I Own Nothing
All Rights Reserved
Chapter 27
Exploring the Isle of Night
The following morning they departed for the Isle of Night. The island that they flew to was very different from the one they had left. In place of lush green forests and jungles was a desert with occasional shrubs and a few palm trees. About the only thing the two islands had in common were the cone shaped mountains near the center. With no better idea of where to start searching, they made for the mountain and landed about half way up.
Hiccup took their bearings. "Well, let's split up and see what we can find. Toothless will summon Hookfang and Stormfly at midday."
"What exactly are we looking for?" Snotlout asked skeptically.
"Mainly signs of dragons,"
He and Toothless made their way south on foot, climbing over rocks and avoiding the sandier sections.
Hiccup looked around again, taking in the landscape. "So this is where Night Furies are supposed to have first lived, huh? I'm finding that a bit hard to believe. I could imagine Boulder Class Dragons living here, but not Night Furies."
"Maybe something caused it to change and they abandoned it." Toothless suggested.
"Maybe,"
They wandered around directionless for a while. It was a nice day, and they did not mind spending it tromping around on a mountain. If nothing else, the view was amazing, for they could see more of the scenic island chain, but as for finding evidence of dragons, they may have had better luck searching the surface of the moon.
After a while more, Hiccup sat on a rock. "Well, Bud, it's been a nice trip, all things considered, but if this even is the Isle of Night, I don't think we're going to find anything related to Night Furies,"
"Did you really expect to?" Toothless asked as he rolled around a large rock.
"I thought we might find something!" Hiccup said in frustration, "Well, maybe the others found a clue of some kind. Go ahead and summon them; it's been long enough,"
But they had not found anything. Snotlout was especially in a foul mood about it. "Why did I bother coming here?" he had mumbled to himself many times while wandering around. "This is a big fat waste of my time," He and Hookfang were the first to rejoin Hiccup and Toothless, and when Astrid arrived with Stormfly and went to Hiccup's side, he felt more and more like the odd man out.
So they had something to eat and then split up once again. Hiccup assured them if they found nothing worth investigating by dusk they would head for Berk tomorrow, which was a little consolation. And sensing that Snotlout was in a very foul mood, Hiccup suggested the two of them be partners for this search, hoping that a little bonding time between cousins would improve things.
It did not. They went over rocks and more rocks, and if it was not rocky it was sandy. Everything was a dull brown shade. The day had grown hot and they grew sweaty. Snotlout had seldom felt so miserable. He wanted to go home. Hiccup kept his own spirits up. Now that he had made up his mind they would not probably find anything, he decided to enjoy the hiking for its own sake.
After wandering around yet again for what felt like hours, they came upon a steep ravine which prevented them from going any further.
"Looks like we'll have to turn back," Hiccup said, "Or perhaps if we went uphill a little..."
"This is such a waste of time," Snotlout grumbled, "and just when I thought I was going to be involved in something important for once,"
"For once?" Hiccup repeated as he climbed over a boulder, "You were only one of the first Dragon Riders in the Archipelago, among plenty of other things. And you're one of the first Europeans to ever explore these islands! That's something, isn't it?"
"Yes I was…after you did that stuff first."
Hiccup scratched his ear. "What was that?"
"After you did that stuff first—like always," Snotlout said loudly and irritably.
Hiccup stopped and turned to face his cousin. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Are you really so stupid that you have to ask?" Snotlout snapped.
"Perhaps I want to hear it from your own mouth and see if my theory is correct,"
"Oh yes, Hiccup's always correct!" Snotlout exploded, "Everything he ever does is correct! He can't possibly fail! He kills the Red Death, he finds ways to make people fly, he builds swords out of fire, he speaks Thor knows how many languages, he always knows what to say in any situation, he even built a metal leg for himself!"
"Metal leg? That's what this is about? If you wanted a fake leg why didn't you just say so?"
"And there he goes again with his trademark sarcasm! Always a plan and a humorous quip for every occasion, with his faithful toady Snotlout to back him up when he needs some extra muscle!"
"I'm getting the impression these are Viggo's words." Hiccup said seriously.
"Why? Because I'm too stupid to think them up myself? Because I can't do anything without help?" Snotlout shouted, "Do you have any idea what it's like, living in your shadow all the time, always being expected to help but never told anything or given anything important to do?"
"You know perfectly well I know what that's like. For 15 years you made my life a perfect Hel! You're bullying and my father's negligence almost drove me to suicide, remember that?" Hiccup snapped. He had tried to be gentle, but Snotlout had touched a nerve.
"Oh, you think you had it tough, because every teenager has it hard! Well you went from the bottom to the top! How do you think it feels to go from the top to the bottom? I was the best Viking out of all of us! I had everything except Astrid! And then you reappeared and next thing I know I'm nothing more than your lackey! I fought in the last war more than you did, but who remembers any of it except me? No, it's all about Hiccup blowing the ship up, Hiccup fighting a climatic duel with Drago, and Snotlout only lost his Dad, well, big deal! And then you get your father back, you get your mother, you get a girl to love you, you get the Chiefdom, and what do I get?" he screamed. "You ever considered that? Have you ever once considered that?"
Hiccup's gaze softened. He sensed this was what was really bothering his cousin. "I can't bring your parents back, Snotlout, you know that,"
"But it's all because of you my Dad died. It's all because of you that the last words we ever exchanged were an argument!"
"Do you think I don't feel responsible?" Hiccup exclaimed, his temper flaring up again, "Do you think I wanted it that way? Do you think you're the only one who's ever lost anybody?"
"And how would you know what it's like? You've got all of your family now! What have I got, just tell me that?"
"You've got Hookfang! You've got the Dragon Riders!"
"And what does that get me?" Snotlout yelled, "we're here in the middle of nowhere once again all because you want do what you like and don't care about what anyone else wants?"
"Now just a minute—you know perfectly well why I left Berk, you know why I wanted to come here, and I don't recall ever asking you to come with me!"
"Of course not! Since when have you ever asked me to go anywhere? I'm your only cousin and you show more confidence in Fishlegs!"
"I'm your only cousin, but that didn't stop you from beating me up all the time!" Hiccup snapped. "Family ties didn't matter so much when we were teenagers did they?"
"Well we're old enough now, aren't we?" Snotlout snapped impatiently.
"Clearly not, if you're going to act like this,"
"Oh, I'm the one who acting wrong here?" Snotlout shouted, "Of course I am! The way people talk, you couldn't do anything wrong if you tried to! WELL THEN TRY DOING THIS WRONG!" He charged into Hiccup and pushed him with all his might towards the ravine. Hiccup slipped and went over the edge. Snotlout watched him disappear and laughed horribly. "I'VE HAD IT WITH YOU! GET OUT OF THAT ONE, USELESS!"
He paused and looked over the edge. There was no sign of Hiccup anywhere. It was clear where he had slid down the slope, but Snotlout could see no body. "Hiccup? All right, where are you?" Snotlout looked around again. "Come on, stop playing games! Playing dead isn't funny!" He looked around more and more, but saw nothing, nor did he hear any cries of pain or for help. Everywhere was silence and stillness
He staggered away from the edge, now registering the implications of it all. Had he just killed Hiccup? Had he just killed his own cousin, his future Chief, his…friend? Dear Gods, what had he just done? What would Stoick say when he got back? What would he do? He had just pushed his own cousin off a cliff, and for what? A few petty jealousies? A few childhood issues they had never resolved simply because they had never talked about them? A few problems they could have fixed if they had talked it over and a few more that nobody could fix? Dear Gods, what had he just done? Dear Gods, what had he done?
"C'mon, Hiccup, where are you?" Snotlout asked timidly. Nothing responded.
He suddenly turned away and ran for it.
Astrid and Stormfly were taking a break on the northern end of the island. Stormfly was gazing out around the horizon. All of a sudden she let out a squawk.
"What is it, girl?"
"A ship! Down on the beach,"
Astrid groaned and pulled out her spyglass, "So Snotlout did give away our location. That puffed up muttonhead; I'll give him another black eye for this. Hmm. Just one ship. Of course there might be more. That's a hunter ship alright." She smiled. "Well, if they've come for Hiccup, let's disappoint them. C'mon, girl. Let's lure them to another island!"
Stormfly would have grinned if she could.
Further south, Toothless spotted the Nadder in the air. Moments later Hookfang spotted the ship.
"Say Toothy, how about we rush in there and burn that ship up? C'mon, what d'ya say? Let's have some fun!"
"You sound like Evictus," Toothless smiled. "But no. I'm going to find Hiccup. See if you can distract them a little. But don't get caught!" he shouted after the Nightmare, who was already flying off excitedly. Toothless was about to run off himself when he paused and looked upwards. "I can sense another dragon from my nest—wait a minute! What on earth is Windshear doing here?"
The group of hunters moved off the beach cautiously.
"C'mon, ya lot of slugs!" Hognose shouted, "Git movin'!"
"I think he's said that every day since we left France," one hunter mumbled to another.
"They always think shoutin' loud nuff will make anythin' happen," his friend grumpily agreed.
"Shut up and git movin'!" Hognose roared. He was acting like a slave driver, but he felt he had every reason to. "If we come back empty 'anded Viggo'll kill us all!"
"And how do we not return empty handed if there's nothing here to capture?" a hunter shouted impatiently. At that instant Stormfly swooped over them.
"Hello boys!" Astrid called in the most careless and annoying sing-song voice she could muster, "Come to catch some dragons? Or have you come to catch some snails? Yes, I imagine catching snails is much more in line with men of your abilities!"
"Catching snails?" Stormfly repeated.
"Hey, taunting is Hiccup's area of expertise, not mine!" Nevertheless, she had to keep at it. An angry opponent was a careless one and that was just what she wanted. "C'mon boys, what's the matter? Are you so used to catching mice you can't catch anything faster?"
"Bring her down and capture her!" Hognose shouted. Stormfly flew over them again.
"I'd like to see you try! You couldn't hit a castle wall!" she laughed, "Watch as I fly circles around you bunch of sissies!" And she did just that, but on the second circle she had Stormfly abruptly turn around, to disrupt anyone timing a net launch.
The hunters were really getting angry by now, and she laughed again, sounding like a cackling witch. She led them one direction and then another. Now and then someone fired an arrow in such frustration that it was easily dodged.
"You call that archery? If you lot were an execution squad, you'd hit each other before you hit the prisoner!" she laughed, "calm down, Astrid, don't get cocky," she reminded herself. They were making angry mistakes, yes, but one lucky shot would be enough to ground Stormfly.
And that was just what Hognose had in mind. He ordered every hunter to load their crossbows. Then they waited until the Nadder swooped over them again and opened fired. The hail of arrows compelled Stormfly to veer away quickly and they followed her.
Toothless followed Hiccup's scent up and down the mountain. He really detested walking on this ground. It was so loose and sandy at times that he felt he was going to start a landslide.
And then the ground became rocky and the trail reached the edge of a ravine. Toothless's first thought was that Hiccup had opened his flight suit and jumped off the edge. After all, the dragon had no reason to suspect any kind of foul play. But then he examined the ground more carefully and realized to his horror that Hiccup must have fallen off the edge. At once the Night Fury leapt into the air. Gliding as well as he could, he frantically scanned the ravine. He wanted to scream for Hiccup, but feared the noise might draw attention. He spotted evidence of a small landslide and tilted his wings, almost slamming into the hill in the process. He abandoned flying for now and carefully slid downwards.
Hiccup was lying unconscious and face down at the bottom of the ravine. There were streaks of blood on his head.
"Hiccup!" Toothless cried, rushing over to him. "C'mon, Hiccup, get up, get up, you can't be dead, you can't—" the Night Fury took a deep breath. "Calm down, calm down, you can't afford to panic now. We're sitting ducks here. A hunter could finish him by rolling a few rocks down the hill." He looked around quickly and saw a cave at the far end of the ravine. So he retracted his teeth, picked up Hiccup by the torso as if he was going to eat him, and made his way towards it.
Over at the Hunter's ship, Hookfang charged forward, his body blazing. "Let's see your ship sail now!" he roared and spat a mouthful of hot fire. There had only been one man on board the ship and he had leapt overboard when Hookfang first appeared. Hookfang fired again and a third time. Nothing happened.
Hookfang paused. "That thing should've been reduced to cinders. Oh right, they built those hulls to be dragonproof. Well, they can't make a dragonproof sail!" he readied himself and fired again. But the sail did not burn either. Instead it just deflected the flames. "What?" He spread his wings and flew to the mast. His mouth opened, his heart nearly stopped, and smoke rose from his nostrils. The sails were not made of linen but dragon skin. "Why those—those—!"
He was so angry he did not see the hunter on the beach behind him until the man fired an arrow coated in Dragon Root into his back.
The hunters were getting very frustrated now. Stormfly had flown to the shore of the closest nearby island. She was plainly visible to all of them and completely out of range. And in order to reach her they would need to go back to their ship and set sail, and by the time they got close enough the Nadder would probably have landed somewhere else. That was what Astrid hoped, and by the looks of it the Hunters were aware of this, because she saw them turn away and resume searching for Hiccup.
"Shoot," she muttered, "I thought they'd be so angry they'd come after us without thinking. I guess they're smarter than we gave them credit for, huh girl? Well, obviously we need to make them angrier!"
The hunters had but a few seconds of warning before Astrid dropped right in the middle of them.
"All right, everybody surrender and no one gets hurt!" she yelled. The hunters responded by yelling and readying their weapons. "Why do men always want to do things the hard way?" She kicked two in the shins, hit a third in the face, and punched a fourth in the stomach. Stormfly meantime flung spines at the hunter's feet. Then Astrid leapt onto her dragon's back and they took off. Hognose lunged for the Nadder and grabbed her foot, but he was easily kicked off and went flying and screaming into a large pile of sand.
"Can't say I didn't warn you!" She laughed as they flew to the nearest island again. "So, are they going to come after us this time?" She looked up at the sky to judge the time. She would not risk rejoining Hiccup until nightfall. Goodness knows what Snotlout was doing.
A flash of silver caught her eye and she spun around. "Windshear!" she exclaimed in delight. "Heather! What are you two doing here? Tell me later, this is great! What do you say we give those hunters a—Heather, what is it?"
Heather grimly pointed her axe at Astrid's throat.
"Heather?"
"I think you'd better surrender," she said coldly.
When Hiccup woke up he was aching all over. At first he thought it was night.
"Where am I?"
"Oh thank goodness!" Toothless almost leapt onto him but caught himself, and instead began licking him. "I thought I'd lost you! Are you alright? Where does it hurt?"
"Take your pick," Hiccup groaned as he tried to sit up, "I'm happy to see you too, by the way,"
"Well of course you are. But enough of that. There are hunters on the island."
"What?"
"Yes. Hookfang and Stormfly are taking care of them…I think. I don't know exactly; I went to find you. And there you were at the bottom of a hill. What happened?"
Hiccup's fist tightened and his face contorted. "Snotlout pushed me."
"Snotlout—by accident?"
"Intentionally,"
"Why that—" Toothless was so angry he could not speak.
Hiccup tried to stand up. "Where's Astrid?"
"With Stormfly,"
Hiccup was aghast. "She's dealing with the hunters? C'mon, Bud," he tried to mount the Night Fury, only to clench his head and nearly fall over.
"We're not going anywhere," Toothless growled, "You're in no shape, and they're distracting those men to keep them away from you. You'll just get us caught and their efforts will have been for nothing. No, we're staying here until nightfall. Then I'll summon the others and we'll be going, but not before." The Night Fury started licking the injuries on his head.
The hunters on the beach cheered when they saw Astrid and Heather leap off their dragons and start dueling. At the same time their dragons were roaring at each other and fighting a ferocious battle of their own. Hognose grinned at the sight. "Git 'em, ma lovely 'Eather! Astrid'll be stumped her old friend's a foe now!"
"What are they saying?" Someone asked, "I can see their mouths moving but I can't hear anything over the dragons screamin'!"
"Probably just makin' threats and curses," another said dismissively, "Astrid's probably calling Heather a traitor,"
"Technically, she is," one hunter said fairly, but the others told him to shut up.
"Beat her to a pulp, Heather!"
"Don't put too many holes in the Nadder, ya stew-pid Razor! Nadder skin'll fetch a good price!"
If ever fire had met ice, it was here. Astrid's eyes were full of rage and she was attacking with the fury of an erupting volcano, while Heather was taking the blows as coldly as a mountain withstands a blizzard. Their dragons were less poetic in their fighting. Both Windshear and Stormfly glared and snarled at each other, and they wrestled together like tigers.
It was clear to the hunters that both sides were evenly matched, and there was some worry that Heather might not be able to win. Nobody dared shoot an arrow or throw a spear in case they hit the wrong target. So they cheered with joy and relief when Heather slammed her axe against Astrid's with a powerful blow and sent it flying. Astrid lunged for it but Windshear broke away from Stormfly and leapt in front of her, hissing and wavering her tail threateningly. Astrid turned around but Heather was right behind her, the doubled sided axe mere inches from slicing her in half. The hunters saw Astrid slowly put her hands up and they cheered even louder. But Stormfly seized the chance and flew away.
Back in the cave, to pass the time while they waited for nightfall, Hiccup looked around, testing his sore limbs in the process. It was a mercy nothing had been broken, but even so he was bruised all over and had to walk extremely gingerly.
"This cave's a bit bigger than we thought," he remarked.
"They always are," Toothless muttered.
"Hey, Toothless, take a look at this. Claw marks. And fresh ones too."
"Do you hear something?"
Hiccup froze and listened. "It sounds like breathing," he whispered, "it's coming from over—"
He took a few more steps and found himself looking into at a large pair of blue green eyes. In the darkness he could very faintly see the outline of a dragon.
He was looking at a Night Fury and it was not Toothless.
As soon as it realized it was looking at a human, the Night Fury cried out and ran away. Toothless and Hiccup, forgetting his injuries though hampered by them, followed.
The hunter's throats were getting sore from all the cheering. They saw Heather bind Astrid's arms, put her on Windshear, and fly over towards them. When they dismounted Hognose at once rushed for Astrid and grabbed her arm.
"Ah, Astrid, Ya don't know 'ow long I've wanted ta touch—"
But Heather grabbed him and threw him to the ground. "Stop it!"
"Wot?" Hognose snarled, "She's a pris-ner ain't she? We can do wot we like wid 'er!"
"She's my prisoner, Hognose, and I am not going to let you or anyone else rape her, do you understand me?" Heather snapped, "And I doubt Viggo would be happy to hear that his most valuable hostage to date has been violated in any way."
"Why should he care?" a hunter demanded, "Berk would pay for a ransom for her no matter how pure she stays!"
"Oh for crying out loud—if you pigs are that desperate for sex, I'm sure we'll pass a hundred brothels on our way back to Grimmige Festung! But anyone who touches Astrid gets a metal spike through the heart!" Windshear raised her tail to emphasis the threat. "Understood?"
"I'm glad to see you have some decency left, even after you've betrayed us!" Astrid spat.
Heather glowered at her, "I told you, you wouldn't understand. Now let's get back to the ship and get going!"
"But wot 'bout Useless?" Hognose asked.
"Don't call him that!" Astrid snapped. "Even when we were kids he was twice as useful as you ever were!"
Hognose wanted to thrash her but Windshear was standing protectively nearby.
Another hunter quickly spoke up to prevent any fight, "Hognose is right. Viggo sent us here to find the Dragon King. If we don't come back with him we're all dead." There were nervous nods from the others.
Heather shook her head. "Viggo sent us to follow Snotlout and see where he would lead us. He didn't send us to find Hiccup, and for all we know, Hiccup could be leagues from here by now. For all we know he wasn't even here to begin with!"
Hognose shook his head. "We'd better search this place jest ta be sure,"
"Go ahead!" Astrid laughed. Those two words made everyone pause. If those words implied that Hiccup was not here, the Hunters could search for days and find nothing. If those words implied that Hiccup was there and she was bluffing, they might find him but who was to say they would successfully capture him? And there was the issue about Astrid. They had a prisoner to watch now, and they were as good as dead if she escaped. That meant they needed as many men as possible to guard her, but every man guarding her meant one less man to help capture Hiccup if they found him. And if they did not leave enough men she might get away. This was in essence a debate between quitting while they were ahead or taking one more chance and praying they hit a gold mine.
Heather suddenly laughed. "It doesn't matter about where Hiccup is! Don't you oafs get it? We've got his wife for a hostage now. We don't need to go after Hiccup; he's gonna have to come to us! And if we take Astrid back to Grimmage Festung, Viggo will have the same idea!"
The hunters cheered again. They were off the hook. And even better news awaited them at the ship, when they saw their lone sentry trying to load an unconscious Monstrous Nightmare on board.
"Oh Gods, Hookfang," Astrid whispered mournfully, "what happened?"
"Have to admit, I didn't see this one coming either," Heather said in surprise. She looked around. "So where's Snotlout then?"
Snotlout was nowhere nearby and had no idea of anything that had happened. He had run down the mountain with no idea of where he was going; he had just wanted to get away from everything, and every few steps he nearly fell, so disoriented and in shock was he. He kept seeing in his mind the look on Hiccup's face. It had been a horrified mixture of confusion and betrayal. Snotlout could not bear it but he kept thinking about it. He tripped over some rocks and fell on his face, and then burst into tears.