Chapter 11: The Plan
Cami walked up the steps to the Great Hall, carrying a map she drew early this morning of the dragon port. She walked in the huge doors, and saw Hiccup, Astrid, Stoick, Snotlout, Minden, Allen, Fishlegs, and two people that she didn't know sitting at a table. She walked over and sat in between Astrid and Stoick, across from Hiccup.
When she sat down Hiccup said, "Cami, this is Ruffnut." He motioned to a woman sitting beside Fishlegs. "And Tuffnut," he continued, pointing to Ruffnut's twin. Cami nodded to them, and rolled out her map.
For a few moments, there was silence. Then Fishlegs said, "Whoa. Are you sure that is the right size?" Cami looked at the map. The dragon port looked huge compared to the other landmarks.
She nodded. "This is as close to scale as possible. So, the ships are brought in here," she said, pointing to her drawings of ships, "then they take the cages down here, and the holding area is here." Her finger moved along the lines as she spoke. "Dragon root arrow launchers are here, here, and here," Cami said, pointing to the x's she had drawn. "And the net launchers here."
Astrid pointed to a red circle in the corner of the map. "What's this?"
"That's the prisoners cells." Cami looked up to Hiccup, and said, "We can rescue them, right? We have to!"
Hiccup's finger made its way to the circle. "Of course. I wouldn't dream of leaving them." Hiccup watched Cami carefully. She seemed more calm after she got permission to save the prisoners. There must be some of her friends in there.
"Ok, so the dragons are here," Cami continued, showing a red outline of a building. "The training area is there, and here's where they take off." A chained dome and a empty field were pointed out.
"Take off?" Stoick questioned.
Cami sighed downheartedly. "They ride dragons, Stoick." Fishlegs slammed his hand on the table, making Cami jump out of her skin.
"I can't believe it! They're forcing dragons to do their dirty work! Again!" He yelled, and then glanced at Cami, who was staring at him with wide eyes. "Are you Ok?"
Hiccup's eyes snapped to Cami, who was pale as her dragon. She shook her head slightly, trying to get a memory of a dragon hunter slamming his hand on the table and yelling at her for breaking something, then taking her and beating her.
"Cami?" Astrid said quietly beside her. "You need a break?"
"No, I'm ok." She was shaken, but it made her want to defeat the hunters even more. "They are very skilled riders, and ride almost every breed of dragon. You'll have trouble finding a weakness that they all share," she told them.
"What does their leader ride?" Snotlout asked, his hand on his chin thoughtfully.
"A singletail, and he is the best rider of his army. We need a very good plan to even have a chance of beating him." Cami chewed on her lip. The men started to make a plan on how to sneak in, with Stoick and Allen chiming in every few minutes.
Astrid watched Cami closely. Her shoulders were slumped, she looked like she hadn't slept in a while. Astrid leaned towards her and whispered, "Are you still alright?"
Cami looked up at her, then looked at her hands. She whispered back, "I'll survive." She gave Astrid a half-smile. Astrid reached over and gave Cami a hug. Cami stiffened without thinking. No one had ever given her a hug. She sighed, relaxing into Astrid's arms, trying to memorize the feeling of being hugged.
Cami heard dragons yelling outside, as well as Vikings shouting. Hiccup noticed it to.
"What's that?" Stoick asked. Hiccup stood up and walked to the door. Cami and Astrid followed him.
Starblaze was on top of a boy Cami's age, growling at him. All you could see of the boy was his bright blond hair sticking in all directions. A Nader stood close by, watching Starblaze. And Vikings made a circle around the two dragons, most of them at a loss because they had never seen her dragon act this way before.
Cami ran to the circle, pushing through the villagers. When she got to Starblaze, the dragon let the boy stand up. He had barely stood up for a few seconds when Cami saw his face and pounced on him. She put her knee on top of his stomach and held his arms at his sides.
"How dare you stay away for that long?!" Cami demanded, smiling widely. He flipped her over, holding her in the same position.
"It's not like you made it any easier for me to get out of there! They've reinforced guards like crazy!" he told her.
Cami stopped struggling. "Really?" she asked seriously.
He nodded and got off of her. She stood up, and he said, "Your dragon is attacked me when I got here. I thought it was the end!"
Cami said, "You must still have the dragon port sent on you."
The boy gagged, "I'll never get that stuff off me!" They both laughed, then Hiccup and Astrid made their way through the crowd.
"Who's this?" Hiccup asked, seeing them both laughing. Cami stepped up. "Hiccup, this is my friend, Jack. We worked in the dragon port together. Jack, this is Hiccup, Chief of Berk, and his wife, Astrid."
Jack shook Hiccup's hand. "It has gotten a lot worse these past few months. More and more dragons are bought everyday. It took everything I had to get Spark out of there," he told Cami, gesturing to his Nader. "We need to do something."
"Well, we were just making a plan, Jack. We could really use your input," Hiccup told him. Jack nodded and the four went into the Great Hall.
After introducing Jack to everyone, they sat down, Jack sitting between Cami and Stoick. Jack made adjustments to the map, and Snotlout looked surprised.
"That's more enforced then anything we've seen!" Snotlout said. He was at a loss for words looking at the map.
Allen huffed, "I can't believe you guys! It's too easy. Just bring all of Berk, and this them with every thing we have. Boom!" He leaned back, acting like he solved all their problems.
"Even if that was your plan, you'd be outnumbered. We can only take half the village," Jack said.
"Half the village?" Hiccup questioned.
"Well you need to leave some to defend Berk, you know," Jack said.
"And no women can go," Cami finished.
Astrid, Heather, Minden, and Ruffnut all yelled, "What?!" at the same time, and everyone started talking loudly. Jack grabbed Cami's hand under the table when they yelled, gripping it tightly. He had just escaped, so he was still on edge when it came to yelling. Cami understood, she still had a problem with it to.
Hiccup noticed that the two looked upset, and said, "Alright guys, quiet down. Cami why do you say they can't come?"
Cami shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "They will go for the women first."
When Hiccup looked like he didn't understand, Jack said, "They treat women... differently."
Hiccup's face showed he understood, and he looked at his wife. She looked shocked, and Astrid said, "Ok, we will stay at Berk, and the men will go fight the hunters."
Cami leaned forward, letting go of Jack's hand a pointing to the map. "So, where will we hit first?"
"We? You just said that women couldn't go!" Hiccup said, crossing his arms.
Cami glared at Hiccup. "I'm young enough they won't do anything to me. Plus, Starblaze would be the most useful in battle because of her ice."
Jack nodded. "Cami needs to come."
After a bit of argument, Hiccup sighed, "We'll talk about this later."
For the rest of the afternoon, they made a plan. After three hours of planning, Hiccup said, "Ok guys, we will finish this tomorrow and decide when we are going." The four teens were the first to leave the door, and they were attacked by their dragons the moment they stepped out the door.
.: Where were you all day?! :. demanded Norbert.
.: Let's go flying now! :. Starblaze yelled.
At the same time, Deathclaws said .: I want some fish! :.
And Spark picked up Jack and shook him. They all laughed as Jack was dropped to the ground.
Allen was the first to leave. Then Stoick told them he needed to go and watch Caiden, and Jack and Cami decided to go get Jack a saddle.
Jack looked around Berk as Cami lead him to the blacksmith. She said he needed a saddle for Spark. He agreed with her, but after riding hard to get out of the dragon port and then planning to go back all day, he just wanted to sleep.
As they walked to Gobber's shop, Jack said, "Well Cami, it looks like you found some great people. Have you found your family?"
Cami sighed. "No, I haven't. After I escaped, I was shot by an arrow, and crash landed here. They helped me get back on my feet."
They were silent until they reached the blacksmith. Cami grinned at Jack and said, "I'll do the talking. Gobber is crazy." She walked to the window and said, "Hey Gobber!"
He turned around from fixing a saddle. "Hey Camicazi, didn't see ya there. How are ya doing?"
"I'm great. This is my friend, Jack. We were wondering if you could make him a saddle, he rides a Nader," she told him.
"Of course, it'll be finished tomorrow."
"Thanks Gobber," Cami said and turned to Jack. She motioned for him to follow her, and she took them to a cliff overlooking Berk. When they go there, she asked, "Is it worse than what your telling them?"
Jack looked at his feet. Cami didn't have to tell him what she was talking about. He told her, "They are treating the prisoners worse. A lot worse."
"Is it because of me?"
Jack had never heard such a heart-broken tone come from Cami. She was always the strong one who would comfort the younger kids when they were beaten. She could always make you feel better. When he looked over at her, she looked like she was about to cry. He took her hand.
"Cami, you know as well as I do that they were adding more security before you escaped. You can't blame yourself," he said gently. Jack had seen Cami cry, and he hoped to never see her cry again.
She squeezed his hand, and said, "Tell me about how you escaped."
"Well, one day I was told to feed the Naders, and I found Spark, got him to trust me, then we shot every hunter that saw what happened," he told her. "We didn't kill any of them, though. We just shot arms and legs."
Cami smiled at him. "I'm so glad your here. I was having trouble getting Hiccup to believe me on how dangerous it is."
"So you only wanted me here so I could back you up?" Jack teased playfully.
Cami shook her head. "No I hurt really missed you." She surprised Jack by hugging him. Jack had never been hugged, being kidnapped as a baby, but he decided he liked the feeling of being hugged.
"I missed you too."
Ooo! Cami's got her best friend back! And now Berk is going to try and defeat the dragon hunters! Hope you guys enjoy this chapter and leave a review!