Chapter 9: The Witch's Cottage

Merida groaned as she collided with the ground. It took her a minute to pull herself back up, but she froze again once she did. It was the menhir again, still just as empty as before. If this was supposed to be the author's house, than she knew exactly where to go.

Merida let her memory guide her, not holding up for any of the others. Fortunately, they managed to see her wander off and were quick to follow.

The road forked. On one side, it was a forest. On the other, it was a small cottage, one that would be easily missed if one wasn't looking for it.

"How'd you know this would be there?" Rapunzel asked as the other caught up.

"I've been here before." Merida answered. "The wisps! They lead me here, and they forked in the road! I tried goin' here, but the door was locked and nobody was around, so…."

"The wisps lead you here…"Jack repeated, as if he didn't believe her.

"I'm no' lying!"

"I believe you, it's just…" Jack sighed and started walking forward. "Let's go inside."

Merida chased after him. "I told ye! It's lo—"

The door opened and a bell sounded. "After you!" Jack said, with an exaggerated bow and gesture.

Merida huffed and stepped in. She slowed as she began to glance around. The ceiling was low, nearly low enough that Merida had to duck to fit in properly (and Jack actually did have to). All around them hung wood carvings; most finished, others still in process. They ranged from pots to toys to pictures to statues, but they all had one thing in common: bears. Everything in the small shop had a bear on it in one way or the other.

Across from them, an old woman, presumably the owner, glanced up from her sweeping. "Oh, welcome dears! Everything's half off! Tell me if you find anything ya like!"

"Oakie doke! You four have fun in this magical workshop; I'm gonna keep the Lizard company." Eugene dashed out.

Merida glanced around. This couldn't be right. It was too plain for someone who wrote about other dimensions. Sure, Merida would recognize that face if she saw it again, but there didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary about her.

"Hey, how much do you think this is?" Jack asked her, holding up a small toy of a bear reaching for fish jumping out a river.

"Oh, that's one's a real prize! One-o'-a-kind!" The woman said.

To Jack.

Jack nearly avoided dropping the toy in his shock. "You can see me?" He asked.

"Well o' course I can! Now then, my askin' price is 20 gold, but I do accept barter if you have somet'ing worth it…"

"We'll talk about that later." Hiccup jumped in. "You're…Sofia Joyce?"

"Or how abou' this conversation starter?" the woman continued, grabbing one of the pictures. "Made of euwood! Stronger than stone, this is!"

"Well, we were hoping to ask about—"

Just out of the corner of her eyes, Merida saw movement. "YOUR BROOM IS MOVIN'!" She exclaimed before she could think better of it.

The broom dropped down dead.

"Don' be ridiculous dear." The woman said. "Wood can' be infused with magical properties. I should know. I'm a Wi…"

"You a witch!" Rapunzel exclaimed just as the woman finished "Widdler!"

"That's why the Wisps lead me here!" Merida exclaimed in realization. "You could'a helped me change my faet!"

"I'M NOT A WITCH!" The woman exclaimed. Then, a bit more cooly. "Too many dissatisfied customers. If you're no goin' ta by anything…leave."

Every carving tool in the workshop rose and pointed straight at them. "Wait wait wait!" Hiccup tried. The carving tools slowly began approaching, and the four of them started backing out to the door. "We just wanted to ask you about—"

"I don' care! Ge' out!" The Witch shouted.

"But we just-" Rapunzel tried, making a token attempt to swing the weapons away with her pan.

"I'LLBUYTHELOT!" Merida shouted.

Everything stopped. "What was that?" The Witch asked.

"Every carving." Merida repeated.

The tools turned. The Witch laughed nervously. "And how are you goin' ta pay for that?"

The tools turned towards them again. Without thinking, Merida grabbed her locket and held it up for inspection. It wasn't like she needed it anymore.

The woman gaped at it, seemingly oblivious as her crow flew onto her head. "Oh, that's lovely that is…"

"That'll set us up for months!" The crow squawked. Merida tried to hide her surprise that the crow was talking. The woman reached out for the locket, but Merida snatched it away.

"Every carving…and some answers. Ye are Sofia Joyce, right?"

The woman blinked, and the weapons lowered. "Fine. Now what's this about?"

She shooed them out of the doorframe and followed them out. "Where are ye-?" Merida started, but Rapunzel stopped her.

"Well, we were hoping to ask you about the Guardians…" Rapunzel muttered.

"You really shouldn't mutter, dear. Very unbecoming." Sofia said and began turning back to her house. "The Guardians, huh? It's not that often that people come by to ask me about that."

"What are ye doin'?" Merida finally got to ask.

Sofia opened the door. The workshop was gone. "Never conjure where ye carve. Very important." She lead them all back in.

This was more fitting of a Witch's lair, Merida thought. The whole room was lit with only candles and a fireplace in the center, on its last embers. Various vials, some full, others not, hung on the shelves and above their heads, and hanging off the fireplace was a cauldron that was nearly twice as big as Merida was.

Sofia stopped to take a good look at the group. "Ah. So that's why ye look so familiar." She said, and Merida realized she was talking to Jack. "I've been working for ages on your book, but I just keep getting' stuck." She gestured to one of the tables nearby. On it Merida could make out a stack of books, another of paper, and a strange machine in the middle of it. It was wooden (no surprise), with several rows of keys in front of it and a half-written paper sticking out of it.

"My book?" Jack asked, stunned.

"Well of course! Ya are Jack Frost, aren't ya?"

Jack froze.

Hiccup decided to speak for him. "That's actually one of the reasons we came. We wanted to know how you knew about the Guardians."

"Oh, when ya've been in magic for as long as I have, ya learn to keep an eye on what goes one elsewhere." Sofia explained with a wave of her hand. "I didn' really feel on putting pen to paper until a few years ago, though. I was expecting a niece at the time; she'd need some way to get good ideas in her head. Especially with the way my sister trea'ed her..."

"So you just wrote what you saw…" Rapunzel repeated.

"Not what I saw, dear. I wrote what was suppose ta happen. I wrote their fates."

"Their fates?" Jack seemed to regain himself.

"Don't ask so surprised. Everyone has a fate, or a destiny, or whatever you want to call it. Some people never find it, of course. Some..." Sofia stopped, and glanced at them as if it were the first time she saw them. In seconds, she scrambled and began inspecting them. But not just inspecting; searching them, measuring them, Rapunzel's hair, Pascal…Merida hadn't felt under such scrutiny since she left home!

"Oi!" Merida protested, but the witch continued anyway.

When she had finished, Sofia backed away from them, eyes wide.

Eugene sighed as he leaned against Toothless. "You know, I do like the giant stone towers here. Really ties the…giant empty field together."

Toothless nodded, and seemed to gesture towards the forest beside them.

"Oh yeah. Carrot Top's definitely winning out in the 'homeland' department here. Set up a summer home here if I could."

Almost instantly, Toothless shook him off and stood up, ready to fight. Eugene was about to call him out, but then he saw a whole flock of birds flying off from the forest. "What was that?" He asked, not really bothering to realize that Toothless couldn't answer.

That's when he heard it again. A very angry-sounding roar.

"And what does that mean?" Hiccup asked.

"It means, you four were never suppose ta meet." Sofia explained. "Yar fates were never meant to cross. And whatever bound you together is out of my control." She paused again and looked straight at Merida. "You said the Wisps lead ya here?"

"Well, yeah, but—"

"Devils!" The crow cursed for her.

"And where did ya go before then?"

"Erm…" Merida hesitated.

"My home, in Corona." Rapunzel chimed in.

"Corona, huh…" Sofia studied them. "And how long did it take ya ta get there?"

"A night?" Merida answered. It would have taken shorter if Agnus hadn't been such a coward…

"You got from here to Corona in a night by foot?" Sofia clicked her tongue.

"And is tha' so hard?" Merida demanded.

"Impossible, actually." The crow answered.

"They're separated by an ocean." Sofia said. "Even if ya could get there, it'd take more than just a night."

"And it only took Toothless and I a day to get from Berk to Corona…" Hiccup hesitated. "Come to think of it, I should've thought about that a bit more…"

"It's the Wisps. They don' lead ya to your fate, they change it. They lead all of ya together so you can change destiny." Sofia gave a dramatic wave of her hands. "And it's completely out of my power now. Sorry I couldn't help you more, dears. Expect your purchases to arrive in a fortnight."

Merida was kind of aware that they were basically being shooed out. But she was too confused (and a little angry) to really be thinking straight. She followed the rest of them out, and closed the door behind them.

"Shame. I was hoping I could look over my book." Jack spoke up. "So what should we do now?"

If any of them were going to speak up, they were cut off. Eugene's screams cut through the air. Merida jumped, and jumped again when she saw her surroundings. They had moved back to the menhir. She couldn't get a minute to contemplate this before Eugene and Toothless came sprinting by.

Merida glanced over to what they were running from. Her blood froze.

"Mor'du…"

Mor'du the Demon Bear noticed them. He charged.

Merida found herself frozen to the ground. Her blood ran cold, but she could hear her heart beating in her chest. She couldn't collect herself in time before Mor'du noticed her and charged. A gust of wind picked her up off the ground and left her there.

"Friend of yours?" Jack asked.

"We need ta make a run for it!" Merida shouted back. "There's no way we can fight 'im!"

Jack seemed confused, but he decided to take her word for it. With another gust of wind, he scooped up Hiccup, Rapunzel, and Eugene. Toothless prepared to take off.

And that's when Mor'du caught him. With a quick slash from behind, Toothless was pinned.

"TOOTHLESS!" Hiccup shouted.

There wasn't much damage that Merida could see. But she could see Toothless' tailfin, now mostly in shreds. This was around the point that Toothless decided fighting was inevitable. He roared, a roar louder than Merida figured Mor'du could manage, and by his reactions, louder than what Hiccup had heard him do before, and shot out a fireball.

Mor'du collided with one of the stones. He managed to recover quickly and charged back at Toothless, but Merida wasn't paying attention to that.

The stone was cracking.

Well, of course it was, she realized. Those were as old as the land themselves, and they had to deal with the force of the Demon Bear colliding with it full force!

She could hear Jack and Hiccup arguing about Jack trying to get Toothless out of there, but Merida wasn't listening. "Eugene! I need your bow!"

"What?" Eugene shouted. "Carrot Top, you are not going down there!"

"I'm not planning ta!" Merida snapped back.

He rolled his eyes, but all the same tossed her his bow and a quiver. Merida's eyebrows furrowed together when she saw it. Only two arrows…no need to think like that. She could do it in one.

Carefully, she prepared the arrow and aimed. She strained her vision, trying as hard as possible to make sure she would strike it right in the crack…

"TOOTHLESS!" She shouted as a warning. Toothless understood instantly, and jumped out of the way right as the arrow was fired.

Mor'du was less lucky. He had just a second to realize what was happening when the stone collapsed, with him under it.

There was silence. With the threat over, Jack slowly began lowering the four of them down. Hiccup was quick to reunite with Toothless who, aside from a few minor cuts and bruises, wasn't any worse for wear.

Merida stared at her work. The realization of what she's just did washed over her like a tidal wave of cold, briny water. She just killed Mor'du. The same bear that had taken her father's leg, the bear that was known and feared throughout the Highlands…and she had been the one to kill it. She took in a shaky breath, quickly realizing that, in all the commotion, she wasn't breathing as much as she would like to.

Blue light began to shine over the fallen stone. It began to form a shape, and Merida could just make out the outline of a human. He glanced her way, and gave a solemn, respectful nod. The light faded, and a Wisp darted out of the way.

Author's Note: Is Eugene's spelling of oakie dokie an accident on the part of the author whose up too early to edit, or a pun? YOU MAKE THE CALL. Also, there are two mythology gags here: One to someone I said about six chapters ago, another to the Guardians of Childhood series. See if you can spot them all!