Today is the forth of July, an important day the world over for one fact and one fact alone. It's my birthday, you know what that means?
It means welcome, to a very special birthday chapter of The price of choice. Yay! Now join me in the most traditional of birthday songs:
He did the mash
He did the monster mash
The monster mash
It was a graveyard smash
He did the mash
It caught on in a flash
He did the mash
He did the monster mash
As always, many thanks to my beta HungryDemon, who also did the mash.
I don't own either How to Train Your Dragon nor Brave 2012. Although if someone where to give them to me as a birthday gift, that would be awesome (wink, wink, nudge, nudge.).
Chapter 7
After making sure his friends would go back home and watching them fly off, Hiccup, Merida and the other suitors rode towards Castle Dunbroch. Toothless was flying low, barely above the canopy of trees, to avoid detection.
Stopping at the edge of the forest, Merida continued by herself, in order to explain the situation. Leaving Hiccup alone with the young lords. He gazed at the castle in the distance with a small smile on his face; it was the biggest building he had ever seen!
Hiccup's smile aroused Ian's curiosity; he had never met a Viking before. "What are you smiling about?"
"I'm just glad I'm not the shortest person around anymore." Hiccup threw a sidelong glance at the Dingwall heir.
"I'd be careful if I were you, he bites," the other teen recommended. "So, what's the deal with you and that blonde?" The Macintosh heir asked out the blue.
"Nothing, we're just friends." Hiccup asked truthfully, a little surprised by the casualness in the other teen's voice, a casualness that was absent from his speech back at the camp.
"That didn't look like 'just friends' to me, come on, spill it." Ian egged him on.
"We are close friends," he relented. "But it never went further. And it never will."
"How deliciously poetic. However, leaving it unresolved like that, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth." Ian commented lightly.
Hiccup tilted his head to the side. "Unresolved? No, it's resolved. We talked about it, and said what we needed to say. The issue is dead and buried."
Ian gave him a pitying look; he obviously knew nothing about women. "In any case, I doubt your friends listened to you and are really on their way back."
"No," Hiccup agreed. "They are probably watching us right now."
"It seems as if your friends don't trust you." Ian searched the castle in the distance for some kind of activity.
"Yes, they're smart like that." Hiccup searched the night sky, as if he could find them by just looking. "But in this case, it's you guys they don't trust."
"And yet you seem not to care either way." Ian seemed intrigued.
"No offence to you guys, but I've dealt with uglier things than your lot." He scratched Toothless's head. "Besides, I'm a Viking, it's an occupational hazard."
Macintosh scowled at being called ugly, but seeing the lizard besides the skinny Viking, he conceded the point.
"I'm just bothered that I have to stay here for Thor knows how long," Hiccup confessed.
"Then why don't you go back?"
"Same reason you don't. I'm guessing." Seeing the challenging look on the Scottish teen he elaborated, "We have to do our best for the people we will eventually be responsible for. Anything else would be selfish." He ran a hand thru his hair. "Out of all of us here I imagine that the big guy over there is the only one to have any feelings for the princess at all."
Hanging around dragons so much had given Hiccup an uncanny ability to pick up nonverbal cues, which unfortunately served him little in Berk, because Vikings were not the most expressive of folks and honest to a fault. Furthermore, you didn't need to be an expert at it to pick up some very good tells of how things stood.
Ian Macintosh, whom he was currently speaking to, had seemed to have been trying impress Astrid and Ruffnut back at campfire, he made an effort to remain in their line of sight whenever possible, and struck weird poses when he thought they were looking.
William Dingwall for his part kept giving Ruffnut, and strangely enough, Tuffnut looks that were like the ones he used to give to Astrid back in the day. That brought back memories, uncomfortable ones.
Doric MacGuffin on the other hand kept his attention solely on Merida the whole time, he didn't openly stare at her though; but he kept her within arms' reach, ready to pull her back in case one of his friends or the dragons suddenly attacked. Gauging every action carefully. It was a powerful tell.
MacGuffin turned to them and said something that sounded vaguely impassionate. Hiccup and Ian looked at each other for a moment before Hiccup who had been nodding slowly, shrugged. "I got nothing."
Dingwall continued looking forward.
Macintosh shrugged back at him and returned his gaze to the castle in the distance. He had been the first one to accept the princess's proposal because, well, practically everyone loved him already, so getting the princess to fall for him would be easy. Also, because the idea intrigued him. He had long ago accepted that his marriage would be one of political maneuvering, if not to the princess, then probably to the daughter of a chieftain or to the female heir of some minor clan. Emotions never factored in to it, despite how the tales that the bards sang; speaking of true love prevailing thru impossible odds inflamed him so. He was simply too important for that. Then someone even more important than him defied that notion, how could he not approve?
It would be a while later that he realized that nothing had really changed. Marrying the princess was still the best possible outcome for his clan and he was sure the other two realized that as well, even if he was allowed to wed by love, the only thing that changed was the game they had to win. It wasn't really fair, and if he was honest with himself, it kind of pissed him off.
XxX
Inside the castle.
The moment Merida was let inside the castle she raced to the throne room, where she knew her parents were waiting. "Mum! Dad!"
Elinor was about to rebuke Merida for her loudness when she saw the look of worry on her daughter's face. "What is it Merida? Are you fine? Where are the young lords?"
Merida tried to catch her breath before speaking. "He's here, Mum, the Viking's here!"
Fergus immediately stood. "Are ye alright? How many o' them did ye see?"
"Jus' one," she lied, not wanting to tell them that she almost caused a war again by acting on impulse. "He's at the edge o' the forest with the lords' sons."
Fergus grimaced and exchanged glances with his wife. He had doubled patrols along the coast. How could he have gotten so close without anyone noticing? "He could nae have gotten this close without help, we must find the rest of his companions."
"No!" Merida interrupted. Thinking of what would happen if they actually found the dragon riding teens. "He's nae alone Dad! That's why he's on the forest. He's got a bloody dragon with him!"
Elinor paled, remembering half forgotten conversations and putting things together. "Merida, are you sure?"
"Course A'm bloody sure!" At her mother's disapproving look, Merida apologized and lowered her head. "It was big an scaly an had wings. A don't know what else it could be Mum."
Fergus narrowed his eyes. "It will be dangerous if he stays here. We must act carefully."
Merida's eyes widened.
"We would risk offending the Vikings," Elinor reminded him. "We will bring the boy here and judge where to go from there."
"Are ye feeling fine Mum?" Merida asked. She had never thought she would see the day where her dad asked for prudence and her mother, of all people, told him to just wing it.
"The situation is delicate Merida; in order to proceed correctly we need to know as much as we can. For the time being, our best source is the chief's son. Sending him away to the village or a farm would not do us any good."
"Aye," Fergus reluctantly agreed. "'Tis best if he stays. At least for the night."
XxX
It was a contingency of guards that met them at the edge of the forest to guide them to the castle. To say it was the biggest building Hiccup had even seen would be an understatement; he could see how hordes of invading Viking would have trouble storming such a place.
They were all ushered to the throne room, where even more guards waited for them.
The Queen observed the nervous Viking as he made his way, and suppressed a gasp when she saw what could only be a dragon trailing behind him. She hoped the guards did not startle the beast in to action.
While walking in the throne room, Hiccup had the feeling that his hosts didn't trust him. With guards all around and the other three suitors at his back, the feeling was strong indeed.
In front of him, sitting on twin thrones sat the King and Queen: A massive man with curly red hair and a peg leg that no doubt looked even bigger because none of the soldiers he had seen so far reached his chest. The Queen looked regal and sophisticated; Hiccup had never seen a woman like that. Sitting at her side were a trio of red headed boys who were staring at Toothless with eyes filled with wonder, while at the King's side sat the princess, giving him a cold look.
Stopping at what he considered a good distance before the throne, Hiccup wondered who was supposed to speak first. A sidelong glance at his friend revealed that he was getting ready to… oh, no. "Toothless, don't!"
Whatching Watching the Viking in front of him carefully, Fergus couldn't believe that this was a Viking's chief's son. Especially one whose title was "The Vast". This better not be a trap. Knowing the average Viking's girth and stature, he expected someone bigger. Except for his leg and his lizard there was nothing remarkable about the boy. Starting his greeting, his words died when he saw the dragon leap at his wife. Treachery!
The Queen felt terror overtake her for a moment as the beast leapt at her. Then the darndest thing happened: It stopped. The dragon halted right in front of her, gibing a few strong whiffs at the air around her before sitting on his haunches like one her husband's dogs, he gave her a big gummy smile. He does not have any teeth! Eyes wide and impossibly round, looking at her expectantly. Steeling herself, she reached out and gently patted the beast's head. She got a rumbling purr in return.
Fergus let loose a booming laugh. A fearsome beast indeed. He started to stand when a chilling growl stopped him midway. The dragon, that until moments ago had acted and looked more a playful puppy than a vicious killer, had completely changed his appearance. Crouching low on all for legs like a cat ready to pounce, his eyes were now slitted slit and narrowed in to a frightening scowl, and he apparently had somehow grown teeth, since he was bearing a row of sharp looking ones at him. He looked every bit the apex predator that he was. A fearsome beast indeed.
Mindful of the fact that his wife was right beside the beast and his three sons behind it, Fergus slowly sat down. As soon as he did, the dragon retook his earlier pose: sitting peacefully, eyes big and round, looking at him curiously. Fergus started to stand once again and the beast snarled at him, once again ready to pounce. He sat down and the dragon calmed down once more. The seen scene repeated itself a few more times before Hiccup decided to interfere.
"He won't let you near while you carry a weapon," He informed respectfully. "Your Majesty." He added as an afterthought, wondering if he was going to have to finish all his sentences that way from now on.
"How do ye know Ah'm carrying a weapon?" Fergus raised an eyebrow at the young Viking.
Hiccup shrugged. "I don't." He tilted his head in Toothless's direction. "He does."
Fergus nodded his head and very carefully reached to his side where he pulled out a concealed dagger and threw it behind him. He then repeated the process with a sword he carried on his back. This time when he stood up, Toothless stood still. Moving to stand in front of the dragon he scratched it behind his earflaps. Toothless gave no indication that he welcomed the treatment, but didn't reject it either.
Taking that as their cue, the triplets jumped on Toothless and started climbing all over him. Said dragon endured this stoically and gave Hiccup a look that clearly meant, 'You owe me for this.'
Gently dislodging the triplets, Toothless bounded to Hiccup's side and the Viking scratched the dragon's side to show his gratitude. "Thanks buddy," he whispered. "Warn me next time, you almost gave me a heart attack."
Toothless snorted softly in amusement.
"Well then!" Fergus all but shouted. "A believe introductions are in order. Ah'm King Fergus, an' this lovely lady by me side is me wife Queen Elinor. Ye already met me daughter princess Merida, an' those little monsters are the triples Harris, Hubert an Hamish." He pointed to each one, not really knowing if it was the correct one.
"You, A believe, are chief's Stoic's son: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third." Hiccup nodded. "What happened to yer leg boy?"
"I had a bad fall," he answered doggedly. "I don't mean to be rude Your Majesty, but we've been traveling for days and are very tired. The princess found us when we were getting ready to go to sleep."
"Of course." The Queen nodded. "We shall continue tomorrow. I will have someone ready a stable for your dragon. Maudie will take you to your room."
"If you don't mind, I would prefer not to be separated from Toothless. I can sleep on the stable just fine." I just want to go to sleep.
"Don't be daft lad," Fergus scolded. "It would ruin the treaty if A made ye sleep at the stables."
"I will not leave Toothless alone." Hiccup was firm in that.
"I would hate to contradict Your Highness," surprisingly, it was Ian Macintosh that talked. "But perhaps it would be unwise to separate the fire breathing dragon from the one person that can control it."
"Aye." The king agreed. "Maudie! Take hem to their room."
Hiccup was guided to the room he would be staying by a heavyset woman that seemed on the verge of fainting the whole way. As soon as he entered, Toothless bounded to a corner, warmed himself a bed on the stone floor and settled down to sleep.
Hiccup unpacked his things and prepared to sleep as well. He couldn't help but feel that he'd been to too hasty in sending his friends back. No doubt they were camping somewhere, since traveling at night was dangerous. One last night with friends under the stars would have been wonderful.
After a while of just laying there on the bed he sighed, he was so tired, nevertheless he could not sleep, no matter how hard he tried, so he decided to have a look at Gobber's notes. He grabbed a book and opened it on a random page:
I've been living with the Kombucha mushroom people for a few weeks now. No one is gonna believe I actually found them. Contrary to what the legends say, they're good people and they mostly just sit around all day.
Today, after some sort of trance, the elder told me that I would have to leave soon. I think he sensed that the Boneknapper is near. This is a problem. The jungle is too dense and the Kombucha use no tools or have metal of any kind, to top it off, except for my eggbeater all of my attachments were lost in the shipwreck. On hindsight, I should have been steering the boat instead of making myself an omelet. I'm gonna have to find a way sharpen that eggbeater enough for my purposes. I think that if I…
Hiccup closed the book; maybe he should give sleeping another try.
I'm still waiting on those puns guys and the MacGuffin thing too.
Alright, today on account of how awesome a day it is. We're going to have a more difficult challenge: Find the hidden song, tell me its name and the band that plays it and win a supper special awesome price.
Hint: It's not the Monter Mash.
Hey there, you are cordially invited to the party of the century, so if you're near CENSORED come on by, there will food, drinks, music and more.
So drop by CENSORED between CENSORED and CENSORED, in beautiful down town CENSORED. See you there!
The price of admission? Some feedback on the space below.
