Somehow, Toothless managed to sniff Hiccup out after he fell from the cliff. And it turned out he had washed up near Grandmamma's house. The two had apparently met up after Hadrian and Hiccup's previous battle. Toothless carried him to the cabin where they nursed and patched up his cuts and bruises. They also showed him some spells and incantations to practice for Hadrian when they were to meet again. It also explains the strange mark on Hiccup's forehead. It embodies courage, strength and perseverance. They need to lead Hadrian into the woods where they will have a trap set up all ready for him.
Now all they had to do was get Hadrian weak, and into the book.
Hadrian walks through the streets leading to the Square, watching as the men march and salutes him as he passes by. He gives them nods of salute and continues on. Cold white daylight spreads across the sky. Lurid, but still midmorning hazy, the light streams through gatherings of clouds bathing the whole village in a translucent glow, giving each building its own halo. But it does so little to cut through the fog the drifts through the streets of the village.
As he passes Hiccup's old home, he can hear a banging. He walks closer, two men guarding the door, and listens to the banging.
"You can't keep me in here! I know my rights!" Heather screams through the door.
"She's got quite the mouth." Hadrian says as he backs up.
"She's been going nonstop for an hour now." One guard informs.
"Hm, strong willed." Hadrian says stroking his chin.
"Anything we should do sir?" the other guard asks.
"We'll break her in due time. In the meantime, no food or water. Three days." He orders.
"Sir!" the men ten hut and Hadrian walks off.
He goes and visits the arena where the dragons continue to thrash inside their cages, all except for Stormfly. She lays, whining in pain as the bite mark from the Scauldron bulges and oozes puss.
"Soldier!" Hadrian calls.
"Yes sir!"
"How long has the Nadder been sitting there?" he asks.
"About seven hours sir, since last night." The soldier informs.
"She'll be dead soon. Leave her." He says leaving the arena.
He passes through the village until he finds Alvin and Mildew in front of the Great Hall. "Enjoying yourselves gentlemen?" Hadrian asks as he approaches.
"Ten hut." Alvin says.
"At ease." Hadrian orders.
"I must say, this is quite the enjoyable sight. No teenagers, no dragons. This is just perfect." Mildew says as he gestures to the village. "You've done well, Hadrian."
Hadrian narrows his eyebrows and glares at him and Mildew backs away.
"Sir," he adds at the end.
Hadrian looks out to the Meridian of Misery. "So, what do you say, we move on to the Beserker Tribe?" Hadrian suggests.
But before anyone could answer, something snakes round Mildew and yanks him to the side into the fog.
"Hm?" Hadrian peers over.
Hadrian and Alvin look over and Alvin cautiously stalks over to Mildew's spot. They here rushing footsteps, and when the men ready, they see it's one of the guards.
"Sir!" the guard calls frantically waving his hands.
"Solider report! What's going on?" he asks.
"Someone attacked the Academy. There was a burst of light and suddenly, the fog drifted into the arena."
"Then why are you here?!" Hadrian asks, his face angry.
"We had to get out of there, sir! We were getting tormented and-"
"No!" Hadrian snaps, shutting the guard up right quick. "I will not tolerate failure! I will not permit you to run! You will stay. You will fight! And you will win!" Hadrian orders.
The guard sighs, stands straight and nods, "Yes sir."
He then turns and heads back to the arena.
"Alvin!" Hadrian commands.
"Yes sir?"
"Aid the men at the arena. I'll stay here."
"What about Mildew?" Alvin asks.
"His assistance is no longer needed." Hadrian orders, the walks off into the fog alone.
He walks through the village, unsure and not caring where he wanders. As he approaches a cul-de-sac of houses, he readies his sword. Then two sudden explosives burst, giving off a blue-ish light, knocking Hadrian off his feet and onto the ground. Hadrian bounces and slides across the pavement on his side; the sword skittering out of his reach. He hisses as he pushes on his hands.
"What the . . ." he turns and faces the fog where he sees the silhouette of Stoick and the others. "No! I destroyed you all! You're all . . ." Hadrian's voice quietly diminishes as he stares.
Then a sudden burst of anger erupts inside and he sends four daggers zipping to the phantom shadows. But instead of embedding in flesh, they end up sticking to an old ken which now leaks water. Hadrian pushes to his feet and rotates as he tries to listen for the slightest sound that could indicate their whereabouts. Footsteps sound behind him, then in front of him. They were circling him.
Suddenly he's slammed in the back by a harsh fist. He bounces on his back and lands on his stomach. He automatically pushes to his feet, but he barely stood straight before a plasma blast hit him in the side. He lands on his back again, sliding to a stop. He pushes himself up to a sitting position, rubbing the left side of his head. He sees an oncoming shadow and swings his fist. He finds a direct hit, and it felt really real. He turns around and sees another. Leaping into the air, he readies a dagger, but gets slammed to the side by another heavy body. He spins and his hand first finds the ground, then sliding back on his toes.
He sees a shadow running through the fog, and then it leaps and whips a dagger at him. He blocks it with his own, and he hears it ricochet off and swallowed by the fog. He looks up, he gets knocked off his feet again from behind. His side hits the hard-packed earth before landing on his stomach. He grits his teeth, and pushes to his feet. He sees the outline of Stoick's shadow and chucks a knife for his head. He watches the shadow turn to the side, evading the dagger, and Hadrian runs toward a house, leaps left and right up the side to the roof. He runs across the banister, but feels a harsh pain on his side before he's knocked off and sent back into the fog. He manages to land with one knee up, and the other leg extended back. He hugs his side for a moment, and his hand comes back coated in blood. He's breathing heavy and beads of sweat dot across his forehead.
Hadrian looks up and can see the phantom shadow of Astrid. "Oh, it's just you Astrid." He snaps, his smile still playing across his mouth. "What's a matter? Aren't you even going to talk to me?"
"There's nothing left to say." A voice says and Hadrian turns to see Gobber's shadow now too. He continues to turn in a circle as he's surrounded by them.
"You had attempted to kill us." Fishlegs shadow says.
"Did you think we wouldn't take it personally?" Stoick says.
Then Hadrian turns to his front and sees the fog drift apart to reveal an outline he thought he'd never have to see again.
"It's over Hadrian." Hiccup says.
"Nothing's over as long as I'm still breathing!" Hadrian suddenly shouts.
"Same goes for me." Hiccup counters.
Hadrian springs up and goes to punch Hiccup's shadow. Even if it was just an illusion - although now Hadrian was sure they were still alive – he'd finish him off himself. He punches left and right and watches as Hiccup avoids every single one. Then Hiccup's hand reaches out and snatches Hadrian's wrist, and flings him over his shoulder. Hadrian crashes into a wheelbarrow, the splintering wood stinging his back like a hive of angry bees.
He grasps the side behind him and pulls to his feet. He hears Astrid's battle cry as she rushes for him. Hadrian grabs a barrel from the cart and throws it at her. Astrid stops, and Stoick swoops her behind him with one arm before punching the barrel into pieces. Gobber then rips a tree from the ground and chucks to Hadrian.
I have to get out of the fog, he thinks to himself.
He back flips back onto a pyramid of barrels behind him and hops until he reaches another roof of a house. A rope suddenly snakes around him and it tightens like a snake killing it's pray. With the splinters still in his back, it feels like barbed wire, and soon small red dots speckle on his back. Snotlout and Fishlegs yank the rope down and Hadrian slams into the hard mosaic of cobblestone at the epicenter of the Plaza. He gets to his knees and snarls at the two boys. Hadrian pats the dirt with his toes to feel for something and they find a sack of flour. He reaches down and spins, slinging the sack toward Stoick and Gobber. It bursts into an enormous cloud of white, and splattering all over the two.
Hadrian charges and pulls out his knife and manages to stab Stoick in the calf, but nothing to fatal which is what he wanted. And Gobber whacks his hammer into Hadrian's jaw line, making it a painful uppercut. Hadrian snatches his whip and wraps it around Gobber, and then looking to his right sees Snotlout. He smiles and pulls, swinging Gobber a couple times around before retracting the whip and letting Gobber crash into the boy. Astrid comes in and punches Hadrian left and right, missing each one, and when Hadrian goes for a jab, she ducks down, kicking his feet out from under him and leaping back. Stoick rushes in and readies to pound him into the ground, and while Hadrian leaps out of the way, Stoick delivers another punch right in his ribcage, and Hadrian's back finds the ground once again. He barely looks up when he sees the post from one of the feeding bowls crashing down on him.
Gobber and Stoick walk over to see if that did it, but they feel the ground shake and Hadrian bursts out of the ground standing on the head of the Whispering Death. Hadrian feels for his whip and realizes it's still in the fog. The Whispering Death hisses in hatred, but in unison, Hadrian's whip wraps around him, and Toothless tackles the Whispering Death sending both flinging in the air. It was only a quick jerk to get Hadrian off the dragon before the whip was retracted. But Hadrian's sent spinning for a few seconds before he sees the ground. But he didn't see, and what the Vikings didn't intend on was a large nail from the wheelbarrow standing perfectly straight on its head.
Hadrian crashes into the ground, the nail impaling itself straight through his left side. He takes a sharp breath and lets out an unworldly scream. His back arcs in pain and he roll to his side, hissing and breathing heavy from the pain. Hiccup and Astrid approach him, but she nearly convulses at the sight of the nail. Hadrian shifts to his knees and grits his teeth.
"Oh, god dammit!" he snarls.
Gripping the nail with his right hand, placing two fingers from his left hand on his left side, he alternates between biting his lip and gripping his teeth. And he pulls at the nail. He aggravatingly groans and hisses in pain, and it takes a couple pulls, and then one hard yank before the nail comes out, sending a stream of blood arching through the air. Hadrian screams, and wobbly rolls over, his hand keeping him up and takes a deep breath, his vision blurry.
He hoists himself to his knees and puts pressure on his side, but the blood permeates his tunic and leaks onto his hands. He's breathing fairly heavy, and his forehead moist with sweat, beading together multiple thick strands of his hair. He looks around and doesn't see Hiccup and Astrid, and he starts to walk, but collapses. Pushing himself up, he starts to run as best as he can. But after a few seconds of wobbling, Hadrian's punched in the face by Stoick again, and sent flying back; he didn't even flip for a better landing he was weak. He kept his hand pressed to his side as he rose to his feet.
"What are going do now?" Gobber taunts.
Hadrian still manages to smile, and bringing his clean hand forward, he lets out a piercing high-pitched whistle. After a moment of silence, Gobber's suddenly thwacked in the back by the snout of a Changewing. Stoick charges for Hadrian, but the Scauldron's water sprays him back. Toothless had just bitten the Whispering Death before it wraps its tail around him and flings him off, then slithering over to join the other two dragons. Behind them, Hiccup can see Hadrian run off. He has to stop him before he gets stronger. But before Hiccup could think of how to get to him, someone yells his name and he sees the Changewing charge for him. Hiccup rolls out of the way and comes up on one knee. He reaches for his sword on his belt.
"Hiccup, go! We'll deal with these jokers!" Gobber orders.
"We aced their butts once, and we can do it again!" Snotlout yells.
"But-"
"Go Hiccup! We'll meet up with you!" Stoick says before punching the Scauldron.
Hiccup nods and gets up and rushes off to follow Hadrian.
Meanwhile, Hadrian made it back to the arena where he found several guards and Alvin. The floor of the arena is littered with bodies, and Alvin is trying pulling himself up from the floor. Once he gets to his feet, he sees Hadrian.
"Hadrian!" he calls, and two men still conscious come over and try to help, but Hadrian pushes them off and orders them to get some gauze.
He makes his way over to an available barrel and sits, still hissing from the pain and trying to labor his breathing.
"I see you've met our new guests." Alvin rhetorically says.
"They attacked the arena?" Hadrian asks.
"They only gassed us before moving on. And it seems you're their primary target." Alvin says as a guard brings him gauze.
Hadrian unwraps it and lifts his blood soaked tunic up over his head to patch the wound. The men bring him a rag and he pats it down and wipes it clean before applying the wrap. He winds it around his body before giving it a tug to ensure it is tight, it pinches him with brief pain; but after, Hadrian takes a syringe and injects a clear liquid into his arm and the injury reduces to an annoying cramp-like pain.
"Where'd you learn to do that?" Alvin asks.
"Does it matter?" Hadrian snaps. "Now, to deal with Hiccup."
"What about Stoick and his men, sir?" Alvin asks.
"I don't care about them. I want Hiccup. Consider them at your disposal." Hadrian says before snatching his bow and walking off out of the arena.
"Oh, how I've wanted to hear that." Alvin says with a cruel smile.
Hadrian still hugs his side as the cramp feeling intensifies whenever he steps on his left foot. It felt like the pain was alive and breathing. It would be strong, then weaken, strong and then weaken; like it was breathing in and out. Hadrian coughs a couple times before he could stand up straight. The fog has slightly lifted, giving him a better look and idea of his surrounding instead of stumbling around. He manages to find another feeding post, and stops to rest. His hand on the post, he slowly breathes in and out, trying to build his tolerance to the pain.
"Wow, I have to say this is the weakest I've ever seen you." a voice rings out, and Hadrian' head snaps up. "And I like it."
Hiccup walks out of the fog, standing tall and proud as Hadrian straightens himself.
"Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes. I was hoping that courageous fall hadn't done you in. That was a pleasure I was hoping to have." Hadrian taunts.
Stoick punches the Changewing, sending it crashing into an abandoned house in the cul-de-sac. The others dragons were down and Stoick call to everyone. "Kids, get to your dragons! We'll have a better shot at winning."
"What about Hiccup? Shouldn't we help him?" Astrid asks.
"Hadrian is Hiccup's fight." Gobber says. "We need to stay focused on breaking out the dragons from the arena."
The kids nod and before they leave, Gobber hands Fishlegs the antidote for Stormfly. Hopefully their not too late.
"I almost don't think it's fair to fight you. You're too weak to even stand." Hiccup snaps.
"I may be down, but I'm far form out." Hadrian counters. "Besides, it was only the nail, not you or your pathetic father and friends."
"Really? Because to me, it looked like they were kicking your butt." Hiccup provokes.
Hadrian only laughs. "Hiccup, you don't even realize how pathetic you are. You set your men to fight me, not you."
"What's the difference?" Hiccup asks.
"I went on my own to eliminate you and your friends and family. Even while you survived, you just sit back and let everyone take care of things for you. You never stand up for yourself. "
Hiccup clenches his fist.
Stoick and the kids were on their way to the arena while Gobber stopped at the blacksmith's shop to stock up on weapons. The arena was in their sights when a trio of soldiers blocked their path. The parted and let Alvin walk to the front.
"I'm surprised Alvin, I didn't think you're men took orders from you anymore." Stoick mocks.
"Hadrian's currently put them back under my control while he deals with your little runt." Alvin counters. "Are you on your way to see the dragons? I'm sorry Stoick, but no one's allowed inside."
"Well then we'll just have to make our way through." Stoick says and he was about to charge when a boulder came and knocked down all the guards at once.
Everyone looks to the side and sees Gobber with his catapult. "At a girl Martha!" he says while patting it. "Now let's get to the arena!"
"You sent them to do your dirty work, just as I did when I conquered your village. How can you possibly think that you defeated me when you didn't even lay a finger on me?"
"Fine then. Let's settle this." Hiccup challenges. "Just you and me."
"Finally."