The Outcast and The Night Fury
Chapter Twelve
To my surprise, the large blue speedboat headed for Berk, though not to the town. When the Harbor Guardians came into view, the boat veered off towards the north side of the island—the Vastley estate.
"They're headed for your land," Astrid whispered.
I shook my head. "But why?"
We followed as the boat rounded Raven Point, a pair of wooded mountain tops near the cove where Toothless and I met. On the far side was an inlet with a rock ledge that extended out into the water like a natural dock. The man at the wheel guided the boat close and cut its engines while the other person on board dropped the anchor. Then they carefully stepped onto the ledge and made their way towards the narrow strip of pebbly sand that lay between the forest and the water's edge.
"Do you think we can land and follow them without being seen?" I asked Toothless.
"Maybe, if we're careful," he answered softly.
Toothless rose higher into the sky to avoid being spotted as he glided past and over into the forest. Then he circled back to approach the beach, coasting down to the trees and coming to land in a tiny clearing. Warily, we picked our way forwards, trying not to make any noise that would alert the trespassers to our presence. I worried that Toothless would have a hard time. He wasn't particularly big for a dragon, but he was bigger and heavier than Astrid and I were, of course.
But he was better at it than we were. He folded his wings tightly against his back and slipped along silently while Astrid and I walked slowly, making sure not to step on twigs or loose rocks.
It seemed to take forever, but I guess it was really only a short time before we reached the edge of the trees and could see the trespassers standing nearby. Toothless sank low to the ground behind a particularly dense cluster of trees and Astrid and I knelt in the shadows.
Now that we were closer, I could see that the trespassers were two men dressed in camouflage. One was tall and thin with cropped silver hair and a long face. The other one was more muscular, with dark hair. When he turned, I recognized him. He was the guy who had bumped into me downtown when I was buying the leather restoration kits.
"Grimmel, this is foolish," he complained. "We've been here too long. We've got our catch and Drago will pay us well. It's time to go."
"Not without the Night Fury," the silver-haired man was cool but insistent. "He's worth double the rest of them. Besides, it's a matter of principle. I never miss."
Even from a distance, I could see the dark-haired man roll his eyes. "Well, apparently you missed that one."
"I did not," Silver Hair (Grimmel?) hissed. "I hit him. But we were out of the fast-acting sedatives and he managed to fly out of range."
Dark Hair shrugged. "So, you still didn't get him."
Grimmel glared and if looks could kill, Dark Hair would have been a goner. But after a moment, Grimmel spoke more calmly, "I will. He flew this way. I found a line of broken trees when I was here before so I believe the Fury crashed on the northern side of Berk."
"Except that was weeks ago, and I doubt the dragon is just hanging around waiting for you to capture him," Dark Hair pointed out.
"Use your head, Eret," Grimmel snapped. "If he were injured in the crash, it's possible he's still here." He huffed in annoyance, "If only I could have come exploring here right afterwards. Drago picks the worst times to call meetings."
"Tell me about it," Eret grumbled. He looked over to Grimmel and sighed. "So what's the plan? We just look around on the off chance that the Night Fury is here?"
The Night Fury in question happened to be about ten feet away. If the situation weren't so serious, I could have laughed at the irony.
Grimmel nodded. "Yes, we have to know for sure whether he's here or not."
"And if we don't find him, then can we leave?"
"No," Grimmel glared again. "I will find that Night Fury if I have to search every island in the Archipelago."
This time Eret glared back. "You're being irrational, Grimmel. We've got a full catch and the Archipelago Guards are just one step behind us. We need to get out of here. Search for the Fury on your own time. And speaking of the Guards, isn't this private land that belongs to that bigwig guy Vastley? It won't be funny if we get arrested for trespassing."
"You're always so dramatic, Eret," Grimmel responded. "No one's getting arrested for trespassing. If we see someone, we'll simply apologize and say we're lost. Now, come on."
They started for the forest, coming almost straight towards us. Astrid and I both crouched lower, trying to blend in with the shadows and trees. To this day, I don't know which of us stepped on the branch, but there was a sharp cracking sound as the stick broke in two, and then everything happened so incredibly quickly that it was almost a blur.
Grimmel and Eret spun in our direction. Toothless sprang forward to defend us, but Grimmel suddenly had a gun in his hand. He aimed at Toothless, as Astrid and I both screamed and lunged towards him. We knocked him down, but not before I felt a whoosh of air as something zoomed past my ear. Toothless gave a strangled sounding roar and collapsed.
"Toothless!" My heart stopped for a minute until I saw a yellow dart sticking from the side of his neck and realized that Grimmel's gun wasn't real, but a tranquilizer gun. But tranq darts weren't supposed to work instantaneously, were they?
I didn't really have time to think about that though. Eret had come up behind us and snatched me off of Grimmel. I punched and kicked him, but he was tall and strong and I am short and skinny. He caught my arms and with his other hand pressed sharply against the side of my neck.
And then everything went black.
When I came to, I was lying on the ground with my legs bound at the ankles, my hands tied behind my back, and a gag in my mouth. Nausea swept over me and I feared I was going to throw up, but I managed to fight it back. Vomiting while I was gagged could be very dangerous, and I couldn't save Toothless if I choked to death.
It seemed best to keep pretending to be unconscious so I kept my eyes closed while I tried to figure out what was going on around me. Somewhere nearby I could hear Grimmel and Eret arguing in low voices.
"I can't believe you used the tranq gun on the girl. You could have killed her!" Eret snapped.
"I had to do something. She was about to get away. The little devil has a mean side kick," Grimmel answered. "But relax, it wasn't a fatal dose. I used the darts for the Terrors."
He paused. "But they overheard us and saw our faces. We should eliminate the threat."
"No," Eret said flatly. "I signed up for catching dragons, not killing children."
"They're a threat to us."
"You are not going to hurt those kids, Grimmel," Eret told him fiercely. There was a long pause, and then he went on, more quietly but still firm. "Look, the freighter will be here in a few minutes. We'll load the Night Fury and get out of here. Everything will be fine."
There was another pause and then Grimmel said coolly, "All right. But if anything goes wrong, you won't have to worry about the Guards. I'll take care of you myself."
I heard him walk off and then more footsteps approaching. Eret knelt beside me and spoke in a low voice. "I know you must be awake by now. I'm sorry about all this, kid. But I'm in too far to back out. Don't worry. Once we're a safe distance away, I'll make an anonymous call and tip off the Guards that you're here. You'll be all right."
Except that I could never be all right without Toothless!
If I live to be a hundred, I will remember the rest of that day as one of the worst times of my life. Having to lie there helpless while they took Toothless away was torture. I couldn't really see how they did it, but once their freighter had arrived, Grimmel and Eret used some sort of crane or other machinery to carry him off. I don't think he was conscious yet. At least I didn't hear any sounds of him struggling. Maybe that was one small mercy.
Astrid was unconscious, too. Unless, like me, she had decided to pretend. I did risk opening my eyes and glancing around once Grimmel and Eret were busy kidnapping Toothless, and I saw that Astrid was lying next to me, also bound and gagged, with her eyes closed.
Then they were gone.
The forest seemed impossibly silent. Normally you could hear small sounds, like birds chirping or the rustle of leaves in the wind. But now it was perfectly still, as if everything had paused to grieve for Toothless. A sob rose in my throat, threatening to choke me, but with a sudden determination, I swallowed it and pushed away the fear and grief.
I was not going to lose Toothless!
I was going to find a way to rescue him, and the other dragons they had captured too. I didn't know exactly how, but the first step was to try to get free of the zip ties around my wrists and ankles.
Luckily, Eret hadn't tied them particularly tight (maybe deliberately?) and with some maneuvering, I was finally able to slip one hand loose and then the other. I ripped my gag off and started working on the ties around my ankles.
"Hmmm!"
I looked over to see that Astrid was awake and watching me.
"Hold on. I'll get to you in a minute," I told her.
"Hmmm!" Astrid somehow managed to sound even more frantic so I reached over to pull her gag away.
"There's a Swiss Army knife in my back pocket!" She told me.
Under any other circumstances, I probably would have felt awkward about rolling Astrid onto her side and taking the knife from her back jeans pocket, but at that moment, I didn't give it a second's thought.
A minute later we were free. Astrid started off through the woods, but stopped and came after me when she saw that I was racing towards the little beach.
"Hiccup, they're gone."
"I know," I agreed. "But my phone will have better service away from the trees and I'm calling the Archipelago Guards from here. The sooner they start after Grimmel's ship, the more likely they can catch it."
I punched the emergency number and as soon as someone answered, I blurted out everything that had just happened. I didn't tell them about befriending Toothless and flying him, of course. I just said that a friend and I had been walking to Raven's Point and had stumbled upon a pair of dragon poachers who had captured a Night Fury. I tried to remember everything I had heard Grimmel and Eret say and explained how Astrid and I had managed to free ourselves.
The man on the other end said that they would notify their ships to start pursuit at once and that they would send some Guards out to interview me and Astrid.
Then I switched my phone off and turned to her. "They're calling the Guard ships now and they want to talk to us."
Astrid nodded, and we hurried back through the forest towards home.
"What are you going to tell them? About Toothless?" She asked quietly.
"I guess what I just said on the phone, that we were hiking up to Raven's Point and stumbled across poachers. I don't see how knowing anything more about Toothless would help them catch Grimmel and Eret," I said. I looked over at her. "Do you?"
Astrid considered, then shook her head. "No, I don't think they need to know about Toothless. They just need to find him."
We had stepped out of the woods and were crossing the lawn when Astrid suddenly reached over and took my hand.
"Hiccup, they will. They'll find him and it'll be all right."
I nodded. "I can't just sit here and wait though. I've got to do something."
"What?"
I sighed, "I don't know. Probably something stupid."
Astrid arched her eyebrows. "You've already done that."
I paused as a germ of an idea bloomed in my mind. "Then something crazy."
Astrid started to say something else, but she was interrupted by several vehicles zooming up our drive and coming to a quick halt with screeching brakes—my dad's black Land Rover, her parents' blue SUV, and a dark blue and white marked Archipelago Guards car.
"Well, here we go," Astrid murmured.
We started towards them, while our parents and the Guards jumped from their cars and rushed towards us.
"Hiccup, what in the hell is going on?"
"Astrid, love, are you all right? What happened?"
"Everyone, calm down," one of the Guards, a tall woman with black hair pulled back in a bun at the nape of her neck, spoke firmly. "Can we go inside, Mr. Vastley? We need to take statements from the kids first of all."
Mrs. Hofferson spoke even more firmly. "First of all, we need to make sure Astrid and Hiccup are all right."
The adults all looked at us questioningly, and Astrid and I nodded.
"Yes, we're all right."
So then we went inside to the enormous drawing room with its dark paneled walls hung with tapestries, and sat on the burgundy and cream stuffed sofas and chairs, and Astrid and I told them our version of events and answered questions as best we could.
And the whole time I felt like jumping up and screaming that we needed to get out of there and go save Toothless.
Finally, just when I was sure I was about to lose control and have a major meltdown, the Guards decided they had all the information they needed and left. A minute later, Astrid's parents bustled her off too, debating with her over whether she needed to see Dr. Gothburg just to be certain she was fine. Astrid gave me a frustrated, desperate look, but she had to leave with her parents.
Then Dad and I were alone.
I was intent on slipping out of the house as soon as possible, so I got up and started for the stairs, saying, "I'm really tired so maybe I'll lie down for a while. Oh, and I'm not very hungry so I think I might skip dinner."
"Not so fast." Dad had followed me into the entrance hall and studied me with a frown. "You say those poachers had just happened to capture a Night Fury, and you just happened to find an injured Night Fury in that same area a few weeks ago."
"Um, yea," I agreed slowly.
"Night Furies are rare, so I'm thinking that it's the same one," Dad continued.
I didn't say anything.
Dad's eyes narrowed. "You're not one for trekking about the estate, Hiccup. It's quite the coincidence that you'd be all the way up at Raven's Point where that Night Fury was."
I still didn't say anything, though Dad wasn't entirely right. I might not hike around as much as he did, but I had been going to the cove for years.
I started to point that out, but then Dad crossed his arms and demanded, "What exactly has been going on around here these past few weeks?"
I hesitated. This wasn't how I had planned to tell Dad about Toothless, but I had realized that I needed to talk with him and it didn't seem like Dad would let me go until he had some answers. Maybe, if he understood about Toothless, he could even help.
So I told him.
Or at least, I tried to. But Dad didn't take it well when he heard that I had become friends with a dragon. He didn't even listen when I tried to explain how intelligent Toothless was and how he was like a person and could talk and everything.
No, he just started yelling instead.
"What do you mean, you were friends with a dragon? Hiccup, I thought you were supposed to be smart! That dragon is a wild animal, like a tiger or bear, except even more dangerous. You could have been killed, and you could have been killed today too. What the hell were you thinking?!"
"Dad, I—"
Dad grabbed my arm and shook me, hard. "I can't believe you disobeyed me like that. I told you to stay away from that dragon!"
I thought back to the day when I had met Toothless and come home late to dinner. "I didn't disobey you! You never told me to stay away from Toothless!"
"Well, if I didn't, it's because I didn't think I needed to! What kind of fool risks his life making friends with a dragon?"
That stung. I glared back at Dad. "So I'm a fool now?"
"You've been acting like one. I expected more from you!"
Years of loneliness, pain, and anger bubbled up inside me, combining with the terror of losing Toothless.
"You always expect more from me!" I yelled. "But whatever I do, it's never good enough! I know I'm not what you wanted. I know you hate me. Well, maybe I hate you too!"
Crack! There was a sharp pain on my left cheek as Dad slapped me. We've been angry with each other before, but Dad had never hit me, until then.
We both froze and stared at each other in stunned disbelief. But then I pulled away out of his grasp and ran upstairs. I grabbed my backpack and threw the extra riding harnesses into it. I made sure I had my phone, and also realized that I still had Astrid's Swiss army knife in my pocket. Well, good, it might come in handy.
I raced back down the stairs. Dad was still standing in the hall and he reached for me. "Hiccup—"
But I jumped away from him, rushed out the door, and raced to get my bike from the stables. I rode as if that bike had wings and reached the Wildlife Center in record time. It was late afternoon by now, almost dinner time, and I saw with relief that Sven and Phlegma's truck was gone.
I leaped from my bike before coming to a stop and just left it lying on ground as I headded for the dragon pen.
"Hiccup!"
I spun around to see that I wasn't alone after all. Astrid was coasting into the parking lot on her bike, with the rest of the gang right behind her. Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and even my cousin Sly.
They jumped from their bikes too and ran over to me.
"Hey, if there's going to be a fight, we want in on it," Ruffnut said.
Tuffnut nodded. "Yea, I'll show any poachers what's what. I am the world's most dangerous weapon."
Sly shot him an annoyed look and then turned to me. "So what's the plan?"
Author's Notes: Thank you to everyone who is reading and especially to those who leave a review. I appreciate it so much! I apologize for the slow updates lately. I've had some family issues and real-life stuff keeping me busy, plus I'm just not always a speedy writer. But the stories are not abandoned and I appreciate your patience and not giving up! I am going to try to update a little more quickly and will try to get another chapter of "Lost and Found" up within a week or so.
My other story, "Stepping Forward" is not abandoned either. It's just that I'm at a crossroads with it, and can't decide whether to wrap it up in a chapter or two, or explore some more ideas with it. And since I can't decide, I've put it on the back burner to concentrate on "Outcast" and "Lost and Found" for now. But I will eventually get back to it.
Anyway, thanks again and look for another chapter of "Lost and Found" next week.
