Chapter Eighteen: One More Time
Hiccup and Astrid crept their way down the stone staircase. It got darker and darker as the two went down. The only things that lit the way were the dim torches on the wall. Astrid held up her knife defensively, and Hiccup made sure to keep the torch he was holding aloft so they could see.
"What do you think is at the bottom?" asked Astrid.
"Our dragons, hopefully," replied Hiccup. The two reached the bottom and were met with a dark hallway that was split in two directions.
"Which way should we go?" Astrid asked.
"I would say split up, but we might end up getting caught in a trap if we do," Hiccup said. He looked down each hall.
"I guess we're going to have to pick in the most efficient way possible," said Hiccup.
Astrid looked at him curiously. "What way is that?"
Hiccup pointed at the tunnel to the left, then proceeded to point to the next starting eeny meeny miny mo. Astrid blinked.
"Seriously?" she said. Hiccup then pointed to the hall on the left and turned to Astrid.
"It was that or split up," he said.
Astrid shrugged. "You have a point there."
Hiccup and Astrid walked down the left hallway. It was darker than the hallway on the left and there were no torches lighting the way. The one Hiccup was holding was the only light source that the two had. Astrid bit her lower lip when she saw a skeleton skull sitting in the corner. Hiccup shuddered at the sight of it.
"Well this place is downright charming," said Hiccup, sarcasm leaving through his voice.
Astrid nodded in agreement. "Five stars for sure."
The two eventually arrived at an area where several different fire proof cages were being held. Inside them were the dragons. Toothless, Stormfly, and the rest of the dragons perked their heads at the sight of the familiar riders and smiled. Astrid ran up to Stormfly while Hiccup ran up to Toothless.
"Thank Thor you guys are okay," said Astrid. She pulled out her knife and began to mess with the lock. It snapped off and Stormfly stepped out. Astrid then went to each and every dragon cage and picked their locks. All of the dragons were freed in just a few minutes.
"Okay, what's the plan now?" asked Astrid.
Hiccup mounted Toothless. "We get out of here and grab the ingredients then escape this place before we're discovered."
Astrid hopped onto Stormfly and the dragons were ready to bolt when from the shadows stepped out Ingvar. Hiccup narrowed his eyes at the dragon hunter and the dragons growled at the man who was responsible for locking them up.
"Leaving so soon?" he said.
"Uh...yeah," said Hiccup. "We have better things to do than sit around and rot in your cages."
More men stepped out behind Ingvar, and the cloaked man chuckled. "I don't think you'll be leaving here anytime soon."
"Really? It kind of looks like we're about to," said Hiccup.
"But you wouldn't leave without your friends, would you?" said Ingvar. The man stepped aside revealing a cage holding Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Snotlout. Hiccup and Astrid's eyes widened in surprise.
"How did you guys get caught?" asked Astrid.
"They gave us food!" said Ruffnut. "We were starving and we didn't know that the kitchen was a trap."
"Are you serious?" Hiccup said incredulously.
"We couldn't resist!" said Tuffnut.
Astrid turned to Snotlout. "And you went along with all of this?"
"No!" shouted Snotlout. "I was the one trying to stop them!"
"Oh my Thor…" mumbled Hiccup. He turned to Ingvar. "Let my friends go. Now."
"And why should I listen to you?" asked Ingvar.
"Because if you don't, I'll tell our dragons to bring this place down," said Hiccup in a serious tone.
Astrid turned to him. "Are you crazy? You'll crush us all!" she hissed.
"Not if you guys get out first," said Hiccup. Astrid's eyes widened.
"No, Hiccup," she said. "As my friend, I'm not letting you sacrifice yourself. It's either we leave together, or we stay together."
"Tick tock, Riders," said Ingvar. Hiccup glared at him with a look of disdain. The young viking was at a loss on what to do, and it was only a matter of time before Ingvar took them all prisoner again. Hiccup looked up and saw that Ingvar and his men were standing below a hanging cage. The young viking smiled.
"Astrid, when I give the signal, tell Stormfly to shoot that cage up there," whispered Hiccup. The Hofferson looked up and spotted the cage and nodded with a small smile. Hiccup turned to Ingvar and raised his hands up in the surrender motion.
"Okay. We give up," said Hiccup. "It was wrong for us to think that we could outsmart you by escaping. Go ahead, take us captive."
Ingvar smirked. "Glad you came to your senses," he said. Ingvar was about to order his men to capture them again but Hiccup made a quick gesture to Astrid to blast the cage above the men. Stormfly squawked and blew a blast of fire at the chain that held the cage up, and the metal cage fell down on top of the men with a loud clang, trapping all of them inside.
"What the...HEY!" shouted Ingvar. He kicked at the bars as did his other men. "Somebody open this cage, NOW!"
"Sorry," said Hiccup. "But you need to stay in there while we stay out here so we can get the cure and leave you ever so humble abode." Hiccup turned to the cage that was holding the twins and Snotlout captive, and told Toothless to shoot a plasma blast at the lock to open it up. The Night Fury complied and the lock snapped off, freeing the twins and the Jorgeson. They burst out from the cage and ran to their dragons.
"Let's go!" shouted Hiccup. And the Riders ran back up the stairs and through the door on dragonback. Hiccup turned to Snotlout as they ran through the stone hallways.
"On your way to the kitchen, did you guys see anything that looked like an office?" Hiccup asked.
Snotlout nodded. "It's up ahead!"
Hiccup nodded back and told Toothless to stop when he saw the door that looked like the entrance to Ingvar's office. Hiccup slid off his Night Fury and, taking Snotlout's suggestion from before, made sure that the door was boobytrap free and stepped inside. All of the ingredients for the Inyitis cure laid on the desk before Hiccup, and the young viking swiftly picked them up and stuffed them in his saddlebag. He walked out of the office and hopped onto Toothless, a smile on his face.
"This is it," said Hiccup. "We did it."
"Yeah, yeah, okay. We can celebrate later," said Snotlout. "The men are right behind us!"
Hiccup turned around and sure enough, a group of Ingvar's men were running down the hallway toward them, shouting and carrying various weapons. Hiccup sighed and shook his head.
"Come on, gang," said Hiccup. "Let's get out of here!"
The Dragon Riders ran down the long, dark hallway and out the entrance. It was night, making it easier for the Riders to disappear into the clouds in the star dotted sky. Hiccup led everyone to the island he had spotted through his spyglass and the Riders landed, out of breath, on the sandy beach.
"That...was...awesome," said Tuffnut.
"I can't believe we actually pulled that off!" exclaimed Ruffnut.
Hiccup looked toward the direction they had come from. "I hope Ingvar's men don't follow us."
"They probably won't," Astrid reassured him. "In fact, they're probably still stuck in that cage."
Hiccup opened the saddlebag that contained the ingredients for the cure to Inyitis. The young viking smiled. "I still can't believe we actually did it."
Astrid laid a hand on his shoulder. "I told you we'd find the cure."
The Dragon Riders started a small fire and sat in tranquill silence. It had been a while since things were this peaceful for them, and Hiccup took pleasure in the silence that went on for some time. After a while, Astrid broke the silence.
"I'm glad we found the cure and everything...but I don't understand why Ingvar planted the virus on Berk."
"He might have been partners with Viggo, Ryker, or Krogan in dragon hunting back when they still caused trouble," said Hiccup. "This is probably revenge for defeating the dragon hunters."
"Infecting Berk is pretty big for revenge," said Ruffnut.
Hiccup shrugged. "People do insane things sometimes."
"Yeah. One time, Ruffnut was talking so much that I banged my head into the wall. I think I went deaf for three whole minutes, and I couldn't hear a word anyone said to me."
Hiccup blinked. "Wow, okay, uh, that is pretty insane."
Tuffnut indeed, somewhat impressed with himself. "Whenever Ruffnut bugs me, I just bang my head into the wall."
"Isn't that going to affect you later in the future?" asked Astrid.
Ruffnut laughed. "I only bug him now just to see him run into the wall. It's hilarious!"
Snotlout shook his head. "You guys are total muttonheads."
The twins shrugged and after a while, the light of the fire went out and the Riders leaned against their dragons to get some rest. Toothless crooned sleepily and closed his eyes. Hiccup rubbed his dragon's dry scaly head and fell asleep with a smile on his face.
Tomorrow, everyone on Berk who had Inyitis would be cured.
Author's Note: YES! It's finally time to go back home to Berk! Things are looking pretty good for the Riders. =D Absolutely nothing can go wrong...*Whistles innocently*
Until the next chapter!
-BeyondTheMoon1203
