~Hey guys here's just a link to the pictures of Hadrian and Jolene. BIG SHOUTOUT to hiccupandtoothless22 on deviantart for letting me post them on her page! Enjoy the chapter! ;D Xxx~ art/Jolene-A-mindbender-series-Hadrian-414663105 art/Jolene-A-mindbender-series-Jolene-Lilith-41466 3815 ~
Outside, darkness had stolen over the harbor while minuscule flakes of white filtered down, lighting on cobblestone walkway. Mottled moonlight glistened on still waters, mingling with the lightly warmer glow emanating from the small oil lamps posted outside of shop and homes. Villagers huddled in thick coats and scarves, hurried toward doors that would lead them to warmth.
Above, troops of puffy-cheeked clouds waited in the sky, frozen in place. Hiccup squinted through the darkness toward the dirt road, where he saw a familiar log cabin. It waited just beyond Raven Point, casted in icy moonlight.
Hiccup had spent the day training and packing whatever he'd need to face off Jolene in the dreamworld. After his dream with Hadrian, his drive had intensified like a sudden boost of a plasma blast from Toothless. He had gathered his shield, a knife, and a sword Gobber crafted for him out of Gronckle Iron. Then once he pulled on his hood, Hiccup took off with his father and friends toward Grandmamma's house. She had mentioned to bring the physical objects along, so that when he started the dream-state trance, they were most likely to be there when he starts to dream.
Hiccup kept his head ducked and his back to the group of dragons while he glided on Toothless toward the shack. A cold sting of wind whizzed past, gusting in from the direction of the cabin. Sharp and knifelike, it carried the scent of salty sea air. It made his hair whip at his face while, above he heard the cape of his cloak crackle back and forth. Hiccup grabbed the cuffs of his tunic and pulled them down over his fists. He hunched his shoulders as he hurried Toothless to the cabin.
With the winds picking up, they had to land farther than they anticipated. As they entered the warm house, Fishlegs only had to pull lightly on the handle and the door swung shut on its own. The fire in Grandmamma's hearth provided warmth, and Hiccup found his satchel sitting on the table.
Without so much as a "long time no see" to Hiccup, Grandmamma stepped near him and said. "I sense there's something in the wind. It feels like tragedy's at hand."
"Oh well that's comforting." Hiccup says as he unhooks the button of his cloak. Hanging it on the rack by the door, he saunters over to the table with his satchel.
"The woodlands isn't looking too good either. They can sense you coming."
Hiccup pauses. "Wait a second, you were there?" Hiccup asked.
"Of course I was there," Grandmama said. "What do you think I've been doing all this time? Crocheting mittens? It's called doing reconnaissance. Why aren't you wearing your heavy coat?"
"Jeez, Grandmamma! You could've told me! I thought you couldn't go to the dreamworld anymore." Hiccup snaps.
"I only had that one contact honey." Grandmamma retorts. "Before that, I got nothing! Nothing, nada, zilch! By the way, I hope you packed a coat in your bag of tricks there, 'cause it's supposed to start snowing, and there's no way we're playing pass-the-parka with mine."
Hiccup yanked off his shoes as he listened. He dug to the bottom of his satchel, took out a pair of hiking boots, and pulled them on. Next, he rifled through the pile of clothes and took out the brown fur vest he'd borrowed from Snotlout. He drew it on over his head and tugged it down, grateful for the fleece lining. Finally he went to unroll his father's heavy leather jacket.
He brought it carefully into his lap and smooth his hands across the etching of the Berk crest. He let his fingers trail the curve of the crest on the thicker material.
An image of the long black tunic and red cape he'd seen himself wearing in his dream flashed in his mind. It was not lost on him that in addition to being terrified, the entire outfit on him was black. The ominous jewel encrusted on his chest holding a color green that was a mixture of Hiccup's and Hadrian's combined.
Slowly Hiccup lifted the jacket from his lap. He threaded his arms through the stiff material and allowed it to settle onto his shoulders, heavier somehow than he remembered.
"We need to get started." Grandmamma said.
Hiccup glanced toward her as she opened the storm door and walked outside without waiting for a response. Hiccup readjusted his weapons and shield and he felt a hand on this shoulder. Hiccup looks and finds his father face with blatant worry. There was something else there too, hidden beneath. It was something he hadn't seen in his fathers face since he was very small. Vulnerability.
Hiccup placed a hand on his father's, the cold of the winter just starting to fade off his skin despite his few minutes standing near the fire. Hiccup took a moment to study his father's features one last time and really absorb the details of his face, like taking a mental shot. Stoick's eyes glistened and Hiccup was pulled into an embrace.
As he hugged his father back, a pain eased its way into Hiccup's chest, as he wondered into the very back of his mind, is this would be his last time with his father. Also if this was either a last goodbye, or an apology. To Stoick, or to himself.
For the boy he'd once been but never could again resurrect, the boy his father had been so afraid of losing and had lost anyway.
"I love you, Dad."
Hiccup knew this would scare his father, and he knew he probably shouldn't have said it. But he also knew he didn't care anymore. If he was going to do this, if he was going to walk away right this moment, then at the very least, he needed to leave Stoick with closure.
"I love you too, my son." He croaked.
Pulling away, Hiccup turned and strode through the threshold of the door, this time without looking back. With the others following, Hiccup's legs felt stiff beneath him as he left his father behind, knowing that, hours from now he'd be panic-stricken, left to wonder what had happened and where he'd gone wrong. Hiccup pushed the thought aside, reminding himself that he'd already made his decision. That the decision had long since been made for him.
As they approached what was long been Mildew's cabbage field, Grandmamma had melted away the snow, and fresh spring grass sprouted in the only single piece of land on Berk.
Hiccup walked on.
Gobber and the dragons were all parked in a line as Grandmamma set up the book on the podium. As Hiccup approached the circle of green, a strange familiar spring warmth wafted toward his face.
Toothless breaks from the line-up and comes up to Hiccup. In his mouth he held one of the two horns of his helmet. Hiccup sadly smiles as he takes it. "Hold onto it, bud." He says. "Something for you."
Toothless coos and nudges Hiccup in confusion. Hiccup's eyes stung with tears, which he blinked away as he hugged the Night Fury's head. This felt like leaving him on Dragon Island all over again. Only this time, not even Hiccup was sure if he'd come back for his beloved dragon.
Hiccup then released toothless and walked up to Grandmamma.
"All right sweetie, now once you're in your sleep trance, you'll enter a cemetery." She explains. "There's an old chapel there that'll be your entrance to the dreamworld."
Hiccup nods.
"There are also catacombs that you can use until the clock strikes three."
"Did you say catacombs?" Hiccup asked.
"Yes, but it's not underground like you'd think. Not really. The whole church if built on top of a huge portion of the graveyard. You'll find them by slipping in through one of e gated doors on the side of the church."
"Where do I go from there?" Hiccup asks.
Grandmamma simply turns to him and says. "You'll know dearie."
As a soft rumble of thunder echoes in the distance, Hiccup takes a deep breath and enters the circle. As he crossed the line, it felt as though he was moving through a screen of static. The electric sensation lingered over his skin like pins and needles as he passed into the small space of the enclosed circle.
It was then Hiccup realized the five-point star singed into the grass.
"Alright honey," Grandmamma instructed. "Take your weapons and place them in the points of the star."
Hiccup slung his shield off his back and placed it at the very top point of the star. Then his sword in the point to the far right, his knife in the left. Leaving the two south point vacant, he stands at the center, his heart pounding.
"Now just lie down and relax."
"That's ironic." Hiccup sarcastically says. It managed to draw small smiles from everyone. And despite the circumstances, Hiccup was just happy to leave them with a memory of him as himself, as best as he could present himself.
He draws a shaky breath and lies down at the center of the star.
Arms at his side, eyes closed, he lies perfectly still.
He hears Grandmamma start to chant something, but it sounded muted so he couldn't' decipher it. As he heard her start low, Hiccup couldn't sworn the ground started to vibrate. Knowing better, Hiccup kept his eyes closed.
Grandmamma's voice started to rise, so did the vibration. Soon it felt like a Whispering Death was burrowing right toward him. Suddenly, a quick shot of a Whispering Death flashed in his mind. Hiccup's fingers twitched, and he soon realized his body was paralyzed. Grandmamma's voice started to fade, and Hiccup felt the grass slowly fall away from his body. Or perhaps he was levitating. It could've been the reaction to the magic, but Hiccup thought for a moment his heart skipped a beat.
Behind his closed eyes, Hiccup saw a flash of light.
Risking it, he blinked his eyes open and found himself flying through a vortex of violet and black swirling around him. At first he feels himself rock forward, and once he's vertically floating, he looks around, up and down. An opening above him depicts a grey-slate sky with skeletal remains of black trees. Hiccup thrust himself forward and upward he flew toward the opening.
Barreling through, Hiccup closed his eyes last minute and felt the wave of static travel through him. Opening his eyes, he found himself hovering above a barren desert wasteland. Ash coating everything in sight and not a single life-form, not even Jolene's demon entourage.
He was here.
As he flew over the land, he felt the whoosh of wind. Peering over his shoulder, he found a pair of Night Fury wings flapping on their own without Hiccup needing to provide a single thought. He slowed to a glide as he strode past a set of tall iron-gate doors. The gates were knotted together in the center by a snakelike coil of chains. Through the iron rungs, Hiccup glimpsed a smattering of what looked like squat stone houses. Tombs, he thought. There were traditional gravestones, too. Slanted and flat-faced, they stood crooked amid patches of grass.
The stones slid out of sight behind a wall as he continued to move forward.
Hiccup steered around the next corner, making a right. Here the brick wall gave way to pure iron, each tall bar tipped in a wicked spike. Hiccup squinted as he rode to a complete stop beside the front gate of the cemetery. There he idled, and his wings dissipating as his feet touched the ground. The wind blew fog around and it leaked through the bars of the gate.
Through the row of black iron bars, a large stone monument stood like a sentinel, a guardian of the gate, each of its four sides illuminated by small display light embedded in the brick walkway. Above, an enormous church loomed like a disapproving sentry. Its bell tower, topped with four hornlike spires, stretched to meet with the black cloud-filled sky.
Stepping to meet the gate, Hiccup simply stared at the padlock and chain. He closed his eyes and centered his energy. He opened his eyes, glowing a soft white, and waved his hand over the chain and lock. His eyes fading back, he watched as a halo of white light crawled its way up and around the chain, enveloping all of it until it illuminated like a candle.
Click.
The shackle popped free. The lock yanked itself free from the gate and the metal doors opened inward, a high-pitched whine echoing through the cemetery.
Hiccup stepped through and as he got out of the range of the gates, they closed behind him; the chain threading its way back through and the padlock snapping into place, effectively locking him inside the cemetery.
Standing in front of the grave, the stone monument towered high. Shaped like an enormous white chess piece, the monument stood taller and wider than a person, raised off the brick walkway by a square-cut stone base. Embedded in the center of the stone structure was a portrait of someone embossed on a giant bronze medallion. His eyes two chiseled holes, seemed to watch him with an expression that in the mix of shadow and light looked nothing short of stricken.
Hiccup stepped away from the grave. Adjusting the straps of his weapons, which he just realized were now strapped to his waist, he turned and moved farther down the redbrick path that skirted one side of the huge church.
Ahead, Hiccup saw that the path tapered as it made its way between two rows of stone sepulchers. The low-lying tombs sat facing one another, like neighboring houses on a narrow street. Hiccup strode toward them, and the shadows around him grew thicker. Glancing down, he noticed a long white slab set into the center of the brick walkway, someone's name chiseled into the alabaster stone. Stepping around the slab, he hurried to the two rows of aboveground crypts.
Tiny flecks of snow began to light on the pointed rooftops of the squat stone chambers. Hiccup glanced at the hinged doors that adorned the face of each, the iron panels large enough to allow for a single coffin to slide through. They reminded him of the kind of doors found on old-fashioned furnaces. He had to wonder, though, why these doors needed hinges at all if they were never meant to be reopened. Moving to one side, he placed his hand against the tomb to his right, allowing the rough stone to guide him.
In all honesty, he had no idea where he was going. It was as if he was letting his body navigate its way around, even though he'd never taken this path before. He turned left and entered an open courtyard. To his right, next to an ancient and gnarled tree, stood the set of gates that looked out into the void of nothingness.
A squeaking sound drew his attention away from the void to where another gate recessed beneath a brick archway, one that seemed to lead into the lower portion of the church. Smoky glass backed the iron bars, hiding from view whatever lay within. Hiccup knew right away that it must lead to the catacombs Grandmamma mentioned before.
Hiccup took a step in the direction of the door but paused, glancing toward the rear portion of the cemetery, where the ground arched into hilly terrain dotted with slabs and still more large and closely quartered aboveground tombs.
As he looked out over the crowded landscape, it struck Hiccup as odd that there didn't appear to be any angels or other decorative figures guarding any of the stone burial chambers. There were no seraphs or weeping women bearing laurels. There were no lyres or even crosses. Only stone and mortar, marble and granite. Even though they were in a graveyard, the scene struck him as very lonely.
Hiccup glanced behind him to the gates that faced the violet-tinted background. Then turned and jogged to the catacomb door, the slid into the musty chamber. Underneath the church, it smelled like chalk and earth. More vaults lay scattered around the cavernous rom. Gravestones, too, poked up through a floor of dust and dirt. Stone archways filled with pockets of spiderwebs stretched across the ceiling. Across the room, yet another iron gate backed by the same opaque glass as the one he'd entered though. It seemed to glow from behind by the moon.
He stared at the door that led to the back of the graveyard as he strode forward through the gloom, moving toward its dim glow. While he could discern the tops of tombstones and the general perimeters of the room, he could barely make out the dirt floor itself. The darkness created a thick blanket that hid the outline of steps and short brick barriers and squat grave markers.
"Well what do I do now?" he asks. Not like he was expecting an answer. He wasn't even sure if he was asking himself.
Should he stay here? Or go? There was no way for him tell what time it was. Grandmamma said he had to wait until three o'clock, and since nothing's out, it mustn't be time. But should that only be more of a reason for Hiccup to go ahead and move?
Hiccup drew up to a mausoleum and let out a long sigh as he tilted his head back to rest against the tomb.
"That door," a voice said, causing Hiccup's eyes to snap open. He sprang to his feet drawing his sword. "It lets out to the rear of the cemetery. Right behind another row of mausoleums. From there, you've got a straight-shot view of her old grave."
Something about the voice didn't alarm anything inside Hiccup, but the fact that he couldn't see anyone made him nervous. "Who's there?" He called.
"Up here!" the voice called.
Hiccup looked up and could only see the silhouette of a marble statue. Hiccup raises his hand and a ball of white light encircle it and casts across the gloom church. Up in the corner, atop a pillar by the stained-glass window was a blood-haired boy, dressed in black like Hadrian, only it wasn't him. It couldn't have been him because unlike Hadrian, this boys wasn't missing his cheek. He was missing an entire eye. Even from the distance, Hiccup could see the gaping space where one eye and half of his nose should have been.
While he had acknowledged Hiccup's presence, he seemed occupied with eating something, his mouth scarlet with blood. He held the thing, whatever it was, a bloody gray lump, between both hands, his sharp red teeth biting into it, ripping flesh, tearing feathers.
A bird, Hiccup realized with dull horror, almost retching. He was eating a bird – one of the fat pigeons that liked to waddle around in the courtyard looking for morsels, never suspecting that it would one day become a morsel itself.
"But you know, you can hang out here until midnight." He said.
Get out, it wasn't even midnight yet?
Panic stopped Hiccup's heart when he watched the creature lower the torn, bloody bird and look up.
Hiccup shifted his footwork, watching the thing as he sneered and lowered himself onto the floor, slowly, one boot at a time.
"What time is it now?" Hiccup dared ask.
"Almost nine, I'm guessing." It said.
Hadrian's words suddenly dwindle to the forefront of his mind, Don't trust anything you see.
Hiccup figured the demon in front of him now had to be lying. What if he already missed the deadline? Hiccup twisted to look back at the door he came from, turning back Hiccup froze when he was gone.
A whizz caught Hiccup's attention, and he waved his hand in front of his face, just in time to create a pale blue shield in front of him, just in time as the bird hit the shield with a dull splat.
He watched the mutilated pigeon slide down the shield, leaving behind a gooey streak. Hiccup strained to see past the dead bird and its belly, open against the shield to display the stark white of its rib cage.
Hiccup waved his other hand and the shield expanded around and stretched to the floor until he was enclosed in his own transparent casing. Everything now having a tinted glow to it, something moved to block out Hiccup's right side. There came a quick tap, tap, tap on his shield. Hiccup turned his head to look.
There were two of them now. The first one – the one missing an eye – leaned in to bring his existing eye, black and soulless, close to the shield. It blinked at him, watching him like a shark through a tank. The other one stood close behind grinning, his face whole but split by a diagonal hairline crack. He had only one arm.
Hiccup felt every muscle in his body tense as he stared into that eye, a predator's eye, he thought. Slowly he raised one fist and stuck his thumb out. He aimed it, like a hitch-hiker.
Without warning, Hiccup fisted his hand and part of the shield contorted around the one-eyed demon, and before he even had time to hiss, Hiccup whipped him around to the demon with one arm and the two crashed into the wall, stirring up a cloud of dust.
Without waiting for them to even get up, Hiccup brings both his hands up and two same-size spheres flicker around his hands and he aims them toward the two creatures. A single stream of white rushes the two, then it divides in to and coils around them like a snake. They struggle and wriggle as Hiccup lifts his hand and raise the two high above the floor, barely touching the ceiling of the church.
"Make one wrong move, say one wrong word, and I'll crush you both." Hiccup snarls as he draws near the demons.
"Awe, I thought we could be friends." Then one-eyed demons says, a sly smile playing on his lips.
Hiccup seers and fists his hand. The white stream clenches and Hiccup could hear a faint creaking sound. The two demons grit their teeth in pain until finally the one-eyed one shouts. "Okay! Okay!"
Hiccup unclenches his hand and the strip loosens enough for them to relax.
"We can to this one of two ways." Hiccup negotiates. "Either you help me, and I help you, or you don't help me and I crush you both."
"What can you possibly do to help?" he sneers.
Hiccup doesn't reply, instead, he turns his head back toward the original spot he came from and saw shattered pieces scattered around the column. Concentrating, Hiccup's eyes glowed pink, and this made the demons unease. Hiccup turns his head back at the two as they all hear a quiet, quick paced clinking. Looking past him, the demons watch was the scattered pieces rise and fly over toward them.
Hovering above Hiccup's head, they gather together; piecing one by one until they form an entire arm. Then it floats over toward the demon missing an arm and attaches with ease. When Hiccup's eyes stop glowing, so does the arm. The demon swings it in circles and flexes it over and over.
He turns to the other and says. "Fits like a glove."
The one-eyed turns back to Hiccup, his face, even in porcelain rock, Hiccup could tell was shock and horrid regret.
"What are your names?" Hiccup asks.
"I'm Deadeye." He says. He then motions his head to the creature behind him. "And this is Widow."
"And you're part of Jolene's army sent to kidnap me?" Hiccup suggested.
"Well, we honestly serve no purpose. We're just here." Deadeye explains. His expression suddenly turns regretful. "And please, forgive us Hiccup. We did not know it was truly you." He nearly pleads.
"She took me friend. Hadrian. Where is she keeping him?" Hiccup asks.
"We're not sure. All we do know is that he's in for it given he betrayed her." Deadeye explains. "We don't know anything else."
Hiccup, knowing now how much they see him as either a threat or a savior, lowers the two demons to the ground. Retracting his stream, they rub their sore spots as Hiccup draws closer.
"Does she do this to, everyone?" Hiccup cautiously asks as his hand hovers over Deadeye's empty socket.
Blinking his only eye, Deadeye doesn't answer. "Not out of punishment, but only because we're losing out luster. We've already given here everything she wants, but when she wants more, it takes its toll on us. She always bites off more than we can generate."
Hiccup draws his hand closer, and Deadeye lets him. Cupping his cheek, Hiccup shuts his eyes and reopening them, they glow and the clinking is heard again as more shattered bits piece together and taking one from the stained glass window, Hiccup reforms another eye for Deadeye.
"I'm almost hesitant to give you this. You'll lose your name." He jokes.
Deadeye gives a sad smile. "It takes more than missing an eye to earn my name."
Slowly the jagged eye eases its way into Deadeye's hollow skull. Hiccup winces as he watches Deadeye blink the one, then the other as it fits into place. The spiderweb fissures fade and soon both eyes begin to blink in perfect unison.
"Thank you." He mumbles.
Hiccup nods. "What did you mean by original burial?"
"She was moved." Deadeye bluntly answers. "She didn't appreciate her spot and demanded a new spot to suite her, needs."
Hiccup's brow furrow in confusion as to why Jolene wanted to move. Beside the point, Hiccup asked. "What time is it?"
"Five after one." Widow answers. "I'd better get going."
After shooting Deadeye a look of agitation, he says. "I thought three o'clock was the haunting hour. Don't I have time?"
"You're never too late to be early." Deadeye quotes with a weird and disturbing cackle. "Just head out the door and keep going straight."
"Hadrian said I shouldn't trust whatever I see." Hiccup recites. "How do I know I can trust you?"
"Master," Deadeye suddenly calls him. "we'd never deceive you. We'll even cover you to prove our loyalty."
Hiccup stared them down for a moment before the genuine look on their faces made Hiccup believe they were telling the truth.
Master?
"What about Jolene? Lilith?" Hiccup reminds.
"We'd rather die than go back to that ungrateful witch." Widow mumbles
"Hush!" Deadeye hisses. "Even walls have ears." He turns to hiccup. "Go, we've got you."
Hiccup turned and jogged toward the exit, scuttling tombs and hopping over broken stones. Blindly, he made his way to the door that he hope would take him out of the catacombs and into the graveyard.
He pulled the iron handle of the door, yanking it open. The rusted hinges shrieked, their cries echoing through the catacombs. A gust of frozen air laden with a cascade of powdery snow whirled in over the threshold, sweeping between his feet to mingle with the dust, creating ghostly swirls. He gave a backward glance toward Deadeye and Widow. They stood a good few feet behind Hiccup, slowly approaching. Ducking through the door, he ran out into the darkened cemetery.
Snow sifted from the sky in downy flakes, giving the tops of the tombs thin, fleecy blankets. It collected on the walls and gathered in the crooked elbows and outstretched fingers of the withered trees. Flecks of white caught in Hiccup's lashes blurring his vision. He blinked them away. Then, from somewhere close by, he heard the echo of voices.
The sound of people chatting and laughing arose from beyond the far wall. A woman's high-pitched laugh ricocheted though the cemetery, bouncing off silent headstones and tombs, their slate faces impervious to her glee.
Hiccup set his footsteps down carefully as he ascended a small set of brick stairs that led from the catacombs. He glanced from side to side, only to find his view blocked by several tall crypts, and entered into a narrow space between two garage-size tombs. He put his hands against the walls on either side of him to help guide him as he pressed forward through the tight passageway.
He stopped when he reached the end. From where he now stood, Hiccup could just make out the silhouette of an old grave. Thick and heavy-looking, like a milestone marker, the solemn stone stood between two squat, snowcapped shrubs.
Widow floats up to him with a whisper. "There's her old grave. Everyone usually comes out through there." He points to a crypt that stood catty-corner to Jolene's.
Across the way, Deadeye was hidden within the branches, scurried up the thinnest one, legs sprawled out from side to side, prowling like a jungle cat.
Even though Hiccup could not make out the writing on the face of the stone, the tiny figure of the music note engraved into the top curved portion left him with no doubt that it was the one he sought. He could still hear the nearby jumble of voices as the talking and laughing continued to grow in volume.
"Will they spot us?" Hiccup asks, knowing it had to be more of Jolene's demon minions.
"Probably." Widow answers. "But we'll create a diversion for you to bolt."
Hiccup sank slowly back into his hiding place, aware that one wrong move on his part would no doubt unleash a flurry of activity. He knew the overseers had to be combing the spaces between tombs and scanning the landscape for even the slightest hint of movement among the gravestones. And that fact alone was enough to allow him a small measure of relief.
As Deadeye and Widow flew out into the open, no one seemed to pay attention. Hiccup wrapped his arms around himself, tucking them in close in an effort to fight off the cold. Willing for anyone to appear. He debated on whether or not to get closer. Or was I better to wait here, at a distance? In the end, making a move sooner rather than later wasn't worth the risk of being spotted.
A harsh wind blew through the graveyard, whistling over the tops of the tombs. It moaned above him as it coursed through the passageway of his hiding place, bringing with it a surge of snow flurries. Hiccup shuddered against the rush of frozen wind. He took in a deep breath, drawing the cold into his lungs. Exhaling again, he reminded himself he needed to keep his mind clear.
A low scraping sound called Hiccup's attention away from his thoughts and back to the marker. Silence spread over the cemetery as the crowd of onlookers watching from the gates settled into hushed tones, shushing one another.
When the scraping came again, Hiccup's gaze narrowed on the crypt.
He stared in disbelief as the slab door, which faced the marker, began to wobble in its fame. Then gradually, an inch at a time, it started to shift inward, with the heavy, thunder-like rumble of stone sliding against stone. A gust of wind rushed out of the open tomb, sending forth a burst of white substance, something heavier than the snow, denser. The ash flowed out to mingle with the frozen flakes in a flurry just before one black boor appeared at the threshold, imprinting itself into the virgin snow.
Hiccup's heart jarred in his chest. He rose to his feet, the rush of blood in his ears blocking out all other sounds. He kept his eyes on the figure that emerged from the black mouth of the tomb. Like caressing hands, the inky darkness within clung to his form, as though reluctant to let him go.
Hiccup stood in shock within the recess of his hiding place, his body tingling from head to toe, a vibration starting inside him and growing so intense, so electrifying that she wasn't certain he would be able to bring himself to move at all when the time came.
He watched as the masked man strode forward toward the grave marker. As he came out into the open, Hiccup forced himself to take a step back, allowing the shadows to envelope him fully.
Flurries began to light on his black hat, filling the wide brim, their whiteness matching the scarf that concealed the lower half of his face. Tall and straight, his shrouded form cut a sinister figure amid the scattering of tombstones. His cloak swirled around his feet as he walked, the fabric nearly brushing the ground.
He moved slowly, his chin down, the brim on his hat pulled low over his eyes so that no part of his face showed.
Midway to the grave, he pause, causing Hiccup to stiffen. He stood motionless for a moment, his head remaining bowed. In one gloved hand, he saw the three long-stemmed roses. In the other, h carried a bottle, and a brandy glass was tucked between his fingers.
Hiccup slid farther back into his hiding place, afraid that he had somehow become alerted to his presence. His eyes remained on the figure, adrenaline within him building, telling him to move, to do something.
The figure turned his head in hiccup's direction, and hiccup stilled his breathing.
Could he see him? Even though the veil of darkness cast between the tombs, had he been able to perceive someone watching? Hiccup saw him give a slow nod, a deep and purposeful inclination of his head. Heart pounding, Hiccup tried to think of how to react as he raised one gloved hand - the same one that held the roses – to meet the brim of his hat.
Suddenly, it clicked with him that that doorway of the crypt was the opportunity he'd come for, his hope of reaching the dreamworld. Of finding Hadrian.
He couldn't wait. There would be no way he would be able to cover the distance without being seen by everyone, including him. If he hesitated, if he didn't go right now right this very second while the figure's back was turned, then it would be too late.
Hiccup crept forward on trembling legs, coming to stand just at the edge of the two tombs that concealed him.
He hunkered down, preparing to bolt.
As he took on last look back, it was as if something had shifted, causing an implode.
A deadly howl echoed through the graveyard, and the next thing he knew, Deadeye and Widow plowed straight into the figure. Hiccup heard the grunt as they fell back together, landing in the middle of one evergreen shrub. Deadeye gripped his collar, tightening around his cloak, and rolling one over the other, they tumbled from the brush and out onto the hard frozen turf. Their nostrils flaring. Using all their strength to throw thee last whip-snap revolution, Deadeye pulled himself on top on him, straightening his arms to slam the figure's shoulders to the ground. His head hit hard with a dull thud, causing his hat to tumble away. They bared their crimson teeth at the apparition as his eyes focused on them in utter shock.
Hiccup's muscles acted without his connect, his legs carrying him out of his hiding place and into the open space. The wind bit at his skin. He could hear it whistling in his ears long with the surprised cries of those who watched from the gates.
Possessed by everything he had tried to repress, by the rage and frustration he hadn't been allowed to feel, Hiccup surrendered control.
The snowy world around him melted away until al he saw was the door to the crypt.
"What are you doing?" He hissed.
Deadeye and Widow only howled and screamed as Widow reared back one fist, ready to smash his knuckles straight against his face.
The blood in Hiccup' veins seemed to reach its boiling point as he was within distance of the door. He stopped short to look back.
Widow brought his fist down hard toward the scarf-swathed nose of the ghost. In that moment, all he wanted nothing more than to hear the crunch of bones. But the sound did not come. The man stopped him, his large hand wrapping almost entirely around Widow's own. Growling, Widow yanked back on his arm, but the man's clutch tightened, causing Widow's shoulder to jam in its socket.
"How did this happen?!" he yelled, but Widow didn't say anything. Instead, he hissed and his eye pupils receded to slits. Hiccup knew it was his way of biting back the urge to cry out. Still he saw tears sting at the corners of Widow's eyes, less from pain than from frustration.
Deadeye swooped down and grabbed the man by the head, leaving Widow in the dust. Deadeye clutched the man's head in his hands and howled, his jaw unhinging. He gripped the man by the hair and spun him around before he released him. He crashed into the stone with a jarring crash.
They wanted the man to know what he'd done. He wanted him to feel everything he had caused them to both feel. They wanted revenge.
As the man rose, Hiccup made the mistake of not moving. Too in awe at the unworldly battle.
They made eye contact.
"You." He pronounced. A voice too familiar.
Even with the sound of people shouting from the gates, Hiccup dared not to look away.
His gaze penetrating and accusing, Hiccup glares him down.
"It was you!" the man accused and started to run toward Hiccup.
Without moving a single muscle, Hiccup's eyes went white and the ground in front of him cracked and burst in a line of debris and stone. His hair fluttered, hallowing his head. The man was thrown back and crashed into the ground.
Blinking, Hiccup looked toward Widow who was being helped by Deadeye. The demons beyond the gates screeched and howled and Hiccup knew they figured who he was. The word trickle doff their tongues like a waterfall.
Valkyrie!
"Go!" Deadeye screeched.
Behind him, Hiccup felt a slight rush of air wash over him. But this wasn't like the crisp winter wind that whipped the snow about them.
This breeze felt different, cool but not frigid, the air tinged with the acrid scent of earth decay, of ash and dust and moldering trees. Of roses. And ink.
Hiccup risked a quick glance behind him.
The tomb door stood at a distance of mere yards, still open – waiting, it seemed, for him to make the decision to enter. And Hiccup knew that this doorway was really what he had come for. Not to aid in retributions.
The only thing that mattered, the only thing that had ever mattered, he knew, was getting to Jolene.
If he ran now, he could make it. He was close enough that he wouldn't be able to stop him.
In the distance, the gates rattled followed by the sound of chains being pulled free. With that, Hiccup turned, rushing headlong for the open tomb. Somewhere far off, getting closer, he heard the wail of screams. Demons yelling. Iron hinges groaning.
"Stop!" the figure shouted.
Hiccup ran toward the tomb, the ground racing beneath his feet. He felt as if he were rushing straight into his own grave, about to catapult himself into the yawning jaws of death itself.
"Hiccup!"
He could sense him just behind him – inches away.
On the ground, he saw the shadow gaining on him then falling away the moment before something fast and strong – and claw snagged his cloak. Deadeye. The man tripped forward and fell flat onto his stomach, the air bursting out his lungs as the frozen snow soaked through his clothes.
"Listen to me!" the man said. "If you cross that barrier, you will die! And if you die while bodily within that realm, you will become like the rest of us. The same soulless class of monster they have so ardently accused me of being!"
Hiccup stepped closer to the door.
"Heed my words, Hiccup-"
Hiccup looked quickly back as Widow made his approach, hurrying toward them. "Heed this!" he snarled. Widow then locked his arms around his neck in a choke hold, clamping himself into place.
"Go!" He yelled.
Hiccup hurried toward the tomb door even as the man cries for him to stop. At first they came muffled, distorted. As he neared, Hiccup heard a high-pitched shriek from Widow and Deadeye, the man shouting became clear again.
Hiccup reached the darkness of the doorway, not bothering to slow down as he shot through to the other side. He gasped as his body passed beyond what felt like an invisible screen of static electricity. His limbs became numbed as the sound of his footsteps echoed on the stone floor.
Whirling, he grabbed hold of the slab that lay partially shifted aside from the open archway. He shoved at it, and to his amazement, the door began to over, the thick stone grinding its way shut, following the command of his slightest push.
Through the shrinking wedge of dim light, he could see the cemetery filled with demons. Widow say nearby, huddled against one of the gravestones, cradling an arm against his chest. Tears streaked his face, as it slowly crumpled. Deadeye motionless at his feet.
The man ran toward him. Throwing his cloak back, he pulled free a sword with a harsh scrape of metal.
Hiccup shoved harder against the stone door, willing it to close faster.
The gap shrunk to a mere slit.
Hiccup let go and the stone continued to slide on its own.
Hiccup stood back as the man slammed to a halt before the thinning crevice.
He saw his eyes just before the door slid all the way shut, black coin-size holes fixed on him with murderous intent.
Then, with a low boom, the door snapped into its frame, blocking him out completely, sending a puff of ash and grime into Hiccup's face.