Chapter 37
Hiro looked around he saw the hole that had thrown him here, it was high up on a mountain wall; ice hung from the opening down in sharp ice-stickles that held the mountain. Hiro sighed harshly, he needed to get back to Merida and Tip; he began to climb the wall slowly, oh yeah, and Eret to for that matter. Hiro grimaced as he pulled himself higher up from the ground, he cast a look over his shoulder and saw the big buildings stand tall, in a dark grey stone. He cast a look down but quickly looked back up with a loudly gulp. He took a hold of a rock over him and began to move, when it suddenly let go of the mountain, Hiro stiffened and with a cry fell, he landed hard on the ground, losing his breath, he lied completely still just trying to get it back, his entire body hurt.
A rustling among the leaves made him crawl up to his feet a bit too fast, he stumbled and collapsed down to his knees again and winched when his wrist flared up in pain.
The rustling in the bushes grew louder and Hiro swallowed, then a young boy came out form the forest; he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Hiro, and Hiro backed up against the wall his left wrist pulsing in pain.
The boy then suddenly gave away a cry of an animal, and more rustling was heard before Hiro found himself surrounded by five boy's some older than him, while others were younger, most of them wore clothes that made them look like an animal, but the pale boy wore a to big sweater that hung down over his hands. They began to talk among themselves in a language Hiro didn't understand, he looked worriedly at them, before something glowing bright red came dashing his way, and he gave away a surprised yelp tumbling backwards when he found himself staring into the eyes of an angry blond pixie. One of the boys said something and the pixie began to fly backwards still glaring at Hiro.
"Who are you people?" he asked looking at them, but they just gave him confused looks, before they started to talk among themselves again. Then one of the older boys walked forward and grabbed a hold of his wrist and began to drag him into the forest. "Ouch!" Hiro cried out in pain when his wrist was jerked forward from the boy's tight grip. The boy let go and gave him a confused look, Hiro cradled his wrist in his hand frowning down at it; he must have sprained it when he collapsed to his knees. A shove on his shoulder made him start to walk again, and he was lead thru the forest, the pixie sat on the one of the boy's heads glaring daggers, her glow a bright red.
The big buildings Hiro had seen before grew bigger, and soon the forest ended and he found himself no longer walking on dirt, but on flat rocks, spirals and marks carved into the rocks. Other people were there, but they were grown, some children ran around playing tag, but they stopped and Hiro noticed how they looked at him with fear… why where they afraid of him?
Tip tried to stop in the ice slide, but to no use, her fingers got no grip and her feet slipped and she only ended up spinning around in the slide instead. She stiffened when she notic3ed that it was tipping more and more downwards, she cried out when she was falling instead of sliding. Then she hit her back on the slide again and she was skidding forward far too fast for her liking, then the ice disappeared and she was blinded by bright light, before a loud splash and she found herself in water, she kicked and sat up with a gasp for air, the water reached her to her chest when she was sitting. She coughed, her curly hair like a wet mop over her head and hung down over her eyes, she stroked it away and blinked up to see a small group of grownups stare at her in fear, talking shushed among themselves in a language she didn't understand. A splash behind her made her look up and found herself staring into the brown eyes of a red-haired boy who wore a green hat and clothes, he smiled down at her, a glint in his eye, before he grabbed a hold of her arms and... Lifted from the ground and flew?!
"AH! LET ME DOWN!" Tip shrieked when she saw the ground disappear under her feet. The boy laughed. But didn't let her go, he flew over a city with big towering buildings made from stone, Tip stared around, she was till scared, but understood that the boy wasn't going to let her down anytime soon.
The tunnel was dark and only a blue glow illuminated their surroundings from something the masked people wore. Merida kept casting glances backwards to the masked people who held the spears behind her and Eret.
A light in the end of the tunnel made her look forward and she heard how Eret gave away a silent grunt and cast him a glance, he looked tense, like the string of a bow ready to snap.
The light grew bigger but also brighter as the tunnel ended a light so bright and strong it temporarily blinded them, Eret moved one hand to shield his eyes with a hiss, while Merida grunted and put her hands over her eyes forcing her eyes shut, she removed them slowly after a while blinking to get used to the light and gasped, the landscape was beautiful; but what made her gasp was the bright clear blue ice that made the roof around the place, it let the sunlight spread thru and coloured everything in a bluish hue.
The masked people grunted something and shoved them forward with the spears, to make them start to walk again.
The rocks that had made the floor of the tunnel and cave turned to trampled soil and sand, with stairs made form flat rocks when the small path became too steep among the roots of the trees. Paradise birds flew around among the trees and sang in the trees, hummingbirds zipped around among the flowers, and Merida blinked when she saw pixies fly around in different hues of yellow, which meant they were happy, but she noticed how one saw her and turned purple and hit behind a leaf.
They were led down the snaky path and soon found themselves in the entrance of the city, big buildings in dark stone stood tall towards the ice, and Merida gaped when she saw the blue light in the middle over the tallest of the buildings, big masks made from stone circled around the blue light. They were lead forward to the big staircase of the biggest building. Merida stared up the stairs, and just looking at them, made her exhausted. A jab from the butt of one of the masked people's staffs in her lower back forced her to start walking, Eret was next to her. Halfway up Merida was already breathing hard, even if she had a good coordination, so why were these stairs so tiresome?!
They finally got to the plateau, Merida gasped for air and she cast a look towards Eret so see that he stood with his hands on his knees breathing just as hard as her.
An annoyed sound from one of the masked people, and they were moved past fabrics in bright colours, that hung down over an entrance like a door. A pond in the form of an eye spread out in front of them with flat rocks as the lines. At the far end a fallen big statue was half lying and a group of thrones stood on the plateau; some nothing but rubble but two stood still intact. Fabric hung over them like a roof. Waterfalls fell from fallen pillars and ran down into the pond where pixies flew around among the waterlilies, giving away the sound of small silver clocks as they moved.
One of the masked people called out and two people appeared from behind a pile of fallen; moss-covered boulders; a woman with white long hair and blue eyes, dressed in a blue dress and with a light blue glowing crystal around her neck, she had blue tattoos under her left eye, the man on the other hand wore a darker blue tunic that left his left shoulder naked, where a big blue tattoo of a star with a jagged line in the same pattern around covered his pale skin, he had brown hair and big round glasses, and also he wore a glowing crystal around his neck.
The woman held a spear in her hand and didn't look happy at all she looked like she was ready to snap at any moment, while the man looked to be more observing and drawn back, than the woman. She walked towards them talking in the language the masked people had spoken, said people spread out at the entrance, Merida looked at them raising an eyebrow, before she looked back to the woman who appeared to be in charge… the woman then started to talk again, Merida looked at Eret, he looked surprisingly calm expect the fact that he was still tenser than normal. The woman pointed her spear at them and said something in a demanding voice. Merida gave away a confused sound looking at Eret, before she looked back to the woman.
"Did ye understand what she said?" Merida said in a hushed tone as she glanced up at Eret, he looked down at her, giving a barely noticeable shake of his head. They missed how the man looked at them with more interest in his eyes. He opened his mouth to speak but didn't get the chance.
"PUT ME DOWN! PLEASE!" a desperate voice cried out, a voice Merida and Eret recognised, they looked around, before they found the owner of the voice: Tip.
Merida gaped and heard how Eret choked on the air he breathed at the sight that they saw; Tip was held by the arms by a red-haired boy dressed in green, who… flew… FLEW!
The boy was laughing before he sent her swinging in his hold before he swung her forward shouting something before letting go of her, Tip shrieked when gravity took a hold of her and she fell thru the air, before she crashed into Eret's chest with a loud thud, he gave away a grunt and stumbled several steps backward because of the momentum, before he got his balance back, and held around her to keep her from falling down, she was shivering from the adrenaline, before she turned to the boy. "YOU! WHY WOULD YOU BLOODY DO THAT?!" she screamed, shaking a clenched fist at him, anger blazing inside her, the boy just laughed hands on his hips there he hovered over the ground.
The woman said something to him in an unamused voice, because the boy frowned slightly before he crossed his arms over his chest saying something in return that earned a swat on the back of his head, knocking the green hat of his head, but he caught it before it hit the ground.
Eret let Tip down to the ground again, she was still shaking and breathed hard thru her nostrils.
"Easy there." Merida said, and patted her on the shoulder. The sniper got an angry snort and grumble in return.
"Let's see if you understand this better." A male voice said, they looked up to find the man with glasses walk towards them, he smiled at the reaction. "It seems like you people do." He looked at the woman. She sighed before she looked at them.
"What do you want?" she asked pointing her spear at them again. "Our treasures? Our power? Your pirates, are you not, all pirates wants power and wealth." She growled out with a slight accent.
"What?" Merida said "No." she looked at the woman.
"Don't play tricks with me pirate. I know your kind." She glared at them "The fountain wasn't enough for your greedy pests, so you come here in search for more to satisfy it." Merida gaped at her.
"I wonder where Hiro is." Tip said looking around staying close to the red haired woman making Merida blink and look down at the young girl.
"He could be anywhere, we have no idea where he ended up…" Eret said with a sigh. "I hope the kid's alright." he mumbled dragging a hand over his face. "Nicholas told me to keep an eye on you three… and I have already disappointed him…" he sighed.
"Oh shut yer trap." Merida said and elbowed him playfully in the side before she crossed her arms. "Nicholas isn't one to easily get upset, also Hiro's a strong kid, he'll manage; or who knows, maybe the masks found 'im and is bringing 'im here as we speak."
A toot from a trumpet made them look up and they saw how a group of children in different ages all dressed in animal costumes came walking.
"Merida! Tip! Eret!" they suddenly heard a voice call out and Hiro ran towards them, getting a surprised shout from the child who held the trumpet. He ran up to them and hugged around Tip, before he blinked and let go of her. "Why are you drenched?"
"I landed in a pool." Tip said in an unamused voice scowling at the side, before she saw how Hiro held his wrist. "You're hurt." He gave away a strained laugh, before he gave her apologetic smile
"I landed badly."
"Hiro! Don't scare us like tha." Merida said hands on her hips and a half-hearted glare in her eye. "The same goes for ye Tip, if the ice breaks for one of ya don't run out on it too!"
"Says the one who was dashing after them like mad…" Eret said.
"Ay!" Merida shouted. "They didn't nee to know that!" she jabbed Eret hard in the chest, he snorted in amusement.
Kida stared at them in shock, before she looked towards Milo, the man smiled at her and walked up to her side.
"Do they still seem like bad people to you?" he asked.
"They're pirates, all pirates are bad." Kida said in annoyance.
"But we haven't had pirates with children here before."
"Kidnapped?" she still didn't sound happy.
"Doesn't look like it." Milo said looking towards the crew "I never seen kidnapped children look so confident and safe with their kidnappers."
"What are you trying to say?"
"Family maybe?" Kida squinted towards the crew trying to see what Milo saw.
"I… don't think so…" she said slowly. "I don't see the similarities."
"A family isn't always of blood, but of bond." Milo said and smiled. Before he took some steps forward. "I excuse my friend's rude manner, but she isn't keen on trusting pirates." Milo said to get the crews attention. They looked at him. "Anyone else who's lost, or are you all here?" he asked.
"We are the only ones who went down 'ere, the rest is still on tha ship." Merida said.
"And why did you four come down here?"
"We were looking for food." Tip chipped.
"Yeah! Because our ship got frozen stuck in the ice, and we will run out of food if we can't get free from the ice." Hiro said.
"And we got injured who needs warmer climate!" Tip said.
"Yeah! Toothless is pretty much taking up the entire space at the stove." Hiro said Tip opened her mouth to speak again but Eret placed his hand on her shoulder.
"I believe they have understood." He said.
"So you're not here for the treasures then." Milo said.
"To tell ya the truth, we didn't even know this place existed, ay thought it was just a frozen island." Merida said.
"What's wrong with the wounded?" Kida asked walking up to Milo's side, she had lowered the spear and gave them a searching look.
"Well…" Merida started looking at Tip.
"Hiccup managed to break jack from a full hypnotism but Jack haven't woken up since then. Toothless fought the mountain lion of the Nightmare Dragon… same lion attacked Eret." Tip pointed at Eret.
"The Nightmare Dragon!" Kida and Milo cried out in shock; staring at them with big and scared eyes.
"They're from the Night Fury crew." Eret said and gestured to Merida, Tip and Hiro. "I was a slave on the Nightmare Dragon, but their crew saved me and Jack from Drago's and Pitch's tyranny." Eret looked at Kida and Milo before he looked down at Merida and the two kids.
"It… has been a long time since someone mentioned that ship on this ground…" Kida said slowly.
"Overland and his crew were the last ones…"
"Overland?" Hiro and Tip said in one mouth looking at them "As in Overland Frost?" they asked. Kida gave them a confused look.
"Yeah… Overland Frost." Milo said "You know him." Hiro and Tip looked at each other.
"Kind of…" they said.