Chapter 12
Her hands had fully numbed before Astrid realized the truth: she was cold.
Breezes had briefly chilled her before. She'd touched cold objects. In her encounters with the stream yesterday and the ocean today, frigid water had flooded around her ankles.
Before now, Astrid's exposure to actual coldness in the air was confined entirely to her mother's limited descriptions. Hiccup had told her at some point this morning that winter and brittle chills comprised the Berkian standard. This continued to puzzle her - what she could see of the world past her tower's window always warmed her bones with its gentle air and gleaming sunbeams. The way this chill surrounded her seemed so uncomfortable that she could barely fathom its permanence.
Now, rubbing her hands together and feeling the tremors in her shoulders, Astrid yet again tried to suffocate her concern over Hiccup's absence and tried to focus on the fact that, for the first time, she felt cold.
Perhaps - she lost the battle to suppress her anxieties - the chill was exacerbated by Hiccup still not arriving. Any remnants of sunlight had retired into the waves on the horizon. Though the faint cheers and general ruckus of late-night partiers still echoed in the streets of the city, the celebrations had dropped in volume considerably. She couldn't accurately guess the time or how much of it had passed since her drop into the hay-pile, but Astrid thought Hiccup would have met her here by now. For the umpteenth time, she recalled the sudden end of their flight. Hiccup had told her to meet him here at the docks. She wasn't mistaken.
She took a deep breath and clenched her fists. Astrid was still in control of the situation, even if her guide tarried a little. Hiccup would be here soon.
"Astrid!"
That... was not Hiccup. Any relief that ever so briefly reared its head was immediately drowned out by heightened concern and newly reignited suspicion.
Her fingers flew to her frying pan, and she pulled her arms into a practiced defensive stance well before the human silhouette in the distance materialized into a person she unfortunately recognized.
His black hair squashed beneath a horned helmet, the short young man swung his arms out in a welcoming gesture. "Astrid! That is your name, right? Astrid? Anyway-"
"What do you want, Snotlout?" Astrid gritted out.
Mistaking recognition for warmth, Snotlout gave her an unsolicited wink. "Oh-ho, somebody's been learning about the land's most eligible bachelor since we last met, huh?"
Astrid mouthed Snotlout's self-appointed title before scoffing. "Unless you have something important to say, get out of here," she snapped, twirling the frying pan for emphasis.
He tilted his head back and groaned as he crossed his arms across his chest. "Babe, everything I say is important, and as much as I'd love to spend a romantic evening convincing you of that, I happen to be a man of enterprise."
Based on everything Hiccup had told Astrid, she was briefly impressed that he knew and could effectively use the word "enterprise". Nonetheless, she then stepped closer, glared, and replied, "Okay, and? How would that prevent me from knocking you out right now?"
"I mean, you can try, but Tuffnut and Ruffnut are already hiding a few feet away. I could have taken you down alone, obviously," he preened, studying his nail-beds with a practiced nonchalance, "but I couldn't risk hurting the merchandise."
Astrid's eyes swept across the darkened town around them. She couldn't spot many places to hide on the dock or anywhere in the city to her left either, but the twins no doubt had more experience hiding in this town than she did scouting it. "Merchandise?" she repeated, trying to plot out an escape route wide enough that the twins wouldn't be easily able to tackle her when she tried to run.
"Yeah. Duh. Your hair?"
Her blood ran cold. "What?" she whispered, frozen solid, all thoughts of escape crowded out by terror.
"You know, the magical glowing hair that could get me way more money than some lame crown ever could?" Snotlout raised an eyebrow. "That hair."
"I don't... I don't know what you're talking about."
Her tone couldn't convince anyone of the lie, not even Snotlout. He smirked and shook his head. "Astrid, Astrid, Astrid... it's not hard to figure out. I mean, it's really long, you're already super paranoid about me talking about it... kinda obvious that you're hiding something about it."
"How..." she breathed. Vision tunneling, breath shuddering - Astrid could barely speak, much less finish the question.
He gained a few inches as he straightened his back, offended. "I just told you! My superior observation skills leave no stone unturned."
Astrid blinked weakly. "...Stones?" What was he talking about? She didn't believe he'd figured it out on his own.
Snotlout huffed and rolled his eyes before offering the true explanation: "Hiccup sent a messenger. Cut a deal."
She couldn't speak.
Snotlout, gloating too much to notice her pale face, continued talking. "Some foxy dark-haired older chick gave us the whole story. He'd get more money for the crown with his connections to the castle, and we could take you off his hands if we left him alone. Hiccup's not that much of a problem, you know - I could totally take him with both hands tied behind my back - but he is super annoying." Snotlout stretched his arms above his head and puffed out his chest.
Astrid could hear his voice as a strange echo bouncing off the walls rapidly closing in around her. Hiccup had betrayed her. He'd pretended to be silly, harmless, and sweet, only to sell her out at the first opportunity. Apparently, handing her over personally was too inconvenient for him, so he had convinced her to stay here, out in the open, ready to be served up to a well-paying thug. The dark-haired "chick" must have been Heather. She and Hiccup had completely fooled her into trusting them both. And they'd sold her out.
She tried to regain control, but when her gaze dropped to her hands, she saw her fingers shaking uncontrollably. Then she noticed the tremors in her arms, traveling through her shoulders, her chest, and her knees. She was shaking beyond control. Her mind couldn't let her feel the shaking herself - only watch as her whole body trembled far beyond her control. Astrid's breath wheezed as it stampeded quicker and quicker in to a roar that engulfed her ears. She was utterly helpless.
Even as Snotlout babbled on and on, his words clattering around in some distant world she couldn't access, Astrid struggled desperately to regain control. She would have to fight Snotlout and the twins off herself. She'd rework her plan later to figure out how to get home. She just had to move. Think about Hiccup later. Think about him never. Survive! Come on, move, Astrid! Instead, to her horror, she felt teardrops lace her lashes.
"Nothing personal, of course." Snotlout was still talking. "Like I said, I'm a man of enterprise, and, well, pretty girls who appreciate my many assets aren't exactly in short supply." He chuckled. "You're very easy on the eyes, don't get me wrong. My self-preservation instincts are just too powerful. Maybe you'll get over me, one day."
The only thing she felt in her throat was flat, hollow, broken laughter, but even that refused to surface.
Offering a two-fingered salute off his brow, Snotlout lifted his head and called, "Ruff! Tuff! Front and center!"
Astrid wanted so badly to move, to run. All she could do was stand there, shivering, waiting for capture. But the twins did not appear.
A muscle in Snotlout's jaw twitched. He dragged out his words as he yelled, "Ruff... Tuff... now!"
Still, the twins did not appear.
Snotlout threw his hands up and turned around to yell again. "Come on, idiots! Let's go!"
Astrid saw her chance. Adrenaline overpowered her panic. She lunged forward to bring her frying pan down on Snotlout's skull. He dropped to the ground, unconscious.
Out of the shadows of a nearby hut, a figure stepped forward, also wielding a frying pan above her head. Light that had illuminated Snotlout's face now dropped onto Astrid's rescuer.
"M-Mother?" If she could move, Astrid's jaw would have dropped.
Her mother's face was erupting with dark purple bruises that marred her cheeks and one eye. A small cut split her bottom lip open, and blood dribbled down her chin. Astrid's gaze found similar wounds on her mother's wrists and hands. "What... what happened to you? Who did this?" Astrid rasped.
The frying pan in her mother's fingers drooped to the ground as her mother panted. "Oh, my darling," she gasped. She met Astrid's gaze.
Astrid stumbled into her mother's arms. Neither woman's breathing seemed able to slow, and they shivered in each other's embrace.
"Are you hurt? My precious girl, are you alright?" Her mother pulled back only to run her hands down Astrid's hair and across her cheek.
Astrid stared. "How did you find me?" Not that I tried to obscure my presence in the city at all, she told herself bitterly. Hiccup had distracted her too much - but even thinking his name overwhelmed her, and Astrid yanked herself out of her head. "And who did this to you?"
"I had to come back early, but you weren't in the tower! I spotted you in the city! I was so worried, I tried to follow you, I tried to corner that villain when I saw him alone but-" she gasped in horror at the memory "-he attacked me! And when he found out I'd brought the crown, to get him to leave you alone, he grabbed it and ran off! I followed him, overheard him talking to this fool, and I knocked out his compatriots! Oh, darling, I was so worried!" She pressed forward in a desperate hug, and Astrid offered no resistance. Shock still overtook everything in her now that the energy of the defensive strike had faded away.
"We have to go, dearest! Before they wake up!" Her mother turned and rushed toward the faraway gate. But as she moved away, the retreating warmth of her embrace left Astrid cold, stunned, and still.
"I don't..." Astrid's voice strained as she stared at Snotlout, now snoring as he lay sprawled in the dirt. "But- Hiccup- he couldn't have."
"He did." Her mother had returned to her side and was rubbing her daughter's shoulders. "I'm sorry, dear."
He'd shown her Toothless. He'd let her ride Toothless. He'd introduced her to his friends, shown her his room, and told her about his family. "It doesn't make sense. Why?" The question shattered her voice. "Why would he do all this... and then turn on me?"
Shaking her head, Mother sighed up at the sky. "The world is dark, and selfish, and cruel. I tried to tell you, dear. It will do anything to steal your light."
"But-"
Mother ducked her head to meet Astrid's clouded eyes. "He convinced you that he liked you, didn't he?"
Astrid hardened her chin, faking the strength she thought she had so much of but was struggling to find. "No-"
"Men will do that, dear. Using us is what they do best. He was going to turn on you the moment he met you." Her mother sighed again and gently lifted Astrid's chin up with the tips of her fingers. "It wasn't your fault, dear. You didn't know any better." Astrid watched her mother walk back down the path into the city, stopping to retrieve a green-hued lantern from behind a barrel. "Come now, dear. We can put this all behind us."
Astrid lifted her head to stare at a sliver of starlit sky visible through the clouds. Tonight. Everything that had happened. The songs. The dancing. The tavern. The ocean. Toothless. Hiccup. The lanterns. Her dream.
In the distance, her mother paused, lantern in hand. A sad smile crossed her mother's face as she lowered her hands and reached out her arms.
What little strength Astrid had left fell away, and the first weakness was the tears filling her eyes and flowing down her cheeks. A sob - a sound she never knew she could make - tore out of her as she ran into her mother's arms.
Hiccup.
The lanterns.
Her dream.
She'd been an idiot to dream.
"I'm getting tired of waiting on you, so wake up."
Just once, Hiccup wanted to be woken up gently and patiently. Was that too much to ask? Once?
Instead, something heavy dropped down on his stomach, leaving him doubled up and wheezing for air. He cracked an eye open and glared at the offender, who swept her short dark hair into a stumpy ponytail and rolled her eyes at him.
"Your Highness," she added, after far too long of a pause. Hiccup groaned and threw himself back flat onto his bed.
"That's archaic terminology, Cass, and you know it," he grumbled, sliding the heavy book off his stomach and onto the floor.
She poked at the book with her boot to slide it into the dark abyss beneath his bed. "It's not archaic, it's the local custom..." Cassandra grinned. "...Your Highness."
"I command you to not do that."
"Not how that works."
He sighed up at the ceiling. He was actually fairly certain that him giving orders and Cass taking them was exactly how it should work, but she'd never listened to him once in their lives. Why change reality now? "Alright, give me the damage. How long have I been out? Where was I found?"
"How drunk were you, you mean?"
He opened his mouth to retort that he hadn't been drinking (for once). He'd... what had he been doing? Squeezing his eyes shut, he waited for the dreary grogginess of new wakefulness to pass. Cass had found him on the brink of passing out in random places several times over the past few years and she'd always dragged him back to his room, so waking up here with her gloating over him was no surprise. But where had he started? He fought through the pounding at the back of his skull to the answer-
Astrid.
Hiccup sat straight up, threading his hands through his hair. Astrid's mother knocked him out! And Astrid had been waiting for him at the docks!
Turning to a wide-eyed Cass, he blurted out, "How long have I been out?"
Cass let the silence extend tortuously long for no good reason that Hiccup could fathom or accept. "Well," she answered, surveying him suspiciously, "I found you last night-"
"Last night?" he yelped.
"Yeah-"
"So it's morning?!" He swung his legs to his side and leaped to his feet. "Are- are you serious?! I have to-" He leaned down to fumble for his boots on the floor and his jacket hung on his bedpost - he had to go.
When he finally stumbled to the door, still shoving his feet into his boots, Cass had the audacity to block his path. "First of all, it's nearly midday. Second, for once, I'm not here just to gloat. The royal majesties need to see you."
He tried unsuccessfully to shove past her. "They can wait."
She maneuvered to obstruct his path through the doorway. "No, they can't. It's urgent."
Hiccup stared deadpan at her. "Is it urgent because they said it's urgent, or is it urgent because they're mad?"
"Which answer would make you move faster?"
Tilting his head back, Hiccup groaned. He needed to see Astrid, to make sure she was okay, and to figure out what the Hel happened with her mother. With eighteen years of experience with Alick and Corran, however, Hiccup knew their request for his presence could only be sped up, never ignored. He had managed to delay in occasions past, of course, but that only led to an encounter twice as long, with a disapproving rant on the disappointing nature of Hiccup's existence thrown in there somewhere. He tried to avoid those particular rants. "Fine."
She didn't move. Instead, she sniffed deeply and said, "You might want to think about washing up first. You smell like death."
"Nope. They want to see me, they've got to take me as I am. So move."
With an eye-roll, Cass, ever so obliging, stepped out of his way, and he began weaving through the passageways to the main hall. It was a long walk across faded rugs and cold dark stones, with only the sounds of his footsteps and Cass's rustling armor to accompany them. Hiccup finally shoved one of the last doors open, and he and Cass strode outside into the central courtyard.
Despite the urgency flooding his veins, he still shivered at the cold. "It was so nice and warm yesterday," he muttered. "Really missed all this cold." Cass only grunted, which was as close as she'd ever come to agreeing with him.
Before them loomed the main hall, a traditional Viking longhouse - tall and pointed at the top with a sloped roof of green thatch, entirely wooden structure laced with intricate carvings, and the sounds of friendly and fiery chaos chorusing within. As a small child, he'd stood in awe for what felt like hours, marveling at the sensory overload of a world that seemed too wondrous to be real. As a young adult, he didn't bother to smother the grimace that intensified with each step toward the teal doors.
Habit had his eyes lifting up just before he stepped into the longhouse, searching out the birds' nest nestled safely beneath the thatched awning sloping over the doors. His ears strained and successfully found the soft chirps of the swallows roosting in the nest. Hiccup let this small fact of nature bring him a microscopic drop of comfort as the massive doors swung open before him.
Cass darted in first and loudly announced, "His royal highness, Prince Henry, entering!" Hiccup rolled his eyes at the smirk she shot him before he too plunged into the warm, dimmed light of the longhouse.
"Hal."
He spent a few pleasant moments ignoring the call, instead scanning the room. The room was, as usual, littered with fighters. Warriors lounged on benches as they tipped mugs of ale down their throats. Warriors tossed dice and cards across tables, roaring with delight and scorn at the results. Warriors dove into meals and stories that Hiccup often wished he could join in order to escape the inevitable.
Turning to the left, Hiccup saw Alick and Corran standing, somber-faced both, on either side of their short, worn table positioned only a few feet in front of their twin thrones.
Hiccup nodded and met Alick's eyes. "Dad."
Every time this moment recycled itself countless times through the years, Hiccup felt fourteen again - standing still in the entryway, swinging his arms, looking around awkwardly, wishing he were anywhere else. Even now, his heart still pounding and skin still itching from the impatience of wanting to go find Astrid, Hiccup felt that uncomfortable displacement again.
Instead of moving straight to the jarls' table and staring down with them at the maps and reports, Hiccup detoured to the fire at the center of the longhouse, where he swiped a bowl from a nearby dining table and wordlessly handed it to the servant girl. She flushed as deep a pink as a pangnak flower and scooped a ladle-full of stew into his bowl. After offering his thanks, Hiccup swiped a spoon from her utensil pail and sauntered over to the jarls.
"What's up, Dad?" he asked, mouth full on purpose.
Alick - or, as all close to him knew him better, Stoick - furrowed his eyebrows down over his glare. "You took your time."
"Good to see you too."
When this type of exchange first began between them years ago, this would have been the moment where Stoick asked Hiccup where he'd been. Time apparently taught Stoick that he would never like the answer. Hiccup long ago stopped expecting the question or allowing himself to feel the resulting disappointment.
"Hal-"
"Do you guys have the crown?"
He could tell immediately that his question was ill-conceived. Corran, brow already furrowed and teeth clenched, intensified his glare. "No," he rumbled.
Hiccup winced. "For what it's worth, I've spent the last two days trying to track it down. I technically had it when I got knocked out."
"Knocked out," Corran huffed, fists tight on the hilts of his swords. "Of course."
Hiccup's fingers found the probably-permanent knot at the back of his head. "Yeah, knocked out. You want to feel the wound for proof?" Sarcasm and wit only lasted so long with Corran until an inevitable terrifying explosion of temper. Hiccup could muster up ten more quips to delay any possible upcoming scolding, but for once, he held his tongue. He'd take the scolding over Corran moving past smouldering into fire.
Shaking his head at the ceiling, Stoick turned to rest his massive palms on the edges of the table. "And who was the person who... knocked you out?"
Touching the bump still sent a jolt of pain through his skull. Not wishing to worsen an already blooming headache, Hiccup retracted his fingers and resumed attacking the stew in his bowl. After a noisy swallow, he answered, "Some older woman. I'm guessing she took the crown."
"Of course," Corran repeated. Hiccup pushed back a groan. Corran and his dad rarely ventured into the realm of believing Hiccup or taking what he said seriously, so nothing in this interaction surprised him. He still allowed himself to be annoyed, though.
After loudly slurping the rest of the bowl's contents and watching the jarls wince at his antics, Hiccup moved to turn back toward the doors. "Well, if you two are done not believing me, I have business to attend to-"
"Not so fast, Son."
When Hiccup reluctantly turned back, the malice in Corran's face stopped just short of openly snarling. "It's safe to assume you are going to be getting that crown back now, yes?"
"It's part of the plan, so-"
Stoick slammed a fist on the tabletop. "Yes or no, Hal!"
Tossing his unoccupied hand up, Hiccup retorted, "Yes! Fine! Yes!"
Stoick's shoulders dropped. Cor's remained as tense and rigid as ever. Hiccup tried again to turn, but the deep breath he recognized as his father's had him halting in his tracks.
"You find the crown, and then you get right back here," Stoick said, his voice firm even as his volume had lowered considerably.
"Sure, Dad."
"I'm serious, Son." Hiccup watched Stoick trace mysterious pathways on the maps before him with a meaty finger. "We've gotten reports of unrest in Berk. It will easily be smothered, but you ought to return here all the same."
Hiccup recycled the same response with what he hoped was a more convincing tone. "Sure, Dad."
Corran's venomous stare swiveled to Stoick. "It's not anything to dismiss, Stoick-"
"We've been over this, Cor, yes it is-"
"Have we been over it? Or have you been dismissing every valid concern-"
"I haven't heard a single valid concern-"
"Because as usual you don't bother to listen-"
After speedily dropping his spoon and bowl onto a nearby dining table, Hiccup darted to the doors, paused only a moment to listen to the jarls' voices rumbling louder and louder, and slid through the doorway.
As he should have expected, Cass matched his pace perfectly. "You weren't dismissed," she said, just to annoy. They'd both witnessed enough similar situations to know Hiccup often escaped before an official dismissal without ever receiving consequences. Fluent in communication Cass could understand, Hiccup simply offered her an eye-roll as they strode across the courtyard and back into the passages of the castle. As Hiccup turned a corner and Cass proved she would be tagging along for as long as she could, she asked, "So? What's the plan?"
"Do you actually care?"
"No."
"You're not going to follow me?"
"I'm helping with the new recruits this afternoon, and the armory needs organization. I've got better things to do than help you fix the problem you caused."
"So if I decide right now to go to the library, you won't follow me in."
She shot him a glare. Despite her best efforts, the entry points of the library's hidden passageways remained unknown to her. Even in the past, when Cass had followed him in, Fishlegs hated Cassandra to the point where he'd happily cover for Hiccup's escapes by harassing Cass so she wouldn't notice Hiccup slipping out to partial freedom. Hiccup would feel bad for her bearing the brunt of Fishlegs's wrath, but if Cass wanted Fishlegs to tolerate her, she shouldn't have thrown his books all over the floor in a failed attempt to find secret passages.
Hiccup prevailed in his insistence on an answer. "You won't, will you?"
"No," she growled in response.
Hiccup swung his head back to look forward as he lifted his chin. "Good." In any other iteration of this interaction, he would harbor smugness at her repeated failures in this one area of her life. Now, though, he just wanted to get to Astrid, wherever she was now.
Just as they reached the library, Cass grabbed Hiccup by the shoulder and forced him to a stop. "Hiccup-"
"Cass, please-" he tried to twist free of her grip, but she grabbed both shoulders and nailed him with a warning look "-I really do have to go."
"So answer my questions and I'll let you go much faster." She twisted her lips in a grimace at him.
He squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth for a brief moment before releasing the tension and frowning at her. "Fine. Go ahead," he said, resigned.
Cass's eyes swept across his face. "You don't have to be a disappointment-"
"Oh, thanks, Cass, really-"
"Shut up!" She shook him slightly.
"I'm pretty sure manhandling me is not a move they teach in guard training-"
"Hiccup!" she snapped. "You're acting like an idiot, but you're not!"
"Is this a compliment? Are you complimenting me? Because it needs some work-"
Cass shook him again. "You have way more tactical knowledge than you're letting on. You're a master escape artist. You somehow understand the geography of the archipelago better than our seasoned cartographers-"
Hiccup gave her a mockingly encouraging smile. "There you go, you're getting it!"
If her hands were free, Hiccup knew Cass would have slapped him. Instead, she slammed him back into the wall with an impact he knew would leave his back sore. Cass hissed, "But you're hiding it! You just make stupid jokes, then you sneak out, cause chaos, get hammered, and pass out! And then I clean up your mess!" She released her death grip on his shoulders to poke him in the chest. "And it would be a lot less annoying if you actually were an idiot like you're pretending to be! But you're not!" Cass poked him again, harder. "This whole life on a silver platter, served up for you, while I have to fight so hard to keep your stupid life stable and safe."
Swallowing back the long-standing guilt, Hiccup held up his sarcasm like a shield. "I'm not exactly sure if that one was a compliment or not, to be hon-"
Cass began yelling. "You could be a brilliant tactician! You could follow your dad's every move - honestly, probably outpace him! You could be back in that hall, pacifying both our jarls and actually leading us into a new age!" Groaning with genuine anger, she dropped her hands off his shoulders and gestured to the world beyond the castle. "But you're out there! Cavorting around, drinking, escaping, getting lost! You could be doing so much more! Why aren't you doing it?"
Cass had been angry at him plenty of times before, but now, as he stared at her, Hiccup understood this time was different. She knew something he didn't know. That realization and his worries about Astrid silenced any quips he might make about her actually having given him some form of compliment just now. He stumbled around in his mind, desperately searching for a response and realizing he didn't know the answer either.
Hiccup scrambled so long for an answer that Cass pushed him with yet another question. "Are you going to do this forever?"
He thought of Toothless and their adventures together, but he knew even that was an excuse hiding something he didn't completely understand about himself. He found no truth within and thus had to scrounge for the more familiar lies. "No, of course not," he murmured. "I'll... go back in there one day."
"What's keeping you?"
Attempting a smile, he shrugged at her and blustered up an answer: "So I can get my grand entrance, obviously. Come on, a prince coming from poor choices and a wasteful life to rise up to glory? Who doesn't love a good story like that?"
His already thin smile weakened under her somber attention and words. "Except this isn't a story, Hiccup. This is our lives. People are depending on you." She turned away with disgust. "And you're trying to make a drama out of it?"
"Oh, come on-" He watched her stride away. We both gave up on this conversation the moment it began, Hiccup thought. At least she kept it short.
Over her shoulder, Cass delivered her final words down the dark, cold corridor: "Do us all a favor then, and stay out there."
Hiccup pushed through the doors, stalked down to the agricultural records section, pushed open a dusty cabinet door, and dropped down into the tunnel-
All while trying to ignore how much her words burned.
Author's Note:
Wow, are we already at Chapter 12? How time flies.
Thanks to Liv & Charles for editing and offering thoughts (even if I blatantly ignore a lot of it). And to those of you who followed my tumblr (bannisterroadkill) - wow, thank you for signing up to be privy to my unique brand of insanity. I was pleasantly surprised!
Also, yes, to those of you familiar with Disney's Tangled TV series, that show is the origin of the character Cassandra. She was just too much fun to leave out.
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