Chapter Four:
While the inside of the cove had been perfectly curated by three elementals, the outside woods felt more alive. It was this life that called to the four children, but three were able to resist it.
The fourth was climbing out of a small crack in the stone of the mountain, a bow and arrow slung over her back, fiery curls held back in a low bunch. She wore a loose gauzy blue shirt, where Rapunzel had lovingly embroidered golden wheat stalks along the neck.. Her pants were a practical, thick fabric, worn slightly loose and kept up by her quiver and belt.
Merida wasn't scared of the outside world. She didn't have flowers blooming in her hair or frost that crept up her neck like Jack or Rapunzel, and if any humans found themselves that deep in the woods and saw her, she'd look like any other hunter.
Merida followed her normal path, leaping over tree roots and sliding down hills easily. Her spiritual senses kicked in, and she could hear everything for about two miles. Creeping silently into the underbrush, the redhead finally found her destination - a small clearing with a circle of standing stones.
Merida smiled and hiked up to the middle, where she laid down to stare up at the sky.
"Breathe…" She whispered, focusing on the forest and trying to sense any bit of elemental power. Nothing. Her eyes flashed open and the redhead huffed, blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes. She tried again, but the warm air and sunlight might have sent her off to sleep instead of the meditation Kozmotis suggested.
He didn't know she was out here though. Kozmotis had been missing for a while, despite what the other three said.
"Wooo!"
Merida opened her eyes and sat up slowly, then smiled as she noticed the familiar tiny blue lights.
"Will'o'wisps," She muttered, smirking as one of the ghosts bumped her knee. "Ah know, it's been a while,"
The blue spirits murmured quietly. To anyone else, it would be indicerable mutters, but Merida could hear every word and voice perfectly. When she'd first met the Wisps as a young child, they'd been so surprised that she understood that they'd disappeared for three months. Apparently, only the Wisp-Queen was ever able to listen.
The Wisp's called Merida the 'Successor' but she ignored it. They were prone to over exaggeration, and nobody else even believed she could see them. The Wisp's were supposed to wander the world, searching for their lost queen, not talking to a powerless spirit in the woods.
Merida followed a trail of wisps into the forest, where they'd gathered around some low hanging tree branches. She smirked and reached into the tree, fingers closing around an apple.
"Huh. Tha' was odd," She thought, noticing the tree. "Tha's a birch,"
She wandered back to the center of the circle, slumping back down to enjoy her apple while the ghosts chattered. She closed her eyes, basking in the warm sun, wiggling and stretching a little. Yeah, the outside forest was her element.
The brightness suddenly dimmed away as a shadow passed overhead, and with a loud whoosh, the crowd of wisps disappeared.
The shadow landed outside the stones with a loud thump. Merida relaxed, recognising both the source of the noise and what was about to happen.
"You know as well as I do that Kozmotis doesn't like you going out,"
"And Yeh know as well as ah do that you donae follow this rule either," Merida retorted, cracking an eye open to peek at Hiccup, who was standing over her, arms crossed.
"Well, what he won't know won't hurt him," Hiccup muttered, sliding down to sit next to the redhead. "What are you doing out here?"
"Just trying to 'connect' ta my 'elemental abilities'," Merida joked. "Or conjure Dreamsand, whichever comes first,"
Hiccup smiled. He looked over at the redhead, whose eyes were still on the sky. He reached over to ruffle her hair, twisting a finger into the loose curl.
"Hey Meri…" He whispered. Merida blinked and looked over to him, smiling widely..
"Yes Hic?" She asked. "Wot is it?"
"I-I think you'll get it - the elements," He fumbled. "E-eventually,"
"Thank ye Hic," Merida whispered.
"Come on Meri, let's go home," Hiccup said, sitting up and whistling for Toothless. The dragon bounded into the stone circle and began to nuzzle his riders head. The two got up into the saddle, and Merida wrapped her arms loosely around Hiccup's waist while the other spirit checked the saddle and stirrup.
Hiccup had come up with the stirrup system when he'd discovered the injured Nightfury outside the cove. It had taken a month of constant arguing with Kozmotis to allow him to heal the dragon, but by then, Rapunzel couldn't do anything. So, Hiccup had devised the pulley system to help the dragon fly.
Toothless launched into the sky, arching up into the clouds. Merida flung her arms up, whooping loudly. Hiccup smiled and joined in, and the two spirits laughed. Toothless warbled, then tipped back down towards Earth.
They landed in the middle of the cove, where Jack and Rapunzel had been practicing with their powers. Rapunzel was creating a series of flowers, while Jack froze them from his perch in the tree above.
"Merida! Hiccup!" The blonde cried, conjuring a series of lily pads to cross the pond to the dragon and riders. "Hiccup, we need you for practice,"
"What about Merida?" The dragonrider asked, nodding at the redhead, who'd pulled her bow off her back and was studying the carved patterns.
"You aren't too busy?" Rapunzel asked. When Merida shook her head, the other girl grinned and clapped her hands together. She then grabbed Merida and took off running towards the cave. "TWO ON TWO!"
The boys groaned loudly, but didn't protest as the girls disappeared into the cave. Two on Two was a training exercise that they'd invented when they were younger. It let them go all out and try to capture the other team.
"Oh it is on!" Jack muttered, grabbing his staff from its spot in the branches and twirled it in his hands. A fresh coating of frost spread across the wood. He turned to Hiccup, who cracked his knuckles as a sharp wind started to whirl around his feet.
Rapunzel dragged Merida up to the very top of the cave system, where they would be able to look down into the glade.
"Arrows." Merida said, handing over her quiver. Rapunzel nodded and set to work creating small vines that would wrap around the shaft without impeding the arrow's flightpath. Merida repacked the quiver, tightening the belt on her hips to secure it.
The girls stared down at the boys, doing their best to stay out of sight. The wind around Hiccup had started to pick up, moving so fast that the brunet boy was almost a living tornado, while Jack kept conjuring snowballs.
"Ready?" Merida asked, loading an arrow into her bow.
"Go!" Rapunzel said. Merida grinned and aimed, then released, sending her arrow down into the glade. She repeated the shot easily, and was just about to fire the last one when a ray of sun appeared directly behind the girls, illuminating the redheads hair like a fire, and landing on the boys below.
Hiccup looked up and noticed Merida's shining hair, then nudged Jack and ran for Toothless. The brunet used the wind to fling Jack into the air, and the white haired spirit readied his staff for what seemed like an easy victory.
"Oops," Rapunzel muttered, turning to Merida. "See you at the bottom,"
The girls jumped.
Jack yelled in surprise and scabbed for Rapunzel, but the added weight sent them plummeting. Rapunzel wiggled free and meant to aim for the soft ground (she planned to form a plant to break the fall), but miscalculated and was sent careening towards the pond.
Jack made an unsightly panicked sound and pulled upwards, using the majority of his power to pull the water up into a cushion that caught Rapunzel and dropped her safely back into the shallows. The blonde sputtered a bit and Jack almost fell out of the air, but Hiccup's control on the wind kept him steady.
"That's new," Merida remarked, landing on Toothless's back and adjusting herself in the saddle. The dragon warbled at her, almost groaning at the landing, but the redhead just rubbed his scales affectionately. Hiccup jumped at her words, almost dropping Jack in surprise.
"Wot?" She said. "He's only ever done ice before!"
Jack dropped to the ground, running towards Rapunzel, who'd pulled herself out of the pond and towards the cave wall. Jack leapt back into the air towards the blonde, but missed as the girl ducked. He slammed into the side of the wall, flinging his staff in Rapunzel's direction.
At the same time, Rapunzel thrust her hands forwards, causing the vine-wrapped arrows to explode. The plants writhed and twisted as they wrapped around Jack, pinning his arms and legs together. The flash of ice from Jack hit the ground in front of the blonde, trapping her inside a set of icy bars.
Jack and Rapunzel were both out of the game.
Toothless suddenly moved into a barrel roll, sending Merida flying off her perch on the saddle and into the pond. The redhead emerged after a few seconds, gasping for air as she avoided Hiccup and his dragon.
"Go Meri!" Rapunzel cried, watching as the other spirit ducked and jumped over fallen rocks and plants to avoid the dragonrider.
With an 'oomph' Merida once again lost her breath as Toothless's tail slammed into her stomach, sending her head over heels into a patch of bushes.
Her hair had long since come free of its binding, and her once carefully tucked in shirt was mussed and even a little bit torn. She was still soaked from the pond, and her bangs clumped together on her forehead, sending tiny droplets into her eyes and blurring her vision.
Merida let out a low breath and groaned. She was not going to lose. Not when she was so close. Not when she still had so much to prove - to herself, to Kozmotis if he ever came back. A hot, burning anger filled the redhead and she yelled out as she rolled out of the bush and hauled herself to her feet.
Hiccup gulped as he stared down an angry Merida. Her hair was a wild, curly mess, and the sun caught it again, sending it up in shining flames. He stepped back as Merida took a deep panting breath and lunged forwards.
Suddenly, he noticed the temperature in the glade had jumped up several degrees.
"Meri…?" He tried slowly. Merida let out a war cry and made contact. Both spirits tumbled to the ground, where they rolled and tussled as Jack and Rapunzel watched from the sidelines.
Toothless watched as his rider was successfully pinned on his stomach, arms wretched behind his back and one leg pulled up out of the way. Merida was still breathing heavily, but sat on the boys back - victorious.
"Woo!" Rapunzel shrieked, finally breaking out as Jack dissolved her ice prison and she let him down from the plants. "We won!"
"We were so close!" Jack griped to Hiccup, who rolled his eyes and muttered something about there being a lack of gratitude in this family.
"Okay!" Rapunzel cried, brushing off her hands. "How about twenty-three out of forty-five?"
Authors Note: Posted a little late today, but I've been working a day camp for the past week. I'm pretty zapped. I've just finished writing my favorite Omega Project chapter though - can't wait to post that one!
Next week's chapter is pretty short (only three pages compared to today's eleven) so I might post two next week. We'll see how much traffic this story gets by then. So far, it's definitely less than Cove Golems. Don't worry, I won't stop posting or writing just because reads are low. I'd be posting even if I was the only one reading.