Chapter 6

Needless to say, being kidnapped was not how I pictured my first time out of the castle. The horse was terribly irritable and liked to buck about. I was sure that the vagabond to whom I was held captive did not actually own the horse, or it would've responded better to his choppy commands. There was a small band of men, actually. The two who rode close behind us looked like red-headed brothers. The man I was attached to rode in front of the triangle, and you could tell he was of no blood relation to the other two. I tried my best to keep from touching him on the unstable horse. My mouth had dried out long ago due to the strip of cloth they had used to gag me.

I kept re-living that moment in the woods...

I'd been waiting for Jack to wake up, quite sure it would take a while, and I wanted to be out before him (especially after all the noise of the night previous). No doubt someone would speak to him about it, and I hoped he knew better than to say it was me... but even if he didn't, no one would believe him. I bit my lip in excitement as the memory of last night awoke fresh in my mind. It seemed like I would never get over how natural it had felt, and how we had fit together so perfectly… or the closeness. It was all more like a pleasant dream.

The leaves rustled above me as the sun began to show its first hints of rising. By then Jack would definitely be up and getting ready. It was almost like a perfect replay of the day before, only this time I was waiting on Jack, not the other way around. At least this time I wouldn't have to worry about him popping out to scare me again. I sat under the tree we had met under earlier and listened to the birds as the morning came. When I felt a blindfold fall over my eyes I was amazed at how quick Jack had woken up. With a small screech I jumped at the sudden contact. "Jaaaa-ck! I thought you promised!" I groaned, waiting for Jack's usual chuckle as my cheeks warmed.

"I don't know who this Jack is, but if he's got you used to blindfolds… Huh. Who knew we were dealing with such an experienced prince."

Then I found myself in such a situation, riding to some unknown land with three unknown thieves. Before long, we came across a meadow in the middle of the forest with some cliffs lining its edge. I was lifted from the horse and dragged into the cave where they covered the entrance with some vines. "Oi, so what are we gonna do about 'im now that we've done the job, Rider?" One of the brothers asked. "Relax… I've got this all planned out. The way I'm thinking, it would be a waste to kill him, right? I mean, he's obviously educated, being a prince and all. That alone would make him pretty easy to sell as a slave or somesuch, but there's also the… market. He's got a nice, untouched face. That'll get us a pretty penny or two apart from what we've already made off Pitch. So it's really up to you guys from there, then onto the next job." Said the one with brown hair. His words sent shivers down my spine. Pitch? Slave? Market?

I… wanted Jack.

The castle was in a panic as the news flew around about what had happened to the prince. Aster looked more out of sorts than I had ever seen him before. The girls were absolutely beside themselves as they flitted about, trying unsuccessfully to be helpful. The king was in an uproar, using up all the air to yell at everyone in his worry. Even Snotlout looked… well, no. Snotlout looked almost… pleased? But that was to be expected. I could do nothing but stand speechless, with my stomach in my knees, trying to keep calm. My nails dug into the palms of my hands, drawing blood, but I couldn't feel it. The knights were all running around, preparing to leave in search.

Without my noticing it, Aster and I were back in the noise-filled servant's quarters. When the flow of people suddenly slowed, Aster gripped my arm, pulling me up off the small bench we perched on. "Ouch! Aster!?" I cried as he suddenly dragged me through the corridor until we had reached his room. Without warning, he pulled me in and slammed the door behind him. Then he flipped around and stared at where I had fallen unceremoniously to the floor. Looking me over, he finally gave me a stern glance, "I know. About… you two."

In my confused state, I could do nothing but blink back up at him. "Yah… yah probably know more about the paths of thieves and such than those bumble-brained nitwits they got as knights these days… and I know yah wanna find him twice as much as any of 'em. So I'll ask… are yah ready to break the law to save him?"

I took me a minute to digest it. Aster knew. About us …and he was okay with it… enough to send me after him, anyway.

"How?" I asked, accepting his offer. Aster nodded his head, then turned around to a chest at his bedside. Inside was a full knight's outfit. It would be a little big on me, but I knew what Aster's plan was the moment I saw it. I would have to fake my station in order to follow the knights around and hear any news of where Hiccup might be, but that would be simple enough. "How well do the knights know each other around here?" I asked, wondering just how low I would have to keep my head in order to blend in. "Some of 'em act like strangers to one anothah, so unless yah do somethin' really stupid, yah should be able to follow 'em pretty good." Aster laid out each of the pieces on his bed and double-checked to make sure everything was there. "The design hasn't changed much since I was ridin' with 'em, so they probably won't realize it's a bit old… but if they do, just tell 'em that your usual getup needed repairs after a fight or somethin'." I nodded, and Aster crossed to the door. "They've already set out, but one or two people showin' up late isn't an abnormal thing. Still, yah don't wanna lose their tracks." I raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, I'll get as far as I can by foot but eventually I'm going to need a horse... Anyone in town you've got a grudge against?" I asked him. Aster grinned a lopsided smile, but shook his head, "Nah, not really, but it doesn't really mattah since you'll be taking Toothless." With that said, he left the room.

I sighed. I sort of felt guilty for wanting to steal a horse. It had been at least three months since I'd been outside the castle walls, and the idea of getting out (and doing something illegal) had my blood pumping with excitement. It felt so good to take matters into my own hands as I donned each piece of the uniform. It was a little bit big, as I feared, but not too conspicuous. I already had some experience with faking my station back in the country of Nerk when I'd pretended to be a duke in order to sneak into a party of the highest regard. Fortunately, I was only found out after I was within running distance of an easily stolen horse. I had sold the clothes and the silverware from the party for much too high of a price to an easily tricked merchant afterward before fleeing the country on that same horse. I knew better than to sell away this armor, however. Who knew Aster had been a knight? More importantly, what had happened for him to go from a knight to a servant?

When the hall seemed quiet enough, I slipped outside towards the stables. Toothless was looking irritated without his morning run, whinnying and flipping his hair in every direction. I calmed him by bringing a small apple. "Think you can run me fast enough to catch a stolen prince?" I asked him, a mischievous grin on my face. Toothless sputtered, kicking impatiently at his gate. "Ok, then. I'll take that as a yes." I flung the gate open, quickly throwing a saddle onto my hairy companion before mounting him and taking off towards the gate. Seeing my uniform, the guards let me through without a second glance. Looking to my left, I saw Aster waving to my lightly from behind some trees he was trimming. I nodded and disappeared through the gate. It felt as if I were a bird being released from a cage. I took a deep breath and began to gallop through the castle city.

It didn't take much to catch up with a rather large group of knights. I slipped in between them quietly, as if I'd been there the whole time, and none of them seemed to notice. By listening to the ends of their conversations, they believed the kidnappers would've taken him north. I shook my head. North? Were they stupid? No one in their right mind would ever think about taking a prisoner up the North Mountains. Those paths were too heavily guarded, even in the woods. And on top of that, the temperature was already dropping quickly as fall set in. Winter would be in full force by the time you could get halfway across the full range of them. North? Absolutely not. They went south.

Everyone was scared that Hiccup might already be dead, but quite honestly, his being alive was the only the thing I was absolutely sure about. You don't steal a prince to kill him. It's a waste. Nobles are worth much more to you alive than they are dead, and when you have a high prince on your hands, there's about three different directions you can go. One, you hold him hostage until something you want done happens. Two, you act on orders from whoever's paying you and deposit him where they say to collect your money. Three, (and I found myself cringing at he thought) you sell him off as a slave or concubine to another rich noble with a grudge against the king. I hated to admit it, but three was the most likely scenario (seeing as how it paid the best of all). Keeping that in mind, I broke off from the group as soon as they began heading for the North Mountains. I turned in the opposite direction, towards the woods and hill-strewn plains to the south. I knew them well at this point. It would be my third trip through them, and I had a great memory for these types of things. I stuck to the road for a while before going into the woods. They'd want to stick close to the rock cliffs bordering the eastern mountain. I headed in the cliffs' direction, paying attention to the sun as it drifted from noon into early evening.

After the trio had their lunch, we set back off through the woods. We never left the side of the cliffs until we were over the border and into our closest neighboring country of Serk. My clothes had been sold off during our second day of travel and replaced with rough and raggedy robes so I would fit in when we'd pass through towns. Once or twice I heard them speaking about possible buyers… for me. During these conversations I would have to try and block out everything they said so as to keep my sanity. One day, a town crier had yelled out the news of my disappearance. At least there was some hope since they believed I was still alive. Each night, we would retreat back to what they would deem a safe place in the woods and each day I grew more afraid of them finding a "buyer" that suited them. I lost a lot of weight during those few days, mainly because I was too riled up or too scared to even think of food.

We stopped to rest for the night in a small cave near the side of yet another new mountain. As of that day, we had been travelling for exactly one week. I was more tired than I'd ever been in my entire life. Emotionally and physically drained, I wondered how Jack could ever like this sort of life. Oh…

The thought of Jack sent the stinging of tears to the back of my eyes. I missed him greatly, longing for him more than I'd ever longed for anything else. I didn't even pine for home and my own bed as much as I did for him. Would I ever see him again? The trio were already sawing logs with me tied tightly to a tree. Under the cover of the night and the dying fire, I brought my legs up to my face and silently let a few tears out. The knights would never come searching that far out. I knew so, and it did nothing but deepen my despair. What if I never even saw my own country again?

I was forced out of my thoughts by a loud snore from the brown-haired thief… Rider is what the red-haired brothers called him. I dried my eyes as best as I could on the scratchy fabric of my trousers before leaning my head on the tree to get some rest. I immediately entered a nightmare and drifted in and out of sleep repetitively as the night passed. I was awoken once or twice by the loud snoring of Rider. The coming of morning woke me once more as the birds began to chirp under a still-dark sky, but I refused to open my eyes. The night really should've be longer than that… I drifted off silently one more time, where I was greeted by a dream of Jack.

We were running through the woods, green rushing past us as we sprinted away from something far behind. I felt scared, but not terrified. As I looked up, Jack had his smug grin on. "I knew I'd find you. Good thing I went south, huh?" He said. I smiled hugely back up at him. "Let's go home." He coaxed, the words wrapping around me like a warm blanket as we ran. "Hiccup." He said, and I focused on a light at the end of the woods, and I knew it was our exit. "Hiccup." He said again. "Hmm?" I asked, still not taking my eye off of the light. "Hiccup… you need to wake up." I looked up to see Jack's face, now distressed and darkening.

"Hiccup… Hiccup, I need you to wake up… Hic?"

The dream faded away into the quickly approaching morning. As it did so, my heart broke a little more. Why Jack? The dream had given me false hope for rescue. I sighed and opened my eyes, silently cursing the sun for rising. "Rise and shine, princess."

Jack.

I flipped my head to the right so quick it gave me whiplash and opened my mouth to gasp, but it was quickly covered by a familiar, warm hand. "Miss me?" Jack asked, his eyes alight in shimmering blue. I nodded my head up and down furiously, adding to the whiplash. Jack laughed quietly before whispering, "That's good. Me too." There was a small slicing sound, and the rope that tied me to the tree came undone. I couldn't throw it off of me fast enough before wrapping my arms tightly around Jack. The first signs of dawn were beginning to show themselves as Jack pulled me to my feet. "I think it's time we got you back home." He said, taking my hand. We were turning around to leave, but were stopped in our tracks by one of the red-haired brothers and a knife. When had he gotten up?! "Rider! Looks like we're on the wanted list again." He said, waking his brunette partner and simultaneously his brother.

"Rider…?" Jack asked, his brow furrowing. He suddenly flipped around, pulling me behind him with my back to a tree. Now fully awake and alert, Rider stood and looked at us. Suddenly, Jack started laughing. "Well if it isn't Frostbite!" Rider called, jogging over and waving to the man with knife to put it down. The man warily did so, before slinking off to his brother's side. "Flynn Rider… You?! You managed to kidnap a prince?! Well… my applause, then." Jack said, turning sideways to wink at me slyly. I couldn't tell what he meant by that… maybe that I shouldn't worry… or maybe that I should play along? Jack and Flynn slapped each other on their shoulders as greeting. I watched in awe as Jack came up with a whole story as to why he was there. "You know I couldn't resist the allure in kidnapping an already kidnapped prince." He began, "I had to follow your trail for three days before I found you. Not too shabby on your part considering it was me you were dealing with." He said, a surly, teasing smile on his lips. I didn't like the look one bit. Rider rolled his eyes, "Well I'll take that as a compliment, then. Come, get your hands off my prince and I might offer you some breakfast." Rider said.

Jack glanced wistfully back at me for a fleeting second before turning back to Rider… and letting me go. I felt my heart sink into my shoes, and I could only hope my face didn't give it away. I was supposed to act like I didn't know him. Very well, then. Acting was something I could do. I threw on what felt like a straight face and tried to act annoyed. Rider quickly explained to the red heads that Jack was an old partner of his. This was news to me. Jack gave off such a lone wolf sort of vibe that I really couldn't picture him with a partner in thievery. The morning continued on like this until it was decided that Jack would join them all (under the pretense that he had nothing better to do) as they traveled further south to try and find a buyer. I was plopped down on the back of the terribly rowdy horse once more and forced to watch Jack's smug grin as he gently rode on Toothless. The day seemed to drag on and on forever as I awaited escape and after an eternity, we finally stopped for the night.

After a dinner I actually managed to force down, I was once again tied to a tree while they reminisced and went on about who-knows-what. In my subconscious I was tapping my foot anxiously as I waited for night to fall. Much to my relief, they decided to turn in early. Without making it seem too obvious, Jack casually walked by me to tie up Toothless and whispered, "Get some rest… and wake up quicker this time." He said, tilting his head and winking at me before letting out a huge yawn and lying down for some sleep. "I need to get up quicker? It took you seven days to find me. Not three." I growled underneath my breath, pouting. I was getting really, really, really tired of ropes. Jack, however, had looked amused as he tied me up. Kinky son of a... gods what a jerk.

I couldn't sleep. Too high strung, I guess. Despite how well I was doing, I'd never been much of an actor. At least my lie about coming to steal Hiccup didn't seem unbelievable, and Flynn had always been a little dumb, so I figured I could get away with it. It was the other two I was really worried about. They didn't trust me, and I wouldn't have been surprised if they weren't asleep either. I rolled over in my sleep to gauge their reactions. One of them didn't flinch, just kept on breathing normally, while the other one's breathing hitched for a moment before resuming. One of them was awake, definitely, but you never knew about the ones who just kept breathing either. It was obvious they'd done this many times before, maybe they'd had practice in feigning sleep? I wouldn't have put it past guys with their looks. Hiccup was wide awake as I turned to look at him. He caught my gaze and looked at me expectantly. I hated to break his hope, but I was forced to shake my head and mouth, not yet.

Hiccup's face fell. Not tonight? He mouthed back. I shrugged a shoulder, Maybe. I pointed at the one whose breathing caught. He's awake. Hiccup pouted, and tilted his head to the side (the only movement he could make, really), Boooo.

Chuckling silently, I tried not to give us away to the brothers and stayed as quiet as possible. Hiccup sighed, annoyed. I couldn't stand pretending to be asleep any longer, so I sat up and moved to sit on a fallen log a few steps away from Hiccup. If I was going to let them know I was awake, I'd better be smart about it; these were no beginners. This time, though, both of them let their breathing falter. It had been right to be wary of the "sleeping" one. I pointed at both of them and mouthed to Hiccup, Both awake. Hiccup nodded only slightly and looked away from me. Oh great, now they were fully awake and watching him. Since they were already up, I poured myself another cup of… whatever it was we had as coffee… and leaned back on the tree behind me, expecting it to be a long night. After a while, Hiccup finally looked at me again. He nodded his head toward the red head at my right. Asleep? He asked, cocking his eyebrow up. I eyed the large man for a few moments before sliding my foot across the ground beneath me. Nothing happened, but I knew better with that one. I made a noise as if I was going to get off the log, and his breathing stopped immediately (along with his brother's). Not asleep.

The night continued on like that, and I wasn't able to leave the log until morning, when Flynn awoke with a loud yawn, followed instantly by the red heads, who you could tell hadn't had any sleep. They were all sleepily humping about, but I was absolutely awake. Staying up all night had given me lots of time to think, but now was the time to move. I nodded at Hiccup. Ready? Hiccup's eyes widened, and he smiled. I briefly smiled back before walking over to Toothless, who I'd tied intentionally loose to the tree. He'd done as I'd hoped and had gone to nibble on the tall grass behind Hiccup's tree. I made sure the three were looking as I fed Toothless an apple. In my peripheral vision I saw them all turn away, and in one swift movement, I swept the knife through the rope tying Hiccup to the tree. Glancing over my shoulder once more to see them all preoccupied with a map, I released Toothless' reins and motioned for Hiccup to stand up. He moved more lithely to my side than I had expected, jumping onto Toothless without making a sound. I jumped on behind him, and off we ran.

Their distressed yells came following after us, but Toothless was just as fast in a forest as he was on a clear field. Hiccup laughed with pure joy as we made our escape out of the forest. "Directions!" He commanded me. "Go left!" I told him. We let out excited whoops and cheers as we continued down the road with our pursuers nowhere in sight. It didn't last long, however. As we neared the closest town, they became visible, popping out of the forest about 40 meters behind us all red-faced to match their hair. They were pouring out insults like a fountain and gaining on us and… gods I was in my element. "Let me take the reins." I told him. As we came through town, I quickly guided us through back alleys and streets filled with people, trying to lose the three musketeers behind us. As we exited the crowds, I suddenly turned Toothless around. Hiding him behind a small curtained street shop, I listened for the commotion the three would make as they tore through town trying to find us. Like idiots, all three of them were still together as they came tumbling down the street. When they were gone, I ran Toothless in the other direction, which would mean heading back to the road we came from.

I felt better after we had spent fifteen minutes without seeing them. I slowed Toothless to a trot and headed back into the cover of the woods. "Gods, Hiccup." I said. He looked up at me with eyes that still sparkled with excitement, "What?" He asked. I shook my head and laid it on his shoulder, handing him the reins back. "You're giving me more trouble than the bloody chicken."

I'm Baaaaaaaaack!

Arizona was wonderful and Italy was the best place I've ever been! Hope you guys didn't miss me too much CUZ I MISSED YOU.

I had the most intense case of writer's block EVER when I came back, though, which I wasn't expecting.

ANYWHOOO~ It's over now and I'm back in the writing saddle again. And just so you guys know, I ACTUALLY DID DO HIJACK WEEK. The story is completed and now all I have to do is wait for FF to stop being a butt and let me make a new story because I've tried to post it literally every day since I got back but it won't let me *cries*

ANYWHOOO X2~ Next chapter should hopefully be out soon. Hope you enjoyed this update because it was mainly plot BUT NEXT CHAPTER IS A FLUFF CHAPTER SO YAAAAY!