CHAPTER 30: Forcing the truth

Guddorn was isolated in a medium sized hut, somewhere on New Berk. Where this hut precisely was on the tall island was unclear.

The only light that emitted was from a candle on a small wooden table at the corner of the room. Guddorn was joined in the hut by Hiccup, Blavery Borhid, and Eret.

Hiccup didn't want Zephyr or Nuffink in here or even near the hut for what he was about to do. He didn't want them to witness it. So he had his mum, Valka, take care of them back at his house, alongside Gobber once again. But the rest of the guys, from Snotlout, Tuffnut and Ruffnut, to Fishlegs, alongside a good chunk of the Berkians, were situated outside the hut.

That was how significant this capture was. The Berkians all knew that inside the hut they were all stood outside of right now, Hiccup had one of the prominent fanatical vikings of the regime situated on the old island. And they all knew that Astrid's whereabouts laid firmly on the fanatic providing the information to Hiccup, by force if required.

Blavery Borhid was situated near the wooden table with the candle. Eret was within the opposite corner of the room. Hiccup was the only one stood firmly in front of Guddorn, who was sat down on a chair in the middle of the room, where he was tied via his hands onto it.

His palms were aching from the ropes tightly holding them around the wooden back structures of the chair, but there was nothing he could do about it, thankfully.

"It's all came around in a full circle, hasn't it?" Blavery interrogated, as Hiccup strolled in a circle around the chair Guddorn was sat on.

The fanatic already had a black eye, and a touch of blood had ran down his face, but he didn't seem phased by it, and although it very much stung in terms of pain, he wasn't going to give into Hiccup and the Hooligans that easily. He had a duty, in his view, to guard the intentions of Hawkon, regardless of anything that'd happen to him right now.

Bits of metal from Guddorn's shiny gear had fell to the wooden floor when he was dragged in here a short while ago, and Guddorn had generally looked like a damaged viking. But the Mentranian, as mentioned, was not going to give in, no matter what.

"You put fear into my life, you put fear into the life of my family, you and the rest, in the defence force, ruled with an iron fist over me, and now, we rule over you with an iron fist." Blavery boasted, walking closer to the fanatic as he uttered that.

"You've-..." Guddorn struggled, as his throat ached from the stinging pain from the punch marks, "no...idea, little boy..."

Guddorn was breathing heavily, like a pant. His exhaustion from the pain was clear.

Hiccup rushed over to Guddorn from behind, placed a firm hand right over the throat of the fanatic, as he kept his teeth gritted with enraged eyes that looked like they were about to explode. He placed his other palm, with an intended thud, onto Guddorn's shoulder, and Hiccup leaned closer to him.

"You...are gonna tell me...where my wife is..." Hiccup angrily whispered, "WHERE IS SHE?!" he suddenly roared, into Guddorn's face.

Hiccup couldn't help but tighten the grip on Guddorn's throat. He was so angry and enraged he could cry, but he knew he had to resist killing Guddorn for now. Letting go of the fanatic's throat, Hiccup raised a fist up and pelted it, like a rapid bit of air, into the cheek of Guddorn, sending a thunderous bang echoing throughout the medium-sized room.

Guddorn coughed, and leaned downwards to the side, at that punch. He slowly looked up, as Hiccup threateningly held his fist up again, subsequently grabbing the chest gear of Guddorn. His knuckles were aimed directly at Guddorn's face.

"You..." Guddorn coughed, aiming his utterance towards Hiccup, "you are good..." he slowly nodded, referring to Hiccup's punches.

Hiccup threw another set of knuckles into Guddorn's temple, sending the fanatic leaning down towards the side of his chair as his face reddened like a volcano, his eyes swelling with blackness. Upon looking back towards Hiccup, Guddorn saw another fist rapidly fire towards his eyes, this time pelting off of the left side of his face, emitting a huge volcanic thud in his own ears, as the pain enraged and blew up subsequently afterwards in his cheeks and general face.

"I WANT YOU TO TELL ME, RIGHT NOW! WHERE IS ASTRID?!" Hiccup yelled, once again grabbing the chest gear of Guddorn the Glorious, threateningly raising up his free knuckles to the fanatic's direction once again.

"Hiccup-" Blavery said, stepping forwards.

"I'LL STAY UP ALL NIGHT AND ADD TO HIS TROUBLES IF I HAVE TO!" Hiccup roared towards Blavery, still keeping a tight grip of Guddorn by his chest gear.

"Hiccup, Hiccup, he more than deserves to be a punching bag, but he's gotta speak. If not, you know what to do, but let him speak." Blavery said, trying to calm the atmosphere down.

Hiccup might not be acting like his usual self, but you couldn't blame him, when Astrid's whereabouts, and whether or not she was actually alive, was all down to Guddorn here, one of the prominent fanatics of the regime Hiccup's at war with, revealing the details. Guddorn's partly responsible for Astrid's disappearance, and as her husband, there was no way Hiccup was going to be his usual self. He hated this fanatic with near-crying rage.

Hiccup, panting with redness, backed up ever so reluctantly, as Guddorn oddly began swirling his head around like he was crazy. It was like he was in a whole different world.

"No amount of punches..." Guddorn struggled, coughing all the way through, "or whatever you have in mind...are gonna make me bow down..."

"You've no option here, you sick lunatic," Eret said, walking towards the tied up Guddorn on the chair, "if you aren't gonna speak, we'll just send you down to the depths, in a world of hurt, and it won't just be Hiccup here, helping you reach that point." Eret threatened, cracking his knuckles as he slowly adjusted his wing suit, to potentially help Hiccup in forcing the fanatic to speak up.

Guddorn wasn't buckling. He kept chuckling very reluctantly, with the burning pain from his eyes and general face, from the punches, getting to him. He was determined to push through whatever was going to happen to him, if it meant guarding the intentions.

"Hahaaa. You can tie me up, impale me, whatever you Hooligans..." Guddorn stuttered, due to the severe injuries on his face, "have in mind. The enemy shall not be given the information..."

Guddorn was willing to take one for the team at this point, and by that, he's basically willing to die for the 'father', in Hawkon the Second.

"Hold on, Hiccup, hold on..." Blavery said, noticing that Hiccup had clenched his fist.

"WHAT ELSE CAN I DO, BLAVERY?! HE ISN'T TELLING ME WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW TO RESCUE ASTRID?!" Hiccup yelled, subsequently looking over to Guddorn, rushing to grab the fanatic by his chest gear again, "IF YOU DON'T SPEAK UP RIGHT NOW, I'LL GET MY NIGHT FURY HERE AND HE'LL TURN YOU INTO A WALL OF FLAMES! WHERE...ISS...MY...WIIIIIIIIIIFEEEEEEEEEE?!" Hiccup absolutely barked, shoving his face directly into Guddorn's as he yelled that, with pure rage and desperation.

Hiccup released the chest gear of Guddorn. Threatening Guddorn with Toothless burning him up was obviously a flat one, because the dragons were all in The Hidden World, which was the worst possible thing for the Hooligans right now. Hiccup, however, wanted to keep threatening Guddorn with the dragons, as if they were actually here, in a pure attempt to get the fanatic to speak up.

Hiccup was betting, in his angered, emotional mind, that if Toothless was here, Guddorn would speak up. Surely, the idea of dying in flames was horrifying enough for anyone? Hiccup was going by that mindset.

"You've no dragons...you really..." Guddorn coughed once again, "really are a 'Hiccup', aren't ya?" a damaged Guddorn added.

"YES WE DO. MY NIGHT FURY IS THE MOST UNKNOWN, DANGEROUS DRAGON TO ALL OF THE VIKINGS. HE CONQUERED DRAGO, HE CONQUERED GRIMMEL, AND HE'LL DAMN SURE CONQUER YOU AND HAWKON, WHO'S A RUTHLESS DESPOT. SO YOU'RE GOING TO TELL ME, ONE MORE TIME, WHERE IS MY WIFE?!"

Blavery Borhid and Eret refrained from interfering, because neither of them wanted to risk this threat Hiccup was posing upon Guddorn failing. By pretending that the dragons were here, they were able to portray a much more realistic threat. The only question is, would it work on somebody as unhinged, and as fanatic as Guddorn?

Hiccup reluctantly released Guddorn from his tight, rage-filled grip via the chest gear, as he coughed up a few bits of blood from the corner of his mouth.

"You...may insult...the father...but he'll...argh..." Guddorn stuttered, looking down as he closed his eyes tightly, the severe pain finally getting into his ribs.

He looked back up, panting with his damaged face.

"He'll...overcome you...you dare insult...the father, the saviour of our vikings..." Guddorn whispered, stuttering, "there's no dragons...but I can see...precisely...what you're up to-"

"I'M GONNA-" Hiccup yelled, raising his fist up.

"HICCUP, HICCUP, JUST HOLD ON A MOMENT..." Blavery said, moving in between Hiccup and Guddorn, "LET HIM SPEAK...I KNOW IT'S HARD...I WOULDN'T MIND KNOCKING HIM FLAT EITHER...but...just see what he says..."

Hiccup was panting ever so rapidly, as he struggled to reason with Blavery's comment.

"And herein lies your faults..." Guddorn spoke up, sounding more focused, "you have just...mentioned Grimmel...and Drago...two enemies of our people too...you mention them...like you aren't the same...but you are...all of you outsiders are...well, haha...you know what they say...the apple never falls far from the trees..."

"WHERE IS MY WIFE?!" Hiccup roared, losing his patience with Guddorn.

"You...are so...deluded...you have no idea...what you're up against...it's vikings like you...Drago...Grimmel...that imprisoned our people...and you expect me to buckle?"

Hiccup rushed forwards and pelted Guddorn harshly, with another banging thud, via his knuckles. Guddorn rapidly swung towards the side as his cheeks continued to flame up with redness.

"FOR YOUR INFORMATION..." Hiccup roared, "..OUR TRIBE FOUGHT THOSE TWO...I PERSONALLY, ALONG WITH MY DRAGON, DEFEATED THEM BOTH...BUT I AIN'T GETTING INTO THIS WITH YOU, WHERE IS MY WIFE?! HEY?! HOW ABOUT I DO THIS..."

Hiccup gripped Guddorn by the throat and tightened his grasp. Now, the tears were starting to appear in the eyes of Hiccup, as he tightened his strangle grasp upon Guddorn's throat.

"YOU CAN KEEP DOING THIS, BUT WE AREN'T GOING TO KILL YOU. WE'LL FORCE YOU TO BURN IN YOUR OWN PAIN...UNTIL YOU TELL ME...WHERE MY WIFE IS...WHERE IS SHE?! HUH?! WHERE IS SHEEEEEE?!" Hiccup yelled, pushing against Guddorn's throat, to the point he began wobbling the chair the fanatic was tied via his hands on.

As Hiccup shook the chair and tightened his grasp on Guddorn's throat, a small, pale looking initially, piece of paper had flown out from the inner gear of Guddorn. Hiccup noticed it, and in the midst of his crying rage, he shoved his fist off of Guddorn's throat, and knelt down to pick up the paper. As he stood up and read it, his intention with Guddorn was instantly settled.

It read the following, (in the viking symbols obviously, but this is what it would say in 'our' language):

Reminder to you, Guddorn: do NOT disclose any inside occurrences, should certain circumstances take place, with ANYBODY. And in the event those circumstances don't take place, do NOT disclose the plan or any inside knowledge to the defenders unless they're either; affiliated with the overseers party, or are of a high position. You have my trust on these matters. - Hawkon.

Hiccup, upon reading the small paper, simply let it fly to the floor. He looked at the crossbow that Eret had held, and snatched it from him. Guddorn started struggling, knowing the contents of the paper that Hiccup had just read, and he had seen the Hooligan Chieftan snatch the crossbow just now, which only meant one thing.

Hiccup aimed the crossbow up at a struggling Guddorn who was moaning in pain as he struggled. Without hesitance, he fired an arrow directly into Guddorn's forehead, killing Hawkon's 'right hand' viking once and for all. His body stopped moving as soon as the arrow made its impale.

"WH-...what was that for, Hiccup?!" Eret said, "he was going...to tell you where or how Astrid was?!"

"It..." Hiccup wiped his tears from his rage, "was useless...he was never going to tell me anyways...he was ordered not to..."

"Hiccup...you've just done a brave thing right now...how did you know he wasn't going to tell you, no matter what?" Blavery asked.

"That paper...it placed him under the order, from that Hawkon, not to reveal what I needed to know..." Hiccup slowly uttered, dropping the crossbow to the ground.

Hiccup was angered that he wasn't able to force Guddorn to reveal Astrid's whereabouts or...her status, but he was counting on Blavery's notion that she was still alive, due to the regime wanting to use her as a bargaining chip against the Berkians themselves eventually.

"W-what next?" Eret asked.

"One down...three to go..." Blavery, in a deep tone, uttered, "and I can tell you...this is going to cause a wound in Hawkon's iron fist rule of that regime..."

The three of them stared at Guddorn's body, as it sat there, motionless. This was a huge victory on behalf of the Hooligans just now, executing one of the four prominent figures of the Mentranian regime, but the war was far from over, and most importantly, Hiccup's search for Astrid wasn't over either.