"A witch's word must have the validity of a signed and witnessed oath. Thus, give thy word sparingly, but adhere to it like iron."
-Ed Fitch
~O~
The First Prophecy
~O~
"Ye go that way, and ah'll pass there." Merida instructed Hiccup, examining the patrol patterns of the roaming guards outside the castle. Once they were sure the watchmen were completely out of sight, they both crawled towards the opening along the wall.
Once they were inside, Merida half ran, half skipped (courtesy of her missing boot) to the castle, afraid her mother might walk into her room then find her empty bed. Hiccup immediately went to the forge, but stopped to look back at Merida before she ran into the manor. There was something different about the way he looked at her now. Her daring and bold nature gave him a nostalgic reminder of Astrid, but distinctive all the same.
He didn't realize the happy expression plastered on his face, or the playful smirk he pulled on the corners of his lips, all because of one thought.
He remembered falling in love with Astrid was seeing her in all her glory and perfection. With Merida, he had been with her long enough to know that even with both their difference and clashes of personalities, deep down; they both had common grounds.
She had issues with her mom just like he had with his dad. She revolted against customs, as much as he hated the traditions his tribe used to implement. She isolated herself from the dull exterior of the world the same way he did because of that yearning to behold the wide expanse of another realm, one that offered freedom and adventure, something Hiccup could more than give to her on the back of Toothless.
Merida understood him more than anyone he knew.
Hiccup retreated to the forge, his mind still musing whether or not he was falling in love with the princess of Dunbroch. .
Merida ran upstairs to her room, only to find Elinor inside who originally planned to wake up her daughter. She paused in front of her mother, not knowing exactly what to do.
"Ah'm back, Mom," Merida finally barked a reply, ready to hear another lecture about how she was worried sick and never to leave the castle again.
But instead, Elinor smiled. "Yer up early. You were so tired yesterday, Ah decided to postpone our lessons." Merida frowned, a mix of shock and confuse.
"Ah was here yesterday?" Did she and Hiccup not spend a whole night in an old woman's cottage?
The Queen looked at her with bewilderment. "Of course you were here yesterday, lass. What on earth are ye talking about?"
Deciding it was no use, Merida just agreed with her mother's assumptions. "Nothing. I just wanted to go outside, get some fresh air."
"Ah'm afraid that's not going to happen anymore. Yer father has apparently restricted the curfew from sundown until early morning. These are dangerous times, Merida. Ah don't want to see you running off or we'll throw a fit," she told her. "There had been more reports of unusual beasts and ah can't risk you encountering the likes of that dragon locked up under the dungeons."
Torch. "Mom, wha' are they goin' tae do with the it?"
"They were supposed to slaughter it days ago," Merida felt her heart thump out of her rib cage.
"What?"
"Aye, but Fergus decided whoever becomes the victor, the dragon shall be given as a gift and he may do whatever of it as he wishes." Elinor explained. Merida exhaled a breath of relief. "Well, go bathe now. We'll see you at breakfast." She kissed her daughter on the forehead and walked out of the room.
It was impossible for her mother to be lying. If she really was in the cottage last night, people would have known. Merida turned her head to face the window and view the forest beyond it, doubting the credibility of her senses. It couldn't have been real. It was probably all just make believe.
But gingerly, she reached down her pocket, pulled out a small linen cloth, and found the remains of blueberry cake.
Hiccup walked up to the forge, ready to start his day with a filthy chore. He opened the door to find Dagur in the chamber looking…happy, a rare disposition he expected from people nowadays in such tedious times, certainly one he didn't suppose Dagur could even express.
When he closed the door behind him, Dagur paused from polishing his sword and looked up with a devilish grin. "Ah, Helmet. Just the man I wanted to see."
That didn't sound right. "Are you alright, Dagur?" Hiccup asked.
"Never better," he replied. "Tell me, you're very good with handling dragons, aren't you?"
"Luck. Just pure luck. Half the time, I have no idea what I'm doing." He answered modestly.
"I don't think knowledge of how dragons behave is considered luck. You know something about them…" he trailed off, circling Hiccup. "You've had experience before?"
"No, that's just ridiculous…" Dagur was clearly skeptical by the looks he was giving him. "Alright, maybe I do know a little."
"So, tell me," he began, a bit more satisfied. Hiccup already had the notion he wasn't going to like this conversation very much. "What do you know about Night Furies?"
Screw conversation. It was more of an interrogation. "Night Furies?" He tried to sound clueless.
"Spare me the ol' 'Unholy offspring of lightning and death itself,' cliché. I want the real talk." He said.
"Well, night furies, you know…big black, giant winged cats with a huge appetite for salmon."
"Yeah, I figured that part out." Dagur muttered absentmindedly.
"What?"
"Nothing." He replied, sneering. "Can they be tamed?"
"Tamed?" Hiccup let it come out as a mocking laugh. "Of course not. That's the dumbest thing someone could do. I mean, people can't even get close to one let alone tame it."
A menacing chuckle came from Dagur's throat. He pulled away from Hiccup and in a low voice, he growled. "I wouldn't be too sure." Hiccup watched as he departed from the chamber. Dagur's 'deranged' title had really outdone him this time. But what on earth instigated his sudden interest on dragons, and specifically Night Furies? Was it possible he was targeting a certain dragon? He didn't want to worry too much. Hiccup had always known Toothless was a powerful dragon, could take care of himself even without his rider, and that he was fine and safe somewhere out there.
But right now, he had so much trouble believing it.
Merida pulled out books from shelves in a horrendous pile, stocking them on a table as if she was going to skim through them all. The whole stack became unstable and suddenly collapsed, startling Hiccup who was dozing off on the desk. Everyone else had turned out their lights, and it was the only two of them awake at this hour.
"We're going through all that?!" As much as Hiccup liked reading, he hardly knew the Gaelic Alphabet, only did rough translations to barely get him accustomed to this land, but this was torture.
"If whatever tha' happened last night was truh, we'd have tae be serious about this!" Merida growled. "There is a war coming and ah don't plan on wasting time. We have tae prepare."
"Alright, alright." Hiccup complied, reaching out to grab a book and began flipping the pages, relying only on the illustrations to guide him. Minutes turned to hours, Hiccup fought the urge to close his eyes. He only woke up now and then with sudden jolts when his chin slipped off his propped up elbow.
"H-how many books have we looked through?"
Merida's tired reply came out throaty. "Over 150." Hiccup groaned and resumed to flipping pages.
"Are you extremely sure there aren't any other sections?" He asked.
"If ye'd like, ye can check yourself but ah assure ye, ah've looked everywhere."
"If only that witch had the decency to at least tell us where to start," he muttered. He leaned back on his chair and stretched his arms. "We should take a break." Merida nodded, and proceeded to take out small linen from her pocket and set forth on the table the crumbled remains of the blueberry cake.
Hiccup looked at her suspiciously. "Where did you get that?"
"Oh this, this…this thing," she stuttered. "Oh come now, her recipe was the best ah've ever eaten, ah decided to spare the other one."
"Her?" Something flashed across Hiccup's mind, an idea, an idiotic assumption but nevertheless an idea. "Don't eat that!"
Merida froze before she got rip a chunk and looked at him crossly. "Ah don't plan on sharing it," she said and proceeded to shove the piece in her mouth.
Hiccup suddenly leapt from his chair and catapulted onto Merida with a shrill cry of "STOP" and managed to wrest the cake from her hand in the temporary mid air flight before the both of them crashed on the floor.
"All this for a kiek!" Merida propped herself up, fuming.
"No, you don't understand,"
"This better be a good explanation."
Hiccup showed her the cake. "You know how in stories, anything a witch," he paused. "or an Oracle, probably the same thing, anything they make is somehow linked to them, like a trail to their existence? Well, this is definitely a concoction. Maybe we can summon her through this."
"Are you out of your mind?
"Look, I know I sound like a complete idiot—"
"Glad we agree on something."
"But this could show us the answer. Maybe its reason the Oracle gave you this cake."
"That's stupid. How would the Oracle have predicted I wasnae going to eat the—"
Hiccup gave her snide look. Merida shook her head, reminded of the meaning of the word 'Oracle'. "Good point."
"Okay, so this is going to be awkward." He gave the cake a good shake and began to speak to it in the most benign way possible, trying to guess keywords that would probably unlock its summoning power. Merida looked at him without conviction.
"Ye know ye really look like a complete idjit?" She mocked.
"Will you please just let me concentrate?"
"Yer probably doing it the wrong way. Let me try." She approached him with arms outstretched.
Hiccup waved the cake out of her reach. "I know you're going to eat this."
"Me? Ah would never…" But he could see it in her eyes all too clearly. Merida didn't know what made her so obsessed with the cake, but that didn't matter for now. She wanted that cake, and she wanted it now. Her hands clawed at Hiccup, trying to get him to release it.
"If yer not going to eat it, what good is it then?" She demanded. Hiccup only lifted it higher.
"Oof!" He yelped when he felt Merida dive on his shoulder and grab hold of his wrist. She brought it down to retrieve the cake but it slipped off Hiccup's grip and rolled down on the floor to a corner. When they both had finally scrambled off each other and noticed the location of the cake, there was a mouse sneaking up behind it.
"Oh no," Hiccup calmly stood up, hoping not to provoke the creature with sudden movement. "It's alright, little guy. I'm not gonna hurt you. Just give the cake…"
The mouse, paying him no mind, rapidly wolfed down the cake in minuscule bites.
"Great. Just wonderful." He muttered, slumping his shoulders down. Merida cursed under her breath, thinking about how the mouse got to enjoy that delicacy instead of her. It was their only chance of uncovering the truth behind the prophecy, and now it was gobbled down and flowing through the veins of some pest.
Suddenly, the mouse began to convulse, letting out agitated squeaks. Merida and Hiccup worried the cake might have been poisonous, but the mouse didn't die, instead, it began to glow, encasing its body in flaming, blue lusters. It gleamed as if a torch had set its body on fire, but the mouse remained unharmed.
Hiccup stared at the glowing creature. "What in Odin's name…."
Before Hiccup could finish his sentence, the mouse scurried away, leaving tendrils of blue light on its trail. "DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY." Hiccup jumped from chair to chair as the mouse took the shelter of the wooden tables, running perhaps towards its hole. Merida dove at each chance she came into near proximity, but the mouse kept dodging their attempts. It veered left and right, jammed right through a corner and disappeared on the wall behind a shelf.
"It's gone!" Hiccup ran his hand over the niche where the mouse vanished. Merida pulled the books out of their slots, letting them spill all over the floor so they could break the wall behind it.
One of the books seemed glued its shelf, so she gripped it firmly and started yanking like a madman. "Why wouldnae ye budge?" she groaned.
Hiccup stopped to look at her. "Need help?"
"Ah got this," she insisted.
"Take your time," he commented, leaning on his back casually.
Merida heaved and hauled, trying to wrench the darned book free. The second she accidentally pulled the book downward, there was a large echo of something clicking into place. The two of them stopped to glance for a moment at each other, wondering if they both heard the same thing.
"Wha' was that?" Merida looked around warily, wondering what the book triggered. It didn't take long for the questioned to be answered when the shelf suddenly began to convulse, shaking away collected dusts from its fringes. They could feel the floor quake beneath the soles of their shoes. They didn't have time to ask each other what on earth was happening because no sooner than a few seconds later, the shelf pivoted along with the floor like a gear mechanic, and transported them to another room in a 180-degree turn.
"Thor's beard," Hiccup exhaled. Merida felt her jaw hang.
"Just tae be clear, ah never doubted you." she coughed.
"Why is that so hard to believe?"
"Look ah have been to this library a hundred times and ah swear this part was never here," she told him, but soon, they had already forgotten the pretext of a long lost chamber. This library was colossal unlike anything they'd ever seen. Thousands of bookcases stretched as far as the vaulted ceilings went. The entire room held the scent of secrets and gen.
But the place devoid of sunlight managed to evoke a thick, dark atmosphere, making the hair on their skin rise each time they pass immense decaying structures of shelves. "This definitely can't have been part of the castle. The wall behind that shelf was already the courtyard!" Merida affirmed, taking into consideration the impossible space this library occupied. Hiccup stopped upon noticing movement from his peripheral glance.
A light trace of blue smoke caught his attention, fading away into the hides of laden shelves. Merida looked at the direction where Hiccup was facing. They saw the mouse still gleaming as it stood up on a thickly bound book. They walked towards it cautiously, but the mouse showed no sign of apprehension at their approach.
Hiccup extended his arm towards it. Before his fingertips touched the mouse, its figure, its whole body dissolved into multihued strands that attached itself like vines around the hinges of the book the mouse stood on a few moments ago. Merida jumped at the bizarre transformation.
The colored filaments illuminated the faded title on the book's front cover. Hiccup blew away the dust and read the text aloud. "Rún Konunga-ævi."
He was surprised it was written in runic. But when Merida took the book from his hands, the words Merida could see were written in Gaelic, as if it magically translates for the reader's benefit. She read it aloud. "Scéalta Rúnda Na Rithe." Now finally, a book they could actually read together.
"Untold sagas of kings and queens," she translated
"It's amazing." Hiccup said breathlessly.
"This is it. This is wha' we were looking for. Come on." Merida proceeded to walk to the nearest table, but Hiccup grabbed her arm.
"Hold on," Hiccup said, "If that other cake did that to the mouse, what do you suppose the one you've eaten could've done to you?"
She paused, wondering how she didn't give that a second thought. "Ah don't know."
"We'll figure it out. Don't worry," he assured her. "Let's just do some reading, maybe this book has some answers." Merida nodded. They both sat down at the table beside each other, and began to flip the pages.
"Is this him?" Hiccup asked Merida, pointing to a picture of a boy clad in golden robes and a majestic crown.
"Aye. King Alexander III," she answered. "Crowned at the age of seven. Poor lad, all those responsibilities at such a young age."
Hiccup scanned the texts, "I wonder what he has to do with the prophecy."
Merida scooted closer, reading beside him. "Well, look. It says right here tha' there had always been a mystery tae his death. No one really knew wha' caused it," she told him. Hiccup read the next few pages.
"The night he was supposed to depart from Edinburgh Castle, there was a heavy storm, and he was advised not to make his journey over Fife, but he insisted on visiting the Queen of Kinghorn," he recited. "During the storm, he was separated from his guides. The following morning, he was found dead on the shore with a broken neck."
"That's terrible"
Hiccup continued to read. "Some say his horse lost footing in the dark, others say he fell off a cliff, and others speculate it might had been murder," he pointed to another figure in the book. "King Edward I of England. A ruler with always this personal desire to overwhelm and control Scotland to expand his territories."
Merida raised his eyebrows. "So was he the one who killed Alexander?"
"No one had real proof it was him."
"Aye, but, who else could it have been?" she asked.
Hiccup looked away. "Ah don't know. King Edward couldn't have anticipated his persistence to visit the queen, or his changing paths in such a dark forest. The only way he could have been killed was because there was someone with him during that journey…who was behind all this."
Merida shifted her gaze. He looked at her uneasily.
"That's what he has to do with the prophecy," Merida realized. "He was betrayed by someone he trusted." It was hard to keep his hands from shaking, or stop his sharp intakes of air now that Merida was slowly uncovering the truth. She was clever, he had to give her that. But that alone would be his demise. "Who do you think the Oracle meant about betraying?"
Hiccup looked away. "No idea."
He didn't dare look at her, fearing his pretense would immediately be given away if Merida at least saw hint in his eyes that he was the obvious answer to her question.
Guards were posted at every inch around the wall. Hiccup and Merida couldn't risk going out, so for about how many days they stayed inside the castle. But on a few short-lived occasional moments, they would be at the chamber. Not only did it provide a safe and untraceable location, it was clearly wide enough for Merida to practice sword fighting while Hiccup became quite adept with the bow and arrows. Most of the time, they would just sit together in the corner and read the multiple-tongued-book as they called it.
The next morning, Hiccup decided to take a stroll around the castle, taking his daily morning break from the forge. Then, he could hear something from the hallway. It was coming from a room at the end of the corridor, where he could see the door was opened slightly ajar. Approaching closer, he could hear the soft, melodic, plucking of a harp, and gentle strumming accompanied by singing.
"I'll swim and sail all savage seas
With ne'er a fear of drowning
And gladly ride the waves of life
If you would marry me
The lyrics, the melody was hauntingly familiar. Almost as if he recognized the song, but he was quite sure he'd never hear it. He leaned in closer, hoping he'd remember if the music was a bit louder…
No scorching sun
Nor freezing cold
Will stop me on my journey
If you will promise me your heart
And love-"
Hiccup accidentally tripped, and crashed down the floor with a thud while his hand still clung on the doorknob. He scooped himself up and wiped his shirt casually as he muttered his excuses while looking down the floor. "Sorry I was just…no I wasn't eavesdropping…I just came by and heard…um do you happen to know where the princess…."
He finally locked eyes with the person in the room. "…is."
Merida stared at him wide eyed as if he'd offended her great ancestors. "Ah'm right here."
Hiccup frowned. "What were you doing?"
Merida immediately hid the harp behind her. "Nothing ye can prove."
A smirk began to play on his lips. "Were you…singing?"
"Ah wasnae!"
"What were you singing?" He reached out to poke her cheeks, as if to tease her, but Merida swatted them away.
"Ah told you ah don't know what yer talking about?"
He approached her and tackled the harp from her hands. "What would you call this then?" He started fiddling with it, plucking the strings and strumming horribly.
Merida tried to snatch it. "Give it back."
"Not until you tell me."
"Tell ye what?"
"What you were singing."
"Ah said no."
"Why not?"
"Because ah said so!"
"Yeah, that's really convincing I think I'm compelled," he retorted. Merida folded her arms across her chest. She glared at him, but it only made him grin all the more.
"It's a lullaby for vows, " she finally spoke. "My mom wrote it with this woman, a dear friend of hers."
He looked confused. "I thought you hated anything that has to do with marriage."
"The song has always been a favourite of mine. Mum always told me that when ah was a wee lass, ah was so fond of the melody. She also used to sing it to me to get me through stormy nights."
Hiccup smiled as he gave her back the harp. "You and your mom are pretty close?"
Merida took the harp and placed it on the table as she explained. "Back then, but naew, not so much. All she cares about is me becoming a proper princess and rule a kingdom and mother the children of some stupid suitor ah'll be forced tae marry one day." It sounded as if Merida was about to throw a fit.
"That bad, huh?"
"Aye! Ah mean, she forces me tae cut down my meals, enunciate my vowels, and even tells me tae control my laughter because she says no proper princess laughs the way ah do!"
Hiccup grinned. "Shouldn't be so hard. You don't laugh very often."
"That's because ah'm not allowed to. My mother says a princess has tae to keep a stiff upper lip, and behave like she's never amused. And besides, my laugh's quite horrible," Turning away from her ranting, she asked him a question this time. "What was your mother like?"
"Well, I never met mine." Hiccup answered in a melancholic demeanor. He wondered what it was like to experience all the motherly nagging or the embarrassment of being clinch-locked in public for a good hug, or have a mother sing you to sleep when there are thunderous nights. It had been fifteen years, but he'd never given it much thought until now.
"My dad said she was abducted during a raid at our village," he continued." No one's seen her since. The only thing I had left of her was my helmet."
"Oh...ah'm sorry." Merida said, voice tinged with guilt.
"Don't be." He gave her a thin smile.
Merida paused. "Wait right here." Hiccup obeyed, and sat down patiently as he watched her bolt out of the room. She came back moments later with a satchel.
Hiccup was at loss for words. "Merida—I"
"Ye can have it back." She extended the bag towards him. Hiccup hesitated to take it.
"But we had a deal."
"Doesnae matter." She reached down the satchel herself to retrieve the glistening armor. Hiccup couldn't help smiling like a complete fool as he held the helmet with its horns.
"This was half of her breast plate, you know." He said drily. "I never would've thought I'd one day be so happy to see a breast hat." Merida raised her eyebrows.
"Try it on." She giggled. Hiccup raised the helmet to his head and reluctantly placed it on top, expecting an inane reaction from Merida.
"Fits perfectly," he sighed. "Half of my mom's chest makes a decent size of a hat." Merida laughed so hard she began snorting as she held her stomach for support. Hiccup couldn't help but be amused at how hard she was snorting, and even gasped for air.
Merida realized Hiccup staring at her clearly uncontrollable mirth. She stopped chortling and collected herself, sitting upright. "Lost control for a moment. Ah told you ah sounded awful when ah laugh," there was a hint of blush coloring her cheeks. She looked like she almost felt embarrassed, especially since she was getting no response from Hiccup. He probably thought her completely ridiculous. "Ye should probably hide that. Someone could see it."
Hiccup shoved the helmet inside the satchel and swung it over his shoulder. He looked at her awkwardly and bit his lip once an uncomfortable silence settled in the room. "I should leave. Dagur's probably looking for me."
Merida nodded. Hiccup went to the door but before he could step outside, he glanced at her again with a smile. "Oh and Merida?"
She eyed him with curiosity. "What?"
"I think your laugh's wonderful." He told her as he closed the door behind him.
A/N:
I really should stop the habit of finishing fanfics at 2 am I am screwing up my body clock.
HTTYD 2 is officially out on every country I think, that's why I waited this long because of some parts in the movie I'm putting in the story. So, more mericcup fluff as requested! I just realized it's been exactly a year and three months since I've first published this story and ? wow! Thank you all for a great year! I know I'm incredibly unbelievable slow as hell in updating since this is only chapter 12 but thank you for taking time out of your day reading this story. I'll try my hardest to finish this once and for all /God help me
Here is a dragons themed cake to celebrate dragons day and this year old fanfic! The movie passed the 500 million mark!
Please don't hesitate to correct grammatical errors or constructively criticise my story any way you deem fit in the reviews.
Was it good? bad? okay? eh? nah?
-DawnD