Chapter 22

Astrid scrunched up her face and groaned. She didn't want to open her eyes yet. Her body felt quite heavy. She did open an eyelid when she felt something cool touch her forehead.

"Who are you?" Astrid asked as she was looking up at the wrinkled face of an old man. He had pressed a cool cloth to her head. The old man however couldn't answer her as he was saying something in a language that she didn't understand before rushing out of the small wooden house. Astrid sat up and stretched her tired muscles.

"Finally awake I see." She heard in her head. Astrid looked down when she felt something shift and saw Stormfly, in her small form, seated on the bed.

"Stormfly what are you doing outside?!" Astrid panicked as she quickly looked around. That old man must have seen her dragon already.

"Relax" Stormfly told her. "This place is happy to have dragons visiting."

"What?" Astrid was confused. She knew that Gothi and Sigurn's village were the descendants of the people she had saved but she had no idea where she was right now. The door to the house opened again and Astrid saw Hiccup, who was covered in mud, and the old man step through. "Xièxiè" Hiccup told the man who merely laughed and patted him on the back.

"Astrid I'm so glad you're awake." Hiccup told her as he sat at her bedside. "This is Shu Li. He was kind enough to offer us a place to stay." He introduced the old man who was leaning on his wooden cane.

"Hiccup!" Astrid said before enveloping him in a hug. She let go and then thanked Shu Li who nodded and laughed. She then asked "What happened with Camicazi? Where are we now? How did we get here? Why are you covered in mud?"

"Okay...... eh..." Hiccup debated internally which question he should answer first. "First off, we're in China. We landed in this village four days ago."

"I've been asleep for four whole days?!" Astrid asked shocked while Hiccup nodded. "Everyone was worried. Since you've never used that ability before we didn't know when you'd wake up."

Astrid nodded in understanding. "And what happened to Camicazi?"

"Dead" Hiccup stated. "She went crazy after you removed her dragon. Stormfly literally stabbed her in the back with one of her spikes. If she hadn't done that the harpy would have shot us."

"I consider it poetic justice." Stormfly stated as she hopped off the bed. "I'll leave you two alone now." The little dragon giggled. "I have a handsome black dragon to hunt down."

"I think Toothless is still having a staring contest with that ox." Hiccup told the little Nadder who nodded before flying out of a window. The old man who had been busy in the little kitchen proceeded to hand Hiccup and Astrid a cup of tea each before going about his business.

Astrid thanked the man before taking a sip of the tea. She sighed happily as her throat was parched. "So why are you covered in mud?"

"The villagers were kind enough to take us in. We've been working in the rice fields with them to repay them for their hospitality." Hiccup explained. "However it seems that it's a little more complicated than that."

"What do you mean?"

"Well we landed not so far away from the village and were about to set up a camp when we came across their guards. At first they thought that we had something to do with the disappearances but they backed down when they noticed the dragons." Hiccup explained. "Fishlegs is the expert on China's history and he explained that dragons are seen as a good luck omen and a symbol of the emperor. We were then taken to the village and there we met with the elders who proceeded to inform us of recent events."

"You mentioned disappearances." Astrid inquired.

Hiccup nodded. "Right, there are several farming villages near these mountains and over the course of a year a lot of the young men have gone missing."

"Couldn't they have just gone to the city?" Astrid asked but Hiccup shook his head.

"According to the elders, some did want to leave the villages and head to the city but others were staying to help with the harvests. There have been too many reported missing so they have started holding guard shifts at night to try and find out why. They think that with the dragons visiting them that they may have good luck."

"And your police have done nothing?" Astrid asked.

"It seems that the police don't come out to these rural villages often." Hiccup told her sadly. "The best that the villagers can do right now is to search the surrounding areas. I don't know about you but these disappearances do seem fishy." At that moment Astrid's stomach decided to growl loudly while she nodded. Astrid's cheeks turned a bit pink.

"It should be dinner time soon." Hiccup told her as he helped Astrid up. The were walking out of the wooden hut just in time to see Stormfly use her beak to grab Toothless by the tail and drag him off somewhere. The sun was already on the horizon as villagers roamed along the fields. Hiccup took Astrid to an outdoor area where she saw the twins and Snotlout chopping vegetables while Fishlegs was making a soup.

"I can't take this anymore!!" Snotlout cried.

"Oh just shut it ya big baby!" Gobber shouted as he placed some seats. "This ain't the first time someone cried while chopping onions!" He then noticed Hiccup and Astrid who were watching amused.

"Astrid yer awake!" Gobber exclaimed before rushing her and giving her a hug. This also alerted the others. "How is my favorite mummy doing?"

Hiccup had to fight back some laughter at his overenthusiastic godfather's attention. He had taken Hiccup aside after they had landed in the village and told him in no uncertain terms that if he didn't marry the lass then Hiccup would be washing his undies for the foreseeable future.

He translated for Astrid what Gobber had just said and Astrid giggled "But I'm the only mummy you know."

"Hiccup glad you're here. Could you and Astrid cook some of the rice the villagers gave us? I'm making fish stew." Fishlegs asked.

"Sure Fish." Hiccup said as he looked into the steel pot. "Eh....... Fish.... Doesn't fish stew usually have fish in it? Did they sprout legs and run away?"

"Hardy har har Hiccup" Fishlegs rolled his eyes at his friend's joke. "Your parents went fishing a while ago. They should have been back by now."

"And we are." They heard and looked to see Valka and Stoick approaching. Valka was holding up several fat fishes while a sopping wet Stoick followed behind her.

"Mom what happened with dad?" Hiccup asked as he watched his father wring out his beard only to find a small fish inside it.

"See Stoick. You did catch one." Valka chuckled as she handed over the fish to Snotlout who was happy about doing something else besides chopping onions. "Oh he thought that he could catch more fish using some weird method." Valka told her son. "Your father isn't an outdoors person."

"I see" Hiccup mumbled. He did know that while loving archeology, his dad often grumbled about sleeping in a tent.

Cooking dinner went without incident afterwards and everyone was eagerly sniffing the air once Fishlegs uncovered the pot.

"So what item are we going to find next and where do we go?" Snotlout asked as he took a bite of his dinner.

"Oh that reminds me!" Hiccup said as he reached into his back pocket upon hearing Snotlout's question. He took out half of Astrid's item that Toothless and him had swiped from Camicazi and handed it to her. Astrid took the amulet and inspected it. She frowned when she saw the clean cut that had divided it. "I don't think I can fix this." she mumbled to herself before placing it around her neck.

"To answer your question Snotlout I believe it is the feather cloak we have left to find and I have no idea where it is." Hiccup mumbled.

"Hiccup we just flew all the way to China!! How can you not know?!" Snotlout argued. "I only sense something faintly. It's not enough to pinpoint a location." Astrid added which Hiccup translated for her.

"The armguards only showed me the Great Wall of China when I touched them." Hiccup explained before turning to Fishlegs "Fish is it possible that Astrid's item could have something to do with the wall?"

"I don't think so Hiccup." Fishlegs stated. "The Great wall was made in the Qin dynasty. Emperor Qin Shi Huang linked several pre-existing walls together. This was well before the time of the Vikings."

"Excuse me" A very old man approached. Hiccup told Astrid that this was one of the elders of the village who could speak English, Kuo Jian. "I couldn't help but overhear that you were talking about the Emperor of Qin as I was passing by."

"What has you so fascinated by the Qin Emperor?" Valka asked.

"Oh, it's just that his name came up from dragon riders such as yourselfs." Kuo mentioned as he took a seat. "They called him the Dragon Emperor and it is said that his mystics taught him mastery over the five elements fire, water, earth, wood and metal. He had China under his thumb but he could not escape time. He could not stop growing older and with years going by he sent out his men to seek the secret of eternal life. The irony is that it was this search that ended his life. The story goes that the Emperor ingested mercury to prolong his life. Instead he died." Kuo stroked his beard thoughtfully. "But we are getting off topic as to why I was intrigued." The old man let out a cough before continuing. "I was ten when my parents and I came to this village. It was just after the war in 1946 that my parents and I moved to this village. I could have sworn that I saw a three headed dragon fly over one morning although no one believed me."

"A three headed dragon?" Hiccup asked intrigued. He had been translating for Astrid and she also looked at the old man in interest. "But still what does that have to do with Emperor Qin?"

"He wasn't called the Dragon Emperor for nothing. Myth says that he could change into one. I sometimes wonder if he really did cheat death." Kuo told them before he stood up. "Just thought you all would like such a story." He said before bidding them goodnight.

"Well........ That was interesting." Stoick mumbled after the old man was gone.

"Interesting? That sounded awesome!" The twins exclaimed. "Imagine being able to turn into a dragon!"

"Do you guys actually find that believable?" Valka now asked.

"Says the woman who helped revive a Viking mummy!" Gobber sassed causing Valka to blush slightly.

"So..........." Snotlout commented. "Do we know anything at all about where this cloak is?"

"Not really" Fishlegs told him. "But the dynasty that was in power during Viking times was the Tang dynasty. China, even at that time, was a very big place. We may just have to rely on Astrid being able to sense it."

"Great" Snotlout muttered. "What do you suggest we do. Hop on the dragons and fly over every inch of China?"

Fishlegs shrugged as they tried to think of other ideas. Meanwhile further outside the village three familiar figures stood on a hill. Well one stood, the other two were trying to catch up.

"Will you two hurry up?" Heather growled at her brother and Eret who were out of breath.

"Jeez, take it easy sis." Dagur grumbled as he hefted his backpack.

"Why are you such a slave driver Heather?" Eret asked as he finally reached the top.

"Weren't you two boasting about your great stamina when we started hiking?" Heather asked as she crossed her arms. She was barely visible in the night with her dark camouflage clothing. "We are close to the coordinates that our associate provided. I will not let them slip out of my fingers again."

Unbeknownst to the trio, two other familiar faces were crouched much further away. "Viggo there are ants in my pants." Ryker muttered as they were hiding in the grass. Viggo was using the nightvision goggles to follow the Society members.

"Suck it up brother. If we don't finish this then we can kiss our lives goodbye. You heard Drago when we reported in about what had happened to Camicazi. He was very specific that we capture the Valkyrie and her boyfriend alive."

"Right" Ryker muttered as he scratched himself. "Brother....... I think the ants are now in my boxers."

"I did not need to know that." Viggo mumbled lowly.