Chapter Ten: What She'll do Unto You.
The word that Salomon lost a hand to an assassin reached the whole kingdom within a half hour after he reached the infirmary. He wouldn't dare rat out his sister after what she did to him; for fear that she really would keep her word and take his head. He looked down at his stump hardly believing his own sister did that to him. So, it made the telling of this new lie all the more easier for him.
The Prince thought about his curse, surly he couldn't hide it from everyone for very long; but recalling what his parents did to Hiccup when he called him a Weredragon, he wouldn't admit it. He would flee his kingdom, the Vikings would eventually find the Vessel of Fear, and end his, and Sir Dillard's, curse soon enough. No one would ever know that he was a werewolf.
Astrid, Anora, Fishlegs, and Ruffnut found Claudette on the cliff, still weeping.
"Hey, we heard what happened to your brother's hand. Are you alright?" Fishlegs asked her.
"No… It's because I'm the one who cut off his hand. You should've seen what he did to Hiccup. Astrid was there when that happened."
"Yeah, Salomon accused Hiccup of being a weredragon and he got arrested." Astrid replied.
"What?" Ruffnut said.
"We're not kidding, Ruff. Hiccup is sitting in that dungeon as we speak." Claudette replied.
"So do we get to bust him out?" Ruffnut asked with eagerness.
"No, as long as tonight isn't one of Hiccup's Dragon Nights, which chances are that it is not, they will find out that my brother was lying. Our objective should be to capture Salomon once he leaves the infirmary and show the kingdom what he is. After that, Salomon would be locked up, like Sir Dillard, and we can go on and hunt for the Vessel of Fear's lair."
"Why would we have to capture him?" Ruffnut asked.
"When I cut off his hand, I found him packing his saddlebags. He wants to escape this kingdom to make sure nobody finds out that he is cursed."
"So let me guess, you're going to go back to his room, chase or escort him outside where Whoshadow can catch him, drop him in the center of town just as the sun is setting." Astrid stated.
"That is the plan exactly; but if Salomon gets past me, he will head straight for the forest. So I need you all and the remaining dragon riders to make sure that he doesn't escape." Claudette replied.
Salomon knew nothing of his sister's plans for him. The moment he was discharged, he eagerly departed with his remaining hand grasping his bandaged stump, and headed straight for his room to collect his prepared saddlebags.
He was lucky to have beaten Claudette there. He may not've known that she was collaborating with friends to help her to bring him to justice, but he knew that she would be coming for him once she found out about his discharge. Now with the saddlebags in hand, it was time to make a break for it. He considered on stealing one of the dragons, but the risk of another rider catching him in the air scared him away from that idea. The Vikings were already angry with him for getting their Chief arrested; he didn't want to up the ante on their anger by stealing one of the beloved beasts. So, he made a run for the stables, where he would ride off on horseback.
He made it to the stables, and prepared his horse to be ridden.
"DAMN IT!" Claudette swore. She just made it to her brother's room, thirty minutes after her discharge time, but there was still hope. She stepped out onto the balcony and signaled to Astrid to get the other riders into position.
As the riders were working on surrounding the kingdom, Claudette called for Whoshadow and hatchlings and flew towards the stables. Where to her frustration, she caught her brother's horse heading towards the forest. Luckily for her though, the dragons were beginning to descend upon him, starting with Snotlout and Hookfang.
The roaring of a dragon is unmistakable, but Prince Salomon continued to urge his horse to keep galloping into the forest. The sun had at least fifteen to twenty minutes before he would be in deep shit.
His efforts in trying to outrun a group of perturbed Vikings on the backs of dragons proved to be futile though. Hookfang had passed him and landed in their path. The massive beast ignited itself, thus spooking the horse, and it threw Salomon off of its back. The battered Prince landed on the ground with a harsh thump, and was promptly surrounded by dragons.
"Please, stay away from me! The sun will be setting soon." He pleaded with the Vikings.
"Shut your hole, you pompous git! We already know what we're getting into." Gobber snapped. The blacksmith rarely got angry, but in this case he wasn't in the mood for putting his usual damper on his temper.
"What?" Salomon asked.
"I told them, Salomon, all of these Vikings know what you did to their Chief and what kind of monster you are! Now, Whoshadow, fetch him for me please." Claudette declared. Whoshadow sprang into action and took the Prince in her talons.
"The sun will be setting soon… and based off of what I heard, our prisoners get pretty interesting at night." A guard stated.
"Yes, rumor had it that the foreigner is a weredragon, and the knight is a werewolf. Would you mind if I stuck around to witness their metamorphosis's?" A palace butler replied.
"Not at all, I would be grateful for your company." The guard stated, taking a glance into Hiccup's cell. He looked back to the butler and added: "This one has been unusually quiet. He never said a word to me, other than 'thank you' when I brought him lunch. Sir Dillard, over in the cell across his, has tried engaging him in conversation, but didn't get much. Oh well, I'm sure that he'll have a lot more to say when the dragon in him takes over his human self."
The butler looked into Hiccup's cell. He was looking out the small window at the sunset. When Hiccup glanced at the butler, he was startled to see Hiccup's eyes for the first time. The rumors specifically said that he had dragon eyes, but he had a hard time imagining them on a person.
Hiccup returned his attention to the window at the setting sun. He wished to be free, but he knew that freedom was only a sunset away. He knew it in his scales.
Whoshadow was hovering over town, drawing the attention of the peasants. They formed a ring around the hovering dragon, and their gawking eyes struck horror into the heart of the Prince, as he now knew that his own sister was going to give him his worst nightmare.
"No! Please, Claudette, anything but this!" Salomon pleaded.
"I'm sorry, but this is your punishment." Claudette replied. Whoshadow and her hatchlings snarled at him. A moment later, the crazed Skrill dropped him into the ring of peasants. The dragon riders landed, knowing full well that they would have to defend them.
Salomon looked over to the western horizon, and found that the sun would set in a matter of a few minutes.
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!" Sir Dillard screamed, he twisted and convulsed within his cell, the guard and butler were gathered by the bars to watch him go through the agonizing metamorphosis.
"It's amazing how a person can endure this without passing out." The butler declared, hearing the moaning of the man becoming a werewolf.
Sir Dillard's change only took about three minutes. Both the guard and butler were frightened as well as amazed, oh the stories they could tell to frighten the children… but what about the weredragon? They didn't hear anything out of him, so they turned around and looked into Hiccup's cell; and there he was, just sitting in a corner, looking out his window at the night sky, twiddling his thumbs.
"What is this? Shouldn't you be changing too?" The guard asked him.
"Yes, provided if I was actually a weredragon." Hiccup replied.
"Get the King, Rob, either there has been a mistake, or the Prince lied." The guard ordered the butler.
"It was no mistake, the Prince lied to the King to protect his secret. Now are you going to let me out?" Hiccup told the guard.
"Oh, yeah… Now what secret is the Prince hiding?" The guard asked fiddling with his keys.
The peasants were shocked over what they had just witnessed. The being that was once their future King had been replaced with a horrifying monster. There were a few women who swooned, children were crying in fear, and men were prepared to run with their families in case the beast got past the dragons.
"Somebody get the King!" A woman in the background exclaimed. With that, their blacksmith made a run for the palace.
"See, Sire, the night didn't change him." Rob told King Hubert, gesturing to the free Hiccup.
"My son… he said that you were a weredragon." King Hubert stated, looking at Hiccup with disbelief.
"It's true that sometimes the night changes me, when given the right situation, but it's not an every night thing. In fact, I can actually control the changes. The reason why I didn't tell you this is because I want to keep it a secret. Not all of my allies need to know about this ability. Now, what we didn't get the chance to tell you is that Salomon is a werewolf." He replied. Hubert's eyes widened and stepped back from Hiccup.
"How dare you accuse my son of being a monster?" He snapped.
"I saw his change with my own eyes, and I have no reason to lie to you!" Hiccup retorted.
"No! I refuse to believe it!" Hubert exclaimed, putting his hands over his ears. It was a moment later when the blacksmith rushed into the room, panting, and told the King: "Your Majesty… we… have a… situation… in the… town… square. The Prince… is a… werewolf!"
"Are you going to call him a liar?" Hiccup asked Hubert calmly and seriously.
"Someone get my horse ready then!" King Hubert ordered.
"Ha, if you ask me nicely, I can fly you there." Hiccup told him.
"Will you?" He asked.
"I can arrange that." Hiccup replied. He ran out of the dungeon, through the main doors of the palace, and mimicked the Night Fury call. In a matter of a few seconds, Toothless landed before him. Hiccup looked over to the King and told him: "Hop on behind me."
With the King on Toothless' saddle, the Night Fury took off, and headed for the town square.
"Hiccup's free!" Astrid called out spotting the approaching Night Fury.
"Daddy!" Anora called out. Astrid then urged Stormfly to take to the sky and meet up with Toothless.
"It's good to see that they haven't been mistreating you." Astrid told Hiccup.
"Jail is not as bad as you may think, but I'd rather not go back. I'm glad to see that the two of you are alright." He replied. He looked down and spotted the werewolf, then he asked Astrid: "How're you all handling Salomon?"
"That ring is doing a good job in holding him in place, but we would rather we didn't have to stick around all night, waiting for him to change back." She replied.
"Let's see if either Vastra, Enya, or Thorn can use their lightning to knock him out. I have a strange feeling that rope from nets and bolas won't be strong enough to restrain him." Hiccup stated. They landed their dragons on either side of Whoshadow.
"It's nice to have you back in the game, Hiccup." Claudette stated.
"Thank you… Alright, Vastra, Enya, Thorn, go into the ring and see if you can knock him out."
"YEAH!" The Skrill hatchlings cheered. They fluttered around the werewolf, trying to dodge his claws and strike him at the same time. Whoshadow was getting worried that they might get their wings torn by said claws, and if that happened, she would become enraged and have to take care of Salomon herself.
Hiccup signaled to Snotlout, and made a gesture that he wanted him to cause a distraction for the werewolf, so the beast would see the hatchlings as a lesser threat, and therefore, divert most of his attention to the Monstrous Nightmare.
"Hookfang, flames!" Snotlout ordered. The massive beast set himself on fire and roared at the werewolf. Hiccup wasn't too sure what was going to happen, but he didn't fully anticipate that Hookfang would use his tail to knock down Salomon. With the werewolf on the ground, Enya sent a spark of lightning to Salomon's head, knocking him out.
With the werewolf unconscious, Hiccup gestured to the twins and Helga to tie up the beast with rope. They didn't have to worry about Salomon waking up anytime soon, and as they were tying up Salomon, the peasants let out their sighs of relief. After he was tied up, Stoick and Gobber took it upon themselves to carry the werewolf to the dungeon, and locked up the Prince.
"I am terribly sorry about my abhorrent behavior towards you, Chief Hiccup, I hope you can forgive me." Hubert stated.
"I will in time."
"I will also make sure that Salomon is properly punished for his lies, I know he was raised better than that. So, is there anything I can do for you to make amends?" King Hubert asked.
"All I want right now is to have a private dinner with Astrid and Anora and go to bed really. Oh, and would you mind rewarding the dragons by feeding them those fried fish and custard they liked so much?" Hiccup replied.
"Very well then. I'll have the meal sent to your room, and if the dragons are willing to stick around in the dining room, they'll be treated." Hubert told him. With that said and done, Hiccup took Anora in his arms and headed for the room.
"Daddy, can I go flying with Midnightfire and the Skrills tomorrow?" Anora asked.
"We'll see, but tomorrow, I have the feeling that the King and Queen would want Mommy and Daddy to go monster hunting." Hiccup replied.
Later on that night, the sounds of happy dragons enjoying fish and custard could be heard throughout the palace.
I hope this chapter was worth the wait. So, out of curiosity, what is YOUR inner dragon?