I'm so sorry it took so long to be updated! I was a bit busy and then my beta, Ladipretender, got sick, but even so, she managed to edit this as fast and as best as she could! Thanks so much, girl! :D
Anyway, here is chap 22 and the story is coming to an end, next one will be the last, just so you know... Yeah, I know, it was good, but all good things come to an end... Anyway, I hope you'll like it and please review to let an author happy! :D
I'm so happy with all the reviews, favorites and followers this story is getting! You all make mess happy! Please continue doing it! All this support is so important to me!
Oh, and for the last time, for those who keep whining about the flashbacks, please stop doing it. They're there for a reason and they're sticking until the last chap, only the prologue and the epilogue won't have flashbacks. If you don't like it, then just don't read it, but, as Ladipretender said on a review (and I agree), not reading them is like tearing a page of a book in half, the story wouldn't be complete without them and if you read it at least a little bit carefully, you'll see how important they truly are.
Previously, Hiccup finds out Cami went to Outcast Island, but only Shimmer returned. Fearing what could have happened to her, Hiccup decides to go at once to save her and all the tortured dragons.
Chapter 22
To The Rescue
Since Drakheim was a very far away land, Hiccup decided they needed to go to a closer place so they could attack the Outcasts, because even if the boats were pulled by more than one dragon, it still took them a while to get to their destination. So he chose to stay on Berk for the night and attack the Outcasts at dawn. The Hooligans obviously didn't like that, but the Strike Tribe stayed far and kept their dragons under control. Despite that, few Hooligans slept well that night.
Even though Stoick had told everyone Hiccup was indeed still alive when he went back for a few days, it was hard to believe it until they saw the now 20-year-old man walking around with nothing less than a Night Fury right behind anywhere he'd go. Very few Hooligans decided to help them, since they were still too reluctant, but the thought of being attacked by the Outcasts with dragons was a lot more frightening.
There wasn't time to talk with the Meatheads, so they had to deal with what they had. A couple of hours before dawn they departed from Berk, dragons pulling all the ships so they could get there faster. When they were close enough, the group that stayed on the boats hid behind sea stacks and waited for the right moment to act.
The group on the ships wasn't too big; it consisted of people that usually didn't have dragons to fly or possessed fewer fighting skills. Thuggory and Dogsbreath were on this team, along with the few willing Hooligans, Gobber, Heather, Bork, Kari, Eira and some other younglings from the Strike Tribe. Kari still didn't have a riding dragon, but she wanted to fight, Eira, on the other hand, had a riding dragon, however she didn't really like to fight and wasn't very good at it anyway. Besides, she might be better at soothing the wild dragons than risking herself directly against the Outcasts.
"One last review!" Hiccup yelled over the wind howling in his ears because of the fast speed they were flying, getting closer and closer to Outcast Island. The morning sunlight was beginning to show, the perfect moment to catch the enemy by surprise. "Eret and Sten, you try to sneak in, find Cami and start freeing all the dragons. Let's hope the chaos will be enough so all of us can start freeing them…"
"Son, are you sure this is gonna work?"
"No, but we don't have another choice, so it has to…"
As they grew closer, an Outcast sentinel managed to warn everyone just in time. Much sooner than Hiccup expected or wished, the Outcasts were already up and ready to fight. By then, Eret and Sten had vanished from their sight.
Dragons were imposing and people riding them ready for battle had the tendency of scaring the enemy away, so even though the Outcasts were a bit reluctant to fight them, they'd not yield easily.
As they flew closer, for the first time, Hiccup really got a good look of the island. He had flown over to map it, but it was too far away to see any details, thus he had never really noticed before the great arena the Outcasts had. It was like the one the Hooligans had on Berk, with the web-like iron net on top, however, this one was at least three times bigger, wider and deeper. It could only mean one thing, they probably had a lot of dragons and used that arena to try train them.
As he realized that, Hiccup gulped just imagining they would have enough time to free them while they started the massive distraction they were causing with the dragons. Besides, Alvin might soon realize it was only a distraction. Alvin wasn't the brightest Viking or Outcast there was, but he wasn't stupid either.
Hiccup knew a change in the strategy was necessary. But what could he do? What could be done in the heat of the moment? What could be the best way to distract and destroy the enemy at the same time? From inside out was the first thing that crossed his mind. But how? Looking at the dragons fire from the skies and even some arrows fly down onto the Outcasts while they threw bolas, nets, arrows and them, Hiccup had a very crazy, dangerous and clever idea.
Now he only needed to tell his friends his new plan, but he couldn't really do it in the middle of the attack, so he had to improvise.
Hiccup grabbed his sketchbook out of a compartment of Toothless's saddle and opened to the last page. With difficultly while Toothless was gliding, he managed to write, with unusually poor calligraphy, what he needed and closed it. Maneuvering the pedal, he positioned his dragon by Stormfly's side and called for her rider.
"Astrid!" he threw her the book, she grabbed it in midair and looked at him, puzzled. "Open to the last page when you find Cami and the others."
"Okay, but why? What are you going to do?"
"No time to explain, just do it." He said just before Toothless shifted his body to the side to do a tight turn and blast another catapult, destroying it completely with the perfect aim of a Night Fury.
Hiccup leaned and petted the black scaled neck, getting the dragon's attention. "Bud, let's fly very low, okay?" Toothless crooned in objection, it was obviously a bad idea, the Outcasts were on the ground and they could easily hit them with arrows, rocks, bolas or nets if they were too close. "Do you trust me?"
Toothless crooned again, this time, it was a different kind of it, this time it was more assertive than objecting. Hiccup smiled at it. Toothless started flying up very high and very fast to make a loop in the air before falling at an absurdly fast speed, blasting more catapults on the way.
He did it a few times, flying rapidly and low, both dragon and rider almost got hit in some cases by arrows before they were taken down by a bola that wrapped itself around Toothless's tail fin, sending the two to the ground. Because of momentum, Hiccup ended up flying off of Toothless and was sent a few inches forward, landing right in front of Alvin's feet. Before he had enough time to look up, nets were thrown on him and Toothless, and the dragon was pinned down to the floor by about a dozen Outcasts.
"Look what we have here…" Alvin's eerie voice spoke up. "The dragon conqueror and his Night Fury, finally arrived…" Toothless huffed angrily under the pile of Outcasts.
"Where is she? Where is Camicazi?" Hiccup demanded, ignoring him.
When the Strike Tribe and the Hooligans in the air saw he had fallen, quickly went down to try and protect them, but the only way they could do it was by circling them and being vulnerable at the same time. They adopted a fighting stance, waiting for the right moment to attack, the Hooligans had swords and axes and they were ready to jump off their dragons, the Strike Tribe was ready too, but they weren't looking like they'd come off of the dragons so soon, they were used to fighting on them.
"You don't ask questions around here, Boy." He said in a mocking tone and gestured for the Outcasts to imprison the others, they quickly complied by throwing nets. Some tried to fight, but it was futile.
"Stop!" Hiccup yelled, standing up and throwing the net off of him with difficulty. "Leave them alone, it's me that you want!"
"I can't really do that, can I? They're all my prisoners, as well as you and you are going to train my dragons for me."
"I'm never gonna train them for you or teach you how to do it!"
"You don't have another choice, Boy. I have you, your dragon and your allies. If you don't do it, they'll pay."
Hiccup gulped and looked around, apparently nervous, before looking back at Alvin defiantly.
"Okay, then. I have a proposal for you. I'll deal with your worst dragon, I'll show every one of you how to train them if you let us all go after it. You can even lock them in your cells while I do this, but I'll only do it once, so everyone has to be there to see it."
Alvin smiled, victorious, and graced his companions with a treacherous look. By then, almost every Hooligan and Strike Tribe member were exchanging confused looks, Hall was one of the few who really knew Hiccup and he understood he was doing this on purpose, he just didn't yet know why. It was obvious Alvin wouldn't let them go once he got what he wanted; he wasn't called The Treacherous out of nothing, after all.
"Okay, you got yourself a deal, Boy. Chain them down, lads. We're gonna see a real show in a few minutes. By the way, Boy, I'll set you free if you survive in the arena. But I already lost some of my best men in there."
"Well, I guess they just didn't have what it takes." He said confidently.
"Wait! I will go too!" boomed Stoick. The truth was that he feared for Hiccup's life, if those dragons were nearly as powerful and mad than the ones he fought on Berk, he was sure his son wouldn't stand a chance. They were merciless and utterly strong, Stoic himself had difficulty in fight them, his son alone wouldn't last one minute. "He's just a scrawny boy, he'll last longer with me joining along. You wouldn't want the party over so soon, would you?" He asked Alvin.
"What? Dad, no!" He whispered, huffing at his father, but Alvin heard it and it was obvious he'd do the exact opposite of what the dragon conqueror wanted.
"Yes, I guess it would be more fun like that. I'll even let you go in with your weapons against three of our most stubborn dragons." There was a devious smile on his lips.
Hiccup face-palmed, a bit frustrated, and sighed worriedly. He was not expecting this at all. The Outcasts wrapped the dragons in chains and tied all the Hooligan's, as well as the people of the Strike Tribe, hands behind their backs and took them to the cells. But before they were apart, Astrid managed to get close enough to ask Hiccup without being noticed, "How is this a plan?"
"Just play along." He said as he discreetly reached to release the ropes around her wrists. Not enough to make them fall, but enough to make it easy for her to be free. "Hall has the rest you're gonna need. Free the dragons and run, don't worry about me."
"But-" She tried to say, only to be cut off when an Outcast pushed her toward the dungeon entrance.
Astrid turned to look at him worriedly while Alvin was pushing him and his father to the other side. Neither Hiccup nor Stoick had their wrists tied; they were about to be part of a huge 'show' in a few minutes. From afar, she heard Alvin ask them what weapons they'd use, Stoic answered the axe in his hands and Hiccup answered he wouldn't use anything. That was all she caught before she entered the dungeon with everyone else.
Their dragons were each thrown into separate cells and the humans were stuffed in one, without much space. "What the hell was that? What does Hiccup have in that stupid brain of his? He just locked us all up!" Snotlout complained as soon as the Outcasts guards were off. They had passed by a few cells, some were empty and others had sad, chained down dragons in them.
"He didn't do this for nothing." Hall said without hesitation. He knew his chief very well and trusted him; he just didn't know what his plan was… "I know he was planning something. And he is risking himself so Alvin wouldn't hurt any of us."
"Okay, then, but what are we gonna do now?" Ruffnut asked, shrugging. Hall gulped without knowing what to respond when Astrid untied herself and threw the rope on the ground.
"We need to find Camicazi, Eret and Sten, then the phase two will begin, but we need to do that fast." Astrid said.
"And, how do you know that?" This time, it was Tuffnut who asked.
"Because he gave me this notebook and told me to open it after finding them, so that's what we're gonna do." She informed them while she helped Hall untie his ropes and then moved to help someone else. Meanwhile, Hall grabbed a picking set he decided to carry for just such an emergency and started to unlock the cell door. Soon, they were all untied and were freeing their dragons.
"Okay, but where are we going to find them?" Fishlegs asked.
"We know they're probably somewhere inside the dungeons, right? So let's look around, we'll free all the other dragons after." Astrid said as she took leadership and started walking down the dungeon with Stormfly following close behind and soon being followed by the others.
In the meantime, Eret and Sten were looking for Camicazi inside the dungeons, they passed a lot of cells with dragons inside, they were usually, chained down, their mouths closed shut by leather nose bands and underfed, the majority had a lot of scars over their scaly bodies. But they needed to find the girl first; she was priority at the moment.
The dungeon was a giant maze of cells, it was like it never ended, it took them a very long time to finally reach a region of it that had empty cells and when Eret was about to freak out, thinking she wasn't inside when finally she came into sight, lying on the ground inside of a cell.
"Cami!" Eret almost yelled as he made a quick and short run to stop in front of the cell door.
Sten came right behind and got his own pick set out, he was good at it, so it only took him a few seconds to open the lock and Eret rushed inside. Camicazi was lying with her back to the door, so all he could see was her legs, her back and her hair all over the dirty floor, he got close enough and noticed she wasn't sleeping, she was unconscious.
Eret slowly rolled her so she would face up so he could see if she was hurt. There was a small bruise on her head, probably what had knocked her unconscious, but luckily, he didn't see any other injuries, she still had all of her clothes in the same place. He slowly and gently pushed the strands of strawberry blond hair off of her face, causing her eyelids to flutter open.
She was a bit shocked at first, but when she realized it was Eret and not another Outcast or Alvin, she sighed in relief and wrapped her arms around his neck, forgetting, for the moment, that she was ever mad at him. More than anything, she was just relieved to see a familiar face.
"It's okay, you're gonna be fine." Eret reassured when he noticed she was trembling a bit. "Let's get out of here."
"Wait! It's a trap. Alvin knew Hiccup would come here to rescue me, he wants to throw him into the arena with dragons and so he'll only have two options, die or train them."
"Don't worry, they are distracting the Outcasts. Now that you're safe, we can start freeing all the dragons." Eret said and she nodded in agreement, but explaining they'd have to be patient with the dragons because from what she saw, they were all on edge, ready to attack at any minute.
The three of them started unlocking the cages one by one. The reaction of each dragon was very different, some would practically ignore them, even when they stripped off the leather nose band, others would start licking them as soon as they realized they were being kind enough to unchain their wings carefully, so as not to hurt, and some were so angry and mad that would attack them, only being stopped by Windwalker and Calder.
They were making good progress, until they heard footsteps. A lot of footsteps. Eret and Sten grabbed their swords and got in a ready fighting stance, Cami didn't have a weapon and even if she did, she was too weak to fight, since the Outcasts didn't give her anything to eat while she was there.
Windwalker and Calder were the first ones to get calmer, the humans only discovered why when they saw the Strike Tribe and the Hooligans approaching, being followed by Astrid and Stormfly. The blue Nadder was sniffing the air as if she was searching for them, she was, after all a Tracking Class dragon.
"Finally we found you!" Hall commented happily.
"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be up there distracting." Sten pointed out confused.
"Change of plans." Astrid informed him as she grabbed the sketchbook Hiccup had given her and opened on the last page as he had directed her to.
There she saw with a very poor calligraphy what she assumed was a 'phase 2' of his plan. She knew he actually had quite beautiful handwriting for a Viking, but she noticed he had written that in a moving situation, probably gliding on Toothless. 'I'll distract as long as I can. Free all the dragons and escape without being noticed. Don't come for me, I'll find a way out. If Toothless is with you, take him, don't let him come after me.' Astrid had to read it two times before she really understood, since it was very hard to make out. Someone asked what it said and she quickly explained.
"So he is there, in the arena?" Camicazi asked and Astrid nodded, worried, wondering what Hiccup had in mind. "But that's what Alvin wanted all along. He can't be there!"
"Cami, we all know Hiccup very well." Hall spoke up in a reassuring tone. "He must have some sort of plan figured out and even if he doesn't, he'll find a way. Now, he's counting on us to free the dragons and we don't know what he is doing to stall the Outcasts, but I'd guess everyone is there, because we haven't found one single guard down here, so we better free the dragons and fast while he can keep stalling them, if one of them spots us, it will be a very big problem."
"You're right. Let's do this and let's do this fast." Astrid announced and they started again just like the three were doing a few minutes before, going as fast and as silent as they could. Since they were a lot of people, they were managing to free dragons quite fast.
Oblivious to the Strike Tribe and the Hooligans, Hiccup and Stoick were at the entrance of the great arena, being pulled into it before the iron gates trapped them inside, being closed with a chained-metal sound. They walked over the uneven ground, different from Berk's arena, there were tall rocks and small crevices all around, but it was hard to tell if it was originally like that or if dragons did it trying to escape. It was difficult to walk around, but the bright side of it was that there were places to hide if needed, and Hiccup knew it would be necessary.
Hiccup looked at their surroundings, studying the holes of the metal net over the arena for weaknesses, searching for a way to escape. All the Outcasts were up there, watching and cheering excitedly, but he knew they weren't cheering for him and Stoick. His father huffed angrily beside him and tightened the grip on his axe.
"Stay behind me, son. Don't worry, I'll get us out of here."
Hiccup sighed letting his shoulders fall. "No, Dad. You weren't supposed to come here, I can take care of myself, thank you very much." As usual when his father looked down upon him, there was a sarcastic tone in his voice. But he didn't have time to say anything else as the sound of metal chain moving coming from three directions interrupted them. One in the front and the other two from the sides. They were opening the gates for the dragons to come in.
There was a Timberjack, a Whispering Death and a Monstrous Nightmare. The dragons started sniffing the air, noticing their presence and crawling over in their direction. They moved slowly, as if they were getting ready to jump on them to attack and they were hissing angrily, Hiccup could tell they were furious.
"Nonsense, Hiccup. I'll protect you. You didn't see those dragons, they are powerful and mad. They'd kill you on sight."
Hiccup felt a little insecure for a second or two. He didn't expect his dad to go along with him with that awfully big and unnecessary axe. He knew Stoick was only trying to protect him and the feeling of being around his father was kind of weird. He knew what he was doing, he'd lived around dragons for years and he knew he was right. But the remembrance of feeling so little and insecure near the great Stoick the Vast made him a bit hazy.
That was when he made up his mind. He wasn't that little, frail and useless kid anymore. He'd grown out of that. The change was necessary and he knew he was the only one that could do it. More than 300 years of fighting between men and dragons. And it was time to be over.
"Dad, please, just do what I say, I know what I'm doing!"
"But they are wild and very dangerous dragons, Hiccup!"
"I'm asking you to trust me. Please just trust me, Dad"
Stoick felt as if his heart was falling to the ground. It was hard for him. He had not only grown up seeing dragons as mindless beasts, he was also used to seeing Hiccup as that little frail boy who couldn't do anything. And, until not long ago, Stoick had believed his son was dead because he saw him as incapable of fighting or being a Viking, incapable of defending himself and desperately needing protection.
It was hard for Stoick to realize his son was not that kid anymore. He still wanted to protect him, to shelter him from all harm just like any father would want to do for theirs son. But deep down, he knew it was not what Hiccup needed.
"Okay, then, Son. What do we do now?"
"Let them be mad."
"WHAT?!" He yelled, "Are you crazy? They're dragons!"
"I know. I didn't say make them mad. I sad let them be mad." Hiccup explained. "They're angry because they've been tortured by that stupid bastard. They just need to let it out and calm down. Then, we'll be able to interact with them."
"And what can we do until they calm down?"
"Try not to get burned or bitten or scratched." Hiccup answered, stepping back as he saw the dragons getting closer and closer, their nostrils huffing infuriated.
"I was afraid you'd say that…"
Flashback 22
The next day, even before the first sunray shone over the horizon, Hall was already awake and preparing Freya to go. The Meathead's tribe wasn't so far, but he needed to go very soon if he wanted to come back in the same day, or else he might have to camp in the middle of the way back, he knew a lot of the surroundings, but flying at night was something difficult that he didn't like to do alone. Hiccup and Toothless, on the other hand, had no trouble in navigating in any time of the day or night.
Hall and Freya got there just before noon, both starving. He gave her some raw and salty fish he packed before leaving and told her he'd get a basket full of fish on the way out. He also got himself some bread and cheese that he had left in his house and ate before he went to the village.
Hall hid Freya and entered the village without being noticed, and that's what he did. They already knew the relationship between the dragons and the Strike Tribe, though they tried never to appear with their dragons, so it wouldn't scare the villagers or anything. The most they did was appear with a Terrible Terror in tow. The Meatheads didn't expel them or anything because there had never been a problem between them, but people usually withdrew when they recognized them belonging to the Strike Tribe.
Since Hall didn't show up very often and he was without a dragon, few people realized where he came from. He was quiet and tried to remain unseen, just listening in on the conversations, butting in only when he felt it was needed. And he was succeeding.
He heard rumors about an orphan girl that just turned 14 and her name was Kari. That was when he asked what happened to her. "It was an awful thing…" "Nobody knows." "She was taken by dragons in the middle of the night!" "She probably just ran away…" were a few answers he got. But it didn't prove much, he wanted to know about the girl's character, but few answered that.
He was already a bit disappointed by the time he went to buy fish near the docks. There, he saw and heard two leaders speaking in the distance. One was Mogadon, the chief of the Meatheads and the other, who had a long red beard that looked like fireworks, he didn't know, but somehow Hall knew he was a chief of some tribe. Both were complaining about something, it took Hall a while to realize it was Kari.
"She is a good girl, but a bit weird, she often keeps saying dragons are good. And she gives us so much trouble."
"Don't have to tell me about it… my son was a real troublemaker…" the man sighed very sadly. "But what about her?"
"It's been days since someone last saw her and I've already ordered a few search parties in the forest. She's an orphan, so the responsibility falls to me…"
"And what about your son? Is he helping you? He's already old enough to do that, right?"
"He does. He's leading the search parties. He's a good son, strong and tough, though not very bright. I think he'll turn out to be a good leader in a few years…"
The red bearded man was sad, almost mournful. "I'm not so sure about my heir…"
"Oh, Stoick, I'm so sorry. I know you still miss him. But don't worry, Snotlout will be better for the tribe than…"
"Hiccup!" The man said and Hall stopped, curious. He knew these people didn't know his chief's name, but he turned out of instinct, searching the skies for a Night Fury, finding none.
Oblivious to Hall, Stoick was referring to him, looking from the back, Hall was very similar to Hiccup when he was 15, the age he left. But at the time, Stoick still believed his son was dead, so when he looked at that frail silhouette and that messy hair, he instantly though of his son. Though he wasn't as thin and the hair was darker and shorter, he only noticed it when Hall turned.
The boy didn't understand it, but he didn't stay to find out, he got a basket of fish and ran away back to the forest, because he was scared someone might find Freya, after all, he knew they were forming search parties.
Luckily, Freya was safe and sound where he left her, she quickly ate everything and they decided to leave, it was already getting too late. Darkness fell rapidly, and soon he was looking for a way home in the middle of the night, just what he was trying to avoid doing. It was dark and difficult to see, all he saw was a dark blur underneath them. He was just starting to get desperate when he heard a familiar voice not far away.
"Hey, I was getting worried, Hall."
"Hiccup! I'm back and I've got news. And your chest." The boy said looking as the chief and his night-blending dragon drew closer.
"Thanks. Now fly lower, you'll be able to see the island right over there." He pointed.
"Hiccup, you were right. The girl was telling the truth. At least about the Meathead's tribe thing. I don't know anything about the Outcasts, though…"
"It's okay. Just keep an eye on her, but no need to make a fuss out of it. Okay? Are you at least a bit more comfortable with her being around after going?"
"Just a little. I would be better if I could be sure of everything…"
"You and me both. But since we can't, let's not get ourselves too worried about what we can't do, okay?"
"Right, Sir. I guess I owe Sten a couple of apologies…"
"Don't worry about him, he's not that mad about you. He even asked where you were earlier."
"That's good to know. Thanks." Hall said just before landing. It was only after dismounting that the younger one felt how tired he really was. He gave Hiccup the chest he wanted and the chief thanked him, saying it was exactly what he needed. Both boys said good night and went to their respective houses to go to sleep, following the rest of the village into slumber.
I hope you all liked the chap! I guess it was a pretty active one, right? Full of stuff happening and plotting plans developing.
The story is getting to an end, so I'd really like you all to comment on how is it going, if you liked it or not and why, I'd really appreciate it! And remember that the more reviews I get, the faster I'll try to update! :D
And after reviewing, you can check my profile for other stories or the link to my DA for drawings like the cover. :D
Thank you all!
Itban Fuyu