Greetings!
Thank you all for your lovely reviews.
This chapter is a bit shorter, but I'm fairly certain that it is the shortest chapter. The others are longer.
Chapter Two
Wrenlou watched, frozen as Hiccup was dragged away by the Roman officers. Something sparked in his mind, and he surged forward, pushing through the crowds. "Wait!" He yelled. "Wait! That's not who you should be after!" He finally broke through the mass, racing towards the horses.
"Excuse me?" One of the officers raised an eyebrow at him.
"Hiccup, he didn't kill Antoninus, you have to-"
"I do not have to do anything for you, foreigner. You have no right to make demands." Wrenlou was shoved to the ground, and before he could get to his feet again, the officers had already gotten too far away to catch.
Wrenlou's breathing began coming more raggedly, and he ran his hands through his black hair. He had read book after book about Rome, its culture, its trademarks, but nothing he read had prepared him for this. There probably weren't many books out there named 'What To Do If Your Friend Is Falsely Accused and Arrested In Rome'.
Think, Wrenlou, think. He chided himself. Part of him wanted to fly in on his dragon Snowflake, and try to end the fiasco there. Reason quickly overtook that urge, however. He had no assurance that would work, and the Romans were famed for their skill in battle. A frontal assault wouldn't work here like it wold other places.
He needed to make a plan, and quickly. But as the sun set, and he headed back to where Toothless and Snowflake were staying, he had no idea where to even begin.
Hiccup awoke to a bucket of freezing cold water dumped over him. He gasped as his heart rate suddenly accelerated, and the room around him came into focus.
"Wrenlou, what..." He trailed off as his vision cleared, revealing an unfamiliar room, and two men wearing armour. One of them lifted his chin haughtily towards Hiccup.
"It seems we have a barbarian in our midst. Why they even let you in the country is beyond me, considering that all you seem to enjoy is killing our leaders."
"What?" Hiccup asked, confused. Then the events before he had been knocked out flooded back to him. "Look, I didn't kill your...centurion. Someone else did, and put the knife in my hands, okay?" He tried to stand up, but found that he was tied to the chair, effectively restraining him.
"Of course." The man said sarcastically. "Why did you kill Antoninus?"
"I didn't! I had talked to him a few minutes before, and then he left. The next thing I know, my friend and I..." Hiccup trailed off. "Wrenlou. Where is he?"
"Oh, your friend who was trying to prove your innocence?" The way the man said it, as if he knew something that Hiccup didn't, triggered something in his mind.
"What have you done to him?" He snarled, but the Roman officer simply ignored him.
"There still remains however the fact that one of our centurions-and a friend of mine-is dead, and you were the one who was holding the knife that claimed his life. And I can assure you, I don't take well to murderers. Especially those who kill my friends." The man held up a hand to forestall any comment from Hiccup. "I've thought about it a bit, and considering that I have the authority to do essentially anything I please, I am going to give you what any person who would dare to kill a centurion and one of my closest comrades deserves-execution."
The Roman turned to Hiccup, giving him a small smile. "But you can trust me when I say that if I am to kill you, I am going to make it as long and painful as I can."
"To be frank, I've probably faced worse than anything you could throw at me." Hiccup said, although his confidence was waning.
Laughing slightly, the Roman officer remarked, "Then clearly you have never been to Rome."