AN: Man, I just want to get this story over and done with. There are maybe two chapters left to go, which to me makes this fic astonishingly short. The reviews I've gotten have been nothing but kind, and for that I am glad. However, I want to know, how's my pacing? Plot? Transitions? These elements are very important, and I don't want to toss them by the wayside for the sake of characterization and fanservice.


Chapter Eight

The Queen's cries brought a panicked rush from the Great Hall. Fergus was the first to her side, only barely acknowledging Merida's return before demanding, "What happened?"

Elinor had collapsed to the floor, moaning and drained of color. Her pain was all too clear as she clutched at her leg and yet tried to hold it away from her. The dress smoked as though embers lay beneath the cloth, and Fergus tore it away without hesitation. It was an act that stopped the other Lords in their tracks; they stood in the doors to the Great Hall, the yellow light of the roaring fires spilling out around them. They stared at the unconscious Queen as the skirt of her dress ripped: the slim white thigh beneath it was red and bleeding, as if it had been branded.

"Maudie!"

Both Fergus and Merida bellowed desperately until the trusted nursemaid came. Her usually nervous demeanor vanished, and she ordered the Queen moved to her chambers. Fergus did this himself, cradling his shivering wife to his chest and carrying her through the castle. Merida followed, her tears of relief turned to fear, and Hiccup remained where he was, transfixed by helplessness.

The Lords and their men who had been feasting in the Hall now murmured among themselves, frightened by yet another unorthodox turn of events. Hiccup noticed with increasing discomfort that several of them kept glancing his way, and jumped when he felt something brush against his legs.

It was the triplets, their small mischievous faces now shockingly somber. They looked up at Hiccup forlornly, quite forgotten in the fuss. Licking his lips, the boy tried to say something reassuring.

"It's okay, guys. Your mom is going to be okay."

Hiccup was not the praying type, but at that moment, he hoped to the gods that he wasn't lying. The Queen had been fine one moment, and the next, she wasn't. Like Merida, he could only conclude that this was the result of the Bean-Nighe's spell, though he'd also considered every other possibility that his scientific mind could come up with. There weren't many.

More people approached, this time from the crowd of rowdy Lords. This time, it was three young men around Hiccup's age, though that appeared to be where their similarities ended. Each wore a different expression: the first was dark haired and had blue tattoos on his bare arms, and looked like he wanted to strangle the dragon rider. The second was extraordinarily pale even by Scottish standards, and looked like a terrified sheep caught in the path of a hungry dragon. The third hung back and was the largest of the troupe, wringing his hands anxiously.

"You," said the dark-haired one angrily, pointing an accusing finger at Hiccup. "Yer the one that's been spending so much time with the princess. The Queen told my Da that you're from up North, but yer not fooling me. You're not one of us."

The sheeplike one echoed, "Not fooling!"

Hiccup swallowed. Who were these guys? Friends of Merida's? "Look, I, uh, I don't see what that has to do with-"

"What happened to the Queen!?" Snapped the dark-haired boy. "You were out here, what did you see?"

"I didn't see anything!" Hiccup was quickly becoming tired of people screaming at him. "She was fine, and then she wasn't. If you want answers then why don't you go ask Merida."

The other one snarled. "Yer awful familiar with Her Highness." His eyes narrowed. "What are you, t'her?"

Really? Was that what this was about? "I fail to see why that's important, considering what just happened," Hiccup replied dryly.

The boy's eyes flashed with anger, and he seized the front of Hiccup's shirt. With a depressing amount of ease, he lifted the dragon rider right up off of the floor and drew back his other hand, ready to beat him to a pulp.

Hiccup squeezed his eyes shut and thought, Not again. However, the blow he expected never came. He was back on the ground so suddenly that his bad leg gave out from under him. His assailant cried out, and when Hiccup opened his eyes again, he saw why: the triplets had leapt at him, pummeling with tiny fists and kicking with little feet, one even biting down on the boy's ear, small redheaded whirlwinds of fury. At any other time, the sight would have been hilarious, but not far away the crowd of Scotsmen had begun to sound mutinous, demanding that DunBroch's men explain what was happening. Luckily, they were too busy to notice the boys' scrapping.

It took a moment for Hiccup to remember the triplets' names to call them off. "Harris! Hubert! Uh... Hagg-Hamish! Stop!"

The little ones jumped off of their victim and stood in front of Hiccup as he got to his feet. The dark-hair boy, looking much harried, faced him with astonishment and new respect.

"Look," Hiccup began, his tone firm, like the day he'd brought his classmates to the Training Ring in order to make peace with the dragons. "Your Queen is in danger, I'm not sure how and I'm not sure why. But I'm here to help." He inhaled. "My name's Hiccup."

The trio of youths exchanged glances. "Macintosh," said the dark one, pushing the hair out of his face.

"Dingwall," said the nervous one.

The third mumbled something that sounded like, "MacGuffin."

With an uneasy truce established, the boys moved closer as Hiccup continued to speak. "Okay. I'll tell you what I can." Hopefully they wouldn't think he was crazy. "There was this old woman, a witch, I guess. And Merida... Merida made a deal with her, and I guess she put a curse on the Queen-"

"Curse!?" Bleated the young Dingwall.

The word seemed to catch the mob's attention. "Curse?"

"What curse?"

"The Queen's been cursed!"

"Which one of you motherless dogs did it!?"

There was the sound of glass breaking, and there was a roar as the Scotsmen began to take out their frustrations on one another. Not wanting to get caught in the riot, Hiccup and the others fled up the stairs. The triplets stuck close to Hiccup's side, the news of the curse not helping to make them feel any better.

The ragtag group reached the second-floor landing. Now Macintosh spoke. "A curse?" His anger had returned. "And you just let Her Highness do it?"

"I didn't think curses even existed before today!" Hiccup said defensively. He still didn't want to believe. "But maybe there's something we can do..."

The others were looking over Hiccup's shoulder. He turned and saw Merida standing in a corridor, watching them with something like surprise on her face. The triplets ran to her and she encouraged them to go to the Queen's side.

She heard the fighting downstairs as she came nearer. Before she said anything, Hiccup asked, "How is she?"

Merida was despondent. "I... I don't know."

The image of her Mother-hurt, and possibly dying-in her Father's embrace would stay in her memory forever. Elinor was unconscious when Maudie stripped her of her dress, exposing the wound which had no explanation. It was clear, however, that the burn on Elinor's leg was not the only thing wrong; the Queen burned with fever, and shook with the chills.

It was entirely Merida's fault, and she knew it. Why had she been so foolish? Just moments before, it had seemed like everything was going to be all right. She wish she could take it all back...

That was it! The wish!

Her hand snaked out and she gripped Hiccup's arm with almost painful strength. "The witch! We have to find her! We can make this all stop!"

"You mean the witch that you asked to curse the Queen?" Macintosh loomed over them both. His distrust was almost palpable. "Yer own mother?"

Merida recoiled from his wrath. Up until now, the young Lords had been nothing but obstacles to her; their accusatory stares and aggressive postures were an affront to her ideas of them as vapid, misogynist villains. Now, though, they were unbearably human.

"I-I-" She gibbered, her temper flaring. "I did this because of you! I don't want to marry you, not any of you!"

They looked at her, wide-eyed, as if she'd grown an extra head. Macintosh seemed like he very much wanted to hit her. "And do you think we wanted to marry you?"

"Do you really think that's important right now?" Hiccup was getting tired of playing ambassador, but positioned himself between them, hands upraised. "Do we wanna keep fighting or do we want to do something?"

They didn't get a chance to answer. A shaking rolled in from every direction, across the hills, to the cliffs by the sea, up the stones of Castle DunBroch. It began as a low rumble but built up into a roar, a cacophony of rage and despair that rattled their very bones. The fighting downstairs became abruptly still, but the noise went on and on.

"Mother!" Merida tore down the corridor, Hiccup and the young Lords fast behind her. The bucking floor made them stumble and fall, but they made their way to the Queen's chambers. They found Fergus hunched protectively over his unconscious wife, and poor Maudie shrieking in the doorway. The triplets looked out, pale and frightened, from under the four-poster bed. One window looked out to the sea, but through the other, across the gloom of the night, they saw the black, brooding shape of Beinn Mor engulfed in flames.

"No!" Merida wailed, flying across the room to the window. She saw a dark, impossibly huge shape break from the peak and take to the sky. She couldn't believe it, she didn't want to think it was happening. Like she had done in the Great Hall, she turned, searching out Hiccup in the face of fear-blanched faces. She knew he would understand when she whispered, "Mor'du."

Though she was quiet, Fergus heard the name loud and clear. "Mor'du?" He became like a man possessed, his hair sticking out in every direction, his eyes wide and blazing. He still leaned over Elinor, but had a hand on the greatsword sheathed across his back, ready for the attack. "That devil? Is he returned?"

The shaking stopped, but another malevolent roar echoed across the Isle of Mull. Merida's thoughts raced. Why this? Why now?

Her mind went immediately to the story of how her parents had met. When they were both still young and spry, and when the people of DunBroch had still feared the sleeping dragon. Was the dragon's sudden wakefulness related to the her mother's hurt? Her wound, visible still and slathered in Maudie's healing poultices, looked very much like a burn, though the Queen had been near no flames.

Her mother had not, no. But the skin...

"He's after Mum!" Merida screamed with sudden understanding. "He's after her! She has to hide!"

Hiccup took a step back as Merida pushed past him to Elinor's other side. She was a dervish, shaking the Queen awake.

Elinor cried out in pain as soon as she was conscious. She could barely make out of her husband and daughter, though she could feel their breath on her face.

"Fergus..." The Queen groaned. By the Old Ways, her leg hurt, why did it hurt? "Merida..?"

"Mum, you have to go," Merida sobbed. "Mor'du, he's coming. He's coming for you!"

Dazed as she was, Elinor had mind enough to chide her daughter. "Merida, don't be... don't be ridiculous. Mor'du is gone..."

Another howl rocked the hills, and Maudie whimpered. The clamor of boots and armor began to come at them from down the corridor.

Elinor instantly understood. "Fergus!" She groped for her husband's hand, so much bigger than her own. At the same time, Fergus's head guardsman, joined by the older Lords Macintosh, Dingwall, and Macguffin, tried to press into the room.

"Your Majesty!"

"The dragon!"

"Fergus, what is the meeting of this!?"

"GET OUT!" The great king bellowed, so loud that the castle might have collapsed. The men tumbled away obediently, but they could hear screams of terror from the courtyard.

They did not have a moment to lose. "We must get the Queen to safety," Fergus ordered. He looked pointedly at Maudie, who gathered her courage and approached the bed. She looked to Merida for help, but the princess, quivering, stepped away.

"No," she said softly. "I... I did this. And I must make it right."

Fergus, uncomprehending, only stared at her. The young Lords, gathered wordlessly behind Hiccup, were equally astonished when she faced them.

Her words were hard to find. "I-I'm sorry," it almost pained her to say it. "I've done nothing but hurt and humiliate you. But please, please trust me. I will fix this." She clasped her hands together. "Help me. Get my mother somewhere safe."

It seemed for a moment that they would refuse. Macintosh met her eye squarely and Dingwall seemed like he would wet himself. But MacGuffin, mumbling, moved around them to stand before the Queen.

"Your Majesty," he said, and extended a hand shyly.

Elinor was watching her daughter when she spoke. "Thank you. Merida..."

The princess flinched. "Mum. I'm sorry."

Silence would not last a moment. Fergus asserted himself as High Lord and King of the Land once more. "Boys. To the lower levels. Ye'll find a tunnel in the rock, te the sea. Take her there." He'd pulled his sword free, the blade gleaming in the firelight streaming in from outside; the villages that dotted the mountainside had been reduced to burning rubble, and it would not be long before Mor'du reached the castle. "We will handle the beast."

The Lords outside the room heard that and raised a cheer, though the sincerity of their bravado was anybody's guess. Fergus charged from the room, yelling for arms and armor. The Queen's chamber was oddly quiet once he'd left as the young Lords assembled around the Queen, who wrapped herself in a simpler gown with Maudie's assistance. Her injured leg hampered her a great deal, and a different sort of pain seemed to have a hold of her entirely.

"Merida, love," she said quickly, trying to dissuade her daughter from going. "Don't do this. Don't fight him. He's a dragon, I will go to him. I only wanted you safe-"

"I know that, Mum. But I can't let you," Merida did not turn away now as Elinor stroked her hair. They embraced for what felt like the first time. "I have to do this. I have to take responsibility."

Merida took a step back and found Hiccup beside her. He looked terrified, but resigned, and she knew he would be up for the task ahead.

"Hiccup, will you and Toothless..?"

The young Viking swallowed and nodded. "Oh yeah. We've done this before."


Once the Queen and her entourage had begun their awkward progress into the bowels of the cliffs, accompanied by Maudie and the triplets, Merida and Hiccup raced into the castle's courtyard. There, the Bear King's men were gathering, along with the warriors that had come with the older Lords MacGuffin, Dingwall, and Macintosh. Their axes and greatswords flashed in the orange light of torches, and as the teenagers pushed through them, they saw more men on horses pulling wagons of large wooden beams out of the gates, toward the muddy fields. Tents and tournament rings were quickly torn down before the sparks of the burning forest could reach them and set them alight.

Great gashes of flame bled smoke into the sky, blocking out the stars even as it reflected light onto the chaos below. More roars shook the world, but Mor'du, for the time being, was nowhere to be seen.

"Toothless!" Hiccup shouted over the clamor. He knew his dragon friend would hear him, but at the same time, feared that he wouldn't be able to respond. "Toothless!"

Merida raced to the stable. In his stall, Angus was nearly frantic, tossing his head and pawing at the dirt. The princess brought their faces close together; he immediately stilled, his big dewy eye staring wide into the girl's own ice-blue ones. She spoke to him in a whisper, confessing what she'd done. And while he didn't completely understand-he was, after all, only a horse-she knew he would forgive her.

Even with his unconditional forgiveness, she asked him one more favor.

"Go to my Da, Angus," Merida told him, passing her hand over his nose. "Help him, protect him. You can't come with me this time."

The stallion snorted rebelliously, eyes rolling at the smell of smoke on the wind. But he followed as Merida lead him out, toward the great silhouette of her father.

"Go on," she said, slapping his rump before turning to follow the sound of Hiccup's voice. He had climbed to the battlements, crying out for Toothless, but his voice was drowned out in another hill-shaking rumble.

Merida took the steps two at a time, one hand on the bow slung across her chest. She reached Hiccup in time to see a dark shape break from the trees in the distance, bounding across the fields toward the castle. It leapt over shouting Scots and answered Hiccup with its own feral scream.

"Toothless!" This time, Hiccup said it with relief. He had imagined all the horrible ways his dragon friend might have already been scorched, squished, or otherwise killed by Mor'du's onslaught. The enemy dragon in question had not yet appeared above DunBroch, however, but it was only a matter of time.

Ignoring the fright of DunBroch's men, Toothless jumped up to the top of the wall, gnashing his teeth anxiously. Hiccup threw his arms around the dragon's neck only for a moment before tossing himself in the saddle, Merida immediately behind him.

"So what's the plan?" Hiccup asked. He very much hoped there was a plan.

"Mum," Merida gasped. She was scared, more scared than she had ever been before in her life. But at the same time, she knew what she had to do. "I have to get that skin back for Mum. It's the only way to save her."

Hiccup had no choice but to trust her, and he did. Completely, despite all evidence pointing to just how untrustworthy this reckless teenage girl really was. "Uh, have any idea where it might be?"

Merida's voice quivered with fear. "I think... I think Mor'du has it."

Great. "Oh?" Hiccup's own voice cracked. "So are we just going to ask him politely to give it back? 'Excuse me, Mr. Fire Breathing Hell Dragon, there's been a mistake.'" Hiccup jerked around in his seat to face her. "Let me tell you, these kinds of dragons aren't exactly the negotiating type!"

Merida inhaled, ready to retaliate just as a small, shining black dart buzzed over the courtyard. It was almost impossible to tell what it was if not for the harsh, hoarse shriek it emitted.

Merida's sharp words died on her lips. "Follow that crow!" She yelled, and no sooner had she said it that Toothless launched into the air, his bat-like wings propelling them upward as Hiccup steered. The princess could feel boy and dragon becoming one and the same, an unstoppable force that she was glad to have on her side.

As they rose, so too did the smoke, stinging their eyes and filling their lungs. But they did not lose sight of the crow, its black feathers flashing in front of them like a lantern left out to guide returning ships. Without a doubt, it was the same crow that had been with the Bean Nighe, and the same crow that had taken Elinor's cloak. But why now is it helping us? Merida wondered, as the castle of DunBroch disappeared behind them, and the crouching mass of Beinn Mor loomed.