Hi guys!
Sorry for not updating earlier. Internet has been wacky and mean and it keeps quitting. So. Bad internet. Behave or I'll spank you. Anyway, here's another chapter. Next week this time I'll be in Alaska. *squeals* Ad you might have guessed I am major nervous... but my best friend is waiting on the other side, so I know it'll be okay. I'll try to update sometime next week, and if I fail to do so, my next update will be from beautiful Alaska! I love you all, take care! See you next time!
Enjoy!
Chapter 14. Unexpected discovery
Wrenlou sighed, looking up at the sky. It was the third day of their search, and they had come no closer to finding even the smallest trace of Drago. They had found one of his trappers, spotting the ship anchored just off shore from one of the smaller islands. They had been following it for a day, thinking it might lead them to Drago, but had found it went the wrong direction, and had no dragons on board what so ever.
So they had abandoned that idea, and went the opposite direction. They quickly picked up a trail on another small island, a path of destructing and a destroyed camp with several broken cages and burned tents. After following that trail it went cold as well, so now they were on the beach, the dragons curled up and sleeping, their small tents pitched, a fire burning.
"Hiccup? What are we going to do when we find Drago?"
"What do you mean?" Hiccup asked, looking at him, "we'll get Snowflake back, what else?"
"Yeah, but, what if that Eret guy is right?" Wrenlou asked, "you know, what if Drago has an army? A huge fleet? Dragons in armour? Soldiers? You know, all that? That could be a major problem. I mean, they're after Toothless. Just flying in will give them exactly what they want."
Hiccup frowned, staring into the flames of their small fire. He poked one of the logs that rolled out of the flames, pushing it back in, and sighed deeply.
"An army will be a problem.. and a whole armada an even bigger one..." he said, "maybe... if that's what we find... we have to turn back and go home, warning Berk and preparing for battle instead."
"And leave her!?" Wrenlou blurted out, both dragons looking up, "I'm not leaving her!"
"Wren..." Hiccup said softly, "we may not have a choice... As you said, if Drago has an army, what can we do? We can't let him get Toothless as well."
Wrenlou looked down, not answering. Hiccup sighed and moved next to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.
"We'll get her back," he reassured Wrenlou, "one way or another, we'll get her back."
"He could be torturing her..." Wrenlou whispered, "o...or starving her... or doing gods know what... what if he turns her against me... what if he makes her hate me.."
"Wren, listen to me," Hiccup said, lifting his head with a finger, "Snow would never turn on you, nor would she ever hate you, okay? That just won't happen, no way. And if he is torturing her... well, then we'll make him pay won't we? Give him a taste of his own medicine. See how he likes it when there's dragons out to kill you. If he really has a dragon army, like Eret claims, then you can bet your life those dragons are forced to fight for him. I don't know how he does that... but we'll find out, alright?"
Wrenlou nods a little. Hiccup smiles weakly and pours some more wine in to his cup, before giving it to him.
"Chin up my friend," he said, "I won't rest until I've found her, and I won't rest until Drago has gotten what he deserves, which is horrible awful death. And you know I don't say that lightly... I generally don't wish death on anyone... not even that jerk Dagur the Deranged.."
"Dagur the who?" Wrenlou asked, "is he another enemy we have to worry about?"
"Hardly," Hiccup said, "well... maybe... Dagur is Chief of the Berserkers. We have a peace treaty, but it's... on shaky ground. But believe me, Dagur is a nobody compared to Drago. He doesn't have an armada, and he certainly doesn't have a dragon army."
Wrenlou nods again, staring in the flames.
"Come on," Hiccup said, standing up and walking over to his tent, "try to get some sleep. Tomorrow is another day. And if we can't find him, Eret will lead us there."
"What if he doesn't?" Wrenlou asked, standing as well, "what if he goes somewhere else to save his sorry ass?"
"Then he'll regret that decision for the rest of his short and miserable life," Hiccup grumbled, because I'll find him, and I'll have his head as a trophy on my wall."
"And what if he leads us to Drago?" Wrenlou asked, "what happens then?"
"If he survives Drago's torture or whatever he'll do to him, then I'm inclined to let him live," Hiccup said, turning to face Wrenlou, "are you okay with that?"
Wrenlou sighed deeply. "I don't know yet..." he said softly, "he is the cause of all this... but if he helps get her back... I don't know. Maybe I can forgive him, if she isn't hurt."
"Fair enough," Hiccup said, putting sand on the fire to kill the flames, "we'll have to see what he does. But for now, we still have a few days left to search, so lets make the best of it."
Wrenlou nodded, glancing at the Nadder, curled up peacefully. Hiccup cast a glance at the sky and groaned.
"Something wrong?" Wrenlou asked, looking up as well.
"We might get snow tonight," Hiccup said, "I saw the clouds during the day a ways back, but now they're here. We're getting further north."
"Will they be okay?" Wrenlou asked, gesturing to the dragons, "there's not much shelter for them here..."
"They'll be okay for the night," Hiccup said, "if it really starts snowing we'll find a more sheltered spot tomorrow. Now, go get some sleep, okay?"
Wrenlou nodded and crawled into the tent. Hiccup did the same, staring at the sky for a while. The dark clouds he had seen earlier had blocked out every last bit of moonlight and hidden the stars. Even if it wasn't going to snow, it promised to be a cold night.
0-0-0-0-0-0
When they woke up the next morning, they found that Hiccup's prediction had come true. The ground was covered in a thick layer of snow that came up to their ankles. Both Toothless and Honeycomb had curled up tightly and close together, seemingly not bothered by the snow at all, their internal fire keeping them warm. Hiccup shivered as he looked around at the white landscape, the sparse trees bowing under the weight of the white layer of frost.
"It's cold..." Wrenlou said, digging through the saddlebag for his cloak, "I'm freezing."
"Good thing we came prepared," Hiccup said, pulling his own cloak from his saddlebag, "come on, lets pack up and get going. There's no time to lose, and no reason to stay here any longer."
Wrenlou agreed with that, quickly packing up the tent, which was harder than it sounded with gloves on, but it wasn't long before both of them had their tents packed, and were on the way.
"How are we ever going to find him with all this snow and ice..." Wrenlou said, looking down on the frozen ocean, "I mean...we can't follow his trappers... they'll be stuck in the ice!"
"And yet Eret delivered her there," Hiccup said, "so there has to be a way. A path where the ice is broken, or just absent. And if Drago is coming towards Berk, he has to be able to move..."
"Why does he even hang out in this icy place," Wrenlou said shivering, "how do humans survive in this much cold. It's impossible."
"He must have been born around here," Hiccup said, "it's the only reason I can think of. This far north, there are not much people who can survive. Winters are an endless dark, summer is always light... living here is harsh."
"No kidding..." Wrenlou said, looking at the white landscape all around. The thick layer of ice on the ocean had broken into several large pieces that were just floating around. Huge, jagged ice bergs were jotting up from the sea, and they felt incredibly small while they flew between the ice giants.
"They are huge..." Wrenlou said, "I've never seen ice bergs this huge..."
"Neither have I," Hiccup said, looking at the giants chunks of ice, "I've never been this far north. But this may explain why Drago choose to hide here... look."
He pointed down towards the water. Several shipwrecks were visible, the wooden boats splintered against the hard chunks of ice.
"It must be incredibly dangerous to navigate these waters," Hiccup said, "especially in winter when the sea is frozen solid. A simple wooden ship won't get through."
"Then... how do the trappers get to him?" Wrenlou asked, "their boat is made from wood."
"Maybe there's another route," Hiccup pondered, "one with less ice."
"Maybe..." Wrenlou mumbled, eyeing the landscape around him.
The massive ice bergs were shimmering in the sunlight, the snow covering the tops glistening like a thousand tiny crystals. The sound of the drifting ice echoed eerily, the wrecks of the ships twisted by the force of the ice.
"Wren! Watch out!"
The sudden shout jolted him from his thoughts and the Nadder swerved sharply, narrowly avoiding the crumbling ice that came from one of the ice bergs, the giant chunks plunging in the water below.
"That was too close..." Wrenlou said, watching the ice plummet towards the water, "thanks Hiccup."
"We best stay away from them as best we can," Hiccup said, "they are dangerous. That's why most those ships sunk I reckon. They had no chance in this icy maze..."
He nodded a little, steering away from the ice bergs, and they flew in silence for a while. Occasionally chunks of ice would break from the floating giants, causing massive splashes and waves that rocked everything around them, the ice bergs swaying and hitting each other, causing more ice to break off and fall into the water below.
It seemed like they were the only colour in the white landscape around them, until there was a flash of purple between two of the icy sea stacks. They immediately looked at each other, and set chase to the purple flash. It turned out to be a dragon, one they had never seen before. It was fast, swerving between the ice spikes with practiced ease, and they almost lost it at one point.
But then there was a flash of yellow on their left, and a second dragon appeared between the ice, flying in the same direction as the purple one. And as they watched a green one joined them, and a blue one, and a lighter purple one, and before they knew it, they were in the middle of a massive flock.
"Do you think these could be Drago's dragons...?" Wrenlou asked, studying a Monstrous Nightmare on his right.
"I don't know..." Hiccup said, "they don't look like it. Where's the armour Eret talked about? And why would he let them fly free like this?"
"No idea," Wrenlou said, "this one has scars though... as does that one... and over there... in fact, most of them have scars."
"You're right," Hiccup said, almost shocked as he saw how the Hobblegrunt on his left had a blind eye and a nasty scar down its neck, "looks like the work of trappers."
"So... do we follow them?"
Hiccup nodded. "Yes. Let's follow them. Even if they don't lead us to Drago, they'll surely give us a clue. Someone or something set them free from traps, and took care of their injuries."
Wrenlou nodded and they followed the flock for a good hour, before they saw a giant crown of ice appear in the distance. The dragons flew towards it, and, although there was no apparent entrance, started to disappear into the mountain of ice and it's giant crown.
"Come on," Hiccup said, determined, "lets go."
"Are you sure...?" Wrenlou asked, holding Honeycomb back, "Drago isn't in there I'm sure of that..."
"No, but maybe whoever helped them is," Hiccup said, steering Toothless towards an opening, hidden between ice spikes.
"What makes you think they'll help us?" Wrenlou asked, following.
"We're friends of dragons too," Hiccup said, "that's one thing we have in common, don't you think? Now come on, lets see what all these uninviting ice spikes are all about."
"Alright," Wrenlou said, following Hiccup and Toothless, "I hope you know what you're doing."
"I hope so too..." Hiccup mumbled as they entered a dark and narrow tunnel.
The dragons zipped past them, the flutter of wings, the sound of nails on the ice and the chirping and chatter of dragons surrounded them from all sides. There was only one way they could go, so they kept following the stream of dragons. The tunnel seemed endless,, winding and twisting it's way into the mountain. And then they suddenly exited into a large cavelike dome, where dragon's swarmed in a giant flock, the ones they had followed in joining them. The sound was deafening, the many dragons chirping and crooning together.
"Oh my gods..." Hiccup gasped staring at the massive flock, "I've never seen so many different dragons in one place... all these species... it's amazing..."
"It's beautiful," Wrenlou agreed.
"This is fascinating!" Hiccup said excitedly, slipping to the ground, "do you know what this means? These dragons would normally never mingle if they had the chance... someone brought them here, into this giant flock... and I don't think it was Drago..."
"Why not? Why would he not use this as a gathering place or something?" Wrenlou asked, slipping to the ground as well.
"From what I've heard it would never be this serene if Drago had his hands on it," Hiccup said with a grimace, "that leaves the question, who created all this, and why."
"It's like... a sanctuary," Wrenlou said, walking to the edge and looking down into the crystal clear waters below, "a sanctuary for dragons."
Hiccup nodded in agreement. "All this green..." he mumbled, plucking a leave from a plant to study it, "in the middle of a mountain of ice... unbelievable. Absolutely incredible."
"Something, or someone is controlling this flock," Wrenlou said, "and everything around us."
"But how," Hiccup said, frantically making notes, "and why. Why bring them together like this. Why here."
"An army against Drago?" Wrenlou opted while he walked to one of the caves on the right, "maybe someone is planning the same thing we are... get rid of Drago... and what better way to fight a dragon army than with a bigger dragon army. Or maybe they just want to keep them from him, to stop his army from growing."
"Possible, certainly possible," Hiccup mumbled, distracted by a bone on the ground.
He didn't see how Wrenlou stood frozen, staring into one of the small caves.
"Eh... Hiccup? You're gonna want to see this..."
"Yes... I'm coming..." Hiccup said, not really listening, moving away from Wrenlou.
"Hiccup, you REALLY want to see this," Wrenlou urged, "right now."
This time Hiccup looked up. He frowned a little and got up, wiping some dust of his knees before walking over. The moment his eyes fell on the contents of the cave, he froze as well.
"Someone is living here!?"