I Own Nothing

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Chapters 9 and 10 were originally one very long chapter, but I trimmed it slightly and divided it at a convenient spot. To be fair to my readers, I have decided to post them together.

Please read and review! I can't easily tell what's right and wrong with my writing without second opinions.

Chapter 9

"I Think We're Being Watched"

They spent one more day at the Treejumper nest and used the time to rest, resupply, and recover. It was just as well, because Hiccup had everyone up and ready to leave well before sunrise the following morning.

Shamrock was the only one to see them off. He said goodbye to all the dragons, wished them all the best of luck, and even gave Heather a slight nuzzle of affection, which displeased Windshear. Hiccup also extracted reassurance from him that he would return to Berk at some point soon. Then, still in the dark, the slightly diminished group took off for Iceland.

The nice weather they had had thus far on the trip now deteriorated. They flew through a morning fog that was so thick they could scarcely see each other. Periodically Toothless, who had the lead, hovered to make sure everyone else was still behind him. And when the fog finally disappeared it turned to rain. It rained and it rained and it rained. Out of all the dragons, Hookfang by far took it the worst.

"I can't light my beautiful body up in this weather!" he kept griping.

"Why would you do that anyway when Snotlout is sitting on you?" Stormfly impatiently shouted back after he had complained for the fourth time.

"Because it's fun!"

"A fine friendship you two have," the Nadder scowled. Nobody would ever catch her doing something dangerous to her human.

As for the humans, even though they were all used to rain, they did not enjoy it at all. Their clothes were as waterproof as a Viking's could be, but that was still insufficient. And the rain kept going on and on without let up. Even Astrid grew more dismayed and short tempered the more it continued, and she was arguably the most hardened of them when it came to the weather. Fishlegs and Snotlout were absolutely miserable. The rest of them were at best subdued and glum. There was very little conversation on this flight and nobody minded in the slightest. They were all too busy filling their thoughts full of self pity and reflecting on how much misery they were in.

They reached Iceland towards the late afternoon, though it was hard to tell because the rain still had not let up. They made for some cloud covered mountains in the hopes of finding a cave to sleep in. Everyone was well aware they were in for a rough night if they had to sleep in the rain and mud, and nobody was interested in doing so.

Searching for a cave proved just as worrisome and frustrating. For nearly two hours they looked without success, and this made their spirits drop even lower. After searching around yet another rock face in a seemingly endless chain of ridges, it seemed hopeless. This made everyone short tempered, irritable, and careless in what they said and did. If someone suggested a new spot to search the idea was met with groans and undisguised displeasure. By the end of those two hours Snotlout wanted nothing more than to find a dry spot of ground, curl up under it, and do nothing more except wallow in self pity and blame Hiccup for getting them into this rotten and drenching mess.

And then Heather and Windshear came through. They had gone a little lower and came back howling joyfully that they had found a cave. The effect was miraculous. Suddenly everybody was on their best behavior and in a wonderful mood, which improved even more when they changed into some spare clothes. And as the cave was slightly damp Hookfang, after a half dozen failed attempts, lit his body on fire and crawled over floor rocks, heating it up in the process.

And then, just as they were about to prepare a nice and cozy dinner, they heard a loud noise outside.

"What was that?" Snotlout exclaimed. "Wolves?"

"It sounded like a Nadder's distress cry," Astrid said, leaping to her feet and grabbing her axe. "C'mon, let's go take a look!"

Snotlout, Hookfang, and the Twins all wanted to stay behind where it was dry but Astrid shamed them into coming along. The only ones who stayed behind were Meatlug, Barf n' Belch, and Chicken.

They wandered around the mountain slopes for about half an hour without finding anything. At first the screams got louder and then abruptly stopped, leaving them to wonder if the Nadder had been killed. But as they wandered around, both in the air and on the ground, they found nothing. Not a print, not a scale, not even a spine. As it was getting darker and still raining they finally gave up and returned to their cave, their spirits in the mud again.

"All I can conclude is the Nadder was injured fatally," Fishlegs announced as they were drying off again, "maybe a predator, maybe a landslide, or maybe a bad landing injured it. It cried out but no help came fast enough and it died from its injuries."

"Then where was the body?" Hiccup asked, ignoring Stormfly shuddering.

"That would imply a predator got it," Fishlegs said.

"Poor thing," Ruffnut said, "and—darn it, Belch! You've been going through my stuff again!" she gestured angrily to her pack, which was lying near the cave entrance and had been clearly ransacked, "I've told you time and again to leave my stuff alone. If you get the urge to rummage through bags do it to Tuffnut!" She picked up her canteen from the ground and removed the lid, "All this shouting is making me thirsty,"

"Well, c'mon, let's get some dinner," Astrid said, "Heather, would you get the—" But she got no further for Ruffnut suddenly spat out the water and screamed.

"I TASTED NADDER VENOM!"

Tuffnut and Astrid had dragged Ruff outside and were making her throw up. Fishlegs had gone to talk with Meatlug. Excluding her and Toothless, every dragon had gone to scout the area. Snotlout had gone with them, without protest this time. Hiccup was examining the canteens. Heather was examining the cave floor.

"Nothing," she said at last, "we've moved over the ground like a herd of elk and wiped out any traces that might have been left."

"In fairness, we didn't see any reason to leave the ground as it was," Hiccup replied as he sniffed Tuffnut's canteen, "and this and Ruffnut's are the only ones with Nadder venom in them. Its odor's easy to detect in drink if you're familiar with it."

"Their packs were the nearest to the cave entrance," Heather observed, "So someone came in here, made for the nearest packs, put the poison in the canteens, and ran for it. The only question is how were they not seen?"

"Well, Fishlegs?" Hiccup said.

Fishlegs Ingerman looked uncharacteristically irritated. "Oh you're going to love this! Turns out this cave's a lot longer than we thought! Meatlug says Barf n' Belch decided to explore one of the tunnels and she followed them to make them come back!"

"Leaving a perfect opportunity to enter unseen by anyone except Chicken," Hiccup groaned, "and Chicken can't talk,"

"Of course Chicken can talk!" Tuffnut said indignantly as he reentered the chamber, "your ears just don't work right!"

"How's Ruffnut?" Heather asked anxiously.

"She'll be fine. Astrid's cleaning her up right now. They'll be up in a minute," he said, looking more uncertain and concerned than Heather had ever seen him. "She'll be fine, yeah, she'll be just fine,"

"She's very lucky,"

"Not as lucky as you think, and yet in another way very lucky," Hiccup remarked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Heather demanded.

"About a year ago Astrid decided we ought to build up immunities to some of the more common dragon venoms. And we did. So, the fact that Ruffnut drank that venom and survived is not as miraculous as you suppose, but she was very lucky our culprit used Nadder venom and not something she wasn't immune to."

"So you guys—"

"I could probably drink this canteen right now and only get a slight stomach ache," Hiccup said. But he did not know how immune Ruffnut was. The body needed frequent exposure to such venoms and he had no idea how often Ruffnut had exposed herself.

"You never said you were immune to dragon venoms!"

Hiccup was unapologetic. "It's not exactly something you tell to people you're not certain of."

The implications of this statement struck Heather rather forcefully, but further discussion was prevented by the arrival of Astrid with Ruffnut. Aside from looking a little pale and trembling slightly, which was more due to vomiting than the venom, she seemed all right.

"I probably would have been just fine if I had swallowed it," she muttered, "but I tasted the venom and reacted instinctively,"

"As you should have," Toothless said.

"Do you think any of the food got poisoned too?" Astrid asked.

"Do you want to risk it? Don't forget, Heather's not immune—yes I told her about your idea,"

"I just wanna say, Astrid that was the best idea you've ever had!" Ruffnut called to them. She was lying down on her sleeping mat, which Fishlegs had rolled out for her.

"I don't think we should risk it." Astrid said.

Hiccup sighed. "Then we'll try to find a village tomorrow and get some new supplies. Or we could have Stormfly taste everything when she gets back."

Speaking of which, the search party now returned and none of them looked happy.

"This is the third time today I have gotten drenched," Snotlout scowled, "And once again it was for no good reason. We didn't find a thing!"

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," Ruffnut said.

"Sorry Ruff," his tone mellowed a little, "it's just I'm cold, wet, tired, and hungry, and it feels like I've been this way all day," he looked at Hiccup a little accusingly, "you know, if I had stayed here when we went looking for that Nadder, none of this would have happened!"

"They could have killed you," Astrid pointed out.

"Would you have missed me, dear Astrid?"

"I would have cried a river," Astrid said dryly.

Snotlout frowned. "Ugh. Don't talk about water right now; I'm sick of it,"

"Um—hello? My sister here almost died not long ago, remember?" Tuffnut said loudly. "And how did this person know we'd all be out of the cave?"

"Use your brains, Tuff," Hiccup said impatiently, "Heather and I get attacked by a person riding a Nadder. We get here and hear a Nadder in distress. Then we come back and find someone slipped Nadder venom into your guy's canteens. Isn't it obvious? Our unknown assassin found us somehow and used their dragon to lure us away from here. Maybe they intended to kill anyone we left behind or maybe they always intended to use the venom, I don't know. Maybe it was both. But we've gotta be a lot more careful from now on."

They sent Stormfly and Windshear to get some fish from the ocean, to the great displeasure of the Nadder. They were able to bring back cod but the meal was considerably less cheerful than everyone had been expecting several hours ago. Ruffnut was in good spirits, but did not enjoy it the others trying to be nicer to her.

"C'mon guys, I've nearly died plenty of times before and you've never offered to cut my food for me!"

"So for you this is just a normal day?" Fishlegs asked as he put away his knife.

"No. But there's no need to make such a big deal out of it!"

"Well excuse me for trying to show a little courtesy!"

Snotlout, who was still hungry, was begging Astrid to let him have some of the food they had set aside in suspicion. "Come on, it can't all be poisoned, and I'm immune to Nadder venom too!"

"And how do we know they didn't use some other poison as well?" Astrid demanded, "Are you willing to risk your life on it?"

"But they couldn't have poisoned all of it! My bag wasn't touched, maybe if I just try some of that?"

Astrid was adamant, and pointed out that in the process of putting all the suspicious food together it had all gotten mixed up. There was no way to tell what had been in Snotlout's bag and what had not.

"Stupid assassins," Snotlout grumbled.

The conversation now moved onto subjects of poisoning. Hiccup told them about how the Emperor Claudius was believed to have eaten poisoned mushrooms given to him by his own wife.

"I'm sure they were a happy couple," he ended dryly.

"I'd have thought rulers would have the sense to employ tasters," Fishlegs said.

"Well, I don't know if the story's true or not. But in any event, I think it would be quite easy to poison someone even if they did have a taster."

Snotlout was intrigued. "How?"

"Simple. All you'd have to do is poison only part of the food, and then make certain the taster doesn't eat that part. That's probably what they did to Claudius, now that I think about it."

Fishlegs thought this over. "That could work, provided the taster did what you wanted. You'd probably have to ensure they were on your side first,"

"Why didn't you try that with Drago Bludvist?" Snotlout asked rather sharply. "If you could have poisoned him we wouldn't have had to fight him!" And his father would not have died.

"We did," Hiccup said bitterly, "but he only employed one taster who couldn't be bribed or threatened. If I'd had had more time, maybe…"

"Well, you didn't," Astrid cut in sharply, "and there's nothing anyone can do about it now."

Even though they went to bed far later than intended, it still felt like a long night. There are no means of telling time in total darkness, and a minute might go by as likely as an hour without anyone knowing it. Regardless of how late or early it was, or whatever might be in between, Hiccup was very alert and wide awake. It might have been just his nerves, but he had a sense they were being watched. At the very least he could have sworn he heard something moving around elsewhere in the cave, something that was not any of them. On one occasion he thought he saw a pair of yellow eyes in the darkness, but he blinked and did not see them again. Fishlegs, the sentry at the time, was facing the cave entrance and did not see a thing. Hiccup's gut told him to raise the alarm, but he wanted a second opinion, just in case he was imagining things.

"You still awake, Bud?"

"Naturally,"

"I think we're being watched. Smell anything?"

"I did earlier, but it's gone now, whatever it was."

Hiccup rolled over and groaned. "That's twice now this person has caught us and nearly killed someone. And now there's this! Maybe we should find another cave, Bud, I just don't think our luck will hold a third time."

"If we wake everyone up now we'll have a mutiny on our hands,"

"Better that then everyone getting killed,"

"So suppose we did find another cave, then what? Should we turn around and go home?"

"No. If they want to kill us so badly we'd just be giving them a stationary target," he rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. "I thought getting lost in England would have been enough. Or maybe they would try another fight, which we could've won, but Nadder venom slipped into our water…that was not expected at all. How did they even know where to find us without us seeing them?"

"If they guessed where we were going, they could have worked out for themselves how to find us." Toothless said thoughtfully, "I mean, if you're heading west of England, the logical stops are in Ireland and Iceland, as far as I know. And we haven't been exactly inconspicuous this whole time. News can travel fast, you know,"

"Are you suggesting they came to Iceland and have been waiting for us?"

"Or followed us from the Treejumper colony. It's was foggy and cloudy all day. Tracking someone in such weather is possible if you know what you're doing."

"So do we set a trap or try to lose them again? If you could just make eye contact with that Nadder…" he rubbed his face wearily. "I'll try to come up with a plan to trap them. Until then, we'll try to lose them again, and be less noticeable."

"And post some better sentries next time,"

Hiccup grimaced slightly. "Yeah."

The dragons took them to the edge of the mountains the following morning. Hiccup rode with Astrid on Stormfly while Toothless, who was a much more reliable guard, stayed in the cave and kept watch over their gear.

At the base of the mountains they could see a small port nearby. Uncertain of how the locals would take to dragons, they sent the dragons back to rejoin Toothless.

"Come back for us at sunset," Hiccup told them, "Well guys, shall we?"

"And just how are we going to buy food?" Snotlout demanded, "What kind of money do they use here?"

"Much as I hate to say it, Snotlout's right," Astrid said quietly to Hiccup, "the people here probably won't take Berkian money. They might not even speak Norse."

As it turned out, the locals of Iceland did not speak Norse exactly as the Berkians did, but their own version of Norse was very similar, so there were few difficulties with communicating. The village was small, muddy from last night's downpour, and full of rickety old homes and boats. Yet while the people were very drab and grungy in their appearance, they had a pleasant kind of countenance to them. Most of the men were heading out in their fishing boats, while the women milled out the market.

In the past, if he needed money, Hiccup usually offered his services at a forge for a few days. But this time he simply asked the village blacksmith where the best place to exchange some items for coins would be, and the smith suggested the tavern keeper.

When they entered the tavern Astrid sensed almost at once they were being watched, and not just because she was suspicious of every person they met now. She could see quite clearly several of the village louts and loafers were in the tavern too. They were sitting in groups, most with mugs of ale, and they were eyeing the Riders like hungry wolves. Upon reflection, there was nothing really unusual about this: after all, they were strangers and looked like it, and there were several attractive women in the group. Such men might very well react to any stranger in such a fashion. Still, she felt very glad to have her axe with her and plainly visible.

"Hiccup, make this quick," she mumbled.

"Stay sharp. This won't take long," he approached the keeper, a fat old man with a black beard that covered his cheeks and chin. Hiccup reached into a pocket and pulled out a green stone about half the length of a man's index finger and just as thick. "Excuse me, sir, but how much for this?" He had to repeat himself twice before the man comprehended. He explained he had grown a little deaf from all the noisy nights his tavern had seen.

He examined the emerald and counted out a large handful of dirty coins. Hiccup had no doubt the stone was worth more, but saw no reason to press the issue. So he pocketed the bag, thanked him, told the others they were done, and made for the door, which two men were idly standing next to. At the same time one of the men in the tavern stood up and made his way for the door too. Hiccup politely let him go first, then made to follow. But as soon as Hiccup set foot in the doorway the man in front of him whipped around, grabbed him, and pulled him forward. At the same instant the men on the sides of the door slammed it shut and lowered the bar, cutting Hiccup off from the others!

"What the—!"

"Sorry pal, but yer not part of the deal!" the man grinned. Hiccup grabbed the arm that was holding onto him and twisted it. Then he kicked the man's shin with his fake leg. The man went down instantly and Hiccup seized him by the shirt.

"What deal?" he demanded. Then he heard noise from inside the tavern: the sounds of metal against metal and punches being thrown. "Never mind, I'll ask one of your friends later."

The men in the tavern had wasted no time. As soon as the door had slammed behind Hiccup they lunged at the other Riders. And most of them bit off more than they could chew. Astrid at once whipped around and slammed her axe and elbow into two men. Heather jumped and almost did the splits in midair as she kicked two men in their faces, sending them reeling backwards. And the man who attacked Snotlout got a hammer in his groin.

"Now that's just low!" the man groaned from the floor, sheer pain on his face.

"It's the results that matter," Snotlout retorted smugly.

Fishlegs was less lucky, for two men grabbed him and threw him over the counter, right into the unfortunate tavern keeper. They pulled out knives, intending to finish him off, but Heather suddenly appeared behind them and slammed their heads into the counter. A man grabbed Ruffnut and tried to carry her off, but Tuffnut leapt onto him and the three of them tottered and fell down a set of stairs that led to the cellar. Another grabbed Astrid and she punched him so hard he fell backwards and collided with another would-be assassin.

There were now five men left who had not been injured in some way. One of them ran for Astrid and rammed into her, sending them both crashing into a table. Snotlout and another were wrestling, trying to pin the other down. Two of them threw chairs at Heather, so she extended her double axe and deflected both, much to their astonishment.

"I'll expect you all to pay for the mess!" the tavern keeper cried loudly. Evidently he was used to this kind of behavior.

Back in the cave Toothless, Meatlug, Windshear, and Stormfly paced around impatiently for sunset, while Hookfang and Barf n' Belch sat bored and tired. Then all at once Windshear sharply turned her head away from the cave entrance.

"Did you hear that?"

"What?"

"I thought I heard movement,"

"It was probably Meatlug," Stormfly said scornfully. But Toothless shushed her and listened tensely. And he faintly heard the quick patter of feet moving over stone.

"Did anyone else hear that?" Toothless asked. The others nodded silently. "Four feet, it's moving rapidly—"

"So it's not that Nadder," Windshear observed.

"Yes, but our pursuer could have another dragon." He listened again for a minute. "Sounds like it's heading northward. I'll take a look. Windshear and Hookfang, come with me."

"If it means a fight, count me in. I'm bored." Hookfang said.

"Are you sure you want Windshear going with you?" Stormfly asked sharply.

"What's that supposed to mean?" the Razorwhip growled.

"I'm not talking to you—Toothless, has it occurred to you that in a cave it's easy to make a death look accidental?"

"What are you saying, exactly?" Windshear demanded, but Toothless cut in.

"Stormfly, she did not kill your hatchlings! In case you've forgotten, that Razorwhip was killed—by me!"

"And that means this one here is the epitome of goodliness?" The Nadder spat.

"At least I'm a bit more tolerant!" Windshear snapped.

"Come on, you two, can't we all just get along?" Meatlug asked wearily

"And even if she is evil at heart, Toothless won't exactly be alone with her! Did you all forget he asked me to come along?" Hookfang cried impatiently.

"I am not evil!" Windshear shouted.

This might have escalated into a physical fight except Toothless invoked his Beta authority. Windshear and Hookfang would go with him and everyone else would stay and keep watch.

"END OF DEBATE!" he shouted. "Holy sheep, I think I've used my Beta powers more on this trip than in the past six moon cycles!"

Astrid whipped around, dodging the mug Fishlegs had thrown.

"Watch where you're aiming!" she shouted.

"Watch where you're running!" he shouted back as he flung a plate at one of their attackers. This time his aim was true and he got the man in the neck. It was not fatal by any means but boy did it hurt.

Astrid spun around yet again, this time to face an attacker who had picked up a chair. He saw swinging it around like a madman and grinning like one too.

"HA!" he jeered as he swung the chair around, looking more like a circus performer than a fighter; he was so caught up in showing off. "Gotcha this time, pretty lassie!" Then without warning the door behind him was kicked opened and walloped him in the head, knocking him out. Hiccup stood in the doorway, his sword out and blazing.

"So, what have I missed?"

"Oh just a little brawl," Astrid replied casually, "Shall we finish it up?"

"After you, milady,"

The three dragons scrambled over the passage.

"This cave's a lot bigger than I thought," Hookfang remarked. "How many tunnels are there?"

"Most likely they were made by lava long ago," Windshear said, "they could go on for leagues for all we know,"

Toothless agreed privately but only asked them to keep their voices down.

He could hear the sound of their quarry once again. He gestured to the left side of the passage. But they had only gone a few meters when Windshear suddenly gestured to the right. They moved rightwards, only for the sound they were following move to the left again. It was moving very fast, whatever it was. They heard a few rocks tumble about but so far saw nothing but a gloomy cave passage. To human eyes it would be completely dark, but to their eyes it was dimly lit.

Suddenly Hookfang cried out. After being quiet for so long the others nearly jumped out of their scales.

"WHAT?" Toothless shouted.

"I just stepped in something!"

"Well I hope its dung! I swear you just made me lose two years of my life!" Windshear shrieked at him.

It was not dung. It looked like some kind of green mucus.

"Eww,"

"Told you I stepped in something!"

"And what left it?" Toothless asked, sniffing the stuff. "I've seen lots of cave dwellers but I don't recognize the scent,"

They heard the sound of the feet again, this time moving leftwards. The dragons went after it again, at a much faster pace than before. The footsteps increased their pace as well. Then all at once they came to a dead end. Yet the footsteps continued.

"This doesn't make any sense!" Hookfang exclaimed, forgetting once more the orders to stay quiet, "We can still hear that thing, but where is it?"

"Perhaps it's far off and we're just hearing an echo?" Windshear suggested.

Toothless looked around him. Nothing to the left, nothing to the right, certainly nothing below him, so that meant—

He looked up at the ceiling and saw what looked like a giant black and yellow salamander leaping down onto Hookfang.

The man who had attacked Ruffnut had only fallen partly down the stairs, whereas the twins had fallen all the way into the cellar. Once he got out of his daze he pulled out a knife and made his way down to finish them off. He reached the cellar to find a green gas heading towards him.

"What's this?"

As soon as he spoke a spark caught his attention and the green gas exploded. He was blown back up the stairs and hit the doorway at a bad angle, so he tumbled back down the staircase, bleeding in a dozen spots.

Ruffnut stood over him grinning. In her hands she held a flint and a piece of metal. "This, my friend, is Zippleback gas. Mixed with fire it makes an explosion that gives that wonderful feeling of your stomach jumping into your lungs!"

"Yeah!" Tuffnut shouted, but he was not reacting to her words. He was further back in the cellar and looking very proud of himself. "All right, Sis, I'm ready for him! Just lure him down here and we've got him!"

"Um, Tuff? Didn't you just see what happened? I already got him!"

"What?" Tuffnut exclaimed, "Are you telling me I just put the very last of my brilliant explosive powder into a brilliant trap and it was all for NOTHING?" He was holding a torch in one hand. At his feet was a large pile of black powder. A small trail of the powder led behind a large crate. "It was so perfect! We just had to hide behind that crate, light this powder when the guy stood right here, and BOOM! Ah, phooey!" Without thinking he threw the torch to the ground. He saw Ruffnut's eyes widen. Then he looked down and realized he had just lit his own powder fuse.

"Oh dear…"