After The War Ch8
Warning: This chapter contains moderate mentions of violence.
Panic.
It was coursing through his body.
It was only thing he could feel.
His heart hammered against his rib cage. It felt as if his body didn't exist anymore. The only things in existence were his questions and his fears, both of which had pervaded him entirely.
Orion stepped onto the floor of their ship, as the other ship she had crept up on them with bumped theirs. The other ship was small, almost as small as theirs. The sail and wood was cleverly camouflaged, and the five other people on board stared at them, showing no emotion. They all wore the same outfit, dull brown shirts and pants with stone-faced expressions. They barely moved. At once, the frozen spell on Hiccup disappeared. He unstrapped Inferno from his leg by twisting it, and the blade smoothly slid out with a sharp hiss. He resisted the urge to set flames on it; those had to be saved. Instead, he warily brandished the metal blade. Behind him, he heard the sharp scrapes of Mala drawing her blade, and Astrid taking her axe. Eret removed his dagger, and he heard the sharp click of his mother's wooden staff.
Orion pulled a iron shield emblazoned with a constellation from her back and a glinting sword with a thin, almost invisible blade. Behind her, her soldiers drew their own blades.
Orion was surprisingly skinny, clothed in dark brown pants and a black shirt. She wore hard gray armor that shone glaringly in the sunlight. She had dark chestnut hair, almost black yet recognizably brown. It reached her shoulders in a sharp curve.
Keeping her sword carefully in front of her, Orion stared unblinkingly at Hiccup. "You know who I am and why I am here. I'm not going to waste time with introductions. We want the location of the Hidden World."
Hiccup inched his foot forward, almost tentatively. "You won't get anything out of us."
She rolled her dark blue eyes. "I thought so. How about this? We've got a fleet of thirty ships, we've got allies on all sides of the archipelago, we've got gold, weapons, an army, a navy, you get the idea. Oh, and we've already captured your Dragon's Edge. We have a lot of ways to coerce you into giving us the location. And besides, we could find it eventually. Just this way's faster." She twirled her sword as she talked, effectively showing off the maneuverability of it.
"So if we don't give you the location, what? You'll imprison us? Torture more innocent dragons?"
Orion snorted. "Innocent? What dragons are innocent or guilty? They're just animals. Sure, they think for ourselves, they can sometimes understand us, and be our friends, but so can yaks. And sheep. What's the difference then?"
His mind buzzed. Other oppositions had always refused to accept that dragons could think for themselves and had a right to live, but Orion agreed so flippantly. The difference was, they thought dragons were worth money. He knew that weren't owned by anybody except themselves, and therefore they couldn't be sold from anyone, to anyone. It was as horrid as some tales of slavery he had heard of from southern traders.
"The difference is that you think dragons can have owners, as sheep and yaks can. They are far more intelligent than us, and they cannot be owned by anyone besides themselves."
Orion shrugged nonchalantly. "Intelligence doesn't matter when you outnumber them. There are plenty of dragons. But, Hiccup Haddock, I've been creating my army since my thirteenth year."
He saw their boats drift farther and farther apart in the water and his heart quickened. He had to say anything, anything to stall the time. He needed a plan before Orion and her soldiers attacked. "We will never give you the location of the Hidden World." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her flick her hand, almost indistinguishably. The five people on the other boat tensed, and as Orion took another step toward them, he made up his mind. Desperate to take control of the fight before she did, he lifted his sword and lunged forward.
Astrid, Eret, Valka and Mala started forward with him, fending off the arrows that sped toward them from the other ship. In his peripheral vision he saw blurs of brown dart past him and toward him. Metal clanged against metal as he fended off arrows. The force of them flying toward him knocked his sword a little harder each time. He charged forward as Orion sped toward him.
She stabbed down and Hiccup parried off the attack. The side of his sword banged against her thin, seemingly weak sword. Then a ray of sunlight hit it and it flashed brilliantly as he realized it was razor-sharp and could mame anything the swinging, curving blade touched.
It was like a whip of strong yet flexible metal. It would go anywhere Orion directed it to, and could either slash or wrap around, even cutting a limb off.
His sword clanged on hers, and he plainly saw that she was an experienced swordsman. Hiccup was fairly rusty, and he struggled to gain control of the fight. Desperation filled him more with each passing second. They exchanged blows until Hiccup saw an arrow coming at him out of the corner of eye and knocked it aside just in time, though it cost him.
Orion's blade curled toward him and he saw the flexible yet sturdy metal flash toward his face. He dodged by ducking to the side so the blade curled on the opposite side of where he had been. Anger infuriated him and he swung particularly hard at her hand. The relatively dull blade struck her hand, and while it did not pierce the skin, he could have sworn he heard a crack.
She stumbled back and he stole a split second to glance around. One of the soldiers had jumped onto their boat and was ferociously battling Eret, who was on the defense. He looked back towards Orion to see that she had switched hands, and instead of her right hand she carried her sword in her left.
Unless she was ambidextrous, this was even more dangerous. With less control on it, it would flail everywhere and anywhere, but with no regard for who it hit. It would hit Orion just as likely as it would hit Hiccup.
She swung her sword toward his side, and he mentally scolded themselves for rushing off so unprepared. They hadn't even considered bringing armor. He forced back the blow and as the whip-sword swung backwards, he hit the hilt of it. He narrowly missed hitting her hand, and as it clattered out of her hand, Orion stared back at him and began to clamber backwards, back toward her ship.
Hiccup watched her go, still poised in a position for battle, as she limped back. He was confused. Why had she been so easy to beat? Why in the world was she retreated to pitifully? Was her hand really that bad? For a nanosecond he began to think they had overestimated her. Yet as he wasted time thinking and being utterly perplexed, Orion had drawn a silver, sharp dagger from within her armor with her good hand.
As the last moment, he saw the silver flash in the sun, and he again set his stance to defend himself. His sword was set so he could knock aside the dagger. Then he saw Orion smirk in his direction, then look past him. Confused, he watched as she stared past him, careful not to turn his back on her.
With a sharp flick of her hand, the dagger in her hand flew as accurately as a bullet. His chest filled with the worst feeling of terrible horrification and his mind blanked as his eyes watched the blade fly toward Astrid.
His mind catching up, he instinctively screamed, "NO!" and Astrid turned at the last second. Only evident years of training and precise reflexes saved her, by her axe immediately jerking to knock the dagger aside, inches from her chest. Her eyes were wide as she connected the dots, staring at the figure of Orion which was staring back in disbelief.
Caution abandoning him, Hiccup charged forward with his sword in front. His heart still shuddered as he processed what he saw. The dagger had flown directly toward Astrid and she could have died. Orion had dared to kill his Astrid.
She stood on the narrow point of the ship, preparing to jump back to her own ship now her plan had failed. Hiccup came behind her and with the flat of his blade, swung at her back. The force caused her to fall and crash onto the deck of her own ship. The soldiers knocked arrows in their bows and a couple raised their sword and took steps forward, but Orion raised a hand from where she knelt on the ground.
She stared up at Hiccup, where he stood on the point of Mala's ship. "You were lucky this time. At least now you know not to underestimate me." With those last foreboding words, the sail unfolded and the ship moved briskly away in the wind.
Hiccup was left clenching his sword, staring hard at the retreating boat from the prow of his ship.
The small boat seemed smaller when they finally reached the dock. Several working Defenders looked up, but seeing their grim faces, returned to their jobs.
They hadn't spoken the entire trip back. He knew the others had been staring at him and probably even whispering about the battle, but he refused to separate his attention from his thoughts. He had blankly stared at the Edge as it faded into the distance, only unclenching his death-grip from his sword when red marks appeared on his palm.
He walked off first and kept walking in what felt like anger and... guilt. They should have been more prepared. They had been training for situations like this, but it had almost gone horribly wrong. They thought they were ready, but only the sheerest of luck had saved them.
He was the Chief. He was more than the leader of five dragon riders, he was now the leader of an entire island and the choices he made would affect many, many more islands and their populations. He couldn't afford to mess up like this.
He just kept walking back to the village, methodically stepping through the waist-high grass. He knew the rest were following him, but he didn't care.
He felt like the screw-up again. Like the idiot Hiccup the Useless he had been when he was small. The village moron who couldn't lift an axe and went hunting for trolls. But now when he screwed up, it impacted more than Gobber's next client or his father's paperwork. It impacted the lives of hundreds, maybe thousands of people and dragons.
It felt as if the only thing he had done since he lost Toothless was screw up.
He wanted Toothless back. He wanted his best friend and his flying buddy back. An almost childlike urge filled him to go to the Hidden World and take Toothless from there.
He reached the village and his attention left the mangled world of his thoughts. He waited next to a tree, watching the building go on. He saw the twins, Snotlout, and Fishlegs sourly working on buildings, and again berated himself. They were just as valuable as any of the other team members. They should have been allowed to go.
He heard rustlings and footsteps from behind him and finally turned to see Mala, Eret, Valka and Astrid wading through the tall grass to where he leaned on the tree.
Mala uncomfortably came to stand by his side. "You should get your Riders. I need to tell Dagur what happened."
He nodded briskly, hoping the conversation was over. Of course it wasn't. She continued, "And..." She turned to face him. "Hiccup Haddock, we need a plan. We're meeting later, after dinner in one of the finished houses."
He nodded again. "Okay." His voice came out as scratched and hoarse. Mala gave him a worried glance and went to find Dagur. After a few awkward moments, Eret came up to him. "What d'ye want us to do?"
He shrugged, still leaning all his weight on the tree with his hand in his pockets. "Go get the others. Tell them about the meeting. Then do whatever you want."
Eret's eyebrows came together, then he shrugged and went to find the others.
As Astrid followed him, Hiccup got up off the tree and held out a hand to stop her. "We need to talk. But later."
She raised an eyebrow. "Not now?"
He shook his head adamantly. "Not now."
She took his hand and squeezed it, then let go and followed Eret. Hiccup looked back to where Valka was beginning to walk with them too, then his mind took a temporary break from its sulky mood and noticed a slight limp. "Mom, are you okay?"
She nodded. "Oh, don't worry about me. I'm just getting older. It's a fact of life. But-"
He interrupted her. "No. Mom, you're what, 50? Please don't try to fight anymore. Take it slowly."
She fondly straightened his buckles. "I know to take care of myself. But thank you."
He watched as she walked to a bench and sat down, watching the others work and calling out a few tips. Even with his current state of intense guilt and desperation, he felt a twinge of satisfaction. Hey, he had done one thing right today.
The blue gem needed polishing. Right now, it was only a glassy surface that didn't reflect light. When he held it in the direct sunlight, even then it didn't shine the way he wanted it to.
Dragon scales had always shone with a few good rubs. He couldn't understand why this Nadder spike didn't. He had painstakingly cut it from the blue side of one of Stormfly's spikes, and had spent a while polishing it before putting it away for another time. It was clear this gem would need a lot more polishing.
He stood up from the crate he had been sitting on and rummaged through the others until he found his crate. The crates were medium size boxes, made of wooden slabs nailed together. He lifted the lid off of his and moved aside the notebooks and papers until he found the cloth folded into a corner.
He sat back down on the crate, ignoring the scratchy surface, and rubbed the stone over and over. He blankly stared at his task while mulling over events.
He'd screwed up a lot. Yes, he had long since established that. First with leaving New Berk for the Edge, then with leaving the Wingmaidens heavily unprepared for the threat they faced, and now with rushing off to the Edge, again unprepared.
Now they had the threat of Orion facing them, and he couldn't mess anything up.
He needed more allies. That meant the Defenders of the Wing, the Wingmaidens, and the Berserkers. Those three tribes were in the best position to help them attack Orion, as they were all close by and fairly powerful.
The Defenders of the Wing were already on his side, so he had no worries there. He would need to Terror Mail the Wingmaidens and Berserkers, and ask for their assistance.
Right now, he couldn't afford to be proud. They needed as much help as they could get to defeat Orion.
But how would they defeat Orion? If his plan worked, he would have enough people to battle Orion's army. But was battle really the answer?
He had tried persuasion, he didn't really think that would work anymore. Orion's mindset seemed to be set in stone. Maybe if they tried to weaken her forces so she would surrender?
Hiccup tried to use a unbiased approach to his planning. He would try to remain neutral regarding methods of succeeding, instead only focusing on what succeeding actually meant. His father might have thought succeeding meant battle, instead of actually defeating the enemy.
Hiccup thought of succeeding as Orion's surrender. More specific than her defeat, however, since he'd rather Orion surrender herself than him having to force her to her defeat. If he did that, he would be no worse than all the other villains he'd faced.
Right now, his options, were battle, or weaken her forces. Maybe take some of her army out?
His brainstorming was interrupted by footsteps coming down from the above floor. He raised his head and waited for the person to arrive.
Dagur poked his head in. "Hey, uh, Mala wants you. Meeting time, apparently."
He stood up, stretching his stiff muscles. "Okay. Where?"
He shrugged. "A house was finished yesterday and it's the only one available, so there. She wants to discuss tactics to defeat the enemy?"
He held the door for Dagur and followed him out. "Great. Listen, uh, what have the others been doing?"
They passed the bedrooms. "Oh, y'know, helping build. Fishlegs quit after a while and just escaped to the library." He snorted, then glanced back at Hiccup. "Wait, do you mean others as in others or others as in Astrid?"
He tried to look confused, though inside he was surprised at how Dagur had guessed what he was really asking. "If it was the latter, hypothetically, how did you know?"
They emerged onto the deck, in the fading sunlight. The sun was slowly sinking down into the sea, liquefying into dappled gold flowing onto the blue sea. Dusky light blanketed the island and its soft green forests and hills. "I heard from the others what happened. Astrid almost got hit by Orion's dagger, and you went crazy. Charged Orion like a bull. Not that I disapprove, there's nothing wrong with going berserk."
They were now entering the tall grasses that surrounded the village. They pricked Hiccup's torso as they walked through. "I just got so angry. The dagger was heading straight for her." Lost in thought for a second, he snapped back when a particularly stiff blade of grass poked him. "Hey, please don't tell Astrid about this. She doesn't really like me coddling her."
"It's fine. I got you. Hey, there they are. See that house?"
One of the recently completed houses Hiccup had seen earlier had lights on inside the windows. He could see the candles flickering on the windowsills. Finally out of the grass, Hiccup asked, "So they're all in there?"
Dagur nodded. "Yup. Go ahead. There's only like, fifty percent chance of decapitation from my wife." At Hiccup's wary glance, he snorted and pushed him forward. "I'm kidding. I hope."
He took a breath and strode forward onto the porch. He pushed the door open and several pairs of eyes turned toward him. Mala was on the opposite side of the house (it was a fairly small house), standing at the head of a table with maps and books in front of her. "Hiccup."
Fishlegs and Valka made space for him at the opposite side of the table from Mala, and he rested the palms of his hands on the edge of the table. "Mala." He acknowledged her.
"I'll be blunt. I sincerely hope you have a good plan because quite frankly I'm out of ideal ones."
"I've got two options in my mind right now. Engage in battle, or try to weaken her forces."
Dagur leaned in. "And exactly how do we weaken her forces?"
"A number of ways. Take some of her army out, weaken her naval ships, close them off of other transportation means, keep them on the Edge..."
Mala studied a large map of the archipelago in front of her. "And the other option?"
"We get the Wingmaidens and Berserkers on our side and fight. Right until she surrenders. Our ultimate goal here is for her surrender."
Valka asked him, "Surrender, or her defeat? Those are two different things."
Astrid answered for him. "Surrender. Wouldn't it better for her to surrender herself than us having to defeat her, as in completely terminate her?" Tuffnut raised his hand. "Dunno about you, but I'm going for battle. Weakening her forces is gonna take forever, and I just can't fit that into my schedule."
Ruffnut's hand shot up next to her brother's. "Same here. We're on a tight clock, people."
"I actually agree with them." Eret remarked. "Together, all of our forces could bring her down. Then, it's up to her surrender or defeat. Whichever opportunity presents itself first."
Hiccup looked toward the others. "Battle." Snotlout shrugged, leaning back in a chair. Somehow, he had the only chair. "Same reasons as everybody else. Like, we kicked Grimmel's butt. This can't be that hard."
Hiccup laid a hand down. "May I remind you that we had dragons then? And they probably have the same effect that fifteen men could do. We're not so lucky this time."
Valka and Fishlegs both said battle. Astrid, however, said, "I wish there was another option besides battle and weakening her forces. Both are risky. And as it seems like battle is winning, could I just remind everyone that battle is dangerous? We could lose people. Our dragons are not going to swoop in and protect us. These are fighters that will go for the kill."
A heavy silence met her words, as the others uncomfortably weighed her words. And then Hiccup's gaze magnetized itself to Astrid's hard, dead-set eyes.
Their eyes glued them to each other until he couldn't break away. Millions of emotions, more than words could ever, ever describe passed through them.
The pressure of the other's opinions weighed in on his heart, and then Astrid's ice-blue stare cut right through. And it made the decision for him.
He finally tore his eyes away from her penetrating glare to looked around at the expectant faces around him. "Battle it is."
Hiccup settled on the soft grass of a hill on the Defenders of the Wing landscape. It was far from the village, though close enough so he could see a few faint lights through the darkness.
The grass was wet and soft, unlike the coarse grass he had trekked through earlier. He could see by the moonlight reflecting off the ocean. The view was similar to the other night he had spent staring out the ship porthole.
He rubbed his hand over his face. He knew it was past midnight, but he couldn't sleep. How was he expected to sleep with all his thoughts rebounding off each other? He had crept out of the ship and came here, in the hopes that he could think more clearly in the fresh night air.
He had sent Terror Mails off to the other islands, that could be checked off. Now, the real preparation started.
Then he heard rustling behind him. He tended, thinking maybe Orion could have followed him. Or tracked him. He didn't know. He turned to see a figure with long blonde hair behind him. He breathed a sigh of relief, though it was replaced with a different kind of anxiety.
"Hey." Astrid sat down next to him. "You said we needed to talk?"
"How did you find me?"
"I couldn't sleep either. And your prosthetic is really loud."
He wrapped his arms around his knees, bringing them to his chest. "We do need to talk."
He saw Astrid turn toward him. "I think I know what this is about."
He humorlessly laughed. "What else could it be about?"
They sat in silence for a few moments more, then from Astrid came, "Tell me the truth. Do you want to get married?"
He stretched out his legs and leaned back on his palms. "To tell you the truth, yes. I do want to get married." He didn't look at Astrid, afraid of her reaction. "I love you. And you know that. And we're been holding this discussion back for long enough. I want to marry you."
Astrid released a heavy sigh. "I hope that wasn't a proposal. I- I mean-"
"I know what you mean. It wasn't. I'll do it when I'm down on one knee and have a ring in my hand. But not now. Not while we're trying to fight a war."
He risked taking her hand, and was immensely grateful when she didn't pull back. "I'm not trying to put any pressure on you. It's your decision. But I have to ask." He swallowed. "Do you want to be married?"
He waited for what seemed like two hours but what was probably two seconds, then came a breathless, relieving answer. "Yes. Hiccup, yes, I want to marry you."
He thought he could sense her nerves that were probably as intense as his. "But not while we're fighting this war."
"No. We can't."
"We're talked about this now, though."
Her voice was soft, softer than usual. "That we have." They held hands, not tightly but comfortably, as if they had no need to cling to each other in that moment. They were already each other's.
"You wanna head back?"
"Yeah." He pulled her up and wrapped an arm around her waist. She leaned her head against his chest and they started down the hill.
And as they walked back to the ship, strolling and wandering together in the moonlight, at last they knew. They knew something that they could hold on to, something permanent that they knew would be in their future.
In the midst of their war, their battles, and their fight, they knew they were forever each other's.
Happy belated birthday Hiccup! Thanks for reading, guys. I always appreciate reviews! ~ScribeOfTheLegends