章 6: Extra Classes
The sound of metal clanging against one another plagued the training arena, Rune held up his axe rather weakly as he tried his best to block Astrid's swinging sword. He was never one for the fight and would usually keep to himself than get into a fight. Now he was faced with a necessity of the Viking world, engaging in combat. He raised his axe with a worried look on his face each time, Astrid kept on hitting his axe down wearing down the muscles in his arms until Rune finally dropped the axe and used his arms as a last resort to protect his face from getting hit. Astrid's sword halted in position at the last minute avoiding what would've been a fatal hit to Rune.
"Stand up straight Viking" Astrid said with a commanding voice displeased with his combat efforts.
"How do you expect to go up against hunters when you can't even defend yourself? Your dragon won't always be there to defend you and when he isn't, we can all tell what the outcome would be" she scorned.
"If the farm won't kill him, the hunters would" Sten said making jest of him.
Sandstorm was having none of it and growled angrily at Sten causing him to jerk back in fright. Eruptor immediately came to the defense of his rider, growling back at Sandstorm. Guess the friction between the two riders was rubbing off on their dragons.
"Easy guys" Hiccup said trying to calm down both dragons.
They were having none of it as their gazes were locked and the tension seemed to build in the arena, the other dragons began to feel uneasy at the whole situation as their growls and snarls got more and more aggressive.
"Wanna do something bud?" Hiccup said turning to Toothless who was curled up in a corner not bothered by the two.
Toothless raised his head and snorted whilst tilting his head slightly to the side. Hiccup then turned his head towards Sandstorm and Eruptor who looked like they were going to engage in a fight at any moment. Toothless grunted a little as he walked towards the two, he gave a grunt like roar grabbing the attention of the two then snarled at them rebuking them from trying to fight. Eruptor dropped his head in respect to the alpha while Sandstorm grunted trying his best not to bow to him. Toothless grunted at him and he finally bowed to him. Toothless snorted and walked back to his corner with the issue resolved.
"Thank you bud" Hiccup thanked.
Class was dimissed soon after and Rune looked down, downer than usual as he mounted his dragon. He was the first to leave with Vyra fixing her gaze on him as he disappeared in to the clouds.
"What's up with you and him Vyra?" Sten asked with a cocky tone. "You don't need to hang out with low lives like him when you can be hanging with the best rider in class" Sten said flexing his biceps.
"You're so full of yourself" Thyra said, walking past him on the back of Rampage.
"So Vyra, you gonna join us at the waterfall today?" Forde asked.
"No" Vyra said firmly as Strombreaker walked to her side. "I have something to do at home" she added as she raced up her dragon's wings and mounted her.
"Okay suit yourself. Guess you don't get to see me jump from the top of the waterfall to the bottom" Sten said taking pride in himself and abilities.
"You always say you're going to jump but you never do it....." Forde said.
Vyra took to the sky on the back of her Stromcutter with an objective in mind, one she wasn't ready to share with the rest of the class.
Sandstorm and Rune glided through the air with the deep blue ocean glistening below them. Rune hadn't said a word through out their flight with his dragon understanding what he was going through to an extent. Rune laid on his back as Sandstorm flew smoothly, Sandstorm gave a comforting coo which got Rune to smile.
"You always know what to say, do you boy" Rune said sitting back up.
He placed his hand on his dragon's head and rubbed it softly appreciating his gesture.
"Guess you really do know me"
Sandstorm gave a light purr.
"How about we brighten up the mood with acrobatics?"
His dragon answered with an excited roar.
"I guess that's a yes" Rune said taking hold of his saddle. "Let's go!"
Rune pushed down on the saddle as the two began to dive down towards the ocean. Sandstorm tucked in his wings as Rune clung on tightly to his body to make them as aerodynamic as possible. The two approached the water at an astonishing speed, they closed in on the surface as Sandstorm began to spin on their descent. Rune had a little smirk on his face as they got closer and closer, right on the edge, he pulled up causing Sandstorm to spread open his wings catching them from falling to what would've been their death. The two sped across the water leaving a wake behind them as they closed in on a herd of Thunderdrums.
Sandstorm navigated his way through the huge tidal dragons swerving from side to side and even under their wings a couple of times. The dragon was nimble enough to do a loop through a breaching wing, then dive down to fly through two at once before they began to ascend to the clouds. They shot through the clouds as Sandstorm flapped as hard as possible, they gave the clouds a considerable distance before engaging in a free fall back down to Earth. The dragon rider held on to his saddle as hard as he could as he let his legs fly to have a brief glimpse of being weightless. They got closer to the clouds, and Rune pulled himself closer to his saddle as Sandstrom began to spin violently and even opening his wings as they descended.
"OOOOOWWWEEEEE!!!!!" Rune exclaimed, enjoying every minute of their ride.
Sandstorm managed to bring himself under control as he tucked his wings, then opened them again to thrust them back above the clouds as they began to stabilize.
"HELL YEAH!!!! That was fun!" Rune shouted, not caring about how loud he lifted his voice with no one around to hear him.
Sandstrom shot a weak fireball in the air as it exploded in a couple of meters as he also shared in the excitement.
"That was awesome bud" he said scratching the head of his dragon who purred in pure ecstasy.
The two soared graciously to an island where they would take a little rest from their flight, they landed atop a large rock standing in the middle of surrounding islands. They were five in number. It had grass and two trees growing on top of the rock and was big enough to house both of them and maybe even an extra dragon or two.
"OOhh!" Rune exclaimed as he moved his leg slowly across Sandstorm's head as he stood on his feet.
He held his hip and bent backward as bones cracked into place.
"Damn, that hurt" he said as he stood straight again.
He turned to his dragon who was doing a backward stretch, extending his front paws and bending his back. Then Sandstorm collapsed on the ground closing his eyes and let out a loud exhale signifying his exhaustion.
"Guess that makes two of us" Rune said with a little smile. "I guess a little rest wouldn't hurt" he said walking to his dragon.
He sat down next to him and leaned back on him as the two rested on the rock. Rune put his palms on the back of his head as he inhaled deeply taking in the scent of grass and pine trees. It had been no more than five minutes when Rune and Sandstorm's rest was interrupted by a large dragon call heading their way. Rune reluctantly opened his eyes as he heard the call while Sandstorm raised his head up almost instantly.
"I wonder what it would be this time" Rune said as he stood up.
Sandstorm stood up and encircled his rider waiting for what or who it was. A massive dragon flew right at them causing both to duck.
"What the-"
Rune stopped mid-sentence as he recognized the dragon and it's rider, it was Vyra. The two circled round the rock before landing behind them abruptly.
"What brings you here?" Rune asked nonchalantly. He didn't want her company as he guessed Sten wasn't too far behind and was eager to get out.
Vyra was helped down by Stormbreaker with the use of her claw and then she was gently placed on the ground. Vyra rubbed her dragon's chin showing her appreciation as Sandstorm went back to lying on the floor and resting since it wasn't a threat.
"I know you and I don't relate at all but I was-"
"Get to the point" Rune cut her off.
"Okay" Vyra said before taking a deep breath. "I saw what happened today in class and I came here to offer a remedy" she stated peaking his interest.
What on earth could she possibly offer him?
"And what would that be?" he asked curiously, eager to hear her answer.
"That I give you extra classes"
"Extra classes?" he said surprised by her offer.
"Well yeah. Look, I'm tired of Sten picking on you, it annoys the hell out of me. So I was thinking I could give you some combat classes to help you out" she said.
"What's the catch? What am I trading in return?"
"Nothing, it's just me trying to help someone out"
Rune stroked his chin slowly as he noticed a couple strands of hair there but that wasn't the point. He pondered deeply weighing the offer and if she was really doing this out of her own accord or she was a spy sent by Sten. No matter, he really needed those extra classes either way but he wasn't going to let her close to him whatsoever.
"Okay then, I accept your offer" he answered.
"Great. So, do you want to begin today or some other time?"
"Today is fine" he answered straightly.
"Okay, then let's get down to the basics"
The two got out their weapons and stood as if prepared to engage in real combat.
"The first key is your stance. You have to have your knees bent all the time and keep your center of gravity low so you can react and attack efficiently. If you're caught flat footed in real combat, it could be the end for you" Vyra explained.
Rune nodded and bent his knees slightly.
"Good. Now you need a firm grip on your weapon so that it won't fly out when you swing so tighten those fingers. And you also need a tightened wrist to take in all the impact from your weapon or it could lead to sprains, you got all that?" she asked with a surprisingly caring tone.
Rune was caught off guard by her niceness and wondered if she was like this to everyone, it was a totally different persona from what she displayed in the arena. Never mind that, he shook his head and returned to business.
"Yeah, I do"
"Then let's see what you got"
Vyra took a quick step forward thrusting her sword towards his abdomen, Rune reacted in the nick of time as he parried her blade away. Vyra then swung her blade for the top of his head, Rune blocked her swing weakly as his axe was hit away along with his arms. Next came a swing to the side and Rune swung weakly again as the axe was almost thrown out of his grip this time. The sound of clanging metal disturbed Sandstorm who was just trying to catch some rest. The dragon stood up slowly, shaking his head and groaning in discomfort, he looked at Rune and Vyra who were hard at training and didn't pay attention to him. Stormbreaker looked down at him cooing softly and vibrating her frills, the other cooed before jumping of the rock diving straight at the water. Stormbreaker looked over the edge seeing Sandstorm hit the water and not come out, she was intrigued at what he was doing. She looked back at Vyra and cooed but she didn't take notice to her either, she then turned her attention back to the water and went down to investigate.
Rune's axe clashed with Vyra's sword as the other spun around surprising Vyra who was equal to the task as she blocked the swing. He swung at her neck and Vyra quickly rolled on the floor avoiding his weapon, she sprung forward at him with Rune quickly redirecting her blade. The two battling it out for a little longer before Rune was disarmed in the fight.
"Can we take a break?" he asked panting with his palms on his knees.
"Sure we can, you do look like you need one" Vyra said chuckling lightly.
Rune moved his fingers around getting a feel of them again before lying on the ground exhausted.
"I think I'm just going to lay down here for a while" Rune said.
"Don't think this is a long break, it's just for five minutes" Vyra said sitting on the ground.
"There's no way I'm getting up from here. I'm done for the day"
"But we've barely scratched the surface?"
"We can continue tomorrow. Right now, I just want to rest" he insisted.
"Okay, if you say so"
After five minutes of awkward silence, Vyra then noticed that they're dragons were nowhere to be seen.
"Did you notice our dragons are gone?"
"They'll be fine. It's not like there's anything that could take on a Sand Wratih and a Stormcutter at once" Rune replied.
"That true" Vyra said but there was still a tint of worry in her voice.
"They'll be fine. There's no need to worry" Rune assured her.
After fifteen minutes, the two dragons landed letting Vyra relief herself of all her anxiety.
"Strombreaker I missed you. Where have you been?" she said holding her dragon by the head.
Sandstorm licked Rune on the face forcing him to sit up.
"Yeah yeah, I missed you too" he said as his dragon rubbed it's head against his abdomen.
Rune's hand ran to Sandstorm's neck and when he felt his saddle, it was wet.
"Why is my saddle wet?" he asked his dragon.
Sandstorm looked into his eyes then looked away.
"Where you swimming?" he asked again.
Sandstorm bowed his head and cooed.
"Well that explains the strong fish smell in your breath" he concluded.
Sandstorm then took him by surprise pinning him to the ground and began to lick him getting the fish smell all over him.
"Quit it Sandstorm. Now I'm going to be smelling like fish for the next two days" Rune whined.
Vyra watched the two and couldn't help but smile, their relationship wasn't as static as she thought it would be deeming Rune not to be a very cheerful person. Rune then looked at her and noticed the little smile on her face and was puzzled by it.
"What's making you smile?" he asked.
"Nothing. I'm just admiring the relationship you two have. Never seen you smile this much, well not with in class" she said.
"Well that's what happens when you don't get to know someone closely"
She shrugged her shoulders and lifted up her arms as Stormbreaker helped her up to her saddle.
"Same place and time tomorrow?" she asked.
"Yeah"
"Okay then. See you tomorrow" she said before flying off with her dragon.
Rune watched both of them fly of as Strombreaker gave out a loud cry before disappearing into the clouds. He then turned to Sandstorm who was standing awaiting his rider eagerly so that they could also take to the sky.
"Alright, let's go" Rune said walking to mount him.
As soon as he got his leg over to the other side, Sandstorm took off with out warning.
"At least give a warning next time!" Rune yelled as they ascended.
Vyra was soaring steadily above the clouds making good time as they headed back to Berk. It didn't get better than this, well not until Sandstorm and Rune flew past them on high speed.
"See you later slowpoke!" Rune echoed as they went past them.
"You're on!" Vyra yelled with a smile on her face.
Stormbreaker let out a roar as the two then proceeded to race back to Berk.
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