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Chapter 3
"Quick! This way!" Hatter spoke in quiet desperation as he lead the group to the fireplace. The fire was still warming the room as the Hatter went to pull a lever on the bricks to the right of the hearth. The fire spun to the left in a circle revealing a passageway behind it. "What, you didn't think that I would invite heroes to a house with no alternative exit now would you?" Hiccup looked intrigued by the mechanics and decided Dragon's Edge could use a few hidden exits. They all climbed behind the fireplace and flipped the fire back just as the door burst open. They could hear shuffling about and the ripping of furniture. Sounds of destruction, breaking delicate tea cups and pulling off floorboards.
"Where are they?!" A deep grating voice said. Luna peeked through a hole in the stone and beyond the fire she saw the very hellhounds from her dream! Even though the larger figure was hard to see, his silhouette looked like that of a man with a rabbit's head. Luna was frozen in fear. She held her breath so afraid the monsters only three feet from the fireplace would hear her. The hellhounds came as close to the fire as they dared, peeking around the flames staring into the bright lights. Luna became caught in their dead eyes sinking into the frozen feeling of death itself, sinking into the misty white. That's when Hiccup covered her mouth and turned her away from the sunken eyes. Finally awoken from the demons trap Luna stood shakily and walked unbalanced towards the rest of the group.
They headed down the dark corridor in silence and darkness letting the black close in upon them. In the darkness, the air became heavy as it pushed inward from every side, making skin crawl and hairs stand on end. The darkness could drive anyone mad with the feeling of being locked away forever in a solid grave.
As soon as everyone became sure that their pursuers could no longer see or smell anything Luna illuminated the tunnel. Bricks cover all sides around them as though they were walking through a chimney.
"Where exactly is it we're going?" Merida pipped up. Her voice always sounded cheery even if she wasn't meaning to. There's just something about a Scottish accent that makes it impossible to take that person completely seriously. It can also be hard to take someone seriously when their pouting face is framed with fabulous pouffy red hair. Luna almost burst out laughing. It was certainly a lot better to face your fears when your companions were upbeat even when they weren't trying to be.
"Once we get out of this damp place, I'm hoping that something or other will show us the way. Hopefully it will set us all on the right track to your first task," Hatter looked over at Luna's ring which had only just started to glow. The tunnel now turned into a burrow, mud and dirt covered the walls where the bricks were no longer present. The group walked along in silence for a while longer until off in the distance a light started to show. It was a golden glow peeking it's rays showing the exit of the tunnel.
"Oh finally!" Merida said in a huff. "I don't like tunnels much at all!" Merida raced out towards the exit of the tunnel.
"Wait be careful Merida!" Hiccup raced up behind her. "Just be cautious we don't know if there are more people out there after us." Hiccup caught up to Merida and peeked outside the tunnel. There was no one in sight, and the landscape stretched on to the edge of the forest. They were standing on a slight incline in a field of flowers. Sunlight glittered just above the horizon in the distance bringing to life flowers of every color and shape. Dew drops shimmered and gleamed, refracting and filling the field as bright blinding rainbow light.
Merida stood on the incline grinning at this wondrous sight. Though she knew she was her only hope for her village, nothing could seem dreary about this place anymore. This was the adventure she had longed for all her life. Now that she was no longer pushed aside into her daily duties, she could take the time to just be herself. And where better a place to be than in an new world with new people and mysteries to unfold. The breeze tickled her cheeks letting her hair sway around her face as the sun set her curls ablaze.
Just then Luna's ring started glowing brighter. Drops of water spurted from the gem and the blue light danced around her hand. She held it up in the light of the sun and that's when the light shot out like a beaming beacon. It pointed towards the rising sun between the foothills that grew into mountains. It constantly spurted water like an endless fountain upon her hand.
"Well at least now we know where to go." Hiccup looked at the beacon. "We should probably hurry, who knows if the ones following us can see that as well."
"You're so very right Hiccup. But just one last thing. I won't be going with you." Hatter spoke with a voice of set determination at his plan. "After all, someone's got to lead that maniac away from you all. You'll need all the time you can get, who knows what type of tasks you all will have to face. There's no talking me out of it either. Go on ahead then, I'll cover our tracks." With that Hatter turned away back the way they had come and started to work on covering the trail.
The three raced down the hill of blooming flowers after the lit ring that seemed to be trickling away from them. They ran through a small forest until they came upon a large hill. Bellow them, mushrooms the size of trees swayed gently in the valley wind. Their path led straight across the mushroom forest to a green dot on the horizon.
"What do we do now? the hill is too shear to climb down safely," said Hiccup. Just as he finished Luna jumped with all her might off the hill and landed squarely, if not a little unbalanced on top of a mushroom tree.
"I've always wanted to do that!" She shouted to the others. "Come on down it's perfectly safe."
"Geez, a bit spontaneous don't you think?" Hiccup turned to Merida just in time to see her situate her bow on her back and take a flying leap into the air. "Guys! I don't think I can make the jump! I don't have as much leg room as you two do!" Hiccup shouted down.
But of course, then he remembered the few test flights Toothless and he had on Dragon's Edge. "Well, it's not perfected but I can give it a shot." With that he leapt off as hard as he could and pushed the button on his armor. Wings came soaring out as he deftly glided down on to the nearest mushroom.
"That was amazing! No wonder you're a dragon tamer, you can fly just like em!"
"Oh no, Merida, I learned how to harness this after Toothless and I had been friends for quite some time. And I'm still working on the kinks." Hiccup wound his invention back up.
"Who is Toothless?" Luna asked as they started walking from Mushroom to Mushroom.
"He's my best friend, my bud. Also, he's a dragon."
"A dragon? Are you out of yer mind? Dragon's destroy everything in their path." Merida said as color rose on her cheeks.
"You know, we Vikings thought the same thing, all we ever did was kill dragons as soon as they showed up on Berk. They stole livestock, burned our village down hundreds of times. But after what happened between Toothless and me, well things changed. Now we ride dragons, we befriend dragons. We even built some new additions dragon related on Berk."
"But, how? Why? How did this whole thing happen? We've been getting only trouble from Malchior. Maybe if you tell me what you have done to solve your problem, it could save our kingdom as well."
So Hiccup told the girls his story, which as the reader you all know. If you don't, this refers to the movies not the books. And this is a very rare fourth wall break, so enjoy the few seconds.
Just as the sun shown high in the sky, the trio came upon the end of the mushroom forest. They climbed down the tall trees and looked upon the place the ring had lead them to.
Walls of alabaster stone rose high above them, with vines crawling up the sides. Looking at them, there seemed to be no entrance, no handle not even a window or a crevice. They were completely sealed. Bellow the walls there was a creature hobbling around. It seemed to be spraying some sort of bug killer on pesky creatures.
"Excuse me sir! Would you mind telling us where we are? And what is your name?" Luna strode up to the creature with confidence.
"Oh great, visitors. That turned out so well the last time. The name is Hoggle, and this here is the Labyrinth."
