12 Something Old, Something New

The sound of military boots rang from the marble floor and echoed down the entrance hall that led to the throne room. The Emperor waited there with his advisers standing all around him, and several sentries had just left his presence a few minutes before General Karoc strode in looking very concerned.

"I hope you have found an explanation for all of this" Emperor Scias sneered.

"Not err... entirely Your Highness; we have found the place outside the walls where the monsters were fighting but it is very difficult to find anything helpful in the dark. Perhaps in the morning..."

"Yes yes, in the morning" Scias sighed.

Like many powerful people, he was not a patient man and after hearing the sentries report, he wanted answers and he wanted them yesterday.

"Was there any sign at all of what it was the Phoenix was fighting against?"

"Phoenix Your Majesty?" the General looked confused.

"YES PHOENIX" the Emperor yelled back "THE GUARDS INFORMED ME THAT ONE OF THE MONSTERS BLAZED WITH GOLDEN FIRE; WHAT ELSE COULD IT BE BUT A PHOENIX?"

"Of course Your Highness" General Karoc was mentally kicking himself for not instantly agreeing with the Emperor about the idea of a Phoenix straight away and none of the people in the throne room that night had ever heard of a Monstrous Nightmare, or of their ability to set themselves on fire at will.

It was not as if the General did not know about Scias's obsession with all creatures strange and mythical. Many of the powerful and influential people of New Loren were aware that one of the best methods of gaining favour with their leader was to have a collection of rare and interesting animals, particularly the large and dangerous ones. What's more, it was customary that the first of any new species discovered, would be instantly offered to the Emperor for his own private collection. Scias's zoo had at one time or another held the first Snow Tiger, Polar Bear, Salt Water Crocodile and many other unfortunately short lived animals that had been brought to New Loren and never taken care of properly. But the creatures that Emperor Scias craved for more than any others, were the ones that most people believed that he could never have; the creatures of myth and legend. The General believed that these creatures could only be found in paintings and fanciful stories, but not Emperor Scias; he believed in them and he wanted them.

"The sentries reported to me that some of them could hear the sound of giant wings" the Emperor smiled "so what does that tell you?"

"It err... could mean that the Sky Riders have returned."

"YES" the Emperor shook with excitement "and this makes me wonder; what is it exactly that they are riding?"

"A... Phoenix Sir?" the General offered.

"Perhaps they have more than that General; a Griffin, a Pegasus, maybe even a Dragon.

"Oh... err yes Sir."

"I have also been informed that they appeared to be headed... south" the Emperor now looked very excited "and what does that tell you?"

"Baldcrest Hill Highness?"

"YES AGAIN; prepare your men and set out at once. Find out what you can and if possible, bring me one of their creatures."

"Err... yes Your Highness."

"One more thing General... when I say 'if possible', I mean... make... it... possible; do I make myself clear?"

"As crystal Your Majesty" General Karoc replied feeling the pressure "may I request to take the two children that Borges has imprisoned? Their local experience may be helpful."

"I wholeheartedly agree with you General, but unfortunately it seems that Borges foolishly placed them in one of the hanging cages and they were eaten by the Ghost of the Towers... which is why he is not here with us now but is instead up in the very same cage as we speak. Don't fail me General... unless you wish to join him."

"No Your Highness; understood."

Everything looked fuzzy to Sigrid as she slowly opened her eyes. Her head thumped with pain, the world could not make up its mind whether it was going to spin clockwise or anti-clockwise, and when she tried to speak the only word she manage was "Whalith"; hardly a classic oration by anyone's standard.

"Take it easy" Astrid tried to stop Sigrid from moving "you lost a lot of blood last night and you're lucky to be alive."

Sigrid was normally fond of the warmth she would receive from the morning sun, but today the intense light just gave her a greater headache.

"Whalapuh" she tried again and almost threw up.

"One of the arrows from last night nicked your right forearm" Astrid explained even though she was unsure if Sigrid could understand her yet "It opened up one of those big vanes and even though you held onto it tightly during the flight back, you almost bled to death. We've fixed you up as best we could but you still need rest, and lot's of it."

Astrid looked down at the red bandage "Looks like you won't be swinging a sword for a month or so and when you do, that may be my best change to get the better of you at last."

Sigrid did not try to speak again, but she did smile before she fainted back into a shallow sleep once more, giving Astrid some hope that her friend had indeed understood her. After putting a few more small logs on the fire, Astrid looked back at Sigrid curled up and sleeping peacefully while being warmed and protected by the dragon at her side.

"Good boy Skywolf" she grinned before turning to see yet another dragon, a smaller black one, with its rider asleep at its side.

Astrid sighed and her face flushed with love as she pondered the young man in front of her; she was so proud of him after what had happened last night. When Sigrid had fallen from her saddle, Hiccup jumped into action rushing to her side and quickly assessing the situation. As soon as he noticed all the blood, he tore off his shirt and wrapped it tightly around Sigrids forearm, holding it firmly while barking out orders for bandages, blankets and something strong to clean the wound. The night was very cold so Hiccup had remained awake well into the wee small hours keeping the fire strong, even though Sigrid had the body of her dragon to keep her warm. When Astrid had relieved him, just before first light, she could not help but noticed that he was a little upset. At first this surprised her, but she had pondered on it while he slept and it soon all became clear to her.

Everybody had been shocked by Ivar's death in the Battle of Staggshund, but no one had felt it worse than Hiccup because it was he who had led the Dragon Riders that day and it was he who bore the ultimate responsibility for the outcome. For even though it was a great victory, it had come at a very great price for the Dragon Riders, the people of Staggshund and their enemies.

Everyone was alive today, but Astrid knew that although Hiccup had been strong and resourceful at the time, yesterday he had almost lost the love of his life, a young boy and a good friend all in the space of only a few hours. It was not easy being a leader and having the responsibility for everyones wellbeing sitting firmly on your shoulders, but Hiccup was a good... no... Hiccup was a great leader; she had learnt that fact the day he had led the trainees in the Battle of Dragon Island and defeated the Red Death. That day he had only lost his leg, but in Staggshund... there he had lost a life.

She sat down with the dozing Hiccup and whispered in his ear "I love you, you know."

"Good" he stirred "don't ever stop."

He wriggled a little closer to her and nodded off again with his head in her lap.

There are not many things in this world that can drastically change the average spider's outlook on life, but when that spider has the ability to read the thoughts and emotions of anyone nearby, and the closest person to him at the present time just happens to be a brave and mighty Viking Shield Maiden/Dragon Rider, then something weird is definitely on the cards.

Dylan strode along on the top of the metal studded leather band that encircled Astrids head and grinned at the world around him (I'll bet you didn't know that spiders could do that). He had just spent the night out hunting and had managed to bag himself a nice mosquito that had expected to have a quick liquid lunch on Astrid's forehead, but had instead ended up as lunch itself. In Dylans mind though, it wasn't a mosquito, it was a roasted chicken and he was not a spider, but a big blue dragon; Astrids thoughts and dreams were having a much greater effect on Dylan than he ever could have imagined.

Just before noon, Sigrid managed to wake up once more and although she still felt very weak, the world seemed much more coherent to her, so she tried to sit up.

"Ooooh... what happened" she asked as her head continued to ache.

"Look at your arm" Astrid suggested "no... the other arm."

"Oh yeah" Sigrid realised "I forgot; how did that happen again?"

"An arrow."

"Oh... yeah... of course" she stared at her arm with a blank expression "When?"

"Last night"

"Right... where?"

"New Loren Castle."

"Oh" Sigrid fell back with a thump against Skywolf.

"Oh wow... I look awful" she noted as she looked up.

"That's not a mirror" Astrid informed her "that's your dragon."

"In that case I look pretty good" she grinned and drifted off again.

Astrid chuckled a little but her expression soon changed.

"Hiccup" she whispered to the sleeping young man and shook his shoulder "there's someone approaching."

"It's probably just Fothers and Victor coming back from their little scouting trip."

"No... it's someone else... it's almost like..." Astrid stopped and thought, and then she smiled.

"Hello Darius; up to your old tricks again I see?"

"Now that is very annoying" Darius Gershwin huffed as he came closer to the camp "I was really trying to stay hidden that time; how do you do it."

"Never try to 'out stealth' someone who trains with a Deadly Nadder" Hiccup smirked as he stood up and yawned.

"What's a Deadly Nadder?" asked Darius Gershwin the master spy.

Although he had met Stormfly and Toothless the last time Astrid and Hiccup were in New Loren, he was still unschooled about the many different breeds of dragon.

"The Nadder is the blue one sitting next to the..." Hiccup stopped and looked around "hey... where's Ghost?"

"He took off over an hour ago" Astrid informed them "I think he's gone hunting. You're very lucky you didn't meet him out there Darius; Ghost is still a wild dragon and you could have easily ended up as his breakfast."

"I think I did see... well... shall we say... encounter something, because I certainly didn't see it."

"Yeah, Ghost is a Changewing and they have the most amazing powers of camouflage you'll never see; but if he was in your vicinity, then you did a great job in hiding from him" Astrid admitted.

"You may be better than me..."

"Nice to hear you admit it" Astrid grinned.

"...but I'm not completely without skill" Darius looked hurt.

"Alright, I'm sorry; want to join us for lunch?"

"I'd be delighted" he replied sitting down near Toothless who snorted quietly "I've been travelling ever since we last met so it will be nice to have a meal with, I hope you don't mind me saying, friends. So what brings you two and your... hmmm... injured friend back to New Loren? I certainly doubted that I'd ever see you here again so soon."

"Shall we tell him?" Astrid asked.

"May as well" Hiccup shrugged "if we don't, Fothers will."

"Fothers?" Darius look at Hiccup suspiciously.

"Yeah I wanted to ask you; do you know a couple of young guys named Fotherington and Victor?"

"Indeed yes" Darius almost laughed "Fotherington was my apprentice and Victor is his assistant. Where did you meet them?"

"Are you kidding me? Where do all the most fashionable spies hang out in New Loren?"

"Ah... Baldcrest Hill."

"Baldcrest Hill indeed; we sort of press ganged them into helping us with a little task" Hiccup informed him.

"I wouldn't say that Hiccup" Astrid disagreed "they wanted to help."

"So what was this... little task you've been up too?"

"We had a very strong feeling that your Emperor may have believed that our presence was part of an invasion from Elydonia... and it's not, so we've been planting a few seeds of misdirection just to prevent a war; nothing too mischievous."

"The last time we met you went east" Darius looked at them with even more suspicion "but that's not where you're from either, is it?"

"You will have to excuse me Darius, but I don't completely trust you yet so I don't think I will say much more about that. So then, what have you been up to since last we met?"

"I have been checking into what you've been up to" the elder spy laughed "Lurking in the south of New Loren, doing your own spying in a fishing village, fighting with traders, and you don't trust me?"

"Yeah... okay... we did do all that... but it was kind of necessary."

"Don't worry I understand; if you hadn't released those dragons you can be sure that at least one of them would have ended up with Emperor Scias and even though I used to indirectly work for him, I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw a warship."

"Is that a hobby of yours?" Hiccup grinned.

"I had the distinct displeasure of meeting this Emperor Scias yesterday" Astrid informed Darius "as well as General Karoc and a nasty piece of work named..."

"Not Borges?" Darius was startled.

"Oh... you know him then?"

"At one time I was going to train him, but he was too... well I'd rather not say."

"Psychotic?" Astrid offered.

"You said it, I didn't" Darius Agreed "Well then... you're lucky to be still alive... and intact."

"Thanks to Victor; he posed as my younger brother and covered for me when I couldn't answer their questions properly. Ghost scared Borges away before he could really get started on the torture and then Hiccup and Toothless got us out of the castle."

"Wait a minute; are you telling me that the dragon you called Ghost, the err... Changewing, is really The Ghost of the Tower?"

"He sure is... or was."

This conversation would have gone on for a lot longer had it not been for the return of Darius's former pupils. Without trying to hide their approach in the slightest, the two young men burst into the camp with important news.

"We've got important news" Fotherington declared but then he saw the smiling man at the campfire "Milord; when did you..."

"Good day Fothers" the master grinned.

"Oh not you too" Fotherington glared at Hiccup "I blame you for this."

For me, the most surprising thing about this chapter, is that I managed to belt it out in one day (even though it did need a lot of polishing later) but I have been working on chapter 13 for three days now and it still isn't even half done yet. Writing is a weird hobby.