Chapter 4: The Long Journey

The flight following the escape of the Kill Ring hadn't been pleasant, the rain seemed to dazzle every nerve of Hiccup's body, it made him shiver and had him soaked through.

They had taken refuge on a tiny island to escape the rain, and as soon as they had landed Hiccup dismounted Toothless and dropped to his knees, he broke down. Hiccup was sobbing harder than he had ever done before, he was exiled, banished, never coming back. The tears running through his wet face mixed with the rain and his eyes stung. Hiccup had been covering his face with his hands as he sobbed, but after a moment he dropped them to his sides. He heard a tiny coon to his right and he looked around. Toothless was very close, his bright green eyes seemed to bore into Hiccup's as he still knelt on the wet ground. "I'm glad you're okay Toothless, I don't know what I would've done without you." said Hiccup shivering. Toothless gave another tiny coon as he began to nuzzle Hiccups side, and then he started to affectionately lick Hiccup's face, at this Hiccup began to shakily laugh. "Oh no! hahaha, Toothless stop!" but at this Toothless began lick every part of Hiccups body, from his drenched head and hair to to his soaked pants.

After a long moment of struggle, Hiccup managed to say "Alright that's enough Toothless, or I'll smell of fish for forever!" Toothless stopped with a satisfying nod. A long time followed as they searched for shelter, but to Hiccup's relief they found a small cave in which they entered to avoid the cold rain. Hiccup sat shivering for a long time until Toothless walked up to Hiccup and laid down right next to him.

He wrapped his great wings around the figure of Hiccup. Hiccup felt the steady breath of warmth steaming off the body of Toothless as if he was basking on a warm piece of rock that had been in the sun for hours. He laid down and rested his head on the collected wrapping of his waist coat.

Hiccup suddenly felt very tired, he slept that night better than he should've, the warm body of Toothless against his back acted like a warm fire, it seemed to undrench ever piece of clothing he wore and it seemed to heat Hiccup's shivering heart as well as every other body part.

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The day sky was streaked with blue, and sea was calm. For Hiccup this was a good sign, he had been forced to seek shelter in the cave they had found from the unrelenting rain that had been pouring down for the last three days. He wished he could've sneaked some food with him before leaving because he had been forced to live off berries and mushrooms. Their rubbery taste they didn't exactly elate him, as an empty stomach didn't exactly improve moral. But today he was slightly happier, he had managed to catch a fish from the pond on the island he and Toothless was sheltering. Hiccup had used water bending to catch the fish and fire bending to cook it. The water bending had been tricky, but after a long while he managed to trap it within a bubble and caught it, and with the prospect of not being soaked and getting some worthwhile food made him happier than he had been in days. Toothless wasn't far away, he had caught himself a large fish from an extensive period splashing in the pond, and so he was swallowing the last remnants of the large cod he'd caught.

The island in which they were residing wasn't very big, but it offered shelter against the wind and it had a convenient source of fresh water from the pond, and the plenty of fish for catching. But Hiccup knew in his heart of heart that they couldn't stay here, it was to close to Berk. It was only half a day away in sailing distance, it wouldn't do well to run into a party of Berk vikings when they were bound to be on the look out. But Hiccup had no idea where to go. The archipelago was big yes, but usually any exiled persons would find themselves either starving to death or find a cruel end to the surrounding tribes. But then the thought struck him, and like a former life, the words of Astrid ran throughout his mind. "Stories tell of the people of the mainland being able to control the elements"

That was it! thought Hiccup. He had to find these people who like him could control the elements, but how? He didn't know where the mainland was, nor how to get to it. But there was a person who knew, Johann, and Hiccup had to find him.

Hiccup looked at Toothless. He was perched on a rock not to far away, eyeing the fish bones from the fish he had just eaten with a disgruntled look. Hiccup spoke to Toothless "Bud, how do you say we find some more food and then embark on a new mission?" Toothless ears perked up at the question, Hiccup laughed at the apparent interest of his best friend. "We need to find Johann first, so he can show us the way to the mainland, where we can hopefully be safe" said Hiccup and Toothless got quickly up with interest showing his gummy smile, but Hiccup said quickly "But first we need to stock up on food, I don't know how long it will take for us to find him" he got up and began to look for more fish in the pond. The thought of having a goal always made things easier, that's how it had been he had designed his inventions, even if most of them didn't work.

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A long week followed in which Hiccup flew from island to island asking for Johann, he visited tribe after tribe. Each and everyone seemed to have good relations with Johann and therefor they happily told Hiccup that Johann had been around the archipelago some time now. They would also usually tell Hiccup which direction Johann was heading so that he could find him.

Hiccup knew he was nearing Johann now, each time he was visiting another tribe he was told that Johann had been there less and less time ago. Only once he visited the Bog-Burglar tribe did he know that he was almost upon Johann. Hiccup had been told by a girl called Camicazi, a friend of his who happened to be the cheif's daughter. Hiccup knew Camicazi well from all the times they had met at the Thing. The Thing was annual meeting that was held every year between all the viking tribes, the pair had gotten along awfully well despite the fact that Camicazi seemed to have the same amount of self-preservation as the twins on Berk. Camicazi had told him that Johann had been to their island only three days previously and that he was sailing for the Meathead Island which would be a couple of days sailing of sailing for any boat. Hiccup knew however that it would only take a couple of hours of flight for a Night fury. He had taken to hiding Toothless in the forest during his visits as an assurance, Most of the tribes in the archipelago were also just like Berk battling fierce raids every other day and Hiccup thought they wouldn't take kindly to a Night Fury.

Hiccup's bending skills however had improved exponentially, it seemed to come natural, as if they had always been there. He found that earth bending was his hardest element yet, it didn't seemed to work for him as easily as Fire or Air would, but after long hard effort he had managed to lift pebbles and smaller rocks into the air.

The journey to Meathead island had led Hiccup and Toothless to fly across a white and cloudy day, but it still was bright. Hiccup and Toothless was flying swiftly over the windy ocean. He was following the map that had been given by Camicazi, it had been extremely easy to read in that every landmark seemed to stand out extra thoroughly from the air, rather than from the deck of a boat. They had passed remote island after remote island that dotted the map. According to the map the Meathead island was just next island, Hiccup was peering at the for horizon for a ship or an distant island, and then he spotted it. A magnificent ship on the horizon, it wore pure white sheets as sails and lined with a reinforced hull of metal. It moved swiftly while bobbing up and down in the rising waves. Hiccup clicked his foot into position and dived, the familiar screaming whistling filled air as they flew at breakneck speed. It took little than a minute to reach the boat that had been only a moment ago a speck upon the horizon, closer and closer they swept until they were close enough to land on the deck of the ship. They circled it twice before landing on the deck with a loud wood groaning thud.

But what struck Hiccup as strange was that the boat was completely deserted, however there wasn't any sign of kidnap or piracy as most of the goods littered the deck. It didn't take long for Toothless to find the missing crew however, only after a minute he had managed to catch a scent of something not food or material. Toothless gave a loud roar towards Hiccup, he looked around and saw Toothless looking at the hatch that led into the cabin below. Hiccup strolled leisurely to the hatch and opened it, and immediately there was a terrified squeak from a person below. The figure of a good natured bearded man was crouching among various goods with his eyes closed. "Please don't hurt me, I surrender!" said Johann pathetically.

"I'm not going to hurt you Johann" said Hiccup exasperated. Johann opened his eyes and looked at Hiccup, "Master Hiccup!" Johann exclaimed in relief. "By Thor, you gave me a fright! I thought I was being raided by pirates, an awful whistling noise and all." said Johann with a whimper. He looked around and spotted Toothless looking at him and gave another terrified squeak and stumbled backwards. "Dragon! God's help us!" Johann screamed. "Don't worry Johann, he's not going to hurt you" said Hiccup with a slight bite of impatience. "I have some questions for you Johann" said Hiccup, and his heart quickened at the prospect of answers. "Questions?" said Johann tentatively, and then he sprung up with alarming speed. "Well, then you've seeked the right person! I have all the answers you might need, that reminds me of the time when-" but Hiccup interjected, he was to aware of Johann's ability to drone on with his stories, "I was hoping you could possibly tell where I can find the land the mainland?" said Hiccup.

Johann looked slightly disconcerted at the question until he said almost in a whisper "The mainland? Why do you want to go there Master Hiccup?" for answer Hiccup held out his hand, with his palm facing upwards and he thought Fire and to Johann's incredulity bright blue fire gathered in Hiccup's palm. Johann stared at the bright blue flames as if spellbound, and then he tore his gaze away from it to say "Of course I can now see why you'd want to go there, Master Hiccup. But there is a complication..." and then he got up, and began to scramble among his goods. "I have a copy somewhere, I'm the first one in a century to cross the 'Serpents Gap' since we all arrived in the Barbaric Archipelago." and moment later he had extracted a scroll and unrolled it, he showed it to Hiccup. The map was very old and teared at the edges, it showed the scattered islands of the Archipelago and it also showed a land Hiccup had never seen before, it was incredibly large, it dwarfed the tiny islands that marked Barbaric Archipelago. "This is us" said Johann and pointed to a tiny island that said "Meathead Island"

"And this is where the 'Gap of Serpents' is. You'll need to cross this to reach the first nation which is called the Fire Nation, then you'll know you've arrived safely in the mainland. It's there you can find more answers" Johann pointed to a small gap that was between two islands far away to the east. He then pointed the series of islands that marked Fire Nation Capital. "Problem is that, the only way to cross the 'Serpents Gap' is to wait until winter rolls around. The dragons that guard the gap are in hibernation then." Hiccup felt like a stone had dropped into his stomach, Wait until winter? thought Hiccup, it mean that they would have to wait a whole six months before setting out.

Johann rolled up the scroll and said "But I have good news, Master Hiccup." Hiccup's heart leapt and he leaned in to hear what Johann next said "Since you've got a dragon there is a possibility that if you fly high enough and hide yourself thoroughly, you could pass without attack as they will mistake your dragon for one of their own." Possibility? thought Hiccup rather frantically. "Are you sure about this?" asked Hiccup. "Well, I would wait for winter personally. It's up to you whether you want to risk it." said Johann. Hiccup considered this, would he cross the gap and risk getting attacked by rogue dragons or wait for six months to pass safely.

Problem was that waiting for winter meant that he would have to live off the wilderness for another six months, and after living on his own for just a week and half hadn't been exactly easy. "Alright, I'll do it" said Hiccup. Johann looked slightly solemn at Hiccup's decision "Alrighty then, You'll have to give me some time to copy this map for you, in the meantime I suggest you get something to eat" he gestured to some of the barrels of food. "Thanks" said Hiccup and not until now had he felt his own hunger. He took an apple out of one of the barrels and took a bite, "Is it alright if I give Toothless a fish from the barrel?" asked Hiccup with a mouthful of apple. Johann looked at Toothless with some apprehension and then after a moment he said "Oh alright, as long as he doesn't eat all of them."

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Hiccup was flying over the vast expanse of ocean, far in front of him he could see the mist that surrounded the Serpents Gap, it awfully reminded him of the mist that surrounded the Dragon Island. Johann had provided Hiccup with an map and some food for the journey, and now they were up very high. High enough for Hiccup to feel slightly light-headed but usually after some hurried breathing his mind became more focused. "Alright Toothless, this is it. Let's do this." said Hiccup while clicking the fin into the right position. They dived, and with the speed of a bullet they flew straight at the mist. They descended into the thick mist and Hiccup's ears were straining to hear some sort of roar or flapping of wings, anything that might indicate danger, but the only thing that Hiccup could hear over the wind was a distant crack of thunder, and through the mist he could see the illumination of lightning in the distance.

Everything was eerie silent, except the wind that whistled past Hiccup ears, and then it happened. Fire appeared out of nowhere, and the body of a huge Monstrous Nightmare descended upon them. It roared as it gained pursuit, the roar echoed throughout the mist, and answers from other dragons bounced back like the howling of wolves. "Come on bud, let's get out of here" said Hiccup in a slightly panicky voice. They dived again and the Nightmare that had been following them fell back, but now Hiccup could see the water below them, it's glassy surface revealed towers of sea stacks looming out of the mist. They swerved to avoid them in the nick of time, and several loud thuds told them that some of the pursuing dragons hadn't been so lucky.

Hiccup looked back for a second and his stomach lurched in horror as he saw the collective numbers of at least fifty dragons following them in hot pursuit, and Hiccup knew that if he had been riding any other dragon than a Night Fury he would've been long dead. Toothless flapped his wings faster and faster, trying to outrun them. But they kept coming closer and closer, they were almost upon them when the mist cleared like the withdrawal of veil. Open sea stretched as far as the eye could see, and the dragons who had been so maniacally following them drew back like the open sea had signaled danger. In fact some of them had been to eager in their pursuit that they had momentarily left the mist. Once they realized their mistake they whelped like wounded dogs and retreated back into the mist. Hiccup breathed lungfuls of salty air as they flew over vast ocean, he was safe.

Well, not quite. The thunder that had sounded in the distant before was rolling over them like the mist before him. It made the sea all around him wild and foamy. They fought against the wild wind that threw them hither and dither in the slipstream of the stormy sky. Hiccup was beginning to panic now, he had to turn back or they would risk drowning in the sea, but as he had drawn that very conclusion he understood why the dragons had retreated back into the mist. The danger revealed itself to be what Hiccup had only seen in the dragon manual, with a scream it descended upon them in a flurry of claws. It was a Skrill...

The Skrill had now been following them for several minutes trying to grab Hiccup with it's claws. The thunder ringed in Hiccup's ears over the pouring rain that drummed against his forehead. Toothless swerved and rolled to avoid the sparks of lightning shot from the Skrill. There was many near misses, the skrill seemed determined to kill them, by any means possible. It screamed and roared it's unearthly shriek as it attempted once again to hit them with lightning. The skrill was very fast, almost as fast as Toothless, they only just kept ahead with Toothless frantically swerving and rolling the air to avoid the mad dragon. Hiccup turned around in his seat to look at the advancing dragon behind him, and weighed his chances. He knew what to do, he had to get behind the skrill somehow without risking it's lightning to hit him.

"Alright, let's put him out of action." said Hiccup still looking at the Skrill following them, he adjusted his foot and they began to slow and Hiccup yelled "Now!" then suddenly they halted in midair as Toothless brought his wings out like a sail caught in hard wind.

The Skrill overshot them and kept flying with suprise in it's beady eyes. Now they were in pursuit, the Skrill began to swerve and dodge as Toothless tried to line up his shot, but a Night Fury never misses.

Toothless shot an plasma shot at the wings of the Skrill. It hit with an resounding explosion and Hiccup saw the Skrill falling out of the sky with in a flat spin. "Yes! We did it!" yelled Hiccup in glee but the danger wasn't over yet, they still had to fight the storm that had seemingly increased in strength as they had been trying to escape the Skrill. Hiccup looked all around him, only sea and dark clouds were around him and not a land was in sight.

The storm beat against them like how the sea beats against a rock, it seemed to lessen them for each minute that they flew. "We've gotta get out of here Toothless." said Hiccup with as much conviction as he could muster as they flew on. Minutes passed and Hiccup could feel himself getting more and more tired, the storm was still raging on until suddenly something penetrated the dark clouds like a spotlight. The sun shun on a land that stretched from left to right in ridiculous size. In relief Hiccup steered the exhausted Toothless towards the light and the land. The distant land became bigger and bigger as they kept flying closer, they were almost there-

Suddenly the air was wrought in a loud boom as a lightning bolt appeared out of nowhere to Hiccup's right. Hiccup looked behind him and saw the previously defeated Skrill advancing through the air in a swift flapping of wings, and then it shoot another bolt at him. Hiccup reacted instinctively, he extended his arm and caught the bolt in his hand. He felt his limbs burn like scolding hot metal as the electricity coursed through him, and then in a desperate motion he pointed his arm at the Skrill and let the bolt escape him, it struck the Skrill right in the chest, it keeled over in the air and fell like a boulder out of the sky and was quickly swallowed by the darkness below them. Hiccup was panting hard as his arm felt like it was on fire, the pain was swallowing him as he fought hard to remain conscious, he didn't even realize that they had flown out of the storm and now that they were covered in sunshine. "We... need.. to.. land..." said Hiccup weakly before he promptly fainted.

With Hiccup being unconscious and unable to control of the tail, Toothless was struggling hard to keep them in the air and kept keeling over and dropping altitude. He extended his wings in an attempt to slow them down, but it wasn't working. The sea and the shore appeared more and more focused as they fell through air, just as they were to hit the ground Toothless abandoned his attempt to slow them down and wrapped his whole body around Hiccup's to save him from any harm. They bounced of the sea and landed hard on the sand covered beach with a ear-deafening crash.

Toothless opened his eyes while groaning heavily, his body was soar with the hit. He opened his wings and Hiccup spilled out on the sand, he was not moving. Toothless cooed and began to lick Hiccup's face. He didn't move. Toothless cooed again, but something moved some distance away. Toothless snapped his head instinctively towards the movement, he found the figure of three children staring at him. Toothless gave a loud growl and they ran away screaming. Toothless resumed his cooing, trying to wake Hiccup up. He couldn't understand, all he usually had to do was to lick him and he would laugh and things would be fine, but he wasn't waking. Toothless caught another sound from where the children had been, he turned to face the new person who stood in front of him, a man in arrow tattoos.

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Summary: Hiccup goes through the Serpents Gap and finds himself on the receiving end of an dangerous dragon guarding the ever ending passage between the archipelago and the fire nation, was his attempt to reach the mainland successful or did he land himself even in more trouble? and who might this man in arrow tattoos be?

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