Chapter 5: On the Mountain

Stone moved from her relaxed position when Toothless uncurled from around her. She looked over at Hiccup and Thistle to see them both sporting a look of triumph and surprise. Feeling her face heat, she ducked her head and cleared her throat.

"L-like I said. Face your fears head on," she mumbled as she grabbed the picture of the plant, her axe and followed Toothless out the door. Hiccup and Thistle trailed behind her, Hiccup trying to hide his chuckles.

"So, are we walking right through the village where Astrid will most likely attack us, or through the forest where we'll look like cowards?" Stone asked, waving her axe around slightly.

"Leave the axe here, but we'll go through the village. We're Vikings and pride isn't something we let go of easily. So, Thistle, you go out there and show them that you're not a weak-minded Gronckle. Stone, you go out there and show that you can control yourself again. And I'll go out there and show off you two. Berk doesn't really know you exist, and it's about time they knew," Hiccup said strongly.

"Leave my axe? But why? Astrid could easily attack me again if I'm unarmed!" Stone fumed. Hiccup's speech was nice, but she had a feeling it was just to distract her from having to abandon her axe at the house.

"Toothless won't fly you if you have a weapon," Hiccup stated simply.

"A-and it will look like you know she wouldn't dare attack you!" Thistle added quietly, scared that Stone would lose her cool again. Stone sighed but reluctantly put her axe back in the house.

"Fine, the axe is in the house. So, are we ready to go risk our lives now?" Stone asked as she started walking toward the hill.

"I doubt she'll attack again, Stone," Hiccup assured.

As they walked, everyone they passed kept their distance. Their whispers of the mystery girl attacking Astrid and of Hiccup and Astrid's fight made Stone angry and she made it known, but only to her friends.

"See?" Stone hissed to them. "They're all afraid we'll start something again."

"Calm down," Thistle whispered in a very shaky voice. Stone grumbled under her breath about wishing she had her axe but they ignored her. Thistle did all she could to march behind Hiccup, keeping her eyes forward, but eventually her steps began to falter and she slowly began to fall behind from the group, shrinking into herself.

After a while of just walking, Tuffnut and Ruffnut ran over and joined them, each taking a side of Stone who glared forward.
"So," they purred together, each throwing an arm across Stone's shoulders. "You sure you're not going to kill Astrid today? She's right over there." They intentionally egged Stone on, wanting to see her attempt to kill the blonde girl and to dump water on her again.

"Yes, I'm sure I'm not going to kill her today. I've got more important things to do then kill the brat," Stone spoke through clenched teeth and especially loud so Astrid could hear her. To Stone's pleasure Astrid steamed and started to move toward them but was stopped by Snotlout, who held her back by her shoulder. Tuff and Ruff peeled their lower eye lids down and stuck their tongues out at Astrid and Snotlout, making loud "nyah" sounds. After the twins stopped their mocking, Stone noticed Fishlegs watching them all with an apologetic look. She knew Fishlegs must've wanted to join their side but was too afraid of Astrid and Snotlout to do it. Hiccup nodded to him that he understood and they all kept walking.

After they all passed the two, Tuffnut released Stone and moved back to walk beside the stumbling Thistle, who had now fallen so far back from the group that she was angling sideways and taking a completely different path. "Come on, Terror," he said.

Thistle looked at him confusedly and he tried to smile. "You're little. Like a Terrible Terror." This brainy statement was followed by an even worse attempt at smiling. Finally, Tuffnut cleared his throat and offered his shoulder for her to balance on. Thistle continued to give him a confused stare, but she also staggered forward, lightheaded from breathing shallow. Tuffnut caught her and started to walk slowly.

As they cleared the village and neared the hill, Hiccup stopped and turned to the group.

"Ruff, Tuff, please leave," he said simply.

"Just because you're the big hero doesn't mean you get all the women," Ruffnut replied, finally releasing Stone and crossing her arms across her chest. Everyone stared at her, confused, seeing as that was not the reply anyone had expected. Ruffnut just turned and pointed to her twin and Thistle walking together with Thistle pressed into Tuffnut's side. When Thistle noticed everyone looking at the pair of them, she quickly stepped away.

"Too many people will make this scarier. We'll be back later, and you can talk to us then," Thistle spoke as clearly and strongly as she possibly could.

"Will make what scarier?" the twins demanded together but Thistle didn't say anymore, and ducked behind Stone.

"Really guys, this is more of a private matter. We'll tell you what we can later but right now, you have to go," Stone assured them. Ruff and Tuff thought for a minute then smirked to each other.

"Promise you'll let us watch next time you try to kill Astrid? And don't try to deny that you'll attack her again, we know you will," they exclaimed in total synch.

"As long as you don't try to stop me," Stone said simply and shook hands with the twins, sealing the deal. Still somewhat reluctant, Ruff and Tuff walked away after that and the trio continued on their way. This time Stone supported Thistle but after a while Stone starting to jitter about what was about to happen and it was jiggling Thistle so much that she let go.

"Sorry," Stone mumbled as she tried to control her scared jittering.

Stone managed to slow her jitters down a bit but when they reached the hill they kicked up into high power again. She may have found a new trust for Toothless but that didn't mean she didn't trust that he wouldn't drop her.

"Y-you two go first," Stone stuttered, still trying to hide her jitters. She was supposed to be a Viking wasn't she?

"No!" Thistle cried, her face heating up. Stone gave her the look of a begging Terrible Terror, eyes wide and lips pouted, accompanied by her uncontrollable jittering. Thistle took one look at Stone's face before sighing and stepping closer to Toothless.

Toothless purred eagerly and danced back and forth a few steps. "Whoa, easy boy. What are you so excited about?" Hiccup tried to calm his jumpy dragon as Thistle froze on the spot. Toothless flinched away from Hiccup and bowed before Thistle, looking at her with eager eyes. Thistle shook her head at the dragon and then shakily began to climb up. Hiccup reached a hand down to help her, but Thistle refused, pushing herself firmly onto the dragon's back. Her small fingers latched onto the saddle.

"You may want to hold on to me," Hiccup said. "The saddle sometimes floats."

Stone lifted her eyebrows at Thistle, who looked like Hiccup had just asked her to touch fire. After a few moments, she leaned very slowly forward and rested her hands on his shoulders.

"Come on, buddy," Hiccup tapped the dragon lightly, and Toothless took off.

(Thistle)

Thistle yelped in alarm when she felt the dragon surge under her, and her precarious grip on Hiccup's shoulders vanished. She latched her arms firmly around his stomach and buried her face in the back of his neck. Her long black hair blew out behind her in a curtain, and her body shifted over the rolling muscles of the dragonwings flapping on either side of her. The saddle actually did lift off of Toothless's back a little bit, causing Thistle to squeeze her knees hard in an effort to stay on. She felt as though if she let go of Hiccup, she would go sailing off into a world filled with air, and fall forever.

She was probably right.

"Well," Hiccup shouted over the wind, "take a look. Toothless seems to be interested in showing you the sights."

Lift her head? Now? Thistle couldn't think of anything she wanted to do less - but she didn't seem to have a choice. Her head lifted of its own free will, and she yelped again - this time in awe.

The top of the hill flickered by under her, a scrabbly brown and green mess of dirt and clumps of grass. But off in the distance, the ice blue sea rolled its lazy combers onto the beaches, hissing white surf among the black rocks. The white day stretched on forever over her head - no clouds this much closer to the top of the world - and the meeting at the horizon was a graceful blend of paling water and darkening sky. And most interesting of all, she hadn't imagined the colorful sail that morning. There it was, on the edge of the horizon...a small spot of color that didn't belong. Is that a ship? It's so small!

Without even realizing she was doing it, Thistle felt a wide, wondrous smile break out over her face.

On Toothless' back in front of her, Hiccup glanced behind to see Thistle's beaming face. An odd sensation rolled his stomach, and suddenly he found his face warm and his body lit with adrenaline, as though caught peeking at something he wasn't supposed to look at. Jittery and nervous, he focused forward.

Toothless glided steadily downward, giving Thistle precious seconds to look at the sight, before dropping neatly onto the hilltop. Thistle didn't want to get down at first, but Hiccup slid off with practiced ease and offered his hand to her. Though she still managed to look away from him, Thistle did take his hand and sprang off, landing lightly. "Thank you," she murmured quickly, before beginning to look around.

Hiccup was silent for a few seconds before suddenly saying: "You know...this isn't really a hilltop."

Thistle half-turned towards him.

"Well...it is...but it's so high, you see. The Elders are thinking of calling it a mountain instead of a hill."

Thistle nodded, unsure of where he was going with this. Gradually, she found herself wondering when he was going to leave to get stone. The atmosphere between the two of them, now that they were no longer sharing a flight, was getting tense and awkward. She was too afraid to speak to him, and he seemed to know it.

"Are you ever going to tell me why you can't stand me?"

Thistle was so shocked that she almost looked at his face. As it was, she only got as high as his chest before the familiar fear clenched her and she stopped. She managed to choke out: "W-What?"

"Never mind. I'm going to go get Stone," Hiccup dismissed the idea just as he had it, and sprang on Toothless. The dragon was gone a couple flaps later, leaving Thistle alone and stunned on the hill-mountaintop.

(Stone)

Stone wasn't any readier to fly on Toothless then she had before Thistle went up. So when Toothless landed beside her she was sure she was going to die because of her heart stopped. 'Breathe Stone. You can do this. Toothless has flown with people on his back many times and you've always wanted to fly,' Stone thought to herself as she numbly climbed on Toothless' back.

"Ready?" Hiccup asked. Stone responded by winding her arms around his waist and giving a short nod.

Toothless took off gently but Stone couldn't resist the urge to tighten her arms as tight as she could around Hiccup's waist, herself squeezing into him. Somewhere in the back of her head she registered that she liked the feeling of being so close to him but the front of her mind was too distracted to notice. She left the air rush out of him and his guts push against her in protest. As Stone realized she liked the feeling of flying, she loosed her arms and backed away from him slightly. Toothless flew up in large circles, showing off his flying skills and the land.

"Thanks for returning my ability to breathe," Hiccup chuckled when he looked back at her.

"Yeah, well, I decided that since you're the one driving you should be able to breathe so we don't crash," she joked back. Hiccup smiled then turned back around.

Stone watched the village of Berk fly past her vision and swelled with pride when she realized nearly half of the houses had her painting style on them. Her prideful moment was cut short however, when Hiccup turned back to her with a serious expression on his face.

"Why does Thistle hate me?" he asked, his voice laced with sadness. Stone groaned at him in response.

"I thought I already told you that she's just scared of you? Well, not you as a person but what you're capable of doing to her emotionally."

"But what is it that I can do to her?" Hiccup begged.

"You could rip her heart out again?" Stone suggested.

"R-rip her heart out?" he gasped.

"Well yeah," Stone stated simply. "You left right after her mom died and her dad stopped being able to be around her. She basically lost the three most important people in her life in one short day, and I didn't show up in her life for another four years. You should have seen her when I found her. Totally reserved, never saying a single word, and never letting an emotion pass her eyes. It was terrible Hiccup," Stone sighed.

"I didn't mean to hurt her…" Hiccup whispered.

"I don't think anyone ever intends to hurt someone emotionally unless they really try. You couldn't have known it would have such an effect on her. But can we please just enjoy the flight for now? We have plenty of time to sort you and Thistle out," Stone begged. She was having such a good time and she had a feeling that herself talking to Hiccup instead of Hiccup talking to Thistle wasn't going to help him much.

"Good idea," he agreed and Toothless sped up and continued to show off. The mood quickly lifted and they were both happy again as the flight erased all weights from the shoulders, even if it was only for a few more minutes.

When Toothless pulled up high and then plummeted down into a dive Stone couldn't stop herself from releasing Hiccup entirely, throwing her arms into the air above her head and letting out a loud "Whoop!" of joy. Hiccup laughed and Toothless made a rumbling in his throat that Stone guessed was a laugh. Before landing Toothless preformed three swirls just to make Stone whoop again.

Stone was happier then she'd been for quite a while and when she jumped off Toothless she ran to Thistle and picked her up, spinning her around in a hug.

"I did it!" Stone beamed. Thistle quietly giggled in response. Hiccup still had a bright smile on his face, but his eyes saddened a little, looking atThistle.

"Okay! Now let's find that plant!" Stone exclaimed as she produced the flower's picture from her pocket. It couldn't look any more ordinary: it was a short little plant that was covered in purple flowers. Stone would use every part of the plant and mix them in a bowl, add water and then heat. She would have to make sure to heat it or it wouldn't work but it thankfully only needed to be heated once. It would be eaten whenever needed and would supposedly help ease her headaches almost instantaneously.

(Toothless)

Toothless felt pretty pleased with himself, purring low in his throat as Hiccup, Hiccup-helper, and Sad-eyes, (or was her name Thistle? They seemed to use the word around her a lot, and Toothless knew from experience that a single word used around a human a lot was often their name), all began looking around for something. Since they were so preoccupied, Toothless strutted to the edge of the mountaintop and looked comfortably out over the hissing sea.

His comfort vanished.

The smell filled his nose, a smell of fellow fire-breather combined with a stink of human bodies outfitted with metal and blood. Hiccup and his family had a more earthy smell, a kind of dirt-and-animal-skin stench – and of course Hiccup himself always smelled a little ashy, like he stood too close to fire all the time. But this smell was a hundred times worse, and it set his feelers on edge on top of that. He vibrated them, trying to get a feel for the air, but all in all his body tensed and his head turned nervously left and right. The smell had gotten stronger since than that morning. Which meant whatever was causing it was closer.

Then, he heard a growl.

Toothless jumped and looked straight down, snarling in surprise. There, clinging firmly to a ledge a few yards from the top of the mountain, was a young Night Fury, a few years younger than Toothless. He recognized this particular dragon – he had an extra feeler on his head like a horn and an old bite wound on his front leg that made him limp a little when he walked. He had kind of taken over Toothless' job of shooting the human village every once in a while, but in Toothless' opinion he still needed a lot of work to be a real fighting dragon.

Plus, he had an attitude problem. This became evident in the answering snarl he gave Toothless when the dragon poked his head over the edge of the cliff.

What are you doing here? Toothless wondered. He jerked his head in a 'shoo' motion. The dragon shook his head and dug his claws into the stone. Why are you watching us?

He shot a small warning burst, making the dragon jump, but the Night Fury agilely recovered, catching and pulling himself back up onto the ledge. He snapped at Toothless and then jerked his head out towards the sea, where The Smell was coming from. The little dragon growled again.

"Toothless? You okay, buddy?"

The dragon vanished, leaping from the edge and diving under it. Toothless lifted his head to see Hiccup looking at him worriedly, holding various bits of plants in his hands. Toothless tilted his head and whimpered before looking back out to sea. Far away, on the horizon, he could see a color that was neither sea nor sky. Could Hiccup see it too?

"You've been acting weird all morning. Are you feeling all right?"

Apparently not. Toothless grunted and put his head down in frustration. Something was Coming, and his warning methods were not working.

"I'll take you out for a longer flight when we get back, all right? I know we haven't really gone flying in a while." Hiccup patted him and Toothless sighed. Maybe once he got Hiccup up in the air, he could make him see the source of The Smell.

Suddenly, a piercing shriek echoed through the air. Toothless jumped and Hiccup yelped in response. The two of them spun as one to the source of the cry – and Toothless snarled furiously.

(Einherjar's [meaning Single Combatant] POV)

The one-headed Zippleback flew along aimlessly when he noticed movement on one of the hills. On closer inspection, he released it was three Flesh-Children and Arnkell verbally fighting with Dava. He had always wanted to make friends with a Flesh-Child but before the Great Battle they had been too vicious or scared for his tastes, and now nearly all of the Flesh-Children were already spoken for.

Einherjar landed on the opposite side of the hill from Arnkell, not wanting to disturb him in case he saw him as a threat to the Flesh-Child that had renamed him 'Toothless'. Einherjar thought this name was rather ridiculous seeing as Arnkell obviously had a lot of teeth but he didn't dare insult him. Dava wasn't a lot to fear, he was still young and needed to learn to pick his fights better, but Einherjar wasn't in the mood to deal with the stubborn teen, even if it didn't mean interrupting Arnkell.

Using his long, stretchable neck, Einherjar looked over the top edge of the hill and observed the Flesh-Children. He immediately steered clear of the scrawny, red-headed male, knowing perfectly well that he belonged to Arnkell. The female with the long black hair and sad eyes had seen sitting with Dava before so she was claimed also. Then Einherjar noticed the brownish-blonde haired female. She radiated pain, happiness, and strong determination and for some reason Einherjar was called to her. As soon as his eyes landed on her, he felt pulled to her but he ignored it until he was done observing.

When he couldn't hold off anymore, he charged forward, wanting to bond with her like Arnkell had with 'Hiccup'. Einherjar slowed, however, when he noticed her slowly rising from the ground, stiff with, what? Taking a second to re-read her emotions he realized that she was also radiating long festered fear, that it had been covered by her determination and happiness before. The female turned, jittering, and stared at him with big scared eyes, and Einherjar stared back, silently willing her to trust him. He stretched his neck forward and slowly wrapped around her middle several times. She sighed and relaxed slightly, moving her hand to lightly stroke his scales.

Einherjar purred at the lovely sensation of her skin on his scales and then unwound so she could continue doing whatever it was she was doing. The Flesh-Child wobbled slightly, stared at him for a moment longer, then stooped down and started pulling flowers out of the ground. Settling himself down, he simply watched her do this for a while when she stood and started walking toward Arnkell and the other Flesh-Children. In a rush of excitement, Einherjar quickly wrapped his neck around her again and picked her right off the ground. She shrieked and wrapped her thin arms and legs around his, squeezing tightly. Toothless roared at him and his Hiccup jumped on him, immediately following Einherjar.

When they all landed, the female did not release him. She seemed to be latched on and never planned on letting go. Hiccup came over and talked to her until she finally released him and Arnkell, err Toothless, glared at him the entire time. Then the little Flesh-Girl did something her hadn't planned on. She launched herself at him and hugged his head to her neck lovingly. When she was done she turned toward the hilltop again and groaned. "Hiccup...where's Thistle?"

(Hiccup)

Hiccup stared at Stone in slowly growing horror. While he had mainly recovered from the panic attack brought on by the one-headed Zippleback's actions, he slowly realized that he had been so frightened for Stone being grabbed that he had completely forgotten Thistle at the top of the mountain.

"Good job," Stone groaned, looking up at the mountaintop. "That's how you make new friends, Hiccup."

"Oh suffering scallops," Hiccup groaned and leaped for Toothless. Toothless began to tense himself up to soar back into the air – and then he stopped cold and roared in outright fury. "What?" Hiccup gasped, but then Stone let out a yell of surprise.

"Look!"

Hiccup's mouth dropped open as the plummeting form of a Night Fury made itself visible against the brown and green of the mountainside. More horrifying to the eye, however, was the flapping form of Thistle, holding on to the dragon's tail for dear life. The dragon seemed to be holding his tail as stiff as possible as he skimmed the rocks, but it was obvious that Thistle was being slightly thrown around by the air currents.

"Thistle!" Stone shouted in horror. Hiccup could do nothing but watch as the dragon dropped towards them, hoping it would be able to pull out of the dive, and wondering how in Thor's name it was going to get Thistle down without hurting her.

The dragon answered his question. Seconds before impact, it snapped open its wings with a roar of effort, and swung its tail down towards the ground. Thistle yelped and let go. She hit the ground and fell from inertia, but was soon struggling back to her feet. She made it up just as the Night Fury beat its wings twice, powerfully lifting itself out of reach. With another roar, it angled itself and blasted away through the trees.

"Thistle! Are you all right?" Stone gasped, running to her friend. The one-headed Zippleback stretched its neck forward as well, looking concerned.

"Yes," Thistle said. "I…need to learn how to fly though. I doubt I am supposed to ride on the tail." She had a strange expression on her face, caught between amazed wonder and profound relief. Her voice sounded breathy as ever, but oddly flat. Stone leaned over to try and look into her eyes, and Thistle granted her the stare.

"No," Hiccup laughed nervously. "You're not supposed to ride on the tail. It's easy to get sick if you do that."

His heart wasn't evidently in the joke, and both girls let him know it with a hard stare (Stone), and a flick of the eyes (Thistle). He sighed. "So…what was that?"

"A Night Fury," Thistle replied.

While Stone suppressed chuckles at Thistle's somewhat teasing response, Hiccup rolled his eyes. "I know that, but…"

"I see him sometimes. If I am sitting outside by the cliffs, he will come and sit beside me. I think he is the same Night Fury that attacks the village. But he is…patient with me. He is jumpy, like…" Thistle trailed off and gestured to Toothless, "…but he is not mean."

"It looks like you're taming your own dragon without even trying," Hiccup said encouragingly. "Maybe Stone will have the same luck."

"No," Thistle murmured, "I am not tra-Stone?" She looked up and only then seemed to register the Zippleback peeking over Stone's shoulder. "Stone! You have…a dragon? I thought he had carried you off!"

Her expression almost brought tears of laughter to Stone's eyes. "H-how did you miss that?" she asked, bubbling with laughter. "H-he's been fo-following me around the rock for the p-p-past hour!"

Thistle flushed even more. "I...I..." After several seconds, she gave up and offered another small smile.

(Lexus)

The world in front of them touched the heavens, long fingers of black rock reaching up to pluck Jupiter himself from his throne. Neptune's angry seas lashed at the edges of this new land, and the slaves rowing the tiny ship strained against what had to be a seabed laden with cold, hard dirt. One of them - a small beauty with thick, ebony hair, olive skin and piercing light blue eyes - cast a look back at the grand Isis, sitting tall and proud under the icy sun. The magnificent ship sank too deep at keel to come any closer, so she had sent out her children to investigate the frantic whispers of 'here be dragons!'

This small young lady - Captain Theocles' personal slave, Lexus - pressed her thin lips together and stood up behind her master as the boat touched land. With feline grace and cold audacity, she stepped behind him onto the grey sand of Berk.

The Romans had arrived.

Ooooh, Cliffhanger and Romans! What will happen to the trio now?

*face palm* I am so terribly sorry that is has taken a MONTH to update. I feel terrible. Don't blame Silver2018, her parts have been done for a while, it was my fault. Well its up now, I guess that's all that counts,

Disclaimer: HTTYD does not belong to Prisoner of Pain or Silver2018, Stone, Einherjar and Mole Heinrickson belong to Prisoner of Pain, Thistle and Touch (Dava) belongs to Silver2018.

R&R please, they make us so happy!