Hello lovely readers! I realize it's been a while, and I'm sorry for that. I've been pretty busy. I also had this chapter written and done when my friend accidentally deleted it while proof reading, so I had to re-write it. Thanks Will! Well, I'm going to work on faster updates and stuff now. If y'all have any suggestions or anything, feel free to tell me. Have a great day and enjoy the chapter!
A creepy cackle echoed throughout the cavern hidden by dense brush, sending a chill through all those inside. The villagers of Berk were huddled at the far end of the cave, bruised, battered, and defeated. Their leader was standing strong in front of them, but even he had a sadness in his eyes. No one had escaped the ambush unscathed.
A hulking figure lumbered up to their leader, Stoic, and stood uncomfortably close to him. His putrid breath enveloped Stoic in a near visible haze, and his wild tangle of a beard threatened to intermingle with Stoic's own beard.
"Am I making you uncomfortable, old friend?" hissed the outcast.
Stoic didn't respond. He faced the outcast resolutely, refusing to let him see his anger or pain.
"What? No snarky comments for your nemesis?"
Again, there was no response from Stoic.
"We're a bit too old for the silent treatment, don't you think?" he growled lowly.
Silence.
"Argh! You will answer me when I talk to you! Unless, you want to watch your best friend die? You've already lost your son, Stoic, I don't think you want to lose Gobber too," he screeched in the way only a mad man can.
Stoic blinked back tears, and many villagers hung their heads behind him. Gobber shook his now hook-less hand at the outcasts as they dragged him in front of Stoic.
"Murderers! Every last one of you disgusting, dung-eating, Thor-cursed, sons of-"Gobber started angrily.
"That's enough, Gobber! I think Alvin here knows just what he's done. There's no point in making our situation worse," Stoic muttered.
"He speaks! And what does the fair chief have to say?" snarled Alvin.
His outcasts chuckled behind him, and the villagers of Berk glared back.
"I say that your quarrel is with me. Let my villagers go. I'll stay," Stoic responded coolly.
"Let me think about that. Outcasts, what say you?" he said, turning and raising his arms with a smirk.
"Never!" they responded loudly.
"Well, there ya have it," Alvin said, turning to face Stoic once more, "Your village is mine. Your people are mine. When the brats get back, the dragons are mine! Everything you had, is mine now. I'm practically the king! And do you know what the King wants? He wants you all to stay here!"
"That's ridiculous!" Stoic yelled angrily, shoving his pain to the side to help his village.
"Ya! What in Thor's name could keeping us here possibly do?" Gobber agreed.
"Bring the dragon brats running here of course. Then I'll have more than just one dragon trainer, and I'll be the most powerful man in the islands!" Alvin replied excitedly.
"They'll never find us, Alvin the idiot, if we're hidden here! There's no one left out there to point them in the direction of the cave!" Gobber yelled.
"He annoys me. Get rid of him," Alvin said casually.
"No! Gobber!" Stoic cried, rushing forward to help his friend.
A swarm of Outcasts rushed to restrain him, and Gobber was taken from the cave, shouting and cursing all the way. The Outcasts who had taken him out returned shortly afterwards and gave Alvin a curt nod.
"Let his mistake be a warning to you all! Make any move against me, and you will die!" he roared.
With that, Alvin stalked out of the cave, and his followers turned and left with him. Two guards were posted outside the cave, but otherwise the people of Berk were now left alone. Stoic rushed around the group taking a headcount, helping injured, giving advice, and trying desperately to keep morale up, though he himself wasn't even quite sure why he bothered. After a hectic hour of getting everyone settled, he walked over to an empty corner of the cave and sat down heavily. He took off his helmet and stared at it intently, falling deep into thought.
He tried to make sense of the day's events, but a single thought kept interrupting his efforts.
Hiccup was dead.
Stoic knew it. He knew that his son was dead with as much certainty as he knew eels repelled dragons. His son had tried his best to tame the crazy beast terrorizing the town, but it had cost him his life. He had seen it happen. Everyone had. Everyone had paused, if only for a moment, as the giant, crazed dragon threw the best dragon trainer in the archipelago into the wall. Everyone heard the crack, and everyone saw his head bend awkwardly to the side as he hit the ground and collapsed into a heap. Everyone realized what had happened when he didn't get back up.
Stoic had felt his world crumble around him as his only son and only family member left, died, and he was helpless to stop it. It all happened in less than an instant, but Alvin used that instant and disarmed Stoic, whom he had been fighting. With that, the battle was lost. Though the fighting continued for quite some time, the people of Berk knew it was in vain. They knew they had lost. One by one, the Outcasts began to herd the villagers towards a cave deep in the woods that they had scouted out before the ambush. They left Stoic for last, and as they marched him past the body of his son, he struggled to get to him, but the Outcasts kept him back.
They marched deep into the woods with no food or water. The villagers were hungry and exhausted by the time they reached the cave. Many were injured, and more Vikings were missing than Stoic cared to notice. His only solace had been Gobber, and now the Outcasts had taken him away, too. Stoic was truly on his own, and he wanted to cry. He wanted to scream that it wasn't fair and beg for Thor to smite all the outcasts and bring his son and Gobber back, but he couldn't. He had to stay strong for his village, because he was the only leader they had left.
Silently, slowly, Stoic began to think of a plan. A plan for rescue or escape, he wasn't sure yet, but it was a plan. He had to have a plan, because he was the only one who could possibly come up with one. He started to form a plan to drown out the loss, and as he sat there against the cold, dark cave wall, a plan came to him. More accurately, it ambled up to him good-naturedly and gave a little cough.
Stoic looked up and found himself staring into the large, green eyes of a night fury, and he grinned for the first time that miserable day.
"Hello, Toothless. Where have you been this whole time?"
Astrid woke up with a start, startling her dragon who screeched and jumped to her feet. Astrid turned to her left preparing to apologize to Hiccup for waking him up, but found herself looking at empty space. Hiccup wasn't at the camp. She jumped to her feet and shrugged off the blanket he had loaned her. She peered into the darkness surrounding the camp, but couldn't make out anything but the vague outline of trees. The fire had long since gone out, and only a few smoldering embers remained. Stormfly was stalking around the clearing sniffing the air.
"Hiccup? Hiccup! Where are you?" Astrid hissed into the darkness.
There was no response. Astrid turned to her dragon, who had returned to her side.
"Could you re-light the fire please, girl?" she asked gently, rubbing the dragon's neck.
Stormfly chuffed and immediately shot flames into the half-burnt logs left in the fire pit. The flames cast long shadows against the surrounding tree trunks, but also bathed the clearing in yellow-orange light. Astrid, who could see much better and farther now, walked cautiously to the edge of the clearing and looked through the trees.
"Hiccup?" she called again, but again she received no answer.
She repressed a shudder, but couldn't help the goose bumps that sprang up on her body, or the chill that ran down her spine.
There's no reason to be scared. I am a Viking for Thor's sake; I eat scary for breakfast! She chided herself.
However, she stood a bit closer to Stormfly. There was safety in numbers.
"Hiccup! This isn't funny anymore! Come out!" she yelled loudly.
Suddenly, a loud thud sounded from the forest, followed by two more. Loud, echoing footsteps reverberated through the forest, and they sounded like they were coming towards the camp. Astrid drew her sword and stood next to Stormfly. She braced herself for a fight against the Outcasts, rogue dragons, wolves, or anything else that might throw itself at her. Stormfly growled menacingly, and the pair began to walk around the campfire checking the surroundings. A whoosh sounded from the far side of the camp, and Astrid whipped around to face it, but another whoosh sounded near her. Another came from another side. Astrid and Stormfly were turning in circles, sword and tail spears out in utter terror.
Astrid ran the things she knew through her head in an effort to stay calm. She knew three things:
She and Stormfly were surrounded
It was almost morning
Hiccup was missing.
Considering she had nothing left to lose, Astrid called out to Hiccup one last time.
"Hiccup! Come back, or so help me I will pound you into a pulp!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, still circling the open flame.
Suddenly, everything was silent. No movement or noises came from the trees, and Stormfly suddenly stopped in her tracks. Astrid, who was still turning, slammed into her dragon's side and spun ungracefully around in an effort to stay on her feet.
"What is it girl?" she asked the now- unmoving dragon.
Stormfly snorted in response and tossed her head in the direction of the path they had used to enter the camp. Astrid followed her dragon's gaze and faced the entrance to the camp. Her eyes widened in surprise, confusion, and anger as she stared at the unexpected visitors in front of her. After a long stare down, one of the visitors stepped forward.
"Hey Astrid. We heard there was trouble, but we didn't think you'd let it get this bad. Guess it was just a job for a strong, able man, such as myself," he said cockily.
"I'm going to kill you!" was her only response.
"Take it easy, babe, we're here to help!" he chuckled.
"Don't call me that. Give me one good reason not to kick your butt from here to the next island, Snotlout," she hissed through clenched teeth.
"Because, I'm the only card you've got left," Snotlout replied, puffing out his chest ridiculously.
Great. Hiccup's missing and I have to deal with Snotlout, the twins, and Fishlegs on my own. It's not even 6am yet.
Two people ran through the forest quickly. One was tall and cloaked, and it appeared to be chasing the smaller, limping figure. Eventually they found themselves out of the woods and on top of one of Berk's many cliffs. They both drew to a halt. The sun began to peak over the horizon, and the mop of brown hair and the metal foot of the smaller figure could just be made out in the early morning light. The taller figure was still cloaked in shadow despite the rising sun.
"You can't run from me forever," the taller figure intoned slowly, in a voice made weary by time and hard work.
"I can try," came the smaller figure's brave response.
"You must come now," the figure insisted, but more gently this time.
"I need more time! I can make this right!" the smaller person urged.
"You have two days. After that, you must leave," it said slowly before dissipating into the air leaving no trace that it had ever been there.
"What am I going to do? What am I going to tell them?" the person, a boy, asked himself as he turned back to head into the forest.
The fate of the island and everyone he cared about rested on his shoulders, and he only had two days to save them.