Hey, everyone! I'm soooo terribly sorry for taking so long! To tell the truth, me being busy only deserves part of the blame, having a writer's block and giving in to distractions as well, so… And still, this chapter is pretty short too, so no compensation there… But I'll try to upload the next chapter soon enough!
Anyway, this chapter and the next one are still taking part before the first one, and after that, we'll get back to normal time. I hope you'll enjoy this!
Disclaimer: Umm, do I have to put this in every chapter? Not like it's gonna change, so…
Astrid flew as fast as Stormfly could manage, looking desperately for a ship. She looked in every corner around every small island, making sure nothing could have hide from her. But she didn't even find a small fishing boat, let alone a ship that most likely had Hiccup on its board. She gazed down angrily at the huge, blue surface under her, cursing the ocean for being so big. If only it was smaller, they would find their heir easier. If only they didn't have a headstart. If only the water beneath didn't mock her for being so small and helpless. She turned her dragon around. Maybe the others found something.
Her hope was cut short when as last of the group, she arrived in front of the Great Hall. Fishlegs was waiting for her at the huge doors, failure clear on his face. No one found anything. Nothing at all. She felt her heart sink deeper.
Stormfly landed and Astrid slid off her back. Fishlegs ran up to her, eyes filled with hope. Hope for good news. However, when he saw the girl's face, his shoulders slumped visibly.
"You didn't find him either?"
"No. Did anyone find something? Anything?"
"No, no one found anything! It's as if they hadn't even come here. The only thing that shows anyone was here is that Hiccup's gone! How's that even possible?! If it was a ship we should have found it flying on our dragons!" Fishlegs was ranting, worry for his friend so evident on his face. Astrid felt the same. She tried to think of an answer, not only to calm Fishlegs but to reassure herself as well. She reached up to take her hair between her fingers, she often fidgeted with it when deep in thought. However, where there previously was a thin lock of blonde hair, now was nothing at all. She felt around her ear for a moment when she found where her hair was cut off. She frowned. When did that happen? She didn't remember any kind of thing happen lately that would have cut her hair off. She pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind for now, she had to focus on Hiccup.
"Are the others in th Great Hall?" Astrid wanted to know what Stoick was planning now.
"Yes, you're the last one they are waiting for."
"Let's go inside then. Don't worry, Fishlegs. We're gonna find him. I swear." She sighed and pushed the great doors open.
The first thing Hiccup registered is that the earth was moving. A sudden rush of panic made him snap his eyes open and shot up from where he was lying. As he stared at the wooden insides of a ship, he tried to untangle the confused mass of thoughts and memories in his head. First of all, where was he? Why was he there?
It took him a few seconds until he finally remembered the night before, the flight with Toothless that ended in him getting taken by... by who? He frantically looked around him to see if his dragon is okay but he didn't see the Night Fury anywhere. His absence sent a river of ice cold sweat trickling down on Hiccup's spine. No way. There's no way they killed Toothless. The dragon is alive. He had to be.
He was snapped out of his panicky state by a man walking into the room and up to him. He was a huge person, almost as bis as Stoick, but he was different in everything else. He had such blonde hair it seemed white, tied into untidy braids, with a pretty small beard that was rather gray instead of white. He had eyes that reminded Hiccup of a freezing cold winter day's light blue sky, it even had that ruthless, merciless feeling to it. Pretty surprisingly, this man had all his teeth, all of them perfectly white even. This couldn't have been said about most Vikings on the Archipelago, with their lack of hygiene and whatnot. The man was wearing a black armor which made his white hair shine even more brightly. On his side, a long sword was strapped to his wide belt and Hiccup, as a blacksmith's apprentice could see that the weapon was a masterpiece. But the man himself still awakened the fear mixed with anger in him. He pondered for a second on which was stronger in him this time, and he concluded rather darkly that it was rage.
The man stopped in front of him. For half a minute, they just stared into each other's eyes, trying the other's willpower. Hiccup didn't even think about backing down, he was the son of a chief, after all. Then the man grinned and reached down, grabbing his shoulders roughly and pulling him up. With his hands tied behind him, Hiccup staggered to find his balance, glaring daggers at the man.
"Where's Toothless?! What did you do to him?!"
"The dragon? We killed it, of course." The man's tone was evilly cold as his grin grew wider. "We couldn't risk it coming after us, ya see..."
Hiccup lost the strength in his body. He collapsed back onto the floor, unable to believe what he just heard. He chanted in his head 'not true not true not true he's alive', but he knew it made sense. His fear of it when he woke up just grew twenty times as much in strength, and it nearly crushed the boy's hope. However, a weak voice spoke up in the back of his mind. Hiccup stared into the man's eyes again.
"I don't believe you!"
"Ya don't have to believe. It won't change anything though."
"I told you I won't help if you harm him!"
"Ya don't really have a choice, boy. Ya'll give your knowledge to us or ya'll die. It's so simple."
"So you've done all this and you would be fine with me dead?" Hiccup felt himself shrink a little at that, but his voice never faltered.
"Oh, don't worry, this ain' over yet. You will see it's better to let us in on your secret pretty soon." The man's smile didn't quite leave any doubt what were they planning with him, if he refused to help them. But Hiccup, despite he was almost panicking, didn't let his fear show, he just kept on staring into the cold blue eyes, he was determined to protect his village, his friends.
His stone-hard resolve, that has been reflected in his eyes, amused the man.
"Ye've got some guts, boy, I'll give you that. We'll see how long ya can hold on, though." And with that, the huge man left him all alone to his thoughts.
The boy relaxed a bit and let out a shuddering breath as soon as he was alone. He spent the next few minutes trying to calm himself. When his head felt clearer, he finally started to examine where was he kept. It was a closed off space under a ship's deck, probably mostly used as storage room. Right now there wasn't anything in there besides him. He then struggled to get his tied hands in front of himself. He saddened a little when he saw that he wouldn't be able to get the ropes that cut painfully into his wrists off, but he could balance better at least. He walked all around his cell, keeping an eye out for any detail that he could use to escape but he came up with nothing. Finally he sunk back to the floor hoping that he will have better luck later. As he stared at the wooden boards, he thought about his father. He wondered whether he noticed already that he's gone. Maybe he's already looking for him. He also thought about his dragon. He refused to think Toothless died, no matter what anyone said. He had to be alive. He was alive and probably really worried about him. That was the only thought that offered him some comfort in his wrecked situation.
The mood wasn't exactly the best in the Great Hall. All of the Hooligans talked at once, creating a loud, buzzing sound. What Astrid could see was the confusion on every face. Some of them still didn't know what exactly happened and some passed rumors around. She could have sworn she heard someone say Hiccup was eaten by a sea dragon. She didn't answer the people asking her what happened, just stared at the back of Fishlegs, who was going front and pushed a way for them to the chief. Stoick raised his gaze hopefully to the pair but his eyes darkened a little when he took in Astrid's expression. He exchanged a few words with her before standing up straight. Gobber bellowed 'Quiet!' and the buzzing died down immediately. Stoick took a deep breath before talking.
"As most of you already know by now, my son, Hiccup, has been kidnapped by an unkown party. According to the rules between the Barbarian tribes, this is a declaration of war. I am determined to find who has my son, and to take him back. And while doing so, I am determined to teach them that waging war on the Hairy Hooligans is not only a foolish act, but a regrettable one as well. Who's with me?!"
The walls seemed to shake in the next moment as all the Vikings present inside roared 'Let's go!' at once, in a tone that would have caused Thor himself to drop his hammer in surrender. Stoick stood before them proudly, and new hope had been born in his heart.
And that's it! What do you guys think?