I'm trying out a different type of writing with this story; point of view writing. I changed the rating to T because I was looking over my notes for this story and I realized it wasn't going to be as M as I thought it would be so I changed the rating. If something does come up, I'll just say it in the AN. Like for this chapter there will be some language and violence. Even thought his name will be Hendry for the story, when notifying POV's, I'll still say Hiccup's POV. Quick heads up, sorry of the bad description of the castle but please bear with me. And for every character, with the exception of Merida, it's AU. Enjoy!
Chapter #2: Arrival at DunBroch
Hiccup's POV
I had left my village early this morning. The sun had already reached its highest peak in the sky and was slowly moving to the west but I still had little less than a mile to walk before I reached the castle. Traveling long distances when you're a cripple in no easy task. During the journey, I had already stopped a few times to have a quick rest. At one point I considered putting on a prosthetic but I quickly dismissed the thought; I'd be spending much more time trying to temporarily relieve the pain than actually nearing the castle.
I looked down the path and faintly in the distance I could make out the faint shape of a castle. Seeing the castle sent a wave of relief through me and I quickened my pace ever so slightly. Suddenly, I heard the faint beat of several horses behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see three horse riders, one leading and the other two following, move towards me at top speed. I could tell that they weren't going to move for me, so I moved as fast as I could to the side of the road but sadly I had misjudged the speed of the horses. When they were only a few meters away from me, I was nowhere the edge of the road and I felt a leg kick me hard in the back. I feel to the forest floor face first and heard the horses come to a stop. When I sat up, I saw the leader looking at me in disgust. The first thing I noticed wasn't his black hair, his blood-red tartan, his lean body, or his fine warhorse that clearly stated that he was a lord. The first thing I noticed about him was a scar over his right eye. It had dried blood on it, giving away that it was a recent wound, but surprisingly his eyeball looked unharmed. As I looked at him, I had a feeling in my gut that he was the one that had kicked me,
"Watch where you're walking, cripple!" He yelled at me. When I didn't reply, he rode closer towards me and spat on the ground. He turned his horse around and galloped towards the castle with the other riders following him close. I waited until the horsemen were out of sight before I attempted to get back on my foot. I took me at least 5 minutes but I got back up,
"The nobility has little respect for the common folk," I thought sourly as I continued down the path towards the castle.
Still Hiccup's POV
There was still an hour until sunset when the outer wall came in sight. The castle truly was a building built for war. The outer wall was at least 3 meters thick and the gate doors were reinforced with steel. From the top of the wall was the perfect place for archers to shoot at the enemy. As I walked through the gate doors, I was given distasteful looks from the guards but luckily no insults. Behind the outer wall was the town, which usually was a lot more lively and busy but since it was nearing sunset everybody was either finishing up the day's work or at the local tavern, drinking and laughing to their heart's content. As I looked straight ahead of me, I saw the inner wall, a structure just as tall as the outer but twice as thick. And behind all that was the massive castle, home of the King, the Queen, the Princess, and the three Princes. The castle also served as a temporary home for the Lords Dingwall, MacIntosh, MacGuffin, and the powerful and much hated Lord MacInroy.
As I kept walking through the market, I noticed a group of about 6 men leaning against a closed stall, all of them laughing at some unheard joke. All of them were wearing a similar blood-red tartan while only 4 of them wore a short-sleeved black shirt underneath it. One of the men noticed me and said something to the others. I ignored them and kept walking.
"Where are you off to, cripple?" I heard one of them yell but I ignored him and kept walking. How I wished they would let me be. I heard powerful paces head towards me and then a kick behind the knee of my good leg. I landed on my chest and I heard the group of men laughing at me, the one who kicked me, who was mostly likely the leader, laughed the loudest. I turned onto my back and tried to get my crutch but the leader took it and twirled it in his hand,
"Looking for this, cripple?" He asked in a mocking tone. I sat up and tried to grab my crutch but he quickly moved it out of my reach, letting out another laugh. The other men approached me and the leader threw the crutch aside, "Still being silent?" he sneered at me but I still remained silent. The leader looked at the other men, "Let's teach this bit of vermin some manners!" As soon as he finished, one of the men tore my bag from my shoulder and threw it off to the side. The leader stepped forward and kicked me hard on the side. I grunted loudly, causing them to laugh, and I rolled onto my unharmed side. Before I knew it, one of them kicked me hard in the stomach, pushing all the air out of my lungs and earning more laughter for the group. They kicked me anywhere their legs could reach; my back, my stomach, my lungs, anywhere. Luckily none of them kicked my head. With each impact I groaned loudly but I was determined not to scream. When I was given another kick, the leader yelled, "I think cripple has had enough!" I looked at his hideous face and he turned and left, the others following him closely. As I sat up, I thought I heard a snap of wood but I dismissed it as I finally began to feel the pain in my stomach and back.
"Are you alright?" I heard a voice ask. I looked to my left and saw a girl kneeling down beside me. She was probably around my age and I noticed immediately that she was very beautiful. She had golden blonde hair, which she wore in a braid that reached to about mid-back, large green eyes, peach skin, rosy cheeks, and a few freckles splattered on her face. She was wearing a full-length, simple light green dress with dirty white sleeves and a strap around her waist of the same white color. She quite a bit shorter than I was with a slender build. Before I could reply, the group came back but this time they went after the girl,
"Look at this, boys!" The leader yelled. He laughed and grabbed the girl by her shoulder, lifting her to her feet, "The Anglo-Saxon whore is back!" The leader laughed louder and threw her into the group of men. The girl screamed and began to struggle as the men began to touch her everywhere, particularly her breasts and in-between her legs.
"HEY!" Somebody yelled and before I knew it, a man was by the large group and took the girl from their clutches. "Keep your hands off of my wife!" he yelled at them, pointing a finger at them. The leader stepped forward and laughed,
"You call this bitch your wife?" He pointed at the girl, who was standing behind her rescuer. The two men gave each other looks that could kill and were about to engage when a castle guard ran to them and broke them up.
"That enough!" called the guard, stepping in-between the two men, "This is the 4th time in little over a week." He gave both men a stern look, "If you start again, I'm taking the matter to the king and he will deal with you. Now, disperse!" He waited until the group disappeared before leaving himself; only the leader remained. He looked at the man and the girl,
"Your kind doesn't belong here." He said in a threatening tone, "When my master is King, he will rid DunBroch and the rest of Scotland of the Jutes, the Angles, the Saxons, the Vikings and all that other vermin. Your King has started with the Vikings but my Lord will finish with your kind." He spat to the ground in front of them, walked around the two and walked by me. As he walked by me, he gave me one final kick in my stomach. I grunted when he kicked me and clutched my stomach. After the pain had diminished, I turned my attention back to the man and the girl. The man gave the girl a kiss on her forehead and embraced her; he hadn't noticed me.
"What were you thinking?" He asked her quietly, the worry easily heard; he spoke in an accent that wasn't Scottish. He let go of the embrace and looked at her, holding her head in his hands, "I told you to stay away from those men." The girl sighed,
"I'm sorry, Jack. But they were attacking this poor man," She said as turned and looked at me. It was then that I noticed that she was also speaking with an accent that wasn't Scottish. Jack followed her gaze and she looked back at him, "I couldn't stand by and do nothing." Jack gave her another kiss on her forehead then he walked to me and knelt down beside me, followed by the girl.
"Are you alright?" He asked me. I looked back at him and got a good look at his features for the first time. He had warm brown hair and dark amber eyes. He was tall, a little bit shorter than I am, and had a slim build. Like me, he wasn't wearing the traditional Scottish garb. Instead he was wearing a long-sleeved woolen shirt with an open brown vest over it, brown pants and leather boots. I nodded,
"I'm fine." I sat up and groaned loudly when pain shot through my back. It was then that I saw my crutch in two pieces. I groaned again when I saw the crutch, "Great." I muttered. I was about to ask to pass my bag when the girl was holding it to me. I grabbed to bag, rummaged through it and grabbed the prosthetic that hurt the least, a spring-loaded prosthetic. I tied it to my stump and stood up, wobbling slightly when pain shot through my leg. Both Jack and the girl immediately grabbed my arms when they saw me wobbling. "Thank you." I said with a nod. Jack smiled,
"I've never seen you here before." Jack commented, "What business do you have here?" I grabbed the letter from my bag and showed it. Jack took it and recognized the DunBroch symbol in the wax,
"I was summoned by the King." I explained,
"Why?" asked the girl who also looked at the letter before handing it back to me.
"He wants me to work in his smithy." I wasn't surprised when they looked at my leg then back at me,
"Forgive me but you don't look like much of a blacksmith to me." The girl said is a quiet voice. I couldn't help but chuckle,
"I get that a lot. Nobody expects the famous blacksmith Hendry Gallach to be a cripple."
"You're Hendry Gallach?" The girl asked with disbelief. I nodded,
"And you two are…?" I asked. Jack was the first to reply,
"I'm Jackson Overland but everybody calls me Jack." He held out his hand to the girl and she took hold of it, smiling, "And this is my wife, Rapunzel." I smiled at both of them and slung my bag over my shoulder,
"Pleasure meeting you both and I am almost certain we will be seeing each other again soon." They both smiled and I turned around and walked away, each step sending a wave of pain through my stump, though the pain in my stomach and back had diminished.
"Wait!" I heard Rapunzel call. I turned around and saw her run towards me, "Do you have somewhere to sleep tonight?" She asked. I hadn't though about that. I could try to find a bed in the tavern but I had very little money with me and sleeping in the streets was out of the question. Sighing, I shook my head. Rapunzel smiled a little, "You're welcome to stay with me and Jack if you want." I looked at Jack, who nodded an approval.
"I would like that very much" Rapunzel smiled brightly at my reply. Then Jack walked to her and gave her a short but passionate kiss,
"I have to go back to work. I'll see you tonight?" He asked and Rapunzel nodded. He smiled and gave her another short peck before heading towards the castle. Rapunzel watched Jack leave then started walking. When she noticed I wasn't following, she called out,
"Come on then! I'll show you our house." I walked to her as fast as I could without hurting my leg. We walked in silence for only a moment,
"What does Jack do?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me. Rapunzel looked over her shoulder at me and giggled,
"Thought you'd never ask." she said with a smile, "Jack's in charge of the King's stable."
"What does he do there?"
"What do you think? He makes sure that they are in good health, that they are fed, that the stables get cleaned, etc. He's also the only one who Princess Merida trusts enough to take care of her horse for her."
"The princess? Jack knows the princess?" I asked with disbelief. That's something you don't hear everyday. Rapunzel nodded,
"I do too, you know."
"Jack introduced you?" She shook her head,
"No. I'm her personal maid; I take care of her daily needs and such." I was flabbergasted,
"You both work for royalty?" She giggled again,
"Yes, many people find it hard to believe." She stopped walking and pointed, "There's our house." I looked in the direction she was pointing. In the distance was decent sized wooden house with a small vegetable garden to the side and I could faintly hear the sound of chickens, a few sheep and a goat. From the chimney came a thin gray stream of smoke. The house was a lot larger than the house of my family back in my village but that was nothing new since those working for the king and queen earned more than a blacksmith does.
"That looks like a nice house." I commented while readjusting my bag. Rapunzel smiled and started towards the house, with me following closely behind. As we approached the house, the animals began to make loud noises as if trying to get our attention but Rapunzel just ignored them. She walked to the door and held it open for me. With a grateful nod I entered. The inside of the house wasn't much different from my house back in the village except that the room was larger and had the liberty of a fireplace. The houses of the common folk were very simple; everything was done in one room. Eating, sleeping, cooking, everything in one large room. Rapunzel quickly walked to the fireplace and threw a log into the fire causing a few sparks to fly into the room. As she meddling with the fire, I placed my bag on the large eating table, the contents clattering loudly as it hit the table and something lying beside the bag. I looked and saw a Scottish fiddle with the bow lying beside it.
"Do you play?" Rapunzel inquired suddenly when she noticed I was looking at it. I turned my attention to her and shook my head,
"No. My family doesn't have one." I took a quick glimpse at the fiddle then back at her, "Do you play?" She chuckled but shook her head,
"No, Jack does though. My music skills are with the pennywhistle." She sat down on one of the chairs by the table and motioned to the other chair; I sat quickly in the empty chair. We spent the rest of the time talking about pretty much everything in our life. During the chat Rapunzel began to cook for dinner and before I knew it Jack joined us. Dinner was nice; the potatoes mixed with kale didn't taste that bad. After dinner, Jack and Rapunzel made a make-shift bed in front of the fire place since they didn't have anything that I could use as a blanket. As I settled myself on the make-shift bed, Jack and Rapunzel were on the other side of the room getting ready to go to sleep. I watched the fire for a few minutes, the heat it was giving making my eyelids heavy. I closed my eyes and when I opened them, Rapunzel was shaking my shoulder and telling me to wake up.
I kinda put my own culture into this chapter a little bit. The food they ate for dinner is a Dutch dish called boerenkool (literal translation: farmer's kale or just kale). I recalled that the dish had been around since, probably, the Middle Ages (possibly earlier) and since I know little of the Scottish culture (besides kilts, bagpipes and haggis), I just decided to go with it. The reason I didn't choose haggis because I think that haggis is a bit too, for lack of a better word, extravagant for common folk and sheep are a source of wool and majority of clothing back then was made of wool so people would want to save the sheep for just that. I'm trying to keep this as historically accurate as possible but with some things I just have to give it a modern touch (especially when it comes to hygiene. People back then had no sense of hygiene, literally). I did do research on the Middle Ages (I'm also part of a medieval club), Scottish culture and such but Wikipedia and other websites can only take you so far. Oh well. I gonna stop talking now. Review, favourite, follow, pretty please with ice cream and a cherry on top?