A/N-I'm back, and so is the action! The biggest battle of the book begins now, and will continue for another couple chapters. We're almost at the end of this book too, only 7 chapters left before we move on! So read, enjoy, and please leave a note to tell me what you think!
Chapter 29
Deadly Intentions
"Wake up! They're almost here!"
Hiccup, Toothless and I all jolted awake at the alarmingly loud wakeup call coming from the doorway. Standing there looking exasperated was Astrid, all suited up and ready to go already. Thank God Hiccup and I had slept in all our clothes that night.
"Why in the world are you up here?" I asked tiredly. "You could have just had Stoick come up and yell at us for you." Astrid simply looked over the axe in her hand in a mildly threatening manner, running her finger along the edge. "I believe some things need more of a woman's touch. This was one of them." I stood up and smirked, not able to resist a jest. "Well, in that case, leave the touching to between you and Hiccup, especially this early in the morning." I heard a snort of laughter from over where Hiccup was putting on his prosthetic. At the same time, from Astrid's direction I heard something go whistling through the air toward my head. I reached up and caught Hiccup's shoe before it could brain me, and then just tossed it over to Hiccup. I looked over at Astrid, who had a serious blush crawling up her cheeks and anger written all over her face. "Tsk, tsk, Astrid, you aren't forgetting I'm half dragon, now, are you?" Astrid just leveled a venomous glare and the edge of her axe at me. "You're just lucky you happen to be a friend of mine. You three hurry up and get outside. The crusaders are only a couple of miles offshore."
After she left I groaned and looked over at Toothless. "Just how heavily do you sleep? Did you even hear her coming up the stairs?" Toothless just gave a draconic shrug. ::Didn't know it was her,:: he said. I sighed. "Well you could have let the two of us know that someone was coming up the stairs." I looked over a Hiccup, who nodded agreement. "Useless reptile."
A few minutes later the three of us boys hooked up with Astrid and Thorn in front of the house. Hiccup mounted on Toothless and Astrid on Thorn, while I just sprouted a pair of wings, as I'd only be flying as far as the bay. From there, I would be swimming.
"Good luck! Try not to get beat up too badly!" Snotlout called out not-so-helpfully. "Try to come back in one piece," Stoick said afterward. We nodded and took off into the air. Once I was out over the bay, I folded my wings and morphed into my original sea dragon form and dropped neatly into the water. Above, the two dragons slowed a bit to make sure I could keep up, though they needn't have worried: an ocean-goer like me could swim nearly as fast as any dragon could fly. We kept pace for about a mile out, then as planned, Astrid and Thorn started lagging behind to wait as backup, while I moved ahead of Toothless and Hiccup, matching my color perfectly to the waves around me so as not to be seen by the ships.
As we approached, I kept only my ears above the water to make sure all attention was focused, for now, on Hiccup and his approach. Sure enough, as we neared within a couple thousand feet, I detected much yelling and commotion on the first and, as I had correctly guessed, leading command ship. I swam up alongside the ship, careful to stay unseen by the rest of the twenty-ship fleet, and I watched as Hiccup and Toothless slowly near, and as Toothless flared his wings to come in for a landing, I heard from on the deck, "Get out of the way! The demon is landing!"At that I quietly hissed, but stayed put as I listened to Toothless land on the deck.
"Hello to you visitors," I heard Hiccup announce. "I am Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, son of Chief Stoick the Vast, leader of the Hairy Hooligans tribe. State your business here by our shores."
"We've come to offer a hand of help to rid yourselves of these demonic beasts," I heard an authoritative voice say, "and offer your village protection by joining the lands of our king, under the name of God." I heard Toothless start growling at this, and I matched his sentiment. Someone was seriously misinformed. This was just as I had predicted: The Crusaders saw the dragons as evil demons, and were here to get rid of them, while taking over Berk by force. Hiccup spoke again, with just a hint of disgust and irritation in his voice. "The dragons are here to stay, and as far as I can imagine from being these demons you speak of. They are friends of our village, and our allies. And I am sorry, but we must reject your offer, as we have no interest at all in joining the lands of another. We are happy as we are." I heard whispers of witchcraft and "deviltry," and the authoritative voice spoke again.
"My dear boy, it would seem clear that the beasts have brainwashed you, put you under some sort of spell to protect them. Step away from that black demon, and we can help you free yourself from this horrible curse." ::Black demon?! Does he even hear himself?:: I heard Toothless gripe. ::They don't even know what it is to be a follower of God, do they? They're labeling me as a devil's helper?!:: From that rant I surmised Toothless was more than a little ticked off. "Calm down, bud," Hiccup said. "I'll do no such thing," he replied to the authority, and I could hear more than just a little bit of anger in his voice now. "Toothless is my best friend, and I swear you will pay if you even dare to lay a finger on him. I will defend him with my life, as any of us would."
I hear swords being drawn, and guessed this was about to get ugly, fast. Once again, I heard the man I assumed was a commander of some sort belt out, "Alright then. Men, remove the boy safely from the beast, then kill it." Okay, that's it, I thought, it's past time to make myself known.
I exploded up out of the water, hoisting myself up along the side of the ship and grabbing onto the edge of the deck siding, towering 10 feet above the heads of the men on board. From my new vantage point I saw Hiccup still atop Toothless, who was baring his teeth at a heavily built, leather-and-armor clad man and about 20 armored soldiers behind him all with swords drawn and about ready to kill the dragon. As soon as I appeared, they all did a double-take and took a couple steps back. The leader gave an angered glare, with a hint of fear, at first Hiccup, then me. "What new devil's work is this?" He spat. I growled, then leaned down to look him straight in the eyes. "Touch either of them, and you'll find yourself on the receiving end of a world of hurt," I hissed.
A number of gasps went up as I spoke, and I heard someone whisper, "The devil speaks!" I whipped my head around and glared at the man. "I am no devil, and you will do well to remember to never call me that again!" I snapped. "And yes, I can speak," I continued, raising my head back up to look down at them all. "I can do far more than that, and if you continue on this path, if your intentions are to do harm to my friends the dragons and the Berkians, then it would be extremely wise of you to simply turn around and leave now, before you get hurt!" To emphasize my point, my eyes melted from the oceanic blue to a blazing ember's color, then back.
Even after this, though, there were still barks of laughter from the crew of soldiers, certainly not worried at all about this, it seems. "We've fought demons like you before," one remarked. "We aren't afraid of a talking beast." The commander nodded in agreement. "Kill the dragons and hold the boy," he ordered.
"NOW!" I yelled, whipping my head to face Hiccup and Toothless, and causing the soldiers to raise their weapons up at me first, anticipating an attack. It was enough of a distraction for Toothless to leap off the deck and rocket into the air, heading back to Berk. As Astrid pulled behind him as protection, I focused back on the soldiers again. The commander was shaking in anger. "Fine," he spat, "we'll get rid of at least one demon."
He threw his sword up at me, the metal tip slicing through the air straight toward my neck with a speed and accuracy that would have ended with the sword piercing most dragon's throats.
I'm not most dragons, let's start with that. Already anticipating such a move, I had hardened my scales to a rock-like consistency, and the sword rammed into my throat with a loud clang, and bent nearly in half. As it fell, I caught it and held it up in my fist. As the soldiers looked on, the temperature of my hand began to drop, and ice crystals began growing around my hand and across the sword. Within seconds the sword had been frozen solid, and with a flex of my fingers, I shattered it, letting the shards of metal drop to the deck of the ship. I glanced down at the soldiers again, who had gone silent. "Leave now," I hissed, "or let the games really begin."
I back flipped into the water, showering the ship, and then aimed a stream of freezing breath at the base of the ship. The ice crackled and spread from ship to ship and I coated them all thoroughly. After they were all stuck in place with a foot-thick layer of ice, I raced through the water back to Berk.
Hiccup and Astrid had already made it back to shore, and were on the docks with the rest of the village when I got there. I burst out of the water and began melting back to my own form, resting my eyes on Stoick. "Well, it's official," I drawled, shaking off excess water and speed drying myself with heat. "We're gonna have a big fight on our hands today." Stoick nodded, then turned to look at the villagers and the dragons up on the cliffs. "Get the dragons who still need it in armor, and everyone prepare for battle. Grab your weapons!" he ordered, then began striding back up the path toward the village. Hiccup and Astrid followed me and the dragons up a different path to where we had stored Toothless and Thorn's armor, and began fitting the pieces on. As it had turned out, the Vikings had actually been at the idea for a couple of years, preparing armor for the dragons for cases like this. They had learned how to make relatively lightweight, yet very sturdy armor out of various metals and, curiously, the powdered shed scales of certain dragons, namely Gronckles and their relatives. Now they were fitting the last few pieces onto the dragons that had been missed the night before, and any dragons without riders that willingly donned the suits. For most of the dragons, the armor had been painted to match the color of the dragon wearing it, so their appearances change very little, aside from bulking them up slightly.
After about 2 hours, as expected, all the dragons and Vikings were in armor, with weapons at the ready, and many of us were gathered at the docks, waiting. The Crusaders were now finally free of my ice attack, some still bearing chunks along the flanks, and the whole fleet was within the sheltered bay. We could see both the leader of the soldiers that Hiccup and I had encountered, as well as this prominent but oddly dressed figure with thick flowing robes and a hood over his head. I assumed he was a "religious" man of some sort, like a bishop or priest, and that he was the missionary that had been to Berk before. As they neared the port, there were no immediate signs of outward aggression from them. The Vikings, on the other hand, were a different story.
"Stay your weapons, and stick to the plan!" Stoick ordered. If the Crusaders did not come and attack immediately, we were going to allow one ship to dock, and the leaders to speak with us. When the leading ship was close enough, Stoick bellowed, "One boat may approach and dock! The rest must stay back or we will attack immediately!"
Probably assuming in was the best way to have an advantage in overtaking Berk, the robed figure voiced agreement, and the ship docked alone. the rest stayed out in the harbor. Astrid, Hiccup, and I stood in front of the crowd with Stoick and Gobber, along with their respective dragons, and we watched guardedly as the robed man and the leather-clad soldier stepped off the plank and onto the dock.
"State your name and your intended business here," Stoick spoke in monotone. The robed man bowed slightly, then spoke. "My name is Attonius, priest of Mitlagard, the northern city within the former empire of Rome, and I am here under instructions from our King Levius." The commander of the soldiers stepped forward and introduced himself. "I am General Brutus, under orders of Attonius. We are here on a mission to cleanse this land of all demons and pagan ways which live here in abundance, and we offer a chance of protection and allegiance with our king by placing yourselves within the lands under his rule."
As Toothless and the other dragons began growling menacingly, I watched as Hiccup struggled to suppress an outburst of his own. I was slowly beginning to simmer myself again, so I understood his situation. "You are wasting your time here then," Stoick remarked. "There are no demons here, not for many miles at least, we have no interest in joining any land under the rule of another and are perfectly fine as the community we are, and whatever you may mean by 'pagan' I do not know."
I cleared my throat, making myself known. "What he means, Stoick," I began, glaring daggers at the commander, "is that their definition of 'pagan' is any religions or systems of belief not adhering to their own, and therefore are bad and must be cleansed from this earth." The priest gave me a questioning stare. "And who, might I ask, are you?" he asked, glancing over what were probably to him the very strange garments I was wearing. "Your voice sounds strangely familiar." I shrugged. "Who, and possibly more importantly what, I am are on a need to know basis right now, thank you," I said. "I will say this though: I am a person who may understand more about your system of beliefs and what may or may not be otherwise true than even you likely ever will." I stepped forward. "I know the God you say you follow, I know what is written in His book, and while the rest of the people you see standing here may not know what I'm talking about and believe something very different, I still strongly encourage you to take the advice of Stoick and I and leave. Learn that it is not by the hand of men that people change what they know, not by your choice that they convert but theirs, and learn that even though my beliefs run a similar line as parts of yours, there are things you are doing right now that goes against all of what our God say."
There was silence for a few moments as the priest stared at me, then he burst out laughing. "My, what a big mouth, and such courage coming from a young boy," he scoffed. "And you actually think you know anything about what we believe? You, who fraternizes with these heathens?" I nodded. "You call yourselves Christians, and claim to follow the Word of God. I do follow His Word, and I have already seen you prepared to break it." I heard the dragons behind me voice their agreement, though of course only I was able to understand them. "Here's an example for you," I continued. "Do you know what the Ten Commandments are?"
Attonius chuckled for a moment. "Alright, so you do know more than I would have given you credit for, strange little boy." I bristled at the thought that I still looked little. I was 18 for good grief! "Yes, I do know what the Commandments are, and every person should know them. That is part of the reason why I'm here." I gave him a glare. "Then you know well that Commandment 6 states, 'Thou shalt not murder,' yes? If you use force to make others bend to your beliefs, you are likely to kill at least some of those souls, and that would be murder. They did not provoke an attack." I smiled. "And believe it or not, our friends the dragons also follow the same that I do, even if in their own way. To kill them just because you believe something you have never proven would be murder as well."
As I expected, both the priest and the commander burst out laughing at this. "The demons, following our God? Ha ha! Interesting story boy, but it's too outlandish to be true. It will not save those horrid abominations that you so wrongly wish to protect." On cue, every single dragon gave a venomous hiss at this proclamation. I gestured to the reaction. "You do realize they can hear every word you say, yes?" The priest gave me a fisheye. "And how would you know?" he asked suspiciously. "Can you talk to them?" I smirked. "If I could that has nothing to do with it. Without words they can still say exactly what they know and feel."
By this point, Stoick and the rest of the Vikings had had enough. "Alright, we've already told you lot, yer wastin' yer time here. We will not kill dragons, convert to your twisted system, or join you!" The rest of the Vikings loudly voiced their agreement with this in a series of loud cheers, and the dragons roared their approval as well, along with a warning of their own.
Attonius and Brutus looked at each other, and both bore dark, sinister expressions on their faces. "Very well then," the priest said darkly, "we will deal with this inconvenience in our own way now." Suddenly, he pulled out a hidden sword and pointed it directly at Stoick.
"Now!" he yelled, and all the ships came to life. men leapt from the sides of the docked ship as the rest in the harbor came into port. Following the plan, Stoick yelled, "To the village!" The dragons took off, their riders along with them if they had any, and began creating a temporary fire barrier while the villagers raced to position.
I raced up into the village and through it to the cliff side where the Great hall was located. My part was to be played out inside, but until I got there, I had to stay human. The surprise waited for any soldiers who came through its doors.
After I reached the Hall, I slipped in and closed the doors again, then walked to the very back of the hall, hiding behind the last pillar, and there, I waited. For the next few minutes, I was alone in the hall, with only the empty tables and bare walls for company. I listened as the shouts of men and the clash of metal on metal came nearer and nearer to the hall, and looked around the room, checking to make sure the lengths of rope and chains I would need were in position. The army would never even know what hit them, let alone stand a chance at fighting back. The Vikings were doing their part, leading what sounded like a very large portion of the army to me. Finally, just outside the doors, I heard someone yell, "Don't let them inside! They can't be let through!"
There was a short scuffle, then after a few seconds I heard the doors slam open. I hid directly behind the pillar and out of sight, for now, and listened as what sounded like hundreds of soldiers pour into the hall and start ransacking everything. "We'll break them now!" I heard, and recognizing the voice, I smiled. The commander was in here. After a few more soldiers had poured into the hall, almost to the point of reaching me (though no one noticed the teen peeking his head around the side of the pillar every now and then) I heard Gobber outside yell, "Shut the doors!"
Just like that, I heard the massive wooden doors slam closed, and an outside lock mechanism slid in place, effectively trapping the soldiers in the hall with me. Peeking out at the group trapped in here with me, I couldn't help but smile again. There were probably a good 400 or 500 men in the hall, a good bulk of the army, along with Brutus, the commander.
"Augh!" Brutus yelled in frustration. "It was a trap! They locked us in!" He looked around the room, then pointed at the nearby tables. "Use those to break down the doors!" The nearest soldiers moved to do so, grabbing the tables and hoisting them up.
Before they could even start such a futile attempt (and futile it would have been as the doors were made of oak and over a foot thick), I finally stepped out into the open. "You're not going anywhere, anytime soon," I announced loudly, causing nearly every soldier there to jump.
"Let me through!" I heard Brutus hiss, then he managed to push his way through the crowd to where I was. He instantly caught sight of me, and narrowed his eyes in an angered grimace. "You!" he hissed. I smiled. "Yes, me. I do sincerely apologize for being such a party pooper, but I'm afraid none of you will be rejoining the fight outside again today." Brutus laughed. "And what do you think could possibly stop us, boy?" I casually played with my fingers for a moment before replying. "Well, first there's the doors behind you, which I will inform you are a foot thick and made of hard oak, which you will never manage to break through, at least not until the battle is over. Secondly," I said, drawing out the suspense, "you will have to contend with me while we're in here."
A roar of laughter echoed through the hall as the soldiers looked at the young adult threatening them. Okay, I'll admit it, as a human I don't look threatening at all. I'm nerdy looking, thin as a twig, and only average height. Plus, even at 18 I still looked like I was 16 or younger.
"You? What could possibly be scary about you?" Brutus jeered. "You couldn't even possibly take down one of us, you twig, especially as you don't even have a weapon on you!" this time I laughed. "Yes, that's true, I left my weapons at home today," I agreed. "But the thing is, I don't really need a weapon, I am one. And I could take on ten of you at the same time and win." I looked around at the faces full of laughter around me, not believing a word I said. "Plus," I continued, " you won't even be able to see or even touch me, let alone land a blow on me."
Brutus guffawed again. "I see you perfectly well, twerp, you're hard to miss, save for the fact that you could hide behind fishing line. How do you figure I'm not going to be able to see you?" I spread my arms out wide and flexed my fingers. "This is how I figure that," I said darkly, and began the first of the changes, watching in enjoyment as the look of triumph on the commander's face melted as the Shadow black scales began to flow across my skin.