The Outcast and The Night Fury
Chapter Thirteen
"And now these poachers have Toothless, and a bunch of other dragons too, it sounds like," I explained to the Center dragons.
I had jumped down inside their pen, calling to them, though it wasn't really necessary. They had all been close by and had come running to see what was going on. Now they stood in a loose line before me while I explained what had happened. It was all I could do not to choke up when I spoke of how Grimmel and Eret had taken Toothless, but I had forced myself to keep speaking past the lump in my throat. I had to explain and ask for the dragons' help as soon as possible.
I didn't dare consider the possibility that they might refuse.
I took a deep breath. "So I was hoping that you might be willing to let me—well, us, that is—," I waved a hand back at the other kids who were standing by the wall in the parking lot, looking down at us. "Fly with you and see if we can find their freighter and free all the captured dragons. Please?"
There was an endless moment where no one moved and I could scarcely breathe. Then Meatlug walked over and pushed her nose at me with the other dragons following. I could scarcely believe it. I was asking them to take a considerable risk, for nothing more than helping me and Toothless, and other dragons.
I gave a shaky laugh. "So is this a 'yes'?"
"Hey, Hiccup, what now?" Sly called.
"Hurry up and get down here," I answered. "We've got to figure out which dragons you're going to fly."
"Fly?!"
In the end, it was very simple. The Nadder rushed to Astrid as soon as she jumped down into the pen. The ornery Nightmare seemed a good match for Sly, and easy-going Meatlug was perfect for Fishlegs. That left the twins and the two-headed Zippleback—obviously, that was a match made in Heaven…or another place.
As I grabbed the extra harnesses from my bag, I thanked my lucky stars that I had repaired all of them and had brought them all with me. After all, I hadn't known which dragon, if any, would agree to let me ride it or which harness would fit the best. It took a few minutes to get everything sorted out, but Fishlegs had a good eye. He quickly figured out how the harnesses needed to attach and helped me get everyone situated. I helped him with Meatlug and then ran to jump up behind Astrid.
"Hiccup, do you have any idea where this ship is?" Ruffnut asked. "The ocean is a pretty big place. It would help a little if we knew which direction to go."
"Um…" Unfortunately, I had no idea. They probably hadn't headed north, as it was pretty barren and freezing cold going towards the Arctic from here. But other than that, I didn't have a clue.
"Well, I don't know if this would help," Fishlegs said hesitantly. "But Nadders are Tracker-Class dragons. Maybe this one could find the scent of the other dragons and lead us to them?"
Astrid placed a hand on the Nadder's neck. "Do you think you could do that?"
The Nadder squawked, rather like a bird, and took off with a strong beat of her wings, with the others right behind us.
"Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, we're gonna die!" Fishlegs wailed.
"Cool it, Fish, we're—aaiiyee!" Sly began, then shouted in alarm as the Nightmare banked to the right. For a second, my heart skipped a beat as he started to slide off, but the dragon swiftly turned his head and gently nudged Sly back into place.
Even from a distance, I could see that Sly's eyes were as big as saucers as he gently patted the Nightmare's neck and said shakily, "Thanks, Big Guy."
The Nightmare snorted.
"Hold on tight to the harness!" I called to him.
Sly nodded. "Okay, yea. That would be a good idea."
"This is totally amazing!" Tuffnut sounded exhilarated.
"Just think of all we could do with a dragon," Ruffnut said wonderingly.
The Zippleback chittered excitedly back at them.
I shook my head. "I may get banished from Berk."
Even though I wasn't really serious about that, the mention of trouble and banishment gave me a sharp pang as I remembered Dad and me yelling at each other and him hitting me. Things haven't been great between Dad and me for a long time, if indeed they ever were, but they'd never been this bad. I didn't know how I could go home after all this, but then I swallowed hard and pushed those thoughts away. I'd worry about going home later—after I'd saved Toothless.
He was all that mattered now.
The Nadder soared in ever-widening circles, tilting her head this way and that, with the rest of the Riders following. Just as I was starting to fear that she wouldn't be able to catch the scent, she sharply raised her head and then took off like a shot.
"I think she's got it!" Astrid called.
The sun was setting when a small gray freighter came into view. I waved to the others and we all paused, with the dragons hovering close together.
"Hold on, everyone. We don't know if they'll notice us on radar or start shooting tranquilizers at our dragons or what. Let's think about the best way to approach," I said.
"Would radar pick up on us?" Sly asked. "I know it does for ships and planes, but I'm guessing it doesn't catch every little thing, like birds flying by or something."
He looked over at me. "Would radar pick up dragons?"
I looked blankly back at him. "I don't know."
Sly huffed. "I thought you were some kind of genius."
"I read and study a lot cause I don't have much else to do," I told him. "That doesn't mean I know everything."
"How do we even know for sure if this is the poachers?" Fishlegs asked.
The Nadder glared at him and squawked indignantly.
"It's got to be," I said. "And who knows what they're doing to Toothless! I've got to get down there. Then you guys can take off and try to find the Archipelago Guards."
"We're not leaving you there alone," Astrid retorted. "We'll just have to be as careful as possible. Does anyone have any kind of weapon?"
"I've got your Swiss Army knife," I answered.
"Anyone else?"
Ruffnut spoke up. "They're not weapons, but Tuff and I have some bang snaps."
I frowned. "What are those?"
Tuffnut gave me a pitying look. "You poor deprived kid. They're a kind of firecracker. You throw them on the ground and they make a loud noise."
"And the dragons can breathe fire," Fishlegs pointed out.
"But these guys have tranquilizer guns," Sly said.
"Fast-acting ones too," I warned everyone. "Faster than the normal kind. You'll be out at once if they hit you with one."
"I imagine they have real guns too," Astrid pointed out. "We're going to have to be really careful."
"I wish we could see the ship better. It would help if we could see if anyone is on deck, or get a clue where the dragons might be," I sighed.
Ruffnut reached into her jacket and pulled a pair of binoculars out. "Here. Try this."
I took them. "Why are you carrying around a pair of binoculars?"
She shrugged. "Doesn't everyone?"
I scanned the ship from bow to stern very carefully before handing the binoculars back to Ruff. "I don't see anyone on deck, but that doesn't mean someone couldn't be watching. I didn't see any sign of the dragons either. They must be below deck so we'll need to land and get below quickly, without being seen."
"That's all?" Sly asked sarcastically. "Any idea how we can do that?"
"I saw several doors," I replied. "I guess we'll just have to be quiet and hope we're lucky."
We started to take off, but Tuffnut said, "Wait."
He pulled a bag from his jacket, took out some small round paper objects with a long, twisted end, and started handing them around. "The bang snaps. Everybody, take one just in case you need a distraction."
We all did, and then I reminded the dragons to be alert in case someone started shooting at us, tranquilizer darts or otherwise, and reminded the other kids to hold tightly to the harnesses and be prepared in case our dragons had to dodge quickly. I hoped Astrid didn't mind my holding tightly around her waist.
I think we all held our breath as our dragons glided close to the freighter, but nothing happened. No one shot anything at us. No alarms went off. There was no sign of anyone else at all.
I motioned to the Nadder to land towards the stern, where I had seen a large door that hopefully led below to the storage areas. We landed, slipped from the dragons' backs, and crept to the door. I reached for the handle and cautiously gave it a tug. I was scared to death that an alarm would go off or something, but again our luck held. The door opened silently and the wide hallway beyond was empty. We hurried inside, except for Astrid.
"Let's make sure we can open the door again from the inside," she said in a quiet voice. "I'll wait out here so I can open it if the door locks behind you."
"Good thinking," I agreed and eased the door shut. But it opened easily from the inside too, so Astrid slipped in and we crept down the hall. The walls were a pale gray and there were bright fluorescent lights overhead. A single open doorway stood near the far corner on the left side.
In other words, if poachers stepped out from the doorway or came around the corner, we were sitting ducks.
Astrid and I led the way down the hall, all of us trying to move as quickly and as silently as possible, when the sudden sound of voices made us freeze and look at each other in a panic.
"This stuff is bilge! Can't you even heat up pizza correctly, Eret?"
I recognized Grimmel's voice, coming from the open doorway.
"It's not my fault Drago's too cheap to hire us a cook," Eret grumbled back. "For a billionaire, he's the biggest cheapskate I've ever seen. Expecting us to live here for months with only a handful of sailors. Calling them a skeleton crew would be generous."
"Well, he'll pay a good price for these dragons, especially the Night Fury," Grimmel sounded more pleased as he contemplated his reward money. "You fed them already?"
"Yes, they're all tucked in for the night."
"Good. I'm going to finish—dinner, for lack of a better word—and retire early. This trip has been rather grueling," Grimmel commented.
I motioned the others to be still and crept towards the open doorway. I crouched low before very cautiously peering inside. Hopefully, the poachers would be less likely to look down near the floor and notice me. Grimmel and Eret were alone in the room, sitting at a table in the far end. Grimmel had his back to me and Eret was frowning at his dinner plate.
I motioned for the others to come on and they managed to slip by the doorway unnoticed. I was worried that Grimmel and Eret would hear something. Even though everyone was quiet, we were six kids and four large-ish dragons. But, as I had already learned from Toothless, dragons were able to move silently despite their size, and the kids were all very quiet too. Fortunately, there were no windows, so once we were past the door, we didn't have to worry about that.
A large freight elevator was just around the corner, and another door that led to a wide staircase. Sly started to push the elevator button, but I stopped him and pointed towards the stairs instead. For one thing, I thought that crew members would be more likely to take the elevator than the stairs, and we certainly didn't want to bump into anyone. I also thought that the elevator could make some noise that Grimmel and Eret might notice.
So we made it down one level and then stopped. There was a door on the landing with a small window near the top.
Astrid turned to the Nadder. "Hey girl, could you lift me up to that window?"
The Nadder lowered her head and Astrid climbed on the back of her neck. The Nadder stepped close to the door and raised her head so Astrid could peer in.
"That's it! There are cages full of dragons in there. I don't see any humans." She slipped from the Nadder and I motioned to all our dragons.
"When we go in, we don't want the dragons to get noisy or anything, so can you guys talk with them in Dragonese? Explain that we just want to set them free?"
The dragons nodded, and it occurred to me that they really had picked up a lot from humans these past few weeks. They seemed to understand us perfectly, even our mannerisms.
"Thanks," I whispered. "Oh, and can you ask if anyone has seen a Night Fury?"
The door opened into a shadowy cavernous room with big cages, each containing a dragon, lining the walls. Most of the caged dragons were lying down, but they raised their heads and jumped to their feet when we entered. Our dragons immediately started chattering to the closest ones, who then turned to their neighbors. We could hear the message being passed along like the soft sigh of an ocean wave.
"Do any of them know where Toothless is?" I asked Meatlug, but she shook her head at me.
"Let's start releasing them and maybe we'll find him," Astrid said. She had already stepped close to the nearest cage and was examining the lock. "Thank goodness these are old-fashioned locks and not something computerized. I think we can pick it with my knife."
I took the knife from my pocket and handed it to her.
Astrid selected a thin blade, but then turned to the twins. "Here. You guys have more experience picking locks."
Ruffnut gave her an indignant look. "What makes you think that?"
"Maybe because you guys broke into the science lab and took the helium last spring," Sly suggested.
"And you just assume it was us," Tuffnut said in a hurt tone.
Sly rolled his eyes. "Yes, I'm sure that big tank of helium in your bedroom was a birthday present."
"It wouldn't be the weirdest present we've gotten," Ruffnut shrugged, but then she came over and took the Swiss Army knife from Astrid. "Let me see that."
She and Tuff had the lock open in about ten seconds. They moved on to the next cage while Astrid and Sly opened it and led out the Gronckle inside. Fishlegs and Meatlug had stepped back to the door, with Fish keeping a lookout by standing on Meatlug's back to see through the window.
"No one's coming. Should we start leading them out?"
"Not yet," I told him. "Grimmel said they were going to retire early after dinner, but we better wait a few minutes to be sure they're out of the way."
It wasn't long before there was a quite a crowd of freed dragons all around us and they were starting to get antsy. Eventually I decided that the poachers must surely have finished eating and gone on to wherever their bunks were, so Sly and I led the way back upstairs to check. Sure enough, the room was empty and there was no sign of anyone. I couldn't help but worry—everything seemed to be going too smoothly. But of course we had to take advantage of our chance, so the dragons started flying away.
I was almost in a panic though. We had freed all the dragons on that level, thirty of them at least, and there was still no sign of Toothless at all. Apparently none of the dragons had even heard about a Night Fury being captured. Surely he had to be here…but where?
"There's another deck lower down. Let's check there," Astrid suggested.
So we went down another level and again the Nadder helped Astrid to peer through a high window.
"I don't know," she said slowly. "It's dark, but it looks more like big freezers, maybe for the fish they were feeding the dragons?"
"I have to check it out," I said, trying to keep fear out of my voice. "He's got to be here somewhere."
We went inside and as Astrid had said, it was darker here, and chilly. There were enormous freezers lining the walls, and empty cages and other boxes just scattered about.
"Maybe we should split up?" Sly suggested. "We could search more quickly."
I wasn't sure if that was a good idea or not. It seemed that there were pros and cons to splitting up, but I was definitely ready to find Toothless and get out of there.
So I nodded. "Okay. Fishlegs, why don't you and Meatlug keep a lookout by the door? Everyone else, spread out and look for Toothless."
Sly and the Nightmare went off towards the right, while the twins and the Zippleback went left. So Astrid, the Nadder, and I started straight ahead, except that we couldn't keep going straight for long. This deck seemed much more disorganized than the one above, where the dragon cages had been in neat rows. But here we had to pick our way among freezers, storage units, and empty cages, most of them higher than our heads. We turned this way and then double-backed that way, and it wasn't long before I had lost any sense of direction.
Then we came to a particularly narrow path.
"I don't think she can fit through there," Astrid whispered, looking up at the Nadder.
Though it was dark, my eyes had adjusted enough that I could see a wall looming ahead in the distance.
"Okay," I whispered back. "You two stay here. I'll go on to the wall and then come back."
Astrid nodded and I started off. Then a huge metal container of some kind jutted out and I had to step to the right. I looked back but what with it being so dark, I could no longer see Astrid or the Nadder. It was a little scary creeping along by myself. Well, all right—it was a lot scary. Even though I knew all the others were down here too, it seemed that I was all alone, with shadows and frightening shapes looming out of the darkness. But I couldn't give up; Toothless needed me.
So I kept going.
Just as I was despairing of ever finding him in this horrible labyrinth, I heard a small sound, like a deep sigh. I squinted, trying to see through the darkness, and then I saw him.
He was lying down in a cage by the wall.
"Toothless!" I rushed to him as fast as I could, and then realized two things at once—I didn't have the Swiss Army knife to open the lock, and Toothless was asleep, or more likely, unconscious since he hadn't awoken when I said his name.
I could hardly bear to leave him, but I had to get help. "Hold on, bud. I'll be right back. We'll get you out of there."
"Oh, I don't think so."
My blood ran cold at the sound of that cool, aloof voice, and I spun around to see Grimmel step from the shadows.
Author's Notes: I'm sorry for the wait, but this chapter was a little difficult for me to write. I've been working on it all week, but progress was slow. I hope you've enjoyed it. Thanks for reading, and please leave a review! I really appreciate it.
