Couldn't leave you all for too long after that last chapter. :)
CHAPTER TEN
The room was silent. Hiccup stood still, his eyes wide as he stared at the floor. The other Berserkers in the room appeared to be just as equally shocked, and sent each other worried glances. Dagur only laughed.
"You see?" He said, "Sometimes I think you forget that I'm deranged."
Hiccup gulped, and the full weight of what happened fell onto his shoulders. He was going to have to find another source of the antidote-before it was too late. With a sigh, he closed his eyes, leaned against the door behind him and slipped to the floor, unaware of his own actions. The Berserker next to him almost put a hand on his shoulder, but retracted it before Dagur noticed.
"Hm, I wonder if I should have done that?" Dagur asked himself, "Oh well. Too late to go back now, isn't it?"
There was a shout from outside the room, and the boat rocked on the water as something heavy, or perhaps multiple somethings, came over the side of the ship.
"You'd better get going Hiccup," Dagur said, turning his back on the boy, "We don't want anyone to know about our little chat, now do we?"
Hiccup heard him, but didn't bother even attempting to stand up. His mind was still in shock.
"Sir, I don't think he can move," the Berserker next to him said.
"Fine, then leave him there," Dagur said, waving his hand nonchalantly, "We could keep him as a hostage, right?"
"Dagur, I think I hear him in the hallway," someone whispered.
"Really? Stoick is here already?" Dagur asked, perking up, "Alright! Everyone, get ready for a FIGHT!"
The Berserker next to Hiccup pulled him away from the door, and held a knife to his face before Hiccup could even think of fighting him. All the other Berserkers likewise stepped away from the door, and Dagur stepped in front of all of them, brandishing his axe.
"STOICK!" He shouted, "We've got your precious SON! Come and get him!"
There was an angry roar from behind the door, and Hiccup's heart fell. Toothless was there, out in the hallway.
"Well now, the night fury is here after all!" Dagur grinned, "AREN'T YOU COMING, STOICK?"
The door to the room was unlocked, but apparently that didn't stop it from incurring wrath upon itself. The door crashed to the ground inside the room, and stepping over the broken door into the room was definitely not Stoick.
"'Ello, Dagur," Alvin the Treacherous smiled.
"Alvin?" Dagur asked, "This is a surprise. What are you doing here?"
"Didn't you 'ear, boy?" Alvin asked, "I'm fighting with the Berkians."
Toothless chose that moment to jump over the broken door and stand next to Alvin, growling loudly. Hiccup noticed that the dragon was hiding his tail underneath him, probably because he hadn't taken off his special tailfin.
"Allies?" Dagur asked, "Why?"
"Why, for one thing of course," Alvin said, "I came 'ere for the warstone."
"Warstone?" Dagur asked, "You mean the bellastone?" He reached into the trunk, still open on the table, and pulled out the stone. "This?" Toothless growled.
"Exactly," Alvin smiled, "Thought I'd have ta battle ya for it, tooth and nail, but turns out the people of Berk are doing half the battle for me. Now, just give me the stone, Dagur, 'nd I'll leave you and your armada in piece. For now."
Toothless growled again, then turned his attention from Dagur to Hiccup. The dragon moved closer to the boy, forcing the Berserkers in the room to take a hesitant step backwards. Toothless apparently didn't notice, because at that moment he stepped into the remains of the antidote and bent down to sniff it. He growled, sniffed in the general area at the trunk on the table, and then focused his attention on Dagur instead of Hiccup.
"Ya know what?" Alvin said, changing tactics, "I've got me an angry dragon right here. I think it might be wise if ya do what I say, Dagur."
Dagur growled fiercely, and looked at Toothless. Then he looked at Dagur, and then at Toothless again.
"Fine," he mumbled, reluctantly throwing the bellastone at Alvin. The warrior caught it expertly with one hand, and smiled a treacherous smile.
"Many thanks, Dagur," he said, "Now, 'ow about you let the boy go."
"Why?" Dagur asked, "He came here on his own. He's my hostage now. Why should I just let him go?"
"Oh, I don't know," Alvin said, fingering the bellastone as Toothless watched, "Maybe it's because the boy is the son of the chief, or maybe it's because 'is friend here is an angry dragon. Probably, you should let 'im go because there's an army of dragons surrounding this ship right this minute, and I don't think any of 'em would 'esitate ta set fire to the ship with you in it. Take me advice and let the boy go this time, Dagur, until ya've got the better odds."
Dagur growled, then turned to Hiccup with a smile.
"I trust there's nothing else we need to talk about?" he asked.
"No. We're done here." Hiccup said.
"Thought so," Dagur said. He pulled Hiccup by the collar to whisper in his ear, causing the Berserker who had been holding him to let go. "I purposefully didn't tell him you were sick, Hiccup, because I want you to do that on your own. And Hiccup? I don't take hostages when I'm in enemy territory. I'm not stupid. Just deranged."
Still holding Hiccup by the collar, Dagur swung him around and threw him towards Toothless. The dragon caught him with his head, and Hiccup turned around to face Dagur once more.
"Now that that's over with," Alvin said, casually tossing the stone in the air, "I'll just take this stone and leave. Maybe I'll put in a good word for you ta Stoick, Dagur. Anyway, I hope that we meet again under less adverse conditions."
Alvin turned to leave the room just as Hiccup finally managed to get on Toothless' back. The dragon turned around before leaving the room, and growled a warning to the Berserkers that clearly told them not to follow.
Suddenly, before anyone had a chance to react, Toothless threw a fireball directly at the table of the room, starting a fire instantly. As if immediately afraid of the consequences, the dragon bounded over Alvin and tossed him to the ground. Toothless bowed his head next to the man as if to apologize, but didn't stop running.
"Me stone!" Alvin shouted, "Dragon! You made me drop me stone!"
Toothless continued running, and with Hiccup clinging to his back he burst open the door leading to the deck and quickly flew off the ship, using the tailfin Hiccup made to steer himself into the woods.
Within seconds, the two of them landed in sight of Dagur's flagship, which was now securely sitting alone in the small lagoon. A quick glance at the surrounding area told Hiccup that Berk's army hadn't made it to the lagoon just yet, or if they did, it seemed that no one saw him leave. The ship and the surrounding area was empty, devoid of all life except for plants. Apparently, the dragons which had carried the ship had all flown off, their job completed.
"Thank you Toothless," Hiccup said, shivering as he rubbed the dragon on his head, "I think you destroyed Dagur's poison with that fireblast."
Toothless hummed happily, as if that had been his intention all along.
"Hiccup! There you are!" Astrid called out, landing next to him on Stormfly, "Where have you been? We've been fighting the battle without you!"
"Son! Are ya all right?" Stoick asked as Thornado landed next to Astrid, "The twins lost sight of you after we captured Dagur's ship."
"Um, I'm fine," Hiccup said, trying to hide his lie, and the fact that he was currently freezing, "Just following the plan."
"It wasn't in the plan you told us that you were going off somewhere alone," Astrid argued, "Is that Toothless' new tailfin?"
"Um, yeah," Hiccup said.
"Where's the saddle you had when the battle started?" Astrid asked.
Toothless purred, and moved aside a branch at Astrid's feet. Hiccup smiled in relief. Toothless must have taken the riding equipment off of the ship and hidden them here.
"Alright," Stoick said, "Now that that's answered, I have another question. Hiccup, what were you doing?"
"Alvin is inside Dagur's ship," Hiccup said, hoping to change the subject.
It worked.
"What?" Astrid and Stoick asked.
"He wanted to go talk to Alvin alone," Hiccup said, taking deep breaths to overcome his dizziness, "He wants something from him. Dad, once he gets it he's going to abandon Berk."
"I thought as much," Stoick said, "Has he come out yet?"
"No," Hiccup said truthfully. What was taking him so long? Maybe Toothless' fire-
From where Hiccup was surveying the flagship, he could see Alvin suddenly run onto the deck.
"He doesn't look like he has something with him," Astrid said.
It was true. Alvin's hands were empty.
The Outcast looked around him, and noticed the three riders on their dragons. He waved them over, and Stoick followed the command almost too easily.
"Um, Dad?" Hiccup asked as he father flew off, "What are you doing?"
"Come on Hiccup," Astrid said, taking to the air, "Let's go."
Hiccup was glad that Toothless was doing all the flying, because he suddenly felt very dizzy. The dragon landed on deck next to Stormfly.
"Dagur is still inside," Alvin said, "He's waiting for ya to talk to 'im, Stoick. But beware, there's a little bit o' fire damage down there. All taken care of, of course."
"That's strange," Stoick said, "I ordered all of the dragons to hold their fire. When I find out which one of 'em disobeyed my orders-"
"Stoick, that don't really matter, now does it?" Alvin asked, "Just be careful of Dagur. He's crying over some things of 'is which were burned to a crisp, I think. Heh heh, suits 'im right, it does!"
"Alvin," Astrid asked, "Did you get what you wanted?"
There was a small silence, until Alvin broke it with his laughter.
"So, you know, don't ye?" He asked, "I took what I wanted from Dagur, but I lost it below deck somewhere." He sent Toothless a small glare as he said this. "As soon as I find it again, I'm taking the Outcasts and leaving Berk."
"I understand," said Stoick, who really did understand, "Can we expect you to leave tonight?"
"Within the hour, more likely," Alvin said, "This was a nice little treaty, Stoick, I'll give ya that. And I think me men are really enjoying the battle."
"Well, I can't say that I'm surpri-" Stoick was interrupted by a loud bang, and the entire ship tilted to one side in the lagoon.
"Chief Stoick!" Dagur called out, suddenly standing there at the doorway on top of the stairs that led to the deck, "So nice to see you again!"
"What was that noise, Dagur?" Astrid asked boldly.
"Just a little something my people invented," Dagur said, "So sorry I have to leave you all just when the party was getting good, but I'm afraid I have to go."
"What?" Alvin asked.
"You're not going anywhere!" Astrid said.
"Eh. I think you're wrong." Dagur smiled, "See you around, Hiccup! Or maybe not. We'll see."
Dagur slammed the door shut, and Stoick and Alvin raced to open it. But for whatever reason, the door refused to budge.
"Look!" Astrid cried out, pointing over the side of the ship.
Something metal was moving underwater. And it was moving fast.
"Thornado! Quick!" Stoick shouted, and the dragon obediently fired his soundwaves at whatever that was.
"Stormfly!" Astrid shouted, and her dragon joined in the fire.
"Toothless," Hiccup spoke rather than shouted. But his dragon only shook his head sadly.
"Whatever that was, it got away," Astrid said, stepping back from the rail.
"Probably an escape ship," Hiccup said, "Though I don't know how they made one that works underwater."
"And they probably took me stone with them!" Alvin said in realization.
"Stone? What stone?" Stoick asked.
"Hey, does anyone else have this weird feeling?" Astrid asked.
"Like what?" Hiccup asked.
"Like, what was that noise that shook the entire ship? And why doesn't the ship feel right?" Astrid asked, her eyes meeting his.
Hiccup looked down, and noticed that the ship was far lower in the water than it should have been.
"Oh no," Hiccup said, "Everyone, we have to get off the ship! It's sinking!"
Hiccup scrambled back onto Toothless, Astrid onto Stormfly, and Stoick shared Thornado with Alvin. Within seconds, all of them were airborne, and they flew over to the area where Toothless had hidden his saddle.
They all watched, vikings and dragons, as Dagur's once proud flagship quickly sank into the lagoon.
"Well," Alvin said, "It seems as if I'll be staying for a few more days until I get me stone back."
"I can't believe that he sunk his own ship," Astrid said, "Wow, that plan sure backfired. No offense, Hiccup."
"At least we got the upper hand in the battle with Dagur's armada," Stoick said, "Last I knew, some of Dagur's ships were already turning around to head home."
"Let's go back to the battle," Astrid said, "If it's over, we're going to have to deal with the cleanup."
"Dagur will be back," Hiccup said, sitting up as straight as he could on Toothless, "We're going to have to be prepared for when he comes again."
He gulped. What if Dagur came back after Hiccup was gone? That is, if Hiccup couldn't find a cure in time? How was he going to protect the people then?
"He'd better be back soon," Alvin said, "I want me stone back."
"What is it with you and that stone?" Astrid asked.
"It's an ancient symbol of power," Alvin told her, "It's important."
"Puh," Astrid remarked eloquently, "Sounds like it's just an ordinary stone to me."
Hiccup sighed as he slowly made his way into his bedroom.
"I can't believe it," he said outloud, "Toothless, what am I going to do?"
The dragon turned around from where he had been arranging berries on his flatbed made of stone, and looked at Hiccup. His saddle equipment was back on again. He had insisted upon that before they even flew back to the village from the lagoon.
"I mean," Hiccup explained, "We won the battle, which is good. Casualties were minimal, which is...really rare actually. Normally Tuffnut at least breaks his nose or something in battle. But now I've got to lead the people against Dagur again, I have no idea when he's going to attack or if he even will, Alvin is still here on Berk and I'm in charge of him, and-" Hiccup fell onto his bed, thankfully free of plants, and thrust his face into his pillow. "Dagur destroyed the antidote," he mumbled.
Toothless left the plants on his bed and walked over to Hiccup, placing his head against the back of Hiccup's head in concern.
"I don't know what to do," Hiccup said, turning back over. He looked at his dragon friend in the eye, and said those words he hadn't said out loud before, and had hoped he would never have to say.
"Toothless, I'm dying," he said, "I need to find an antidote soon."
Toothless licked Hiccup's cheek sadly.
"Thanks bud," Hiccup said, taking a deep breath, "So. Here's the plan. I'm going to look everywhere I can for the antidote. And I'm going to find it. I'm also going to spend more time with my dad. I'm going to spend more time with Astrid...and the others. I'm not going to let Dagur get to me. I can do this. Poison or no poison. Right? I can DOthis!"
Hiccup sat up in his enthusiasm, and promptly fell off the bed onto the floor. Toothless nudged him back up.
"Ow," Hiccup said, "Guess I have to find a way to work around these weird side effects. At least your plants seem to have stopped the hallucinations. If I see another dancing yak, it'll be way too soon."
He gestured to the plants on Toothless' bed, and for the first time noticed that they were arranged into two piles.
"Say Toothless," Hiccup said, "I'm not sure if I asked before, but what are you doing with those plants?"
Toothless jumped up and down, excited. He yanked at Hiccup's sleeve until the boy followed him over to the plants.
"Okay," Hiccup said, "So let's see. You've got moss, twigs and ivy here in this pile, and all the berries over here. But you've still got some moss and ivy in this other pile. So why did you put them into two piles?"
Toothless pushed away the moss and twigs from one pile with his nose, and carefully showed Hiccup what was underneath. Sitting there innocently among the pile was the small stone. Just looking at it made Hiccup shiver.
"Oh my gosh," Hiccup said, "You took Alvin's stone?" Hiccup took a step back, away from that thing. "Well, that explains why you wouldn't fire at Dagur. You must have had this in your mouth the whole time."
Toothless nodded, and carefully covered the bellastone with the twigs and moss again.
"Toothless, it's not an egg, it's a rock," Hiccup sighed, "That thing makes me dizzy whenever I touch it. Wait a minute," he said, "If I give that to Alvin, he'll leave Berk-"
Toothless growled at him.
"Alright," Hiccup said, sounding defeated, "It's probably not a good idea to give it to Alvin anyway. I mean, who knows what he will do with it? Who knows what it does? Especially considering what it does to me..."
Hiccup looked at Toothless, then slowly walked back to his bed. The dragon bounded after him.
"It's alright, buddy," Hiccup said, "Just keep the stone away from me, okay? We'll keep it safe until we know more about it, and what to do with it. In the meantime, I think I need to lie down-"
"HICCUP!" Gobber shouted, throwing open the bedroom door, "What are you doing here, lad? It's three in the afternoon! We need your help in the great hall. Stoick is busy rebuilding the fortifications, but all our food has been torched! We need you to deal with the angry mob."
Hiccup groaned, and slowly got off the bed. Toothless jumped over to him and slipped the boy onto his back once more.
It was going to be a long day.