Hey! Sorry, but no songs in this chapter.
Enjoy!
WARNING!
DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER IF YOUR ABOUT TO GO TO BED
The screen came back on
Hiccup's eyes widened in horror and he looked at the position of the sun.
It was only 11:00 in the morning.
"Guys! The tide's coming in early!" Hiccup shouted to his fellow Seasons.
The watchers breath catched.
The trio dropped their things in shock and looked into the distance.
The tide was coming fast.
"Get to the Wheel Boat Thingy's!" Jack shouted
Toothless landed and Hiccup did some quick hand motions and he was the size of a Terror again.
The four jumped in their 'Wheel Boat Thingy's' and took off towards the prison, on the way shouting to anyone they saw that the tide had come early.
They where so close.
Just a little bit more.
And Merida's wheel went flying off.
The watchers gasped.
Her boat came to a sudden halt, causing her to go flying into the sand.
"MERIDA!" the other three shouted
Jack, who was the closest to the red head, stopped his boat and grabbed his staff.
He flew over to her and grabbed her arm, pulling her onto his boat.
Jack had taken a huge risk saving Merida.
The boat's could only go so fast with one person, and with two people it slowed down tremoundlesly.
They made it to the prison.
The watchers sighed in relief.
"Than's, Jac'" Merida said
"No problem" Jack said
Screen changed to night, the Four in their 'beds' in the corner.
"Rorik, does the tide normally come early?" Rapunzel asked
Rorik sighed.
"It's only happened one other time" he said, sitting crossed legged in front of them "Get comfy. This is quiet a tale"
"This is The Story of the Slave-Boy, The Slave-Girl, And the Monster of the Amber SlaveLands"
The screen faded to show Rorik and a young girl in a bear suit, deep within the Amber Slave Lands.
"Once upon a time, a poor slave-boy and a slave-girl were paddling their sand-yachts-"
"So that's what their called!" Jack exclaimed
Rorik glared at him, shutting him up
The watchers chuckled.
"Oh, how I wish I could do that" Bunny said
"-in the most Evil of the Evil Reaches, deep in the heart of the Amber Slavelands" Rorik began
"Oh, please don't let him tell this story" Toothless moaned from under the covers.
But Rorik was not to be stopped. He told the story as if he could not help himself from telling it, as if it was something that he could not keep to himself.
And the Four wanted to hear it.
"So low was the tide" Rorik continued "That the dreaded red sands stretched as far as the eye could see to the north, west south and east- nothing but sand. Sand everywhere. Sand and a sinister silence. No birds called over those dreadful red sands. No seagulls screeched. For something terrible lurked beneath, something truly awful, and the birds knew to stay away. The Slave-Boy and the Slave-Girl paddled their sand-yachts out on the Eastern Sands, looking around with wild eyes, paddling as if witches were after them, though not a human soul could be seen in any direction. They kept looking left and right, and every now and then they stopped, reached down with their curious long nets, and bent to pick up a piece of amber lying on the beach. These pieces of amber, revealed by the low tide, where amber jewels of astonishing richness, some the color of honey and the lightness of air, others milky drops of yellow-green, others red as coral, warm to the touch and flecked with insects wings.
The Amber Slavelands are the best amber hunting-grounds in the whole of the Viking World, and many a slave has died there in the Quest to find the amber Jewel that would be fit for a warrior princess, or the sword-hilt of a king. Low tide was best for finding amber, the lowest tide the best of all... But it was also most dangerous.
On , on, they paddled wildly. On and on and further out- the willow baskets on their backs nearly full now. The red sand made a sludgy swishing sound as the rims of the yachts splashed through it, on, on, on, for there was no turning back- and suddenly, they stopped. Both exactly at the same time, as sharply as if they had been hit by arrows.
In front of them in the soft, wet, red sands were deep scarlet indentations appearing out of nowhere, and stretching out for miles, the sea puddling in the imprints, shinning in the early evening sunset as if it were blood.
The footprints were so large that the slave-boy's yacht came to a dull squelching stop right in the middle of one, and it was as large as the yacht itself.
They were the footprints...
... of a GIGANTIC...
... dragon"
Fishlegs's eyes widened.
Another new dragon!
"The slave-boy and the slave-girl felt their hearts almost die within them.
Oh their luck had really vanished now.
They knew that they were doomed.
They looked at each other, and then they both hid their heads in their hands, curled up in their yachts, and the slave-boy and slave-girl pretended they were back home if they had known where 'home' was.
But than the slave-boy remembered that he had been a Viking-in-Training once upon a time, before he had been a slave. And the slave-girl remembered she was actually extremely brave.
And the slave-girl and slave-boy made fists out of their hands and shook them a the footprints to show defiance.
The slave-girl and the slave-boy knelt to examine the footprint and very, very quietly. as they knelt, something movedin the sand behind them.
It made no sound, just a little light spurt of sand, like a tiny, bubbling waterfall.
Up it rose a little more. What was it? Something very curious...
It was an eye, lying on the sand, blinking there quietly for a moment, like it had been discarded by a giant.
Slowly, up it rose, and there were four more eyes burrowing out of the sand like periscopes, curiously attached to the end of long dragon fingers.
And the five together made a gigantic dragon claw.
The claw held still. The eyes, horrifyingly attacked to the fingers, focused in on the boy without blinking"
The watchers shivered, as if it had suddenly started snowing in the room.
"And kneeling in the sand, they sensed a presence behind them, the hairs on the back of their necks tingled and prickled with alarm.
Slowly, they peered behind them-"
"Your freakin' me out, Rorik" Merida said
But nothing was going to make Rorik stop now.
"Aaaaargghhhhhh! they screamed
And the slave-girl and the slave-boy got on their yachts, and propelled them forward with the oars as fast as they could.
Wildly they oared the careering yachts, crying and splashing across the scarlet sands. They could not stop to blow their whistles, they could not stop for the dragon was after them, and if they stopped it would already be too late for someone to see them.
The dragon-claw-eye-periscope had disappeared, but over their terrified shoulders they could see five little humps of sand following them, keeping pace with them, unhurried.
The slave-boy and the slave-girl oared on, and the five little humps of sand followed, always keeping pace, patiently waiting for them to tire.
The slave-boy and the slave-girl oared their yachts for what seemed like hours.
There was nowhere to go, no tree's to climb, no one to hear. The sands went on forever.
And then!"
And then?
The Four and Toothless leaned forwards, in horror...
Rorik swallowed, his arms momentarily frozen, before carrying on, his voice even deeper.
"Out in the most eastern part of the Evil Reaches, right by the rock that looked like a witch's finger pointing upwards at the sky, the girl's yacht caught on the metal edge of a dragon-trap, lying half covering in sand, waiting to catch dragons."
The dragons winced, and the Riders growled.
"The dragon-trap snapped shut, and caught the rim of the yacht, and held it fast.
The girls yacht tripped over, and smashed into the sand.
And the girl gave up.
She lay down on the sand and curled up into a little ball.
The sands around her were quit.
Slowly, carefully, rose the dragon claw with the dreadful eyes on the end, burrowing out of the sand by the girl's foot.
The girl did not move.
And then the claw closed around her ankle and gently pulled her down bellow the sand"
The watchers stared at the screen, horrified.
There was a long, long silence.
"What happened to the slave-boy?" Hiccup asked
"He continued on and made it back to the prison" Rorik said, his gaze not leaving the floor
"Couldn't you have given it a happy ending? Like letting the slave-girl escape?" Rapunzel asked
"If I was in a happier place, than maybe I'd give stories happier endings" Rorik said
"It... It wasn't a true story... right?" Jack asked
Rorik said nothing.
"You were the slave-boy. Weren't you?" Rapunzel said
Rorik said nothing, his silence filling the dark room.
He slowly got to his feet and went to his bed, his back facing them.
"Who was the slave-girl, Rorik?" Hiccup asked
A moment of silence.
"Eggingarde. Her name was Eggingarde" came Rorik's quiet reply, still not turning to face the Four.
"It's not a true story. Right?" Rapunzel asked, repeating Jack's unanswered question.
Rorik said nothing.
The screen moved to Rorik's face, as he closed his eyes and a single tear ran down his cheek.
That was all the watchers needed to know it was a true story.
And they waited as the next part loaded...
What do you think?
I got the story from the 10th HTTYD book 'How to Seize a Dragon's Jewel' chapter 7 'A Truly Scary Bedtime Story'
More songs are coming, don't worry!
Please review for more!
NightFury999 out!