The anger that awaited Outcasts and Hysterics shook the remains of their fleet; with no dragons, they had to have the leading boat tow the two that had lost their engines, with Outcasts working to shovel the coal to heat up the steam.
Norbert the Nutjob rattled the deck with angry footsteps, dressed in striped purple pajamas emblazoned with the mysterious blob of a vegetable that no Viking could identify. He also wore a purple nightcap that bobbed with a fluffy tip, one nicked several times by his double-headed axe.
"He has stolen my prized inventions and hypnotized all the Hysterics!" Norbert the Nutjob boomed, swinging his axe. "I shall slice him in two, bring him back to life and kill him again. Victory over death!"
"Victory over death!" The Hysterics repeated. They crowded around the ships with their weapons, blood lust coursing through them like water coursing through rapids.
"Nutty as a fruitcake," Magni muttered through Savage's lips. He only seemed slightly disconcerted at the mention of his younger brother getting maimed. Anger overrode his discomfort, an embarrassed fury that ran through his face.
You could only tell Alvin was angry due to his bristling mustache and clenched hands. Stroking Woedin kept him calm. The dragon curled with pleasure at his bristled touch.
Neither he nor Savage had seen exactly what had happened- only colored blurs falling to the sea, two shooting fire at him- but the missing sword and the shattered glass on the deck had told him what had happened. Modi had sneaked in, somehow floated in the sky, and disabled the ship's offensive weapons for Berk. And Modi had remained unseen.
"Killing him is too merciful, Norbert," he said. "The son of Thor is resilient to a fault. He'll survive anything you throw at him."
"All the better!" Norbert paced the deck, heedless of the broken glass. "We Hysterics love to experiment!"
"We have to get our hands on him first, and on Hiccup," Alvin reminded him. "Outcast Island is closer than Hysteria. Let us set a course for home."
Norbert gave the orders. His men obeyed, but they were jittery. They knew the bobbing nightcap was a bad sign.
Alvin looked at the lightening horizon and set up the ironwood circle. Woedin nudged at some of the blocks, and he pushed the dragon away, gently. The boy had used his fear as a weapon instead of letting it paralyze him for days on end. But Modi was still afraid; Alvin could sense terror within the Vanir essence.
Magni spoke. "The Norns. They told my brother about the invasion. Meddling spinsters."
Alvin nodded. "Did they allow him to control the rainbow crystals as well?"
"Heimdall would have." Magni's voice was flat. "The Guardian of the Bifrost."
Alvin's hand went to the remains of his belt; the fire blasts had turned the iron wood buckles to ash and burnt wood. Thank the gods he had only carried the largest bottle with him; if they had ALL broken, then the invasion of Rainbow Isle would have been for nothing. Still, this was an inconvenience; he had to give the boy credit for slipping in and out unseen.
Another Outcast brought him the book of runes and one of the bottles. It gleamed with protest, the glow struggling to leave. Alvin uncorked the bottle and drank the glowing water. A wicked smile grew across his face as he absorbed the power.
"Modi's going to regret tonight's escapade."
"Surely you're not thinking of summoning him," Magni said. "I have no doubt you can do it, but-"
"Summoning him can wait," Alvin said. "I merely want to make the gods think twice about assisting him."
He flipped through the book till he found the page he wanted. Then he started to reciting, naming the god he wanted to summon. Magni's eyes widened.
"No, not him," Magni said. "It's against destiny-"
Alvin waved him off, and by then he had completed the spell. A figure stood in the ironwood, blinking against the darkness and hostile Vikings. He clutched a horn in one hand and a spear in the other, black cloak billowing against the sea breeze.
"He's not supposed to die until the end of Ragnorak," Magni insisted. "LOKI is the one meant to kill him."
"You're using Modi's power to summon those of Asgard," Heimdall said, watching the pair coolly. "As he would say, 'Lord, what fools these mortals be.'"
Alvin raised a hand; an Outcast threw a rope rubbed in iron wood ash around the figure. Heimdall cut the rope with his spear and stood proudly.
"All of Asgard knows what you did, Magni," he went on, striding the limits of the iron circle. "Whatever your father wanted, it couldn't have been treachery."
Magni's expression darkened. Alvin's arm, blackened with iron wood ash, reached out and grabbed the god by the arm. Heimdall twisted, but essence flowed from him as well, without even the use of this name. His skin started to dissolve into beige mist.
"All of Asgard won't matter once it's gone up in rubble." Alvin reached with the other hand to grab the horn. "And this isn't treachery; it's liberation. What's treacherous is giving Vanir power to a sickly runt."
"Modi is not sickly. He has more right to Vanir strength than you ever will," Heimdall gasped, using his free hand to bring the spear on Alvin's head. Blood spattered the iron wood blocks.
Alvin backed away, arm glowing. Heimdall breathed hard. His left arm had completely vanished, leaving only a red stump of shoulder. He bit his wrinkled lips and swirled his cape around, but the colors that shot from the sky could not penetrate the iron wood circle. They danced around helplessly like red and blue fireflies.
Seeing a one-armed Vanir, the Outcasts and Hysterics drew their weapons. Norbert was front in line, running a finger along his axe. Magni's mouth was open, and he gaped at Alvin's thrilled grin.
"With the power of the rainbows, you won't be able to protect the runt." Alvin shot his hands toward the sky. He reached for the colored lights and chanted.
The lights did not obey. They evaded his thick fingers and kept pelting themselves at the iron wood barrier. Heimdall gave a pained smile.
"You must think we're daft thugs," he said. "I can hear every insect breathe through its pitiful skin. I see every crawling organism on your land. You think I didn't know what you were planning, to hurt the son of Thor with MY powers? Arrogant fool."
"What did you do?" Alvin hissed, reaching for him. Heimdall blocked him with the spear.
"I ceded my power over the rainbows and gave my position as Guardian of the Bifrost to a good friend." Heimdall nodded at Alvin's shock. "Odin approved, after I agreed to lend him my eyes for this occasion. He sees everything that I cannot see right now."
"What?" Magni's voice rose.
And as Alvin looked, he saw that each of Heimdall's eyes contained the shape of a raven, of a hooded figure with a spear.
The elderly god was facing them BLIND.
"You will never use the rainbows." Heimdall brought the spear to his stomach. "And I will not die by the hands of mortals."
Alvin reached forward, but the spear already went through. Heimdall gasped and slumped, dead instantly. The Outcasts and Hysterics roared with disapproval.
"This wasn't supposed to happen!" Magni was panicked. "We've disrupted destiny."
Alvin, shaken himself, patted Magni with stained fingers. "We didn't do a thing, son. He did that to himself. No Valhalla for suicide cases."
"But Odin knows. Odin knows for certain!" Magni stood around. "This wasn't supposed to happen! Heimdall is one of the old gods, a respected Vanir!"
"He won't be respected for killing himself," Alvin responded dryly. "Not to save your runt of a brother."
He reached for the horn, which had crashed to the deck. Heimdall was to blow it to signal Ragnorak, the end of the old world. Again the rainbow lights tried to summon it, to at least salvage some bit of tradition. Alvin's fingertips, still stained with iron wood ash, blocked them. He pressed his lips to the mouth and blew.
A discordant horn sounded through the sea. It made the clouds shake and the waves ripple. Every man on board, even Norbert, felt their legs quiver like Snoggletog jelly. Magni stared at Heimdall's corpse with an expression of denial and horror.
"Ragnorak has begun," Alvin said.
Gris watched from the Bifrost, gallon-sized tears rolling from her yellow eyes. Her torn wings were wrapped in bandages, and she leaned to one side with a groan. Yet she remained alert, with her new position as Guardian. Heimdall's black cloak- he had worn the tan one for his final trip- draped over her back like a towel.
Several times her claws shot into the bridge, attempting to bring Heimdall to safety, but the ironwood blocked every gleam. She screeched in frustration and in pain as she pulled at her wings. Her hope had died when he had stabbed his stomach with the spear.
"Now do you believe us?" she told the blond bearded man next to her. "Do you see what your favored son has done to Asgard, to your other son, and to my little Nephil?"
Thor watched. His expression was indifference battling with rage, frustration, and guilt.
The dragon towered over him, a mountain of grief and anger.
"How many more will pay for your blindness and arrogance, son of Odin?"
Eos reeled from within the iron wood circle. She had freedom of the Loki trees, and that gave her eyes and ears all over this place, which she now knew was called Outcast Island. With name came memories, memories of slaying dragons, of befriending the smelly old man who had saved her from sickness, of two bearded men who pined for her, of her mortal son.
Gods, her SON. Every time she closed her eyes, ever since that phone call to Stoick, she could picture his brown hair and bright eyes, ones he had inherited from her. Her arms longed to hold him the way they had held Mud. She was starting to worry about him again, wonder if he had ever grown.
She was getting tethered her old Midgard life, and that was a bad thing. Her mortal son had been on this island, been shackled and tricked into betraying his tribe. The Loki trees had seen, had been cut and grounded to powder to trick her son.
She saw who had betrayed him, tending cabbages on a remote cliff. Her heart shattered, and more memories surged through her. She lashed out, not thinking.
Goddess of fertility, meet stumpy cabbage roots. Feel the roots, make them grow. Use them to wrap around the old man's ankles and snap them. Use the leaves to carry her voice, to ask WHY. He had saved her life so many years ago; why manipulate her child? Every time he croaked an answer, looking around for a voice he barely recognized, she used the roots to slam him back and forth, pounding him into the rock.
Her rage faded. She let go of the roots. They lay limp on the barren ground. So did he, with broken bones and a bleeding face. A sheep nudged him.
Eos returned to herself. Still trapped in the iron wood circle, but changed from the Midgard memories. She felt her body and found that it had grown in height and breadth. Armor instead of a flower dress, a breastplate and sword at her side. Long blond hair plaited into a braid. A helmet adorning the top of her face.
She buried her face in her hands, letting the transparent sword fall. As Mud would have quoted, "An eye for an eye, the world goes blind."
The old man wasn't dead, but he would be. Soon. Because of her.
Hiccup woke with a feeling of discontent. having dreamed of a horn that tore mountains apart and set the sky on fire. He looked to where the babies huddled beside Toothless, only to find them gone. Toothless was sniffing the bare rock for them. Astrid's voice from downstairs.
"No, I haven't seen him since last night, sir. But I thought you ought to know what we did, and what Alvin had been planning."
He shot straight out of bed. Toothless followed him downstairs. He saw his father whittling furiously, a trio of three women's faces already adorning the corners of the room. Gobber was leaning from leg to peg leg, rubbing hand and hook together with frustration.
"What was Alvin planning? And where are the babies?" he asked.
"To invade Berk," Astrid said without emotion. "Mud, the babies and I went to stop him. Invasion averted, Hysterics disarmed."
"And the smithy's filled with Hysteric weapons." Gobber raised his hook hand. "With a note, but still! Astrid, why didn't you tell us what you were planning?"
"Yeah, why didn't you?" Hiccup asked, a rough edge to his voice. He noted the circles under her eyes.
Astrid came towards him. He looked at her and rubbed his eyes, still partly asleep.
"Let me tell you along the way. I know where Mud and the babies are."