Dragonling - The Gathering Storm [a HTTYD 3 rewrite]

Chapter 11 - Missing!

No special notes for this chapter, other than to say that I haven't been able to write anything for the past week or so, due to writer's block. This won't affect the posting of chapters for a while yet, I just wanted to mention it because I might have to post less often after a while. Anyway, that's enough about that, hope you enjoy! :D

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 The Great Hall was every bit as much a Hall of Doom here as on Berk, if not more so. Dragons were everywhere, Vikings were holding shouting matches and the food had just as high a chance of going airborne. Flame and I arrived from the side of the clearing closest to the falls, so we managed to avoid most of the chaos. Gobber wasn’t serving the stew today; instead there was a taller, cheerful Viking who introduced himself as Bucket. True to his name, he wore a bucket instead of the traditional horned Viking helmets. He offered a ladleful of stew to us each. Flame accepted eagerly, but I held back, suspecting something was off about it. Sure enough, Flame took one bite of the stew and gagged.

        “Ugh, what’s in this stuff?” she complained.

        Bucket looked worried. “Et’s the normel recipe,” he said. “Maybe yer just nowt used to et yet?”

        Flame spat out most of the stew, then stealthily spilled the rest of it on the ground while Bucket wasn’t looking. “Y-y-eah, I’m sure that’s it,” she said, nodding agreement. “I guess I haven’t quite built up an immunity to this… stuff, yet.”

        “Thank you for being our first test subject. How would you rate the taste of this unidentifiable substance?” I teased, and Flame glared at me.

        “Gee, thanks soooo much for not warning me. Let’s go get some fish.” Flame walked off in the direction of the falls. I followed her after quickly assuring Bucket that she was alright and the stew hadn’t poisoned her.

        We had just reached the lake when Flame exclaimed, “Oh great, I forgot my fishing rod. How about we catch some game instead? Do you have any good hunting weapons?”

        I shook my head. “The only weapon I ever had, besides my sword, was a hunting knife, but it broke when I... um... got kind of frustrated and slammed it into a rock. So, no, I don’t have any hunting weapons.”

        “Seriously? Well, what about snares, then? Do you know how to set a snare?” Flame asked. I shook my head again.

        “Nope. I know almost nothing about hunting in general. Spirit usually helped me find food. Hey, where is Spirit?” I added, looking around. It occurred to me that I hadn’t seen her since this morning. Flame shrugged.

        “She’s probably sleeping, or playing with Misty,” Flame said dismissively. “But either way, I’m going to teach you how to set a snare. Ready?”

        I nodded. “Sure, why not.”

        The next hour was filled with Flame attempting to teach me and me failing at whatever it was she had me trying. Eventually I tossed down the stick I was trying to attach to my snare. It hit Flame’s perfectly built trap, which sprang, sending the bait flying into the trees. “You know what, I’m still hungry and neither of us are getting anywhere with this, so why don’t we just go get our fishing rods?”

        Flame agreed readily - I think she was also getting bored with my constant failing - and we set back off for the camp. We arrived to find our tents and belongings overturned and the ground covered in gray Fury scales and long gouges in the earth.