Astrid sat waiting in the bushes. Her legs were turning numb from staying in that position for so long. She tried shifting slightly to allow blood flow to continue in her legs but her feet were tingling slightly. The Nadder, that was tied to a tree right below the net was laying down and drifting off. As long as it wasn't spooked, it wouldn't try and escape. It had been hours. The sun was disappearing quickly and there was no sign of the Red Grapple. Astrid was hoping they would be able to catch it in the light of the sun so they could see what they were doing better. She was worried that Stormfly would miss the small rope tied to the tree in the dark. And underneath the thick underbrush of the trees, the moonlight did nothing. Darkness would soon be the only thing everyone saw. That, and the Grapple's glowing white eyes...
"My butt hurts," Astrid heard Tuffnut complain from somewhere to her right in the bush as well as her and the other riders.
"Shut it, bro!" Ruffnut hissed back. After Astrid's conversation with Ruff, she followed directions better and didn't complain like she used to. At least, not nearly as much. She was also helping Astrid keep everyone else in line. Astrid also helped her out in bossing her and the others around less as well as actually helping them instead of telling them what to do.
There was momentarily silence. The sun almost gone. Only a couple minutes left of daylight.
"How much longer?" Came Tuffnut's voice again. This time it was Fishlegs and Snotlout who shushed him. Tuff audibly sighed and Astrid did too. How much longer did they have to wait?
More silence.
"I'm just wondering because my butt is really starting to-"
Snotlout couldn't take it anymore."Tuffnut! If you don't shush your face right now, I will rip it off and shove it up your sore little a-"
There was a snapping of a twig and everyone stopped talking. Astrid heard Stormfly nearby squawk in alert as the Nadder on the ground raised its head and scanned the area. Astrid squinted her eyes in the darkness as the sun slipped fully below the horizon and looked around for what could be the Grapple. There was a rustle of leaves. Whatever was coming towards them was flying. Flying? How could the Grapple be flying with the trees so thick?
Snotlout screamed suddenly and caused everyone to jump, the dragons included. Hockfang set himself on fire and rushed to his rider as the Nadder jumped up and started panicking.
"Sormfly!" Astrid yelled and pointed to the agitated Nadder. Stormfly rushed over and tried to calm the Nadder.
Astrid ran over to where Snotlout had been hiding in the bushes to see him on the ground with a...Terrible Terror on his head? Hockfang's fire had started to burn down at the realization that his rider wasn't in trouble. Fishlegs was helping Snotlout up with the Terror still attached to his face. Astrid recognized the blue Terror as Speedy. And he had something attached to his leg...Oh no!
"Hiccup!" Astrid said out loud and rushed to take the note off of Speedy who was now entwined with the horns on Snotlout's helmet sleeping. Everyone looked at Astrid nervously as she untied the small rope around it to read what the Chief had sent them. What he had sent in a hurry.
There was a loud squawk of a Nadder before Astrid could unroll the paper with her shaking hands. She spun around. It was a distress squawk of a specific Nadder. Stormfly. There was a horrifying roar and Astrid couldn't see over the bushes they were hiding behind to see anything. The bushes they had found to hide in were perfect. Verry tall and thick with leaves so they could see through but the Grapple would have a hard time seeing them. But Astrid didn't need to see what was happening to know. The Grapple had arrived in the darkness and was attacking the tied-up Nadder and Stormfly.
A loud crash from somewhere above in the trees snapped Astrid out of her frozen panic. Before she could yell Stormfly's name, a hand clasped around her mouth, stopping her shriek. She whipped around in panic to see Ruffnut holding her free hand to her mouth. Astrid nodded with wide eyes as Ruff slowly let go. Astrid saw the others craw back into the bush and she quickly followed. Branches snagged at her bare arms and hair but she went as fast as she could.
Another roar from the Grapple made her jump and almost yell out. A painful shriek of a Nadder filled her ears. But it wasn't Stormfly's. Where was she?
Astrid was finally at the front of the jagged and wild bush and she peered out of a gap in the leaves to see the Grapple on the wild Nadder. Stormfly was nowhere in sight. But Astrid arrived just in time to see the Grapple deliver the final blow into the Nadder's chest that ended its life quickly. Tears prickled the corners of her eyes seeing the same species of Stormfly die right in front of her. This is what they planned, but it was painful. Like she could feel the Nadder's injuries as her own.
A gap in the leaves somewhere above the Grapple caught her eyes. It looked like something big busted right through into the air and above the trees. Bits of branches, some bigger than others, sat below the open patch of the trees that let in dim moonlight. Stormfly! She had escaped. But Astrid knew for sure Stormfly would be a little battered up. The branches must have caused some bruises and scratches. It would have taken a lot of power to bust through all of those branches. Astrid just hoped that she was able to get away from the Grapple unscratched.
Still looking up, Astrid's eyes suddenly caught the net in her vision. The plan! She snapped her head to the Grapple to see it was not under the net, but nearby next to a tree scratching its scales off onto the ground. Astrid looked frantically for the rope holding the net up. She could barely see it. It was at least six yards away from her. Stormfly wasn't here to shoot it, to release the net. It was up to her. Astrid put down the paper still in her hand and grabbed her axe that was slung behind her back slowly, afraid to make the branches rub against one another and create noise. By the time she had it in hand, the Grapple was heading back to the dead Nadder, scales in mouth. Maybe this would work out after all.
Astrid's heart started to pound in her ears as her breath quickened. Hiccup's life depended on this throw. She had lots of practice. Throwing her axe into all of those targets and trees for so many years paid off. She was able to throw it straight into the enemy's chest from on top of Stormfly during battle. She could do this now. Hitting a rope from the ground in the darkness.
She waited, her hands tingling from holding the axe handle so hard. Just a few more seconds. The Grapple moved over to the Nadder and licked one of the wounds on its leg. It wasn't directly under the net yet. It moved to the wing. Not yet. And finally, it was leaning over the dead corpse to lick the final wound on its chest. Astrid jumped from behind the bush into the open. The Grapple had just spun around to look at her but it was too late. She had thrown the axe with all her might to the tree and it snapped the rope. Releasing the net from above.
Astrid watched, frozen, as the heavy net fell quickly to the Grapple that was directly under it. But Astrid gasped in horror when the Grapple darted to the side and dodged the heavy net completely. It fell over the dead Nadder instead. The Grapple's wide white eyes met Astrid's blue horrified ones as she stared petrified into the glowing white pools in front of her.
The Grapple charged at her with one leap. Its red wings spread out and its high pitched roar drowning Astrid's ears. She watched in horror unable to move as everything seemed to slow down into slow motion. But before the Grapple could reach her, a crashing sound above drove Astrid's eyes to glance at the tree branches that were being parted as Stormfly came crashing down. Grabbing a heavy branch in her talons on the way down. Before the Grapple could react, Stormfly had hit the Grapple in the head with the branch as she landed on top of it. Knocking it out cold.
"Stormfly!" Astrid yelled and ran to her dragon that was stepping off of the Red Grapple. Stormfly squawked happily and met her rider halfway. Astrid hugged her scally neck and looked at her dragon. "Aw, girl..." She said quietly, looking at the bruises and scratches that the branches had caused when she broke through them to escape. "Are you alright?" She asked worriedly, looking for any sign that the Grapple had gotten her.
Stormfly squawked brightly and Astrid knew she was okay. Even in the dark, she could see the happiness in her dragon's eyes that made her sure that she would be alright.
Astrid turned to the Grapple to see it was still out. Fishlegs was kneeling by it with a cup in hand. Just slightly touching the Grapple's mouth to make the saliva pour in. There was still plenty. She walked over to the Riders and gave a sigh of exhaustion. It had been a long night.
"Quick thinking, Astrid," Snotlout said relieved and Ruff gave her a pat on the back. Her smile illuminated by the moonlight said it all.
"Nice throw, too," Tuffnut pointed out and pointed to the axe still lodged deep into the tree.
Astrid walked to it and pulled it out with some difficulty. It had been really wedged into the wood.
"This should be just enough," Fishlegs said brightly and walked over with a cup full of the Grapple's antidote. "We'll be able to save Hiccup."
There was a whoop of joy from the twins and Snotlout started laughing with happiness and relief. Astrid smiled brightly.
"Too bad the net didn't work," Tuffnut said crossing his arms. "I really thought that would work out."
Astrid looked over a the net that had the Nadder under it. Her stomach twisted at the sight of the Nadder's blood seeping through the bottom of the net. She looked away and Stormfly seemed to be disturbed too. The other dragons stayed as far away from it as possible.
"We need to pack up quickly and get back over to the Edge," Astrid said rather bossily and the others nodded. They jogged over to their camping spot where they had laid down all the items they brought. It was hard to find in the dark, but they made it back quickly.
They all packed quickly, making sure the bags were secure on the dragons. Astrid looked at Hockfang to see Speedy was sleeping on his nose. Hockfang looked rather annoyed. She suddenly remembered the note from the chief. Astrid's breath caught in her throat.
"I need to get that Terror Mail!" Astrid shouted to the others and started to run to where they just were. "Be right back!"
"Astrid!" Fishlegs called in a panic and she stopped to look at his round face. "The Grapple is still over there, we don't know when it will wake up!"
Astrid shook her head. "I'll be quick," She promised and started running again.
Her eyes scanned for any trees that threatened to block her path as she ran as quickly as possible to the tall bushes. She saw the Nadder on the ground still, its blood seemed to have stopped spreading. She glanced at the still unconscious Grapple and quickly got onto her hands and knees to find the piece of paper. She found it lying on the ground in the bushes and he reached her arm into the branches and grabbed hold of it. She was about to take off running again but she stopped herself. Curiosity was getting hold of her as she looked at the paper in her hands. Stained yellow slightly. Ripped at the end of the roll. The chief must have ripped some extra space on it so it didn't weigh down the Terror too much. Her mind screamed at her to go, but she wanted to know what it said.
With a quick breath, Astrid opened the paper and saw Stoick's writing inside. Her eyes skimmed through it quickly.
Riders,
Hiccup has told me to have you all come back to the Edge. It is too late to save him, I am afraid. He wants to see his friends before he dies. Come back to the Edge, it doesn't matter if you don't have anything to help. You guys are all he wants right now.
Stoick
Astrid looked at the letter and read through it again. But the first emotion to cross her mind wasn't sadness. Not anger at herself for not getting back quicker. Not guilt. It was determination that she was feeling.
"It's not too late," She said in a whisper. Astrid looked at the Grapple. It's eyes were still terrifyingly open. No eyelids Astrid assumed. "I'm not letting you take him away from me." And with that, she let the paper drift to the ground and she took off to the campsite. She wouldn't be losing Hiccup. No matter what.
.....
Boom. Cliff hanger. I mean, the entire story has been cliff hangers sooooo...Anyway, we're coming to an end really soon. :< I predict one or two more chapters. Anyway, update tmr bcs NO SCHOOL!!! Ttyl!