Chapter 10: Elinor's wrath
Warning; small amount of foul language.
The next morning, Jack, Hiccup and Rapunzel were rudely awoken by loud voice. 'Get up, ya sweer goons!' Merida laughed. Rapunzel jumped, her hair unravelled and she fell to the floor. Hiccup yelled and rolled off of the chaise-longue. Jack awoke, fell from his floating position in the air and landed on the other two. Merida laughed again.
'What are you doing?' Rapunzel groaned indignantly, rubbing her head. 'Are ye always this lazy?' Merida asked them all folding her arms, 'It was sun-up ten minutes ago.' Hiccup sat up. His jaw dropped. 'It's just sun-up!' he yelled. 'And to my standards, that's practically noon,' Merida said. 'And to my standards,' Rapunzel said, clambering onto the recently vacated chaise-longue, 'It's still sun-up.'
'Why are you up this early anyway?' Jack yawned. 'Ahm gonna take Angus oot fer his mornin' ride,' Merida replied, picking up her bow and a refilled quiver of arrows and swung them over her shoulder. 'Are ye comin'?' she asked them at large. 'I think I speak for us all when I say no,' Hiccup said, rolling onto his side. 'Fine then,' Merida said, smiling, 'You can stay here and muck out the stables.'
Jack's, Rapunzel's and Hiccup's eyes widened in horror.
Jack, Rapunzel and Hiccup stared, repulsed, at the massive pile of horse dung. It was literally as tall as Jack's staff and was actually steaming in the cold early morning air. The stench was incredible. Hiccup clapped his hand to his mouth to stop himself retching. Merida passed Rapunzel a broom, Jack a shovel and Hiccup a bucket. All three gulped in dread. 'See yah later,' Merida said sweetly, riding her horse away into the woods.
The work was slow. Rapunzel swept the dung, Jack shovelled the dung and Hiccup moved the dung out of the stable.
When Merida returned, she laughed out loud. Rapunzel was looking exhausted and bits of straw were stuck all over her hair. Jack's hair was dripping with sweat and the shoulders of his hoodie were caked with mud. Hiccup's hair, body... well, his entire body was covered with horse dung. It appeared that he had tripped over a stray broomstick and had fallen, head-first into the bucket he was holding, which just happened to be full.
The three snapped out of their horrible vision. 'WE'LL COME WITH YOU!' they all said hurriedly. 'Thanks,' Merida said.
'COME ON!' Merida called back to the others. Hiccup and Rapunzel were riding their own horses and Jack was flying along with them. 'THIS IS AMAZING!' Rapunzel screamed at the top of her voice. 'OH MY GODS!' Hiccup yelled amazed. 'THIS IS AWESOME!' Jack roared in delight.
Merida fired an arrow at one of her targets. It hit it. Rapunzel lifted her frying pan and whacked the target as she passed. Jack fired a bolt of ice. The entire thing froze over. As he passed it, Hiccup lifted out his leg and kicked the target. It shattered. All four of them roared with triumph.
Merida pointed up to the top of the Crone's Tooth peak. 'We've got to climb up there?' Hiccup said with tone of dread. 'Dinnae worry,' Merida said smiling. 'Come on,' Jack said and leapt into the air. 'Oh no yeh don't,' Merida said, grabbing his foot. 'Hey,' Jack said, looking down. 'No flying Frostbite; elbow grease.' Jack raised his eyebrows, but landed back on the ground, grumbling.
Merida jumped onto a crag of the peak and began to pull herself up. In thirty seconds, she had managed to scale a quarter of the peak. She stopped and looked back down. 'Come on' she called. Hiccup, Rapunzel and Jack turned to each other. 'Good bye,' they said to each other, shaking hands.
Rapunzel threw her hair over a small outcrop of the crag and then tied the other end to Hiccup's waist. She slowly began to pull herself up. Hiccup followed her slowly up the peak, trying to keep his eyes off the ground. Jack climbed up quickly; not because of his athletics, but because of his abilities with the wind.
Hiccup accidentally cut his hand on a jagged outcrop. He yelped, slipped and fell. Rapunzel screamed as her hair was pulled tight suddenly. Jack hovered down, picked up Hiccup and returned him to his original position on the rock face. He was shuddering slightly. 'Are you alright?' Jack asked nervously. Hiccup nodded.
Merida was waiting for them all at the top. Rapunzel, Hiccup and Jack finally made it to the top and they collapsed. 'Get back up,' Merida said excitedly. The other three groaned. 'Come on,' Merida said. They did what she said and got back to their feet. 'LOOK!' Merida shouted with excitement. They looked.
The sun peeked out from behind a mountain and it's light burst through a cloud bank. Merida turned and looked at the waterfall behind them. The other three turned to look as well. They were amazed despite themselves. The light from the sun shone up the waterfall. The wall of water looked like it was made of fire. 'And that's why they're called the Fire Falls,' Merida said. She sounded unusually serious.
'Take a drink,' she said. Hesitating for a moment, Hiccup, Rapunzel and Jack extended their hands. The water flowed into their palms. They lifted the liquid to their mouths and swallowed it. Jack felt an incredible rush. It filled him with a sort of fiery energy. He felt like screaming to the world 'I DID IT! I CLIMBED THE CRONE'S TOOTH! I DRANK FROM THE FIRE FALLS!' Jack felt himself laugh.
Later on, when they had all finally returned to castle DunBroch, the strode into the great hall. Merida's jaw dropped with horror. The other clans had gathered for the six-month anniversary of Mor'du's defeat... and her father was dancing and singing the song of Mor'du.
'Come taste ma blade ye manky bear for gobblin' up ma leg!
I'll hunt ye then I'll skin ye, hang your noggin on a peg!
'MOR'-DU, MOR'-DU, MOR'-DU, MOR'DU!'
Merida almost cried with embarrassment. Hiccup, Rapunzel and Jack however burst out laughing.
About half an hour later, Merida's face was buried in her hands as Hiccup was dancing next to Fergus, both shouting at the top of their voices 'MOR'-DU, MOR'-DU, MOR'-DU, MOR'DU! Now the time has come for all of us to slaughter you!' Jack was laughing and Rapunzel was hovering beside the fire apparently torn between disapproval and amusement. Elinor was rubbing her forehead like she was suffering with a severe headache.
With one final shout of 'NOW THE TIME HAS COME FOR ALL THE CLANS TO SLAUGHTER YOU!', Hiccup fell over backwards, his tankard of mead spilling over his head. Fergus stepped forward. 'So...' he hesitated, 'Here we all are... once again... umm...' 'Oh, I'll do it,' Queen Elinor said standing up. 'Fergus, sit down before you hurt yourself.' Fergus sat down blushing.
Elinor pulled Hiccup onto a seat, straightened up and cleared her throat. 'Gathered friends of the fellow clans, today we celebrate the six month anniversary of the defeat of the dreaded demon bear Mor'du.' There were cheers. Hiccup sat up, yelled along with everyone else and passed out again. 'As we remember, the times before then were dark and dangerous. The forests were shadowed and no one was safe.' There were mutterings of agreement.
'But thanks to all of our efforts...' 'It was all you,' someone shouted in the crowd. There were cheers of agreement. Queen Elinor blushed, but continued. 'Thanks to us all, Mor'du the demon bear was defeated. I propose a toast to us all.' Everyone raised their tankards. Hiccup just raised his hand. 'And may the Glens never hear his roar again.'
Right on cue, the doors burst open. Everyone whipped around. The massive hulking form of a great black bear stood in the doorway. It's left eye was dead. It roared. 'Mor'du' Elinor whispered in terror. 'MOR'DU!' Fergus roared, drew his sword and charged.
Hiccup sat up, all drunkenness gone. Jack leapt onto the table, grabbing his staff. Rapunzel snatched up her frying pan. Merida (who'd had her bow and arrows hidden under the table) seized up her weapons and aimed an arrow straight at Mor'du's heart. Everyone drew forth their weapons.
Mor'du... smiled. Then he roared.
It was a roar so loud that the entire castle seemed to shake. Everyone clapped their hands to their ears in a vain attempt to block out the noise.
Their weapons clattered to the floor. The candelabra was vibrating, the candles firing light-rays all over the place.
Glass began to shatter. Shards of the wickedly sharp material flew everywhere.
People screamed as the fragments of glass pierced their chests or split their ears. Stones in the wall began to crumble.
All of a sudden, people began to pass out.
When at least three quarters of the hall had collapsed, Mor'du's roar finally ceased and he padded out of the room.
Five minutes later, half the hall had managed recovered. Mor'du's roar was still echoing outside. Many people were cowering. Jack, Hiccup, Rapunzel and Merida stood at the doors, waiting on guard.
All of a sudden, an even louder roar echoed through the castle. Hiccup's eyes widened. 'That's... no...' He sprinted out of the doors. 'Hey, Hiccup,' Jack yelled. They pursued him. They shot out of the doors and screeched to a halt. Hiccup was very pale. The small axe he was holding had fallen to the ground. His eyes were fixed on a point high above them. They looked up, following his gaze. 'Oh my...' Rapunzel gasped. 'Oh crivens,' Merida whispered. 'Oh you are kidding me,' Jack said.
High in the sky, flying around the castle, was the Red Death. It opened it's jaws and incinerated the forest around the castle. Mor'du's roar suddenly echoed and they saw him just beyond the gates. He was at the head of an army of Spirit wolves, Harpies and Mandrakes. 'We can't defeat this alone.' Hiccup said. 'What do we do?' Rapunzel asked. Hiccup had the brains and Merida had the fighting experience. 'I know what to do,' said Jack.
The other three turned to him. 'Rapunzel, you stay here and heal anyone who's wounded.' Rapunzel nodded. 'I will take on the Red Death. Merida, you and Hiccup will prepare the defences for the castle and lead the guard. When Mor'du and the Nightmares attack, you must stop them.' Merida looked rather angry.
'I dinnae wanna get left behind,' she moaned. 'I wanna come and help...' 'NO!' Jack snapped. Merida backed off. Jack's body language had changed. He had never been like this before. His normally carefree attitude had vanished. He now looked more serious then he had been in all of his 300 years. 'You will stay here with your family. Remember: family must always come first.' Had anyone been looking close enough, they would have seen a small tear forming in the corner of Jack's left eye. He blinked it away.
Merida nodded. 'Come on Punzie,' she said to Rapunzel. Both girls headed back into the castle. Before she closed the doors, Merida turned Jack and said 'I hope you know what you're doing.' And with a final thud, the doors closed.
Jack turned. 'Hiccup, I told you to go inside.' Hiccup shook his head. 'I think I should help you out.' 'You've got to stay here and help the others defeat Mor'du and once you've done that, I can buy you time to get everyone out.' Hiccup smiled. He grabbed Jack's hand. 'And I can double that time.' Jack sighed and gave in.
'Hiccup, get Toothless,' He commanded. Hiccup immediately sprinted for the stables and came back with his Night Fury. He mounted it. 'Ready for this?' Jack asked. 'As ready as I'll every be,' Hiccup said. They both turned to the Dragon in the sky... and launched themselves into the air.
What they didn't notice was that above them, the skies were black. Quite a scary thing when you realised... that there were no clouds whatsoever. If they had been looking, they would have felt like they were being watched... and they were.
The Red Death opened it's jaws to incinerate the walls of the castle when BANG! With a purple flash, a blast of fire struck it's hide. Turning it's head, it saw the Night Fury and it's rider fly past. It opened it's jaws to crush them both when WHOOSH! A sudden, freezing sensation made it turn and see a small blueish object fly past it in the opposite direction.
Hiccup flew Toothless behind the Red Death and fired more plasma blasts. It roared in anger and turned, but every time it did, Jack shot ice blasts into it's eyes. It had six of them and so far only two were covered. The Red Death whipped its club-like tail around. Jack swerved around the tail. Everything was going well... until the Red Death fired a bolt of blue hot fire.
The forest leapt into flames with an explosion so powerful that both Hiccup and Jack were blasted into the air. They were moving so fast that they actually skimmed across the tops of the trees and finally crashed into a stream.
With a groan, Hiccup pulled himself up. It was lucky that he had landed on top of Jack and that Jack himself was immortal. Hiccup helped Jack to his feet.
The Red Death swooped toward them.
Back at the castle, a battle was in full swing. The soldiers were battling well but there were many casualties. Lord Dingwall had already been forced to withdraw for severe injuries and young Macintosh had gone blind in his right eye. Fergus's false leg had been sliced off and he was limping heavily.
Merida was fighting hard. Her arrow twanged and arrows soared. Sweat was running down her forehead. A mandrake rushed her, opened it's jaws and began to scream. Merida was ready however. She leapt into the air and fired one of her fire arrows (a little gift from the witch.) It hit the mandrake and caused it to burst into flames.
A Harpy soared towards Merida. She lifted her bow, but a sudden rope of shining gold wrapped itself around the Harpy and smashed it into the castle wall. Turning, Merida saw that Rapunzel had used her hair as a whip, like Sandy did. She gave Merida a thumbs up.
A roar reverberated through the castle courtyard. Merida turned... and Mor'du pounced on top on her. He pinned her to the ground. Merida, for the first time, felt truly afraid. 'MERIDA!' Rapunzel screamed. She tried to rescue her friends, but a pack of Spirit wolves held her back. Fergus couldn't help his daughter as his lost leg was immobilized. Mor'du opened his jaws. Merida screamed.
'NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU FUCKING BASTARD!' Everyone turned to the source of the voice. Elinor Dunbroch was charging towards Mor'du and in the dim twilight she seemed to be growing. Her eyes were flashing. Her bared teeth seemed to be sharpening. Her jaws and nose were lengthening. Her upper body was swelling. Her skin seemed to be darkening. Looking closer, her skin was actually sprouting fur.
Suddenly, she leapt into the air and her dress ripped to shreds. When she hit the ground, she had become a massive, black bear. She roared and charged. Mor'du leapt off of Merida and charged at Elinor. The two rose onto their hind legs and attacked. Jaws ripped and claws slashed. Blood splashed to the ground.
Merida backed away. Her eyes were filled with tears of terror. Everyone had stopped fighting to watch the incredible spectacle.
Mor'du and Elinor circled each other and lunged again. Mor'du sank his jaws into Elinor's neck. She roared in pain.
Elinor slashed at Mor'du and caught him right in his uninjured eye. He bellowed and released her. Not wasting a second, Elinor jumped onto Mor'du's back and began tearing great chunks of his flesh out.
Mor'du roared even louder. 'MUM!' Merida screamed in terror. Mor'du rose onto his hind-legs and fell backwards, crushing Elinor under his bulk. Mor'du rolled off her and rose onto his hind legs. He fell onto Elinor, intending to crush her, but Elinor raised her two front paws and caught his with hers.
'MUM!' Merida screamed again, leaping to her feet and running to help her mother. 'NO!' Elinor roared. Merida came to a halt. Her mother had spoken to her in bear-form. 'GO AND FIND YOUR FRIENDS MERIDA!' Eilnor roared. Merida nodded.
She gestured to Rapunzel and both girls sprinted of into the woods to find the boys.