder than the basics. Apparently, 'a little harder' means Stormfly and Astra attacked together.

Astrid leaped off my back, landing on the ground in a roll as Stormfly tried to knock her off my back, only to be left exposed to Astra. With the help of Instinct, I managed to fend off Stormfly and trip Astra with my tail, buying enough time for Astrid to recover. I was having trouble keeping an eye on Astrid and defending myself at the same time, leaving me on the ground with Stormfly's gums on my throat. I looked and saw that Astrid had her ax held above Astra's neck, panting. We then relaxed, splitting apart and taking a rest, Stormfly grunting as her bruised legs were stretched. 

"She is good with that thing," Stormfly muttered, "I have more bruises than I want to admit."

"Agreed," Astra said, panting, "but you two still need work. You're too focused on her, Auroon."

I groaned, shaking the dirt off myself, "I have to keep an eye out for her. If she gets attacked and killed while we are flying, I will drop like a stone."

She hummed, watching as Astrid tried to brush off the dirt, "you're right, but you are overdoing it. You are focusing on her so much that you are leaving yourself too open."