━━ chapter four
a viking's stubbornness
✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑
━━Valkyrie had decided to put flowers in her hair today, which was not the best choice in consideration of what Gobber had decided for training. Her morning hadn't been the best one; her brothers made fun of her flowers━that would be Mak and Erik, in which she had gotten in trouble because she threatened to take them to the pit themselves and feed them to the Monstrous Nightmare. Flowers do not make a warrior weak. The flowers she wears symbolise strength, good fortune, wisdom and good strategy in battle. They are not girly flowers. They are Valkyrie's flowers. And just because she weaved them into her hair, and made flower crowns and weaved them around her weapon and shield did not mean she couldn't dig her hammer into your stomach and pull out your intestines! Living with brothers was just the most annoying, frustrating━
"Get out of my way!" Valkyrie pushed Hiccup to the side as she ran through the maze. The stupid boy decided it was smart to stand with his feet rooted to the ground and ask questions up at Gobber while there was a Deadly Nadder running through this maze with them!
Her feet echoed on the stone ground, no matter how quiet she tried to be. She could hear the squawk of the Nadder, like a bird to her left and she quickly ducked right, keeping her back close to the wood as she tried to figure out how far away it was.
Hiccup hadn't gotten the message. Still standing apprehensively in the same spot as before, he asked, "Hey━you know━I just happened to notice the book had nothing on Night Furies. Is there another book, or a sequel?" Valkyrie's eyes shot up, annoyed. She was already having a bad day, she did not need Hiccup to make it worse. "M━Maybe a little Night Fury pamphlet━agh!"
Valkyrie found the Deadly Nadder. It blasted off the top of Hiccup's axe, leaving him with nothing but his shield and a burnt stick. He quickly darted out of the way.
"Focus, Hiccup!" cried Gobber, exasperated. "You're not even trying!"
Val shook her head and took off once again. She thought about what Gobber told her the night before and tried to work on that. Look after yourself and others ... well, she might have already failed that with Hiccup━look, she wants to win! Outside of training, she'll look after them, or if they were in serious danger. But for now, she wants to win━and that's what she'll do.
(She felt like that was the exact opposite of what Gobber told her).
"Today━" went on Gobber, "━is all about attack! Nadders a quick and light on their feet. Your job is to be quicker and lighter!"
Glancing up, Valkyrie saw the dragon racing along the top of the maze walls━light and agile. She gasped and quickly ducked away from it, spinning around and heading back the way she came. She caught up with Astrid and the two of them sprinted through the next passage. The Nadder's attention quickly changed, like a sparrows, and fixed it's reptile eyes on Fishlegs desperately moving his little legs as fast as he could not far over.
With a flick of its tail, the Nadder was armed with thorns. One swipe, and they all flew off towards Fishlegs. He yelled out, holding his shield up as they dented it and the wall behind him. "I'm really begining to question your teaching methods!" he shouted back up to Gobber as he hit all the spikes off his shield and continued on.
"Look for it's blindspot," was the Viking's reply, casually picking at his teeth. "Every dragon has one. Find it, hide in it and strike!"
"Quick━" Astrid pulled Snotlout who was running blindly pass them and against the wall, "━Get down!"
Snotlout grinned at her, "Anything for you darling━ow!"
Valkyrie curiously peered around, wondering whether this was another one of Astrid's tricks or not, but she seemed to actually be telling the truth and not just trying to make them lose. The Nadder was in the next few aisles, facing the twins as they tried to stay in it's blind spot━they seemed to be succeeding, until Ruffnutt decided to speak.
"Oh!" she gagged at her brother in front of her. "Do you ever bathe?" she pushed him away with her shield, and he stumbled forward.
Annoyed, Tuffnut snapped back, "If you don't like it, then just get your own blind spot!" He shoved her. The twins were soon in a shoving match, no longer in the Nadder's blindspot. They pushed against each other, hitting and shouting before realising, and with a scream, dashed out of the way before they could be burnt to a crisp.
Looking tired, Gobber rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Oh, glad it's entertaining for you! Valkyrie thought. "Blind spot, yes," he said. "Deaf spot? Not so much."
Hiccup stumbled to catch up with Valkyrie, Astrid and Snotlout, and Val gritted her teeth and shoved him along. "Move!" she told him. Ugh, he's making this all so much harder, and annoying, and just━usually, Valkyrie can keep her anger in. She can mask her emotions, keep her weapon down and be unlike Astrid, who would let everyone know when she was angry (she had some anger issues...). But when it came to Hiccup, Valkyrie just got so frustrated and annoyed by him she wanted to scream and push him off the docks again, and she doesn't know what made him so different to everyone else (and that only angered her more!).
Valkyrie spun around the next corner, ears peeled and eyes wide for any movement or sound that could belong to the Nadder. The biggest thing about being quick and light on one's feet is to know their surroundings. Valkyrie was determined to know exactly where she was compared to the Nadder, so she knew exactly how much time she had until the dragon gained up on her. But they needed a break, they couldn't keep on running. Dropping back down, they crouched by the wall and Valkyrie glanced back to see whether Hiccup was still with them but, no, of course he wasn't. He was still where she had left him! Talking to Gobber━again!
"How would one sneak up on a Night Fury?" he asked, chuckling awkwardly in a way that made her scowl. What a weirdo.
Gobber rubbed his brow, annoyed, "No one's ever met one and lived to tell the tale. Now, get in there!"
"I know, I know, but hypothetically━"
Valkyrie had had enough. "Hiccup!" she seethed through her gritted teeth, and he glanced over, surprised that she of all people was calling his name. He stood there, right in the middle where the Nadder could see him, and it infuriated her. She gestured with her shield to rush towards them with another harsh whisper of, "Get down!"
Hiccup glanced around, before quickly ducking in behind her. Lanky and small━he looked more like a stick than a real human being with his shield far too big for him and an axe that was no longer an axe, just a burnt piece of wood. He was just hopeless.
Valkyrie heard the growl; like the chatter of teeth. Astrid met her gaze briefly before peering around. At the hitch of her breath, and dart of her head back behind the wall, Val knew the Nadder was right there. Her friend took a deep breath, nodding to herself before to the others. At her signal, she led the way across the intersection. As quietly as she could, she used her shield as a stepping ground to roll past the dragon, back on her feet just as quick. Snotlout followed eagerly, and Valkyrie did as well. Positioning her arm and weapon just right, she manouvered past the Deadly Nadder without it giving her a glance.
Yes, good job, she told herself. Until she realised she had forgotten about Hiccup. (Look, he's so small, okay?!) She heard the clang, and spun back around. His roll had failed. With his lack of strength to take the shield with him, he fell back, and the Nadder was quick to scurry after him.
Hiccup yelped and was on his feet in seconds, only just missing the snap of the beast's jaws. With a flap of it's wings, the Nadder was back up ontop of the maze walls, cutting Astrid, Snotlout and Valkyrie off with a great big snarl.
Astrid was ready. She held up her axe, but Snotlout stepped in front of her, "Watch out, babe!" he declared. "I'll take care of this."
(Oh, Odin, this wasn't going to end well).
Snotlout threw his mace, and missed by far. It hit the wall behind the dragon's wings. The Nadder watched it, and for a second, there was silence before it turned back, and made a noise in the back of it's throat that━was that laughter?!
Astrid glared at him, and Valkyrie thought she'd hit him over with the axe instead of the dragon. Snotlout gaped at her, "The sun was in my eyes, Astrid!"
They only had seconds to get away before the Nadder shot a row of fire. Valkyrie went one way, while Astrid and Snotlout ran the other, and she heard a distant whine, "What do you want me to do, block out the sun? I could do that, but I don't have the time right now!"
Valkyrie realised the Nadder was going after her, and she gasped. Breaking out into a sprint, she pushed her legs to go faster━with heavy weaponry, it was hard to run faster, because to do so, she had to move her arms faster, and when she did, it made hard for her to be agile. She felt like she was a Gronckle, charging only one way and ending up slamming into anything that obstructed her path━which just happened to be a maze wall.
She flung past Hiccup still talking to Gobber (by the way) with the Nadder right on her tail. Around her, the whole maze collapsed as the dragon hit the walls left and right in its attempt to catch up. Soon, Valkyrie was surrounded by falling walls. She yelped, narrowly missing the wood as she dived into the next aisle and was onto her feet quicker than one could say, run!
Her heart raced, thumping loud against her chest and her ears. She didn't dare look back, because she knew the Nadder was gaining on her━she could hear the slams and thuds of falling wooden walls. She had to get out of here, otherwise she would be crushed.
Valkyrie did her best to use her momentum and jump up the next falling wall. She ran to the tip top, and as it fell forwards, she jumped onto the next, and the next, and the next━until there was no other wall to jump onto, and instead, was just Hiccup screaming as she fell right down onto him.
"Hiccup!" she shrieked, but it did no use.
She landed right on top of him with a great big thud! He cushioned the fall, but had kneed her right in the stomach, and she was winded. The Nadder bounded past them, and Valkyrie knew they didn't have much time before the dragon would return.
She tried to get away from him, pushing━but their legs were entangled, and Hiccup was doing nothing to help, he just lied there, flustered. Valkyrie tugged her mallet away from his shield, where the dragon teeth had dug themselves right in. She was stuck━she was━Ugh! She hated Hiccup!
It didn't help that Ruffnut and Tuffnut crouched by, watching amongst the dust and debris with snickering laughs and jeering, "Ooooh! Love on the battlefield!", and "She could do better."
Valkyrie gritted her teeth and pushed her palm against Hiccup's face in a desperate attempt to break herself free. He stammered, trying to see through the flowers and braids that got stuck in his hair and mouth, "L━let me━" he coughed out a rosemary leaf, "━how about I━can you just━OW!"
She pushed him away and finally got herself free. Valkyrie stood over him, and readied herself to work on pulling her hammer away from his shield, she clasped her hands around the handle━
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Nadder free itself from fallen debris. It shook the wood, rocks and spliters out of its face and off its wings, readying itself to charge. Valkyrie gasped and worked to pull her mallet away much quicker. She tugged and tugged, used the ground, the shield, Hiccup's face as a weight tool for her foot to pull her weapon free, but nothing was working. The dragon got closer and closer and closer━
She finally managed to pull her mallet away━shield and all. The Nadder was so close now. It opened up it's mouth to bite or breathe fire━Valkyrie didn't wait to find out. With a mighty swing, she brought the mallet and shield right across the creature's jaw, and the wood of Hiccup's shield shattered at the impact.
The Deadly Nadder whimpered and limped away, shielding its head under its wing. Valkyrie could breathe, finally. Her shoulders slumped, and her weapon dropped. Her heart still raced, however, making her blood pump with fury as she spun on her heel to glare down at the cowering boy at her feet.
While Gobber said, "Well done, Valkyrie!" the young Viking gritted her teeth and with a shout, pointed her weapon at Hiccups face━
"What is wrong with you?!" she seethed, and Hiccup looked up from his hiding position, eyes wide and startled that Valkyrie would go off at him like that. She never lost her temper like this but━oh, she hated Hiccup so much! She could've died━they could've died! All because he doesn't take any of this seriously. All because he didn't work with them and fight. She could lose all of this, and it would be his fault.
"Is this all some kind of stupid joke to you?" Valkyrie continued, heaving. "Our parents' war is about to become ours! So grow up, pick a side, and be a Viking!"
She stormed off after that, slamming her mallet against the stone walls to get the rest of Hiccup's shield off of the dragon teeth. Hiccup watched her leave through the gates, kicking and slamming her mallet multiple times in her anger and frustration. He wasn't the only surprised one━the rest of the teenagers were all alarmed to see this fit of anger from the usually cool and collected and mysterious Valkyrie. But she was Valkyrie the Vicious for a reason ... just never the loud reason. Their gazes all returned back to Hiccup, as if this was all his fault.
Maybe it was. Because no one seemed to infuriate Valkyrie Frode more than he was able to.
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a/n: I don't like this chapter, but oh well. here it is anyway lol! What are y'all looking forward to in this book?