Chapter 20: The King's Haven

Hiccup woke up with a throbbing head and lying half-submerged in a deceptively deep pool. In a vague memory, he felt his body submerged, then pushed out of the water by some large, unseen force. When he tried to push his memory further, he felt only more pain in his head, and promptly cut off any further attempts.

With small movements that didn't wrack his body with pain, Hiccup began to drag himself out of the lake and onto a fertile stretch of land opening to the great expanse of the Haven. He felt like a rag left to hang in one of Berk's devilish storms―beaten, stretched, and soaked. I need to restart everything, Hiccup thought to himself weakly. With Toothless, it was on my own terms, in familiar places. I can't just glide through this with the same expectations. These dragons have no reason to be friendly.

With this revelation in his mind, Hiccup took a painful breath and held onto the pain. It ached in his back and his ribs. He pulled in his arms and pushed himself upwards, shifting the pain to his left shoulder as it ran through his arm like electricity. Every move he made shifted the pain, but he found himself on his feet (or rather, foot) before long. His right arm did not hurt, of course, and neither did his left leg, but the rest of his body burned with an ugly, bruised pain.

He was wracked with pain, but he kept standing and eventually began to move. He moved not to hide, as he had been, but instead to observe and learn about the dragons. The open expanse of the Haven beckoned to him, and he followed willingly.

He walked into a rocky expanse full of stiff pillars and smooth tunnels, full of colorless blue and grey stones. Although the lush vegetation of the previous area had certainly receded, Hiccup's watchful eye caught many plants just hiding underneath the stony surface or creeping along the walls and pillars. This area was just as alive as the previous, but far more discreet. Hiccup walked through it quietly, finally finding a place to rest along a wall beneath an arch covered in scorch marks. Clearly not a natural occurrence, and likely the result of a battle between two dragons.

It seemed to be midday, although Hiccup could not tell exactly when in the day it was through the icy patches that jutted out, making sections of the roof airtight. Water was no hard thing to come by here, but he was starting to feel the uncomfortable emptiness in his stomach. Do animals live in the Haven? Hiccup wondered absentmindedly as he looked out at the expanse of stone and shrubbery.

He watched as dragons glided by far above, and quietly thought of how he could find something to eat. Bringing down a dragon would be tough enough without weapons, not to mention it was the exact opposite of his current goals. He had seen some small birds, but none had flown anywhere near him. He didn't think he'd last long in this section of the Haven, and breathed in, preparing for another arduous trek.

Hiccup stood, well rested but still aching, and began walking across the rocky plain. His movements were slow and his clothes stood out against the muted colors around him, but he hoped he wouldn't look like much of a meal to any dragons flying above.

This, of course, didn't factor in the chance of a dragon who didn't see him.

The ground crumbled underneath Hiccup's feet as he tripped forward, and a muscular dragon with dull spines all over it crawled out of the ground. It was a similar shade of blue-grey to the stones around, but with a strangely metallic sheen on its scales. Long horns on a flat head gave the dragon an angry look, but the thing most frightening to Hiccup was the heavy-looking club at the end of its tail. The tip looked similar to a Gronkle's club end, but was connected with a much thinner and whiplike tail.

Hiccup stumbled to his feet and dodged behind a pillar of stone, but fell forward again as the pillar shattered behind him. He began running away as fast as he could, and found quickly that the creature was slow and (although this was just a guess on Hiccup's part) couldn't breathe fire.

Even with these limitations, Hiccup kept on his toes. Between the impressive reach that the tail could swing and rubble being flung at him, he barely had the time to feel the pain in his body as he dodged. A chunk of rock twice the size of Hiccup clipped his left side, scraping at his skin; he stumbled away from it. Every step the dragon took was worth five of Hiccup's, but he kept running, staying the barest minimum of distance away from it.

Between dodging and running, Hiccup didn't even notice the changes in scenery―from cold and dull to blossoming vegetation all around. After a short chase into this new area, the dragon (wingless, Hiccup noted now that he wasn't running for his life) slunk away, seemingly afraid of the unfamiliar terrain. As the beast fled, Hiccup allowed his vigilance to drop, breathing heavily in exhaustion and pain.

Around him was a myriad of greens made up of vines, leaves and mosses. There were less crude marks in the ground and walls, instead the exposed stone and earth was smooth and unmarred. Any other day, Hiccup would've recognized patterns like these, but as he was now he did not. Instead, other things had caught hold of his attention.

"Berries!" he rasped, still catching his breath. He limped over and took a closer look at them. They were none he had seen personally before, but they were green and the size of his finger, clumped together in bunches. They didn't look appetizing, but now wasn't the time to be picky. He plucked one and bit into it, then spat it out.

He looked down at it, and found that it had a thick skin with a bitter taste, but a lighter shade of green inside. He picked some of it out, and found it far more palatable. He plucked a few more of the small fruits and pocketed them. After a drink from a small stream nearby, Hiccup was almost feeling well―aside from the extensive bodily harm he had collected.

He walked slowly and aimlessly, watching his step to make sure he wasn't stepping on any more pitfalls. The area was lush and full, however, and he didn't come across any dangers. He hadn't even seen any dragons since he'd escaped from the wingless dragon. Hiccup felt safe, for the first time since his mother had dropped him in the middle of nowhere.

A hiss took him out of his illusion.

The noise seemed to come from nowhere, but in such vibrant greenery, there were hundreds of hiding places. He froze, then crouched down slowly. A tactic he had learned while watching dragons was the use of their size―the bigger ones seemed more dominant, and the little ones more harmless. Hopefully whatever dragons were around him would see it the same way.

As he crouched and tried to stay motionless, some patches of color around him shimmered like the surface of water. He blinked the confusion away and saw multiple of the most feared dragons known to Vikings: Changewings. They could camouflage themselves and spit a devastating acid; the only reason they didn't rule half the world was that they were physically weak compared to most other dragons. Territorial, but unable to take new land for themselves. Vikings who found themselves in Changewing territory rarely escaped.

And four of these dragons were in front of Hiccup, bare feet away. He couldn't see behind him, but he heard two more hisses coming from the back.

He averted his eyes, kept low to the ground, and breathed slowly. He wracked his mind for anything: something he had learned about Toothless, or fighting, or anything that could help him.

There was nothing.

He closed his eyes and tried to think of something new. Many dragons were just as intelligent as humans, and he saw the telltale glint in their eyes. Could he communicate with them?

A memory came to the forefront of his mind―how his mother had interacted with the dragons. Calmly, moving slowly but surely, and somehow infinitely optimistic. She had a well of experience that spanned nearly his entire life, but could he imitate her? He slowly breathed out, then straightened up a slight amount as he took a breath in.

The closest Changewing was a deep emerald hue and was crouching barely a foot from Hiccup's left side. Hiccup slowly raised his hands together, then drew a sharp, protruding piece of his mechanical hand across his palm. He winced as it cut into his skin, but his mouth twitched into a smile as a glow began to seep out.

He hadn't seen it since escaping the caverns underneath Fenrir's den, and he'd almost forgotten about it. Since he couldn't perfectly emulate his mother, he'd have to add something else―a flair of the unknown. Ever since the chunk of crystal had seemingly dissolved in his heart, Hiccup's blood glowed a bright orange.

Useless as it may have been, the dragons didn't know what they were seeing. Hiccup slowly turned his head towards the emerald Changewing and reached out his hand. He stopped inches away from the dragon's snout, staring gently but unwaveringly into its eyes. The dragons around him were unmoving, even the air seemed to hush.

The dragon slowly let out a soft hiss, and the other Changewings around Hiccup began to fade back into greenery. The emerald Changewing in front of Hiccup backed away slowly, then snorted a small puff of acrid smoke in his direction. Its eyes didn't leave Hiccup's until it had fully disappeared. Once it had, Hiccup was all alone once again.

He breathed slowly, unsure whether or not they had left but sure he wasn't out of the hot water yet. He straightened up, calmly walked past where the gap between the two dragons in front of him had been, and did not stop until he felt like he had gone much further than necessary. He slowed only when he began to see the end of the vegetated area. He found himself an out-of-the-way nook in the shrubbery, sat down, and allowed his heart to calm itself. "I can't believe I did that. That was the stupidest…" Hiccup's voice trailed off, but his criticism continued silently.

The Haven's light was fading. Hiccup picked at one of the last fruits left in his pockets and tried to find a comfortable position. It wasn't the safest or the most comfortable place, but Hiccup couldn't drag himself through another day without sleep. He closed his eyes, and nearly immediately drifted into a deep sleep.

It was Hiccup's third, maybe fourth day stranded in the Haven, but it already felt like an eternity's worth of time since he had begun this trial. After a dead sleep through the night and half of the day, he had finished off the last of his food and begun another aimless wandering through unknown land.

Still stranded at the bottom of the chasm that made up most of the Haven, Hiccup was hurrying through a foul-smelling basin filled with fungi and mud. Although hungry, the smells around him pushed him to move on―and he wouldn't trust any food he found here regardless.

This terrain was difficult for Hiccup as he kept causing clouds of oily spores to cloud around him. The air was thick and the ground was slippery. Hiccup kept one hand over his mouth and nose, leaving only his metal arm to slash at whatever obscured his path. He had not seen many dragons since entering this area, to no great surprise. One surprising occurrence was a Boneknapper―thought by some to be a myth, thought by others to be extinct. It had been crawling around what seemed to be a former nest of some dragon. The dragon and Hiccup had locked eyes from across a shaded plain of mushrooms, then mutually agreed to leave the other alone. Hiccup left rather quickly, worried the dragon might change its mind.

The uncomfortable trek through the wastes took most of the day, and by the time the sun's light was barely shining through gaps in the roof, Hiccup was starving once again. At the edge of the basin (hesitating to explore somewhere new at night) Hiccup set himself up a small place to rest underneath a mushroom the size of a boulder.

He leaned against the giant fungus and tried to get comfortable, but the smell of sulfur and rot clung to his clothing, not to mention wafted over him with every errant breeze. He covered his nose with the collar of his shirt and tried to breathe out of his mouth. Around him, the Haven began to glow with the ambient light of the moon; it shone dimly through the icy patchwork of ceiling and illuminated the thick air with a bluish tint.

Hiccup saw this and smiled weakly, then turned and stared more intently. The moon wasn't the only thing illuminating the area―there was a glow coming from the fungi, not unlike the fungus in Fenrir's cavern. They were a neon blue, and the glowing miasma of spores gave the entire area a magical aura. Even the muddy water flowing deeper into the fungal area had a slight radiance to it. Hiccup smiled slightly, amazed that such a disgusting area could have such a beautiful air to it in a different situation.

The smile was short lived. A shrill screech pierced Hiccup's ears as three dragons flew down and began to tear at the glowing algae floating on the mudflow. They were shaped similarly to a Skrill, but their abnormal glow made it abundantly clear that they were not. Hiccup had only heard stories of them, but he knew what they must be: Flightmares.

They were said to freeze their enemies in fear, but Hiccup felt surprisingly calm. Moving as little as possible, he turned to watch the dragons feed. They were aggressive towards each other, but not violent. They communicated through shrieks and growls, backing off and rushing forward. It was a strange dynamic, but not one that seemed unbalanced or hateful. It was just another piece of dragon culture that he didn't understand.

A Flightmare lifted its head and sniffed. The other two did the same shortly after. The three of them collectively began to crawl towards Hiccup's hiding spot.

Hiccup no longer felt so calm.

He began inching backwards, hoping the mushroom would give him cover. It did, but as he moved away he found himself caught in a puff of spores. He looked down and saw a torn bulb underneath his foot―the same ones that he had been avoiding all the previous day. With a glance forward proving the Flightmares were well aware of him, Hiccup turned and bolted.

The first thing he learned was that Flightmares didn't breathe fire. He felt some sort of breath on his back, but rather than burning, it only tingled. It was uncomfortable but not painful, and he wasn't complaining―the faster he got away from the dragons, the better. He caught two slashes down his back, but kept moving. The banshee shrieks began to get farther away, and Hiccup kept running.

Running away from the fungal area, Hiccup began to see different terrain rising around him. It had higher cliffs than any of his previous areas, and had a thick fog billowing out of vents in the ground. It hung in the air and obscured his vision, but was a welcome change from the thick air filled with spores. Finally, the shrieks faded entirely, replaced by a low hum from no particular place.

This new area was, in contrast with the neon coloring of the fungal basin, very dark. The fog seemed to collect the moonlight and held it hostage. Small, fractured gems shone with a dim light, but they were embedded in the floor and walls and barely illuminated anything. Regardless, the small lights glinted off Hiccup's metal arm and leg. Hiccup squinted, then scowled and cut his palm again, reopening the partially healed cut he had made the previous day. He lifted it up and let the light shine, giving him a better view of the world around him.

The light shone, but it was muted, eaten up by the darkness around him. The only thing it illuminated well was a new threat barreling towards him.

A small, shadowy creature flung itself at Hiccup, grabbing a piece of his metal arm and wrenching it off. He swore and grabbed at it as it flew away, but it disappeared into the fog. Another two shot towards Hiccup, and while he managed to dodge them, he could not see them clearly, much less get a hold on them. The fog around him was becoming darker and thicker, and more dragon cries began to be let out around him.

Hiccup ran. Out of breath and injured, he had no chance but to run and hope that he could find a safe place. The orange blood that was lighting his path seemed to be attracting more and more small dragons, and they swarmed around him. They seemed to target his metal appendages and his glowing hand, and he batted at them.

While he was running, Hiccup began catching glimpses of the dragons in the smoke―grey and silver, metallic scales forming armor on them. They were small, not much larger than a Terrible Terror, but seemed to be the source of the thick black smoke that was obscuring his vision. They were a dangerous collective, and more than half of Hiccup's mechanical arm had been taken by the time he dove into a smooth tunnel he happened across.

Immediately, he could tell something was wrong. The temperature dropped and the black smoke that had surrounded him vanished, replaced by a light mist. The light on his hand seemed to stifle itself, and the dragons immediately stopped their assault. It was a similar feeling to Fenrir's cave.

Hiccup sat at the edge of the tunnel, debating whether or not to leave―he knew better than most that divine creatures could be tempermental. Still, he hesitated. The smoke-breathers were still waiting just outside the tunnel. They were hidden by the fading smoke and the rising fog, but he heard their quiet cries, along with the clanking of metal from time to time. His arm was in pieces, and it would no doubt be a good amount of time before he got them all back together.

Come in, Hiccup. A voice wafted through the mist and into Hiccup's mind. It was a strange sensation, but not one alien to him. He stood and began walking slowly into the mist―if a god wanted to talk to him, there would be no use resisting.

As he walked further inside the tunnel, it became wider and more filled with mist. The air became thicker, and he felt almost suffocated. Regardless, he pushed forward, stopping only once the air was so thick it felt solid.

"I can't walk any further, sir." Hiccup addressed no one in particular. There was no light, no indication that something could hear him, but there was some presence.

"Sir, hmm?" Said the voice, somehow more concrete yet still transmitted directly into Hiccup's mind. "It's Ma'am, actually, but I can't fault you for not knowing. That being said, I need you to leave. You smell far too human for me to handle."

"Ah, yes Ma'am. Is there something I can do about the smoke-breathing dragons?"

"My children were bothering you, weren't they? I've already spoken to them. They'll return the pieces to that toy of yours as well. You'll find them when you leave." The voice chuckled softly, and Hiccup felt a force pushing at him. "Good luck on your journey, Hiccup. I'll help you out a bit, but watch yourself."

"Thank you." Hiccup spoke with a grateful relief, then turned to leave. After a few steps, he turned and bowed respectfully into the mist, then turned back and continued.

After a few minutes of walking, Hiccup exited the foggy cave. The air was dry and comfortable, but he did not recognize where he was, even though he could've sworn he walked back out the same tunnel he had entered. In front of him, pieces of his metal arm were piled in a messy clump. He picked them up and put them in his pockets; while he had the pieces, it would take time to rebuild the arm.

Looking around, Hiccup saw no immediate threat. Trusting that the deity he had met was telling the truth, he sat down with his back against the wall. Without bothering to set up a camp of some sort, he closed his eyes and eased into sleep.

Hiccup awoke to a group of dragons standing over him. A Monstrous Nightmare, two Deadly Nadders, and a few others that he didn't recognize. He sat deathly still, and looked back at them with half-opened eyes, hoping they weren't planning on attacking him.

Noticing his wakefulness, they backed off a bit. Still curious, the group stared at him, watching and waiting. Slowly, as Hiccup opened his eyes more and relaxed little by little, he realized something.

"You're all just children, aren't you?" He whispered under his breath. They were all dully colored, and even more importantly not battle-worn. They were smaller than most dragons he had interacted with of their species, and had a curiosity that he had seen before in the children of Berk.

Moving slowly, Hiccup stood and stared back at the dragons as calmly as possible. He slowly tried to reach out to the closest Nadder, but it flitted away. The rest of the dragons jumped back as well, but not far. They watched him with curious eyes and waited.

For the first time, Hiccup realized where he was. Around him was a gently sloped expanse of stone surrounded by low, segmented cliffs, and he was on one of the lowest segments. Young dragons flew all around, resting and eating and playing with each other. While he didn't see any eggs, he felt it was a safe assumption that this was some sort of dragon nursery.

And so, Hiccup passed the time calmly and without danger. He tried to befriend some of the child dragons (with moderate success) and started to rebuild his arm, although it was bent out of shape in some places and would take more than some simple reassembly to fix. He found a clean bed of water with fish swimming inside it, and for the first time in days he ate enough to feel full. By the end of the day, he was comfortable―it felt like the first place in the Haven that he could fully relax.

Three more days passed, each as calm as the first. Hiccup rebuilt his arm, although the fine mechanisms were still jammed. Now, instead of a moveable multi-hook attachment of an arm, Hiccup had an inelegant hook full of broken machinery. Many of the pieces were still bent out of shape, just forced together.

A more important improvement, however, was Hiccup's relationship with the dragons around him. Through a series of happy accidents, he had begun to understand dragons a bit more. They were drawn to the mysterious, and if he could draw them in, he could befriend them (although he had yet to attempt this with older dragons). Food was one way to befriend them, although he found some that seemed uninterested. He theorized that different foods may attract different dragons, although he only had fish to offer in the few days he stayed. Another way to befriend them was to scratch and pet them, but this was a far more difficult path. This required him to get close to the dragon, and rubbing them the wrong way could end disastrously (he had learned from experience).

Regardless, by the third day he had a small posse of Monstrous Nightmares, Deadly Nadders, Terrible Terrors, and three other dragons he couldn't categorize. He could've sworn he had seen them before in the Dragon Manual, but it didn't matter too much.

Unfortunately, they were too skittish and too small for him to ride. Some of them accepted his touch, but none were willing to let him sit on them. So, on the fifth day, Hiccup left the dragon nursery―well fed and well rested, but still just as aimlessly.

This stretch of the journey was easy, compared to his first few days. He walked along a high path of the segmented cliff-face and took his time avoiding dragons. Now that he understood them better, it was far simpler for him.

By the end of the day, Hiccup had made significant progress. By what he assumed was midday, he had passed through a dark area of the Haven without holes in the roof to let in light. Through the dim light, he had seen a chaotic ground full of holes and scorch marks. He recognized the holes as Whispering Death tunnels, and was relieved that he had dodged that particular stretch of the journey.

Once he had found his way back into the light, however, he began to see familiar sights. First it was a plateau covered in trees, then a certain shade of grey in the stone around him. It was an area he had flown over with his mother―and while he didn't remember their exact route, he knew he was close. It was probably another two days until he got back, Hiccup estimated.

But as he walked on, he found something both interesting and more than a bit disturbing.

As he moved on along the higher platforms, he watched his path ahead for dragon nests―they were generally easy to notice, if you were paying attention. Made of stones and wood (or whatever else was easy to transport) they were far larger than any other animal nests, meaning they stuck out like a sore thumb in a perfectly naturalistic landscape. Even so, they could be missed by someone who was unaware.

Even someone unaware would see some wooden planks mixed in with the stones and branches, however.

They were clearly man-made, and Hiccup snuck closer to get a better view. They were a darker wood and splintering on the ends. Further investigation provided nothing else, however, so he moved on. It was concerning, but not unusual. Why wouldn't dragons take parts of shipwrecked boats for their own uses?

Turning a tight corner of stone, Hiccup saw a sight that shook him down to the bone. Down on the floor of the chasm, in a peaceful dead end, laid at least twenty dilapidated viking ships, each covered in burn marks and scratches. Most were beginning to rot, but a few seemed as though they were only a few months old. A few dragons crawled about them, but there was no sign of their crews anywhere nearby. Hiccup began a careful climb down the cliffs to take a closer look.

Once he got close, he first calmed the dragons. The few common dragons crawling through the ships perked up as he got close, but with his newly-learned understanding he put them at ease. Before long, he was free to search the ships without worry.

He never got the chance. Climbing onto the first ship, Hiccup was interrupted by a familiar voice. "So you've found the shipyard. I was going to bring you here after you returned, but this might be better for you, finding it on your own." Hiccup turned and looked up; his mother and Cloudjumper stood above him. Valka had an unreadable expression, and as she looked down at Hiccup, the shadow hid her face.

"What is this place, Valka?"

No new mythology for this chapter.

I had a lot of fun writing this new chapter! A lot of the places in the Haven are based off of places in the game Hollow Knight, a new favorite of mine. It's a great game and has a gigantic map to explore. That being said, I tried to give all of them their own theme and twist of my own. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, let me know how you did (or didn't)!