Zippleback Boots For Hire
"A 2nd Year Anniversary Fanfic Mini Tale"
Hiccup stood in the centre of Mildew's hut and looked up at the paintings of Mildew's previous three wives.
"Wife, Wife, Wife…." He haltered as his gaze fell upon the fourth painting of a sheep, Mildew's pet sheep; Fungus.
"Well, Mildew certainly has a type." A deep compulsive shudder rocked through his small frame as he almost gagged at the thought.
Turning away from the paintings he continued on searching Mildew's hut. There had to be something, anything, to prove that Mildew was behind the "accidents" happening on Berk and that had lead to his father Stoick, banishing all their dragons to Dragon Island. Including Toothless.
If he could prove Mildew guilty of setting the armoury fire, wrecking the Great Hall and stealing everyone's boots he could prove that he was framing their dragons and then they could get Toothless and all the others back.
More determined now than ever he continued searching the place. He curiously lifted up the lid of a big pot atop a fire and soon wished he hadn't.
This time he did gag. Placing a hand to his mouth he almost retched as he quickly replaced the lid and turned away. He didn't even want to know what was inside!
The action made him turn to face a wall covered with a drape of fabric and something pocking out from beneath caught his eye.
He reefed back the cloth and gasped.
Right before him were a pair of hollowed out Zippleback feet and a dragon's claw strapped to a stick.
Hiccup really felt his stomach chirm this time. As he picked up the two items for a closer look.
This had to be what Mildew used to leave the foot prints in the snow and the claw marks in the Great Hall….
Just then the door to the hut began to rattle, Hiccup turned holding the Dragon foot and claw in each hand and gasped.
The door rattled and rattled and he knew it was Mildew returning home…he had to hide!
Think!
In a mad dash he put the Dragon limbs back where they'd been, closed the drape and reached out for the rope, he scurried up it as far as he could just reaching the middle as the door busted open and Mildew stepped in calling out bitterly to the hollow hut.
"I'm home ladies!" His tone lyrical and rustic, and he waited, listing to the silence.
Hiccup held his breath.
"Huh? What's that you say?" Mildew walked into the room and cupped a hand to the side of his ear, pretending he'd not heard.
"Nothing?" He asked the paintings of his wives sarcastically.
"Perfect." He purred gleefully and turned around. Then his eyes honed in on the dragon feet and claw.
For a moment Hiccup feared he'd not put them back the right way, that perhaps in his haste he'd mixed up the order and that Mildew could tell someone had been in his hut, was in fact still in the hut.
With a racing heart he watched Mildew reach out a hand for the drape, with what felt like tormenting slowness, his hand continued to creep towards the drape….before he snatched the fabric back to revel the objects right where Mildew had left them.
Had he been able, Hiccup would have breathed a sigh of relief.
Mildew set aside his staff and picked up the dragon limbs, sighing contently.
"They served us well, didn't they Fungus?" He told his pet sheep, needlessly, the sheep bleating in response.
"Shame we have to get rid of them."
Mildew began to walk underneath where Hiccup was hiding and started to carry the evidence out the front door. A bead of nervous sweat formed at Hiccup's brow and he watched helplessly as it trailed down his face and dropped with terrifying slowness to the ground below. For an instant he begged Thor, that it may fall upon the stone floor without notice, but Thor must have been busy for, to his heartrenching dismay, the droplet fell square atop Fungus' head.
The little sheep bleated irritated and looked up to find the source of the disturbance and spotted Hiccup clinging from the rope. Hiccup hugged the rope closer to him in a nervous hope it would protect him, keep him hidden, that Thor Almighty would not let Fungus' incessant alerting bleats make Mildew turn around and look up….
…again Thor must have been busy.
Mildew turned around at the frantic sound of his pet Fungus and looked up at the whole in his roof.
"You!"
His eyes widened in surprise to find Hiccup dangling from a rope, clutching hold of it with all his might, a flake of sweat forming at his temples. Then Mildew's brows crinkled. Anger over taking him.
Swiftly and without prologue he grabbed an axe off the nearby wall and pelted it high above Hiccup's head, Hiccup cried out in alarm but the axe swooshed past his head and slice in half the rope he grasped. In an instant he had fallen the short distance to the hard rock ground of Mildew's house, the alerting sheep Fungus licking at his face. Bleating in his ear.
Hiccup knew he was in serious trouble, Mildew knew he'd discovered the Zippleback feet.
"Look Mildew, let me go."
"Not a chance, dragon boy." He reached over with surprising strength for a man of his esteem age and grabbed the scruff of Hiccup's shirt, in a moment Hiccup found himself tied up sufficiently with the remains of the rope he'd once been hanging on to. Tossed in the corner like a rag doll while Mildew paced from side to side of the hut. Muttering his plans in tones Hiccup couldn't quite discern.
No one knew he was here, okay so maybe the Twins had remembered to relay his message to Astrid and his father, that he was going to fix Mildew's hut, still it was hours before anyone would expect him back, without Dragons, - without Toothless – Mildew's hut was a far walk from the village. A distance many deemed still too close, but means it would add time to the already long-winded hours before anyone would notice he was missing, and that was only if the Twins told anyone where he'd gone!
What on earth was he going to do?!
"Mildew, you know this is insane right, I'm the Chief's son, you can't kidnap me." Anger for what he'd just discovered boiled like the foul smelling stew pot over the fire, but he had to remain calm, Mildew would only grow more agitated if he let his boiling temper go in a flurry of harsh accusing tones. Because of this man, this spiteful, hideous man all the the dragons of Berk had been banished from the island.
"Sooner or later they are going to come looking for me."
He hoped.
"Oh, you think you're such a smart boy, but here you are fooled by an old man and his sheep. I can't let you go, and you know it."
The old man stood straighter and played with his beard, in thought.
"Then again I can't kill you."
Hiccup wished he could believe the man wouldn't kill him then again his eyes drifted to the bloodthirsty rock painting of Mildew as a younger man viciously killing a dragon, then further still to the three wives that had all likely met with untimely deaths…
Hiccup felt himself gulp.
"I've got it!" Mildew cried out with glee, the walls seeming to cause the shriek to vibrate back on themselves, so shrill it made Hiccup's ears hurt.
"I'll take you to the cave and –"
"Seriously Mildew you're going to tell me your evil plan, you know I'm going to escape and when I do you'll be begging my father to take mercy on you!"
Hiccup cursed his uncomfortably, almost painful position and this unsavoury predicament that was making him uncharacteristically vengeful.
"Not if you're dead." Mildew seethed, his broken rotten buckled teeth appearing as he grinned maliciously down at Hiccup. For a moment Hiccup felt sure he'd pass out from the sheer odor of Mildew's breath. Turns out he wasn't given the chance. Mildew raised the hilt of his staff above his head and thumped Hiccup surely on the head, the world blurred viciously before his eyes then went startlingly black, as he crumpled over unconscious on the cold hard stone floor.
/
The next afternoon the town centre was in an uproar. No one had seen Hiccup, according to the Twins, he'd told them he'd gone to fix Mildew's roof. Everyone was beginning to seriously worry.
None more so than that of Astrid.
When Mildew arrived in town it was an instant trigger to her fury, it struck a fire within her quicker than one of Stormfly's spines flung from her tail!
She leapt at the old man startling the Twins who happen to be standing on either side of her. Despite their usual dimwit nature they were quick to realise the seriousness of the situation and grabbed her by the arms, one on each side, holding her back. Her kicks and attempts to attack Mildew falling harmlessly short of the man by a good few feet. Astrid wished that the Twins had remained oblivious, for once. Even as her calmer self, thanked them.
They couldn't get answers from a dead man.
"You! What have you done with Hiccup! I swear if you've hurt him I'll ripe your skri-"
"Enough. Astrid." Stoick bellowed with an affectionate tone appearing on the scene with a thunderous expression as he turned to face Mildew. He slowly and with great caged fury grabbed the man by the shirt scruff and all but lifted him off his feet.
"Where is Hiccup?" He demanded in a voice so quite it was hard to hear but with a force that could not be ignored. The entire village held its breath as they gathered in the town's centre.
"I tell you Stoick I have no idea what's she's talking about." Mildew proclaimed, in his so obviously lying tone. They'd all heard it before and they'd all not believed him then either.
Stoick shoved the man away and turned around pacing like a cadged tiger.
Mildew sunk down on his staff hugging it with both hands. Putting all his weight on it in the absence of Stoick's violent hold. He clearly wanted to gasp for breath but his pride held him firm. His grin almost being the end for Astrid. It's seething teethy grin. He knew more than he was saying and she wanted to find out what it was, she pulled and tugged harder on the Twin's hold.
"Liar! You Son of hakral mu! – Hiccup knew you framed our dragons, he went to fix your roof and he never returned!"
Astrid felt woeful even in her fury, she'd once said the same thing in anger at Hiccup, back before she'd seen him for the great Viking he really was, when she'd been furious at him for beating her in Dragon Training….it seemed like a hundred years ago, a different world entirely. Now she feared their lives would change back for the worse.
If they couldn't find Hiccup in time…..
"What have-" She began, taking a calming breathe, deceiving the Twins into thinking she was no longer likely to leap upon Mildew and beat the truth from him. When in fact the man had just one heartbeat to tell them where Hiccup was or she was going to do exactly that!
"Phif, be my guest Stoick search my hut if you must, see for yourselves I've not done anything with the boy. I have no idea where he might be."
Astrid finally broke free of the Twin's combined efforts to keep her from committing murder. She was across the short gap between them ready to kill him with her bare hands.
A heartbeat before her hungry seeking hands felt the slimy, bony flesh of its target strong muscled hands formed around her waist and tugged her back in the same calm but forceful way they had attacked Mildew moments before. Stoick drew Astrid away and set her into the even stronger embrace of her father. He held her close and with less force and more comfort.
There was a part of her that delighted in the fact they knew she was hurting more than she was angry. That they all sheared her forceful desire, her almost desperate need to get her hands on Mildew, they all felt it, knew it, wished to do it themselves, and they knew she was the only one who lacked the restraint to hold back. For a reason they also knew all too well.
A reason she wasn't ready to admit to.
Anger was her shield, her defence, her way to get information out of brittle, conniving, lying, scheming old men.
"Let it go, Astrid. Alpha team you search the east side of the island. Team-"
"We can't just let him go free, he took Hiccup I know it!" Astrid raged struggling pointlessly against her father's loving, but strong embrace.
"I know how you're feeling, Astrid, but without evidence there's nothing more we can do."
Astrid's temper turned on Stoick.
"It was looking for "evidence" that got Hiccup in trouble in the first place. If he'd not been looking for it he never would have been anywhere near that –" her temper robbed her of an apt word, oh the words she could use to describe the vile man if there weren't so many to pick from.
"Astrid." Stock snapped sternly. His menacing tone tuned to her as her anger had turned on him. They stood toe to toe and glared at each other. Neither of them noticed Mildew slink off in the distance towards the northbound caves. Unfathomable caves that were a nightmare to climb and survive.
No one that is, except the Twins.
"Arr, guys," Tuff tried to interject this observance, only to suffer the double barrelled temper of both Stoick and Astrid as each turned and snapped in unison.
"What?!"
"What?!"
Tuff wasn't truly bothered. He simply pointed in the direction of Mildew's retreating old back.
"Mildew."
Both Stoick and Astrid stopped. Astrid's father released her and Stoick quietly gestured to the remaining search party. With plans to follow the old man.
"Hey, wouldn't it be great if there was like some way to track a person from, like, a box you could hold in your hands and locate them without moving one step?"
Tuff yammered on. As Stoick quietly ordered the group into action.
"Nar, it would be used on good people instead of tracing down the bad ones." Ruff added. Tuff looked thoughtful and then nodded.
"True. Guess we'll have to do it the old fashioned way,"
"Feet on the ground." Ruff finished for her brother.
"What say you Astrid…-"
Tuff looked around and noticed what no one else had, once again.
Astrid was gone.
So was her mother's Axe.
"Oh-oh," Tuff chimed in a singsong voice.
"Yeah, I wouldn't want to be Mildew right now."
Ruff joked. Tuff turned and carried on with his conversation.
"You mean to say you would like to be Mildew any other time?!" Tuff asked truly surprised. Ruff thumped him in response.
"No! Just saying, when a Viking tool takes Hiccup he takes on the true force of nature that is Astrid, and boy that girl is hotter and more angry than Thor's mightiest of thunderstorms."
Stoick over heard all this and noted in alarm that Astrid was gone, too.
"Astrid!" He called out but it was too late.
/
A further three days later and neither Mildew, Astrid or Hiccup had been found.
Hiccup woke in the cold damp of a cave and felt the fierce rows of hunger sweep through him. He felt sure, that after three days of no food, that Mildew had intended to starve him to death.
He'd only seen the old man once or twice in the last few days and he'd tried in vain to get him to release him.
When he'd first awoken in the cave he'd tried to escape his hands tied behind his back, but he'd reached the mouth of the cave and discovered that it dropped instantly down a waterfall so lascivious it would certainly kill anyone who fell from it's edge. There was a very narrow ledge that lead up to the forest clearing above, but there was no way he could climb it with his hands tired. He'd turned to try and find something to cut his bounds but Mildew had grabbed a hold of him again by then and future attempts to escape had been ailed by fatigue and hunger.
Now, he shivered in the bitting cold listening to the drowning sounds of the waterfall a mere few steps away.
It was dark save for the small bit of light shining through the gap in the mouth of the cave. So it must be day three. He mused. Or was it four?
He felt sure that by now the whole of Berk would have noticed he was missing but how on earth were they ever going to find him here? Mildew had carried him the whole way while he was unconscious so there wouldn't even be a trail of one foot one metal leg for them to follow.
"I knew I couldn't trust you to leave well enough alone, missy."
Hiccup looked up startled by Mildew's raspy voice and the familiar spirited voice of Astrid as she struggled against the old man's hold.
Within seconds Mildew appeared in the cave opening Astrid bound in one hand and her mother's axe in the other. The axe he'd actually broken back the night before their first Dragon Training class, and had replaced it with a new head. Not that Astrid was ever aware. For a heart wrenched moment he felt guilty that they were going to die here and he'd been lying to her for years.
Another regret flooded through him as he thought about another thing his was keeping from her.
The truth about how he felt about her.
He loved her, and he had never been able to tell her. Now they would die before he ever got the chance again.
"Astrid!" Hiccup cried out. She looked up and saw him and her face instantly lost its fury and became its indisputable beauty it always was, beneath the anger, beneath the warrior.
"Hiccup! You're okay?!"
Mildew tossed her down next to him and grabbed a bit of rope and bound them together.
"Astrid, what are you doing here? …uum, not that I'm not please to see you it's just…"
"Finding you of course, and don't worry I have a plan."
Hiccup felt himself laugh even as he feared the worse.
"Ain't I'm the one with the plans normally?"
Even with his back bound to hers he knew she was smiling.
"Don't be a greedy gutz."
"Wow a Tuff expression, nice, now I know everything's going to be alright, my crack shot rescuer has lost it."
Gently she elbowed him in the ribs and he winced, embracing the familiar pain as if she'd kissed him. Something he mournfully noted that she hadn't done since Snoggletog.
"Shut it!" Mildew snapped as he knelt to build a fire. His back to them. To Mildew's left Hiccup noticed a pile of fish. His mouth watered and he all but licked his lips like Toothless did when he was hungry…which was, let face it, always.
Oh, Bud….
They could sure use his Night Fury friend's help with getting them out of this one.
"Fool was leading me to you the whole time." Astrid whispered as she snarled in Mildew's direction. "I lost the trail two and half days ago out of Berk. I knew my only chance-"
"Was to let him catch you." Hiccup finished for her. Amazed, then a little ashamed he'd doubted her.
"Yep, now we're getting out of here."
"Arr, Astrid, I hate to ruin your brilliant plan but were tired up, and in case you've not noticed the cliff climb out of here."
He heard her sigh, annoyed but he sensed the affection beneath.
"Yes, I noticed and we won't be much longer. You think you can make the journey?"
Hiccup heard his stomach rumble as Mildew began to cook the fish he'd brought. It was thin hope that he'd share the meal with his captives.
"I've not eaten in days but I can make it. We have to get out of here I think Mildew's snapped. He caught me in his hut, I found Zippleback boots in his hut, he did frame our dragons Astrid, all of them."
"I knew it!" She said in a whisper. It was then that he felt a tugging upon the ropes.
"What are you doing?" He asked curious.
"Getting out of here, what does it look like?" It was then he felt the rope give way as Astrid, cut herself free from him and then herself.
"Mutton head didn't bother to check if I had any other weapons on me. Oh, like I don't know, my dagger!" She said triumphantly in a whisper.
"Yes, Astrid!" Hiccup felt a thrill of hope wash over him. They were going to get out of this.
That hope was soon to become wishful thinking. Then quickly it would become sheer terror.
"uh-whats-" Mildew looked up just as Astrid turned to cut his ropes. She had no time to set him free. Mildew grabbed Astrid's axe and attacked.
For an instant they were both surprised having never seen Mildew like this. He might be old but he was still a fighter and he was a surprising opponent for a mostly weapon-less Astrid.
"Astrid look out!" Hiccup cried as he watched helpless as the two fought, around and around the small cave, Mildew thumping his head as Astrid ducked under his arm and evaded her own axe wielded by a crazed Mildew.
Mildew took a bumbling step to face Astrid once more, Hiccup took the chance he was given and stuck out his leg and tripped Mildew up. The old man hit the ground with a bone cracking thud and a yelp of pain.
However harsh the force he'd fallen with, Mildew still was able to turn over and belted Hiccup across the face.
He soon returned to fight Astrid. Hiccup watched through watery eyes, seething with pain from the blow, as the pair fought closer and closer to the coves opening and the waterfall's edge.
"Astrid!" Hiccup tried to warn her but Mildew had seen it too and the malicious grin on his face was the hint Astrid didn't see in time.
"Two for the price of one." Mildew sneered as he drove Astrid further back, she expertly dogged and swayed each blow but her limbs were tired and her footing crumbled rock as she drew closer to the edge.
"Say hello to your Uncle in Valhalla, As…t…rid." Mildew chanted dragging out her name as he gave one last powerful sweep of the axe he'd stolen.
Astrid gave out a shriek as her foot slipped trying to doge the blow and she fell from the cave's opening and down the fierce water fall.
"ASTRID! NO!"
Mildew turned to face him and through the watery, hollow light from the cave's opening he could have swan he'd seen Mildew's eyes glow.
He knew he was next. In that one heartbeat though, he didn't care. Tears turned from pain and into grief.
This was all his fault. Their dragons, Astrid…
Mildew advanced on a bound Hiccup who was down on his knees head bowed, welcoming the executioner's axe.
His last thought was for Astrid, Toothless, his father…all he loved and the one burning disbelieving fact that Mildew was capable of such terrible things….
Mildew raised Astrid's axe high above his head and let it fall with a precise, sharp accuracy towards Hiccup's neck.
In that one fateful moment Hiccup bolted upright in bed at home, awaken in a cold sweat, a breathless cry upon his lips. His heart pounding and his breath hash and uneven with terror. For a moment he'd dreamt that he'd never made it out of Mildew's hut. That the spiteful, nasty man had caught him, had tied him up and then ….
He drew in a steadying breath and tried to calm his frantic heart and shaking limbs.
A low growl came from the other side of his room as Toothless woke up, noticed his master was distressed and came over to see what was the matter. He gently nudged his master's chest. Hiccup was instantly calmed by his friend's concern.
"Ohhh, it's alright Toothless, I'm fine, it was just a nightmare."
Hiccup put his legs over the side of his bed and prepared to get up.
"Very realistic, mind you." He added still untrusting of his legs to hold him up.
For a moment more he sat there and patted Toothless' head as he nudged and nuzzled gently at him.
The true story was that he'd not been caught by Mildew, he'd escaped and tried to tell his father about the boots. But Mildew had thrown them in the ocean, they'd tried to find them but to no avail. Later he'd been walking the cliff tops with Astrid, desperately despairing that they may never get their dragons back. When they'd spotted an invading enemy ship. They'd raced back to tell his father and after that things had turned from bad... to worse! Hiccup had tried to get to the docks and sail to get their dragons as with the armoury gone they were defenceless. Astrid and the gang had been sent to look after the young and elderly. Including Mildew. However the invading party lead by Alvin the Treacherous had been after Hiccup. He'd taken the group Astrid was with hostage. Hiccup had followed them and had been intending to hid until the right moment presented itself, and a plan to get them all out of this mess, the mess Mildew had put them all in.
His hand had been forced when Alvin had taken Astrid hostage, tugging harshly on her golden hair, causing her to cry out in pain. Hiccup had leapt from behind the large bolder he'd been hiding behind, before he'd even realised himself that he'd moved.
"Let her go." He called out. "I'm the Dragon Conquer" he'd proclaimed even though inside he knew that wasn't true at all. It had been what Alvin wanted to hear, and with one look at Astrid he'd suddenly had a plan.
He'd tricked Alvin into taking him to Dragon Island and with Toothless' help they'd broken free of Alvin. Both Toothless and him had nearly been shot down however by Alvin's men on the ship until Astrid and the gang arrived just in time. Together they'd burnt the ships and sent Alvin running.
All the dragons had returned to Berk to a hero's welcome.
Everyone was thrilled to have the dragons back, everyone that is except Mildew. Who's plans had been fouled by them all.
Hiccup had meant Mildew on the docks. Fiercely proclaiming what he knew to be true then and for all time.
"I may not be able to prove what you've done, but I will never forget it."
Apparently neither would his subconscious, but it didn't matter for just then down stairs his front door crashed open and Astrid appeared standing in the open sunlit doorway. Safe. Alive.
Hiccup smiled as he found the strength to stand up.
"Hiccup!" Astrid called out, peering through the soft darkness of the hut.
He leant over the edge of his room and looked down at her. His heart thumping wildly this time not for fear but elation. They were all safe, they'd bested Mildew, at least for now.
It had all been just a nightmare, fuelled by the less than pleasant truth of reality, of what had really happened.
He was safe, alive, Toothless was home, all the dragons were home, and Astrid….
Hiccup grinned at her.
"Right here," He called back happily. "Morning Astrid."
She looked up at him and her bright smile did odd things to his insides. He almost laughed at the joy of it.
"There you are, come on, everyone's waiting, Stoick wants us to do more training. In case Alvin's dumb enough to return and attack again he wants us ready. Come on."
Hiccup didn't need anymore incentive.
"Come on Bud, let's go."
Within an instant he was on Toothless' back and out the top window of his home, gliding effortlessly down the side, he rounded the corner to the front and met up with Astrid, now atop Stormfly's back, the others gathered around then, on their dragons and were ready to train.
This was life on Berk. Hectic, freezing, challenge at times, constantly under attack by psychotic madmen but it was home.
Their lives weren't over yet. Not like they had been in his nightmare. He was still alive and so where those who loved him, and who he loved.
He shared a look with Astrid and smiled. She smiled back at him before they all took off into the skies in perfect precision.
Life was great!
END
Eliana Robinson
11/5/17
CREATION DATE – 27/6/16
PUBLISH DATE – 11/5/17
Zippleback Boots For Hire Disclaimer
ZIPPLEBACK BOOTS FOR HIRE - is a mini Fanfiction of HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON I do not own the characters or original plotline.
This story is NOTfor official publication or profit.
ZIPPLEBACK BOOTS FOR HIRE is a mini fanfic in celebration of the HTTYD second year Anniversary for me and is purely meant as entertainment.
CREATION DATE – 27/6/16
PUBLISH DATE – 11/5/17
This fanfic is NOT connected to the "Dragon Adventures" Series By Eliana Robinson
NEWS: I've never really thought I'd write anything for Eret, however since the fans of A WARRIOR'S HEART SURRENDERS, have requested more Eret fics I've decided to incorporate his character into the DRAGON ADVENTURE SERIES…I just don't know how as of yet. Though I liked the story I thought I didn't quite capture his character all too well, apparently it was okay. I Hope you'll like them, when you get them. For now please enjoy the rest of The Second Year Anniversary Mini Fics and please let me know what you think on either my story pages or on any one of my youtube videos just type in Eliana Robinson to Youtube, I'd love to hear feedback on my work.
CONTEST: Can anyone name the expression used twice in my 2nd Yr Mini Anniversary Fanfics?
Word Hint: Stormfly.
Anyone who can tell me what it is gets the unprecedented offer to have a character in my next novel, or fanfic named after them, or a name of their choosing. I've never done that before so best be quick, find the hidden sentence used in two of my 2nd Yr Anniversary Fanfics and send me a message with the answer. Hurry contest ends JULY 1st 2017.
For more see the Youtube contest page; simply type in "Zippleback Boots For Hire (Readers' Contest) Contest Closes July 1st 2017" Eliana Robinson into youtube and it'll take you to the contest video and instructions.
Have Fun! Enjoy!