A/N-And we're back! Things will heat up quickly from here on out, as tensions rise and choices are made. Stay with me!

Chapter 11

Storm

One word: terrifying.

Three days straight of nothing but lightning, driving rain, and winds that produced waves taller than the masts of the ship on rare occasions. The dragons, naturally, were of no help at all since they couldn't fly in the horrid weather and none of them could swim in waters like this. Even worse, we were making practically no headway toward our destination.

By now, everyone was almost constantly wet with seawater, and Eustace was happier only because we were all as miserable as he was. Well, almost everyone. It's hard to bring down a character like Reepicheep, and I was the only one who could find fun in such a storm. A Doomfang has few issues even in monstrous waves, and Skrills are known to live in lightning storms. So, when I got the chance, I made use of my skills and disappeared into the clouds for an hour or two.

Riding lightning is just as nerve-wracking and exciting as it sounds, and there are few ways I knew of that could propel one at such speeds. The first day of the storm I managed to escape for a time and, high up in the clouds, I found electric currents to play with very quickly. Static charges raced across my skin as bolts cracked around me. The sound of thunder was deafening, but a Skrill is designed to withstand such noise levels. Whenever I felt the air charge up, I folded my wings and aimed downward, and when the lightning hit, the world blurred in a blinding flash of light and I found myself breaking sound barriers as I shot downward, skipping over the massive waves and propelling myself back upward miles into the sky on inertia alone. In the middle of a storm, it's a great way to relieve the stress of being on a cooped up ship. But, I was the only one able to do it, and so I didn't stay out long, keeping in mind the others, and soon returned back to the ship.

A number of people had gathered in the navigation room, and so as I landed on the pitching deck I quickly made my way inside, to find discussion going on about possibilities for the continuance of the mission.

"This storm won't let up any time soon, looks like," Drinian said, looking over the charts strewn across the table. "We could sail right past the island and off the edge of the world." I couldn't help it, and burst out laughing, garnering strange and irritated stares. "And what do you find so funny about this situation?" Drinian asked. I shook my head. "Not the situation," I replied, still smiling. "The world is round, there's no edge to fall off of. But that is somewhat beside the point. What we do know is, quite simply, that we don't know what other dangers we may well face."

Hiccup had been leaning up against the wall, and at my statement he nodded and stood up straight (or at least as much as he could with the waves still tossing us about). "That's certainly true. We're stuck in a hurricane, and even if it doesn't last weeks like I know some have been known to, there are plenty of other natural dangers we could face. Shallow shoals, reefs, rogue waves, etc. And past that, we're far enough west that we don't know what kinds of dangerous creatures we might encounter."

"Like sea serpents," Edmund muttered. Caspian sighed and looked around at the gathered group. "Well, we can't just turn back now," he countered. "Not after having come so far. It's also a long trip back if we just turn around, and if we have a chance a retrieving the people who were abducted, if they're still alive somewhere, we should take the chance."

"All I'm sayin' is that the crew is getting nervous," Drinian returned. "And we're also already running low on water rations. That one barrel that got washed overboard last night won't help anything." Hiccup chuckled, and gestured out the window of the room. "There is a rainstorm going on outside," he pointed out. "We could collect water off the sails or simply in buckets as it comes down." Everyone glanced at him, and from the looks on their faces apparently that thought hadn't yet come to mind for some reason. "Good idea," Caspian said. "And besides, if we really start running low on food we do have dragons on board," I pointed out. "In the storm there's at least me. We can catch fish."

The meeting didn't last long past that. The decision was made: for now, we would continue to press forward, but if we were caught in the storm for more than a few days we would have to find a way to turn back to calmer waters. Hiccup and I stepped out into the hallway and headed down toward the dragon's room. A lot of us had taken to sleeping in there, partly because warm dragons meant a drier sleeping place, and partly because when you have a large fire-breathing reptile with you, you tend to just feel safer sleeping, especially during a storm. On the way down, we happened to pass by Reepicheep.

"Haven't seen you in a little while," I noted. He laughed. "Been hanging out at the front of the ship, for a while," he said. "It's a refreshing and exciting feeling, standing at the prow in such a gale!" I snorted. "Well, just make sure you don't fall off at some point." He just chuckled again, then turned a little more serious. "Oh, by the way, you might want to make sure to stay away from Eustace if you can manage it. He's been in a worse mood than usual for the past few hours."

We stood there for a minute, processing that information, before a nagging feeling rose up in the back of my mind. "Uh, he's not anywhere near the dragon room, is he?"

SCREEECH!

The sudden, piercing shriek of a Night Fury in pain seemed to almost answer the question. We all looked at each other, before bolting for the dragon's room. "What in all heck just happened?!" Hiccup yelled as we raced through the hall. All three of us reached the entrance at the same time, and scrambled around the corner.

All three of us also went skidding to a halt as we took in the scene before us, shocked. Against one wall was Eustace, plastered against the side with an angry, fearful look on his face. In his hand, was one of Hiccup's throwing knives, with something glistening on the blade.

Just across from him, with the other dragons hovering dangerously and protectively over him, was Toothless, lying on the ground and clearly in pain, with a large gash slashed across both his leg and side. As soon as Eustace saw us enter the room, he jerked forward, and the anger in his expression evaporated, replaced by only fear. He knew he was in for something.

My blood boiled at the sight, and I rounded on Eustace, yelling out, "What did you DO?!" He fidgeted and dropped the knife, trying to look smaller. "I-I defended myself!" He snapped back, sliding along the wall away from me. Hiccup had run to Toothless, and I turned in his direction as well, but not before slamming a wide tailfin into Eustace's path to prevent him from going anywhere. I bent down and put my hand over Toothless, examining the gash, before glaring at Eustace again. "Bull. They won't attack unless you do so first," I growled, eyes glowing red.

Eustace stood indignant. It didn't help that Hiccup was advancing on him now. "It tripped me, then turned to try and bite me!" he spat. "And I was just walking by! I defended myself!" "Oh, please, Toothless wouldn't do that in any fashion, and everyone on this ship seems to know that except you!" Hiccup yelled back, cornering the other boy.

By now the rest of the Vikings had showed up from wherever they'd disappeared to, and Edmund and Caspian walked in the other door with the other Pevensie siblings. When they saw me bending down over Toothless, who by now was beginning to bleed badly, and Hiccup practically pinning Eustace to the wall with his own sword, they stopped in their tracks.

I ignored the scene for a moment and focused on Toothless, placing my hands against his side. Whispering out of habit more than need, I said, "Heal," and watched the familiar shimmering glow of energy flow off my skin and seep into the wounds, gathering gasps and squeaks from everyone save the Vikings. Some of them had seen the trick in the bell tower at the Lone Islands, but it still wasn't quite a match to watching foot long cuts seal together and disappear as if they weren't ever there. They closed up slowly, leaving no mark or scar behind, and once that was done with I stood, and helped Toothless shakily get to his feet. Then I turned around.

"So, Toothless, care to tell me what actually happened?" I asked, fixing a glare on Eustace as I did so. ::He came sneaking through the room acting as if he was running from someone, and hiding something,:: Toothless began, sitting tall and also glaring at the boy. ::As he walked by I raised my head, and he was distracted by me and so tripped over the quiver lying there.:: He nodded to the quiver of arrows lying on the floor, and at the gesture, Susan gasped and ran to grab them. "Those are mine, sorry!" she apologized. "I don't know how they got there."

Toothless raised an eyebrow, then continued. ::A-anyway, I held out my tail so he wouldn't go sprawling across the floor, and then stood up and turned to see if he was okay.:: He snarled a little at Eustace as he added the last bit. ::That's when he freaked out and grabbed Hiccup's knife. I didn't think he could move that fast, but after living with Hiccup and you I should know better.::

I looked up at the other dragons. "We were mostly on the other side of the room," Stormfly noted, nodding toward the dividing wall that split the room in half. "But I did see Toothless stop Eustace from falling." I nodded. "Well, Eustace, you appear to be at odds with the evidence here," I muttered, nodding to Hiccup to let him go. Hiccup was a little reluctant, but what with Toothless being okay now and all the rest of us already glaring daggers at the teen, he released the boy and sheathed his sword. Eustace brushed himself off and stood up straight again, looking at us nervously. I continued with the summary of events.

"You tripped over a simple misplaced weapon, and when Toothless went to help you, out of his way mind you, you overreacted based on your own prejudices, and attacked him."

"Eustace, you know as well as us they're here to help," Edmund broke in, "and we have seen absolutely nothing to the contrary. Snotlout's stunt a few days ago notwithstanding." "They're dragons!" Eustace yelled, as if that meant anything to this group. "Dragons are vicious beasts, made to torment and trick us! Every legend and myth points to such. And you're all in cahoots with the crazy coot in the robes on that island back there and this sorcerer here, so you can't seem to see the truth when it's sitting right-OW!"

I couldn't help it. I reached out a long tail and whipped the tip across Eustace's face cutting him off and making a point. "Don't you EVER dare call me that again," I hissed. "I am not associated with evil, don't even insinuate such a thing! My gift is God's gift, and the reason I have it is to deal with issues like the one we're tracking down now. And that's a whole lot harder when I have to deal with uneducated idiots who can't figure out fact from fiction and how to listen every now and then! I'd say you are seriously in need of-"

I stopped mid-sentence as a new idea came to me. "What is it?" Astrid asked from the doorway. I shook my head. "Nothing, it's not important," I growled, and focused on Eustace's shirt. There was a noticeable bulge. "Toothless was right, you're hiding something. Peter, what does he have in his shirt?"

Eustace immediately took on a "deer in the headlights" expression and gulped. Peter looked at me, then stepped forward and held out his hand. Eustace stupidly shook his head and stammered, "I-I don't have a-anything."

Reepicheep crawled up behind him and jumped on his shoulder. "Want to have another sword match?" he asked. "I won't go easy this time."

Eustace deflated, and reached into his shirt. I suspected something like a piece of fruit or a bread roll, but instead, he pulled out an entire loaf of bread and a good portion of salted beef. Now it was Caspian's turn to pass judgment.

"Eustace, you are hereby confined to your room until further notice, at least until we reach then next island," he ordered. "You are convicted of stealing, treason and harm against respected guests, along with lying to your superiors multiple times." "You're getting of easy," Edmund added, no small amount of contempt in his voice. He and Peter both grabbed Eustace and marched him by the shoulders out of the room and toward his own.

"Hiccup, I'm so very sorry about him," Lucy apologized, before looking at Toothless. "Well, I should really say sorry to you, shouldn't I?" she amended sheepishly. Toothless gave her a gummy smile and nudged her gently. ::I'm fine right now, and you're not the one at fault.::

Lucy looked at me for translation. "He says you're not the one who should be sorry, and he's fine," I translated. She nodded, and after giving Toothless an affectionate scratch, she left the room with Susan and Caspian. As they left, the rest of the Vikings filed in to fill the space. I glanced at Astrid and Cami. "Mind helping me get the dragons to sleep again?" I asked. "The storm is tiring all of us out and they have nothing else to do, especially since it won't be letting up soon."

"Yeah, but what are you going to do about Eustace?" Camicazi asked, poking her head around to the other side of the room and gesturing for Stormfly and the others to lie down again. "We should drop him in the ocean!" Tuffnut suggested, grinning cockily. I smiled and shook my head. "Tempting Tuff, but no." I looked at a bag lying in the corner, filled with small rocks for ballast but unused in this trip. "I have a much different idea. Eustace is having problems with me and all the dragons, and it's the kind of problem that Hiccup and I both know needs one-on-one experience to solve, and he won't just listen to words, since he's too stuck up and arrogant. The problem is, he's not going to accept going on a flight either, will refuse to enjoy it." I picked up the bag, and pulled out one small rock, looking it over. It was almost perfectly round, and smooth.

"Now, if a drastic change were to suddenly make his problems worse, he'll actually have a chance at appreciating who we are and how we work," I continued, beginning to smile, "especially if he gets something from our point of view. Maybe he'll finally have some respect for the dragons and what I can do after it's all done as well."

"What are you going to do?" Hiccup queried. I squeezed my hand around the rock, and shocked it with a wave of energy. It began to shift as a gravity field reshaped its form, and molecular realignment caused it to gleam gold, smooth and dotted with fine scales, a tiny dragon figurine. "A small transformation," I whispered.

A/N-I leave it to you to guess: what's in store for Eustace?

As always, make sure to leave a review, and let me know what you think! I will try to get the second chapter for the weekend up tomorrow.