~Astrid's POV~

He was sitting on a big black steed and he wore Roman armour. But it wasn't normal armour, it one of an officer or at least a non-commanding officer, however Astrid didn't know which rank it was. After she scanned his figure her eyes began to wander back to his face. He had auburn brown hair which he kept longer than any other Roman she'd ever seen. But it was still fairly short in comparison to the Celtic haircuts. On his cheeks was little stubble from a few days during which he couldn't shave properly. Then her eyes met his once again.

Though he seemed not any older than her his green eyes told a different kind of story. His eyes carried the weight of the world. She could detect that he must have seen some horrible things in his life. But it wasn't coldness she could see, Astrid wasn't sure what it was she made out in his eyes.

Being in her thoughts she didn't realise that the young officer was now standing before her and looking directly at her. Behind his back Snotlout was taken into the city by two of the other riders. The young officer then began to raise a hand and Astrid wasn't sure if she should brace herself for another round of beating. But instead of punching her he was offering her his hand. She look confused at the hands for a few of seconds and then back at his face. He then opened his mouth and said

"I won't hurt you; I just want to help you up."

Astrid frowned at that remark and felt how a familiar anger in her began to grow again.

"I don't need your help ROMAN!"

She said with a trembling but still stern voice. Astrid spat the last word like they were an insult. She could see that her remark seemed to move something inside of him. She stood up by herself and he let his useless hand fall back besides him and said

"Fine, do as you want."

He then turned around and began to walk back to his horse without any other word.

Astrid picked up her basket with the mushrooms, luckily it didn't spill, and continued her walk to the market after she cleaned herself from the mud and dust. During the walk to the market she was in deep thoughts about the young officer. Was she too cold and brusque to him? He seemed sincere in his offer to help. NO she couldn't be sorry; after all he was the enemy…. But why then did she feel this sadness in her chest? Maybe she just needs to get a clear head.

~Hiccup's POV~

He and the Thracians were racing towards Manduessedum to help the populace if necessary. But after they exited the forest, he could see that Manduessedum was safe and untouched by any harm. So the group of soldiers slowed down and began to ride to what seemed to be the main gate.

While approaching Hiccup could see a young blonde woman walking towards the gate. A few paces before the gate itself she was approached and talked to by a city guard. He was still too far away to hear what they said to each other, but it didn't seem to please the guard. The girl was still walking to the gate but suddenly she was grabbed by the guard and pulled towards him.

Again some words were said which Hiccup couldn't hear, and then the woman slapped the guards in the face. Hiccup just wanted to laugh at that scene but then the guard hit the woman hard in the face with his right fist. She fell on her back in the mud and looked confused and hurt up. He could see that the guard was preparing himself for another blow; and with that Hiccup knew he had to finish this.

"SOLDIER, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!"

He shouted, the guard turned abruptly and starred in the direction of the man who dared to interrupt the punishment he just wanted to deliver. As the guard saw him and his uniform he jumped to attention.

"Sir, this woman slapped a roman soldier; I just was to deliver her punishment."

"She didn't slap a roman soldier, but a mere city guard and she did that in self-defence from my point of view. Didn't your superiors instruct you how to handle the barbaric populace? I bet hitting women was one of the things you weren't supposed to do."

Hiccup dismounted his horse and turned to the Thracian commander.

"Take him and throw him in to a cell. Make sure he won't leave the cell for at least one day."

The commander nodded and said something to his warriors. These took the weapons of the guard and lead hem under watchful eyes inside the city.

Hiccup looked back to the woman who was still lying on the ground and approached her. Only now he took a proper look at her. Only now he could see how beautiful she was, even with the red bruise under her left eye. She wore a traditional Celtic dress which was blue and yellow; it had a square line pattern. Her golden blonde hair, which she wore in a braid, reached with ease to her elbows. Around her neck was a golden necklace he saw on so many Celts. But the most beautiful part on her, were her eyes. They sat like two sky-blue opals over a little snub nose which was sprinkled with a few freckles.

But there was something in those beautiful eyes which made Hiccup unconfutable. It was fear, she was afraid of him. Only now he realised how intimidating he had to look to her, so he raised his hand and held it towards her.

But the girl just starred at it and then she looked back at him with still very fearful eyes.

"I won't hurt you; I just want to help you up."

Hiccup said and he hoped she would understand Latin.

"I don't need your help ROMAN!"

Her voice was filled with fear, but also with anger. Hiccup just looked at her surprised for two seconds. Then he lowered his hand and said.

"Fine, do as you want."

He turned around and walked back to his horse. He was angry, but not at the girl. He was angry at himself. Because for the first time since he became an officer, he could see how he had changed since he departed from home. Some months ago he never could have imagined that he would put fear in the eyes of a woman.

He mounted his horse again and began to enter the city, in the distance he could see the blonde beauty walking towards the market place.

~Time skip of several hours~

~Hiccup's POV~

Hiccup was inspecting the militia which was standing in attention before him. They looked like a bunch of clowns. Most of the men were missing some piece of equipment like a helmet, sword, shield or some pieces of the armour. All of the metal parts were covered in orange rust. It was a wonder that Manduessedum hasn't been already attacked and conquered by the rebels. Those men standing before him couldn't match an army; Hiccup sincerely doubted that they could defeat an army of olds and women.

"We have a lot of work to do."

A familiar voice said, Hiccup turned his head and saw Caelius who was walking towards him.

"It seems so; we should start to train them as soon as possible. Take ten of our men and begin training them and don't be too easy on them. Take also some of the Thracians so that we can train a little cavalry force."

Caelius agreed and went on with his duties. Hiccup went back to the fort the Cohort had built outside the city. It was big enough to inhabit the whole cohort and it had enough free space to take in a few hundred refugees. It was shielded by a palisade wall which was three men high and the whole Encampment was surrounded by a deep trench, in which sharp and pointy sticks were placed to form a defensive position. At each corner of the fort stood a wooden guard tower which was double the size of the palisade wall.

The Auxiliary Forces had also built their own Fort, which were formidable defended as well as the Roman one. The longer Hiccup had to work with the three commanders the bigger grew his respect for them. They all appeared to be experts in what they were doing.

Hiccup had also met the leader of the city council, who was so happy to see a real Roman military force that he declared to hold a feast the next day. Hiccup didn't think highly of the council leader, he was in his opinion just an old fart who managed to bribe his way up to the position of mayor.

As Hiccup was approaching the Fort his thoughts went back to the blonde girl, who he had met on his first day on Manduessedum. He didn't know why but he just couldn't get her out of his thoughts.

~Three days later~

~Astrid's POV~

Astrid helped the whole day to prepare the feast which will be held this evening. She, Feidlimid and the other townswomen prepared all the food and beverage. They made sure there would be enough for all. Several fireplaces were prepared in the town square to prepare all the food and around them were placed big long tables so that most of the Town could sit and feast in the square.

During the whole preparation Astrid couldn't get the roman, with the auburn hair, out of her thoughts. She couldn't quite figure out why, because of that she was distracted all the time. Her sister Feidlimid could see that something was off with Astrid, but she wasn't yet able to ask Astrid properly because of all the feast preparations. Astrid was thankful about that, then the last thing she needed was an interrogation by her big sister.

After several ours Astrid got to the conclusion that she was too harsh to the Roman. Somehow she needed to apologize to him, luckily she could speak Latin sufficiently for such an occasion, but the bigger problem was how to get to him. He passed the last two days in the Roman Fort or on the exercise field and there was no way that she could gain access to those military facilities. Or was there?...

~Several hours later~

~Astrid's POV~

Astrid was walking through the now dark town towards the main gate. While walking she was thinking about the whole evening and all that had happened.

The whole feast was a full success; everyone seemed to enjoy the food and beverages. Astrid and her sister were seated near one of the big fires and both of them had a great night, even though they couldn't drink too much alcohol because they will have to work on the next day.

From the place Astrid was seated she could see the auburn Roman, who was seated with his back to her, so he couldn't see her. He didn't seem interested in the feast nor in all the people seated beside him. The only person he spoke to during the feast was the centurion, they seemed like good friends. After some time he said something to the mayor and left the market square.

As Astrid was only a short distance from the Main gate she could see someone sitting on the wall. It was very dark and the person was sitting with the back to her and was only lighted by little torch light. But Astrid could see a red cloak and hear the person mumble something in Latin.

Now she was curious, so she sneaked up the stairs next to the gate. As she was high enough Astrid took a glance at the man. It was the auburn Roman, he was sitting on the wall facing the field lying ahead of the wall and his legs were dangling in the air. He was holding some piece of paper in his hands which he seemed to read over and over again and while doing this he was mumbling something. It sounded like "Stupid Rome", now she wanted to know for sure.

"It seems that the gods have given me a chance to redeem myself." She thought.

Astrid slowly walked towards the sitting man and stopped only when she was a pace behind him, then she reached out and tapped him lightly on the shoulder.

~Some Minutes before~

~Hiccup's POV~

Hiccup didn't like big gatherings of people, he never had. He always preferred to be alone. So after the feast started today he only remained there so he wouldn't insult the hospitality of the town council. But after a while, which felt like an eternity,

Hiccup excused himself and wandered off. He walked aimlessly through the city until he reached the city gate. He then saw a staircase which he climbed up and he sat down on the wall to watch the stars.

He sat there for a while but then he took out the letter his father had sent him and reread it for the millionth time. He read it over and over again and the more he read it he began to curse.

"Stupid Dad, stupid Heatheratia, stupid Senate, stupid Life, stupid City and stupid Rome with its stupid politics."

Hiccup suddenly felt something tapping his shoulder and he jumped from surprise and let out a girly scream. Because of the little jump he did, he nearly fell down the wall and barely managed to hold on to the edge of it. He turned angry at the intruder who almost killed him. But who he then saw made him freeze in surprise.

He was looking directly in the face of the blonde girl which refused his help and snarled at him a couple of days ago. But now there was no anger or fear in her big blue eyes, only amusement.

"Is the big, strong and brave Roman soldier afraid of a harmless little Celtic girl?" She asked with an innocent voice, while trying not to grin. Hiccup felt how a blush began to creep up his neck.

"There is nothing out there that could scare a Tribune of the Roman Army." He stated as dramatically as he could while he gesticulated nervously and wild with his arms. As he had finished talking he looked at her and saw only how she burst into loud laughter. After she calmed down a bit, she leaned in and asked him:

"So tell my great Roman Tribune, why did you jump and scream like a helpless maiden then?"

"Well I jumped…. I jumped because a cold breeze hit me right when you tapped my shoulder." He stated.

"Really? A cold breeze…. You Romans are all just too soft for this land" she stated.

"We're not soft." Hiccup said while still having a blush "Why did you do it anyways?" he asked.

The blonde girl shrugged her grin fading away "I was walking home, but then I saw someone sitting on the wall and I was curious. Then as I saw it was you I wanted to sort of apologize to you." She said. Hiccup was stunned

"Apologize? You want to apologize to me? A Briton wants to apologize to a Roman…"

She glared at him "Do you really have to make such a big deal out of it; I just forgot that you're the enemy, but you had to remind me of it."

"Enemy? Since when do enemies offer their help to a stranger? I just wanted to help." he answered.

"You're a Roman, so you're the enemy. You invaded our land, slaughtered and enslaved our people!" The blonde girl said, now getting louder and angrier.

"I did no such thing. I wasn't even born yet when the invasion started, neither were you. I never slaughtered anyone, the only ones I killed were warriors which attacked us, and I did it out of necessity, not because of pleasure. I don't care about the politics surrounding the occupation; the only thing I care about is to keep my men alive." He answered her angry himself.

Her eyes softened a bit. She looked down to her feet and let out a sigh "I'm sorry. I'm just not used to have a normal conversation with a Roman. My whole life I was told that you're the enemy and you're only out to destroy or enslave us. You were the first Roman to be nice to me, that's why I wanted to apologize to you."

Hiccup looked at her for a few seconds.

"Apology accepted." He said to her.

The blonde girl had a short expression of surprise, but then she said. "Thank you." And she gave him another smile. Hiccup felt a warm feeling inside of him as she gave him her smile. He said "You're welcome." with one of his goofy grins.

They stood there smiling at each other for a short moment, until the blonde girl said "It's going to be late, I better be on my way" and proceeded to walk back to the staircase.

"Wait! I don't even know what your name is..." Hiccup shouted after her.

She stopped at the top of the stairs and looked at him with a bit of hesitation, but then she said finally "You can call me Astrid." And with that she left.

Hiccup stood on top of the wall for another several minutes, but then he decided to walk back to the Encampment to rest in his tent. During the way back he thought about the whole conversation he had with Astrid. As he reached his tent he undressed put the armour on the rack and went to bed. As his mind slipped into sleep his thoughts were still with the blonde girl named Astrid.

~Meanwhile~

A cloaked shadow is sneaking through the forest, the branches stroke over his dark cloak. On his belt was a curved sickle which Druids used to cut branches, plants or herbs. As the dark figure reached the end of the forest it stopped. The figure observed the city from the outside.

"Let's see if we can find a fitting sacrifice in there.

The figure said with a grin, and proceeded to walk back into the shadows of the forest.

Glossary:

The 14th – Short for the 14th Legion (Legio XIV Gemina).

Cohort - A roman unit Legion, numbering six centuries (480 men).

Cornovii – The Celts who lived in today's Cornwall

Decurion – A junior officer in a century

Druid – A sort of Celtic Shaman living in ancient Britain

Legate - The general of a Legion.

Legion – A roman army, numbering 6 Cohorts (5,000 men all of them are roman citizens).

Londinium – Today's London

Tribune – A roman officer, six of them would serve in each Legion and would receive their orders directly from the legate.

Manduessedum – Today's Mancetter