Disclaimer: Nope don't own it.
Chapter 12: The Journey
Previously:
He went over to the cage and pulled out his key to unlock the door. "If, after we get to Natt og Dag and you speak to the elders, you still want to return to Berk...I'll escort you." He clenched his mouth shut as he opened the door to her cage. "I just ask that you wait."
With that Havardr backed away and went up the stairs to the deck once more.
Star hesitantly stepped out of her cage and looked around. She had a better understanding as to why Havardr didn't trust outsiders, but she didn't think she could forgive him for taking her away from her home. She knew what it was like to lose a sister though and she could at least feel sorry for him.
She was silent as she went over to her mother and curled up around the stool that Elizabeth was sitting on. Star would go with them to Natt og Dag, but she was determined to return to Toothless no matter what.
The meeting in the Great Hall didn't last as long as Hiccup had thought it would. Astrid hadn't been lying when she'd told him that most of the village had volunteered to go with him to save Morning Star. All he really had to do was choose from the people Astrid had already selected.
At the end of the meeting Hiccup had a total of 30 people including himself, his mother, Astrid, Eret, Gustav, and the twins. The only reason he'd agreed to take the twins was because he knew they'd destroy the village if they were left. It was better to direct their chaos towards the enemy then let them go crazy while he was away.
"I want two dragons each pulling a ship at a time." Hiccup said as he and those he'd designated the leaders of each ship made their way down to the docks. "The kidnappers should only have a couple days head start so if we're lucky we'll catch up." With dragons pulling their ships they'd make great time.
"And what if we're not lucky Hiccup?" Valka asked worriedly.
Hiccup paused for a moment. "Then we follow the map Johan gave us to their island." If they couldn't catch up with the kidnappers then they would cut the kidnappers off.
Orders were distributed amongst the ships and within the hour the supplies were accounted for and the crews were boarded. The last thing to be done was to get the prisoner onto Hiccup's vessel.
Escorted by at least a dozen guards, as well as several angry dragons, the stranger was led on a chain leash to the docks. "What are you going to do with me then?" The stranger asked Hiccup as he was brought up onto the boat.
Hiccup stared at the man and then looked over at the hissing and growling Toothless. "You'll be locked up below deck for now. If you're cooperative we might let you go."
"I don't like that idea!" Toothless said with a much louder growl. "He and his people took my Star! He needs to be punished!"
The man looked down at his feet and closed his eyes as Toothless growled louder at him. Hiccup motioned for the guards to drag the man below deck. "You know bud, we can't just kill everyone because they kidnapped Star."
Toothless scoffed and looked out at the sea. "Sure we can." He mumbled irritably. The people that took Star needed to be punished and he intended to make sure they did.
"Come on." Toothless looked from the sea, to his saddle, and then up at Hiccup. "Let's get flying."
Hiccup nodded to his dragon when Toothless indicated he wanted to fly. "Send up a blast so the other ships know we're going." Hiccup said as he climbed up onto Toothless's saddle.
Toothless lifted his head up and fired a single plasma blast high up into the air. The lead dragons on the other ships also fired off their blasts in response. With a nod from his rider Toothless grabbed one of the lead ropes and jumped into the air. A second dragon on the ship followed after him and the two of them began pulling the ship through the water.
The other ships soon followed after them and Hiccup looked back at them to confirm that the lead dragons flying were Cloudjumper, Stormfly, and Skullcrusher. "We'll get Star back." Hiccup told Toothless as he leaned forward again. "I promise bud."
For the rest of the day Havardr was nervous about what Star would do. Even though her wings were bound Havardr was worried that the white night fury might try to jump into the water and swim. Swimming was similar to flying for a dragon and without her wings she would have trouble staying above the waves.
His worries were for naught though as Star didn't even come above deck until her mother ventured out that evening. He watched as first Elizabeth came up onto the main deck followed quickly by the white night fury. She stayed close to the older woman; her head low and her eyes scanning the people above deck skeptically. She looked like she was afraid she would be attacked at any moment and Havardr could not blame her; after all these were the men that had trapped, bound, and caged her.
"I thought some fresh air would be good for Morning Star." Elizabeth said as the two of them walked over to Havardr where he was leaning against the wall of the deck. He stood up quickly to greet them which made Elizabeth smile. "She wouldn't come up without me though."
Morning Star nervously looked around as she kept her mother between her and the many strangers that were now looking her way. Most of them looked at her with awe or shock and a few looked at her as if to measure her. She didn't like having so many people looking at her. "Make them stop." Star whispered as her ears pressed back against her head.
Havardr knew Star hadn't been speaking to him, but he did look over at the people that were staring at her. "Don't you men have things to do?" He said very loudly which made several of the younger sailors jump. The crew quickly went back to work with only a few cautious glances over at Star.
Star let out a sigh of relief when she was no longer the obvious center of attention. She knew there were a few people still watching her, but at least she didn't notice it so easily.
"You're important to our people's culture back home Star; they're going to stare." Star looked up quickly when Havardr spoke. He'd turned to look out at the ocean. "You're the dragon queen of Natt og Dag; even if you haven't been there since you were a baby."
Star shook her head at that and then looked down at her paws. How could she be something like that when she didn't even want to be? She didn't want to be important at all; she just wanted to go back to Berk and live her life with Toothless. "Do I have any say in all of this?" She asked with a huff and a soft growl.
Havardr shook his head before looking out of the corner of his eye at the white dragon. "Not particularly. It's a role you were born into Morning Star. You can't change the color of your scales."
Star huffed again and sulked as she looked down into the water. She was silent for a few minutes before Havardr heard her speak very softly.
"I just want to be with Toothless…"
Days passed and before anyone knew it the Vikings of Berk and their dragons had been at sea for over a week. Their prisoner was confident that the fleet was traveling in the right direction and if it weren't for Skullcrusher admitting that he had picked up Star's scent again Toothless would have mauled the man.
"I don't understand." Hiccup mumbled as he leaned over the table with the map. "We should have caught up by now." The Berk fleet had dragons pulling the ships which meant they were going several times faster than normal.
The Berk chief poured over the map that Johann had given them. Having spent years learning how to map and how to read maps Hiccup was confident in his calculations.
"Bring me the prisoner." Hiccup called out of the cabin towards one of the Vikings standing guard on deck. Within minutes of his order the chained man was brought to him.
Toothless, who had been laying silently on the floor next to Hiccup growled at the sight of the chained man.
"You have questions?" The man asked as he was pushed into the cabin.
Hiccup tapped the map and glared at the man. "We should have caught up with the kidnappers by now. Why haven't we?"
The man shifted on his feet and let out a small sigh. "You're not the only ones with access to dragons."
Toothless growled and rolled his eyes. "We already know your people have dragons."
Hiccup crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the man until he continued to explain.
"Havardr has dragons pulling his fleet as well. You…" The prisoner looked away and down at his feet for a moment. "You won't catch up until you reach our home."
The Berk Chief cursed and slammed his hands down on the table. He glared down at the map as his mind worked. He should have known that Havardr would use dragons; why hadn't he thought of that? One of the first things Hiccup had done was organize the dragons to pull the fleet.
If what the prisoner said was true then they needed to start preparing for when they made it to Havardr's home. Hiccup was smart enough to know that he and his Vikings were at a disadvantage here; so they would need to be diplomatic.
"You-" Hiccup pointed a finger at the prisoner. "Are going to tell me everything I need to know about this place." He pressed his finger against the island on the map that they were headed towards. "And about what we're walking into."
The chained man hung his head, but he nodded slowly. "I'll tell you what I can." He said with a sigh. "Anything to avoid bloodshed."
"Let's start with your name." Hiccup said as he motioned for someone to pull over a chair for the man. It had been a week and no one had even tried to learn the man's name.
"My name is Mason." The chained man said slowly. "Just Mason." Mason hesitated a moment before speaking up. "You were smart to bring your dragons along."
Hiccup sat down and leaned back in his chair. "And why is that?"
Mason let out a slow sigh. "Because only a dragon can navigate through the barriers, traps, and obstructions my people have placed around our island."
Hiccup leaned forward slowly and he braced his elbows against the table. "Tell me more."
"9 days." Star mumbled to herself as she stared down into the blue waters of the sea bellow. "I've been on this blasted boat for 9 days." She moved her gaze from the ocean to Havardr who was standing only a few feet from her.
Havardr was fiddling with a knife in one hand and a piece of wood in the other. "We'll be passing through the barrier protecting the island's waters sometime today." He said without even looking at her. "We'll make it to port either tonight or tomorrow morning. You'll be able to stretch your wings then."
To be honest Havardr had removed the metal bindings keeping her wings clamped to her sides a couple days ago when the heat in the air had become so hot that the metal had started rubbing Star's scales raw.
Having grown up in the cold north the heat that had been building up for the past several days had become unbearable for the white night fury. She'd watched jealously has the crew of the ship stripped out of their outer clothes to be more comfortable in the heat. Even Havardr was shirtless and she hated him for it.
"Why is it so hot?" Star whined for the hundredth time that morning. "The sun is barely up and already I feel like I'm melting."
Havardr chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. "It's not the heat that's getting to you Star; it's the humidity." He reached up with his left hand to wipe sweat from his forehead. "If the air wasn't so thick with moisture the heat wouldn't be so bad."
Star grumbled irritably as she put her head back down on the railing of the ship. "Well whatever it is it's making me too hot." She had found yet another reason why she should return to Berk.
"You're just not used to it yet." Havardr said as he turned the block of wood around in his right hand. He'd only just started working on it. "It's even worse for the dark night furies you know." He flicked the blade of his knife over the wood, sending a curled wood shaving onto the deck. "It's why night furies are nocturnal; to avoid the heat of the day."
"Don't care." Star hated how hot she was and how the humans could just shed layers in order to cool down.
"You're starting to sound like a brat again." Havardr said with a frown as he glanced over at the miserable female.
Star rolled her eyes before glaring at the man through the corner of her eye. "Does it look like I care?"
Havardr chuckled a little. "No I suppose not."
Over the last few days he and Star had slowly built up a relationship that wasn't just anger and distaste for each other. The two of them could at least talk to each other and pretend to be decent to each other.
"Star…when was the last time you drank some water?" Havardr asked suddenly as he got a closer look at the white female. It wasn't that she looked hot; she looked limp and fatigued.
Star shrugged her shoulders a bit at Havardr's question.
Havardr huffed and sheathed his knife. "You're not used to this much heat Star. If you don't drink enough water you can make yourself sick." With that he went over to a bucket and went below deck to the water barrels. Within minutes he was back setting the filled bucket next to the grumbling white night fury. "Drink you stubborn creature."
Star was about to bite out a response when she held her tongue. She knew that Havardr's next step would be to go fetch her mother to make her behave and Star didn't want him to do that. Her mother was elderly and being at sea, especially in this heat, was hard on Elizabeth's health.
Not wanting Havardr to disturb her mother's rest Star drank from the bucket until there was nothing left. She tipped over the empty bucket before flopping back down on her stomach.
Havardr righted the bucket before it could roll too far and get under foot. "Brat." He mumbled before pulling out his knife again to work at his carving.
"Jerk." Star mumbled back almost absent mindedly.
Silence fell between Star and Havardr with the only sounds of the waves crashing against the side of the ship and Havardr's carving knife scraping against the wood in his hand breaking the silence.
Star was starting to fall asleep when the ship suddenly tilted to one side making her slide a few feet before the ship stopped tilting. She stood up and looked to the side the ship had been tilting only to squeak in surprise.
There, leaning against the opposite side of the ship, was a rather large, long necked, blue serpent like creature.
"Ah! Rivera!" Havardr smiled as the long necked dragon swiveled it's serpent like face to look at him. "It's good to see you again."
"Is this her then?" Star was surprised by the sultry voice that came from the serpent like dragon.
With the dragon putting all of its attention on Star she was able to get a better look at the strange sea dragon.
Star's first impression of the dragon's head being completely smooth was wrong. Although the snout started off smooth small horns and spines started growing at the eyebrows. The spines along the back of the dragons' head had frills and webbing attached to each spine and horn. The dragon's blue scales had a slimy look to them that glittered in the sunlight. The one thing that really caught Star's attention and held her gaze, was the dragon's pitch black eyes.
"Morning Star, meet Rivera. Rivera, this is Morning Star." Havardr said waving a hand back and forth between the two dragons. "Rivera is one of the guardians of Natt og Dag. She creates water spots and whirlpools whenever a ship without dragons comes along."
"It is an honor to meet you Morning Star." Rivera bowed her head in respect before turning her black eyes to Havardr. "I came to tell you there are three ships a few days behind you."
Havardr scowled worriedly. With how Star's ears perked up he knew she'd come to the same conclusion he had; they were Berkian ships.
"They are currently out of my territory so I cannot do anything about them. There are dragons pulling the ships." Rivera paused to let Havardr think for a moment. "Shall I sink them when they come into my waters?"
"NO!" Star yelled desperately. "Havardr! If anything happens to them I swear I'll…I'll-" She didn't even know what she could do to threaten Havardr. He'd already kidnapped her, she had no choice in going to Natt og Dag, and she would need him if she ever wanted to get back to Berk.
Havardr sighed and shook his head. "Don't harm the ships Rivera. When they come into our waters escort them to the island." Toothless would probably be on one of those ships and the Elders would want to speak to him.
"Oh! And Rivera," Havardr spoke up just as the blue serpent dragon was slipping back into the water. "Don't let them know about you."
Rivera nodded and then fully submerged back into the water.
Star looked at Havardr for a few minutes. "Why did you tell her not to let them know about her?"
For a moment Havardr didn't say anything. "For her protection." Het let out a small sigh. "And to avoid any more misunderstandings."
A/N: Well here we go. Chapter 12. Meh.
In other news we have the winners of the contest I held back in August! Congrats to: DustySands and ShadeTNL over on Deviantart! You will be meeting their characters in the upcoming chapters!
Do you want your characters in this story? Draw some fanart and send it over to me on Deviantart (link is in my FF profile). It's not guaranteed that your character will make it into the story, but you have a good chance too.