30 A Nice Little Dungeon In The Country
"Are you sure about these changes in the plan Hiccup?"
"It's still the same plan Helga... mostly... and besides, what Darius suggested made perfect sense."
"But you always said that you didn't trust him."
"I had my doubts, that's true" Hiccup petted his purring dragon.
"So what changed your..."
But the conversation stopped abruptly when Fishlegs burst though the bushes, puffing and panting.
"It worked Hiccup" he announced "there's a whole bunch of guys coming this way."
"Good work Fishlegs" Hiccup nodded "Keep leading Meatlug down the road in front of them... and let them get a little closer; we want them to think they're doing okay."
"Oh...(huff) alright" Fishlegs ran off once more keeping out of sight, just off the road while his dragon hovered nearby.
"Well... no turning back now" Helga sighed.
Hiccup signalled Starkard on the far side of the road, to stay down as the soldiers jogged past. When the last one moved well out of sight from the city, he gave Toothless the nod to act. The black dragon lifted his head and roared out, causing the troops to stop in their tracks. They didn't have much time to be confused before dragons began bursting out of the trees, flying by so low and so fast that none of the soldiers had any time to react. They came from the forest and just flew straight through to the other side, like sub-sonic chickens in a bad joke. On every pass, each dragon took care of several of the enemy by grabbing one or two in their huge claws and knocking the others over with wings and tails; panic gripped the soldiers and they froze to the spot as their numbers rapidly dwindled.
A quarter of a mile away and over by the old barn, Elydonians and Vikings stood in a semi circle around the only intact stone wall, and processed their prisoners as they arrived. The act of processing a New Loran prisoner worked thusly: A dragon would fly by and drop the soldier it held from a height of about twelve to fifteen feet off the ground before flying back to grab another one from the road. While the soldier was busy spitting dirt out of his mouth, he would be disarmed and lightly tapped on the head with the hilt of a sword or the handle of a battleaxe before being given a very specific order.
"GO SIT DOWN BY THE WALL... AND DON'T MOVE OR I'LL CUT YOUR HEAD OFF."
"The Elydonians were very impressed at the results these words achieved and so, to the Vikings delight, they began copying them word for word." It was not long before the road was cleared of soldiers, so Hiccup and the riders with him picked up the nets and flew back to the farm.
"That worked well" Mulch noted to Hiccup as he arrived "let's hope the rest of the rescue goes as smoothly."
"Yup" Starkard agreed "I just did a head count and we've got fifty seven soldiers here."
A cheer sounded out at their success, but Hiccup had a feeling that moral would soon fall when Helga asked him a question.
"How many do you think are left in the city and the palace?" she smiled.
"Oh... about two or three um... thousand" Hiccup admitted.
Everyone in ear shot fell completely silent at the revelation; if only Hiccup could have reached inside a rip in time and space and pulled out a smartphone, he would have loved to have taken a picture of their faces at that moment.
"We haven't got a hope" Ack declared.
"Now wait a minute" Hiccup objected "Darius just succeeded in getting a large number of their best troops to come out here alone and we took them easily."
"But there's thousands more in there" Kara objected.
"Yes that's true, but Darius told me all about them before he left" Hiccup informed his worried people.
"More than half of the men we'll come up against are the City Watch and they are basically police, who are more used to dealing with pickpockets and petty thieves; they'll probably run screaming from a dragon. The men on the walls are used to doing nothing more than patrolling and reporting; they train for war but no army has attacked this place in four generations so we'll just keep them busy on the perimeter and they should be no trouble.
"The most dangerous and highly trained soldiers are the Emperors Personal Guard and they are all down at the naval port guarding the Emperor, so we won't have to worry about them; some would have been killed and many injured when the ships blew up anyway. The rest of the Palace Guard are mainly for ceremonial purpose and made up of older officers who can't keep up with the younger men in the platoons. As for the platoons themselves, we have already taken out one completely leaving three more; one hundred and fifty men in total... and more than half won't be on duty anyway."
"But the Emperor must have more soldiers than that to run an empire" Starkard noted.
"He does" Hiccup nodded "and they are spread out over the entire country, along its borders and patrolling its waters... in other words... not here; so if we can keep our heads and the rest of the plan goes just as smoothly, then we should be in and out before the day is through."
"And considering that our only other choice is to leave our friends behind and run like cowards, I say it's time to get on with it" Mulch declared to a general murmur of agreement.
"Right then" Hiccup nodded "Let's get us some new clothes."
"Astrid... over here" Victors voice was barely above a whisper as Astrid and her dragon moved quietly through the trees outside the naval base.
"Any sign of King Joric?" she asked as she approached him.
"I assume that means you didn't find anything either" Victor sighed.
"On the contrary" Astrid noted "Hundreds of people must have fled through the forest after the explosion, so if Joric was one of them, we've got no hope of finding his trail without something to give Stormfly so she can get his scent."
"Well I may not know where he is, but I did learn where he was" Victor informed her "Give me ten more minutes and I'll see if I can find you something."
The Dragon Riders found it quite funny to leave the poor soldiers tied up while dressed only in their underwear, but Vikings always did have a course sense of humour.
"Are you sure you'll be okay with just the four of you heading into the city?" Kara asked.
"And sixteen Elydonians" Hiccup noted.
"But we've got more than thirty leftover uniforms" Ack argued "so why don't you take more of us?"
"Two reasons" Hiccup answered "Firstly, I need as many riders as possible on dragons during the next stage of the plan, and secondly... well... no offence but an Elydonian in an Imperial Soldiers uniform looks like an Imperial Soldier, but an adult Viking in an Imperial Soldiers uniform looks like a Viking going to a fancy dress party; that's why I'm only taking Ruffnut, Fishlegs and Snotlout."
"Fair enough" Kara agreed.
The officer in charge of the gate felt a shiver move up his body as his hair stood on end. It was one thing to have an old man from the docks come and talk of platoons, nets and flying cows, but it was something else altogether to see twenty soldiers walking back towards the city with five dragons in their charge. Citizens ran from the gate, some inside and some away from the city, while guards left their posts and just stood in awe with their captain. All along the city walls, patrolmen stopped patrolling and just stood opened mouthed as the procession slowly drew nearer.
In the front was the flying cow and a second dragon just like it, but now they were much closer, the officer could see that they looked less like cows and more like moving geological formations. Behind them was what could only be described as a giant black salamander with huge folded wings and a tail that was red on one side, while the fourth dragon was even bigger. It was deep red with deeper markings; the horns on its head made it look like something from a child worst nightmare (if they only knew the appropriate name of the breed). The fifth and final dragon brought the most gasps of awe as it passed by; it had two heads and was so tall, that it had to duck them both down to fit under the massive portcullis.
"This is working better than I expected" Fishlegs whispered to Hiccup.
This part of their rescue plan was indeed going well; the citizens and City Watch members just backed away, some even ran, as the dragons approached and the soldiers at the gate were so pre-occupied that they did not notice that some of the soldiers walking alongside the dragons, were far too short to be in the New Loran Imperial Army (A few did notice but assumed that they must only look short when standing next to a dragon); and no one noticed either that one of the short soldiers had a shiny metal leg.
"Keep your eyes forward and don't look at anyone" Hiccup told Ruffnut who was staring at the beautiful city with wonder.
"KEEP BACK EVERYONE" one of the Elydonian sailors, resplendent in his stolen Imperial uniform, told those in the crowd who dared to come closer to the dragons "THEY MAY LOOK CALM NOW, BUT WE'VE ALREADY HAD FIFTEEN MEN LOSE THEIR LIVES TO THESE BEASTS."
His words certainly had the desired effect as even more people ceased gawking and hurried away; Hookfang certainly helped when he gave an ear splitting roar that echoed off the walls of the buildings and through the streets of the capital.
"Good boy" Snotlout grinned from under his shiny Imperial Battle Helmet.
The Guards at the palace entrance were not going to be as easy to handle as the men at the City Gate, but Hiccup had a few ideas in mind. He noted what he had come to know as the 'normal' series of reactions that the guards gave the escorted dragons as they approached. At first he could see a combination of wonder and fear when the dragons first came into view, but the fear began to grow when the guards realised that these horrific creatures were not simply passing by, but were actually being led straight towards the palace. The temptation to run and/or wet their pants was soon replaced by a kind of false bravado, upon accepting the fact that these creatures were apparently under the control of their own countrymen. The palace guards did not want to appear to be cowards, so they continued to stand to attention at their posts with javelins pointed to the sky; they also hoped that no one would notice the slight hint of ammonia in the air.
"Make way for the Emperors Dragons" the false Imperial Soldier leading the group declared.
"Y-you want to bring them... in here?" one of the guards asked in absolute surprise "Inside the palace?"
"Those are our orders; we are to take them through to the central courtyard to await Emperor Scias's inspection."
"B-but they're wild, dangerous beasts" the guard protested "Wouldn't it be better to take them around to the rear courtyard?"
"Yes indeed...in fact I think it would have been better not to bring them into the city at all."
"Oh good" the guard sighed.
"But I'm more afraid of what the Emperor will do to me if I don't do as he commands, than I am of these dragons... and besides, they may be dangerous but they're not wild; they're wearing saddles... see?" the guards looked back to discover that this soldier spoke the truth.
"Why are they wearing saddles?" the guard asked.
"I assume because it's easier than riding them bareback" the Elydonian in wolves clothing declared.
"We captured them from the Wild Vikings" Hiccup spoke up "so the Emperor wants to force the prisoners to show us how to ride on them; just imagine it... you could be among the first members of the New Loren Imperial Dragon Force."
"Err... no... I can't imagine that at all" the guard declared as his partner nodded in agreement "it's our job to guard the palace entrance, and that's where we'll stay."
"Fair enough" Hiccup resigned himself as he started off into the palace again with the others following close behind.
"You're a pretty good actor" Hiccup whispered to his Elydonian ally as they entered the great marble entrance hall.
"Thank you" he replied as nobles, officials and servants ran screaming off in all directions at the first sight of the dragons "I played the lead role in more than one of our 'End of Year' plays at the Royal Elydonian Naval Academy. Maybe we should just ask to have the prisoners brought to us here."
"No; we stick to the plan" Hiccup ordered.
"I agree; panic is our friend" Snotlout declared.
As they moved purposefully through the main entrance hall, Hiccup nodded at the one man who wasn't scurrying quickly away; Darius smiled and nodded back.
Victor moved stealthily through the grounds of the port and back to warehouse; the wheel repairing craftsman had previously pointed it out to him as the location of the Emperor's murder. He entered through a side door and tried to put himself in the fleeing Kings shoes.
"Okay... bang, fire, general panic; I get away in the confusion and see a warehouse to hide in, so what do I do, where do I go?"
As he looked at all the possible places to hide another thought come to mind.
"But I don't want to be here long, so I've got to find an escape route" Victor pondered "I need a good viewpoint... the roof."
As he scanned for a ladder and a roof hatch, Victor noticed the steps leading to the upper level walkway and the many small shuttered windows along its length.
"Even better" he nodded to himself.
The line 'Panic is our friend' was inspired by something Midoriko once told me about commas. Aren't you glad I told you that? :-D