When Merida awoke she shivered. Even though she was moving south, the wind was colder here, near the border of Arcadia. Dense forests of alder and juniper loomed in the distant beyond like spike backed lumbering creatures, giants that slept by day and traveled by night. Amongst those deciduous leaved ogres lied the princess's reckoning. Though that wondrous golden land was visible to the naked eye, it lay so far that to Merida, Arcadia looked like a spec of pollen on the blue Baltic. The closer her party inched to its border, the more impossible the journey seemed. Now, as she rubbed the grit from her eyes and sprinkled its particles to the wind behind the dragon's back she scowled. Hiccup was looking at her. For a moment she allowed eye contact. But once the connection became too intense, Hiccup whipped his head forward and peered at the ground below.
So far, the seas of the Southern Isles continued. But little reef bits and rock beds poked into view, grey and deep red under the gush of the tide. Here the water was so clear that the white of the sand could be seen far below. It was nothing like the angry, greenish black churn of the DunBroch inlets. North, the ocean was vehement. But here, it flourished with life, calling with a cool breath up to the footpads of Hiccup's dragon. Toothless' mouth hung open so that its tongue slapped through the warm wind. The currents carried any saliva to Toothless's passengers. Whenever Hiccup yelled, "spit", Merida ducked. Usually a glob of clear fluid drifted past, but at times green phlegm slipped in as well. As one such glob flung past Merida's shoulder, she curled her lips and grunted with disgust, making Hiccup laugh ahead of her.
"How far away are we?" she asked. With a cluck of the tongue Hiccup glanced at the sun and piped in return that they were thirty minutes north of the tower.
"Thirty minutes?" gasped Merida in disbelief.
Ahead of her Hiccup nodded and grinned, gripping Toothless's shoulder blades tightly between his fingers. In return Toothless straightened his neck and pitched downwards, slipping through the wind like a dolphin in water to speed himself up. The jolt sent Merida lurching backwards just far enough to make her yelp and cling to Hiccup's back. When Hiccup laughed in return and patted her hand, she swatted him away and tried clinging to Toothless' hipbones instead. The rest of her body assisted by tensing and compressing into a tight ball, and when he saw her Hiccup snorted and shook his head.
"You may laugh now," muttered Merida under her breath. "But later..."
Thankfully, Hiccup could not hear her. Or at least he did not seem like he did. Ten more minutes passed in utter silence, five more after that spent staring into the same Baltic Sea. Merida was beginning to think that thirty minutes would stretch on forever, and all she would ever see was ocean stretching across the horizon, for the rest of her life, with the same spec of pollen ever in the distance, always small. She nudged Hiccup so that his ears perked up. Ahead, Toothless dipped and soared again, and the wind whipping past grew stronger.
"Where did you get Toothless?" Merida asked. Ahead of her Hiccup bit his lip as he thought, and Merida noticed Toothless's cat like green eyes glancing up with a knowing look that she found suspicious.
"Uh..." started Hiccup. Then he cleared his throat and straightened his back. "When my father and I were invading the Mainland- because my father is Stoick the Vast, clan master of the Hairy Hooligans- we came across the purple tower, right? We traveled by boat."
"Correct," echoed Merida in disinterest. She was waiting for the next part, which came in jolts and stutters as Hiccup recounted his first encounter with the dragon.
"Then when we got here, the tower was, uh... we were attacked by something in the air when we tried going near it."
"The dragon?" gasped Merida. Toothless's peridot eyes smoldered as they looked upon their master, as if they would bore a hole through him if he glanced too close. But Hiccup was busy stuttering, "we didn't know it was a dragon yet."
"The thing is, you see, that we were trying to invade Arcadia, so we landed on the mainland and went into Corona. Then we saw the purple tower, and there was a beautiful girl trapped in there- a princess." Hiccup's eyes began to sparkle. He could not gesticulate because his hands held the sides of the dragon, so instead his shoulders jutted back and forth in excitement while he spoke. "She was trapped in the tower and there were fire bolts raining down all around her." To this, Toothless took a ruthless dive ten feet through the air, causing Merida to screech and Hiccup to lose his foothold on the dragon's ribs so that he floated through the air before slamming back against Toothless's spine. As the boy massaged his sore groin in return, he squeaked that they were not fire bolts, but thunder bolts instead, and Toothless shivered with a nod.
"What happened after the thunder bolts?" prodded Merida, making Hiccup laugh. "Well, we shot arrows through the air and the dragon slipped away," he sighed. "But the tower was so high and smooth that none of us could climb it. The stones were so strong that we couldn't pick through them with our axes. And our cannons didn't work either. So my dad started to leave. But as I turned to go, the beautiful princess leant over the tower window balcony and told me that if I brought the dragon with the thunder bolts back to her, she'd marry me."
"Hold a moment," barked Merida, making Hiccup straighten and Toothless's ears perk up.
"You left out a portion," Merida snapped.
"What?" blubbered Hiccup.
"You left out a portion," hissed Merida in return. "Why did the maiden desire the dragon with the thunder bolts? How did she take to you launching cannons at her residence, and trying to climb its walls? Did your clan frighten her? And what of the witch that holds her? Where was she? Why would the maiden marry you for the dowry of a dragon?"
"Well, I don't know, that's just what she said!" barked Hiccup in return, throwing his arms over his head in exasperation. "And Stoick was invading. We- we thought the dragon was hers! We thought that he was protecting a- a treasure, and we wanted it! So Stoick was invading, but the girl stopped him and the dragon went away, and we were, uh, distracted, so she said that there was a witch, and she'd marry me and... such," sighed Hiccup in conclusion, resting his chest against the back of Toothless's neck in exhaustion. When Merida did not respond within an instant, he added, "why can't you just wait till we get there and see what happens?"
"The last time I put my trust in a stranger, he massacred my family," Merida replied, causing Hiccup and Toothless to snap their mouths shut. For the next hour the journey passed in utter silence, and as the reefs beneath the Baltic Sea grew larger, the spec of pollen on the horizon turned into a coast. The sun rose mid sky and then descended, its round bottom settling into the alders forming ahead, as there rose against the waves before them a mass of gilded purple and red tiles, thatch, and grey stone. As Merida stared in excitement, a boat whizzed past in the water far below.
"A boat!" she screeched, staring ahead with smoldering eyes. A few miles away floated its kingdom, suspended against the waves with the support of a stone bridge connecting its mass to the Baltic Coast.
"Holy cow," breathed Hiccup behind her, making Merida snort in derision. Giddy with curiosity, Toothless took a final steep dip and whizzed towards Corona at top speed. Soon, conical purple roofs and yellow thatch formed atop the towering grey brick of the market town's main square, its cobblestones covered in massive spiraling chalk drawings. Most were of benign images such as flowers, bread, and wine. But others depicted a pale girl with deep blue eyes and raven black hair surrounded by suns and moons. These special images occurred closest to the island center, where a castle with looming sea green onion domes and stained glass windows piled itself into the clouds. The only towers not supporting onion domes were red roofed and steep gabled. Their turrets tore through the sky like long arrow heads. But beneath their danger hung royal purple banners of orange and yellow suns. These banners repeated across the expanse of the whole kingdom, and as Merida looked upon them she furrowed her brows and nudged Hiccup in the side. As her nostrils flared they filled with the scent of fresh baked bread and sweet candy.
"I am starving," she grumbled to herself. Hiccup nodded in approval, and Toothless's belly gave a mean snarl in reply, causing the party to laugh in spite of itself. With renewed vigor, Hiccup decided that they would all land in Corona city and look for food, causing Merida to snort as loud as she could muster. When Hiccup asked what was so funny, she scowled.
"Hiccup," started the princess, "perhaps you are only accustomed to invading and taking what you desire, but that does not change the fact that if three of us attempted taking the entire kingdom of Corona, we would be hung on those turrets for the birds."
"I'm not saying we invade," sighed Hiccup in return. "I'm saying we have Toothless drop us off and pick us up later on."
"What is Toothless going to do while we traipse about the city?" snapped Merida.
"He'll have dinner too!" barked Hiccup. "Toothless eats fish, Merida, not bread."
"I am aware of that!" shouted Merida, glancing towards the kingdom below in mistrust. "I desire Arcadia."
"We will get there," Hiccup replied. With this, he veered Toothless to the right and flew about in circles for a place to land. By now the sun was a sliver behind the trees, and lanterns began popping up in the town square of Corona. By its shadows, Toothless slipped to the bottom of a deep alley and slithered across its cobblestones as silently as he could, his peridot eyes glowing as they scanned the darkness surrounding. While his shoulders remained hunched and his legs bent close to the stones, Merida slipped from his back and leaned against the alley wall behind. As she waited, Hiccup stumbled to face his dragon and bent so that their eyes met.
"Only a little while longer, alright?" he murmured, patting Toothless on the head. In return the dragon stared him down with a narrowed glance, causing Hiccup's shoulders to cave in against him. In distress the boy bent close and whispered in the dragon's rabbit like ear, causing Merida to perk up and turn her back so that he would not catch her listening.
"This is a tiny detour. Just help me get to the tower," the boy pleaded in a bare whisper. As she listened, Merida felt her fingertips grow cool with the coming night air. The same chill that passed her in the DunBroch bogs drifted against the battered rim of her skirt and kissed her ankles, making her breath draw out of her in shallow spurts. In fear she stepped further into the alley, where a slight fog from the few-lit lanterns drifted about. Though it was displaced as she stepped through it, its tendrils clung to each other once her green skirts passed, shivering as she breathed. With her right hand Merida clutched at the cool stonewall, passing her fingers over a dark stained window. Inside were the outlines of a broom, buckets, and empty flowerpots scuffed with mud. Cobwebs hazed their view but glowed in the alley light, and the shadow of Merida's hand and arm trembled as she stumbled forward.
"Merida!" cried a voice far behind, its echo causing Merida to spring up in horror. As she stumbled back her feet caught against a barrel and flung her to the ground, making her gasp as her fingers brushed against a broken bottle. Before the glass could pierce her skin, she flew her palms to her chest and curled into a ball, glancing around her as her breath became visible in the space ahead. Through it, she heard the reverberation of horn on stone, and glowing yellow embers bobbed along the alley walls and their windows. As she hid from them behind the barrel Merida closed her eyes and shook her head, peeking out when silence fell again. In the stillness, the shadow of the barrel seemed longer than usual, more like the outline of a tall, thin pole than a fat round tub. In the waning sun it swayed back and forth as if dancing, calling Merida to it without speaking. In its depths whispered an image of hazy brown and beady black eyes. As Merida craned her ears towards it, the sound of a roar tore through her memory. What animal it belonged to, she could not tell. The image was hazy. In the still cobbled ground ahead, the shadow of the barrel turned towards Merida and glanced upon her with two twinkling pupils. But as the name of the animal in Merida's thoughts drew to her lips, a furry booted foot stamped into the space before her and made her screech in fright. When she peered upward, Hiccup's pudgy face stared down at her.
"Uh, are you alright?" he asked flatly.
For a moment Merida sat in a daze, glancing about her for the beating hooves, examining the shadow of the barrel to see if cool golden eyes stared upon her. But there was nothing. The roar was gone, and her memory of its animal was darkness. The barrel's shadow was fat and cylindrical once more, and it only swayed with the movement of the wind. When Merida glanced up at Hiccup again, she noticed that Toothless was gone. But she could hear the beat of his wings as they disappeared into the sky.
"I just... I felt something strange," whispered Merida. It had happened so soon- the minute they had landed, the memory of the will o' the wisps in the bogs had besieged her again. This time, instead of glowing embers with black sandy centers, there were only shadows. As Merida looked into the growing blackness surrounding her, the feeling that she had just been saved touched her heart. Gratefully she smiled up at Hiccup and caught his extending hand in her own, using it to hoist herself up. When she had dusted her skirt off, she frowned and stared down upon it. As she pursed her lips, Hiccup cocked his head to the side in curiosity.
"We look like a real pair of foreigners, don't we?" sighed the boy. Merida nodded in discomfort. When she looked up, Hiccup's eyes were narrowed. When Merida raised an eyebrow, he brightened up immediately.
"We'll get new outfits!" snapped the boy. "That way we won't stand out!"
"I haven't any money," muttered Merida in return. When Hiccup pointed to the golden brooch holding the sash across her waist, she pressed her hands to it for protection and shook her head. Hiccup sighed.
"If we don't sell something, we can't buy anything."
"I thought your father was Stoick the Vast!" barked Merida. "Would he not have given you money?"
"I spent it all," snapped Hiccup in quick reply, making Merida sigh with agitation. Ahead of her, Hiccup rubbed the back of his head with jittering, jarring movements before throwing his arms to his sides. Then, he glanced to her with a frown.
"How did you get this far without any money?" he asked. In return Merida shrugged and responded that her only wish had been to survive. But she left out the part about the winter spirit. Without really knowing it, the pair began walking. When they reached the end of the alley they ascended stairs. Lantern light glowed high about them, and as they moved their surroundings grew soft with warmth. The cobblestones that had been uneven in the alley seemed smooth as silk now that the pair rose towards Main Street, and as Merida glanced beneath the mud caked rim of her DunBroch dress; she heard a cry draw out ahead of her. When she glanced up, she realized that she had stepped from the alley into waning daylight, and that a small huddle of villagers had gathered on the opposite end of the street near a bakery and were staring at her in horror. When she reeled back for her bow and arrow, though, Hiccup caught her in his skinny arms and pointed to the ground. Quickly Merida glanced beneath her, fearful that a slithering beast crawled about her feet. What she saw instead was a magnificent chalk drawing of a blue sun intertwined with an iris of gold and violet, smudged now by the mud from her robes. In dejection she glanced from the villagers to Hiccup, not knowing what to do. Hiccup's dumb returning glance did not help, so instead of moving forward Merida pitched herself back down the alley stairs and hid against the wall until Hiccup descended to her side.
"What was that?" blurted the boy, and in return Merida grabbed him by the front of his yack jacket and wheeled him to face her gritting teeth.
"How could you let me do that?" she hissed. "They all saw me! They wanted to kill me!"
"They did not want to kill you!" barked Hiccup, shying away from Merida's hissing breath. "You ruined probably the biggest piece of art they'd made all year. It's not my fault you barrel into things without realizing what you're doing! You could have just hoisted up your skirt and hopped around it!"
"Hoist up my skirts?" gasped Merida in shock. "And defile myself as a lady?"
"Defile what?" barked Hiccup. "Did you not see? All of the ladies up there are wearing summer dresses above the knees, and you're here running around like it's the middle of winter!"
"It is August!" spat Merida, shoving Hiccup back. "Soon it will be cold as ice! I am not selling an inch of this clothing!"
"Well we might want to fit in for at least a little while," sighed Hiccup in return, patting down his front. When he looked up, he added, "how do you suggest we get money?"
With pursed lips Merida pointed in the opposite direction, and in reply, Hiccup shuffled to her side and they began to walk. The coldness of the alley belly returned, and as they walked they passed the window with the brooms and flowerpots again. The cobwebs still glowed in the coming night. As Hiccup looked into the sky he sighed. "I just hope we don't miss the Corona sunset."
"I hope that I do not shoot an arrow through your throat before the day is out," muttered Merida in reply. Ahead of her there was a bustle of sniggers, and when she glanced up, the torsos of two large men greeted her. Behind her Hiccup squeaked out a breath of anxiety. But Merida would not look at him. Her vision lay fixed on the hook handed thug before her, who stared into her clear blue eyes with beady browns. His handlebar mustache twitched as he spoke.
"What are two foreigners doing in Corona during the Festival of Light?" asked the hook handed thug. The other, an enormous man fixed with a helmet of two long horns, stood silent at his side. When the first leaned towards Merida, she stepped forward and puffed out her chest, ignoring Hiccup's shaking grip on her arm.
"We were trying to enjoy ourselves," Merida hissed. "That is, until you blocked our path."
Riotous laughter boomed from the hook handed thug, and as he howled he raised his head to the sky. The long horned thug at his side only grunted. A permanent frown seemed to pull at his face.
"Well, we wouldn't want to block the DunBroch girl's path!" sighed the hook handed thug. With sudden ferocity, he grabbed Merida by the front of her dress and pulled her towards him, taking a long sniff of her before she could move a muscle. As she yelped and sliced at his face, he pushed her to the ground and Hiccup cried out in displeasure, making the thugs laugh. As they chortled, Merida scrambled to her feet and drew an arrow from her quiver, slipping it into her bow and drawing it back like a lightning flash. Ahead of her, the thugs grew silent with confusion.
"You should know better than to disrespect a guest," hissed Merida. "If you move any closer I will shoot this arrow through that beady eye of yours so fast it will break your thick skull."
"I'd like to see you try!" growled the hook handed thug, holding up the glistening metal where his hand should have been for Merida to see. "I have tussled with Drago Bludvist! I have taken on the Berserkers of the Barbaric Archipelago, flew the banners of the Arcadian army! I beat Vlad in an arm wrestle!"
"Once" murmured the horn helmeted man behind him in a deep growl. In reply the hook handed thug shrugged in admission. But Merida stepped forward breathlessly, lowering her arrow a degree.
"You fought for Arcadia?" she whispered. "When?" In reply, the hook handed thug's eyes sparkled, and his arms fell to his side.
"Ah... the yonder years, little toadstool," he sighed. "Before the rumors of the degenerate prince."
"Degenerate prince?" snapped Merida with gritted teeth. "Does he rule Arcadia?"
"Barely," murmured the hook handed thug in return. "But I only hear rumors." Then, he advanced upon Merida with a narrowed, evil stare, hissing, "What do you know about Arcadia?"
"I know that it is filled with fiends," snarled Merida in return, and the hook handed thug gritted his teeth in anger, making Hiccup burst out in nervous laughter as he tried to pull Merida back. But the hook handed thug and his assistant, Vlad, trudged towards them with heavy steps.
"You know, it's bad business to insult a man's homeland," hissed the hook handed thug, raising his weapon again. In return Merida whipped up her arrow and let it fly from her bow, yelping as she felt Hiccup's hands pitch her elbows upward. In return, the arrow meant for the hook handed thug's eyeball zipped across the crown of his head and drove itself right into the base of Vlad's helmet, making the long horned thug's frown break open in shock as his eyes crossed. For a moment both men stood silent. Then, as Merida shoved Hiccup to the ground behind her, the one with the hook hand padded at his bleeding scalp in wonder, feeling the deep narrow cut as it spurted red. In return Vlad gave him an embroidered hanky from his pocket, and the hook handed thug returned a polite thank you before patting himself down.
"What did you do that for?" screeched Merida. Her face was red with rage, and Hiccup cowered against the ground to get away from it. As he shifted his glance and put up his hands, Merida kicked at him with a howl.
"You can't just kill them! They're thugs! There are always more! They'd have come after us!" moaned Hiccup.
"They will surely kill us now!" snapped Merida in return. But behind her, the thugs howled with laughter. When she whizzed to meet them with another arrow drawn, they clapped and pointed towards her with a curtsy. The hook handed thug had managed to remove a bandage gracing a deep cut on his leg and transfer it to his head, so that his fresh blood mingled with its old puss. Merida stared in disgust, but the thugs did not seem to notice. Instead they beamed.
"It is all well and good to hit a man straight on, but what about a moving, far away target?" barked the one with the hook hand. Behind him, Vlad drew his sword and advanced upon Hiccup, using his arm to shield his head as he lumbered forward. When Merida shot at him in terror, the arrows plunging into his bicep only mustered a grunt from the face behind his arm. Soon, he had Hiccup's throat snug against the sharp end of his blade. Ahead, the hook-handed thug beckoned Merida's attention with a whistle.
"It isn't nice to plug your hosts' arms with arrows, turnip," boomed the handlebar mustached fiend. Then he pointed to the sky, where a single eagle had taken to the clouds.
"You slice that bird from its wings, and you dine with us. You miss, and we slice your friend from his head."
Behind Merida Hiccup whimpered. But with gritted teeth, the girl looked towards the hook handed thug with a smoldering glare.
"If I win," she muttered, "You provide us with food, rest, and clothing of our liking." In return the thugs laughed, but nodded. Then, sucking in a deep breath, Merida strode past the men and pointed her fourth arrow towards the sky. With one eye closed, she centered on the flying eagle. Then, as she relaxed her arms, she asked how many tries she had.
"One," responded the long horned thug. In return Merida shrugged and stilled her beating heart.
"One is all I need," she whispered. Then, sucking in a deep breath, she released the hand that drew back her bowstring with a cry. As she watched, the fated arrow spiraled high into the air, its hope clung to the wings of the eagle circling fast between Corona's coming stars.