Chapter 7: Found him

Astrid and her friends have been rowing all night. It's almost afternoon. The rough weather made their journey longer than they expected. "Huff! Finally we are here." Snotlout said as he stepped out of the boat. All the rowing made him extremely tired. "Let's go before a Dragon spots us." Astrid told them and walked towards the forest near the shore. Snotlout, Tuffnut and Ruffnut groaned and Fishlegs's shoulders slumped in disappointment. But soon they followed after her.

The forest was quite dense. They were having hard time walking through it. The occasional roars of Dragons made the situation only worse. But they continued their journey. They occasionally found places in the forest where the trees were less dense. There were remains of chopped of trees and tree trunks. It looked like someone was cutting trees from there. The inspected the cuts on the trees. While most of the cuts were made by an axe, others were result of getting clawed by Dragons.

"Well, it confirms that Night rider really does live here." Ruffnut said as she kicked a pebble. Tuffnut, Snotlout and Fishlegs were looking around, not too far from the group. Astrid was crouching infront of a cut tree trunk. She gently touched a long cut on the tree trunk and traced her finger over it. "Which I believe is both a good and a bad news." Astrid said, standing up. "Why?" Ruffnut asked with a dumb expression. "Good because we now know the location of Night rider and we won't have to search for more islands to learn where he lives. Bad because it means he has a whole battelion of Dragons in here with him." Astrid explained.

"Come on, we gotta find him before he finds us." Astrid said and headed inside the forest again, followed by her friends.

(Some time later)

Astrid and her friends were walking through the forest when they suddenly heard a loud 'thump'. They all got into a battle stance and Fishlegs Higgs himself, whimpering. The heard the 'thump' again and again. Astrid knew that sound all too well. "Someone is cutting trees." She thought.

"Stay here guys." Astrid told them and went away to investigate the sound. After walking for some time, she found an open area. She hid behind a tree and peeked out of it. A few metres away from her Night rider was cutting a tree. He was wearing a different armour, which was similar to the one he was wearing yesterday. But it was brown in colour. He was still wearing his helmet. The trunk is around three feet thick. Astrid watched in amazement as Night rider brought down axe on the trunk and the tree fell on ground. Night rider emblemed his axe in the trunk of the fallen tree and stood there with his hands on his hips.

Astrid slowly came out of her hidding spot and made her way towards Night rider. When she was close enough she pulled out her axe, which was strapped on her back. Then without a sound she threw her axe towards Night rider with all the strength she could muster. The axe has going to hit Night rider, but he bent on his left side. The axe flew past him, but he caught it in mid air. He turned around and faced Astrid.

"That wasn't nice." He said and threw that axe. The axe dropped near Astrid's feet. She looked at it and looked back at Night rider. "Try again." He said in an instructing manner. Astrid picked up her axe and charged at Night rider with a yell. She swang her axe at him, but he dodged it. She tried to hit him again but he dodged again. She kept swinging her axe at him but he kept dodging. Finally Night rider caught her axe with his right hand when she tried to hit him again. He pushed it away and rammed into Astrid, hitting her with his right shoulder. She stumbled back and dropped on the ground. She quickly got back on her feet and charged at Night rider.

She swang her axe at him again, but she missed him and hit a tree instead. Her axe was stuck in it's trunk. Before she could pull it out, Night rider pushed her away from it. She tried to fight him hand-to-hand, but it turned out useless because he was blocking and deflecting all her attacks. She became extremely tired, but Night rider looked like he can continue this for hours. Suddenly her friends came out of hidding. They surrounded Night rider, pointing their weapons at him.

Looks like we got the rat trapped." Snotlout proudly proclaimed. "Ohhh, do you?" Night rider said. Just then they heard a loud screach and the Nightfury dropped between them, growling at Astrid and her friends. They backed away in fright, but some other Dragons came out of the forrest and surrounded them. "You Berkians thought, you lot can come in my island and roam in this forrest without me knowing anything about it?" Night rider said. Astrid and her friends looked around. The Dragons were ready to attack them. The Nightfury slowly walked towards them. "Toothless!" Night rider shouted, making the Nightfury stop.

Something clicked in Astrid's mind as she saw Night rider stopping that Nightfury. She now knew who was behind that mask. "Now tell me, why you guys came here? when I had make this clear that I don't want any of you guys on my island." Night rider growled. Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut and Tuffnut backed away, leaving Astrid infront of them. "Traitors." Astrid mumbled under her breath. She then looked at Night rider, and said,"I came here to confirm my suspicion." "And what are those suspicion?" Night rider asked. Astrid took a deep breath and said in a calm tone "I believe I know who you are." Night rider scoffed and turned away shaking his head. "There is only one person in the whole Archipelago who has Green eyes, Auburn hair, scrawny frame and rides a Nightfury and calles him Toothless." Astrid said. Night rider turned towards her. She could see the shock in his eyes. Even though he was wearing his helmet, she could see that his eyes were wide, through the eye holes.

"Hiccup." She proclaimed with a smirk. Her friends looked at Night rider with shock. They couldn't believe that the man standing infront of them was the supposedly dead heir of Berk. Night rider brought his hands up and removed the helmet from his head, revealing his handsome face. Even though there were changes, but they could recognise it actually was Hiccup. "Astrid." He said with a smile. Astrid's smirk turned into a smile. "So it really is you." She said. Hiccup did a hand gestured and the Dragons surrounding them left. Even the Nightfury stopped growling. "Come with me." Hiccup said and picked up his own axe and picked up a big satchel which was lying near a tree and headed out of the forest with Toothless. Astrid and her friends soon followed after him.