Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD
Chapter Five – Look The Part
It was cold on deck, but kneeling kept him out of the worst of the wind, and the effort of scrubbing the wood of the deck warmed him up. Everything ached. His arms ached, his shoulders ached from carrying the pails, his back ached from the pails and the shovelling, his legs ached from crawling around, his head ached from lack of water, his stomach ached from lack of food.
Hiccup gnawed on the biscuit, which by some miracle had survived the insanity he'd gotten himself into since coming out on deck. He'd scraped some of it off, and didn't feel sated in the least, but he was beginning to realise that he'd never get enough food here. What had him worried was getting enough to drink. Between the biscuit, the sweating work and the smell of seawater, he was incredibly thirsty, but scared to ask his appointed warden to get him a drink.
As he worked his way across the deck, Hiccup overheard the hunters talking about him as if he wasn't there. Even if he was within earshot. "Stupid whelp, ruining all our hard work."
"You gotta give the brat some credit. That was the most entertaining fuck-up I've seen in months."
Thank you Hiccup thought sarcastically. I do try. He really had fucked up this time, though. Not just with the fiasco before, the punishment of which he still had to look forward to (wasn't being made to swab the deck on his knees punishment enough?). He'd fucked up from the beginning, flying off to Myrkr with no back-up, no real plan, no way of knowing if what he sought was there.
Even if there had been Night Furies on Myrkr (he bet there weren't, that either Johann was mistaken or that shipwrecked sailor was, or both), what had he hoped to accomplish by finding them? Hiccup had never asked himself that question before. He wanted to find them so Toothless wouldn't be the only one, but what happened after that? If the dragon decided he'd rather be with his own kind than with Hiccup and the Vikings of Berk, could he let his friend go?
The thought made his chest ache with loneliness. Hiccup didn't know if he could. He'd always been selfish, and the thought of having to part with Toothless was almost inconceivable. Where and what would he be, without his best friend? And yet, Toothless had done so much for him. Another reason he'd wanted to find more Night Furies so badly, to give something back.
He supposed it was a moot point now. The heart bind…from the sound of it, this was a permanent deal. He didn't want to think too closely about what it might mean, but it looked like Toothless was stuck with him for a very long time.
It bothered him that the deck was wooden. Well, not that in itself; all ship's decks were wooden. It was that the outer flanks of the ship were covered in a layer of dragon proof metal. What was the point of the hull being dragon proofed if the deck wasn't? Hiccup soon found his answer though, when he noticed, whilst scrubbing, a small patch where the wood had chipped away at the side of the ship. The same metal glinted dully from underneath it.
So much for 'we'll blast our way out through the decks' Hiccup thought glumly. Then he told himself sternly to not give up; it wasn't the end of the world. He knew they could get through this metal, with the right combination of firepower. He and Toothless just had to persuade the other dragons to work together and not panic. Which would be easier said than done.
Hiccup sighed. Onarr blamed him for Sigurd's death, and for all he knew, so did the other thralls on board. Which meant that the hunters despised him, the slaves despised him, and after his most recent epic failure, the dragons towing the ship (much faster now that the wind had died) were being whipped even more – he flinched at the sound of each strike – so they probably despised him too. Everyone aboard this ship from Helheim hated him except –
"Are you the Dragon Master?"
His frustrated musings came to an abrupt halt. Hiccup looked up to find a teenager standing over him, with dark eyes and neatly groomed black hair. The boy was dressed similarly to Hauke, except without the cloak, and was staring down at Hiccup with an expression close to awe. "What?" Hiccup asked eloquently, forgetting that he had a biscuit in his mouth.
He gagged, and hastily took the half-chewed biscuit out of his mouth. The crumbs of it stuck in his throat, making him cough until Beater 'helpfully' leaned down and thumped him on the back. "Thanks" he muttered, rubbing his chest.
The dark haired boy frowned in confusion. "Why don't you have a drink?"
"…Nobody gave me one" Hiccup admitted. He was so thirsty now.
The boy's brows knitted even more. He straightened up and said imperiously to Beater, "You there! Fetch this man something to drink at once."
Beater grunted, "Cap'n told me to watch 'im. Why don't you go get it?"
"I think you'll find that I outrank you. What do you think my father would say if you let his new thrall die of thirst? I wouldn't want to be you if that happened."
Clearly thinking wasn't really Beater's strong point, because he fell for the boy's trick straightaway. "Fine. You, keep swabbing" he ordered, jabbing the club at Hiccup before walking away. Several of the other hunters shot them suspicious looks, until the boy called pointedly after Beater, "Don't worry, I'll keep a close eye on the thrall!"
When everyone had gone back to their own work, the boy crouched down beside Hiccup and gestured to the sea biscuit. "I hate those" he remarked blithely, "they're bland and hard to chew. I'm the heir, for Thor Almighty's sake; I shouldn't have to eat what the rabble does" he complained.
Hiccup's brain caught up with his ears. "You're an heir?" he blurted out.
"Indeed" the boy nodded, puffing out his chest. "I am Adulfr, son of Hauke the Fearsome, heir to the Blood Bone tribe." (1)
Reminding himself to keep scrubbing and not gape, Hiccup couldn't keep an incredulous note out of his voice as he questioned, "You're Hauke's son?!"
"Isn't that what I just said?"
"Yeah, but – I just" – he was having trouble wrapping his mind around the idea. Hauke didn't exactly strike him as the fatherly type. "He…didn't mention you."
"Who, my father? Well, why would he tell you about me? You're his thrall" Adulfr commented, as if it were obvious. Hiccup wasn't sure what to think of this boy; on the one hand, he'd tricked a hunter into getting Hiccup a drink, but on the other hand, he was related to the man who had captured Hiccup in the first place. "He told me about you, though. Are you really the Dragon Master?"
Not this again. "No, I'm not" Hiccup replied firmly. It wasn't really a lie; he didn't think of himself like that, regardless of what people called him.
"Oh…" Adulfr actually looked disappointed, and for a moment Hiccup felt bad for him. Then he frowned suspiciously. "My father told me you were…so either he's lying, or you are, and my father wouldn't lie to me. Which means you're lying, thrall" he glared down at Hiccup.
Hauke wouldn't lie? I beg to differ. Hiccup wasn't in the mood for this. "Adulfr, right? Look, don't take this the wrong way…but your dad is insane."
Sure enough, Adulfr looked scandalised. "How dare you? My father is not insane; you ought to learn your place! Thralls aren't supposed to speak ill of their masters" he declared, with the air of one reciting a phrase learned by rote.
For some reason, Adulfr didn't seem as threatening as the hunters or their chief; probably because he wasn't much bigger than Hiccup himself. "He's not insane? My mistake, I must have been thinking of the other dragon hunter Chief who took me and my dragon prisoner, beheaded an innocent man just to use the body as a decoy, and had his men treat me like a slave. That's not what your father did at all" Hiccup retorted sarcastically.
"Exactly" nodded Adulfr. Hiccup thought he'd somehow missed the sarcasm, and wondered if maybe Adulfr wasn't all right in the head either. "None of that is the doings of a madman" Adulfr continued. "Madmen…shout at thin air or rock back and forth mumbling to themselves. An insane person would never be able to come up with such a plan, let alone execute it."
Hiccup's first thought was did you have to use the word 'execute'? His second thought was I think you may be missing the point. "I s'pose you're right" he said aloud, "the word I should've used was 'evil'."
This time, Adulfr looked even more offended. "Well, if that's how you're going to behave, thrall, then I shall speak with you no longer" he declared indignantly, albeit elaborately, and turned on his heel to stride away.
"Wait!" Hiccup called after him, impulsively. Adulfr paused. "I…I don't master dragons. I befriend them."
What am I doing? The truth was, Hiccup wasn't just hungry and thirsty; he was lonely, too. He'd rather be with Toothless, but Adulfr was the first person aboard this hellhole of a ship who had talked to him instead of at him, the first person to treat him like…like a person. So he was more than a little relieved when Adulfr turned back and crouched down again, to be on his eye level.
"So…you're not the Dragon Master?"
"That's just what people call me."
"Oh. So…what do you call yourself?"
For the first time in what felt like forever, Hiccup smiled. He sat back on his heel and held his hand out to shake. "Hiccup Haddock the Third, son of Stoick the Vast, heir to the Hooligan Tribe" he introduced himself.
Adulfr returned the smile and shook his hand, but then – oh joy – Beater returned. "You ain't no heir now" he grunted at Hiccup, thrusting a lidded tankard at him. Hiccup took it, just barely remembering to say "Thank you" before he pushed the lid aside and gulped at the liquid. It was ale, but that didn't surprise him; on a long voyage, ale stayed fresh for longer than water.
"It's rationed" Beater commented. He was evidently a man of few words, but they still gave Hiccup pause. Surely, on a ship this large there would be plenty of storage space, but this might be the only drink he got for ages. Hiccup forced himself to put the tankard down, determined to make what was left last. He'd already drunk almost a third of it, and the tankard wasn't large.
Adulfr inquired, "So did you really capture the Night Fury and tame it? I heard from the men that the Night Fury is missing a tail-fin, did you cut it off to keep the dragon under your control? And did you really use the Night Fury to destroy a Red Death? That must be incredible, to have so much power!"
"No, what happened was" – Hiccup began to say.
He was interrupted by an angry shout. "ADULFR!"
It was brief, but Hiccup swore he noticed a flicker of fear pass over Adulfr's face before the boy straightened, turned and faced his father, who was striding across the deck towards them. He's probably come to punish me Hiccup thought glumly, Hooray.
"Is something wrong, father?"
Hauke grabbed his son's arm and hauled Adulfr away from Hiccup. "You're not to talk to my thrall, Adulfr. Do you understand me?"
"But I just wanted to meet" –
"I don't care! Whatever he says he is, he is not anymore. Adulfr, you are privileged, and above associating with lessers; no matter how 'interesting' you might think they are. No heir of mine is going to befriend a slave. I forbid you to speak to him, is that clear?"
Adulfr glanced down at Hiccup, and looked back at his father. "…As crystal" he replied at last. Hiccup bit back a sigh, but he couldn't keep his shoulders from slumping in disappointment. The one person on board (apart from Toothless) who didn't utterly despise him, and Hauke had taken that away from him too.
Hauke looked down at him disdainfully. "You're supposed to be swabbing the deck, thrall" he remarked coldly.
"I was just gonna tell 'im to hurry up, Chief" Beater assured him.
"Oh, no, he can take all the time he needs. It isn't my problem if he's late for lunch" Hauke replied pointedly. The thought of missing out on a proper meal spurred Hiccup on, and he went back to cleaning with renewed vigour. Hauke hid a smirk at the sight. For all the boy's wilful stubbornness, he was just like anyone else; when times got tough, he thought only of his own survival.
"As for you" Hauke continued, rounding on Adulfr, "when I let you come aboard I expected you to make yourself useful, not loiter about on deck getting in the way" he warned with a disapproving scowl.
"Of course, father. Oh! Perhaps I could see to the dragons? I mean, I know that's his job" Adulfr remarked, with a contemptuous gesture at Hiccup, "but if he has to finish his chores here on deck, and the Captain's thrall is busy with his own –he'll be helping to prepare lunch, won't he?" Adulfr shrugged as if to say, 'somebody has to do it, it might as well be me'.
Hauke's lips curled. He stared Adulfr down, but the boy didn't waver, and at last he waved a dismissive hand and conceded, "Fine. You can refill their water troughs, in all the cages. The wind is changing, so we'll be bringing these ones below deck soon" he explained, gesturing up towards the Nadders and Thunderclaws still towing the ship. "But I'm allowing it just this once."
Adulfr nodded, "Yes, father, I understand", and hurried away. Hiccup kept scrubbing, yet he couldn't help but feel grateful towards…his new friend?
Suddenly his chin was forced up and he found Hauke looming over him. "If I catch you talking to my son again, Haddock, I will make your punishment that much worse" the man warned ominously, before striding away.
Swabbing the deck on hands and knees took forever, especially when he had to work his way around the other people on deck, who kept 'accidentally' knocking over the pails of seawater, so he had to keep replacing them. Just as Hauke said, the wind picked up again, this time blowing up to the north instead of down from it. The huge mainsail had been lashed up, but now it was unfurled and billowed out, catching every eddy of wind.
The dragons were tugged back onto the deck, unharnessed and sent back below. Hiccup tried to catch their eyes, to convey how utterly sorry he was, but none of them looked at him. His heart ached. He longed for the sky, to be flying with Toothless, far away where nobody could hurt them.
The worst part was when he had to clean where Sigurd had been executed. No matter how hard he scrubbed at them, the stains in the wood just wouldn't go away. Hiccup knew that it was all but impossible to get bloodstains out once they were set into wood. When he tried to point that out to Beater, the hunter whacked him hard around the head and told him not to question orders.
Well, he'd been ordered to clean the deck, so that was what he did. Hiccup finally finished, aching all over, his stomach still twisting with hunger. He'd managed to eat the biscuit, but it barely filled a hole and just sat in his stomach unpleasantly. "About time" Beater complained, "now I get lunch. Come on."
He made Hiccup follow him the long way round to the mess room, even though the pulley-cage that went right to the galley was just a few feet away. It made no sense, unless he knew that food would be saved for him and not Hiccup.
When they reached the mess hall, it was full of the crew almost finishing their meals. They all looked up when Beater and Hiccup walked in. Mocking jeers, claps and laughter followed immediately after.
"If it isn't the one-legged wonder!"
"Is that how you try and get on every dragon you ride?"
"I hope you're happy, brat. My arm aches from whacking that chain because you had to play hero!"
"I can't wait to see what he does when we make the Night Fury tow us!"
Don't react, that's what they want. Hiccup told himself this over and over, but when he heard the last comment, he had to restrain himself from lashing out. It was bad enough he was still waiting to be punished for the fiasco up on deck; he didn't want to give these reprehensible cretins the satisfaction of having Hauke make him suffer even more. He couldn't let Toothless suffer because of him.
He had to go to the far end of the mess hall, where he found Onarr picking at the remains of his meal. "Is…is there any left for me?" Hiccup asked hopefully.
Onarr glowered at him. "You weren't around, so I got your share" he replied.
This could not be happening. "Onarr, please" Hiccup begged, lowering his voice so as not to let the hunters overhear. "I know you hate me, you have every reason to, but please, I've barely eaten anything since yesterday afternoon" –
"Oh, stop whinging" Onarr rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine, I didn't really eat it. Your share will still be in the galley; help me gather the dirty plates, and I'll get the cooks to give you some. But you better eat it all, and quick."
"Deal" Hiccup agreed at once. Onarr muttered a warning not to drop the plates, and they set about clearing the tables, with him taking the ones on the port side and Hiccup being left with the starboard. From the way the hunters mocked him, calling him a wench, Hiccup figured that this was another one of the chores he was supposed to do. He didn't understand why he was supposed to be Hauke's…helper, if he was doing all this grunt work as well.
In the galley, when he'd set down the last of the dirty plates, Hiccup turned to find a weary woman holding a plate of pork and peas out to him. He said "Thank you" and meant it, taking the plate and not so much eating the food as inhaling it. The pork was salty and the peas were dry, and Hiccup realised too late that he'd left the tankard of ale up on deck, but the cooks let him have another.
Of course, now they had to clean the dishes. Onarr had set straight to work, washing and drying each plate and piece of cutlery with the ease of long practice. He nodded to Hiccup's own pile to clean. "You want to be more careful" he murmured, "pulling stunts like that isn't going to do you any favours. What in Hel's name were you even trying to do?"
I have no idea Hiccup thought bitterly. "It's none of your business" he heard himself say.
Onarr huffed. "Whatever. Look, if you don't wanna get torn to shreds here, take my advice. Keep your head down, your mouth shut and do what you're told. Thralls like us are meant to know our place and you haven't learned yours."
Hiccup narrowed his eyes incredulously, stubbornly. "I'm not a thrall."
"Oh, yeah? Then what are you?"
A dragon rider. An inventor. The son of a chief. "I'm a Viking."
Onarr scoffed. "Sure. A Viking who just swabbed the deck and is now cleaning dishes" he retorted mockingly.
"You mean like you are?" Hiccup snapped. This wasn't like him normally, but things were not normal. He was beyond frustrated, and he didn't know where Onarr got off, acting like Hiccup was beneath him when they were both – no. I'm not a thrall. I'm not a thrall! I am a Viking. "I don't want to get beat up again. I'm just…playing along until Toothless and I can escape."
"Nobody escapes from here. It's impossible."
Don't say it. Don't say it. "Onarr, listen to me" said Hiccup, ignoring his inner voice. "We don't have to like each other, but if we work together, we can all escape. You, me, Toothless and…are there others?"
"Other thralls, you mean? No, it's just us." (2)
Putting aside his surprise (just two people on a ship this large?), Hiccup couldn't help but ask, "Then how do you know it's impossible to escape?"
"Because, Sigurd and I tried to escape once" Onarr replied, glaring. "Once." He shuddered. "You do not want to know what they did to us afterwards."
Hiccup didn't listen. Onarr was probably just trying to scare him. "Yeah, well, defying the impossible is what Toothless and I do best."
"Again, whatever. Just hurry up and do your pile of the dishes."
When the dishes were finally done, Onarr told him they had to return to their masters to serve them, and if they weren't needed, to clean the heads or do laundry. None of that sounded remotely appealing, but as Hiccup reluctantly followed Onarr out of the galley, Adulfr came striding up to them. "You, thrall" he said to Hiccup, "come with me at once. My cabin is in need of cleaning."
"But I" – thought your dad forbade you to speak to me.
"But nothing! If you are to serve my father you ought to serve me as well. Don't just stand there; my cabin isn't going to clean itself."
Hiccup blinked, and caught on at last. "Oh, y-yes….sir. As you wish." He followed Adulfr down the companionway. Once they were out of earshot of Onarr, he murmured to the boy, "Thanks."
"You're welcome" Adulfr hissed back. A pause. "My room really is a mess. And you owe me now."
Hiccup sighed. "Alright."
He was a bit nervous when they got back to the aft-castle, because Adulfr's cabin was right next to Hauke's. What if the man came out and saw them? Fortunately, they got inside the cabin without issue and, like the room of any teenage boy, it was indeed a wreck. Adulfr didn't beat around the bush. "So how did you really tame the Night Fury?" he demanded.
"…Your dad said if he catches me talking to you, he'll punish me even more" Hiccup protested. The worst part was that he didn't know what the punishment was going to be; if he did, he could try to prepare himself. "And he forbade you to talk to me, remember?"
Adulfr shrugged. "Then I won't talk to you. I'm ordering you to talk to me, and tell me how you tamed a Night Fury and slayed a Red Death." He settled in a chair with one leg draped over the other, as imperious as his father. "Proceed."
So Hiccup explained how he and Toothless really met, what happened when they fought the Red Death, and that the dragons were for more than battle. He tidied up the room as he did so, telling himself it was a favour, not a chore.
"People call me the 'Dragon Master' because I was the first one to train a dragon, but most Vikings think they're nothing but weapons. Sure, we ride them into battle, but there's so much more to them than that. They're intelligent, kind, amazing creatures, and once you've earned a dragon's loyalty, there is nothing they won't do for you" Hiccup explained, thinking fondly of Toothless.
Adulfr sat thoughtfully for a while. "You're not what I expected" he said finally, apparently disregarding his own insistence on not speaking to Hiccup.
"….I'm probably going to regret this, but what exactly were you expecting?"
The boy frowned. "I was…I suppose I expected you to be more like Drago Bludvist" he replied at last, but that didn't really answer Hiccup's question.
"Drago who?" he asked.
Adulfr stared at him incredulously, and protested "You must have heard of him! Drago Bludvist has an army of dragons. He is fearless, ruthless, commanding; you might have tamed a Night Fury, but there are rumours Drago has tamed a Bewilderbeast, the most powerful dragon of them all. My father works for him, serves him in his army. Father is very high ranking" Adulfr boasted.
Hiccup listened to all this with growing unease. This 'Drago Bludvist' sounded like a dangerous madman to him, and it was disturbing to see Adulfr speak of him with eyes alight. Hauke planned to sell Toothless and he to this terrible man; Hiccup was more determined than ever to escape. "He sounds…intense."
"Oh, he's incredible" Adulfr nodded, oblivious to Hiccup's discomfort. Then a thought seemed to occur to him. "I heard my father's men talking about you at lunch. They seemed to be saying that you had been stabbed, but somehow survived. Ridiculous, isn't it?" he asked, with a pointed stare that Hiccup studiously ignored. Adulfr pressed, "What really happened on shore?"
"I have no idea."
"You must know something, you were there."
"I was unconscious."
"What about when you woke up?"
He was being too demanding, and it occurred to Hiccup that Adulfr was probably trying to manipulate him the way he'd tricked Beater. For all he knew, Hauke had instructed his son to get close to Hiccup and learn his secrets. "I don't know what happened" he insisted, not meeting Adulfr's eyes. "I just woke up and I wasn't dying. The gods must've kept me alive to torment me."
"Well, you must have done something to anger them" Adulfr declared with heartless certainty. His words tore at Hiccup inside, because he couldn't imagine what this unforgivable deed could be – no, he could, but that hadn't happened then – but he doubted, still. You deserve this. At that moment, Hiccup despised Adulfr almost as much as he loathed the boy's wretched father.
Rounding on Adulfr, he angrily retorted "Maybe I did, but at least I'm not some…some arrogant, conniving brat. I bet your dad put you up to this. Well you can tell him from me that I don't know how I survived, but if I did I wouldn't tell him because it's none of his damn business!"
"Why you insolent!" – Adulfr's face screwed up in rage, and he launched himself at Hiccup, punching for all he was worth. He wasn't much bigger or heavier, so Hiccup punched right back; but Adulfr was better at fist-fighting despite his slightness. He kicked Hiccup's peg leg out from under him and used the momentum of that first attack to force him to the floor, laying into him.
The door slammed open, and their struggle came to an immediate halt. In moments, Adulfr was wrenched off of him and Hiccup found himself pinned under Hauke's boot. The man was livid, shaking Adulfr violently by the shoulders and yelling abuse right in his face. "You wretched, ungrateful, pathetic runt! What the fuck is the matter with you?!" Adulfr roared. "After everything I've done for you; after you begged and pleaded and whined to me, day in, day out, for months about coming on this voyage. I allow it and this flagrant disobedience is how you repay me?!"
Adulfr was terrified, all pretence and imperious bravado stripped away. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, father, please – I just – I only wanted to make him clean the cabin! He's a thrall, that's what he's for!"
"That's what the cabin boys are for! Heck, you could do it yourself if you weren't such a lazy – no, I'll deal with you later." Hauke shoved Adulfr away from him, and the boy landed in the chair. He lifted his foot off Hiccup's chest, bent down and hauled him up. "And as for you" he snarled, shoving Hiccup against the wall. "What part of my warning wasn't clear to you, thrall?"
"I was just following orders!" Hiccup shot back, struggling fruitlessly. "I thought that's what you wanted!"
Hauke smacked him hard across the mouth for his insolence. "You did this to get out of your other chores, I imagine. Tomorrow you'll be doing Onarr's work to make up for the chores you missed whilst disobeying me."
A trickle of blood fell down from Hiccup's lip. "I'd have thought a man like you would have lots of slaves" he retorted, "maybe if you hadn't murdered Sigurd, you'd" – Hauke wrapped his fingers around Hiccup's throat, choking him off.
"Two can play at that game. If you hadn't come to Myrkr, Sigurd wouldn't have had to die. I warned you, boy. I warned you what would happen if you disobeyed, or refused orders. I hope you're ready for a night in the crew's quarters. Do you have any idea", Hauke asked quietly, breath hot in Hiccup's ear, "what they're going to do to you?"
His words sent a chill snaking up Hiccup's spine. "But the Captain has a different punishment in mind. He doesn't think we should give you special treatment, and I'm inclined to agree. So I won't throw you to the vultures this time" Hauke decided, stepping back and throwing Hiccup aside. "Get out of my sight, thrall. Finish your chores. I'll send someone when it's time for your punishment."
Hiccup struggled to his feet, coughing. He scowled angrily at Hauke, who glared back. Why wait? He wanted to challenge. He was sick of the suspense; whatever the punishment was, he just wanted to get it over with. Hiccup managed to hold his tongue; something told him that speaking now would only make things worse. No kidding. You couldn't have figured that out before?
Hiccup had to help prepare dinner, and then Onarr went to feed the dragons again, leaving him to clean up. He didn't have to do all of it himself – there were galley girls as well, but they didn't speak to him. Hiccup noticed that all the cooks and their helpers were women, as if women were only ever good for cooking for men, which rankled him. He'd never expect Astrid to cook for him…
A pang of homesickness stung at his eyes, and he blinked furiously, determined not to cry in front of his captors. Gods, he missed her; missed all of them.
When the last of the dishes was cleaned, one of the women told him a hunter was waiting for him. It was Beater – she'd used his real name, but Hiccup had no interest in learning any of theirs. In a strange way it was a good thing he was only expected to call them 'sir'. Beater led him up to the deck. Hiccup wondered if his punishment would entail getting clubbed by the hulking man.
When they emerged into the cold air, worsened by the fact that the sun was setting, Hiccup was unnerved to find what seemed like the whole crew on deck as well. Whatever his punishment was, it would also be entertainment, judging by their horribly eager expressions. The only sound was the snapping of the flag in the wind, and the waves slapping relentlessly against the hull.
Beater gripped his arm like a vice, dragging him over to the starboard yardarm, and made him stand on a piece of canvas. The hunters surrounded him, pulled off his tunic, gagged him with a band of leather between his teeth, and forced his wrists through loops of rope, lifting his arms above his head. Goosebumps rose all over his skin. Hiccup set his feet apart and tried to tug himself free, but that only made the loops tighten. Hauke, Gunnhild and Cuffer came forwards.
"Skinny little whelp, isn't he?" Gunnhild noted, looking Hiccup over in distaste. "I'm not sure if he could take thirty lashes. He'd probably pass out before we hit the half-way mark."
"Does that matter? The boy is an impudent brat with no respect for authority. A good hard flogging is exactly what he needs for this lesson to stick."
Hiccup gulped, and tried to brace himself. They were going to whip him. Thirty times. This was going to be incredibly painful…but Hiccup was no stranger to pain. He'd lost a leg, for crying out loud. He'd crashed on Toothless more times than he could count. He could…he could handle this. He was shaking because it was cold, not because he was scared. He wasn't going to pass out like they said.
Cuffer – no, Flogger - stepped forwards, meeting Hiccup's eyes with a cruel smirk on his face. With a hiss-snap he unfurled the whip – a strip of leather studded with a few tiny conical spikes, like the ones adorning Astrid's overskirt. Only these ones were sharp. They would tear into his skin and gouge out his flesh. Hiccup's eyes widened in fear and he tried to protest, but he couldn't speak with the gag in his mouth. The man moved behind him. "Thirty lashes, right Chief?"
"Indeed. Oh, but one more thing…" Hauke approached Hiccup, invaded his personal space. "Adulfr gave me your little message. I think you do know how you survived, and you're just refusing to say. Tell me how you did it, and I'll call this whole thing off" he remarked, almost casually.
Hiccup could tell him. He could avoid getting punished at all. Yet the thought of telling his enemy about something so personal, something he barely understood himself, was something Hiccup did not want to do. His self-preservation instincts, such as they were, screamed at him to nod, to tell the truth. His head was telling him one thing, but his heart was telling him another. And Hiccup had always listened to one far more than the other. So he simply grit his teeth.
"So be it" Hauke retorted, stepping away. He nodded to the man behind Hiccup.
The first strike seared across his back with a nauseating crack, followed by four more in quick succession. Hiccup was suddenly glad of the leather in his mouth, because it kept him from cracking his own teeth as he grit them hard. Tears of pain were forced from the corners of his eyes, but he didn't cry out, yet.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
The whip beat against his skin in sharp hot bursts; the studs ripped through it like parchment, tearing it to bloody ribbons. Hiccup couldn't help but scream…
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
…At the agony, like nothing he'd ever felt before…
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
…cursing his idiocy and stubbornness and the hunters cruelty…
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
"Master! Master!"
Crack! Crack!-
"Hold it!" Gunnhild called out. He rounded on Onarr. "How dare you interrupt us! This had better be important, thrall, or you'll be next."
Onarr panted. "I'm sorry, master. It…it's the Night Fury. I went down to change the dragon's water one last time, and it – master, it's gone mad. It kept throwing itself against the bars of its cage, screeching through the muzzle."
"Who cares? They all have fits like that now and then. Go do something useful and prepare my cabin" Gunnhild ordered. Onarr bowed and hurried away.
"Wait" called Hauke, "Captain, if you would, send some men to bring the Night Fury up here. I have an…idea to test out."
Gunnhild obliged, ordering several crew members down to the dragon cages. Hauke approached Hiccup, circling him like a hungry shark. Hiccup panted. Every breath felt like tiny knives in his throat and chest; his back was burning. Flesh scored with bloody gashes, skin flayed and torn to shreds. The excruciating torment spread all over his body; his stump throbbed with phantom pain. If it weren't for the rope holding him up, he'd likely collapse and not be able to rise.
Hauke lifted the boy's chin, forcing Hiccup to meet his eyes. "Pathetic" he muttered, "but I'd expect nothing more from a runt." He'd noticed something as he circled Hiccup, and now he pressed a finger to the small scar between Hiccup's ribs, just below his heart. The boy whimpered in pain. "This is where I stabbed you…how did it heal?" Hauke demanded, tugging away the gag.
Hiccup's mouth was dry and sore from screaming, but he didn't even try to speak. Hauke frowned. "Why won't you just tell me? I know you know. I can see it in your eyes….ah. You're scared I'll use it against you. I undoubtedly will, but I don't need to know it to make you suffer, thrall."
At that, Hiccup's eyes narrowed. They flashed with the fire Hauke had yet to extinguish, as he retorted hoarsely, "I'm…not…your thrall."
Hauke's grip tightened on his chin. "Hiccup Haddock the Third is dead" he insisted, "you are just what's left. You are a thrall, whether you like it or not…hmm. But you don't quite look the part, now do you?" He called someone over; Hiccup winced as they pulled tufts of his hair and he felt cold metal sliding over his scalp. He shut his eyes so as not to look at Hauke's despicable face.
At last they let him go. Hiccup looked down and immediately wished he hadn't…the canvas he was standing on was soaked in his blood, and he could see his hair scattered over it. A commotion made him raise his head, though it felt far too heavy on his neck…the hunters were dragging Toothless out of the nearest pulley-cage, with thick chains wrapped around the black dragon.
As soon as he clapped slit-pupilled eyes on Hiccup, Toothless let out a furious but muffled shriek and lunged towards him. It took eight of them to hold him back and down; he thrashed and snarled viciously, claws scoring the wood of the deck and the flesh of anyone who got in the way. *Moon be-damned eel-eating snakes! I'm going to rip all of you to shreds!* he growled.
"Now what, Chief?" inquired Gunnhild. At Hauke's instructions, the hunters forced Toothless onto his back, with limbs splayed and the smooth scales of his belly left vulnerable. Then he asked for Beater's club. Hiccup's eyes widened in horror. "Mark this, thrall" he told Hiccup, as he walked towards Toothless with the metal club in hand. "Perhaps it will persuade you to be more forthcoming and less insolent in future." With that, he smashed the club down.
Seeing Toothless jerk under the blows would be bad enough. Hearing his grunts of pain would be bad enough. But Hiccup could feel it; an echo of every thump of the club on his own ribs. "AAAAHH! NOOOO!"
Hauke stopped laying into the Night Fury. "Quartermaster?" he prompted.
Crack! Crack! Crack! "Aaaaargh!"
The dragon screeched at the same time. "Hold it!" yelled Hauke. He looked between the Night Fury and its former rider, as realisation dawned… "You can feel each other's pain. How is that possible?" he wondered.
Hiccup had to tell him. It was one thing for him to be hurt keeping the secret, but not Toothless. "He…we're…heart bound" he gasped out.
"What does that mean?"
"If…I…die…he dies…and…vice versa" Hiccup panted, groaning at the pain.
"How do you know all this?"
"…he…told…me…"
"Ah…" Hauke looked thoughtful for a moment, and then he smiled. "I have to thank you, dragon" he said to Toothless, who had been hauled back onto his feet. The Night Fury was snarling so hard he trembled with it. "I thought breaking you and your ex-owner in would be difficult, but you've made it so much simpler. Now, I think there's just one more thing to take care of."
He turned away, looking back at the battered, bleeding slave. Toothless looked past him and stared in horror; one of the hunters was holding a rod of metal in the flames of a torch, and now he walked towards Hiccup with the end of it glowing white hot. *NO!* he screeched, lunging forwards.
At his shriek, Hiccup's limp head snapped up in alarm. His eyes clapped on the glowing metal – the brand – and went wide, utterly terrified. He struggled to get away, sending sharp bursts of agony lancing through his torso. "No, no, no, don't, don't, please, don't! No, don't!" As if in slow motion, Hiccup could only watch helplessly as the brand neared his bare skin, turning it red and scorching.
The brand was pressed to his left shoulder, just over his collarbone. Hiccup threw his head back and roared. His vision went white; he could feel his mouth gaping, but his pulse roared in his ears so loud and fast that he couldn't hear himself screaming. Even when the pressure was gone the endless burning remained, spreading from his chest to his back and his limbs, his whole body was on fire…
Hiccup's knees buckled; he retched, heaving what little was in his stomach. The whole world was tilting and spinning horribly. He screamed again as freezing cold, stinging saltwater was sluiced over the cuts and the burn. Hot, bitter liquid was poured down his throat, making him gag, but – oh, sweet relief – the pain began to fade. His head felt foggy, eyes blurry…he couldn't think straight…
There was something…wrapping around him…they were talking, but he couldn't hear what anyone was saying…where was…? "Toothless…" the rope cutting into his wrists was cut away, and he slumped forwards. Someone heaved him over their shoulder, and he hung limply, too dazed and in shock to move. Distantly, some part of him felt humiliated, but he was too hurt to really care.
Toothless was livid. These hunters – they weren't even human, they were monsters, cowardly and cruel – had whipped and burned his other half, and now they were dragging him back to that moon-damned cage. They might have muzzled him, but he still had his claws and he tore at the monsters around him, to cause the monsters the same pain he and Hiccup felt.
His claws scraped across armour and ripped through cloth more than flesh, but he still managed to draw blood before the monsters shoved him back into the cage. Then they didn't go away, so Toothless spread his wings as wide as he could and snarled, stretching out his claws decorated with the monsters blood.
Hauke stepped towards the cage. Toothless loathed the monsters leader with every fibre of his being, and he growled as menacingly as he could, glaring at Hauke with pupils sharp as swords. Then another monster approached, with Hiccup limp and bloodied over his shoulder. Hauke looked Toothless in the eye and told him, "If you want your former rider back, and that muzzle off, you had better not attack my men."
Burning with rage, Toothless had no choice but to obey. To resist would be to have Hiccup taken away when his other half needed him. He stayed very still as they took the muzzle off. The moment it was free of him, Toothless lunged. Not at the monsters, as much as he wanted to, but at Hiccup. With his fangs tucked away, he wrapped his jaws around Hiccup's torso and hauled him away from the ones who had hurt him. Then he summoned his inner fire to his throat.
The blast only struck the metal grate of the cage door, but it was so satisfying to fire. The monsters retreated, and Toothless roared after them, promising vengeance if they so much as thought about hurting his beloved one again. With some of his anger quelled, Toothless set about tending to Hiccup, easing his limp body onto a blanket that strange boy had shoved through the bars. The poor man's eyes were glazed over in shock, shiny with unshed tears.
*I'm so sorry* he moaned, a liquid keen, nuzzling Hiccup and swiping his tongue over newly short hair. They had wrapped now blood-stained cloth around the gashes across Hiccup's back and the burn on his shoulder. Toothless lapped water from a trough and tenderly laved his human's forehead with the cool liquid. Hiccup whimpered and trembled. He tried to say something, and his lips moved, but nothing came out. *Just rest, love* Toothless urged, settling himself between his dear one and the cage door.
Toothless wrapped his tail around Hiccup, tucking it under his head for a pillow. He folded a wing over the man, somewhere dark and warm. Sleep; he needed Hiccup to sleep. His other half wouldn't suffer so much if he were unconscious, surely. Suddenly, Toothless remembered something that might help. Hiccup was not his hatchling, and he would not die, but…it seemed fitting.
*Little one, my little one…my dearest, hearts flame, souls light…without you the world is endless night…* (3)
Slowly but surely, Hiccup ceased trembling, and Toothless kept crooning to him.
*Precious one, my precious one…so close and yet so far…I love you so, my shining star…*
Hiccup's eyelids fluttered; his breathing slowed.
*Only one, my only one…my brother, be brave, don't fear. We are going to get out of here* the Night Fury declared, vowing it would be so. He purred as he realised his other half had fallen asleep at last. Hiccup could rest and heal even in this terrible place, because Toothless would take care of him and protect him from the monsters that had caught them and toyed with them like prey.
(1) Hey look, it's Adulfr before he was an embittered, arrogant jerk! Now he's just an arrogant jerk, which…isn't as bad? To note, he wasn't there in Heart Bound, but I've put him in here as a way to further explore his character and backstory without resorting to flashbacks.
(2) I know that might sound unrealistic, but like many fans I view realism as a suggestion more than an actual requirement.
(3) This verse is the beautiful brainchild of Sarah, her Hatchling Lament.