This is Chapter 5 of Lone Warrior. Hiccup, Astrid and their dragons have just met our future friend. He is confused and won't believe anything they say. Will he wise up? Or will he go all Rambo on them?
HICCUP
He stared up at at us, still pinned beneath Stormfly's snarling jaws. We could tell he was scared, but his earlier lack of courage had suddenly dissipated back into the strength he had shown. He momentarily looked Toothless in the eyes, before gazing back at Astrid and I. he licked his lips before he spoke again.
"Who are you?" he asked. I turned to Astrid, silently asking what to say. She kinked her head at me and I knew what she meant.
"You're in no position to ask any questions." I told him, "If anything, we ask them." The man sighed and let his head hit the floor.
"Alright. Ask me some questions then child." he retorted defiantly. That took me by surprise, but I pretty much knew what to ask him. Go by your gut Hiccup.
"Who are you?"
"I am Flight Lieutenant Anders Lanquist of No. 332 Squadron, Royal Air Force in Exile." I raised my eyebrows. Uh-huh.
"What does that even mean?" Astrid returned. 'Anders' cranked over and stared, incredulous. I decided to defuse any possible row.
"What is the beast in the cove?" Anders, laughed sharply.
"How could you not know?" he yelled, "It's a Spitfire? We save your butts everyday from the Jerries and you don't know what it is? It's a plane, they fly over every single hour! Assuming this is Berk of course..." he trailed off, "Is it?"
"Yeah," Ok, this guy didn't seem to be very bright, "You're on Berk alright." He sneered at this.
"Liar... You are a LIAR!" he screamed so abruptly, I recoiled, "For one thing, Berk is not inhabited. It has anti-aircraft defences that are permanently manned, but no-one has lived here for Generations! And besides, this cove should be filled to the brim with an ammunition stockpile." Astrid turned to me, her face had 'this guy is nuts' written all over it.
"Is this 'stockpile' for the 'defences'?" she fired back at him. He huffed in frustration.
"NO! It's for the Hood!" he slapped a hand to his mouth the instant he said 'Hood' and pulled at his face, growling angrily. The next word he said stunned us, "Shit."
Astrid shot him a steely glare of disapproval.
"I don't like that word..." she growled.
"Tough, I'm using it anyway, seeing as I just effectively told you where the key to British morale is been hidden." Well, this was perplexing.
"British morale?" I mused, "What in Thor's name is that?" He looked at me incredulously.
"Did you just say, 'In Thor's name?' Who do you think you are, Vikings?!" he sneered cynically, "Pah, you Jerries won't be getting any-more information from me. For all I know, I've been out for weeks whilst you keep me pumped full of drugs until I learn German or something. It's not gonna work Abwehr fucks!" he scoffed in a rage. I pulled Astrid to one side as he started ranting in-cohesively about these 'Germans' and how they wouldn't get information from him.
"This is starting to get out of hand Astrid, the guy's not making any sense. I think we should give him a little more control over the situation."
"Too damn right you will!" Anders screamed. We turned to see him pull something from his waist and jam it into Toothless's neck. In horror, I recognised it.
"Toothless! Grab it!" Toothless didn't need telling twice. In an instant, he pulled back and snapped the item from 'Anders' hand and tossed it away. He turned back and snarled dangerously. Now it was Astrid's turn to look at me in disbelief.
"Hiccup, what was that for?"
"It's a weapon Astrid, a weapon from the dream. I saw the soldiers kill you and Toothless with similar devices." I swung towards our captive. His face was a mess. Blood was now covering the entire left side. But there was no disguising the emotions. The anger turned, to perplexion and then to recognition.
"You... I remember you now. You were from the... the delusion. Which must mean I am still in the delusion." He returned to his confused state and began muttering to himself. He must have hit himself hard. But where did he come from?
It occurred to me then. Gothi's words...
"Come on Anders, snap out of it. The year is 1945, the month is August, the day is... well I dunno, but I think it's the eighteenth. And it's probably nine o'clock. You are hallucinating... snap out of it!" the muttering continued. I motioned for the dragons to get off him. He had to be told.
ANDERS
You must leave this delusion! It's confusing you! Unless you're in a coma which means you won't be waking up and you'll die of thirst.
NO! Go away! Why must you keep taunting me after all these years?!
Without me you would have gone insane long ago.
I don't want you here! Fucking leave me alone! I hate you! You have made me do things I regret! Why do you taunt me?!
Because you weren't there for me when I died!
"Shut UP!" I shot up and gasped for breath. The two teenagers stood back, aghast. I noticed the beasts were no longer holding me down, but they were still there, waiting for me to make a sudden move. The boy with the green eyes, stepped up, licked his lips and spoke,
"I think you should come with us. You're hurt. We can get you fixed up." I glowered at him.
"I used to be a Field Medic, I'll operate on myself." I snapped. He shook his head.
"You can't fix it, it's on your head. You won't be able to see the wound."
"I'll use one of the mirrors on my aircraft, thank you very much." Bewilderment set in.
"What don't you use mirrors? Have you even heard of them? Have you lived in caves all your lives?" I demanded. The girl known as 'Astrid' face-palmed She waved her hand. Without warning, something grabbed my shirt collar and lifted off the ground. I kicked and screamed to be let down, but the blue beast holding me acted as if I wasn't there.
"Hiccup? Shall we?" the girl gestured to an opening in the cove wall.
"Certainly m'lady. Come on Toothless, Stormfly." I went limp with disbelief.
"Wait, you named these things?! Why?!" 'Hiccup' twisted on his heel and marched over. Until he was pretty much in my face.
"Why not?" Oh give me a break.
"Look, I didn't just spend five minutes on the ground, only to spend five minutes hanging in the air. Can I please use my legs?" the boy smirked.
"Well, seeing as you asked nicely..."
ASTRID
He hit the floor. He knelt there and I swear I heard him whimper. Well, he needed to know. This was the person Gothi was talking about.
"It's not here." he wailed, "It's not here!" the wail was suddenly a shout, "How can a Bofors anti-aircraft gun and its concrete base just disappear?!" How can a tree take its place? It's almost as if it never existed!" He looked up at us forlornly. "Perhaps this is why you have never heard of these things, never seen them and why these beasts are here... I'm in the wrong time." I couldn't help feel a little sorry for him. I walked up to him and crouched next to him, brushing the bangs out of my eye.
"We'll help you get through this. We'll find a way to send you home. Maybe the dragons have something to do with it," I was lost. I didn't know what else to say, "We'll find a way." He looked at me without moving his head.
"You'll do whatever you can?" he whispered.
"Yes." I nodded.
There was roar. I shot up like a bolt of lightening. I took a step backwards and twisted.
"Oh No, not now!" I groaned, "Hiccup get behind me!"
ANDERS
I watched in confusion, "What's going on?" I heaved myself to my feet.
"Stay back!" Hiccup cried. There was another roar.
"I said: What is going on?" I yelled. Hiccup turned to me and simply said "The Rogue," Yeah, that didn't sound too good.
The roar came again and I looked on in amazement as a huge dragon emerged above the treetops. It was incredible! It's scales were swathed in a shade of dark blue, with a far lighter shade on it's belly leading up to its chin. Its wings covered a surface area so large, I doubt I could even estimate it correctly. A pair of antler-like horns sprouted from the crest of its skull. It banked towards us gracefully, opened its mouth and...
... fired at us! A great sheet of flame burst from its jaws faster than I could comprehend. I stood there in awe as the fiery death flew at me. Suddenly, I felt myself being thrown to the floor. I shook my head and saw the black dragon that had held me down earlier.
"You again?!" I bawled. The dragon snapped its jaws and kept me down as the blanket of fire made contact. The heat seered my skin, but the beast on top of protected me. Considering I had pointed a revolver at it, it seemed remarkably selfless. The instant the flames disappeared it jumped off me and started hissing. The massive dragon flew over and bellowed as the black beast's hissing became a whine, then a screech. Then, it opened its mouth and shot a burning, blue fireball at the flying dragon. It screamed through the air with pinpoint accuracy and exploded, just before hitting the monster.
The flying beast yelped and dived to the floor, swooping above the grass and crashing down just metres away from me. It noticed Hiccup standing helplessly, growled and crawled over to him, snarling. Astrid screamed a battle cry as she rushed the dragon with her sword. It flicked her away with it's tail and continued on to Hiccup. The dragon above me leaped over and barrelled into the huge one with tremendous force sending them both sprawling. As the beasts did battle, I saw Hiccup run to the girl. The blue dragon that accompanied them kept watch but did not engage. I could see that the bigger dragon was overpowering
"Toothless!" I snapped my head to Hiccup, who was desperately trying to help the black dragon, but being held back by Astrid. I knew I could help. I had to do what I could to earn their trust.
I rose to full height and began sprinting back to the cove. No-one seemed to notice that I was gone as I dodged trees and jumped down the steps that lead to Maja. I knelt down next to her her fuselage and threw open the side compartment. Unsnapping the clasps, I reached in and tore out the Lee Enfield service rifle and my personal Mauser Kar98K. There was a rush of hot breath down my neck. I rotated my head to look over my shoulder and saw the blue bird-like dragon staring at me with a beady little eye, growling at me, probably to leave the guns. Slowly, I left the rifles where they were and backed away. Out of the corner of my sight, I saw my Smith and Wesson .38 and knuckle-duster knife. Biding my time, I turned to face the beast. Then, I darted to the side and grabbed the pistol and dashed up the steps. The dragon screeched as I made my way to the top. I would kill this 'Rogue' and show them I was a warrior.
HICCUP
"Toothless! No!" The tears burned my skin as I watched my Night Fury have the life drained from him. The Timberjack had his neck in its jaws and all of Toothless's struggling could release its grasp. I heard a roar from behind and curiosity got the better of me. I looked around and saw Stormfly chasing Anders. He was holding a dark object. He had gone back to the cove and retrieved his weapon! He halted and, holding the weapon in a two-handed grip, he shouted at the Rogue dragon.
"Die Devil Dog!" he tensed and the weapon spat. A whooshing sound sped past my ear and, an instant after the weapon had spoken, the Rogue Timberjack cried out in shock. I noticed that a small hole had appeared in its wing. It let go of Toothless, who limped away much to my relief. The Timberjack inspected its wing and then Anders. It seemed surprised. It's eyes gleamed with curiosity all violence drained away. It approached him slowly as if trying not to disturb a sleeping animal. But Anders wasn't having any of it. He kept his weapon trained on the dragon.
"One more step and I'll put a bullet through your head!" he screamed. No. I couldn't let him kill it, even if it was a rogue. I ran and threw myself at him just an instant before he fired again. The stubby black object rang out again, whatever projectile it used going wild. Anders stared at me, furious as I heard the flapping of large wings behind me.
"What the hell are you doing?! You let it get away!" Astrid came up to us and kicked Anders hard. He groaned at the impact.
"What in Odin's name did you think you were doing?" she yelled in frustration, "We don't kill dragons, so neither will you." He laughed sarcastically.
"Incredible! You plainly stated it was rogue, it comes within inches of killing your friend and then when I defend it, you tell me off?! Get your fucking priories right! OOF!" Another kick, "Ahhhh, get off of me you twerp." Referring to me? Oh thanks.
"Why do you have to be so demeaning?" I asked in annoyance. He gazed at us, his eyes blazing as he got up and dusted himself off.
"Because I thought that if I proved myself to you, you might trust me. Obviously I was wrong! In fact, I don't even know why I did it!" he spat.
Astrid and I looked at each-other and sighed,
"Look, you don't have to prove yourself to us, you just have to trust us..." Astrid said, "Anders? Anders, are you listening?" he didn't seem to be. In fact, he was just standing there. His eyes were wide open, the pupils dilated, his mouth open slightly showing some yellowed teeth,
"Anders what's wrong?" Astrid asked, but there was no response. Instead, he just cringed, opened his mouth and screamed.
ANDERS
You did it because of me!
No, I did to gain trust.
You shouldn't be gaining anyone's trust! Why did I trust you Anders? You left me there to die! Even when I screamed for you rescue us, you still stood there and watched in awe. Did you enjoy watching me, you love, die in that fire?
Maja! You should know I didn't! I wanted to help you! I willed my body to rush into the house, but it wouldn't respond! A part of me knew the Germans would shoot me on sight-
NO EXCUSE! We could've been joined in death! But you let your instinct take priority and you survived. You left us to die!
I'm sorry Maja! I avenged you! I avenged Mama! I avenged Papa! I avenged everyone! Why do you still not rest?!
Because you failed ME!
Pain filled my body. It felt like my skin was burning. It became too much. I cried out and fell to the floor. Why Maja? Why did you hurt me?
ERICH
"Have the Transition raketen I ordered been placed in the silo?"
"Jawohl, Mein Leutnant." The armaments officer acknowledged. I smiled and patted his shoulder.
"Gut, gut. Are the attachments for fitting them to the Drache also with them?" he stiffened slightly.
"I believe the Seydlitz has them Mein Leutnant." I frowned at him.
"The attachments are on board this ship Heinz!" I shouted, "Search the Hindenburg high and low until you have them in that silo! Dismissed!" the man jumped, saluted and scurried off. I buried my head in my hands. I swear I'm surrounded by imbeciles! This crew isn't like the Scharnhorst's. I looked at my watch. Just about a day and a half until the Seydlitz arrived with that helicopter. I smirked at he prospect of hunting down the Norwegian pilot who was lost in the past. I'd promised Herr Kapitan that I'd bring him back alive, but I didn't say he would be in one piece. I started laughing as I walked down the corridor. The pain I would cause was going to be intolerable!
Well guys, I hope you liked that chapter. I'm not that proud of this one, I feel I rushed it, but I will make up for it. I have some faithful readers I would like to thank sticking with this fic, especially Nutzkie who has provided me with some insight into this story. This story isn't anywhere near over, so don't go away! There will be some interesting plots, such as a sneaky deception, a hatred arch and a troubled start to a relationship. Stay tuned folks!
