Chapter 8: Torment
(Flashback following Mole)
Hiccup and Mole sprinted into the forest together after dropping the stuff of at the hospital. No one currently required any medical assistance so Mole was free to do as she pleased, and right now, she wanted to help Hiccup find his dragon and maybe talk to him about Stone some more.
After nearly half an hour of searching and screaming Toothless' name, Hiccup looked like he was about to collapse in tears.
'Teenagers truly are a never ending spring of emotions,' Ms. Heinrickson thought, absently remembering all the mood swings Stone sometimes had, even if she denied them later. Her apprentice really was something else.
"So, Hiccup. Are you and Stone an item now?" She didn't want to embarrass the boy, but she needed to know, and she wanted to distract Hiccup from his mounting worries.
"Um, I-I don't know yet. We haven't really discussed it yet," Hiccup's face seemed to get redder and redder as he spoke.
"Well I think you should snatch her up before she gets thinking. If she gets the idea that she's not good enough for you, they will be no getting to her. I was terribly surprised when she agreed to let you help her, it took me forever to get her used to coming to me when she had a problem."
"Why would she think she's not good enough for me?" Hiccup questioned with interest even though he still scanned the skies.
"Stone grew up thinking she wasn't good enough. It only heightened when he parents died. She blames herself for that too ya know," Ms. Heinrickson decided there was no need to keep Stone's secret from him. He would find out eventually, and it was better he knew how to handle it before hand.
"What? Why?" Hiccup gasped.
"Don't tell her I told you any of this, but she idolized the warriors when she was young. But as she got older, it became apparent that she wasn't a warrior. She couldn't concentrate enough to actually go onto a real battlefield but did fine in the training ring. Her parents always tried to get her onto a battlefield with other warriors, but Stone would always get distracted and hurt. She has plenty of battle scars. Her parents never stopped trying though, and when they literally "died trying", Stone blamed herself for not being strong enough to fight in battle by herself. That's probably when her headaches started actually, after the attack."
"That's ridiculous! It wasn't her fault she was born that way! And they were Vikings, dying in battle is a perfectly normal thing!" Hiccup fumed. Mole chuckled at his reaction.
"If you could get Stone to believe that, I'd be forever in your debt," Mole joked, but it was true. If Hiccup would make her apprentice happy again, she'd never forget.
"I'll try my best," Hiccup mumbled, little confidence in his voice.
"Oh I don't doubt you. You have my permission by the way."
"Permission? Permission to do what?" Before Mole could answer Hiccup's naive question, they were attacked. People in strange clothing and armor burst out of the dark night, releasing a battle cry. Neither Ms. Heinrickson nor Hiccup was prepared. The people pointed bows strung with arrows at them and began to encircle them. But before the circle closed, Mole made a decision. She and Hiccup both weren't getting out together, so she would make sure Hiccup got away first.
Surprising everyone around her, Mole suddenly turned and pushed Hiccup out of the circle before it could close, yelling at him to run. He obeyed but kept looking back at her, slowing himself down.
"Don't worry about me, get yourself and the village safe!" she yelled as the people angrily attacked her. One of the strangers barked an order for one of the men to follow Hiccup, but Mole wasn't going to have that. Leaping at the man, she braced her first two fingers by curling in the rest of them and placing her thumb underneath the two, and struck several nerves on his uncovered back. A smirk of victory fought it's way onto her face as the man fell to the ground with a thump. The others of his group gasped and began to focus on Mole, seemingly forgetting about the boy with the metal foot as they fought with her.
Mole was no stranger to being in battle, but it had been quite a while and she was out of shape. She'd spent so much time comforting and teaching Stone along with her normal life and job that'd she'd missed out on the last months of dragon battling. Not that she was complaining. She loved Stone dearly, but she didn't seem to be helping her much, besides giving her a shoulder to cry on, which Thistle and now Hiccup were perfectly suited to give her. It gave her happiness to know that Stone would be cared for without her, because these people obviously weren't going to give up.
Pressing nerves was the best, weaponless, way to fight for a doctor. She knew which nerve endings caused pain, comfort, for certain body parts to loss mobility for short amounts of time, and even loss of consciousness. Mole often pushed nerves to knock her patients out during particularly painful treatments or when they fought back. Even though Mole wouldn't admit it, she'd even used it on Stone when the girl was in very terrible pain.
Mole struck several wrists coming at her, causing shrieks of pain to ring through the air. She even knocked another person out...before they knocked her out that is. Before Mole had even seen it coming, a blade was shallowly dragged across the base of her neck, not causing any fatal wounds, but making her body shut down in effort to slow her heart-rate and blood-flow.
Mole fell to the floor with a thud as the world blackened around her. Right before her vision died, she saw one of them men rushing off in the direction Hiccup went.
(Thistle)
Thistle never revealed to anyone what went through her mind after the attack started but before she finally lost consciousness. Even though she would likely be forgiven for it, it still wasn't something you just reveal to even your closest friend or the one you love.
When the hands covered her eyes, she jumped and squealed, thinking at first that Touch had surprised her and was preparing to lift her away into the chilly night for a random, exciting flight. She wondered briefly at Touch's attention – she had only sat with him a couple times, but he'd suddenly appeared so firmly, flying her down from the mountain, lighting a fire for warmth. Hiccup had mentioned that she was training him, and Thistle wondered if she was – simply by needing him to show up. This was laughable, once she considered that she had needed Hiccup for twelve years and he hadn't been there. Too bad he wasn't a dragon.
The hands, however, had soon pulled her backwards flat onto the cool, soft grass. Her fishing pole splashed into the water, sending ripples across the silvery surface, the bait on the end still tempting any nearby fish to become trapped forever. Thistle's wide green eyes outlined the silhouette against the fading moon, and a grumble of thunder overcame her sharp cry of surprise. She didn't recognize any of the armor or even the skin color of the human grabbing at her. How could anyone become that dark in this weather? Had they painted their skin to hide at night?
It was then that Thistle did the thing that shamed her. The human was reaching for her throat, trying to subdue her and prevent her from struggling. Thistle made it easy, dropping her hands to her sides, closing her eyes, and going limp. Far from playing dead, she was more remembering her earlier desire to disappear into the shadows. What better way to disappear into the shadows than to become one? For a brief moment, Thistle Snapvine gave over complete control. Had the creature attempted to kill her, she would have offered no resistance.
As it was, the human merely bound her hands and roughly pulled her to her feet, spitting out a language she did not recognize. Thistle allowed herself to be pulled from the ravine of memories, up the rocks and into the woods of Berk. She didn't say anything, refusing to scream or fight back. She sensed the incredulous look given her by her captor, but didn't respond.
Then, as they headed in the direction of the ocean, Thistle heard a sound that snapped her out of her reverie. It was simple - a furious roar of a Night Fury trying to protect a village. Toothless. Touch. It could have been either one of them. But it did the trick. For just a moment, Thistle doubted her actions. She doubted her desire to just give up and disappear without a single fight, a single goodbye.
She lashed out. Her captor, not expecting the until-now-submissive Viking to fight back, took the blow surprisingly well, only falling to the side a little before catching herself on a tree. Thistle lit out in the direction of the roar, shouting at the top of her lungs: "Stone! Touch! Help me!"
Then, a crushing weight came down on her, her mouth filled with dirt, and a sharp pain on the back of her head heralded a sudden, deep unconsciousness.
(Hiccup)
The next morning, Hiccup accidently woke up late. He quickly fed Toothless, and hurried across the village to the hospital hut. He hoped Stone wouldn't be too busy, he really wanted to let her know what happened to Mole. All of the healthy Viking's rushed around excitedly, eagerly preparing and awaiting the return of the hunting men. Hiccup wasn't looking forward to his dad returning, Stoick would be thrilled by the new challenge by no doubt and he had a bad feeling about that.
As he approached, Hiccup noticed Courage sitting outside the hut, staring through a window worriedly. After telling Toothless to join Courage, Hiccup crossed over to the door. He could hear slightly muffled but still loud noises coming from behind the door and hesitated before knocking. Instantly, Stone's voice could be heard loudly as she stomped toward the door.
"...can't have five seconds to straighten up in peace before someone else comes whining to the door! How Mole could do this as a living, I'll never know!"She wrenched the door open, prepared to yell at whoever it was, but her anger dissipated when her eyes met Hiccup's. Stone's hair was falling from its pony tail and stuck out in odd directions, her clothes had blood splattered across them rather then the usual paint and hung limping on her frame, and her eyes were bloodshot, the dark marks around them were darker then Hiccup had ever seen.
A sigh ripped through her throat and she pinched the bridge of her nose, leaning against the door frame. She looked terrible and exhausted.
"...Yes, Hiccup?" Stone's voice was tiny and sad.
"Um, are you busy? I wanted to talk to you about what happened yesterday. But if you're doing something important I understand-"
"No, no, come in, there's no one else here," she cut him off and opened the door wider for him.
Glancing around the room, Hiccup realized the noises he had heard were empty bottles being carelessly placed in a pile, along with empty salve containers. Stone took a seat on an empty patient bed pushed up to a wall and gestured for him to sit beside her. She leaned heavily onto the wall and sighed, her shoulders drooping and eyes lolling shut.
"Stone, when was the last time you slept?"
"Um...yesterday when I passed out for thirty minutes," her voice held a slight question, like that hadn't been what she had expected him to say.
"That was a long time ago. Why don't you sleep now?" Hiccup suggested. As much as he wanted to talk to her, it could wait.
"No, it's okay. I want to know what happened." As Stone spoke, her body slid across the wall until her head landed on his shoulder. Hiccup doubted that she had done it on purpose and she didn't even seem to notice her change in position.
"Stone, you look terrible and completely exhausted, you should sleep while you can," his voice was soft but slightly commanding. Staying up as long as she had couldn't be good for her health.
"Hiccup-it's fine, I'll...sleep..later..." Stone's eyes slowly shut and that was all it took. Within seconds, she was fast asleep, curled up on Hiccup's shoulder.
Hiccup chuckled slightly, wrapping and arm around her shoulders and pulling her into a more comfortable position. He wasn't sure if she'd sleep very long considering her insomnia, or if she'd be knocked out for hours from exhaustion, but he could wait.
It wasn't twenty minutes later that Stone started acting weird. First, her hands started twitching and her blunt, blood encrusted, nails tore at her palms. Her entire body then began to shake and her breath starting coming in as short and painful gasps. Not sure what was happening, Hiccup began to panic and tried waking her up by shaking her shoulder, but it made no difference since her body was shaking anyway.
Practically ready to call for help, Hiccup remembered what Stone had done the night he had had a nightmare. She had lessened his pain, and then hugged him. He still didn't really understand why, but it was worth a shot. He reached out and grabbed her wrists, forcing them apart. Then, he carefully gripped her shoulders and steered her body so he could hug her.
At first she starting shaking even harder, but then she relaxed. Her breathing returned to normal and her hands stopped twitching. Stone's eyes suddenly snapped open and she groaned, struggling slighting in Hiccup's hold. Hiccup quickly released her and she backed away so she could look him in the face. It was only then that Hiccup realized she had been crying.
"Thanks," Stone mumbled as she wiped at her eyes.
"No problem. Truthfully, I have no idea how that worked," he joked, hoping to lighten her up. She chuckled quietly and gave him a small smile.
"Hugs are the best medicine. I didn't just hug you for no reason that night, you weirdo," she playfully punched his shoulder.
"So, what exactly was that?"
"That was me having a nightmare. You aren't the only one who suffers from them Hiccup, but your's will hopefully go away soon," Stone sighed.
"What was your nightmare about?" Hiccup asked, genuinely curious. Stone cringed slightly, like she had hoped he wouldn't ask, and stood up.
"It...was about the day my parent's died," while she spoke, Stone gathered up materials.
"How often do you have that dream?" he asked worriedly and again she cringed.
"I alternate between dreaming of them, of Boulder, and of my headaches. Their dream is the most frequent though,"she sat a bowl of water and a rag on the table beside the bed and crossed the room again.
"Stone, their death wasn't your fault, you need to let it go," Hiccup said without thinking. At his words Stone stopped dead in her tracks and slowly turned toward him, giving him a weird look.
"I...I never told you it was."
Hiccup then remembered that it wasn't Stone who told him that, but Mole. And she had told him not to say anything about it.
You just dug your own grave, Hiccup.
"Oh-uh-eh-you see, uh...Why don't we talk about this later! I wanted to tell you what happened to Ms. Heinrickson!" Hiccup desperately hoped Stone would let it go for now and forget, but highly doubted it.
Stone's strange look turned into an angry and piercing glare but she turned and continued what she was doing.
"Whatever,' she grumbled darkly. "Just tell me what happened."
"Before I start, what are you doing?" Hiccup asked as she sat down on the floor in front of his feet with the water and rag from the table, a container of salve, and some bandages.
"Well, I figure since you're going to be here a while, I might as well treat your leg." This provoked a small whimper from Hiccup before he could stop it. Stone's ears perked at the sound and she looked up at him.
"Hiccup, it won't hurt. Even if it did, I can stop anytime you need me to," her bloodshot and dark rimmed eyes sparkled with reassurance. He nodded and held his leg out to her.
With one hand she carefully held his leg, and used the other to roll his pant leg up. Stone glared at his prosthesis with hatred as she unstrapped it.
"I know that without this you wouldn't be able to walk, but this thing is a monstrosity." Hiccup chuckled at her but began to grow nervous as she unwrapped the gauze around his stump.
As if sensing his nervousness, she reached up and pushed his chin up, forcing his eyes away.
"Don't watch. So, what did happen yesterday? I'm dying to know." Stone was trying her best to distract him and he happily went with it.
"Well, I was upset because I couldn't find Toothless and was standing on top of my roof shouting for him when Ms. Heinrickson showed up. She offered to come with me to look because she was afraid my leg couldn't handle it or something." Hiccup noted that one of Stone's fingers was rubbing small circles onto his stump and that he found it calming. Her hands were smooth and were gentle as she dabbed the wet rag against the raw flesh. Without really realizing it, he had moved his head and was watching her work.
"So we went looking, shouting at the top of our lungs for a long time until I started to give up. She-she started talking about you a bit," Stone's head lowered and her eyes darkened. "...which I'll tell you about later, and she said something about giving me her permission or something-"
"She what?" Stone practically shrieked, her eyes wide with horrified shock. Her cheeks and neck were quickly turning red.
"Mole said I had her permission but we were attacked before I could ask what that meant. What does that mean?"
Stone opened her mouth to reply but all that came out was a choking sound. Squeezing her eyes shut, she swallowed hard before speaking through clenched teeth.
"I-I'll tell you l-later." She quickly returned to dabbing his stump, which Hiccup took as an invitation to continue.
"Ooookaaay, well, maybe seven Roman warriors suddenly appeared out of no where and started to encircle us. But before the circle could close completely, Mole suddenly swung me around and launched me out of the opening, screaming at me to run."
"Really? That was brave of her," Stone looked up at him and narrowed her eyes slightly. She reached up and flicked his forehead with a slight smirk. "Hey, I told you not to watch. Bad Hiccup," she giggled quietly and pushed his head back up.
"Sorry," he smiled, "but yeah, that's what she did. I started to run slightly but I was worried so I kept looking back at her until she shouted at me to protect myself and the village and to not worry about her. I haven't a clue how, but she actually knocked out someone and some of them were actually crying out in pain."
"What did it look like she was doing?" Stone's attention was split between Hiccup's words and his stump but she was obviously listening. Stone stood and crossed the room, washing the rag and the dried blood from her nails in a pail of water before returning. Before doing anything else she looked up so Hiccup could demonstrate.
"It...Honestly, it looked like she was poking him," Hiccup reached out and poked Stone's shoulder in a way that he hoped looked like Ms. Heinrickson. Chuckling slightly, she pushed Hiccup's hand away and his head up again.
"She was probably pressing nerves. So what happened after you ran?" Hiccup could hear Stone's fingers dipping in the salve.
"Pressing nerves?"
"The things in your body that make you feel. If you push certain ones you can cause pain or knock people out. People from the new worlds taught us that," Stone's fingers gently spread the salve around.
"Oh. So, I started running the best I could with my leg until Toothless finally found me and we went back to see if we could help her, but they were already gone."
Stone made a soft "hm" noise before wrapping his stump in fresh bandages.
"That should help."
"Thanks Stone," Hiccup smiled at her as she put the supplies away. She returned the smile slightly, but something seemed wrong.
"Are you alright?" he asked as he strapped his prosthesis on again.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she grumbled.
"How long was I asleep?" Stone suddenly asked.
"Um, twenty minutes maybe?"
"Gods, really? It felt like much longer. Much, much longer. But that explains why I'm still so tired," Stone sighed.
"How did it feel long?"
"In the dream hours past. But I don't I don't want to talk about it," she pulled up a chair and sat across from Hiccup in it.
"What did Mole mean when she gave me her per-"
"Well I'm really tired Hiccup, why don't you come back later!" Stone quickly interrupted him, her face turning pink. Hiccup crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a hard look.
"Stone, what aren't you telling me?" Her face turned a darker shade of pink.
"N-nothing, really," Stone tried again but when she saw Hiccup's glare she sighed and looked away. "It's not that hard to figure out," she grumbled. Hiccup thought for a moment before it clicked. Stone didn't have a dad. Ms. Heinrickson was the closest thing to family Stone had on Berk. Hiccup had shown interest in Stone, and Mole had given him her permission. Her permission to court her. Hiccup hadn't even gotten Astrid's father's approval, Astrid approved and that was all he had personally needed. Hiccup felt heat climbing his own neck and into his cheeks.
They sat there staring red-faced at each other when the door crashed open.
(Thistle)
She awoke to a slow but all-too-familiar roll. Adrenaline burst through her system and she lurched violently, trying to leap to her feet. Chafing pains exploded through her arms and legs and the heavy metallic clank of chains echoed through the empty, dimly-lit space. Thistle turned her head left and right, fear very much overpowering everything else in this situation. Her quick, terrified breaths filled the enclosed space, but her eyes adjusted slowly, normally, to the soft streams of light flickering in. It was near dawn, from the redness of the light, and forming shapes in the haze took more practice and time than Thistle wanted to give. But her panicked breathing had alerted others to her presence, and she actually shrieked when the voice floated out of the darkness. "Thistle? Is that you?"
"Who are you?" Thistle asked in a voice high with panic. "Where am I? What's going on?"
"It's me, Mole."
"Mole?" Now Thistle was completely confused. She didn't know anyone named Mole. "I don't know you! Tell me where I am!"
The voice let out an exasperated sigh. "Ms. Heinrickson, Thistle. My name is Mole Henrickson."
Thistle registered the information only a few seconds before another loud shout from the other side of the boat made her jump again. It was in a language she didn't know, in a voice so rough that she literally flinched away from it. Her eyes were almost completely adjusted now, and she took stock of the world around her.
Sure enough, she was chained in the hold of a large ship made of thick, solid wood. Light streamed down through a thin opening in the ceiling above her, and she heard the choral howl of at least thirty men in unison and the creak of oars. There were three others chained with her - Mole on the other side of the room, and two more further down. One of them had the same dark skin as Thistle's captor, but the other one was fair. Only the dark-skinned one was male, and Thistle's heart sank. "Roman slave ship," she murmured.
"Yes," Mole sounded surprised that Thistle knew. "How did you know that?"
"Stories." There was no use in being silent now. "I have heard stories from some of the men."
An otherwordly scream rang through the air then, making the four of them cringe terribly. Thistle and Mole, however, knew the scream for what it was, and they looked at each other in horror. "Dragons," Mole moaned. "They got some of the dragons."
At that moment, the top of the ceiling sheared off.
(Tuffnut)
Tuffnut lay flat on the black rocks overlooking the apricot sand leading to the water's edge. Flush with the ground, only his head poking over the edge, his long white-blonde hair stood out starkly – but perfectly camouflaged as old or dead vines. His eyes tracked the movement of the three ships below, scattered gamely over a few yards' radius, hiding in the cove between two of Berk's largest rocks. Only the twitch of his fingers and feet showed his seething anger. The bandages on his arm were red with blood from the wound he kept irritating, and a dull ache flaring occasionally into a sharp pain would make him hiss softly. The pain annoyed him – and it did a good job at keeping him from thinking. Of course, he was having trouble thinking to begin with. As much as he kept trying to come up with a Fiendishly Clever Plan to rescue Ms. Heinrickson, the dragons, and Thistle, he only kept coming up with Really Bad Ideas.
He hated admitting it to himself, but Hiccup was the strategist for the Vikings of Berk. Tuffnut was too much like Snotlout. "Why read," the boy had said one night, "when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you stuff about?" Tuffnut had laughingly agreed and even proceeded to make fun of Fishlegs, who studied obsessively about dragons and was almost as bad as Hiccup when it came to technical jargon. Now, however, he was feeling that bite – because he had promised himself he would help put Thistle Snapvine back together, and he couldn't get to her. At all.
He blinked dust from his eyes and tried to resist the siren call of sleep. After Stone had finished binding his wounds last night, he had made a show of going back to his house and going to bed – but seconds after Ruffnut had fallen asleep, Tuffnut had leaped up and stolen out of the house, beginning an island-wide search of Berk for the missing members of his life. Now, late in the morning, he had finally located the ships and was stubbornly working on an attack plan that involved rushing them singlehandedly, breaking the dragon cage, and using the panic that would cause to free the two trapped women.
In other words, a Really Bad Idea.
From what little he had heard of Roman ships, he understood that the big ship was a warship, and the One in Charge sat there. The littlest one was a scout ship, and had likely dropped off the people who had attacked Berk. The one in the middle, with the dragon cage, had to be the slave ship. Which, he had no doubt, was where Thistle and Ms. Heinrickson were. The problem was, it was right inbetween the other two ships, and there was no way to get to it without being seen.
So Tuffnut lay there, staring mindlessly down at the ships, willing Thistle to appear on the deck so he would at least know she was alive.
He'd tried so hard to keep her after the fight. For a few brief moments, she had looked directly into his eyes and he'd pretty much fallen all over again. Any doubt he'd had about the relationship he'd been fighting to win over the years had faded with that one contact, that one realization that she'd broken through her own wall just to look at him. Tuffnut liked the idea of hope. Hiccup had taught it to him, and now Thistle was proving it to him.
The sun overhead was nice and warm. Tuffnut felt his head lowering and his thoughts drifting. He jerked his head hard and blinked before ramming his head hard into the ground. The resulting pain made him dizzy, then woke him up. I have to keep thinking. She needs me. They need me. No one else knows...
Two things happened very quickly.
One: a very angry voice behind him said: "WHAT are you doing here?"
Two: Thistle appeared on the deck of the slave ship.
(Thistle)
Thistle let out a shriek and tried to shy away from the light as it poured into the hold from the now-open door, but the heavy chains pinned her to the ground. Gentle footsteps tapped against the floor and a body blocked some of the painful glare, but it wasn't long before Thistle was gazing into the piercing blue eyes of an olive-skinned beauty decked in tough-looking animal skin, with a single gold dot in the top of her arched eyebrow. Her skin almost glimmered in the morning, and her long black hair said elegantly atop her head. She alighted atop the floor and looked at all of them with eye far wiser than anything Thistle had ever seen. Despite her situation, Thistle could not help but feel a measure of respect - and recognition - for this woman. Was she the one in charge? How did Thistle know who she was?
When the woman spoke, her voice was husky and rich, full of power - and completely incomprehensible. Thistle stared at her blankly, glancing at Mole, whose eyes had narrowed. The white-skinned woman at the other end of the boat answered her, and the tall woman glared at her, spitting out a sentence that reddened the other's face. She looked away, and the tall woman looked down at Thistle.
"Who is doctor?" she asked in broken Norse. Thistle blinked in amazement, realizing that the other woman actually knew her language.
"I'm not a doctor," she answered barely above a whisper. She wondered about revealing Mole as a doctor, but that didn't seem right. Mole should reveal herself. It wasn't for Thistle to reveal any secrets.
"Ah?" the woman swung a hand, impacting Thistle's face. Thistle twisted away in pain. "Ah! Who is doctor?" She swung her hand back, hitting her again.
"Stop!" Thistle shouted back, tears coming to her eyes again. Weak-minded Gronckle, Astrid shouted in her head. "Stop hitting me!"
"Who is doctor?" Smack.
"I'm the doctor!" Mole yelled.
The woman stopped slapping Thistle, casting surprised eyes at the thick-haired Viking straining against her bonds. "I'm the doctor," Mole insisted again. "Stop hurting her."
The woman pointed at Thistle. "You are fish." She leaned in, her breath not nearly as beautiful as her body, and the golden dot in her eyebrow appearing to be a piece of metal hiding infected flesh. "A dead fish." She let her arms flop for a moment before stomping over to Mole. Thistle, reeling from the stench, slowly began to realize where she had seen the woman before. She's the one who grabbed me. The one who I almost let...
She shook her head and tried to pay attention to what Mole and her captor were talking about. Mole had the same exasperated look on her face that she normally wore with patients who wouldn't do what she told them or tried to play down their pain - the face that said 'I'm-talking-to-an-idiot.' Her bravery empowered Thistle a little. Only a little.
"The dragons we captured hurt us. No one knows dragon medicine. But you do."
"Let her go and I'll help you," Mole replied.
"No!" The woman drew back and slapped Mole across the face. "The spineless one will play later. You first."
"Let her go and I'll help you."
The woman's eyes flared and she rose up to an impressive height. The sun caught on the gold metal in her head and glinted. The sharp light cut Thistle's eyes and she whimpered, turning her head away.
Instantly, she wished she hadn't. In three steps, the woman was at her side, metal clinking as she wrestled with the locks binding Thistle to the wall. Another man appeared then in the hole in the ceiling - a white-skinned male with long black hair, dressed even simpler than the woman. He thumped down into the hold. Rather than feeling a strange sense of relief as she was unlocked from the wall, Thistle's heart crashed into her feet. There was no way she could return to Berk without Mole. "No!" she blurted. "I can't leave without you. Stone will never forgive me."
"Tell her where I am," Mole replied, "and if she doesn't come get me, I'll turn her Valhalla into Hel."
"No one free," the woman hissed firmly, and shoved Thistle - still bound but free of the wall - to the foot of the stairs. Thistle, unable to move her arms or legs, fell forward into the man's waiting arms. He let out a licentious chuckle and stuck his nose in her hair before wrapping a fist through it and holding her tight. Thistle whimpered in terror and Mole's face reddened in fury. She threw her head at the tall woman freeing her and received a fist to the nose for her troubles. The bonds held tight as Mole fell away from the wall and was dragged across the floor to the stairs. Thistle's head was twisted away as the man pulled her up onto the deck of the ship.
Great sails stretched away into the distance, and she could immediately tell they were docked in the cove between two of Berk's biggest rocks. Almost thirty half-clad men sat chained to oars, bent over them in pain or exhaustion. The sun baked their multicolored skin and made rivulets of sweat pour over lined muscles. Thistle stared in amazement at the spread before her - people of so many colors all stuck in place as prisoners of the Roman legion. Before her, the great battering ram of the ship stuck out into the water, a threatening lance prepared to hull any ship that got near it. Even more surprising were the bits of metal pounded into the ship. Viking ships tended towards the wooden descent, lined with wooden-and-metal shields, some of their highest masts held in place by chains but the amount of metal actually on the ship very limited. These ships can float with metal in them? Hiccup would have a party with that...and Stone would make the sails of animal skin and bright colors, not these simple, threatening coat-of-arms. And Thistle...would watch.
Remembering why she had allowed herself to be captured in the first place, Thistle looked away from Berk and down at the deck of the ship. If not for Mole, she would be able to just escape completely. Cooperate with whatever they wanted her to do, make herself into a tool for following orders, and that would be life. She wouldn't have to worry about hurting anyone ever again.
"You heal us," the woman's voice was clear and strong, and Thistle looked up to see a couple of men laying on the deck, burned and bleeding. They moaned in pain, turning their heads this way and that as though delirious. "Or she dies."
Thistle had enough time to think what before the man holding her suddenly lifted her into the air. She let out a piercing scream as the chain around her arm snapped around one of the masts holding the ship in the air and then cracked against her back. The man grabbed the chain, pulled it down against a strut in the deck, and tied it there with a piece of rope.
Thistle hung two feet off of the deck, unable to kick or move - and then the man who tied her up produced a whip.
Mole's face contorted in fury. "She's an innocent girl!" she screamed at the ship in general, who all turned their heads to see the Viking child strapped up.
"And you not helping people who need it," the woman replied before nodding.
The man flicked the whip - just a casual twitch. But the sting of it sliced through Thistle's body worse than a dragon bite. She cut off the scream that bit her throat, but it echoed off of the stone around the ships. Her mind could barely comprehend the pain, almost didn't want to move by it. Only a deep shuddering breath kept her conscious - and even then she didn't know why she did it. The woman's earlier words rang in her mind. Dead fish.
Am I really going to die?
Mole, however, threw herself against her bindings. "Let her down and I'll help you!"
"No."
Fwish-snap.
The second bite was worse than the first, hitting already-open skin. Thistle switched and screamed. Astrid's voice. Weak-minded Gronckle.
I'm not weak! It hurts!
"All right! All right, I'll help! Just stop hurting her!"
"Hurry."
Fwish-snap.
Thistle had to suck in a breath to scream - but no sound came out of her that time. The pain was too great. Instead, she heard Astrid again. She needs to grow a spine.
I can't. Hiccup's not here to help me do it.
What?
Mole had knelt beside the first man, face as red as her hair, which was sticking up in all directions and blowing in the cold wind. Cold wind. Hot sun. The roll of the ship and the pain in her back. Thistle knew she was overloaded, slowly shutting down. Stay awake. You have to stay awake or they'll hit you again.
Mole's voice shook - with either pain or rage or tears, Thistle couldn't tell. "This is just a fever. He needs to get out of the sun. The cut is easy to mend..."
"No talk. Just do."
Fwish-snap.
Tuffnut spoke. You know she's not very good.
You helped me to be. I can't do it alone. Had that been just yesterday? Her arms ached tremendously from holding her weight, and dimly she felt the drip of her own blood down her legs.
You have done it alone. For Gods know how many years. Now I'm here to help you. Stone.
Delirious from pain and fear, Thistle's eyes drifted shut as the pain around her mounted. She heard Mole rustling about, calling for poultices and water. Pained cries around her came from the men whose wounds Mole dressed with saltwater, and low thuds came from those who staggered to their feet and rumbled below for shade. The ticklish trickle of her blood kept her conscious - it made her itch insanely and she twitched in response, trying to make it stop. She didn't even feel the next two whip strikes. But she heard everything, including the screaming inside of her own head.
Dead fish.
You are Thistle, the wonderful young Viking I am proud to call my best friend.
I haven't spoken to you in twelve years.
Weak-minded Gronckle.
I'm helping two friends this village has forgotten.
She needs to grow a spine.
You know she's not very good.
Mommy? Daddy? Is...anyone there at all?
Eventually, she did fade into blackness. There, in the darkness, Touch came to her, lighting a small fire at her feet, warming her in the chilly Berk wind. He folded his wings and gave her a crooked smile very similar to Hiccup's. Then, he sat beside her and looked out at the starry, empty night.
(Stone)
Suddenly the door opened and the couple looked over to see Astrid standing in the doorway, her own face getting redder by the second. Astrid clenched her teeth and looked anywhere but at them. Everyone was silent for a moment, each trying to control the blood in their faces when Astrid finally spoke.
"Have either of you seen Tuffnut? He's missing." Another knife in Stone's heart.
"Missing? He wasn't taken by the Roman's yesterday was he?" Hiccup asked.
"No, I saw him yesterday, I treated him for...for an arrow wound," Stone fought to remember exactly where the arrow was but since she had treated so many arrow wounds, she couldn't remember.
"We think he might have gone looking for the ships," Astrid quickly had dropped back into her cold nature and was now content to glare at Stone.
"Graah, that's exactly what I told him not to do!" Stone pulled at some of her fallen hair angrily.
"Some villagers are splitting up and looking for him, and we could use all the people we can," with that, Astrid stomped out of the hut, slamming the door behind her.
"We have to go with them!" Hiccup grabbed Stone's hand and pulled her swiftly out the door and toward Courage and Toothless
"H-hiccup, I can't really fly yet!" Stone squeaked.
"I saw you flying last night in the rain and chaos, you'll do fine!"Hiccup encouraged as he pushed her toward Courage. Stone looked worriedly up at Courage who smiled back at her. Swallowing her fear she fixed her ponytail so all her hair was pulled away from her face and awkwardly climbed onto Courage's back. Sitting where she had last night, Stone shot Hiccup once last worried look before the dragons took off together.
Courage turned toward the left while Toothless went to the right, instantly splitting them apart. After the moment of crippling fear was over, Stone found the enjoyable sensation of wind blowing all around her delightful.
Flying close to the ground, Stone scanned for anything that shouldn't belong in nature or contrasting colors. Snotlout passed her, coming from the way she was going, and shouted at her to stop being the idiot she was and to turn around. Stone put a big show of ignoring him and continued on her way. Something told her that it would have been easy for Snotlout to overlook Tuffnut hiding someplace.
Just as Stone was about to give up on that area and move on, she saw it. At first glance Tuffnut's white blond hair appeared to be just another dead brush but with closer examination, it was lighter then dead plants usually were and shiner. Shouting to Courage, she pointed him out and he carefully swooped down behind the Viking silently. As quietly as she could, Stone slid off Courage's back and stalked up to him.
"WHAT are you doing here?" she demanded. Tuffnut nearly jumped out of his skin and whirled to face her.
"I should beat you all the way to Valhalla for scaring us like this! And look what you've done to your shoulder it's probably infected," Stone scolded him half-heartedly.
"Shhh! For one, you could never even touch me," Stone scoffed, "and two the Romans are down there and Thistle just came on board!" Tuffnut whispered angrily.
"She what?" Stone scrambled down onto all fours so she could hide beside him and watch. Her expression was a mix of horror and fury. Who were these people to think that they could push her friends around like that? Mole and Thistle were her family and they were being tortured and forced to work for the enemy right before Stone's eyes. Her hand was clutched in a fist so tight that her nails broke the skin. Anger and despair filled tears poured down her checks. A glance in Tuffnut's direction showed that he was very angry and looked like he was about to jump down there.
When Thistle finally passed out, Tuffnut started to move toward the edge but Stone grabbed his shoulder.
"What do you think you're doing? You're going to get yourself killed!" Stone growled.
"I'd rather try and do something then watch and cry!" he hissed back. Stone wiped at her tears angrily but only succeeded in smearing her hand's blood on her face. Tuffnut started at in with wide eyes.
"I'm crying because those two are my family Tuffnut! I want more then anything in the world to go down there and rescue them, but I know that rushing down there like a egotistic dragon hatchling is only going to get me full of arrows and dead! I don't think they want either of us dead anymore then they want themselves dead Tuffnut!" Stone's eyes practically radiated fury and she shook Tuffnut several times. He nodded quickly and fearfully at her anger. Stone sighed at the frightened look Tuff gave her and swallowed as much of her fury and sadness as possible. Brushing her tears away, Stone slowly crawled backwards, away from the cliff side, and pulled Tuffnut along with her.
"We have to get back to the village and let them know where the ships are. If we're quick enough, maybe we can have a plan of action by tomorrow," Stone kept her voice as steady as she could.
"But we can't just leave them there! She might be…" Tuffnut argued.
"Tuffnut, remember what I said last night about being able to wait?" Stone pushed away his words. She couldn't think them. Especially if they were true "If we wait to actually have a plan and a fighting chance then we'll be more likely to save them, and less likely to have even more arrow wounds." As if to remind him of what he had done to his wound, she gave it a sharp prod and he released a hiss of pain.
"We have to go back. I'll treat your wound again but you better be more careful, and don't be surprised if you are either hugged to death, or beat to death. We were all pretty upset by you leaving," Stone advised.
"It upset everyone? Even you?" he asked with surprise coloring his voice.
"Of course it did! You're our friend, we don't want you kidnapped like Thistle and Mole! And my name might be Stone but that doesn't mean I'm made of it. I care about my friends," Stone glared slightly. Her name was good for a Viking, but not for a sensitive painter. Tuff gave her a smile and they started to walk back toward Courage.
As he walked, Tuffnut wobbled and his eyes were half shut. When he started to fall, Stone was prepared and grabbed him underneath his arms before he could hit the ground.
"You didn't sleep at all last night did you?" she sighed, noting the slight dark rings around his own eyes. Tuffnut chuckled and shook his head.
"I'm guessing you didn't either?" he asked pointing to Stone's eyes.
"I've passed out twice but that's about it," Stone stood Tuffnut back up and helped him climb onto Courage.
"Hang on tight, I don't have a saddle yet and we don't want you falling asleep and slipping." Stone's words weren't very encouraging, but had the slight humor in them that Tuff knew she was kidding. Sitting behind her, he gripped her shoulders with both hands and they flew back.
Once they were out of the ships earshot, Stone told Courage to roar. She found his loud, inhuman roar to be absolutely terrifying, but again swallowed her emotions. The other teens heard the roar and flew toward them, yelling angry and relieved words at Tuffnut. The boy behind her back absorbed their relief happily and practically swelled with the joy of people caring about him.
Hiccup caught Stone's eye and gave her a worried look, obviously seeing the tear tracks on her face. He shouted, suggesting they land so it'd be easier to talk and everyone agreed. Tuff barely set his feet on the ground before Ruff had tackled him to the ground. It wasn't really obvious if she was trying to kill him or hug him but that was normal so the group ignored them.
"Stone what happened?" Hiccup asked once they were both off their dragons.
"Tuff found the Roman ships," Stone knew full well that wasn't what he had meant, but the answer worked for now.
"Really? How did that idiot find them?" Snotlout asked. Stone gave him a small glare but otherwise ignored him.
"They're by the docks behind the cliff that's covered in rocks. Tuffnut was hiding in the rocks when I found him."
"And you were so happy you found him you started crying? Better watch out Hiccup, your girlfriend is already cheating on you," Astrid sneered.
"No, that's not what happened! Gods, you're a brat aren't you?" Stone glared.
"So, what did happen?" Hiccup stepped in before Astrid could retort. Stone sighed and looked away.
"T-they were forcing Mole to heal their worriers by torturing Thistle. They had her c-chained up and were w-whipping her," Stone's voice started breaking as she felt the tears coming again. Hiccup enveloped her in a hug and Stone silently fought to keep the tears in. Holding in as much emotion as she had today couldn't be good for her, but she didn't care at the moment.
"We have to make a plan to save them," Stone announced once Hiccup released her.
"Alright," Hiccup agreed, "once Ruff and Tuff and done...doing whatever they're doing." Stone looked over and giggled. The twins were strange creatures, with even stranger displays of affection.
"Stupid…stupid…stupid…" Ruff couldn't seem to finish her sentence and had taken to punching Tuff in the shoulder at the end of every word. Tuff threw himself around under her weight and finally managed to shove her off before climbing back to his feet. He grabbed Ruff as she threw herself at him again and gave her a little shake. "Hey! I'm okay. Now we need to focus." Ruff tried to punch him again and he grabbed her wrist. "Focus. Hiccup. Thistle…they whipped her. They were whipping her. She might be…" His voice caught suddenly and his face reddened, taking in a deep, shuddering breath. "We can't just sit around here. They had the doctor healing their warriors, which means there are more people to fight. We can't wait. We have to go back. Right now."
"Tuffnut, we need a plan first," Hiccup countered.
"…which is what I told you," Stone added firmly, but her own stomach was sinking. Thistle had gone limp and Stone thought she had passed out, but…there really was no telling. Mole hadn't been allowed near the girl to see. And Tuff was clearly thinking it, which wasn't helping his situation at all.
""We rush the ships!" Tuff shouted, making Ruff jump. He wavered on his feet, eyes blazing, slowly losing consciousness and only his anger keeping him awake. "I promised," he murmured so low that only Ruff and Stone (who was nearest), could hear. "I promised I'd heal her, and I'm not standing to do nothing…"
"What?" Hiccup asked
"Nothing!" Tuff shouted again.
Stone had had enough. "Ruff, make him take a nap. We'll update him later."
"If you think I'm going to…" Tuff began to growl at her but Ruff, only too happy to oblige, knocked him on the head. He dropped to the ground.
Stone looked back at Hiccup, who looked at the gathered teens and nodded. "The Great Hall. Ten minutes."
Silver2018: I know it's been forever, but I was on vacation and without a computer for a week! Forgive me! (By the way, anyone who lives in Minnesota/Wisconsin – your cheese curds are FABULOUS). Also, just cause I feel silly, I'd like to throw this out there: anyone make music videos? I got some funny ideas for you!
'My Hands' for Hiccup and Toothless (okay, not so funny)
'The Stroke' for HTTYD in general
'Poker Face' for Toothless
'Remember the Name' for Hiccup
I'm sure I'll think of more, but some of those just seem SO funny.
To all our lovely readers, THANK YOU for giving us your time! We do ask that you review our story though! While we know you read, we don't know what you think – and what you think may actually appear in later chapters, or help us out! Reviews appreciated!