Chapter 14: The Escape

Astrid sat up from a bed in the healer's hut. Caiden was asleep in his crib beside her. She was in the healer's hut because Caiden had a fever yesterday and she wanted to stay close in case he got worse.

Astrid realized that today was the day Hiccup was supposed to get back. She stood up and walked over to the small desk in there was a notebook. Curiosity took over her, and she sat down to inspect it. After a few pages, it was obvious that the person who drew this loved dragons. Then after the ten pages of dragons, and very interesting page of eggs, scenes started to take place of dragons.

Astrid recognized these scenes, she was in most of them. Every person's face was perfectly drawn, except for one. As Astrid keep looking, she realized the blank face was Cami's. This must be her book. Then she saw a picture that made her eyes tear up.

It was of the three Haddocks and Cami, but Cami's face was blank. Astrid realized that Cami probably hadn't seen her own face before, so she couldn't draw herself. One more page. Astrid saw a dark room, with a white dragon in the middle. A muzzle laid on the floor beside the dragon, and a man was pinned to the wall with ice. Astrid smiled when she realized this was the moment before Cami escaped.

Astrid would ask Cami about this when she got back, especially the eggs, and she would get some answers.

Cami sighed and looked at her sore wrists. Everyday Magnus would put the tight handcuffs on and make her sit in his office. Sometimes he would talk to her, or hit her, but sometimes he would make her just sit there. Cami realized that today was the day they were supposed to be in Berk. She frowned, looking a wall, not really seeing it.

"You ok?" Emma asked from beside her. Emma and Cami weren't taken from the room today, so Cami played with Wren while the two girls talked.

Cami said, "We were supposed to make it back to Berk today." When Emma didn't respond, Cami thought about what Magnus told her over a week ago. She couldn't stop thinking about Hiccup being her dad, Astrid being her mom, and Stoick being her brother. What was she supposed to say to them? Would she ever even see Astrid again to tell her?

The door open and Cami saw Hiccup walk through the door. The hunters had given his leg back when Hiccup started to work in the forge. Stoick came in a few minutes later, from being forced to help train dragons. This was one of the only times Stoick wasn't smiling. He hated to help the hunters.

Wren hid her face in Cami's tunic. She was scared of Stoick since he was very tall and was sometimes too loud, but Cami was trying to get her to warm up to him.

"Hey Cami, Hey Emma," Stoick said as he sat in front of the two girls. He looked exhausted.

Cami said, "Hi Stoick. Look Wren, it's Stoick!" Wren lifted her head and gave Stoick a little wave. Stoick waved back, and Wren giggled before wiggling around on Cami's lap so she was facing Stoick.

Cami winced a bit when Wren rubbed against her leg, but she just smiled at the little girl. Allen and Jack walked in and came to sit by the three teens. Allen and Emma talked for a bit, while Wren got excited that Jack was there and ran to him.

Jack laughed and gave Wren a little toy of a dragon he whittled from a piece of scrap wood. She cooed over it and made it fly around while making dragon noises.

After a while, Wren ran back to Cami. "I'm hungry!" Wren said.

"Just a few more minutes, Wren," Cami told her. Wren pouted for a minute, but then got back up and played with her dragon toy. Cami turned to Jack and asked, "How was the forge?"

Jack shrugged and said, "Better than usual I guess. Hiccup has been teaching me a lot of useful stuff." Just then, the hunters walked in with a few loaves of bread. The few that were there only took their portions, leaving the rest for the people still working. Wren smiled as she ate her bread in between Cami and Jack.

Jack saw Cami's wrists and said, "Your hands look awful."

"Thanks," Cami replied sarcastically. Jack frowned at her.

"I didn't mean it like that."

Cami smiled at him. "I know."

Jack leaned over Wren and kissed Cami on the cheek. Cami blushed, but luckily the room was dark and no one could see it.

Jorden gagged, receiving an annoyed glare from Jack. Stoick smiled at him. Cami rolled her eyes at Stoick, trying not to blush harder.

Tonight the prisoners were having pork and beans, leftover from the hunters' supper. Cami put some beans into two bowls, one for her and one for Wren. She led the little girl to a wall and sat down.

"Here you go Wren," Cami said as she gave Wren her beans. Jack sat down beside Cami.

"Why didn't you get some pork?" Jack asked her. Cami looked regretfully and Jack's good-looking piece of meat.

"I don't think my stomach could handle it," she told him. Cami had started to get sick these past few days. Cami suspected her leg was getting infected. If they didn't escape soon, she would probably die. Cami didn't tell Jack this, though. He was worried enough without this. She could handle this.

Jack looked at her worriedly. "Are you Ok?"

"I'm fine," Cami lied, and went back to eating her beans.

Hiccup and Fishlegs walked to Jack and Cami. "So, we have been thinking on a way to get out of here, but we got nothing," Fishlegs said. Cami didn't know Fishlegs that well, but he seemed like a good man.

"I know where Hiccup's fire-sword and my bow are, they're in Magnus's office," Cami said. "But I'm always handcuffed so I can't move my hands an inch."

Hiccup stared into space thoughtfully. "If we can grab weapons, we can threaten to kill Magnus and the hunters will have to let us free."

"But how will we get the weapons?" Jack said.

"Maybe I can get myself into enough trouble that they send me to Magnus," Hiccup suggested.

Cami shook her head. "No, that wouldn't work. The hunters would just beat you into pulp. Magnus always makes the hunter leave before chaining me up. Maybe I could hurt him hard enough before he chains my hands and grab the weapons."

Jack looked worried about the idea. "Are you sure?"

Cami stood up. "Well, I need some tips on how to hurt him, but I can pull it off."

Jack stood up and helped her figure out a way to take Magnus down. After about a hour, they both laid down to sleep, Wren in between Jack and Cami.

Cami didn't know she fell asleep until she was jerked awake by a hunter. He dragged her Magnus's office as usual, and left her there. Magnus stood up and grabbed the chains as usual, expecting Cami to stand still like she always did. Magnus drew nearer, and Cami got ready to strike. He grabbed her hand, and she brought her knee up to hit the place where it really hurts.

Cami didn't waste a second and she jabbed him in the jaw as hard as she could. He stumbled back, and she ran as fast she could, grabbed her bow, loaded and arrow, and aimed at Magnus's chest before he could blink. His eyes widened, and his hand went up to his bleeding mouth.

"You are going to let us go now," Cami said calmly. "We are going to walk outside and you are going to tell the hunters to let everyone and their dragons go. Or I will shoot you." Magnus nodded, and Cami said, "Let's go."

She followed him out the hallway, not lowering her bow. Magnus lead them to the forge, where Hiccup and Jack caught sight of her and smiled. Hiccup ran to go get his fire sword, and Jack took a ring of keys from Magnus and went to go unlock all the dragons and people.

Hiccup came back with the handcuffs and his sword. He handcuffed Magnus's hands behind his back and pointed his sword to the villain's chest. "Go help Jack," he told her. She ran without hesitation. She helped all the kids who didn't have dragons to find a buddy to ride with. Jorden would ride with Jack and Wren would ride with Cami. Finally, everyone was ready to go.

Toothless was beyond furious, and he was ready to kill Magnus. "What should we do with him?" Cami asked.

Hiccup looked thoughtful, then said, "We will burn all their ships and leave them here. If they get off this island," Hiccup put his face into Magnus's, "we will kill them." Hiccup punched Magnus so hard that the man fell down and passed out. The dragon riders set fire to all the boats and buildings, then flew north, towards Berk.

Jack felt Jorden wrap his little arms tighter around him. Jack knew how much the boy was scared, but he kept flying. They had to get to Berk as fast as possible.

Cami had a high fever, she said it was nothing, but Fishlegs said her leg was getting infected. Cami couldn't hold on to Wren anymore, because she was so weak, so Stoick was holding the little girl. It seemed that Wren had finally warmed up to him. Jack looked over at Cami. She was leaning on Starblaze so much that it looked like she was laying down. Suddenly, Hiccup yelled, "I see Berk!"

Starblaze seemed to perk up at this news, but Cami didn't move. Jack tried to get closer to Cami, but couldn't do anything since Jorden was holding on to him so tight.

The island got closer and closer. The dragons seemed to be anxious to get to Berk because many riders were injured.

As soon as the dragons landed, Astrid was hugging Hiccup and Stoick, Minden was crying with Snotlout and Allen, and Ruffnut was punching Tuffnut.

Jack watched Cami slide from her saddle, she looked like she was about to pass out. She struggled to get the bow off her back, then to get the quiver of arrows off her belt. Starblaze stood beside her, looking very worried. Deathclaws and Norbert saw her fall, and they ran to her. After finding she was hurt, they blasted anyone who tried to get near her. Even Stoick and Allen couldn't get close enough to help.

"No! We need to help her!" Jack yelled. The dragons looked at him, as if trying to understand what he was saying.

Cami lifted her head up and said, "You have to let them help me." Her voice was raspy, and it was so quiet that Jack could barely hear it. The dragons said something back to her, but they let Jack come and pick her up.

"I can walk on my own," Cami protested weakly, but Jack didn't listen. He took her to the healer's. The healer told him to take Cami upstairs and showed him a bed to put her on. She groaned when he set her down.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. She looked at him and smiled.

"Thanks for helping me." The words were so quiet, Jack wasn't sure that he actually heard them. He leaned down and kissed her forehead.

Before he could say anything, the healer came in and told him to leave. When he begged to stay, she said he could if he could help her. Jack agreed.

First, the healer took of Cami's boots. Then she took a pair of scissors and cut Cami's leggings right above the cut, then a line down the leggings so she could pull the fabric off with the minimum pain possible. When the fabric was gone, Jack winced as he looked at Cami's leg.

The cut was deep and jagged, and it had pus coming out. The skin was pale around it, and Cami's face was red with fever.

The healer said, "Get a wet rag and wipe her face to get the fever down." Jack saw a bucket of water in the corner an dipped a rag in it. He wiped her hot face, being careful of the cut on her face, and she groaned before falling unconscious. Jack sighed. When the healer noticed he looked disappointed, she said, "Trust me. It's better if she can't feel this."

She took a bad-smelling paste and rubbed it over Cami's cut. Cami moved a bit, but didn't wake up. After wrapping the wound, the healer told Jack that she was going to check on the other riders. She said to keep cooling down Cami's fever, and Jack did just that. After a while, he sat down beside the bed and held Cami's hand.

"Get better soon Cami. Please."