25 Shadows in the Night

There was not much for Victor to do while dragons and Vikings of all different shapes and sizes, busily prepared for the attack (most prepared by sleeping). He was aware of the young girl watching him as he cooked some fish for the hungry Vikings, but he just ignored her and hoped she would go away.

"Hello" she said at last "my name's Freya and this is Swiftwing."

"Nice dragon" he replied "you must be very proud."

"Yup... she's one of Stormfly's."

"One of Stormfly's what?" Victor asked.

"One of her babies" Little Freya giggled "you're silly."

"I'm silly? You're the one calling that huge dragon a baby."

"She grew up" Freya noted.

"Obviously" Victor agreed.

"She was on the ship, but Hiccup got her back for me."

"Good for him."

"He says he's going to get my Mom back soon... as well as all the others of course."

"Of course; I'm sure he will" Victor smiled.

"Are you going to help?" Freya asked.

"Are you?" Victor enquired.

"No... Hiccup won't let me go; he's making me wait here."

"Then yes; I'm going to help too."

King Joric shivered in the night air as he stood outside the Imperial Coach. While many people in the world often dream about 'Getting away from it all', Emperor Scias was not one of those people; he liked to take it all with him, and he did not like to share any of it. The coach drivers and footmen had unhitched the team of eight black horses that drew the coach, and taken them off somewhere to be stabled for the night leaving the drivers bench free for Borges to use in his fruitless attempt to get some sleep. Emperor Scias of course, was alone and rugged up cosily inside his carriage while his personal soldiers took hour long rotating shifts outside with orders to stand watch while making sure that the Elydonian King was not even permitted to sit down, let alone sleep. Exhaustion took hold of Joric a few times though and he would collapse on the ground until a hard soled boot roused him again, and two soldiers would pick him up roughly and place him back on his feet once more.

Meanwhile over on the Mighty Ivar, Fotherington made one last attempt to get everything ready before the Dragon Riders attacked in a few hours; he did this by making a request of General Karoc before he returned to his own ship for the night.

"Excuse me General" he approached just as Karoc prepared to climb down to the longboat.

"What is it Caruthers; can't it wait till tomorrow?"

"Well it's about tomorrow sir" Fotherington leaned in and whispered "If we're going to make port in the morning, shouldn't we put the rude prisoner back with the others so she will be presentable when we arrive? I hear rumours that that Emperor himself may just be there to have his first look at his new dragons."

The General considered what Fotherington had said, but only briefly.

"No Caruthers" he declared adamantly "I want those people to get the message; they serve us now and they'd better show some respect if they want to go on living."

"Very good sir" Fotherington saluted and stepped back as the General departed.

"What did the General say?" an Imperial Sailor asked as Karoc was taken away from the Mighty Ivar.

"He said he wanted her left down below for a full five hours" Fotherington lied "so we don't let her out for another twenty minutes."

This seemed to satisfy the men nearby as the kind of thing General Karoc would have said, and if all went according to plan tonight, Fotherington and the Dragon Riders would all be long gone before the General ever found out what really happened.

'Assuming Karoc still survived tomorrow' Fotherington thought to himself.

"Are you sure it was the Tower Ghost you saw?" a junior officer enquired of the two guards who had fled their post.

"We didn't see anything sir; that's why we're sure that it is the Tower Ghost" the first informed him.

"The ghost is back sir" the second added "and I think the prisoners brought it with them."

This last comment brought a look of surprise from the officer and titters of laughter from the men in his platoon.

"Right... well... I suppose you'd better go back up and see if the prisoners are still alive."

"B-b-but sir..."

"No buts" the officer turned and pointed to two other guards standing nearby "you two go with them and report back what you find."

All the giggling stopped as soon as the men in the platoon realised that any one of them may be sent up the tower at any time. The four who had been ordered up began their long journey up the spiral stairs very delicately, trying not to make the wooden steps creak too loudly, lest they alert the ghost to their presence. Little did they know that Tuffnut and the Elydonian sailors had come up with a plan of their own; so the further up the guards climbed, the more stone rubble and broken beams they found littering the steps. It was hard to see anything in the half moon light and as they peered into the darkness, all they could make out were a few empty cages still hanging on the outside wall. They did not realise that they had just made a grave error; in their assumption that the ghost would still be near to the now demolished roof, nobody thought to check the cages a few flights down from the top as they passed by. The shutters were closed, so it was assumed that if there were still prisoners those cages, they would still be safely locked up; the guards were very wrong. After they had passed by, Tuffnut and two of his allies snuck in the window behind the quartet and crept up the steps behind them while at the same time, Dylan lowered himself on to the back of one unfortunate soldier's neck with his invisible thread. Further up, the rest of the Elydonians lay in wait to take the guards in a pincer trap.

"NOW!" Tuffnut yelled as the guards neared the top.

The sudden cry had the double effect of making the nervous soldiers jump, as well as turn them around; one squealed in pain as a small pin was stabbed into the top of his shoulder. The sailors rose up from where they had hidden by covering themselves in rubble, and attacked the guards from behind with hard lengths of wood. As they fell back down the steps, Tuffnuts team jumped onto the stunned men stripping them of swords and shields.

"What's your name?" Tuffnut demanded to know as he twisted one guards arm behind his back.

"Ahh... oww... Oppenson" the man revealed.

As soon as the information had been obtained, Tuffnut nodded to one of the sailors who hurried a little way down the stairs before shouting out below.

"OH NO... THE GHOST OF THE TOWER HAS BITTEN OPPENSON'S HEAD OFF."

This had the desired effect of scaring the junior officer and discouraging any further attempt to send soldiers up the tower; in fact, he and the men under his command soon hurried out the door in the towers base and onto the palace roof.

"Lock it" he ordered "and let's get out of here.

"Seriously Hiccup; I know the layout of the area below deck and can get to Astrid and her friends much quicker than you could" Victor begged "and besides... I really want to go."

"You're not just trying to get away from Little Freya are you?" Hiccup crossed his arms and looked at victor suspiciously.

"Maybe... a bit" Victor averted Hiccup's gaze "okay yes, but I really do want to help and you know how well I can slip by the soldiers on the ship unseen."

"Don't sweat it Victor" Hiccup grinned at last "I was going to ask you to come with us anyway."

"What? Why you rotten..." the young man huffed.

"HICCUP" Starkard called out from his lookout post on the high ground of the small island "THERE'S A DRAGON APPROACHING FROM THE EAST."

Even the sleeping Vikings began to stir at the vocal news report as the sound of beating wings grew steadily louder in their ears. Nobody from the Dragon Riders tasked with shadowing the ships was due back before the attack, so everyone was concerned that their plans had fallen over before they were even begun; but that concern turned into pleasant surprise as the Changewing set down near the largest campfire.

"SNOTLOUT!" Hiccup cried out "You would not believe how glad I am to see you; how did you escape... and where did you escape from?"

"I've come from that palace tower Astrid told us about last year... thanks to Ghost" he informed the gathering crowd "so... Olaf managed to get word to you after all."

"It was Stormfly and Little Freya actually" Kara told Snotlout.

"Your timing is perfect" Hiccup added "we're about to go and get our dragons back, and then rescue everyone else; what can you tell us that will help?"

"Okay... get this; Astrid, Ruff and Fishlegs are still on the Mighty Ivar..."

"That much we know" Hiccup pointed out "what happened to everyone else?"

"General Karoc sent us off on these ships they've got called... um... Clappers I think; they're flimsy compared to the warships but fast, so when we reached New Loren, we were all marched off to the city... all except for King Joric."

"What happened to him..." Hiccup started to have a sinking feeling "did they execute him?"

"Well... they hadn't when we left; the captain of the ship I was on, wanted to hand Joric over to the Emperor personally... to get on his good side I guess. Oh... and that spy guy was with us for a while, but he snuck off before we got to the city walls."

"Yes... that makes sense" Hiccup thought "Victor is here and Fothers is on the ship with the dragons, so we've got eyes everywhere. Is everyone in the tower then?"

"Are you kidding? We'd never fit. Me and Tuff were sent up with a dozen or so sailors and the rest got sent down to the dungeon."

"Memories of our first days in Bolthorn eh?" Hiccup smiled.

"Yeah... so what's your plan?"

"The plan has just been changed... now that we have our Changewing on side again" Hiccup smiled as he patted Ghost on the shoulder.

Ruffnut had tried to keep her feet out of the icy brine that sloshed around the ships keel, but her leg muscles couldn't hold them up forever. By the time Fotherington managed to convince the guard manning the lower hatch that her punishment was well and truly up, her lower legs had gone completely numb.

"Come on then" Fotherington helped the shivering girl out of the bilge and half carried her back to the dragon pen where Fishlegs and Astrid awaited her.

"Quickly... take this" he tossed the Dragon Riders a stolen blanket as they took their freezing friend to the back of the pen.

"Thanks" Astrid smiled "I didn't think Karoc was capable of any mercy."

"She was supposed to stay down there till morning" Fotherington informed them "but what he doesn't know, won't hurt him... or me. Try covering her legs with straw; it will help to insulate them."

"Berk is an ice block for most of the year" Fishlegs noted with a smile "so we know how to deal with the cold."

"Yes... of course; I'll try and get you all some food soon" and with that, Fotherington closed the door to the pen and disappeared.

"H-he's c-cute" Ruffnut shivered "I th-think I'm starting t-to l-like him."

"How ya doin' Sigrid?" Big Freya asked her friend as she tried to get comfortable in their cell; a fruitless idea at best.

"Oh... I'm fine... but I'm worried about Joric."

"Hey now, I'm sure he's fine" Freya insisted "this Emperor guy is bound to want to show off who he's captured so they won't harm him yet."

"I hope your right" Sigrid sighed.

"I know I am... and we'll get him back for you as soon as we get out of here so you just relax and take care of that little royal Viking growin' inside of you."

"It's funny really" Sigrid noted; she contemplated her belly even though it was too early in her pregnancy for it to be protruding much "I was so scared that my life would change with the baby... no more adventures and such... and that was why I so wanted to go on this trip with you all."

"Are you kidding? Just look at my Little Freya; It was a real adventure raising her during the last few years of the dragon war... and then I got to teach her about dragon riding."

"Which is probably why she spent so much of her fifth year stealing Nadders" Sigrid smiled.

"No... that was Astrid's fault."

"It's nice to have someone else to blame... but my baby is going to be heir to the throne of Bolthorn... so I don't think I'll be able to raise him or her how I would have back on Berk."

"Hey... no; it's your baby so only you and Joric have final word on that" Freya insisted.

"But what if Joric says..."

"Oh what if – what if" Freya Huffed "And what if Joric burries his feet in the ground and calls himself a tree? Stop worrying about things that haven't happened yet."

"And besides that" a voice spoke from the cell opposite "everyone in Bolthorn Castle thinks you are simply wonderful Your Majesty... so I don't think anyone would be upset if you raised your child up to be just like you."

Sigrid leapt to her feet and peered out through the tiny bar covered window in the door. In the pale torch light, she could see than many of her people and a few Vikings too, were intently listening to the 'not very private' conversation, but the face she could see in the opposite cell made her smile uncontrollably and brought a small tear to her eye.

"Toki! I haven't seen you since you helped me and Astrid escape from Prince Nainn. Hey Freya, it's Toki; he..."

"Helped you and Astrid escape from Prince Nainn... I heard."

"Where have you been; what have you been up too?" Sigrid asked.

"I slipped away with most of the crew after your escape... just in case King Rekkur thought it was our fault that you got away."

"It was your fault" Sigrid noted.

"True... well we all laid low for a while, until word got to us that Captain Joric Thorn was the new King and after that, it was back to the navy. I would have liked to have said hello during our journey, but I was on the Noble Pigg for the trip, and then I was taken prisoner on the other Clipper when she went down."

"Did you mean what you said?" Sigrid asked "Do you really think everyone would be happy to have your future ruler raised as a dragon riding Viking?"

"YES!" a chorus of Elydonian voices echoed throughout the dungeon

"Thank you Toki; thank you everyone" she sighed "I won't let you down."

"And we won't let you down" her friend replied.

"Sounds like you've got a few fans" Gobber noted from down the corridor.

A little bit of fluff before the action starts up.

Thanks for reading :-)