Chapter 20: To Trust Dragons
Hiccup woke up in a rather dark and dank cell. He felt like something had wormed its way into his head and smashed his brain into little pieces, and his brain was throbbing like crazy. He groaned and leaned back against the cold stone wall as the memories came rushing back. Millicent tossing two black stones at him and Toothless, and then falling asleep almost immediately. He knew that he must be on Outcast Island. In fact, when he looked around his cell, nothing more than a cave cut out of the stone of the mountain with a patchwork metal gate, it looked fairly familiar. He remembered why. Alvin had captured him no less than four times in the last two months, some that even his father and friends didn't even know about, but he always managed to escape.
The cell he was being held in was the same cell he had been kept in all of those times. You would think that Alvin would learn that Hiccup knew the way out of the cell by now, but Alvin never learned.
"No place like home, right?" he muttered to himself. He searched the back wall for evidence of the secret door that he had discovered the last time he had been held there. Although Alvin didn't know it, the island and its mountain were once home to an immense civilization, and they had created a massive network of tunnels and cities inside the mountain. Hiccup had explored a vast majority of them, and he had a map of the various tunnels in his notebook back on Berk.
Hiccup looked around for the longest time, but the door he had previously found had disappeared, vanished. As he kept searching however, he saw a sharp indent in the cave wall in the place where Hiccup vaguely remembered the door being. He groaned. That meant that Alvin had found the door and had collapsed the tunnel, and he would have to find another way out of the cell.
Savage came around with his meal, and a written note from Alvin. Hiccup almost laughed.
"Hm, I didn't know Alvin could read, let alone write," he said grinning at Savage. He was rewarded for that comment with a sharp smack to the face. Ah, but it was worth it.
He settled into his sparse meal, nothing more than hardy vegetables and a small portion of meat and a small cup of water. The note from Alvin was somewhat surprising, seeing as it didn't really sound like it was from Alvin, but rather from Millicent.
'You will reveal your secrets boy, or your dragon and your friends are dead. And you'd better tell me what became of the Lightning Rider, or you'll see that you don't really need all of your fingers after all.'
Yup, definitely Millicent. Hiccup had to say he was impressed. He would have never expected such a good threat from Millicent, he had always seemed a little slow.
No sooner had he thought that when, speak of the devil, Millicent walked into his cell.
"Ah, yes, my friend Hiccup. How are we this evening?" he asked cackling.
"Just fine thank you. You may want to tell your cook to learn some basic skills. I'm pretty sure my chicken leg is still alive," said Hiccup grinning.
Millicent angrily picked up the tray of food and smacked Hiccup over the head with it. Luckily, Hiccup had been around Ruffnut and Tuffnut long enough to know how to take a strong hit to the head.
"You think this is some sort of joke?! I have your friends and I will kill them!" yelled Millicent, borderline insane.
"Okay, okay. Gosh no need to get you hair in a twist," said Hiccup, sarcastic as always.
"Tell me how to train dragons. My attempts have been successful, to a point, but the dragons are still unresponsive. Remember, I have your friends and your dragon, and I will not hesitate to kill them."
Hiccup just shrugged. "I don't know, dragons just like me. What can I say, I've just got that kind of charm about me, if you know what I mean," said Hiccup laughing. That got him a sharp kick to the shins. Man, he needed to put a chain on his mouth.
"That's it! Guards, give him no food or water for a two days. We'll see how chipper you are then," said Millicent, stalking out of the cell.
"Well that went well," said one of the guards. Millicent responded by drawing out a knife and stabbing him in the gut.
"Shut up! I no longer want to hear you speak!"
The guard dropped to the ground, groaning for a minute before going silent, and Hiccup knew instinctively that he was dead. He needed to get out of here, and fast.
He spent the rest of the day coming up with various escape ideas, but none made sense. As he was thinking, he was playing with a small ball of fire. Could he melt the gate? No, that would take too long, and he was bound to be noticed. He extinguished the fire, and suddenly gasped as he remembered something else that he could do.
He stood in the shadows and focused on blending in. He watched as his skin turned a purple-black, the shade of shadows. The color melted its way into his clothes, allowing him to blend into the shadows perfectly. He couldn't do any other colors, he knew because he had already tried, but this was the night fury's color, the color of night. And Hiccup knew just what he was going to do.
He hid in the shadows in the back of the cell, not making a sound. The guard, who was very suspicious of the lack of sound, turned around to see no one in the cell. He opened the door, stepping onto the cell to get a better look. Before he knew it, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head, and then proceeded to pass out. Hiccup materialized behind him.
It was almost too easy. Hiccup took the guard's uniform and the keys and exchanged them for his own. Oddly enough, they happened to be about the same size and build, which was useful. He pushed the body into the corner, hiding his face. If anyone were to look quickly enough, it would look just like Hiccup was there, sleeping.
Hiccup sneaked out of the cell, careful to make himself look as much like an Outcast as he could. It worked, and every guard he came across just gave him a nod and walked on. They had their duties, so what would they care for what looked like a new guard in training, but still, Hiccup tried to keep his face hidden.
He was almost in the clear, working his way to the dragons' holding cells, when he ran into none other than Millicent himself. Hiccup had made sure to pull his pants down low enough to hide his fake leg, as that was especially revealing. It was strange to see a viking or an Outcast with long pants, but it was something Hiccup was fond of, and he hoped the Outcasts used the same styles.
Apparently, with the change of clothes and the hidden leg, Millicent didn't recognize Hiccup.
"Ah, what would your name be, new recruit?" he asked, sounding almost sincere.
"Uh...Stalker, sir. The name's Stalker," said Hiccup quickly. He had no idea why he chose Stalker, it was just the first name that popped into his head.
"Well Stalker, don't you have some place to be?"
"Um, yes! I was just going to go and feed the dragons their meal," said Hiccup. He cursed mentally. The Outcasts weren't that nice.
Millicent screwed his eyes in confusion. "Who told you to do this?"
"Um, Alvin, sir! Yes, he wanted them kept healthy for the attack," replied Hiccup.
"Well I guess that make sense. Now run along, and take care of that night fury well. Alvin wants that one particularly..." he said before noticing something odd about the boy named Stalker. He only wore one boot. He would be very young for an amputee, and there were none he knew off. Looking at the boy's face, he instantly knew who it was.
Hiccup saw the knowledge reach Millicent's eyes and turned to run, but he was dragged back by that same attractive force that Jolt always used. He was dragged back into the guards, who cuffed him quickly.
"Well, well, Hiccup. You are certainly the sharpest sword in the armory, you almost had me there. But you should know something, no one escapes me, at least not alive anyway," said Millicent, chuckling at his own joke.
"Come, let's see how good Hiccup really is at training dragons," he said, gesturing for the guards to follow him. The made their way toward the dragon killing arena, where Hiccup was thrown onto the ground and tied down onto a wood log in the center of the arena.
"You know Hiccup, you should feel honored. It's not often that I dispose of unruly guests this way. You are one of the first, and its sad to see you go, but I can still get the secrets out of your dead skull, so you don't need to be alive for my plan to work." Millicent laughed evilly.
"How does that work? You'd need me alive to tell you everything," said Hiccup angrily.
"Ah yes, but there is a skill my dragons possesses that allows him to invade the minds of others and retrieve memories, even after their dead. I didn't want to kill you at first because I liked you Hiccup, but you're too defiant for me. I thought I could make you see the light, but I was mistaken. And now, let's see what you can do against an entire pack of Horrible Manglers," said Millicent, laughing again evilly. He pulled the lever, and a whole horde of the dragons poured out.
Hiccup gasped. Of course, he knew all about Horrible Manglers. They were only just bigger than a Terrible Terror, but they had razor sharp fangs and claws and were known to kill anything in sight. They were ruthless killers, and even one was bad, but a whole pack? Hiccup didn't know how he'd survive.
As soon as the dragons poured out, Hiccup tried to remain completely still, trying to send soothing and trusting vibes to the angry dragons. The Horrible Manglers acted curious, circling the boy, but never touching him. Hiccup started to hear all of their voices filter into his head.
What is this thing?
It smells funny.
It seems nice enough.
Let's eat it!
No, lets watch and see what it does.
And with that, all of the Manglers formed a circle around Hiccup and stared at the boy, waiting for him to make a move.
"So, how's living around here? I mean, my place was pretty good, don't get me wrong, but you guys, you guys must get the extra special treatment," said Hiccup. Horrible Manglers were a member of the sharp class, and they were incredibly vain, or so the Book of Dragons said, but no one had seen a Mangler for a few decades, so it was hard to tell.
It talks too much.
But it sounds nice.
I like him.
Let's eat him!
What is it with you and eating everything?
I like food, what can I say.
Let's see what it says next.
Again, they all stared at Hiccup expectantly. The constant stream of voices was starting to hurt his head, and he really didn't like that one voice that always wanted to eat him, who Hiccup assumed was the red Mangler who was literally salivating by Hiccup's kneecap. It was kind of gross, as Hiccup had missed Bath Day for a few weeks, and he smelled horrible.
"How much food do you guys get. It must be a lot, you being great dragons and all," said Hiccup, still trying to appeal to their sense of vanity.
You know he's got a point.
We don't get fed nearly enough.
I'm, hungry!
We are great dragons, worthy of much food.
Yeah, so let's eat it!
Stop trying to eat it! Besides, there's not much on it anyway.
"Ok guys, I need you to help me out. I'm promising you a huge basket of fish back on Berk if you guys could just go up there and attack that guy. The one with his hand on the lever? Can you do that for me?" said Hiccup in a hushed tone.
Hm, a whole basket full of fish.
And a home.
And we get to take that annoying man-child.
Alright we accept. Take him down, brothers!
Without another word the whole flock jumped up and flew toward Millicent, whose face widened in shock. Even though he was behind the bars of the cage, the fire could still reach him, and he yelped as one set his pants on fire. He tried to run, but everywhere he went, the Manglers followed, and the only way out was on the opposite side of the arena.
Meanwhile, Hiccup was hard at work trying to melt his way through the shackles. It was hard though, as the shackled were cast iron, a metal with a fairly high melting point. He gave up on melting and pulled out his lock-pick set from its compartment in his boot.
Hiccup had installed that every since his third kidnapping, and he had kept the tools in pristine condition, practicing every once in a while to keep himself fresh. He worked his way through the lock and was soon free. He ran toward the door, only to find Millicent racing out of it too, right behind him. They burst out into the crisp night air, stumbling over each other in the process.
They both got up, and the Manglers raced after Millicent, who ran away as fast as he could, spouting out hundreds of curses at Hiccup and his whole family.
Hiccup smiled. He was gone for now, and he had to capitalize on that. He was about to run to the dragons' cells when he saw a strange winged figure on the horizon.
It looked to be human, but it had wings like a dragon, wings that looked vaguely familiar. He couldn't place where he'd seen them before.
Jolt, who Hiccup had seen, spotted Hiccup as well and flew over to him. This was the part he had never thought about, landing. He flew as slow as he could toward the ground, pulling the wings closed to prevent tearing. He landed hard, but he was otherwise unhurt.
"Hey Hiccup. How did you get out?" asked Jolt gasping to regain his breath from the fall.
"Long story. I see you found the Dragon Wings. I was wondering if those would work or not," said Hiccup.
"Well they work marvelously. Now let's focus on getting everyone out of here," said Jolt determinedly.