Chapter 20: A Game of Chess
Back in Berk, Brynhild had gathered her things together, ready to go back to her home to look for Hiccup and hope that her brother hadn't killed him yet. She threw one of her bags over her shoulder and headed toward the docks. Snotlout smiled and snorted happy to see Brynhild leave. Brynhild finally reached the docks and saw Hiccups father talking to someone who looked very familiar to her and then noticed Stoick point to her. Brynhild raised an eyebrow in confusion and then the man turned around. She immediately knew who it is and stopped breathing for the fear that Hiccup is dead. Brynhild started shaking nervously at the thought of Hiccup being dead. She really had fallen for the young Viking and the thought of Hiccup being dead saddened her greatly. Soon the Viking man had come within talking distance and frowned. "What is it?" Was all Brynhild managed to say.
"I'm sorry to announce that your brother has been defeated in battle by the one called Hiccup." Hearing this completely shocked her. Brynhild thanked the man and left.
Brynhild ran to Hiccups room to think about things. She felt enraged that her love would kill her brother but at that thought, her mood went from angry to slightly happy. Sure Brynhild is angry about her brother dying but he died at the hands of a crippled Viking who she just so happened to love. To think that Hiccup could be so powerful that being crippled couldn't stand in his way. This comforted her greatly to know that her future husband would be able to protect her; not that Brynhild couldn't hold her own, but to have someone fight for her made her very happy. Then she noticed something in her hand that the man had given to her and so she opened it. Brynhild read the letter and it said that something red and round sucked Hiccup and Astrid through to somewhere. Brynhild threw the letter down and looked up. "Odin protect them." Brynhild whispered toward the sky, roof actually but it's still the same idea as she isn't outside.
In Meridian, Phobos sits on Elyon's throne sitting back and his right leg on his left; his right elbow on his right leg and his hand holding up his head as he thought. A chess board sits in front of him with eight unique pieces on the board. Five of the pieces are of the guardians, one is of Elyon and the other two are the two Vikings. Each piece moved in a certain place. Elyon is the queen piece, Taranee and Irma are bishops. Hay Lin and Cornelia are knights and Will is a rook. The two Vikings are pawns as Phobos didn't see them as much of a threat. On his side of the board is Orcs as pawns. He is of course the King. Phobos couldn't help but just sit there waiting for the guardians to make their next move. Once they did, he could move his piece but until then he had to wait. "I know where you are guardians, so make your move." Phobos whispered as he waited. A lot of time went by and still the guardians hadn't moved.
Back in the world of the orcs, Will and the others had waited until nighttime. Will thought of something as they started making their move. "Elyon, how come you didn't stay and fight, you could have easily taken Phobos out." Will said but instead of hearing Elyon's voice, she heard Taranee's.
"Will, the thing with orcs is that they are very resistant to magic. Elyon would have most likely died fighting." This little fact made Taranee angry however. Why would creatures so resistant to magic join Phobos and what could they do to make them change sides?
The group then made their way to the small underground tunnel which is still able to be entered into. Taranee lifted up the grate and let the others through first and then went through herself. The place stunk of corpses and rotting food, spider webs covered the sides and ceiling of the tunnel. The place is so dark that Taranee had to use her powers to lighten up the place. This however didn't help as they could see bodies without skin and webs covering every inch of them. The webs could now be seen in the tunnel rather then just by the entrance now. Blood soaked some of the webs as well as the already filthy water. Everyone could see why Taranee wouldn't want to come through this again. The place is disgusting and nauseating. Breathing was hard due to the stench and moving was difficult as the webs slowed them down, there are so many webs and burning them was difficult due to them being so wet. The group wanted nothing more then to get out of there but going through the city wasn't an option though they wondered. The further they moved through the tunnel, the smell of body waste grew stronger mixed with the other stenches in the place. After about an hour they arrived at a ladder. Taranee nodded and started heading up and then lifted up a manhole cover. Everything is clear and so they all moved out.
Taranee then turned to the group and whispered. "Everyone needs to be very quiet and keep to the shadows. They aren't very bright and so we should be fine. Let's move out everyone." Taranee then turned and started walking toward an ally. Once in the ally, they kept to the wall and stopped moving once they heard someone.
"Why did we stop?" Hiccup whispered to Astrid.
"Shut up Hiccup." Astrid whispered and then both Hiccup's and Astrid's mouths were covered up as a shadow moved by them. Taranee turned and nodded giving them permission to move on. They started walking when someone stepped on something and an orc rushed around the corner and pulled out his horn and blew it before anyone could take it from the orc. "Way to go Hiccup." Astrid said and then an argument started.
"Both of you stop it now. Taranee, you get everyone out of here." Will said seeing orcs coming from the far side of the ally. "I'll hold them off for as long as I can, now go." Taranee nodded and left with the others as Will fought off the orcs but quickly got overrun and taken prisoner.
Back in meridian, Phobos smiled seeing Wills piece move and then one of his orc pieces took Will. "Who knew that this is all a game of Chess?" Phobos then began laughing as he looked at the piece that looks like Will.
A/N: Thanks for the reviews and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please continue to review.