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THE DELUGE
(Day 5 - Morning)
"So much for the beautiful scenery," Hiccup mutters, flicking a raindrop from the tip of his nose. Last night's pouring rain has faded to a damp and steady drizzle.
Water drips from every branch on the mountainside, spattering the tributes' heads as they walk. Worse yet, the ground underfoot is a slippery mire of rocks and slime. Not that Hiccup was delighted with the dust and dead grass, but at least it was easy to walk on. Their boots slip and slide in the slick earth as they hike downhill, despite the heavy treads in the soles.
Even Astrid has fallen once, leaving her streaked with mud and as touchy as a wet cat. She's bringing up the rear guard now, glaring into the trees as if she's daring the Careers to attack and let her blow off some steam.
The new girl - Rapunzel - is ahead of them, gently resting one hand on Toothless' neck as she walks. She hasn't bothered to put up her hood, and her shorn hair is plastered with rain and mud.
She's hardly said a word since they found her.
Hiccup sighs, grimaces, and jogs ahead until he's a step behind Toothless' sweeping tail.
"Hey," he says, and clears his throat. "Uh...are you okay?"
Both the girl and the Mutt stop in their tracks and turn to look at him. Toothless makes a faint grumbling sound that ends in a snort.
"Sorry." Hiccup winces. "Stupid question."
Her hand is small and pale and bruised, but it's pressed unhesitatingly against those shining black scales. She's braver than she seemed, at first glance, even if it is a quiet sort of bravery. "You're not afraid of him," Hiccup murmurs, impressed. "Are you?"
She shakes her head, and reaches up to gently stroke one of the Mutt's earflaps. Toothless purrs low in his throat, eyes half closing.
"I had a little lizard, at home," the girl says. Her voice is so quiet, as if the rain has washed all the color out of it. "I found him in the cornfields." It's the most words he's heard her string together since she joined their little pack. She looks up at the big Mutt, who looks calmly back down at her, and adds, softly, "There are worse things out here."
Hiccup can't argue with that. "Yeah," he says, for lack of a better response, and shoves his muddy hands in his pockets to keep them warm. He's gonna need that warmth. Their only way down from here is a narrow, wandering gorge, struck deep into the steep cliff. He can't see what lies directly at the bottom, but once they get there, the rest is a slope of dark treetops, sheltering a long, soggy stretch of who knows what. Monsters. Traps. Other tributes, armed to the teeth.
And there, at the very bottom of the mountain valley, the gray glimmer of water.
"Hey," he says, and points over her shoulder. Maybe this will cheer her up. "We're almost there. You can see the lake from here."
Rapunzel looks up from navigating the first rain-slick steps down into the gorge. "Where?" she starts to say.
At the same moment, somewhere far uphill and deep in the trees, something lets out a long, wailing, inhuman cry. It rises, quavers, and fades out on an unearthly high note that lifts the hair on the back of Hiccup's neck.
He freezes in his tracks - the girls have done the same, Astrid's hand already on her axe haft - but Toothless lunges instinctively up onto his hind legs. The Mutt bares his fangs and lets out a bellow of challenge in reply that echoes off the rocks.
For a moment, he's magnificent, wings half-unfurled and scales gleaming even in the dim light.
And then, with a wet scrape, one of the Mutt's hind legs slips, and he overbalances on the steep slope, lashing his tail in surprise. Toothless's wings slap painfully against the rocky sides of the gorge as he scrabbles for purchase, claws tearing stones out of the ground and wallowing helplessly in the slick earth.
One flailing wing crashes into Rapunzel's shoulder, knocking her into the mud with a splash. She shrieks and grabs at the stones, sliding rapidly downhill.
"Toothless, no!" Hiccup yells -
The Mutt roars and loses his grip on the steep incline completely, plunging out of sight in a filthy landslide of churning limbs and loose stones and soil. Hiccup rushes to the edge and frantically peers over it.
"Hiccup, get back! Get away from there!" It's Astrid, running toward him. Hiccup twists to face her, taking a startled step back - and the heel of his boot slips.
The fingers of his out-flung hand just touch hers, in the moment before he falls.