Chapter 36

Chaos had erupted at the party as maids and guests dove out of the way of the creature. Astrid too had to roll on the grass to avoid that spiked tail. She desperately tried to remember what Hiccup had told her about these creatures. Toothless had seemed harmless enough.

"SOMEONE KILL THAT BEAST!" Lady Gretchen screamed as she dove into a nearby rose bush. The dragon was wildly flinging its tail around the guests, sending several spikes to pierce into the nearby trees, and Astrid just knew her knights wouldn't make it in time before someone got impaled. It was then that she saw it. Of course. Hiccup had mentioned this before. 'FOOD!'

"Ruffnut! Tuffnut! The pies! Throw me the meat pies!" Astrid yelled at the twins who were hiding behind the upturned table.

"You can't be peckish now!" Tuffnut shot back, ducking as a spike flew a hairsbreadth away from his head.

"HAND HER THE BLASTED MEAT PIES YOU NUMBSKULL!" Ruffnut smacked her brother over the head.

Astrid's yell had caught the dragon's attention and now she was the main focus of its ire. Suddenly a meat pie came sailing through the air, which she caught and waved at the dragon, who was already accumulating its fiery breath.

"You want this? It's yummy, come and get it!" Astrid said, waving the meat pie in the air, as the creature approached. She chucked the pie at the reptile and the beast caught it mid-air. Everyone was watching the scene with bated breath as the dragon had stopped its rampage and was cocking its head to stare at Astrid after devouring the dish.

"You want more?" Astrid, out of breath, asked as she held her palms out to show that she had no weapons. "You want some more yummy meat pies?" She asked which caused the dragon to let out a squawk.

"Go give her more pies!" Ruffnut said as she shoved several meat pies into her brother's arms and kicked him out from behind the table. Rosalinda who he had been shielded by Tuffnut, peeked at the whole situation wide-eyed. She wanted to tell the blond to be careful yet at the same time having that creature's gaze directed at them was a less than stellar prospect.

Tuffnut approached Astrid carefully while trying to balance five pies in his arms. The dragon let out a warning trill when he approached but he was able to hand Astrid another pie, which she threw in the dragon's direction.

"Good dragon," Astrid smiled when the pie was devoured. It was then that the strangest thing happened. The dragon approached her in a dash and knocked Astrid to the ground. She thought she was a goner as the creature's hot breath ghosted over her. But then she got nuzzled and blinked in surprise. "Tuffnut hand me another pie," Astrid held her hand out from where she lay with a dragon looming over her.

"I've never seen a Nadder act like this before," Tuffnut remarked as the dragon uttered a happy squawk upon receiving more food. "What type of meat is this?"

"Chicken," Astrid answered as she was finally able to stand up again. The dragon... or Nadder, as Tuffnut had called the creature bumped her side looking for attention.

Meanwhile, Tuffnut gave Astrid a look while stating "That's barbaric! The chicken definitely wasn't amused!"

Astrid just kept giving her the pies while simultaneously not trying to roll her eyes at Tuffnut. It wasn't very ladylike after all.

"Is it safe?!" Lady Gretchen, somewhat scratched and sporting several rose twigs in her hair, asked as she tentatively got up with the help of one of the maids. The servants and guests took the opportunity to flee back into the house while the creature was distracted. Astrid saw Ruffnut taking Rose with her while Tuffnut stayed behind to help.

"You called this thing a Nadder? I thought it was a dragon." Astrid asked. Now that they were out of meat pies and the creature had calmed down somewhat they were out of the danger zone. The 'Nadder' paid Astrid no more mind as she didn't have any more food and instead skipped over to the upturned table to raid it. "It seems really hungry," Astrid remarked.

"A Nadder is a dragon species. Just like how Toothless is a Nightfury. Wait until you meet Barf and Belch!" Tuffnut explained.

"So this dragon belongs to someone?" Astrid asked while keeping an eye on the situation.

"Eh.... Not really," Tuffnut muttered. "We were already in this kingdom when this one disappeared so the information Ruff and I have is only secondhand at best. This particular Nadder is a difficult case. Hiccup had established several dragon colonies on some islands that were safe and could be protected but an internal conflict caused her to flee and get captured. In fact, after the Colosseum incident, I thought she'd fly back home."

"Excuse me, good Sir. Are you telling me that this dragon was responsible for blowing holes in the Colosseum?!" Astrid asked incredulously. She had only heard of the explosion when she got back from the fiefdom and was puzzled by just what could cause such damage. According to Minden, the public speculated that it was the work of a rebel faction but there was no proof of that and the Royal Palace had yet to make a statement about the incident. The Nadder in question was now happily gorging itself on discarded scones and crumpets.

"When we escaped with....," Tuffnut made a knocking gesture and Astrid nodded. "We found her chained in a cell. Ruffnut let her go and she blew us an exit."

"MY LADY! MY LADY ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!" Atali shouted as she had lifted up the skirt of her maid uniform while running towards Astrid with several armed knights in tow. The Nadder saw this and let out a threatening squawk.

"Stop where you are!" Astrid ordered causing several of the kights to crash into each other. The loud clangs of their armor momentarily stopped the Nadder as it reared back. "Drop your weapons! Now!"

"But your Ladyship!" One of the commanders exclaimed.

"Do not argue. Just do it!" Astrid growled. "You too Atali. Drop the rapier!" Astrid's tone of voice left no room for disobedience and once the weapons had been thrown to the ground and the knights stepped back the dragon too calmed down. She then ordered the knights to run to the kitchen and tell the chefs to prepare several cuts of raw meat.

"Atali I want you to stay here with Sir Thornston. He knows how to deal with dragons. We need to get this creature out of sight for now and I need to see to my guests," She stated. Atali looked rather worried to be left alone with a dragon. She had no clue how good this man was with them. Not like how she had seen Sir Hiccup handle his dragon. Though she didn't question the order.

"Madam, might I suggest the east stables? They had been cleared out last week as the horses there had been sent to the estate south for additional training." She suggested before turning to Sir Thornston and saying "I am at your service, good sir,"

"Great, first things first. No weapons," Tuffnut started telling the maid. "I don't think anyone likes being impaled by spikes.... Or turned to charcoal."

"I would believe so," Atali answered while Astrid hastily made her way inside. Upon seeing her enter the servants and guests exclaimed relief.

"Is anyone hurt?" Astrid asked as she looked at the disheveled group.

"I am well. Sir Thornston shielded me," Rose spoke up.

"I am good to go!" Lady Ruffnut announced.

"The same for us," Lady Mala stated and Heather who was seated next to her nodded.

"I must say, Astrid. You set the bar quite high for tea parties. I do not think any lady would be able to top that," This caused everyone to chuckle. Astrid was relieved to see that they were taking this whole incident so light-hearted. "Edwin, Lady Cami, what about you two?"

"A little shaken up but we are faring well," Camicazi uttered. "Honestly speaking we didn't know what the creature was. While taking our stroll we just heard something munching and Edwin here went to investigate. The poor thing was eating the flowers near the gazebo."

"I stepped on a twig and startled it. The whole thing is my fault sister," Edwin explained remorsefully.

"Nonsense," Astrid huffed. "The fault lies with the bucket-of-goat-dung that starved that poor animal."

Rose coughed discreetly upon hearing her stepsister curse but the others, as they had known her and her crude side longer, were used to it. Astrid Hofferson was an eccentric Noble. She could be as polite as a daisy but rub her the wrong way.... Well... Heather wouldn't have befriended her if she was as dainty or sensitive as some of the other ladies. Lady Heather was also a fervent sponsor of several humane societies for animal rights and she was beyond incensed at what this poor creature likely went through.

"Astrid dear, calling them a bucket of goat dung seems to be rather looking upon them too friendly." She uttered as a dark look passed through her eyes while unfurling her lace fan. "Any person who harms an animal should have rotten vegetables thrown at them while they are drawn and quartered."

The servants wisely chose to ignore the statements of her Ladyship and her friends. As the ladies and Edwin tried to rearrange their clothing to look somewhat presentable again it dawned on Astrid. "Where's Lady O'fair?" She asked while looking around with a frown.