Hiccup, his parents and his sister were sitting in one of the Mainland's carriages. It was a weird feeling for Hiccup. He was used to either walk even great distances or one other thing. Yes, they used the carriages in the tribes, but they were used exclusively to transport goods or ores from mining settlements. Hiccup smiles as he remembers his father barely managing to enter the carriage and almost flipping over the whole thing. However, his mind soon returns to reality as his sister sits before him. His mother sat beside her, while his father sat beside him. They were silent. Everyone knew how things would continue from here, and everyone knew about Axelia and Taramis' fight. It was a mess. When maids rushed to him and told him about crying Axelia in Taramis's room, he rushed there as if demons were at his tail.
He crouches next to his sister and hugs her. She was shaking and crying her eyes out.
"Sis, what happened?" He asks with the softest voice he can muster. He knows she was crying probably because of Taramis, and his absence in the bed confirms it. He, however, had no idea how much did Taramis screw things up. Axelia calms down a little in her brother's embrace, and with a soft voice, she says. "He doesn't care..."
"No..." Hiccup says as he shakes his head. "That's not true. You know him. He says things he doesn't mean."
"Leave me, brother..." Axelia says as she makes a weak attempt to break his embrace. When Hiccup doesn't take the hint, Axelia starts to be angry at her brother.
"Leave me alone!" She says while breaking out from his embrace and standing up. She looks furiously at her brother, despite her face stained with tears.
"It was your fucking idea, after all!" Axelia shouts at him, and Hiccup is taken aback. His little sister never raised her voice at him, not once in his life. He stands up slowly, not wanting to agitate his sister.
"What do you mean?" He asks slowly and carefully while taking a small step toward her. He knew what was happening. She was in shock, and her mind decided that the aggressive approach would be best.
"It was your fucking idea to choose Taramis as your squire! Even when you knew that I love him!" Now Hiccup stood there without moving a finger. She WHAT?!
"You are the reason why I cannot be with him!" Axelia shouts, and Hiccup must admit that it hurt, even when he knows she doesn't mean it. He also understood how his sister felt after her fight with Taramis. But as much as he wants to stand calm, his heart takes the reign.
"Yeah? Then why did you never tell anyone how you felt about him!? Taramis made enough effort, and you did nothing!"
"You cannot be serious!? With your awesome plan for improving the relationship with the Mainland, I was left with no other options than hide my feelings!" Both siblings were now on the defensive, and each sibling was saying things they didn't mean.
"You agreed with that plan!" Now, Axelia did what Hiccup did not expect. She slapped him hard across his face and ran away. Hiccup was furious. His mind didn't have any control over his own body, so his body made way to find Taramis.
When Hiccup sees Taramis talking with several sailors, he marches up to him. He saw that the sailors' motioned their heads in his direction, and Taramis turned towards him. Just in time to meet Hiccup's fist, colliding with Taramis's jaw. Hiccup didn't care for Taramis's injuries in the heat of the moment because he was too angry. Taramis stumbles back and massages his chin.
"I can forgive you anything, Taramis. But hurting my sister goes beyond anything else!" Hiccup says, fury in his eyes. Taramis doesn't say anything while the sailors scurry away.
"She loves you, and you love her! And I don't have even the slightest idea why you did what you did!" Hiccup moves even closer towards his friend and growls into his face. "If you think I want you as my squire after you hurt my sister, then you are mistaken." Now Taramis looks straight into Hiccup's face. Hiccup saw that Taramis was shocked and somewhat afraid. "You will go and get along with my sister, and I will be looking for a different squire! It was a stupid mistake even to make you my squire!" Hiccup marches away, not seeing how a single tear fell from Taramis's cheek and a man standing at the other side of the ship, smirking at the exchange.
A bump brought Hiccup back to reality. Neither Hiccup nor Axelia apologised to each other, while Taramis was nowhere to be seen during the docking. Their parents surely knew what had happened, but they decided not to say anything. They knew that if they meddled in these things, they would only worsen it. Hiccup silently sighs and looks out of the window. It was pretty dark outside since most of the people were sound asleep. Few torches could be seen here and there, primarily due to patrolling guards. Their carriage soon passed the castle gates. Not long after that, the carriage comes to a halt. Some guards quickly open the door for them, and Hiccup looks at Axelia. She shares with him a glance before she makes her way out. Hiccup and his parents are right behind her. Hiccup was surprised to see the King himself standing in front of them.
"Stoick, Valka! It's so good to see you!" The King says and makes his way to hug both of them. Hiccup and Axelia were standing on the side. Hiccup noticed that his sister was keeping an unusual distance from him. Hiccup felt nauseous. The relationship between them was never this bad. They rarely had problems and mainly about petty things, but this... This was serious. He needs to remedy their bleeding relationship. He also felt terrible about Taramis. He was harsh at his best human friend. How could he be so blinded by anger to punch him even when he was injured? It was a mess, and they were only in the begging. They were stronger when they were working together. He needs to fix this now! How can he hope to remedy the relationships between the tribes and the Mainland when he almost destroys their tight-knit group at the begging of that journey?
"So these are your children, I presume?" The King asks, and the siblings look at him.
"Axelia of house Haddocks, at your service, my king." Axelia quickly says and bows. Hiccup notices that she put on her mask since she was smiling. So Hiccup does the same.
"Hiccup of house Haddock. It is a pleasure to finally meet you, my King." Hiccup bows, and the King laughs. "Pleasure is all mine, young man," King says with a smile and then looks at Axelia. "It's always a pleasure to welcome fair maidens in my kingdom," King says and bows, which surprises both siblings.
Eret rides on a horse to the King's castle to report. Erik was probably waiting for him. He soon reaches the inner gate of the castle, and he dismounts his horse. One of the stable boys quickly arrives to take the horse from him. He thanks the stable boy and makes his way past the gate. He saw Haddocks and the King talking in the middle of the castle's courtyard. Eret sees that the High Chief and his wife are strangely relaxed, while he can see that their children are somewhat tense. He doubts that it was because of the King. It was probably because of what happened on their ship. Eret spent the rest of their journey on their boat. That event made all the sailors gossip like little girls. Their gossip was silenced when someone from the Chiefs family or Taramis walked past them. Eret learned that Hiccup and Taramis were best friends, while Axelia and Taramis kind of liked each other. He also learned that Taramis really wanted to be Hiccup's squire because he wanted to keep him safe. Taramis's loyalty towards the Chief's son was enormous. Eret felt kind of bad for them.
Suddenly, Eret's trained ears twitched. A faint sound of a bowstring reaches his ears, and he looks up at the battlements. One of the archers is drawing a bow, and Eret's mind switches.
"ASSASIN!" He screams and runs towards the King and High Chief's family. The courtyard erupts into a frantic uproar. Eret knew that he must figure out which one of them was the target of the assassination. He jumps at Hiccup and throws him to the ground. In a split second, an arrow lands where Hiccup stood just a moment before. Eret looks towards the assassin and sees how guards approach him. Instead of fighting them, he removes his helmet and jumps down from the battlements.
Eret stands up and helps Hiccup. "I am sorry for pushing you, my lord," Eret says while Hiccup looks at him with an unbelieving look. "Sorry? You just saved my life!"
"An assassin in my castle!? This is outrageous!" The King shouts and marches towards the nearest guard. "Where is the Captain?!"
While the poor guard stutters to answer the King, Stoick and the rest of the family speak with Hiccup. "Ya alright, son?" Stoick asks, and Hiccup nods.
"Yeah, thanks to Eret," Hiccup says, but Eret shakes his head. "No need to thank me. I would do it again."
"You are humble, young man," Valka says. "You saved our son, and we are all truly thankful."
While her brother and her parents were thanking Eret, Axelia frowned. One question was on her mind. Where is Taramis? She later found out that Hiccup went and attacked Taramis in front of many people, but this was Taramis. No matter what Hiccup did, Taramis was always loyal to him. Taramis knows that Hiccup is in danger during his entire stay on Mainland. It made no sense.
"Where is Taramis?" Axelia speaks up, and everyone looks at her. Only now, they noticed that he was missing.
Taramis woke up, and he felt like shit again. He opens his eyes, but he still doesn't see anything. He frowns. He was still on the ship. The sound of water and the rocking of the ship gave it away rather quickly.
Wait a minute—Taramis's thoughts as he remembers. When Hiccup left after their fight, he went to check the damage to the ship after the fire. When he was done, he heard sailors shouting as they readied the ship for docking. But then, something hit the back of his head, and he fell unconscious. Taramis tried to move, but only then he realised that he was sitting on the chair, and his hands were bound behind his back. Of course, he could not see a thing when a blindfold covered his eyes.
"I see you are finally awake." Taramis didn't move a muscle as he heard a deep, croaky voice. Suddenly he heard footsteps and a large hand on his head. Soon, the man undid his blindfold. Taramis found out that he was in a room on some ship. The man standing before him was in his thirties, and several scars covered his face. His body was hidden beneath an oversized, woolly coat.
"Who are you, and what do you want from me?" Taramis says with a growl. It was not his first time being kidnapped. Being Hiccup's best friend made him quite a target for many people. The man chuckles darkly, and somewhere beneath his cloak, he brings up a shiny dagger.
"Information..." The man chuckles darkly, and Taramis snorts. "Then you are in the wrong place."
The man in front of him smirks, and his yellow teeth make Taramis frown in disgust. "No, I don't think so." He leans closer to Taramis, and soon only inches separate their faces. "You will tell me everything about Hiccup Haddock!"
"You should rather think about your bad breath. It is making me vomit," Taramis says and makes gaging sound. The man pulls back and, in a moment, fist collides with Taramis's head. The strength of the punch sends Taramis flying across the room together with the chair. When Taramis lands, he groans loudly. The injuries he received on the ship and didn't even start to heal were screaming at him. His whole body screamed at him, and for a moment, he felt numb from the pain. He heard heavy footsteps marching towards him and picking him up along the chair as if he was a feather.
Yeah, this man was definitely strong. He sourly thought. "You will tell me everything or face the pain you have never felt!"
"Fuck you, prick." Taramis spits at the man's face. The man in front of him didn't even blink, but then Taramis felt a sharp pain in his thigh. He didn't need to look down to see the cold steel of the dagger embedded in his flesh.
"Let me tell you something, ma boy." The man sneers. "Without you, my man will murder Hiccup Haddock till morning. And you will be here with me moping that you were not able to save him." The man smirks and leans closer. "Who knows, maybe I will enjoy his sister when we kill him."
Taramis's blood boiled. He could take anything, but no one would ever touch his Axelia. In a split second, Taramis musters up all of his strength and headbutts the man in front of him. The man yowls and staggers back. Taramis meanwhile struggles against the ropes, but they would not budge. The man starts beating Taramis furiously. The first fist connects with his face. Taramis immediately felt blood coming from his nose. Another punch went straight into his face, and Taramis grunted from pain. Blood rushed from his split lip as he readied for another impact. The next punch, however, went lower, straight into his stomach. Taramis screamed from the pain. He was no longer able to resist it, and the man smirked. "Finally, the sound I wanted to hear. Now, tell me everything about your master's plans. Tell me, and I might let you live if you beg me."
"N-Never..." Taramis says through gritted teeth. The man straightened up and shrugged. "As you wish." He moved as if he wanted to walk away, only to punch Taramis again. Taramis cough out the blood.
I am sorry, Hiccup. I have failed you. He thoughts, but then his mind went straight to Axelia. Axelia... I am sorry that I didn't tell you that I love you too. I always loved you.
He imagined that at that moment, Axelia broke down the door and marched into the room, Hiccup and armoured guards with her. He could swear that Axelia ran to him while Hiccup apprehended the man. He could imagine Axelia's soft hand on his cheek. He smiles. "I-I lo-ve you..." Taramis rasps out, and then the world darkens.
While Taramis was in delirium, several men and one woman barged into the room.
"Are you fucking stupid, Moloch?" The woman says as he rushes towards the boy. She kneels in front of him and inspects his injuries. They were pretty severe.
The woman was in her late thirties and had ashen hair and grey eyes. Worries were visible on her face while her right hand touched his cheek. The boy in front of her smiles.
"I-I lo-ve you..." The boy rasped out, and the woman understood what was wrong.
"That boy is at the end of his strength. We need to get him into my room!" The woman orders, and men who came with her immediately obliged. They cut the boy's bindings and picked him up. One of the men hoists him into his arms and carries him away.
Before the woman leaves, she stops by Moloch. "You are lucky you didn't kill him," she growls, and the man smirks. "I am taking orders only from the leader."
"And I am his wife!" The woman says while throwing daggers with her eyes.
"You lost the privilege of giving me orders when you kidnapped the leader's son." The man leans closer with a devious look. "Your days are counted, Lilith. The leader will soon dispose of you, and then I will have my fun."
Lilith immediately slaps him with all her might. Moloch's head flew to the side. "I have half of the tribe behind me, and if my husband tries anything, they will back me up."
"Yes, you have half of the tribe behind you. The weak were always following you. But know this, your husband has a new and powerful ally. He doesn't need you anymore, nor does he need the weed that's following you." The man walks past her and bumps her shoulder. She wanted nothing more than to slice the throat of that vile man, along with her husband's. But now she has more pressing matters to attend to. She turns around and runs to her room.
Hiccup and his family were sitting in a room which would be his during their stay at the King's palace. Axelia had been crying since they found out that Taramis had disappeared. No one knew where he was. Eret even went back to the docks, but he didn't find him, nor anyone who would have seen him. Valka was trying to calm down her daughter but to no avail. The morning was slowly but surely approaching, and the events still didn't sink. An assassin tried to kill Hiccup as soon as he was on the Mainland, and Taramis disappeared. Hiccup doubts that their fight was a reason for Taramis's disappearance. But that slight inkling feeling was still there. There was a knock on the door, and Hiccup invited the person inside. It was Erik. They met him soon after the attempt on Hiccup's life. Erik was personally responsible for the attack, and he ensured it would never happen again. Nobody did hold it against him, but he.
"My lords," Erik says with a bow and Hiccup bows too. At first, Erik was shocked to see an heir of the tribes bowing to him, but he soon realised that it was their custom.
"I investigated that attempt on your life, my lord. The people responsible for it are already in prison, and we also doubled our security. I will personally see that you are safe anywhere in this city." Erik says, his back straight. Hiccup felt that the man in front of him was loyal to the King and thus loyal to anyone with his King.
"Thank you, sir Erik. You are doing us a great service." Hiccup says as he bows his head. "I am only doing my job, and my job is to keep everyone in this city safe. And yesterday's events showed me that I did not do a good job."
"It was not your fault, sir Erik," Hiccup says, and Erik shakes his head. "Maybe not my fault directly, but it could happen because of me. And I will not repeat my mistakes."
Suddenly there was another knock, and Erik opened the door. Eret stood behind them, his face showing distress, his right hand holding something wrapped in cloth.
"I am sorry to disturb you, but I have news about Taramis," Eret says with a tight voice, and when Axelia hears Taramis's name, she runs to the door. Her face was stained with tears, her eyes red. She looked miserable. For the first time in her life, she did not care.
"What did you find?!" She asks even before Hiccup invites Eret inside. Valka stands behind her daughter and places her hands on her shoulders. Eret clears his throat. Everyone in the room was looking at him, and he started to get nervous.
"I went back to the docks to ask people if somebody saw something." Eret starts slowly, trying to look anywhere but at Lady Axelia. "Everybody swears that they did not see anything. However, one drunkard approached me when I was at the end of my search. He swears that he saw a huge man carrying a big bag that looked as if the person was inside." Everyone halts their breath, and Eret continues. "He told me the man went to another ship, which disappeared in the dock in the meantime."
Axelia gasped and brought her hands to her mouth. Valka places her right hand on her daughter's forehead in a feeble attempt to calm her.
"I asked the guards at the dock about the ship, and they told me that the ship arrived yesterday and was registered as a merchant ship from the Berk," Eret says, and Hiccup brings his hand to his chin. It didn't make any sense. Why would anyone from Berk try to kidnap Taramis?
"Do you know the name of the ship?" Hiccup asks, and Eret nods as he looks at him. "Yes, the name of the ship was Orrisa."
"That is not possible." Stoick finally says something, and Hiccup agrees with him. "Yes, my father is right. That ship was destroyed a few months back in a dragon attack, and nobody from that ship survived."
"Well, somebody either lied to you or built an exact copy of that ship. The second option is quite unlikely because the port guards swear that the ship was not new." Eret says, and now Erik speaks up. "Do you have anyone to prove that the ship was destroyed?"
Hiccup and Stoick look at each other. No, they did not have an eyewitness of the attack. "No," Hiccup says, and Stoick continues. "Some merchants from the northern markets brought fished-out goods from that ship, and we just guessed their fate." Everyone fell silent. This was not good. If that ship disappeared several months back, it meant that somebody was already planning this course of action. This couldn't be a pure coincidence.
"Anyway," Eret breaks the silence, and everyone looks at him again. "I also found this on your ship." He says as he holds out his right hand, which is holding something wrapped in cloth. He removes the fabric, and the Haddock family gasps. Axelia starts to tremble as she walks closer towards the Eret's extended hand. She slowly reaches out and takes the thing from Eret. It was Taramis's charm. She gave it to him when he turned fifteen. A small tin dragon was standing on his legs, with a small flame coming from his mouth. But now the two legs and the flame were broken. Taramis always wore it in the pocket of his trousers. He always joked that it brought him luck. Most people, however, knew that he always had it with him because it was Axelia's gift. New tears rush to her eyes, and she chokes.
No, this cannot be happening. She keeps repeating it in her head. Valka tried to lead her daughter back to the bed, and Axelia didn't protest. She was too weak even to say anything else.
"Did that man give you the description of the suspect?" Hiccup asks, and Eret nods. "He said that the man was huge as a mountain, was in his thirties had several scars on his face. He also said that he wore a large woolly coat."
Erik looks at Stoick with a Hiccup. "Do you know anyone like that?"
"No..." Hiccup says. Stoick looked at his wife, who was sitting beside their daughter on the bed. In her eyes, he saw what he was thinking. Aye, they knew him. Stoick thought, but he refused to be the one to break this news to his children.