RAGNAROK IS COMING
— Onwards —
"Can you hear me?"
Thin lips, green eyes, blonde hair.
"Astrid? Can you hear me?"
She wanted to answer but there were no words left on her tongue, nothing but sand on her lips and clouds in her eyes and water in her ears.
"I- I'm so sorry, Astrid. I didn't know it was you."
Fishlegs. The name popped into her head like a snapped twig in the forest. She knew this man. They had grown up together.
"And I- I-"
"Stop with the mumbling and just give me the damn diagnosis."
Astrid knew that man too. The one with a metal stump for an arm. The one with a crooked, evil snarl and a call of demise already on his lips.
Fishlegs, that blonde large boy always tinkering with something, he ran a stumpy hand through his tatted mop of hair. "Well the Alchemist said he won't be very long and you'd be better waiting for him to say because I-"
When Drago shoved Astrid into the table she only blinked.
"She's dying- it's, well I think- and the doctor thinks." He took a breath and looked Astrid in the eyes. "Some sort of disease. Her body seems to be rejecting everything."
"And this is why my Freabole no longer works? You told me it was keeping her alive." Drago snapped.
Fishlegs visibly cowered, ducking his gaze to the floor and wringing his hands. "Well it is- was. I mean, there is only so much the body can take before any kind of poison causes permanent damage."
Drago lifted a vial of something glowing and purple. "Then you stop administering it."
Astrid felt her head go fuzzy and the floor had started to move.
"It's not as easy as that she's- the Freabole has become like an addiction. I think if you took her off it her entire system would crash."
Drago breathed sharply, his voice coming out calm but no less lethal. "Tell me without riddles you blubbering fool."
"Keep her on the Freabole and she will continue to deteriorate." Fishlegs spoke, a new sense of stillness in him. "She will continue to reject food- any kind of substance, liquids as well. Her muscles are shrinking in on themselves, her heart rate will slow until she will eventually die. Stop administering and she will go into shock immediately. Die, immediately."
Drago tipped Astrid's chin up, forcing her to look at him but there was nothing left in those eyes to force. No life, no soul.
"A pity. I thought she would have lasted longer." He huffed, "seems you're not so special after all."
With a less than gentle shove, Astrid tipped, crashing first into dark metal trays and rough tools and then collapsing head first. Fishlegs didn't dare rush over.
"See to it she is used for some purpose and report the Alchemist's findings straight to me." Drago ordered and left, slamming the old wooden door hard enough to vibrate through the walls.
Only then did a hand come under Astrid's head and lift her to something softer. Fishlegs' blurry face suspended above her faded in and out and he was saying something. Something she should probably thank him for.
"I'll keep you in here, at the back. He can't come in here because of the boxes and you'll be hidden." And then there was something warm on her forehead, fingers rubbing softly.
"I'm so sorry Astrid, for the part I have in this, but I won't let the Alchemist near you. I swear, you'll be safe here."
His footsteps disappeared and the light with it until Astrid was nothing but a fog floating in and out of reality, trapped in suspended sleep but unable to fall into slumber.
Cold. It was cold wherever Fishlegs had put her. Cold and cramped and dark. So damn dark that her imagination conjured up her own fears so that two white dots became eyes watching her. A shadow in the corner became a creature with claws that dragged across the floor as he inched closer- always inching closer and yet never moving.
Hel. This is exactly how Astrid imagined Hel to be.
…oOo…
Liogoo felt a sense of déjà vu, watching the sail of a Viking's longboat whipping in the frosty wind. It had seemed impossible, but the air was getting colder, prickling her skin and Liogoo knew it would be a death wish to dare go into these icy waters. With no magic and no land to find even a mildly warm spring, there was a high chance she was going to bake alive. The smart thing would have been to find a spring before leaving that Berkain Island but the smarter thing was to watch Avrid as he stalked into the longboat and moped over a map for the hour before they had set sail. She had a slight suspicion that he would have unhooked that anchor and sailed off if alone for two seconds.
Her body vibrated in a shiver as Liogoo watched the deck below. The longboat was exactly the same design as the last one she'd been but grander, made for the head of a chief's armada. There was a raised deck at the opposite end of the keel, where the chief could stand and watch over the sea and his boat, to see what may be coming. Below were the others, the second of the chief: Spitelout; and his son, Snotlout. It had been as unpleasant to meet the boastful child as it was the rest of the humans. He kept looking at Liogoo, as if he was waiting for her to notice him and fawn. He may be the heir to his uncle's title, but he had a certain level of pride that didn't belong to the short man.
Liogoo ignored him and found herself watching the smithy with two remaining limbs and a rock for a tooth. He sat on a box, beating it into place and using a flickering candle as a light and his hook as a mirror but the way Avrid and Gobber interacted- she found her way in. Gobber was important to Avrid, in whatever sense and it left him vulnerable, leaving someone Liogoo could question, ask of this 'Hiccup'. This worm of a boy his village claims he was. She would have to wait until Avrid wasn't on the boat though for even in this constricted realm he seemed to have abilities not yet explained.
"Here, lass." Liogoo jumped as Chief Stoick laid a heavy, fur cloak over her shoulders. He gave her a warm smile and rubbed her arms with more force than she thought necessary.
"It's unseasonably cold, this winter." he added, noticing her glare and stepping back.
Liogoo thanked the old man though, and pulled a buckle the size of her head across to the other side and snuggled in. It was heavy enough to press down and smelled overwhelmingly like human; but was warm. Running her hand on the inside of the harsh fabric, she watched the chief out of the corner of her eye. Stoick went back to the huge helm of the boat and adjusted it, his keen eyes staggering between the stars and the sea.
It was strange, how this human navigated. As if he knew which way the pattern of the sky tilted around his world and yet, when she'd overheard him talking to his second, they had described this world as flat. Strange, how little they knew of the realm they lived and still survived and, perhaps, thrived. Fighting and living as the other realms do. Humans had been depicted as animalistic things, cowering under rocks and living like vermin under the threat of stronger, sharper claws and fangs. It seemed overexaggerated when she was reminded that Avrid came from Midgard; though he had never seemed truly human.
Stoick took a breath and then exhaled, and again before he finally spoke up.
"Tell me about my son." he said, quiet and harsh.
In the unstable flicker of the candle attached to the side of the helm she could see a little of Avrid in Stoick. In the way they held their jaws locked when uncomfortable- which seemed to be how Avrid normally looked. In the green eyes and rosy cheeks but there was so much of someone else in Avrid; it made her wonder who his mother was. If she was not of this realm then it would finally reveal where Avrid got that strange glimmer in his eyes- in everywhere but Midgard. Where that bottomless well of power came from and the almost natural instincts that had him mastering it better and faster than nine realms' worth of creatures.
Liogoo shifted under the cloak. "Tell me of Hiccup."
Stoick smiled slightly, his flat eyes crinkling. "My boy. He was- warm. Sometimes too soft for the life of a Northern Viking. He was picked on a lot but I thought it would toughen him up."
Liogoo frowned, Avrid was far from soft. Not even the first time she'd met him- in fact, he'd scolded Liogoo the first time she came face-to-face with him.
"A runt, what Gothi told me when he's born. A runt of the litter. Did you know he'd a brother in his mother's womb?" Liogoo shook her head. "The child passed and we thought it was the end of the babe but then V- Valka, she kept growing, and then there was Hiccup. He was small, barely survived his first winter."
Stoick took a breath and pulled the ship to the side ever so slightly. "And he never grew out of it. Always sick and sniffing no matter the charms and blessings I had Gothi put on the boy. That stone on his finger, the one 'ats now wrapped in- painted silver, or something-"
"Melted Dragon scales." Liogoo cut in, remembering the opal stone in that ring he wore on his index finger.
Stoick's eyes flickered but nodded. "Aye. 'At was blessed by Gothi when he was six. Nearly died that winter, of a cough settled deep in them lungs. Never did really recover from that."
Liogoo's heart kicked a beat. One day she had followed Avrid through the Vanirian Mountain Markets, a healer's market, and caught him buying all sorts of things. He hadn't explained when she'd asked and- well, she hadn't paid too much attention at the time, but he had definitely bought Nowarl. A tonic made for the lungs, for the scars on them that cannot vanish and ripple a disease through the body every winter. With the many ailments Avrid had, she hadn't thought of it much but Nowarl- it was a Healer's tonic. Meaning specifically designed for him. Creatures came from all over to get such a thing and many were rejected because of the unpredictable side effects but to have one made- the scarring would have to be bad.
"But he was always clever. Had him in Gobber's smithy before he could talk and I remember one day, he'd come running up a hill all proud of 'imself for making some- well it was supposed to catch the boars or something, but when he set it off the thing recoiled and he'd a black eye for weeks. Got a good bit of messing for that one." Stoick smiled at the memory. "But it never stopped him. Always messing with something that inevitably blew up in his face or some other poor folk's."
Liogoo looked down the boat, but Avrid had gone off somewhere, below deck or to the keel.
"Tell me what happened to my boy. What- changed him? What are those scars?" Stoick focused on the night sky but Liogoo could smell his fear and desperation.
Afraid to know the truth but desperate for it.
"I don't know." She lied. "He doesn't speak much of his past."
Stoick nodded but Liogoo continued. "But he is an Elder, of Radox. This means very little to you, human, I know. But he is feared and respected by the most feared and respected creatures. I have seen him take on Elves and Dwarves twice as old and barely break a sweat. He has moved mountains, levelled forests and tamed seas. The leader of the Court of Crowns. What took me and every other Kohuru thirty years to master he managed in ten, m-"
Stoick snapped around. "Hiccup is thirty? How? It has only been eight years!" Liogoo frowned, that was a surprise and not the confirmation of other creatures?
"It is the way of Yggdrasil. One of your years is three there, like a change in the flow of time- though most immortals do not age any more because of the leap. Hiccup is three decades I believe, yes. Why is this surprising?" Liogoo tilted her head.
"He looks barely twenty." Stoick said but his mind was far away, processing everything Liogoo had revealed. She kept forgetting that the humans did not know very much of the realm beyond their own. She also forgot that humans rotted when they aged and though Avrid was fighting fit, it was true he looked barely past his second decade.
When Stoick remained silent Liogoo lowered to the rough floorboards of the boat and tucked herself into the cloak, falling asleep easily as the boat rocked her gently.
…oOo…
Avrid listened to Liogoo's even breath, fighting the urge to throw her over deck. Her prying was becoming far more irritating than he'd anticipated but he took a deep breath and ignored it. He breathed in until his lungs cracked stiff joints in his back and warmed the space between him and the wall he faced.
He just needed to focus. Toothless still hadn't sent much of a word beyond the occasional grumble, the bare minimum to let Avrid know he was alive at least.
It was driving him insane.
Whatever was keeping his brother from responding would have had to be dangerous and yet Toothless didn't call for his help. Though it felt bitter to admit it, Avrid would have been coping better with his friend by his side. Someone to snarl everyone away and keep Liogoo in place. Someone to keep him sane in the night because those nightmares were getting worse. That glass was cracking further with every night that passed. He had slept last night, if only to prepare for facing Drago but he would have to keep himself awake for the next few days, to keep that glass from shattering in a place that may be decimated in its aftermath.
The lack of magic and sleep was taking its toll though. It left him more rude than normal and Avrid couldn't be sure exactly what day it was. He was losing himself. Losing the things that normally kept him centred and in control and with every loss came another crack in that wall. Another piece of him flying away.
He just needed to think. To focus on his head for two seconds and sort through all this uselessness.
No power.
No Toothless.
No realm jumping.
No contact with Radox.
Avrid pressed his forefinger and middle to his temple, tapping gently, breathing deeply. A form of sleep that didn't cast him into slumber. A meditation that thrived off the rocking of the boat and the silence of the night.
"What are you doing?"
Avrid fought with every morsel in him not to snarl.
"Meditating. Leave me be."
Tannis edged closer, straining to look at just why Avrid faced a wall and had begun whispering to himself.
"What is that?"
Avrid exhaled sharply. "A calming measure so that I do not go insane and kill you all bloody and viciously."
Tannis frowned.
"Now leave me be."
"Can you teach me?"
That had Avrid turning slowly, blinking at the Siren. "No."
"Why."
May the Old Gods save him.
He went to snap at the Siren and send him running with his tail between his legs, but a horn blew from above deck; a warning bell.
"Because we have arrived." He remarked and stood, brushing past Tannis and climbing to the deck.
With a sharp whistle, Avrid stalked to the keel of the boat and looked at the Island Drago had taken hold of. Stoick, Gobber, Spitelout, Snotlout, Liogoo and Tannis took their revised spots behind Avrid, each one of them with their weapons laid out on the floor of the boat. Avrid kept Forseti quiet wherever she had hidden herself, humming under his breath as they sailed forward.
It was a fortress.
Sharp cliffs and stacks in a V formation that was almost impossibly perfect. On those stacks were metal spheres and men with bows trained on their heads. A cloud had descended, covering the rest of the island but through the dips in them Avrid could see a village- one far more advanced than anything the humans should have developed.
"Raise the flag." Avrid said to Gobber and the hobbled man lifted his missing appendage, a white cloth tied to the hook of it.
It would have been impossible to sneak in, Avrid knew that but he hadn't expected the place to be this well guarded. As they sailed through those stacks, a ship on either side did the same, curiously watching on the outside. Avrid inhaled and looked at Liogoo.
She nodded, slipping below deck to where Gobber had created a trapdoor to the ocean. Avrid looked to the sea as they sailed to the island's docks, catching two disappearing fins and only now realising Tannis must have slipped out with her. If the Siren fucked this entire mission up because he couldn't follow an order, Avrid was going to filet him.
But he focused on the men gathered at the dock, men from very far outside of the Archipelago. It seemed Drago had made some rather dangerous friends. Thirteen guards, a Captain and a dock master stood prepared, weapons lifted but it was the Captain Avrid found himself drawn to.
"State your name and reason for docking?" An old man said, permanently hunched over a scroll and a feather in his other hand.
Avrid planted his feet. "Avrid Guigrain. I am here to see Drago, to bargain for the release of Berk's people."
The old man's bushy brows lifted in surprise and he stumbled a little before clearing his throat. " B- Berk, you say?"
Surprise, because Berk was supposed to be nothing but a graveyard. Thirteen soldiers looked at the cast gathered, the half-limbed blacksmith, glaring advisor and his son who'd crossed his stubby arms in an attempt to hide his shaking hands. At the weathered chief and the son that lounged against the shaft of the mast, arms folded.
Avrid smiled calmly at the man. "Yes. Take me to Drago and we will cause you no harm." And then there were knives below the necks of the dock master and the Captain of those soldiers. The former dropped his feather to the sea and clutched his scroll. He lifted wrinkled hands to Liogoo's blade and paled when he realised how close his death was; ironic, Avrid thought.
Checkmate.
The man gulped as Liogoo pressed her blade closer, inching her tipped teeth at his throat in a warning. "Y- Yes, fine."
They may have been outnumbered but that dock master and Captain would never sacrifice their lives for this island. For the chance that the other thirteen soldiers might take out either Tannis or Liogoo before there was a dagger deep in their chest.
Avrid stepped off the boat and gave the man a gentle pat on the shoulder. "Good." He looked to the Captain. "Tell your men to get in the boat, to go below deck."
The Captain made to struggle but a human was no match for a Siren and Tannis tightened his grip on the man's hands. It was not lost in Avrid, the irony of a Captain holding the life of a Captain.
With a grunt, the Captain stared at Avrid. "Go to Hel."
Tannis tightened his grip until the Captain's arms nearly popped out of their sockets; yet he only huffed at Avrid. "There are bows trained on your head right now. One signal from me and you are dead."
"Probably." Avrid said, walking up to him, facing him. "But you won't because you do not care very much for this island or Drago's command, do you Paeton?"
The Captain furrowed his brow.
"I always remember a face." Avrid said, pointing to the light scar on the man's temple. "And I remember the day I gave this to you. I never thought you would have stayed with your uncle, but I suppose turning your back on your family pays well when you're their killer's right hand."
Paeton shoved against Tannis, his face going bright red and nostrils flaring. "You bastard!"
"At least you have made something of yourself. Tell me, is that your father's sword behind your back?" Avrid goaded as recognition flamed in the boy's eyes, strained familiarity, but recognition nonetheless.
Paeton spat on Avrid's boots. "Fuck you."
"Let me in, peacefully, Paeton. Let me finish what I started."
"You didn't have the balls to kill him eight years ago. There is nothing you can do now, Drago is untouchable." Paeton hissed between his teeth.
Avrid sniffed and rubbed his nose. "Yes, well I think you'll find I am far more deadly than I was then."
And before any of them could have anticipated it, Avrid flicked his wrists and two bodies and two bows fell from the cliff above, dead before they hit the water.
Paeton looked between the cliff face and Avrid, assessing. Putting the pieces together and then looking to Avrid for confirmation. Avrid only slid his head to the side.
Paeton sighed but then nodded slowly to his men. They paused for a second, wisely considering the sanity of their commander before walking to the boat, staring at Paeton in confusion before dropping below deck, every one of them. Spitlout rushed to close the hatch and pull the wooden lock over it.
Avrid raised his brows at Paeton. "Onwards?"
The Captain took a deep breath as Liogoo slid her knife back, cutting the skin enough to bleed. A warning and one Paeton glared at her for but he fixed his uniform, pulled his cloak tighter and looked at Avrid.
"You have a plan?"
Avrid smiled. "Of course."