Chapter 11: Suspicions and Accusations
The force of the explosion blew Hiccup and Toothless backward violently in one direction, and Jolt and Spark flew away in the other. They tumbled through the air, but surprisingly, both of the boys landed on their hands and toes, in an almost crawling position. The blast had thrown them backward, but somehow they had been able to stick the landing. It was as if their bodies had simply reacted to the situation and pulled them out of it safely with out getting thrown into the hard cove walls.
Jolt and Hiccup looked up at each other from their crouched positions. Both of their eyes were glowing intensely, Hiccup's the dark green and Jolt's the electric blue. What had just happened? They stood up, dusting themselves off. Jolt gave Hiccup a questioning look. They both thought for a minute, and then said in unison, "The maelstrom."
Of course. It made sense. The two had inherited the abilities of their dragons, so if their powers collided, they would create the maelstrom.
"Man, that thing has got some kick to it. I wonder if there could be a way to harness that much raw, explosive power," said Hiccup, with a thoughtful grin on his face.
"Yeah, I mean, I'm surprised I was able to stick the landing. I was expecting to have to take another trip to the healer's hut after such a blast like that."
"I know what you mean. It was like my body acted without my consent, moving in ways that I've never moved before to land that. It was the weirdest feeling," said Hiccup with a shiver.
"But what makes it so powerful? And what was with that ball of energy that formed before it exploded?" asked Jolt.
"Well, if my research is correct, and I'm sure the dragons will correct me if I'm wrong, but the maelstrom is so powerful because it combines two of the most powerful forces in the universe. They also happen to be opposites, ice cold lightning and blazing hot fire. The two forces are forced together when fired at each other, forcing them to mix. This creates the ball that grows and grows before the blast. Eventually, the forces repel each other so much that they cannot exist in the same place, and violently detach from each other, exploding. Am I right?"
Spot on. It is the most powerful explosion ever known to man or dragon, and to have survived it twice, it's nothing short of a miracle. The maelstrom is meant to kill the weaker dragon, as each dragon is immune to his portion of the explosion, so if one dragon pours more into the maelstrom, then they have a greater chance of survival. Of course, both of those explosions have been mild, low powered compared to the true maelstrom. This forms when both a skrill and a night fury use their fire and lightning to full extent of their abilities. This explosion can completely destroy whole islands, and also creates a wild swirling storm, fueled by the skrill's lightning energy and the fire power of a night fury. This has only every happened once in recorded history, in fact it happened between our fathers, said Spark, glaring at Toothless.
I'll never forgive your father for what he did to mine. He knew that it would happen, and he wanted only to destroy my father and make himself rightful ruler, said Toothless growling at Spark.
You know that that's not true. My father was simply protecting himself from your father, who attacked him first. My father never wanted the throne. Your father was a good king, but he destroyed himself and my father in the maelstrom.
"Wait a minute, Toothless, your father was a king?" asked Hiccup.
Indeed. He was the ruler of the midnight clan, a clan full of night furies. Spark's father was the king of the strikers clan, a clan full of skrills. There is a reason that the maelstrom exists. It is to keep us night furies separate from those skrills, whose only wish is the extermination of our race, said Toothless.
That's not true! You attacked us too, intent on wiping us out. The battle that raged there left almost every night fury and skrill in the clans dead to the maelstrom, except for those who were smart enough not to engage in the maelstrom. Now we'll be luck y to even find a mate. It is both of our faults, what happened.
Fair. Shall we call a truce, for the betterment of both of our species, proposed Toothless.
Spark accepted by nodding his head. He couldn't risk Jolt's life with this pesky little feud that had been raging between the two of them for so many years. If it meant that Jolt could be injured in the feud, than it was just not worth it.
Spark thought about that. He never thought in a million years that he would find a human companion. He had always hated the humans, and they had hated him and his kind, but he had never imagined that he would befriend one. That boy Hiccup was a brave soul to befriend the one dragon about as powerful as the skrill, which was the night fury. Even he, the mighty skrill, didn't know everything about him. He was an enigma alright, but then so was Hiccup, and so was Jolt.
"Alright well, let's go home. People will start wondering where we've been," said Hiccup.
They both mounted their dragons, flying off into the sky. They flew around in fantastic patterns in the air above Berk before setting down near the village center. They jumped off of their dragons and were greeted by a crowd of cheering vikings. Apparently their aerobatics show had not gone unnoticed. They both took a bow, along with the dragons. The crowd dispersed, and it was just Jolt and Hiccup left in the square.
Soon, thought, they saw Astrid running across the square. She tackled Hiccup to the ground, or at least went to until Hiccup dodged out of the way. Astrid picked herself up and charged him again, but he stood his ground, and Astrid ran full force into what felt like a wall of iron. She picked herself up again and cautiously hugged Hiccup.
"Where have you been? I was looking for you everywhere!" said Astrid, sounding genuinely concerned.
"We were just hanging out over at the cove. Can't two guys ever just hang out anymore? Is it my problem that I've finally found a friend that's just like me?" said Hiccup jokingly but still sounding sincere.
"There's no problem, in fact I'm glad that you found a friend like you, but you can't just go disappearing on me like that. It spooks me, and I keep thinking that Alvin has carried you off of something."
Hiccup smirked. "Oh come on Astrid, have a little faith in your man."
Astrid reeled back a little bit. Hiccup had never referred to Astrid as his girlfriend, even indirectly. It was just such a strange and bold move that was somewhat very Hiccup-like.
Astrid punched him in the arm. "All right, but don't go disappearing on me. I don't want to lose you, not like I thought I did last time."
It was true. After Hiccup's fight with the Red Death, Hiccup had fallen into a coma for over a week. Astrid feared that he would never wake up. She could never go through that again, so she had made it her mission to protect him, even though he rarely needed protection with Toothless by his side. Astrid had her own nadder, Stormfly, to worry about, although she too rarely needed protection from anything, besides the occasional mud puddle.
Hiccup patted Astrid on the back. "Come on, let's go get something to eat. I know I'm famished, and I'm pretty sure you are too."
Astrid agreed, pushing his hand away from her shoulder. His hand felt extremely hot, almost like it would erupt into flames. She dropped it quickly, causing Hiccup to stumble slightly. She looked at her hand and saw that it was slightly burned.
"What was that?! Your arm is burning up! Are you feeling okay?" screamed Astrid.
Hiccup cursed. He looked at his arm, and saw that small flames were flickering over it. He put them out immediately, and luckily Astrid didn't see anything. He came up with a cover story on the fly, something he was remarkably good at.
"Oh, you know, I was just flying really high with Toothless and standing in the sun all day, so my arm got a little bit hot. No big deal," said Hiccup, trying to sound very nonchalant.
"Hiccup, it's winter, and even if it weren't, you're hand should never get that hot. Can you even feel anything?"
"Yeah, it feels fine. I don't know why you're worrying so much. Now let's grab something to eat."
They proceeded to walk over to the Great Hall, where they tucked in greedily to a meal of smocked cod and potatoes, the new vegetable brought to Berk by the Bog Burglar Tribe of all people. The plant had taken root well in the hard Berk soil, and the vegetable was delicious, especially mashed with a large dollop of butter.
While they ate, Fishlegs went on his usual tirade about some dragon that Jolt had never heard about, Snotlout was talking about himself, the twins were fighting, and Astrid was staring all googly eyed at Hiccup. Those two had really gotten closer since Jolt had been there last. When he had last come, Hiccup was still the village outcast, and Astrid had respected him but she had kept her distance. Now they were closer than any two that Jolt had ever met.
He just stared down at his plate. He had never met any girl that he had ever liked. In fact, he had met barely any girls period, and when he did, he was usually awkward around them. Just another of the perks of being a trader.
They finished eating and set out to training. The twins were smashing their heads together in the corner, trying to see how hard they could hit each other before they passed out. Hiccup sighed again. Those two were the most loyal and faithful companions, and quite likable when they stopped fighting, but since they rarely did, they had become something of the village's nuisance, always playing pranks on others. They were usually funny, unless they happened to you. Hiccup rubbed the rope burn scars he had from when the twins had left him tied to a tree for two days before letting him go. Oh the memories.
Hiccup called for everyone's attention, and everyone stopped talking and looked in his direction. Jolt looked mildly surprised, but he understood. Hiccup was the only one that the teens respected enough to actually listen to when he spoke besides Stoick.
"Alright gang, today is a little teamwork battling day. You and your dragon will be a team working against another dragon and rider pair. You will be fighting to disarm only, we don't want to take anyone to the Healer today. We're going to do a bracket system, so Jolt and the twins are going first. Remember, disarm only," said Hiccup.
Jolt and the twins took up their sides on opposite sides of the arena. Hiccup held up his hand.
"And...begin!" shouted Hiccup.
Jolt looked over at Spark and understanding passed between them. They both had the same idea, and they were going to activate it. Spark immediately shot a lightning bolt from his mouth at the zippleback, who shrank back in fear. Spark kept the dragon busy while Jolt ran up to confront the twins.
Jolt flicked open Switchblade and brought up his shield. The twins surrounded him on both sides, trying to take advantage of their numbers. Jolt expected this, and he glanced over at Spark, gesturing slightly with his sword to Tuffnut, who had his back to Spark. Spark nodded firing a bolt at Tuffnut's ax. He dropped it as the energy coursed through the blade. Finding himself without a weapon, he tried to use his shield to defend himself.
Jolt spun around quickly, sensing movement behind him. Ruffnut was swinging her hammer toward Jolt's sword, intent on smashing it out of his hands. He reacted more on instinct than thought, catching the hammer on the base of the blade, absorbing as much of the impact as possible. Ruffnut looked up, puzzled, and Jolt grinned before flicking the blade over quickly, twisting the hammer out of her hands.
Now the twins tried using their shields to attack. Jolt was ready for this as well. They both charged from opposite directions, intent on squishing him between their two shields. At the last second, Jolt jumped up over them, and the twins slammed into each other. They dusted themselves off and charged again. Jolt reacted again, bracing himself and then putting the full force of his body into the double charge, shoving the pair backward. They were so dazed by the sudden wall of Jolt that they ran into that they didn't notice the shield swinging around toward their until it was too late. Jolt whacked both of the shields off their arms, putting his sword at their throats.
Jolt looked up and saw that Spark had cornered Barf and Belch in the corner. The zippleback was cowering in fear at the formidable dragon. Jolt whistled to him, calling him off of Barf and Belch. They stood in the middle of the ring, and shouted triumphantly.
"Alright, well done Jolt. That win goes to you. Next up, Fishlegs and Astrid," said Hiccup from his position atop the arena.
Fishlegs and Astrid squared off, but the fight didn't last long. While Fishlegs had the strength and size, Astrid was quick. She was able to slip in under his guard and disarm him within a minute or so, even including a tackle that pinned Fishlegs on the ground, begging for mercy. The dragons just sat and watched.
"Alright, good job Astrid, but this was a dragon and rider challenge. Next time try to use Stormfly, and Fishlegs, Meatlug can be helpful too. And next is, me and Snotlout," said Hiccup, sounding a little dejected at the end.
Snotlout sneered at his cousin, taking up his position in the arena. Hiccup grabbed his sword and collapsed shield, and took up his positions. Jolt took the honor of initiating the match.
"And...begin!"
It seemed that Snotlout had taken Jolt's advice and had scrapped the hammer for a much more mobile iron mace. It looked like he had been practicing with it extensively, since he swung it around like he had used it whole life.
Snotlout charged Hiccup first, and Hiccup opened his shield right in Snotlout's face just as he was about to slam into him. Hiccup used the momentary distraction to take a stab at Snotlout's mace, but Snotlout had a good grip on the thing. They backed off, trying to get a better bearing on their opponent.
With a nod from Hiccup, Toothless fired a shot at Snotlout, who put up his shield in defense. The blast blew him backward. He staggered back, screaming at his dragon Hookfang, "Well, don't just sit there, retaliate!"
Hookfang looked at Snotlout defiantly, but he still fired a shot at Toothless and Hiccup. Toothless jumped in front of Hiccup to block the shot, absorbing the energy of the shot. It didn't affect him greatly, but Hiccup saw him start to sway slightly from the impact.
Hiccup jumped over Toothless with the speed and grace of the dragon himself. He bull charged Snotlout who stupidly just stood there grinning. He waited before Hiccup was just about to hit him before throwing up his shield. But Hiccup was determined to finish this, so he just kept running right through him. The force of the impact knocked Snotlout on his back with Hiccup on top. He was trapped under his shield, his mace held useless in his pinned hand. Hiccup casually discarded the mace and ripped the shield off of him. He stood victorious, until he heard a familiar whooshing sound.
He looked up just as the blast of liquid fire hit him square in the chest. Hookfang evidently didn't like the way his rider was being treated and decided to get rid of the offender.
The blast made Hiccup fly back against the wall. The fire licking at his clothes and skin, but leaving him unharmed. He silently thanked Toothless for providing him this protection, but he had to look inconspicuous, so he got up and ran to the water trough situated nearby and jumped in. The fire died, releasing a cloud of steam into the air. He sighed in relief.
The gang gathered to make sure Hiccup was okay. Luckily, the protection that he got from his fire powers had leaked a little but, causing some burn marks on his clothes. Astrid was especially concerned about Hiccup.
"Are you alright? Do you have any burns or anything?" asked Astrid.
"Nope, I'm fine. The fire mostly hit my clothes," replied Hiccup.
Astrid was skeptical. He had seen the fire touch his skin, and if the fire had hit his clothes, they should have been much more burned than they were. There was something going on, but Astrid just couldn't figure it out.
"Alright, well, we'll call it a day. Good work. I'll see you guys tomorrow. Come on Jolt, let's go hang out. I'm feeling a little tired," said Hiccup, mounting Toothless.
Jolt nodded, jumping on Spark, and the two set off. There was something going on between those two, Astrid thought, but she couldn't figure it out. She waited till they were far enough ahead before jumping on Stormfly.
"Alright girl, let's go see what those two are up to."
