Aaron the Hofferson p.4

Chapter IV: Proven

"HICCUP!!!"

Astrid shouted very loudly.  Hiccup was on the edge of a cliff when one of the dragons attacked him; causing him to fall off and hanging on for dear life.  Astrid rushed to save him as the others ride their dragons, hoping to scare off the attacking dragon.  I, however, hide in cowardice inside a stable from the ring, with noises of people screaming and shouting outside and dragons roaring to the limits of their voices.

"What am I even doing?  I shouldn't hide here…"  I thought of myself.  I mean, what kind of a person am I?  I should fight with them not stay here and sing hallelujah until silence lay outside.  But then again, those are dragons… but I'm a Viking.  OK, that's it I've decided…

"Gotta get this beam off!!!"  I tried to life the large wooden beam locking me inside, but it was too heavy.  Wait, I have a sword… how stupid of me…

I finally got out of the stable… now to save my friends.

"Aaron!  What are you doing here?!" Fishlegs asks.

"Legs, where's Hiccup and Astrid?"  Legs pointed me to where the two were.  They seem to have moved on to the village where most of the dragons are fighting.

"OK, let's go…"

"But didn't Hiccup just told you to hide—"

"I SAID GO, LEGS!!!"

"Are you serious?"

"Note: serious face…"  I gave him a frowning look; I am serious.

Legs finally understands what I wanted to do, and we fly off to the village nearby.  Lout and the twins are fighting near the bridge against the Gronckles.  FIshlegs stopped all of a sudden, then…

"Aaron, you have to get down now.  I have to help Lout and the twins.  You can make your way through on foot, right?"

"But what—"  Legs gave me his shield.

"You need this… trust me.  Now go, I'll be fine."

"OK…"  So I left Legs as he comes to help the three.  I suddenly felt like its Rockcliff all over again: the shouting, the burning of roofs, the crackling of wood… every noise is ringing in my mind and giving me vivid images of what was the most horrible thing I've seen.  I stumbled on to reach Hiccup and Astrid but I fell to the ground, like I was knocked down.  The visions became even more severe and intense as I approached the heat of the battle.  Then… I was knocked out cold.  A dragon's tail slapped me on the face; I thought to my self 'this is it…' until…

"Aaron… Aaron!!!"  A faint cry of my name echoed in my ear.  It was a female voice, and a very familiar one too.  My eyes were about to close until the girl grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me back and forth like I was some sort of a frying pan.

"AARON!!!"  It was Astrid.  My eyes opened with excitement.  Oh thank Odin.  At least she's still alive, but what about Hiccup?

"Aaron!  For Thor's sake, wake up!!!"  She slapped me on the face… DAMN!!!

"Huh!?!?!  Astrid!  Oh thank Odin you're safe.  What about Hiccup?"

Suddenly, Hiccup and Toothless flew down to where I am.  I seems they've been fighting the dragons on the sky.

"Aaron… uh… sorry for knocking you out."

"Wait, so it was Toothless' tail that smashed to my head?"

"Yeah… but I told you to hide.  Why aren't you hiding?"

"And miss out all the fun?  Heck no!  Besides, you guys need help."

Suddenly, a rouge Zippleback shoved Hiccup and Toothless off and stared at us.

"Aaron!!!"  Astrid shouted in fear… she didn't have her axe, yet I have my sword.  So I took the chance.  Just as the dragon is about to attack us, I sliced its front-left leg off.  It roared in pain and flew off, with blood dripping from the open wound.

"OK, where's Hiccup?"

"There!"  Astrid ran to Hiccup.  He was shaken a bit but still OK.

"Hic, you OK?"

"Yeah, listen I need a distraction for the Whispering Death; Astrid, rid Blue now.  Aaron—"

"Wait, you want me to be the distraction?"

"Is there a problem?"

"Hell no!  I'm all ears to that idea!  What you got?"

"Bring the dragon to the edge of the cliff.  I got a plan…"

We then parted ways; now I have to find the dragon.  I climbed up to a hill to get a better view, well the only thing I see is Vikings fighting off the other dragons, no Whispering Death on sight.  Well, not yet…

"Gotcha!!!"  I see the dragon in full view approaching from a corner of a house.  Now time to strike.  I approached the dragon silently; walking down the hill, and inching myself closer to it.  Now its very tail is at my face… here I go…

I shouted loudly and scared the dragon, and jumped to its back; it looked at me and attacked.  I was thrown out of balance as it shook its body to remove me.  Its teeth were sharp and tough it tried to bite me but I countered with my on sword.  As we fought, it never knew I was luring it to the cliff edge where Hiccup told me to bring it.  At last, we're here… OK now Hiccup should be here any moment now.  Any moment… OK Hiccup come out now, this dragon's getting really desperate.

"AARON!!!"  Hiccup shouted my name from the back, appearing from the cliff edge with Toothless.

"Get away, now!!!"

I ran away as Hiccup told me to.  Toothless attacked the dragon with its fire balls, as I ran away.  Unfortunately, the dragon's tail hit me on the face.  WHAT?!?!  AGAIN!!!  But this time was much more painful.  Yet, I didn't black out, and now I am poised to attack the dragon myself.  OK… time for payback… no one angers Aaron…

"OK Toothless just a bit more—"  The dragon suddenly made a swift attack and knocked Toothless to a house.  The dragon chased them as the two tried to get back up.  Soon, the dragon caught up with them and was about to attack until I came in.

"Get away from them you tail-whipping bastard!" I jumped from a roof and stabbed the dragon on its head.  The dragon's still alive and shakes its head to remove me.  I held my grip on the sword; I was in a real trouble: if the dragon shook its head even more, I might fall off the cliff.  Then, Toothless and Hiccup jumped and shoved the dragon, attacking it with fire balls again.  It gave me time to jump from the dragon.

As I ran, I saw the dragon wrap its tail around Toothless and Hiccup.  O-oh… this is bad.  The dragon opened its mouth, lots of teeth in it.

"No, Hiccup!"  Astrid shouted just behind me.  I had to act or else if too late.

The dragon's about to bite… "No… freaking… way…" I jumped on a roof again and this time, I had to slice the head off.  The dragon let its grip off, the body was still wiggling away to the cliff.  Toothless was safe on the ground but Hiccup was dragged along with the dragon as his coat got stuck with one of its large scales.

The dragon's body fell off, I jumped off to save Hiccup.

"Aaron!!!"  I heard Astrid's voice.  I closed my eyes as I grabbed Hiccup's hand, I don't know what might happen.  I just prayed to Odin for a miracle.

I just kept feeling the wind as Hiccup and I continuously fell.  Oh man, I was really knocking at death's door until… a blue Nadder grabbed my shirt.  OK, now that's gonna leave some serious marks on my favourite shirt.  Well, anyways, it was Blue Eagle carrying me and Hiccup away from certain death, and if its Blue, Astrid's just right by… or should I say… riding by.

"Never, do that again…"  Astrid said with a frowning face.  Ya I know it was a pretty silly thing to do, but if I didn't save Hiccup she'd be pretty down and I don't like to see her depressed, not to mention pretty pissed off.

"Well, at least I saved your fiancé.  Now, let's go back to the island."

Blue flew back to the island as the dead dragon splashed to the ocean.  The other dragons flew away, including the Zippleback I attacked.  Everyone was cheering for joy on our arrival.  Toothless, as he saw Hiccup, ran to him.  Astrid, fully worried about Hiccup's welfare, shoved the dragon off and kissed Hiccup.  The kiss was quite long, then they let go.  Astrid slapped him, shouting something but I can't hear with the commotion from the crowd.  Astrid then turned to me.  O-oh, am I gonna receive the same slap?

Yes… she slapped me… and man was that a hard one.

"That's for doing something crazy…"

"Ouch… damnit, girl!"  I was about to say something else until she pressed her hand to my lips.

"And this is for saving Hiccup…"  She hugged me tightly.  OK… too tight… help!!!

"Astrid… too tight… can't breathe… can't feel legs… blood flow disturbed… *choking*"

"Oh, sorry Aaron."

"Aaron!"  Stoick approached me with a smile, he seems happy.

"That was the best action I've seen from a person your age.  You've got skills in battle with that sword."

"Thanks, uh… for that."

"It seems you've proven something worth to us.  How about staying here for a while?  We need another skilled person just like Astrid.  You two seem to have a common talent."

"Oh… uh… well…"  I was mumbling my way from this.  I could stay… only for a while.  I can't stay here much longer.

"OK…"

Everyone cheered in joy.  My friends were cheering as well, but Astrid was quite silent.  What's she thinking?

"Hey, Astrid, what's wrong?"  I asked her.

"Well, since you're with us for a while, you need to know how thing go about here."

"OK, let's begin…"

"First thing's first… don't piss me off.  Second, never get between me and Hiccup.  Third, we need to find you a place to sleep; Spring's gonna be quite wet.  Fourth… well… you can find out on your own in due time."

"Fair enough."  She smiled and gave me another hug… oh yeah… love it.  Maybe staying here in Berk isn't such a bad idea after all; I mean they wouldn't find out about Rockcliff if I don't want to tell them.  Right?  Yup, this is gonna be something…

TBC>>>