Chapter 14: The Floodgates Open
Uncharted Waters, Day 7 since Hiccup's Departure
The fire crackled and danced in the darkness of the calm evening. Around it, leaning against their dragons, were Astrid, Fishlegs, and the twins. Fishlegs, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut were sitting around it, warming themselves and roasting fish over the flames as the sun dwindled away in the west, sending some last rays of red sunlight over the watery horizon. Astrid however, was huddled against Stormfly, and showed no interest in speaking or eating. She had been utterly silent since she had received the news of Hiccup's disappearance.
"Astrid, you should really have some fish," Ruffnut said sympathetically. "This trout tastes good, and you'll need to keep up your strength. We're going to be flying really fast tomorrow. Here, try some of mine."
She offered a piece of her fish, fully cooked, to Astrid. She made no move to touch it, and did not even look up.
Fishlegs stared at Astrid sorrowfully.
"Astrid, you really need to eat something," he stated blandly. "We'll be back on Berk tomorrow, and Stoick will want to know every little detail of our visit. You need to be wide awake and not fainting from hunger while that happens." He tore off a chunk of trout and began to chew, slowly and deliberately, while still looking at Astrid.
Astrid looked up at him.
"How can I eat?" she whispered. "How can I eat when Hiccup is in jail on that horrid island? Those Bog Burglars may be doing terrible stuff to him."
Fishlegs finished chewing and looked down at the fire before speaking.
"Astrid, Hiccup is dead."
Astrid flared up, pushing herself to sit upright. "No!" she screamed. "He is NOT dead! They captured him! They're keeping him hostage!"
"No, they aren't," Fishlegs replied, still not looking at her. "Why would they? If they were holding Hiccup prisoner, then what for? It doesn't make any sense. No. They didn't capture him. They - they killed him, Astrid."
Astrid leapt to her feet, her face white as a sheet. "They can't have!" she yelled. "They couldn't have killed Hiccup! It doesn't make sense! Why? Why would they do it?"
Fishlegs still didn't look at her, and addressed the ground in front of him.
"They called him to the Bog to see if the rumors that Berk was riding dragons was real," he replied quietly. "When Hiccup arrived, they were probably terrified out of their minds, and killed him and Toothless as soon as they landed, branding the friends of dragons as traitors and Vikings who were sided with the devil, just like we did with Hiccup in the beginning. Realizing too late that they had murdered the heir to Berk and started a war, they started to build defenses against our impending dragon attack. They also created an outlandish lie, one that they could use to mock us, but still deny that they had treacherously killed an allied ruler."
"That's not true!" Astrid screamed, jumping over the fire and yelling down at Fishlegs. "He is NOT DEAD! Stop saying that!"
Fishlegs still did not look at her. He merely answered calmly.
"It just doesn't click, Astrid," he whispered carefully. "The only reason they would have to keep him prisoner is if they wanted some kind of ransom, or had planned the capture in advance in order to start a war with Berk. Neither one makes sense under the circumstances. If they really did capture Hiccup for a ransom, then they would have let us know, so that they could begin to bargain with our tribe for his release. They did not. And there's no reason to capture him to begin a war. They would have just killed him instead, which is exactly what they did."
"NO!"Astrid shouted. She was crying now, tears falling down her cheeks. "He can't be dead! He's Hiccup, he defeated the Red Death, he is our hero, and he can't just die! He is NOT DEAD!"
Fishlegs finally looked up and rose to his feet. No one had really noticed, but he had grown considerably since the Vikings had made peace with the dragons. He now towered over Astrid by at least six inches, and he let her feel small as he used his voice.
"Accept it, Astrid!" he shouted at her. "We can't just ignore it.Hiccup is dead!"
Astrid, staring up at Fishlegs, was finally cowed. With a last gasp of horror, she fell to her knees and buried her head in her hands.
"No!" she sobbed, tears flowing from her hands and onto the ground. "He can't be dead, he can't, he, he-" She fell on her face, shaking uncontrollably with grief. As if it was mocking their pitiful state, there came a roll of thunder, and the skies opened. Rain poured down on the four Vikings and their dragons, soaking them instantly and dampening the fire.
Ignoring the soaking rain, Fishlegs slowly squatted down and touched Astrid's shoulder, raindrops tinkling off her armored pads.
"Astrid," he said quietly, trying to console her.
"GET AWAY!" Astrid screamed, shoving at Fishlegs. "Just leave me alone!" Stormfly rose, walked over to her sobbing rider, and placed her wing protectively over Astrid, curling up around her in comfort and protecting her from the storm.
Fishlegs rose and looked at the twins. "Let's go catch some more fish, you guys," he stated.
"But we've got plenty already," Tuffnut said, confused. "The rain is coming down like crazy. We should find some shelter instead."
"Just go, you idiot," Ruffnut said, kicking her brother as she stood up herself. "Astrid's crying, and Hiccup is dead. I want to cry, too. Let's go catch some more fish to take our minds off it. I don't care if we get wet."
Tuffnut nodded numbly and rose, his boots slopping in the newly made mud. Ever since the incident on Bog Burglar Island the twins had not goofed off or joked once. Hiccup's death had seriously dampened the mood of all the travelers. Leaving Astrid and Stormfly crying behind them, they strode to the inner part of the island, where there was a pond with a lake. It spattered constantly with raindrops.
Sighing, Fishlegs began to prepare his bait when all of a sudden he groaned, as if in pain.
"What's with you?" Ruffnut muttered, trying to tie her line around a wet stick. "Hiccup's dead, but you're not his girlfriend. You don't have to cry about it."
Fishlegs buried his face in his hands.
"No," he whispered. "I'm not his girlfriend. I'm his friend. And he's dead." Fishlegs bowed down and sobbed, his tears dripping from his eyes and onto the mud.
"Uggh, come on," Ruffnut said, throwing her pole away. "I can't stand all the crying. Let's go take a walk, Tuff."
"Umm, you can just go yourself," Tuffnut muttered sullenly, sitting down on the ground, ignoring the muddiness.
"What is the matter with you?" Ruffnut demanded, walking over to her brother.
"Oh, I'm just thinking," Tuffnut mumbled, his chin in his hands, rain dripping off his helmet. "You know how we all picked on Hiccup for such a long time? I remember I would always try to trip him when he walked out of the Great Hall, and we would always dump yak-shit on him whenever he walked behind our house. Then he trained a dragon, beat the Red Death, saved all our lives, and got us an awesome dragon, Barf and Belch. We all loved him for it, but I always felt that we were never really his friends. We had hurt him so much back when he was useless. He never stopped trying. He never stopped trying to help! And after all he did for me, and all we had done to him, I – I" Tuffnut bowed his head. "I should have said I'm sorry."
His shoulder shook as he wept, and his helmet fell off and clattered in the mud. Thunder boomed in the sky above, echoing across the sea.
"Why, Hiccup?!" Tuffnut screamed, raising his head and yelling at the black skies. "Why did you have to go? I'll never be able to get my spear sharpened like you always did it. I won't be able to ask you what the matter with Belch is! Why did you have to die, Hiccup! Loki and Thor, help me! I'm sorry, Hiccup, for all the dumb things I did to you! Why?!"
He flung himself face first in the mud, groveling. Thunderclouds kept rolling in, and lightning flashed above. Rain kept coming down in great droughts, blown at an angle by a fierce wind.
Ruffnut stood still, but not for long. Soon she too, sat down next to her brother and moped, her bedraggled hair billowing in the harsh breeze.
All of a sudden there was a savage shriek in the sky. All the weeping Viking's heads shot upwards. Through the rain, they could see a massive dragon flying to the east. It was almost directly above them, and coming in fast. Lightning flashed from its mouth and into the sea below.
"A Skrill!" Shouted Fishlegs. "Take cover!"
The three Vikings dashed into the trees near the pond. Flinging themselves into the underbrush, they stared at the dragon that was soaring overhead. It showed no signs of having seen them, and with a few more roars and lightning flashes, it vanished into the distance. As soon as it did, the storm stopped, the clouds passed on, and the starry, calm night became visible once more in the sky. The Skrill had brought the rainstorm.
The three Vikings watched until it was out of sight, then each tumbled out of the bushes in a great hurry. They had forgotten Hiccup's death for the moment, and were focused on one thing alone: The Skrill had a rider.
High Asgard, Day 8 since Hiccup's Departure
Hiccup awoke.
It took him a second to orient himself and to figure out where he was. No one had tossed ice cold water on his head, and he was completely alone which had never happened yet on Asgard. Apparently Asgeirr had not yet arrived.
Rubbing his eyes, he sat up in bed. The covers were still a little discolored slightly from the blood that had dripped on it the previous evening, but Hiccup ignored it. Looking across the room, he looked at the wreckage that he had caused yesterday, and took some time to see exactly what he had done. Broken pieces of the mirror were still scattered all over, and the table that he ate from was lying against the wall, broken in two, with two of its legs shattered as well. Hiccup whistled in amazement. He must have been truly insane in order to throw that large table with such force. Maybe the insanity was helping him a little, since it was evidently increasing his strength. Glancing over to his left, he noticed that his suit of armor had been picked up from where he had thrown it, and mended once again. Odin's Little Seer was a faithful worker.
Hiccup then realized that he was clutching something tightly in his right hand. Looking down, he saw Astrid's Nadder scale buried deeply in his sweaty palm. He had been holding onto it all night long.
Smiling, he raised the scale to look at it once more, the chain attached to it dangling down. Again he stroked the smooth surface, staring longingly at Astrid's face. He needed to get through another day, and he had to do it by preparing his mind. He could not allow himself to vanish. He could not allow Hiccup Haddock to fade away and be replaced with something else. He had to remember who he was, and he could do that by remembering his old life, and Astrid.
Still sitting, he made another resolution. He would wake up early and stare at this Nadder scale for ten minutes every morning to remind himself who he was, and what he was fighting for. He started immediately, allowing himself to fade into his thoughts, dreaming of Astrid, Toothless, and all the comforts of home. His dad, trying to get him to do more chief-like stuff, Fishlegs trying to get him to listen to the complicated new idea for the dragon stables, Astrid and him sitting together on the cliff, and the twins' constant mischiefs and jokes. He smiled to himself as he recalled their latest prank, which had been applying thick layers of yak-shit to Mildew's pet sheep. The old man had thrown a tantrum after he discovered it.
However, Hiccup's ten minutes were far from over when a sudden noise snapped him back to reality. The door to his room opened, and Asgeirr walked in. He was carrying a tray of food in one hand and a bucket of ice water in the other, intending to wake Hiccup up and let him eat. However, as soon as Asgeirr entered the room, he stopped and stared in amazement at the mess on the floor. Standing with his mouth open in awe, he stared at the broken table and mirror in at the far wall.
"Morning, Asgeirr." Hiccup said, lowering the Nadder scale and looking at his trainer. "Am I starting later today, or did I just wake up early?"
Asgeirr slowly turned to look at Hiccup.
"You woke up early," he replied, putting the bucket down on the floor. "And what in the name of Thor did youdoin here?"
Hiccup scowled. "Next time, don't put a mirror in my room," he growled angrily. "Just looking at myself made me go crazy, and I threw the table at it in a mindless rage." A smile twisted his lips. "Now I have nothing to eat off of."
Asgeirr grinned, and placed the tray of food on Hiccup's bed, close enough for him to reach it. Obviously there was no table anymore.
"I was expecting you to have a strange reaction to the mirror," he stated. "But I certainly did not imagine you would destroy it. I thought it would help you remember who you are, and therefore help the insanity. Did it assist you at all?"
"It did," Hiccup answered. "Although not at first. At first it made me go insane, then it made me want to kill myself, and finally it made me actually want to fight back. The mirror also caused me start thinking of some stuff. Speaking of which, I have a question for you. You mentioned when you first met me that I could attach some kind of weapon to my prosthetic leg. I want one, as soon as I can."
Asgeirr grinned again. "I was waiting for you ask that, Riddari," he said with a smile. "But I cannot allow it while you are training with The Wolf. Part of the test is to see what you can do simply with your bare hands, and it would be unfair to give you an advantage like a bladed metal leg."
Hiccup frowned in disapproval.
"It's enough of a disadvantage to be crippled at all," he replied. "I think that your reasoning is completely unfair. This leg causes hundreds of problems for me, and having a weapon attached to it will not even come close to negating those issues. Even with such a weapon, I will still be at a major disadvantage, simply because I am a cripple who only has one leg. The Wolf is whole, and I am not."
Asgeirr frowned thoughtfully.
"You do make a point, Riddari," he said. "But I cannot break my training protocol and give you a tool that will help you pass the Level sooner." He shook his head decidedly. "No. I cannot give you a weapon for your leg right now, but once you pass this Level, I will have a surprise for you. That is, if you ever pass."
Hiccup shook his head and reached for the food on the tray. However, he still held on to the blue Nadder scale. It made him feel secure.
"In that case, this training is completely unfair, Asgeirr," he stated, stuffing meat into his mouth and chewing. It was like no other meat he had eaten, and he wondered what it was. He was about to ask, but then Asgeirr spoke again.
"Everyone likes fairness," he stated. "However, the entire concept is a misleading one, especially in combat. There is nothingfairabout war. In a battle, it matters not if the man you are facing has an advantage or a shortcoming, he will try to kill you regardless. No one cares about equality when it is a matter of life and death. So why train in fairness when you will never experience it in real life?"
Hiccup didn't answer, and merely kept eating.
Asgeirr continued. "Life isn't fair,Riddari, no matter how often we think otherwise. You, of all people, should understand that. Think of your childhood, Hiccup. All those years of being put down, spat on, and mocked in front of the entire village was never fair. It was unjust, not right for you to be picked on simply because you were different. And yet it will always happen. The small and the weak are ridiculed and mocked for being something that they cannot help. They do their best, fail, and still get beaten and abused. It is the way of the world, Hiccup, and nothing anyone can do will ever change that. The only thing you can do is accept it, and find a way to get through it. You had to do that back in your homeland, and you can do it again, here with The Wolf. Accept that the Level is not fair. Accept that you will be butchered and slaughtered thousands of times, but never give up. Never stop trying to succeed. Can you manage to deal with it?"
Hiccup had been looking at Asgeirr the whole time. When his trainer finished, he swallowed his food and sat still.
"I can do that," he whispered, taking a tighter grip on Astrid's scale.
"Then you can beat him, and without a weapon on your leg," Asgeirr answered. "Keep fighting. And I see that you did something to your fingernails. Congratulations. It took my last student, an elf, five days to think of that trick, and you did it in three."
"Do they really work?" Hiccup asked, excitedly, dropping the scale and raising his hands in front of him to re-examine his makeshift claws.
Asgeirr shrugged. "They are better than nothing," he said noncommittally. "Fingernails can scratch and claw, but I doubt you could ever kill anyone with them, at least not when they are at that length."
Hiccup cut a wry face, disappointed. "Oh well. But it's a start, and they'll keep growing. Maybe I can do some damage today, if I actually manage to hit him."
Asgeirr shrugged. "The main issue is the insanity, not being able to hit him, but of course you already know that."
"I do," Hiccup replied. "And since it is, I want you to wake me up half an hour earlier from now on so I can meditate. I think that will help my mind a lot. Also, I really don't like the ice cold water. Maybe you could try just shaking me instead."
"As you wish, Riddari," Asgeirr answered. "As long as you are at the door of Ragnarok by sunrise, then I really don't care what you do."
Again there was a period of silence, and Hiccup finished all of his food and drank all his milk. He had new fruits today as well as meat, but he was too hungry to ask Asgeirr what they were, either. After he drank his morning water, he took the metal cup and put it on the bed, directly in front of Asgeirr.
"I'll be ready for it today," he said.
Asgeirr smiled. "We'll see."
Turning, Hiccup walked around the pieces of broken mirror to get at his armor and shoes. Like the previous day, the suit had been repaired. However, it was now almost more patches and stitches than it was actual leather. Also, it was now completely blood red due to the stains. Shaking his head, he put it on for the third time.
"Do I ever get anewsuit?" he asked Asgeirr, without turning around. "This one is already reaching the point of where it's worthless."
Behind Hiccup's back, Asgeirr replied. "You get a new suit every week. By that occasion they are usually so destroyed and marred that it's absurd to think that it may have been useful at one point in time. It goes to prove how terrible The Wolf's training is."
Snapping the buckles together, Hiccup grimaced at the sheer ugliness of the armor. It was completely red colored, but as he looked closely, he could even see splotches of black and other stains that were other forms of gore. It was disgusting just to look at.
Hiccup finished putting the armor on, and then turned around to get the shoe for his good leg. As soon as he looked behind him, he saw in a flash that the metal cup was flying at his face. Asgeirr had thrown it as soon as Hiccup had begun to turn around.
As quickly as he could, Hiccup reached out in a desperate attempt to catch it before it struck him in the face. He was barely fast enough, but he had no time to actually close his fingers around the metal. Instead, the cup hit his outstretched hand and bounced away, clanging on the floor.
Hiccup groaned, holding his bruised knuckles that had been struck by the cup. Asgeirr was still standing by the bed, a smile on his broad face.
"Nice try, Riddari," he commended. "But next time, actually catch it, and don't just block it. However, it is a vast improvement. Keep it up." His trainer turned and walked out the door, closing it with a bang.
Hiccup waited for a few seconds, and then laughed in triumph. He was improving! He had a chance. With spring in his step, he put on his shoe and ran out into the hallway as fast as his metal leg would permit. Asgeirr was nowhere in sight, and Hiccup wondered where he had gone to; he could see no other doors in this area of Asgard. However, he pushed the thoughts from his mind and tried to focus on staying calm and cool in his mentality. Walking steadily down the hall, he came to the fateful door where the guards stood, each motionless and stolid. The sign above read, Phase 1, Level 3.
Hiccup reached for the doorknob, but it resisted and he was unable to turn it. The door was apparently locked. He must have been very early today.
Looking around him, Hiccup reminded himself that he needed a routine, something that could help keep him sane and normal, or, as Astrid would say, Hiccuplike. If he was going to show up this early every morning, then he should think of something that helped keep his mind occupied and help him beat The Wolf. Glancing around, he saw the guards.
Hiccup let out a broad grin. This was perfect! The guards never spoke, laughed, or made any sound at all. He was going to try and change that.
"Hi, fellows," he said, addressing the two men. "How, uhh, are you doing today?"
As he expected, there was no response.
"Do you know what they do to me in there?" Hiccup asked jokingly, pointing at the door. "They take me and put me in front of a crazy man with a Wolf's head, and then he talks to me. If I don't answer, then he tears me to pieces. After twelve hours of that, he throws me out here, a bloody mess, and you guys have to drag me back to my room because I'm too weak. It just goes to show you what happens when you don't talk. So if I were you, I wouldn't be so stubborn about keeping your mouth shut. Bad things happen to those who do. So come on, how are you doing today?"
The guards did not make a sound, and Hiccup sighed.
"What happens when you guys, uhh, have an itch?" he demanded curiously. "Are you allowed to scratch it, or do you simply have to tough it up? What about if you want to sneeze, or need to go to the outhouse? The bathrooms here are fantastic, by the way. Back on my island there were no outhouses in the actual buildings. That's why they're called outhouses, because they're all outside. Around here, they're just called bathrooms, and they are directly in the middle of the floor. I don't get how they don't stink up the whole place. I also don't get why they're called bathrooms. Sure, you bathe in there, too, but most of the time you just need to, uhh, take a leak. It should be called the piss-room, not the bathroom. What do you fellows think?"
Again, no reply.
"I see," Hiccup nodded, a big smile coming over his features. "I get what your problem is. Youcan'tthink! I get it now! I'll bet there's nothing but empty space behind those big golden helmets, and everything I say just passes right through it. Let me see."
Enjoying himself hugely, Hiccup walked up to one of the guards and looked up at his face, through the eye holes of his golden helmet.
"No." He said, acting surprised, but still maintaining his joking attitude. "You are actually real. I don't believe it. If you are actually a real person, then why don't you speak like a normal human being?"
"Ohh!" Hiccup shouted, as if he had struck on an idea. "I get it now! You simply can't SPEAK! You are all dumb! It makes me sad to think of it, a grown man, unable to talk. It must be a terrible affliction. I would ask you to tell me about it, but of course, you can't. Are you capable of writing? If I brought you a pencil and paper, could you write words down and tell me what you think?"
After a second of no response, Hiccup nodded, grinning so hard he thought his mouth would break.
"Oh, I understand. You don't know how to write, either. I'm so sorry for you guys. You know what, I'm going to be here every morning, and I'll tell you what, I'm going to be really nice and teach you the alphabet. I'll bring a paper and coal tomorrow and I'll show you the letter A. It's a marvelous letter, the first of them all.I'll tell you everything about it next time I come here."
The door clicked, letting Hiccup know that it was unlocked.
"Oh, there goes my notice," Hiccup joked, gesturing to the door. "I'll see you guys in twelve hours, as soon as The Wolf decides to kick me out the exit. You'll most likely need to carry me, because I'll be really beaten up today. However, can I ask that you put me on my bed, instead of dropping me on the floor and making me crawl from the door to the bathroom? It's really hard on me, and they may not have cleaned up all the glass by the time I get back. I wouldn't want to get scarred up on that stuff."
The guards made no indication that they had heard anything at all.
"You guys are hopeless," Hiccup sighed. "Oh well. I'm going to go get mangled. See you later."
He stepped to the door and laid his hand on the knob, forgetting the guards and focusing only on his thoughts.
"Brace yourself," he whispered out loud, wiping his joking smile from his face. "Master your senses. Blot out the smells, the sights, and the insanity. And kill the blasted Wolf."
He took a deep breath, and entered.
As always, The Wolf was standing in front of him. However, the beast said nothing yet, and only smiled at him, baring his yellow fangs.
Hiccup was breathing hard, the insanity already starting to take over. He desperately tried to focus, to find something that would help him think. Looking ahead, he saw The Wolf's claws, sharp and menacing, and ready to rip him to pieces. Growling like a wild animal, he held up his own hands, displaying his new claws and letting The Wolf know that he was like him now. Then he saw The Wolf's teeth.
Teeth.Hiccup thought.I have claws, but I don't have sharp teeth. But what if-
Hiccup bent down and picked up a small rock from the floor of Ragnarok. He thought of flinging it at The Wolf, but he had a different idea in mind. Raising the stone, he slammed it into his teeth, smashing his front incisors and sending broken pieces flying. He hammered his teeth twice more, cutting his gums and crushing his lips in the process. Hurling the rock to the ground, he spat out the broken bits of bone and the blood. He then raised his lips in savage snarl, baring his destroyed teeth at The Wolf. They were now jagged and sharp, and if he was able to bite The Wolf, he could do some serious damage.
The Wolf laughed with what sounded like pleasure, and the sound broke through the last of Hiccup's mental defenses, driving him to the breaking point of his mind control. With a roar that did not even sound human, he launched himself at The Wolf, wanting to destroy him more than anything else.
The Wolf stepped forward to meet him, and claws met claws.