I Own Nothing
All Rights Reserved
Please Don't Sue Me!
Since I was absent for a little while and had to delay posting, I thought my readers deserved two chapters today.
Chapter 27
The Stolen Journal
The dinner party was going on in the Village, but Hiccup had no interest in being there. Instead he and Toothless flew to the cove off of Raven Point, the place where they had become friends. They wrestled around a little bit before Hiccup sat down on a rock and fell into deep thought, becoming oblivious to everything around him.
One thing that weighed heavily on his mind was what had happened earlier that day. He was not proud of nearly killing Marva. Part of him tried to assure himself that he would never have gone that far, but the other part wondered if that was true. The fact that he was uncertain of this frightened him. What was he turning into if he let himself behave like that? Yes, Marva had been the one to get him that way but that did not justify himself. He should have known better and just ignored her.
"I'm supposed to stand for peace and unity—and what do I do? I try to murder someone!" He mumbled to himself shamefully. "And everybody thinks I should be the next chief of Berk. Ha!"
Doing his punishment with sharpening the swords that afternoon had awakened another reminder in him. In less than two days they would set out for Berserk, or wherever Drago and his army would be. Within a week there would almost certainly be a battle. Most likely a lot of people and dragons would die in it. And even if they won or lost, the war might still go on. He wanted a single titanic battle to end this once and for all, but he was all too aware those did not always happen. He thought of Rome and Hannibal. Even after destroying the Romans at Cannae, a new army was raised and Hannibal was eventually forced to give up his invasion. What if that happened now? And did his side represent the Carthaginians or the Romans? The side that lost the battle but won the war after horrible cost or the side that brilliantly won the battle yet lost everything in the end? Which was it?
It all came back to Drago, he thought and hoped. He hoped that without Drago the enemy would just fall apart, like Brutus and Cassius had hoped about Julius Caesar. And that was a rotten example, he reminded himself, because Mark Antony and Octavius had taken up the fight and fought a civil war with them for another three years—and then turned on each other, resulting in further wars. Still, he did hope that if they could just get rid of Drago, the enemy alliance would fall apart and give up.
But would that even mean peace?
It was unlikely, knowing human nature. Dagur and Alvin would probably come for revenge if they survived. He suspected deep down real peace was virtually impossible. Certainly he could not expect it to occur worldwide. Still, he wanted there to be some peace in this corner of the world. And that meant first at least one battle. And that battle, win or lose, would be on him. He knew it was also Drago's fault, but that did not excuse his own actions. He had come back and sided with Dragons, thereby siding against Drago, he had gotten other people involved with this, and now he had compelled them to join him against his enemy. In his mind, that meant every death was on him.
Astrid had asked him why he did not want to be Chief. Aside from reluctance to lead the place of his childhood torment and the unworthiness he now felt, the true reason was he did not want this: the fact that the cause of so much death and pain and misery was ultimately him. That was a responsibility he hated and yet for a Chief it would be unavoidable. Already when he looked at people he found himself wondering if he was looking at them for the last time. Who would want to be a leader when they had to live with such a burden?
And yet he knew somebody had to do it. He had thought of this before many times. Somebody had to lead or else things would be even worse. Drago would not just go away. If Hiccup did nothing, the deaths would still be on him, and probably many more. How ironic. He was leading people to their deaths so that not all of them would die.
"Hiccup, would you say something, please?"
Hiccup jumped. He had been thinking so deeply he had not noticed Astrid had found him.
"I've been looking for you since it got dark." She said softly, "Evidently Stormfly thought you might be here," she looked around but it was too dark to make much out now. "Isn't this where we all thought you'd been killed by Toothless?"
"Yeah, but it's also where we became friends. It's not where we first met, but I don't know if I could find that particular place in the dark,"
"So," Astrid sat down next to him, looking a bit uncertain, "Are you going to that party sometime?"
"I've had enough of parties I think, actually. The only good thing about the last one was the pepper pie."
Astrid laughed but it did not match her expression. "I wonder if the Twins did that on purpose."
They sat for a few minutes and looked at the stars that were starting to appear.
"Hiccup?" Astrid suddenly said.
"Hmm?"
"Look, about what happened earlier with Marva, I'm really sorry, I—"
"Astrid, I told you to forget it, I don't need to hear an apology about that—"
"Maybe you don't need to hear me say it but I do," she said, positioning herself so that she was directly in front of him and making eye contact. "I should have done something to stop her. I have no idea why I didn't, if I had you never would have snapped like that—and I don't ever want to see you like that again, all right, because you scared me so much, I didn't know you, I thought I—"
"Can we just forget about it?" Hiccup interrupted irritably, "I don't want to talk about it, all right? I hate remembering those days, I hate everything that has to do with them, I hate the fact that when I scratch my back I can feel the scars perfectly, and I would like more than anything else than for those days and anything connected to them to never be mentioned again!" He suddenly was horrified. "Oh Gods, Astrid, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you like that, it's just—"
"I get it," Astrid said quietly. "I know...well, sort of, anyway. Something terrible happened to you that you don't like people bringing up. I was that way when Uncle Finn was killed and everyone was mocking his cowardice. The slightest joke set me off—and you know how I can be when I lose my temper."
"Yes, I believe I do. You know, I used to enjoy watching you punch Snotlout or throw him into a wall and the like…after all those times when he'd beat me up, since I couldn't get even with him myself, I liked to think you were secretly avenging me."
Astrid smiled sadly. "I wasn't, of course."
"No, but I still found some comfort in that." Hiccup shook his head. "I had to take all the comfort I could in those days."
"Still do, by the sound of it,"
"Well, don't we all?" As he spoke he became aware that once again there was a beautiful woman sitting so close to him and looking into his eyes. As with all those times before his heart began to pound and his stomach had butterflies in it. And she slowly became aware of how close she was to him. It was as if both of them knew what should happen next but both were uncertain who should make the move first.
"Astrid?" He whispered,
"Yes?" She whispered back,
Suddenly Hiccup's nerve failed him. He had been thinking too much of Adoncia earlier and those memories came back to him. He jumped to his feet and began to step away. Then he abruptly changed his mind and turned back to her. He had had enough of that Adoncia and those memories. He had been tormented by them long enough.
Astrid had gotten to her feet too. "Hiccup, what are you doing?"
"Just this," he pulled her towards him and kissed her on the lips. Astrid responded at once by wrapping her arms around him and extending the kiss. For those moments nothing else mattered to either of them. The pains of the past, the uncertainty of the future, it was all forgotten. Only the present, standing in the cool night air locked in each other's arms and sharing a deep and tender kiss, mattered in the slightest to them.
"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that," Hiccup said hoarsely when they finally parted.
"I think I do, actually," Astrid said, "I've been wanting you to for a while,"
"You—I thought you never—what I mean is—"
"Hiccup, don't start sentences you don't know how to finish,"
"Sorry," he blushed again with embarrassment.
She laughed. "You're rather cute when you're blushing, you know that?"
"And you're very beautiful when you're laughing," He wanted to say more on the subject but he could not say anything when her lips were on his again.
Toothless and Stormfly watched with approval.
"Two fish that they'll mate within a week?" Toothless whispered.
"Hmm? Oh yeah, um, sure," Stormfly was not thinking of wagering. She was thinking of her own mate. It had been a while since his death but his absence was still a pain she often felt.
"You know," Astrid said when they parted again, "I could get used to this,"
"Me too," Hiccup gently put his hand on her cheek. Astrid's breath hitched up as he did so and her mouth opened slightly.
Suddenly Toothless sneezed, making them all jump.
"Way to ruin the mood, you overgrown salamander!" Hiccup shouted.
"Sorry," Toothless chuckled.
Astrid laughed and looking happier than she had all day. "Come on, what do you say we go to that party? We can get some food if nothing else."
"I already ate."
She grabbed his arm. "Then you can eat some more, because moping around like this is not good for anyone! Now march!"
Hiccup made a half hearted attempt to salute, "Yes sir!"
"Ugh, don't call me sir,"
"All right—yes, milady,"
"That's better,"
"How is it Toothless is not a Beta anymore?" Astrid suddenly asked as they walked. They could have flown but it was only a short distance and neither of them did not want to let go of the other.
It took Hiccup a moment to consider the answer and before he spoke he made certain they were alone.
"Grimm took the position from him. He challenged him when we returned to the Sanctuary after Berserk—with my approval. See, he feared Drago might use Toothless to control our dragons. So we thought we'd fool him. Make Grimm the real Beta and not let Drago know about it."
"But I thought dragons have to kill each other for that position? That's what you said!"
"No, I said they fight for it. They don't have to kill each other, just fight until one yields. Granted, a lot of these fights do end up being to the death."
"Something else about that Beta stuff confuses me. You said it requires eye contact to first gain control of a dragon's mind. Does that mean that Grimm has to make eye contact with every dragon at the Sanctuary? How does that work exactly?"
"No, he does not. Once he is the Beta he can control the mind of any dragon that Toothless had control over when he was the Beta. It's like when you become a king or a Chief: once you do you automatically have control over everything and everyone your predecessor did. But if the dragon has never been under the mind control of a certain Beta, they will never fall under that Beta's control unless they make eye contact and the Beta works its power on them. I'm not entirely sure why it's that way. It's like colds and illnesses: nobody really knows why they exist, yet for some reason they do.
"So anyhow, Grimm promised he'd let Toothless be Beta again once this was over—though I'm not so sure if that'll work. Maybe it would be better if Grimm stayed in charge at the Sanctuary, especially if we're going to be busy here." He shrugged, "well, like most things right now, it'll all depend on how this little war of ours turns out."
"We'll win," Astrid assured him, "I promise you we can win."
"Can you promise me you'll take care of yourself?"
She punched him lightly on the shoulder. "Don't I always? What about you? You're the one who's been jumping off dragons and wielding flaming swords and getting beaten up. Will you promise me you'll care of yourself?"
Hiccup smiled. "All right,"
"Good,"
Mead Hall could not accommodate so many people, so most just grabbed food and drink and went outside to find their friends. Still, the place was packed. Hiccup still declined having food and he also declined to go close to Mead Hall. So he went over to a tree some distance from everyone. Astrid went in, grabbed the Riders, and brought them out so they could join him.
Fishlegs began rambling about what he had discovered about Meatlug that afternoon. Snotlout was enraged and flattered that Cami had stolen his knife and shoes. Tuffnut and Ruffnut were discussing how best to blow up Drago's army. Astrid herself was watching Hiccup. Gustav was not present, as he was with his mother somewhere. The Dragons gathered in a circle around them and gulped down their fish.
Hiccup felt a tap on his shoulder. A tap from a clawed finger. He turned around and saw a dark blue dragon behind him. "Gerd! Good to see you! What news?"
Fishlegs nudged Astrid. "Astrid, that's a Skinkhard! Speed 5, Firepower 6, with a shot limit of 8, and they can lose limbs and grow new ones!"
"Pff. Yeah right." Snotlout snorted.
"Awesome!" the Twins grinned.
This information was of little interest to Astrid or Camicazi. For the later, she was swiping some of Snotlout's food as his head was turned the other way. For the former, she was more interested in trying to figure out what the dragon was saying to Hiccup. He was listening very intently and looked a bit perplexed. It was rather maddening to her that she could not speak Dragonese at a time like this and he could.
At length he sent the dragon away and turned to the group.
"What's going on?" Astrid asked anxiously. "Is something wrong?"
Hiccup looked concerned. "I don't know. Gerd was out scouting over Berserk Island, and saw something he can't really explain or describe to me. I'm going to have a look for myself."
"Then we're coming with you." Astrid said, and the others nodded vigorously.
To their relief, Hiccup made no attempt to talk them out of it. On the contrary, he looked pleased.
"Should we get Gustav?"
All the Berkian riders groaned.
"Why not? He's got a dragon, and if he's willing to come, who are we to say no?"
"You haven't lived around him as long as we have," Snotlout said wearily.
"I could just wait until you're all asleep and go alone," Hiccup said airily.
Astrid grabbed him. "Absolutely not. We'll bring Gustav if he wants to come but we are all going or no one is going. Got that?"
Once they found him they found that Gustav was absolutely delighted to come, especially if Astrid was coming. Little did he know she was already as good as taken.
Hiccup said as they saddled up, "All right, I told Stoick and Bertha we're going on a scouting and training mission and we'll back by mid-morning at the latest—but we're just going to have a look! We probably won't even get near any enemies. And we don't wanna give away what we're capable of until it really counts, so no starting any fights, ok?"
"And what if we get caught or they start a fight?" Gustav asked excitedly.
Hiccup gave him a strange look. "If that happens then we're starting the war a few days early."
"He's always so commanding—a perfect mountain of command—and his face is so much handsomer compared to everyone else's! Me likey!" Everyone, especially Hiccup and Astrid, just starred at Ruffnut.
The flight was long, dark, and uneventful. Perhaps it was the gloomy darkness or the fact that they were on a serious mission, but nobody was in much mood for conversation. The stars were faint and offered little interest or inspiration. Clouds were rolling in here and there, like large black drapes covering the sky. It was so dark now that Toothless and his rider, who were in the lead along with the Skinkhard, were almost invisible to Fishlegs, who was bringing up the rear.
It was very late at night when they landed on a sea stack, about a league away from Berserk Island. The beacons around the island's coastline were little more than orange dots at such distance.
"We'll let the dragons rest a minute before we get any closer," Hiccup said as they dismounted.
"What about us?" Snotlout groaned as he stretched, "I haven't sat down that much in years!"
"Me neither," Tuffnut said.
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it," Hiccup alone did not seem sore from the trip. Even Astrid was a bit stiff, though she tried to hide it.
"So, Hiccup, what exactly are we looking for?" Camicazi asked.
"Gerd says it looked like a moving island," He pulled out his telescope and looked around. "Hmm,"
"What do you see?" Fishlegs asked anxiously.
"Nothing out of the ordinary,"
"This place is giving me the shivers," Snotlout whispered to Tuffnut.
"You're probably just cold," Astrid said dismissively.
"If you're cold, Astrid, I could help you warm up!"
"Gustav, do you see the ocean way down there? One more word out of you and you'll be in it."
Hiccup suddenly uttered a cry of surprise. "Gerd, is that it?" The Skinkhard nodded vigorously. "What in the name of Thor is that thing?"
Fishlegs grabbed the telescope and took a look. "I don't see anything!"
Astrid took it from him. "Neither do I,"
Hiccup took it back. "You're both looking in the wrong spot. Here, let's mount up. We'll head over that way and you'll see it—but for heaven's sakes, don't let them see you!"
Like owls flying noiselessly over a forest they swooped through the night sky and drew closer to Berserk. In the darkness the nearby islands just looked like a large black shapeless masses. The only sound was the cold ocean breaking against the rocky cliffs and beaches. Although they were only scouting, they all began to feel the thrill of the hunt and the delights and tensions in secrecy and stealth. They were sneaking up on the enemy and the enemy did not know it.
Then suddenly Toothless gave the command to stop and the dragons began hovering. The King trained his telescope and looked again.
"It's right over there," he whispered to Astrid, who was the closest, "pass it along to the others. Now what the heck is that thing?"
What indeed, everyone was asking. Gerd's description of a floating island seemed applicable. It was a ship, but a ship such as they had never seen before. It was solid black and at least 10 times the length of any Viking ship, several times the width, and its hull was considerably taller. It had no sails on it, nor masts or oars. The upper deck had several rows of catapults and giant crossbows along the edge. At the stern end the riders could faintly make out a massive rudder and propeller.
The sight of this ship sent a wave of fear and helplessness through the hearts of most of the riders. If Drago had this, what else did he have? Who knew what this monster of a ship was capable of? How did he build such a thing? Were there any weak points or were they doomed to defeat now? Were there more weapons hidden on board?
Astrid alone did not seem intimidated. Impressed but not intimidated. She looked at Hiccup, hoping that as one of the more technical minded riders, he might have spotted something that could reassure everyone they stood a chance against that ship. To her complete astonishment, Hiccup did not look awed or horrified by what he saw, or even inquisitive or calculating. He looked outraged. So outraged he could hardly speak at first.
"Why those dirty—those—that—that's my ship! I designed that vessel! They stole my idea! Those dirty, no good lowlife scumbags, they stole my plans!"
Everyone looked at him incredulously. "You designed that thing?" Cami exclaimed. Everyone at once hissed at her to speak softer.
"Yes I did! That's my design and they stole it! That's downright cheating! That was my invention! Those bilge rats and sons of half trolls!" Now he got hissed at to speak softer. He was more indignant than they had ever seen him.
Back on the sea stack Hiccup sketched on the ground with a charcoal pencil.
"It was a few months before I met Toothless. I was cooking vegetables for my dinner one night. I took the lid off the pot to check on them and hot steam rose into my face. At that instant an idea struck me: if I could produce steam on a larger scale, contain it, and send it in a chosen direction, it might be powerful enough to move something. In fact, the idea was similar to a waterwheel or a windmill, only instead of wind or running water, I thought of using steam. Next thing I knew I had ideas for an engine sketched out.
"The idea behind a steam engine is actually very old. I've learned since then that the Greeks designed such things around a thousand years ago, though they found little practical use for them. After a little thinking I thought if I could build a device large enough it could power a mill, or the forge, or even a ship. My plan, as I recall, was like this," he pointed to the sketch as he spoke. "A large cauldron of boiling water would go here. Metal pipes would carry the steam to the wheels here with enough force to turn them. Those wheels would be connected to these rods here and turn those, and those rods would then turn these massive wheels on the outside of the ship. The large wheels would propel it through the water, much faster and more reliably than any ship in existence! But then a problem arose: how could a ship carry such a heavy load? And even worse, what if the ship caught fire from its own engine? The solution was quite simple: it would not be made of wood. Having worked as a smith, I decided iron would be suitable."
"But iron can't float!" Snotlout exclaimed.
"As that ship out there is made of iron, your statement lacks all credibility." Snotlout looked confused and Hiccup sighed. "It can float, Snotlout,"
Fishlegs examined the sketch thoughtfully. "But Hiccup, for an engine to push a ship like that, you'd need a huge amount of steam—"
"Yes, as soon as I had the sketch done I realized how impractical it was," Hiccup said hastily, "it would have to be a very large engine to move a ship made of iron, and for the ship of iron to hold such an engine, it would have to be huge. It was clear from the first that Gobber's forge was way too small to produce that much iron. If the two of us worked every day for 12 hours I doubt we'd have enough metal after 10 years! And then there was the question, what was going to fuel the fire to keep the water boiling? Wood was obvious, but I figured it would take an entire forest to fuel it for a prolonged period."
"Couldn't you use a dragon?" Ruffnut asked. "Like a Nightmare or something?"
"Yeah, you used Fireworms in your forge at the Sanctuary!" Astrid pointed out.
"Yes, but this was before I met Toothless. I had yet to change my outlook on things at the time. Using Dragons for anything but target practice was out of the question back then."
Fishlegs nodded. "I can see your points. It's a good idea in theory, but in practical terms…"
"In practical terms, I had no source of power or means of building the ship and even if I had, at the time I was still the Village Embarrassment and all of my suggestions were being ignored. So I closed my journal and left it at that—and then found I'd focused so much on the designs I'd burnt my dinner!"
"So how did he get a hold of it?" Astrid asked after they stopped laughing.
"Maybe he came up with it on his own?" Snotlout suggested, "Hiccup did say that his ideas has been used in other places,"
"That was only the engine, not the use for it. Besides, that thing out there is too much like my design." Hiccup replied. He was looking very thoughtful.
"And what's he going to use it for?" Asked Camicazi. "I mean, I agree it looks intimidating, but looks don't win battles!"
Hiccup shrugged, "It's big enough to transport an entire army, I imagine. Or it could house a good sized flock of dragons. And it's not undefended. Did you see those catapults? And I imagine that hull is nearly impregnable against any weapons we have. I certainly wouldn't trust a fleet of Viking longboats against it. With a vessel like that under his command Drago could dominate the ocean."
"And he's probably going to use it to gain dominance over the air, which will make gaining dominance over land a whole lot easier," Toothless said nervously. "How on earth did we not know about this?"
"And how did he build that thing if, as you said, it was impossible to?" Ruffnut demanded.
"He did not say 'impossible.' He only implied that it was impractical for a small place like Berk." Fishlegs said.
Hiccup nodded. "But it would certainly be feasible if you've got the money, time, and resources. I know Drago's got the money, and with money he's got resources, and as for time…" he fell into deep thought.
Fishlegs said "I suppose if he ordered small sections of it from various blacksmith stalls and then assembled them…though I can't see how he kept it a secret."
Astrid looked at Hiccup. She could almost see the gears in his mind moving as he tried to find the solution. His eyes widened. "That might make sense…"
"What?"
"When I was…in Spain, you know when I was arrested, I was searched and my things were taken from me—including the journal I was using at the time. If memory serves, that was the journal with my design in it. When Toothless broke me out, we did not retrieve the things that had been confiscated…he didn't know about them and I was in no condition to remember. So Adoncia would have wound up with the journal, and she could easily have shown it to Drago. That would also explain how she was able to find her way here, now that I think about it. That journal was the one I was recording my first observations of Toothless in." This realization left him looking even more thoughtful.
"So," Snotlout said, "to sum it up, a sex crazed lady took a journal you left behind, showed it to a monster who then used a sketch to build the most powerful ship in the world, and we've got nothing that can defeat it!"
"Isn't it awesome?" Tuffnut grinned, "Now how can we get our hands on that toy?"
"We're not going to," Astrid snapped, "we're going right back to Berk to let the Chiefs know about this."
"And what can they do about it?" Camicazi demanded. "Let's fly in and destroy it right now!"
"I agree!" Gustav said cheerfully, "So it's big, so what? I'll bet they can't do much with it, and I'll bet it's really slow! Come on, let's go in and blow it up!"
"Um—how?" Fishlegs asked nervously. All eyes naturally turned to Hiccup, who naturally turned to Toothless.
"Do you think your guy's firepower could penetrate that hull, Bud?"
"Maybe, if we had a lot more of it. But with only eight dragons…"
"Good point."
"I say we turn back and report to Stoick at once," Astrid repeated. "We can discuss a way to destroy that thing while we're flying."
"First, can we get some sleep?" Snotlout yawned.
Hiccup felt that the sea stack was too close to enemy territory for comfort and suggested they head back a ways before going to sleep. He then announced that he wanted to take a closer look at the iron ship and would meet up with the others later. This led to a great deal of bickering, as everyone else was completely against the idea of Hiccup going out there alone, while Hiccup insisted he was just going to take a closer look and saw no need to get anyone else involved, especially as no one else blended into the night as well as he and Toothless. Finally he asked Fishlegs to come along with him. Astrid, who looked a bit hurt that he had not asked her, told them both they had better rejoin them before daybreak or else she'd come looking for them and when she found them—well, she left what she would do up to their imaginations.
With Fishlegs hovering a little ways off watching him the Dragon King carefully guided Toothless closer to the massive ship. It was certainly formidable, he noted, and yet for all its imposing size and impressive armory, he perceived a few weaknesses based on what he saw. He decided the ship's own giant size made it an easy target, and concentrated fire might manage to penetrate it. The catapults and crossbows would make getting close tricky, but he deduced there was bound to be a weak spot, a place close to the ship where the projectiles could not reach. Most of all, he doubted there were any weapons underwater, so if he sent every Scauldron he knew to attack the hull, it was just possible they could put a hole in it and Drago would be helpless to do anything. Granted, Drago probably expected such a move, but if all of these factors were used together, it was just possible this ship could be sunk, and with it would go all of Drago's hopes and efforts—assuming he did not have more, which Hiccup doubted. So as he observed he began to feel a little better about it.
What bothered him more was why had they not heard about this? They had been watching Drago Bludvist for years now, and had heard absolutely nothing. How could that have happened? Despite his efforts to come up with an explanation, he was drawing a blank here. He would just have to ask Drago about the next time they met. That and several other topics, he reminded himself. At least two other questions were digging into his mind and he wanted answers to them.
"Well, we've seen enough, I guess. Let's head back Bud, before Astrid comes and kills us for taking too long."
He waved an arm at Fishlegs and they flew above the dark clouds so they would not be seen from below. The King really liked it when he was up this high. He often felt he could just slip off Toothless and start walking on the cloud forms; they looked like giant blankets of cotton rolled out over the sky. Now, of course, he knew better than to try walking on them.
Meatlug was allowed to take the lead, while the Night Fury kept a little ways back. Toothless was enjoying himself too, being up there. He liked swatting cloud wisps with his tail. After one such swat he looked back to see what shape the wisp was now and saw a strange shape moving through the cloud below them, like the top of a mole tunnel rising out of the earth. The shape began to rise further out of the clouds and Toothless realized with a jolt it was a person.
Hiccup had noticed the person too and with a groan he said "Oh come on, Astrid, there was no need to—" But the person was clearly not Astrid. Their visitor looked rather like Hiccup; dressed in black with a hood and mask covering their face and head. They rose further out of the clouds and now the two could see the dragon that was carrying their visitor. It was a long slender dragon with silvery metallic scales.
"Razorwhip," Toothless whispered to Hiccup.
"Wait for it," Hiccup whispered back. He had a very good idea of who was on the dragon's back now. "Dive!"
Fishlegs turned his head and saw his friend shoot down into the clouds. Another rider quickly went in after them.
"What the—" He had had no idea they were being followed. He looked around frantically but he was alone.
Instead of going further, Hiccup and Toothless stayed hidden in the clouds, while their pursuers went below them. Hiccup and Toothless at once turned around and went up to where they had been a minute ago.
"What was that?" Fishlegs shouted.
"That was too easy," The King said darkly, "So what's she going to do now?" He changed the tailfin position and they went higher up. All at once their pursuers burst through the clouds and went after them. The Night Fury took a sharp turn to the right, then to the left, then right again. The Razorwhip followed each time. Toothless abruptly went into a nose dive, Meatlug right behind him. The Razorwhip followed them.
Toothless suddenly pulled up and went back into the clouds. Meatlug was slower in doing so and the Razorwhip caught up with her. It swung its tail and hit Fishlegs in the stomach, sending him flying into the ocean. While Meatlug rushed off to rescue her rider the Razorwhip shot towards the clouds and waited for the Night Fury to reappear.
Being in the middle of a cloud was not a good hiding spot, Toothless decided. Sure, the Razorwhip could not see him, but neither could he see the Razorwhip, nor could he see Meatlug anywhere.
"You know, Bud," Hiccup whispered, "She'd make a good hostage,"
"All right," Toothless said grimly.
He waited a few more moments and charged out. The Razorwhip was a few hundred meters off and instantly went after them. Toothless shot upwards again and went into another nosedive with his pursuer's right behind him.
Instead of stopping in the cloud cover Toothless kept going until the black ocean was right beneath them. The Razorwhip had pulled up, clearly waiting for them to do the same before they hit the water. Toothless refused to oblige it and instead went headlong into the sea with such speed that Hiccup was nearly thrown off of him.
The Razorwhip circled around waiting. There was no sign of them.
"Come on," the Rider whispered, "you can't hold your breath for that long; you've got to come up,"
And they did. Right below her! Toothless barreled into the Razorwhip with all the speed he could manage. The King than seized the rider's arm and pulled her towards him. A mid-air brawl began, dragon verses dragon, human verses human, and the only thing keeping most of them up in the air was Toothless's furious wing beats.
The King threw a fierce punch into the Rider's face while she kicked him savagely in the stomach. The Razorwhip swung its barbed tail and lashed Toothless in the leg. Toothless responded with a plasma blast that would have blown most dragons to pieces, but the Razorwhip's armor was too strong. It's Rider than whipped out a metal rod and struck the King in the back. He suddenly thought back to those times in the cells and began shaking again.
"No!" Toothless shouted. "Hiccup, snap out of it, quick!" His rider did, but the brief distraction was enough for the Razorwhip to slice its spiked tail right through Toothless's tail fin. Lacking the means to stay air born Toothless and his rider plummeted towards the sea.
"Hiccup, do something!" Toothless screamed.
"Hold on, Bud!" Hiccup shouted, "I just need to—"
Whatever he needed to do he never got to do it. The Razorwhip swooped in and seized him in its talons.
"Toothless!"
"Hiccup!" Toothless shrieked as he landed in the ocean.
The Rider patted the Razorwhip's neck. "We'll come back for him later. Let's go." They flew away, with Hiccup firmly in the dragon's claws. He grabbed his gauntlet and shot flames up at the Razorwhip. The Dragon instinctively dropped him and Hiccup plummeted towards the ocean yet again. This time he unfurled his leather wings, but as he started gliding the Razorwhip grabbed him yet again and this time pinned his limbs against his body. He could do nothing now but shout.
"Well, well, well, Hiccup," The Rider laughed, "Fancy meeting you here on this lovely night! I've been waiting such a long time to see you again, Mi Amor!"
Author's Note: Just remember, all you who will be preparing your "I hate cliffhanger" reviews—I don't have to post the next chapter! (Evil Laugh)
Happy Halloween everyone! The next post will probably be November 4th.