Done! I found this chapter very hard, turns out I'm good at writing fluff, but not so good at writing scenes where things actually happen. I thought school holidays were meant to be relaxing occasions, but I'm flat out all the way through, so it turns out I won't have as much writing time as I thought. Sorry!
Quick note on the story cover: I'm very proud of it and spent a lot of time on it. Some of you might have noticed that it changed a few times. I designed it on a Brave poster, where instead of Toothless there was a bear. I then drew it with Toothless, but it didn't come out very well on camera, so I then photo-shopped it. It was a lot of work, and I'm not particularly artistically talented, so I just wanted to let you know! ;-)
Enjoy the story! It's a bit shorter this time.
Hiccup
I slept on the floor again last night, but with a pillow and a blanket. I could get used to pillows.
Breakfast was a lonely affair. The DunBroch family were busy in preparations, but a servant girl said I could help myself. I did, trying new fruits, breads and pastries. The food was delicious, but rich, and I was soon full. After that, I was left alone to contemplate. That was the last thing I wanted.
On Toothless, height was glorious. The higher the better. It was freer, fresher, and fuller. But I didn't have Toothless. I had to do this on my own, and I was rather nervous.
I decided to go for a walk and I found myself, once again, at the library. Deciding I needed the distraction, I pulled out a random book, turned to a random page, and started reading. I guess I was hoping for some amazing revelation, but none came. I continued to read anyway. It was boring dribble about some war eons ago. If I hadn't been so anxious, I would have fallen asleep there and then.
That's where some guards found and escorted me to the site of my quest. The place had transformed since yesterday. There were tents everywhere, some with food, some with stalls and others as gathering places. My quest had been turned into an all-out festive occasion.
I was standing there, staring at the pandemonium, when Merida found me. She had been transformed. She was wearing an emerald green silky dress, with gold lining. Her hair was wound in a tight, intricately braided bun, and she had a gold chain around her neck.
"There you are!" she gave an annoyed cry. "I have been stuffed into this gammy dress and forced to be all prim and polite! Help me!"
I just stood there in silent shock, and she just gave a violent groan, pushing me into the mass of people.
"We have perhaps an hour to have some fun, before my mother finds us, and I'm jolly well going to use that hour," she informed me as we waded through the crowds.
We visited stalls, playing games and trying foods. It was actually quite fun, and I had almost completely forgot my impending trial.
We were just laughing over a silly game we had just tried to play, when something caught Merida's eye, and she dragged me over to a food stand. She gave me a wicked smile.
"You have to try this," she told me, before talking to the stall owner, out of my hearing. She gave me a great brown lump of what I think was meant to be meat. Then she watched me intently, and I gave her a confused look. She looked a bit like Toothless when he was waiting for me to eat his regurgitated fish. That was comforting.
"Go on," she coaxed, "eat it."
I gave her an acknowledging grimace, then took a bite. It was fairly bland tasting, with a hint of herbs in it.
"Mmmm," I spoke through my mouthful, "not bad. What is it?"
"It's haggis," she grinned excitedly.
I nodded, and took another bite.
"It's sheep stomach," she continued, looking at me expectantly.
I nodded again, slightly puzzled by her hawk like stare. "I've always liked mutton."
Her face dropped in disappointment, and a hint of shock. Then she shrugged and grinned again.
"Huh, foreigners are usually put off by that."
I shrugged and continued to eat, "I'm a Viking, it takes a bit more than a lump of meat to put me off."
"I'll have to remember that," she responded, before taking off towards another stand.
However, our little adventure didn't last much longer. Elinor found us at a weapons stall. Merida was eying off some arrows, while I was studying the metalwork.
"You two! What are you doing running around like stray children? Merida! This is no time for weapons. Put that down!" And just like that, we were dragged off to a large tent where, apparently, the royal family was residing.
Fergus sat waiting for us. He greeted us, then went on to explain the triplets' absence.
"They'll be off in the celebrations somewhere, pulling jokes on poor, drunk men," Fergus explained, with a hint of nostalgia in his voice. "They're father's love of adventure and humour, with their mother's smarts and cunning."
"Cunning, dear?" Elinor queried, with a warning voice.
Fergus ignored the deadly tone, and answered, "Aye, as cunning as a wee fox."
The Queen glared at her husband, then huffed and turned to me.
"The sun is almost at its highest, your quest will be start very soon. Are you ready?"
I shrugged off my nerves and doubts, they weren't wanted here, and nodded with a fixed look of determination on my face.
"Definitely."
After a few more details were explained, we started our parade to the Crone's Tooth. The king led, followed by Merida and I, with Elinor at the rear. From some unknown place, a horn sounded, and the large crowds began to congregate in the same direction we were headed.
We were led up onto a dais, facing the large rock formation. The queen called for silence, and the audience obeyed.
"Welcome all! We are brought here today to settle a peace treaty with the Hairy Hooligan Tribe! I have here, with me, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, heir to the chief of the tribe. Today he will prove his worthiness, by climbing to the top of the Crone's Tooth, and retrieving this piece of paper, the treaty." She held up a formal piece of parchment. This was news to me. It didn't really change anything though, so I shrugged and continued listening from where I stood.
"My daughter, Merida, Princess of DunBroch, will do the honours."
Merida stepped forward, and I watched curiously. How was she going to get the piece of paper all the way up there? Surely she wasn't going to climb it first?
She picked up the most beautifully deadly thing I had ever seen, a great bow. With a scarlet ribbon, she tied the treaty to an arrow. How in Freya's name was she going to get the arrow to the top? No way could she shoot that far.
She took a big breath, pulled the bow's string back, and let loose. The arrow flew so fast, you could barely see it. I looked up, and by some miracle, the arrow was lodge in a crack at the top of the Crone's Tooth. Merida turned, and saw my face. She smirked at me, before traipsing back to her seat.
Oh no, it was now my turn.
"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, do you accept our challenge?"
"I do," I gulped.
"Then you may begin!"
I walked up to the rock, and looked up. I had never been particularly athletic, and that was before I had lost a foot. Sure, I'd been rock climbing before, but I wasn't very good at it. I turned to have one more look behind me. The crowd were all watching intently, the queen was sitting on her make-shift throne, stony faced and Fergus was observing raptly. Merida caught my eye and gave me a thumbs up with a gleeful smile. Good to see she was enjoying herself.
I turned back, took a big breath, and began to climb. It was awkward, tricky, and tiring. My footing slipped multiple times, but I managed to keep hold. The gushing waterfall next to the large rock was almost soothing, but frightening at the same time. Every time I slipped, there was a large jeer from the crowd.
I began to get really tired, the Scottish sun burning into my back, and the sweat beginning to poor from my face. I took a chance and looked up. There it was! The scroll was only four feet above my head. I gave a strained grin, and continued to climb. However just as I began again, there was a large explosion from behind me, followed by a screech. The crowd cried out in alarm, having never seen or heard anything like it. To me, however, it was the sound of home.
"Zippleback!" I cried breathlessly.
I turned to see where it was coming from, clinging onto the rock for dear life. However, just as I turned, the spring in my prosthetic failed, making me lose my balance. Ten minutes ago, I probably could have been able to save myself, but now my arms were weak and tired, unable to hold on any longer. As this happened I saw a hint of green scales, confirming my suspicions about the dragon.
I fell.
I should have been scared, but I was too tired to care anymore. Something in my subconscious thought; Toothless will catch me. But Toothless wasn't here.
So I just squeezed my eyes shut and prepared myself for pain.
Elsewhere…..
The Twins had followed the triplets all the way to the festival. As they watched from the cover of the trees, the triplets pointed in excitement to a cake stall.
To the Twins, words had little meaning, so they managed to communicate well with their young accomplices. The two looked at each other and nodded, pointing to the stand across from it, filled with mundane, and very flammable, knick-knacks, then to the dragon. The triplets jumped up and down in glee.
The plan was executed precisely. The Twins jumped on Barf and Belch, and swiftly set alight to the souvenir tent. There was a grand explosion, bringing everybody's attention to the fire, and away from the cake stall. The boys rushed in, and began stuffing every piece of their clothing with different sweet delights.
While they did this, the Twins made their escape, shooting up into the air. There were many gasps and cries of alarm, which the Twins ignored, but as they swept past a waterfall, something caught their eye. A boy was on the side of the tall rock. And not just any boy; it was Hiccup! Just as they saw him, Hiccup fell. Barf and Belch, being so well trained, automatically dived after him, and caught him on their back. There were more cries of alarm, and a great roar from below.
Hiccup sat shakily on the dragon, unable to speak. The Twins swerved around, dodging some arrows that someone had started firing, and headed back towards the forest.
"Wait! No, I have to go back!" Hiccup cried, finally getting his voice back.
"Nuh-uh," Ruffnut called, "we spent days searching for you, we're not letting you go now!"
Hiccup just gaped at them, not quite believing his situation.
"Toothless! What about Toothless?!"
Coincidently, just as Hiccup said this, there was cry from below, a cry that Hiccup would know anywhere. They all looked down, to find a pitch black dragon looking back.
"Let's leave him!" Tuffnut yelled.
"No!" Hiccup shouted, "We can't just leave him here!"
"Alright, but if you try to go back, we'll drag you to Berk ourselves!"
"Okay, okay. I'm not sure I'd be welcomed back right now anyway."
"Good boy!" Tuffnut responded, as if Hiccup were a pet who finally learnt how to use the litter tray.
"Uh…" Hiccup replied, shaking his head.
They swept down to Toothless' clearing. Toothless leapt straight onto Hiccup, covering him in great, slobbery kisses.
"Hey bud! D'you miss me?"
Toothless responded in a gentle coo.
"Okay, listen boy. Ruffnut and Tuffnut are making us go home now. Back to Berk."
Toothless bounded around excitedly, not thinking this was at all bad.
"Yeah bud," Hiccup said sadly, "home again."
Merida
It was horrible. I almost killed a man.
My heart leapt into my throat as I watched him lose his balance and fall. I don't think many people saw it, they were too busy trying to find the source of the explosion. But my eyes were on Hiccup the entire time.
But something saved him. A great, scaly, two headed beast. A dragon. I gave a choked, frightened cry, and grabbed the bow off the ceremonial table. Dad heard me, and turned, spotting the dragon. The crowd yelled in shock, and Dad bellowed out, calling warriors to him. I began to shoot at the monster, before realising Hiccup was on the beast, and I would kill him in the process.
That's when I noticed that Hiccup was not the only person on the dragon. Two tall lean figures sat on the dragon, one on each head, almost like they were… riding it?! There was one other noticeable feature about the two dragon riders. They wore horned helmets.
As I stood gaping at the spectacle in front of me, my brain went into overdrive. Horned helmets, horned helmets, who wears horned helmets? I watched as the dragon and its riders disappear into oblivion, and I remembered.
Vikings. They were Vikings. I felt a deep pain in my chest. Hiccup was a liar? A traitor? He seemed so genuine, and I really wanted to believe him when he told me he had good intentions. And I had started to.
I was brought back to the present by my father, who grabbed me into one of his great bear hugs.
"You okay lass?" he asked as he set me down.
"I'm fine Dad," I reassured him, before taking in my surroundings. Everything was a shambles. In the distant, a tent was on fire, people were yelling and crying, and Dad's warriors were standing around us with their mouths agape. Mum was looking around as well, her sharp gaze sweeping over the area, her expression like stone.
Somebody was missing. Or somebodies.
"Where are the triplets?"
My father glanced up in apprehension, looking around for the three troublemakers.
Just then, they ran up to us, tripping someone over in the process, and jumped onto Fergus.
"Ahhh, there you are. You boys had me worried."
The triplets glanced around at the damage, wide eyed.
Hubert looked at me, and made a flapping gesture with his arms, a questioning look on his face. Where did the dragon go? I shrugged, I didn't really know. The boys looked disappointed. Of course they would want a huge fire breathing monster around. It sounds like their dream pet. All it needed was a third head.
"Bloody Vikings!" my father cried. "Should never had trusted him."
"Fergus!" Mum admonished, gesturing to the large crowd that had all turned to look at us.
Dad spun to view the crowd, and then began to address them.
"The Hooligan tribe have betrayed us! While they hid on their pathetic little islands, they trained these mystical beings so they could launch an attack on us! They obviously sent that stick of a boy to spy on us, to find information about us, all the while pretending he was a chief's son. He was just their most expendable, they didn't care if they lost him! We must prepare ourselves! Do not be afraid! We are strong, we can beat a Viking army any day, even if they are riding giant lizards!"
The crowd listened intently, many of their faces growing pale in fear, others looking like they couldn't wait to fight. I was just confused. Why would the Vikings go to all this effort, when we had been ignoring each other's existence for years? Mum's face grew graver, and even the triplets looked uneasy.
"If it is a war the Vikings want," Dad bellowed, "it is a war they shall get!"
There was a great uproar, and I fell back into my seat, my head whirling. War? This morning we were talking about peace.
I sighed and put my head into my hands. Fate had taken another turn, and I didn't think it was for the better.
So that's that. I don't think I have anything to add, so thank you for reading! Please let me know if I made any grammatical/spelling errors, because this chapter was a bit rushed. Thank you, and I'd love to here some feedback!