Chapter 12: Deal With The Devil

                                    

                                          
Astrid's POV
                          
I was sitting at my daughter's bedside, stroking her damp forehead as I watched her sleep rather peacefully. The poor thing had gotten completely knocked out after getting shot and she didn't look like she was doing too good with her unusually pale skin, the dark circles that hung beneath her eyes and the bruises that were spreading out from beneath the bandages she had been wrapped in. 
                          
The muffled sound of some strange commotion that was going on the other side of the closed door to the dungeons could be heard all the way from our cell, which was conveniently located at the very end of said dungeon. 
                          
My brows knitted together as I found myself wondering what in the world was happening beyond those closed doors. Eventually, the ruckus quieted down as the echo of footsteps sounded from what I believed to be the hallway beyond the door to the dungeons. 
                          
I focused on the footsteps, listening closer to them as I found them to have this eerily familiar rhythm I could've sworn I had heard several times before. I hadn't heard anything like them in the past days we had spent as prisoners on Berserker Island, which is why I immediately came to the conclusion that this was not a guard making their way to the dungeons, but someone else entirely. 
                          
Step, thunk, step, thunk, step, thunk. The footsteps seemed so familiar, yet I couldn't quite place my finger on who exactly they belonged to. Then, an explosion shook the entire building, causing dust to sprinkle down over us from the ceiling. The sound of something heavy hitting the wall informed me that whoever had been in the hallway had gotten into the dungeons, which made me subconsciously inch closer to my injured daughter as I hid her body with my own. 
                          
The footsteps came closer and I realized that if the intruder reached us, I would have to engage in hand-to-hand combat, seeing as I had nothing that could even substitute a weapon in that damned cell. 
                          
Then, a familiar voice echoed through the dungeons and I felt my body relax considerably. "Astrid? Zephyr?"
                          
My heart skipped a beat just at the sound of his voice, Hiccup's voice. I had nearly convinced myself neither Zephyr or I were ever going to see my dear husband again and now that he had come all this way just for us? I swore to myself that I would never doubt that man again. "We're in here!"
                          
Moments later, the door was blown off by a plasma blast, leaving a large hole that stretched from the ground to the ceiling where the door had previously been. A large, dark head poked in through the hole, a wide gummy smile lighting up those nearly luminescent green eyes as a pink tongue hung out of the night fury's mouth. 
                          
A grin pulled at my features as the night fury bounded over to the two of us and gave me a good, slobbery lick across the face as I patted him affectionately on the top of his head. "If it isn't the best night fury in the archipelago! Thank you for coming to our rescue, Toothless."
                          
A satisfactory roar escaped the night fury as he nudged me with his head before he laid down on his back, expecting a belly rub. Toothless' breed might've been one of the most fearsome and dangerous dragons known to Vikings, but from my experience, they were just big balls of fluff who liked an occasional belly rub from time to time. "You're not really going to give him all the credit for this rescue?"
                          
The ever-sarcastic Hiccup Haddock spoke as he stepped over the debris left from the wall that had previously stood where he was standing, a lopsided grin plastered on his face as our eyes met. 
                          
A surge of energy filled me as I leapt over Toothless and threw myself into the arms of my husband, who seemed equally as relieved to see me as I was to see him. Hiccup's shoulder sank as he relaxed into my embrace. "I can't believe you're here, I can't believe you actually came for us!"