Well... This was supposed to be posted on Sunday... Oh well, it's here now!
Enjoy!
3 years later…
Astrid walked down the street holding her umbrella high. It was mid summer and she did not want burnt skin for her wedding.
Ugh. Marriage. She did not want to marry Scott. Sure, when they were younger she used to pretend to like him back, if only to get him to do things for her. The only reason she had gone along with the betrothal was that he came from a wealthy family. And that he was good looking.
She carried on walking until she saw a sight that made her stop. Ahead of her she saw a man who was definitely not from anywhere nearby. His look, although not incredibly strange, was definitely different from how men usually looked. Where most men in the town had short, neat hair, his hair fell longish around his neck and looked untameable. And where most men wore suits, except for the working class of course, this man wore a simple green tunic atop brown trousers tucked into black boots. But what really stumped her was when she laid eyes on the satchel that sat at his side. She had seen that bag before. When she finally realised why she recognised it, she nearly fell over. It was Henry's bag.
Astrid looked more closely at the man. He was tall, much taller than Henry had been. He was confident too. Where Henry had always walked slouched, in a way that emanated fear, this man walked full of confidence. He didn't trip once, unlike clumsy Henry. She shook her head and laughed. No way was that Henry.
Astrid carried on walking, not even wondering why the strange man was in the town to begin with. She went straight to the bakery to check on her cake order. Once she was satisfied that they weren't going to mess everything up, she headed off home. As she walked she came across Rachel. The female twin rushed up to her with a slightly frantic look on her face. She looked the same as always. With her old brown boots and a pair of men's trousers underneath her skirt. Astrid couldn't honestly understand her friend. Why couldn't she just dress like a woman? She would kill her if she wore anything but the finest dress and shoes to her wedding.
"Astrid! Did you see the stranger?" Rachel asked as she came to a stop in front of the blonde.
"What about him?" Astrid asked as she carried on walking, Rachel falling into step beside her.
"Aside from the fact that he's super hot?" Astrid rolled her eyes at her friend's statement. Although, she wouldn't deny the fact that he was good looking, maybe even more so than Scott. "There's something really familiar about him though. I feel like I've seen him before." Astrid was suddenly reminded of her earlier thoughts.
"Well, I had pushed the thought out of my mind, but, did you see the bag he was holding?" she asked slowly.
"Yeah, the leather satchel. What about it?" Rachel replied unsure of where her friend was headed.
"I remember Henry having one just like it."
Rachel stared at her friend. Could it be that he was Henry? Henry had disappeared three years ago. Had he suddenly come back? She thought about the direction in which he had been heading.
"It did look like he was going in the direction of the Haddock house." Astrid stopped and turned to stare at her.
"He did?" Rachel nodded. Astrid turned back to the road with a look of shock on her face. Then she took off walking quickly in the same direction.
"Where are you going?" Rachel called running to catch up with her.
"I need to know if it was him!" Astrid called back. They soon came to the Haddock household and Astrid pulled her friend around a corner. They stayed there watching the house until the three boys walked up behind them. Scott looked at his bride-to-be curiously before beckoning Thomas and Frank, their more quiet friend who didn't leave the house much these days for want of studying his books more, to follow him across the street to find out what the girls were doing.
"We think Henry's back," Astrid had hissed at him before pulling him around the corner to hide from sight.
"But Henry disappeared three years ago," Frank said, surprised.
"Quiet, someone's leaving the house!" Astrid whispered. They all stopped talking and stared with wide eyes at the house in front of them. The door opened and the young man that Astrid had seen earlier stepped out. Scott took one look at him and scoffed.
"No way is that Henry," he said looking the tall man up and down.
"If that's not Henry, then why is Mr Haddock hugging him?" Thomas asked. Scott turned back to look at the house and his eyes went wide as the two hugged on the doorstep. It was a well known fact that Stephen Haddock did not hug, kiss or show affection in any form whatsoever. He never showed emotion. He had only ever done so with his late wife, Valerie. So it was safe to assume that this was Henry. The two parted and waved and Henry walked off, leaving his father watching from the entrance to the house.
"Come on, let's follow him!" Astrid said once the door had been shut and Henry had rounded a corner. The other four looked at each other in confusion before taking off after the blonde girl. They watched as he walked away from the village, but not towards the stables on the edge of town, or to the road that led to the next village, but to the forest that led no where in particular.
"Why would he go into the forest?" Frank asked aloud to no one in particular.
"Maybe he's been living there all these years!" Thomas exclaimed. Rachel whacked him over the head.
"You don't look like that just from living in a forest, dummy." He just glared at her, rubbing the back of his head.
"There isn't anything in that direction," Frank said trying to think of anything that could be of interest on the other side of the forest.
"Then let's find out," Scott replied, joining in on Astrid's curiosity to know what happened to the useless boy they all knew.
The five friends set off through the forest in the direction that Henry had gone. They soon came to the other side and found themselves looking at the wall. Or more importantly, the gap in the wall. Their eyes widened as they saw Henry talking with the Guard of the Wall. Scott was sure he was about to see Henry get beat up by the old man for attempting to cross over. He had heard many stories of people who had tried to cross the wall, either to prove that the stories about it being a portal to another world were true, or to prove that they were wrong, get beat up by the old man. He was very surprised to see Henry give the Guard something in a brown paper bag, and then to see the man wave him off with a smile. Henry waved back and without a second thought, leapt over the gap.
"So all these years," Thomas began slowly. "He's been living on the other side of the wall!" They all stared with wide eyes as Thomas' words set in. Did that mean that the stories were true? Was there really another world across the wall? Astrid stepped forwards when Scott grabbed her arm to hold her back.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Guys, if there really is another world on the other side of the wall, do you want to pass up this opportunity to see it?" They all stared at her before deciding that she was right. Plus, if Henry could do it, then what was stopping them?
"Can I help you?" the Guard asked as they reached him.
"We want to cross the wall!" Thomas exclaimed. Rachel slapped him round the back of the head for speaking too soon.
"Hundreds of years this wall's been guarded," the old man began slowly. "And you want me to just let you through?" The five looked at each other before looking back at him and nodding. He just sighed, shaking his head.
"But you just let Henry pass!" Scott exclaimed.
"That's different," the man said.
"How?" Frank asked trying to understand where the difference was.
"Henry managed to get past me three years ago," the man said. "If he hadn't stumbled on the other side, I actually wouldn't have known that he had."
"Sounds like Henry," Scott scoffed, rolling his eyes.
"He came up to me this morning explaining that he had crossed the wall because he had wanted to get away, but had recently decided that he needed to let his father know that he was okay, and to make peace with the man. He explained that he has a good life there and that he has a good job and people who care about him. He told me that he wanted to cross back here to speak to his father and asked me if I would let him pass when he came back. I told him that I would."
"Wait," Rachel put in. "What was in the paper bag, then?"
"I get hungry sitting here on my own," the man replied. "I asked Henry if he could bring me back some food from the village and he said that he would."
They all looked at each other unsure of what to do. Then Astrid decided that she would try something.
"Well, Henry came back to the village but he never came to talk to any of us," she said using the face she usually used when she wanted something. "We were trying to catch up to him to see how he's been all these years and we got here too late. Could we please pass just to make sure he's okay? We'll come straight back after."
"I'm sorry," the man replied. "But I can't do that." Astrid narrowed her eyes at him before looking at Scott and clearing her throat. He understood what that meant and quickly stepped forwards followed by Frank and Thomas. The three of them managed to shove the old man over and then gang all jumped the wall. They ran as fast as they could with the old man calling after them. They ran into the small forest on the other side of the wall and soon came out the other side. They found themselves at the top of a hill looking down over a small town. They could see Henry making his way down to the town gate just ahead of them.
"Come on!" Scott called and they began running down. All except for Frank.
"Guys are you sure about this?" he asked looking at the town cautiously.
"Come on, Frank," Rachel replied. "I'd have thought that you of all people would be anxious to know what's down there." He nodded slowly. He did really want to know more about this world. He followed after the others and they all ran down to the entrance of the town.
They walked through into the middle of a market, surrounded by colours and people, all dressed in strange clothing. They stared around in amazement at the things around them. Frank's eyes widened at the sight of a jar of eyes that seemed to follow his every move. The twins on the other hand were more focused on the two faced dog that sat in a cage by their feet.
"There he is!" Astrid exclaimed drawing their attention. They turned to see Henry talking to an ugly, old woman in front of a little, yellow caravan. He said something and she shook her head. He took on a pleading stance but she just crossed her arms and shook her head. He then shrugged and nodded before pulling out a money bag and tossing it into the air and catching before her. Her eyes widened slightly but she just watched him walk away. Then she looked like she changed her mind and called him back. He grinned smugly and turned around. She went inside the caravan and came back out with something wrapped in cloth. He thanked her with a slight bow and handed her the money bag before walking away.
"What do you think he bought?" Scott asked.
"I don't know, but let's go find out," Astrid replied walking off in his direction. Gripped with curiosity, they followed, and soon Henry stopped in front of the stables that were part of an inn called 'The Slaughtered Prince'. The stable manager came out and they greeted each other like old friends with a friendly hug. They had a short conversation before going to into the stables.
"Let's go talk to him," Astrid said walking inside. They walked in and were soon overwhelmed by the smell of horses and hay.
"Can I help you?" the man that Henry had been talking to walked up to them.
"We're looking for our friend, Henry. We just saw him come in here." Astrid smiled sweetly and blinked her big, blue eyes at the man. He didn't even seem to notice. He looked puzzled by what she had said.
"Henry?" He scratched his chin before his eyes widened in realisation. "You mean auburn hair, green shirt?" They nodded. "That's Hiccup! He left already." They looked at each other with confused looks on their faces.
"But we've been outside the whole time," Scott replied.
"Oh yeah," the man said understanding why they were confused. "He had a Babylon candle! Can you believe that? I don't know where he managed to find one." They all looked at each other in confusion again.
"What's a Babylon candle?" Frank asked for the group.
"You don't know what a Babylon candle is?" the man asked, his eyes wide. They all shook their heads and his jaw dropped. He managed to gather his senses and looked at them with a really unsure expression. Even so, he gave them an explanation. "It's a dark magic candle. You light it, think of where you want to go, and boom. You're there. Hiccup needed to meet his boss this afternoon at Raven's Point which is five days walk from here."
The five looked at each other in amazement. There was a candle that could take you anywhere? That meant that they could see Henry and then get back to the wall before the end of the day!
"Where can we find a Babylon candle?" Astrid asked excitedly.
"I have no idea," the man replied shaking his head. "I don't even know where Hiccup got one." They glanced at each other quickly. The woman at the caravan!
"Well thank you for your help," they said and quickly left, in search of the yellow caravan. They soon found it and walked up to the old woman.
"Hi, we're looking for a Babylon candle," Astrid said as she stopped in front of the woman. The woman shook her head.
"I don't deal in black magic," she said simply and went to turn away.
"But you gave one to our friend a minute ago," Scott said angry at her. She stopped in her tracks and turned around slowly.
"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't," she replied crossing her arms. "But maybe I gave him the last one."
"Great, so he's five days walk away. How are we going to talk to him now?" Thomas asked throwing his arms up into the air dramatically.
"I know where Hiccup will be tomorrow," the woman replied. "I have to go anyway, but I wasn't planning on going for another two days. I can get you there tomorrow, for a price."
They looked at each other. They didn't have a lot of money on them, and it was just Henry. But they really wanted to know what had happened to him. And this world was just so intriguing. They didn't want to leave yet. They would probably never be able to come back again. They looked at the woman and nodded. She held out her hand and Astrid looked to Scott. He was the most wealthy among them, and he usually carried around quite a few coins to flaunt his wealth in front of the less fortunate. He rolled his eyes and removed the pouch that sat at his hip, handing it to the woman. She peered inside and nodded.
"How are we all going to fit in there?" Frank said looking at the little caravan with barely enough space for two, let alone the five of them and the old woman.
"Oh don't worry. You'll all fit just fine," she said with an evil look on her face. She held out her finger, darkness swirling around the tip and they all began to feel dizzy before their worlds went black.
Ok so in reality they probably wouldn't be so interested to go quite so far but they have to for the story, so they will.
So anyway, let me know what you think. Reviews are always very welcome.
Until next time!