Hiccup and Beryl somehow managed to get out of Mildew's hut and away from Astrid without raising her suspicions even more. They spent the rest of the week in a heightened state of paranoia. Beryl let absolutely no one within ten feet of Hiccup, in the rare times they were actually in the village. Hiccup had no objections. That ash told him all too much about what had happened to Mildew. But no one had seen Mildew since. Vithvarandi walked among the village, unnoticed and completely hidden. She could be anywhere, anyone. It was not true paranoia if someone really was out to get him.
No one knew but he and Beryl. Vithvarandi was a secret inextricably tied to Hiccup's own, one he and Beryl agreed was too dangerous to reveal. The village was one of superstitious Vikings, Vikings who had been known to ship people off the island for as little as getting struck by lightning in certain circumstances. That had happened to a known swindler, but it had happened. This ability Hiccup had unwillingly been stuck with was far, far more damning in the eyes of any Viking. He and Beryl weren't comfortable with it. How could they expect others to be?
Hiccup sighed, walking through the woods on the far side of the island. He still felt the need to run, to hide. That had hit him the second he knew what had happened, and the implications, in Mildew's hut that day. The need to fight also existed though, and it was growing as they hid.
He turned to Beryl, who was scanning the tree-cover carefully, fully alert, and very tired. Beryl wasn't sleeping well.
Neither was he. Nightmares had been constant, ever since the discovery. Blends of the Red Death, the events on that dark island, and worst of all, reliving Flint's death. Remembering his own death was preferable to that last one. Needless to say, neither of them was at the top of their game. He sighed in frustration.
Beryl turned to him. "You have something on your mind."
"Yeah, I do. This isn't working." Hiccup gestured to the woods. "She must know we're still around. We have to show up in the village every once in a while so no one comes looking for us. Even this is stretching it." Stoick had begun asking questions.
"So? Now what?" Beryl stifled a yawn.
"We go back to the village." Hiccup's face hardened. "We find her, and drive her out. Somehow." Running and hiding were pointless. Vithvarandi knew where they had to be.
"We fight," Beryl growled, facing where the village would be, a good two hour's walk from where they were at the moment. A walk, because flying was too open, too visible from a distance. "But she can... be... anyone."
"We'll think of something." Hiccup looked around, noting that they were in a fairly sheltered spot. "But first, we need to be ready. How much sleep have you had recently?"
"Enough."
"Don't lie." Hiccup frowned at him. "I can tell."
"Fine. None, save for a few hours the night before last." Beryl flinched at Hiccup's shocked expression. "I couldn't, not knowing she could be anywhere!"
"You're sleeping right now, right here." Hiccup pointed at a particularly shaded hollow in the base of a small hill. "Otherwise you'll collapse."
Beryl rumbled, moving over to the spot Hiccup had indicated. "What happened to you not telling me what to do, like you told Astrid?"
Hiccup flinched. "Sorry. It's just..." Ember's memories. Parenting instinct, maybe. He had that now, thanks to Ember. But he really didn't have any right to act on it.
"I know." Beryl didn't sound that upset. "You can't help it. I don't know if I can sleep though." He curled up in the hollow, eyes still open despite the apparent exhaustion of his body.
"I'm awake, and I plan on staying awake." Hiccup looked up, trying to judge the time. It was somewhere near midday. "Sleep as long as you need. When you're good, it'll be my turn. Once we're both rested, we'll go back. We'll flush Vithvarandi out somehow." He sat beside Beryl's head, making a point of watching the entire forest around them. "Rest."
Beryl mumbled something incoherent, his eyes slowly sliding shut. Shortly after, Hiccup could hear him snoring.
Hiccup didn't relax his guard in the slightest. Danger could literally come from anywhere. The tension felt like a spring in his chest, being wound tighter and tighter with every passing hour. The faint noises of harmless wildlife in the distance, birds chirping and fluttering around, did absolutely nothing to calm him.
However, logic said they'd probably be fine. Actually, logically... Vithvarandi wasn't there to kill them.
Hiccup shuddered. No, she probably wasn't. Her final words were far more relevant now. She'd visibly considered his cynical suggestion to find someone who wanted the deal she offered. But she had hinted at the possibility of failure.
She must have failed. Which made him her only option. No, she didn't want to kill him. At the moment, anyway. It was hard to guess the moves of a person who seemed quite unstable.
He was far less certain of his own motivation. While he as Hiccup had never fought personally with the intent of killing, this might be the best time to make an exception. With Vithvarandi, it wouldn't really be an exception anyway.
The other, darker and less logical reason, was that he wanted her dead. That came mostly from Ember. Remembering her killing him, killing Flint... He wasn't needlessly violent on either side of his memories. But to avenge Flint? To protect the ones close to him?
His grip tightened, and he realized he was holding a knife. Drawn from one of his many sheaths, it was one made for throwing. He considered it.
If the chance came...
The knife sunk into a nearby tree, a few feet below a knot at about eye level. He drew another, holding it ready.
If the chance came, he wasn't going to hesitate.
This time he aimed at the knot itself. The knife sunk directly into the center. Something occurred to him.
Four more knives sank into increasingly difficult targets, hitting perfectly every time. He grinned, a dark and feral expression that was very likely out of place on his own face, if anyone was around to see it.
Night Furies never missed.
O-O-O-O-O
"You let me sleep too long." Beryl looked around, taking in the nearly dark forest around them.
"Don't deny you needed it." Hiccup sat down, leaning into the same hollow Beryl had occupied. "My turn. If I can get any sleep."
Hiccup's recurring nightmares were common knowledge among the two of them, though Hiccup had kept certain parts to himself. Hopefully, tonight he could actually get some sleep.
He drifted off, uneasy.
O-O-O-O-O
Restful sleep, it appeared, was not an option. Hiccup recognized the nightmare for what it was with the small part of his mind that was aware this was a dream. It started the same way it always did. With a strange mix of past memories, vivid and fading alike. He could see himself sitting alongside Flint. His human self, oddly enough. They were both watching a hatchling Spark and fully grown Beryl play. The scene was taking place at the nest, where the Queen had been fought. There were no other dragons in sight.
He himself was a bodyless spectator, forced to observe from an omniscient viewpoint, helpless to even try and intervene.
The oddly peaceful sight on the shores of the nest soon collapsed. The Red Death emerged from the volcano, threatening to destroy all before her. He himself fell first, burned to a crisp before any of the others could act. It said a lot about how messed up his dreams were that watching himself die was the least horrifying part.
Flint took off, unharmed by the inferno around her. She tried to gather Beryl and Spark to her, tried to flee. Spark didn't listen, turning away and flying off into the distance.
The Red Death became engulfed in black flame, which dissipated to reveal Ember's body, a representation of Vithvarandi.
This was the part Hiccup found most disturbing. But he couldn't wake himself up in time to avoid a scene that haunted his waking memories despite knowing it was a dream.
Ember's form attacked and mauled Flint, fighting with feral brutality. She fell, collapsing into that black ash after a long and torturous demise, unable to even scratch Ember. Beryl attacked in rage, but Ember simply snarled and changed forms, Vithvarandi now taking on a generic Viking body. One with a bola, which she slung with unerring accuracy, binding Beryl and leaving him helpless on the dark rocks, already stained with blood.
Hiccup was incapable of anything but watching as Vithvarandi slowly cut off Beryl's tailfins, which in this dream had both been present. The tattered scraps of membrane and intricate bone were discarded, and at the end of it Vithvarandi cut out his heart. Just as he had once said he would do, so long ago. Even the knife was the same, the one he had left to rust in the cove.
To Hiccup, forced to watch, it felt like she had cut his own heart out along with Beryl's. Despite knowing it was a dream, he couldn't help the despair he felt.
This was generally where he'd wake up, screaming and sweating. The dream never let go until it was over. But this had always been the end. What more could possibly be shown that was worse than what had preceded it?
Vithvarandi turned towards the sky, searching for something. Spark, maybe? Out of the entire group, only he had escaped, to places unknown.
Then she locked eyes with him, somehow seeing him despite his omniscient presence. Her voice was surprisingly soft. "This is your fault. All of it."
O-O-O-O-O
Hiccup jerked upright, silently this time. That dream had always felt so real. It was no vision though. He recognized the twisting of what he knew, what he had seen. The dream reflected reality in a way, or what could have happened. His human self, dead by the fire of the Red Death. Beryl, dead by a human's hand, killed while helpless. Spark, gone, fate unknown.
Flint. Killed by Vithvarandi. He shuddered, vaguely noticing that Beryl was frantically nudging him, trying to get his attention, trying to comfort him.
He'd respond in a moment, try to forget. But right now, his mind was on Vithvarandi's new, final words. All of that death, she had said, was his fault. It was his mind painting his worst fears. That didn't mean there wasn't some truth to her words, if not about that situation specifically.
He allowed Beryl to distract him, to comfort him. Sleep was still needed. No matter how little he wanted to risk another such nightmare.
O-O-O-O-O
Hiccup and Beryl walked into the village the next day determined. They eyed everyone in their path, trying to determine if that particular villager or dragon was an imposter. It was a near-impossible task. One they weren't going to give up on. No matter how long it took.
O-O-O-O-O
The next day, several villagers began complaining that Bjorn the Tanner was out, or just missing. When Beryl heard, through eavesdropping on a group of Vikings, both he and Hiccup had immediately leaped at the information, heading to the Tanner's shop.
It was empty. Hiccup scoured the floor, looking for anything suspicious. He eventually looked up, a pain in his back forcing him to take a break. "I could use some help here."
Beryl didn't move from his position several feet outside the building. "No. I value your safety and my nose too much. I keep watch, you search in that place of terrible odors. It is best for both of us."
"Fine." Hiccup shifted a barrel, careful not to spill the noxious contents. On the bright side, no one would notice if he threw up into said barrel. It would fit right in. There was a reason he never made his own leather, always getting it from the Tanner when he needed some. It was said Bjorn had no sense of smell. Whether that had been true before he became a Tanner was up for debate.
However, there was no sign of disturbingly dark ash. Hiccup strode out of the shop nonplussed. "Nothing here. Not that it was likely."
"She could have killed him anywhere. Any place he was alone." Beryl was still watching everyone within sight. "There is no way to stop her, except getting lucky and finding her."
"What if we had every villager pair up with someone else, and never leave them alone?" Hiccup was brainstorming now. "She can't kill anyone unless they're alone, because witnesses would definitely get away sooner or later."
"We have no authority to do that," Beryl grunted, eyeing a villager who was getting closer. "But at least I can trust you. And you me. We have no way of proving anyone else safe."
"Actually..." Hiccup's mind was working now. Beryl's objections had brought something up. "We don't. But there are two people who we can trust." They were desperate. "At least a little, if we give them the right story." Desperate times called for desperate measures.
O-O-O-O-O
"Why are we here again?" Tuffnut cast a glance at Beryl, who he was following closely. "Any ideas?"
"Toothless wants us." Ruffnut shrugged. "When the scary Night Fury wants you to go somewhere, you follow without question. It's basic self-preservation."
"Since when did we care about self-preservation?" Tuffnut sounded offended.
"Can't prank people when you're dead, bro." Was the unamused response.
"A very good point." Tuffnut stumbled, tripping over a discarded broom. "But really, the side of the Great Hall? What's here that he cares about?"
"Think, my dimwitted brother." Ruffnut grinned. "What does Toothless care about?"
"Fish and Hiccup. Not in that order."
"Exactly. Hey Hiccup, we were just talking about you." Ruffnut smiled victoriously as Hiccup stepped out into the open. "Like I said."
Hiccup sighed. "We need your help." Might as well be direct while he could.
"Excellent! You were wise to seek the help of the deadly Thorston Twins." Tuffnut spread his arms wide. "And the world's deadliest weapon. Me."
"Look, I'm serious." Hiccup winced, trying to remember why he had thought this was a good idea. Sure, in theory it was great. The twins were always together, and Vithvarandi couldn't impersonate both of them at the same time, while even successfully impersonating one would be nearly useless. They were guaranteed safe, the only ones he could truly trust besides Beryl. They were, however, the twins. Not the most predictable or useful most of the time. "Listen carefully."
"We're all ears. Except for our noses. And eyes. And, you know, everything else that isn't an ear." Tuffnut and Ruffnut leaned in.
"I can't say much." That was an understatement. "You know how Mildew went missing, and now Bjorn is also missing? I think the two are connected. I need you two to tell me if anyone starts acting suspiciously."
Ruffnut smiled slyly. "On it. We thank you for hiring Thorston and Thorston, sleuths extraordinaire! How did you know we had just started a sleuthing business?"
"I thought we were going to be 'Tuff and Ruff, detectives of stuff'!" Tuffnut whined. "I liked that one better."
"We asked Barf and Belch, remember? They picked my name." Ruffnut turned to Hiccup. "We're on it. The case is afoot!" She and Tuffnut raced out of the Great Hall.
"Why did we do that?" Beryl sneezed. "They even smell weird. Who knows what they've been doing recently."
"We can use any help we can get." Hiccup had his misgivings, but the worst-case scenario was that the twins were useless. Not the end of the world.
O-O-O-O-O
Two days later, Arvind the Strong went missing. That shook both Hiccup and Beryl. Arvind had been around the entire time, sighted multiple times a day going about his business. The worst part was that whenever a new villager was reported missing, they knew Vithvarandi had already moved on. Arvind had likely been dead for days before now.
"Thanks for the help, Tuffnut." Hiccup forced a grateful smile at the twin who had brought the information. "How did you find out?"
"A true sleuth never reveals his sources." Tuffnut grinned. "So I'm fine with telling you Ruffnut overheard Arvind's daughter ask the chief for help finding him." He left, heading back to his sister, who was surveying the area.
Hiccup had heard comments that the twins were acting stranger than usual, but no one took it seriously. He certainly wouldn't have, if he didn't know what they were really doing.
The twins moved out, staring at every villager in their path, arguing with each other as they went.
"We owe them one", Hiccup said to Beryl as they sat on a hill overlooking most of the village, "we certainly wouldn't have known for a while."
"Not like it helps."
"Yeah. That makes four." Hiccup counted off on his fingers. "Mildew, Bjorn, Arvind, and whoever she is now." It irked him that they were always one step behind her. What was her goal anyway? No one had even tried to approach Hiccup, and he had seen her a few times, going about the village. It didn't help, because he only now knew it had been her at the time. Beryl was very good at keeping villagers away, and as he had been doing it since before the trip, no one noticed anything different.
"We need to try something else." Beryl shifted, looking out over the village. He growled in disgust, clawing up clods of dirt and mossy soil beneath his paws.
"You might be right. But what?" Hiccup leaned back, now staring at the cloudy sky above. Those clouds promised long days of drizzle in the near future, a common weather on Berk. "Trying to find her among hundreds of Vikings and dragons isn't working."
"We can think of something." Beryl turned and licked him, purring. "At least now it is a 'we'. I like talking to you more and more as time passes. I don't know if I could go back to how we were before."
"You got the point across." Hiccup smiled, wiping the slobber off.
"It took so much effort to convey simple ideas. And I could not explain anything. This is better." Beryl snorted, pawing at him playfully. "Want to go flying?"
"Sure." They hadn't flown for fun much recently. "Oh, how's your tail?"
"Still growing, still annoying." Beryl shook it for emphasis as he stood, beckoning for Hiccup to rise. "This new fake tailfin helps, but it's still aggravating."
Hiccup had built a tailfin that was slightly modified in structure to accommodate Beryl's slowly growing nubs. Hopefully, it would be sufficient for a while. "Let's go."
O-O-O-O-O
They spent a few hours simply enjoying the unrestricted freedom of flight, Beryl taking them through the sea stacks around the island, steering far clear of other dragons.
Hiccup enjoyed it, but there was a slight itch at the back of his mind. He refused to acknowledge the need to fly on his own. The same need Ember always felt after a few weeks on the ground. It was subtle, but there. There was no thought of resuming Ember's form in his mind, even if only for a few hours to satisfy that urge. Well, he did think about it, but not for long. Beryl wouldn't like it at all, and his best friend was slowly becoming comfortable with even this much change. Hadn't Beryl said he wished they could go back to the way thing were when they had first discovered the full implications, that time in the cove upon their return to Berk? He had changed his mind about that.
Hiccup wasn't sure if he wanted Beryl to change his mind about the rest of it. He wasn't sure if he should use Ember's form ever again, or if it would be evil or wrong to do so. Best to leave that question a hypothetical what-if for now. They had enough to worry about.
Eventually, when they were done swooping and spinning through the air, Beryl headed by habit for the cove. Hiccup was lost in his thoughts, trying to keep the feeling of freedom and safety as they descended back to the far less safe ground below. Not that they sky was safe. Vithvarandi was entirely capable of taking any dragon she wished.
That reminder made him feel far less safe. He reluctantly returned his thoughts to the task at hand as Beryl circled down to land on the far side of the cove.
Beryl barked out in surprise, flaring his wings a moment after he set down. "Astrid!"
Hiccup almost fell out of the saddle as he leaned forward, trying to see over Beryl's head. "Hey!" He slid out of the saddle, hitting the ground and hurrying around Beryl's flared wings. The sight of Astrid stopped him cold.
She was bleeding and bloodied. Not all of the blood was hers because there was no way she'd be standing if that was the case. She raised her bloody ax shakily, pointing it at Hiccup. "I am here... for an explanation." Her voice was cracking, her eyes haunted.
"Wouldn't it be better to see Gothi first..?" Hiccup trailed off as she shook her head. Was it a trick of the eye, or was that a tear he saw forming?
"I'll be fine." Astrid grimaced. "If only to spite her."
"Her?" Hiccup had a bad feeling. "Astrid, what happened? And whose blood is that?"
She laughed, a bitter sound that had Beryl growling uneasily. "Stormfly." She sat down abruptly, landing in the dirt of the cove. "To answer both questions, Stormfly. She attacked me, and this is her blood. We were walking through the woods to my training spot. She just shot spines at my back. No warning." Astrid raised a hand to a shallow furrow in her left arm. "I dodged, but my somersault dive was sloppy. Knew I should have worked on that."
Hiccup waited silently, as Astrid continued her tale. His mind was numb, conclusions on hold until he had heard everything Astrid had to say.
"I tried to get her to stop." Astrid gestured with her free hand, palm out. "Talking, pleading, threatening. She just kept attacking." She waved to the rest of her. "As you can see. I fought back," she hefted her ax weakly, "and after a while, she just... left. Flew off. Thor knows why, or where she went. Then I saw you flying down here. So here I am."
"Because..."
"Because if anyone knows what happened, it's you." Astrid grimaced. "Your little trick with her last time showed that much. Did I do something wrong? Hurt her somehow? Or did she just decide to kill me for no reason?" Her voice was angry. "Feel free to tell me."
Hiccup knew very well what had happened. Just as his dreams had said, it was his fault.
That must have shown on his face. Astrid glared at him. "You know something. Tell me!"
Beryl stepped in between her and Hiccup, growling at her.
Without thought, Hiccup intervened. "Beryl, stop. She isn't threatening me..." Though this all might be an elaborate ploy by Vithvarandi.
"No. We don't know for sure." Beryl nonetheless stepped slightly aside, clearly still ready to intervene in a heartbeat.
Astrid was eyeing Hiccup suspiciously. "Beryl?"
So much for acting normal and not giving anything away. Hiccup grimaced. "Not important."
"Wrong. Very important." Somehow, despite being injured and currently sitting down, Astrid managed to sound intimidating. "It's happening again, isn't it?"
"What-"
"You. Hiding things, keeping secrets. Avoiding the village for days, then coming back and acting weird. What could it possibly be this time?" That was said cynically. "You already turned our world upside-down once. Aren't you satisfied with that?"
"I was!" Hiccup shook his head, denying her accusation. "This time isn't my doing. But it is my fault."
"Hiccup, what did you do?" Astrid's voice was cold.
"I... can't tell you." He just couldn't. "This is too hard to explain."
"My own dragon tried to kill me. I deserve to know!" Astrid had gotten to her feet, and she was pointing her bloody ax at Hiccup, ignoring Beryl's snarling.
Hiccup didn't answer. His mind was connecting the dots now, as he processed Astrid's story. Vithvarandi was clearly the true attacker. Taking Astrid might actually be her goal, though if it was he had no idea why she had apparently given up so easily. It wouldn't have been hard for Vithvarandi to find out he had a crush on Astrid. Or, had in the past had one. Not like anyone knew that was no longer the case. In a twisted way, it made perfect sense. Vithvarandi had come back for him. He still, to her knowledge, had an attachment here. Take that body, and there would be nothing stopping Hiccup from being with her, and she would even be able to look like the one he liked. Nothing stopping Hiccup except the fact that he was in no way attracted to someone who killed at will, taking the bodies and memories of other people for their own personal gain, a twisted form of immortality obtained through ending the lives of others.
She would keep going after Astrid, after him. Probably after him, if given a choice, if she thought that he was no longer attracted to Astrid. Maybe that was why she hadn't pushed it as Stormfly. The issue was, he had no idea what her plan was, if it wasn't to take Astrid. Regardless, her being in the village, after him, was dangerous.
He knew what needed to be done now. He got on Beryl's back, staring at Astrid sadly. "I can't explain. But I can try and stop it from happening again. Do not trust Stormfly if you see her again. She's gone. Something else has taken her place, something dangerous."
"If I see her again, I'll-"
Hiccup cut her off. "Run. Stay away. This is something far too dangerous for you to fight. Killing her would not be the end." Enigmatic warnings were the best compromise he could come up with. Too bad they made Astrid even angrier. Hopefully, her weakened state would prevent her from doing anything too rash.
"I don't run from anything!"
"Anything but this. She's after you, and me. Mostly me. When I leave, she'll follow." That was the plan. "Bud, we need to go home." If it was still home. This couldn't be some half-hearted decision. They needed to leave for good, and not come back until Vithvarandi was... dead. Truly dead, if that was even possible. Otherwise, she'd just kill more villagers, trying to get into a position to get at Hiccup.
He and Beryl left Astrid there, ignoring her screams of rage as they powered out of the cove. Beryl winged his way towards the chief's house, asking only a single question. "Are we leaving now?"
"As soon as I get some stuff together from my room." Simply disappearing from Berk would work best. Astrid would take care of spreading the word when she got back, and Vithvarandi would lose interest in the village but have no way to track them... hopefully. She had somehow found them here. The sun was setting. "We'll leave at sundown." No one followed a Night Fury at night.
Author's Note: I suppose I might have warned of character death, but I did hint that I wasn't averse to killing off characters with the death of Mildew. Farewell Stormfly. If Vithvarandi's actions don't make any sense, rest assured Hiccup is as confused as you are at the moment. Anyone have a guess as to where this is going next chapter? I'll say now, next chapter might be the darkest yet. As a side note, chapter 11 will be posted a day early, Friday morning instead of Saturday, and 12 will come on time as per the usual schedule.