Chapter 36
For a short time, the two boys just stared at each other until DeGroot finally broke the silence.
"Well, what do you see?"
"Oh... it's a boy... looks to be about ten years old..."
"I'm twelve" the boy replied "I just... haven't had a growth spurt for a few... years."
"Sorry, he's twelve; my name is Blue Dias" Blue introduced himself.
"Hey Gothi, he says his name is Bloo Deeaz; weird name huh?" the boy smiled.
"And you are?" Blue asked.
"Hiccup Haddock; Son of Stoick."
"What? You are the legendary Dragon Master?" Blue's face fell.
DeGroot almost fainted upon hearing Blue mention who he was talking to.
"Dragon Master? More like Dragon Disaster; I haven't even come close to killing a Dragon yet."
"He still wants to kill dragons" Blue told DeGroot "It's too early; he's too young."
"You don't look too much older than me" Hiccup pouted.
"Listen very carefully; I shall say this only once" Blue declared "If I understand it right, you and I are standing in the same cave but many centuries apart. You see... I am one of your descendants, many generations into your future. Some dragons have appeared on Earth again and I have managed to make friends with some Terrors and a few Buffalord. I would like to see if any more breeds of dragon have returned from the hidden world, so we were hoping you would be able to tell us where Dragon Island is. Tell Gothi she needs to bring you back here to the cave when the Dragon War is over."
"Do you think it'll work?" Calla asked.
"I hope so, he is doing what I asked and repeating what I said to Gothi" Blue crossed his fingers.
"Oh boy, I wish I could see what you're seeing" Calla admitted.
"I do too my dear" DeGroot whimpered.
"Gothi seems a little confused by what I told her but she agrees. I did want to ask though, who are you talking to on your end?" Hiccup asked.
"Oh I'm here with man named DeGroot, and a girl named Calla. DeGroot is to me, kind of what Gothi is to you... and you could say Calla is my Astrid."
"Oh... she hates you, does she?" Hiccup smirked.
"Err... no, she's my girlfriend."
"Ha! You think Astrid is my girlfriend?" Hiccup laughed but was clearly embarrassed.
"Well she will be" Blue revealed "She is one of my ancestors as well."
"Wha... huh?" Hiccup gasped "You mean... one day... I'm going to marry... Astrid?"
"Yup; don't you wish you'd be able to remember this later?"
A look of shocked realisation fell over the young Vikings face as he turned away from Blue.
"Gothi... this guy says I'm gonna marry Astrid; isn't that great? When does this..."
The light in the room grew slightly darker as the swirling purple haze faded back into the simple glowing blue light. Blue suddenly started to spin as he stumbled and fell to one knee. Worried he may collapse altogether, Calla hurried to his side, crouched down and held him steady.
"Are you alright" she asked.
"Ugh... I feel like I'm trapped inside a giant yoyo... I better sit down before I throw up."
"Okay Babe... rest for a bit" Calla said as she helped Blue sit.
While the dizzy young man put his head down and took a few deep breaths, DeGroot was almost ready to burst out of his skin with excitement.
"Oh this is wonderful; we have to try again" he declared while dancing as if he needed the bathroom.
"Yeah the swirly light was not what I expected... pity it didn't work though" Blue sighed.
"Ah but it did sweetie, it did!" Calla smiled.
"Wha... what?" Blue looked more than confused.
"It worked alright, you just don't remember it" Calla nodded "You also don't remember that you're not supposed to remember it."
Blue eyes grew wider as realisation set in.
"So... um... so we know where to look for Dragon Island?" Blue gasped.
"Err no; that bit didn't work" Calla shrugged "You did talk to Hiccup the Dragon Master but back when he was only Hiccup the twelve year old confused kid. The good news is you were thinking on your feet and told him to come back after the Dragon War was over."
"I did?" Blue wondered.
"You did... I'm proud of you" Calla said and kissed his forehead.
"Yes so we have to try again" DeGroot insisted "Can you stand up yet?"
"Whoa hold one there Captain Eager, you can see for yourself this whole thing took a lot out of Blue, so you really should let him rest and get checked out by a medic before trying again."
"Actually I think I could..." Blue started to say.
"Shut up; your still delirious" Calla insisted.
"But I really do feel better..."
"No you don't; you're ready to pass out."
"Oh... am I?" Blue asked.
"Besides, how do you know using the portal after only a few minutes will work anyway? Do you have so much of that red dust that you can afford to just waist it all now?" Calla said to DeGroot.
"Oh um... no... this is actually all I have" he admitted.
"Then I suggest you wait a while before trying again, and give Hiccup a chance to grow up" Calla insisted.
"B-but he was only twelve... we can't wait four years" DeGroot panicked.
"Look... just give it a day or two; let Blue rest and we'll see if there are any side effects."
Max DeGroot's face fell as he looked down at his feet. The excitement of succeeding had been so intoxicating but he had to admit it, Calla was right. And so, as soon as Blue felt steady enough to walk on his own, the trio left the cavern and started their journey back to the ancient village of Berk. Being mostly downhill, they made good time and could soon see the ocean with their two ships sitting lazily in the bay. Another fifteen minutes and the camp came into view even though they were still a long way off. Suddenly in the distance, an unseen voice called out.
"Here they are Captain; they're coming down the western slope."
Within seconds, people started converging on the group from all directions. Somewhere in the middle was Captain Reed Branson, looking red faced and a little frustrated.
"Oh thank goodness we've found you" he gasped as he strode up the hill.
"Is something wrong Captain?" Blue asked with concern.
"Yes..." Reed puffed "We've just received a distress call over the shortwave radio. The Striker is preparing to weigh anchor and you have to be on it."
"What? Why do they need me?" Blue gasped.
"Dragons... there's a fishing boat out there, somewhere between here and the Shetland Islands. They were attacked two days ago in a thick fog and their boat was badly damaged. I spoke to the First Mate, a Spanish guy named Mateo, and he said he saw one of the beasts that attacked them. He insists it was a dragon... and it was a big one."
"Th-this is amazing" DeGroot gasped as they quickened their pace "There's no doubt left in my mind; somewhere in this part of the world, a new opening must have formed between here and the dragons Hidden World. In the months and years ahead of us, I feel sure more and more dragons will find their way back to the surface."
"If that's true, then we only have a limited window to learn what we can and hopefully befriend a few dragons before we're possibly over run" Blue declared.
"Oh good God" Reed clutched his chest "And I'm still getting used to these little Terrors. Your sister is already on board with Professor Adisa and a few of my crew. The rest of us will stay here and wait for word from Doctor Spencer."
Blue and Calla found a boat waiting for them down at the beach. Abigail had kindly packed their gear and was now waiting for them on the Striker. DeGroot always kept his most important possessions safely packed away so it did not take him long to grab what he needed. Unfortunately he was about to hear some very disappointing orders from Blue.
"Give me the books Max; you're staying here with Captain Branson."
"W-what? No... I have to go with you" DeGroot protested.
"Not this time" Blue insisted "If the crew of the One and All are going to stay here, I do NOT want them to be left without a dragon expert close by to help them. I may know the writings of the Berk Vikings well, but you know them better so I want to take the books with me. I don't know what I'm going to find out there but it would make life a lot easier if I could reference Fishlegs Ingerman, Gothi and Bork the Bold."
DeGroot wanted to argue, but he could see the sense in what Blue wanted and could also see the determination in his eyes. In a way Max only had himself to blame; he had wanted to see the return of the line of Stoick and now that it was here, he had to bow to the leadership of the boy he saw as the new Chief of Berk.
"As you say" DeGroot relented.
"Thank you" Blue nodded "Now I just have to get my dragon..."
"Your sister took Firefly with her to the Striker, along with Daisy, Rollo and Azrail; now GO!" Branson ordered.
"Thank you Captain" Blue smiled "Good luck."
"I think that's my line" Reed replied.
Blue and Calla found Haley Robinson at the motor of the small boat, with Ginger Nut sitting attentively on her shoulder.
"Well isn't this exciting" she said as Blue pushed the boat off the beach.
"And after what we saw this morning, it's turning out to be a very interesting day" Calla replied.
"What did you see?" Haley asked.
"I saw a purple light and Blue saw a twelve year old Viking from early in the second century."
Haley thought about this for a moment and then decided it was no stranger than anything else that had happened in the last few months. The boat rose up and crested a small wave as it moved out into deeper water. Up ahead Blue noticed the Striker was not waiting for them to come to it, as it turned and moved towards shore.
"Looks like Captain Debar is getting a little impatient" Haley noted.
"I've never actually met the Striker's Captain; what's he like" Calla asked.
"You mean she" Haley noted "Captain Georgette Debar formally of the Maritime Gendarmerie."
"The what?" Blue wondered.
"Basically the French Coast Guard" Haley replied.
The two vessels quickly converged on each other, turning into the wind as they drew near. A trio of ropes were lowered down, each with a shackle on the end.
"Calla, pass the long one to Blue and the other two to me" Haley ordered.
Seeing how Haley attached her shackles to each side of the stern, Blue did the same with his at the point of the bow. With all three firmly fastened the small boat with its three occupants were winched up off the water.
"HURRY UP AND GET THOSE IDIOTS ON BOARD" an angry voice cried out from the fly bridge.
Calla and Blue looked at each other, eyes wide with surprise.
"Who put a bug up her butt?" Calla's casual comment made Blue and Haley smile.
With the small boat back in its cradle, several crewmen helped the three new arrivals down to the rear deck.
"The Captain says you're to go to the bridge right away; please follow me" one of them said and led the way.
"She probably wants to abuse us a bit more before dinner" Calla grunted.
The Striker was a much bigger ship than the One and All, and there were several decks to climb before they reached their destination. When they finally set eyes on the sea tugs captain, the sight of the woman before him gave Blue a bit of a shock for a very odd reason; Captain Georgette Debar disturbingly reminded him of Phyllis 'Gran' Lindstrom. The two women did not look similar at all but unlike Phyllis, Captain Debar really did look like a grandmother; a very angry grandmother.
"Just what the hell do you kids think you were up to?" Debar barked "We're answering a distress call so we don't have time to wait around while you fools finished your tea."
Calla opened her mouth to give Debar a well deserved spray of abuse but before she could, Blue surprisingly spoke up.
"Do you seriously think we were just lazing around? We were exploring the island and we hurried out to you as soon as we got word of what had happened."
Calla thought it was just as well Blue got his word in first, because she had planned to use some much more colourful language. Feeling calm but bold, she decided to back him up but once again, somebody else beat her to it."
"And besides Captain the only reason we were waiting for these young people, is because I requested it" Professor Adisa declared as he entered the bridge.
"It will takes us more than a day to reach those men, and we've no way of knowing if their vessel will remain afloat till we get there; you may have signed their death warrants" Debar said accusingly "So why would you waist time waiting for a couple of useless kids who wouldn't know a boat from a bathtub?"
"Hey! Don't forget I helped sail that yacht sitting on your stern all the way from New Zealand to the eastern Indian Ocean" Calla protested.
"Oh... so you're Emerson's sister, are you? Well it doesn't matter, we don't need you."
"Yes you do" the Professor corrected the Captain "These two are far more experienced than you and I when it comes to dealing with dragons."
"Those winged rats?" Debar sneered "I think we can handle them."
"I was told this fishing boat we're looking for, was attacked by two much larger dragons" Blue noted.
"How big could they be?" Debar kept up her sneering.
"Depends on the breed of course" Blue admitted "The size of a dog, the size of a horse, an elephant, a whale; there are some even bigger than that."
"Oh really; and have you ever seen anything bigger than those scrawny things down in the hold?"
"Yes; the Buffalord on the other side of the island was about thirty meters long, with a fifty meter wingspan" Blue informed the Captain.
"You're getting up to whale sized there" Haley nodded "a small whale though, I do admit."
"Humph; what a load of..."
Before Debar could finish her thought, a man called out from the adjacent radio room.
"Captain! We've made contact with the fishing boat again."
"Well then mister dragon expert; let's see what you can decipher from these crazy fishermen, who may have simply been drinking far too much sea water."
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More news, good and bad.
On the down side, I am not felling very good today. Got tested for covid-19 yesterday and should get the results tomorrow afternoon.
The good news though is I have just finished chapter 64 and the main story is complete. I've got a couple of wrap up chapters planned but they're easy to do so I'll be spending most of my time doing re-writes of the remaining chapters, and planning out the story line of the last book.
Boo Cat and I are both well stocked for food and stuff, so all I have to do is rest, write and get well.
Hope you all enjoy the story, Marty. :)