Disclaimer Note: I do NOT own ROTG OR HTTYD
Chapter 11
Osgood the Pigeon flew as fast as his little wings could carry him all the way to the nearest island, hoping to get some help for Anglo and his men.
But what the poor bird saw was terrifying.
The entire island was covered in thick black sand and several warriors were already struggling to hold off more of those vicious looking horses!
Suddenly the little pigeon was being chased by one of them!
Squawking frantically, Osgood left the Nightmare infested territory. He was going to have to try his luck elsewhere…
Jack woke up to the sound of something stubbornly pecking at his window.
"Oh come on…Five more minutes…" the winter spirit groaned burying himself in his thin blue blanket, hoping to get more shut eye.
Suddenly his window flew open and before Jack could move out of bed to close it…
"WHOA! COLD, COLD, COLD!" a bucket's worth of icy cold water was suddenly dumped over his bed!
Flinging the covers off him, Jack found himself staring at Sapphire who was holding her staff, the blue sapphire at its head glowing with a soft blue light, along with Marina, who was smiling and chuckling to herself.
"Good morning sleepy head!" the giant white swan greeted him cheerfully. It was amazing how she could fit inside the Guardian of Fun's room, considering that she was pretty much as big as three-fourths of the whole space.
Now Sapphire spoke up. "In case you forgot, it's my turn to keep the fang." She said in a singsong voice. "You could've just reminded me instead of giving me a shower you know." Jack rolled his icy blue eyes as he got out of bed and proceeded to wring the water out of his blanket.
Oh well…At least he remembered now.
He tossed the fang over to Sapphire before going to the bathroom to change his soaked hoodie. Sapphire patiently waited for him as she sat on a chair in the room, humming softly to herself and admiring the ice sculptures the winter spirit had made.
After a few minutes, Jack returned wearing dry clothes now.
"You got what you need to trade at Berk?" Marina asked them both. Both Guardians nodded.
"Nine AM, we meet up at my place. My parents should be taking Layla and Donnie to camp at that time." Sapphire suggested. "Sounds good." Jack agreed with her before something came into his mind.
"Incidentally, why would you go through all this trouble of giving me one heck of a wake-up call just to get the fang for today?" he asked the Guardian of Equality curiously. "She's paranoid she might not be showing enough affection to you that's all." Marina couldn't control herself and let that slip out of her beak.
"Leave, now." Sapphire said sternly, a deep red blush coming over her cheeks.
Shrugging, the swan squeezed herself out of the window and flew off to hang out with the reindeer.
Turning back to Jack, the water spirit could see the hint of an amused grin on her boyfriend's face.
Not wanting to be taken lightly, Sapphire mildly punched him in the shoulder. "That's for being amused by this." She said as a matter of factly. "You learned that from Astrid, didn't you?" Jack rubbed his sore right shoulder. "Yup." Sapphire smiled before Jack graciously invited her to have breakfast with him and North, to which, she readily said yes to.
North later smiled as he watched Jack and Sapphire eagerly converse as they ate. Good thing the girl had asked permission before coming to his workshop otherwise Mother Nature and Father Time would come to him in a panic, thinking that something had happened to Sapphire.
'Quite a way to start the morning.' North mused as he ate his plate of gingerbread as Jack and Sapphire finished eating and went off for their daily morning patrols.
Well nothing new came up. Just same old, same old in both patrols and lessons.
So when 9AM rolled around, you can bet that both teenage Guardians went to their meeting place behind the Aquamarie residence as fast as they could. The doors had been locked but since they could fly, Sapphire, Marina and Jack landed in the backyard so they could open up the portal.
Good thing none of the neighbors heard or saw the glowing green portal open up.
"I can hardly wait! We're this close to flying on dragons!" Sapphire excited held up her thumb and index finger a few millimeters apart.
"Hey you're not gonna forget about me once you get on Tridacna, are you?" Marina jokingly asked her. Truth be told, she really couldn't wait to see the Scauldron and her mistress up in the air alongside her. And frankly, she wasn't the jealous type.
"'Course not! You're practically like family now." The water spirit wrapped her arms around the swan's graceful neck.
Jack smiled. "First one to Berk gets Trader Johann's best deals!" He then jumped into the portal first. Laughing, Marina and Sapphire joined him.
Landing in the plaza, the trio quickly headed over to the Great Hall where the seven Viking teens along with the dragons were hanging around. Snotlout was trying to woo both Angrid and Astrid, to no avail of course, Ruffnut and Tuffnut were having another argument, Fishlegs was reading a Botany book and Hiccup, was giving Toothless a good scratch, much to the Night Fury's delight.
Jack, Sapphire and Marina waved to them as they were heading up the steps.
"We've got our goods!" Sapphire announced taking her shell out of her knapsack. "So when's Trader Johann getting here?" Jack managed to ask before a long low horn sounded at the docks. And Vikings carrying all sorts of items rushed out of their homes and the Great Hall to get there.
"I'd say right now." Marina remarked. "Let's hurry before he runs out!" Astrid jumped to her feet.
Chattering noisily, the teens raced towards the docks, where quite a large crowd had already formed. Trader Johann beamed as he lowered down his gangplank.
"Ah, Berk! My favorite of all the islands I come to. Whatever you seek, I do have it!" he said loudly.
Vikings excitedly went up to his ship, looking for whatever treasures they may fancy. Astrid, Angrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs and the Twins scrambled onboard so as not to miss anything.
"Johann these are our new friends, Jack and Sapphire. They were hoping if you have anything for saddle making." Hiccup introduced to the wandering trader the two Guardians.
"A pleasure to meet new faces. Saddle materials, you say? Hmm…I think I may have a few scraps you may have on the house. A gift from me to you." Johann went around his ship for a few minutes and came back with a bundle of leather scraps, worn out but still useful nonetheless.
Thanking Trader Johann, Jack and Sapphire looked around the goods displayed around the ship.
"When we finish drawing up those saddle plans, I wanna add a little something to mine." Jack said to Hiccup as he peered into a barrel of sea urchins.
"Something that'll make my saddle stand out from the crowd." Sapphire told Astrid as she looked over a few strips of cloth.
Suddenly a glimmer caught their eye.
A basket full of precious gems sat in one corner, their contents sparkling in the morning sunshine. Quickly both Guardians inspected the basket until they found them.
"This ought to work." Jack held up a smooth round quartz stone, watching it refract the light of the sun into beams of rainbow colors.
"It's perfect!" Sapphire gushed as she cradled a lovely lapis lazuli gemstone in her hands.
"Wonderful choices. I hope you both have something equally wonderful to trade them for." Johann chuckled. The two teens handed over their items for barter.
"What a beauty of a shell. Absolutely priceless and oh, how interesting! An orb with snow in it! I know a young child would adore this." The trader was amazed at the mother of pearl shell and snow globe Jack and Sapphire had given him.
The deal was sealed and both Guardians got just what they needed for their saddles finishing touches. The seven Viking teens had gotten some good deals as well.
"Well looks like we got some of the necessary materials but it's not enough…" Angrid looked at the scraps of leather. "That's not enough to even make boots." Ruffnut remarked. "Or a saddle." Tuffnut added. "That's exactly what we're trying to make, Tuff." Snotlout rolled his eyes at him.
"Do you guys maybe have some more leather back in your world?" Fishlegs asked the teenage Guardians and Marina.
"It might be a bit risky to sneak off with some…" Marina said thoughtfully.
Jack's eyes suddenly lit up. "North always keeps reject stuff at the back of his workshop near the stables including some of the reindeer's old sleigh gear. I think I can grab a few pieces without him noticing." He piped up.
"Father Time also keeps a few gears and such in his watch room. Maybe we can use some of the stuff to make buckles and the stirrups." Sapphire offered her suggestion as well.
"Great! We can meet up at the forge after you guys get them. In two hours, right?" Hiccup said. Both Guardians nodded and left their friends at the docks to use the portal behind the Great Hall.
They'd already spent almost an hour and a half on Trader Johann's ship anyway. Blitz and Tridacna came back from who knows where in time to see their Riders and their giant swan friend disappear into the portal and rumbled sadly.
But they brightened up when their dragon friends told them of their plans and trilled happily.
At long last! They will truly have Riders of their own!
Since Jamie was already at camp, Jack decided there was no reason for him to stick around in Burgess when he and Sapphire got back so he decided to head back to the Pole to get the leather he needed for the saddles.
Rushing past the busy Yetis and playful elves being interrogated by North on a case of 'grand cookie theft' as the Russian called it, Jack snuck into North's workshop and headed for the rack of keys positioned near the Guardian of Wonder's work desk.
Selecting a large old copper key, the winter spirit went out the door and headed for the stables. As soon as he stepped inside, all the reindeer started jostling around in their stables. Instead of fighting, much to Jack's relief, they were just pining for his attention.
"Okay, okay I've got time to kill for you all…" Jack sighed as he grabbed a large bag full of carrots, one for each reindeer.
Among all nine of them, Blitzen was Jack's favorite so the winter spirit always saved an especially large carrot for him along with a gentle pat.
Making sure the reindeer were calmed down now, Jack went across the stables to the old door at the back and inserted the key in the lock.
Opening the door, Jack managed to squeeze into the small room, filled with dusty boxes of rejected or defective toys, the dust making him sneeze a couple of times.
Pushing through the junk Jack found the old gear, which mostly consisted of falling apart saddles and some bridles.
Using the empty carrot bag, the Guardian of Fun dropped large pieces of the leather material into it. When he had gotten as much as he could carry, Jack went out of the back room, only to see Phil staring at him suspiciously.
"Hey Phil!" the winter spirit said cheerfully while trying to hide the heavy bag behind him. Phil still continued to look at him, wondering what the boy was up to, which made Jack feel uncomfortable.
"Dwarrd Guffta?" the massive Yeti pointed a finger at Jack, saying 'What have you got?' "Just some old stuff…" the winter spirit said the closest thing he could think to the truth. Can't he just get a break or something? This whole secret keeping thing was beginning to get tricky.
Suddenly Blitzen started kicking the door to his stable wildly snorting. Shouting in Yettish, Phil tried to calm the feisty reindeer down, giving Jack time to sneak out of the stables by sliding down an ice path he made with his staff.
Sliding by Blitzen, Jack mouthed 'Thanks pal.'
He made a mental note to give the reindeer the most delicious carrot he could find later at dinner.
"Alright you know the plan right?" Sapphire whispered as they approached Father Time and Millennium's most sacred part of the Palace of Beginnings, the watch room.
"Keep a lookout and distract anyone or anything that tries to come in, got it." The giant swan nodded as she took her position near the polished oak door while the Guardian of Equality slipped inside.
The symphony of ticking clocks greeted her. Sometimes the water spirit found the ticking calming especially when she had trouble sleeping and went to the watch room to help herself fall asleep. Other times, the ticking of the hundreds of clocks gave her headaches and drove her into near madness. Carefully looking around the multitudes of clock parts, Sapphire began picking out gears and any odd bits of metal she could find. While she did this, Marina kept watch.
Then Millennium flew into the hallway, planning to go into the watch room until a bubbly giant white swan went over to him.
"Millennium, hey! How's it going buddy?" she said brightly. The Whiskered Screech looked bewildered but managed to hoot, "I feel fine, Marina. Now if you excuse me, I need to get some parts for my master's new grandfather clock project." Before Marina blocked the watch room with her massive wings, planting her webbed feet firmly on the floor.
"It's such a beautiful day, isn't it my Whiskered Screech friend? How about we go for a flight around the Gardens to stretch our wings?" she said eagerly, prodding the owl with her beak away from the door. Millennium ruffled up his plumage. "Your offer is tempting, Marina but I'm rather busy at the moment." He said politely refusing and tried to get to the door once more.
But Marina decided to resort to desperate measures, through playing a patintero game with the owl in order to let Sapphire have enough time to gather the necessary metal components.
"Marina, stop this foolishness!" the annoyed Whiskered Screech hooted shrilly as he tried to fly through Marina. "I'm just playing, Millennium! Just go along and have a little fun for a change!" the swan giggled until Sapphire snuck out of the watch room, a bag of parts in her hand.
"Okay I give! Have to go, bye-bye!" Marina said before running after the water spirit.
"What got into her now?" Millennium huffed indignantly. Honestly Marina was sometimes strange but this kind of behavior was strange, even for her!
Sighing, the Whiskered Screech flew into the watch room to get the necessary parts for Father Time. Luckily, Sapphire was very discreet in her pilfering and the owl didn't notice that some old parts were gone.
"Mission accomplished! I think I've got enough to make the buckles. And great job distracting Millennium. That patintero game was a good tactic." Sapphire grinned as she got on her swan comrade outside the Palace. "I was kind of running out of options but well, there's a first time for everything." Marina shrugged her wings before taking off to meet up with Jack at Bunny's Warren.
Today's lesson was now about the country Scandinavia. Since this had Viking culture related to it, Sapphire and Jack were naturally attentive and excited for the lesson, much to the Guardian of Hope's amazement, especially when Jack volunteered to give an oral report about the early beginnings of the country when the Viking tribes made it their home.
"What did North put in your breakfast this morning, mate?" the rabbit asked him curiously when the report was finished. "Just a bit of cinnamon, nothing much." The winter spirit said nonchalantly before Sapphire then decided to give another report which was equally as good as Jack's.
"Did you get cinnamon added to your breakfast too?" the Guardian of Equality just smiled at Bunny's query.
Still confused yet amazed at his students' progress, Bunny continued the lesson but his curiosity continued to rise, mostly when Jack actually behaved in class. Now that was something Bunny rarely saw. Frostbite not executing a single prank during lessons.
And Sapphire seemed rather eager too. When both of them left, Bunny's ears twitched in curiosity as he fingered his boomerangs.
"Since when did those two start getting so gung-ho now?" he murmured to himself.
And in Math class, Sapphire and Jack's good behavior showed through, impressing Father Time and luckily, didn't feel too curious. To him, the two teens were probably just having a good day. Lunchtime quickly came and went.
And excited to the max, Jack, Marina and Sapphire met up at the woods near Burgess and opened up the portal once more. Arriving at the forge, they were greeted by the teens.
"We managed to get some extra parts. You three have yours?" Hiccup asked them. Grinning, Jack and Sapphire contributed their salvaged leather and gears.
"Then let's get started!" Gobber laughed.
It was a really long process which first involved getting full measurements of Blitz and Tridacna, making the technical designs that required tons of patience and thinking, and finishing the Himalayan Fury and Scauldron entries in the Book of Dragons by coloring in Hiccup's drawings of the two dragons with their Riders. But Sapphire and Jack were pumped along with Marina.
Especially when the actual saddle making commenced!
Working together with their Viking friends, they hammered out stirrups, stitched leather pieces together, tied straps together and just enjoyed creating the things that'll connect them to Blitz and Tridacna. And when it was finished with their choice gemstones, Jack and Sapphire couldn't be any prouder of themselves.
Now came the challenge of getting the saddles on their dragons.
Blitz seemed to want to play chase first with his Rider, judging by the many times he scampered around the place with Jack holding the saddle over his head and running after him in hot pursuit.
Tridacna was mellow enough to allow Sapphire to put hers on. But even if she was the smallest Scauldron ever found, there was still the fact that she was pretty big and her saddle was incredibly heavy due to its size. It took Sapphire, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Snotlout altogether just to get it on her back and fasten the straps!
Finally after some struggling, the saddles were on.
But to Jack and Sapphire's dismay, two hours had already gone by and they had to go back.
"Don't worry Blitz. In two hours, you and I are gonna soar higher than the clouds." Jack gave his Himalayan Fury a scratch behind his ears, making the dragon purr like a contented kitten.
"Later Tridacna, we'll be flying together. You excited girl?" Sapphire fed her a bouquet of Blue Oleanders. The Scauldron licked her lips and gobbled them up.
"Let's hope you two still have energy for first flight later. I heard it's going to be team building exercises for your training. The others are going to be there at the Pole for it." Marina informed them.
Nodding, Jack and Sapphire left the forge with her to open up another portal at the Cove.
You see, apart from the other Guardians, the three of them had decided to keep the fang a secret from their Viking friends as well, just to be on the safe side.