Considering this story was written long before the release of HTTYD 2, I am sometimes amazed when similar bits turn up in another story by sheer coincidence. Case in point, Dame Incontinentia doing a great Eret son of Eret impersonation as she plummets towards the ground.
49 Autumn Leaves
Astrid pushed Dame Incontinentia off the watchtower while Stormfly leapt over the side in pursuit of the screaming Dame.
"OH GOOD LORD" Joric exclaimed as he rushed to look over the edge "will… will he catch her in time?"
"I don't know" Astrid shrugged "I've never done this with a person before, or a cow like her; also Stormfly is a she. Didn't you hear me call her girl?"
In less than a minute, Stormfly had deposited the shaking, wide eyed Dame Incontinentia back at Astrid's feet and sat down looking as satisfied as a Deadly Nadder can.
"Good girl" Astrid petted her dragon and then got down on one knee by the Dames head and spoke sweetly.
"Have you changed you mind, hmm?"
"Y-y-yes… anything… no more… please" she begged.
Astrid shook her head; she actually felt sorry for this proud woman who was willing to let hundreds die to further her influence and who now lay shivering on the cold stone having faced her own mortality. The King signaled his guards who picked her up, put her back on her feet and led her back to the trap door. Soon after they had disappeared downstairs, Hiccup appeared on the watchtower with a distinct look of relief on his face.
"It looks like I was worried over nothing" he declared "by the look of Dame Incontinentia, she fell for your threat."
"She fell alright" Astrid smirked.
"When Fishlegs told me that you were bringing her up here, I figured that you might be going to threaten to throw her off the tower if she didn't cooperate; I was worried that it wouldn't work."
"But she did…" Joric began but was quickly stopped by Astrid.
"Why didn't you think it would work Babe?"
"Well because people like her are usually so overconfident, they're usually willing to call your bluff. When they see that you're not really going to go through with your threat, they never take you seriously again. But by the look on her face, she really thought you were going to throw her off; good call Astrid."
"Not a word" Astrid pointed at Joric.
"Would you like to have the honour of informing my father that he will not need to proceed to 'Plan C' milady?"
"It would be my pleasure" Astrid curtsied and soon departed on Stormfly.
King Joric and Hiccup watched her depart before heading back down.
"She's an amazing young lady" Joric stated.
"And she wants to marry me; how lucky am I?" Hiccup smiled.
"Extremely fortunate I would say" the King agreed.
"She did throw Dame Incontinentia off the watchtower, didn't she?" Hiccup asked.
"Err… yeah."
"And Stormfly caught her again."
"Again… yes."
"You're right Joric; she is amazing."
At first, the solders of Bolthorn Castle believed that they had succeeded in driving off the evil invaders when Stoick led the Dragon Riders away, but when word filtered through that they had been ordered to return to barracks, many began to wonder what had really happened. Then there was the rumor about the horrified scream heard from the watchtower and the silhouette of the giant bird many had seen in the moonlight. Eventually a notice was posted by the junior officers in every dormitory stating King Boron had agreed to step aside and give up the crown due to the unexpected return of the rightful heir to the throne; the grandson of King Joric the Fourth of Bolthorn, Joric the Fifth.
Stoick led the Dragon Riders back to the village of Staggshund where the townsfolk welcomed them all with open arms; especially Hak and Gauk who were the only two Elydonians to ride with the Chief of Berk. Fishlegs flew off to the harbour to tell the fleet all was clear and they could now tie up at the docks, while Ruff and Tuff spread the good news to Jorics forces east of Bolthorn, who soon began to make their way through the town, toward the castle.
King Joric was getting a headache. With the main staircase below the guest quarters destroyed, he had decided that all the minor nobles could safely be sent back to their rooms with only several guards posted at the locked doors to the servant's stairwells, but Dame Incontinentia and her co-conspirators were all taken down to the Military Watch house and locked up. There was some complaining from them at first but it soon ceased when they were informed the only other choice facing them was the dungeon; Hiccup was happy to tell them what he and Snotlout had experienced there, since the Nobles had never actually seen it. Suddenly the Watch house didn't seem so bad and they hoped it would just for one night anyhow.
"And then…" pause for effect "the head of the giant dragon struck the ground and the entire island rocked and shook with such force, that even those with two legs could not remain standing; which was just as well because a second later, a blast of fire and hot air shot out in all directions as the creature exploded and even set the ends of me moustache alight."
Although the hour was late, none of the people in the front bar of the Staggshund Tavern were considering leaving, and the barman had no intention of closing up for the night. Not only were they patiently waiting for any word from Bolthorn, but everyone was transfixed by Gobbers story. Somebody had asked him how he had lost his arm and leg, but Gobber had told them a much better tale was of how Hiccup had lost his. As the ale had flowed and the story continued, some of the older folk had suspected that Gobber was adding many embellishments and exaggerations to the tale of the Dragon Master and although they were impressed by his ability to tell a great story, they would have been even more stunned had they known that it was all entirely true.
"I don't think Hiccup would be very happy to hear you tellin' that story in Elydonia; you know how much he hates all the adoration it brings."
"STOICK; YOUR BACK!" Gobber jumped to his foot and almost fell over on the spot; Staggshund ale was a potent brew.
"Wait a minute" one of the bar patrons protested "what happened next?"
"Oh um… we found Hiccup, his left leg was gone and I made him a new one: The End."
"Well really Gobber" Stoick crossed his arms and shook his head in disgust "you can't end such a great story like that."
"Alright, alright but you have to tell us; how'd it go?"
"Plan A went well but we did have to resort to Plan B; fortunately we did not have to go on to Plan C."
"Oh… well… isn't that lovely; now WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" Gobber shouted.
"Ya see Gobber" the Chief noted "it isn't nice to tell half a story."
"Yes alright but you have to tell us, WHAT'S HAPPENED."
Stoick sat down and was served with a mug of ale as he revealed to all present about the unexpected surrender of King Boron and how he had assisted with the clandestine invasion of Bolthorn Castle.
"… and then Astrid appeared on Stormfly to inform us that it was over and we would not have to place the castle under full attack so I gave the order to break off and we all returned here."
"But what happened inside the castle" Gobber was almost falling off the edge of his chair.
"I don't know" Stoick replied "I was flying around the outside on Bloodstorm throughout the whole adventure. But don't worry because Hiccup and Joric were on top of the situation and I'm sure someone will fill us in eventually. And while you wait Gobber, you can finish telling everyone the story of Dragon Island PROPERLY."
"Alright Mr. Grumpy pants."
Stoick wandered back outside the tavern only to find Odd and Sigrid were approaching him.
"It's not a bad night Chief so we've set ourselves up with the dragons in the field. But some of the people here have offered rooms for the night to any of us that want a bed" Odd informed Stoick
"Aye; the taverns rooms are full of travelers from Bolthorn so we may as well bed down outside" Stoick agreed.
"There's err… something else Chief" Sigrid added "Olaf and the Gronckle riders from the Sharktooth have turned up so Freya and Spitelout are headed over to Horston Beach to check on the ship, and Gauk's going with them to meet up with his wife and kids."
"That's fine; give him my thanks for his help tonight."
"There's more; he wanted us to ask you… well… now that Joric's in charge here and everyone has seen the dragons…"
"Ah… he wants to know if he still has to come back to Berk with us" Stoick smiled.
"That's right Chief" Sigrid nodded.
"Tell him I can't see any reason why he can't stay here if he wants; I don't think we have to worry about an Elydonian invasion anymore."
"Thanks Chief; we'll let him know."
The next morning, an early light shone onto the library through the high windows causing Hiccup to stir. The fire had gone out a long time ago but the room still felt quite cozy despite its generous size, partly because of the bookshelves that lined every wall and partly because of all the people sleeping in it. Snotlout and Tuffnut were sleeping next to the fireplace while Gil and Fishlegs had stayed in the plush, comfy chairs and Hiccup had curled up with Toothless who was the only dragon in the room after Joric insisted that Meatlug join Hookfang, Stormfly and Barf & Belch on the top of the watchtower. The Gronkle had burned a large hole in the hallway rug runner when she'd sneezed the night before. Fishlegs had protested and promised that it would not happen again, but Joric decided that Gronckles and libraries do not belong together and so she had to leave. Joric, Godfred and Sigfus had stayed up long into the night making plans for the next day and had all eventually nodded off in the wee small hours of the morning.
Toothless gave a snort as Hiccup arose, but was not yet ready to wake up himself. Hiccup smiled as he looked over to where Joric and Sigfus were still seated, but sleeping with their heads resting on the table while Godfred had fallen out of his chair and now lay flat out on the floor. As quietly as he could, Hiccup opened the door to the Kings rooms and slipped through closing it just as noiselessly. He tiptoed across the floor to the Kings bedroom where Astrid and Ruffnut had slept the night away; he opened the door a crack and knocked softly but there came no reply save for the sound of Astrid snoring. Hiccup crept into the room and over to the bed where Ruffnut lay on her back, mouth open and drooling with half her limbs hanging off the right side of the bed making the young man wonder what mischief Tuffnut would have indulged in had he been there. A stone dropped in her open mouth perhaps, or maybe her hand in a bowl of warm water; you never know with the twins.
Moving around to the left side of the bed, Hiccup smiled at the epitome of snoring cuteness that lay before him, looking so contented and comfortable. Kneeling down, he stroked her hair as he whispered in a soft sing song voice.
"I know what you did last night."
Astrid stirred but her eyes stayed shut tight.
"Don't tell me it's morning already" she mumbled.
"It's morning already" Hiccup replied.
"I asked you not to tell me that" Astrid yawned "So… Joric snitched on me huh?"
"No, I worked it out for myself; which wasn't easy since Dame Incontinentia has a naturally white face."
"Believe me babe, there is nothing natural about that woman's face; Gobber would look way better in a dress than she does."
"Yeah" Hiccup agreed "and you've also discovered a new way of persuading people to surrender information."
"Hmm… yes… I must remember that one; it might come in handy again one day."
"I'm going down to Horston Beach to check on Olaf and the crew" Hiccup informed her "do you wanna come too?"
"Yeah… but not yet; I'll meet you there later when I'm awake."
"Okay; can I leave the other riders in you capable hands?"
"It'll cost you" she informed him.
"How much?"
"This much" she replied and threw her arms around his neck.
"Hmm" Hiccup commented as their lips parted "Morning breath."
"Get used to it" Astrid declared as she turned over and went back to sleep.
You humans are so stupid. Marty stopped me from using his computer weeks ago so while he is at work, I just go for a walk down to the local public library and use one of theirs; and do the people there try to stop me? Of course not; they just stand around and gawp at me while saying things like "Aww, look at the little Kitty; he thinks he's a person" but if any of those morons bothered to look closely at the screen they would see that oiufgqeyf98y874=jvfe=wef]-8ru[ioh3r[oi38'po=]ityf8h;poiqryc0cdcpif0857gnvt0yfher-03983yrfj08yfh89y0987y9
Sorry about the keyboard mash; some idiot actually did try to get me off the table but I stopped him. He won't try that again, you should have heard him scream; there's blood everywhere. Well I'd better go home now before Animal Control arrives.
